Well? after 40 weeks and 4 days, Miss Lucy is finally here, but it wouldn?t be normal for Brett and I to have anything just go smoothly!
Once my due date came and went, I went to the Dr. on Monday and the Dr. said it?s time to induce, we will see you Wednesday night at 6:00! So for the next two days, I went to lunch with some girlfriends, took a few naps and tried to prepare as much as I could before Lucy?s big arrival. We were all packed, Brett came home from work early around 4:00. We decided to sit down, watch Sons of Anarchy, and relax as it would be our last time in our house just the two of us!
5:00 rolls around, and its time to start getting ready to leave for the hospital. I was in the kitchen putting a few last things together and thinking to myself?how calm and smooth things are going, ?when Brett busts through the door and yells there is a 10 foot Python in our front yard! I just laughed and said, ?Now is not the time for jokes?, but I took a good look at him and his face was completely white and his hands were shaking! He was being 110% serious! What?!?!
We ran and got a neighbor, and by this time the snake had made its way up into Brett?s truck. The neighbors were heading over one by one. Finally, the cops arrived and let us know that we were not allowed to use firearms in town so we could not shoot the snake! The wildlife officer then shows up and says this was out of his jurisdiction and wound not be able to help us. What?! Are you kidding me? We are scheduled to be at the hospital in an hour for DELIVERY! Of course, I am freaking out by this point. Finally the wildlife office was able to get in contact with a local zoo and they were coming out to get the snake!
At about 5:40 we had to leave and make our way to Good Sam, in hopes that the snake would be gone by the time we brought Lucy home from the hospital!
We get to the hospital right on time, start all of our paperwork and get ready to start being induced, we receive a text from our neighbor that the snake was caught and they did let us know it was an 8 foot Boa Constrictor that was someones pet that they had let go! (Thanks a lot)!
Other than the Boa Constrictor sneaking in our front yard, everything else went smoothly. At 9:37 p.m. on September 27, 2012, I gave birth to a beautiful 8 pound 5 ounce baby girl, Lucy Monroe.
SKILL: 10 minutes of handstand push-up practice(if you have HSPU then handstand walk practice)
For time:
Run 800M
21-15-9
KB Front Squats(53/35)
Burpees
KB Push Jerks(alternate arms)
then: Run 800M
***Attention CrossFit Pride***
Every year we take time in October to support the ladies and breast cancer awareness.? Now it?s time to focus on the Guys!?
Welcome to Movember!
What is Movember??? It?s a great time to see what boys can pull off!
?During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of mustaches on thousands of men?s faces, in the US and around the world. With their Mo's, these men raise vital awareness and funds for men's health issues, specifically prostate and testicular cancer initiatives?. ~us.movember.com Some of you guys have participated in this in the past, this year we take it to a new level.? This November at Crossfit Pride, we are encouraging all the guys to get involved. We are encouraging you to sport your best mustache, beard, or goatee for the entire month!? Throughout the month we will be raising money to support the efforts of Movember and Son?s? to ?Change the Face of Men?s Health?! Time to raise awareness to Men?s Health!? And it wouldn?t be Crossfit if we didn?t have a friendly competition to round out this month and this great cause!!!? Saturday December 1st, The first ever ?Crossfit Pride Mr. Movember? will be named!!! Who?s going to take the title??? Watch for more details and rules to be introduced this week. Get ready for November 1st! Crossfit Pride is officially registered as a Movember fundraising team.? Get signed up and lets see how much money we can raise for the ?boys?! Join us on our team fundraising page at? Team Crossfit Pride - Movember For more information go to WWW.US.MOVEMBER.COM
COLLEGE PARK, Ga. (AP) ? A church volunteer leading prayer was shot and killed Wednesday inside the chapel of a Georgia megachurch, and authorities were searching for a former church employee suspected in the shooting.
The shots were fired just before 10 a.m. at the chapel on the campus of World Changers Church International, which says it has 30,000 followers in College Park, a suburb south of Atlanta.
The church's prominent founder and leader, the Rev. Creflo Dollar, was not at the church at the time of the shooting, Fulton County Police Cpl. Kay Lester said.
Authorities identified the suspect as Floyd Palmer, a 52-year-old former facilities maintenance employee at the church. Lester said Palmer, who should be considered armed and dangerous, had resigned from his job at the church in August.
About 20 to 25 people were gathered in the chapel Wednesday morning, when authorities say the gunman walked in and began shooting. No other people were wounded in the shooting and the gunman fled in a black Subaru station wagon with tinted windows.
"He left as calmly as he came," Lester said.
Authorities were working to determine if the suspect and the victim knew each other. Investigators were interviewing witnesses inside the church.
The victim was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Lester said. His name was not immediately released pending family notification. He was described only as a 39-year-old volunteer and member of the church.
A few schools in the surrounding neighborhood were locked down temporarily immediately after the shooting. Afternoon services at the church were canceled, Lester said.
The 50-year-old Dollar is one of the most well-known African-American preachers based around Atlanta, with a ministry of satellite churches across the U.S.
On the church grounds, yellow tape surrounded one building. Police were not letting people onto the campus and were gradually letting members of the ministry out.
A security guard at the administrative office declined to comment as did several church employees.
Several church members walked over to the scene just after hearing about the shooting.
"Why would anyone want to hurt the church?" said Adolph Hanley, 66, of College Park, who has attended the church for two years. "That's the devil's work."
"It doesn't surprise me," Hanley said. "People don't want the real Word."
New Apple and Asus products introduced Tuesday offer great possibilities for entrepreneurs and business users alike. The long anticipated Apple iPad mini is joined by a fleet of new Asus Windows 8 machines including notebooks, ultrabooks, and all-in-one desktops, all offering greater mobility and flexibility. This roundup looks at how these tools and other developments are offering ever increasing productivity for your business.
Better Tools
Apple introduces its new device. Check out the incredible capabilities packed into a device so thin and light. As Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Philip Schiller explains, ?iPad mini is as thin as a pencil and as light as a pad of paper, yet packs a fast A5 chip, FaceTime HD and 5 megapixel iSight cameras and ultrafast wireless?all while delivering up to 10 hours of battery life.? Apple Press Info
iPad mini offers mobility. This review by tech and business blogger Wayne Liew looks at how the new iPad mini specifically will improve the lives of business owners and entrepreneurs. ?For business owners and entrepreneurs, as the device is highly portable, you can basically get tasks like emails, web browsing, news reading and even minor document editing done wherever you are,? Liew writes. Sprout Geek
Asus offers many flavors. In a separate announcement Tuesday, Asus introduced a gaggle of new machines ranging from the VivoBook, with multiple possible configurations and two screen sizes to the VivoTab Series tablets, featuring optional keyboard docks, making them a hybrid between a mobile device and a notebook or laptop. PC Mag.com
Better Techniques
Build a mobile business tool kit. Whether you?re a work-at-home dad like Timo Kiander or the head of a small to medium sized company who?s always on the go, this list of simple tech tools (hardly revolutionary these days, as Timo himself observes) will keep you productive not only during times specifically set aside for work, but during the ?time pockets? in your daily life when you loose valuable time while away from the office. Productive Superdad
Master every minute you have. Improving productivity means just one thing: master your time! Here Mark Long, lecturer and clinical professor at Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Indiana University?s Kelley School of Business, gives us a look at five tips intended to strengthen your time management, making you able to accomplish more in your business. Buzz Small Business Magazine
Write a shorter e-mail today. Yep, your e-mails are probably too long. Business consultant Matthew Needham got this idea straight from 17th century mathematician Blaise Pascal who, in a letter roughly translated once wrote, ?I made this letter so long only because I didn?t have the time to make it shorter.? The Big Red Tomato Company
Don?t forget to take a nap. We aren?t joking here. Some companies are beginning to realize nap time is as important to productive adult workers as it is to pre-schoolers, maybe more so because pre-schoolers aren?t trying to run a business or launch a new product or service. Take a lesson from companies like Google and ?The Huffington Post?. Everybody needs a nap! Spark Hire
Despite the prevailing tensions between China and Japan over a set of disputed islands in the East China Sea, about 1,500 Chinese tourists visited the island nation on a cruise ship that returned to Shanghai Tuesday, Chinese media reported.
