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Lifestyle Changes to Manage Brain Tumors
]]>Main Page]]> | ]]>Risk Factors]]> | ]]>Symptoms]]> | ]]>Diagnosis]]> | ]]>Treatment]]> | ]]>Screening]]> | ]]>Reducing Your Risk]]> | ]]>Talking to Your Doctor]]> | ]]>Living With Brain Tumors]]> | ]]>Resource Guide]]>
General Guidelines
A ]]>brain tumor]]> is a serious condition. It may impair doing things that are part of your lifestyle. Each tumor occupies and affects different parts of the brain. Therefore, the list of difficulties you may have will be unique to you.
Talk to your neurosurgeon, neurologist, or neuro-oncologist about the kinds changes your tumor is likely to bring about. Although your team will do everything possible to treat your condition appropriately, many times there are permanent effects of the tumor and/or treatment. It is important that you understand both the potential short-term and long-terms effects of a brain tumor and the necessary treatment. The location of a brain tumor gives very accurate information on what brain functions are at risk. Below are some of the issues you may need to address.
Managing Seizures (Convulsions)
Of concern with every brain tumor is the likelihood of ]]>seizures]]>. Anticonvulsant medications prevent many seizures. But, because the tumor continues to grow, the medication may only work for a short time. For this reason alone, you should not operate hazardous equipment, including motor vehicles. In fact, if you have had a seizure, most state laws mandate that you not drive a motor vehicle (specifically a car or truck on a public road) for a minimum of 6 months from the date of your last seizure. If you have a brain tumor, your commercial drivers license may be revoked.
Ask your doctor for a referral to a local support group that can assist you with rides, as well as help with activities that may now be hazardous for you, such as mowing your lawn. Your employer may have an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to reassign you to new tasks if your job requires managing heavy or hazardous equipment or supplies. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, your employer must make accommodations for you.
Managing Loss of Coordination or Function
If the tumor is near one of the areas in your brain that controls movement of a certain part of your body—such as hands, arms, legs, eyes, speech—normal function and coordination may be affected. Usual activities may become dangerous, such as working with power tools or knives. For most functions, rehabilitation can help with some return of function. After treatment is completed, or at least well under way, you may start a program of speech, occupational, or physical therapy to work on recovering what has been lost.
Managing Cognitive Dysfunction
Thought processes, such as memory, calculation, understanding, and intelligence, may deteriorate until the tumor is treated effectively. Let those close to you know that you may have trouble in these areas. Ask them to be on the lookout for changes and to help minimize any consequences from these changes. ]]>Counseling]]> can help you deal with these changes in the more productive way.
Managing Personality Change
In the same manner, your personality may change. If you feel comfortable, advise your family, friends, and employer (if you are still working) of your condition. This may help to minimize misunderstandings. As with cognitive dysfunction, you may find that counseling, including family counseling, will help you manage the changes you are going through as a result of your illness and treatment.
When to Contact Your Doctor
You should be in continual contact with your doctor throughout your evaluation and treatment. Report anything new.
American Brain Tumor Association website. Available at: http://hope.abta.org/site/PageServer .
Harrison TR, Fauci AS. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 14th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 1998.
The Whole Brain Atlas website. Available at: http://www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB/home.html.
Last reviewed February 2009 by ]]> Rimas Lukas, MD]]>
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Copyright © 2007 EBSCO Publishing All rights reserved.


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I think the answer is ; These are REFLEX responses from TRAINING, not autonomic "flinch" responses such as blinking when sand is blown into your eye, or you lean on a hot radiatior. THOSE are flinch reponses.
Trained autopilot REFLEXES (totally different concept) are the Holy Grail of Karate training.
Perhaps the confusion (mine) is that some have taken the concept: "flinch" which is an autonomic survival nerve-response, not under the control of the conscious mind, and confused it with "REFLEX" which is a TRAINED MUSCLE/MOTOR response, bypassing the decision-making process.
I believe that "reflex" is what Karate trains, not "flinch"
The difference is not just semantics, but physiology.

subset: commoncrawl


text: We offer over 50 classes per week for beginners and advanced students alike, so come and sweat with us! Hot yoga is a series of 26 postures with 2 breathing exercises practiced in a heated room. Each class provides a full body workout that stretches and strengthens every muscle in the body. In addition to enhancing strength, cardiovascular endurance, and flexibility, every class is a 90-minute escape from the stressors of daily life. You will leave feeling reinvigorated, stronger, and profoundly relaxed.


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Athletics' all-time Top 5 in-season trades
A look back at some deals that helped put Oakland over the top
Will the A's swing a deal before the July 31 Trade Deadline? Sometimes it takes years to determine how well a team did in a trade. With the benefit of hindsight, the following are the five most notable trades in franchise history that were conducted during the regular season, according to Jane Lee. Agree? Disagree? Comment below:
The biggest trades in A's history, particularly those put together under general manager Billy Beane's watch, have come in the offseason. Still, there have been plenty midseason that have offered the A's just the type of help they were looking for at the time, and with the Trade Deadline looming, what better time than the present to take a look at the top five in-season trades in Oakland history.
1. July 25, 2001: A's receive outfielder Jermaine Dye from the Royals in a three-team trade. The Rockies sent infielder Neifi Perez to the Royals and Oakland sent Minor League outfielder Mario Encarnacion, Minor League infielder Jose Ortiz and Minor League pitcher Todd Belitz to Colorado.
The A's got exactly what they needed out of Dye at the time of the trade. In 61 games, he hit .297/.366/.547 with 13 home runs and 59 RBIs, helping the team to a 102-60 record, which despite being 14 fewer victories than the division-winning Mariners, was good enough for the American League Wild Card spot.
Dye was a bit inconsistent in his final years with the A's, but Oakland still came out ahead in that deal.
2. July 23, 1999: A's receive outfielder Terrence Long and Minor League pitcher Leonar Vasquez from the Mets for right-hander Kenny Rogers.
Long, the Mets' 1994 first-round pick, made his debut with the A's in 2000, setting an Oakland rookie record with 104 runs and tying the rookie record with 168 hits en route to finishing second in AL Rookie of the Year Award voting.
In 2001, Long and Miguel Tejada started all 162 games, helping Oakland to a playoff appearance.
3. July 31, 1999: A's receive right-hander Jason Isringhausen and right-hander Greg McMichael from the Mets for right-hander Billy Taylor.
Isringhausen established himself as a top closer when he came to Oakland, earning his first All-Star selection in 2000 and helping the club to the playoffs that year and the next.
He compiled 75 saves during his two-plus-year tenure with the A's.
4. July 8, 2008: A's receive infielder Josh Donaldson, left-hander Sean Gallagher, infielder Eric Patterson and outfielder Matt Murton from the Cubs in exchange for right-hander Rich Harden and right-hander Chad Gaudin.
For years this deal favored the Cubs, but Donaldson's breakout performance with the A's this season may change that, especially given that Harden came back to the A's in 2011.
5. July 29, 1999: A's receive infielder Randy Velarde and pitcher Omar Olivares from the Angels in exchange for Minor League outfielder Jeff DaVanon, Minor League outfielder Nathan Haynes and Minor League pitcher Elvin Nina.
Velarde finished fourth in the AL in hits (200) that year, while also posting career bests in average (.317), runs (105), home runs (16), RBIs (76), stolen bases (24) and on-base percentage (.390). Then, in 2000, he helped the A's to a division title.


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TWO rugby heroes paid a special bedside visit to an inspirational teenager.
Freddie Theobald, 16, from Langdon Hills, spent time with England star and Saracens' rugby fly-half Owen Farrell, and team-mate Ben Ransom, while undergoing hospital tests.
The teenager has been suffering from mystery seizures for 18 months, but doctors have been unable to discover if they are connected to his brain or heart.
In a bid to find out if he has epilepsy, Freddie underwent intensive tests at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London.
Owen and Ben paid a surprise visit to pledge support for a hospital charity race and meet youngsters who will benefit.
Freddie's proud mum, Jane, said: "Freddie began having seizures in December 2012, and for the last year-and-a-half he has been undergoing loads of tests.
"He spent three days at Great Ormond Street while doctors tried to see if he was suffering from epilepsy, and he never would have expected to get up close with Saracens' players.
"Freddie feels privileged to have been able to meet Owen and Ben.'' The Royal Bank of Canada Race for the Kids, a 5k family fun run, will see thousands of supporters raise funds for essential redevelopment at the hospital.
Cramped and outdated wards will be replaced with state-ofthe- art facilities, and space provided for parents to stay with their children. Owen, 22, the son of rugby league legend Andy Farrell, said "It was really good to meet Freddie. His bravery and strength have really inspired me and I hope more people sign up to the RBC Race for the Kids to help this wonderful hospital."
Ben, also 22, Saracens' fullback who has represented England under-20s, said: "It was a privilege to meet such inspiring young people like Freddie.
"Despite facing tough challenges, his positive attitude was amazing.'' The race takes place at Battersea Park on Sunday, June 8. For more information, or to sign up, visit www.race forthekids.co.uk


