In a perfect world, businesses would never have to deal with uncertainty. Fleet managers, who have to face everything from monetary losses due to vehicles involved in crashes to the loss of life itself, realize this isn't a perfect world. Since it is neither possible nor practical to insure against every situation, it is up to the fleet manager to make sure their vehicles are safe, drivers are trained, and crashes are prevented. To help fleet managers learn more about risk management, NAFA Fleet Management Association is running a Risk Management 101 webinar series February ...

Heart failure affects 5.8 million people in the U.S. alone and is responsible for nearly 1 million hospitalizations each year, most resulting from a build-up of body fluid in the lungs and other organs due to the heart's inability to pump effectively. The disease needs to be closely tracked in order to avoid such hospitalizations, and home-monitoring interventions may be especially useful, UCLA researchers say. In their new paper, the UCLA authors discuss the importance of heart failure disease-management and early identification, as well as the treatment of body-fluid ...

Tampa, FL (Jan 3, 2012) – Immune system abnormalities that mimic those seen with autism spectrum disorders have been linked to the amyloid precursor protein (APP), reports a research team from the University of South Florida's Department of Psychiatry and the Silver Child Development Center. The study, conducted with mouse models of autism, suggests that elevated levels of an APP fragment circulating in the blood could explain the aberrations in immune cell populations and function – both observed in some autism patients. The findings were recently published online in ...

Warner Norcross & Judd LLP Partner Scott Keller has been elected president of the Community Circle Theatre board of directors. Keller, who concentrates his law practice on intellectual property, has served as vice president of the organization for the past three years and has been a board member for more than six years. Circle Theatre produces five main stage and one children's Magic Circle productions from May through September, as well as provides curriculum-supporting productions to local schools through its Circle Presents program and hosts cabarets and special ...

Powertec Inc., the World's Best Selling Plate Loaded Home Gym Brand, has launched its newly designed online magazine site, the Powertec Online Magazine. Uniquely engineered for the serious lifter, the Powertec brand maximizes weight capacities using Olympic plates vs. the rest of the competitors utilizing on limited resistance pin-stack weights. And with the launch of the Powertec Online Magazine, fitness enthusiasts and loyal Powertec customers will get the chance to know more about Team Powertec athletes such as Rob Riches and Ian Lauer, get helpful tips on diet and ...

COLLEGE STATION, Jan. 3, 2011 – By manipulating the way bacteria "talk" to each other, researchers at Texas A&M University have achieved an unprecedented degree of control over the formation and dispersal of biofilms – a finding with potentially significant health and industrial applications, particularly to bioreactor technology. Working with E. coli bacteria, Professor Thomas K. Wood and Associate Professor Arul Jayaraman of the university's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering have employed specific signals sent and received between bacteria to trigger ...

Children with a rare, life-threatening disease that is the most common cause of neonatal liver failure – biliary atresia – better tolerate liver transplants from their mothers than from their fathers, according to a UCSF-led study. In the study, researchers reviewed all pediatric liver transplants nationwide from 1996 to 2010, and compared the outcomes for patients who received liver grafts from their mothers with those for patients who received livers from their fathers. Researchers believe the improved outcomes for children receiving a maternal liver graft may be ...

Accell, a provider of premium audio/video and computer accessories, today announced the company will be exhibiting its new MHL cable at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show from Jan. 10-13, 2012, in booth #21848. Accell's MHL cable provides a direct connection from MHL-enabled mobile devices to MHL-enabled HDTVs, so consumers can view and share high-definition (HD) content. MHL technology is a rapidly growing HD audio/video connectivity standard that enables a mobile device with MHL technology to deliver 1080p uncompressed video with up to eight channels ...

A new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder could be a wake-up call for parents of toddlers: Daytime naps for your kids may be more important than you think. The study shows toddlers between 2 and a half and 3 years old who miss only a single daily nap show more anxiety, less joy and interest and a poorer understanding of how to solve problems, said CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Monique LeBourgeois, who led the study. The results indicate insufficient sleep alters the facial expressions of toddlers -- exciting events are responded to less positively and frustrating ...

Deacom, Inc., producer of the DEACOM Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software system for mid-to-large sized batch process manufacturing companies, offers an integrated warehouse management system (WMS) with real-time capabilities. DEACOM's WMS takes inventory management to the next level by using handheld computers to record real-time purchase order receipts, inventory moves, production job finishes, raw material usage and sales order picking. The unique real-time capability means that any warehouse question can be answered instantly by the system. "Real-time ...

Franklin Foodservice Solutions, a group of redistribution consultants based in Sanibel, FL, announce the debut of their latest eBook, "Advanced Issues in Redistribution". In keeping with the company's goal of providing a place for food service sales, marketing and supply chain professionals to go when they have issues or opportunities to improve their business, this eBook is a wonderful resource for those looking to understand redistribution and the impact it can have on your business. With easy to understand explanations of redistribution programs and links ...

Louisville, Ky.— Some individuals with severe aortic stenosis – also known as narrowing of the aortic valve in the heart – who are not well enough to undergo open heart surgery have a new treatment option thanks to a new procedure now available in Kentucky from University of Louisville physicians at Jewish Hospital. A team that included UofL cardiologists Michael Flaherty, M.D, Ph.D., and Naresh Solankhi, M.D., and UofL cardiothoracic surgeon Matthew Williams, M.D., performed the first transcatheter aortic-valve replacement (TAVR) procedure on a 47-year-old male patient ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. – Doctors have known for years that the incidence of deadly liver cancer is on the rise, but what is causing that trend has remained a mystery. Two recent Mayo Clinic studies published in the January issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings offer a clearer picture of the rise of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), or liver cancer, which has tripled in the U.S. in the last three decades and has a 10 to 12 percent five-year survival rate when detected in later stages. "The studies illuminate the importance of identifying people with risk factors in certain populations ...