The tourists, who formed the largest Chinese group visiting Japan since the island row erupted in September, left last Thursday from Shanghai to arrive in Yatsushiro port in Japan's Kyushu region Saturday. They reportedly received a warm reception in Japan by the Kumamoto government with banners reading ?welcome? in Chinese and the city?s mayor receiving representatives of the tourists with flowers, according to Japan?s Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.
The political standoff over the five main islands in an archipelago called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese has hit the tourism industry heavily with the number of people visiting Japan from China sharply declining after hitting an all-time high in August, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization data.
Japanese tourism figures from January to August 2012 exceeded those of the same period in 2010, reflecting a recovery in tourism after Japan?s natural disasters. In September, the figures were down 10 percent compared to the same month in 2010.
Cancellations, mainly of group tours, had increased since September, a?report?in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said.
The passengers who went on the six-day cruise that covered South Korea apart from Japan in the 75,200-ton vessel owned by Costa Cruises China have drawn heavy criticism within their country, with many Chinese netizens calling them "traitors" for "putting personal pleasure ahead of national pride,? the China Daily?reported.
A tourist told the China Daily that the cruise had been arranged three months before the standoff and he didn?t want to cancel the trip despite apprehensions on how Japan would treat him: "But we never realized that while we enjoyed a great time in Japan, we were being criticized back in our home country," the unnamed businessman from Shanghai told the newspaper.
Academics, quoted by Hong Kong?s Ming Pao Daily News, observed the tour signaled the possible alleviation of the tensions ahead of the Communist Party national congress Nov. 8.
Tensions between the two Asian powers have been running for decades and escalated last month when some Chinese nationals were photographed hoisting flags on one of the islands Aug.15, on the 67th anniversary of Japan's surrender in the World War II. The Chinese were arrested by the Japanese authorities and deported to Hong Kong two days later.
Within a few days, a group of Japanese nationalists landed on one of the disputed islands, waving the Japanese flag in retaliation.
The incidents set off a new tug-of-war between the two nations, with the Chinese people taking to the streets in the biggest anti-Japan demonstration in seven years, attacking the Japanese restaurants and vehicles in Shenzhen and Hangzhou in the eastern province of Zhejiang. Crowds also staged a noisy sit-in at the gates of the Japanese consulate in Guangzhou in August, burning the Japanese flag.
The standoff was heightened Sept.11 when Japan announced the signing of a contract worth 2.05 billion yen ($26 million) to buy three of the five main Senkaku islands from its private owner.
Updated at 11:48 a.m. ET: A man wearing a suit and tie on Wednesday entered a chapel at an Atlanta-area megachurch headed by televangelist Creflo Dollar and shot another man during a prayer service, police and local media reported.
The shooting happened Wednesday morning at the chapel at World Changers Church International's main campus in College Park, Ga., Fulton County police told NBC News.
The gunman walked into the chapel and shot a 48-year-old church staff member?during a Bible study prayer service, WXIA-TV?reported.
The victim was transported to South Fulton Hospital where he later died, ajc.com reported.?
The suspect, described as a man in his thirties wearing a suit and tie, fled the scene, WXIA reported.
World Changers Church has about 20 campuses throughout the country. The church founded by Dollar, who is its senior pastor, claims about 30,000 members and has an $18 million, 8,500-seat sanctuary about 15 miles from downtown Atlanta. Dollar was not injured, WXIA reported.
Dollar, who's known for his pinstriped suits and charismatic sermons, has written several books offering followers his advice on how to get out of debt and take lessons from the Bible in building wealth so they can better live as Christians.
Edgar Zuniga, NBC News Atlanta, contributed to this story.
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Surface RT, Microsoft's first foray into personal computing, is a hardware?success, and the company should be proud. Windows RT, the operating system that runs on it, is less of a reason for self-back-patting, however. While it doesn't completely tarnish the Surface experience, it often comes darn near, and it certainly keeps this from being a home run for Microsoft.
The promise of Surface is simple: You get a tablet when you want a tablet, and you get a laptop when you want a laptop. For the most part this is true. You can lounge with your Netflix videos and Kindle books, you can listen to all-you-can-eat music or stream rented movies with integrated Xbox services, using the "Modern" style of navigation that's easy to flip through with a finger.
You also get an Office suite that includes Word, Excel and PowerPoint, along with a surprisingly useful pair of keyboard-and-trackpad options ? the Touch Cover and the Type Cover ? which are sold separately but should be a required purchase for anyone going the Surface route.
Having used the tablet for the better part of a week, for both work and play, on land and in the air, I can say that these two modes can both be satisfactory. In fact, on an airplane, the size of the 10.6-inch-screen tablet is perfect for a tray table, the built-in kickstand makes the whole thing extra stable when watching a movie, and the Touch Cover stays out of sight (adding to stability) when not needed, and flips out easily when you're ready for typing.?
I keep falling in love with the thing, only to be yanked out of infatuation by the recurring appearance of "classic" Windows. It's not just when I launch Office apps, which are not touch friendly and require a mouse/keyboard interaction; it even happens when interacting with the tablet in ways that really don't necessitate the old interface. For instance:
Why do I have to go deep into classic Windows to add music to the finger-friendly Xbox Music app?
Why are there two control panels, a Windows 8 version and a classic version, with overlapping settings and controls?
And if I am forced to interact with Windows of olde, then?why can't I install my own?apps, such as the Chrome browser, or migrate?files from an old Windows PC to this supposedly Windows-endowed machine?
The truth is, I really wish I could be blissfully ignorant of the inner workings of this operating system. The only benefit I see to the classic Windows environment?is the ability to enjoy Microsoft's bread-and-butter productivity apps, so why not just launch them separately, instead of inside faux Windows 7? I am having a hard time seeing why these things must go hand in hand, especially when no other maker of Windows software will be inclined to release its software in this way. (That is, they will either build new apps in the Modern UI, or they will continue to support full Intel-chip laptops and tablets with classic Windows apps.)
OK, I've made the point, and it's not the most original of points. A lot of people are trying to understand Microsoft's keeping-old-Windows-while-fundamentally-reinventing-Windows approach that is Windows 8. It's especially perplexing in Windows RT, where you seriously get zero benefit of classic Windows, but now that I've made that clear, it's time to get back to the tablet itself, and why it really can be so charming.
Let's start with battery life.
Having never met a Windows laptop that didn't die a quiet, lonesome death every time I left it unplugged overnight, I was stunned to see how exceptionally well the Surface RT manages power. Even under heavy use, the battery will carry you at least eight hours, but even more impressive is the fact that if you leave it sitting for hours or even?days on end, the battery will?show little if any signs of expenditure. Even if you have your Exchange email, messaging and all kinds of social feeds on, you can expect very little draw when your screen is off. Better still, the battery charges quickly, and can be completely topped off in two hours.
When it comes to Surface engineering marvels, another is the ultra-suave $119?Touch Cover and its chiclet-key-endowed sibling, the $129?Type Cover. Microsoft has long been a major designer of mice and keyboards, and Panos Panay, the hardware guy in charge of Surface development, came from keyboards, but that still?doesn't prepare you for how elegant a job the company did on this. I hate to say that it's Apple-like in its simple yet high functionality, but there's really no other company that could integrate such an accessory with such grace.
So what is it? A pressure sensitive pad that you type on? What's the big deal? I promise you, get to a Microsoft store on Oct. 26, if only to try this out. The thing is so smart, it knows when you're just resting your fingers on the keys and when you really are trying to get words out. And the popping sounds you hear when you type, while?seeming?corny at first, actually give you the feedback you need to touch type without looking, enough to make you forget that all you're really doing is slamming your fingers down on a fake-suede placemat.
