The massive Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, known as Dodd-Frank, brought sweeping reforms to the financial industry. In addition to the institution of new regulatory groups and consumer protections, the Act strengthened the protections granted to financial whistleblowers and created an award system for whistleblowers whose complaints lead to a successful investigation. Law firms are currently experiencing an influx in whistleblower claims. Some firms attribute the increase in cases to the tougher protections and new awards established under ...

Asbestos is a natural fiber that found use in many industrial and construction applications in the 20th century. However, when asbestos is swallowed or inhaled, it poses a very significant health risk -- including mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis -- to humans. Mesothelioma is a rare cancer that develops after exposure to asbestos -- there are no other known causes of this cancer. The cancer occurs in the lining of many internal organs, but is most common in the linings of the lungs (pleural mesothelioma) and abdomen (peritoneal mesothelioma). Often, mesothelioma ...

Bankruptcy in Arizona, as in all states, is subject to a complex set of federal statutes as well as specific state laws that govern bankruptcy exemptions and other issues. Many people who are interested in bankruptcy as a debt relief option are aware that significant changes to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code took effect when Congress passed and President Bush signed the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) in 2005. One important part of these changes was the introduction of a "means test" to determine eligibility for Chapter 7 bankruptcy ...

Motorcycle safety is always important. Without the protection that drivers of other vehicles have, motorcycle riders are at a higher risk than motorists or truckers of being seriously injured or killed in crashes. Cars and trucks provide more protection than a motorcycle, because they are heavier, fully enclosed and generally have air bags. A motorcycle's smaller size also makes it more difficult for other drivers to see. In Illinois, a spike in motorcycle fatalities has provided a grim reminder of the need to improve road safety to prevent motorcycle accidents. This ...

A recently published study by Iowa State University found that there are concrete differences between police witness identification procedures and that the utilization of select techniques may help reduce inaccurate suspect identifications without sacrificing correct identifications. Most Americans are familiar with typical police lineups: Individuals are paraded into a room and stand facing a one-way mirror, behind which an eyewitness identifies a potential suspect. In another method, witnesses are presented with a sheet of paper with several lineup photos and are asked ...

Job loss is a traumatic and confusing experience, no matter why it happens. However, the worst hurt comes when employees are fired not because of their job performance, but because they have been the victims of wrongful termination by their employers. The Missouri Human Rights Act prohibits employers from engaging in discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability or age. The prohibition extends not only to hiring and firing, but to all aspects of the employment relationship including recruitment, promotion, pay, retirement ...

The Supreme Court of the United States recently heard oral arguments in a case focused on the intersection of religious freedom and civil rights. A woman claiming she was prevented from continuing to teach at a religious school in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is asking the court to clarify the scope of the "ministerial exception" to employment discrimination laws. Teacher Asked to Resign After Disability Leave The woman was a fourth-grade teacher at a school run by the Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod where she taught secular and ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A new study suggests that the rate of global warming from doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide may be less than the most dire estimates of some previous studies – and, in fact, may be less severe than projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report in 2007. Authors of the study, which was funded by the National Science Foundation and published online this week in the journal Science, say that global warming is real and that increases in atmospheric CO2 will have multiple serious impacts. However, the most Draconian projections of ...

With our country still in the midst of the "Great Recession," it is becoming more common for people to find themselves in need of additional bankruptcy protection long after an initial filing. The highly publicized 2005 amendments to the United States' bankruptcy laws (known as the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act or "BAPCPA") changed the way in which subsequent bankruptcy filings were handled in an attempt to prevent so-called "serial bankruptcies." It is still possible for an individual to seek a second or even third ...

What will a day in the life of a Californian be like in 40 years? If the state cuts its greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 — a target mandated by a state executive order — a person could wake up in a net-zero energy home, commute to work in a battery-powered car, work in an office with smart windows and solar panels, then return home and plug in her car to a carbon-free grid. Such is a future envisaged in a study published Nov. 24 by the journal Science that analyzes the infrastructure and technology changes needed to reach California's aggressive ...

Hurricane Irene hitting the East Coast was a reminder to the country that we are currently in the midst of storm season. With regard to hurricanes, the season in the Atlantic Ocean officially runs from June through November, with activity tending to peak around September. Hurricane Irene, arriving right on time, left a path of destruction from North Carolina all the way to New England. Tragically, at least 27 people's deaths have been attributed to Irene-related storm events. Some three million people were left without power, and the financial impact of the hurricane ...

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, accidents involving 18 wheelers and other commercial vehicles are on the rise in the U.S. In 2010, 500,000 commercial trucks were involved in accidents. Over 100,000 serious injuries and over 5,000 fatalities occurred as a result of those accidents. Only 3,200 fatalities from large truck accidents occurred during the previous year. Additionally, the number of commercial trucks on the nation's roadways is expected to increase by 20 percent by 2012, which will increase the possibility for accidents even further. In ...

The holiday shopping season is almost in full swing. Many retailers across the nation and in Georgia will open at midnight this Thanksgiving, pushing black Friday sales even earlier. Crowds of people often descend on retailers to take advantage of the early door buster sales. During this busy time shoppers should be aware of the potential for slip-and-fall accidents that can occur when hazardous conditions are not remedied quickly by store owners or employees. For example, a common slip and fall injury might occur when a slippery substance is left in an aisle. A fall ...

