text:
I seldom consume a large meal myself. I'm more sort of a bite-size finger-food lover. And these zucchini things are among my new favorites; the simplest but yet so flavorful.
Adapted from Gale Gand.
Makes 24 appetizers, about 8-10 servings
- 6 plum tomatoes
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp herbes de Provence
- Scant ½ tsp kosher salt
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 2 medium zucchini
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 oz fresh soft goat cheese
- About 2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
- About 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Heat the oven to 325F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, lightly oil the foil.
Cut the tomatoes into quarters lengthwise. Lay them on a baking sheet (cut side up), drizzle with the olive oil, and sprinkle with the herbes de Provence, salt, and pepper. Roast in the oven for about 2 hours, until the tomatoes are dried and wrinkled and their edges look lightly toasted. Check occasionally to make sure the edges aren't getting too brown. If they are, turn the oven temperature down to 300F.
Use immediately, or store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days. Let the tomatoes come to room temperature before serving.
Slice the zucchini into ¼-inch rounds and lay them on a platter. Sprinkle them with a little salt and pepper. Place 1 piece of roasted tomato on each zucchini slice. Pinch a bit of goat cheese on top of each tomato piece. Sprinkle with the chopped chives, drizzle with the olive oil, and serve.


text:
LONDON (AP) — In 1981, Princess Diana's uncle made a public statement before her royal wedding to clear up The Question: Yes, she was a virgin.
What a difference a generation makes.
Today, few people seem the least bit concerned that Prince William and Kate Middleton, set to wed this month, have been living together off and on since their university days.
"We live in a modern age and people do all sorts of things before they settle down," said Keith Morley, 34, an engineer from Birmingham. "It's probably best that they lived together before making a commitment."
Some historians say it's about time the royals shed the prudishness they exhibited at the time of Diana's marriage, which came years after the pill and the Summer of Love made casual sex more socially acceptable even in traditionally uptight Britain.
The modern-day tolerance of William and Middleton's living arrangements, many say, just brings the House of Windsor in line with the times. Part of the change may have to do with the very public infidelities that played out in the disastrous marriage of Charles and Diana, which rocked the royal family to its core.
"After two decades of scandal, I think it's the royal family recognizing that to be normal is to their advantage," said Deborah Cohen, a historian at Northwestern University in Chicago who specializes in modern Britain.
"It's a canny refashioning of the image. There is no longer an investment in being anachronistic, or a public expectation that they ought to be harkening back to a different era of sexual politics."
At the time of Diana's engagement, the royal family and its advisers expected that she be a virgin, sparking dozens of speculative newspaper stories. It all prompted her late uncle, Lord Fermoy, to pronounce publicly that she was a "bona fide" virgin.
The issue of Diana's virginity wasn't based on a fixed rule but was part of a set of unwritten conventions governing royal life, a code of behavior that has evolved — slowly — over the centuries as social values change. It is the monarch who sets the tone, so the views of Queen Elizabeth II have prevailed for nearly six decades.
Practical concerns, more than squeamishness about sex, were behind the royal family's historic concerns over the virginity of a prospective bride, Cohen said. There were fears that a princess could be carrying another man's child, bringing an illegitimate heir to the throne. This was particularly important before paternity testing provided a scientific way to determine a child's biological father.
By Diana's time, Cohen said, the issue of virginity had come to represent a yearning for lost innocence as Britain was gripped by a perceived social breakdown driven home by its unwanted status of having Europe's highest divorce rate.
"What began as a concern about legitimacy acquired all sort of connotations tied to social purity," Cohen said. "Diana's virginity became symbolic of the possibility of a return to an innocent past for everyone, and now we're so past that, it's laughable."
In effect, that liberates the new royal couple to live their own lives without carrying such a heavy weight of society's expectations.
They are not expected to adhere to an ideal that fell out of fashion several generations ago, long before Middleton sauntered down a charity fashion show runway wearing a transparent dress over black lingerie, producing photos that seem destined to live forever on the Internet.
In Diana's day, the risque photos of a likely future queen might have torpedoed any wedding plans. Now they raise a few eyebrows, but nothing more.
A spokesman for Prince William, who refused to be identified because of royal policy, said palace officials would not comment on whether attitudes have changed, preferring to leave that role to others.
Middleton's age also offers a partial explanation for the different attitudes toward the two royal brides. She is 29; Diana was just 19 when her engagement to Charles was announced after a brief courtship. There was a general expectation that the young nursery school teacher would not have had any lovers before Charles.
"There is no rule that the royal bride has to be a virgin, and there never has been," said Noel Cox, a law professor and royal scholar at Aberystwyth University in Wales. "Obviously it would present difficulties if the heir chose someone who was notoriously promiscuous — that would be unpopular — but they could do that if they wanted to."
Diana's virginity wasn't a defined issue, experts say, but the absence of prior boyfriends with embarrassing tales to tell was a big plus from the royals' point of view.
At the time of her engagement, Charles was already in an on-again, off-again romantic relationship with Camilla Shand, who decades later would become his second wife. Charles may well have wanted to marry Camilla, but she was not seen as an appropriate choice because she was known to have had several boyfriends by that time.
Some historians and commentators believe this was a major factor in Charles' fateful decision to marry Diana rather than Camilla, setting in motion a tragic chain of events that culminated with Diana's 1997 death in a car crash.
Royal commentators believe William is in a better position than his father to make his marriage work.
"He's his own man," said royal expert Dickie Arbiter. "He's made his own space and he decides what he wants to do and when he wants to do it. The fact that William and (Kate) have had a relationship for eight years speaks for itself."
Associated Press Writer Aaron Edwards contributed to this report.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Group Booking Terms and Conditions
Because you are making a Group Booking, there are additional Terms and Conditions that apply. Please read them and click 'I Accept' below to continue with your booking
General Group Booking Terms
By making a group reservation through Hostelworld.com you agree to the following terms and conditions as set by Hostelworld.com and as set by the hostel in question.
- In order to make a group reservation on Hostelworld.com it is necessary to pay a deposit. The balance is due directly to the hostel according to their payment conditions.
- The booking deposit is non-refundable.
- Please note that any cancellations must be notified directly to the hostel at least 24 hours in advance of your scheduled arrival date, unless otherwise stated in the hostel's conditions.
- Hostelworld.com are not responsible for changes or amendments to your reservation once it has been processed. All correspondence with regard to changes to your booking need to be dealt with directly with the hostel.
- Cancellations for reservations must be made directly with the hostel and must conform with the individual hostels cancellation policy (see below)
- It is your responsibility to pay the balance of your accommodation cost to the hostel in accordance with their payment conditions (see below). Failure to do so may result in your reservation being cancelled by the hostel.
- Individual hostels may have special booking conditions relating to group stays, please read the hostel booking conditions carefully before making your reservation.
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The remainder of the amount due will be charged to your credit card ???? Should numbers or room selection change, the per person deposit times the number of people who actually travelled will be deducted from the total accommodation charge levvied by the hostel.
The following group types are not accepted by this hostel: Holiday with Friends, Junior / Primary School, High / Secondary School, College / University, Business Trip, Stag/Hen/Bachelor Party, Sports Group, Cultural Group If you have misrepresented the type of group you are booking for, your booking may be cancelled by the hostel."
Any cancellations resulting from agreement to these terms and conditions under false pretences will result in loss of deposit.
Du måste godkänna våra villkor för att bekräfta din bokning.
Beskrivningen av objektet
As well all that you will enjoy our regular parties at the property and our knowledgeable and friendly international staff are always here to help.
Also, we provide free maps, free WIFI, free videos and sports that you can watch in our TV lounge, free linen and towels and some vending machine.
Incredible prices for incredible services and rooms!!!
We hope you will be having a great trip & we are looking forward to seeing you here soon! Visa regler för boendet
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text:
|Original Article
|Vitamin D Deficiency May Be a Modifiable Risk Factor in Women With Endometriosis
|Marzieh Derakhshan1,2, Maryam Derakhshan3, Pegah Hedayat3, Maryam Shiasi1, Erfan Sadeghi4
|1Department of Anatomy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
2Gynecology and Andrology Center, Khanevadeh Hospital, Esfahan, Iran
3Department of Pathology, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
4Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
Viewed : 2693 times
Downloaded : 1844 times.
Keywords : Vitamin D deficiency, Endometriosis, Calcium intake
|Full Text(PDF) | Related Articles
Objectives: This study aimed to determine the levels of 25(OH) D in endometriosis patients and to clarify the association between the endometriosis and dietary intake of calcium and vitamin D.
Materials and Methods: A total of 200 women with endometriosis as endometriosis group and 154 healthy women (control group) of reproductive age were included in this study. The plasma 25(OH) D (vitamin D3) level was measured by high-pressure liquid chromatography method in endometriosis and control (healthy) groups. Participants in these 2 groups were asked about the dietary intake of calcium and vitamin D.
Results: Our result showed the association between 25(OH) D deficiency and endometriosis risk (odds ratio [OR] = 29.4, P < 0.001). The intake of dietary calcium was also inversely associated with recurrence of endometriosis. However, this association was not observed between vitamin D intake and endometriosis.
Conclusions: Our results showed that the decreased level of vitamin D (VD) is associated with the endometriosis risk. Accordingly, the authors validate that vitamin D deficiency may be regarded as a predisposing factor for endometriosis. In addition, a decreased risk of endometriosis with increasing calcium (Ca) intake was observed. Therefore, using Ca as dietary supplementation may be useful in the management of endometriosis in patients.
Cite By, Google Scholar


