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Following the news that a gang of travellers have been convicted of stealing Pounds Sterling 700,000 worth of caravans, Safeguard has issued further warnings to owners to remain vigilant.

Safeguard, one of the UKs leading providers of motorhome and caravan insurance is advising all drivers to remain cautious of both opportunistic and organised caravan thefts, following news of the conviction of a gang thought to be responsible for half of all caravan thefts in the UK.

Rita Sadler, Safeguard manager said: “We are very pleased to hear that this group of caravan thieves has finally been stopped. Despite the good news, caravan owners still need to be wary of the risks and take appropriate measures to ensure the security of their property.

“Organised crime rings often target larger, luxury models on a stolen to order basis. We find that the vehicles are at their most vulnerable when left unattended and unsecured, for example in driveways whilst owners are loading their caravans and also at motorway service stations as can be seen in the case of the Ward-McDonagh family.

“Caravan thieves are using more sophisticated methods to get away with their crimes. Locks and alarms are no longer a security guarantee; however there are various measures caravanners can take to ensure the safekeeping of their vehicle. Specially designed tracking devices and mechanical devices such as wheel clamps can greatly reduce the risk of theft. As well as deterring thieves, security conscious caravan owners are likely to receive discounts on their insurance premiums.”

President Obama wants to slap a cumbrous new tax on American banks. “We want our money back,” he says. The government is expected to lose money on the bailouts–but not the money used to backstop the banks, which are paying it back, with interest. The real losses are expected to come from insurer AIG and from such untouchable Democratic holies as Fannie Mae, the heavily unionized automakers, and the foreclosure-prevention program.
QIN the early 90s I took out a pension based on rebates from my National Insurance contributions but I cant remember the insurance company. Can I find out what happened with the pension? AYOU probably have what is called an Appropriate Personal Pension. Contact the Department of Work and Pensions and ask them which insurance company received your rebates. They should be able to tell you. Then you can contact the insurance company to sort everything out. QIVE completed a family “financial risk analysis” and realise how difficult life would be for my family financially if I died. What can I do? AYOU should consider life assurance. You will find that the cost is relatively small but the help it can give is enoprmous QMY pension savings go into a “managed fund”. What is this? AMANY people have invested in these. A managed fund invests in a wide variety of assets including equities, property and government bonds and aims to reduce risk, while working to deliver long-term growth.

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RAMAT HASHARON, Israel — Better Place today announced the grand opening of the company’s first
electric vehicle (EV) demonstration center in Israel, which is
constructed inside a refurbished oil tank, symbolizing the transition to
electric transportation taking place worldwide.

The company marked the occasion by announcing the signing of 92
corporate fleet owners to date as well as a partnership with Dor Alon,
one of Israel’s leading gas station operators, for the deployment of
battery switch stations at Dor Alon’s facilities. Leading companies
including Computer Associates and Motorola now join the ranks of 92
Better Place Vision Partners that have agreed to convert a portion of
over 45,000 internal combustion engine cars to electric vehicles from
Renault when commercially available in 2011.

The opening of the Better Place Center represents an important step for
the company as it prepares for commercial launch in Israel and Denmark
next year. The Center is open to the public to come and familiarize
themselves with all aspects of the Better Place solution: a fully
electric, battery-powered car; a comprehensive infrastructure that
includes charge spots and a battery switch station; and a comprehensive
suite of in-car services designed to provide drivers with the best
possible EV driving experience.

“Today’s announcement marks another step toward our commercial launch
next year in Israel,” said Moshe Kaplinsky, CEO, Better Place Israel.
“Israel welcomes the world to come and experience the thrill of clean,
electric vehicles.”

The Better Place Center is built on the Pi Glilot site – one of the last
gasoline storage and distribution centers remaining in Israel. The
Center sits on a 750-square-meter site, offers a unique virtual
experience along with a driving track for the electric vehicles and
expects to receive tens of thousands of visitors from Israel and abroad
in its first year.

Greystar Resources Ltd. (the “Company”) (TSX: GSL)(AIM: GSL) is pleased to announce that the Company has received proceeds of C$6,093,947 from the exercise of 2,467,185 common share purchase warrants at a price of C$2.47 per share. The share purchase warrants were associated with the Companys financing completed with IFC (International Finance Corporation), a member of the World Bank Group, on March 20, 2009. Following the warrant exercise, IFCs position in Greystar totals 9,046,346 shares or 10.76% of the Companys issued and outstanding shares. To date, IFC has not sold any shares that it has purchased in Greystar. IFC continues to hold an additional 2,467,185 common share purchase warrants exercisable at a price of C$2.47 per share which expire on March 20, 2014. As of February 8, 2010 the Company had approximately C$125 million in cash and no debt.

Greystar Resources Ltd. is a precious metals exploration and development company that is currently completing a feasibility study on its wholly owned, multi-million ounce Angostura gold-silver deposit in northeastern Colombia. A positive prefeasibility study announced on March 25, 2009 envisions average annual production at Angostura of 511,000 ounces of gold and 2.3 million ounces of silver over a 15 year mine life.

ICE Corp CEO Luther L. Jao stated, “Currently the float of the companys
common stock is less than 7% of the total issued and outstanding shares. We
believe that this three-for-one split will provide a meaningful increase in
the liquidity of our shares in the market, and make ICE Corp stock more
attractive to a broader range of investors. We see significant potential
for growth in our business as the company prepares for location based
services, and we remain committed to attracting investors who share our
enthusiasm and take a long-term view of the companys growth
opportunities.”

There will be no change in the trading symbol. However, the letter “D” will
be appended to the symbol (OTCBB: ICMCD) for a period of twenty days. After
20 calendar days the “D” will be dropped.

Forward-Looking Safe Harbor Statement: This news release may contain
“forward-looking” statements. These forward-looking statements are only
predictions and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and
assumptions. Actual results may differ materially from the forward-looking
statements in this press release. Additional risks and uncertainties are
identified and described in the Companys SEC reports. Statements made
herein are as of the date of this press release and should not be relied
upon as of any subsequent date. The Company does not undertake, and the
Company specifically disclaims, any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements to reflect occurrences, developments, events, or
circumstances after the date of such statement.

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CHILDREN CAN and do make a difference. Inspired by news accounts of the Jan. 12 Haiti earthquake, students at Green Valley Elementary School wanted to help. Fifth-grader Drew Bennett obtained permission from Principal Tasha Anestos and then, with help from buddies Jeffrey Allinson and Jack Nielsen, and even his little sister Holly, they decided to sell popcorn and raise money for the quake victims. The group printed fliers and made posters, purchased popcorn at cost thanks to the generosity of Safeway, and started popping. Steve Nelson, executive vice president and chief information officer at Summit Bank, helped obtain matching funds from the bank. The students sent a card and cashiers check for $754 to the American Red Cross for the Haitian Relief Fund.
Texas is in a battle over its public-school history curriculum, in which the founder of the Mary Kay cosmetics company currently receives more prominent notice than does Christopher Columbus–and which had, until recently, excluded Christmas from its list of prominent cultural observations. The role of Christianity in the American Founding is the subject of particularly hot debate.
Reporters largely ignored it, but the Department of Health and Human Services released a study showing that Head Starts positive effects peter out by the end of first grade. The study included 44 tests, of which 42 found no statistically significant and lasting improvement. Some positive results are to be expected when you run that many tests, and a footnote points out that the two apparently lasting results disappear after correcting for that tendency.

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CHRISTMAS has come and gone, even for the Eastern Orthodox, and the stores are looking ahead to Valentines Day. But many upstate lawns still have their Christmas decorations: Santa, Frosty, inflated penguins (penguins were big this year, even though they dont live at the North Pole). They stand like unbudgeable guests who have stayed at a party after the host has unplugged the coffee urn and gone to bed. They are better-humored, for they are still waving merrily, but the feelings they induce are unsettling. They have lingered past their time, like ghosts. They represent the black backside of upstate: depression. Depression manifests itself in lack of will. That is what the belated Santas show. People, in a burst of holiday cheer or a bout of family obligation, put them out. But those same people are unable or unwilling to take them down. Routine is supposed to be the great deadener of souls; how much worse is the half-completed task, the broken round, the unfulfilled routine? As usual there is a diagnosis for it–seasonal affective disorder–and as usual it tells only part of the story. The cold keeps people inside and makes them stircrazy, while the short days put them spiritually to sleep. Cold is no friend: It slips in, through door cracks and floorboards, and slaps your face as soon as you step outside. Bundling up to keep it off makes you heavy and stiff. Dusk at five oclock is no pick-me-up either. Maybe bears have the right idea: grow a girdle of fat and go to sleep. But, although the cold stays until February, the light starts growing longer after the solstice, and becomes noticeably so by New Years. Besides, winter cant explain why so many people upstate seem depressed all year long. What are the signs of depression? How about piles of stuff in the yard? This is a tricky point. One of the benefits of owning an acre of land is that you have room to put stuff. Rural residential zoning allows you to put down anything, short of a junkyard, and rural gun ownership guarantees that it will stay put, though who would want a pile of field stone anyway? But sometimes the stack of two-by-fours, or the rusted-out burn barrel, or the boat under a tarp, or the truck with a mismatched hood and fender and a notional price chalked on its windshield (the price and the truck havent changed in years), or all of these things together cross the line from husbandry to clutter. “If a man have not order within him, he cannot spread order about him,” said Ezra Pound, who should have known about inner disorder. Some lawns have all the cheer of old cemeteries. Another sign of depression is the unpainted outbuilding. Here again it is a matter of degree. The weathered barn slat can look like a wise face in an old photograph: Lincoln, Whitman. But when the slats begin to show gaps, trouble has begun. Once the horizontals and the verticals start to slip and sag, the end is near: Only an effort on the order of Robert Moses can save the outbuilding now. I remember a two-storey house on the grounds of a small, broken-down summer resort (but not dead–cars and laundry always decorate a handful of the cottages come July). Its collapse took about two weeks; my friend Doug, who has put up many buildings in his time, said, with grim relish, “Its moving!” A good wet snow brings the untended outbuilding down, like a bomb. The degrees of serious depression are measured by how long the pieces stay, uncleared.
Vickie Syme MAGNA- Our beloved wife, mother, daughter, sister, and grandmother, Vickie Sue Syme Buchanan passed away February 3, 2010 in West Valley City, Utah. She was born November 14, 1944 in Moroni, Utah to Charles Berdell and Phyllis Peterson Syme. She

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I USED TO sing in the shower. It was utterly enjoyable for me to belt out anything I could think of, mostly mere fragments of popular songs I remembered from listening to the radio. The shower walls greatly reverberated the sounds of my voice, encouraging me to ascend to greater and greater heights, usually culminating in a crescendo that combined the musical intensity of opera, rock and pop alike. Then the show came to a screeching halt. It was years ago when I lived in an apartment complex. Someone next door banged against the wall, yelling, “Stop beating that dog!” Well, you guessed it — I didnt have a dog. Apartment regulations prohibited possession of any pets. And even if I had owned one, Im not a person driven to violent acts against a defenseless animal, especially the kind that would elicit singsong sounds from a dog.
Suddenly there are 41. In Douglas Adams bizarrely funny “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy,” the answer to the search of the meaning of everything was 42. In the universe of U.S. politics, at least in the Senate, it is 41. Forty plus one is the magical number needed to sustain debate in the chamber of 100. And when they continue to debate they continue to talk, and as long as there is talk there is no action, and with no action America has no health care reform. Now the fun begins. The irony that a Republican was chosen over a Democrat to fill the seat of the late Ted Kennedy, “Mr. Democrat,” a champion of health care reform for the length of his congressional career, has not been lost on anyone. The fact the seat of the Senate has once more become the chair of the people and not Kennedys personal recliner or footstool of the Democrats speaks volumes to the power of democracy and the fear of the voters. It is especially poignant to have this shocking outcome in a state with a law of universal health coverage much like the anticipated health bill now so conveniently stalled before the Senate. But it goes back to the first question. What are the Republicans going to do with this new found tool? Is it going to be a delicate instrument that they can use to craft a better reform or is it going to be a cruel hammer to simply bash and pound. It is never power alone that matters. It is what one does with the power that counts. So what will come of this 41? Will they sit down and work toward a better solution to a real problem or will they just block all change? In the Republican response to the State of the Union, Gov. Robert F. McDonnell of Virginia repeated the disappointing line, “America has the best health care system in the world.” What follows that is to use the power of the 41 to stop all change. Why reform something that is the “best”? Yet it cant be the best without addressing the problem of non-insurability, eligibility waiting periods, exemption for pre-existing conditions, accelerated costs of everything, overuse of services, medical errors and liability, drug advertising and enormous expenses to promote expensive new colored pills, executive bonuses and employers dumping coverage for their workers.

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PROVO — They cascade down like a paper rain, bright green, deep blue, hot pink and shimmering gold wings catching the light. These walls of origami cranes, tens of thousands of them, represent the 120,313 Japanese-American internees who were pulled away from their homes and families and herded like cattle into remote areas of the United States during World War II hysteria. “I learned that you can affect people just by doing a simple thing like collecting paper cranes,” said Reed, now 16. “Some (internees) didnt want to share their experiences with their families, because it was a dark period in their lives. But I think our project got them to open up, and they got closer to their families.” During the “Cranes for Peace Memorial Project,” which had expanded to include all internees, Reed said, they received several letters from children of internees who thanked them for their project and the conversations it helped facilitate.
One Saudi Arabian braved flash floods in Jeddah to rescue two family members and dozens of strangers from drowning. This act of heroism was made more remarkable by the fact that the driver, who threw a rope to stranded cars and then dragged them out, was a woman–which makes it a violation of Saudi Arabias ban on woman drivers.
Super Bowl revelers can get a free ride, with car in tow, from AAA if they have too many drinks. The program is open to everyone — even those who are not members. AAAs Tipsy Tow program is slated to provide a one-way ride of up to five miles for the driver and vehicle to the drivers home. If there are additional passengers who need a ride, they will be taken to the drivers home as long as there is sufficient room for them to be transported safely in the tow truck. The service runs from 6 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 7, to the early morning hours of Monday.

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Hawk Corporation (NYSE Amex: HWK) announced
today that on Monday, February 8, 2010, it will commence soliciting
consents from holders of $75.7 million of the outstanding principal amount
of its 8-3/4% Senior Notes due 2014 to effect an amendment to the indenture
governing the notes. The proposed amendment to the indenture will allow
Hawk to repurchase up to $20 million of its outstanding common stock.

Upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Consent
Solicitation Statement dated February 8, 2010 and the related Letter of
Consent, Hawk will pay a consent fee in the amount of $20 per $1,000
principal amount of notes for valid consents received from holders of
record of notes as of 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on February 5, 2010.
If the proposed amendment is approved and a supplemental indenture entered
into by Hawk, the supplemental indenture would bind all holders of the
notes, including those that did not give their consent, but non-consenting
holders would not receive the consent fee.

The consent solicitation is scheduled to expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City
time, on February 22, 2010, unless extended or earlier terminated.

The consent solicitation is subject to the satisfaction of certain
conditions, including Hawks receipt of consents representing a majority of
the holders of notes from whom consent is sought, as well as other
customary conditions.

Hawk has engaged Jefferies Company, Inc. to act as the solicitation agent
in connection with the consent solicitation. Questions regarding the
consent solicitation or requests for documentation may be directed to
Jefferies Company, Inc. at (888) 708-5831.

STAMFORD, Conn. — World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:WWE) today declared the
Company’s regular quarterly dividend of $0.36 per share on its Class A
shares of common stock. As previously announced, members of the McMahon
family have waived $0.12 per share of the dividends. As a result, all
Class A and Class B shares owned by the McMahon family will instead
receive dividends in the amount of $0.24 per share. The record date for
the dividend will be March 15, 2010, and the payment date will be March
25, 2010.

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., a publicly traded company (NYSE:
WWE), is an integrated media organization and recognized leader in
global entertainment. The company consists of a portfolio of businesses
that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global
audience. WWE is committed to family-friendly, PG content across all of
its platforms including television programming, pay-per-view, digital
media and publishing. WWE programming is broadcast in more than 145
countries and 30 languages and reaches more than 500 million homes
worldwide. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices
in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Shanghai, Tokyo, Toronto and
Sydney.

Trademarks: All WWE programming,
talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks,
copyrights and logos are the exclusive property of World Wrestling
Entertainment, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos
and copyrights are the property of their respective owners.

