2011 was a volatile year in the global economy. Unrest and uprisings in the Middle East drove oil prices higher early in the year. Japan was hit by an earthquake, a tsunami and a nuclear disaster, which disrupted supply chains around the globe. Political gridlock and inept politicians brought the U.S. government to the brink of shutting down, and Standard & Poor's downgraded the United States from AAA. Not to be outdone, politicians in Europe failed to provide the leadership needed to create lasting structural reforms and calm market fears over their sovereign debt ...

Hampton Inn Gaffney Hotel offers nearby lodging to parents and guests attending Limestone College's spring 2012 Commencement Ceremony. The event will be held at 4:00pm on Thursday, May 10 at Fullerton Auditorium. There will also be Extended Campus Commencement Ceremonies on May 11 and 12, 2012. Conveniently located within minutes from Limestone College, The Hampton Inn Hotel in Gaffney is the perfect choice for local lodging. Services and amenities at the hotel include: - Complimentary continental breakfast - Free High-speed Internet access throughout the Gaffney ...

Boston, MA – A new study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers has found that a subclass of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, the so-called "good" cholesterol, may not protect against coronary heart disease (CHD) and in fact may be harmful. This is the first study to show that a small protein, apolipoprotein C-III (apoC-III), that sometimes resides on the surface of HDL cholesterol may increase the risk of heart disease and that HDL cholesterol without this protein may be especially heart protective. The study was published online in the Journal ...

Hampton Inn & Suites Scottsboro AL Hotel offers nearby lodging to travelers attending the 11th Annual Catfish Festival on Saturday, May 19, 2012. Taking place at Jackson County Park in Scottsboro, AL, the event will include: - Adult Catfish Tournament - Children's Catfish Rodeo - Catfish Cooking and Grilling Contest - Arts and Craft Show - Car, Truck and Motorcycle Show - Live Music Entertainment - Food Vendors and Homemade Ice Cream - Shriner's Catfish Dinners Admission is charged to attend the Catfish Festival. "Offering affordable rates and topnotch ...

An assessment of coastal change over the past century has found 70 percent of beaches on the islands of Kaua'i, O'ahu, and Maui are undergoing long-term erosion, according to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and University of Hawai'i (UH) report released today. Scientists from the USGS and the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at UH studied more than 150 miles of island coastline (essentially every beach) and found the average rate of coastal change – taking into account beaches that are both eroding and accreting – was 0.4 feet of erosion per year ...

More than 300 attendees enjoyed a Titanic-themed event hosted by entrepreneur Ron Sturgeon and insurance agency owner Linda Allen to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the passenger ship in the icy waters of the North Atlantic. "People are fascinated by the story of the Titanic," said Ron Sturgeon. "The loss of the luxury liner has captivated a whole new generation because of James Cameron's epic movie about it." An entrepreneur, business consultant, and avid collector, Sturgeon is also proprietor of DFW Elite Toy Museum and exhibited ...

LA JOLLA, CA – May 7, 2012 – Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have made an important discovery about the internal programming of B cells, the immune cells that make antibodies against infections. The finding opens the way for the development of vaccines that can work more efficiently and hints at therapies for conditions in which B cells cause harm—such as the autoimmune disease lupus erythymatosus, severe allergies, and B-cell lymphomas. The discovery reveals that B cells produce special proteins to maintain themselves in a particular functional "class," ...

Patients with atrial fibrillation (A-fib) who cannot take blood thinners now have an alternative to reduce their risk of stroke, which is five times more common in people with the rhythm disorder. The non-surgical procedure works by tying off the left atrial appendage (LAA), the source of most blood clots leading to stroke in patients with A-fib. Northwestern Medicine® heart rhythm specialists from the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute were the first to perform this procedure in Illinois. "Traditionally, surgery was required to close off the LAA. Now we have the ability ...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — "Hot Jupiter-type" planets are most likely to be alone in their systems, according to research by a University of Florida astronomer and others, made public today. "Hot Jupiters" are giant planets beyond our solar system, roughly the size of Jupiter but orbiting close to their parent stars and thus much hotter than the Earth or Jupiter, said UF professor Eric Ford. They have very short orbital periods, completing a turn around their stars in fewer than 10 days. This study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides ...