In the end, I think I prefer the mechanical keyboard that is integrated into the Type Cover, but in terms of pure, original engineering, the Touch Cover is the greater accomplishment.
When Microsoft hosted reporters at its campus in order to introduce the Surface tablet, the company gave a great deal of attention to the screen. The gist of the discussion, led by all-around Microsoft Research genius Steven Bathiche, focused on why screen resolution ? in the form of the "retina" displays found on the iPad and other Apple products ? are just one part of a discussion that should involve other factors including screen construction, contrast and graphics processing.?
Bathiche's bottom line: The way we perceive images on an LCD screen can't be boiled down to just one number. He's right that in most cases,?the Surface's screen looks as good or better than an iPad's. Still, when you're looking at straight text, it falls short of the iPad in resolution. If you just want to sit around and read books on a tablet, the full-sized?iPad is still the champ (even?though Apple has to pay for that bonus screen resolution with extra battery juice).
I only have two actual hardware gripes about the Surface RT. They are minor, but worth mentioning.
The magnetic power connector never locks in?without some fiddling, and the wear and tear is already starting to show after just?a week. This comes as a shock given that a) the magnetic Type Cover and Touch Cover lock into the Surface so smoothly with so little coaxing b) the power connector is essentially a ripoff of Apple's MagSafe charging cable, which locks in easily, and c) I haven't had to charge the thing very much!
The other surprising failure is the speaker system. They're not just tinny, as most mobile device's speakers are ? they distort sound when any volume is applied. It was as if, in the midst of all this thought going to every other aspect of the design, the speakers were simply forgotten.
As you use Surface RT, what you see is the robustness and power of something that isn't just an overgrown phone. The way you can view two apps at once ? Twitter and a movie, or a movie and mail, or mail and a photo album ? lends more credence to the idea of not just consuming content but creating it. (And why not do both at the same time?)
If you're a wired person with networked hard drives, Bluetooth speaker systems and DLNA media receivers, you will find that the Surface is built to support all of them, straight out of the box ? though not always without trouble.
The USB port on the side will take your disks and peripherals like OMG a real computer! You can add an HDMI or VGA connection with $40 adapters. And if you value cheap storage like I do, you will be glad to know that you can add a fast 64GB Micro SD card for just $43, so you don't have to regret not splurging on the high-end 64GB model.
And lest you think you caught me in a contradiction, I will state plainly that none of the power features I have mentioned require classic Windows to exist ? some are even found in Android devices.
The next stage for Microsoft isn't actually convincing you to buy this thing. If you have some money and a real fondness for the ways of Windows, you could jump right in and have a good time, and if you're shopping for gifts for your grandma, well, any of the iPads would be a way better bet.
No, the next stage for Microsoft is to drum up so much third-party app support for this thing that everybody's like wow, you can do all that? Because right now, there's a gap between what you can imagine doing on this thing and what developers actually let you do with it.
Ah developers?...?You can practically hear an echo in the Windows 8?app store right now. There's a serious lack of games and, aside from Netflix and Kindle Reader, not much major video, music and book apps.
I am glad to say that NBC News is in there, too, yet while it looks good, most or all of the apps I tried out on the Surface?ran jerkily, without the grace you'd expect given this machine's hardware specs. The conclusion is that nothing has been optimized for Surface RT, and that even developers who have taken the plunge have much work to do before their customers will be happy. It may be a long while before anything great turns up.?
Surface RT, available starting at $499 for a Wi-Fi model with 32GB of storage, should in no way be written off. It may have a hard time catching up to the iPad ??especially now that its entry price is $329?? but when it comes to replacing PCs,?it's the only other tablet that matters. And if Microsoft can get developers fired up ? and hopefully sort out the schizophrenia of the classic Windows/Modern UI experiences ? then it will be following Apple in a way that should be a victory for all of us. It will be a true shame if this thing ends up on the pile of nifty ideas that went nowhere (Zune HD, anyone?), but if it does, we'll know why.
To get a better sense of the Surface RT experience, please watch my video, embedded at the top and bottom of this review.
Wilson Rothman is the Technology & Science?editor at NBC News Digital. Catch up with him on Twitter at @wjrothman, and join our conversation on Facebook.
Disability Information Types of Disability Psychological Disorders
Information provided by National Council on Disability - Published: 2012-10-23
On Tuesday, October 23, the National Council on Disability (NCD), an independent federal agency, released its latest policy project "Deinstitutionalization: Unfinished Business" which includes an online toolkit and companion paper to provide advocates and policymakers with the tools they need to facilitate closures of state-run institutions and meet the needs of people with intellectual, developmental and other disabilities as they transition into the community.
The toolkit and accompanying paper acknowledges numerous federal and state reforms that have occurred since June 22, 1999 when the United States Supreme Court ruled in the landmark Olmstead decision that the unjustified institutional isolation of people with disabilities is unlawful discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990.
With the launch of the of "Deinstitutionalization: Unfinished Business" online toolkit and companion paper, NCD seeks to provide advocates and policymakers with information they need to develop a workable plan for closing institutions, strategies for implementing the plan, and tips to debunk myths and counter arguments that have been used against closing institutions, in order to support Americans with disabilities and their families in the quest to lead to a richer, more integrated life in the community.
"In my home state of Oregon, all adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities live in the community because we have no institutions. Not one person with a disability has asked that we reopen our large state institutions," said Sara Gelser, National Council on Disability Member and Oregon State Representative. "There is simply no good reason to maintain institutions in the 21st century. They deprive individuals with disabilities of their civil rights while diverting sorely needed resources from essential community based services for people with disabilities."
"Operating large state institutions, which cost three to six times the price tag of inclusive housing is both a fiscal and moral tragedy," said Gary Blumenthal, NCD member. "Strengthening self-direction and community living serves Americans with disabilities and our communities at large. A more inclusive, fiscally sound future requires our state and local communities to use every limited tax dollar in the most effective ways possible. That means continuing the trend to move people with disabilities out of state-run institutions and into their own homes. NCD hopes this toolkit will be useful in facilitating this necessary social and economic shift."
How was "Deinstitutionalization: Unfinished Business" prepared?
In addition to conducting interviews and focus groups, NCD facilitated two case studies in the field: Oregon, which has closed all state institutions, and Georgia, which has just begun the process as part of its Olmstead settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Key findings:
The cost to provide services to people in the outdated mode of institutional settings far exceeds the cost to provide services in the community, and research consistently demonstrates that people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (ID/DD) achieve better outcomes in community settings.
Ten states and the District of Columbia have no large state institutions and provide care in the community to people with intellectual disabilities and/or developmental disabilities (ID/DD) regardless of the severity of their disabilities.
Other states continue to maintain facilities and deliver services in institutions, despite most families' preference for community-based services.
"Deinstitutionalization: Unfinished Business" is dedicated to the memory of Susan M. Daniels, who was an extraordinary leader and advocate for equal opportunity, full participation, and the economic empowerment of people with disabilities worldwide.
The following spokespersons are available for interviews about "Deinstitutionalization: Unfinished Business"
Sara Gelser - Member, National Council on Disability - Ms. Gelser was appointed to NCD in 2010. She serves as State Representative for the citizens of Corvallis and Philomath in the Oregon State House of Representatives. The youngest woman in the Oregon State Legislature, she also serves as Assistant Majority Leader and chairs the House Education Committee. Previously, Ms. Gelser served as the Children with Disabilities and Family Support Coordinator for the Oregon State Department of Human Services. Additionally, she served as a regional coordinator for the Oregon Parent Training and Information Center, where she provided training to parents, educators and administrators about the implementation of special education law. Ms. Gelser is the founder of the FG Syndrome Family Alliance, a non-profit organization serving families and medical professionals dealing with FG Syndrome, a rare developmental disability. Ms. Gelser and her husband Peter have three daughters, Ellie, Nicole, and Maia, and a teenaged son, Sam, who has FG Syndrome.