Forward-Looking Statements: This
news release contains forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe
harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which
are subject to various risks and uncertainties. These risks and
uncertainties include the conditions of the markets for live events,
broadcast television, cable television, pay-per-view, Internet,
entertainment, professional sports, and licensed merchandise; acceptance
of the Company’s brands, media and merchandise within those markets;
uncertainties relating to litigation; risks associated with producing
live events both domestically and internationally; uncertainties
associated with international markets; risks relating to maintaining and
renewing key agreements, including television distribution agreements;
and other risks and factors set forth from time to time in Company
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results
could differ materially from those currently expected or anticipated. In
addition to these risks and uncertainties, our dividend is based on a
number of factors, including our liquidity and historical and projected
cash flow, strategic plan, our financial results and condition,
contractual and legal restrictions on the payment of dividends and such
other factors as our board of directors may consider relevant.

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THE dilemmas of youth are universal. Consider Nicholas and Victoria, a pair of late-blossoming youngsters currently making their way toward adulthood at a multiplex near you. Respectively male and female, American and English, middle-class and filthy rich, they nonetheless face a nearly identical set of difficulties as they navigate the choppy seas of adolescence. Both have foolish mothers and malign, controlling stepfather-figures. Both are variously ignored, manipulated, and bullied by many of the other adults around them. Both are virgins with a strong romantic streak. And both are separated from the girl/guy of their dreams by distance, legal obligations, and even language barriers. Well, fine, maybe their situations arent quite identical. Nicholas is Nick Twisp, the lovesick hero of Youth in Revolt, which fancies itself the thinking teenagers sex comedy. Its American Pie rewritten for Juno fans and Arrested Development obsessives–complete with Michael Cera, star of both, as the deadpan, quietly desperate hero. His milieu is West Coast suburbia; his mother is a divorcee who takes up with truck drivers and police officers; and his lady love is Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday), the precocious daughter of trailer-park evangelicals, who shares his interest in old movies, world travel, and grand romantic gestures. Victoria, meanwhile, is Alexandrina Victoria Hanover, best remembered as a formidable widow presiding over the British Empires peak, but portrayed by Emily Blunt in The Young Victoria as a glowing girl-queen with a lot to learn. Her milieu is the palaces of 1830s Europe; her menacing stepfather-figure is Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong), who hoped to become Britains de facto regent by dominating Victoria through her mother; and her would-be lover is her cousin, His Serene Highness Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who shares Victorias interest in opera, horseback riding, and programs of social reform. If this description makes The Young Victoria sound like the more snobbish of the two movies, do not be deceived. No double feature is more likely to instill a fondness for the aristocratic pomposities of the 19th century, and a weariness with the smug pretensions of the 21st.
REDWOOD CITY — A single mother was convicted of a felony Thursday after a fight with her teenage daughter in which she tied the girls wrists with zip ties and duct taped her mouth shut. “Were not suggesting were dealing with a bad person at all,” Wagstaffe said. “Were dealing with a person who very badly overreacted to a bad situation with her daughter. At a minimum we can see she needs anger management classes and parenting classes, which are offered here in the county.” Wagstaffe said Benedettis daughter was troubled and had been behaving in some incredibly challenging ways for a parent to deal with, but Benedettis reaction crossed an important line. Benedettis attorney, Leland Davis, said the incident was unfortunate.

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Brazil Insurance Report provides industry professionals and strategists,
corporate analysts, insurance associations, government departments and
regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive
intelligence on Brazils insurance industry.

This report differs from its predecessors in several respects. In this
analysis of competitive conditions, they provide a much more
comprehensive ranking of insurance companies in the major segments from
the point of view of the organisation that is providing the data (in
practice almost always the national insurance regulator or the national
insurance trade association). In Brazil, for instance, the three largest
auto insurance providers in the first eight months of 2009 in terms of
gross written premiums were Porto Seguro Cia de Seguros Gerais, Bradesco
Auto/Re Companhia de Seguros, and Sul Amrica Cia Nacional de Seguros,
with 14.3%, 12.1% and 8.1% market share respectively. Over time, the
authors hope to derive insights from observing how market shares change.
They emphasise though, that a decline in share of Gross Written Premiums
is not automatically a bad thing and is often the result of a deliberate
corporate decision to focus on more profitable business lines.

Writing in November 2009, the authors have been able to ensure that the
report includes actual data for 2008. The Superintendency of Private
Insurance (SUSEP), the regulator, identifies three life lines in its
data: VGBL products, Retirement savings schemes (of which PGBL products
are an important subset) and capitalisation schemes. Analysis finds that
life premiums rose to BRL 40,808mn in 2008 from BRL 35,966mn in 2007.
The figures for non-life insurance include the Consolidated Insurance
figures published by SUSEP except for premiums for VGBL products, which
are a subset of personal lines which belongs to the life segment. The
figures also include health insurance premiums as disclosed by the ASN.
Under this approach, the authors find that non-life premiums rose from
BRL 67,971mn in 2005 to BRL 76,786mn in 2006 to BRL 89,970mn in 2007 to
BRL 103,340mn in 2008.

This quarter, include a discussion of developments within regional
markets on the basis of results published by major cross-border
companies in relation to Q209 or Q309 and the latest information
provided by regulators and/or trade associations.

FY 2011 Budget Proposal Provides Impetus for Passage of Neal Bill

WASHINGTON — The CEOs of some of the nation’s largest U.S.-based insurance companies
urged quick passage of legislation to close a loophole cited in
President Obama’s FY 2011 budget proposal that allows foreign-
controlled insurance companies operating in the U.S. to avoid paying
U.S. income taxes.

“The President’s proposal is a good start,” stated William R. Berkley,
Chairman and CEO of W. R. Berkley Corporation. “We now call on Congress
to pass the Neal bill and end hurtful tax loopholes that for years have
benefited foreign-controlled insurance companies and created a
competitive disadvantage for insurance companies based in the United
States.”

Representative Richard E. Neal has introduced H.R. 3424, a bill that
will eliminate current tax loopholes that permit foreign-controlled
insurers to escape U.S. income tax on profits from policies covering
U.S. risks. This practice of reinsuring U.S.-written business with a
foreign affiliate in a low or no-tax jurisdiction [Related Party
(Affiliate) Reinsurance] costs the U.S. Treasury billions of dollars in
tax revenues, and gives foreign insurers a significant advantage over
U.S. competitors in attracting capital to write U.S. business. A similar
bill has been released by the Senate Finance Committee staff.

“The President’s proposal brings much needed attention and momentum to
this issue that for years has created an uneven economic playing field,”
stated John Degnan, COO of The Chubb Corporation. “In this time of
economic crisis, we cannot afford to give foreign-controlled insurers
continued tax breaks. They should not be allowed to avoid taxes at a
time when others are being asked to contribute to our nation’s economic
recovery.”

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The Non-life
Insurance – Global Group of Eight (G8) Industry Guide is an
essential resource for top-level data and analysis covering the Non-life
Insurance industry in each of the G8 (United States, Canada, Germany,
France, United Kingdom, Italy, Russia and Japan) countries. The report
includes easily comparable data on market value, volume, segmentation
and market share, plus full five year market forecasts. It examines
future problems, innovations and potential growth areas within the
market.

Scope of the Report

Brazil Insurance Report provides industry professionals and strategists,
corporate analysts, insurance associations, government departments and
regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive
intelligence on Brazils insurance industry.

This report differs from its predecessors in several respects. In this
analysis of competitive conditions, they provide a much more
comprehensive ranking of insurance companies in the major segments from
the point of view of the organisation that is providing the data (in
practice almost always the national insurance regulator or the national
insurance trade association). In Brazil, for instance, the three largest
auto insurance providers in the first eight months of 2009 in terms of
gross written premiums were Porto Seguro Cia de Seguros Gerais, Bradesco
Auto/Re Companhia de Seguros, and Sul Amrica Cia Nacional de Seguros,
with 14.3%, 12.1% and 8.1% market share respectively. Over time, the
authors hope to derive insights from observing how market shares change.
They emphasise though, that a decline in share of Gross Written Premiums
is not automatically a bad thing and is often the result of a deliberate
corporate decision to focus on more profitable business lines.

Writing in November 2009, the authors have been able to ensure that the
report includes actual data for 2008. The Superintendency of Private
Insurance (SUSEP), the regulator, identifies three life lines in its
data: VGBL products, Retirement savings schemes (of which PGBL products
are an important subset) and capitalisation schemes. Analysis finds that
life premiums rose to BRL 40,808mn in 2008 from BRL 35,966mn in 2007.
The figures for non-life insurance include the Consolidated Insurance
figures published by SUSEP except for premiums for VGBL products, which
are a subset of personal lines which belongs to the life segment. The
figures also include health insurance premiums as disclosed by the ASN.
Under this approach, the authors find that non-life premiums rose from
BRL 67,971mn in 2005 to BRL 76,786mn in 2006 to BRL 89,970mn in 2007 to
BRL 103,340mn in 2008.

This quarter, include a discussion of developments within regional
markets on the basis of results published by major cross-border
companies in relation to Q209 or Q309 and the latest information
provided by regulators and/or trade associations.

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One person was hospitalized after a shooting in Oakland Thursday evening, police said. Officers responded to the 1500 block of 57th Avenue on reports of shots fired at around 6:40 p.m., police said.
VALLEJO — A trust fund has been set up for a Vallejo city worker who was beaten and robbed by teenagers Monday, city employee union officials said Thursday. Street maintenance worker Harold Cabral, 46, was recovering at home Thursday, union officials said. In Mondays attack, Cabral suffered a fractured skull, fractured jaw, broken teeth and a fractured collarbone, police said. He was treated at Kaiser Permanente, Vallejo Medical Center. Checks can be mailed to: The Harold Cabral Trust Fund, in care of IBEW Local 2376, 111 Amador St., Vallejo, CA 94590.
One person was hospitalized after a shooting in Oakland Thursday evening, police said. Officers responded to the 1500 block of 57th Avenue on reports of shots fired at around 6:40 p.m., police said.

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JERUSALEM — Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA) announced today that
several of its subsidiaries in the United States reached a settlement in
principle to resolve claims brought by Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys,
Inc. on behalf of the United States, Texas, Florida, and California
under federal and state False Claims Acts.

Together with many other pharmaceutical manufacturers, Teva is named in
numerous civil lawsuits that relate to drug price reporting by
manufacturers in about 15 states. The cases, which are pending in
federal and state courts, generally allege that the prices reported by
pharmaceutical companies caused governments to pay inflated
reimbursements for drugs under Medicaid or other programs. Teva denies
the allegations.

Upon execution of definitive settlement documents and certain government
and court approvals, the settlement will resolve a lawsuit relating to
federal contributions to all state Medicaid programs and claims of
Texas, Florida, and California relating to their Medicaid programs. The
settlement will eliminate the majority of the alleged damages asserted
against Teva in the various drug pricing litigations.

Teva will record a charge of approximately $315 million in its fourth
quarter, 2009 results. This charge includes both the settlement in
principle and a reserve for the remaining drug pricing lawsuits to which
Teva is a party.

JASPER, Ind. — Kimball International, Inc. (NASDAQ: KBALB) today reported net sales of
$275.2 million and net income of $1.9 million, or $0.05 per Class B
diluted share, for the second quarter of fiscal year 2010, which ended
December 31, 2009. Net income for the fiscal year 2010 second quarter
includes $2.0 million of after-tax income, or $0.05 per Class B diluted
share, resulting from settlement proceeds related to an antitrust class
action lawsuit of which the Company was a member and $0.2 million of
after-tax restructuring expense, or less than $0.01 per Class B diluted
share. Excluding the class action lawsuit income and the restructuring
expense, the Company recorded non-GAAP net income of $0.1 million, or
less than $0.01 per Class B diluted share for the fiscal year 2010
second quarter.

In the prior fiscal year 2009 second quarter, the Company reported net
sales of $327.6 million and net income of $8.2 million, or $0.22 per
Class B diluted share. The prior fiscal year second quarter net income
included a $4.8 million after-tax gain, or $0.13 per Class B diluted
share, related to the sale of a portion of the Company’s undeveloped
land holdings and timberland; $1.6 million of after-tax income, or $0.04
per Class B diluted share, for advance funds retained by the Company
resulting from the termination of the contract to sell the Company’s
Poland building and real estate; and $0.7 million of after-tax
restructuring expense, or $0.02 per Class B diluted share. Excluding
these items, the prior fiscal year second quarter non-GAAP net income
was $2.5 million, or $0.07 per Class B diluted share.

MALVERN, Pa. NEW YORK — USA Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:USAT), a leading supplier of networked
devices and wireless non-cash transactions, associated financial/network
services and energy management, and Shareholder Advocates for Value
Enhancement (“SAVE”) announced today that they have reached an agreement
to settle the proxy contest related to the Company’s 2010 annual meeting
of shareholders originally scheduled for December 15, 2009 and postponed
until June 15, 2010.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the Board has been
increased from eight to nine members, and Bradley M. Tirpak and Peter A.
Michel, as nominees of SAVE, have been appointed to serve as directors.
In addition, SAVE has the right to appoint a third director to the Board
if the Company does not achieve positive earnings before interest,
taxes, depreciation and amortization in the quarter ending December 31,
2010 and have at least 100,000 connections to its network as of December
31, 2010. Immediately prior to the signing of the settlement agreement,
William L. Van Alen, Jr., resigned as a director. Mr. Van Alen had
served as a director of the Company since 1993.

In connection with the settlement agreement, the Board has approved
several corporate governance changes, including declassifying the Board
of Directors effective January 1, 2012 and allowing shareholders to call
special shareholder meetings in certain circumstances.

George Jensen, Chairman and CEO of USA Technologies said, “Reaching this
agreement, we believe, serves the best interests of the Company, its
customers and its shareholders. We look forward to working productively
with the new members of the Board as we work to achieve our strategic
plan.”

Mr. Jensen added, “I would like to personally thank Bill Van Alen for
his dedicated service to the Company as a member of our Board of
Directors since 1993. Bill has been a valuable resource to our Board and
the Company and we are grateful for his significant contributions to the
Company.”

sell structured settlement

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Ryder System, Inc. (NYSE: R), a global leader in
transportation and supply chain management solutions, today announced that
the Companys employees together with the Ryder Charitable Foundation are
making a $100,000 donation to the American Red Cross to support disaster
relief efforts in Haiti. The donation is the result of a nationwide
employee giving campaign that raised $42,000 and a match exceeding this
amount of $58,000 provided by the Ryder Charitable Foundation. This new
financial support is in addition to the three-year, $1 million commitment
made in 2009 by the Ryder Charitable Foundation to the American Red Cross
Disaster Relief Fund, making the Company a proud member of the American Red
Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program.

Ryder has also contributed in kind services through the discounted
provision of Ryder vehicles to various non-profit organizations in support
of the relief effort, including providing refrigerated and other vehicles
in South Florida for staging goods en route to Haiti.

“The outpouring of support by Ryder employees, following this tragedy, has
been significant and heartwarming,” said Ryder Chairman and CEO, Greg
Swienton. “We recognize that the recovery for Haiti and its survivors is
expected to be long and difficult, and we will also continue to keep the
victims of this disaster in our thoughts and prayers.”

To provide relief for the victims of the recent
earthquakes in Haiti, Morrison, Brown,
Argiz Farra , LLP (MBAF) recently collected a total of $21,758 from
staff and clients from around the United States. The funds will be donated
to the American Red Cross, Partners in Health, and Carrollton School of the
Sacred Hearts Haiti Fund.

“I sympathize with the citizens of Haiti and their suffering at such a
tragic time, and hope that MBAFs contribution will help to improve their
living conditions,” said Tony Argiz, CEO and managing partner of MBAF. “At
MBAF, we understand the importance of helping those less fortunate and that
our support can considerably impact their lives.”

During this challenging period, MBAF will join forces with the American Red
Cross, the non-profit organization that shelters, feeds and provides
emotional support to victims of disasters; Partners In Health, the
non-profit corporation whose mission it is to provide a preferential option
for the poor in health care; and the South Florida-based Catholic school
Carrollton School of the Sacred Hearts Haiti Fund in its efforts to assist
the Haitian population.

“I want to personally thank each and every one of my colleagues and clients
at MBAF who contributed to this disaster relief effort for Haiti,”
commented Hudson Robillard, a native of Haiti and an audit supervisor at
MBAF. “It is heart wrenching to watch the suffering, despair, and
helplessness of my brothers and sisters; I see myself through them and wish
I could do more. I am very grateful for your support.”

By donating time, personal service and financial support, MBAF contributes
to more than 100 organizations in a wide variety of causes including
philanthropic, educational, religious, professional and community-focused.
For this particular effort, the company matched the funds raised by
employees.

credit debt relief

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Franchise Tax Board (FTB) today advised taxpayers dealing with
income tax liabilities to contact FTB for assistance if they are unable
to pay by April 15.

For people experiencing a financial hardship and cannot pay what they
owe, FTB specialists can establish payment plans, grant temporary relief
from state tax liens, or, in some cases, delay collection actions. FTB
generally approves installment payment requests if the balance owed is
less than $25,000 and can be paid within 60 months.

