In New York, driving records include a point total. The New York Department of Motor Vehicles (NY DMV) uses this point total to track drivers and provide additional penalties, such as the Driver Responsibility Assessment (DRA), to drivers who have committed numerous traffic violations. In New York, points for various traffic violations can add up rather quickly. A few common traffic violations and their corresponding point totals include: - Improper cell phone use, such as texting while driving: 2 points - Failure to obey a traffic signal: 2 points - Reckless driving: ...

WHAT: HIV is coated in sugars that usually hide the virus from the immune system. Newly published research reveals how one broadly neutralizing HIV antibody actually uses part of the sugary cloak to help bind to the virus. The antibody binding site, called the V1/V2 region, represents a suitable HIV vaccine target, according to the scientists who conducted the study. In addition, their research reveals the detailed structure of the V1/V2 region, the last part of the virus surface to be visualized at the atomic level. The study was led by Peter D. Kwong, Ph.D., chief ...

Article provided by McCann Schaible & Wall, LLC Visit us at www.mswattorneys.com Traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, are some of the most severe traumas people can experience. Often, TBIs leave patients with lifelong side effects that affect their ability to function in their work and personal lives. Unfortunately, one of the most prevalent causes of TBI is also one of the most common American behaviors: driving. Motor vehicle accidents are the second-leading cause of TBIs in the United States, accounting for over 17 percent of brain injuries, and are the leading ...

SAN ANTONIO (Nov. 23, 2011) — Scientists studying longevity thought it might be good to lack a copy of a gene, called IGF1 receptor, that is important in insulin signaling. Previous studies showed invertebrates that lacked the copy lived longer, even if their bodies were less responsive to insulin, the hormone that lowers blood sugar. A new study from The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio challenges this. Knocking out one copy of the gene failed to increase the life span of male mice, and it only modestly increased the life span of female littermates. ...

People with diabetes are known to have an increased risk of heart disease. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine shows that regular consumption of a vitamin D-fortified yoghurt drink improves cholesterol levels and biomarkers of endothelial dysfunction, a precursor of heart disease, in diabetics. Not having enough vitamin D affects the inner lining of blood vessels (endothelial cells) eventually leading to atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Endothelial dysfunction can be measured by the increased levels of a set of biomarkers, ...

They say time heals all wounds, and new research from the University of California, Berkeley, indicates that time spent in dream sleep can help. UC Berkeley researchers have found that during the dream phase of sleep, also known as REM sleep, our stress chemistry shuts down and the brain processes emotional experiences and takes the painful edge off difficult memories. The findings offer a compelling explanation for why people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), such as war veterans, have a hard time recovering from painful experiences and suffer reoccurring ...

In today's marketplace, employees change jobs frequently as certain skill sets are in high demand. Many Utah businesses do not adequately protect themselves for the potential departures of these special high performing employees. Recently, Ford Motor Company filed suit against a past marketing executive who, after leaving Ford, took a job as President of a large Toyota distributor. Ford's concerns included the possibility of its former employee taking valuable business knowledge and giving that to a direct competitor. The former Ford employee had signed a non-compete ...

A simple device that filters out airborne asthma triggers during sleep can ease persistent symptoms of the condition during the day and improve quality of life, suggests research published online in Thorax. Temperature controlled laminar airflow treatment, or TLA for short, delivers a constant, slightly cooled airflow in the patient's breathing area, which displaces warmer air containing irritants and allergens, such as house dust mite and pet hairs. The aim is to stave off the abnormal immune response that triggers a systemic allergic reaction, including the airway ...

Shakespeare was a master at portraying profound emotional upset in the physical symptoms of his characters, and many modern day doctors would do well to study the Bard to better understand the mind-body connection, concludes an analysis of his works, published in Medical Humanities. Kenneth Heaton, a medical doctor and extensively published author on William Shakespeare's oeuvre, systematically analysed 42 of the author's major works and 46 of those of his contemporaries, looking for evidence of psychosomatic symptoms. He focused on sensory symptoms other than those ...

Firefighters are more likely to be injured while exercising than while putting out fires, suggests research published online in Injury Prevention. But carrying patients is the task most likely to require time off work, the study shows. Combined firefighting and emergency medical services have one of the highest workplace injury and death rates in the US. The authors looked at data for injuries sustained while at work for 21 fire stations serving the metropolitan area of Tucson, Arizona between 2004 and 2009. The 650 employees included firefighters, paramedics, ...

Increased participation on social networking sites has resulted in law enforcement officers in New York and across the nation to turn to sites such as Facebook for information and evidence. Officers can use information found on individual users' pages to track their location, view photos and other personal information shared on their profiles. And it is not just information made public by the users' privacy settings. Facebook's privacy agreement allows Facebook to share information posted on the website with law enforcement officials if there is a good faith belief that ...

RICHMOND, Va. (Nov. 23, 2011) – Researchers interested in the treatment of schizophrenia and dementia have clarified how antipsychotic drugs that target a complex of two receptors at the surface of cells in the brain work, according to a new study published online Nov. 23 in the journal Cell. The multidisciplinary team included researchers from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, together with the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in Baltimore. In an earlier, but related study, the Mount Sinai ...

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. -- For a pest that isn't quite the size of a comma on a keyboard, the two-spotted spider mite can do a disproportionate amount of damage. These web-spinners extract the nutrients they need from leaves of more than a thousand different plant species, including bioenergy feedstocks and food staples. The cost of chemically controlling spider mites to counteract reduced harvest yields hovers around $1 billion annually, reflecting their significant economic impact. With a 90-million nucleotide genome, the smallest of those that belong to the group of animals ...

