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Gastrocor Introduces New FISH Test for Colorectal Cancer Detection

Business Wire, Oct 30, 2009

RICHMOND, Va. — GastroFISH is the first tissue-basedfluorescence in situ hybridization
(FISH) test for thedetection of chromosomal anomalies associated with
colon cancer.

We are excited to be the first laboratory to offer GastroFISH for the
colon. Using current histological techniques, identifying adenomas with
a high risk for progression to cancer is not possible. Multi-target FISH
will be helpful in the identification of these adenomas in conjunction
with histology,? said Junqi Qian, M.D., Director of Molecular
Diagnostics at Bostwick Laboratories.

GastroFISH is a diagnostic test with a high sensitivity and specificity
id badge holder that will aid in the differential diagnosis of adenoma from
adenocarcinoma. The results from GastroFISH together with a pathology
diagnosis will assist the physician in guiding a more effective
treatment plan for his/her patient.

Gastrocor, a division of Bostwick Laboratories,
is a full service laboratory specializing in gastrointestinal pathology.
Headquartered in Richmond, VA, Bostwick Laboratories
features an exceptional staff of board certified pathologists dedicated
to the diagnosis, and management of prostate cancer, kidney disease,
gynecological and urological conditions

Extra fizz in Merlin mix

0 Comments | Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales), Oct 21, 2009

PR and communications consultancy Freshwater has appointed a new head for its creative and marketing division.

Angharad Neagle has been appointed to a newly established position as head of Merlin Marketing and Creative, which provides design, marketing, media buying, event management, film production, web-design and online services.

The 15 strong Merlin Marketing and Creative team form an integral part of the Freshwater group, providing creative services to Freshwater clients across the UK from the company’s head office in Cardiff.

The team currently works with a number of high-profile clients across Wales and the UK including the NHS, Welsh Assembly Government, National Grid, Mermaid Quay, Castleoak, QVC, British Gas and the Environment Agency Wales.

Ms Neagle’s previous role was as account director for Freshwater’s Wales PR team. She has extensive experience of working with the Merlin Marketing and Creative team.

She said: “This is an exciting new role and I am particularly looking forward to building on the reputation that Merlin Marketing and Creative has in Wales.

real estate web design “Our experience is that clients are increasingly looking for an agency that can meet their full range of communications needs, from traditional media relations to newer online communication channels.

I amlooking forward to building on Merlin’s already extensive client base to help raise the profile of more Welsh companies.”

Bruce Morris, chairman of Merlin, said: “Having over 12 years experience in the communications industry, Angharad will bring a clear and thorough understanding to the new post.”

CAPTION(S):

NEW HEAD: Angharad Neagle

EPA warns against rail sprawl in Somers

Daily Reporter (Milwaukee), Oct 30, 2009 by Sean Ryan

The town of Somers had a plan: Commuter rail runs through town, a train station gets built north of 12th Street and up pops 100 acres of apartments, shops and restaurants.

But where Somers welcomes the promise of development, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency spots the threat of sprawl from train stations along the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail project. The EPA wants planners to consider building train stations in areas that are more developed.

Development is not sprawl if it is part of a community’s long- term development planning, said Mike Ruzicka, president of the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors.

“That’s a new area,” he said of the land around Somers, “but, again, I think in the grand scheme of things, when you look at the map, hopefully we would have thousands of new people moving into that area.”

The EPA, after reviewing a draft environmental-impact statement for the more than $200 million KRM project, called for more studies in certain areas. The agency asked local planners in the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission to study optional locations for the nine stations proposed for the commuter rail line. The EPA warned the stations could lead to development of open spaces and sprawl among the three major cities in the KRM corridor.

Local planners will consider the comments in the EPA letter as the project’s environmental planning and engineering proceeds, said Ken Yunker, SEWRPC executive director.

But the KRM stations are meant to spur a construction boom, resulting in redevelopment or new projects, said Kerry Thomas, executive director of Transit Now, also known as the Southeastern Wisconsin Coalition for Transit. It can be better when stations magellan 1475t are in undeveloped areas because it provides more flexibility for the creation of mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhoods, she said.

“You are certainly looking at providing something that is much more valuable for transportation efficiency,” Thomas said, “and certainly something that is much more valuable for property value and economic development.”