FTB can generally grant relief from state tax liens within two weeks for
financially distressed homeowners trying to sell or refinance their
homes. When a home sells for less than the loan balance, FTB can
sometimes remove its tax lien from the property to allow the homeowner
to complete the sale. Tax liens typically must be paid before a real
estate escrow can close. The tax lien remains in effect on any other
property the taxpayer currently holds or later acquires.

FTB can help people refinancing or modifying an existing home loan.
Homeowners can request that FTB allow the new or modified loan to have
priority over the tax lien. This allows prior home loans to be
refinanced or modified without first having to pay the lien.

More information is available at FTB’s website, ftb.ca.gov,
including ways to help taxpayers resolve their accounts through installment
agreement requests. For lien information, look under the “Bills and
Notices” tab and then under the Earnings Withholding and Collections
Action section, select: Individuals
– Liens.

AppLab Allows Users to Easily Install RealityServer, Quickly Test Drive
Their Own Content and Learn How to Develop 3D Web Services

SAN FRANCISCO BERLIN — mental images, a global leader in rendering software and visualization
tools, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the NVIDIA Corporation, today
unveiled the RealityServer® AppLab™ toolset at the Imagina conference in
Monaco. RealityServer AppLab allows users to upload 3D content within
seconds, and to visualize, share and interact with it on any Internet
connected device.

The graphical user interface, accessible through a standard web browser,
is specifically designed to assist new as well as experienced users with
the evaluation of the RealityServer web application service platform. An
integrated documentation center guides developers through interactive
tutorials and examples, showing them how to create compelling 3D web
services that fit their needs.

“Here at Bertrandt, where we provide product development solutions for
automotive and aerospace industries worldwide, AppLab easily introduces
RealityServer’s technology to first time users and non-developers. It
enables us to quickly achieve tasks that would have required plenty of
manual work and a lot of training before,” said Christoph Martin of the
3D visualization team at Bertrandt. “AppLab is simple and intuitive and
we have found that its integration of the documentation center is
excellent. The ability to quickly integrate RealityServer content into
web sites via Embedded Codes is also an outstanding feature.”

In addition to the complete feature set of RealityServer AppLab adds an
easy to use management system and off-the-shelf viewing tools. Four key
functions are provided by AppLab, all of which are easily found on the
home screen of the interface:

physicians assistant program

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ROCHESTER, N.H. — BrandPartners Group, Inc. (OTC BB: BPTR), a provider of integrated
retail environmental services to the financial services and franchise
industries, announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary
BrandPartners Retail Inc (BrandPartners) has signed new contracts
totaling $4.6 million and $900,000 of letters of intent in the month of
January.  Under the new contracts BrandPartners will provide a broad
range of design and construction, merchandising, furniture,
environmental graphics, retail communications, and merchandising product
for its financial services customers.

“We believe that our strong January contracts and letters of
intent as well as other recent activity demonstrate that our core client
base is getting back to business and focusing on driving revenues in
their branches.  Furthermore, we have moved to diversify our revenues
with the launch of our Store in a Box subsidiary, which targets
franchise companies as well as with our newest service offerings, energy
audits and implementations.  We believe that these new initiatives
position the company to prosper in two areas that are growth industries
for the foreseeable future,” commented James Brooks, CEO of
BrandPartners.

About BrandPartnersBrandPartners Group, Inc. (OTC
Bulletin Board: BPTR), through its wholly owned subsidiaries
BrandPartners Retail, Inc., Build Partners, Inc. and Store in a Box,
Inc. provide an integrated approach to customer environments through
brand translation, business strategy, design/build services, retail
displays and in-branch communications products and services, from
concept and design through implementation and training. BrandPartners
installations are in more than 2,000 companies at more than 35,000
retail locations. The company serves its clients from its Rochester, New
Hampshire home office and regional U.S. offices.

Cautionary LanguageStatements in this news release
that are not statements of historical or current fact constitute
“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
unknown factors that could cause the actual results of the Company to be
materially different from the historical results or from any future
results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The
forward-looking statements contained herein are also subject generally
to other risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in
the Company’s reports and registrations statements filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.

BoNa Coffee Holdings Corp (PINKSHEETS: BCHC)
announces that the company is updating its current status in the pink
sheets and latest financial information. Earnings expected to increase
more than 150% from its first year of operation. It is also anticipated
that the majority of the companys sales will come from its gourmet coffee
house subsidiary, BoNa Coffee Company, followed by the increasing number of
sales of their other subsidiaries. These include Bohemian Nation Trading
Corporation, the bohemian-themed furniture and jewelry store in the
Philippines, together with Ayurveda Medical Spa and Wellness Corp, which
holds and operates Sujiivana Salon Sujiivana Day Surgery and Spa.

Since then and as of date, the company has already opened one Major Branch
of the Gourmet Coffee House Subsidiary in Nuvali, Santa Rosa, Laguna and
over 24 Contractual Satellite Location that contributed to BoNa Coffee
Companys increase in sales along with Bohemian Nation Trading Companies
Satellite Location earnings that contributed to the companys bottomline
for the year ending 2009.

Increase of revenues for 2010 are expected to rise as marketing efforts
increase on the companys Day Surgery, Spa and Salon Subsidiary,
Sujiivana. CEO/President Jose Luis Gonzalez also stated, “Now that we are
going full-force in expanding our gourmet coffee house chain in the United
States, we expect earnings to be more than double in the coming year.
Furthermore, BoNa Coffee Holdings Corp is happy to announce that the worst
is over. The company has fully recovered from the effects of the super
typhoon of October 2009 and is in the process of updating its current
updated financial status in the pink sheet exchange.”

BoNa Coffee Holdings Corporation is a diversified holdings company
incorporated in the state of New York.

Luxory Comforters Sets

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The Malaysian pharmaceutical market is relatively underdeveloped by
international standards, although it does hold notable longer-term
potential. In 2008, the countrys pharmaceutical market at consumer
prices was valued at around MYR4.12bn (US$1.22bn), with per-capita
spending hovering at around US$45. We expect the market to post a
compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.09% in local currency terms
between 2009 and 2014, when it should top MYR6.04bn (US$2.05bn).
However, low levels of per capita pharmaceutical consumption are
especially vulnerable to economic downturn, due to the fact that
out-of-pocket payments are high, which also makes the market more
receptive to counterfeit medicines. Nevertheless, overall, Malaysia
places eighth in the BMIs Asia-Pacific Business Environment Rating
matrix for Q110, which assesses 115 key regional markets. Globally,
Malaysia is ranked as the 29th most attractive market, out of the total
of 71 countries surveyed by BMI. The countrys expanding population as
well as the rising prevalence of major chronic diseases will provide a
suitable foundation for the growth of prescription medicines. In fact,
Malaysia already has over 1.6mn adult diabetes sufferers, with the
prevalence rate rising by 80% since 1996. Therefore, through to 2014,
the prescription segment is expected to increase at a CAGR of 6.00% in
local currency terms, although this falls below the 9.80% forecast for
over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, as the government focuses on
lower-priced medicines in the public sector.

In the meantime, while the countrys intellectual property (IP)
environment continues to pose challenges to multinationals engaged in
patented drugs distribution, foreign clinical research organisations
(CROs) are expanding their presence in Malaysia. US-based CRO Kendle
created three new units in Asia in 2009 in Malaysia, Thailand and the
Philippines as its commitment to the region grows. The Melaka State
Development Corporation, partnering Vivo Bio Tech, is to invest MYR150mn
(US$42.5mn) in the creation of a monkey laboratory at the Beribi
Industrial Park, which will facilitate pre-clinical trials.

Finally, Australia-based international CRO Novotech is in the process of
setting up a new management hub in the countrys capital, which will
supervise operations in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the
Philippines and serve as the base for expansion in the Asia-Pacific
contract research sector. Malaysia will also benefit from the rising
importance of bilateral trade and investment ties with China, which
Chinese CRO Tigermed Consulting also recently partnering South Korean
LSK, which will be responsible for operations in Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan
and South Korea. Going forward, we expect the global financial crisis to
further increase in Malaysia-China traffic over the near term, as
consumers from developed countries cut back on spending, turning
Malaysian exports towards regional economies to sell their output.
Indeed, Malaysia is one of the six Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) nations that will have their Most Favoured Nations (MFN)
rates on Chinese goods reduced to 0% by 2010.

In tandem, the same trade rules apply to China, enabling more than 9,000
types of Malaysian goods to be duty-free, serving as a boon to Malaysias
overall export sector, although the sizable Chinese generics industry
will clearly halt penetration of Malaysia-made generics into China.

Sonic Boom: Globalization at Mach Speed, by Gregg Easterbrook (Random House, 272 pp., $26) I N this intriguingly contrarian rework of the Thomas Friedman “hot and flat” motif, Gregg Easterbrook asserts that venture capitalists are no better than lottery players when it comes to choosing new technology companies. He reports that leading stock analysts outperform broad market-index funds only one-third of the time. He adds that the preeminent financial pundits break into two groups–pessimists like Robert Shiller and Nouriel Roubini, who are right during downturns, and optimists like Abby Joseph Cohen of Goldman Sachs, who are right during upturns. (There are no up-and-down visionaries like Steve Forbes or Ken Fisher visible anywhere on his horizon.) Easterbrook, a writer for The Atlantic and The New Republic, winningly acknowledges that “wonderful economists” such as leftist luminaries Lester Thurow of MIT and the late John Kenneth Galbraith (surely “wonderful writers” would be more accurate) were wrong about almost everything: Japanese industrial policy, the Soviet economy, the U.S. economy, the role of large corporations in innovation, the future of markets, pollution, socialism, you name it. Even Nobellaureate economists, says Easterbrook, get almost no predictions right at all, beyond microeconomic minutiae, such as Paul Krugmans prize-winning mathematical gobbledygook showing that countries geographically close to one another are more likely to trade. Collectively the experts utterly failed to predict any of the major turning points in the U.S. and global economies over the last five decades. In a stirring conclusion, Easterbrook asserts: “If it hadnt been shown a hundred times before, the financial-world events of the last two years proved that even the most powerful officials have little clue what the economy is about to do, and only a mild, limited ability to influence economic events once they commence.. Yet the international economy. was not brought down by the Cold War, or the two 1970s oil shocks, or the savings and loan debacle, or currency gyrations in Asia, or September 11. Most likely [today] it will rebound with a glittering Sonic Boom,” his metaphor for creative destruction that wreaks both splendid progress and widespread anxiety.
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — After conducting market research across Architecture, Engineering and
Construction it became clear that there’s a need for better
communication across the trades, with organization of documentation into
a single database and improved Quality (QA/QC) programs, for specific
projects and across the entire organization.

As a thought leader in the mobile technology space, DataSource
Mobility is hosting an online seminar with construction case
studies, sponsored by Panasonic
Toughbook and Vela
Systems to discuss how construction teams can increase efficiencies
on the jobsite and across the enterprise with real-time collaboration
and Quality programs, February 25, 2010 at 1pm EDT.

Mobile computing is bridging the gap between the construction jobsite
and the back-office for Contractors, Owners, Architects and Engineers.
Coupled with construction field mobility software, organizations can
enable field teams to “get out from the trailer” and implement
Tablet-PC-enabled jobsite processes for quality control and project
management. Instead of using paper or entering information from a desk
computer, construction professionals are moving to a seamless mobile
environment that enables real-time communications, updates,
standardization and reduced errors leading to projects being completed
on time and under budget!

This webinar will discuss:

Internet Reputation Management

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PetroBakken closes $793m offering to pay for Result acquisition

VANCOUVER — This week, the Canadian Financing Bulletin (CFB), a leader in tracking
financing activities of Canadian reporting issuers, published term
sheets for 44 new proposed placements from the mining, oil gas (termed
metals and energy in the report) and technology sectors. Of those, 34
were for mining companies, 5 for oil gas and 5 for technology stocks,
with the total value of new proposals nearly reaching $146m.

Seven of these placements were designated ‘flow through’ issuances and
there were no new debentures offered. The largest new public proposal
was by Wex Pharmaceuticals Inc (WXI.TO), which planned a rights offering
for $34.5m in a non-brokered placement.

The CFB published term sheets for 74 placements that were closed during
the week. Of these, 56 were for mining companies, 13 for oil gas, and
five for technology stocks, with the total value of these closings being
roughly $1.27billion. Six of these placements were designated ‘flow
through’ issuances and four were debentures. The largest public closing
was by PetroBakken Energy Ltd (PBN.TO), which issued 750,000 debentures
in $USD for gross proceeds of over $793m in a placement led by ABG
Sundal Collier Norge.

The CFB also tracked four amendments to placements, one cancellation,
and three overallotments published at the end of the weekly report. To
date, there have been 277 weekly reports created by CFB; backdated
reports can be obtained by subscribers.

WASHINGTON — A pill to ease a type of mental retardation? An experiment is under way to develop one, aimed at a genetic disorder that might unravel some of the mysteries of autism along the way. Chances are youve never heard of the target — Fragile X syndrome — even though its the most common inherited form of intellectual impairment, estimated to affect almost 100,000 Americans. Its also the most common cause of autism yet identified, as about a third of Fragile X-affected boys have autism. “We are moving into a new age of reversing intellectual disabilities,” predicts Dr. Randi Hagerman, who directs the MIND Institute at the University of California, Davis, a study site. Fragile X, more common in males than females, ranges from learning disabilities to severe cognitive impairment, along with emotional and behavioral problems. The genetic defect disrupts a basic foundation of learning: How brain cells respond to experiences by forming connections between each other, called synapses. Those structures arent destroyed — theyre too immature to work properly.
Advances CMOS PA Leadership Through Patent Portfolio Acquisition

AUSTIN, Texas — Black Sand Technologies, Inc., a specialist in advanced power amplifier
technology for wireless applications, today announced that it previously
acquired a patent portfolio related to CMOS power amplifiers (PAs) from
Silicon Laboratories.

According to the terms of the transaction, Black Sand received a number
of issued and pending patents from Silicon Laboratories. The U.S. and
international patents include claims and methods related to power
amplifier architectures and implementations that can be used in a CMOS
process.

In September, Black Sand announced the world’s first 3G CMOS RF PA.
Black Sand’s proprietary CMOS PA architecture offers a breakthrough in
combined performance, cost, battery life, and reliability for mobile
devices.

“The acquired IP represents important technology for Black Sand,
significantly advancing our position as the leader in this field,” said
John Diehl, CEO of Black Sand. “When combined with our internally
developed IP, these foundational patents give us a unique combination of
outstanding technology and substantial IP.” Detailed terms of the
agreement were not disclosed.

certified computer examiner

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STOCKTON — Two men pleaded guilty Tuesday to murdering and robbing 58-year-old Cynthia Ramos of Tracy, and were sentenced to life in state prison without the possibility of parole. In a move that surprised the prosecutor and members of Ramos family, domestic partners Jorge Morgan, 24, and Robert Anthony Morgan, 39, changed their pleas to guilty Tuesday morning. San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Bernard Garber accepted the pleas and handed out life sentences just hours later. A witness said she saw the men, who were Ramos neighbors, leave Ramos home with a suitcase in which she was known to keep her jewelry. A Tracy police detective said during the preliminary hearing that he found a bloody knife and womens jewelry at the Morgans home. The San Joaquin County district attorney took the death penalty off the table late last month. Had the case gone to trial, the longest sentence the couple could have faced was life in prison without the possibility of parole, said prosecutor Valli Israels.
ANTIOCH — Two teens were arrested Monday after they were caught setting a play structure on fire, police said. Police were called to Mira Vista Park on South Francisco Way about 8 a.m. after getting reports of suspicious fire. Firefighters had already put out the fire — which burned two child swings — by the time officers arrived. A witness saw two teenage boys running from the fire scene and got them to admit they had set it, police said. Using this information, officers tracked the two 14-year-old boys to their school, and got them to confess on the record.
The man who died early Sunday morning in a violent single- vehicle crash in downtown Los Gatos has been identified by the Santa Clara County coroners office as Aaron Vega, 23, of San Jose. Vega was a passenger sitting in the right front seat of a Mustang that hit a tree and two poles at the intersection of Los Gatos Boulevard and Nino Avenue, according to Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police. Vega died at the scene, Harris said. Police arrested the 23-year-old driver, Timothy Priolo, on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and driving with a suspended license, according to police. Witnesses told police the Mustangs driver was speeding on Main Street toward Los Gatos Boulevard shortly before 2 a.m. Priolo might have hit a traffic island, sending the car into the air, police Sgt. Kerry Harris said.

becoming a cop

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL) today announced the launch of its new EnCompass™
Environmental Hygiene program, a comprehensive clinical program that
helps hospitals improve patient room hygiene and prevent the spread of
infections. The program includes cleaning tools, products, dispensing
equipment, auditing processes and cleanliness monitoring to help
hospitals clean patient rooms more quickly, consistently and effectively.