text:
James Ward-Prowse (£5.0m) earned the maximum Fantasy Premier League bonus points in Southampton's 2-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.
The Saints midfielder tallied 28 in the Bonus Point System (BPS) after netting his side's consolation at White Hart Lane. Ward-Prowse also made three recoveries and completed 80% of 36 attempted passes, creating two scoring chances.
Spurs' Christian Eriksen (£8.6m) received two bonus points, with 27 in the BPS.
Netting the hosts' opener, the Denmark international also made two successful tackles and completed 78% of 33 attempted passes, with two of those leading to scoring opportunities.
Mousa Dembele (£5.4m) was awarded a single bonus point after scoring 25 in the BPS.
The Belgian made seven recoveries and completed three successful dribbles. He was also successful with 87% of 58 attempted passes, supplying the assist for Eriksen's goal.
Dele Alli (£8.8m) failed to collect bonus points despite scoring Spurs' second goal from the penalty spot. The midfielder's BPS haul suffered as he was tackled on eight occasions.
Alli was ranked top of the ICT Index, though, thanks to a score of 10.6.
The midfielder produced two shots, both from inside the penalty box and on target, on his way to netting for the 11th time in 12 Gameweeks.
Fellow scorer Eriksen registered more shots on goal (four) than any player in the match, though all of his efforts were fired from range.
Despite failing to find the net, Son Heung-min (£6.9m) claimed the top ICT Threat haul, with 63.
Deputising for the injured Harry Kane (£11.2m) up front, Son recorded three shots on goal, all from inside the Southampton box, though managed only one on target.
Assuming spot-kick duties in Kane's absence, Alli has moved to one point behind Chelsea's Eden Hazard (£10.2m) in the FPL midfield standings.
With seven of Spurs' remaining 10 matches scoring two in the Fixture Difficulty Rankings (FDR), acquiring at least one of Alli or Eriksen looks a worthy strategy for the run-in.
The fourth-most popular target ahead of the weekend with 132,000+ new owners, Alli has already been snapped up by more than 24,000 FPL managers since Sunday's haul.
More than 14,000 have turned to Eriksen, who is fourth in the midfield rankings after netting for the first time since Gameweek 16.
Meanwhile, Ward-Prowse's fine run of form suggests that he could emerge as a budget midfield contender as the Saints prepare to play 11 fixtures over the remaining nine Gameweeks.
Found in only 0.3% of FPL squads, he has produced two goals and an assist in his last five Gameweek appearances.
Having teed up Ward-Prowse for the visitors' consolation, Ryan Bertrand (£5.4m) has also improved his output of late.
The left-back has four assists, two clean sheets and five bonus points over his previous six Gameweeks.
Claude Puel has cause for concern further up the pitch, though, after Manolo Gabbiadini (£6.9m) limped off during the first half with a groin problem.
The Italian had soared to over 10% ownership prior to the weekend after scoring four goals in his first three Gameweek starts.
But with doubts now surrounding the Italian's availability for the back-to-back home matches with AFC Bournemouth and Crystal Palace, the striker is the third-most sold player over the last 24 hours, with more than 13,000 FPL managers parting company.


text:
New BMW Performance Steering Wheel Has Built-in G-Meter, Stopwatch - With Poll
Having information available at your fingertips is expected these days, and BMW has brought performance info as close to your digits as possible with a new sport steering wheel that includes a built-in display. Inspired by Formula 1 instrumentation, the wheel relays performance data through a small screen mounted at the top.
Through the wheel, drivers can view a stopwatch with lap-timing function, G-meter, quarter-mile timer, and engine temperature display. Other measurements like fuel consumption and average speed can also be brought up on the screen. Flanking the screen are multiple LEDs embedded in the wheel, which act together as shift lights. BMW says the screen is positioned where the driver's eyes naturally focus. In a performance driving situation, however, the last place you'd want to display information is on a surface that's constantly moving, so data from the G-meter is kept onscreen until the wheel is pointed straight when drivers can more clearly read it.
The optional wheel starts at $1653, and is available through BMW's M Performance accessories catalog wrapped in leather or Alcantara. Check out the video below to see the wheel in action.
Source: BMW


text:
|also yup
That $220 sprenger I was patting myself on the back for only spending $40 on?
|and these ones are all mine
So tell me bloggy-folk, what is your best-ever horse supplies deal?
|also yup
|and these ones are all mine
Well I'm not sure if it's quite the deal of the century, but I did get a Vespucci bridle with purchase of horse... LOLReplyDelete
I did decently buying and selling old saddles on ebay when I had don.
I got an ancient bates caprilli for $60 on eBay that I still ride in.
I won an auction on another nice saddle at one point but the seller messaged me demanding more money because it had sold too low, and I was like "That's not how this works. That's not how any of this works." But sadly there are no eBay police to go sieze my prize, so I got my money back and no saddle.
I just don't buy like I used to anymore.
what?? what the hell??Delete
I scored a pair of Ariat field boots for $15 for a friend. :)ReplyDelete
2 brand new Prestige bridles for about $15....total.
A full square BARTL sheepskin saddle pad for $16.
Brand new sweet iron link Stubben loose-ring for about $5.
how are you doing this??
my best deal was i got a full set of trizone airlite cross country boots for $20. regularly like $220.
i love them EVEN MORE.
There's that special ring of "all that and they were a super deal" that makes things EVER BETTER.Delete
I haven't gotten any scores of the century... though I came close with my FITS Zephyr coat for only $60. I got a virtually new Mattes sheepskin half pad for $60 (shipped). Ultra Thinline quilted half pad for $50 (shipped). Got 2 Sprenger bits for $15 each. Have and use all except the Sprenger bits, which were resold bc princess hates loose ring bits.ReplyDelete
Loose rings are devil. Sigh.Delete
Most of my cool stuff has been gifted to me by cool people who accept the fact that I'm poor and are nice to me. Free things are the best things.ReplyDelete
I am totally ok with being the poor relation who gets free stuff.Delete
Deals of the century, hmmm...
1. I had a friend GIVE ME a set of brand new (still on the packaging) Majyk Equipe XC boots. The whole set. Fronts and backs. Whoa.
2. I've purchased more than 3 saddles for $750 and under and sold 2 of them for more than I originally purchased them for. As in, a couple of hundred dollars of profit on both. Winning!
3. Bought my Equiline show coat for $150 on sale from Germany.
4. My double was on clearance at Bobby's for less than the clearanced snaffle bridles. When I sent back the first one for being too big, the second they sent me was actually the higher quality version (and it fit). Winning again.
5. My Rambo cooler was $50, found at the bottom of the consignment blanket pile in my local tack shop.
6. Multiple clothing scores from Smartpak for under $10...
lol I frequently turn a profit on saddles because I'm such a miser about buying them. Now I'm edging up into the saddle bracket where that's less likely, but it's a nice memory.Delete
I bought a Specialized endurance saddle (based on two lines of text and zero photos) off Craigslist in Florida and had it shipped to me in California for a total of $350. It turned out to be nearly new. Retail: $1800. I figured it would either be one of the best tack decisions I've ever made or I'd be out $350. No regrets!
My Myler bit was in a pile of free stuff at the barn.
Woolback barrel/endurance pad was $12 at the kinda-local consignment shop. I went back a few weeks later and found my Coolback pad for $20.
You're brave. I admire that.Delete
Oh god I could write a novel hahahaReplyDelete
Oh man! That time I bought my used (but mint) CWD, sold it, and then bought it back for the same price I had originally paid BUT it was kitted out with a deep condition and flocking from CWD, CWD stirrup leathers, AND Royal Rider stirrups!ReplyDelete
I'm super good at finding deals! A couple favorites though-
Brand new Pikeur Luganas for $50.
Brand new Goode Rider show coat for $60.
HS rubber bit for $5.
Mattes sheepskin dressage pad for $5.
My collection of Toklat Classics dressage pads, none of which I paid more than $10 for (all bought on separate occasions).
Hat off to you. That is quite impressive.Delete
I got my Ariat field boots brand new for $75, they were on clearance because they were pull-on not zipper!ReplyDelete
I tried a CWD saddle that my trainer's trainer had for sale for $2500 and it miraculously fit my horse. It had a hole rubbed in the leather on the pommel so I low balled him after getting some quotes to fix it and offered $1000, which for some reason he accepted. Also my Ecogold half pad that's $249- found at a tack swap for $40 and it works perfectly for my horse. Love deals!ReplyDelete
I love bit deals! I was pretty psyched at lots of my lucky finds -- the most cost-savings might have been the Stubben dressage bridle that I found for $0, but my deal I got the most mileage of was definitely the lot of 6 pairs of breeches on eBay for $30 total ($5 a pair!) all almost new because someone just had a baby and wasn't exactly my size anymore. :D And that was over 10 years ago & I'm still wearing at least 3 of them!!ReplyDelete
My husband got a $2000+ Freeform saddle for $300 at a used tack sale.ReplyDelete
Most of my insane deals are normal clothing related, as I have a baaadddd habit of that kind of shopping.
But I did score a full set of Equifit T-Boots for $40, and have found TS Trophy Hunter breeches as low as $15.
So... what you're saying is... there's a way to actually acquire stuff instead of just adding things to your shopping cart and then quickly closing the browser window before you actually spend all that money? Cause that's what I do.ReplyDelete
I got my Custom for $650! Never going to have another deal like that, it was probably worth at least $2k, possibly more.ReplyDelete
Not the best deal ever, but I did get the Animo jacket of my dreams for 50% off at WEF this year. I also got lots of breeches for 50%-75% off with the tags still on at the best consignment shop in WellingtonReplyDelete
I was going to say I got this great deal on a KK, oh wait you already said that ;) Probably my Devoucoux dressage saddle that is in great shape and a matching girth for $1100!ReplyDelete
I found an Hermes saddle at a 4H sale for $700. About ten years old, perfect condition for its age, just the ugly light brown color. Called a friend and she asked me to grab it for her.ReplyDelete
Wow there are some amazing shoppers here in blogland! I'm like Carly and get my "deals" as free gifts from friends. I also pay it forward the same way when I can :)ReplyDelete
Just popping by late to the party to say that I got a 2003 County Connection dressage saddle for $94 about six weeks ago. It fits me and my horse and has quickly become my favorite saddle.ReplyDelete


