শনিবার, ৩০ জুন, ২০১২

Childhood Cancer Survivors: A Practical Guide to Your Future

Publisher:?Childhood Cancer Guides

Released:?July 2012?(est.)

Pages:?480

More than 325,000 children, teens, and adults in the United States are survivors of childhood cancer. The surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and stem cell transplants used to cure children can affect growing bodies and developing minds. If survivors know of these potential problems, they can take steps to identify, cope with, or treat them early if they do develop.

The third edition of Childhood Cancer Survivors charts the territory for survivors by providing state-of-the-art information about:

  • Medical late effects from treatment
  • Emotional aspects of surviving cancer
  • Schedules for follow-up care
  • Challenges in the heathcare system
  • Lifestyle choices to maximize health
  • Discrimination in employment or insurance

Woven throughout the text are stories from more than 100 survivors and parents. Authors Keene, Hobbie, and Ruccione are experts in the field of childhood cancer. Keene is the mother of a survivor of childhood leukemia and the author of several books including Childhood Leukemia, Childhood Cancer, Educating the Child with Cancer, and Chemo, Craziness & Comfort. Hobbie is Associate Director of the Cancer Survivorship Program at Children?s Hospital of Philadelphia. Ruccione is Co-Director of the HOPE (Hematology-Oncology Psychosocial and Education) Program in the Children?s Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases at Children?s Hospital Los Angeles.

Title:
Childhood Cancer Survivors: A Practical Guide to Your Future, 3rd Edition
By:
Nancy Keene, Wendy Hobbie, Kathy Ruccione
Publisher:
Childhood Cancer Guides
Formats:
Print:
July 2012 (est.)
Ebook:
July 2012 (est.)
Pages:
480 (est.)
Print ISBN:
978-1-4571-1867-8
| ISBN 10:
1-4571-1867-X
Ebook ISBN:
978-1-4571-1869-2
| ISBN 10:
1-4571-1869-6
  1. Nancy Keene

    Nancy Keene is the mother of a survivor of childhood cancer and the author of several books including Childhood Leukemia, Educating the Child with Cancer, and Chemo, Craziness, and Comfort.

    View Nancy Keene's full profile page.

  2. Wendy Hobbie

    Wendy Hobbie is Associate Director of the Cancer Survivorship Program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

    View Wendy Hobbie's full profile page.

  3. Kathy Ruccione

    Kathy Ruccione is Co-Director of the Hematology-Oncology Psychosocial and Education (HOPE) Program at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles.

    View Kathy Ruccione's full profile page.

Description

Table of Contents

Product Details

About the Author

Recommended for You

Customer Reviews

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/oreilly/newbooks/~3/Qx_fpQumWVY/

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Facilities & Features At Stansted Airport

Stansted airport is one of the most popular airports of United Kingdom. Being equipped with the latest amenities and technology, Stansted enjoys the status as the fourth largest airport of UK in terms of total passenger traffic. The airport has facilities which are best for all kinds of travelers including solo, business, corporate, families with children and disabled travelers. BAA is the company that owns and operates London Stansted airport and some other major airports of UK as well. The London Stansted has a beautiful building which is oblong shaped and made of glass. It is known as one of the most beautiful airport buildings around the world. Stansted has won many prestigious awards for its building and unique architecture. The air traffic control tower of Stansted is one of the tallest buildings of UK with a height of 60m.

Stansted Airport Transportation
As far as the transfer services from Stansted airport are concerned, there are all kinds of transfer services which include cars, airport taxis, buses, nonstop coaches and trains. The buses and scheduled coaches are operated by National Express. They run from Stansted to the countrys popular destinations. The Heathrow Express is airports own train service. Trains arrive and depart at the Heathrow Rail Station every fifteen minutes. They run to London Liverpool Station taking a total travel time of 45 minutes.

UK Car Hire
Majority of the people, who are tourists in London or are traveling to London for business or personal purposes, usually hire a car in UK for ease and convenience of travel during their stay in the city. They hire cars from local car hire companies in London however the London Stansted airport provides the services of all popular car hire firms at the arrivals lounge for the ease and convenience of travelers. The firms providing car hire services at Stansted airport include Sixt, Season Car Hire, Europcar, Alamo, National Car, Avis, Hertz, Budget and Enterprise. These companies offer all kinds of transportation suiting different requirements such as solo travelers, couples, families, groups and corporate customers. Their vehicles range from economical sedans to luxury limousines. They also provide wheelchair accessible vehicles for disabled travelers.

Taxi Booking
There are many people around the world who do not compromise a bit on the comfort and convenience during their travels. They hire airport taxis and cars in advanced rather than looking for them after their arrival. They make advanced airport car/taxi bookings in order to avoid any kind of possible inconvenience later on. There are a wide number of firms offering superior class airport taxi services at London Stansted airport. These companies provide all kinds of taxis which include sedans as well as MPVs suiting different travel requirements. They also provide wheelchair accessible MPVs for the convenience of disabled passengers.

