While we have not been trying to get pregnant for too long (7 months), I am most afraid that my husband or I may be infertile.  Any young couples worst nightmare.

Now I have been doing a lot of research on infertility, methods, as well as some alternative – ‘holistic approaches’.  Yet, it seems there are some ethical standards of fertility that I never knew about, mainly because I never had any interest in the subject until now.

Anymore in today’s society, it seems that when people think about fertility treatments they think of the ‘Octomom’ and that is not me.  I am married, employed, and I have no other children – and I have wanted just one child to call my own.

The criticism among society, and the people around me I am not worried about – but it is that of my church that is weighing in on my dreams of having a child.

The ethics of fertility varies among religion and church – whether you are Mennonite, Roman Catholic, Judaism, Hindu, or Muslim – all have their own views on fertility treatments.

I am Roman Catholic, a relgion that does not allow the substitution of artificial fertilization. In the words of the church – “It is intrinsically immoral because it does not respect the dignity and sacredness of the conjugal act nor the rights and dignity of the embryos conceived.”  In the eyes of my religion, the only choice my husband and I have is hormonal treatments and surgery.  As I feel some type of relief knowing I have an option…then I start to wonder – “what if that doesn’t work?”

I am faced with my own ethical debate – do I sit with the beliefs of my church and live a life without a child of mine own -or- do I choice In vitro and face the wrath of God?

Yourway Transport works with a majority of eye banks nationwide, meeting the special transportation needs involved in cornea transplant. Yourway will exhibit these special handling and customized transportation solutions at the EBAA Annual Meeting.  The Annual Meeting to be held at the Westin Seattle Hotel, June 17-20, 2009 in Seattle.

Eye banks purchase state-of-the-art equipment, supplies and services to aid in sight restoration. They set the pace for change in the community and are constantly looking for new products, services and technologies.   Now, more than 33,000 cornea transplants are performed each year in the United States.

While cornea transplant surgery was always highly successful, advanced medical technology has improved the success rate to approximately 95 percent.  Since the cornea has no blood supply, it is seldom subject to the rejections that plague other organ transplants. In the beginning, cornea transplant patients had to remain in the hospital for up to two weeks, their heads held still with sandbags to safeguard against rejection.
Now, surgical microscopes and improved instrumentation expedite the procedure for both the surgeon and the patient. Today, cornea transplants are often done on an out-patient basis, and many are made possible with the help of transportation from Yourway Transport.

Two things about eye banking do remain the same—the smile recipients have when their sight is restored and their gratitude to the generous donors who made it possible.

In today’s business world outsourcing has become second nature, but many U.S. companies continue to outsource overseas, taking jobs away from U.S. workers.  Not only are worker affected, but there is a loss of income by local, state, and federal governemnt.

For businesses in the U.S. it just makes sense to outsource to other U.S. businesses, rather than giving money to oversea companies.  Take Yourway Transport for example, many companies outsource to Yourway to manage a company’s parts warehousing, inventory management and distribution with . Using a wealth of strategic locations and advanced management system, Yourway Transport allows companies to keep their inventory and critical parts within hours – even minutes-of their destination.

Yourway Transport provides wareshousing and logistic services that are completely automated, allowing you to monitor your inventory at any given time. Yourway’s logistic service gives companies the  capabilty of having orders called in at any given time and being dispatched immediately by NFO or ground transport. Outsourcing of logistic services helps to reduce field inventory levels and overhead cost. THe advantages of using Yourway Transport gives improved parts response and service to a companies clients and increased first call resolution rate for service technicians.

Yourway Transport, a premium global courier that provides customized transportation solutions for special handling needs in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical/healthcare industries, announced at the end of 2008 that it is expanding to better serve its global customer base. The expansion includes a new, larger facility, enhanced web site and new Quality Assurance Process.

Yourway Transport has relocated its facilities to a new 20,000-square-foot space at 7346 Penn Drive in Allentown, Pa, but the will continue to operates offices in the US and UK.

There are always fears when a company expands, but Yourway Transport has developed new operating procedures to help strengthen operational quality.  The company’s new Quality Assurance Process will implement a set of standard operating procedures on a global basis in both the US and UK office in order to oversee its documentation processes.

Who hasn’t dreamed about starting their own business? You conceive a great idea, start mapping out a strategy and then ultimately real life gets in the way: work, families and busy schedules compete for your attention.  So what does it take to execute those first crucial steps and turn an idea into a viable business model?  According to Gina Bartasi, it takes hard work, good instincts and a tireless passion for the project.

