Increasing H-1B Visa Cap, Length of Stay May Improve Economy Innovation is one of the keys to a strong economy. The way to ensure more innovation in the U.S., some argue, is to improve immigration for highly-skilled professionals. This is the message that Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, brought to a group of Silicon Valley executives during a hearing about how to improve the way the government processes visa applications. In particular, Congressman Issa called the H-1B visa system -- the nonimmigrant ...

For motorcyclists in Minnesota, summer is the time to hit the road on a bike. This summer, however, riding is proving to be more dangerous than ever, as tragic accidents have risen alarmingly. Accidents involving motorcycles have killed at least 22 people so far this year in the state, up significantly from 2010. More Danger Ahead? Minnesota's Department of Public Safety is concerned that motorcycle deaths will only increase. "August and September are typically high-traffic and high-fatal months for riders," Bill Shaffer, the motorcycle program coordinator ...

Critical life course events and experiences — in both youth and middle adulthood — may contribute to health and cognition in later life, according to a new supplemental issue of the Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences. Furthermore, the authors find that the processes of aging linked to cognition and those linked to health should be studied simultaneously, as part of the same set of processes. There also is an emerging consensus that a multidisciplinary theoretical approach is necessary to understand the nature of the processes ...

University of Florida researchers have modified a toxic chemical produced by tiny marine microbes and successfully deployed it against laboratory models of colon cancer. Writing today in ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, UF medicinal chemists describe how they took a generally lethal byproduct of marine cyanobacteria and made it more specifically toxic — to cancer cells. When the scientists gave low doses of the compound to mice with a form of colon cancer, they found that it inhibited tumor growth without the overall poisonous effect of the natural product. Even at ...

Driving drunk on Easter Sunday, Virginia resident William Daniels blew through a Utica, New York stop sign and plowed into another car, killing the driver. Daniels himself was injured and charged with aggravated vehicular manslaughter, aggravated vehicular assault and aggravated DWI (driving while intoxicated). Daniels initially pled not guilty to the charges and contested the warrantless drawing of his blood at the crash scene while he was unconscious. Though unconscious when blood was drawn for alcohol testing, Daniels may have been talking after the crash and admitted ...

New Strategy for Developing Rapid Diagnostics An international consortium of researchers has devised a novel strategy for developing rapid, inexpensive diagnostic tests for microbial infections. Effective treatment of microbial infection is critically dependent on early diagnosis and identification of the causative organism. One inexpensive, rapid and adaptable to point-of-care diagnostic method is immunoassay for microbial antigens that are shed into bodily fluids during infection. A major barrier to developing these diagnostics is determining which of the hundreds ...

Much of the United States sweated through an unusually humid heat wave during July, a month that brought record-breaking temperatures to many areas across the Great Plains. As temperatures soared, NASA satellites observed the unusual weather from above. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), an instrument launched on the Aqua satellite in 2002, is unique in its ability to yield highly accurate data about the troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere and the part that most directly affects life on Earth. Hot temperatures struck Texas and Oklahoma particularly ...

More and more vehicles are hitting the roads during this busy driving season. Unfortunately, with this extra traffic comes an increase in motor vehicle accidents - some of the more dangerous involving large trucks. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 3,380 people were killed in crashes involving commercial trucks in 2009, a 20 percent decrease from the previous year. Although fatalities from semi truck crashes are declining, motorists should still be aware that large trucks' size, weight, visibility and braking abilities make semi trucks ...

It comes as no surprise that workers in certain physically intensive fields are more susceptible to serious on the job injuries. However, until quite recently, research on work-related traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been sorely lacking, despite its status as a leading cause of death. A new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine has identified the most at-risk groups, and will hopefully inspire employers to engage in targeted strategies to protect their workers from TBI. Construction Accidents: Common Causes Almost 7,300 workers died as a ...

The Mexican government has issued a tropical storm watch for the coast of southwestern Mexico from Zihuatanejo to Punta San Telmo as Tropical Storm 8E formed this morning. The GOES-11 satellite captured an image of its rounded clouds hugging this coast this morning, and NASA's TRMM satellite noticed some heavy rainfall in the system yesterday. Forecasters noticed the depression develop more rounded characteristics on imagery from NOAA's GOES-11 satellite today. The image was created by the NASA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. On Aug. ...

The division of marital property, or property acquired during a marriage, is often one of the most complicated and difficult aspects of the divorce process. Disputes may arise about when the property was acquired, or how much certain assets are worth. When a couple disagrees on how to divide shared property, the question will more than likely end up decided by the courts. In Georgia, a judge's decision about how to divide marital property is based on a system of "equitable distribution." The equitable distribution system is based on the idea that property ...

Tropical Storm Nanmadol made landfall in southeastern China's Fujian Province and is now a depression, while further east, Tropical Storm Talas is still headed for Japan. Infrared satellite imagery from The Atmospheric Sounder Instrument (AIRS) aboard NASA's Aqua satellite shows two different stories in the tropical cyclones. AIRS captured an infrared image of Nanmadol on Aug. 31 at 1:05 EDT dissipating quickly over mainland China with a lack of high, thunderstorm clouds. Most of the remnants of Nanmadol are lower, warmer clouds. Tropical Storm Nanmadol made landfall ...

With the recent court convictions of a U.S. airman, Boy Scout camp director and Kansas man for child pornography, the FBI can proudly claim many successes in its efforts to stop online crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children. However, the agency has another daunting job: to fight illegal computer activity that threatens national security. A recent audit found that less than one-fifth of the FBI's cyber agents worked on "national security intrusion investigations" in 2009. Since the creation of its cyber-crimes divisions, the FBI has tackled such ...