Cheap Taxi Hire
If you are looking for a taxi company at Stansted airport offering economical services, CrossCab is one of the oldest and most reputed online taxi booking firms of UK. Many of the customers from around the world make their advanced taxi bookings for airport taxi transfers from all major airports of London via CrossCab.

About the Author:
Majority of the people usually hire a car in UK for ease and convenience of travel during their stay in the city. If you are looking for a taxi company at Stansted airport offering economical services, CrossCab is one of the oldest and most reputed cheap taxi hire firms of UK.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Facilities---Features-At-Stansted-Airport/4005660

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শুক্রবার, ২৯ জুন, ২০১২

Ann Curry Replaced By Savannah Guthrie As 'Today' Co-Host

Guthrie sat in with Matt Lauer on Friday morning but made no mention of permanently replacing Curry.
By John Mitchell


Savannah Guthrie co-hosting 'Today' on Friday, July 29
Photo: NBCUniversal

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1688766/ann-curry-savannah-guthrie-replaced.jhtml

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TV: Iran warns EU about 'illegitimate measures'

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Robison leads 100 free prelims at US swim trials

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) ? Little-known Scot Robison led a loaded field of Olympic medalists, including Ryan Lochte, with the fastest time in preliminaries of the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials on Thursday.

The 23-year-old sprinter from Charlotte, N.C., won his heat in 49.08 seconds, beating out 2008 Olympian Nathan Adrian, who was second-quickest at 49.17.

Robison was on the U.S. team at last year's world championships in Shanghai, and earned a bronze medal as part of the 400 free relay after swimming in the morning prelims. He competed in the World University Games in 2009, winning two gold medals as part of relays, but that is the extent of his international experience.

Still, Robison wasn't intimidated by the presence of veteran Olympians like Lochte, Jason Lezak and Cullen Jones.

"If right now was the first time I had thought about it, I'd be in trouble," he said. "But luckily, the past three or four years, I've been training knowing that all along. You just have to believe that you belong in that group."

Michael Phelps had the morning off, but he will return for the evening final of the 200 butterfly. As the two-time defending Olympic champion and world record holder, he is the heavy favorite for the race in which Lochte won't be competing.

Matt Grevers, the 100 backstroke winner at trials, was third in the 100 free at 49.24 and hoping to land a spot in the relay pool for London.

"I don't think I have the speed in the freestyle right now to compete for top two," he said. "But a relay spot would be great. I'm pretty tall. I have a pretty good relay start. So I think I could be a valuable relay swimmer."

Jimmy Feigen was fourth at 49.29 and Lochte fifth in 49.33.

2008 Olympian Garrett Weber-Gale was sixth at 49.34, and two-time Olympian Ricky Berens was seventh at 49.35. Lezak, the 36-year-old sprinter who chased down Frenchman Alain Bernard on the final leg of the 400 free relay to win gold in Beijing, was ninth at 49.40.

"I've got to be faster tonight, and I will be," said Lezak, one of 16 men who advanced to the evening semifinals.

Jones, trying to regain his form at 28 after not being a major presence in the sprints, said he tightened up toward the end of the race. He was 10th at 49.41. Only the top 8 from the semis move on to Friday night's final.

"Need a little less coffee and a little more Gatorade," he said. "I feel older. No, I feel good. Done the practicing. Done everything I need to do. Just little small things: not go out so fast and be able to bring it home faster."

Anthony Ervin, the 2000 Olympic 50 free champion, was 11th at 49.54. He is making a comeback at 31 after being retired since 2003.

"How do you spell suffer?" he said, laughing. "Just the tension, just the entire lead-up to that first race. Everything is kind of going crazy around me, and then everything kind of gets quiet. Then you're just lost in the moment as you're behind those blocks.

"I got a little taste of it there. Hopefully, I will have a little bit more for tonight, do a little bit better if I'm going to make it into finals."

Ervin is also entered in the 50 free on Saturday.

"I train kind of both just because they've always been kind of connected for me," he said. "If I do well in one, I do well in the other."

A couple of lesser names were the two fastest qualifiers in the 200 breaststroke.

Former NCAA champion Clark Burckle led the way with a time of 2:10.30. The brother of 2008 Olympian Caroline Burckle was fifth in the event at trials four years ago and has limited international experience.

Former UC Davis swimmer Scott Weltz was second-quickest at 2:10.90. Eric Shanteau, who was 10th in Beijing, advanced in third at 2:11.57. He already made the team in the 100 breast with Brendan Hansen.

"Yeah, the pressure is off a little bit, but you don't want to lose that edge," Shanteau said. "You still need to keep that, and I think I'm doing a good job with that."

Hansen qualified fifth at 2:12.14.

Ed Moses, the 2000 Olympic silver medalist in the 100 breast, just missed making the evening semifinals by two spots. The 32-year-old swimmer led the first 50 meters of his heat, but wound up 18th overall in 2:14.32.

