After nearly a decade of serving West Michigan's homeowners, Five Star Real Estate agent Sue Prins has expanded her network with a comprehensive new website and social media presence. Ms. Prins' new website (www.sueprins.com) not only offers a fresh, updated look, but also resources geared to help home buyers and sellers make more informed decisions. Updated property listings, MLS West Michigan homes for sale and other real estate resources are made available through Sue Prins' website, Facebook and Twitter accounts. While Ms. Prins recognizes that carving out a competitive ...

The sun and the solar system's rocky inner planets, including the Earth, may have formed differently than previously thought, according to UCLA scientists and colleagues analyzing samples returned by NASA's Genesis mission. The data from Genesis, which collected material from the solar wind blowing from the sun, reveal differences between the sun and planets with regard to oxygen and nitrogen, two of the most abundant elements in our solar system, the researchers report in two studies in the June 24 issue of the journal Science. And although the differences are slight, ...

Researchers can now see objects more precisely and faster at the nanoscale due to utilising the full colour spectrum of synchrotron light, opening the way for faster 3D nanoimaging. This new methodology will provide for enhanced nanoimaging for studying bio samples for medical research, improved drug development and advanced materials for engineering. Using the Advanced Photon Source, a synchrotron facility in Chicago, USA, researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coherent X-ray Science (CXS), headquartered at the University of Melbourne, Australia, revealed ...

STANFORD, Calif. — Stanford University School of Medicine investigators have linked a master molecule of the immune system, gamma-interferon, to the pathology of asthma, in a study of mice. This somewhat surprising finding — the key immune molecule has often been assumed to steer the immune system in a different direction from the cluster of allergic disorders to which asthma belongs — could lead to new treatments for the disease. Gamma interferon's role in asthma has been fuzzy. High levels of this substance in children's blood seem to be protective against the development ...

Tom Bracken, the new President and CEO of the NJ State Chamber of Commerce, will keynote a breakfast seminar, "Five Common Mistakes That Could Cost You Millions!" that will be held at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in West Orange, New Jersey, on Tuesday, July 19th from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. The seminar is designed to help owners, CFOs, CEOs and other key executives keep control of their business assets and make more money. Among the issues to be addressed are mergers and acquisitions, shareholder disputes and key operating agreements from the legal, accounting and insurance ...

VIDEO: This shows the mechanism of the MAV and how it moves from three different views. Click here for more information. Scientists have designed a micro aircraft that will be able to flap, glide and hover like a bird. Researchers from the Biomimetics-Innovation-Centre in Germany have been inspired by birds to produce a new versatile design of Micro air vehicle (MAV) that combines flapping wings, which allow it to fly at slow speeds and hover, with the ability to glide, ...

Daily satellites with a chance to ultimately win a $12,500 WPT Paris prize package begin Monday at Intertops Poker. There's also $10,000 up for grabs in the popular online poker room's weekly FPP points race which continues through July. It's going to be a very busy summer. With qualifiers throughout the day, every day, Intertops Poker players can satellite their way to a WPT Paris Super Satellite Final for as little as $0.20, or buy-in directly. Super Satellite Finals will be held on Sunday, July 31st and Sunday, August 28th. Tournament details: http://poker.intertops.com/en/promotions/#item_1486 Each ...

Scientists have shown for the first time that the loudest animal on earth, relative to its body size, is the tiny water boatman, Micronecta scholtzi. At 99.2 decibels, this represents the equivalent of listening to an orchestra play loudly while sitting in the front row. The frequency of the sound (around 10 kHz) is within human hearing range and Dr. James Windmill of the University of Strathclyde, explains one clue as to how loud the animals are: "Remarkably, even though 99% of sound is lost when transferring from water to air, the song is so loud that a person walking ...

Young house spiders weave webs with perfect angles and regular patterns, but as they reach old age their webs deteriorate, showing gaping holes and erratic weaving. By using spiders as a simple model this research may provide insight into how age affects behaviour in other organisms, including humans. The reason web building skills are lost as spiders grow older may be due to degeneration of the central nervous system. PhD researcher, Mylène Anotaux, from Nancy University in France, says "Our next steps will be to understand whether age-induced changes in the central ...

The Employee Benefits offering from Love2reward includes: Flexebens Flexebens is a unique gift card platform which gives staff 7% discount every time they shop. The Flexebens card can be used in 23 leading retailers including River Island, Debenhams, New Look, Comet, Boots, Superdrug and Iceland, with new retailers joining the programme every month. Employees can save money onto their Flexebens card in one of two ways: Salary Exchange - this salary deduction scheme allows employees to choose how much money they wish to be taken from their salary each month. Each ...

Poor maternal diet before conception can result in offspring with reduced birth weights and increased risk of developing type II diabetes and obesity. This work, which is being presented at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Conference in Glasgow on Saturday the 2nd of July, used an animal model to illustrate the importance of maternal diet even before pregnancy begins. During the study mice that were fed a low protein diet for ten weeks before conception (but had a normal diet during pregnancy) gave birth to offspring that had lower birth weights, showed catch-up ...

A team of researchers — led by Pierre Gressens, at Inserm U676, Paris, France, and Vincent Lelièvre, at CNRS UPR-3212, Strasbourg, France — has identified a signaling pathway key for normal brain development in the mouse. Of paramount importance, the data generated suggest that environmental factors, including maternal ones, can influence the final size of the brain. Individuals with microcephaly primary hereditary (MCPH) are born with a very small head and a small brain. They suffer mild developmental delay, hyperkinesia (excessive restlessness), and mild to severe cognitive ...