To calculate physicians' fees under Medicare – which in turn influence some state and private payers' decisions on how they will pay doctors -- the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) relies on the recommendations of an American Medical Association advisory panel. A study led by Miriam Laugesen, PhD at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, found that the Medicare and Medicaid agency closely followed the committee's recommendations on the fees physicians are paid, which are based on an assessment of time and effort associated with various physicians' ...

Changes in the speed that ice travels in more than 200 outlet glaciers indicates that Greenland's contribution to rising sea level in the 21st century could be significantly less than the upper limits some scientists thought possible. The finding comes from a paper funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA and published in today's journal Science. While the study indicates that a melting Greenland's contributions to rising sea levels could be less than expected, researchers concede that more work needs to be done before any definitive trend can be identified. Studies ...

Addrenaline Media (www.addrenaline.ca) is excited to announce it has produced and directed a television ad for Enviro Paving that will air nationally on CBC television. Production of the ad saw Addrenaline's Kyle Hosick travel to Montreal and Calgary to film franchise owners from across Canada. Titled "Don't Tear It Out" the commercial showcases a number of franchisees and the work that Enviro Paving does. Enviro Paving is a unique paving alternative that uses 100% recycled rubber tires.Addrenaline will be entering the commercial production space with a refreshing ...

Hmusix is a new project, born by the desire to provide a unique music information service from all directions, in which users have the possibility to catch the latest news of their favourite artists practically in real time thanks to a large network of collaborators and bloggers from all over the world. The information on Hmusix is constantly updated and is available to all our registered users. Our aim is to provide the latest news before any of our already existing competitors. Hmusix uses a series of servers located in various parts of the world. This allows users ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Advanced high-speed gene-sequencing has been used in the clinical setting to find diagnoses for seven children out of a dozen who were experiencing developmental delays and congenital abnormalities for mysterious reasons. "I thought if we could obtain even a couple of relatively secure diagnoses out of the 12 patients, that would prove the value of deploying sequencing approaches systematically in patients with unknown but apparently genetic conditions," said David Goldstein, Ph.D., director of the Duke Center for Human Genome Variation and professor ...

San Diego, CA, May 8, 2012 – As populations move even further away from urban centers, more people spend longer hours behind the wheel on their way to and from work. While sedentary behavior is known to have adverse effects on cardiovascular and metabolic health, the impact of long commutes by automobile are less understood. A new study has found that greater commuting distances are associated with decreased cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), increased weight, and other indicators of metabolic risk. The results are published in the June issue of American Journal of Preventive ...

Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA and Lausanne, Switzerland, May 8, 2012 – Gene Signal, a company focused on developing innovative drugs to manage angiogenesis based conditions, today announced that positive data from a study of aganirsen (GS-101, eye drops) in a nonhuman primate model of choroidal neovascularization has been presented at the 2012 ARVO Annual Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Topical administration of aganirsen was found to inhibit neovascular growth and leakage in this model and strongly suggests a role for the drug candidate in human retinal neovascular diseases ...

Researchers at Auburn University have reported the discovery a new trapdoor spider species from a well-developed housing subdivision in the heart of the city of Auburn, Alabama. Myrmekiaphila tigris, affectionately referred to as the Auburn Tiger Trapdoor spider, is named in honor of Auburn University's costumed Tiger mascot, Aubie. The research team, directed by Biological Sciences professor Jason Bond, lead investigator and director of the Auburn University Museum of Natural History, and Charles Ray, a research fellow in the Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology, ...