Somers Town Chairman James Smith said the town approved a plan to let Illinois developer Jay Hergott develop a train station in the spot proposed in the KRM plan

Dominion Virginia Power Offers Help To Manage Energy Bills, Get Financial Assistance

PR Newswire, Oct 29, 2009

– Budget billing enrollment doubles as customers look to level bills – Fuel assistance programs available through Virginia Department of Social Services – Information sessions offered in partnership with Virginia Employment Commission

RICHMOND, Va., Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Dominion Virginia Power is alerting customers that autumn is a great time to take advantage of several programs available to help them actively manage their home energy costs before higher winter heating bills arrive.

“This is the opportune time for customers to sign up for billing options and learn about the wide range of assistance programs that are available to help them manage their energy costs,” said Gianna Clark, vice president, Customer Service Operations. “It also is important for customers to contact us if they are having difficulty paying their bill or anticipate having difficulty. We can explore all the options available to make it easier.” The company’s toll-free customer service phone number is 1-888-667-3000.

Dominion will contact 75,000 customers this month to provide them with information on programs offered through the Commonwealth of Virginia and Dominion to help qualifying families pay their home energy bills and weatherize their homes. This includes information on:

  --  Qualifying and applying for the Commonwealth's fuel assistance and
      crisis assistance programs are available through the Virginia
      Department of Social Services at http://www.dss.virginia.gov/ or by calling
      2-1-1 to locate the local social service agency.
  --  The commonwealth's weatherization program is available from the
      Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development Web site at
      http://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/ or by calling 2-1-1 to locate a local
      weatherization provider.  A home energy audit is performed, and
      energy-efficient repairs are made at no expense to the resident.  The
      program is available to renters, as well as homeowners.  A weatherized
      home typically uses about one-third less energy, saving a family about
      $350 a year on energy bills.

  --  Dominion's EnergyShare program, which assists qualified families
      regardless of their heating source, is available by visiting the
      company's Web site at http://www.dom.com/ and searching for EnergyShare, or by
      calling toll-free 1-888-667-3000 to locate a local EnergyShare agency.
      EnergyShare applications will be accepted beginning November 2.

Dominion also encourages customers to avoid monthly fluctuations in their electric bills by signing up for budget billing. In the past 18 months, customer participation in Dominion’s budget billing plan has more than doubled — from 175,000 to 400,000 customers, or about 20 percent of Dominion’s customers

accredited online degree

Dominion offers two additional programs designed to help friends and relatives help those who are having trouble paying their electric bill.

  --  Dominion's gift certificate program enables relatives and clergy, for
      example, to help customers pay all or part of their electric bill.
      Certificates are available in denominations of $10, $25, $50, $75,
      $100 and $250.  They can be personalized to include the donor's name
      or sent anonymously.  The donor does not have to be a Dominion
      customer to purchase a gift certificate.  Information is available
      online at http://www.dom.com/, keyword "Gift Certificate."

  --  Dominion's third-party notification program allows customers to
      designate a relative, friend, clergy member or social service agency
      to be notified in the event the customer is in jeopardy of having
      service disconnected for nonpayment.  The third party has no
      obligation or responsibility for the bill but can assist with
      arrangements for continuing electric service without interruption.
      Information is available online at http://www.dom.com/, keyword "Third Party."

Dominion continues to hold information sessions at Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) offices and other locations about these state and company energy assistance programs. Sessions will be held at the following locations.

  --  Nov. 4 (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.) at Grace Place, 2735 Corprew Ave., Norfolk;

  --  Nov. 4 (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.) at Kemet House, 2139 Broadmoor Ave.,

      Chesapeake;

  --  Nov. 5 (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.) at Kemet House, 2139 Broadmoor Ave.,

      Chesapeake;

  --  Nov. 10 (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) at VEC, Henrico Hall, Richmond Raceway

      Complex;

  --  Nov. 16 (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.) at VEC, 5520 Cherokee Ave. Suite 100,

      Alexandria;

  --  Nov. 17 (9 a.m. to noon) at Brookhill Employment Center, 5270

      Chamberlayne Road, Richmond;

  --  Nov. 17 (8 a.m. to noon) at Employment Resource Fair, Fredericksburg;

  --  Nov. 23 (9 a.m



	 October 31st, 2009
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House Democrats agree on health bill

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Oct 29, 2009 | by Erica Werner Associated Press

WASHINGTON — House Democrats reached agreement Wednesday on key elements of a health-care bill that would vastly alter America’s medical landscape, requiring virtually universal sign-ups and establishing a new government-run insurance option best homeowners insurance for millions.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi planned a formal announcement Thursday morning in front of the Capitol. Lawmakers said the legislation could be up for a vote on the House floor next week.