Parkinson disease (PD) affects 1-2% of the population over the age of 65 years. It results from loss or loss of function of nerve cells in the brain that coordinate movement. As a result, the hallmark symptoms of PD are trembling in hands, arms, legs, jaw, and face; stiffness of the limbs and trunk; slowness of movement; and impaired balance and coordination. There is no cure for PD, but symptoms can be alleviated with a variety of drugs. A team of researchers, led by Chung-Chin Kuo, at National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taiwan, has now shown that pharmacological ...

Novis Shoes can provide shoe lifts custom designed for individual customers who experience leg length discrepancy problems. Our orthopedic footwear company specializes in all kinds of shoe modifications - from simple repairs to complete custom-made footwear - and can fill specific prescriptions quickly and easily. Our skilled Certified Pedorthist can apply shoe lifts for just about any shoe - for heights of 1/4 of an inch to six inches. Leg length discrepancy can be caused by a number of congenital and acquired conditions, including hip surgery, scoliosis, hip disease, ...

EDITOR'S PICK: A VIP for normal brain development A team of researchers — led by Pierre Gressens, at Inserm U676, Paris, France, and Vincent Lelièvre, at CNRS UPR-3212, Strasbourg, France — has identified a signaling pathway key for normal brain development in the mouse. Of paramount importance, the data generated suggest that environmental factors, including maternal ones, can influence the final size of the brain. Individuals with microcephaly primary hereditary (MCPH) are born with a very small head and a small brain. They suffer mild developmental delay, hyperkinesia ...

Infection with the gastric bacterium Helicobacter pylori provides reliable protection against allergy-induced asthma, immunologists from the University of Zurich have demonstrated in an animal model together with allergy specialists from the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. Their results published in the prestigious Journal of Clinical Investigation confirm the hypothesis recently put forward that the dramatic increase in allergic diseases in industrial societies is linked to the rapid disappearance of specific micro-organisms that populate ...

On the heels of the runaway success of the hit song "Friday," Ark Music Factory has partnered with ABC-TV's Good Morning America to find and develop America's next viral music star. And Tuesday morning, June 28, GMA will reveal her: Lexi St. George. Good Morning America started a series of stories on the talent search and development June 27; it will host the world premiere of Lexi's debut music video, "Dancing to the Rhythm," on Thursday, June 30 (check local listings for stations and air times). The video will also be featured on Ark Music Factory's ...

KINGSTON, R.I. – July 1, 2011 – Tiny marine organisms called zooplankton can use specialized adaptations that allow them to hide from predators in areas of the ocean where oxygen levels are so low that almost nothing can survive, but they may run into trouble as these areas expand due to climate change. "Oxygen minimum zones are very difficult places to survive," said University of Rhode Island doctoral student Leanne Elder. "But we have discovered that these tiny animals have adapted in two specialized ways. First, they suppress their metabolism, which is very much ...

Future computers may rely on magnetic microprocessors that consume the least amount of energy allowed by the laws of physics, according to an analysis by University of California, Berkeley, electrical engineers. Today's silicon-based microprocessor chips rely on electric currents, or moving electrons, that generate a lot of waste heat. But microprocessors employing nanometer-sized bar magnets – like tiny refrigerator magnets – for memory, logic and switching operations theoretically would require no moving electrons. Such chips would dissipate only 18 millielectron ...

A study published by the University of Reading's Centre for Agri Environmental Research suggests that honeybees may not be as important to pollination services in the UK than previously supposed. The research was published in the Journal Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. "Pollination services are vital to agricultural productivity in the UK" says lead author Tom Breeze "as of 2007, 20% of the UK's cropland was covered by insect pollinated crops like oilseed rape and apples. For decades now we have assumed that honeybees have been providing the majority of pollination ...

Winning margins in the Tour de France can be tight – last year just 39 seconds separated the top two riders after more than 90 hours in the saddle. When every second counts, riders do everything possible to gain a competitive advantage – from using aerodynamic carbon fibre bikes to the very latest in sports nutrition. Now there could be a new, completely legal and rather surprising weapon in the armoury for riders aiming to shave vital seconds off their time – beetroot juice. Research by the University of Exeter, published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports ...

A musculoskeletal system so far unknown in the animal world was recently discovered in weevils. The hip of Trigonopterus oblongus does not consist of the usual hinges, but of joints based on a screw-and-nut system. This first biological screw thread is about half a millimeter in size and was studied in detail using synchrotron radiation. The discovery is reported by the current issue of the Science magazine. (DOI:10.1126/science.1204245) "Such a construction for animal leg movement is quite unusual, as large areas of skeletal parts move on top of each other. Supply ...

Canvas prints specialists PhotoInCanvas has implemented a superb new feature at the site which helps customers that just can't choose which image to use. If people have too many great shots of a similar theme to choose from, then the team at PhotoInCanvas can put all of them into a fantastic photo canvas. This feature may be perfect for individuals that have been to an event such as festival where an abundance of photographs are taken. PhotoInCanvas is urging customers to send them all in so they can group them together to create a stunning image. The PhotoInCanvas ...

On the 22 June 2011 Star Partner received their GPWA sponsorship. Having the Seal of Approval from the GPWA signifies that Star Partner is of a professional standard. GPWA has over 10,000 public and private registered members and is the only professional organisation of its kind. The GPWA Seal of Approval is awarded to gambling portal websites that meet certain standards and the GPWA code of conduct. Being part of the GPWA enables public and private members to be part of online forums with in-depth news and advice about new industry developments, online gaming law, ...

Discharged from the hospital within two days of a total hip replacement operation? It's possible, thanks to the new 'Fast Track' protocol that underwent testing in the U.S., in response to both patient requests for shorter hospital stays and economic realities of providing medical care. According to Dr. Lawrence Gulotta and colleagues, from Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, a carefully screened group of patients undergoing total hip replacement can be discharged from the hospital two days after surgery, without any increase in complications or adverse effects compared ...