The law firm of Warner Norcross & Judd LLP today announced that seven attorneys have been named partners. The new partners practice in a variety of areas, from patent law to commercial litigation and corporate law. They serve clients across the state and around the world from the law firm's office in Grand Rapids. "We are very pleased to welcome these seven deserving attorneys into the partnership," said Douglas E. Wagner, managing partner of Warner Norcross. "They are exemplary lawyers who have served their clients - and the law firm - well during ...

SAN ANTONIO (Jan. 3, 2012) — Hydrogen sulfide, a gas notorious for its rotten-egg smell, may have redeeming qualities after all. It reduces high glucose-induced production of scarring proteins in kidney cells, researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio report in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The paper is scheduled for print publication in early 2012. Shuts down manufacture of scarring proteins "There is interest in gases being mediators of biological events," said B.S. Kasinath, M.D., professor of medicine and a nephrologist with ...

Colin Saldanha, a biology professor at American University in Washington, D.C., has always been intrigued by the hormone estrogen. Specifically, how the hormone that does so much (for example, it promotes sexual behavior in women but can also increase susceptibility to seizures) does not cause major cross circuit meltdowns. "In the extreme case, once every 28 days, women should be having seizures—and when they do, it's a condition called Catamenial Epilepsy—but that's obviously not the norm and there's the mystery," Saldanha said. "Somehow, the vertebrate body has figured ...

The award winning website developers at Precept Partners today announced a new "all inclusive" package of NetNitrox strategy consulting, website design and online marketing services. "By consolidating all of the critical functions we've been able to significantly lower the cost of the overall process, with improved results", said Stephen Antisdel, the company's manager. Typical features implemented in the website include in the NetNitrox package are demonstrated at the company's own http://www.NetNitrox.com website. These include dynamic page and ...

Web Savvy Marketing, a Michigan-based internet marketing firm, today announced a new website audit service offering. Website audits are available in three different levels. The levels are broken down into a basic, plus and ultimate package. Website audits are performed in-house and completed by Web Savvy Marketing's resident SEO expert, Rebecca Gill. Each website audit covers domain and hosting, website architecture, on-page SEO, off-page SEO, website usability, social media and content tagging. Website Audit Deliverables •Executive summary personalized for your ...

Identifying species, separating out closely related species and managing each type on its own, is an important part of any animal management system. Some species, like the two types of two-toed sloth, are so close in appearance and behavior that differentiation can be challenging. Conservation researchers at San Diego Zoo Global's Institute of Conservation Research have developed a mechanism for identifying these reclusive species from each other. "Species identification of two-toed sloths has always been problematic in the wild and captivity due to their large overlap ...

In a study that investigates the challenges of disseminating clinical research findings in peer-reviewed biomedical journals, Yale School of Medicine researchers have found that fewer than half of a sample of trials primarily or partially funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were published within 30 months of completing the clinical trial. These findings appear in the January issue of the British Medical Journal, which focuses on the topic of unpublished evidence. "When research findings are not disseminated, the scientific process is disrupted and leads ...

Intellectsoft celebrates the New Year 2012 with the launch of a brand new website. Last year the company celebrated their fourth birthday, successfully delivered more than 100 projects and entered Scandinavian mobile development market. Intellectsoft couldn't but commemorate their significant progress with the launch of a new marvellous corporate website. As with any business there is, you eventually outgrow your old website however good it is. Intellectsoft decided to renew the design and content of http://www.intellectsoft.co.uk, so that it corresponds precisely to ...

PITTSBURGH -- The delivery of pharmaceuticals into the human body or the storage of voluminous quantities of gas molecules could now be better controlled, thanks to a study by University of Pittsburgh researchers. In a paper published online today in Nature Communications, a team of chemists and colleagues from Pitt's Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and the Pitt School of Medicine and Northwestern and Durham universities have posed an alternative approach toward building porous materials. Working with metal-organic frameworks—crystalline compounds comprising ...

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A new guideline issued by the American Academy of Neurology recommends doctors use caution when choosing seizure drugs for people with HIV/AIDS to avoid potential drug interactions. The guideline, which was co-developed with the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), is published in the January 4, 2012, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology and in Epilepsia, the journal of the ILAE. Seizures and seizure disorders are common in people infected with HIV, with more than one in 10 patients experiencing ...

Following the tremendous success of the Pets in the Classroom Grant Program to date and numerous requests from teachers of 7th & 8th grade classes to be eligible for funding, the Pet Care Trust Board has agreed to expand the program's reach to those grades beginning in 2012. Established by the Pet Care Trust in 2009, Pets in the Classroom has provided grants to Pre-Kindergarten through Sixth grade teachers to purchase or adopt a new pet and required equipment or to support existing classroom pets. The Pets in the Classroom program has seen over 7,000 grant requests ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. —New guidelines from the American Academy of Neurology will help physicians better choose seizure drugs for people on HIV/AIDS medication, avoiding deadly drug interactions and preventing critical anti-HIV drugs from becoming less effective, possibly leading to a more virulent strain of the disease. Michigan State University's Gretchen Birbeck – who spends several months each year in the sub-Sahara African nation of Zambia researching epilepsy, HIV /AIDS and cerebral malaria – is the lead author of the medical guideline, which was co-developed with ...