BizziBid.com, a nationwide home improvement and remodeling website (http://www.bizzibid.com), is reporting a significant uptick in activity for January and early February 2011. The number of homeowners requesting licensed remodeling contractors and free home improvement estimates this month far exceeds the number seeking home improvements and remodeling information through the site a year ago. Home Improvement Tops the List While BizziBid connects consumers to contractors for a number of purposes - siding installation, air conditioning maintenance, landscaping, and ...

OrangeHRM Inc., the leading global provider of open source HR Solutions, today announced its new reseller in Singapore. OrangeHRM will collaborate with SC Soft on large scale projects and services. SC Soft has profound relationships with the local market, with experience in implementing extensive solutions such as Open Bravo. SC Soft is a valuable addition to OrangeHRM's fast growing global partnerships. In May 2010,Infocom Investments said the APEC regions' Business Intelligence Market is expected to grow by 20.5% and Singapore by 8.34% by the end of 2011.For both SC ...

The DIY wedding trend that started as a way to save money during the recession is predicted to remain strong in 2011 as couples continue to look to affordable do-it-yourself projects such as DIY invitations, favors, ceremony accessories and reception decor to create personalized, unique weddings. To offer brides even more stylish options, Michaels, North America's largest arts and crafts specialty retailer, has updated its wedding section with hundreds of trend-forward products featuring the hottest colors for 2011, such as turquoise, fuchsia and eggplant, along with ...

Whataburger is heating up February's chilly weather with its Jalapeno Week promotion. Beginning Monday, February 14th through Sunday, February 20th, customers can add jalapenos to any burger, sandwich, taquito or other entree for free. "Our customers are no stranger to the heat of our jalapenos, we get about 200,000 requests a week to add jalapenos," said Rich Scheffler, Group Director of Marketing for Whataburger Restaurants LP. "Jalapeno Week is a way for us to celebrate our jalapeno-loving customers and also encourage others to customize their Whataburger and turn ...

The Rottenstein Law Group, which represents clients with claims stemming from the recall of defective hip replacement devices manufactured and sold by DePuy Orthopaedics, is encouraged by the admission of lawyers for Johnson & Johnson that explanted devices belong to the patients. At a conference on February 8 before United States District Judge David Katz, before whom all lawsuits stemming from the recall of DePuy's ASR hip implants have been consolidated, lawyers for the defendants-DePuy and its parent company, Johnson and Johnson-and lawyers for the numerous plaintiffs ...

The Container Store, the nation's originator and leading retailer of storage and organization products, today shows its love and appreciation for its 4000 employees across the country by celebrating its "National We Love Our Employees Day". The Container Store's employees will be treated to special celebrations, gifts and recognition at the retailer's stores across the country, its home office and distribution center in Dallas, and across the pond with its employee partners at elfa International. Celebrations and gifts include boxes full of product donated by company ...

February 9, 2011 -- When the EPA phased out the widespread residential use of chlorpyrifos and other organophosphorus (OP) insecticides in 2000-2001 because of risks to child neurodevelopment, these compounds were largely replaced with pyrethroid insecticides. But the safety of these replacement insecticides remained unclear, as they had never been evaluated for long-term neurotoxic effects after low-level exposure. In the first study to examine the effects of these compounds on humans and the first evaluation of their potential toxicity to the developing fetal brain, ...

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Regular exercise improves the ability of overweight, previously inactive children to think, plan and even do math, Georgia Health Sciences University researchers report. They hope the findings in 171 overweight 7- to 11-year-olds – all sedentary when the study started - gives educators the evidence they need to ensure that regular, vigorous physical activity is a part of every school day, said Dr. Catherine Davis, clinical health psychologist at GHSU's Georgia Prevention Institute and corresponding author on the study in Health Psychology "I hope these ...

INDIANAPOLIS – An innovative model of dementia care developed by researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute significantly reduces emergency department visits and hospitalizations, and encourages use of medications that are not harmful to older brains. The result is improved health for older adults and their family caregivers and lower healthcare costs, according to a paper evaluating the model in real world use. The paper appears in Volume 15, Issue 1, 2011 of the peer-reviewed journal Aging & Mental Health. "We successfully ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- People tend to overestimate the steepness of slopes – and psychologists studying the phenomenon have made a discovery that refutes common ideas about how we perceive inclines in general. For more than a decade, researchers thought that our judgment was biased by our fatigue or fear of falling, explained Dennis Shaffer, associate professor of psychology at Ohio State University's Mansfield campus. We perceive climbing or descending hills as difficult or dangerous, so when we look at an incline, our view is clouded by the expected physical exertion or ...

This release is available in French. Evolution is not a steady march towards ever more sophisticated beings and therefore the search for the living "missing links" is pointless, according to findings published by a team of researchers led by Dr. Hervé Philippe of the Université de Montréal's Department of Biochemistry. "Aristotle was the first to classify organisms – from the least to the most sophisticated. Darwin's theory of evolution continued this idea, with the concept of a hierarchy of evolution. This way of thinking has led researchers and skeptics alike to look ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new alloy promises to lessen welders' risk of breathing toxic fumes on the job. The alloy is a welding "consumable" – the material that melts under the welder's torch to fill the gap between parts that are being joined. The new nickel alloy consumable is more expensive compared to those already on the market, but worth the cost in situations where adequate ventilation is a problem. That's why two Ohio State University engineers invented the alloy – specifically to aid military and commercial welding personnel who work in tight spaces. In tests, ...

