National senior health and fitness day with Onelife Fitness – Video
Posted: May 31, 2012 at 9:17 am
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National senior health and fitness day with Onelife Fitness - Video
Book Trailer – My Health and Fitness Journal – Video
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Book Trailer - My Health and Fitness Journal - Video
Mens Heart Health Tips: Take the quiz, recipe and fitness tips – Video
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Mens Heart Health Tips: Take the quiz, recipe and fitness tips - Video
Promoting Weight Loss and Fitness Challenge Saugus, MA | (781) 333-8473 – Video
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Statistics Show Qualicum Beach has Oldest Population in Canada – Video
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Statistics Show Qualicum Beach has Oldest Population in Canada - Video
Retirement system compromise attempted by SC House
Posted: at 9:17 am
Changes for the nearly 500,000 people in the S.C. Retirement System would not take effect until Jan. 1, according to the latest proposal to pass the House of Representatives.
The proposal is an attempt to fix the Retirement System, projected to run out of money. Accountants say the fund will fall $15 billion short of meeting its obligations a deficit that would grow larger each year. Taxpayers would have to make up the difference. Ignoring the problem also would hurt the states credit rating, meaning it would cost the state more to borrow money in the future.
To fix the deficit, state accountants say lawmakers have to make changes to the Retirement System that affect current employees and retirees difficult to do in an election year.
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Both the House and the Senate have passed sweeping proposals to change the retirement system. The original House plan would have paid state workers less once they retired. The plan passed by the Senate would require state employees to work longer before they retire.
Wednesday, the House attempted a compromise between those different plans to mixed results.
Were going in the right direction, said Carlton Washington, executive director of the S.C. Association of State Employees.
Its horrible, said Wayne Bell, president of the State Retirees Association of South Carolina.
Current state workers like the House compromise passed Wednesday because it would not affect the amount of their future retirement benefit checks. It also keeps the controversial TERI program available to current workers, allowing them to earn a paycheck and a retirement check at the same time for up to five years.
However, if retired state workers continue to work after the five-year TERI period, their retirement checks would stop once they earned $10,000 in salary in a year. The retirement checks would start again the following year but only until they reach the $10,000 cap.
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Retirement system compromise attempted by SC House
Performance Food Group to Acquire Institution Food House
Posted: at 9:17 am
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Posted May 30, 2012
RICHMOND, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Performance Food Group, Inc. has announced it will acquire Institution Food House, Inc. from Alex Lee, Inc. The acquisition brings together two major foodservice distribution companies to enhance service and offerings to customers in the Carolinas, and the surrounding geography. IFH is a $600M foodservice distributor based in Hickory, North Carolina, with an additional location in Florence, South Carolina. IFH was founded in 1966 and is the largest independent foodservice distributor based in the Carolinas. The transaction is expected to close in mid-June.
Institution Food House, Inc. employs approximately 700 people. At the close of the transaction, IFH employees will have the opportunity to transition to PFG's comprehensive health and welfare programs. At PFG, superior brands, quality products, and excellence in serving customers across the country, all start with creating a great place for great people to work while supporting personal, business, and customer success. PFG is pleased to partner with IFH associates to continue building a strong culture of success.
George Holm, president and CEO of Performance Food Group, stated, "We are very pleased to be able to combine our highly complementary companies to strengthen our presence in the Southeast and to extend our product offerings to all of their customers." The acquisition supports key strategic opportunities for both Performance Food Group and IFH.
Mac Pearce, executive vice president of Performance Food Group, added, "IFH is a highly regarded company built on its dedicated employees and loyal customers. We believe IFH is a great fit for our sales-driven culture. As we welcome IFH into the PERFORMANCE Foodservice organization, we believe that this partnership will bring added value to existing IFH and PERFORMANCE Foodservice customers."
Gerald Davis, Chairman and president IFH, noted, "The joining of PFG and IFH will enable both to be better companies. We have every confidence that this acquisition will be beneficial for our employees, our loyal customers, and our suppliers."
About Performance Food Group:
Performance Food Group, Inc. is the parent company of a leading family of foodservice distributors - Performance Foodservice, Vistar, and PFG Customized Distribution. Through these three segments, it delivers over 94,000 national and proprietary branded food and food-related products to more than 115,000 independent and national chain restaurants, quick-service eateries, pizzerias, theaters, schools, hotels, healthcare facilities, and other institutions via its 64 distribution centers and 12 Merchant's Mart locations across the United States. Altogether, Performance Food Group, Inc.'s family of distributors offers outstanding service with a wide variety of high quality products that, along with the strength of our industry wide relationships and expertise, helps customers run their businesses successfully. For more information, visit http://www.pfgc.com.