"When I did the trials last (in 2004), we were in Long Beach, maybe 5,000 or 6,000 people," he recalled. "I get to swim in this. It was a good way to end my career for sure. Swimming is real big now. To say I was a part of it is going to be pretty cool. It was absolutely worth it."

Kim Vandenberg, who at 28 was the oldest woman by five years to make the semifinals, had the fastest prelim time in the 200 butterfly at 2 minutes, 8.78 seconds. Vandenberg, who made the 2008 Olympics as a relay team member, finished third in the fly four years ago at trials, just missing qualifying for an individual event.

Texas A&M sophomore Cammile Adams was second at 2:08.84, followed by Tennessee junior Kelsey Floyd at 2:09.02.

Teresa Crippen, the younger sister of late open-water swimmer Fran Crippen, qualified fourth at 2:09.48. Kathleen Hersey, who finished last in the Olympic final in Beijing, also advanced to the evening semifinals in fifth at 2:20.25.

Elaine Breeden, seventh in the final four years ago in Beijing, was 17th and missed the semifinals by one spot.

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Robot picks, plays and grooves to your music

1 day

The smartphone docking station was upgraded to robot status today with the unveiling of a brainy speaker system at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco.

The robot, called Shimi, gains the sensing and musical generation capabilities of the Android phone docked to it.?

For example, it uses facial recognition technology to follow a user around the room and position its speakers for optimal sound. Users can also tap out a rhythm and the robot will search the phone?s library for a song that matches the beat.?

The robot?will also be able to recommend songs based on preferences similar to iTunes? Genius engine and Pandora?s Music Genome Project.

In the future, the Georgia Tech team behind Shimi will deploy functions that will allow users to skip tracks and crank up the volume with hand gestures.?More info is in the video below.

At the unveiling today in San Francisco, a trio of robots danced in sync to music created in the lab and composed according to the robots' movements. You can check out the performance below.

With the advent of such musical robots, the days of human DJs for wedding parties and high school dances may be numbered, serving another blow to a profession already being nudged off the radio by semi-intelligent software.?

Gil Weinberg, the robot's creator, is in the process of commercializing Shimi via his startup company Tovbot. You should be able to get your hands on one by the 2013 holiday season.

--via IEEE

John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. To learn more about him, check out his website and follow him on Twitter. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

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বুধবার, ২৭ জুন, ২০১২

PHOTOS: Tyra Banks Flaunts Her Curves in a Sexy Swimsuit

Tyra Banks takes a dip in the ocean! Plus, check out more stars' cute, candid and crazy Twitter photos

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Astronaut shows off stellar camera collection on ISS

Featured

3 days

CookieJa

Are you your own worst enemy? If so, the following gadgets might be able to help you overcome some?relatively minor shortcomings. That is to... Read more

2 hrs.

While parts of the International Space Station have been in space for years, one thing it is never short on is cameras. Scientific instruments and imaging satellites are all well and good, but there's no replacement for the eye of a skilled photographer aiming several thousands of dollars worth of DSLR equipment?at the Earth. Don Pettit is a frequent orbiter, and has produced some amazing images and time-lapse images. Here you can see a a picture of just how many cameras they keep on hand to capture those photographs.

All the cameras are Nikons, you'll notice; it may be that he's just a Nikon guy, but NASA chose to buy and modify Nikon bodies years ago, so chances are at least some of the ones Pettit is using are from the 2009 fleet of D3s DSLRs they sent up ??certainly at least one, by his right shoulder, and you can spot new D2Xs in this follow-up picture. While they do bring up new ones, they are unlikely to bring them back down; some are even allowed to burn up during reentry.

Wondering why they might need so many? With a big crew working on many different projects, it's probably good to have spares. But as Pettit himself shows in this photo, some setups require more than one camera or location ? for capturing panoramas, for instance.

And anyway, leaving them in place might be preferable; who wants to drag around a camera with a two-foot lens through narrow corridors in zero gravity?

More images from the ISS missions can be found at NASA's official site, and Pettit maintains a blog of his experiences as well.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.

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মঙ্গলবার, ২৬ জুন, ২০১২

The Dark Underbelly of Home Improvement | the home tome

or: When Home Improvement Makes you Hyperventilate

or: Home Improvement Projects that you are Unexpectedly Forced Into

or: Home Improvement Projects that have no Style Aspect and Are Therefore Not even Remotely Fun

Though I think this has a certain?vintage charm,
this pipe is apparently not supposed to look like this.

or: When the Plumber Estimate Increases by 1000% in the Course of Seven Minutes

or: Fun Fact: Did You Know that Chimneys Aren?t Just for Fireplaces? They Lead from your Furnace and Hot Water Heater, Too!

or: Corrosion: Pipes gone Bad

This is a chimney. I never even noticed it before.
Turns out it?s not supposed to be rusty.

or: Gulp

or: What About that New Guest Bed/Car/Sandwich I was Saving Up For?

or: Did I Somehow Invite a Costly Plumbing Crisis by Declaring it Home Improvement (HIMP) Month?

or: Did We Not Hug our House Enough?