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HIDDN x Rivero – Shadow
When two up and coming producers join forces in the studio, the results are often something special. And that is certainly the case on this occasion, as HIDDN and Rivero team up to bring us 'Shadow' exclusively on Tiesto's Musical Freedom. Having slotting himself into a role of a frequenter at Armada with a steady string of impressive solo releases and collaborations on its Armada Trice imprint, HIDDN has seen ample praise for his tracks to date. For this most recent single, he opts for a much more hard-hitting sound in comparison to his more radio-friendly style that has made his past releases so popular.
Whilst similar, Rivero is another youngster who has been climbing the ranks throughout 2017, having become a regular on Hardwell's Revealed Recording with tracks such as 'Wait For The Night', 'Otherside' and 'Shockwave' to add to his arsenal of music. Undoubtedly going to go down as one of their biggest releases to date, 'Shadow' is a powerful tune with hints of being a main-stage banger right from the very beginning, as both HIDDN and Rivero showcase their production skills at their best. Fast-paced, energetic and lively, the roaring leads synths combine with the growling bassline to create a dubstep vibe with a big room intensity for the first half of the track, before they switch things up into an all-out trap banger as the track nears its conclusion.
HIDDN & Rivero's track 'Shadow' is now available for purchase here. Check out the track in full below.


text:
WARRENTON, Ore. — The Coast Guard conducted a medevac of a man experiencing chest pains 20 miles off the Manzanita coast on a commercial fishing vessel Friday morning.
The 59-year old man was alert and responsive when he was transferred to Warrenton emergency medical services at Coast Guard Sector Columbia River in Warrenton by an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew.
Sector Columbia River Command Center received a VHF-FM radio call from the captain of the commercial fishing vessel Karen, homeported in Tillamook, requesting medical help for a crewmember. The aircrew launched at 10:44 a.m., and returned to base for the transfer at 12:16 p.m.
"Medical evacuations are a big part of our search and rescue mission, which is why our aviation survival technicians are specifically trained as basic emergency medical technicians," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Joseph Cunningham, an operations specialist, Coast Guard Sector Columbia River. "We often coordinate operations with local responders to successfully prosecute Coast Guard missions."
The man was transported to Columbia Memorial Hospital by EMS.


text:
Streaming is NOT THROTTLED at 480p on this plan. 1080p Streaming is Allowed (4.5Mbps)
BYOD(Bring Your Own Device) - SIM ONLY Does not include a modem
- $20 one time Activation fee for Pink Plan. Then $110 each 30 days after the 1st month.
- Service renews every 30 days with our Automatic Billing service.
- 900 GB is considered the average use for Pink Plan. Usage above 900GB is considered data abuse and your account will be under review. If you account is terminted because of data abuse we will not offer any refunds.
- No Contract
- No Throttle
- 10-50 Mbps Download Speed
- (Speeds will fluctuate based on many factors beyond our control)
- Unsupported Modem: Netgear Nighthawk MR1100, LR20, Pepwave Max Transit
HD Streaming 1080p Pink Plan Monthly Membership
SKU: T-MobileHD
3 day Trial and Refund on Sim only.


text:
The Work
September 1, 2010 4:31 PM
Reuters Confirms: August Was Busy M&A Month
Posted by Zach Lowe
August is over, and we'll remember it mostly for our wonderful vacation. But a lot of deal lawyers won't have those sorts of memories, since many apparently cancelled their vacations--or at least their golf games--to deal with an unexpected wave of M&A action this summer. And today Thomson Reuters confirms: August 2010 had the most M&A activity of any August since 1999.
Under the Thomson Reuters system--and every ranking system is different--announced deals in August totaled $262 billion, the highest amount since 1999. Experts gave the usual list of explanations for why deal volume increased even as the economy sputtered: Companies are flush with cash, and shareholders demand they spend it on deals or return it to shareholders via dividends or buybacks. Also, M&A gurus from the likes of Sullivan & Cromwell and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson told Thomson Reuters, interest rates remain low, and the public markets are probably undervaluing attractive companies,
And so it's time to rejoice, right? Sure, right up until you read this sentence in the Reuters piece: "Still, by number of deals, [August 2010] ranks lower than last August." In other words: A bunch of huge deals account for a decent chunk of that $262 billion. Among the biggies: BHP Billiton's $39 billion move for Potash Corp. and Intel's $7.7 billion offer for McAfee. Overall, the number of deals remains underwhelming. Does that temper your optimism?
Still, the glass-half-full folks are anticipating that deal activity will remain strong once everyone gets back from their Labor Day weekend plans. If they're right, all you overworked M&A lawyers will be able to make up for this summer with even grander vacation plans for next year.
Unless you're stuck in the office once again.Make a comment
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text:
Lucca Comics & Games is the largest annual comic book, gaming, illustration and animation convention in all of Europe and the second largest in the world, after the Comiket in Japan. Not just for children and young readers, as many might think: comics are a means of communication comparable to literature and art. They compile stories combining words and images in an inseparable way, ranging from sci-fi to intimate autobiographies. The charming world of comics has expanded its boundaries to games and animation, giving birth to a huge fair that every year involves Lucca and its Palazzo Ducale. Visitors are the true "main characters" of this magic adventure, especially the cosplayers (in case you didn't know, cosplayers are manga and anime lovers who dress up and perform as their chosen heroes).
Recently, among the main guests were the great cartoonist Frank Miller, creator of "Sin City"and "300", Joan Cornellà who became popular thanks to his splatter and ironic strips spread through the internet and the famous illustrator Milo Manara that represent the Italian side of comics, with its tradition of clear touch.
Every year film screenings take us to the magical world of the animation movies.
In addition, the setting is still one of the main reasons to visit the festival. Walking around the comics and games areas surrounded by centennial trees and embraced by the ancient walls of Lucca is amazing!
Lucca Comics and Games: official website (in Italian).


text:
The Whitchurch-Stouffville Museum and Community Centre houses a collection of approximately 18,000 artifacts.
|How do we decide what is added to the collection?
|The acceptance of any item is based on the importance and relevance of that item to our Vision and Mission Statement, in particular, those items that best serve to illustrate the natural history, human settlement and historical development of Whitchurch and Stouffville. The Museum must also consider the resources available to care for the item after acceptance. The time frame parameters for collection states that the item must have been created at least 45 years prior to to the present date.
Collection Categories under which objects are acquired:
Permanent Collection: The majority of objects being acquired for the Museum's Collection fall within this category. These are authentic, historical objects in complete or nearly complete conditions. They will only be used for exhibit and research purposes.
Hands-On Collection: These objects may be duplicates of items already in the permanent collection or modern reproductions. They may be used as interpretive tools for education, exhibition, and special event purposes.
Props Collection: An object for which no donor information, no collection records and no accession information can be found. This category of item can be used as a prop. They can be used for exhibit or educational programming, but do not have significant historical value.
Restoration Collection: Items that are to be used in the restoration of an artifact in the Permanent Collection, or as replacement parts for an artifact in the Permanent and Hands-On Collection.
What is the Life Cycle of an Artifact?!
Permanent Exhibit
A permanent exhibit opened in late 2015 in the former Vandorf Public School. It traces the development of Whitchurch Township and the village of Stouffville to 1971 when the Region of York was created and the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville was created. Components of this exhibit will be changed annually to interpret new stories from our community.
Current/Upcoming Exhibits:
The Whitchurch-Stouffville Museum & Community Centre presents changing annual exhibitions to engage you. Our intimate Exhibition Gallery hosts our annual and travelling exhibits. Elements of our permanent collection are frequently used to enhance off-site exhibits. Our exhibitions are open during the Museum's regular operating hours. General admission applies.
Our new online exhibit running now is: Archaeology Alive! The Jean-Baptiste Lainé Site in Whitchurch-Stouffville. Explore and learn about this amazing archaeological site, uncovered in southeast Whitchurch-Stouffville between 2003 and 2005.
Recent past exhibits include:
A Stitch in Time: examples of intricate hand-stitched creations
Made in Canada: focused on military themed artifacts from the museum's collection and the stories that they tell
All in this Together: looked at what life was like for Canadians who were at home during war-time.
If you have ideas for future exhibits, please contact the Museum!