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Denver, Colo., Aug 20, 2013 / 04:04 am MT ().- At the event's recent anniversary, participants in World Youth Day Denver recalled how the presence of Blessed John Paul II brought joy to the local Church, as well as the call to be disciples without fear.
"What I saw that day was a young, thriving, and alive Church, and I saw people who loved God and who wanted to share that love with others, and I wanted to be a part of it," said Cara Rhyne, a consecrated laywoman in the Archdiocese of Denver, on Aug. 15
World Youth Day was instituted by Blessed John Paul II in 1985, and is a global event in which youths from every nation around the world are invited to spend a week with the Holy Father in prayer, and in celebration of the Catholic faith.
The Archdiocese of Denver recently commemorated the 20th anniversary of hosting World Youth Day in 1993 by hosting a diocesan-wide celebration which included live music by worship leader Steve Angrisano, testimonies from previous World Youth Day attendees, and Mass with Archbishop Samuel Aquila.
Originally from Denver, Rhyne is a member of the Marian Community of Reconciliation, and remembers distinctly how participating in the 1993 encounter with the Holy Father at the age of 13 planted the seeds of her vocation.
Rhyne stated that she was deeply moved by the words of Blessed John Paul II when he told the youth that "you know how easy it is to avoid the fundamental questions, but your presence here shows that you will not hide from reality and from responsibility."
She stated that after hearing those words, as she continued to grow in her faith, she felt "more and more" compelled to share that faith with others, and that this experience was "a seed for me to understand my call to consecrate my life. I had received a great joy and I had to share it."
"When he asked me to follow him, when he asked me to give my life and consecrate my life, I remembered these words of JPII, 'young people of World Youth Day, the Church asks you to go in the power of the Holy Spirit, to those who are near and those who are far away. Share with them the freedom you have found in Christ.'"
Rhyne, who has attended four different World Youth Days, including leading a group of teens to Rio last month, also commented on Pope Francis' call for a deeper theology of women in the Church, saying that "if we really want to understand what it means to be a woman in the Church we need to look to our mother Mary."
Mary's role marks "the importance of being a faithful woman of God, a woman who is open, ready to receive, to listen to God's call and answer it with a full heart," she said.
"That's the call of each one of us, in wherever we are, to go out and to love and to give of ourselves fully. To trust in the Lord, to be women of faith, that's the call that the Lord has for each one of us; to look to Mary, to see her, to be close to her is how we're gonna be able to do that."
Ana Galván, editor of the weekly Spanish television program "Fe Catolica Viva," also gave her testimony at the celebration.
Galván, who was new to her faith at the time of World Youth Day in Denver, shared in Rhyne's experience of seeing a young Church excited about Jesus.
"I couldn't believe the multitude of people at my parish, at downtown. Everywhere, everybody was happy and friendly, and joyful," she said.
"We were singing and laughing and praising, and I can still hear the echo of the people singing, or shouting 'John Paul II! We love you!'"
Recalling the walk to Cherry Creek State Park for the final Mass, Galván expressed that it was in that moment that she understood what it meant to be Catholic. "It was just amazing how everybody was joyful at that time, and I know now that then I was being Catholic."
She shared that she has always had a special joy at having been at the final Mass celebrated by Blessed John Paul II, saying that "I have all my life to share with others the joy, the happiness, the pride of being Catholic."
Among the others who gave their testimonies were Denver native Marybeth Bonacci, who had traveled around the world giving speeches on Blessed John Paul II's "Theology of the Body" prior to his visit to the city, and Katherine Bauman, who proclaimed the first reading at the Papal Mass in Rio de Janiero with Pope Francis.
Both women shared the joy of being with each Pope, and spoke of the impact that each pontiff has had on them, as well as the universal Church.
Bonacci, who after World Youth Day wrote a book on the speeches of Blessed John Paul II, claimed that many "did not hear most of the talks," but that "it was the grace, the holiness of the man John Paul II, it was the Holy Spirit working through him," that helped open the hearts of those present to the Holy Spirit.
"He became our spiritual grandfather. And when your grandpa dies you don't just get a new one. A new holy father comes, he will be that spiritual grandfather to the generation who went to Rio."
Bauman affirmed this statement, saying that she was deeply moved by Pope Francis' "simplicity and his humanity," and that he reminded her of Jesus, and how accessible he became to us through his Incarnation.
"He's very dear to my heart now, and I know to a lot of young people's hearts," she said, stating that Pope Francis' example shows that being a disciple "comes in not just big extravagant situations in our lives, but in the very most basic encounters of our everyday lives."
The celebration was held at Denver's John Paul II Center for the New Evangelization, which was built after the pontiff's 1993 visit, and houses Denver's two seminaries and the offices of the archdiocese.
Correction, Aug. 20, 11:56 am: An earlier version of this article stated that the final Mass of Denver's World Youth Day was held at Mile High Stadium. It was in fact held at Cherry Creek State Park.
Tags: World Youth Day, Archdiocese of Denver
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kidzsearch.com > wiki Explore:web images videos games
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was the ruling political party in the Soviet Union, and the only legal one.
Before the creation of the CPSU, its members were part of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. They made up a group within that party, which was called the Bolsheviks. The first leader of the CPSU was Vladimir Lenin. The first General Secretary of the party was Stalin from 1922-52. The party led the 1917 October Revolution that overthrew the Russian Provisional Government. From 1918-25, the name of the party was Russian Communist Party. From 1925-52, the name was All-Union Communist Party. The Party took the name Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1952.
The Communist Party controlled all the government in the Soviet Union. The party supported communist movements in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. The CPSU was dissolved in 1991, and continued as the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The new CPRF has sometimes been the largest in the Russian parliament, the State Duma.
Other websites
Media related to Communist Party of the Soviet Union at Wikimedia Commons
- Executive Bodies of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1917-1991)
- Program of the CPSU, 27th Party Congress (1986)
Help Improve This Page: Please contact us to become an approved KidzSearch editor and provide your credentials. Provide feedback on this article in our Communist Party of the Soviet Union Forum


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Pelamis platurus, related to the cobra family (Elapidae)
Yellowbelly Sea Snake Carpenter0 Wikipedia.org
El Nino washes a SECOND posionous sea snake onto popular California beach which has not seen any for THIRTY YEARS
For the second time in two months, a rare deadly sea snake has washed ashore at one of southern California's most popular beaches.
A dead 27-inch-long male yellow bellied sea snake was discovered last week during a coastal cleanup campaign by volunteers for the Surfrider Foundation in Huntington Beach, the Los Angeles Times reported.
In October, a two-foot-long yellow bellied sea snake was discovered slithering onto Silver Strand State Beach in Ventura County, but it died shortly after being taken to a US Fish and Wildlife Service office nearby.
The venomous sea serpent, known to scientists as Pelamis platura, was first spotted in 1972 during an El Niño in San Clemente.
Deadly: A dead 27-inch-long male yellow bellied sea snake (above) was discovered last week during a coastal cleanup campaign by the Surfrider Foundation
The latest yellow bellied sea snake discovered was found at the popular Huntington Beach in California (file photo above)
A descendant of Australian tiger snakes, experts believe the arrival of the sea snake is a harbinger of El Niño because the last time it appeared in California was during the weather system in the '80s.


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Chicago Tacos: Chicken Tinga Taco at Taqueria Perejil
Reviews of tacos.
The chicken taco is the neglected stepchild of Chicago's taco scene. Unless the restaurant in question is serving chicken grilled over charcoal (like here or here), in which case you usually have to construct the taco yourself, I've found it best to avoid the whole, tasteless genre. The only other exception is if you see "chicken tinga" on the menu, in which case the meat is stewed in a flavorful liquid and pulled apart while still tender.
To see one of the very best examples of this around, make your way to Taqueria Perejil in Logan Square. Perejil leaves the chicken in sizable, juicy pieces, instead of dishing out a tangle of mushy meat. But my favorite part is that in the place of a watery sauce, the taqueria mixes in sliced chipotle slices. Though slightly spicy, they mostly add a robust and earthy note. If you miss the spice, dip into the incredibly hot green salsa on the table.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Town buckle to Brighton
Will Buckley marked his return for Brighton with two first-half goals to help his side leapfrog Huddersfield into an npower Championship play-off place with a 2-1 win.
The 24-year-old midfielder powered home an unstoppable shot from the edge of the penalty area in the fifth minute and doubled Brighton's lead five minutes before half-time with a clinical low finish.
Simon Church, on loan from Reading, struck a consolation for Huddersfield in the final minute in his second game for the club, but it was too little too late for Simon Grayson's side, who slipped to a third home league defeat of the season.
Brighton were good value for their fourth win on the road against an out-of-sorts Huddersfield, who struggled to create chances against a well-drilled Brighton defence.
Huddersfield, without injured strikers Jermaine Beckford and James Vaughan, recalled midfielder Oliver Norwood and winger Danny Ward, while Brighton made four changes.
Goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak injured himself during the warm-up and was replaced by Peter Brezovan while defender Marcos Painter, midfielder Dean Hammond, plus strikers Buckley and Ashley Barnes all returned.
Buckley wasted little time adding to his three goals for the season in some style, giving Brighton a fifth-minute lead when crashing the ball high into the roof of the net after taking Bruno Salter's neat pass inside on the edge of the penalty area.
Barnes spurned a golden chance to put the visitors two-nil up twice in quick succession 10 minutes later, first dragging his low shot from the edge of the box just wide and then heading Andrea Orlandi's corner over the crossbar.
Huddersfield had to wait until the 25th minute before their first effort on goal as Adam Clayton fired an angled shot from 30 yards wide.
Striker Church, in his second game for the Terriers after joining last week on loan from Reading, headed inches over the crossbar before Brighton stunned the home crowd with a second goal in the 40th minute.
Craig Mackail-Smith played the ball inside the area from the right and Buckley arrowed a low shot from 12 yards across Huddersfield goalkeeper Alex Smithies and into the bottom corner.
Huddersfield started the second half with more purpose, but found clear-cut chances hard to come by and it was not until the 59th minute that Lee Novak threatened with a low angled shot from inside the area.
Novak went close again in the 64th minute, but headed wide from 12 yards.
Town boss Grayson sent on winger Adam Hammill and striker Alan Lee for Keith Southern and Novak in the 67th minute before Buckley and Church traded long-range efforts that failed to trouble either goalkeeper.
Brighton went close to adding a third goal in the 74th minute, but Buckley, whose goalbound shot from the left side of the penalty area was brilliantly turned away at full stretch by home goalkeeper Alex Smithies, was denied his hat-trick.
Church converted Ward's ball in from the right from close range in the 90th minute, but Brighton comfortably held on without any further scares to take maximum points.
Source: DSG
Source: DSG


