Gold is holding firm as the US dollar slides downward. China has expressed concern over holding excessive amounts of dollars and this, coupled with a disappointing jobs report released June 3, has served to turn more investors away from currency and toward bullion. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke spoke in Atlanta June 7, saying that the central bank should maintain monetary stimulus to boost the economy since recovery has been 'disappointingly slow'. "The outlook for precious metals is very positive for the remainder of 2011," says Debbie Bailey, ...

In keeping with the "diamond" theme of its 75th anniversary, The Wooten Company is celebrating the milestone with a special event at the Durham Bulls baseball game on Sunday, June 12, against the Norfolk Tides. The event is the first of three baseball-related celebrations at which the firm will include activities for local employees, clients and their families, while recognizing its achievements and its impact on the local community over the years. One of the most reputable engineering, planning and architectural firms in North Carolina, The Wooten Company ...

Between several trillions in government bailouts and quantitative easing programs over the last two years, many seniors are feeling the pinch in the pocketbook. Excessive overprinting of United States Dollars and higher food prices have created the start of what could become an inflation-dominated decade. With significant increases in the prices of goods and services along with weakening dollar-backed assets, gold companies are reporting higher sales from senior citizens feeling this pinch the hardest as their pensions lose spending power and savings diminish in value by ...

Advanced Security by Academy of Computer Education is one of the leading training companies for IT security certifications. The DoD 8570 Directive was designed to try and have every information assurance worker on a Government contract get certified by the end of 2010. But since the directive has been extended, more people are seeking the certifications to get themselves compliant with the directive and Security Plus is the most popular. The CompTIA Security+ training (http://www.trainace.com/courses/securityplus/) course is designed to meet the needs of network administrators, ...

When the FDA lifted its10 year moratorium on the use of silicone breast implants for cosmetic breast augmentation in November 2006, it stated that the preponderance of evidence suggested there was no connection between silicone breast implants and breast cancer or autoimmune disorders, charges that had led to the moratorium. However, it also suggested that breast implant manufacturers and surgeons should continue to study silicone breast implants for the next ten years to build up evidence about those risks. Now, five years later, it seems one study suggests a mechanism ...

Ms. Killebrew was recognized for her outstanding dedication and leadership within the Denton County Bar. She worked to establish the Denton County Bench Bar Conference that serves to facilitate understanding and build relationships between members of the bench and bar. She also recruited numerous speakers for the conference this year, including five justices from the 2nd Court of Appeals and the President of the State Bar of Texas. In addition to her activities with the Denton County Bar, Ms. Killebrew participates in several other organizations. She is a director on ...

Some Arizona law enforcement officials estimate that the number of so-called "extreme DUI" cases -- those involving drivers with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .15 percent or more -- have doubled in recent years. Cases of "super extreme DUI" -- where the driver's BAC is more than .20 percent -- have also risen sharply. From a law enforcement standpoint, this trend has resulted in tougher crackdowns on possible drunken drivers, and the public outcry will no doubt pressure judges to "throw the book" at people charged with higher-level ...

Cambridge, MA - In 1987, light from an exploding star in a neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, reached Earth. Named Supernova 1987A, it was the closest supernova explosion witnessed in almost 400 years, allowing astronomers to study it in unprecedented detail as it evolves. Today a team of astronomers announced that the supernova debris, which has faded s0vewr the years is now brightening. This shows that a different power source has begun to light the debris, and marks the transition from a supernova to a supernova remnant. "Supernova 1987A has become the ...

Biologists have uncovered a key regulatory mechanism used for gene expression in the visual system. Their findings, which appear in the latest issue of the journal Cell, offer new insights into the complexity behind the genetic make-up of biological systems. The study, which included researchers from New York University's Department of Biology, Japan's Okayama University, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, and Germany's University of Würzburg, examined the photoreceptor cells in the retina of the fruit fly Drosophila. Drosophila is a powerful model for studying eye development ...

The origins of rice have been cast in a new light by research publishing in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics on June 9, 2011. By reconciling two theories, the authors show that the domestication of rice occurred at least twice independently but with extensive "borrowing" between the two subspecies. Indica and japonica are, respectively, the southern and northern varieties of rice and they are major staple crops in Asia. Whether they share a single origin of domestication or were domesticated independently twice interests both historians and biologists, and the two ...

It has been 100 years since the discovery of superconductivity, a state achieved when mercury was cooled, with the help of liquid helium, to nearly the coldest temperature achievable to form a superfluid that provides no resistance to electrons as they flow through it. During that century, scientists have struggled to find a precise mathematical explanation of why and how this strange fluid behaves as it does. Liquid helium-4 itself becomes a superfluid when cooled to within a few degrees of absolute zero on the Kelvin scale (minus 273 Celsius or minus 460 Fahrenheit), ...

Despite signs of economic recovery, the home foreclosure crisis is far from over. Utah homeowners still face considerable threats: in February, Utah had the fourth highest per capita rate of foreclosure filings in the nation and over 32,000 homeowners were slapped with foreclosure notices in 2010. In other words, last year an astonishing one in 29 homes was affected. State lawmakers have taken notice. A new bill aimed at stemming wrongful foreclosures in Utah, SB261, was recently signed into law by Governor Gary Herbert. While SB261 seems to be a step in the right direction, ...