Gary Blumenthal - Member, National Council on Disability - Mr. Blumenthal was appointed to NCD in 2010. He is the President and CEO for the Association of Developmental Disabilities Providers (ADDP), which aims to promote and ensure the health of the community-based organizations that provide supports and services for individuals with developmental disabilities. He also served as the Executive Director for the Alta California Regional Center, which oversees service delivery for children and adults with developmental disabilities in the Sacramento region. Previously, Mr. Blumenthal was the Wichita Regional Director for the Kansas State Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, CEO for the Florida State Protection and Advocacy Programs for People with Developmental Disabilities, and Director of the President's Committee on Mental Retardation during the Clinton administration. Mr. Blumenthal was also a member of the Kansas State House of Representatives for 11 years. He was an American Government teacher in the Shawnee Mission Public Schools in Overland Park, Kansas for 12 years. Mr. Blumenthal a graduate of the University of Kansas, Lawrence and the University of Missouri, Kansas City.
The "Deinstitutionalization: Unfinished Business" paper and toolkit is available on NCD's website at: www.ncd.gov/publications/2012/DIToolkit/
This web page is from the Disabled World Psychological Disorders section which provides: Mental and psychological disorders range from PTSD to Phobias Anxiety and Personality Disorders.
The Microsoft Surface RT is a PC. It?s not a mobile device and it?s not a tablet, it's a PC. And Microsoft?s first self-branded computer. It is, in short, the physical incarnation of Microsoft's Windows 8. The expectations and competition for the Surface are daunting. It?s been said that Microsoft built the Surface to show up HP, Dell, and the rest of the personal computing establishment. PC sales are stagnant while Apple is selling the iPad at an incredible pace. But the Surface is something different from other tablets. Microsoft built a PC for the post-PC consumer and chose to power it with a limited operating system called Windows RT. These trade-offs, real or imagined, are what really makes or breaks this device.
GBP: Quiet Trading in Sterling CAD: Will the BoC Drop Plan to Raise Rates? AUD: Early Release of Midyear Economic Outlook NZD: Gold Unchanged, Oil Down 1.5% USD/JPY on a Tear
The British pound ended the day unchanged against the U.S. dollar and slightly lower against the euro. No U.K. economic reports were released this morning and the only piece of data due over the next 24 hours is the British Bankers Association?s loans for house purchases. For the most part, low interest rates have supported gradual improvements in the housing market and the BBA data should confirm that. This is a quiet week in terms of U.K. data but Thursday?s GDP report is important because it will determine whether the U.K. economy rises from recession. For the time being, we expect the weakness in the British pound to be limited across the major currencies because there is a good chance that given recent improvements in economic data, the Bank of England will hold monetary policy steady for the rest of the year.
In the absence of key economic data, the highlight of the day will be Governor King?s speech to the South Wales Chamber of Commerce this evening. In recent comments, he suggested that there were limits to what monetary policy could achieve when dealing with financial crises and conceded that sometimes it was right to ?aim off the inflation target?. This suggests that King is likely to advocate for further QE at the next MPC meeting on the 8th November and we look for further clues to support this in today?s speech. Although, in the run up to the meeting the flow of data will likely shape the minds of some of the other members of the Committee that still remain undecided
First round of Spanish elections has concluded with mixed to modestly positive results for Prime Minister Rajoy as his Popular Party won in its stronghold of Galicia but lost badly to separatists in the Basque region. In Galicia the PP won 41 out of the 75 seats up from 38 the period prior while in the Basque region the Basque Nationalist party won 27 seats in the 75-seat Basque parliament, followed by the separatist Euskal Herria Bildu coalition with 21 seats, meaning around two-thirds of the assembly will be made up of nationalists.
Still the wins by separatists were not unexpected and the victory in Galicia was seen as a boost to Rajoy?s fortunes as it was perceived as essentially a referendum on his policies of austerity designed to help navigate Spain out of its sovereign debt crisis. As, the Spanish daily El Pais put it, ? With this victory, the Prime Minister recover the strength to manage a possible imminent rescue and to move forward with measures that are targeted as having to do with pensions and with further cuts.? In short, the strong showing in Galicia indicates that Rajoy may now have the political capital to make a formal appeal for a bailout which would be viewed positively by the market.
Indeed the euro rallied in opening Asian trade on optimism over the Spanish elections rising to a high of 1.3065 despite weak performance by equities. The pair has since come off the highs but remains well bid as credit tensions continue to ease. Mr. Rajoy?s greatest asset may be the fact that since the introduction of the OMT program by the ECB ( which has yet to go into effect) Spanish interest rates have fallen markedly from a panic high above 7% to around 5.25% currently helping to ease the tensions in the country?s credit markets.
Mr. Rajoy faces yet one final test on November 25th when the economically powerful Catalonia holds its regional elections. Catalonia has been a political cauldron with calls for separatism running high. The Catalan government has not only called for a snap election but also for a non-binding referendum on the issue of secession. Secession is considered to be illegal the Spanish national government and it has warned that it will not allow such a vote to take place. Therefore the Catalan elections are being viewed as litmus test of the general population on their genuine political desire for sovereignty. The strength of the win by the ruling GUI party which has taken on a secessionist mantle is being viewed as key barometer of Spanish national unity.
For now the market has clearly breathed a sigh of relief that Spain remains relatively unified and that Mr. Rajoy can proceed with plans for stabilizing the country?s economy but concerns persist and any strong outpouring of secessionist desire in November 25 elections could once again revive the threat of fracture in the region.
While the sell-off in stocks show that equity traders remained nervous about the earnings season and the outlook for the financial markets, currency traders are not convinced that tougher times lie ahead. High beta currencies such as the Euro, British pound and New Zealand dollars did not slide alongside stocks and USD/JPY powered higher. At the same time, FX traders are not blindly optimistic because the Canadian and Australian dollars weakened against the greenback. Investors are still nervous with only 2.5 more weeks to go before the U.S. elections and Chinese leadership change. Of course, Europe?s debt crisis is also a continuing headache for the market. With no major U.S. economic data released today and nothing material expected over the next 24 hours, the most exciting event will be the third and final U.S. Presidential Debate. While the debate will be focused exclusively on foreign policy, the dramatic contrast in tones of the first and second debate will make this one a session not to be missed.
The contents of this report are for information purposes only. It is not intended as a recommendation to trade or a solicitation for funds. The author(s) cannot be held responsible for any loss or damages arising from any action taken following consideration of this information.
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Source: dealbook.nytimes.com --- Wednesday, October 24, 2012 Debt collection agencies, whose sometimes aggressive tactics have earned them scrutiny from consumer protection groups and state regulators, will come under federal supervision for the first time when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau begins oversight early next year. The consumer agency will examine companies to ensure they properly identify themselves to consumers and disclose the amount of Debt owed, Edward Wyatt reports in The New York Times. Read more ? ...
Winning hasn?t always come easily for Brandywine running back Courtlan Gordon.
It only seems that way.
The 5-9, 165-pound senior played on back-to-back 0-8 junior varsity teams as a freshman and a sophomore.
?I love football,? Gordon said. ?It?s definitely my favorite sport. But our lack of success was making me not care about it. I didn?t get much playing time as a freshman. I only had about 80 yards rushing. I did better as a sophomore, but we still didn?t win. I had no clue going into varsity football what winning was like.?
But it didn?t take Gordon long to find out. In his first game on the varsity, Gordon rushed for 126 yards and one touchdown and Brandywine beat Lawerence, 28-6.
?The varsity was a big difference,? Gordon said. ?There?s more intensity, there are more people watching and everyone is so much bigger.?
Gordon rushed for more than 1,000 yards despite missing parts of two games with injuries as Brandywine finished 5-4.
?That?s where Courtlan made his biggest jump was between his sophomore and junior years,? said Brandywine coach Mike Nate. ?Finishing 5-4 last year, that team overachieved and largely that was due to Gordon. He was about 80 percent of the offense.?
Gordon decided to make sure that the injuries didn?t happen again.