“Healthcare organizations recognize the important role that proper
cleaning plays in infection prevention, yet research has found that on
average fewer than half of the high-touch surfaces are cleaned in
patient rooms in most hospitals1,” said Paul B. Chaffin, vice
president of Ecolab Healthcare North America. “Ecolab developed
EnCompass to help healthcare providers improve hygiene and reduce the
environmental transmission of pathogens that cause infections.”

Clinical research has shown that patients admitted to rooms previously
occupied by individuals infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
aureus (MRSA) or vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE) are at
greater risk of acquiring these pathogens, most likely from
environmental surfaces contaminated by the previous patients2,3,4.
With the EnCompass program, Ecolab Healthcare offers hospitals a way to
reduce those risks, including:

Evidence informed WHO recommendation that all countries introduce
rotavirus vaccine

GENEVA SEATTLE — For the first time ever, studies in Mexico and Africa, published today
in the New England Journal of Medicine, demonstrate a reduction
in diarrheal disease deaths following rotavirus vaccine introduction in
Mexico and vaccine efficacy among impoverished populations in Malawi and
South Africa. Both studies underscore the importance of vaccination in
achieving significant reduction of severe rotavirus infections among
children in the developing world, where disease impact is greatest.
Worldwide, rotavirus is the leading cause of severe diarrhea, which
takes the lives of more than 500,000 children under 5 every year – with
almost half of these deaths occurring in Africa – and causes the
hospitalization of millions more.

The findings from these studies informed the World Health Organization’s
(WHO) recent recommendation that rotavirus vaccines be included in every
nation’s immunization program. The recommendation is important for
Africa which is hit particularly hard by the disease and places
rotavirus vaccines among a comprehensive set of other interventions key
to stopping diarrheal disease deaths, including access to clean water,
proper sanitation and oral rehydration therapies (ORT), breastfeeding,
and vitamin A and zinc supplementation.

In an editorial accompanying the studies’ results, Mathuram Santosham,
Professor of International Health and Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins
University, Baltimore, welcomed these studies for supporting the use of
rotavirus vaccines in the poorest countries of the world. “We now have
another powerful weapon to add to our armamentarium to combat diarrheal
deaths – rotavirus vaccines,” wrote Santosham. “Rotavirus vaccine should
be introduced immediately in high mortality areas and it should be used
as a trigger to energize diarrhea control programs and improve coverage
for all the proven interventions for diarrhea.”

In Mexico, which in 2006 was among the first countries in the world to
introduce rotavirus vaccine, diarrheal disease death rates dropped
during the 2009 rotavirus season by more than 65 percent among children
age two and under. This demonstrates real-world impact that is crucial
as other countries consider rotavirus vaccine introduction. The Mexico
study examined the impact of vaccination on diarrheal deaths in Mexican
children between 2008 and 2009 following a phased introduction of the
orally administered RotarixTM, manufactured by
GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals (GSK).

yeast infection cures

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SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Edmunds.com
has noticed that Toyota purchase intent has risen dramatically since the
company announced a fix for its recall.*

“Toyota purchase intent fell from 13.9 percent of Edmunds.com car
shoppers to 9.7 percent during the height of the recall frenzy,”
according to Edmunds.com Senior Analyst David Tompkins, PhD. “Toyota
purchase intent is back to 11.8 percent and seems to be climbing
steadily.”

Where do Toyota competitors currently stand?

G4S Wackenhut Adds More Than 600 Telematics Units to Existing Car and
Truck Fleets

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — GE Capital Fleet Services today announced an expansion of its 25-year
relationship with G4S Wackenhut and the launch of a new version of
Mobile Resource IntelligenceSM, an award-winning telematics
solution with an advanced mapping platform.

G4S Wackenhut, based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, is a leading provider of
quality, customer focused security solutions throughout the U.S. The
company has signed a 3-year full-service agreement with GE Capital Fleet
Services to outfit the company’s fleets with the latest telematics
units. Other services utilized by G4S Wackenhut throughout its 25 years
as a GE Capital Fleet Services’ customer include GE’s fuel program,
maintenance, accident services, license renewal and web applications.

“Fleet optimization through the utilization of telematics will not only
help us cut costs, but will also allow us to better serve our
customers,” said Dean Saunders, senior director of Purchasing for G4S
Wackenhut. “Throughout the years that we’ve been a GE Capital Fleet
Services’ customer, they have worked closely with us to provide the
tools and insight we’ve needed to meet business objectives. We’re
looking forward to driving continued improvements through this latest
technology implementation.”

GE’s enriched telematics mapping platform incorporates ease of use, rich
functionality, near real-time information and seamless integration with
customers’ current systems. The enhanced version improves the task of
routing and dispatching mobile workers, enabling higher productivity and
lower operating costs. Key features of the new Mobile Resource
IntelligenceSM include:

MISHAWAKA, Ind. — Associates at Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center’s (SJRMC) new
hospital in Mishawaka, Ind., now have access to an on-site concierge
service provided by Best Upon Request, a national organization based in
Cincinnati. To help reduce the demands and stress of everyday life, more
than 2,700 associates at SJRMC may contact the concierges to
request errand running, car services, grocery shopping, event planning,
information research and more.

“Our associates work very hard, and it’s not always easy to show them
how much they are individually valued and appreciated,” said Thomas
Reitinger, interim president and CEO. “As a healthcare worker, you are
usually taking care of someone else. This is a way we can return the
favor and take care of our employees.”

Tillie Hidalgo Lima, president/CEO of Best Upon Request said, “By
providing concierge services to SJRMC associates, we’ll be supporting
their mission to heal mind, body and spirit. We provide peace of mind
and brighten spirits by allowing the associates to focus on what really
matters to them.”

About Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center

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Overland Storage, Inc. (NASDAQ: OVRL), a
leading, global specialist in backup, recovery and archive, and Mobotix AG,
the technology leader for high-resolution network camera systems, today
introduced a unified management console that simplifies the deployment of
world class video surveillance and archive solutions featuring Mobotix IP
network camera systems and Overlands award-winning family of SnapServer
network-attached storage (NAS) products. The companies have seamlessly
integrated the configuration of IP cameras, video management software and
network video storage for extreme ease of management, flexibility and
scalability, making the combined solution ideal for hotels, retail shops,
parking structures and multi-tenant buildings.

Led by Check Your Security, Ltd., a security systems integration company
based in Norfolk, United Kingdom, Southend University Hospital NHS
Foundation Trust recently implemented Mobotix cameras and Overland Storage
SnapServer storage to provide a leading-edge video capture and archive
system for around-the-clock security monitoring to protect patients,
visitors and hospital staff. “The combined Overland and Mobotix solution
was superior,” said David Perry, senior estates project manager for
Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. “The cameras offered
three Megapixel image quality, two-way audio over IP, Power over Ethernet
(PoE), sealed external weatherproof housing and the ability to add
SnapServer storage capacity with plug and play simplicity. The embedded
MxControlCenter surveillance software was a real bonus that led to
measurable cost savings in terms of seamless, simplified operation.”

With the latest version of Mobotixs MxControlCenter video management
software, installers can use a consolidated user interface to set up IP
cameras with any local or remote SnapServer storage connected to the video
surveillance network. The video management software automatically discovers
all available SnapServer devices and provides installation wizards to
easily configure the TCP/IP network information. By using the Mobotix
control center to manage both the cameras and NAS storage, Overland and
Mobotix have reduced the overall implementation process by approximately 50
percent, lowering deployment costs and complexities while minimizing the
chance of installation errors.

As technology partners, Overland and Mobotix worked closely to incorporate
unique features into both the SnapServer and Mobotix MxControlCenter to
further simplify implementation. To that end, Overland has added a
centralized “time” server capability to SnapServer systems to support the
synchronization of timestamps on all videos captured by IP cameras. Recent
testing of Overlands SnapServer systems in the Mobotix Camera Lab has
proven that SnapServers can handle the data-intensive storage demands for
up to 80 simultaneous, high-resolution camera streams.

“We have continued to see a growing demand for IP-based video surveillance
and archive solutions that dont require special networking or storage
expertise. Organizations are seeking simple solutions to complex problems
and to that end, Overland and Mobotix have accomplished that with a single
interface for managing both IP video cameras and storage archives,” said
Jillian Mansolf, vice president of global sales and marketing. “Together,
were lowering deployment barriers and making it easier for our partners to
provide customers with best-of-class IP video cameras and highly scalable
storage to meet a wide range of video surveillance requirements.”

A ROAD tragedy which claimed a teenagers life has sparked calls for urgent safety measures. The 19-year-old from Calderdale died when a car flipped over on Stainland Road in Holywell Green and smashed into a wall. Shocked residents living nearby say it is the latest in a spate of crashes there and have called for action to prevent a further tragedy. Some believe speed cameras could be the answer.

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NEWTON, Mass. — Pro-Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCBB: PRWP) (the “Company”), today
announced that it has closed a $325,000 tranche of a private placement
of up to $6.0 million with 10X Fund, L.P., which is purchasing
unregistered Series B convertible preferred stock and warrants. This
tranche brings the total raised to date from the 10X Fund to
approximately $4.7 million.

At the closing, which occurred on January 29, 2010, the Company issued
and sold 162,500 shares of Series B-2 preferred stock convertible into
650,000 shares of common stock, a Class A-1 and a Class A-2 warrant each
exercisable to purchase 325,000 shares of common stock and a Class B
warrant exercisable to purchase 1,300,000 shares of common stock, for a
gross purchase price of $325,000. Net proceeds were approximately
$308,000.

The Company expects to use the proceeds from the financing for
commercialization development of its lead compound DAVANAT®,
as well as for general corporate purposes.

The Series B Preferred Stock, the Class A-1 Warrants, the Class A-2
Warrants and the Class B Warrants, including the common stock underlying
the Series B Preferred Stock and warrants, have not been registered
under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or
sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption
from registration requirements.

WELLINGBOROUGH, England — The UK Government’s announcement today regarding the introduction of a
feed-in tariff for photovoltaic (PV) installations will kick-start the
country’s PV market, predicts global analyst firm IMS Research.

Ash Sharma, Renewable Energy Research Director commented “the
announcement presents an even higher feed-in rate than was originally
proposed. This is likely to generate a significant PV market in the UK,
though it will take some time to get traction due to the need for all
installers to be registered under the scheme. The UK has similar
irradiation levels as Germany and without a FIT just 5 MW of new PV
power was installed in the UK in 2009. However, the introduction of this
FIT could lead to 250 MW of new PV capacity being installed in 2011”.
This compares with the 6000 MW of new PV capacity installed in Germany
in the last three years.

Despite the relatively low irradiation levels in the UK, the recent
falls in PV component prices coupled with the FIT’s reasonable payout
levels could see a return on investment within 12 years. Given that the
FIT offers wide support for most system types and is guaranteed for 25
years, significant investment in this sector now seems inevitable.

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — Regulatory News:

EpiCept Corporation (Nasdaq and Nasdaq OMX Stockholm Exchange: EPCT)
today announced that Nasdaq notified the Company that it has regained
compliance with the minimum bid price requirement in Listing Rule
5550(a)(2) and met the requirements of the Nasdaq Listing Qualification
Panel (the “Panel”) decision dated November 2, 2009. Accordingly, the
Panel has determined to continue the listing of the Company’s common
stock on The Nasdaq Stock Market.

As previously announced, following a hearing before the Panel, the Panel
determined to continue the Company’s listing subject to the condition
that, on or before February 1, 2010, the Company evidence a closing bid
price of $1.00 per share or more for at least the ten prior consecutive
trading days. On January 29, 2010, the Company’s closing bid price was
$2.29 per share, the tenth consecutive day it had exceeded the $1.00 per
share threshold. Accordingly, the Company satisfied the Panel’s
condition and the delisting proceeding is now closed.

About EpiCept Corporation

EpiCept is focused on the development and commercialization of
pharmaceutical products for the treatment of cancer and pain. The
Companys lead product is Ceplene®, which has been granted
full marketing authorization by the European Commission for remission
maintenance and prevention of relapse in adult patients with Acute
Myeloid Leukemia (AML) in first remission. The Company has two oncology
drug candidates currently in clinical development that were discovered
using in-house technology and have been shown to act as vascular
disruption agents in a variety of solid tumors. The Companys pain
portfolio includes EpiCept™ NP-1, a prescription topical analgesic cream
in late-stage clinical development designed to provide effective
long-term relief of pain associated with peripheral neuropathies.

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Texas is in a battle over its public-school history curriculum, in which the founder of the Mary Kay cosmetics company currently receives more prominent notice than does Christopher Columbus–and which had, until recently, excluded Christmas from its list of prominent cultural observations. The role of Christianity in the American Founding is the subject of particularly hot debate.
Bret Schundler was once just about every conservatives favorite mayor, or at least one in whom they placed many hopes. “Look for him in 2008,” wrote William F. Buckley Jr. This was during the 1990s, when Schundler was the Republican mayor of heavily Democratic Jersey City, N.J., just across the Hudson River from Manhattan.

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Studies show decrease in senior care continuity If the discharge planning communitys ideal is to begin the discharge process at the door, when patients are admitted to the hospital, then community provider input is necessary for a smooth care transition. But care continuity has been low, and its decreasing for older adults, recent studies show..sup.1,2
The president has done it again: called Guantanamo Bay a “recruiting tool,” something that causes Muslims to join up with the jihad. He said, “Make no mistake: We will close Guantanamo Prison, which has damaged our national-security interests and become a tremendous recruiting tool for al-Qaeda.

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OGDEN — A 2-month-old boy who died Sunday was smothered with a sleeping bag and had multiple other injuries, including a fractured skull, according to charges filed Wednesday against the childs mother. Jewell Marie Hendricks, 25, is charged in 2nd District Court with murder, a first-degree felony, in the death of Robert Hendricks. Officers responded to Hendricks apartment at 449 27th St. about 5:30 a.m. Sunday after she called 911 to report that her son was not breathing. Investigators said Jewell Hendricks later came to the police department and voluntarily “confessed” to killing her son. Hendricks was advised of her rights, police said, and waived those rights.
OGDEN — A 2-month-old boy who died Sunday was smothered with a sleeping bag and had multiple other injuries, including a fractured skull, according to charges filed Wednesday against the childs mother. Jewell Marie Hendricks, 25, is charged in 2nd District Court with murder, a first-degree felony, in the death of Robert Hendricks. Officers responded to Hendricks apartment at 449 27th St. about 5:30 a.m. Sunday after she called 911 to report that her son was not breathing. Investigators said Jewell Hendricks later came to the police department and voluntarily “confessed” to killing her son. Hendricks was advised of her rights, police said, and waived those rights.
For Wendell McKines, basketball remains the easy part. Now a junior at New Mexico State, the 21-year-old Oakland native made his annual trip home Saturday for a game at San Jose State. The Aggies lost 93-84, but they are 8-2 since the return of McKines, a 6- foot-6 forward who is averaging 12.2 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. “Ive been playing this game for like 14, 15 years,” said McKines, who averaged 35 points per game as a senior at Richmond High, totaling more than 3,000 in his prep career. “This is what I do.” Recently, McKines found life is a bit more complicated than that.

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TAIPEI, Taiwan — It is widely acknowledged that Taiwan’s major industry is manufacturing,
from original equipment manufacturing (OEM) and original design
manufacturing (ODM) in the early 1950s to its recent world-leading
advanced technology products, such as semi-conductors and LEDs. But few
people realize that the island also boasts many of the world’s top
producers of sporting goods. And big names in everything from fitness
equipment (Dyaco Johnson Health) to surfboards (MAXAM), and even
bicycles – you name it, Taiwan seems to make it, and at an even higher
quality.

The Taipei International Sporting Goods Show (TaiSPO 2010), from 29
April to 2 May, 2010, will be held the first time at the newly build
NANGANG Exhibition Hall which offers more flexibility to satisfy the
need of display spaces. This event is considered as one of the most
important sporting goods show in Asia and is expected to be attended by
more than 350 companies using approximately 1,660 display booths. It
will attract around 2,600 overseas enthusiasts as well as tens of
thousands of local visitors, whilst generating an estimated US$
541,640,000 worth of business.

In 2009, 2,573 international buyers and 12,950 local visitors gathered
at this annual event, 95% visitors were satisfied with the exhibition
quality and are eager to attend the 2010 events. And compared with last
year both the number of exhibitors and booths will increase 10%, which
beckons well for Taiwanese sporting goods that are fairing well even in
the midst of global downturn. TaiSPO 2010 comprises 8 categories, with
the main focus being fitness equipment followed by many other sporting
goods including skating skiing products; sports balls and rackets;
golfing products; sporting apparel and accessories; massage equipment;
and water sports and diving equipment, as well as other outdoor sports
products.