Well, as you can see, I have had some trouble deciding what to call today?s installment. Once I got finished brainstorming titles, I didn?t have any energy left to write an actual post. Suffice it to say that what?s going on in our basement (and up through the roof) isn?t pretty ? let?s just hope those new pipes are made of pure gold?

I repeat: have you hugged your house today? (Not to be an alarmist, but IF YOU DON?T MAKE NICE-NICE WITH YOUR HOUSE IT COULD SUDDENLY TURN ON YOU?)

***

Stay tuned for more HIMP Month Madness: Details on getting our house?s interior painted from white to?drumroll?wait for it?white, fabulous guest bloggers, and a tutorial on tools that you would be a tool to miss.

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Centennial Potato Plot helping Presque Isle hospital celebrate ...

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine ? A unique project is under way in Aroostook County to illustrate how a 100-year-old hospital took root in the area.

Officials from The Aroostook Medical Center, Cavendish Produce and Northeast Packaging Company gathered in a Presque Isle potato field early Monday to officially dedicate the TAMC Centennial Potato Plot.

The two-acre section of a field on U.S. Route 1 between Presque Isle and Caribou celebrates the hospital and its ties to agriculture.

According to hospital officials, the idea for what is now TAMC was envisioned by Frank White, an attorney, in 1908. During that time, he made frequent trips to outlying farms and neighboring smaller communities by horse and wagon, soliciting donations.

Through the efforts of White and other community leaders, Presque Isle General Hospital was incorporated on April 8, 1912. The hospital was sustained through the years by public donations, not only of money, but of food, furnishings and linens.

Cavendish Produce donated the two acres of russet potatoes that have already been planted.

Plans are for TAMC employees and their family members to harvest the field by hand in early October. The future of the harvested potatoes involves Northeast Packaging Company.

Bob Umphrey, president of the company, said Monday that a special commemorative five-pound potato bag will be designed to recognize TAMC?s centennial. That process will include an art contest to engage members of the public.

?We are launching an open contest to help us design one side of this special bag,? he explained. Northeast Packaging Company will produce the packaging later this summer in time for the harvesting of the potatoes.

A panel of judges from Northeast Packaging Company, Cavendish and TAMC will review the entries and pick a winner. The selected design will be unveiled at the Maine Potato Blossom Festival on the judges reviewing stand on Saturday, July 21, just before the parade during a new event called the Spuddy Recovery Triathlon organized and co-sponsored by TAMC.

Once the potatoes are harvested and placed in the special commemorative bags, TAMC will send the spuds to statewide elected officials and other dignitaries. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins has agreed to see to it that a bag is delivered to the White House. In addition, TAMC intends to provide commemorative bags of potatoes to attendees at their annual Fall Health Fair, which this year will be themed Harvest, History and Health.

?We are so grateful to these two generous companies for working collaboratively with TAMC and making this unique project possible,? said Lynn Lombard, chairperson of the TAMC Board of Trustees. ?As we continue to mark 100 years of The Aroostook Medical Center, our hope is to engage as many residents as possible in the celebration. Certainly, the TAMC Centennial Potato Plot will be a visible reminder all summer long and into the fall of the significant contributions of both the agricultural community and TAMC to our wonderful quality of life here in The County.?

The design contest is open to all ages and will run through July 12. A special entry form, complete with contest rules and a designated area to match the printable space on the potato bag are available and will be mailed to prospective entrants.

For information on the contest or to have an official entry form mailed, call 768-4044 or email bcaron@tamc.org.

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Video: Tropical storm Debby forms in Gulf

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সোমবার, ২৫ জুন, ২০১২

Avoiding the full Jimmy Carter in Egypt (Powerlineblog)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

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Injuries reported in mall roof collapse in Canada

By msnbc.com staff and news services

At least four people were injured when the roof of a shopping mall in Ontario, Canada, collapsed Saturday afternoon, officials said.

The roof was used for parking at the two-story Algo Centre Mall in Elliot Lake, about 335 miles northwest of Toronto. CBC News quoted a witness as saying cars had plunged through the roof.

"You can see the roof with the cars hanging inside," Joe Drazil, identified as a Zellers employee at the mall, told the CBC.


Mayor Rick Hamilton told CBC that four people were taken to the hospital.?A fire official reached by Reuters said emergency workers were still searching for possible victims.

Watch World News videos on msnbc.com

Cora Richer / The Canadian Press via AP

A woman checks out the damage after a roof collapsed at the Algo Centre Mall in Elliot Lake, Ontario, on Saturday

Mall manager Rhonda Bear told CBC News that repairs had been done to the roof over the last year, but not "any huge structural repairs" to the part that collapsed. She also told CBC that the mall owners,?Toronto-based Eastwood Mall Inc., ordered a structural study a month ago that she said turned up nothing.

But the CBC said?the Elliot Lake Standard newspaper has reported that the mall had had roof leaks for years.

This article includes reporting by msnbc.com staff and Reuters.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

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Student loans 101: What's at stake in D.C. feud over college loan subsidy?