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Omagh Councillor Sorcha McAnespy launched a broadside against Sinn Féin in West Tyrone after her sudden resignation from the party on Thursday, and announced her intention to stand as an independent candidate in the forthcoming Northern Ireland Assembly election.
The Ulster Herald appears to have broken the story on Thursday.
The former vice-chair of Omagh District Council said she made the shock decision because she was "left in an untenable position at local level" by Sinn Féin councillors and other members of the party.
She accused them of sidelining her as well as blocking her progress in Sinn Féin, while opening up positions to newer members with less experience and credentials.
However the mother-of-three, who was first elected as a councillor back in 2011, told the Ulster Herald that she has "no beef with the political analysis" of Sinn Féin and her difficulties were at a local level within the party.
She said, "So many things have happened. I am not been allowed to carry out the work I have been elected to do for my constituents and my progression has been blocked every way I turn and that is to the detriment of the local area.
"It is very disappointing when you put your heart and soul into something and do everything above board and by the book yet not get support or recognition."
Ms McAnespy highlighted her concerns to the party but said she did not feel she received adequate support.
She added, "I have tried to get this addressed so many times. I also tried to deal with it myself and put my head down and do my work to represent my constituents as best I can.
"I have proved myself in elections and on Omagh Council. There should have been no question of me standing for Sinn Féin in 2014, however I just about got selected and nearly didn't get out of the Sinn Féin traps.
"Now I feel I just have to move on. It has got to a stage were I often don't know where a lot of decisions have been made even though I was at the last party meeting." [added emphasis]
I'll come back to that…
After first being elected to Omagh District Council in 2011, unseating another Sinn Féin councillor in the process, Sorcha McAnespy was elected to the new Fermanagh and Omagh District Council in 2014.
A subsequent report in the Irish News has more forthright comments from Cllr McAnespy.
The former vice-chair of Omagh District Council claimed she had been "marginalised" within Sinn Féin in favour of newer members with less experience.
Ms McAnespy (36) said she raised her concerns with the party but did not feel she received adequate support.
"There's too much nepotism and misogyny present in the party locally. It's jobs for the boys. It is not open and transparent," she claimed.
"Sinn Féin needs to support their elected representatives. They need to find mechanisms to support people who feel this way."
Ms McAnespy, who revealed her decision to quit the party in the Ulster Herald on Thursday, gained the most first-preference votes for the party in the Omagh ward in the 2014 council elections.
But the mother-of-three yesterday said she has been feeling discontented for several years, claiming she was being "undermined".
"I just felt you were being restricted whatever way you went. It wasn't nice," she said.
She added: "I was hoping things would get better. I was hoping that I would be able to find another way around this." [added emphasis throughout]
Occasional Slugger contributor, Chris Donnelly, played down the "fall-out" in the Irish News report
Political commentator Chris Donnelly said on Thursday night that Sinn Féin is likely to retain its three MLA seats in West Tyrone despite Ms McAnespy's candidacy.
"This one is unlike Fermanagh and South Tyrone in that I can't see this contributing towards a loss," he said.
But he added: "It is another sign that Sinn Féin in the north is beginning to move towards a normal political party where there would be this type of fall-out. [added emphasis]
"That will bring challenges to Sinn Féin at a leadership level. They like to maintain internal discipline."
[Beginning, indeed. – Ed] Up to a point, Lord Copper…
Unlike previous resignations, so far Sinn Féin hasn't demanded the return of their Council seat by the now Independent Cllr McAnespy, instead a party spokesman has been quoted in the various reports as 'disappointed'
A Sinn Féin spokesperson expressed "disappointment" at Cllr McAnespy's decision to leave the party.
He said, "We thank her for her service. Sinn Féin's team of candidates for West Tyrone in the upcoming Assembly election were selected by the delegates of the party at an open and democratic selection convention. Sinn Féin will put our programme for progressive politics and for Irish Unity before the people of West Tyrone at next month's election."
Interestingly, I failed to find any reference by Sinn Féin on-line to an actual selection convention in West Tyrone – including their own press statements. The party's four candidates for this year's NI Assembly election, three sitting MLAs, Barry McElduff, Declan McAleer(co-opted 2012) and Michaela Boyle, along with first-time candidate Grace McDermott, were announced at the launch of Pat Doherty's Westminster campaign in March 2015.
Sinn Féin previously attempted to win four of the six West Tyrone Assembly seats in 2011. But on that occasion, Declan McAleer missed out. He was later co-opted into the seat vacated by Pat Doherty.
The party still believe they possess enough votes in West Tyrone for four quotas and believe they can roll out the right strategy to turn their 50 per-cent share of the overall vote into four seats.
That announcement is in contrast to the multiple conventions in Fermanagh/South Tyrone… [And 'South Tyrone'! – Ed]
Of course, as with share prices, electoral fortunes can go down as well as up.


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Every girl likes to be adored and admired. Equally for different innerwear for ladies like lingerie, sports activities bras, camisoles and slips, you will get these at low costs on-line from Jockey, Clovia, Amante, Lovable, Pretty Secrets and techniques and other good quality manufacturers.
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Women, who select to wear dresses or skirts and blouses day by day, are likely to desire comfortable fitting materials that give them a 'professional' look as a substitute of the more casual dishevelled sweatshirt and tight fitting jeans that may be worn outside the office.
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I have a situation, consider:
Application is running OK.
When app starts, if table T1 is empty (0 records), SqlBulkCopy is used to insert 5000 records in T1 allowing triggers to fire and constraints check, the result is:
I have tried to initialize the context but no success.
The procedure will succeed in two cases:
What could cause the StackOverflow exception.
Ok, problem solved, just in case someone else would face a similar error, I will share my solution.
I have modified the T4 template to enable the EDM to produce entities from my database that:
Implement the INotifyPropertyChanged.
Apply Data Validation by implementing the INotifyDataErrorInfo and using DataAnnotations by checking validation rules in Metadata separate class.
That caused the StackOverFlow excepetion.
Disabling the Property Validation solved the problem.
So, Data Validation is not welcomed as SqlBulkCopy while WriteToServer is in progress.


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Bath Rugby fly-half Stephen Donald has been named in the Barbarians starting line-up to face England at Twickenham on Sunday 27th May, 14:30 kick off.
Springbok World Cup winning captain John Smit will lead the Barbarians when they open their summer tour against England at Twickenham on Sunday afternoon.
Coach John Kirwan said, "We have several natural leaders in the squad but with John's track record of captaincy at the highest levels of the game he was the obvious choice to lead us on this tour."
Barbarians team:
Mils Muliaina, Paul Sackey, Casey Laulala, Mike Tindall, Ian Balshaw, Stephen Donald, Rory Lawson, Neemia Tialata, John Smit (captain), John Afoa, Mark Chisholm, Anton van Zyl, Ernst Joubert, John Beattie, Akapusi Qera
Replacements: Benoit August, Duncan Jones, Pelu Taele, Raphael Lakafia, Jerome Fillol, Felipe Contepomi, Sailosi Tagicakibau


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Montenegro is located in the balkan region in south of Europe. Only 10 years ago it was still part of Yugoslavia republic that was Serbia and Montenegro. In all the country there are only 750K people!(2017) And they are using Euro even though they are not in Eu. Definitely interesting place to visit.
Getting around
We rented a car in advance to pick it from Podgorica airport. It is a very small airport and not all companies even has their office in there so you might need to wait for someone to bring a car. But it was not a problem for us – another adventure. If not car, you would need to get a taxi as there is not really public transportation there.
Podgorica – the capital of Montenegro
Podgorica used to be a city of Turks, that is why the old town has minarets and sadly it was destroyed a lot during the war so it is not very wow touristic place. Especially during the night as there is no light… And no pedestrian way… So better go to the city centre where the locals go. You will find many bars, restaurants, shopping streets and so on – very modern and nice. And try to visit touristic spots during the day time.
On the way to the coast
We crossed Skadar lake and it's regional park. Right before the main bridge you can stop and walk to the ruins of Lesendro fortress. Fun part that you need to walk on the railway as there is no path there – definitely not too touristic.
Another ''green stop'' was the Solila reserve where birds stop on their migration to south. Of course there were not much activity going on as it was November but it was nice to see where birds from my country stops on their way.
Budva – historical, party town
Before going I thought it is just a beach town with a lot of parties during the summer and nothing to do during the cold season. I was wrong. The old town is a fortification itself! So it feel you are entering the castle and all city appears – churches, shops, bars, restaurants, residential houses and so on! Narrow streets, the sound of waves, many many cats is just amazing! Even though summer period it must be super hot and crowded, I was happy to be there during the cold season.
Kotor bay – beautiful fiord in the south of Europe
I saw many pictures of Kotor bay before arriving. But nothing can give you the impression of the mountains and the adriatic sea meeting. It is just amazing and I recommend to everyone go and feel that. We stayed in amazing vila Portofino – amazing view, great equipped with kitchen, living room and even Netflix. Also they give free bikes to go to Kotor (2km) so that is what we did. Great choice as there is not so easy to park your car and of course not free. Old town again is inside the walls. You can pay 3 eur and walk all the way up the the castle and church and see amazing view of the bay. Or just get lost in narrow streets, have a coffee or try to count how many cats could live in their – too many. 😀
I did not cover the northern part of the country as it is mountains and I would love to come back during the summer and do some hiking there – looked amazing national parks and just – mountains are always good.


