Much to the disappointment of many, the most recent Massachusetts legislative session closed without changes to the state's alimony laws. Although separate bills had been introduced in both the House and Senate, neither managed to garner sufficient support to pass. Accordingly, Massachusetts remains one of the few states in the country that continues to award alimony for life. Given the amount of debate surrounding this issue, it seems likely that some changes will be coming in the near future. It is unclear, though, what shape these reforms might take. While some ...

Northern Rock has launched a new e-bond account, providing a competitive interest rate for those savers who wish to operate their account online. With a minimum deposit of just GBP1, customers can benefit from a fixed rate of interest for one year. e-bond (Issue 1) pays 3.00% gross*/AER** pa until 20 October 2011. Accounts must be opened and operated online. Initial deposits can be made online by electronic transfer from another bank or building society, or from an existing Northern Rock account. Account holders can choose to have their interest paid annually (interest ...

Promethean, the interactive learning technology business, is launching 'Give Every Child a Voice', a recycling campaign among Scottish schools to support the NSPCC's ChildLine, the 24 hours-a-day helpline for children and young people. Promethean is bringing together schools across Scotland to help raise funds for ChildLine by recycling old or unwanted mobile phones. For every 250 mobile phones a school collects, Promethean will donate GBP500 to ChildLine in Scotland and an ActivExpression Learner Response System will be awarded to the school. The ActivExpression ...

npower is encouraging kids who fancy themselves as the next Rio Ferdinand, or Faye White, to pull on their boots and enter the Football League Kids Cup and Girls Cup. Faye White, the women's England captain, was joined by sports presenter and amateur player Ben Shephard at Football League ground Queens Park Rangers to call for entries. Schools across the country have until 8th October to sign up for both cups by entering their local competition, in the hope of winning the chance to represent the club at the regional, and then later area and national phases of the ...

The National Trust and the Art Fund have launched a GBP2.7 million fundraising campaign to save an iconic Old Master painting for the nation. 'The Procession to Calvary' by Pieter Brueghel the Younger is the star attraction at Nostell Priory in Yorkshire, owned by the National Trust since 1954, where it has hung for over 200 years. Now, however, the painting, which is still owned by Lord St Oswald, has been put up for sale, with the risk that Nostell's greatest work will no longer be accessible to the public. Completed in 1602, and amongst Brueghel the Younger's finest ...

Barclaycard has announced the launch of Barclaycard SmartPay. This new secure online payment processing system is designed to help European retailers compete with domestic retailers in foreign markets and reduce the number of transactions where customers do not complete their purchase.  Developed in partnership with global internet payment and e-commerce solutions provider Adyen, it will revolutionise cross-border e-commerce by offering a simpler, seamless payment experience to consumers. Barclaycard SmartPay's next generation functionality offers a single payment gateway ...

Owlient reached an important milestone in its history as it celebrated its 5th birthday on September 8 2010. The European Internet browser game company celebrated this occasion with its 15 million registered users from all over the World. Owlient is also planning a new international roll-out to keep the numbers growing. The company began life in the founder's student room in Paris in 2008, and 5 years later it has over 12.5 million horse lovers worldwide who play its most famous browser game, Howrse.com. Owlient also has 2.5 million users who play Babydow, the baby simulation ...

The ICMA Centre has been ranked 2nd for employability by The Times Good University Guide 2011*. This ranking demonstrates the emphasis the Centre places on producing graduates with skills and knowledge of real value to institutions in the financial markets. Dr Adrian Bell, School Director of Teacher and Learning, said: "We are delighted with our position in the rankings. This reflects the Centre's excellent links with leading financial institutions in the City, our practical application of finance theory through the use of our extensive dealing room facilities and our ...

npower hometeam has launched a new winter cashback scheme, which will see customers installing a new boiler receive a one off cash payment towards their winter gas bill. The npower winter gas cashback deal means that any homeowners installing a new A-rated boiler through the company will receive GBP349 cashback, the equivalent value of the average winter gas bill from December to February*. What's more, by having a new A-rated boiler installed, homeowners could save an additional GBP225 in energy costs.** Richard Cotton, head of sales for npower hometeam, commented: ...

Guoman and Thistle Hotels have launched a dual incentive scheme which includes great offers for meetings and events booked looking to secure event space between now and 31st March 2011. Guoman Hotels, the exclusive collection of deluxe, inspirational hotels across central London, and Thistle Hotels, the chain of quality full-service hotels in the UK's major cities, are offering meetings and events bookers the chance of winning a whole array of exciting rewards, such as free Apple goodies, a double booking bonus reward, 3% commission boost, free day delegates (this occurs ...

Thistle Hotels has announced that the popular Jamie's Scottish Evenings are coming to an end for another year at the King James Hotel in Edinburgh. The event runs from April to October, 7 nights a week, and will be coming to an end on the 31 October. Hosted by renowned Scottish entertainer Bill Torrance, diners can enjoy an array of traditional Scottish entertainment and three course meal in Lothian Suite in one of the grandest Edinburgh hotels. At GBP55 per head inclusive of wine, guests can sample fresh, locally sourced produce, such as Shetland salmon, Highland ...

On October 1, 2010, numerous news articles were released regarding the recently-discovered Syphilis experiment or "study" in Guatemala on unknowing mental health "participants." Apparently, according to the numerous news articles, the doctor involved in the infamous Tuskegee experiment on African-American males in Alabama in the 1970s, Dr. John C. Cutler, and the National Institutes of Health, among other United States governmental organizations and the Guatemalan government, itself, knowingly participated and/or approved of the experiment on unknowing victims. The United ...