Bartasi, a media veteran and entrepreneur, has turned her latest vision into another successful reality.  Last month she and her all-female team launched FertilityAuthority – a web portal that’s been tagged “your most trusted source for everything fertility.” Starting a business is no small task, and in the current economic environment, some would even say it’s crazy. But reproductive medicine is a $3 billion industry and FertilityAuthority sees an opportunity to be profitable and make a difference in people’s lives.

This isn’t about an infertility patient launching a website to share her feelings about her diagnosis.  FertilityAuthority boasts the most reliable (fertility information) content on the web, written by seasoned healthcare journalists and vetted by accredited Reproductive Endocrinologists (REs) as well as a library of patient video testimonials and a growing network of bloggers, columnists and message boards. Physicians’ white papers will provide patients with advanced professional research, and the first proprietary database of doctors, fertility clinics and other specialists will connect users with the people they need to know.  The company has a business model to monetize their strategy, is endorsed by a celebrity spokesperson, Alexis Stewart, and they are selling advertising and setting up affiliate marketing relationships.  Links to www.fertilityauthority.com can be found on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

What’s even more impressive than the experience, drive and Ivy League MBAs that give credence to these founding women is the fact that many of them are or have been infertility patients themselves. They have a passion for the project, they know their target audience, and understand that there is a need for one, comprehensive source of fertility information.  In keeping with the theme, the team at FertilityAuthority is building the business through a virtual office allowing flexibility for its employees to work while managing their families and their fertility treatments.

Bartasi has an impressive track record. As founder and CEO of the Leader Publishing Group, she grew the company and its titles to great heights. And while she recognizes that some might see the current economic climate as an obstacle, she and the women behind FertilityAuthority have faced obstacles before. With their new web portal they’re more than willing to face the challenge head on.

Yourway Transport has retained Kimball Communications, LLC to build awareness of its expertise in customized transportation solutions and special handling needs for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical/healthcare industries.

Since 1997, Yourway Transport has set the standard for quickness, dependability and personalized service for sensitive materials such as medicines, blood specimens, cryogenic shipments, food, machinery and human organs for transplant. Today the bio-medical and high-tech industries require not only speedy delivery, but also temperature control, specialized packaging, enhanced computer and information requirements, multicentre coordination and just-in-time logistical supply chain solutions.

“Yourway Transport has continually changed to meet today’s challenges,” said Yourway president Gulam Jaffer. “For example, the pharmaceutical industry has transport needs that require speed and sensitive, customized handling.”

Yourway Transport is taking so many steps in the right direction…it doesn’t take long to judge a brand, so building awareness of their areas of expertise will surely help their future direction and future business.

Yourway Transport Sponsors Clinical Trials Logistics Conference

Allentown, Pa.—March 9, 2009—Yourway Transport (www.yourwaytransport.com), a premium global courier that provides customized transportation solutions for special handling needs in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical/healthcare industries, is a sponsor of SMi’s 3rd Annual Clinical Trials Logistics conference, May 20-21, 2009 at the Copthorne Tara Hotel, London, United Kingdom.
The conference (http://www.smi-online.co.uk/events/overview.asp?is=4&ref=3082#overview) addresses the constant challenge for pharmaceutical companies to cut costs and improve their drug supply chain. Among the important topics discussed is the effective transport of clinical trials to investigator sites of patient samples back to central laboratories so a product can be launched on time and within budget.
The conference provides attendees with insight of how other companies do their supply prediction/forecasting, how a drug product/API demand is forecast, and covers outsourcing, adaptive clinical studies. It provides tools to safely and efficiently resolve clinical trials logistical challenges on a global scale, analyzing the latest developments in labeling, packaging, capacity management, resource planning modeling, partnering and outsourcing.

About Yourway Transport
Yourway Transport was formed in 1997 as a provider of time-sensitive global transportation services. Today the company is setting the standard for speed, reliability and personalized service for customized, one-on-one transportation solutions for clients with special handling needs. The company has developed special expertise in priority handling and worldwide transport of sensitive materials in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical/healthcare industries, such as medicines, blood specimens, cryogenic shipments, food, machinery and human organs for transport. Yourway also serves companies in aerospace and technology industries.

Media Contact:    Gary Kimball
Kimball Communications, LLC

In an article I read about workplace ethics stated, “In an ideal world, every person is treated equally when it comes to getting a job, advancing in their career, and being treated fairly in the workplace.  In reality, we know this is not the case.”  It is interesting that racial discrimination still does exist in the workplace.  When there are many instances in our culture where apparent & public glass ceilings have been broken, but maybe not all.