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Article Text
Background Hyperpolarised 3He MRI provides a way to visualise regional pulmonary functional abnormalities that in asthma are thought to be related to airway morphological abnormalities. However, the exact aetiology of ventilation defects in asthma is not well understood.
Objective To better understand the determinants of ventilation defects in asthma, we evaluated well-established clinical as well as 3He MRI and X-ray CT airway measurements in healthy subjects and subjects with asthma.
Methods Thirty-four subjects (n=26 subjects with asthma, n=8 healthy volunteers) underwent MRI, spirometry, plethysmography, fraction of exhaled nitric oxide analysis, methacholine challenge and CT for a region-of-interest proximal to ventilation defects. For subjects who consented to CT (n=18 subjects with asthma, n=5 healthy volunteers), we evaluated 3rd to 5th generation airway wall area and wall thickness per cent and lumen area.
Results Seventeen subjects with asthma (17/26=65%) had visually obvious evidence of 3He ventilation defects prior to bronchoprovocation and nine subjects with asthma had no ventilation defects prior to bronchoprovocation (9/26=35%). Subjects with asthma with defects were older (p=0.01) with worse forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1)/forced vital capacity (p=0.0003), airways resistance (p=0.004), fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (p=0.03), greater bronchoprovocation concentration of methacholine that reduced FEV1 by 20% (p=0.008) and wall thickness per cent (p=0.02) compared with subjects with asthma without defects. There was a moderate correlation for wall area per cent with ventilation defect per cent (r=0.43, p=0.04).
Conclusions Subjects with asthma with 3He ventilation defects were older with significantly worse airway hyper-responsiveness, inflammation and airway remodelling but similar FEV1 as subjects with asthma without defects; hyperpolarised 3He ventilation abnormalities were spatially and quantitatively related to abnormally remodelled airways.
- Asthma
- Imaging/CT MRI etc
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Key messages
What is the key question?
In asthma, functional MRI using hyperpolarised 3He gas has been used to visualise abnormal and heterogeneous inhaled gas distribution. Regions of signal void or ventilation defects, are believed to correspond to areas of the lung that are not ventilated and such defects have been shown to change in response to bronchoprovocation and bronchodilators. Notwithstanding this previous work, our current understanding of the aetiology and clinical meaning of ventilation defects in asthma is still very limited.
What is the bottom line?
MRI and X-ray CT measurements of airway morphology and function were prospectively evaluated for healthy volunteers and subjects with asthma with and without ventilation defects. Seventeen subjects with asthma (17/26=65%) had visually obvious 3He ventilation defects; these subjects were significantly older, had significantly worse forced expiratory volume in 1 s/forced vital capacity, airways resistance, fraction of exhaled nitric oxide, and airway hyper-responsiveness, as well as more thickened airway walls and more narrowed airway lumen compared with nine subjects with asthma without ventilation defects.
Why read on?
We report the quantitative and spatial relationship between ventilation defects with remodelled airways and with well-established measurements of asthma severity, and that subjects with asthma with ventilation defects were older and had more advanced or severe disease. Taken together, these findings provide us with a better understanding of the differences between subjects with asthma with similar FEV1 and the clinical meaning of ventilation defects in asthma.
Asthma is typically diagnosed and characterised using the spirometry measurement1 ,2 of the forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1). Although relatively simple and inexpensive, spirometry measurements provide a global estimate of the morphological changes in the small and medium-sized airways that are believed to be related to luminal inflammation, airway remodelling and constriction. We now realise using multiple breath nitrogen washout studies3 ,4 and pulmonary imaging methods, that functional abnormalities in asthma are in fact regionally heterogeneous,5–7 temporally persistent8–10 and that these abnormalities regionally respond to bronchoprovocation7 ,11 ,12 and to bronchodilator therapy.11 ,13 Thoracic X-ray CT has been used for over a decade as a non-invasive method to investigate structure-function relationships of asthmatic airways and has shown strong relationships between CT-derived airway measurements with inflammation,14 ,15 spirometry14–21 and disease severity.14 ,16 ,20 ,22 However, while these CT data are encouraging, they are still somewhat limited because it is well recognised that CT cannot resolve or measure airways beyond the fifth or sixth generation. Moreover, even using new lower dose and iterative reconstruction methods,23 CT is not recommended for longitudinal studies and studies of young adults and children because of the potential risks associated with exposure to ionising radiation. Other pulmonary imaging methods such as nuclear medicine scintigraphy24–26 and positron emission tomography27 are also limited clinically because of inherently low spatial resolution.
Hyperpolarised 3He MRI has been previously used to visualise heterogeneous and abnormal gas distribution in asthma. Regions of signal void or ventilation defects have been shown to be temporally persistent8–10 and to correlate significantly with spirometry,6 ,28 ,29 disease severity6 and CT measurements of gas trapping.28 In addition, 3He MRI also provides a way to perform intensive serial measurements due in part to its excellent safety profile,30 and the speed with which imaging can be performed. More specifically, 3He MRI ventilation defects have been shown to increase from baseline following methacholine7 ,11 ,12 and exercise12 challenge, and decrease from baseline following salbutamol administration.13 In asthma, the relationship between ventilation defects and patient outcomes such as exacerbation frequency and severity has not yet been evaluated; however this has been evaluated in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.31 Recently, there has been growing interest in the clinical application of hyperpolarised gas MRI to assess treatment efficacy and furthermore to guide localised airway treatments in asthma. Preliminary work in severe asthma has shown improved 3He gas distribution following localised bronchial thermoplasty treatment.32 While these results provide a strong foundation for the use of MRI in asthma research and patient care, a major drawback has been that we do not clearly understand the aetiology of MRI ventilation defects.33 It has been speculated that MRI ventilation defects reflect regional airway narrowing that may be the consequence of airway remodelling34; however, to our knowledge, the direct spatial and quantitative relationship between MRI ventilation defects and CT airway measurements has not been reported in patients with asthma. Therefore, our objective was to determine the underlying structural and clinical determinants of asthma ventilation abnormalities by evaluating well-established clinical and emerging imaging (hyperpolarised 3He MRI and CT) measurements in healthy volunteers and subjects with asthma.
Study subjects
All subjects provided written informed consent to a study protocol approved by the local research ethics board, and the study was compliant with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (USA). Subjects were enrolled between 18 years and 60 years of age, including mild-to-moderate35 subjects with asthma, and healthy subjects with no history or diagnosis of asthma or any other chronic or current acute respiratory illness. Subjects with asthma were phenotyped from health records based on disease severity and symptoms from a tertiary care centre (interdisciplinary Allergy and Respirology asthma care centre); all subjects with asthma had a current physician diagnosis of asthma, were currently under treatment for asthma and had a positive methacholine challenge within the past 5 years. At a single visit, spirometry, plethysmography, fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) breath analysis and pulmonary CT was performed within 30 min of MRI.
Pulmonary function tests
Spirometry and plethysmography were performed according to American Thoracic Society Guidelines36 using an ndd EasyOne spirometer (ndd Medizintechnik AG, Zurich, Switzerland) and a MedGraphics Elite Series plethysmograph (MedGraphics, St Paul, Minnesota, USA), respectively. FeNO was measured using a Niox Mino (Aerocrine USA, New Providence, New Jersey, USA). Methacholine challenge was performed as previously described11 and the provocative concentration causing a 20% decrease in FEV1 (PC20) was determined. Borg and modified Medical Research Council dyspnoea scores were recorded.
MRI was performed on a whole body 3.0 T Discovery 750MR (General Electric Health Care, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA) system with broadband imaging capability, as previously described.37 Subjects were instructed to inhale a gas mixture from a 1.0 L Tedlar bag (Jensen Inert Products, Coral Springs, Florida, USA) from functional residual capacity, and image acquisition was performed in 8–15 s under breath-hold conditions. Conventional 1H MRI was performed prior to hyperpolarised 3He MRI, both methods are previously described.37
3He MRI were qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated for ventilation abnormalities by a single trained observer. Upon qualitative inspection, subjects with asthma were classified into two groups, (1) subjects with asthma with no ventilation defects (ND) and (2) subjects with asthma with ventilation defects (AD). If 3He gas was homogenously distributed throughout the lung and there were no visible ventilation defects the subject was classified as belonging to the ND group. In contrast, if 3He gas was heterogeneously distributed throughout the lung and/or there were visually obvious ventilation defects, the subject was classified as belonging to the AD group. Quantitative evaluation of 3He MRI was performed to estimate ventilation defect per cent (VDP) and ventilation heterogeneity using the coefficient of variation (COV). 3He MRI semiautomated segmentation was performed to quantify lung volumes using custom software generated using MATLAB R2007b (The Mathworks, Natick, Massachusetts, USA), as previously described.38 As shown in figure 1, 3He static ventilation images were segmented using a K-means approach that classified voxel intensity values into five clusters ranging from signal void (cluster 1 (C1) or ventilation defect volume) to hyperintense signal (cluster 5 (C5)) to create a gas distribution cluster map. 3He MRI VDP was generated using ventilation defect volume normalised to the thoracic cavity volume. Whole lung and regional VDP specific to the CT region-of-interest (ROI) were generated for each subject. Ventilation heterogeneity was estimated according to previously described methods7 using the COV. Briefly, a ventilated lung ROI was defined as gas distribution cluster-map clusters C2–C5. For each voxel within the ventilated lung ROI a local ventilation heterogeneity value was calculated by computing the COV of the signal intensity in the voxels 5×5 neighbourhood. Mean COV for each slice was calculated for each 3He static ventilation slice and then averaged to obtain a single COV value for each subject.
Following 3He MRI, thoracic CT was performed with the same inhalation breath-hold volume and manoeuvre used for MRI, in order to match CT and MRI lung volume and anatomy. CT imaging was performed in the supine position using a 64-slice Lightspeed VCT scanner (GEHC, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA) using a detector configuration of 64×0.625 mm, 120 kVp, 100 mA, 0.5 s gantry rotation, and a pitch of 1.25. To reduce the radiation dose, CT was obtained for a 4 cm axial ROI where there were visually obvious MRI ventilation defects. In the case where there were no visually obvious ventilation defects, the CT volume was acquired in the superior region of the lung. This approach resulted in CT volumes consisting of 32–80 slices and a total effective dose ranging from 0.37 to 0.14 m Sv (generated using the CT parameters and algorithm at http://www.impactscan.org).
CT image analysis was performed using Pulmonary Workstation V.2.0, (VIDA Diagnostics; Iowa City, Iowa, USA) to generate bronchial wall area per cent, wall thickness per cent and lumen area for all 3rd–5th generation segmental bronchi analysed and lumen area was normalised to body surface area.39 As shown in figure 1, an automated airway tree segmentation algorithm was applied with a manual seed-point in the airway lumen introduced if the trachea and main bronchus were not present in the image. For each subject, all airway segment measurements were averaged to report whole lung means. To identify potential spatial relationships between 3He MRI ventilation defects and corresponding airways, CT-MRI coregistration was performed using 3D Slicer registration software (http://www.slicer.org). 40
Statistical methods
Pulmonary function tests, MRI and CT measurements were compared between subject groups using unpaired Student t tests performed using SPSS V.20.0 (IBM, Armonk, New York, USA). Linear regression (r2) and Spearman rank correlation coefficients (r) were performed using GraphPad Prism V.4.00 (Graphpad Software, San Diego, California, USA). Results were considered statistically significant when the probability of making a Type I error was less than 5% (p<0.05).
We enrolled 34 subjects including 26 subjects with a clinical diagnosis of asthma and previous methacholine challenge results consistent with asthma, and 8 healthy volunteers. Table 1 shows subject demographic data, pulmonary function measurements and dyspnoea scores for the two subgroups, and a subject listing of all data is provided in the online supplementary table S1.
Upon qualitative visual inspection, 9 of the 26 subjects with asthma had ND and 17 had visually obvious AD. Figure 2 shows posterior, centre and anterior 3He MRI static ventilation coronal slices (in blue) coregistered to the 1H anatomical MRI (in grey scale) for a representative healthy volunteer as well as ND and AD subjects with asthma with yellow arrows identifying ventilation defects. For healthy volunteers and ND subjects with asthma, 3He gas was homogeneously distributed throughout the lung whereas in contrast, AD subjects with asthma had visually obvious ventilation heterogeneity and ventilation defects. Of the 8 healthy volunteers and 26 subjects with asthma evaluated, 2 healthy volunteers and 12 subjects with asthma underwent imaging across multiple time points ranging from 4 years prior, to 2 years following the study session reported here. In accordance with the study visit data presented here, healthy volunteers had NDs at their additional time point. All subjects with asthma who underwent multiple imaging time points were AD subjects with asthma and all of these subjects had ventilation defects at their additional time point and in the same spatial locations. Moreover, for all subjects with asthma with repeated imaging measurements (n=12), VDP was not significantly different (p=0.49) from measurements acquired and reported in this study.
As shown in table 2, AD subjects were significantly older than ND subjects (p=0.01) with significantly worse FEV1/forced vital capacity (FVC) (p=0.0003), specific airways resistance (sRaw) (p=0.004), FeNO (p=0.03), PC20 (p=0.008), COV (p=0.046), wall thickness per cent (p=0.02) and lumen area normalised to body surface area (p=0.04), but importantly there was no mean difference for FEV1 (p=0.08), FVC (p=0.71) or dyspnoea (modified Medical Research Council: p=0.79, Borg: p=0.12). As compared with healthy subjects, AD subjects had significantly worse FEV1 (p=0.001), FEV1/FVC (p=0.003), sRaw (p=0.003), PC20 (p<0.0001), COV (p=0.007), wall area per cent (p=0.001), wall thickness per cent (p=0.04) and lumen area normalised to body surface area (p=0.0003), but there was no significant difference for FVC (p=0.06). ND subjects had significantly worse FVC (p=0.04), PC20 (p=0.02) and wall area per cent (0.03) compared with healthy volunteers, but no significant difference for FEV1 (p=0.09), FEV1/FVC (p=0.36), sRaw (p=0.36), COV (p=0.11), wall thickness per cent (p=0.61) or lumen area normalised to body surface area (p=0.26).
Figure 3 shows the correlations for FEV1 and sRaw with whole lung VDP, regional VDP and wall area per cent. FEV1 was significantly correlated with 3He MRI VDP (whole lung: r=−0.61, p=0.0002; regional: r=−0.55, p=0.006) and wall area per cent (r=−0.49, p=0.02). In addition, sRaw was significantly correlated with 3He MRI VDP (whole lung: r=0.77, p<0.0001; regional: r=0.81, p<0.0001) and wall area per cent (r=0.48, p=0.02). Additionally, FEV1 and sRaw were significantly correlated with whole lung 3He MRI COV (FEV1: r=−0.49, p=0.003; sRaw: r=0.59, p=0.0003). Figure 4 demonstrates that for all subjects wall area per cent was significantly correlated with whole lung (r=0.42, p=0.046) and regional VDP (r=0.43, p=0.04).
Figure 5 shows hyperpolarised 3He MRI ventilation maps for four subjects with asthma with the 3He MRI ventilation map in blue coregistered to the CT volume with the airway tree segmented in yellow. The qualitative spatial relationship between ventilation defects (yellow arrows) and remodelled airways (white arrows) is shown.
To better understand the structural and clinical determinants of MRI ventilation defects in asthma, and, in turn, what it might mean for a subject with asthma to have ventilation defects, we evaluated well-established clinical measurements and emerging CT and 3He MRI measurements of airway structure and function.
We think that it is interesting that 9/26 (35%) subjects with clinical findings and methacholine challenge results diagnostic of asthma had a 3He MRI gas distribution that was qualitatively and quantitatively (VDP and COV) similar to healthy volunteers. It is important to note that all of the healthy volunteers had a homogenous gas distribution with no visual or quantitative evidence of ventilation defects, which is in agreement with previous work at our centre11 ,41–43 and others.5 ,7 ,44 In contrast, and as expected based on previous investigations,5–9 ,11 ,12 the remaining 17/26 (65%) subjects with asthma had obvious ventilation abnormalities. This observation prompted us to ask the question: Are subjects with asthma with ventilation defects different from subjects with asthma without ventilation defects? The results here suggest that subjects with asthma with ventilation defects are older, with worse FEV1/FVC, (but similar FEV1), and greater airways resistance, airway responsiveness and airway inflammation/remodelling. Such findings suggest that ventilation defects may reflect long-term or progressive airway remodelling in patients with a longer history of disease or perhaps more severe or advanced disease. Regardless, the constellation of clinical and imaging findings in these subjects with asthma suggests that more aggressive therapy or compliance to therapy is required. This is a hypothesis that can be tested in future imaging studies of older subjects and/or subjects with more severe asthma.
A number of studies have quantitatively investigated asthma airway structure using CT and showed that bronchial wall thickness was related to asthma severity, duration of disease and airflow obstruction.14–22 Similarly, 3He MRI has previously shown that ventilation defects were related to asthma severity6 and in a preliminary report,45 half of a small group of subjects with asthma (7/15) showed no obvious ventilation defects, with significantly different bronchial wall thickness (but not bronchial wall area) compared with subjects with asthma with ventilation defects. Here, we prospectively acquired MRI and CT within about 30 min using the same lung volume and breath-hold manoeuvre to try to mimic the same airway and parenchyma dimensions using both imaging methods. We must consider that because 3He gas is itself, highly diffusive and may penetrate even narrowed airways, there is the possibility that even when bronchial wall thickness and lumen area are abnormal, some 3He gas ventilation is possible. In support of this explanation, we note the recent report of indirect or collateral ventilation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that was directly visualised using hyperpolarised 3He MRI46—likely possible only because the timeframe for imaging was relatively long and 3He gas is highly diffusive.
We also observed that regional CT airway morphology and 3He ventilation defect measurements were significantly correlated. This important finding suggests that there is a relationship between airways that are remodelled and/or constricted and ventilation defects. Previous studies have demonstrated that focal regions of hyperlucency on CT (likely related to gas trapping) were spatially correlated with 3He MRI ventilation defects28 and bronchoalveolar lavage had higher total and per cent neutrophils in areas of the lung with greater ventilation defects, suggestive of increased inflammation. Although we observed significant relationships between airway dimensions and defects, these relationships were modest, perhaps because of the heterogeneity of asthma and the patients with asthma evaluated here, or because of the relatively low dose partial CT ROI that was used. It is important to acknowledge that in asthma, the airways from the large bronchi to the alveolar ducts may be involved,47 thus using CT to measure airway dimensions has limitations because CT cannot spatially resolve the small airways (<2 mm) sufficiently to provide accurate measurements. In addition to small and heterogeneously distributed ventilation defects, some of the subjects with asthma evaluated here presented large wedge-shaped defects; these have previously been reported using single photon emission CT imaging with Technegas25 and are believed to be the result of subsegmental airway narrowing. Following MRI-CT registration we were able to identify and quantify subsegmental bronchi that were spatially related to ventilation defects. Larger 'subsegmental' ventilation defects may be the result of proximal remodelled subsegmental airways feeding these regions of signal void. Unfortunately, due to the limitations of the spatial resolution of the CT images, we cannot comment on the structure of the smaller airways distal to the subsegmental airways quantified here, which may further contribute to the abnormal gas distributions observed.
Large and temporally persistent 3He ventilation defects provide excellent targets for therapy and could potentially guide localised airway treatments such as bronchial thermoplasty. Although we have focused our attention on ventilation defects, areas of hyperintense signal intensity are often observed in subjects with asthma in conjunction with ventilation defects. Similar to regions of signal void, to our knowledge, the underlying aetiology of these regions has not been investigated. We hypothesise that hyperintense signal may be due to hyperinflation and note that investigation of these regions is warranted in asthma.
We recognise and acknowledge that this work was limited by the relatively small number of subjects evaluated, although we note that this is the single largest prospective study that directly compared CT and 3He MRI in subjects with asthma and healthy subjects. Furthermore, the subjects evaluated here were enrolled from a multidisciplinary asthma care centre and therefore they represent a diverse group of subjects with asthma that have been mainly referred to improve asthma symptoms and control. As shown in figure 3, there was a single subject with elevated VDP as compared with the other AD subjects and we confirmed that this 42 year-old man had experienced an asthma exacerbation that required hospitalisation approximately 5 months prior to hyperpolarised 3He MRI performed here. This subject's asthma was previously well controlled and the exacerbation was determined to be the result of sudden cessation of asthma medication. It is important to note that the relationships presented in figure 3 remain statistically significant when this outlier is removed from the analysis. Certainly, this is a hypothesis-generating study and therefore marginally significant p values should be interpreted with caution, and larger studies are required for more extensive phenotyping and characterisation of subjects with asthma and to test the hypotheses generated here. We must also acknowledge that our analysis was limited because of the acquisition of partial CT thoracic volumes.
In summary, our results showed that subjects with asthma with 3He MRI ventilation abnormalities were older, with greater airway hyper-responsiveness, and worse measurements of FEV1/FVC and airways resistance/inflammation as well as abnormally remodelled airways in comparison with subjects with asthma with ND. Hyperpolarised 3He ventilation abnormalities were spatially and quantitatively related to remodelled airways in subjects with asthma providing a better understanding of the aetiology of heterogeneous ventilation abnormalities in asthma and the clinical meaning of these abnormalities in subjects with asthma with similar FEV1.
We thank S McKay and S Halko for clinical coordination and clinical database management, A Wheatley for production and dispensing of 3He gas and T Szekeres for MRI of research volunteers.
Supplementary materials
Supplementary Data
This web only file has been produced by the BMJ Publishing Group from an electronic file supplied by the author(s) and has not been edited for content.
Files in this Data Supplement:
- Data supplement 1 - Online table
Contributors SS was responsible for data acquisition, analysis and interpretation, drafting and final approval of the manuscript. MK was responsible for data acquisition, statistical analysis and interpretation, drafting and final approval of the manuscript. DS was responsible for data analysis and interpretation, and final approval of the manuscript. HOC was responsible for data interpretation and final approval of the manuscript. NAMP was responsible for clinical/physiological interpretation of the data, drafting and final approval of the manuscript. DGM was responsible for clinical/physiological interpretation of the data, subject safety, good clinical practice, drafting and final approval of the manuscript. GP, the Principal Investigator, was responsible for conception and design, data acquisition and analysis plan and interpretation, drafting and final revisions of manuscript and final approval as well as guarantor of integrity of the data as well as responsible for Good Clinical Practice.
Funding SS was supported by a National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship, DS was supported by an NSERC Discovery Grant, and MK was supported by a NSERC Doctoral Postgraduate Scholarship. GP also gratefully acknowledges funding from the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) New Investigator Award, and operating funding from the Canadian Lung Association and Ontario Research Fund, Research Excellence Award.
Competing interests None.
Ethics approval The University of Western Ontario Research Ethics Board for Health Sciences Research Involving Human Subjects.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.


