When property development is involved, contractors, subcontractors, and homeowners should all understand how to protect their rights. Liens and warranties are popular methods utilized. Mechanics Liens In the context of construction, most liens are known as "Mechanics Liens." These documents place a financial (security) interest on the title to the real property for work or materials. A contractor has a right to satisfaction of their lien before the property can be sold. California is currently one of many states overhauling their mechanic's liens statutes. In 2011, ...

FINEst WINEs - the only wine investing and collecting magazine in the world. "There are over 800,000 people in the world who buy regularly fine wines from auctions and wine shops as investment, but there is no unbiased authority or reliable source who is telling what or where to buy, when to buy, when to sell, where to sell or how to recognize fake bottles or what is the current drinkability of finest investment wines etc. - those are the reason why we decided to publish FINEst WINEs magazine. The world needs unbiased and up-to-date knowledge of the finest investment ...

First-time parents have this fear that their babies will be born with a birth defect. Imagine if their worst fear should materialize. Recent studies have shown that women who take Paxil during the first three months of gestation are more likely to give birth to babies with Paxil birth defects, as compared to women who do not take any antidepressants during pregnancy. These Paxil birth defects can be life-threatening, and may include serious congenital problems, the most common of which are Paxil heart defects. What is Paxil? Paroxetine Hydrochloride, or better ...

Rug Pad Corner is pleased to announce that Superior felt jute rug pad was voted as the best felt rug pad. The company asked hundreds of customers as well as staff members to rate Superior on a number of levels. Under all conditions, Superior rug pad was unanimously voted as best felt rug pad for the money. "Superior is one of our best selling rug pads and we are happy to see consistent rating results among hundreds of customers," states Luis of Rug Pad Corner. "Superior is perhaps one of the few felt jute rug pads that does not contain any chemicals or adhesives and ...

Skydive Films, in association with Lavorsia Pictures, and IGBA Productions present Nashville Rises, a new short film documentary narrated by Academy Award Winner, Billy Bob Thornton. Devastation, hopelessness, confusion, misery. These are some of the emotions people go through when affected by a natural disaster. On May 1st and 2nd, 2010, the citizens of Nashville, Tennessee tested these emotions. Also known as the 1000-year flood, this disaster is the worst in Tennessee history, with over 2 billion in damages. Historic landmarks such as the Opry House and the Country ...

"Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future," said physicist Neils Bohr. Nevertheless, at New Year's time it's fun to prognosticate upon the coming year's happenings, and one person in particular, mentalist/futurist/"psychic" SIDNEY FRIEDMAN (aka SidneySeer), has had a remarkable documented track record of prediction over the last 13 years with a consistent accuracy near 70% with stated predictions on TV shows like THE VIEW, the TODAY SHOW and THE EARLY SHOW. Of note, his Oscar predictions have been nearly 100% and his stock market predictions have ...

Best Rug Pads has recently added Rug-Chek, an all-natural rubber rug pad, to its product line of rug pads. Rug-Chek is one of the rare 100% rubber rug pads and is safe for all rugs and all floors. Best Rug Pads is offering Rug-Chek in all standard and custom sizes and shapes for all rugs on all types of hard floors. "We are extremely happy to offer such a quality non-slip rug pad," states Sam of Best Rug Pads. "While there are many imitations available, Rug-Chek is one of the very few that are actually 100% rubber." Unlike the other open weave rug pads that are quite ...

AURORA, Colo. (Dec. 14, 2010) – A combination therapy for treating cancer discovered at the University of Colorado Cancer Center showed improved survival rates in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to results from a double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial run by Syndax Pharmaceuticals. The phase 2 results show that the combination of entinostat (Syndax's SNDX-275) and erlotinib was more effective in treating NSCLC in patients with elevated levels of the molecular cancer marker E-cadherin than using erlotinib alone. University ...

LA JOLLA, CA--A synthetic derivative of the curry spice turmeric, made by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, dramatically improves the behavioral and molecular deficits seen in animal models of ischemic stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Two new studies suggest that the novel compound may have clinical promise for these conditions, which currently lack good therapies. Ischemic stroke is the leading cause of disability and the third leading cause of death of older people in the United States, while TBI is the leading cause of death and disability ...

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Requiring a second exam on a person who is considered brain dead may be unnecessary, according to a study on the impact of a second brain death exam on organ donation rates. The research is published in the December 15, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. For the study, scientists reviewed the cases of 1,229 adults and 82 children ages one and older pronounced brain dead. The information was taken from the New York Organ Donor Network database during a 19-month period. "One of the most disturbing ...

DURHAM, N.C. – About 90 percent of people are infected at some time in their lives with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), usually with no ill effects. But individuals with compromised immune systems, such as people with organ transplants or HIV infection, have a greater risk of cancer occurring because of this virus. Scientists at the Duke Cancer Institute have discovered a pathway that infected cells use to root out EBV infections, a finding that has implications for understanding the human response to cancer-causing viruses in general. "Using cell culture studies, we have ...

Polar bears were added to the threatened species list nearly three years ago as their icy habitat showed steady, precipitous decline because of a warming climate. But it appears the Arctic icons aren't necessarily doomed after all. Scientists from several institutions, including the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Washington, have found that if humans reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly in the next decade or two, enough Arctic ice is likely to remain intact during late summer and early autumn for polar bears to survive. "What we projected in ...

