Frozen credit markets are adversely impacting the multi-billion dollar franchising industry. The lack of bank loans for franchised businesses is the major factor preventing the sale of new franchises. Further, this national credit crunch is stopping the re-sale of existing franchises, from franchisee to franchisee. "Transfers (re-sales) are a healthy part of every franchise system. But the nation's lack of bank lending to buyers of existing franchises threatens the ability of franchise systems to rejuvenate their networks through new franchisees. This reduction in transfers ...

A unique new probe based on luciferase, the enzyme that gives fireflies their glow, enables researchers to monitor hydrogen peroxide levels in mice and thereby track the progression of infectious diseases or cancerous tumors without harming the animals or even having to shave their fur. Developed by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley, this new bioluminescent probe has already provided the first direct experimental evidence that hydrogen peroxide is continuously made even in a healthy ...

Konnessi LLC, a Rhode Island web design and marketing strategies company, has relocated its Providence offices into the Churchill and Banks building at 10 Greene Street. The move, which took effect on January 1, 2011, marks not only a major upgrade in office facilities and capabilities for the company, but also a migration deeper into the downtown Providence district. Founded recently in 2010, the RI web design firm Konnessi (which in Maltese means, "connected") has seen exponential growth both in employees and in clientele, all in just under a year of existence. With ...

Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are two to three times more likely than children without the disorder to develop serious substance abuse problems in adolescence and adulthood, according to a study by UCLA psychologists and colleagues at the University of South Carolina. "This greater risk for children with ADHD applies to boys and girls, it applies across race and ethnicity — the findings were very consistent," said Steve S. Lee, a UCLA assistant professor of psychology and lead author of the study. "The greater risk for developing significant ...

Has Valentine's Day become post-racial? Not yet, it seems. New research from the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that when it comes to dating, cyberspace is as segregated as the real world. Data gathered from more than 1 million profiles of singles looking for love online show that whites overwhelmingly prefer to date members of their own race, while blacks, especially men, are far more likely to cross the race barrier in hopes of being struck by Cupid's arrow. UC Berkeley researchers analyzed the racial preferences and online activity of people from the ...

Sitrof Technologies is pleased announced the end customer, Copernicus Group IRB (CGIRB) was named a finalist for the 2011 AIIM Best Practices Award. The Carl E. Nelson Best Practices Award was established to recognize excellence in information management. Sitrof Technologies implementation of Xerox Corporation's (NYSE:XRX) DocuShare enterprise content management (ECM) was recognized as a finalist in the Small Company category for their work in transforming Copernicus Group IRB into a paperless company. CGIRB is now 96% paperless after the 2 year implementation. The paperless ...

Troy, N.Y. – Peter Fox and James Hendler of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are calling for scientists to take a few tips from the users of the World Wide Web when presenting their data to the public and other scientists in the Feb. 11 issue of Science magazine. Fox and Hendler, both professors within the Tetherless World Research Constellation at Rensselaer, outline a new vision for the visualization of scientific data in a perspective piece titled "Changing the Equation on Scientific Data Visualization." As the researchers explain, visualizations provide a means to ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. — The application of a naturally occurring pheromone to honey bee test colonies increases colony growth resulting in stronger hives overall, according to a new study conducted by scientists at Oregon State University and Texas A&M University. The study, which appeared this week in the journal, PLoS ONE, comes amid national concern over the existence of honey bee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) – a combination of events that result in the death of a bee colony. The causes behind CCD remain unknown, but researchers are focusing on four possible contributing ...

GREENBELT, Md. -- The NASA National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) climate/weather satellite is undergoing flight environmental testing at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp's production and test facility in Boulder, Colo. The NPP satellite began environmental testing in November 2010 and has successfully completed vibration, acoustics and shock environments. In addition, the electromagnetic compatibility/electromagnetic interference testing was completed in January 2011. Currently the satellite is undergoing ...

L1 Technologies, parent company of the iGolf brand, announces the release of iGolf Mobile for Windows Phone 7. The application is a free download and includes professionally mapped GPS data and course listings for more than 34,000 golf courses worldwide. iGolf Mobile allows golfers to improve their scores by instantly finding accurate distances to key points on every hole for detailed shot planning and club selection. iGolf Mobile is currently available on iPhone, Android, Palm, Blackberry, and now Windows Phone 7 platforms. Free Membership Features iGolf Mobile includes ...

NASA's Stardust spacecraft, equipped with the University of Chicago's Dust Flux Monitor Instrument (DFMI), is hurtling at more than 24,000 miles an hour toward a Valentine's Day encounter with comet Tempel 1. Stardust will approach to within 124 miles of Tempel 1 at 10:56 p.m. CST Monday, Feb. 14. The spacecraft flew within 150 miles of comet Wild 2 in 2004, when it collected thousands of tiny dust particles streaming from the comet's nucleus for laboratory analysis. The spacecraft dropped off the samples in a canister that parachuted onto the desert salt flats of ...

CCRA Travel Solutions - a leading provider of business-related solutions for professional travel planners and industry suppliers - today announced the launch of a new program called, "Better Than Best." Through this new CCRA program, over 18,800 participating hotels will be offering travel agents and agencies discounts up to 30% off their Best Available Rates (BAR) for GDS bookings made through the CCRA rate codes. "With CCRA's new Better Than Best rate program, travel professionals will now be able to access and book fully commissionable rates that are lower than what ...