?I went out for track last spring to get faster,? said Gordon, who was part of Brandywine?s state qualifying 1,600-meter relay team. ?And all summer I ran, I worked out and I did everything I could to get ready. Knowing the conference was changing and the bigger teams were leaving, it gave us hope of making the playoffs. It pumped everyone up. We were playing more teams our own size and it gave us a chance.?
It?s paid huge dividends. Gordon has rushed for 1,489 yards, averaged 8.2 yards per attempt and scored 22 touchdowns. And the Bobcats did earn their first postseason berth in 10 years by finishing 7-2. Brandywine will travel to No. 2-ranked Schoolcraft (9-0) for an opening-round game at 7 Friday night.
?Courtlan has the speed,? Nate said. ?Running track really helped him. I saw him take a swing pass in 7-on-7 play this summer and take it up the sidelines for a touchdown. I saw that he had a gear that I didn?t see last year. He?s also stronger. He did the things necessary in the offseason to make him a better football player. he?s gotten stronger and faster.?
Nate admitted that Gordon doesn?t look powerful at first glance.
?He?s not a big physical specimen,? Nate said. ?If you saw him walking down he street, he just looks like an ordinary kid. But he has instincts about him. He?s a tough kid. And he has confidence in himself. He really enjoys the game. This kind of attitude has helped our younger kids believe we can be successful.?
Gordon is very quick.
?Courtlan has speed and the ability to make good cuts,? Nate said. ?He can grind away at you and get eight or nine yards on three or four plays in a row. All of a sudden, you?re down there ready to score. He picks up the yards. At the end of the day you look at the stats and say, ?I didn?t know you had that many.??
Gordon gives most of the credit for his success to his offensive line.
?My team helps me out,? he said. ?Our line has been super. I have better field vision because I?ve got a better team. My teammates have given me more opportunities to score.?
Gordon looks at the early-season game against New Buffalo as the turning point.
Source: www.nytimes.com --- Wednesday, October 24, 2012 Regulators on Wednesday said Microsoft had failed to live up to an agreement to give Windows software users better access to rival Internet browsers. ...
BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets fell Wednesday following a slew of bleak U.S. corporate results, but losses were cushioned by a report suggesting China's manufacturing slump may be bottoming out.
HSBC Corp. said its monthly purchasing managers index rose to 49.1 points in October from 47.9 points on a 100-point scale on which numbers below 50 indicate a contraction. The result means that China's manufacturing shrank again, but at a slower rate than the previous month.
The results raised the possibility that market losses could "stabilize and perhaps even turn around," Dariusz Kowalczyk of Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said in a market commentary. "This is an unusually large gain for this time of year, and the level represents a three month high."
Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.3 percent to 8,985.46. South Korea's Kospi lost 0.6 percent to 1,914.55. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was 0.2 percent lower at 21,663.57. Benchmarks in Singapore and mainland China rose.
U.S. stocks sank Tuesday after some grim corporate reports. Big-name companies like Xerox and 3M reported lower revenue for the third quarter, while chemical maker DuPont said it will have to cut jobs and other expenses to make up for weak demand. UPS, the world's largest package-delivery company, warned that the pace of global growth remains uneven.
The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 1.8 percent to 13,102.53 ? its lowest level in nearly seven weeks. The Standard & Poor's 500 lost 1.4 percent to 1,413.11. The Nasdaq composite index lost 0.9 percent to 2,990.46.
Benchmark oil for December delivery was up 44 cents to $87.11 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.98 to finish at $86.67 per barrel on the Nymex on Tuesday.
In currencies, the euro rose to $1.2989 from $1.2976 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar fell to 79.84 yen from 79.91 yen.
___
Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson
Never mind the bitter end ? it is the bitter beginning of an infection that triggers an immune response.
We know that taste receptors on the tongue can detect bitter foods, but it turns out that there are also identical taste receptors in the upper airway. Noam Cohen at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and his team think they know why.
They grew cell cultures from sinus tissue samples collected from surgical patients, and found that bitter taste receptors in the tissue picked up the presence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium that can cause pneumonia. The sinus tissue responded by producing nitric oxide to kill the invading microbes.
"Certain people have strong innate defences against these bacteria, which is based on their ability to detect bitterness," says Cohen. "Others who don't really 'taste' these bitter compounds have a weakened defence."
The research could lead to nasal sprays designed to activate the taste receptors and boost people's natural defences against sinus infections.
"This is probably the most exciting clinical link found for bitter receptors," says Liquan Huang of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who was not involved in the study. "However, further work is needed to see if this can be translated into treatments."
Journal reference: Journal of Clinical Investigation, doi.org/jj4
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BEIRUT (AP) ? Jennifer Shedid had just arrived home from school and she was hungry. As she asked her older sister what she could eat, a massive explosion shook their entire block and turned the glass of their 4th floor apartment into flying knives that slashed 10-year-old Jennifer from head to toe.
Their father Richard was climbing the stairs to the apartment on his way back from buying bread for the family when the car bomb struck on Friday afternoon less than 20 meters (yards) away, shaking doors and shattering his home.
He grabbed his bleeding daughter from the arms of her older sister Jozianne and rushed her downstairs.
"As I carried her down the stairs, she was trembling and telling me: 'Please dad rescue me,'" the father told The Associated Press on Monday.
A neighbor helped him carry Jennifer and a soldier then took the girl and whisked her to an ambulance that sped off to the hospital. An AP picture, published in newspapers around the world, showed the girl being carried out with deep head and face wounds and her sneakers soaked red with blood.
"As we were in the ambulance, she was better but losing lots of blood," said her father.
The blast, which hit the Shedids' narrow residential street in Beirut's predominantly Christian neighborhood of Achrafieh, targeted Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan, a top intelligence official who was one of the most powerful opponents of Syria in Lebanon. He was killed along with his bodyguard and a female civilian ? a mother of three. It has sparked angry accusations from Syria's opponents in Lebanon that Damascus was behind the bombings.
Jennifer was one of the dozens wounded in the blast.
On Monday, she lay in a hospital with more than 300 stitches in her body, 90 of them in her face and head while and about 50 more on her hands. Her head was shaved and her face was swollen.
Smiling faintly with a monitor behind her showing her heart rate and blood pressure, Jennifer blew kisses to visiting reporters and called out "hi, hi."
Antoine Younan, the doctor leading the team treating Jennifer, showed reporters on Monday a picture of the girl when she arrived at the hospital.
"Her body was riddled with glass wounds," he said. Younan said Jennifer is in stable condition. The veins of her right hands, severely damaged by the glass, are healing and she moved her fingers for the first time on Monday. She underwent operations to remove the glass, repair her veins and stitch her wounds.
Jennifer's 17-year-old sister Jozianne, sitting in the lobby of the hospital, recounted the scene in their home just after the blast struck.
Jennifer was on the floor bleeding while Jozianne said she was thrown by the power of the blast and landed under a China cabinet where she suffered minor injuries. She immediately got up to help her younger sister.
"As I opened my eyes I saw that much of the apartment was turned upside down," she told reporters. "I stood up and started shouting 'Jenny, Jenny' but no one answered. Then I found her next to a couch and covered with debris that fell from the ceiling," said Jozianne, who had a bandage on her left brow from a glass injury.
"I screamed for help but no one answered," said Jozianne, wearing a cross around her neck. "I carried her and kept talking to her. I did not want her to go unconscious. She was holding me saying: 'Help me.'"
Jennifer's mother Nisrin was at work on the other side of the city in the commercial neighborhood of Hamra when she received a message on her phone about an explosion in her neighborhood Achrafieh. She jumped into a taxi, but had to get out about a mile away because cars were kept away from the scene to clear the roads for ambulances.
The cellphone network was overloaded and she could not get through to her husband or children. But she did receive a call from her daughter's school that let her know she had arrived home in her school bus.
She ran toward her apartment.
"I wanted to be with the children so that they would not be afraid," she said.
