Crystal Flash Energy has joined the Alliance AutoGas network as its exclusive dealer in Michigan. The Grand Rapids-based energy distribution company will provide a complete program to help regional fleets to switch to propane autogas, a fuel that is nearly as efficient and powerful as gasoline or diesel - but with virtually no tailpipe emissions. Engines that use autogas, which is growing in popularity in Europe as a green alternative fuel, run cleaner, cost less to run and require less maintenance. As a new partner in the international Alliance AutoGas network, ...

DTR Inc.'s CEO Jay Goldberg, who developed a work readiness training program called the best work readiness certification program in the United States by a member of the National Skills Standard Board in 2003, has completed the second book in his new four module work readiness certification program. The four modules, each with its own textbook, are Workplace Basics, Workplace Skills, People Skills, and Customer Service. At the end of each book are two workplace scenarios where things go right and things go wrong. There will be online certification tests for each module ...

On December 20, 2012, the Free Publicity Focus Group, a top ranked marketing and publicity firm, published an article detailing some of the best book marketing strategies for the year 2013. While many authors believe advertising, media pitches, social media and other forms of outbound marketing strategies can drive sales, this is not always the case. Inbound Internet marketing strategies are, and will continue to be the key drivers of sales. "Many books fail in the marketplace today," Don McCauley stated, "not because they are poorly written or because ...

Payroll tax records are essential to any businesses. Payroll tax software solution provider Halfpricesoft.com reminds ezPaycheck small business payroll software users to backup data in time. The latest EzPaycheck payroll system comes with the new data-backup and restoration features. EzPaycheck users can click the top menu ¡°Company-_Backup Current Company¡± to back up data in a few clicks. Halfpricesoft.com suggest users to put the back-up file on a USB flash drive, external drive, optical media disc (CD or DVD), or on a remote server, including web-based data-storage ...

Preferred Market Solutions, LLC., developers of Preferred Patron Loyalty Marketing Software with Integrated Email (http://www.preferredpatron.com), announced today they have received accreditation from SuretyMail, an Email Accreditation service of ISIPP (http://www.isipp.com). "SuretyMail is happy to welcome Preferred Market Solutions as its newest member", says Shannon Kellogg, Customer Service Manager at ISIPP. Preferred Market Solutions is a loyalty rewards program software provider. "Our Preferred Patron Loyalty Marketing solution gives businesses ...

Estate Planning May Save Your Family More Than Just Taxes The death of a loved one is hopefully a time when family members draw closer together and celebrate their dear one's life and the bonds of family unity. Unfortunately, a family member's passing often becomes a time of disagreement and bickering over how the loved one's assets will be divided. Decades-old sibling rivalries, perceived offenses and hard feelings too often boil to the surface when money is involved and can leave scars that last a lifetime. From the outside, the disagreement may seem ridiculous; ...

NTSB: Expand breath testing to reduce drunk driving deaths Drunk driving is one of the biggest threats to highway safety in the United States. According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 9,878 people died in drunk driving accidents in 2011 -- an average of one DUI fatality every 53 minutes. NHTSA also determined that, on average, alcohol-related crashes injure one person every 90 seconds in the United States. In Illinois, drunk driving accidents claimed the lives of 297 people in 2010. Even though 2010's numbers represented a nearly ...

Is your trademark protected overseas? If your trademark is protected in the United States, this does not ensure its safety in other countries. Before the Internet, national protections seemed to suffice. However, today, someone in another country could be using your trademark. A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of these, which provides branding for a company. A business that thinks that its brand equity could potentially expand to other countries should consider filing a trademark to protect its brand rights. Due to the proliferation ...

Unpaid child support payments leaving an $11 billion hole in the Texas economy Texas parents are struggling with the effects of prolonged unemployment and other economic pressures by missing child support payments in record numbers, leaving a gaping, multi-billion-dollar hole in the state's economy. The huge deficit doesn't just apply to missed payments, though; more parents than ever before are also seeking downward modifications of existing orders, most often to account for a loss in income for the paying parent. On the flip side, parents who aren't receiving much-needed ...

Advances in technology can enhance the health care industry, providing various improvements and benefits. However, such developments can also create new opportunities for injury. The Economic Cycle Research Institute, a nonprofit organization that researches the best approaches to improving patient care, recently released a report entitled "The Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2013." The institute intends to use the report to raise awareness of the potential dangers associated with the use of particular medical systems and devices. The list is updated ...

It's not unheard of for prescription drug use to get out of hand. When you are suffering from a serious medical condition, the right pills can manage a great deal of pain, suffering and discomfort; when the medical condition begins to improve, it is not always easy to stop taking the pills you have come to depend on. But when does prescription drug use cross the line? Under Oregon and federal law, you can be found guilty of a drug crime by misusing or overusing prescription medication; and drivers of motor vehicles need to be aware that even if you are within your prescription, ...

LA JOLLA, CA – December 23, 2012 – The mysterious inner workings of Chang Shan—a Chinese herbal medicine used for thousands of years to treat fevers associated with malaria—have been uncovered thanks to a high-resolution structure solved at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI). Described in the journal Nature this week, the structure shows in atomic detail how a two-headed compound derived from the active ingredient in Chang Shan works. Scientists have known that this compound, called halofuginone (a derivative of the febrifugine), can suppress parts of the immune system—but ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio—In a discovery that raises further concerns about the future contribution of Antarctica to sea level rise, a new study finds that the western part of the ice sheet is experiencing nearly twice as much warming as previously thought. The temperature record from Byrd Station, a scientific outpost in the center of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), demonstrates a marked increase of 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit (2.4 degrees Celsius) in average annual temperature since 1958—that is, three times faster than the average temperature rise around the globe. This temperature ...