With the burden of expensive college bills weighing on many middle-class families, student debt is a natural issue for politicians to seize. After all, how many times have we heard lately that student debt now exceeds $1 trillion and tops credit card debt?

It?s in the spotlight now because on July 1, the interest rate on some federal student loans is set to double, from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent, if Congress and President Obama don?t agree on a fix. With 10 days to go before the deadline, Mr. Obama called on Congress, again, to "do the right thing" and keep the lower rate.

Yet the rate change applies only to a portion of new loans to be issued for the coming academic year. How much of an effect would it really have ? and how did we get here in the first place??Here?s some basic context.

- Stacy Teicher Khadaroo,?Staff writer

President Obama greets students after he called on Congress to stop interest rates on student loans from doubling next month during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington on June 21, 2012. (Susan Walsh/AP)

1. Which loans are we talking about?

Federal subsidized Stafford loans. During this past school year, undergraduates who qualified based on a test of financial need were able to take out a maximum of $3,500 to $5,500, depending on their year in college. The loans carry a fixed interest rate of 3.4 percent.

(By contrast, all students are eligible for regular Stafford loans, up to $31,000 total during college and graduate school. These bear a fixed rate of 6.8 percent. Many students take out both types of loans.)

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শনিবার, ২৩ জুন, ২০১২

First Mladic trial witness to testify July 9

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NASA's Morpheus Lander Could Use Space Waste to Make Its Own Fuel [Monster Machines]

Conventional rocket fuel—mostly ammonium perchlorate and aluminum—is difficult stuff to come by when you're on, say, the Moon. So we'll need to develop flexible alternative fuels if we ever want escape the backwoods of the solar system. Luckily, NASA's green engine test rig, the Morpheus Lander, is doing just that. More »


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British GENES (British Genealogy News and Events): Forthcoming ...

I've been asked to give a quick plug by Gill Blanchard for her forthcoming Pharos course, The Parish Chest - There was more to life than baptism, marriage and burial, for which there are still a few places. The course starts June 28th, is four weeks long, and costs ?39.99.

The following is a quick description:

The records and accounts of the parish make up what is collectively called the parish chest. From the reign of Elizabeth I the parish?s role in local affairs expanded to include many civil responsibilities that affected the lives of your ancestors. Parish officers - the churchwardens and overseers - raised taxes, kept accounts and managed parish affairs including maintaining the church, providing relief to the poor, setting local rates, repairing roads, maintaining law and order, and operating schools. You will discover other fascinating records as well, among them the wills of benefactors, militia records and parish magazines. This course explains how to locate parish chest records, describes indexes and finding aids, and discusses how to interpret and use search results. As a result you will build your family tree and expand your understanding of the parish and its day to day activities.

Instructor: Gill Blanchard

  • What is the Parish and what role did it play in your ancestors? lives?
  • Churchwardens, Overseers and Vestry Records
  • Property and Land Records
  • The?Parish Constable, School Records and Other Records?

To book the course visit?http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=310?- additional forthcoming Pharos courses can also be consulted at?http://pharostutors.com/coursesmainsd.php

Chris

Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx?(from June 12th 2012)

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শুক্রবার, ২২ জুন, ২০১২

Maroon 5 To Debut 'One More Night' Video On 'MTV First'

Band will appear exclusively on MTV on June 25, followed by a 30-minute Q&A on MTV.com.
By Gil Kaufman


Adam Levine in Maroon 5's "One More Night" music video
Photo:

Maroon 5 will appear live exclusively on MTV next Monday to premiere the video for their new single "One More Night." "MTV First: Maroon 5" kicks off June 25 at 7:53 p.m. ET and will be followed by a 30-minute Q&A with the band on MTV.com that will include an opportunity for fans to ask questions via Twitter.

Adam Levine and the boys will sit down with MTV News' James Montgomery on the eve of the release of their new album, Overexposed, which features their hit collaboration with Wiz Khalifa, "Payphone." Before the premiere, fans can get in on the action by submitting video or text questions via MTV.com or Twitter (using @MTVNews/ hashtag #MTVFirst #AskMaroon5). Following the broadcast premiere, the music video for "One More Night" will go into immediate rotation on MTV Hits and mtvU and debut on "AMTV" the following morning.

Overexposed, due out June 26, was recorded in Los Angeles over the past year and features 10 new tracks from the band. It's the follow-up to 2010's Hands All Over, which featured the biggest hit of their career so far, "Moves Like Jagger." Among the producers on the new disc are pop maestros Max Martin, Benny Blanco and Ryan Tedder.

Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine recently told MTV News that the filming of the action-packed "Payphone" video required some risk taking on his part. "The video is this crazy thing; it's about a bank robber, it was actually an idea that I had, and Sam Bayer, who's a brilliant director, is doing it," he said from the video's set.