SAN FRANCISCO (February 12, 2011) — In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting ™, in San Francisco, researchers will present findings that prove that the use of fetal heart rate monitors lowers the rate of infant mortality. There have been a handful of small studies conducted in the past that looked at the effectiveness of fetal heart rate monitors, but none of them were large enough to be conclusive. "There was some criticism within the obstetric community that fetal heart rate monitoring ...

ST. PAUL, Minn. –New research shows men and women who regularly eat berries may have a lower risk of developing Parkinson's disease, while men may also further lower their risk by regularly eating apples, oranges and other sources rich in dietary components called flavonoids. The study was released today and will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 63rd Annual Meeting in Honolulu April 9 to April 16, 2011. Flavonoids are found in plants and fruits and are also known collectively as vitamin P and citrin. They can also be found in berry fruits, chocolate, ...

LA JOLLA, CA – Embargoed by the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology until February 13, 2011, 1 PM Eastern time – Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have shed new light on a molecular switch that turns genes on or off in response to a cell's energy needs. The study—published February 13, 2011 in an Advance Online Publication of the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology—shows these recently discovered RNA "riboswitches" are capable of more complex functions than originally thought. In addition, because riboswitches so far have been found ...

Infusing soul and incredible depth into an intoxicating blend of contemporary folk and new age music—this is the rock solid foundation for one of the hottest up and coming groups in the Christian genre. The duo of Andrea Davis-Griffin and John Stallworth teamed up to form the inspiring and thought-provoking creation known as Prayer/Life while delivering a positive message driven by faith. Their initial success is reaching new heights, and the group is asking fans to help vote for them in the eWorld Music Awards via the Boomerang Media Station. Drawing comparisons to ...

UPTON, NY — As part of an ongoing effort to uncover details of how high-temperature superconductors carry electrical current with no resistance, scientists at Johns Hopkins University and the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have measured fluctuations in superconductivity across a wide range of temperatures using terahertz spectroscopy. Their technique allows them to see fluctuations lasting mere billionths of a billionth of a second, and reveals that these fleeting fluctuations disappear 10-15 Kelvin (K) above the transition temperature (Tc) at ...

Athens, Ga. – A new University of Georgia study that is the first to examine comprehensively the magnitude of hydrocarbon gases released during the Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil discharge has found that up to 500,000 tons of gaseous hydrocarbons were emitted into the deep ocean. The authors conclude that such a large gas discharge—which generated concentrations 75,000 times the norm—could result in small-scale zones of "extensive and persistent depletion of oxygen" as microbial processes degrade the gaseous hydrocarbons. The study, led by UGA Professor of Marine ...

For those previously seeking MFT continuing education, there is a new path available in California. The California Board of Behavioral Sciences (CA BBS) has created a new licensing category, LPCC (licensed professional clinical counselor). This new license can be obtained not only from existing licensed professionals in California, but from those licensed in other states as well. For a short period of time, the CA BBS has made available a process to apply for their LPCC license, called the "grandparenting" path. This path will differ for those licensed outside of California ...

VIDEO: This is a 3D-rotation through the optic lobe of a fly larva's brain. Blue are axons of the photoreceptor nerve cells, the two guidance proteins are shown in green (GoGo)... Click here for more information. The human brain consists of approximately one hundred billion nerve cells. Each of these cells needs to connect to specific other cells during the brain's development in order to form a fully functional organism. Yet how does a nerve cell know where it should ...

Whether it's Leonardo DiCaprio, Angelina Jolie or Natalie Portman, it seems that just about every Hollywood celebrity champions a noble environmental cause these days. But how often is this environmental concern brought directly to the film sets that such A-level stars work on? Green Vanity is a full-service mobile vanity unit that delivers environmental awareness directly to any Hollywood film set, project or event. "The Hollywood film community has done a tremendous amount of work for the environment and raised awareness of many of the most urgent issues that concern ...

Two artificial big toes – one found attached to the foot of an ancient Egyptian mummy – may have been the world's earliest functional prosthetic body parts, says the scientist who tested replicas on volunteers. University of Manchester researcher, Dr Jacky Finch, has shown that a three-part wood and leather artefact housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, along with a second one, the Greville Chester artificial toe on display in the British Museum, not only looked the part but also helped their toeless owners walk like Egyptians. The toes date from before 600BC, predating ...

CHICAGO --- If a human cell and a bacterial cell met at a speed-dating event, they would never be expected to exchange phone numbers, much less genetic material. In more scientific terms, a direct transfer of DNA has never been recorded from humans to bacteria. Until now. Northwestern Medicine researchers have discovered the first evidence of a human DNA fragment in a bacterial genome – in this case, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacterium that causes gonorrhea. Further research showed the gene transfer appears to be a recent evolutionary event. The discovery offers insight ...

More than 14 million visits were made to physicians' offices in 2008 by patients with knee problems. Five new studies presented at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) look at the effect that obesity has on knee arthritis and a patient's ability to recover from knee surgery. Does Obesity Cause Irreparable Damage To Knees Despite Weight Loss? (Embargo: February 15) One new study found that while weight loss via bariatric surgery may improve knee pain in obese patients with knee osteoarthritis, there may be permanent damage ...

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