Smokers tend to die young, but they tend to die thinner than non-smokers. A team of scientists led by Yale School of Medicine has discovered exactly how nicotine suppresses appetite – findings that suggest that it might be possible to develop a drug that would help smokers, and non-smokers, stay thin. Nicotine activates a small set of neurons in a section of the hypothalamus that signals the body has had enough to eat, the researchers report in the June 10 issue of the journal Science. Nicotine accomplishes this trick by activating a different set of receptors on the ...

CLEVELAND – June 9, 2011 – Researchers at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have identified a cellular mechanism that is critical in maintaining normal cell function. In their work, the researchers led by Eckhard Jankowsky, PhD, researcher and associate professor in the Center for RNA Molecular Biology at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, examined the function of TRAMP, a protein complex involved in the processing of RNA or ribonucleic acid within the cell. They identified a key function for the protein Mtr4p in a process that ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (June 9, 2011) – Whitehead Institute researchers have identified signals from breast epithelial cells that can induce those cells to transition to and maintain a mesenchymal and stem cell-like cell state that imbues both normal and cancer cells with a greater ability to migrate and self-renew. Interrupting these signals strips the cells of the migratory, invasive and self-renewal abilities used by cancer stem cells to seed new tumors. "Stem cells are important in both cancers and normal tissues. On the one hand we'd like to know what creates so-called ...

One of the primary purposes of bankruptcy is to "relieve the honest debtor from the weight of oppressive indebtedness and permit him to start afresh free from the obligations and responsibilities consequent upon business misfortunes." When you file for bankruptcy, all of your property becomes part of the "bankruptcy estate." To protect some assets from the trustee, Congress created exemptions for debtors in bankruptcy. These exemptions allow a debtor to "exempt" some of their assets from being recovered by the trustee for the benefit of ...

Consumers must navigate a number of potential dangers when considering a used car. They have to make sure the mileage is accurate, determine if the engine is in reasonable condition, and ensure that the brakes and suspension are in working order, to name just a few. However, even the most conscientious buyer may not think about whether the airbags are in their original condition, especially if the buyer is purchasing a car with a salvage title (a car that had previously been in an accident). Because of this naivety, airbag fraud is becoming increasingly common. The National ...

What began as Senate bill 841 in 2009 is now officially signed into law as the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act (PESA) of 2010 after being passed by both houses of Congress in December of 2010 and signed by President Barack Obama on January 4, 2011. The new law sets the stage for all electric or electric/gas hybrid vehicles to come equipped with some manner of noise-generating device that alerts pedestrians to their otherwise silent operation. Why Was This Law Introduced? As electric and electric/gas hybrid cars, trucks and SUVs became more prevalent, the vast differences ...

STANFORD, Calif. — Any legislation that slows human embryonic stem cell research is likely to also seriously harm the study of induced pluripotent stem cells, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, the Mayo Clinic and the University of Michigan. The finding strongly refutes the idea that embryonic stem cell research can be abandoned in favor of the less-controversial iPS cells, which are derived from adult human tissue. "If federal funding stops for human embryonic stem cell research, it would have a serious negative impact ...

Divorce can be difficult for everyone involved, and the process can be particularly challenging for children. When it comes to telling children about an impending divorce, parents can soften the impact of the news by taking into account several considerations. Plan Ahead Preparation is one key to telling your children about the divorce in a thoughtful, supportive and age-appropriate manner. Even though you and your spouse may be angry with each other, it is important to focus on the children and discuss together what you want to tell them. This helps avoid blaming ...

HOUSTON - (June 6, 2011) - It is widely known that smoking inhibits appetite, but what is not known, is what triggers this process in the brain. Now researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, participating in a Yale University School of Medicine-led study, have identified the nicotine receptors that influence the anorexigenic signaling pathway, or appetite suppression pathway. The findings are published in the current edition of the journal Science. "The hypothalamus is an area in the brain that integrates signals coming from our gut and fat telling our brain that ...

Research published in PLoS Genetics today (9 June) provides insights into how an important fungal disease is able to evade wheat's defences. The researchers hope that the study, which reveals the fungus' complete genome sequence, will enable them to breed resistant crop plants or improve the use of pesticides. The genome sequence was produced by an international consortium of researchers including scientists at Rothamsted Research in the UK. The scientists, who were funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and others, are already using ...

New Haven, Conn.—Microcredit, which involves giving small loans to very small businesses in an effort to promote entrepreneurship, has been widely touted as a way to reduce poverty and stimulate economic growth. A multitude of both non- and for-profit institutions are spending billions of dollars each year on microcredit ventures in developing nations around the globe. But just how effective is microcredit lending? In a new study, researchers find that the practice may not be an efficient tool in promoting business growth or improving the lives of its beneficiaries, but ...

MADISON – In chemistry, so-called aromatic molecules compose a large and versatile family of chemical compounds that are the stuff of pharmaceuticals, electronic materials and consumer products ranging from sunscreen to plastic soda bottles. Writing in the current online issue (June 9) of the journal Science, a team led by University of Wisconsin-Madison chemistry Professor Shannon Stahl reports a new, environmentally friendly way to make substituted aromatic molecules that can be customized for different industrial needs. As college chemistry students know, aromatic ...

Mutations in genes essential to survival are behind so-called orphan diseases, explaining in part why these diseases are rare and often deadly, according to a study appearing in The American Journal of Human Genetics. The new finding contrasts sharply with what is known about mutations in non-essential genes being the drivers of common diseases having higher prevalence rates, according to scientists at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center who conducted the research. The bioinformatics study – which used computer technology to link diseases with causative genes, ...