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The Iowa landscape is a sea of corn fields as far as the eye could see and somewhere in between is a small 3-mile-long City of Oskaloosa; a charming town with its historic beauty and a feeling of patriotism. The City Square is the heart of this quaint little town and is home to their historic Bandstand. With the Fourth of July holiday, just days away the bandstand occupied the City Square with beautiful music including God Bless the USA. I felt as though I had magically transported back in time or jumped into our Department 56 scene from under our Christmas tree.
After exploring, we made it to Eddyville Raceway Park, a family owned 1/8th mile track. Friday Night, Sarah and her QOD Jet met Mick McCormick with his "Miss Elle" Jet dragster at the starting line. Sarah left the line with a .033 RT and crossed the 1/8thmile in 3.68 seconds at 210MPH – setting a new ET Track Record but just 2 MPH short of the speed track record. Knowing we were in the market to break records, we entered Saturday more determined than ever!
The anticipation for attending this particular event was sparked when they released their flyer listing the pro line up as well as the special guest: "Big Daddy" Don Garlits. I always thought the legend Big Daddy would be someone that I would only read about or hear stories about; never could I have imagined being featured on the same flyer at the same event with him. Seeing his name with my name on the same event poster I must admit was very cool. So, across from my pit form sat the Legend himself, "Big Daddy" Don Garlits.
Bob Unkefer led the pre-race ceremonies and driver intros on Saturday afternoon on the starting line. I took a moment to look around and I found myself in a sea of drivers and crew members from Fuel Altered Cars, Nostalgic Funny Cars, and Nitro Bikes – as well as Don Garlits and Ron Colsn (See photo above). Intro's wrapped up with drivers flinging T-shirts and Frisbees into the packed and enthusiastic crowd. It was time to see if we could break records. I left the starting line first and crossed the finish line at 3.68 seconds again but at 217 MPH – breaking the existing track MPH record. Coming back to the pits our neighbor Bazz Young the driver of the Down Under Thunder Nostalgic Funny car was cranking out some George Thorogood tunes – pumping up the crowd and me! For the final round of the night I officially set the new Jet Track Record in 3.64 seconds at 219MPH in the 1/8th mile.
This may be the first record I have personally set, but it certainly will not be the last! We are onto the next event, Night of Thunder at National Trail Raceway in Columbus Ohio – Satruday July 8th.
Quick turnaround time this week as we get ready to head to Raceway Park in New Jersey on Wednesday Night (July 19th) for their 42nd Annual P.C. Richard & Sons Night of Thrills! This event is where it all started for me, so it is always exciting to have the honor of attending this event as the driver of The Queen of Diamonds. If you are in the Tri-State area (NY/NJ/CT) this is as close to home as it gets so call out of work – do what you have to do to come hang with all of Hanna Motorsports this Wednesday Night and see me take on the Beast from the East!