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Performance Food Group to Acquire Institution Food House
Performance Food Group to Acquire Institution Food House, Inc.
Posted: at 9:16 am
RICHMOND, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Performance Food Group, Inc. (PFG) has announced it will acquire Institution Food House, Inc. (IFH) from Alex Lee, Inc. The acquisition brings together two major foodservice distribution companies to enhance service and offerings to customers in the Carolinas, and the surrounding geography. IFH is a $600M foodservice distributor based in Hickory, North Carolina, with an additional location in Florence, South Carolina. IFH was founded in 1966 and is the largest independent foodservice distributor based in the Carolinas. The transaction is expected to close in mid-June.
Institution Food House, Inc. employs approximately 700 people. At the close of the transaction, IFH employees will have the opportunity to transition to PFGs comprehensive health and welfare programs. At PFG, superior brands, quality products, and excellence in serving customers across the country, all start with creating a great place for great people to work while supporting personal, business, and customer success. PFG is pleased to partner with IFH associates to continue building a strong culture of success.
George Holm, president and CEO of Performance Food Group, stated, We are very pleased to be able to combine our highly complementary companies to strengthen our presence in the Southeast and to extend our product offerings to all of their customers. The acquisition supports key strategic opportunities for both Performance Food Group and IFH.
Mac Pearce, executive vice president of Performance Food Group, added, IFH is a highly regarded company built on its dedicated employees and loyal customers. We believe IFH is a great fit for our sales-driven culture. As we welcome IFH into the PERFORMANCE Foodservice organization, we believe that this partnership will bring added value to existing IFH and PERFORMANCE Foodservice customers.
Gerald Davis, Chairman and president IFH, noted, The joining of PFG and IFH will enable both to be better companies. We have every confidence that this acquisition will be beneficial for our employees, our loyal customers, and our suppliers.
About Performance Food Group:
Performance Food Group, Inc. is the parent company of a leading family of foodservice distributors Performance Foodservice, Vistar, and PFG Customized Distribution. Through these three segments, it delivers over 94,000 national and proprietary branded food and food-related products to more than 115,000 independent and national chain restaurants, quick-service eateries, pizzerias, theaters, schools, hotels, healthcare facilities, and other institutions via its 64 distribution centers and 12 Merchants Mart locations across the United States. Altogether, Performance Food Group, Inc.s family of distributors offers outstanding service with a wide variety of high quality products that, along with the strength of our industry wide relationships and expertise, helps customers run their businesses successfully. For more information, visit http://www.pfgc.com.
About Institution Food House:
Founded in 1966, Institution Food House, Inc. (IFH) is the largest independently owned broad-line food service distributor based in the Carolinas. IFH's customers range from fine dining establishments to casual restaurants, quick serve restaurants, hotels, school systems, and health care providers. It has approximately 6,000 customers concentrated in North and South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia. In a competitive marketplace, IFH emphasizes superior customer service and "hassle free delivery." In addition to traditional delivery services, IFH offers customers many value-added services. Its corporate chefs and registered dietitians develop customer-specific menus and assist customers with meal planning.
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Performance Food Group to Acquire Institution Food House, Inc.
Potential in Alexion Pharmaceuticals
Posted: at 9:16 am
By George Liu - May 30, 2012 | Tickers: ALXN | 0 Comments
George is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinions of our bloggers and are not formally edited.
The Overview
On May 24, 2012, Alexion Pharmaceuticals(NASDAQ: ALXN) became the latest company to be included in the S&P 500 index, replacing Motorola Mobility (which has been acquired by Google). Upon news of this selection, Alexion's stock gained 5.2%, an increase which follows a long string of successes for the company and its stock. In fact, Alexion Pharmaceuticals has seen its stock price rise 29.3% YTD on positive developments such as its 2012 first quarter results.
On Tuesday, April 24, Alexion Pharmaceuticals announced its 2012 first quarter results. Its EPS handily beat estimates by $0.07 while its revenue of $245M beat estimates by $4M and constituted a 47.3% YOY gain. Net profit also increased 69% to $45.4M. These results show the continued strength of Alexion Pharmaceutical's core business and are positive indicators of Alexion Pharmaceutical's ability to grow and develop in the future.