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified two molecules that play an important role in the survival and production of nerve cells in the brain, including nerve cells that produce dopamine. The discovery, which is published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, may be significant in the long term for the treatment of several diseases, such as Parkinson's disease. The same scientists have previously shown that receptors known as "liver X receptors" or LXR, are necessary for the production of different types of nerve cells, or neurons, in the developing ...

Scientists at The University of Manchester have identified how cells know which way up they need to be. The discovery could help in the fight against cancer because in the early stages of the disease the cells become disorganised. Professor Charles Streuli and Dr Nasreen Akhtar of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research have conducted new research that leads to a better understanding of cell polarity. Properly organised tissues are vital to maintaining functional organs and a healthy body. Part of being organised includes cells being in the correct position ...

Acute lymphatic leukemia (ALL) is the most common cancer in children under the age of 14 years. With optimum treatment, approximately 75 % of children are currently cured, but the treatment consists of severe chemotherapy with many side effects. In collaboration with international research teams, scientists at VIB, KU Leuven and UZ Leuven have identified new genetic mutations that lead to T-ALL, a variant of ALL. They have unmasked the ribosome – the molecular machine in the cell that is involved in the production of proteins – as a weak spot in leukemia cells. Their research ...

Autistic-like behaviors can be partially remedied by normalizing excessive levels of protein synthesis in the brain, a team of researchers has found in a study of laboratory mice. The findings, which appear in the latest issue of Nature, provide a pathway to the creation of pharmaceuticals aimed at treating autism spectrum disorders (ASD) that are associated with diminished social interaction skills, impaired communication ability, and repetitive behaviors. "The creation of a drug to address ASD will be difficult, but these findings offer a potential route to get there," ...

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center investigators have identified three new genetic "hotspots" linked to colorectal cancer. These variants, reported Dec. 23 in an Advanced Online Publication in Nature Genetics, provide new insight into the biology of colorectal cancer – and could represent new therapeutic targets for the disease. Colorectal cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide – and rates are particularly high in the United States and other developed countries. Genetics plays an important role in both sporadic and familial (inherited) forms of ...

Gaithersburg, Md.—December 23, 2012— OpGen, Inc. today announced its ARGUS® Whole Genome Mapping System technology was used in combination with next-generation sequencing (NGS) to produce the first, high-quality reference genome of the domestic goat. The study, which was led by BGI-Shenzhen and Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences was published online today in Nature Biotechnology. The paper, titled Sequencing and automated whole-genome optical mapping of the genome of a domestic goat (Capra hircus), demonstrates the value, efficiency and cost effectiveness ...

Current thinking on how the Toxoplasma gondii parasite invades its host is incorrect, according to a study published today in Nature Methods describing a new technique to knock out genes. The findings could have implications for other parasites from the same family, including malaria, and suggest that drugs that are currently being developed to block this invasion pathway may be unsuccessful. Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite that commonly infects cats but is also carried by other warm-blooded animals, including humans. Up to a third of the UK population are chronically ...

December 23, 2012, Shenzhen, China – In a collaborative study published online today in Nature Biotechnology, researchers from Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, BGI, and other institutes, have completed the first genome sequence of domestic goat by a robust approach integrated with next-generation sequencing (NGS) and whole-genome mapping (WGM) technologies. The goat genome is the first reference genome for small ruminant animals and may help to advance the understanding of distinct ruminants' genomic features from non-ruminant species. This work ...

Scientists have shed light on why some people are more susceptible to gout than others. A study has identified 18 new genetic variations that increase levels of uric acid in the blood, which is the main cause of the disease. High levels of uric acid form small crystals in joints and tissues, causing pain and swelling – the main symptoms of the condition once known as the 'disease of kings'. Gout is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis, affecting up to two per cent of the world's population. Understanding how these common genetic variants increase uric ...

(Embargoed) CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – In research published online Dec. 23, 2012 in the journal Nature Genetics, scientists have found three new and relatively rare genetic variants that influence insulin production, offering new clues about the genetic factors behind diabetes.. "Studying genetic variants — even rare ones — helps us learn how genes affect health and disease," said Karen Mohlke, PhD, one of the study's senior authors and associate professor of genetics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. "In this study, we've implicated new genes as playing ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- A monkey would probably never agree that it is better to give than to receive, but they do apparently get some reward from giving to another monkey. During a task in which rhesus macaques had control over whether they or another monkey would receive a squirt of fruit juice, three distinct areas of the brain were found to be involved in weighing benefits to oneself against benefits to the other, according to new research by Duke University researchers. The team used sensitive electrodes to detect the activity of individual neurons as the animals weighed ...

Some 40 million people depend on the Colorado River Basin for water but warmer weather from rising greenhouse gas levels and a growing population may signal water shortages ahead. In a new study in Nature Climate Change, climate modelers at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory predict a 10 percent drop in the Colorado River's flow in the next few decades, enough to disrupt longtime water-sharing agreements between farms and cities across the American Southwest, from Denver to Los Angeles to Tucson, and through California's Imperial Valley. "It may not ...