When she arrived at her street, security forces prevented her from reaching the building because the area was cordoned off for an investigation of the car bomb.
Then she saw something that made her collapse.
"As I looked at the street, I saw Jennifer's shoes covered with blood," Nisrin said. "I bit my tongue and fainted."
She was treated by a paramedic. When she asked him about her daughters, he took her to Jozianne.
"When I saw the blood on Jozianne's clothes, I knew that Jennifer's injuries were serious," Nisrin said. She then received a call from the hospital where Jennifer was being treated and headed over.
A few hours after she arrived, Jennifer was taken out of the operating room and she saw her daughter wearing a green hospital gown.
"I looked at her. My heart broke," the mother told journalists outside the Intensive Care Unit where Jennifer has been since Friday.
Jennifer, a top student in her 5th grade class, loves drawing and taking pictures with the cell phones of her parents and sister. She is no fan of science or math but loves reading and sports.
Her favorite cartoon is Tom and Jerry.
On Sundays, she goes with her Maronite Christian family to church for prayers.
On Monday, Jennifer opened her eyes from the latest operation and started communicating for the first time.
"My happiness today is beyond explanation," said her mother Nisrin.
So I saw this game on an upcoming list of action shooters. It's in open beta, and I must say it's very impressive. It's not a run and gun shooter. You need use cover, communicate, and push objectives. It's also a free game, and has in-game VOIP system that works flawlessly. Even though it's F2P it's not pay to win, and everything can be unlocked by just playing. I really think it could be a lot fun for TPG gamers, and no one has a spend a dime to play it. Added a few videos so you can see how game works.
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Vegans and vegetarians have been promoting the lifestyle for decades and now research firmly supports a huge cancer prevention benefit to those who add fruits, vegetables, herbs and tea to their diets.
A study by Susan Steck of the Arnold School of Public Health finds that a high intake of flavonoids, a group of compounds found in plants, may lower the risk for highly aggressive prostate cancer.
In a study of more than 10,000 men and women, individuals who consumed more of plant compounds called flavonoids?especially one type that is most abundant in apples?were less likely to die from heart disease or develop a variety of chronic diseases, including lung cancer, asthma, stroke and diabetes.
Some studies have shown that the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer decline as consumption of flavonoids rises, but other studies have failed to show a protective effect of the plant compounds.
?Incorporating more plant-based foods and beverages, such as fruits, vegetables, herbs and tea, into the diet may offer some protection against aggressive prostate cancer,? said Steck, an associate professor at the Arnold School and an affiliated scholar with the Center for Research in Health Disparities.
A flavonoid rich diet ? including apples and oranges ? may cut the chances of developing disease by up to 40 percent in men. Previous data supports the growing experimental evidence for neuroprotective effects of these compounds, specifically anthocyanins.
Steck presented her findings at the International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research. The annual event is sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research, whose mission is to prevent and cure cancer through research, education, communication and collaboration.
Prior preclinical studies have shown that flavonoids have beneficial effects against prostate cancer, but few studies have examined the effect of flavonoids on prostate cancer in humans.
Steck and her colleagues used data from 920 African-American men and 977 white men in the North Carolina-Louisiana Prostate Cancer Project who were newly diagnosed with prostate cancer. Participants completed a self-reported dietary history questionnaire to assess flavonoid intake, which was measured using the U.S. Department of Agriculture?s 2011 Database for the Flavonoid Content of Selected Foods.
Men with the highest total intake of flavonoids had a 25 percent lower risk for aggressive prostate cancer compared with those men with the lowest flavonoid intake.
?We found that higher total flavonoid intake was associated with reduced odds for aggressive prostate cancer in both African-American and European-American men, but no individual subclass of flavonoids appeared to be protective independently, suggesting that it is important to consume a variety of plant-based foods in the diet, rather than to focus on one specific type of flavonoid or flavonoid-rich food,? Steck said.
In addition, the risk for aggressive prostate cancer was even lower in those men younger than 65 and in current smokers with the highest levels of flavonoid intake. Dietary questionnaire results revealed that citrus fruits and juices, such as oranges and grapefruits, tea, grapes, strawberries, onions and cooked greens were the top contributors to total flavonoid intake among the participants. ?The results support public health recommendations and guidelines from organizations such as the American Institute for Cancer Research to consume a more plant-based diet,? Steck said. ?In particular, consuming more flavonoid-rich foods may be beneficial for those people who are at increased risk for cancer.?
April McCarthy is a community journalist playing an active role reporting and analyzing world events to advance our health and eco-friendly initiatives.
Tips from the journals of the American Society for MicrobiologyPublic release date: 22-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jim Sliwa jsliwa@asmusa.org 202-942-9297 American Society for Microbiology
October 2012
Specific Bacterial Species May Initiate, Maintain Crohn's
Patients newly diagnosed with pediatric Crohn's disease had significantly different levels of certain types of bacteria in their intestinal tracts than age-matched controls, according to a paper in the October Journal of Clinical Microbiology. The work may ultimately lead to treatment involving manipulation of the intestinal bacteria.
The research grew out of many years' study of gastrointestinal diseases, a particular focus being the role of mucus-associated bacteria in inflammatory conditions, says Hazel M. Mitchell of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, the principle investigator on the study.
"We deliberately chose to examine children newly diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, as we thought this would increase our chances of detecting species that may be involved in initiating Crohn's disease," she says, noting that confounding factors potentially affecting intestinal flora such as antibiotic or anti-inflammatory intake, smoking, or alcohol consumption, are less likely to be present in such children than in adults.
Of particular interest was the finding that one group of bacteria, known as Proteobacteria, was present at higher levels in mild cases, as compared with moderate to severe disease, and controls. That finding, "suggests that this group may play a role in initiation of the disease," says Mitchell, who credits her colleague Nadeem O. Kaakoush with much of the thought and laboratory work behind the study. "The latter finding is consistent with recent studies showing that members of the Proteobacteria, including E. coli and Campylobacter concisus may play a role in initiating Crohn's disease," says Mitchell.
There had been an indication that such was the case, prior to the current study, when the team's earlier research revealed C. concisus to be present in children who already had Crohn's, but not in healthy controls. That information in hand, the researchers grew C. concisus from biopsy specimens from Crohn's children and examined their ability to attach and invade intestinal cells, as compared with strains grown from patients with gastroenteritis, and healthy controls. That research showed that only specific C. concisus strains could invade intestinal cells, that these strains were associated with Crohn's, and that they carried a plasmid which was absent from noninvasive C. concisus strains.
But studies examining dysbiosis (out of balance microbial populations) in adults with Crohn's were inconsistent. That led Mitchell and her colleages to conduct the current study in children with newly diagnosed Crohn's. The results support the theory that Crohn's is linked to a gastrointestinal imbalance in the microbiota, says Mitchell. The bacteria associated with mild disease, including C. concisus, may be initiating infection, she says.
(N.O. Kaakoush, A.S. Day, K.D. Huinao, S.T. Leach, D.A. Lemberg, S.E. Dowd, and H.M. Mitchell, 2012. Microbial dysbiosis in pediatric patients with Crohn's Disease. J. Clin Microbiol. 50:3258-3266.)
Download a copy of the article at http://bit.ly/asmtip1012a
Bacteria Involved in Sewer Pipe Corrosion Identified
Microbes corrode sewer pipes from the inside, a process that can lead to spills, bad odors, disease outbreaks, and the need for costly repairs. In a first step towards reducing the corrosion, researchers have identified the culprit microbes. The research is published in the October Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Surprisingly, they found two different communities, on the wall and the ceiling of the pipes, respectively, says first author Barry Cayford of the University of Queensland. "This separation into two different communities suggests that different types of corrosion may be taking place, and this needs to be considered in the management of the problem," says Cayford.