"Payphone" also pushed the group out of their comfort zone, as it broke their "no guests" approach to making albums, especially in light of the mega-success of the Christina Aguilera-guesting smash "Jagger." Not wanting to become "that band," Levine said they were reluctant at first to put another voice on the tune, but their minds changed quickly when they heard Wiz was interested.

"Wiz is an amazing dude, and he's just the future. He's already so huge, but he hasn't really done many big pop records, actually, so just the idea that he'd be interested in doing it was enough to get him involved. It was too good to pass up," Levine said. "He's a wonderful guy, he's so creative and so quick ... watching him in the studio, he was just so in it, within 30 minutes he had this incredible verse and he'd already knocked it out. That dude is really prolific and really talented."

Don't miss the premiere of Maroon 5's "One More Night" video during "MTV First: Maroon 5" on Monday, June 25, at 7:53 p.m. on MTV, followed by a 30-minute Q&A with the band on MTV.com.

Related Videos Related Artists

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Deadly Pandemic Bird Flu Details Finally Are Made Public

?

Ten ferrets, some bird flu and swabs. That is all, according to a presentation last summer, one needs to concoct a virulent strain of influenza that could start a deadly pandemic among humans.

These initial findings were presented last September in Malta at the European Scientific Working group on Influenza meeting to an auditorium packed with fellow scientists and policy makers. Ron Fouchier, a virologist at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, himself a bit sniffly at the time, calmly explained that he and his team had discovered that without the help of another virus, the deadly avian flu (H5N1) could easily mutate in mammals to become transmissible through the air, like a true pandemic strain, through a sneeze or a cough. And it might need as few as five mutations to make that leap.

The findings took time to gain attention wider public attention, but when research manuscripts describing the specific mutations that the virus underwent were submitted to scientific journals, many scientists and commentators protested, suggesting such information could be used by bioterrorists to manufacture a pandemic flu strain. But after extensive review by researchers, journal editors and even the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, a decision was finally made to take the papers public.

Today in Science, the full paper on the ferret experiment is being published and made freely available online in its entirety. This publication follows the May release of a similar H5N1 study in Nature.?(Scientific American?is part of Nature Publishing Group.)?A second Science study, also published online June 21, assesses the likelihood that these mutations will occur in nature and spur a pandemic in humans. Today's paper is published alongside eight essays explaining some of the risks and benefits of this sort of research.

The upshot is further evidence that this deadly bird flu spreading to humans "is absolutely in the realm of possibility," Derek Smith, of the University of Cambridge, who co-authored the separate, second Science paper said at a Wednesday press briefing. "We see no fundamental hurdle to that happening."

H5N1 has already been found in some 20 mammalian species, including dogs, cats, humans and the dreaded virus reservoir, pigs, Fouchier noted at the briefing. About 600 human deaths have been confirmed in the past 15 years as being caused by this infection, acquired directly from birds. (The mortality rate among humans has been reported at a scary 60 percent, but this is likely an overestimate because non-lethal cases are probably not reported as often, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, noted in an essay in the same issue of Science)

"Whether this virus may acquire the ability to be transmitted via aerosols or respiratory droplets among mammals, including humans, to trigger a future pandemic is a key question for pandemic preparedness," Fouchier and his colleagues wrote in their paper.

The researchers started with a strain called influenza virus A/Indonesia/5/2005, which has infected and killed a number of humans. They first changed three proteins to make it more compatible with mammals' tissues and body temperatures. And then they introduced it into the nose of a ferret.

Ferrets are the best model we have for studying influenza?they are similarly susceptible to it and can spread it by sneezing?and have been used to study the infection since the 1930s. But that does not mean that they are a perfect flu foil for humans. "An H5N1 virus strictly adapted for ferret transmissibility may not be entirely relevant to humans," Fauci and Collins wrote in their essay.

The experimental ferrets Fouchier used did not pass the disease directly to one another, as would occur among humans in a real-world outbreak. Instead, during the first six of the 10 transmissions, researchers dropped the strain into the ferret's nose and then later swabbed the nasal area to collect the virus?with any new mutations?to be given to the next ferret. In the final few transmissions, instead of swabbing the nose, researchers made each animal sneeze, then collected the contents and placed them directly in the nose of the next ferret. Follow-up experiments showed that when an uninfected ferret was placed near one of these infected subjects?sharing air but not able to make physical contact?the uninfected ferret often caught the illness (looking tired and not eating much) but did not die from it.

As Fouchier and his co-authors noted, none of the ferrets that received the newly transmissible virus died from the infection. (And only one in eight of the animals given an earlier form of the virus, via the nose inoculation, died from the illness.) This shift in virulence mirrors the pattern that has often played out in human pandemics: as a virus becomes more easily transmissible, it becomes less deadly. In the experiments, the viruses were also treatable with common antiviral drugs.

What were the mutations that made the virus able to infect other ferrets just by breathing the same air? Four of the five mutations changed the virus's surface protein (hemagglutinin), which plays a role in allowing H5N1 to gain entry into host cells. And the fifth mutation boosted its ability to reproduce its genetic information.