Reykjavik, ICELAND, 15 December 2010 – Scientists from deCODE genetics and academic colleagues from Iceland, the UK, US, Netherlands, Spain and Romania today report the discovery of a set of single-letter variations in the sequence of the human genome (SNPs) that impact individual baseline levels of prostate specific antigen, or PSA. Testing for PSA levels is the most commonly used screening tool for the detection of prostate cancer. A prostate biopsy is routinely recommended for men with PSA above a certain threshold. However, PSA levels can rise for reasons unrelated ...

America is winning a battle against heart disease and stroke mortality, but is still losing the war, according to the American Heart Association. In Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics – 2011, published online in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, the association reports that the death rate from heart diseases declined 27.8 percent from 1997 to 2007 (the most recent final data available), and the stroke death rate fell 44.8 percent. However, during the same period, the total number of inpatient cardiovascular operations and procedures increased ...

Body fat distribution does not play an important role in the incidence of every subtype of premenopausal breast cancer, but is associated with an increased risk for estrogen receptor (ER)–negative breast cancer, according to a study published December 15 in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Previous studies have shown that the association between body mass index (BMI) and the risk of breast cancer varies with menopausal status: a higher BMI is positively associated with risk of postmenopausal breast cancer but inversely associated with risk of premenopausal ...

"Staph" bacteria feed on blood. They need the iron that's hidden away inside red blood cells to grow and cause infections. It turns out that these microbial vampires prefer the taste of human blood, Vanderbilt University scientists have discovered. The researchers report in the Dec. 16 issue of Cell Host & Microbe that Staphylococcus aureus (staph) favors human hemoglobin – the oxygen-carrying protein that contains iron – over hemoglobin from other animals. The findings help explain why staph preferentially infects people and suggest that genetic variations in hemoglobin ...

STANFORD, Calif. — More than 2,000 genetic regions involved in early human development have been identified by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The regions, called enhancers, are responsible for triggering the expression of distant genes when embryonic stem cells begin to divide to form the many tissues of a growing embryo. "This is going to be an enormous resource for researchers interested in tracking cells involved in early human development," said Joanna Wysocka, PhD, assistant professor of developmental biology and of chemical and systems ...

LA JOLLA, CA-In addition to fast food, desk jobs, and inertia, there is one more thing to blame for unwanted pounds-our genome, which has apparently not caught up with the fact that we no longer live in the Stone Age. That is one conclusion drawn by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, who recently showed that mice lacking a gene regulating energy balance are protected from weight gain, even on a high fat diet. These findings have implications for the worldwide obesity epidemic and its consequences, such as type two diabetes. In the December 16, ...

The software tool presents data visually and this allows those without specialist training – both professionals and older people – to better understand and contribute to discussions about the mechanics of movement, known as biomechanics, when carrying out everyday activities. The software takes motion capture data and muscle strength measurements from older people undertaking everyday activities. The software then generates a 3D animated human stick figure on which the biomechanical demands of the activities are represented visually at the joints. These demands, or stresses, ...

A newly published insight into the biology of many kinds of less-aggressive but still lethal brain tumors, or gliomas, opens up a wide array of possibilities for new therapies, according to scientists at Brown University and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). In paper published online Dec. 15 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, they describe how a genetic mutation leads to an abnormal metabolic process in the tumors that could be targeted by drug makers. "What this tells you is that there are some forms of tumors with a fundamentally altered ...

Richmond, Va. (Dec. 15, 2010) – Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center and the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine (VIMM) have developed a novel virus-based gene therapy for renal cell carcinoma that has been shown to kill cancer cells not only at the primary tumor site but also in distant tumors not directly infected by the virus. Renal cell carcinoma is the most common form of kidney cancer in adults and currently there is no effective treatment for the disease once it has spread outside of the kidney. The study, published in the journal ...

Absence makes your heart grow fonder, but close-quarters may boost your career. According to new research by scientists at Harvard Medical School, the physical proximity of researchers, especially between the first and last author on published papers, strongly correlates with the impact of their work. "Despite all of the profound advances in information technology, such as video conferencing, we found that physical proximity still matters for research productivity and impact," says Isaac Kohane, the Lawrence J. Henderson Professor of Pediatrics at Children's Hospital ...

A small-scale University of California, San Francisco-led study has identified the first evidence in humans that exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) may compromise the quality of a woman's eggs retrieved for in vitro fertilization (IVF). As blood levels of BPA in the women studied doubled, the percentage of eggs that fertilized normally declined by 50 percent, according to the research team. The chemical BPA, which makes plastic hard and clear, has been used in many consumer products such as reusable water bottles. It also is found in epoxy resins, which form a protective ...

Cold plasma jets could be a safe, effective alternative to antibiotics to treat multi-drug resistant infections, says a study published this week in the January issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology. The team of Russian and German researchers showed that a ten-minute treatment with low-temperature plasma was not only able to kill drug-resistant bacteria causing wound infections in rats but also increased the rate of wound healing. The findings suggest that cold plasmas might be a promising method to treat chronic wound infections where other approaches fail. The ...

15 December 2010, MDMA or 'ecstasy' increases feelings of empathy and social connection. These 'empathogenic' effects suggest that MDMA might be useful to enhance the psychotherapy of people who struggle to feel connected to others, as may occur in association with autism, schizophrenia, or antisocial personality disorder. However, these effects have been difficult to measure objectively, and there has been limited research in humans. Now, University of Chicago researchers, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, are reporting their new findings in healthy volunteers ...