The Niche
Alexion Pharmaceuticals is abiopharmaceutical company with a $17.28B market cap that generates revenues through its development of "orphan drugs" for ultra-rare and severe disorders. Orphan drugs, as mentioned on my analysis of Salix Pharmaceuticalshere, arepharmaceutical agents developed specifically to treat rare medical conditions. These drugs gain special exclusivity rights from the government; companies that successfully develop orphan drugs can usually market them for seven years without market competition. Alexion Pharmaceutical's orphan drug and key profit-driver is a drug known as Soliris.
Soliris is a drug approved in the US, EU, and Japan for patients with a rare blood disease known as PNH. Moreover, it is also approved in the US and EU as the first and, currently, only treatment for patients with a genetic disease known as aHUS. Soliris is the bread-and-butter for Alexion Pharmaceuticals, and it seen significant demand. In fact, in the first quarter of 2012, Alexion reported net product sales of Soliris increasing 47% YOY to $244.7M. The number of patients using Soliris for PNH continue to rise, especially in Alexion's core territories of the US, Western Europe, and Japan. The sales of Soliris will also be positively affected by of another significant catalyst:Alexion expects to begin serving aHUS patients with Soliris in initial European countries later in 2012. This will mark the opening up of an entirely new market of aHUS patients that will greatly benefit from Soliris.Moreover, other areas of treatment Soliris could be utilized for are currently being explored; recently published studies in theNew England Journal of Medicinehighlighted the success of Soliris in treating rare kidney diseases.
Although Soliris is Alexion's marquee drug, Alexion is currently expanding its other avenues of profitability, mainly through acquisitions and research. On December 28, Alexion agreed to acquire biotech firm Enobia for $1.08B. With its purchase of Enobia, Alexion gained full worldwide development and commercial rights to Enobia's lead product candidate, asfotase alfa. This treatmentwas awarded orphan drug designation in the U.S. and EU in 2008 and Fast Track status in the U.S. in 2009. Current clinical trials of asfotase alfa, which is in Phase II clinical development, show positive results. Alexion also currently has "lead development programs underway with five highly innovative therapeutics, including eculizumab (Soliris), being investigated across eight severe and ultra-rare disorders beyond PNH and aHUS." These trials as well as the acquisition of Enobia stand to significantly expand Alexion's pipeline and decrease its dependence on its flagship drug Soliris.
The Results
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Potential in Alexion Pharmaceuticals
How Headphones Changed the World
Posted: at 9:15 am
A short philosophical history of personal music
If you are reading this on a computer, there is an excellent chance that you are wearing, or are within arm's reach of, a pair of headphones or earbuds.
To visit a modern office place is to walk into a room with a dozen songs playing simultaneously but to hear none of them. Up to half of workers listen to music on their headphones, and the vast majority thinks it makes us better at our jobs. In survey after survey, we report with confidence that music makes us happier, better at concentrating, and more productive.
Science says we're full of it. Listening to music hurts our ability to recall other stimuli, and any pop song -- loud or soft -- reduces overall performance for both extraverts and introverts. A Taiwanese study linked music with lyrics to lower scores on concentration tests for college students, and other research have shown music with words scrambles our brains' verbal-processing skills. "As silence had the best overall performance it would still be advisable that people work in silence," one report dryly concluded.
If headphones are so bad for productivity, why do so many people at work have headphones? And why are our bosses letting us drive ourselves to distraction?
There is an economic answer: The United States has moved from a farming/manufacturing economy to a service economy, and more jobs "demand higher levels of concentration, reflection and creativity." This leads to a logistical answer: With 70 percent of office workers in cubicles or open work spaces, it's more important to create one's own cocoon of sound. That brings us to a psychological answer: There is evidence that music relaxes our muscles, improves our mood, and can even moderately reduce blood pressure, heart rate, and anxiety. What music steals in acute concentration, it returns to us in the form of good vibes.
That brings us finally to our final cultural answer: Headphones give us absolute control over our audio-environment, allowing us to privatize our public spaces. This is an important development for dense office environments in a service economy. But it also represents nothing less than a fundamental shift in humans' basic relationship to music.
A SHORT HISTORY OF PRIVATE MUSIC
In 1910, the Radio Division of the U.S. Navy received a freak letter from Salt Lake City written in purple ink on blue-and-pink paper. Whoever opened the envelope probably wasn't expecting to read the next Thomas Edison. But the invention contained within represented the apotheosis of one of Edison's more famous, and incomplete, discoveries: the creation of sound from electrical signals.
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How Headphones Changed the World