Earlier work had suggested that Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans, microbes that oxidize hydrogen sulfide to sulfuric acid, were key constituents of the sewer pipe corrosion community. Cayford and his colleagues found that the ceiling species were instead dominated by bacteria from the genera Acidiphilium and Mycobacterium. The former species are known to grow in high acidity, where they oxidize sulfur compounds to sulfuric acid. The wall-associated genera included Xanthomonadales, Burkholderiales, Sphingobacteriales, and others.
Besides bacteria, a range of eukaryotic sequences were detected, but at low abundance, and mostly in wall-associated samples.
"The research resulted from complaints about the smell of sewer systems from people living near large sewer pipes," says Cayford. The complaints forced a major reduction in sewer pipe ventilation, which had been a method for controlling corrosion, he explains. That was the germ of the research. Cayford and his collaborators decided to study the microbiology of the corrosion, in an effort to find other ways to mitigate the problem.
"We hypothesized that we could improve on the limited knowledge of this environment through the use of state-of-the-art microbial ecology tools," says Cayford. His team sequenced the 16S ribosomal RNA genes of the microbes using high-throughput molecular ecology analysis. "The approach provides a much more detailed account of the microbes present than had been possible before." But the current research is only the first step, he says. "We aim to build on this work to deliver a much improved model of sewer corrosion."
(B.I. Cayford, P.G. Dennis, J. Keller, G.W. Tyson, and P.L. Bond, 2012. High-throughput amplicon sequencing reveals distinct communities within a corroding concrete sewer system. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 78:7160-7162.)
Download a copy of the article at http://bit.ly/asmtip1012b
Antibodies to Immune Cells Protect Eyes In Pseudomonas Infection
Contact lenses, particularly the extended wear variety, render wearers vulnerable to eye infections from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These infections can cause severe damage, including blindness. Treating the eye with antibodies to the inflammatory immune compound interleukin-17 (IL-17) reduced eye damage and the number of bacteria in a mouse model. The research is published in the October Infection and Immunology.
The onslaught of Pseudomonas infection of the eye is often swift, and is aggravated by the bacterium's resistance to antibiotics. "Pseudomonas is everywhere in the environment, and can be unwittingly introduced into the lens cleaning solution, or directly onto the contact lens, so everyone who uses contact lenses is at risk," says principal investigator Gregory P. Priebe of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, and Boston Children's Hospital.
Immune cells known as neutrophils are a major cause of the eye damage that ensues from Pseudomonas infection. IL-17 is involved in attracting neutrophils to the infected tissues. They are the vanguard of immune attack, arriving at a site of infection within an hour, trapping, and ingesting pathogens. In their pathogen-killing function, they also release noxious substances, notably elastase, an enzyme that can chew up tissues, and superoxide, which is converted into hypochlorous acid, more commonly known as chlorine bleach. Thus, the ensuing eye damage is not surprising.
Nonetheless, the strategy of blocking these pathogen killing cells risked reducing the immune system's bacteria-killing function, says Priebe. "Surprisingly, just the opposite was seen: blocking IL-17 with antibodies led both to fewer neutrophils in the eye, and to fewer bacteria," says Priebe. Thus, he says, the research may lead to effective treatments.
"We thought that blocking IL-17 infection might worsen eye infections, but found just the opposite,' says Priebe . "Interestingly, this is a common pattern in eye infections. The body's responses that make the damage worse are often the same things needed to limit infections in other tissues, such as the lung."
(T.S. Zaidi, T. Zaidi, G.B. Pier, and G.P. Priebe, 2012. Topical neutralization of interleukin-17 during experimental Pseudomonas aeruginosa corneal infection promotes bacterial clearance and reduces pathology. Infect. Immun. 80:3706-3712.)
Download a copy of article at http://bit.ly/asmtip1012c
Dangerous Form of MRSA, Endemic In Many US Hospitals, Increasing in UK
Prevalence of a particularly dangerous form of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) jumped three-fold in just two years, in hospitals in the United Kingdom, according to a paper in the October 2012 Journal of Clinical Microbiology.
This particular pathogen emerged in the US in 1998, and "is endemic within many US hospitals," an observation which led to the current study being conducted, says coauthor Gopal Rao of Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, Middlesex, UK.
The MRSA in question contains a toxin called Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), which destroys leukocytes (a type of white blood cell), kills skin and mucus membranes, and confers increased virulence. In some cases, they cause invasive disease, most notably necrotizing hemorrhagic pneumonia, which has a high mortality rate.
The United Kingdom's Health Protection Agency first reported that PVL-methicillin resistant S. aureus (PVL-MRSA) was an emerging disease in UK in 2005. While most of the MRSA gets transmitted from one person to another within the hospital, most patients infected with MRSA containing the PVL toxin genes acquired it outside of the hospital ("community acquired" MRSA). The Department of Health in UK mandated screening for MRSA in 2008.
Rao and collaborators set out to find out how many patients entering the hospital carried community-acquired MRSA, especially that containing the dangerous PVL genes. During the study period, cases of community-acquired PVL-MRSA jumped threefold, from 0.07 percent to 0.22 percent, while the numbers of patients with hospital-acquired MRSA dropped from 4.6 percent to 2.8 percent. One particular clone of PVL-MRSA, which also carries resistance to clindamycin and tetracycline is particularly worrisome, the researchers note.
Most of the patients carrying PVL-containing strains are males. The study included 56,000 patients.
(N.M. Pantelides, G.G. Rao, A. Charlett, and A.M. Kearns, 2012. Preadmission screening of adults highlights previously unrecognized carriage of Panton-Valentine leukocidin-positive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in London: a cause for concern? J. Clin. Microbiol. 50:3168-3171.)
Download a copy of the article at http://bit.ly/asmtip1012d
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Tips from the journals of the American Society for MicrobiologyPublic release date: 22-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jim Sliwa jsliwa@asmusa.org 202-942-9297 American Society for Microbiology
October 2012
Specific Bacterial Species May Initiate, Maintain Crohn's
Patients newly diagnosed with pediatric Crohn's disease had significantly different levels of certain types of bacteria in their intestinal tracts than age-matched controls, according to a paper in the October Journal of Clinical Microbiology. The work may ultimately lead to treatment involving manipulation of the intestinal bacteria.
The research grew out of many years' study of gastrointestinal diseases, a particular focus being the role of mucus-associated bacteria in inflammatory conditions, says Hazel M. Mitchell of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, the principle investigator on the study.
"We deliberately chose to examine children newly diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, as we thought this would increase our chances of detecting species that may be involved in initiating Crohn's disease," she says, noting that confounding factors potentially affecting intestinal flora such as antibiotic or anti-inflammatory intake, smoking, or alcohol consumption, are less likely to be present in such children than in adults.
Of particular interest was the finding that one group of bacteria, known as Proteobacteria, was present at higher levels in mild cases, as compared with moderate to severe disease, and controls. That finding, "suggests that this group may play a role in initiation of the disease," says Mitchell, who credits her colleague Nadeem O. Kaakoush with much of the thought and laboratory work behind the study. "The latter finding is consistent with recent studies showing that members of the Proteobacteria, including E. coli and Campylobacter concisus may play a role in initiating Crohn's disease," says Mitchell.
There had been an indication that such was the case, prior to the current study, when the team's earlier research revealed C. concisus to be present in children who already had Crohn's, but not in healthy controls. That information in hand, the researchers grew C. concisus from biopsy specimens from Crohn's children and examined their ability to attach and invade intestinal cells, as compared with strains grown from patients with gastroenteritis, and healthy controls. That research showed that only specific C. concisus strains could invade intestinal cells, that these strains were associated with Crohn's, and that they carried a plasmid which was absent from noninvasive C. concisus strains.
But studies examining dysbiosis (out of balance microbial populations) in adults with Crohn's were inconsistent. That led Mitchell and her colleages to conduct the current study in children with newly diagnosed Crohn's. The results support the theory that Crohn's is linked to a gastrointestinal imbalance in the microbiota, says Mitchell. The bacteria associated with mild disease, including C. concisus, may be initiating infection, she says.