Two of the mutations identified by Fouchier are already quite common in wild strains of H5N1 in birds and occasionally show up in the same strain, according to Smith's study of some 4,000 strains. As Smith and his colleagues pointed out in their paper, that means that some strains might need only three more mutations to become easily contagious among mammals. These three other mutations are rare in H5 strains (although two of them were present in the H2 and H3 pandemics of 1957 and 1968, respectively), so they are likely harmful to the virus while it resides in its bird host. Smith and his team created mathematical models to try to figure out how likely it was that these three mutations could occur in a human host. But without further research, they could only speculate that it was possible, they noted.

Trying to assess the likelihood of an outbreak of this virus in humans is about as easy as "predict[ing] an earthquake of tsunami," Smith said at the press briefing. "We now know that we're living on a fault line," thanks to Fouchier's research. "And it's an active fault line."

That prediction problem, however, suggests that much more research needs to be done on just how these viruses mutate within hosts. They also suggest increasing surveillance to do deeper genetic sequencing of circulating strains to look for less common mutations that might increase the odds the virus will jump to a new species host.

With a genetic profile of these likely mutations, efforts to monitor for the virus in the wild could be boosted. Such a profile could also help governments and vaccine manufactures get a head start developing a preventive shot before a pandemic has a chance to gain speed.

As Fauci pointed out in the press briefing, this sort of research should be closely watched and, indeed, debated. "The risk-benefit calculation is not always obvious," he said. But despite the risks?that bioterrorist groups could try to replicate the strain or that it could accidentally escape the laboratory?he sees the research as necessary so that we may better understand how the virus might evolve to infect humans. The ferret research was conducted at a biosafety level 3 (one step down from the facilities where researchers study Ebola and smallpox).

After controversy over these papers erupted late last year, a voluntary, ongoing moratorium went into effect on all the experiments that increased the transmissibility and/or pathogenesis of H5N1, Fauci noted, adding: "I think the benefit that will come out of the Fouchier paper in stimulating thoughts and ways to better understand transmissibility and adaptability and pathogenesis, in my mind, far outweigh the risk of nefarious use of this information."?

Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
? 2012 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.

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বৃহস্পতিবার, ২১ জুন, ২০১২

Live from Jerusalem with Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Powerlineblog)

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Pivotel to Distribute DeLorme's inReach ... - GPS BUSINESS NEWS

Handheld GPS device maker DeLorme today announced a partnership with Pivotel Satellite, a provider of mobile satellite services in Australia.

Pivotel will provide inReach devices and the DeLorme Explore service portal on local service plans directly to adventurous consumers who go off-the-grid on land, at sea and in the air.

Pivotel will also make inReach devices available with TracerTrak, their enterprise remote worker safety solution, providing affordable two-way satellite and safety communications for those in government and enterprise sectors including mining and oil/gas.

inReach will also be sold through Pivotel?s network of more than 200 value-added resellers throughout Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia.

Launched in 2011, inReach is an affordable satellite communicator with two-way SOS alerting and personal text messaging, message delivery confirmation and remote GPS Follow-Me/Find-Me tracking and locating capabilities. The device leverages the Iridium satellite communication network, offering a truly global coverage.

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বুধবার, ২০ জুন, ২০১২

Body parts suspect back in Canada

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The reproduction of any content or material contained in this online news publication and its other related websites as well as the published editions of group newspapers and their supplements is expressly reserved to the publisher, Independent Newspapers (Pty) Limited, under Section 12(7) of the Copyright Act of 1978. Reliance on the information contained in the online news publications and other related content published on this website is done at your own risk and subject to our ?terms and conditions?. Independent Newspapers (Pty) Limited has committed itself to The Press Code of Professional Practice which prescribes that news must be reported in a truthful, accurate, fair and balanced manner. If we don't live up to the Press Code please contact The Press Ombudsman 2nd Floor, 7 St David?s Park, St David?s Place, Parktown, 2193 or PO Box 47221, Parklands 2121 or email pressombudsman@ombudsman.org.za (www.ombudsman.org.za) or telephone 011 484 3612/8.

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Quote of the Day: Harry Reid Calls Out a 'Clown Question, Bro' (Atlantic Politics Channel)

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Synergy Sales & Marketing is looking for entry level professionals to fill 5 open positions within their firm. They are looking for candidates that have sales, marketing, customer service, or hospitality experience.

All of their employees follow a clearly defined career path based on award-winning sales, marketing, and management training program. Initially, they build a solid foundation of core competencies to give their employees confidence in their leadership, public speaking, and time management skills. From there, they give their employees hands-on training in business management, office administration, and team development.
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PVR Partners getting $63M for Texas system

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মঙ্গলবার, ১৯ জুন, ২০১২

Obama national security record gives GOP limited opportunities to challenge commander in chief

President Barack Obama's not-so-secret counterterrorism fight against al-Qaida in Yemen and Somalia, the killing of Osama bin Laden and strong hints of a cyber war against Iran give Republicans few openings to challenge the commander in chief.