Fostering People, a non-statutory foster care agency, has launched its services in Dublin to meet the needs of vulnerable children and young people living in the city. Operating at a local level, Fostering People offers all carers one-to-one support through a dedicated social worker as well as on-going training, carer forums and support groups. Opening the doors to its new office in Dublin, the agency will look to provide high level of locally based support to its foster carers. Fostering People welcomes applications from single people, same sex, married or co-habiting ...

Shoppers won't have to stand in line at DormSmart.com this Black Friday or Cyber Monday. The online retailer has spent the year searching for great dorm smart products that extend beyond the college dorm room. Shoppers seeking After Thanksgiving Day Sales can wow their entire family and friends with unique holiday gifts from DormSmart.com. "While our focus is providing quality products at affordable prices for dorm bound college students, we've found that everyone loves our products because they are selected to take students from the dorm room into their next home. ...

A new study has revealed that immature neurons taken from healthy mouse embryos can repair damaged brain circuitry and partially normalize metabolism when transplanted into adult mice that have grown morbidly obese due to a genetic deficiency. This proof-of-principle discovery represents one step down a long road toward neuronal replacement therapy, which researchers hope might one day be used to repair brains that have been injured by trauma or disease. Artur Czupryn and colleagues took the immature neurons from the hypothalamus of wild-type mouse embryos and transplanted ...

Baltimore, MD — Scientists have long held theories about the importance of proteins called B-type lamins in the process of embryonic stem cells replicating and differentiating into different varieties of cells. New research from a team led by Carnegie's Yixian Zheng indicates that, counter to expectations, these B-type lamins are not necessary for stem cells to renew and develop, but are necessary for proper organ development. Their work is published November 24 by Science Express. Nuclear lamina is the material that lines the inside of a cell's nucleus. Its major structural ...

MADISON – Much of our knowledge about past life has come from the fossil record – but how accurately does that reflect the true history and drivers of biodiversity on Earth? "It's a question that goes back a long way to the time of Darwin, who looked at the fossil record and tried to understand what it tells us about the history of life," says Shanan Peters, an assistant professor of geoscience at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In fact, the fossil record can tell us a great deal, he says in a new study. In a report published Friday, Nov. 25 in Science magazine, ...

Women with low risk pregnancies should be able to choose where they give birth, concludes a study published on bmj.com today. Although it shows that first-time mums who opt for a home birth are at a higher risk of adverse outcomes, the overall risk is low in all birth settings. The researchers say their results "support a policy of offering women with low risk pregnancies a choice of birth setting" and will enable women and their partners to have informed discussions with health professionals about planned place of birth. The benefits and risks of birth in different ...

Sub-Saharan African countries that train and invest in their doctors end up losing billions of dollars as the clinicians leave to work in developed nations, finds research published on bmj.com today. According to the study, South Africa and Zimbabwe have the greatest economic losses in doctors due to emigration, while Australia, Canada, the UK and the US benefit the most from the recruitment of physicians educated in other countries. The authors, led by Edward Mills, Chair of Global Health at the University of Ottawa, are now calling for destination countries to invest ...

Huntington's disease (HD) is characterized by ongoing destruction of specific neurons within the brain. It affects a person's ability to walk, talk, and think - leading to involuntary movement and loss of muscle co-ordination. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Molecular Neurodegeneration shows that the RyanR inhibitor Dantrolene is able to reduce the severity of walking and balance problems in a mouse model of HD. Progressive damage to medium spiny neurons (MSN) in the brain of a person with HD is responsible for many of the symptoms and ...

BOSTON, MA -- Neuron transplants have repaired brain circuitry and substantially normalized function in mice with a brain disorder, an advance indicating that key areas of the mammalian brain are more reparable than was widely believed. Collaborators from Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Harvard Medical School (HMS) transplanted normally functioning embryonic neurons at a carefully selected stage of their development into the hypothalamus of mice unable to respond to leptin, a hormone that regulates metabolism ...

Hypoglossal nerve stimulation (HGNS) produced marked dose-related increases in airflow in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients without arousing them from sleep, according to a new study from the Johns Hopkins Sleep Disorders Center. The study suggests the potential therapeutic efficacy of HGNS across a broad range of sleep apnea severity and offers an alternative to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), the current mainstay of treatment for moderate to severe OSA. The effectiveness of CPAP is often limited by poor patient adherence. "With HGNS, airflow increased ...

The jackpot meter is currently ticking at $200,000. In June, a big jackpot win was recorded at the casino site. Jackpots are hit at Slotland.com every 6 or 8 weeks. Hence, it is quite likely that a big win will be made soon on the site. To celebrate American Thanksgiving this weekend Slotland is giving all players a 45% deposit bonus on Thursday and Friday. Click here to play now! Slotland.com Records Every Win A manager at Slotland.com, Michael Hilary stated that the site is well known for making big payouts. It is not a site which announces massive jackpot payouts ...

Part 1: Ways in which an e-newsletter can help your business This week and next we are going to suggest effective ways to reach out to your customers through e-newsletters. Part 1 deals with why you should consider making a regular e-newsletter part of your marketing strategy and Part 2 will deal with how to make your e-newsletter effective. A regular e-newsletter can be an effective way to develop customer relations at absolutely no cost (except for your time). Results from an e-newsletter may not be immediate but, over time, provided you publish regularly, they ...