As Taiwan is a giant in information technology (IT), local companies
have devoted time and resources to inventing products that provide a
better quality of exercise, thereby increasing fitness and enjoyment.
Many of these value-added products have become mainstream. For example,
anyone tired of traditional surfboards can now try out an innovative
electric surfboard (Joy Ride Tech) that help surfers catch any good
waves; hi-tech devices such as USB, audio, and LCD TV are now adapted to
fitness equipment to provide a more enjoyable work out.

In recent years, Taiwanese people have come to enjoy leisure activities,
including social sporting events, which tend to take place outdoors. To
accommodate this trend, TaiSPO 2010 has even set up a special area
“OUTDOOR VILLAGE” that highlights the best features of exhibit products
and stages the top sources for camping suppliers, backpacks,
mountaineering, water sports, skiing skating, cycling, tents and other
related items.

“The scene is Capitol Hill. Its the year 2035. Thousands of elderly protesters assemble outside the Capitol building. Inside, the House Ways and Means Committee meets to enact huge cuts in both Medicare and the national health insurance program.” That is the opening of “The Medicare Monster,” a reason article from January 1993; authors Steven Hayward and Erik Peterson highlighted predictions of Medicares impending fiscal insolvency to warn against the push for government-run health care. Substitute 2017 for 2035, and you could write the scene today. Hayward and Petersons cautionary tale pointed out that Medicare costs had been dramatically underestimated from the inception of the program in 1966. Medicare cost $3 billion in 1966. A “conservative” estimate by the House Ways and Means Committee in 1966 projected that Medicare would cost $12 billion after inflation by 1990. The actual 1990 cost was nearly nine times more: $107 billion. Today Medicare costs $408 billion, consuming about 13 percent of the total federal budget. Since 1993 projections about Medicares eventual date of bankruptcy have oscillated considerably. In 1997 the Medicare Trustees projected that its hospital fund would be depleted by the middle of 2000. Fiscal collapse was avoided when the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 imposed what amounted to price controls on physicians and hospitals. As a consequence, in 2000 the Medicare Trustees sunnily projected that the program would be solvent through 2029. Nine years later, the latest Medicare Trustees report projects that the hospital fund (Part A) will be depleted by 2017. The trustees assert that bringing it into actuarial balance during the next 75 years will require either immediately raising the Medicare payroll tax from 2.9 percent to 6.78 percent or cutting current benefits by 53 percent. Medicare Part B, which pays for outpatient care and doctor bills, and the recently added Part D, which pays for prescription drugs, are “both projected to remain adequately financed into the indefinite future because current law automatically provides financing each year to meet next years expected costs.” Translation: About 75 percent of Medicare funds spent on doctors and drugs come from general tax revenue.

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[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A Cuban gynecologist turned used car salesman snaps a rubber glove against his wrist before announcing that hes about to “liberate this Chew Impala” from a lot in High Point, North Carolina. A salesman pitching repossessed manufactured homes in Alabama concedes his houses “are used” and “sometimes they have stains.” “We cover that up,” he promises, then dryly recalls the time “my wifes boyfriend broke my jaw with a fence post.”
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A Cuban gynecologist turned used car salesman snaps a rubber glove against his wrist before announcing that hes about to “liberate this Chew Impala” from a lot in High Point, North Carolina. A salesman pitching repossessed manufactured homes in Alabama concedes his houses “are used” and “sometimes they have stains.” “We cover that up,” he promises, then dryly recalls the time “my wifes boyfriend broke my jaw with a fence post.”
HGTV designer Monica Pedersen details essential staging techniques and
insider tips in her step-by-step
videos. Her advice will help transform the inside and outside of the
home to help ensure a faster sale:

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Though Delta city has strict laws prohibiting dogs running at large, we havent had Animal Control enforcement for some time. And it shows. Dogs of every description regularly roam our streets and litter our parks. Theyre a public nuisance and a threat to health and safety. As a retired emergency room registered nurse, Ive witnessed the heartbreak of parents whose children were victims of dog attacks, left with physical and psychological scars for the rest of their lives. The elderly, too, are especially vulnerable. Delta dog owners, save your pets the trauma of an “arrest” and impoundment — or worse. They deserve your protection.
The floor was shaking, the walls were crumbling and the babies at Ruuska Village Orphanage in Haiti were bouncing out of their cribs. Mandi McBride dived to shelter the screaming toddlers rolling across the ground, risking her life to keep them alive. “I just knew we were all gone,” said the Logan nurse, who has adopted two Haitian children and was on a humanitarian mission at the orphanage when a 7.0 earthquake hit Jan. 12. “I was praying as hard as I could. Ive never been so close to death in my life.” Their orphans are homeless. They cant join their families in America because the Haitian government, worried about human trafficking, has stopped issuing humanitarian parole. And they are running out of food. As horrific as the earthquake was, it wasnt the first twist of fate thats kept these children from their would-be American families. Many have been stuck in limbo for three, four and five years, waiting for adoption paperwork to be finalized. Kidnapping, hunger, sickness and death had already become a part of many hopeful parents lives before the earthquake struck.
HOLLAND, Ohio — Wellstar International, Inc. (OTCBB:WLSID) (“Wellstar”) has announced
that it has reached an agreement to begin a Beta Test in a long term
care facility.

Wellstar has agreed to implement its TMI Imaging system in multiple
nursing homes through an arrangement with a company that currently works
with and supplies care to several hundred long term care facilities.

The Beta Test is scheduled to run for 90 days. During this period,
images of existing patients will be captured on a time schedule. Newly
admitted patients will also be imaged. The newly compiled data that will
be used to determine the specific care required for each patient, as
well as to demonstrate the practical use of the TMI System within the
workplace.

The objective will be to start with one facility and add up to three
additional facilities as the Beta Test progresses. Once the Beta Test is
complete, Wellstar intends to move onto a Gamma Test, although there is
no guarantee. If we are able to implement the Gamma Test, Wellstar
expects to begin charging the long term care facilities for the systems.

Wellstar International, Inc. seeks to be the first-to-market in deep
tissue injury and pressure ulcer detection using its proprietary
infrared imaging system. Thermal Imaging is a low cost, noncontact,
non-radioactive diagnostic screening procedure designed for clinical
evaluation. In addition, thermal imaging provides an ability to track
the progress of therapies being utilized in a low cost, non-invasive
manner. Thermal Imaging can detect signs of pressure ulcers before they
are visible with the naked eye through detection of temperature changes
at the site which allows for treatment of the pressure ulcer before it
erupts. The TMI system can be used to scan all new patients into
hospitals and long-term care facilities prior admittance and begin
treating existing wounds before they are visible.

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OGDEN — A 2-month-old boy who died Sunday was smothered with a sleeping bag and had multiple other injuries, including a fractured skull, according to charges filed Wednesday against the childs mother. Jewell Marie Hendricks, 25, is charged in 2nd District Court with murder, a first-degree felony, in the death of Robert Hendricks. Officers responded to Hendricks apartment at 449 27th St. about 5:30 a.m. Sunday after she called 911 to report that her son was not breathing. Investigators said Jewell Hendricks later came to the police department and voluntarily “confessed” to killing her son. Hendricks was advised of her rights, police said, and waived those rights.
WEST VALLEY CITY — Its been almost two months since Susan Powell disappeared. Reminders that the mother of two is still missing can still be found around her home. A “missing” poster is taped to the front doorway. Shards of broken glass and a window screen remain underneath the now-fixed front window where police originally had to break in on the day she was reported missing. But friends and family members continue to hold out hope she is alive. On Wednesday, Susans friends returned to her vacant house to hang purple ribbons and streamers. Two large signs saying, “We Will Find You” and “We Will Bring You Home” were posted on the front lawn while smaller signs were hung on the garage.
For Wendell McKines, basketball remains the easy part. Now a junior at New Mexico State, the 21-year-old Oakland native made his annual trip home Saturday for a game at San Jose State. The Aggies lost 93-84, but they are 8-2 since the return of McKines, a 6- foot-6 forward who is averaging 12.2 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. “Ive been playing this game for like 14, 15 years,” said McKines, who averaged 35 points per game as a senior at Richmond High, totaling more than 3,000 in his prep career. “This is what I do.” Recently, McKines found life is a bit more complicated than that.

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BOTHELL, Wash. — EKOS Corporation announced today that EKOS and their Netherlands
distributor, AngioCare BV, are supporting a Dutch multicentre randomized
trial (DUET) designed to compare ultrasound (US) accelerated catheter
directed thrombolysis to standard catheter directed thrombolysis in
patients with recently thrombosed infra-inguinal native arteries or
bypass grafts.

Participating Dutch investigators include: Drs. Jeal-Paul de Vries and
A.M. Schrijver (St. Antonius Hospital, Nieuwegein). Additional study
sites in the Netherlands are being added.

Robert W. Hubert, President/CEO, said, “We are pleased to support this
most important study. The hypothesis is that EKOS ultrasound accelerated
thrombolysis will significantly reduce (by at least 12 hours) therapy
time compared to standard thrombolysis alone without increasing
complication rate.”

The study is conducted in accordance with the principles of the
Declaration of Helsinki and “good clinical practice”. (The study
protocol was approved on October 13th, 2009, by the Ethics Committee of
the St. Antonius Hospital Nieuwegein. Written informed consent will be
obtained prior to randomization.

A total of 60 adult patients with recently (between 1 and 7 weeks)
thrombosed infra-inguinal native arteries or bypass grafts with acute
limb ischemia class I and IIa, (according to the Rutherford
classification for acute ischemia), will be randomly allocated to either
group A (standard thrombolysis) or group B (EKOS ultrasound accelerated
thrombolysis). The anticipated duration of recruitment will be one year.

BOTHELL, Wash. — SonoSite, Inc. (NASDAQ:SONO), the world leader and specialist in
hand-carried ultrasound for the point-of-care, today announced that its
Board of Directors has authorized SonoSite to repurchase up to $150
million of the Company’s common stock or outstanding convertible notes
for cash. In connection with the repurchase authorization, the company
will purchase up to $100 million of the Company’s common stock through a
modified “Dutch Auction” tender offer. SonoSite intends to commence the
tender offer during the week of January 18, 2010.

Under the terms of the proposed tender offer, SonoSite shareholders will
have the opportunity to tender some or all of their shares at a price
within the range of $26.10 to $30.00 per share. Based on the number of
shares tendered and the prices specified by the tendering shareholders,
SonoSite will determine the lowest per-share price within the range that
will enable it to buy $100 million in shares, or such lesser number of
shares that are properly tendered. All shares accepted for payment will
be paid the same price, regardless of whether a shareholder tendered
such shares at a lower price within the range. At the minimum price of
$26.10 per share, SonoSite would repurchase a maximum of 3,831,417
shares, which represents approximately 22% of SonoSite’s currently
outstanding common stock. SonoSite will fund the repurchase from
available cash on hand. The low and high ends of the price range
represent approximately a 0% and 15% premium, respectively, to the most
recent share closing price of $26.10 per share. Based on the January 8,
2010, closing price, the share price has increased 10% year-to-date.

The tender offer will be subject to various terms and conditions as will
be described in offer materials that will be publicly filed and
distributed to shareholders at the time of commencement of the tender
offer during the week of January 18, 2010. Additional copies of the
offer materials will also be available from the Information Agent,
Georgeson Inc. The Dealer-Manager for the tender offer will be J.P.
Morgan Securities Inc.

Kevin M. Goodwin, the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer,
said, “After evaluating various opportunities for two years, we
concluded that the best investment of our cash was in our own stock.
Moreover, we believe that the tender offer will benefit stockholders by
providing an efficient mechanism for those who desire liquidity at a
premium over current trading prices and, for our remaining stockholders,
an enhanced ability to participate in the long-term earnings potential
of our business.”

Neither SonoSite’s management, nor any of its board of directors,
executive officers, the dealer manager, the information agent or the
depositary is making any recommendation to shareholders as to whether to
tender or refrain from tendering their shares in the proposed tender
offer. The company’s executive officers, senior management and directors
have advised the company that they do not intend to tender any of their
shares in the tender offer. Shareholders must decide how many shares
they will tender, if any, and the price within the stated range at which
they will tender their shares. Shareholders should consult their
financial and tax advisors in making this decision.

BOTHELL, Wash. — EKOS Corporation announced today that EKOS and their Netherlands
distributor, AngioCare BV, are supporting a Dutch multicentre randomized
trial (DUET) designed to compare ultrasound (US) accelerated catheter
directed thrombolysis to standard catheter directed thrombolysis in
patients with recently thrombosed infra-inguinal native arteries or
bypass grafts.

Participating Dutch investigators include: Drs. Jeal-Paul de Vries and
A.M. Schrijver (St. Antonius Hospital, Nieuwegein). Additional study
sites in the Netherlands are being added.

Robert W. Hubert, President/CEO, said, “We are pleased to support this
most important study. The hypothesis is that EKOS ultrasound accelerated
thrombolysis will significantly reduce (by at least 12 hours) therapy
time compared to standard thrombolysis alone without increasing
complication rate.”

The study is conducted in accordance with the principles of the
Declaration of Helsinki and “good clinical practice”. (The study
protocol was approved on October 13th, 2009, by the Ethics Committee of
the St. Antonius Hospital Nieuwegein. Written informed consent will be
obtained prior to randomization.

A total of 60 adult patients with recently (between 1 and 7 weeks)
thrombosed infra-inguinal native arteries or bypass grafts with acute
limb ischemia class I and IIa, (according to the Rutherford
classification for acute ischemia), will be randomly allocated to either
group A (standard thrombolysis) or group B (EKOS ultrasound accelerated
thrombolysis). The anticipated duration of recruitment will be one year.

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AT THE END of October, the White House released figures claiming that money from the $787 billion stimulus package pushed by President Obama had “created or saved” 640,000 jobs. A closer look suggests that the number was inflated dramatically by human error, confusing federal forms, double counting, and dubious assumptions. In Wisconsin, for example, $7.3 million was allocated to the Parkland Sanitary District for work that will not begin until spring. That money is credited with 100 jobs. The correct figure was five jobs. District treasurer Eric Shaffer filled out the form incorrectly, writing down 50; that number was then counted twice, since the money was part grant and part loan. “We are volunteers, and we made a mistake,” Shaffer told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Net loss available to common shareholders of $0.34 per share for
fourth quarter

Non-performing assets ended the quarter at 2.38% of total assets

Deposits increased $225 million, or 3%, during fourth quarter, and
13% for full year

Non-interest bearing demand deposits increased 5% during fourth
quarter, 12% for full year

Reduction in loans past due 30-89 days of 10% during fourth quarter,
30% for full year

COLUMBIA, S.C. — SCBT Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: SCBT), the holding company for SCBT,
National Association, today released its unaudited results of operations
and other financial information for the three-month period and
year-ended December 31, 2009. The Company reported solid results due
primarily to its improved net interest margin, noninterest income from
mortgage banking operations and good expense control. The following
occurred during 2009:

Quarterly Cash Dividend

The Board of Directors of SCBT has declared a quarterly cash dividend of
$0.17 per share payable on its common stock. This per share amount is
equal to the dividend paid in the immediately preceding quarter and will
be payable on February 19, 2010 to shareholders of record as of February
12, 2010.