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University of Tennessee deletes tweet responding to hate speech on the Rock
The University of Tennessee Knoxville deleted a tweet Thursday responding to concern over hate speech on the Rock in the midst of calls for the university to do more to condemn it.
The response came after someone painted the words "white pride" on the boulder, which serves as a campus message board.
Students and others were quick to condemn the message.
Many also reached out to the university on social media asking for UT to do more to condemn hate speech but were disappointed with the response.
"This was seen by a student of color, Aleah Vassell, and when addressing the fastest source I could think of, the school responded with indifference," UT student McKinley Merritt wrote in a Facebook post. "This is the reason why people continue to feel unsafe in the world. Don't be indifferent."
She also included a screenshot of the reply she received from UT Knoxville on Twitter. The response has since been deleted.
"Hi McKinley, While we sometimes disagree with what appears on the Rock, those who paint it are protected by the First Amendment. We trust that the Volunteer community will take care of this quickly," it said.
Facebook and Twitter users responded to the message and the university's response saying UT should do more to address racism.
Allies of Knoxville's Immigrant Neighbors, a local group involved with immigrants' rights, tweeted that UT's response was "not good enough."
It "shouldn't be hard to take a firm stance against hate speech on campus," it said.
"@ChancellorDav of UTK is remaining quiet about the rising occurrence of hate speech written on the boulder," wrote another Twitter user, alleging that the university removes messages it doesn't like about athletics. "FYI, UTK removes negative comments about their athletics programs but has yet to remove comments like 'white pride.'"
In a statement, the university said the tweet was deleted "because we felt like it didn't convey our position about racism."
"As Chancellor (Beverly) Davenport has said on numerous occasions, there's no place at the University of Tennessee for racism, bigotry and prejudice," the statement said. "The Chancellor is in constant communication with our students and various groups on campus and that dialogue will continue when students return to campus after the break."
The Rock: a free speech venue
There are no written policies that speak specifically to the messages on the Rock, though as part of the campus it is subject to UT's free speech policy and other guidelines regarding bias.
Messages are generally self-policed by the campus community and layers of paint are allowed to build up as students carry out different messages and works of art.
Vassell, a first-year graduate student at UT said that perhaps it's time for the university to rethink that after seeing Thursday's message.
"What if someone wrote f--- the chancellor?" she said. "It's inappropriate and disrespectful to the school and would probably be removed. So why would we disrespect our students as well?"
The incident comes as campuses across the nation weigh the line between free speech and hate speech, and as universities are grappling with a rise in hate speech incidents.
In September, UT removed several fliers advocating for a white nationalist group from John C. Hodges Library.
The fliers were removed not because of their content, but rather because they were in violation of a policy that requires posted literature to be affiliated with a student organization or on-campus department.
Time for a conversation?
Vassell, who is Jamaican and identifies as a student of color, said she was upset when she saw the message Thursday. She also said it's not the first time she's seen hate speech on the Rock.
"We shouldn't just be covering them up and going on with our lives," she said. "We need to do something about it."
After seeing the message Thursday, Vassell said she sent a photo and email to Davenport.
She said she was heartened by the chancellor's response that she would like to initiate a "conversation about trying to fix things" but that it runs counter to the response the university was giving on social media.
"I think because today was graduation day, they knew a lot of people would be looking at their Twitter feed," Vassell said. "They didn't want the controversy of what was said or the indifference in their response to be seen by parents. But at this point it's making a statement. You know what you did is probably not the right thing if you're going to retract what was said."