The rollout will cap months of arduous negotiations to bridge differences between liberal and moderate Democrats and blend health- care-overhaul bills passed by three separate committees over the summer. The developments in the House came as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., tried to round up support among moderate Democrats for his bill, which includes a modified government insurance option that states could opt out of.

Reid met Wednesday with Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln, who faces a potentially tough re-election next year.

The final product in the House, reflecting many of President Barack Obama’s priorities, includes new requirements for employers to offer insurance to their workers or face penalties, fines on Americans who don’t purchase coverage and subsidies to help lower- income people do so. Insurance companies would face new prohibitions against charging much more to older people or denying coverage to people with health conditions.

Pelosi has also said the bill would strip the health-insurance industry of a long-standing exemption from antitrust laws covering market allocation, price fixing and bid rigging.

The price tag, topping $1 trillion over 10 years, would be paid for by taxing high-income people and cutting some $500 billion in payments to Medicare providers. The legislation would extend health coverage to around 95 percent of Americans.

Republicans criticized the bill even before it was unveiled. “Americans’ health care is too important to risk on one gigantic bill that was negotiated behind closed doors,” said Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich. “The Medicare cuts will hurt seniors, the tax increases will kill jobs and the government takeover of health care will increase premium costs.”

One change expected to be revealed Thursday is that some of the provisions of the bill, which were set to take effect mostly in 2013, have been moved up so Americans would see the benefits of the legislation more quickly, according to Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami.

“I’m pretty confident that we’ve got the right pieces in place,” said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, one of the three panels involved in writing the bill. “We can quibble over parts of it, but the fact is when you’re taking a 60-year-old system that grew up in a rather haphazard fashion and you’re trying to bring some coherence to it, these are sort of the things you have to do at the beginning of that process.”

Plenty of work remains to be done before a bill could land on Obama’s desk — and there’s still no guarantee that Congress can complete the legislation before year’s end, as the president wants. If Obama does sign a health-overhaul bill, he will have bucked decades of failed attempts by past administrations, most recently by former President Bill Clinton in the 1990s.

House leaders hope to finish the bill before Veteran’s Day, Nov

GFI Group Inc. Announces Third Quarter 2009 Results; Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend

Market Wire, October, 2009

GFI Group Inc. (NASDAQ: GFIG), a leading
provider of wholesale brokerage, electronic execution and trading support
products for global financial markets, today announced financial results
for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009.

Highlights

--  Total revenues for the third quarter of 2009 were $192.2 million

    compared with $243.1 million in the third quarter of 2008.  In the third

 forex demo    quarter of 2009, total revenues included a $5.2 million mark-to-market

    unrealized loss on forward hedges of future foreign currency revenues. In

    the third quarter of 2008, total revenues included a $9.6 million pre-tax

    charge related to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers



	 October 30th, 2009
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Zipfizz Announces New Distribution Deals With GNC and Ralph’s Grocery

PR Newswire, Oct 28, 2009

MILL CREEK, Wash., Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ — Zipfizz Corporation, makers of Zipfizz, the healthy energy drink mix that has been embraced by professional athletes, Hollywood and the general public, announced today that it has signed a distribution deal with General Nutrition Centers (GNC) and Ralph’s Grocery.

GNC stores will typically stock a wide range of weight loss, bodybuilding and nutritional supplements, in both their own numerous in-house brands as well as third party name brands. The company also stocks vitamins, natural remedies, and health and beauty products. GNC has over 6,000 stores in the US (including 1,100 store-within-a-store locations within Rite Aid) as well as locations in 49 other countries.

GNC, with approximately 5,300 retail locations in the U.S., will carry the Zipfizz grape-flavored 12 pack. GNC is the largest global specialty retailer of nutritional products, including vitamin, mineral, herbal and other specialty supplements and sports nutrition, diet and energy products. Initially, GNC will carry Zipfizz in 1,400 of its retail locations before expanding to all GNC retail outlets.