PASADENA, Calif. -- Although many mental illnesses are uniquely human, animals sometimes exhibit abnormal behaviors similar to those seen in humans with psychological disorders. Such behaviors are called endophenotypes. Now, researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have found that mice lacking a gene that encodes a particular protein found in the synapses of the brain display a number of endophenotypes associated with schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders. The new findings appear in a recent issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, with Mary ...

The elusive culprits that are killing countless coral reefs around the world can now be nabbed with technology normally used to diagnose human diseases, marine researchers say. Coral researchers and reef managers will be able to identify coral infections using a new method that allows them to classify specific diseases based on the presence of microbes. This could lead to more effective action to reduce the impact of disease on the world's imperilled coral reefs. "Current classification of coral diseases is mostly based on a description of how the coral has deteriorated, ...

The Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act gives injured workers valuable rights. They include payment of medical bills, wage loss compensation, disfigurement awards for work-related facial and neck scars and awards for specific loss of use of a body part (ex. - leg, hand, finger, etc). The following are key points that workers should know about workers' compensation in Pennsylvania. Workers' Compensation Benefits for Work-Related Injuries According to the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act, employers must give their full-time, part-time and seasonal employees ...

Blossom end rot on tomatoes and cucumbers, bitter-pit in apples – these unpleasant blemishes on fruits and vegetables not only compromises the flavor but also causes significant harvest losses every year. The characteristic blotches and spotting can be traced back to insufficient calcium uptake or faulty calcium transport within the plant. Consequently, the damage can occur even if the soil provides sufficient calcium. A team under the leadership of scientists from the University of Zurich and Pohang University of Science and Technology, Korea, has for the first time identified ...

The tiny two-spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae) causes much anxiety for farmers, and has been, to date, a scientific mystery. It feeds on over 1,100 species of plants, including 150 greenhouse plants and crops, such as maize, soy, tomatoes and citrus. The cost of chemically controlling damage caused by the spider mite exceeds USD 1 billion per year. In the latest issue of the journal Nature, a multinational consortium of scientists publish the sequenced genome of the spider mite, revealing how it is capable of such feeding frenzy, as well as other secrets of this ...

Glioblastoma is regarded as the most malignant form of brain tumor. In many cases, neurosurgeons are not able to remove such tumors completely because of the risk of destroying too much brain tissue in the process. Moreover, it is often impossible to identify all the fine extensions by which the tumor spreads into surrounding healthy tissue. To at least slow down the growth of tumor cells that have remained in the head, almost all glioblastoma patients are treated by radiotherapy after surgery. "Unfortunately, we can only delay cancerous growth in this way, but we cannot ...

Countless people sustain injuries each year while on the property of another person or business. Some of these injuries could have been prevented if the owner, manager or occupier of the property had taken basic safety precautions or behaved as a reasonable person would have in the same situation. Every slip and fall or trip and fall accident does not automatically result in a personal injury claim, but some of them do. It takes a skilled personal injury attorney to know the difference between a frivolous case and one that is likely to succeed. Slip and fall, trip and ...

Scientists have found that a strain of yeast implicated in inflammatory skin conditions, including eczema, can be killed by certain peptides and could potentially provide a new treatment for these debilitating skin conditions. This research is published today in the Society for Applied Microbiology's journal, Letters in Applied Microbiology. 20% of children in the UK suffer from atopic eczema and whilst this usually clears up in adolescence, 7% of adults will continue to suffer throughout their lifetime. Furthermore, this type of eczema, characterized by dry, itchy, flaking ...

How will the terrorist attacks in Norway on 22 July change the country? That question has been put to three social scientists at the University of Stavanger (UiS). "Norwegians are still in a state of shock," says professor Odd Einar Olsen. "These incidents were so extensive and gruesome that people need time to come to terms with them." He is very interested to see what content Norway will give to promises made about more openness and democracy after the car-bombing in Oslo and the massacre at Utøya north of the capital. "While people have united in sorrow, a crippling ...

The long, cold Minnesota winters never fail to blanket the state's roadways, causing many weather-related accidents that can range from minor to severe. Minnesota was sixth in the nation for icy road fatalities during the 2009-2010 season, with 18 fatal accidents during that winter. Minneapolis weather-related auto accident attorneys and other people who work with accident victims understand the danger that comes with winter driving. They encourage safe, cautious driving in the snow, ice and sleet. Fortunately, there are several things drivers can do to stay safe ...

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - A new University of Maryland public opinion poll finds Egyptians harboring serious doubts about their military's commitment to the revolution that ousted the Mubarak regime last spring. In the poll, 43 percent of Egyptians said they believe military authorities are working against the aims of the revolution, compared to nearly 21 percent who saw them as advancing these aims. "There appears to be a major shift in Egyptian public attitudes toward military authorities, and this will likely have important consequences for politics there in coming weeks," ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Research conducted at the University of Michigan College of Engineering may lead to the use of insects to monitor hazardous situations before sending in humans. Professor Khalil Najafi, the chair of electrical and computer engineering, and doctoral student Erkan Aktakka are finding ways to harvest energy from insects, and take the utility of the miniature cyborgs to the next level. "Through energy scavenging, we could potentially power cameras, microphones and other sensors and communications equipment that an insect could carry aboard a tiny backpack," ...