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I agree…
Sometimes I just use the same old password and a smart hacker could figure it out. I have started
using the format that I follow at school. Better save than sorry!!
Related articles
- If you have a PC you need to read this………."How Hackable Are You? (sacratomatovillepost.com)
- Pass on 'password' for internet security, experts say (ctvnews.ca)


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|Download Corporate Services PDF
Keeping your best employees at work has just become easier with a Corporate Passbook at Care4hire.com. Employer supported child care access eliminates the stress, liability and cost of providing daycare services and gives parents full control over hiring the best nanny or babysitter for their child. With a Corporate Passbook, the employer pays for the services that are used, which saves everyone time and money.
The Journal of Accountacy reports that companies with child-care assistance make a "major dent" in absenteeism. The leading cause of absenteeism in the workplace is the lack of adequate child care for children who are sick and on vacation. The services of Nannies4Hire.com and Babysitters4Hire.com help your employees stay on the job.
The benefits of the Corporate Passbook to the company are:
Whether your employees need full time or part time child care, with over 500,000 families and nannies online today, Care4Hire.com provide your employees with the tools they need to understand and prepare for unforeseen emergencies.
www.care4hire.com is an online database for caregivers and families in the United States and Canada. You can preview available caregivers online for free. There are babysitters, pet sitters, tutors, companions for the elderly and housekeepers available for full-time, part-time, temporary, summer, live-in and live-out positions with a variety of different experience levels. The caregivers you see on the free preview are the same ones you see once you register. Besides relationships with Dr. Phil, SUPERNANNY and the Discovery Channel/TLC - to name a few our partners - we have also teamed up with corporations to help find childcare for their employees. Hundreds of thousands of families and nannies throughout the United States and Canada have joined Care4hire.com and our list continues to grow daily.
When an employer registers with Care4hire.com, each employee is assigned a username and password to access the databases. Parents, not their employer, choose the babysitter to interview. Our complimentary resource section provides the parent with all the information they need from securing a background check to building a back up list of on call childcare. As an employer, you pay for the services that are used.


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JHWeather is Loading...
Consider making a donation to help keep it running.
The goal of JHWeather.com is to make it super easy to access the most important Jackson Hole weather information. Suggestions? Comments? Send an email to email@example.com.
Built and maintained for the Jackson Hole community by John Pansewicz - Redtopia Software.
Emergency: Dial 911
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text: Korean Job Discussion Forums :: View topic - Fightin' Round the World With Russell Crowe Speak Korean Now! Korean Job Discussion Forums"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!" FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in Fightin' Round the World With Russell Crowe Goto page Previous 1, 2 Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Off-Topic Forum View previous topic :: View next topic Author Message shebaJoined: 16 May 2005Location: Here there and everywhere! Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2005 4:50 pm Post subject: Re: Fightin' Round the World With Russell Crowe dulouz wrote: I wondered what that South Park episode was about. Its not the first time Russel Crow has assulted someone publicly.... South Park episodes like to take an event and exagerate. Makes it all the more fun to watch! Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Off-Topic Forum All times are GMT - 8 HoursGoto page Previous 1, 2 Page 2 of 2 Jump to: Select a forum Forums:----------------FAQJob-related Discussion ForumGeneral Discussion ForumOff-Topic ForumTravel ForumCurrent Events ForumTechnology ForumBuy/Sell/Trade Forum You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling. Contact Dave's ESL Cafe Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved. Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group TEFL International Supports Dave's ESL Cafe


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Study finds potential solution for feeding, swallowing difficulties in children with autism
Collaborative research out of the George Washington University (GW) reveals new information on the pathogenesis of feeding and swallowing difficulties often found in children with neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism and intellectual disability. Using an animal model of DiGeorge/22q11 Deletion Syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes autism and intellectual disability, the GW group found clear signs of early feeding and swallowing disruption, and underlying changes in brain development. The research, featured on the cover of Disease Models & Mechanisms, may even lead to a cure for these difficulties—known as pediatric dysphagia.
"We found that the same mechanisms causing neurodevelopmental disorders are disrupting development in parts of the nervous system that control swallowing and feeding," said Anthony-Samuel LaMantia, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and physiology at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) and director of the GW Institute for Neuroscience. "Cranial nerves, which control food intake and swallowing, aren't developing correctly, which likely contributes to mis-coordination. This is good news—this is something we can fix."
Up to 80 percent of children with developmental disorders have difficulty ingesting, chewing, or swallowing food, leading to food aspiration, choking, or life-threatening respiratory infections. Despite its high co-incidence with developmental disorders, little was previously known about pediatric dysphagia.
"A lot of children with pediatric dysphagia tend to be sicker from birth onward. Making the health of these kids as stable as possible from birth onward would allow clinicians to pick up on developmental signs sooner, which are often masked by more immediate problems like having ear or respiratory infections, not sleeping or not gaining weight," said LaMantia. "The physiological stress caused by the complications of dysphagia early on likely exacerbates the fundamental behavior issues that will emerge later. A happy, healthy baby is often able to focus on observing and gathering information to drive important experience dependent changes in the brain. A sick baby has less time to do so, possibly making cognitive outcomes even worse."
These findings were a collaborative effort between LaMantia, and Sally Moody, Ph.D., professor of anatomy and regenerative biology at SMHS, with important contributions from Beverly Karpinski, a research scientist who works jointly with LaMantia and Moody; Thomas Maynard, Ph.D., associate research professor of pharmacology and physiology at SMHS and director of the GW Institute for Neuroscience Biomarkers Core; and Irene Zohn, Ph.D. associate professor of pediatrics and pharmacology and physiology and Investigator in the Center for Neuroscience Research at Children's National Medical Center.
LaMantia's lab had been working on issues surrounding disrupted development from DiGeorge/22q11Deletion Syndrome and Moody's lab had, over the course of her career, been working on issues specific to cranial nerve neurons and how they relate to the development of peripheral neurons and cranial facial targets. The combined expertise led to this discovery and will lead to future collaborations.


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MILWAUKEE – MMAjunkie.com is on scene and reporting live from tonight's UFC on Versus 5 event at Milwaukee's Bradley Center.
Be sure to follow along with the latest card updates in our UFC on Versus 5 live-results post, and then discuss the event in the comments section below.
Follow along with our round-by-round updates and official results beginning at approximately 5:45 p.m. ET (2:45 p.m. PT) for the preliminary card and 9 p.m. ET for the main card.


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Nesselrode Pudding
I have been cooking with chestnuts a lot this winter and while telling my mother about my triumphant puree de marron filled doughnuts, we got onto the subject of a frozen chestnut pudding she used to make for Christmas back when we were kids. Lighter than the traditional pudding, it was studded with marinaded dried fruit, sweetened with chestnut puree, it was a real family favourite. She used a clipping from (quite possibly the Radio Times) with the recipe on and it was a sad day when that precious piece of paper got lost and we stopped making the nameless pudding. Buoyed by nostalgia and Google, we looked up frozen chestnut pudding in the vain hope of finding something similar and were thrilled to discover that we had been making a dish called Nesselrode Pudding and that our festive dessert was sorted for this year.
This is a Victorian era pudding named for a MittelEuropean Count and was fabulously popular in those days, showing off expensive luxury items to full effect on Christmas Day while keeping some of the tastes of a British Christmas such a dried fruit and brandy. It relies on the flavours of sweet chestnuts and brandy to end the feast in style and we were delighted to have the chance to re-visit this classic family favourite!