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“The scene is Capitol Hill. Its the year 2035. Thousands of elderly protesters assemble outside the Capitol building. Inside, the House Ways and Means Committee meets to enact huge cuts in both Medicare and the national health insurance program.” That is the opening of “The Medicare Monster,” a reason article from January 1993; authors Steven Hayward and Erik Peterson highlighted predictions of Medicares impending fiscal insolvency to warn against the push for government-run health care. Substitute 2017 for 2035, and you could write the scene today. Hayward and Petersons cautionary tale pointed out that Medicare costs had been dramatically underestimated from the inception of the program in 1966. Medicare cost $3 billion in 1966. A “conservative” estimate by the House Ways and Means Committee in 1966 projected that Medicare would cost $12 billion after inflation by 1990. The actual 1990 cost was nearly nine times more: $107 billion. Today Medicare costs $408 billion, consuming about 13 percent of the total federal budget. Since 1993 projections about Medicares eventual date of bankruptcy have oscillated considerably. In 1997 the Medicare Trustees projected that its hospital fund would be depleted by the middle of 2000. Fiscal collapse was avoided when the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 imposed what amounted to price controls on physicians and hospitals. As a consequence, in 2000 the Medicare Trustees sunnily projected that the program would be solvent through 2029. Nine years later, the latest Medicare Trustees report projects that the hospital fund (Part A) will be depleted by 2017. The trustees assert that bringing it into actuarial balance during the next 75 years will require either immediately raising the Medicare payroll tax from 2.9 percent to 6.78 percent or cutting current benefits by 53 percent. Medicare Part B, which pays for outpatient care and doctor bills, and the recently added Part D, which pays for prescription drugs, are “both projected to remain adequately financed into the indefinite future because current law automatically provides financing each year to meet next years expected costs.” Translation: About 75 percent of Medicare funds spent on doctors and drugs come from general tax revenue.
Follow-up calls help avoid readmissions In an effort to improve transitions of care, the nurse care coordinators at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston make follow-up calls to patients who have been discharged, identify problems and solve them, and answer questions the patients may have about medication, symptoms, or their discharge plan. The hospital has an average of 53,693 discharges and 59,323 emergency department visits each year and had a 30-day readmission rate of 8.79% for medical-surgical patients in 2009.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Swelling and pain are usually the result of a stretched or torn ligament.

foreheadwrinklessolution.com

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D.C.-based UrbanLand Company has announced
it will begin selling the remaining 86 condos at The Floridian in the next
30 to 60 days — releasing homes at a new competitive pricing structure that
is sure to catch the eye of buyers looking to get into one of the hottest
neighborhoods in town. The upscale 118-unit Floridian, located at 919 and
929 Florida Avenue, N.W., was recently acquired by an affiliate of The
Goldstar Group, a Bethesda-based private real estate investment and
management company.

“You wont find a better value in the U Street Corridor,” said UrbanLand
Company founder Gerard DiRuggiero. “The Floridian has knock-out finishes,
10-foot ceilings, wood floors, euro-kitchens with granite counters, and
stone tile baths. Our new ultra-competitive pricing will give prospective
buyers an opportunity to purchase high-end units at very compelling prices.”

The Floridian, designed by respected local architect Eric Colbert, is
comprised of two dramatic 8-story towers, made of stainless steel, colored
glass and limestone. It is luxury condominium community that blends
sophistication with hip urban lifestyle and convenience. Units range in size
from under 500 square feet for a studio to over 1,400 square feet for a
penthouse. The finishes are top of the line including 10-foot exposed
concrete ceilings, exposed ductwork, floor-to-ceiling windows, granite
countertops, premium GE Profile appliances, maple and bamboo floors,
designer lighting and balconies in select units. The community features
underground parking, SMART technology, building security and a rooftop
terrace with sweeping views of the Capitol, the Washington Monument and the
National Cathedral.

UrbanLand released the following pricing structure:

Studios starting at $227K
One-bedrooms starting at $333K
Two-bedrooms starting at $392K
One-bedroom penthouses starting at $389K
Two-bedroom penthouses starting at $432K
Three-bedroom penthouse $1M

SALT LAKE CITY — Standard Optical and SoloHealth are partnering in a program bringing free self-service vision-testing kiosks to area grocery stores later this month. The touch-screen SoloHealth EyeSite kiosks can provide an initial vision assessment and recommend a more comprehensive eye exam with an eye care professional and even help schedule an appointment.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Lovers looking for an unforgettable way to pop the question can rely on
experts in the field of romance: California bed and breakfast
innkeepers. For years, innkeepers throughout the state have been helping
couples dream up unique ways to get engaged.

“Innkeepers pride themselves on the highly-personalized service they
provide their guests,” said Katherine Davis, program manager for the
California Association of Bed Breakfast Inns (CABBI). “And with their
eye for the romantic, they make great partners for pulling off memorable
engagements.”

Three years ago, innkeeper Paul Bullock of The Eagle Inn in Santa
Barbara emerged from the ocean at sunset in full scuba gear — like a
creature from the deep — and shuffled along the sand to an incredulous
couple standing on the beach. He handed them a large sea shell. “I told
them I’d found this unusual shell and that they should have it as a
souvenir,” said Bullock. “The man made a big deal of it, shook it,
passed it to his girlfriend, and said, ‘there’s something inside.’ The
girlfriend opened the shell and found her engagement ring.”

Last spring, a U.S. Marine stationed in Afghanistan contacted the Casa
Laguna Inn Spa in Laguna Beach to help with his engagement
plans during a surprise visit home. He asked his girlfriend’s best
friend to bring her to the inn for a girls’ getaway. Casa Laguna’s staff
suggested the property’s bell tower for his marriage proposal and
decorated tower room with flowers and candles. After the women arrived,
the best friend told the girlfriend to meet her in the bell tower.
Mounting the stairs, the girlfriend nearly stopped short because she was
afraid the flowers and candles were for someone else, but according to
General Manager Kathryn Mace, “When her Marine stepped out into view, we
could hear the girl’s screams echo across the Casa Laguna grounds.”

The Napa Inn has assisted with dozens of engagements over the
years, ranging from convincing a local restaurant to bake the ring into
a raspberry soufflé to arranging an early morning hot-air balloon ride.
Innkeeper Brooke Boyer said, “It makes us feel so special to be part of
such a big event.”

Black Eye Circles

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One of the most interesting and potentially valuable developments for traders is the emergence of binary options as an accessible tool. Binary options are part of a class of options known as exotics, though in reality they are quite simple as they expire at all or nothing and can provide traders and investors a powerful mechanism for reducing risk. Binary options have components common to regular, “plain vanilla” options, such as: an expiration date, a strike price, and a premium for putting on the position. They differ from regular options, however, by providing traders with a fixed payoff. The payoff is $0 if the price doesnt hit the strike price by the expiration time, or a fixed amount, (i.e., $100) if the price does hit the strike price. For the forex trader, the North American Derivatives Exchange (Nadex) now offers binary forex options for the EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/CAD, USD/CHF and USD/JPY. Nadex offers intraday, daily, and weekly expirations. There are a broad range of potential uses of binary options, including a simple directional play, news event trading or creating hedges. And binary options with hourly strikes generates unprecedented flexibility in their tactical use, particularly as a substitute for stops. Lets consider an example in the euro. In recent months a forex trader considering the EUR/USD has seen the Average True Range (ATR) of the day approaching 147 pips and the ATR of the week more than 300 pips. These wide ranges generate a great deal of volatility and wide price swings. As a result, the probability of being stopped out becomes high. Traditional technical approaches such as placing stops above or below the previous days highs or lows, or above or below Bollinger bands, provide protection but often require the stop distance to be quite large. This is where a binary forex option can help out. Putting on a binary option means that the trader is “paid” when the binary strike price is surpassed. The affect is getting “rebated” when the price moves against you but still being able to remain in the spot position. It is analogous to an auto insurance company paying for small damage repair while the car is drivable. At Nadex, a binary option contract pays out $100, which represents 10 pips on a standard contract of $100,000. If a trader chooses to go long or short the EUR/USD, he can purchase binary options to hedge that position. Lets assume that the trader goes short one standard contract in the EUR/USD at 1.4970 at 9 a.m. Instead of a stop loss, he buys an 11 a.m. binary option at >1.5020 offered at $20. This means that if the price exceeds 1.5020 at 1 1 a.m., Nadex will pay his account $100. At 11 a.m., the trader also can decide to buy another binary option to offset any further reduction in the value of his spot account. He could put on five contracts and be completely hedged, and if EUR/USD surpasses that strike, it would result in a $400 net gain versus a loss of $500 on the spot price. If the spot position does not reverse against the trader, the total costs would be $100, which is equivalent to only 10 pips. This is a relatively low cost protection premium. Generally, buying binary options as a substitute for stops can enable the trader to endure a market reversal against him, and stay in the position, anticipating that the reversal of fortune was temporary. The cost of being wrong becomes reduced by the payoffs as the price moves against the position. The major question is whether the cost of the binary options is worth the risk. The risk of course is that the reversal is not serious and the protection was not necessary. As a result, the trader is over-insured. Becoming proficient in using binary options instead of stops also entails timing the entry and exit. The binary option can be left to expire in the money or worthless, or it could be traded for short-term gains.
GFI Group Inc. (NASDAQ: GFIG) announced today
the appointment of Richard W. P. Magee to its Board of Directors.

Mr. Magee is a former wholesale broker with over 20 years of experience in
the field and former Chairman of Tullett Tokyo Forex International Ltd.
He also served as Non-Executive Director on the Board of Directors of
Wilmington Plc., a media, publishing information and legal training group.

Michael Gooch, Chairman of the Board and CEO of GFI Group, said, “We are
delighted in welcoming Richard Magee to our Board. Richards experience and
deep knowledge of the brokerage business will contribute greatly to GFI; we
look forward to working with him and benefiting from his insight for many
years to come.”

Richard Magee will replace Geoffrey Kalish who is leaving his seat on GFIs
Board of Directors after almost ten years of dedicated service.

Mr. Gooch thanked Mr. Kalish for his long standing service to the company
and said: “Geoff Kalish has been an invaluable member of our Board for the
last ten years. He has been with us from the time of our first round of
private equity and through the process of becoming a publicly traded
company, our continued global expansion and, now, into our third decade of
operation. We will miss Geoffs business acumen and wisdom and his
dedication to GFI. We wish him all the best and know that he will remain a
great friend of our firm.”

GFI Group Inc. (NASDAQ: GFIG) announced today
the appointment of Richard W. P. Magee to its Board of Directors.

Mr. Magee is a former wholesale broker with over 20 years of experience in
the field and former Chairman of Tullett Tokyo Forex International Ltd.
He also served as Non-Executive Director on the Board of Directors of
Wilmington Plc., a media, publishing information and legal training group.

Michael Gooch, Chairman of the Board and CEO of GFI Group, said, “We are
delighted in welcoming Richard Magee to our Board. Richards experience and
deep knowledge of the brokerage business will contribute greatly to GFI; we
look forward to working with him and benefiting from his insight for many
years to come.”

Richard Magee will replace Geoffrey Kalish who is leaving his seat on GFIs
Board of Directors after almost ten years of dedicated service.

Mr. Gooch thanked Mr. Kalish for his long standing service to the company
and said: “Geoff Kalish has been an invaluable member of our Board for the
last ten years. He has been with us from the time of our first round of
private equity and through the process of becoming a publicly traded
company, our continued global expansion and, now, into our third decade of
operation. We will miss Geoffs business acumen and wisdom and his
dedication to GFI. We wish him all the best and know that he will remain a
great friend of our firm.”

Hedge funds

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The Two Companies Join Forces to Combine Intermap’s Accurate Map Data
with Hella’s Industry-Leading Predictive Front Lighting Systems and
Expertise

DENVER LIPPSTADT, Germany — Intermap Technologies, the foremost worldwide 3D digital mapping
company, today announced a collaboration with Hella KGaA Hueck Co., a
leading provider of innovative driver assistance systems, regarding a
predictive front lighting system based on Intermap’s reliable 3D road
geometries.

The partnership integrates Intermap’s high-resolution 3D road
geometries, and information supplied by camera systems in an automobile,
into Hella’s front lighting demonstration system – ultimately providing
a significant increase in visibility for drivers at night and during
inclement weather by automatically directing the headlamp before the
driver manually steers the vehicle into a bend or up and down a slope.

“Intermap´s highly accurate 3D road data is a key enabler of our
map-based predictive front lighting application,” said Dr.-Ing. Georg
Florissen, Hella’s head of advanced development, driver assistance
systems lighting. “Overall, this integration of digital map data
provides a comprehensive and secure system, combining the data with
camera and other sensors to take our predictive front lighting systems
to the next level.”

Intermap senior vice president, automotive group, Eric DesRoche, said,
“Intermap has developed the world’s only database encompassing accurate
3D road geometry for every road in the United States and Western Europe.
It is important that vehicle safety systems encompass reliable 3D road
vectors for all classes of roads, including smaller rural roads, as
these are often where the more difficult curves, dips, and slopes are
encountered. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that certain vehicle
functions, such as lighting, can be operated via an independent 3D map
database, separate from onboard 2D navigation systems. This lighting
application is the first of many ADAS and safety applications,
leveraging Intermap’s reliable 3D maps, which we expect to see in the
next generation of passenger vehicles.”

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The stone faces of four former United States Presidents stare out from Mount Rushmore. Elizabeth Lee is planning a trip to this world-famous monument in South Dakotas Black Hills. Most visitors shoot Mount Rushmore with cameras. But Lee and her co-workers will shoot it with laser beams. Their goal is to create a three-dimensional model of the site, using computers. Lee is a project director at CyArk, an organization that makes digital models of the worlds monuments. These sites, like Egypts pyramids and Indias Taj Mahal, have a special place in history and culture. Over time, weather, tourists, and natural disasters can wear down or destroy these treasures. Thats why experts like Lee want to create digital models of the worlds monuments before they are beyond repair. This way, damage to the sites can be monitored over time and repairs can be planned accurately. Whats a monuments number one enemy? Everyday weather. “Water is really the chief cause [of ruin],” says John Stubbs, who works at the World Monuments Fund in New York. It can strike as rain, floods, or even humidity.
PARK CITY — When it comes to Sundance, there are star-gazers, and then there are autograph/picture seekers. With our $20 parking tab paid, we strolled from the top of Main Street, down and up and down again. It doesnt take long before the buzz spreads that actor Ben Affleck has been spotted; and its even quicker to figure out where he is.

Camera Waterproof

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[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The stone faces of four former United States Presidents stare out from Mount Rushmore. Elizabeth Lee is planning a trip to this world-famous monument in South Dakotas Black Hills. Most visitors shoot Mount Rushmore with cameras. But Lee and her co-workers will shoot it with laser beams. Their goal is to create a three-dimensional model of the site, using computers. Lee is a project director at CyArk, an organization that makes digital models of the worlds monuments. These sites, like Egypts pyramids and Indias Taj Mahal, have a special place in history and culture. Over time, weather, tourists, and natural disasters can wear down or destroy these treasures. Thats why experts like Lee want to create digital models of the worlds monuments before they are beyond repair. This way, damage to the sites can be monitored over time and repairs can be planned accurately. Whats a monuments number one enemy? Everyday weather. “Water is really the chief cause [of ruin],” says John Stubbs, who works at the World Monuments Fund in New York. It can strike as rain, floods, or even humidity.
AUSTIN, Texas — Salient Systems announces CompleteViewTM release 3.4 which
includes 16 x 9 widescreen view support, enhanced live view layout
creation, Disable Server Processing which dramatically increases the
number of IP camera feeds which can be recorded to one server and offers
integration to ACTi and Bosch camera products plus Agent VI video
analytics.

“This release version is a ‘robust’ offering for our resellers and end
user customers,” says Per Hanssen, President of Salient Systems. “We
have included features which benefit our users, such as widescreen
support, optional title bars, free form and snap-to-grid layout
configurators, while at the same time, we have stayed true to our
commitment to keep CompleteView the ‘easiest to use’ video management
system on the market today,” added Hanssen. “We are proud to partner
with quality companies like Bosch, ACTi and Agent VI and we continue to
develop important product partnerships for ongoing releases.”

Articles Appear on EE Times’ GreenSupplyLine.com and in Advanced
Imaging Pro Magazine

SAN FRANCISCO — The 1394 Trade Association has published a pair of new technical
articles detailing innovative applications of the 1394 (FireWire)
standard in security camera designs, and in systems used to measure the
operating condition of industrial equipment such as wind turbines.

Both new articles were developed by Burke Henehan, a former Texas
Instruments Corporation engineer and veteran of FireWire applications
development.

Canon Canonet

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Toshiba Products Improve Diagnostic Confidence and Accuracy in
Cardiovascular and Orthopedic Imaging

TUSTIN, Calif. — St. Luke’s Lakeside Hospital of The Woodlands, Texas has chosen Toshiba
America Medical Systems, Inc. to provide magnetic resonance (MR),
ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), X-ray and vascular equipment for
its newly built surgical hospital.

St. Luke’s Lakeside is a collaboration between St. Lukes Episcopal
Health System and area cardiovascular and orthopedic/spine specialists.
With a focus on providing comprehensive cardiac and orthopedic care,
physicians requested the latest in medical imaging technology for the
six surgical suites and three cardiac catheterization labs.

To meet its unique imaging needs, St. Luke’s Lakeside has installed
Toshiba’s Vantage Titan™ MR system, Aplio Artida™ ultrasound system,
Aquilion® CX CT system, two Infinix™-i cath labs and a
Kalare™ RF system.

“Our goal with this facility was to build a place that is at the
forefront of medical innovation. To do this we needed imaging equipment
that could image patients regardless of their size or special needs and
still produce high quality images that would improve diagnostic
confidence and accuracy,” said Diane McNamee, CNO and assistant vice
president, St. Luke’s Lakeside Hospital. “We chose Toshiba equipment for
its ability to produce high quality images, as well as handle the more
challenging cases we see.”