University of Alberta researcher Lori Friesen's classroom assistants are very attentive, love to listen to children read and can keep their composure in a classroom full of energetic Grade 2 students. However, her assistants are more likely to lick the students' faces than give them a gold star. Friesen's says her work with her "literacy dogs," Tango and Sparky, in one city-area classroom yielded some highly positive successes for the children and her research. In Friesen's research, children signed up for weekly reading or writing sessions with her and one of the dogs. ...

NEW YORK, October 1, 2010--A multi-institutional team led by investigators from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has published a study that provides new insight into genetic changes that make some forms of glioblastoma, the most common type of primary brain cancer, more aggressive than others and explains why they may not respond to certain therapies. The research was led by senior author Eric C. Holland, MD, PhD,--an MSKCC surgeon, researcher and the Director of the Brain Tumor Center--and was published in the October 1 issue of the journal Genes & Development. Glioblastoma ...

Surgeons at UW Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle and at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine have determined that transorbital neuroendoscopic surgery (TONES) is a safe, effective option for treating a variety of advanced brain diseases and traumatic injuries. This groundbreaking, minimally invasive surgery is performed through the eye socket, thus eliminating the removal of the top of the skull to reach the brain. The findings were published in the September issue of Neurosurgery. "By performing surgery through the eye socket, ...

An unparalleled heat wave in eastern Europe, coupled with intense droughts and fires around Moscow, put Earth's temperatures in the headlines this summer. Likewise, a string of exceptionally warm days in July in the eastern United States strained power grids, forced nursing home evacuations, and slowed transit systems. Both high-profile events reinvigorated questions about humanity's role in climate change. But, from a global perspective, how warm was the summer exactly? How did the summer's temperatures compare with previous years? And was global warming the "cause" ...

### Authors on The American Journal of Managed Care study included: Adrianne Feldstein, MD, MS, Nancy A. Perrin, PhD, A. Gabriela Rosales, MS, Gregory A. Nichols, PhD, David H. Smith, RPh, MHA, PhD, and Jennifer Schneider, MPH of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research; Robert Unitan, MD. Of Northwest Permanente, Carrie M. Davino, MD, and Nancy Louie Lee, RPh of Kaiser Permanente Northwest, ,Yvonne Zhou, PhD of Kaiser Permanente. Authors on the Population Health study included: Yvonne Zhou, Jian J. Wang, MS, and Marianne Turley, PhD from Analytics & Evaluation, ...

Exacerbations in cystic fibrosis (CF) may be linked to chronic infection with a bacterium called Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, which was previously thought to simply colonize the CF lung. The finding that chronic infection with S. maltophilia is independently linked with an increased risk of exacerbations gives clinicians and researchers a new potential measure of the health status of CF patients, as well as a new potential target in fighting their disease. The findings were published online ahead of the print edition of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal ...

Growth hormone is used to treat children's growth disorders and has been used by some sports men and women to promote muscle growth and regeneration. This is because it coordinates skeletal muscle development, nutrient uptake, and nutrient utilization. It is not clear, however, which of these effects are direct and which are indirectly mediated via growth hormone induction of the protein IGF-1. Now, however, a team of researchers, led by Thomas Clemens, at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, has used mice engineered to lack in their skeletal muscle either ...

EDITOR'S PICK: Going from strength to strength: effects of growth hormone on muscle Growth hormone is used to treat children's growth disorders and has been used by some sports men and women to promote muscle growth and regeneration. This is because it coordinates skeletal muscle development, nutrient uptake, and nutrient utilization. It is not clear, however, which of these effects are direct and which are indirectly mediated via growth hormone induction of the protein IGF-1. Now, however, a team of researchers, led by Thomas Clemens, at Johns Hopkins University School ...

MIAMI — African-American women had lower vitamin D levels than white women, and vitamin D deficiency was associated with a greater likelihood for aggressive breast cancer, according to data presented at the Third AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities. "We know that darker skin pigmentation acts somewhat as a block to producing vitamin D when exposed to sunlight, which is the primary source of vitamin D in most people," said Susan Steck, Ph.D., M.P.H., associate professor of epidemiology at the University of South Carolina. Steck and colleagues ...

MIAMI — A group-based, holistic, mind-body intervention was equally effective in treating persistent fatigue and improving quality of life for breast cancer survivors, regardless of their race. "All women, black and white alike, reported significant improvement in fatigue post program completion, and improvement was maintained without further intervention," said researcher Susan E. Appling, M.S., C.R.N.P., nurse practitioner with the Prevention and Research Center at Mercy Medical Center. These results were presented here, at the Third AACR Conference on the Science ...

MIAMI — DNA repair capacity (DRC) measurements effectively identified individuals who were at high risk for non-melanoma skin cancer, and may be a useful method to evaluate the efficacy of preventive therapies, according to study results presented at the Third AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities. "Our study showed that persons with low DRC have three times greater likelihood of having non-melanoma skin cancer as compared to those with high DRC," said Manuel Bayona, M.D., Ph.D., professor of the Public Health Program at the Ponce School of Medicine, ...

MIAMI — Cancer disparities persist across racial, ethnic, cultural and socioeconomic lines. Several factors contribute to the disparity in health care, including differences in culture, education and financial resources. Other factors include language barriers, limited access to health care and lack of health literacy. As part of the Third AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, Olveen Carrasquillo, M.D., M.P.H., chief of the division of general medicine at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine in Florida, will host a press conference ...

MIAMI — People living in economically deprived neighborhoods were more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage, non-localized colorectal cancer, even after researchers controlled for known colorectal cancer risk factors, according to data presented at the Third American Association for Cancer Research Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, being held Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 2010. "Community clinical practitioners should be encouraged to understand the neighborhood characteristics of their patients and use that information to guide their encounters with patients, ...