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VCA Ragland and Riley Animal Hospital is looking for a full-time Associate Veterinarian to join our thriving companion animal practice located in the heart of the Upper Cumberland Region of Middle Tennessee.
In this position, you'll use your superior medical judgment combined with a high level of empathy, confidence, and humility to build a loyal client base and heal pets. We offer many opportunities for surgery and intensive medicine, as well as mentorship. The applicant must have a positive attitude and be team-oriented with excellent communication skills.
We are dedicated to providing the highest quality medical and surgical care to our patients and offer the best possible service to our clients. The support staff is fully trained, professional, efficient, and caring. Our hospital provides many services which include preventative, diagnostic and internal medicine, soft tissue, and orthopedic surgery. We also offer emergency care. This position includes emergency rotation. The salary and benefits package is very competitive. New graduates will be considered.
As a member of the VCA family, your passion for medicine and compassion for pets and people is matched with a commitment to your professional growth. Among the reasons to consider joining VCA are: • Network of 4,500+ doctors, including more than 600 Specialists.• Largest provider of Private Practice Internships and Residencies in the U.S.• WOOF University, offering abundant CE for Doctors and Staff.• Robust Clinical Studies program.• Opportunities to give back through strong Shelter partnerships and VCA Charities.
We offer competitive compensation and great benefits for eligible employees, including medical/dental, generous personal pet care discounts, and more!
VCA Ragland & Riley is located in beautiful Overton County, Tennessee between Cookeville and Livingston. Cookeville is home to Tennessee Technological University and is located 80 miles from Nashville and 100 miles from Knoxville on Interstate 40. VCA Ragland & Riley is 12 miles north of Interstate 40. There are several state parks located in the Upper Cumberland region that have beautiful waterfalls, hiking trails, and other outdoor activities. For the boating or fishing enthusiasts, we have Dale Hollow Lake and Center Hill Lake in our region as well.
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Northern Virginia Community College © 2011


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WNBA draft to air in prime time for 1st time
NEW YORK (AP) -- With Brittney Griner the top prize, the WNBA draft will be televised live in prime time for the first time.
The league announced Monday the first round will air on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. EST on April 15. ESPN Vice President Carol Stiff says: "With the caliber of players that is expected to enter the 2013 WNBA draft, it was a logical decision to move the event to a prime-time window."
Griner, the Baylor star, is among the big names in a draft class that also includes Notre Dame's Skylar Diggins. The Phoenix Mercury own the first pick.
WNBA President Laurel Richie says holding the draft in prime time represents a "significant commitment" by ESPN and is "indicative of the growing interest in the league and the women's game overall."


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Here's a scenario: you're locked out of plesk admin, you forgot the password and can't recover cause your email address is not set in the contact details.
Still have ssh access as root (ssh keys or can still remember password for root ) ? Most of the time I use dsa keys for ssh authentication.
If you do then you can change the password for admin.
Plesk keeps it's password in the psa mysql database so you just have to change it in the psa.accounts table . But to have access to it you need access as root in mysql.
If you don't have the password for root ( most likely on plesk servers ) you'll have to stop mysql and start it without privilege verification.
- /etc/init.d/mysql stop # stop mysql
- /usr/sbin/mysqld --skip-grant-tables & # start without privilege verification
- mysql -u root # log into mysql using the mysql client
That would work on most linux distros , on some the stop script would be /etc/init.d/mysqld and on others the path to the mysql server might be /usr/libexec/mysqld .
use psa
Once you're logged in run this sql to change the password:
- USE psa;
- UPDATE accounts SET password=md5('newpasswordhere') WHERE id=1 ;
Now get out of the mysql client ( CTRL+C) and restart mysql to have privilege verification back or else everyone would be able to do what you just did:
- killall -9 mysqld
- /etc/init.d/mysql start
Now you can login to plesk with the new password.


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Relationships between an auditor and the client have the capacity to impair auditor independence, which may have a negative impact on financial reporting quality. As such, research that examines issues that have the potential to impair audit quality should be important to the auditing profession. Furthermore, audit committees play a critical role in ensuring auditor independence and audit quality; therefore, it is important to consider the potential impact of the auditor's economic dependence created by interlocking on audit quality.
Hossain, S., G. S. Monroe, M. Wilson, and C. Jubb. 2016. The Effect of Networked Clients' Economic Importance on Audit Quality. Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory 35 (4): 79 – 103.
Research completed in the past has shown that short-term option compensation weakens audit committee member objectivity and oversight quality; this study confirms these findings. These results encourage investigation toward increasing saliency of the oversight role that the PCAOB plays, further research involving the role of an Engagement Quality Review, and understanding what characteristics of the members of the study led them to react to incentives.
For more information on this study, please contact Julie Persellin.
Persellin, J. S. 2013. The Influence of PCAOB Inspections on Audit Committee Members' Judgments. Behavioral Research in Accounting 25 (2).