BOTHELL, Wash. — SonoSite, Inc. (Nasdaq:SONO), the world leader and specialist in
hand-carried ultrasound for the point-of-care, today announced the
commencement of its previously announced tender offer to repurchase up
to $100 million of the Company’s common stock for cash through a
modified “Dutch Auction” tender offer.

As previously announced, under the terms of the tender offer, SonoSite
shareholders have the opportunity to tender some or all of their shares
at a price within the range of $26.10 to $30.00 per share. Based on the
number of shares tendered and the prices specified by the tendering
shareholders, SonoSite will determine the lowest per share price within
the range that will enable it to buy $100 million in shares, or such
lesser number of shares that are properly tendered. All shares accepted
for payment will be paid the same price, regardless of whether a
shareholder tendered such shares at a lower price within the range. At
the minimum price of $26.10 per share, SonoSite would repurchase a
maximum of 3,831,417 shares, which represents approximately 22% of
SonoSite’s currently outstanding common stock. SonoSite will fund the
repurchase from available cash on hand. The low and high ends of the
price range represent approximately a 0% and 15% premium, respectively,
to the share closing price for our common stock on January 8, 2010,
which was the trading day immediately preceding the original
announcement of the proposed tender offer.

The tender offer will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on
Friday, February 19, 2010, unless extended by SonoSite. Tenders of
shares must be made on or prior to the expiration of the tender offer
and may be withdrawn at any time on or prior to the expiration of the
tender offer. The tender offer is subject to various terms and
conditions described in offer materials that were publicly filed and
distributed to shareholders today. Additional copies of the offer
materials will also be available from the Information Agent, Georgeson
Inc. The Dealer Manager for the tender offer is J.P. Morgan Securities
Inc.

Neither SonoSite’s management, nor any of its board of directors,
executive officers, the Dealer Manager, the Information Agent or the
depositary is making any recommendation to shareholders as to whether to
tender or refrain from tendering their shares in the tender offer or at
which price or prices to tender their shares. The company’s executive
officers, senior management and directors have advised the company that
they do not intend to tender any of their shares in the tender offer.
Shareholders must decide how many shares they will tender, if any, and
the price or prices within the stated range at which they will tender
their shares. Shareholders should consult their financial and tax
advisors in making this decision.

This press release is for information purposes only, and is not an offer
to purchase or the solicitation of an offer to sell any shares of
SonoSite common stock. The solicitation of offers to purchase shares of
SonoSite common stock will be made only pursuant to the tender offer
documents, including an Offer to Purchase and related Letter of
Transmittal that will be distributed to shareholders and filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission shortly.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — U-Systems announced today that Radiology Regional Center has initiated
participation in the SOMO•INSIGHT Clinical Study. The first breast
center in Southwest Florida to participate, Radiology Regional Center is
recruiting participants for the national clinical research study
designed to evaluate whether digital mammography in combination with the
somo•v™ Automated Breast Ultrasound System (ABUS) from U-Systems is more
sensitive to detecting breast lesions when compared to Mammography alone
in women with dense breasts.

“We are pleased to take part in this important study evaluating
potential new approaches to the early detection of breast cancer in
women with dense breasts, which historically have been difficult to
screen,” said Mary Kay Peterson, M.D., Director of Women’s Imaging at
Radiology Regional Center and principal investigator for the
SOMO•INSIGHT clinical study. “We strongly believe that early detection
is critical and we are excited to be able to provide women in Southwest
Florida with access to cutting edge technology that could potentially
detect abnormalities earlier in the fight against breast cancer.”

The initiation of this multi-center study, which intends to recruit over
20,000 women, is an important milestone for U-Systems in evaluating new
approaches to improved cancer detection. Screening mammography can be
limited in women with dense breasts and these women may have a higher
risk of breast cancer. ABUS uses ultrasound (sound waves) at a safe
frequency to create images of the breast tissue. Ultrasound may
demonstrate cancer not visible with mammography in women who have dense
breasts. U-Systems has developed the somo•v and is sponsoring the
SOMO•INSIGHT clinical study to address the critical need of improved
breast cancer detection in dense breasts.

“We are very excited to be initiating the SOMO·INSIGHT Clinical Study
with Dr. Peterson and Radiology Regional Center,” said Ron Ho, president
and CEO of U-Systems. “The use of the somo•v™ ABUS in combination with
mammography may aid the physician in earlier detection of breast cancer
for a large group of asymptomatic women with increased breast density.
We believe that somo•v ABUS technology will play a vital role in
significantly advancing breast cancer screening and ultimately save
lives.”

ultrasound tech schools

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ATI FirePro™ Professional Graphics Certified for Leading-Edge
3D CAD Technology Solutions

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — AMD
(NYSE: AMD) announced today that its entire family of ATI
FirePro™ professional graphics has been certified by Dassault
Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. for SolidWorks 2010 on Microsoft® Windows®
7.1 Used by more than one million engineers, designers and
other creative professionals worldwide, SolidWorks software is optimized
to work in tandem with ATI
FirePro professional graphics and the latest Microsoft operating
system to deliver fast performance and advanced stability for
professionals working with mechanical designs.

“Leading-edge technology and reliable work environments are imperative
to professionals working in 3D design. Now that the ATI FirePro
professional graphics are certified for SolidWorks 2010 on Windows 7,
professionals can rest assured knowing they’re working on validated
hardware in conjunction with the latest Windows OS,” said Janet Matsuda,
senior director, AMD Professional Graphics. “The rigorous and exacting
certification processes put ATI FirePro professional graphics up against
a battery of simulations and real-world scenarios, to deliver hardware
compatibility and stability for SolidWorks users. Certification by
Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. confirms the company’s confidence and
support of the ATI FirePro graphics family.”

“In today’s fast-paced competitive environment, it’s imperative for
designers and engineers to have access to tools that help them realize
ideas better and faster, because it’s all about who has the best product
right now,” said Nick Iwaskow, Manager, Alliances, Dassault Systèmes
SolidWorks Corp. “SolidWorks 2010 contains many new user-driven features
that help professionals work faster and smarter every day, and with
certified ATI FirePro professional graphics, our customers can achieve
advanced productivity, design great products, and bring them to market
quickly.”

ATI FirePro™ Professional Graphics Certified for Leading-Edge
3D CAD Technology Solutions

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — AMD
(NYSE: AMD) announced today that its entire family of ATI
FirePro™ professional graphics has been certified by Dassault
Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. for SolidWorks 2010 on Microsoft® Windows®
7.1 Used by more than one million engineers, designers and
other creative professionals worldwide, SolidWorks software is optimized
to work in tandem with ATI
FirePro professional graphics and the latest Microsoft operating
system to deliver fast performance and advanced stability for
professionals working with mechanical designs.

“Leading-edge technology and reliable work environments are imperative
to professionals working in 3D design. Now that the ATI FirePro
professional graphics are certified for SolidWorks 2010 on Windows 7,
professionals can rest assured knowing they’re working on validated
hardware in conjunction with the latest Windows OS,” said Janet Matsuda,
senior director, AMD Professional Graphics. “The rigorous and exacting
certification processes put ATI FirePro professional graphics up against
a battery of simulations and real-world scenarios, to deliver hardware
compatibility and stability for SolidWorks users. Certification by
Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. confirms the company’s confidence and
support of the ATI FirePro graphics family.”

“In today’s fast-paced competitive environment, it’s imperative for
designers and engineers to have access to tools that help them realize
ideas better and faster, because it’s all about who has the best product
right now,” said Nick Iwaskow, Manager, Alliances, Dassault Systèmes
SolidWorks Corp. “SolidWorks 2010 contains many new user-driven features
that help professionals work faster and smarter every day, and with
certified ATI FirePro professional graphics, our customers can achieve
advanced productivity, design great products, and bring them to market
quickly.”

Austin divorce lawyer

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The First Marblehead Corporation (NYSE: FMD)
today announced that it plans to release its second quarter fiscal 2010
financial and operating results for the three-month period ended December
31, 2009 before the market opens on Friday, January 29, 2010.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The connection between higher education and pursuing a bioscience career
is without question. The availability of funds for a student to pursue a
bioscience education, however, is sometimes less certain.

BioOhio established the BioOhio Scholarship Fund in October 2009 with
$15,000. BioOhio’s contribution will be divided equally over the first
three years of the scholarship fund, with plans on sustaining and
increasing the fund through private, tax-deductible donations.

“Our hope is that through individual and corporate donations, we can
increase both the number of awards and the dollar amount per award in
coming years,” said BioOhio Director of Communications Matt Schutte.

Timpview linebacker Ofa Latu accepted a scholarship offer from University of Utah coaches Kalani Sitake and Jay Hill on Monday night. The 6-foot-2, 210-pounder was a key defensive contributor to Timpviews last two state championships, finishing with 80 tackles and five interceptions his senior season. He was named the Deseret News 4A MVP. “He understands the game. He has great football savvy as far as field presence and looking at an offense and seeing what theyre trying to do and distract and disrupt it,” said Timpview coach Louis Wong. Latu plans on enrolling at the University of Utah this summer before leaving on an LDS Church Mission in the fall.

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Norvax University takes its two-day Marketing
and Sales Success Conference Tour to Orlando, on Feb. 24 and 25 — with
several upgrades.

Designed for agents and brokers who want to become top producers, the
Norvax University Orlando conference will be a Wednesday-Thursday event at
the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate.

The conference will also introduce new sessions addressing the most
pressing topic in health insurance sales: healthcare reform. Norvax
University will share information brokers need to understand the changing
landscape of health insurance, and how to position their business to profit
from this change.

The Norvax University conference includes in-depth insurance sales training seminars,
packed with proven marketing and sales strategies that can be used
immediately. The schedule also provides many opportunities for attendees to
network with speakers and top producers.

LOS ANGELES — Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing, L.P. announced today that three
leading providers of insurance services have purchased licenses under
the patent portfolio held by Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing, L.P.
and licensed through its affiliate, A2D, L.P.

The companies are:

Ronald A. Katz stated, “We welcome these leading providers of insurance
services and insurance based financial instruments to the large number
of companies who have purchased license rights under this portfolio.”

The patents held by Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing, L.P., cover a
wide range of interactive technology including automated forms of:
customer service, securities trading, merchandising, prepaid services,
prescription refill service, telephone conferences, registration, home
shopping, as well as functions involved in securing information from
databases by telephone, interactive cable transactions, and various
other uses of toll free and local numbers.

First the RACs, now wait for whats coming next Medicaid, commercial insurers starting their audits By the end of the year, its likely that every type of medical record in your hospital will be scrutinized by one auditor or another, predicts Brian Flood, managing director for KPMG LLP, the U.S. audit, tax, and advisory firm. The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfares Bureau of Program Integrity has been auditing fee-for-service Medicaid claims for the past three years, using one of the Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services (CMS) contractors for the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) demonstration project, reports Charleeda Redman, RN, MSN, ACM, director of corporate case management for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, an integrated health system with 20 acute care hospitals.

New York Auto Insurance Quotes

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NEWTON, Mass. — Five Star Quality Care, Inc. (NYSE Amex: FVE) today announced that it
has scheduled its 2010 Annual Meeting of Shareholders for May 10, 2010.
The record date for determination of shareholders entitled to vote at
the meeting is February 21, 2010.

Five Star Quality Care, Inc. is a senior living and healthcare services
provider that operates independent and assisted living facilities,
skilled nursing facilities, rehabilitation hospitals, institutional
pharmacies and outpatient health rehabilitation clinics. Five Star is
headquartered in Newton, MA.

SALT LAKE CITY — A man indicted in an illegal online pharmacy scheme was ordered Tuesday to be remanded into the custody of immigration officials. Edgar Flores-Cuevas, 36, was facing a prison term of 18 to 24 months on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was sentenced to the 20 months he had already served. U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball also imposed a supervised release term of 36 months. Prosecutors say those running the operation were able to distribute more than 11 million pills, making millions of dollars in the process, from 2003 until the scheme was discovered in 2008. Flores-Cuevas was indicted on two counts of conspiracy to import the drug Phentermine, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He pleaded guilty to the conspiracy to commit money laundering charge in November.
Drug safety and
pharmacovigilance teams are facing increasing pressure to identify
potential issues that could arise from the use of their companies
medications. If products reach market and have safety issues, the results
can be devastating. Often, drugs pulled off the pharmacy shelves die
altogether. For the companies whose products do survive safety issues,
overall sales rarely come close to initial projections.

Knowing the potential for disaster, companies want their drug safety teams
to seek out and identify risks as they happen — and often before they
happen. Many pharmacovigilance groups are using signaling to identify and
test for problems that might arise based on similar treatments on the
market or in testing. Needless to say, drug safety teams are more
important than ever.

Beyond general pharmacovigilance activities, CEI has highlighted the
following categories for more in-depth research:

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Even as Walnut Creek Mayor Sue Rainey focused on the positive for the upcoming year, she was straightforward about the rough economy and tough city budget decisions that loom. “With the economic reality “. times have changed,” she said during her State of the City address Tuesday at Boundary Oak Golf Course. “We are looking at programs and services, what are necessary and what we can do without. You will see some changes around City Hall.” “Our employees took the hit” for that shortfall, Rainey said. “We need (residents) input. We need to look for new revenue sources.” She said the city and the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce will work together to attract new businesses. She pointed to Livermore and Concord as competing cities, saying leaders there are actively recruiting businesses, and that Walnut Creek needs to get in the game.
BOSTON — Converted Organics Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN)
announced today that the Company’s Turf-Blend™ 6-0-0 organic liquid
fertilizer is now being used on all greens and tees on the Green Course
at Bethpage State Park Golf Course in Farmingdale, NY. In 2009, a study
conducted at Bethpage Green in which standard synthetic liquid
fertilizer applications were replaced with Turf-Blend™ 6-0-0 on greens
and tees yielded favorable results.

“The course superintendents at Bethpage Green were extremely pleased
with the performance of Converted Organics’ Turf-Blend™ 6-0-0 during the
study, the results of which led to their recent decision to use
Turf-Blend™ 6-0-0 as the primary nitrogen source on all Bethpage Green
tees and greens,” said Edward J. Gildea, President of Converted
Organics. “Golf courses can now switch from synthetic fertilizers to
Turf-Blend® 6-0-0 liquid fertilizer without sacrificing championship
results in turf quality and performance. We look forward to the
possibility of Turf-Blend® 6-0-0 being used on other Bethpage courses
this season.”

Converted Organics’ Turf-Blend™ 6-0-0 liquid organic fertilizer combines
all the bioactive, disease suppressing characteristics of Converted
Organics™ LC 1-1-1 liquid fertilizer, plus the high nitrogen organic
lysine technology developed by Archer Daniels Midland Company to deliver
a totally soluble, rapid response organic liquid fertilizer. Converted
Organics’ Turf-Blend™ 6-0-0 has been thoroughly tested and proven to be
the first liquid organic fertilizer that can perform as effectively as
synthetic liquid fertilizers, such as urea.

About Converted Organics Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO — A 2-inch gas line that ruptured in San Francisco this morning has been capped, a PGE spokesman said. The line ruptured at about 9:50 a.m. at Thomas More and Brotherhood ways, prompting a shelter-in-place warning for a nearby church, golf course, assisted living facility and the St. Thomas More Elementary School, PGE spokesman Joe Molica said.