Marine conservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society working in Kenya have found that better fisheries management that includes restricting fishing gear is producing more predatory and longer-lived species and is improving fishing even in adjacent areas where no management is taking place. During a 10-year study, conservationists recording fish catches found that the implementation of fishing regulations—and particularly the banning of small-mesh seine nets that indiscriminately capture all fish—allowed practically all fish species to recover, especially ...

A new comprehensive review, recently published in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, concludes that fructose does not increase food intake or impact body weight or blood triglycerides in overweight or obese individuals. The review examined data regarding the normal consumption of fructose and any subsequent development of alterations in lipid or and/or glucose metabolism or weight gain in overweight people. Researchers were unable to find any relationship between fructose and hyperlipidemia or increased weight. These findings support the results of a similar ...

TORONTO, On – February 10, 2010 – Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences (ICES) in Toronto have developed a new tool that will help doctors predict the probability of death in patients after an ischemic stroke. The study, published in the journal Circulation, found that the tool determined the likelihood of death in stroke patients 30 days and one year after an ischemic stroke. An ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke, occurs when an artery to the brain is blocked. The tool, available online for doctors ...

TORONTO, ON – Victims of childhood physical abuse are more than twice as likely to develop ulcers than people who were not abused as children, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Toronto. "We found a strong and significant association between individuals who were abused during childhood and those were diagnosed with peptic ulcers later in life," says lead author Esme Fuller Thomson, Professor and Sandra Rotman Chair at U of T's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. "I originally thought the link would be explained by factors such as stress, ...

Countries that enter into defense pacts with other nations are less likely to be attacked, according to new research from Rice University. And those countries are not more likely to attack others. The study, "Defense Pacts: A Prescription for Peace?", was published recently in the journal Foreign Policy Analysis. It was co-authored by Rice University Associate Professor of Political Science Ashley Leeds and Jesse Johnson, a Rice graduate student in political science. For their research, Leeds and Johnson did exhaustive analysis of defense agreements from 1816 to 2001 ...

Tampa, FL (Feb. 10, 2011) -- Preladenant, a non-dopaminergic medication, reduces off time in patients with Parkinson's disease receiving standard dopamine therapy, an international study led by the University of South Florida found. Results of the double-blind, randomized clinical trial are reported online today in the journal Lancet Neurology. The findings suggest that preladenant may offer a new supplemental treatment for Parkinson's disease without some of the complications of levodopa and other standard dopamine treatments. "The goal of treatment is to provide ...

EUGENE, Ore. -- (Feb. 10, 2011) -- A chronology of 1,000 years of earthquakes at the southern end of the San Andreas Fault nixes the idea that lake changes in the now-dry region caused past quakes. However, researchers say, the timeline pulled from sediment in three deep trenches confirms that this portion of the fault is long past the expected time for a major temblor that would strongly shake the Los Angeles Basin. The new study, appearing in the February issue of the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, doesn't change existing thinking about the threat ...

DALLAS – Feb. 10, 2011 – The realization of medically treating different children uniquely may start with one of the deadliest diseases in existence: tuberculosis. New findings by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers indicate that the type of medications and the dosage routinely used to treat children with the disease should be individualized to each young patient in order to be effective. The findings, available online and in the February issue of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, show that currently recommended doses are much too low and that a child's ...

SAN FRANCISCO (February 10, 2011) — More than two thousand physicians, some of the top obstetric/gynecologists in the world who specialize in maternal-fetal medicine, especially high risk pregnancies, gathered today for their annual meeting in San Francisco to begin four days of intensive research presentations. Presentations each year at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting ™, represent major findings in reducing high-risk pregnancies and complications. Catherine Y. Spong, M.D., chief, pregnancy and perinatology branch, ...

ST. LOUIS – In new research from Saint Louis University, investigators have found evidence that a toxin produced by the brain is responsible for the series of cellular events that lead to Parkinson's disease. The study, published in PLoS One, found that the brain toxin DOPAL plays a key role in killing the dopamine neurons which trigger the illness. In earlier research, Saint Louis University investigators found that DOPAL seemed to be responsible for killing healthy dopamine cells, which in turn causes Parkinson disease to develop. Now, research in an animal model ...

Irvine, Calif., Feb. 10, 2011 – Those light-emitting diodes marketed as safe, environmentally preferable alternatives to traditional lightbulbs actually contain lead, arsenic and a dozen other potentially hazardous substances, according to newly published research. "LEDs are touted as the next generation of lighting. But as we try to find better products that do not deplete energy resources or contribute to global warming, we have to be vigilant about the toxicity hazards of those marketed as replacements," said Oladele Ogunseitan, chair of UC Irvine's Department of Population ...

COLLEGE STATION, Feb. 9, 2011 — When you've got to go, you've got to go — upstream, that is, if you are a male swordtail fish seeking a mate, according to research from Texas A&M University. A recent study led by Texas A&M biologists Dr. Gil Rosenthal and Dr. Heidi Fisher in collaboration with scientists at Centro de Investigaciones Cientificas de las Huastecas in Hidalgo, Mexico, and Boston University has determined that the fish use chemical cues in their urine to elicit sexual responses from their downstream female counterparts. In a study funded by the National ...

Scientists have modeled a system that may be used to control mosquitoes and the diseases they transmit, without the use of pesticides. In the proposed system, mosquitoes are engineered to carry two genes. The first gene causes males to transmit a toxin to females through their semen. The second gene, when expressed in females, makes them immune to this toxin. This research, published in the February 2011 issue of Genetics (http://www.genetics.org), describes a system that can be created using currently available molecular tools and could confine the spread of mosquitoes ...