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The Easy (and Free) Way to Make a Budget Spreadsheet
It's January and you've gone and done it: You've resolved to keep better track of your personal finances. But deep down, you're not sure where to start. Sure, you can buy accounting software, sign up for a service or poke around your bank's online offerings for money management. But don't overlook what is probably the best option of all: a simple and free spreadsheet you make yourself.
Never used spreadsheet software before and not quite sure what it does? Relax, using it to make a budget is easy, because someone has already done most of the work. Here's how to get started.
Step 1: Pick Your Program
First, select an application that can create and edit spreadsheet files. Microsoft Excel has long been a core component of the Microsoft Office suite for Mac and Windows ($70 a year). If you don't have it already, you can also find versions for Android and iOS or the free basic version that runs in a web browser.
Other free or preinstalled spreadsheet programs may already be on your device. Google Sheets (for Android, iOS and web) and Apple's Numbers software for iOS, macOS and web are two examples.
If you don't care for the offerings from Microsoft, Google or Apple, there are alternatives. Apache OpenOffice has a Calc spreadsheet program, as does LibreOffice, and both are free open-source suites that run on Windows, Mac and Linux systems. And there are plenty of other options in the app stores if you want to shop around.
Step 2: Select a Template
Spreadsheet programs for home computers have been around for 40 years, giving developers plenty of time to make them more intuitive. Most have a version of the "personal budget" template — with the spending categories, design and formulas already formatted. Take advantage of them. Just type over the sample numbers with your own information and the software does the math.
Open your program of choice and look for the "Template" or "Project" gallery. Select the template that best matches your needs, like "Monthly Home Budget," to create a new spreadsheet.
Don't see a template that suits you? With a quick search, you can find plenty more to download online, like the selection at BudgetsAreSexy.com, which has specialized templates for those aiming for early retirement, or recent college graduates. The Measure of a Plan personal finance site also has a detailed budget-tracking template that works in Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. Online video tutorials and software guides can also help you build your own spreadsheets.
Step 3: Enter Your Own Numbers
Once you open a template, you'll see the boxes (called "cells" in spreadsheet lingo) to fill in your own numbers. Gather up pay stubs, bills, statements and any other forms that show what you made or spent that month.
Enter the information into the designated place. Along with your salary, your pay stub should show the money taken out for things like taxes, retirement savings and health insurance. Add in monthly expenses, like phone, credit card and power bills; car loans; gas, insurance, rent and mortgage costs; gym fees; restaurant meals; and shopping sprees.
Step 4: Check Your Results
Once you have all your numbers punched into the spreadsheet, you can see two things. First, you have a line-by-line accounting of your finances for the month.
Second, most spreadsheet templates give you added totals in your columns for income and expenses, so you can see your cash flow in action. Some templates even include charts to help you better visualize your situation.
Step 5: Keep Going or Move Up to a Specialized App
If using a simple spreadsheet to record your monthly budget inspires you to keep tracking it over the year — or take even more control — you can move up to a dedicated tool that shows spending trends, provides financial coaching and offers tips.
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Trudeau Government Should Turn to Sustainable Floor Heating In Its New Deal
A consortium has been chosen by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) to manage the $1.1-billion overhaul of five heating and cooling plants in the National Capital Region. However, this decision has been met with a lot of disapproval by the country's largest federal public service union.
Early June, the department announced that Innovate Energy has been awarded the 30-year contract "to design, retrofit, maintain and operate the plants,"winning the bid over a rival group that included SNC-Lavalin.
Minister of Environment, Catherine McKenna, said the federal government was "leading by example" in its bid to drastically reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions across the country. McKenna noted that by supporting this project, they're utilizing heating and cooling infrastructure to promote a more environmentally friendly option.
"We're very proud that our government is working with partners like Innovate Energy to modernize this critical infrastructure," she said during the announcement at one of the facilities that will be upgraded, the Cliff Heating and Cooling Plant in downtown Ottawa.
The plants would be known as the district energy system and would heat 80 buildings in the area with steam. It is also expected to cool 67 of these buildings with chilled water through more than 14 kilometres of underground pipes.
Under the Energy Services Acquisition Program, PSPC will be tasked with modernizing the outdated technology in the plants to lower emissions and supportgrowth in the eco-friendly technology sector.
During the first stage of the overhaul, the system would be converted from steam to low temperature hot water and then switched from steam to electric chillers—with the estimated completion date being 2025. PSPC notes that the project will reduce current emissions by 63 per cent, the equivalent of removing 14,000 non-eco-friendly cars off the road.
Afterwards, the natural gas powering the plant will then be replaced by carbon-neutral fuel sources, which according to estimated will reduce emissions by a further 28 per cent. The renovation project is bound to save the government an estimated fee of more than $750 million in heating and cooling costs in the next 40 years.
Furthermore, the implementation of radiant floor heating in Ottawa by the federal government would be an additional step in driving its agenda for a more eco-friendly state.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Savers website, radiant floor heating has a lot of benefits and advantages over alternate heat systems and can cut heating costs by 25 to 50 per cent.
"It is more efficient than baseboard heating and usually more efficient than forced-air heating because no energy is lost through ducts," the website states.
Radiant floor heating provides an equal amount of heat throughout a building, including areas that are difficult to heat, such as rooms with vaulted ceilings, garages or bathrooms. Consideringit warms people and objects directly—controlling the direct heat loss of the occupant—radiant floor heating provides comfort at lower thermostat settings.
"Radiators and other forms of 'point' heating circulate heat inefficiently and hence need to run for longer periods to obtain comfort levels," reports the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNet).
Radiant heating is a clean and healthy option—a perfect choice for those with severe allergies—as it doesn't rely on circulating air, meaning there are no potentially irritating particles blowing around the room. Additionally, it is more energy efficient, aesthetically pleasing with wall radiators or floor registers and virtually noiseless when in operation.
"They draw cold air across the floor and send warm air up to the ceiling, where it then falls, heating the room from the top down, creating drafts and circulating dust and allergens."
It is important for the leadership in Ottawa to equally drive the adoption of radiant floor heating as doing this would lead to increased usage in residential buildings—and even government-owned buildings.
However, in October, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), a representative body of employees of the plants,began a campaign target at the government against their decision to use a public-private partnership (P3) for the retrofitting project, citing concerns about costs and safety.
According to the union, outside employees won't be bound to the same health and safety standards of government workers and that typically P3 projects cost a lot more than traditional public financing deals.
The union demands that the government scraps the proposed project and meet PSAC members and experts to brainstorm on a new way forward that would ensure federal employees continue to operate and maintain the plants.
However, parliamentary secretary to public services and procurement minister, Steve MacKinnon said that the union officials have consulted him but that after conducting an analysis, the P3 option was still the best for the job.
"We didn't have (to) sacrifice on safety or health — we didn't have to sacrifice on job security," he said.
Steps to becoming a Data Scientist
Data science has become one of the most in-demand career paths in this century, according to Business Insider. With the amount of information being circulated online, it has created a huge demand for storing, interpreting and implementing big data for different purposes—hence the need for a data scientist.
Today, there too much information flying around for regular people to process efficiently and use. Therefore, it has become the responsibility of data scientists to collect, organize and analyze this data. Doing this helps various people, organizations, enterprise businesses and governments to manage, store and interpret this data for different purposes.
Though data scientists come from different educational backgrounds, a majority of them need to have a technical educational background. To pursue a career in data science, computer-related majors, graduations and post graduations in maths and statistics are quite useful.
Therefore, the steps to becoming a data scientist are quite straightforward. After obtaining a bachelor's degree in an IT related field—such as computer science, maths or physics—you can also further your education by obtaining a master's degree in a data science or any other related field of study. With the necessary educational background, you can now search for a job and obtain the required experience in whichever filed you choose to invest your acquired skills.
Here are the necessary steps to be taken to become a data scientist.
Step 1: Obtain the necessary educational requirements
As earlier noted, different educational paths can still lead to a career in data science. However, it is impossible to begin a career in data science without obtaining a collegiate degree—as a four-year bachelor's degree is really important. However, according to a report by Business Insider, over 73% of data scientist in existence today have a graduate degree and about 38% of them hold a Ph.D. Therefore, to rise above the crowd and get a high-end position in the field of data science, it is important to have a Master's degree or a Ph.D.—and with various online data science masters program, obtaining one is quite easy.
Some institutions provide data science programs with courses that will equip students to analyze complex sets of data. These courses also involve a host of technical information about computers, statistics, data analysis techniques and many more. Completing these programs equips you with the necessary skills to function adequately as a data scientist.
Additionally, there are some technical—and computer-based degrees—that can aid you begin a career in data science. Some of them include studies in, Computer Science, Statistics, Social Science, Physics, Economics, Mathematics and Applied Math. These degrees will imbibe some important skills related to data science in you—namely, coding, experimenting, managing large amounts of data, solving quantitative problems and many others.
Step 2: Choose an area of specialization
There rarely exists an organization, agency or business today that doesn't require the expertise of a data scientist. Hence, it is important that after acquiring the necessary education to start a career as a data scientist, you need to choose an area of specialization in the field you wish to work in.
Some of the specializations that exist in data science today include automotive, marketing, business, defence, sales, negotiation, insurance and many others.
Step 3: Kick start your career as a data scientist
After acquiring the necessary skills to become a data scientist, it is important to get a job in the filed and company of your choice where you can acquire some experience.
Many organizations offer valuable training to their data scientists and these pieces of training are typically centred around the specific internal systems and programs of an organization. Partaking in this training allows you learn some high-level analytical skills that were not taught during your various school programs—especially since data science is a constantly evolving field.
Artificial intelligence pioneers win tech's 'Nobel Prize'
Computers have become so smart during the past 20 years that people don't think twice about chatting with digital assistants like Alexa and Siri or seeing their friends automatically tagged in Facebook pictures.
But making those quantum leaps from science fiction to reality required hard work from computer scientists like Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun. The trio tapped into their own brainpower to make it possible for machines to learn like humans, a breakthrough now commonly known as "artificial intelligence," or AI.
Their insights and persistence were rewarded Wednesday with the Turing Award, an honor that has become known as technology industry's version of the Nobel Prize. It comes with a $1 million prize funded by Google, a company where AI has become part of its DNA.
The award marks the latest recognition of the instrumental role that artificial intelligence will likely play in redefining the relationship between humanity and technology in the decades ahead.
"Artificial intelligence is now one of the fastest-growing areas in all of science and one of the most talked-about topics in society," said Cherri Pancake, president of the Association for Computing Machinery, the group behind the Turing Award.
Although they have known each other for than 30 years, Bengio, Hinton and LeCun have mostly worked separately on technology known as neural networks. These are the electronic engines that power tasks such as facial and speech recognition, areas where computers have made enormous strides over the past decade. Such neural networks also are a critical component of robotic systems that are automating a wide range of other human activity, including driving.
Their belief in the power of neural networks was once mocked by their peers, Hinton said. No more. He now works at Google as a vice president and senior fellow while LeCun is chief AI scientist at Facebook. Bengio remains immersed in academia as a University of Montreal professor in addition to serving as scientific director at the Artificial Intelligence Institute in Quebec.
"For a long time, people thought what the three of us were doing was nonsense," Hinton said in an interview with The Associated Press. "They thought we were very misguided and what we were doing was a very surprising thing for apparently intelligent people to waste their time on. My message to young researchers is, don't be put off if everyone tells you what are doing is silly." Now, some people are worried that the results of the researchers' efforts might spiral out of control.
While the AI revolution is raising hopes that computers will make most people's lives more convenient and enjoyable, it's also stoking fears that humanity eventually will be living at the mercy of machines.
Bengio, Hinton and LeCun share some of those concerns especially the doomsday scenarios that envision AI technology developed into weapons systems that wipe out humanity.
But they are far more optimistic about the other prospects of AI empowering computers to deliver more accurate warnings about floods and earthquakes, for instance, or detecting health risks, such as cancer and heart attacks, far earlier than human doctors.
"One thing is very clear, the techniques that we developed can be used for an enormous amount of good affecting hundreds of millions of people," Hinton said.
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Load peaks in your WWTP?
No problem with Liquiline Control!
Predictive automation solution for maximum process reliability in your wastewater treatment plant
Liquiline Control uses intelligent algorithms to control the blowers in the biological stage reliably, efficiently and now, thanks to an entirely new feature, predictably! The system uses multiple measured values and the flow velocity to calculate what oxygen quantity is needed in the aerobic zone to reliably decompose harmful substances and nutrients. It then controls the blowers accordingly to achieve the required oxygen level.
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Predictive control system protects your biological stage from overload.
Efficient control of your blowers prevents energy-intensive high-load phases.
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Liquiline Control: harness the power of prediction. Curious?
Click here to learn more about this effective, predictive control solution.


