One of the largest concrete frame structures in the UK, the Forth Valley Royal Hospital, was completed on time with the aid of Bamtec, an off-site fabricated steel carpet of floor slab reinforcement. Bamtec is manufactured exclusively by steel reinforcement specialist Hy-Ten in the UK. The use of this reinforcement system also significantly reduced the steel required and in direct consequence the carbon footprint of the project. The construction programme had a tight window for the completion and Hy-Ten were approached to see if the Bamtec system could speed site placement ...

In light of recent flooding in Michigan, Flood Control, LLC. has recently mobilized its CAT Teams (Catastrophic Loss Teams) from its major offices in New York and Illinois to help assist those who have felt the effects of the inclement weather. Flood Control - a nationwide restoration company - has dispatched two box trucks to the area to set up an emergency response team that is ready to take on all incoming disaster recovery situations. Excessive rain pouring down in Michigan has caused the ground to become extremely saturated and as a result, localized flooding has ...

The list honors the top 7 percent of franchises doing the most to recruit America's veterans as franchisees. "The list was created three years ago out of demand from military veterans, many of whom want to start or own their own business but are unclear where to begin," said Sean Collins, General Manager for G.I. Jobs. "Military veterans can execute a plan, lead employees, and are trained to overcome adversity. Combine this background and work ethic with an established franchise system and you have greatly increased the odds of the business succeeding." The ...

Total shipments of tablet PC panels increased by 15.8% month-over-month, resulting in over 5 million units shipped for the first time in April. The increase can be attributed to the consumer market release of the iPad2 in March coupled with other launchings of new tablet PC products from various brands. Global Information Inc. is pleased to present an annual information service for the electronic display industry, "Monthly Large Area TFT-LCD Panel Shipment Data" published monthly by Displaybank. According to Ricky Park, Displaybank senior analyst, "looking ...

MSA (MarketSmart Advertising) (http://www.thinkmsa.com), a full-service marketing and communications agency, has named Jan Johnson chief executive officer. Formerly MSA's vice president, Johnson will manage internal company operations, supervise senior management executives and facilitate future business opportunities. As a leader whose experience crosses a multitude of marketing disciplines, Johnson brings more than 20 years of industry expertise with an extensive background in corporate, business-to-business, interactive and consumer marketing. Johnson served as vice ...

MAYWOOD, Ill. – Studies show that minorities who suffer strokes are less knowledgeable than whites about risk factors and are slower to receive care when every minute counts, according to a scientific statement from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. Loyola University Health System stroke specialist Dr. José Biller is a member of the panel of experts who wrote the statement, which was published online May 26 in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. The report said there are disparities in every aspect of stroke care. Minorities ...

NEW YORK, NY (May 26, 2011) – The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) – a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing cures for major diseases through stem cell research – today applauded the announcement by Stanford University scientists, led by NYSCF – Robertson Investigator Dr. Marius Wernig, that they directly converted skin cells of humans into functional neurons. These neurons will allow researchers to study neural diseases with the ultimate goal of developing more effective treatments and cures. In a paper published in the online edition of the journal Nature, ...

A new treatment that treats a subset of stroke patients by combining minimally invasive surgery, an imaging technique likened to "GPS for the brain," and the clot-busting drug t-PA appears to be safe and effective, according to a multicenter clinical trial led by Johns Hopkins researchers. The novel treatment, detailed for the first time at this week's European Stroke Conference in Hamburg, Germany, was developed for patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), a bleed in the brain that causes a clot to form within brain tissue. This clot builds up pressure and leaches ...

The study, commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and undertaken by the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies (UKCTCS), reviewed published studies from between 1990 and 2007 to establish success rates for the NHS smoking cessation services. It found that older smokers are more likely than young smokers to successfully quit, some men appear to be more successful at quitting than women despite the fact that more women attend the smoking cessation services, and more disadvantaged groups face greater challenges when giving up smoking. The ...

How can someone with perfectly normal hearing become deaf to the world around them when their mind is on something else? New research funded by the Wellcome Trust suggests that focusing heavily on a task results in the experience of deafness to perfectly audible sounds. In a study published in the journal Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, researchers at UCL (University College London) demonstrate for the first time this phenomenon, which they term 'inattentional deafness'. "Inattentional deafness is a common everyday experience," explains Professor Nilli Lavie ...

On May 18th, 2011, The Hampton E-commerce Grant Program approved Markomm, an Internet Marketing Firm, to be one of its approved E-Commerce Service Providers. This allows Hampton, VA based businesses to use Markomms Internet Marketing Services as part of the program. Eligible business can receive up to $6000 of grant money and apply it toward Markomms Internet Marketing Services. The Hampton IDA along with the assistance of the Hampton Department of Economic Development has created an E-Commerce Grant Program aimed at assisting Hampton businesses in order to optimize ...

How do females select partners? Darwin's initial idea that the fittest males would be the most desirable and would therefore be most likely to secure partners has represented a cornerstone of evolutionary theory since the publication of "The Descent of Man" in 1871. Darwin proposed that secondary sexual characteristics enabled females to see at a glance which male was "best", i.e. best for every female. This male would be the chosen partner as he would pass on the best possible genes to the next generation, thereby increasing the fitness of the species. Towards the ...