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Sterling is showing signs of weakening against the euro, recent figures from the European Central Bank (ECB) show.
During the first two months of 2016, the value of Sterling compared to euro has dropped by 5% from January 4 to March 2.
Yesterday, €1 bought 0.77p Sterling, this has increased by 4p from 0.74p Sterling on January 4, 2016.
The drop in the strength of Sterling most likely occurred as concerns grow that the UK will vote in favor to leave the European Union later this year.
This is important as the Irish agricultural industry is heavily dependent on the UK market and a weaker sterling may have a negative impact on both the beef and sheep sectors.
Figures from Bord Bia show that the UK accounts for 54% of Irish beef exports and for 28% of Irish sheepmeat shipments.
Speaking to Agriland recently, Bord Bia's Joe Burke said that a weaker euro could have a negative impact on the price paid for Irish beef in the UK.
Recent figures published by the Livestock and Meat Commission show that the price differential between UK and Irish R3 grade heifers is currently 35c/kg. This is a difference of €100 on a 280kg carcass.
Back in January, when Sterling was stronger, this price difference on the same heifer was 63c/kg or €176.
A weak Sterling could also have a negative impact on Irish sheepmeat exports to France. Bord figures show that France accounted for 35% of Irish sheepmeat exports in 2015.
Sheep procurement managers have recently reported an increase in the volume of UK lamb coming available on the French market.
The weak sterling could make UK sheepmeat more attractive to French buyers, as it would allow for the price difference between the two countries to narrow.
In July of last year, UK exports of sheepmeat were restricted, due to the strength of the sterling, according to AHDB Analyst Debbie Butcher.
UK sheep farmers suffered, as Sterling reached it strongest level in July, 2015, she said.
However, if Sterling continues to weaken, the market could swing back in favor of UK lamb. This could be worrying for Irish exports due to the high numbers of UK hoggets on the ground.


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Python Hands-On course will cover Python from Beginner to Expert level. We will start from absolute zero, 'Hello World!', and end up with OOP (Object Oriented Programming). This course is an in-depth Python introduction with 46 hours duration, including both theory and practice.
Musa Arda | Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning Expert
Musa Arda has a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from METU, Turkey, in 2007, and have been working as a Software Engineer for more than 14 years. He uses many programming languages and platforms like; Python, C#, Java, JavaScript, SAP ABAP, SQL, React, Flutter, and more. He built Machine Learning and Deep Learning applications with Tensorflow, Keras, and PyTorch. He has extensive experience and knowledge in Data Science projects, web development (frontend, backend), mobile app development (native, cross-platform), and ERP (SAP, CRM) applications. He created content to share my experience and knowledge with my students.
Important Details


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New Twitter Worm Promises to Tell You Who Unfollowed You
A new Twitter worm is spreading quickly this morning by pretending to tell users who has unfollowed them. Through using this kind of smart social engineering (who wouldn't want to know who these ungrateful people are?), this rogue Twitter app gains access to a user's account by using Twitter's standard authentication mechanism. The worm also attaches terms to every one of these tweets that are currently trending on Twitter, ensuring these messages get seen by an even wider audience.


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Bodylicious is inspired by Nyotaimori, a rather controversial Japanese tradition which consists of presenting Sushi on a naked woman, using her body as a tray. This was a highly appreciated act often experienced at luxurious parties and other social events. When presenting Sushi (Sashimi) on the naked body of a man this is called Nantaimori.
Bodylicious transforms this concept into a plate. With both feminine and masculine designs; 3 pieces of each, made in ceramic, these body-plates are perfect for serving sushi, desserts, fruits and other culinary delights, taking advantage of the smooth and curvaceous lines of the human body to create an elegant arrangement of different dishes.
The 6 designs formed by the 3 parts of the male and female body are available in white and black mat. The plates are sold individually and can be artistically combined with each another.
Bodylicious is designed and produced by Designcode in Barcelona.
Andra bloggar om: design, mat, matlagning, sushi, japan


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The ITJP is initiating a movement (from Mon 7 Jan 2019 – press releases attached) to start collecting the names of the dead and disappeared/missing from the whole war in Sri Lanka but with a focus on the final war in 2009 because of the upcoming tenth anniversary of Mullivaikkal. We are doing this again jointly with Patrick Ball of the Human Rights Data Analysis Group.
The idea is for Patrick to come up with an estimate of the total number – and also to create one clean list with no duplicates to be used for memorialisation – that will be shared with those who contribute.
For more on Patrick's work see https://psmag.com/social-
justice/using-machine- learning-to-hold-human-rights- abusers-accountable .
First of all if you know of existing casualty lists (in any language) perhaps you could please ask people to send them to firstname.lastname@example.com (or ITJP should they prefer).
Secondly we are also asking people around the world to collect more data – obviously only if it's safe to do so.
Attached are the data collection forms in 3 languages and some FAQ's (in the Zip file). They are also downloadable from the ITJP's site at http://www.itjpsl.com/
reports/counting-the-dead and for more see HRDAG https://hrdag.org/ 2019/01/06/counting-the-dead- in-sri-lanka/
There is a Youtube video from Yasmin Sooka:
And from Patrick Ball explaining the science behind it:
All the best for 2019,
… ITJP challenges Government of Sri Lanka to investigate six identified alleged perpetrators of rape and torture in the military ITJP challenges Government of Sri
ITJP: Families of the Disappeared – Ilankai Tamil Sangam
6 Jun 2018 – ITJP: Families of the Disappeared. by International Truth & Justice Project, South Africa, accessed June 6, 2018. English translation of …
ITJP – The Indian Express
https://indianexpress.com › World
16 May 2018 – The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) website has listed 280 names of enforced disappearances of people in Sri Lanka which …
Torture of Tamils in Sri Lanka continues into 2017 – ITJP | Tamil …
14 Jul 2017 – Torture and rape of Tamils in Sri Lanka has continued into 2017 found the International Truth and Justice Project's (ITJP) latest report "Unstopped: State Torture & Sexual Violence in 2016/17."
Commenting on the continuation of torture under the Sirisena government, which came ..


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Genesis Conference -12th December 2013
Categories: None | Tags: None
Terrington Data Management will be attending 'Genesis 2013' at the QEII Conference Centre, Westminster, London on 12th December 2013. The focus of this year's meeting is Innovative Strategies to Bridge the R&D Gap in Life Sciences. Join Us!
December 2, 2013 | Share:


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By Sydney Shaw
Opinions Editor
The NFL's lax two-game suspension of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice incited outrage across the country and demands that the league crack down on players who commit misdemeanors.
"You wonder what kind of message is sent when pot smokers get longer suspensions than people who engage in domestic violence," Bob Kravits of the Indianapolis Star wrote in an editorial about the incident.
Rice allegedly punched his then-fiancèe Janay Palmer during a fight in February while inside an Atlantic City elevator.
This comes shortly after the season-long suspensions of Josh Gordon of the Cleveland Browns, LaVon Brazill of the Indianapolis Colts and Cardinals' Daryl Washington for violating the league's substance abuse policy. All three tested positive for pot.
Fans are wondering why a hit to your significant other's face is more justifiable than a hit of marijuana.
Others have argued that the suspension of Rice without a suspension of Colts owner Jim Irsay shows favorable treatment of the higher-ups who sign the checks.
Irsay was arrested in March and charged with driving under the influence and possession of a controlled substance.
While these instances have most frequently been held up against the Rice suspension, I wondered what other crimes the NFL finds more severe than assault.
In 2006, Odell Thurman of the Cincinnati Bengals was suspended for four games, twice as long as Rice, after failing to appear at a scheduled drug test. Just a couple months later, Thurman was arrested for a DUI and missed the entire 2006 and 2007 seasons.
Vincent Jackson pleaded guilty in February 2010 to driving under the influence and was suspended from the San Diego Chargers for three games.
Houstan Texan Antonio Smith was suspended in August of last year for just one game less than Rice after swinging around the helmet of an opposing player.
So, by that logic, swinging around two helmets is pretty much the same thing as knocking your fiancée out cold.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was suspended for six games (which was later reduced to a four-game sentence) after prosecutors decided to not even charge him in a sexual assault investigation.
And who can forget when Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the leg, earning himself a four-game ban?
Looking back, it is clear that when Roger Goodell became commissioner in 2006, he demanded that the league stop being so lenient about players performing violent hits, but something still had to be done about some players' unacceptable off-the-field behavior.
In April 2007, Goodell introduced a new Personal Conduct Policy following a year of significant scandal surrounding some players' actions off the field.
But after this recent suspension, I'm not sure if Goodell has cracked down hard enough.
Several members of the United States Senate agree.
"The decision to suspend Mr. Rice for a mere two games sends the inescapable message that the NFL does not take domestic or intimate-partner violence with the seriousness they deserve," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Sen, Tammy Baldwin and Sen. Chris Murphy wrote in the letter to Goodell and Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome.
When Rice puts on his uniform, he accepts a position as not only a running back for the Ravens, but also as a role model for individuals across the country.
Rice should be ashamed of his actions, and the NFL should be ashamed of the meager slap-on-the-wrist that he received.