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Techinical Difficulties
Hello SFs!
Some sort of technical difficulties at the site, so we're temporarily using this old site.
Feel free to look around but please DO NOT sign up or login or submit or comment or anything like that!
The new site is UP!!!
Hey SFs!
The new site is up!
See you there!
Jabba Book Launch Tour to visit 8 states!
SuperFolders in Tennesee, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky… AND JUST ADDED: VIRGINIA!
Me and Jabba (and SP Laura*) are headed your way soon!!!! Keep reading for the full schedule. Read the rest of this entry »
Megadoodle Poll Jan 2017
Comments off
The first(?) "cover" for Origami Yoda?
A trip WAY WAY WAY WAY down memory lane!
From deep inside my computer's hard drive comes this picture that shows you how Origami Yoda would have looked without help from designer Chad Beckerman and artist Jason Rosenstock. Note that I was still planning to go with the stupid pen name at that point!
The stats so far…
When the new site goes up… any time now! … the stats will be reset.
So here's a look at how much we — me, Webmaster Sam and you SFs — accomplished together:
Comments: 47,905
Top post:
|Folding your own Origami Yoda & other Star Wars papercraft
Top SF post: https://origamiyoda.wordpress.com/2011/04/04/super-folder-dereks-origami-darth-maul-with-instructions-starwars-origami/
And here's the best part: 3,505 posts! That is a lot of Stooky Origami made by you SFs!!!!!
I hope none of you have terrible summer jobs… like this one.
Here's me age 13(?) cleaning live mouse traps for a scientist.
Since the mice were caught and kept alive, they had plenty of time to poop and pee all over the inside of these things.
And then I got to clean them. Lots and lots of them. For very little $. You can't even see one of the worst parts, which was the agony of trying to put them back together again after cleaning.
(Maybe this helped inspire Horton's miserable dishwashing job.)
One time I got a bonus: A mouse that hadn't survived the ordeal….
Darth Maul – 7 horns, 2 arms, zero cuts
If you think he looks ugly from the front, check out the back!
This is based on a base created by SF NathanielW! You'll definitely be seeing more using this base and I'll try to offer instrux soon…
The Rebellion Begins Soon! Final Jabba sneak peek!
Viva la Revolucion!
McQuarrie Kids are sick of being tested and even worse "prepped" for testing! The Rebellion begins Aug. 6!!!
Can a bunch of kids with Star Wars puppets really take on their principal and win?
Will Dwight be ready to join the fight with Yoda… Or just eat a very old pickle? Or both???
Whose side will Harvey be on? What are the E.W.O.K.S.?
Is FunTime as bad as it sounds?
And most importantly… What is Jabba going to do?
You'll find out soon! (At least I hope you will!)


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FACETIME- Suicidal cells: UVA's Petri dishes on a bad bug
Non-scientists probably never stop to analyze how our bodies grow from six or eight-pound infants at birth to mature adults of considerably larger bulk. One way is that cells have a built-in mechanism that tells them when to kill themselves so new cells can take their place.
Dr. William Petri (no relation to the dish) has used this fact of physiology to unlock the secret of a disease that affects more than a billion people, mostly in developing countries where access to clean water is limited. Along with UVA assistant professor Eric Houpt and scientists at Techlab, a Blacksburg research firm, Petri, chair of UVA's division of infectious diseases, has been awarded a five-year $4.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a vaccine against amebiasis, caused by a parasite in dirty food and water.
"We're working together to test in a mouse model vaccines against the disease," Petri says. "Histolytica penetrates the bowel wall and destroys tissues, causing diarrhea and dysentery. We've spent a lot of time over the last 15 years trying to identify the process by which the parasite kills the cells." What they've determined is that it tricks cells into self-destructing by activating the mechanism by which they commit suicide.
Petri, 50, explains, "Our vaccine is designed to create antibodies against the programed cell death. We now have a prototype vaccine that provides protection in an animal model, but we're five years away from having a human trial."
How does one decide to spend energy fighting a tiny parasite that for years did not create much buzz? "I've always had an interest in infectious diseases," Petri says. "Tropical diseases are interesting to me because they affect so many milions of children, but there are not many people working on them because they don't affect people in the U.S."
Long-time colleague Barbara Mann came from the University of Wisconsin to join Petri in this research. "Because Dr. Petri isolated the protein that allows the parasite to attach itself to the cell, he can make antibodies against it," she says. She adds that Petri started a study with a group of children in Bangladesh because in addition to gastrointestinal problems, the parasite may cause cognitive and developmental defects in youngsters.
"This work can have a significant impact on childhood health, especially in developing countries" Mann says. "Dr. Petri is someone who can take a project from the lab to practical use. He's taken some basic discoveries from 'bench to bedside.'"
Mann is also quick to praise Petri's impact on colleagues. "He's fun to work with and not stuffy. He's been a great role model for younger scientists in the lab," she says.
And as for the inevitable question, no, he's not related to Julius Richard Petri, the German bacteriologist who invented the dish that bears his name. "Our family is from Alsace Lorraine, which is where Dr. Petri of the petri dish is from. But we don't thnk there's any connection," the local doc dishes.
Dr. William Petri


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Compare cheap flights to Brussels
When is the cheapest time to fly to Brussels?
What to do in Brussels
Brussels is the capital city of Belgium, and it's home to contrasting structures, rich culture, and tasty treats. From 19th century buildings to modern structures of glass and steel, and fascinating museums to festivals, Brussels won't dissapoint!
Begin your Brussels trip and bring your camera to the city's historic sights. The UNESCO World Heritage Site at the Grand Place-Grote Markt will turn your photos into masterpieces. Make an entrance at the grand staircase of Palais de Justice. Be impressed by the world's fifth biggest church at Basilique de Sacre Coeur.
Add a pop of colour to your photos with the stained glass windows of Saint-Michel Cathedral. Be in awe of the arches of Parc du Cinquantenaire. Include a modern piece to your collection of travel pictures with a visit the iconic Atomium.
Like many European cities, Brussels has many museums and galleries just waiting for you like the Royal Art and History Museum, the Army Museum, and Autoworld. Other museums in the city that you can't miss are Horta Museum, Musée Magritte Museum, and the Belgian Comic Strip Center where you can embrace your inner child.
Flex your shopping muscles in Brussels next. Spend your dollars at the flea market at Place du jeu de Balle, buy books at Librare d'art and Bortier Gallery, and the vintage market at Halles Saint Gery Vintage.
If you want the best beers in town, visit one of the world's top beer bars at Moeder Lambic. Enjoy board games with your food at Le Pantin or brunch at Café Belga. So check out this list of 10 awesome things to do in Brussels and start planning your trip!
When to visit Brussels
The best time to visit Brussels is during spring and autumn. Spring from the months of March to May and autumn from September to October is when the weather is most pleasant, plus you'll experience lower prices and fewer crowds.
But no matter what time of year you plan to travel, you can fly to Belgium and visit Brussels whenever you want. As part of the Schengen Convention, you and other Australian citizens can travel to Belgium visa-free for up to 90 days. Just make sure your passport is valid for at least six months.
Travelling to and around Brussels
You'll reach Belgium by flying in to Brussels Airport, and from there you can reach the city by train, bus, and taxi. You can easily wander Brussels by metro, tram, bus, taxi, and bike rental. Most of the sights in the city are fairly close to each other so it's also lovely to explore the city by foot.
You should be bound for Brussels now, so pack your bags and book your Brussels flights with Skiddoo today!
Temperature average in December
Rainfall average in December
74.8 mm
Cheapest time to fly to Brussels (BRU)
All prices refer to return flights to Brussels and include taxes and charges.
Our experiences customer support team is there to help you every step of the way.
With the Skiddoo Price Promise, if you find a cheaper price online we'll match it!