A bacteria which infects people with cystic fibrosis could help combat other antibiotic-resistant microbes, according to a team from Cardiff and Warwick Universities. Continuous use of existing antibiotics means that resistant bacteria are now causing major health problems all over the world. New antibiotics are urgently needed to combat the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria such as the MRSA superbug. Now a surprising source of hope has emerged in the form of Burkholderia, a group of bacteria which can cause severe lung infections in people with the genetic ...

A team of researchers from the Royal Institute and Observatory of the Navy (ROA) in Cádiz (Spain) has developed a method to track the movement of geostationary objects using the position of the stars, which could help to monitor space debris. The technique can be used with small telescopes and in places that are not very dark. Objects or satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO) can always be found above the same point on the Equator, meaning that they appear immobile when observed from Earth. By night, the stars appear to move around them, a feature that scientists have ...

This neat and tidy software can help in organizing your thoughts as they day races by, eliminating the problem of finding the notes you know are somewhere on your hard drive. Save all that time spent looking for bank account numbers, PINs, addresses and phone numbers. Now it is cheap and easy to store all your notes, to-do lists, memos and business data in one organized place, so you can find them quickly when you need them. Along with logging your daily activities, so you can effectively track how you use your time. AlfaPad Notes Organizer uses an intuitive, double-paned ...

Research from the University of Warwick shows a trip to the zoo can boost your child's science and conservation education more than books or classroom teaching alone. In research conducted at ZSL London Zoo, more than 3,000 school children aged between seven and 14 were asked about their knowledge of animals, habitat and conservation and then tested again after their trip. The results show that 53% had a positive change in educational or conservation-related knowledge areas, personal concern for endangered species or new empowerment to participate in conservation ...

Halfpricesoft.com(www.halfpricesoft.com) released a new version of its employee attendance and time software, ezTimeSheet. This update is the software developer's response to customers' requests for increased reporting options. ezTimeSheet software makes it easy and affordable to automate employee attendance management processes and slashes the time to run payroll for small businesses. This employee attendance and time tracking software was designed specifically for small business owners and HR department managers. And the newly released update version is more powerful ...

FRANKFURT. Salmonella is widely prevalent in the animal kingdom. The reason we do not suffer from severe intestinal infections very often is due to our body's defence system, which manages to digest invading bacteria. This is why, generally speaking, a healthy human being will only fall ill if he consumes more than 100.000 salmonella bacteria via a contaminated food source, such as eggs or meat. An international team of researchers, led by Prof. Ivan Dikic from the Goethe University in Frankfurt has now found out how body cells recognise salmonella and render it harmless. ...

Dr. Sloss received his Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He earned his medical degree from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center School of Medicine in Denver, Colorado. Dr. Sloss completed his residency at Washington University, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, in St. Louis, Missouri. He was a staff physician at the Emergency Department at SSM St. Joseph Hospital West in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Sloss has training in incident response to terrorist bombings and prevention and response to suicide bombing ...

5% to 10% of all breast cancers are monogenic in origin. In other words, there is a mutation of the genes BRCA1, BRCA2 or other high-risk genes. In this edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2011; 108(19): 323 30), Alfons Meindl of the Klinikum rechts der Isar (Munich) and coauthors report on new insights into the pathogenesis and treatment of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer and newly-discovered risk genes. Meindl et al. evaluated data including those derived from the work of the German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer. ...

The reason being: "So far scientific studies were limited mostly to the movement of sick animals or to single aspects of locomotion", says Fischer, Professor of Systematic Zoology and Evolutionary Biology. To change this, Professor Fischer and his team started a comprehensive study about the locomotion of healthy dogs in 2006 and have now presented the results. With enormous technical effort the scientists measured, documented and compared the motion sequences of 327 dogs from 32 different breeds. The dogs were filmed by two high speed cameras in different gaits from ...

Investec offers specialised lending for deals in the closed-end funds market - Investec believes many closed-end funds are trading at attractive discounts to their net asset values (NAVs) - Consolidation is expected in the closed-end fund space - Investec's lending is expected to be concentrated around funds focusing on alternative asset classes Investec Specialist Private Bank ('Investec') has launched a new lending proposition for fund managers looking for 'event driven financing' focused on the closed-end fund space. This includes financing mergers; the acquisition ...

Christian Brothers Automotive Corporation, a national automotive repair chain known for its upscale home-charm decor and ethical business practices, has been honored with the Houston Better Business Bureau's (BBB) coveted Excellence Winner of Distinction award. This marks the sixth time, and second-consecutive year, the corporate office has been recognized with this award. The BBB Excellence Winner of Distinction award recognizes companies that demonstrate a consistent commitment to ethics, overall excellence and quality in the workplace. "Christian Brothers ...

Low-cost catfish fillets sold as expensive sole fillets or cod caught in the North Sea but declared as originating from the Baltic Sea are both examples of types of fraud in the fisheries sector. A European Commission report published today shows how molecular technologies - based on genetics, genomics, chemistry and forensics - can provide clear answers to questions such as "what species does this fish product come from….where was this fish caught….is it wild or farmed?". The report by the Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), is called "Deterring illegal activities ...

Researchers of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch have discovered what enables embryonic stem cells to differentiate into diverse cell types and thus to be pluripotent. This pluripotency depends on a specific molecule – E-cadherin – hitherto primarily known for its role in mediating cell-cell adhesion as a kind of "intracellular glue". If E-cadherin is absent, the stem cells lose their pluripotency. The molecule also plays a crucial role in the reprogramming of somatic cells (body cells) into pluripotent stem cells (EMBO Reports, advance online ...