(N.O. Kaakoush, A.S. Day, K.D. Huinao, S.T. Leach, D.A. Lemberg, S.E. Dowd, and H.M. Mitchell, 2012. Microbial dysbiosis in pediatric patients with Crohn's Disease. J. Clin Microbiol. 50:3258-3266.)
Download a copy of the article at http://bit.ly/asmtip1012a
Bacteria Involved in Sewer Pipe Corrosion Identified
Microbes corrode sewer pipes from the inside, a process that can lead to spills, bad odors, disease outbreaks, and the need for costly repairs. In a first step towards reducing the corrosion, researchers have identified the culprit microbes. The research is published in the October Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Surprisingly, they found two different communities, on the wall and the ceiling of the pipes, respectively, says first author Barry Cayford of the University of Queensland. "This separation into two different communities suggests that different types of corrosion may be taking place, and this needs to be considered in the management of the problem," says Cayford.
Earlier work had suggested that Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans, microbes that oxidize hydrogen sulfide to sulfuric acid, were key constituents of the sewer pipe corrosion community. Cayford and his colleagues found that the ceiling species were instead dominated by bacteria from the genera Acidiphilium and Mycobacterium. The former species are known to grow in high acidity, where they oxidize sulfur compounds to sulfuric acid. The wall-associated genera included Xanthomonadales, Burkholderiales, Sphingobacteriales, and others.
Besides bacteria, a range of eukaryotic sequences were detected, but at low abundance, and mostly in wall-associated samples.
"The research resulted from complaints about the smell of sewer systems from people living near large sewer pipes," says Cayford. The complaints forced a major reduction in sewer pipe ventilation, which had been a method for controlling corrosion, he explains. That was the germ of the research. Cayford and his collaborators decided to study the microbiology of the corrosion, in an effort to find other ways to mitigate the problem.
"We hypothesized that we could improve on the limited knowledge of this environment through the use of state-of-the-art microbial ecology tools," says Cayford. His team sequenced the 16S ribosomal RNA genes of the microbes using high-throughput molecular ecology analysis. "The approach provides a much more detailed account of the microbes present than had been possible before." But the current research is only the first step, he says. "We aim to build on this work to deliver a much improved model of sewer corrosion."
(B.I. Cayford, P.G. Dennis, J. Keller, G.W. Tyson, and P.L. Bond, 2012. High-throughput amplicon sequencing reveals distinct communities within a corroding concrete sewer system. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 78:7160-7162.)
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Antibodies to Immune Cells Protect Eyes In Pseudomonas Infection
Contact lenses, particularly the extended wear variety, render wearers vulnerable to eye infections from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These infections can cause severe damage, including blindness. Treating the eye with antibodies to the inflammatory immune compound interleukin-17 (IL-17) reduced eye damage and the number of bacteria in a mouse model. The research is published in the October Infection and Immunology.
The onslaught of Pseudomonas infection of the eye is often swift, and is aggravated by the bacterium's resistance to antibiotics. "Pseudomonas is everywhere in the environment, and can be unwittingly introduced into the lens cleaning solution, or directly onto the contact lens, so everyone who uses contact lenses is at risk," says principal investigator Gregory P. Priebe of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, and Boston Children's Hospital.
Immune cells known as neutrophils are a major cause of the eye damage that ensues from Pseudomonas infection. IL-17 is involved in attracting neutrophils to the infected tissues. They are the vanguard of immune attack, arriving at a site of infection within an hour, trapping, and ingesting pathogens. In their pathogen-killing function, they also release noxious substances, notably elastase, an enzyme that can chew up tissues, and superoxide, which is converted into hypochlorous acid, more commonly known as chlorine bleach. Thus, the ensuing eye damage is not surprising.
Nonetheless, the strategy of blocking these pathogen killing cells risked reducing the immune system's bacteria-killing function, says Priebe. "Surprisingly, just the opposite was seen: blocking IL-17 with antibodies led both to fewer neutrophils in the eye, and to fewer bacteria," says Priebe. Thus, he says, the research may lead to effective treatments.
"We thought that blocking IL-17 infection might worsen eye infections, but found just the opposite,' says Priebe . "Interestingly, this is a common pattern in eye infections. The body's responses that make the damage worse are often the same things needed to limit infections in other tissues, such as the lung."
(T.S. Zaidi, T. Zaidi, G.B. Pier, and G.P. Priebe, 2012. Topical neutralization of interleukin-17 during experimental Pseudomonas aeruginosa corneal infection promotes bacterial clearance and reduces pathology. Infect. Immun. 80:3706-3712.)
Download a copy of article at http://bit.ly/asmtip1012c
Dangerous Form of MRSA, Endemic In Many US Hospitals, Increasing in UK
Prevalence of a particularly dangerous form of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) jumped three-fold in just two years, in hospitals in the United Kingdom, according to a paper in the October 2012 Journal of Clinical Microbiology.
This particular pathogen emerged in the US in 1998, and "is endemic within many US hospitals," an observation which led to the current study being conducted, says coauthor Gopal Rao of Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, Middlesex, UK.
The MRSA in question contains a toxin called Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), which destroys leukocytes (a type of white blood cell), kills skin and mucus membranes, and confers increased virulence. In some cases, they cause invasive disease, most notably necrotizing hemorrhagic pneumonia, which has a high mortality rate.
The United Kingdom's Health Protection Agency first reported that PVL-methicillin resistant S. aureus (PVL-MRSA) was an emerging disease in UK in 2005. While most of the MRSA gets transmitted from one person to another within the hospital, most patients infected with MRSA containing the PVL toxin genes acquired it outside of the hospital ("community acquired" MRSA). The Department of Health in UK mandated screening for MRSA in 2008.
Rao and collaborators set out to find out how many patients entering the hospital carried community-acquired MRSA, especially that containing the dangerous PVL genes. During the study period, cases of community-acquired PVL-MRSA jumped threefold, from 0.07 percent to 0.22 percent, while the numbers of patients with hospital-acquired MRSA dropped from 4.6 percent to 2.8 percent. One particular clone of PVL-MRSA, which also carries resistance to clindamycin and tetracycline is particularly worrisome, the researchers note.
Most of the patients carrying PVL-containing strains are males. The study included 56,000 patients.
(N.M. Pantelides, G.G. Rao, A. Charlett, and A.M. Kearns, 2012. Preadmission screening of adults highlights previously unrecognized carriage of Panton-Valentine leukocidin-positive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in London: a cause for concern? J. Clin. Microbiol. 50:3168-3171.)
Download a copy of the article at http://bit.ly/asmtip1012d
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We ran and got a neighbor, and by this time the snake had made its way up into Brett?s truck. The neighbors were heading over one by one. Finally, the cops arrived and let us know that we were not allowed to use firearms in town so we could not shoot the snake! The wildlife officer then shows up and says this was out of his jurisdiction and wound not be able to help us. What?! Are you kidding me? We are scheduled to be at the hospital in an hour for DELIVERY! Of course, I am freaking out by this point. Finally the wildlife office was able to get in contact with a local zoo and they were coming out to get the snake!
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This web page is from the Disabled World Psychological Disorders section which provides: Mental and psychological disorders range from PTSD to Phobias Anxiety and Personality Disorders.
The Microsoft Surface RT is a PC. It?s not a mobile device and it?s not a tablet, it's a PC. And Microsoft?s first self-branded computer. It is, in short, the physical incarnation of Microsoft's Windows 8. The expectations and competition for the Surface are daunting. It?s been said that Microsoft built the Surface to show up HP, Dell, and the rest of the personal computing establishment. PC sales are stagnant while Apple is selling the iPad at an incredible pace. But the Surface is something different from other tablets. Microsoft built a PC for the post-PC consumer and chose to power it with a limited operating system called Windows RT. These trade-offs, real or imagined, are what really makes or breaks this device.
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Vegans and vegetarians have been promoting the lifestyle for decades and now research firmly supports a huge cancer prevention benefit to those who add fruits, vegetables, herbs and tea to their diets.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 22-Oct-2012
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