BedBug Chasers, a World Class provider of heat remediation services and manufacturer of US made bed bug heat remediation equipment is franchising its service business. The business features a low entry cost, is a 100% chemical free and Green enterprise, and will be offered through the BedBug Chaser Franchise Corporation. The cornerstones of this booming franchise program features exclusive access to the patented BedBug Chaser heaters, the BedBug Chasers nationwide rental fleet and training on the BedBug Chasers propriety process. The BedBug Chaser heaters have proven ...

University of British Columbia researchers have found a potential way to develop universal flu vaccines and eliminate the need for seasonal flu vaccinations. Each year, seasonal influenza causes serious illnesses in three to five million people and 200,000 to 500,000 deaths. The 2009 H1N1 pandemic killed more than 14,000 people worldwide. Meanwhile, public health and bioterrorism concerns are heightened by new mutations of the H5N1 "bird flu" virus, published last week by the journal Nature, that could facilitate infection among mammals and humans. Led by Prof. John ...

Creatage, a full service marketing agency has started developing specialized marketing plans and tactics for vineyards and the wine making community. According to Creatage's spokesperson, the agency has been helping these industries in capturing and retaining audiences in new and interesting ways through wine marketing tactics that have recently seen great success in this area. To take advantage of this new service you simply need to fill out a contact from on their company's website and a representative will discuss the next steps to see how Creatage can develop a customize ...

Stubb's Legendary Kitchen, makers of all-natural, premium Stubb's Bar-B-Q sauces, rubs and marinades, is expanding its product line throughout 2012 to include a new sweet and spicy sauce flavor, new injectable marinades and a reformulated premium spice rub line. The items reflect some of 2012's top food trends: --Sweet and spicy: Combining two favorite tastes in one delicious sauce, Stubb's Sweet Heat is a combination of molasses and brown sugar with a touch of chipotle. Sweet Heat is the newest addition to the Stubb's all-natural sauce lineup that includes Original, ...

Los Gatos Research (LGR), the leader in precision trace gas analyzers, has received an order for five more of the company's unique N2O/CO (nitrous oxide/carbon monoxide) trace gas analyzers from the California Air Resources Board (CARB). These particular instruments (part of LGR's acclaimed Enhanced Performance series) deliver extremely stringent performance specifications, including better than fifty parts-per-trillion measurement precision, ultrahigh long-term stability, and over four decades of dynamic range for both gases. Furthermore, the instruments specifications ...

Aneesoft Co., Ltd. a leading developer of multimedia-processing software, launched a new version of its flagship products Aneesoft Total Media Converter 3.5.0.0. The newest version is running more stable on Windows 7 OS, after fixing the crash problem while editing videos and some minor bugs. The converter software also features support for outputting 1080P videos for the latest mobile devices, the new iPad, Apple TV, iPhone 4S, Kindle Fire etc. Aneesoft Total Media Converter is comprehensive video converter software designed to convert DVDs to video files; convert videos, ...

Summer of 2011 left Doug Sabbag and his wife a little more shaken up than planned. The plan was to leave Boston aboard their 50ft ketch (Triumph) and head for Europe. Unfortunately, just southeast of Nova Scotia, Doug and his wife had to be rescued. First-hand experience taught them about the mistakes they made along the way and more importantly when they should have called for assistance versus when the original call was made. Doug will share with us what went wrong on his trip, solutions he came up with, and what happened during his rescue. Since four years old, Doug ...

The Greater Raleigh-Durham Chapter 105 of the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) has again received high honors in IREM's Chapter Star Recognition Program. The Chapter was formally recognized for achieving Five Star Status at the IREM Awards Event and Dinner at this year's Leadership and Legislative Summit held on April 16th in Washington, DC. IREM Chapter 105, which serves the greater Raleigh and Durham area, was recognized for a variety of initiatives it undertook in 2011, while under the leadership of Chapter Immediate Past President, Jason Stowe, CPM. ...