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VANCOUVER - If you're wondering what that crackling soccer buzz is this week, Major League Soccer is between the first and second stages of its re-entry draft of jettisoned players. Like, you didn't know.
Stage 1 of the draft on Friday consisted of one player. The Chicago Fire claimed DC United forward Maicon Santos while all other teams passed. Stage 2 goes this Friday. Between stages, MLS teams are allowed to negotiate new deals with their own players whose option years were declined. The Vancouver Whitecaps are believed to be trying to do this with veteran midfielder John Thorrington, whose 2012 salary of $170,000 the team was unwilling to maintain.
There are age and fitness issues with Thorrington, 33, but the Californian gave the Whitecaps leadership and character, traits the franchise needs in greater abundance for its third season of MLS.
Coach Martin Rennie admitted as much when the Whitecaps bombed in their final home game, losing 1-0 to the Portland Timbers before a more noble defeat, 2-1, to the Los Angeles Galaxy in the MLS Cup playoffs.
"At the moment, the team hasn't quite got the culture that it needs," Rennie said back on Oct. 21.
The culture or chemistry of the Whitecaps is a paramount issue this winter.
"We certainly take responsibility for impacting the chemistry of the team because we made changes (mid-season) and we probably made one or two too many," Whitecaps' president Bob Lenarduzzi said before the re-entry draft. "Everyone needs to be accountable, and so does management. Did we really help the situation? Probably not.
"My belief is there is something wrong. I think we've got a good core of players. Leadership is important but we have to identify it. We have to get to the point where that's addressed ... because we're a second-year team and what we don't want to do is go backwards."
Lenarduzzi cited defender Andy O'Brien, who provided character and ability after his summer acquisition, as the kind of player the Whitecaps need. But he admitted it's harder to identify leadership than skill when scouting players.
"It's not an easy thing," Lenarduzzi said. "You can do all your research and still get things wrong now and again. We look at not just the player's ability, but what else he brings to the club."
NHL STUPIDITY MAKES SENSE: The National Hockey League season is in grave jeopardy because the dumbest lockout in pro sports history now hinges largely on the dumbest standoff within the dispute.
When NHL vice-president Bill Daly – henceforth known as Bill "The Hill" or "Hillbilly" — exclaimed Thursday that the league's demand for a five-year limit on individual contracts was "the hill we will die on," it seemed suddenly possible the Mayans got it right and life as we know it ends Dec. 21.
Remembering that individual contracts do not affect by one dollar the share of revenue split by owners and players, the NHL's demand for a five-year limit seems mostly for accounting purposes, to protect franchise values.
Commissioner Gary Bettman views long-term contracts, like the Vancouver Canucks' 12-year deal with goalie Roberto Luongo, as liabilities on balance sheets that detract from teams' value. If the league's real concern was that these primarily front-loaded deals circumvent the salary cap, it should focus entirely on year-to-year salary variation and forget about term.
The NHL Players' Association's opposition to contract limits — it compromised Thursday and offered owners an eight-year limit – is almost as bewildering as the league position because only 12 per cent of players are on contracts longer than five years. Generally, only the most elite players benefit from "lifetime contracts," which take heaps of money out of the NHLPA's finite revenue share, leaving fewer dollars for others.
SUGGESTION BOX: Union leader Donald Fehr's address to a Canadian Auto Workers council on Saturday would be like Bettman talking to Fox News' editorial board. Fehr had them at hello. At goodbye, Fehr asked his union brothers and sisters for suggestions to end the lockout.
Here goes: Six-year limit on individual contracts (only six per cent of NHLers are on deals longer than six years); seven-year-plus-mutual-option term on CBA; just enough "transition" flexibility to allow teams to duck under the new salary cap made possible by the players' share being reduced to 50 per cent from 57.
Escrow limits should not be an issue because players, like owners, eventually get every dollar due. But who knows? Maybe escrow is the mole hill the NHLPA will die on.
JAN. 1 OR APRIL 1? Even the stoic, poker-faced Russian players from the old Soviet era now approach hockey with a sense of humour. How else to explain Russian hockey president Vladislav Tretiak's patronage appointment of Alexei Yashin as head coach of the women's national team?
A player who seemed preoccupied in the NHL with leveraging every cent he could from the Ottawa Senators, years before the New York Islanders bought out his 10-year, $72-million contract, Yashin will be a rookie coach in charge of women who make almost nothing.
Tretiak explained: "I think for the ladies, it's a great gift for the New Year."
Or April Fools' Day.


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NEA Mourns The Loss Of Jaime Escalante
Innovative classroom educator leaves legacy of professionalism
WASHINGTON - March 31, 2010 -
On Tuesday, March 30, 2010, noted math educator Jaime Escalante passed away following a lengthy battle with cancer. A Bolivian-born American math teacher, Escalante was best known for his efforts to assist the under-achieving students of inner-city Garfield High School achieve unprecedented academic levels. Their story was the subject of the Hollywood film "Stand and Deliver".
The following statement can be attributed to NEA President Dennis Van Roekel:
"Our nation has lost a great hero and great educator. Jaime Escalante was an inspirational, innovative leader in the classroom. His unwavering commitment to closing the academic achievement gap for his students set the standard for educational excellence that teachers aspire to even today.
"A consummate professional, Jaime refused to allow the background and socio-economic status of his students limit their potential. The National Education Association mourns his passing and honors his passion for teaching and commitment to excellence. His example will stand as a model for future generations of teachers and education professionals for years to come. "
To learn more about NEA's efforts to close the achievement gap, please visit, http://www.nea.org/home/AchievementGaps.html
Follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/NEAMedia
# # #
The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional organization, representing
3.2 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers.
CONTACT: Michelle Hudgins
(202) 822-7823


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Liberal PAC Plans New Campaign Against Incumbent Dems
By Alec MacGillis
Congressional Democrats may have little to fear these days from their Republican counterparts, but they now face a new potential threat from their own side -- a new effort by a left-leaning political action committee that targets Democratic incumbents who are perceived as selling out their constituents.
Several leading liberal bloggers, the activist organization MoveOn.org and the influential Service Employees International Union last year formed the Accountability Now PAC to raise money to support primary challenges against incumbent members of Congress whom the coalition decreed had gone soft in Washington. Now the group is expanding its efforts, having hired its first full-time staffer in early February -- executive director Jeff Hauser -- and received an infusion of funds from an earlier blogger PAC.
The coalition grew out of liberal outrage over the re-approval of the FISA surveillance law last March. Incorporating as a PAC in June, according to Federal Election Commission records, Accountability Now began working along the same lines as the blogger-founded Blue America PAC, launched in mid-2006. Together, the PACs raised more than $570,000 in 2008 -- much of it to run ads against Democrats who voted for the telecommunications retroactive immunity bill.
But, the organizers of both PACs realized to their dismay, there were few viable challengers to whom they could donate in opposition to the targeted incumbents.
As a result, the new initiative will seek to combine the blogger and interest group forces in support of Democratic challengers, folding remaining funds from Blue America into Accountability Now and giving Accountability Now roughly $200,000 in cash on hand. The PAC is now paying state-level blogs around the country to seek out promising potential challengers. Going forward, it will also monitor votes by incumbents to determine which deserve a challenge. And, when the time comes, the PAC will raise money for the challengers.
"The key here is to find incumbents who are not representing their constituents' best interests, who are looking to bad conventional wisdom or getting a lot of K Street money," said Markos Moulitsas, founder of the liberal DailyKos blog. "It's so easy for people in this town to lose touch with the constituents they represent, and very few people are held accountable. There's no job review for these guys -- there's absolutely no motivation for them to remain connected if they become corrupted."
The effort may sound like a liberal equivalent of the Club for Growth, which funds conservative candidates in Republican primaries, but the group's leaders claim there is a difference. Accountability Now will not seek ideological purity across the board, but instead focus on Democrats it believes are betraying districts that could support a more forceful liberal agenda.
For instance, said Moulitsas, the coalition will not punish Mark Begich, the new Alaska senator, for backing expanded oil drilling, since it realizes that his is a popular position in the state. And, Moulitsas added, it will not target Democrats for opposing gay marriage, since it recognizes that public support for gay marriage is not yet at critical mass. Instead, it will do polling -- overseen by whiz-kid Nate Silver -- to find issues where Democrats have truly strayed away from their own constituents.
"We're trying to push the party to do the popular thing when the lobbyist class or conventional wisdom in D.C. is trying to do the opposite," Moulitsas said. "Everything is going to be poll-tested -- we're not going to try to do push them to do what's unpopular."
As models, the group's leaders point to the groundswell that formed behind Ned Lamont's 2006 challenge of Joe Lieberman, which helped expose the depth of popular opposition to the war in Iraq, and to Donna Edwards' successful 2006 challenge of Maryland congressman Al Wynn. Edwards won with heavy support from SEIU and other liberal groups, who saw Wynn as having grown captive to corporate interests. The coalition says it may even support primary challengers against Republican incumbents who are seen as having sold out, or ally in some campaigns with libertarians, as occurred during the FISA episode.
"This is not about pushing the Democratic party further to the left. This is about getting rid of the bad, unresponsive incumbents, the ones who are out of step and out of tune with their voters," said blogger Glenn Greenwald.
There is the chance, of course, that the coalition members will not always agree on which challenger to back. In the race for Rahm Emanuel's Illinois seat, there is a split now between many liberal bloggers, who support lawyer and writer Tom Geoghegan, and the SEIU, which just gave $250,000 to state Rep. Sarah Feigenholtz. But the coalition's organizers say members of the coalition can always refrain from raising money for a given candidate.
The group hasn't yet identified top targets, but SEIU spokeswoman Michelle Ringuette said that congressmen would probably know if they were at risk. "This is a self-selecting group -- if you're against working families, you're opting in," she said. "This is a group of individuals that will self-identify."
Jane Hamsher, founder of the Firedoglake blog, said that ideally, incumbents who have been straying from their constituents would shape up simply by being aware of the threat of a potential challenge. "There's a multiplier effect -- everyone's going to know we're looking, so they will say, 'I'm going to stay responsive to my district.' That's the best possible outcome."
Web Politics Editor
February 27, 2009; 4:20 PM ET
Categories: The Green Zone
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This fluff piece is mere window dressing for the illegal activities of these groups. This is really about moving funds across state lines so those can be distributed without any transparency.
This is exactly how Obama got so much money in the last election. It allows the rich [George Soros and friends] to spend as much as they wish without any accountability. Even the terrorists can now play.
All hail our new socialist overlords!
Posted by: Dannojyd | February 28, 2009 10:09 AM | Report abuse
Btw: If you are wondering what kind of people post here just read below
Raccoons love raw eggs too. Was this one caught in the Oval Office? Instead of the Easter Egg roll, are they going to use watermelons this year?
Posted by: JakeD | February 25, 2009 4:40 PM
Posted by: JRM2 | February 27, 2009 7:38 PM | Report abuse
Btw: If you are wondering what kind of people post here just read below
Raccoons love raw eggs too. Was this one caught in the Oval Office? Instead of the Easter Egg roll, are they going to use watermelons this year?
Posted by: JakeD | February 25, 2009 4:40 PM
Posted by: JRM2 | February 27, 2009 7:37 PM | Report abuse
Why is 4:20 pm significant?
Posted by: JakeD | February 27, 2009 6:31 PM | Report abuse
Ned Lamont was considered a success? How appropriate that this was posted at 4:20.
Posted by: ComfortablyDumb | February 27, 2009 5:29 PM | Report abuse
You should be very careful about trying to heat up the drafty rooms in your home with a can of gasoline and a blowtorch. The chances are high that you will set your house on fire and accidentally burn it down.
I'm just sayin'...
Posted by: markdonahue | February 27, 2009 5:09 PM | Report abuse
Posted by: JakeD | February 27, 2009 4:51 PM | Report abuse
The comments to this entry are closed.