Ralphs Grocery Company, the largest supermarket division of retail conglomerate Kroger, will carry the company’s flagship product, Zipfizz Healthy Energy Mix, in a 3-pack of Grape, Orange and Pink Lemonade. Ralphs Grocery is a major supermarket chain in the Southern California area. In addition to Ralphs Supermarkets, the company operates stores under the Cala Foods, Bell Markets, Food-4-Less, and FoodsCo names in California as well as PriceRite stores in Nevada.

The Zipfizz Healthy Energy Drink Mix is packaged in a test tube-like, single-serving container, and contains only 10 calories, no sugar, and 2 net carbs. When mixed with 16 to 20 ounces of water, it offers 25 nutritional ingredients, including nine vitamins, eight minerals, electrolytes and antioxidants.

“We are very excited to partner with GNC and Ralph’s Grocery,” said Adrian Vicente, Vice President of Zipfizz Corporation. “It is another important step for us as we continue to expand our market leadership position in this category.”

Vicente said that Zipfizz originated the healthy drink mix market when it was introduced in 2004. “When that happened, we created buy phentermine no prescription an entire new product category,” he said

Menace to satiety: some foods are serving time for crimes they didn’t commit

Muscle & Fitness, Nov, 2009 by Matthew G. Kadey

We sometimes like to bash mainstream dietitians for their often myopic views on nutrition (see years of claims that caledonia pizza creatine is a steroid and protein is bad for your kidneys). To be fair, the talking heads on television usually get it right when dishing out big-picture advice. After all, who can argue with the suggestion to load our dinner plates with more vegetables and fewer french fries? [paragraph] Occasionally, though, they truly miss the mark. Sadly, slip-ups such as “eat fewer eggs and more low-fat foods” tend to attract media attention like bugs to a halogen headlamp. They get repeated so often that you’re too chicken to eat eggs, and so scared of the dark you’ll eat only white meat. The inevitable outcome of this narrow lifestyle is stymied muscle growth and a palate that begs for variety. In an effort to weed out the nutritional maxims that could be hindering your quest for a better body, we’ve identified–and freshened up–nine stale food rules.

BAD ADVICE NO. 1: Eschew Dark Poultry

* Chicken breasts must have a hard-working PR team. After all, when asked what’s the healthiest part of the bird, what’s your answer? We thought so. But contrary to popular belief, the juicier, darker poultry meat on drumsticks, legs and thighs isn’t loaded with as much fat as a plastic surgeon’s trash can.

In fact, these protein-packed cuts have virtually the same amount of calories and saturated fat as breasts, and more testosterone-boosting zinc. Plus, they’re easier on the wallet and are less likely to dry out when cooked

Utah lawmakers dislike Reid’s public-option proposal

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Oct 27, 2009 | by James Thalman

The only good thing about Sen. Harry Reid’s proposed health-care reform compromise is that states can opt out from federal reforms, several Utah lawmakers and health-reform advocates said Monday.

Senate Majority Leader Reid, D-Nev., announced Monday he will eczema relief send a reform bill to the Senate floor for a vote that contains the controversial public insurance option and an opt-out clause for states that have designed an alternative to provide coverage for those who can’t find a private plan.

Reid’s proposal could well be the hybrid compromise that gives liberal members of the Senate what they want in reform and offers conservatives a way to avoid the government takeover of health care they fear, said Utahns on both sides of the debate.

Proponents of adding a new public option a la Medicare/Medicaid say it’s a vital safety net for people who can’t otherwise obtain insurance coverage. Opponents say having an opt-out clause is the safety valve that Utah and other states well down the road to their own reforms need to protect them from federal meddling.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he’s “disappointed” by Reid’s proposal, calling it “absolutely the wrong way” to go and amounts to “new window dressing” on the failed idea of a government fix.

“At a time when major government programs like Medicare and Medicaid are already on a path to financial collapse, creating a brand new government program will not only worsen our long-term financial outlook but also negatively impact American families who enjoy the private coverage of their choice,” he said.

There are also many American families who don’t have that choice or are losing it when they lose their jobs during the economic downturn, Reid said, adding that once someone loses coverage it’s nearly impossible to regain it under current insurance practices that in effect make just about everybody who goes more than a month without coverage ineligible for a new plan.

Americans should recognize Reid’s compromise for what it is, said Judi Hilman, executive director of the Utah Health Policy Project. It both underscores the need for reforms to be a state/federal partnership, and it gives those in charge of Utah’s reform effort confidence that tailoring it to the state won’t be for naught.