For the employees that are facing employers who factor workplace discrimination into their corporate culture, speak up!  The negative image that the company is portraying needs to be brought to attention.  If it is not, workplace diversity will never fully take effect.  Workplace diversity should be something that comes naturally not something that is forced.

A company that goes beyond identifying workplace diversity is Yourway Transport who provides global transportation has been recognized as a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE).  At least 51% of the business is owned by women or minorities.  I recently read this on a Yourway Transport press release.

RECOGNIZE, SPEAK UP & TAKE ACTION

Data center fire protection was certainly overlooked in this case, when a data hosting facility in Wisconsin experienced a fire.  The fire turned their servers into “racks of blackened, melted plastic and steel” (according to the Green Bay Press Gazette).  While this company had fire insurance, and fire alarms installed, the damaged was still significant, as it took 10 days to get customer’s websites back online.  This Wisconsin company faced several problems, such as the lack of a backup facility, and the fact that they had no data center fire suppression system installed.

As a expert in the field of server protection, the first question that comes to my mind is…Why did they not have a data-rated server vault to protect their mission critical equipment? A fireproof server vault would have helped to minimize damage and downtime…this is often overlooked by smaller data center providers, but the security of clients’ data can greatly outweigh the cost.

Should more small business be considering data protection, as today’s society continues to move towards a paper-free world, where electronic data becomes the norm?

If you are looking for a data center/hosting provider, I found this article helpful, as it offers some specific questions to ask a potential provider.

Taxes are painful, but there may be ways for businesses to beat the taxman.

Overlooked Deductions

You should take every single write-off you are due…what’s available may surprise you. Here’s a classic example: Small companies frequently miscategorize the cost of business-trip hotel stays as entertainment (50% deductible) rather than lodging (100%). The feds are only too happy to hang on to this windfall.

Monthly dinner at a restaurant,can be treated as an off-site strategic planning meeting (100% deductible) rather than a business meal with a client (50%).

Even coffee and Dunkin’ Donuts for the Friday morning meeting can be a full 100% deduction.

Hidden Tax Credits

Make your accountant aware of every person you hire. Some of them may qualify you for generous tax savings. If you employ certain types of disadvantaged workers, you may be eligible for the lucrative Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC).

Congress spells out with extreme precision which workers qualify. Here are some examples: those between the ages of 18 and 39 who live in federally designated enterprise communities; ex-felons hired within one year of their release date; recently discharged veterans injured in the line of duty and out of work for six months or more.

The WOTC is tailor-made for restaurants, retailers, and other industries that use a lot of unskilled labor. Yet tax experts note that these very businesses, especially small ones, hardly ever claim it.

Organization Pays Off

A few years back, the IRS trimmed its collection activities. Now the pendulum has swung back, and the IRS is looking for easy targets. Small businesses are notoriously sloppy record keepers. It is all too easy to be a disorganized entrepreneurs, especially when they are just starting out, or when running the actual business occupies most of their time.

You don’t want to have a brush with the IRS, even if it is not an audit. Many small business owner have found devices such as Neat Receipts to get more organized. This device allows you to scan all receipts, invoices, and documents directly into your piece. It allows you to stay organized, especially when space is limited…everything is buckuped on your computer.

Timing Tricks

What deductions you’re able to take is not the only consideration. It also matters when you take them. With taxes, as with so much else in business, timing is key.

Writing off such major purchases usually takes years and must be done in accordance with depreciation schedules laid out by the IRS. Do research, or have you accountant take the time to find ways to accelerate various deductions, allowing you to get more money more quickly.

Transportation Savings

Vehicle deductions can be particularly tricky. Many owners are unaware of how much money they’re losing through poor tax planning.

If you travel great distances to service your clients, you may be logging more than enough miles to consider an alternative to a normal write-off. For normal write-offs, a car or light truck gets a write-off of $3,060 in year one to $1,775 in the fourth year and onward until you’ve depreciated the purchase price. You can also deduct the cost of insurance, repairs, and gasoline.

The alternative to normal write-off is a simple deduction based on how many miles you drive. You can not depreciate the cost of the vehicle or write-off gasoline, but comparing the two you may be able to increase your write-off over the normal deduction. For 2008 it’s 50.5 cents a mile, up from 48.5 cents in 2007.

Read  more.