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Kids also benefit from following 'Life's Simple 7'
Scientific research has shown that following "Life's Simple 7" can dramatically improve health.
Those same seven health factors and behaviors are especially important to young people, helping them develop healthy habits that will carry throughout their lives.
"Most kids are born with ideal cardiovascular health and it's an amazing asset if […]


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Well, prior to the "great recession", I used to work as a professional archaeologist holding a Ph.D., M.B.A., and having 30 years of experience in the private cultural resources industry. Now, however, in these days of slow economic recovery in the United States, I am back where I started working as an archaeological laborer (and am feeling lucky that I am able to find any work at all in archaeology).
Today I was up early, at 4 am, and out of the house by 5. After stopping at the office to pick up a truck and some gear, it was out to the Town of Marana, Arizona for a 6 am start time at a construction site. One of the local electrical utilities was installing some new poles and the transmission line crossed some known, and important, early agricultural village sites along the Santa Cruz River. My job was to monitor the contstruction crews and their hole drilling so work could be stopped if archaeological remains were encountered.
The first half of the day was spent setting in the truck waiting for the construction crews to get organized and actually start drilling. Finally, they began to auger down into the earth. I watched the spoils come to the surface, checking for artifacts, bone, charcoal, etc. and did my best to document the stratigraphic changes. Only two, three-foot holes were drilled today and both were to a depth of 16 feet. No archaeological artifacts or cultural deposits were encountered. After the first two holes, the construction crews discovered they didn't have enough hole covers to continute drilling, so they quit for the day about 1 pm.
I then drove back to the office, dropped off the truck and gear, logged my hours, and headed home. Some days archaeology is cool and full of interesting discoveries and insights about the past. Today wasn't one of those days!


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Studies Dispute Benefits of Brain Training
While programs to improve students' working memory are among the hottest new education interventions, new studies are calling into question whether exercises to improve this foundational skill can actually translate into greater intelligence, problem-solving ability, or academic achievement.
Working memory is the system the mind uses to hold information during decisionmaking and analysis. As much as half of the variation in individual intelligence can be explained by differences in working-memory capacity, research shows. Working memory has come to be considered by researchers and educators as a key leverage point in boosting brainpower overall—and programs designed to strengthen it are already finding their way into some schools and homes.
But a systematic review of 23 studies on working-memory training programs, published online last month by the journal Developmental Psychology, found such training produced few long-term benefits to working-memory skills and no improvements to other cognitive skills like verbal ability, attention, word decoding, or arithmetic.
And a randomized, controlled study to be published online next week in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, found that improving on a key task used in working-memory training did not lead to improvements on any of a battery of 17 cognitive-ability measures, including problem-solving intelligence, multitasking, and perception speed.
"I'm a little torn," said Thomas S. Redick, an assistant psychology professor and working-memory researcher at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus and the lead author of the randomized trial. "I'm happy to see an application of basic research being used in the classroom, but I'm not sure it's ready for prime time. For it to already be implemented in classrooms, particularly in a time of budget cuts, makes me wonder whether it might not be the most effective use of resources."
Big Brain Business
Brain training, and especially working-memory training, has become big business thanks to the confluence of increased research in neuroplasticity—the brain's ability to change physically in response to experience—and rising interest in brain boosting from aging Baby Boomers and achievement-focused parents.
The San Francisco-based market-research firm SharpBrains estimates that between 2005 and 2009, the worldwide market for "brain-fitness software," including working-memory training programs, rose 31 percent, to $295 million, with $148 million of those purchases coming from the United States. There are already more than a half-dozen widely used programs intended to train working memory alone, including Pearson's Cogmed Working Memory Training, Memosyne Ltd.'s JungleMemory, and Mind Sparke's Brain Fitness Pro.
"The brain-fitness software industry is only in its infancy," wrote SharpBrains Chief Executive Officer Alvaro Fernandez in an online commentary on the market. "It is an emerging and largely unregulated market where many products have limited clinical validation and often present confusing claims that make it difficult for consumers to separate wheat from chaff."
Research by Nelson Cowan, the director of the Working Memory Lab at the University of Missouri-Columbia, has shown that a child's working-memory capacity naturally increases as he or she ages. While 7-year-olds typically can handle three to five "chunks" of unrelated information at a time, by age 12, children can handle about seven, as many as adults.
Neuroplasticity research has also shifted the field's conception of how the brain works from a computer hard-wired with skills to a muscle that can be built up with exercise.
"These neuroplasticity models are kind of similar in terms of driving changes to the brain at a physiological level to what you need to do to build muscles: You need to do lots of reps; it needs to be frequent and intense," explained Paula A. Tallal, a co-director of the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J.
"It needs to be individually adaptive; I can do this over and over again, but I'll do better if I start with a weight, and I need a weight that's right for me," she added, "and you need to give timely rewards based on the child's response."
'Fire and Wire'
"The neurons that fire together wire together, but only if they get reinforced by rewards," Ms. Tallal said at a presentation earlier this year before the American Educational Research Association.
That's how most working-memory training programs operate. A student plays one or a battery of concentration games that adapt to each response and become increasingly difficult. The student might have to remember the position of a shape on a grid, coupled with the color or type of shape, and recall that shape-type or position after seeing several other grids in a row—an exercise commonly called an "N-back" test. He might have to remember words flashed on the screen at the same time numbers are heard through headphones or recall the direction of a series of arrows that make a pattern.
Researchers are pretty much in agreement on the brain-as-muscle metaphor, and many studies have confirmed that if someone practices a task, be it a cabbie driving the streets of London or a student in Chicago recalling the direction of arrows, that person will improve in that task and build the neural pathways associated with doing it. But researchers don't agree on whether doing a specific exercise will build a student's ability to do other tasks or enhance general brain capacity—in the same way that climbing stairs both builds leg muscles and strengthens the heart.
"No one doubts if you train yourself on a task, you get better at that task. The real test is … does it increase your brain power generally?" Mr. Cowan said. "I'm almost convinced myself it doesn't generally, but that's the controversy."
Torkel Klingberg, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at the Stockholm Brain Institute in Sweden, is among those who believe training in working-memory tasks can beef up the brain as a whole. Mr. Klingberg developed the exercises used by Cogmed and said studies of the program have shown a rigorous regimen of the mental exercises—30 minutes a day, five times a week, for at least five weeks—has "robust effects" on improving working memory. "We know working memory is correlated to many other aspects such as academic performance, so we have indirect evidence." For example, he said, "training of working memory improves the ability to remember instructions; it would be very easy to see that would be beneficial in everyday life."
Skeptical View
Charles Hulme, a psychology professor at University College London, in the United Kingdom, is a skeptic, calling benefits of working-memory training "a lot of hype."
Mr. Hulme, a co-author of the meta-analysis in Developmental Psychology, examined 23 studies of Cogmed, JungleMemory, and other working-memory training programs on groups, both typical and with cognitive and attention disabilities. He and special education researcher Monica Melby-Lervåg of the University of Oslo, Norway, found that the programs improved visual and verbal working memory in the short-term, but nine months later, there was no evidence for better verbal memory and only limited evidence that the improvements to visual-spatial memory remained. There was no evidence that any of these skills led to better attention, word decoding, or arithmetic skills.
"The sorts of tasks that are assessed here are probably pushing up against some clearly identified limitations on human performance," Mr. Hulme said. "The idea that you could train someone for eight to 12 weeks and have them improve memory and performance is unlikely to say the least."
Mr. Klingberg called that analysis "fairly crude," noting, as was pointed out in the study, that it grouped together children, adults, and those of various cognitive abilities, so that a beneficial effect for one group of learners might be canceled out by another.
Moreover, Mr. Klingberg argued that a single intervention should not be expected to sustain a permanent brain change if it is not continued.
"If you did a reading intervention, you would not expect the effect to last forever, but it often leads to the child reading more, and that sustains the change," he said.
"Similarly, I would expect for working-memory training—and what we hear though we cannot measure—is children who take working-memory training, they pay attention more in class, do more homework, they do these cognitively demanding tasks, and that can set up a feedback loop."
Mr. Redick said that his team researchers found improvements in the adaptive N-back tasks he used in the randomized trial, but after 20 training sessions, participating college-age students on three campuses performed no better on 17 cognitive abilities tested than a control group. However, those who took the training did report that they felt as though their memory and cognitive skills had improved, Mr. Redick said.
Vol. 31, Issue 35, Pages 1, 15Published in Print: June 13, 2012, as Brain Training Draws Questions About Benefits
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