“We heartily applaud Sen. Reid’s state-optional version of the public plan option,” she said, noting that even though 69 percent of Utah small-business owners surveyed recently said they wanted a public plan option. “I have confidence that Utah will figure out a way to make insurance affordable and accessible without a public plan.”

Insurers say they they recognize that continuing annual increases in premiums, co-pays and deductibles has reached the point of diminishing returns, but adding a public option would just drive premium costs higher.

The American Health Insurance Plan, the national trade organization for commercial providers, said in a statement that a public option bodes increasing payment differentials between the public and private payers and the potential for further spiraling as private sector enrollees, facing continuously higher premiums, leave the market.”

Rep. Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara, Utah House speaker and co- chairman of the Legislature’s special health-care reform task force, reiterated his “Utah solutions to Utah’s problem” approach.

“We already have a health-care system in Utah that is bottom three in cost for the nation,” he said. “As I understand the latest version — always subject to numerous changes — I would recommend Utah opt out.”

The Reid compromise holds no water with other GOP Utah legislators who recommended that Utah be first in line to opt out of any reform law approved in Congress, regardless of attempts at finding some middle ground.

Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, said he will introduce a bill in January’s Legislature that “will get us out” of any “federal, single- payer public option law.”

That might be the best way to go, agreed Utah Senate Majority Leader Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse. However, while not liking the general idea of a public option, Killpack said he doesn’t yet know enough about what will come out of Congress.

What, for example, if the federal government decides states can opt out of the public insurance plan for citizens, but still require Utahns to be taxed to pay for that option?

“The federal government sometimes gives us the option to get out” of a federal program, like the CHIP, the state/federal plan for children in working low-income families, “but you have to pay in,” Killpack said.

Wimmer is one of the leaders of the Patrick Henry Caucus, a states’ rights movement starting up in several state legislatures.

The Reid U.S. Senate bill “still (has) the federal government so involved in health care,” said Wimmer

ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS – Dec 26 – Israel Opens Gaza Border For Humanitarian Aid

APS Diplomat Recorder, Dec 31, 2009

Israel reopens its border with Gaza to allow deliveries of humanitarian aid, despite continued rocket and mortar fire from the coastal strip and growing expectations of a large-scale Israeli military campaign against Palestinian militants. One rocket fired by militants landed short of its target and struck a house in northern Gaza, killing two Palestinian girls, ages 5 and 12, said a Health Ministry official, Dr.

Moiaya Hassanain. The two girls were cousins, he said, adding that three other children were wounded. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The military said that approximately 90 trucks were delivering medicine, fuel, cooking gas and other vital goods into Gaza. The shipment included a large donation of goods from the wife of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt as well as more than 400,000 liters, or 150,000 gallons, of fuel and 200 quickest ways to lose weight tons of natural gas, the military said. The Israeli Defense Ministry said it agreed to open its cargo crossings into Gaza to avoid a humanitarian crisis there. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the decision came after consultations with defense officials as well as calls from the international community. Israel controls Gaza’s cargo crossings, which are used to deliver food, fuel and other goods into the territory. Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a cabinet minister, said the humanitarian shipment was meant to be a message to the people of Gaza that they were not enemies of Israel. “We are sending them a message that the Hamas leadership has turned them into a punching bag for everyone”, he told Israel Radio. “It is a leadership that has turned school yards in rocket launching pads. This a leadership that does not care that the blood of its people will run in the streets”. The deliveries did not persuade Gaza militants to halt their rocket and mortar fire on Israeli border communities. The military said more than 10 rockets and mortars were fired toward Israel early Friday. One home was struck but no injuries were reported. Israel had originally agreed to open the cargo crossings with Gaza on Wednesday, but shut the passages after militants began pounding southern Israel with dozens of rockets and mortars. The attacks were the heaviest since an Egyptian-mediated truce between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers expired last week. The truce, which had taken effect in June, began unraveling in early November. Pressure has been mounting in Israel for the military to strike forcefully against Gaza militants and Israeli leaders have been voicing strong threats in recent days. But on Friday, military officials said the army was planning a routine rotation of its troops along the Gaza border in the coming week. That, coupled with winter weather, made an imminent operation seem unlikely, they said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not permitted to discuss military strategy publicly. Israel has maintained a strict blockade of Gaza since the June 19 cease-fire began unraveling six weeks ago, allowing in only small quantities of essential goods