This aggressive national security policy has undercut the derisive label Republicans have successfully attached to Democrats in the past: the soft-on-defense Mommy Party. It has been one of the most effective election-year cudgels for the GOP. Just eight years ago, President George W. Bush capitalized on his tough response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Iraq's Saddam Hussein to win a second term. In a major assist to Bush's candidacy, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth used debunked claims to undermine Democratic rival John Kerry's decorated Vietnam War record and cast him as "unfit to serve."

In the past 3? years, Obama has waged a secret campaign against al-Qaida in two countries ? one on the Arab peninsula, the other on Africa's east coast. The White House officially acknowledged the lethal attacks in Yemen and Somalia in its semiannual report to Congress last Friday. Navy SEALs took out bin Laden in Pakistan in May 2011 while armed drones have pursued al-Qaida terrorists within the country, degrading the terrorist group.

In public opinion polls, Obama gets high marks for his record on national security, a stark contrast to his dismal numbers on handling the nation's finances. An Associated Press-GfK poll conducted in May found that 64 percent approved of Obama's handling of terrorism and 53 percent approved of the way he's managing the situation in Afghanistan. By contrast, less than half approved of his handling of the economy (46 percent), unemployment (48 percent) or gas prices (30 percent).

Republicans, who have successfully pummeled the president on the economy, have made little headway on national security.

"There's nothing like success to quell criticism," said Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va. "I think the fact that there have been some successes, ranging from spectacular, Osama bin Laden, to the utter decapitation of al-Qaida to the disruption of violent insurgencies in Yemen, Somalia ... western parts of Pakistan has done much to quiet some of that criticism. ... I think the Republicans are very hard-pressed to criticize that aspect of the president's foreign policy."

That hasn't stopped Republicans from fixating on what they describe as major weaknesses in Obama's national security policy. Leaks of classified information, including reports of a computer attack that has infected Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities, led Republicans to demand the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate. Republicans argue that the leaks were politically driven to help Obama and have jeopardized national security.

Democrats and the administration have rejected those demands. Attorney General Eric Holder instead has appointed U.S. Attorneys Ron Machen and Rod Rosenstein to oversee the investigation into who leaked information about U.S. involvement in cyberattacks on Iran and an al-Qaida plot to place an explosive device aboard a U.S.-bound flight.

"Considering how closely in time these items were published and how favorable of an impression they left about the president's approach to national security, it is not unreasonable to ask whether these leaks were part of a broader effort to paint President Obama, in the midst of an election year, as a strong leader on national security issues," Sen. John McCain, Obama's 2008 presidential rival, said Tuesday in a blistering Senate floor speech.

The Arizona lawmaker, who is the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, has called the leaks "almost unprecedented" and insisted last week that he couldn't think of "any time that I have seen such breaches of ongoing national security programs as has been the case here."

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., told reporters Tuesday that the leaks "create a lack of confidence on the part of people around the world" who are cooperating with the United States.

Hardly, say Democrats.

Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said there is not "one shred of evidence" that individuals around Obama leaked information to enhance the president's reputation.

"They're (Republicans) just blankly asserting it and hoping it sticks. And the reason they're hoping it sticks is because the president has a very strong record on national security," Smith said in an interview. "His record makes that clear and the polls make it clear that people feel that way."

Kerry, D-Mass., the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Republicans are "flailing around desperately trying to get some kind of handle, constantly trying to discredit the president, which doesn't serve our foreign policy or our national security."

Outside experts say the Obama administration has aggressively prosecuted leaks of classified information, charging six people under the Espionage Act for the alleged mishandling of classified information. Most notably is the case of Bradley Manning, a U.S. Army private accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified government documents, sending them to the secret-sharing website WikiLeaks.

"It's an astonishing prosecutorial record that goes far beyond what we've seen in previous administrations," said Steven Aftergood, an expert on government secrecy issues for the Federation of American Scientists, a private group.

Republicans have been ferocious in challenging Obama's foreign policy, accusing him of being wobbly in his support for Israel, uncertain as Syrians are slaughtered and lacking toughness as Iran pushes its nuclear program. They've criticized deficit-driven cuts in the military even though they agreed to them last summer. They've suggested he cut a secret deal with Russia that would undermine missile defense, an agreement that will emerge after the election.

Among Democrats, Obama's national security record has largely quieted any criticism among liberals, but it hasn't silenced them. They see policies even tougher than Bush that has paid little heed to the Constitution, international law or the sovereignty of other nations.

"This administration, as had the last administration, appropriated to itself the power to prosecute war anywhere it pleases in the world," said Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio. "We cannot afford this financially, militarily or morally."

Putting party labels aside, Kucinich said that, while the Bush administration declared a global war on terror, "the Obama administration has kept those wars going and expanded the wars across Africa."

"We're propelling wars. What is this all about?" Kucinich said. "We don't have enough problems here at home ... We are promoting wars around the world, and so Democrat or not, I take strong exception to the direction our country has gone with respect to our international aggression."

____

Associated Press Deputy Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

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