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“The scene is Capitol Hill. Its the year 2035. Thousands of elderly protesters assemble outside the Capitol building. Inside, the House Ways and Means Committee meets to enact huge cuts in both Medicare and the national health insurance program.” That is the opening of “The Medicare Monster,” a reason article from January 1993; authors Steven Hayward and Erik Peterson highlighted predictions of Medicares impending fiscal insolvency to warn against the push for government-run health care. Substitute 2017 for 2035, and you could write the scene today. Hayward and Petersons cautionary tale pointed out that Medicare costs had been dramatically underestimated from the inception of the program in 1966. Medicare cost $3 billion in 1966. A “conservative” estimate by the House Ways and Means Committee in 1966 projected that Medicare would cost $12 billion after inflation by 1990. The actual 1990 cost was nearly nine times more: $107 billion. Today Medicare costs $408 billion, consuming about 13 percent of the total federal budget. Since 1993 projections about Medicares eventual date of bankruptcy have oscillated considerably. In 1997 the Medicare Trustees projected that its hospital fund would be depleted by the middle of 2000. Fiscal collapse was avoided when the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 imposed what amounted to price controls on physicians and hospitals. As a consequence, in 2000 the Medicare Trustees sunnily projected that the program would be solvent through 2029. Nine years later, the latest Medicare Trustees report projects that the hospital fund (Part A) will be depleted by 2017. The trustees assert that bringing it into actuarial balance during the next 75 years will require either immediately raising the Medicare payroll tax from 2.9 percent to 6.78 percent or cutting current benefits by 53 percent. Medicare Part B, which pays for outpatient care and doctor bills, and the recently added Part D, which pays for prescription drugs, are “both projected to remain adequately financed into the indefinite future because current law automatically provides financing each year to meet next years expected costs.” Translation: About 75 percent of Medicare funds spent on doctors and drugs come from general tax revenue.
ACCORDING TO THE conventional wisdom, the United States faces a massive medical bill thanks to our use of pricey new treatments and equipment. “About half of all growth in health care spending in the past several decades was associated with changes in medical care made possible by advances in technology,” a 2008 Congressional Budget Office report declared. “Health care economists attribute about 50 percent of the annual increase of health costs to new technologies or to the intensified use of old ones,” the bioethicist Daniel Callahan writes in his new book Taming the Beloved Beast: How Medical Technology Costs Are Destroying Our Health Care System. This is familiar territory for Callahan, who for decades has advocated reining in medical innovation to reduce health care costs. He also favors limiting the life-extending treatments that older people receive, on the grounds that most of them will “have lived a full and fruitful biographical life prior to age 70.” Interestingly, Callahan, age 79, underwent a life-saving seven-hour heart procedure in August that cost upward of $100,000. In his new book, Callahan complains that “American health care is radically American: individualistic, scientifically ambitious, market intoxicated, suspicious of government, and profit-driven.” Hes right at least about our high-tech vitality: The U.S. does develop and deploy medical innovations much faster than other rich countries. New pharmaceutical products generally hit the market here two years earlier than elsewhere, according to a December 2008 report from the business consultancy McKinsey, which also blames high-tech medicine for escalating costs. The McKinsey report further notes that American physicians are “much quicker to adopt new surgical techniques and advances in anesthesia.” The top five U.S. hospitals alone conduct more clinical trials than any other single developed country. But is high tech medicine really to blame for rising health care costs? Last June Columbia economist Frank Lichtenberg published a study that suggests the opposite. Advanced medical technologies, Lichtenberg suggests, are not contributing to rising American health care expenditures because the money they save makes up for the money spent on them. Lichtenberg begins by looking at how the rate of increase in longevity has varied among U.S. states between 1991 and 2004. He investigates how such factors as the quality of medical care, behavioral risks, education, income, and insurance coverage affect life expectancy. To measure differences in the quality of medical care, he examines how quickly each state took up advanced medical diagnostics and new drugs. He also calculates what fraction of physicians in each state was trained at top-ranked medical schools.

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First the RACs, now wait for whats coming next Medicaid, commercial insurers starting their audits By the end of the year, its likely that every type of medical record in your hospital will be scrutinized by one auditor or another, predicts Brian Flood, managing director for KPMG LLP, the U.S. audit, tax, and advisory firm. The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfares Bureau of Program Integrity has been auditing fee-for-service Medicaid claims for the past three years, using one of the Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services (CMS) contractors for the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) demonstration project, reports Charleeda Redman, RN, MSN, ACM, director of corporate case management for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, an integrated health system with 20 acute care hospitals.
“The scene is Capitol Hill. Its the year 2035. Thousands of elderly protesters assemble outside the Capitol building. Inside, the House Ways and Means Committee meets to enact huge cuts in both Medicare and the national health insurance program.” That is the opening of “The Medicare Monster,” a reason article from January 1993; authors Steven Hayward and Erik Peterson highlighted predictions of Medicares impending fiscal insolvency to warn against the push for government-run health care. Substitute 2017 for 2035, and you could write the scene today. Hayward and Petersons cautionary tale pointed out that Medicare costs had been dramatically underestimated from the inception of the program in 1966. Medicare cost $3 billion in 1966. A “conservative” estimate by the House Ways and Means Committee in 1966 projected that Medicare would cost $12 billion after inflation by 1990. The actual 1990 cost was nearly nine times more: $107 billion. Today Medicare costs $408 billion, consuming about 13 percent of the total federal budget. Since 1993 projections about Medicares eventual date of bankruptcy have oscillated considerably. In 1997 the Medicare Trustees projected that its hospital fund would be depleted by the middle of 2000. Fiscal collapse was avoided when the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 imposed what amounted to price controls on physicians and hospitals. As a consequence, in 2000 the Medicare Trustees sunnily projected that the program would be solvent through 2029. Nine years later, the latest Medicare Trustees report projects that the hospital fund (Part A) will be depleted by 2017. The trustees assert that bringing it into actuarial balance during the next 75 years will require either immediately raising the Medicare payroll tax from 2.9 percent to 6.78 percent or cutting current benefits by 53 percent. Medicare Part B, which pays for outpatient care and doctor bills, and the recently added Part D, which pays for prescription drugs, are “both projected to remain adequately financed into the indefinite future because current law automatically provides financing each year to meet next years expected costs.” Translation: About 75 percent of Medicare funds spent on doctors and drugs come from general tax revenue.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Swelling and pain are usually the result of a stretched or torn ligament.

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[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Roosters are crowing, a sign cautions visitors to “Watch for Rattlesnakes,” and dozens of horses wander around a busy stable. George Eads is at home, but not quite home. Hes not on a ranch in his native Texas, but in Los Angeles, with the landmark Hollywood sign looming in the distance. The well-muscled, 42-year-old star of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation considers himself a horseman, but on this fall day he wont be mounting any of the powerful steeds in the nearby stable. “Im not cleared to do that by my doctor now,” he says, “but Ill be able to ride again within a year.” Eads, who has crafted a tough-guy image playing forensic investigator Nick Stokes on CSI for the past 10 years, feels lucky to even be walking. Just six months ago, he underwent spinal fusion surgery to repair a broken back that had gone untreated for more than a decade. The surgery repaired the damage but forced the active actor to essentially blow up his fitness regimen. The muscle-building bustle of ranch life was replaced with the quiet comfort of the gym and the pool. For a man accustomed to a vibrant, outdoor routine, the shift was dramatic. “Amending your lifestyle is sobering,” Eads says. “And working out has become my solace. The gym made me not give up.” [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] An outdoor enthusiast, Eads was always drawn to anything and everything active. (He was even a pole-vaulter in high school.) A native of tiny Belton, Texas (about 60 miles north of Austin), he says he is far from what locals there would call a “cowboy,” even though he did spend some time as a cowpoke in Oklahoma and routinely worked area rodeos. He was more than familiar with the active ranch life in Belton, which he describes as “a very country and western town.” He also enjoyed skiing, baseball, and wrestling. When he arrived in Los Angeles in the mid-1990s, he became a hoops junkie, jumping into the competitive pickup games at the public courts off Cahuenga Boulevard.
ON NOVEMBER 13, a clot of journalists stands in a hailstorm outside a Portland, Oregon, business called Rumpspankers Beyond Broth. Were awaiting a press conference rechristening the business the Cannabis Cafe, the first restaurant where patients licensed by the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP) can publicly use marijuana. The event is a half-hour late in starting. Perhaps theres cleaning to do. Rumpspankers, a soup restaurant by day, was until recently an adult entertainment venue by night, hosting a bondage club and a monthly event called “Pants Off Dance Off.” Maybe those already inside–the cafes owners, representatives from the Oregon chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), a guy carrying a raft of French pastries–dont hear the banging on the door. Maybe, judging from the skunk smell that rolls out once the door is opened, everyone inside is too euphoric to realize what time it is. “Welcome to freedom!” says Madeline Martinez, all good cheer as she finally presents the cafe, a cavernous room of dinged-up furniture and paper lanterns. As the executive director of Oregon NORML, Martinez previously hosted bimonthly socials for marijuana patients in the ballroom above Rumpspankers, but a seven-day-a-week place to congregate and medicate? That is her dream come true.

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California accounted for nine of the top 20 metro
foreclosure rates, followed by Florida with eight, Nevada with two and Arizona with one. The highest-ranked metro area
outside of those four states was in Boise City-Nampa, Idaho, which ranked
No. 24 with 4.66 percent of its housing units receiving at least one
foreclosure notice in 2009.

“While it was expected that cities from states with the highest levels of
foreclosure activity would top the charts, there is evidence that were
entering a new wave of foreclosures, driven more by unemployment and
economic hardship than what weve seen over the past few years,” said James
J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Areas like Provo,
Utah; Fayetteville, Ark.; Portland, Ore.; and Rockford, Ill., all posted
foreclosure rates above the U.S. average in 2009. And markets like
Honolulu, Minneapolis and Seattle saw foreclosure activity increase at more
than twice the national pace over the past 12 months — although all three
of those markets still had 2009 foreclosure rates that were at or below the
U.S. average.”

Top 10 metro foreclosure rates

Las
Vegas posted the nations highest metro foreclosure rate for the year,
with more than 12 percent of its housing units receiving a foreclosure
notice in 2009 — more than five times the national average. Las Vegas
reported a quarter-over-quarter decline in foreclosure activity in the
fourth quarter — as did all the other metro areas with foreclosure rates
ranking among the top 10 for 2009.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The science fiction writer Cory Doctorow co-edits Boing Boing, one of the most popular blogs on the Internet. Each of the appealing characters in Makers (Tor), his new novel about a post-scarcity economy set in a near-future wasteland of strip mall shantytowns and Russian weight loss clinics, is a slice of Doctorow himself, from Suzanne, the journalist turned (wildly profitable) blogger, to Perry, the fanboy magnet, always-on-the-road guru, and keeper of an open source Wunderkammer housed in an abandoned Wal-Mart.

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LAS VEGAS — Big League Dreams and the city of Las Vegas teamed up Monday with
baseball stars Jason and Jeremy Giambi, Bobby Grich, Wally Joyner and
Bill Russell to officially open the Big League Dreams Sports Park in Las
Vegas.

Hundreds of fans showed up to see the new facility featuring
family-friendly attractions and six fields replicating famous major
league baseball stadiums Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, Dodger Stadium,
Angels Stadium, Wrigley Field and Crosley Field.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar B. Goodman, Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese and Clark
County Commissioner Larry Brown all praised the sports park as a
world-class attraction for local and visiting ballplayers and families.

“Big League Dreams is a beautiful, state-of-the-art facility that raises
the bar for baseball and softball in the city of Las Vegas,” Goodman
said. “Las Vegas is known for having the best entertainment, hotels,
restaurants and shopping, and now we also have the best ball fields.”

“I can’t wait to see kids shagging flies and hitting home runs in our
very own versions of Fenway Park, Dodger Stadium and these other
historic replica fields,” Reese added.

WASHINGTON — In continuing efforts to send aid to Haiti, a late night flight piloted
by Hollywood celebrity John Travolta took off from Tampa carrying 50
doctors and over 7,000 pounds of medical supplies, the Embassy of Haiti
and the Greater Washington Haiti Relief Committee announced today. On
the return trip, Travolta brought Haitian-Americans home to the United
States to reunite them with their families.

“I would like to thank Mr. John Travolta for the compassion he and his
wife are showing to the people of Haiti at this time of great need,”
said Haitian Ambassador to the U.S. Raymond Joseph. “The donation of his
time and skills to pilot the relief supply plane to Haiti was greatly
needed, and it is a true example of an individual’s willingness to
reconnect families which is very honorable and humbling.”

Travolta, a well-known pilot, offered the services of his own plane and
provided the fuel to fly a supply plane down to Haiti to aid relief
efforts following the 7.0 earthquake that struck the island on January
12, 2010. The plane carried 7,000 pounds of medical supplies, all of
which were purchased with funds provided by Travolta as a donation to
the relief efforts. The plane also carried much needed food and water
including 4,500 meals-ready-to-eat. Also onboard were 50 doctors,
including surgeons, plastic surgeons, trauma specialists, and
cardiologists.

Felix Roger Romane was on the return flight back to Miami. Romane, and
88-year-old with advanced glaucoma and intestinal cancer, was born in
Haiti in 1921 but immigrated to the United States more than three
decades ago in search of better opportunities for his children. Romane
later returned to live in his native land of Haiti to retire.

On January 12 the earthquake created deep cracks in his Port-au-Prince
home, and fearing it would collapse, Romane spent the days following the
earthquake in the yard outside his home in Port-au-Prince with the rest
of his family. Romane’s eldest son, a U.S. Army veteran, walked the
streets in search of much needed food, water, and medicine. Food was
scarce and the threat of hunger was ever-present, but Romane kept his
family together until he could secure passage back to the United States.
Romane was joined on the return flight by his wife, sons, daughter,
granddaughter, and in-laws. When they landed in Miami, his family was
there to welcome them.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. SAN FRANCISCO — Olympusat,
the country’s market leader in the development and distribution of
independent Spanish-language, faith and family, and emerging TV
networks, welcomed the New Year with the launch of six Hispanic networks
on Comcast’s San Francisco Bay Area systems. Available to Comcast’s
CableLatino subscribers throughout the Bay area, the new additions to
the channel lineup include:

“Comcast is a leader in providing a deep and diverse offering of
multicultural programming, particularly among America’s rapidly growing
Hispanic audience,” said Ivette Mendez-Kelly, Olympusat’s Vice President
of Sales Distribution, Hispanic TV Networks.

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Third-degree facial burns. Fractured pelvises. Infected limbs needing amputation. The volunteer doctors and nurses comprising the LDS Churchs first-response medical team has seen it all — and tried to work on most of it — in the three days they have been working to provide help and healing to earthquake-ravaged Haiti. Now the location of service is slowly starting to change as doctors and nurses continue to find themselves able to spread out farther in the city and care for those in other areas. And sometimes a common thread ties the two separate and distinct locations, like medical care given to a specific patient by volunteers at the meetinghouse being continued by their team peers at the hospital.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The involvement of LDS Church members and volunteer medical personnel came full circle in the case of the diagnosis and treatment of a Port-au-Prince man injured in the Jan. 12 earthquake. Haitian church members had brought the man to a makeshift clinic at the Centrale Ward chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints. If not treated immediately, the leg eventually would become infected with gangrene from the dying muscles and ultimately need to be amputated. The team of LDS volunteer doctors at the Centrale Ward chapel recommended the man seek immediate attention at the nearby Sacred Heart Central Hospital, where another handful of the churchs medical team also were working.
BitDefender®, an award-winning provider
of innovative anti-malware security solutions, today warned of a new threat
following the flood of interest in the result of the January 19th
Massachusetts elections.

The day after his winning Senate campaign, nude pictures of Cosmopolitans
Sexiest Man of 1982 Scott Brown not only stirred womens imaginations, but
also got the interest of malware creators. The latter exploited the news to
spread a fake antivirus: Trojan.FakeAV.XP. Instead of spicy pictures, the
targeted user received messages of false infections on their computer and
prompts to buy a fake antivirus product.

This is the second attack to take advantage of sudden interest in Scott
Brown. The first was a massive wave of infections in the US due to
Trojan.FakeAV.ABT, Data provided by BitDefenders Real-Time Virus Reporting
System shows that in North America, the number of systems infected with
this Trojan increased just before the elections day (January 18th) by almost
8 percent, while the number of infected files rose by nearly 13 percent.

In the last two days, the number of infected systems also grew in locations
around the globe. In Canada, they increased by 62 percent on January 19th
and by 14 percent on January 20th. The same ascending trend for infections
was observed in the UK. The number of infected systems there grew by more
than 29 percent, while the number of the infected files grew by almost 53
percent. In France, the number of infected systems increased by 23 percent,
while the number of the infected files increased by about 32 percent. In
Romania, the numbers also climbed, with infected systems rising by more
than 11 percent.

The rogue antivirus resembles the program suite from the operating system.
Once onto the users system, it creates a start-up registry value,
“Enterprise Suite,” in order to run every time the operating system starts.
It damages the content of several systems files, delivering pop-up windows
with fake infections, while requiring the user to buy a license for it.

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SOUTHEND 1 JOSH PAYNE secured a point for Wycombe just 24 hours after joining on loan from West Ham. The home side took the lead 15 minutes into the second half as Alan McCormack headed home.
SOUTHEND 1 JOSH PAYNE secured a point for Wycombe just 24 hours after joining on loan from West Ham. The home side took the lead 15 minutes into the second half as Alan McCormack headed home.

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TONY PULIS has told Thomas Sorensen he still has a future at Stoke despite the arrival of David James. Pulis should complete a loan move for the England keeper this week after Portsmouth revived the deal, but the Stoke boss has told his Danish international he must stay and fight for the first-team slot. Pulis said: “The whole face of the club changed a few seasons ago, and given the opportunity we will try to compete to bring in players like David James. “We want to take it up another notch now, weve got to – but Ive had a good chat with Thomas and he knows about the competition.
SOUTHEND 1 JOSH PAYNE secured a point for Wycombe just 24 hours after joining on loan from West Ham. The home side took the lead 15 minutes into the second half as Alan McCormack headed home.

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