Who is responsible when a person is injured on a property owned by someone else? For example, is a landlord liable for tenant injuries? Premises liability law seeks to identify when the person in possession of the property must compensate someone for injuries that occur on that property. Because various legal factors -- such as negligence, the status of the visitor or the role the injured person played in the incident -- determine when property owners are responsible, premises liability cases can become highly complex. This makes the advice of a premises liability / ...

As reported this week in Nature Communications, the researchers used the atomically-sharp tip of a scanning tunneling microscope to move 1-nanometer sized molecules on top of a silver substrate. The tip is controlled with such great accuracy that it is possible to precisely choose the position of each molecule and build tiny molecular squares, crosses, and chains of controlled size and orientation. The same tip is then used as a mobile electrode to probe the electrical conductivity of the molecules as a function of their position in the array. Figures a-d show an example ...

A tracheostomy performed within the first seven days after a severe head injury results in better overall patient outcome, according to a team of Penn State College of Medicine researchers. This is especially true for patients who have a greater chance of surviving when admitted to the hospital. A tracheostomy is an opening created in the front of the neck directly into the trachea to allow unimpeded breathing. (A tracheotomy is the act of making that opening.) "The CDC estimates that more than 200,000 individuals are hospitalized annually for traumatic brain injury," ...

In a recent ruling by the Massachusetts Court of Appeals, the Commonwealth's Sex Offender Registry Board may not require an individual to register as a Level 2 sex offender based solely on a conviction of possessing child pornography. Massachusetts has three levels of sex offenders, which are based on a person's individual risk of reoffending and the perceived danger to the public. Level 1 offenders have a low risk of committing future crimes and pose a minimal public safety risk. The list of Level 1 offenders is not available to the general public. However, law enforcement ...

If an electric car wants to be environmentally friendly it must weigh as little as possible, because when the light turns green every additional pound/kilogram must be accelerated with considerable energy expenditure. And the lighter the electric vehicle, the longer it can be on the road without having to be plugged back into a power outlet. To advance the symbiosis between electromobility and lightweight construction, engineers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT in Pfinztal, Germany, are developing manufacturing concepts that have one goal – they ...

Trick-or-treating is a great way for kids to have fun, create cherished memories and indulge a youthful sweet tooth. But, when caught up in the spirit of the holiday, many parents forget that bumps, bruises and far more frightening injuries are also an unfortunate possibility when an unusual number of children take to the streets. Pedestrian Accidents Involving Cars and Children Far More Common on October 31 Studies have shown that the number of pedestrian deaths involving children age 15 and younger is 4.5 times higher on Halloween night compared to all other nights ...

MIAMA BEACH, FL (October 5, 2011)––Approximately 10-20 percent of prostate cancer patients have a family history of the disease. There are three major factors that are used to evaluate the extent and aggressiveness of prostate cancer, help make treatment decisions, and estimate prognosis: the Prostate Specific Antigen Level (PSA), Gleason score (GS) from the biopsy, and the digital rectal exam findings (DRE). However, men with a family history of prostate cancer have often been feared to have a more aggressive form of the disease not otherwise represented by these three ...

Advanced imaging with Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans shows great promise in predicting which patients with inoperable lung cancer have more aggressive tumors and need additional treatment following standard chemotherapy/radiation therapy, according to new research. Mitch Machtay, MD, of the Seidman Cancer Center at University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center and principle investigator for the study, presented the significant data today at 2 pm at the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in Miami Beach, Fla. The National Cancer ...

In these hard economic times, many couples are sticking together solely because of perceived monetary impediments to divorce. With the right help, however, you may not have to choose between happiness and financial wellbeing. Divorce and the Economy According to a study conducted by the University of Virginia, nearly 40 percent of married couples who were planning on a divorce or separation before the recession put their divorce on hold once the economy crashed. While the choice to abandon the pursuit of a divorce is no doubt complex and there are multiple reasons ...

In the best of circumstances, raising a toddler is a daunting undertaking. But parents under long-term stress often find it particularly challenging to tap into the patience, responsiveness, and energy required for effective child rearing. Now research from a University of Rochester team helps to explain why chronic stress and parenting are such a toxic mix. The study finds that ongoing strains, like poverty or depression, disrupt the body's natural stress response, making mothers more likely to engage in a host of problematic parenting behaviors, including neglect, ...

In 2010, more than 2,000 businesses went through an immigration audit. And this year, ICE has already audited many more companies, including sending out 1,000 notification letters to businesses in early June alone. In a time when employers have enough to worry about, they must also make concerted efforts to ensure their employees are legally qualified to work in the U.S. Under the Obama administration, the focus on illegal immigration has moved from undocumented immigrants to their potential employers. Gone are the days of loud immigration raids like the ones we saw ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Researchers recently isolated 63 unique dust particles from their laboratory – and that's just the beginning. The chemists were testing a new kind of sensor when dust got stuck inside it, and they discovered that they could measure the composition of single dust particles. In a recent issue of The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, they describe how the discovery could aid the study respiratory diseases caused by airborne particles. Most dust is natural in origin, explained James Coe, professor of chemistry at Ohio State University. The 63 particles ...

Property rights are one of the essential tenets of our society. According to one California eminent domain attorney, property owners are entitled to use their property how they see fit within the bounds of the law. However, there are instances where the government is entitled to infringe upon one's property to support the greater good of the community. This is called eminent domain. Under the principle of eminent domain, it is the government's right to "take" private property for public use. When a "taking" occurs, a municipality must pay fair market ...