The breathalyzer is a breath alcohol-testing device invented in 1954 to assist police in assessing blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels. Breathalyzer devices do not measure exact levels of blood alcohol concentration. Rather, the devices make estimates based on measurements of alcohol in the breath. When a person drinks alcoholic beverages, the alcohol is absorbed into the blood stream through the mouth, stomach and intestines. The blood then moves through the lungs where some of the alcohol enters the air sacks and is exhaled, providing an indicator of how much ...

While parts of the East Coast and New England are still recovering from Hurricane Irene, a new storm is brewing in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Katia. The TRMM satellite looked "under the hood" of the storm and saw heavy rainfall rates and towering clouds providing a clue that she was going to strengthen and may become a hurricane later today. Katia began as an area of low pressure that had moved away from the coast of Africa south of the Cape Verde Islands in the central eastern Atlantic. This area of low pressure became the twelfth tropical depression of the season ...

The Hilton Garden Inn Atlanta Airport Hotel (North) offers convenient lodging to travelers visiting Atlanta, GA during Labor Day Weekend 2011. Atlanta is a vibrant city host to many upcoming events for the holiday weekend including: - AJC Decatur Book Festival, September 2-4 - Atlanta Braves Baseball, home games August 30 - September 4 - Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at Georgia Dome, September 3 - AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, September 4 "From exciting events to many local area attractions, such as Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca Cola, Zoo Atlanta, Stone ...

CLEVELAND – Research published today in the New England Journal of Medicine gives cause for optimism that federal investments in electronic health records (EHRs) could reap major benefits in better patient care and health outcomes. A study based in the Cleveland (Ohio) area involving more than 27,000 adults with diabetes found that those in physician practices using EHRs were significantly more likely to have health care and outcomes that align with accepted standards than those where doctors rely on paper records. Improvements in care and outcomes over a three-year period ...

The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Atlanta Perimeter Hotel North offers convenient lodging to guests attending Earth, Wind, & Fire at Chastain Park Amphitheater on Friday, August 23, 2011 at 8:00pm. Part of Delta Classic Chastain Concerts presented by Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Earth, Wind & Fire tour is celebrating the group's 40th anniversary. This is a table set-up concert; coolers and carry-ins are allowed. Featuring longtime group members Verdine White, Philip Bailey and B. David Whitworth, Earth, Wind & Fire is an American Rhythm and Blues band ...

Students are stigmatized for any number of reasons, from the clothes they wear to what model cell phone they clench in their hands. Now, in a new report, researchers from UCLA show that youths from a range of ethnic-minority backgrounds have an added burden to contend with: ethnicity-based stigmatization. Even elementary school–aged children are aware of such stigmatization and, like older youths, they feel more anxious about school as a result. In the current online edition of the journal Child Development, senior author Andrew J. Fuligni, a UCLA professor of psychiatry, ...

The Wildlife Conservation Society applauds the government of Santa Fe Province for taking steps to reduce the amount of lead ammunition used in hunting of waterfowl, the first such action of its kind in Argentina. Enacted for this year's hunting season, the regulation requires hunters to reduce usage of lead shot by 25 percent. The regulation initiates a process that may lead to the eventual ban of lead shot. Lead is known to cause severe adverse effects on the health of animals and humans and permanently pollute the environment. "This is a huge step forward," said ...

British Airways cabin crew are using the latest iPad model to bring a new dimension to customer service in the air. The iPads enable cabin crew to have prior awareness of customer preferences and a greater understanding of each customer's previous travel arrangements, allowing them to offer a truly bespoke, personalised service. The iPad lets crew quickly identify where each customer is seated, who they are travelling with, their Executive Club status and any special meal requests. It gives cabin crew a whole library of information at their fingertips including timetables, ...

DARIEN, IL – A natural yellowing of the eye lens that absorbs blue light has been linked to sleep disorders in a group of test volunteers, according to a study in the September 1 issue of the journal Sleep. As this type of lens discoloration worsened with age, so did the risk of insomnia. "The strong link between lens yellowing and age could help explain why sleep disorders become more frequent with increasing age," said Line Kessel, M.D., Ph.D., the study's lead author. In the Danish study, 970 volunteers had their eyes examined by lens autofluorometry, a non-invasive ...

DARIEN, Ill. – Insomnia is costing the average U.S. worker 11.3 days, or $2,280 in lost productivity every year, according to a study in the September 1 issue of the journal Sleep. As a nation, the total cost is 252.7 days and $63.2 billion. "We were shocked by the enormous impact insomnia has on the average person's life," said lead author Ronald C. Kessler, Ph.D. "It's an underappreciated problem. Americans are not missing work because of insomnia. They are still going to their jobs but accomplishing less because they're tired. In an information-based economy, it's ...

Ischemic stroke hospitalization rates in adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 44 increased up to 37% between 1995 and 2008 according to a study conducted by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The findings available today in Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association and the Child Neurology Society, report an increase in the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, lipid disorders, and tobacco use among this age group during the 14-year study period. The American Heart Association states that stroke ...

redspottedhanky.com is proud to announce it will be raising funds for The Prince's Trust. redspottedhanky is supporting the 2011 Prince's Trust 'Million Makers' corporate challenge, a charity competition which sees teams from a hundred organisations set up businesses in order to raise as much funding as possible for The Prince's Trust. redspottedhanky has entered a team into the 2011 'Million Makers' challenge and need customers to donate loyalty points in order to help it reach its target. Customers can log in to their online account using their normal username ...