The sluggish economy is not only affecting job growth in the United States, it is also spurring more debt due to medical expenses. According to study conducted by the Commonwealth Fund, 57 percent of workers who lost jobs that previously had health insurance have become uninsured. This creates two problems for those who become sick: Not only do they no longer have health insurance to defray medical expenses, they also lack the income to pay such costs out of pocket. The Commonwealth Fund also found that debt collection companies contacted 30 million Americans in 2010 ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Technology firms frequently require workers to sign non-compete agreements, which typically bar their employees from joining rival companies for one to two years. For firms, the agreements keep workers from taking the knowledge and skills they have acquired and using them to help a rival. But a new study of more than 1,000 engineers, conducted by an MIT professor, shows that non-compete agreements come with a high cost for employees: When those workers do shift jobs, roughly one-third of them end up leaving their chosen industry altogether, often ...

Over the past few years, a movement to reform spousal support (called "alimony" and "spousal maintenance" in some states) has been making its way across the nation. Spousal support in its traditional form consists of the money-earning spouse providing financial support to the other spouse after a divorce. The amount of spousal support can be agreed upon or calculated based on the earning spouse's ability to pay and the needs of the non-earning spouse. Because of changing times -- in which more and more wives and mothers work outside the home -- many ...

The Great Recession and the currently tepid economic recovery swelled the ranks of American households confronting hunger and food insecurity by 30 percent. In 2010 48.8 million Americans lived in food insecure households, meaning they were hungry or faced food insecurity at some point during the year. That's 12 million more people than faced hunger in 2007, before the recession, and represents 16.1 percent of the U.S. population. Yet hunger is not readily seen in America. We see neither newscasts showing small American children with distended bellies nor legions of thin, ...

Why are some places more prone to bribery and corruption than others? Part of the answer seems to be the level of collective feeling in a society, according to research by Pankaj Aggarwal, University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) professor of marketing in the Department of Management, and Nina Mazar, University of Toronto professor of marketing. Aggarwal and Mazar discovered that people in more collectivist cultures – in which individuals see themselves as interdependent and as part of a larger society – are more likely to offer bribes than people from more individualistic ...

Before Congress passed a budget deal in early August 2011, President Obama expressed concern in a televised speech that the federal government would be unable to pay Social Security benefits without a long-term agreement on the budget. Others in Washington, including President Obama's budget director Jack Lew and Senate majority leader Harry Reid, disputed the president's assertion, maintaining that Social Security is a self-funding program with a $2.6 trillion trust fund that is capable of funding benefit payments for the next 25 years. How could politicians deliver such ...

Zinc plays a critical role in regulating how neurons communicate with one another, and could affect how memories form and how we learn. The new research, in the current issue of Neuron, was authored by Xiao-an Zhang, now a chemistry professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), and colleagues at MIT and Duke University. Researchers have been trying to pin down the role of zinc in the brain for more than fifty years, ever since scientists found high concentrations of the chemical in synaptic vesicles, a portion of the neuron that stores neurotransmitters. ...

Miami Beach, Fla. — The prognosis for patients with stage II and III inoperable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is poor, with only about 15 percent of patients surviving at five years post-treatment for the disease. While new treatment strategies are being intensely studied, timely assessment of their efficacy has proven difficult. In a presentation today, Mitchell Machtay, MD, principal investigator of the ACRIN 6668/RTOG 0235 trial and RTOG deputy chair, reported the that post-treatment F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) scans show promise ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- What makes people great? Popular theorists such as the New Yorker's Malcolm Gladwell and the New York Times' David Brooks argue that intelligence plays a role -- but only up to a point. Beyond that, they say, it's practice, practice, practice. Zach Hambrick agrees with the practice argument -- imagine where Bill Gates would be if he hadn't honed his programming skills, after all -- but the Michigan State University scientist takes exception to the view that intelligence plays no role in determining excellence. In a provocative new paper, Hambrick ...

Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue recently announced the expansion of the list of conditions that qualify a benefit applicant for a fast-track application under either the Quick Disability Determination (QDD) or Compassionate Allowances program (CAL). The SSA created the QDD and CAL programs in 2008 to help get disability benefit payments to those who need them most. It is important for those who apply for Social Security disability benefits to be aware of the fast-track process to see if they qualify. What Conditions Qualify? The fast-track program initially ...

New data gathered from the latest census and the Center for Disease Control's National Vital Statistics System reveal that states that perform or recognize same-sex marriage have lower divorce rates for all couples compared to states that do not recognize or ban same-sex marriage. Five of the ten states with the lowest divorce rates are among the eight states that perform or recognize same-sex marriage. In 2009, the divorce rate for these states was 41.2 percent, compared with 50.3 percent in states without same-sex marriage. That rate increases to 53.2 percent if one ...

A University of Colorado Boulder-led team excavating a Maya village in El Salvador buried by a volcanic eruption 1,400 years ago has unexpectedly hit an ancient white road that appears to lead to and from the town, which was frozen in time by a blanket of ash. The road, known as a "sacbe," is roughly 6 feet across and is made from white volcanic ash from a previous eruption that was packed down and shored up along its edges by residents living there in roughly A.D. 600, said CU-Boulder Professor Payson Sheets, who discovered the buried village known as Ceren near the ...