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Al Qaeda 2.0: What the next 10 years will bring By Paul Cruickshank and Tim Lister How has al Qaeda changed in the last decade - and what does that tell the world's counter-terrorism experts about what it will look like ten years from now? As Congress prepares to hold a joint House and Senate Intelligence Hearing on the threat Tuesday, U.S. counter-terrorism officials tell CNN that al Qaeda today would find it very difficult to repeat an attack on the scale of 9/11 - but it has become a more diffuse and complex organization. The very name has become a label and an inspiration for terror cells on three continents. Even if, as U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta asserts, Osama bin Laden's organization is mortally wounded, tracking and countering Islamist terrorism will continue to consume billions of dollars and some of the best minds in western intelligence for years to come. And that's precisely the goal of al Qaeda new generation of leaders - in their 30s and 40s. They are focused less on the spectacular - hijackings and "dirty" nuclear bombs - and more on a war of attrition. And they see opportunities for establishing new bridgeheads as the Arab revolts undermine authoritarian rulers and their ruthless intelligence services. Ten years ago al Qaeda was a bureaucratic organization headquartered in Taliban-run Afghanistan which had its own personnel and IT departments. ALSO READ on Security Clearance "Dead, Captured, Wanted: How the US has fared against Al Qaeda since 9/11" It comprised mainly Arab fighters and had loose ties to other jihadist outfits - in Chechnya and south-east Asia for example. Today groups proclaiming their affiliation to al Qaeda find a home in ungoverned spaces in Somalia, Yemen, the Russian Causcasus and the Sahara. There are even al Qaeda cells in Egypt's Sinai desert, according to Egyptian military intelligence. Under pressure, al Qaeda "central" - the remnants of bin Laden's group - has developed links with militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban, the Haqqani Network and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba - all of which are well entrenched in Pakistan. The battle against al Qaeda in the next ten years will be on a much broader canvas. The Rise of the Affiliates In the last two years, three groups - al Qaeda in Pakistan, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP) based in Yemen, and the Pakistani Taliban - have tried to carry out attacks in the United States, while Europe has been threatened by an even wider constellation of jihadist groups. Al Shabaab staged its first attack beyond Somalia with a double bombing in Kampala, Uganda in 2010. "The affiliates are playing a greater role today - a more menacing role today - than in quite some time," U.S. State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism Daniel Benjamin told a recent conference of the New America Foundation. "While the AQ core has weakened operationally, the affiliates have become stronger and consequently the broader AQ threat has become more geographically and ethnically diversified." Better intelligence and a relentless campaign of drone attacks has weakened al Qaeda central and cut off its sources of funding. In one video that emerged from his compound in Abbottabad, Osama bin Laden cut a lonely, isolated figure - hunched over a TV screen. It seemed like a metaphor for his organization. While jihadists still travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan for training and the opportunity to take part in attacks on western forces, a growing number are heading to Yemen and Somalia - just as they headed to Iraq at the height of the insurgency there. U.S counter-terrorism officials already see AQAP in Yemen as the most immediate threat to the United States. Under the guidance of American cleric Anwar al Awlaki, the group attempted to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009 and in October 2010 dispatched two printer bomb packages from Yemen's capital Sanaa that were timed to explode over the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. The group has taken advantage of political turmoil in Yemen to expand its safe haven in the south. "Our highest priority is the United States. Anything there, even on a smaller scale compared to what we may do in the United Kingdom, would be our choice, " Anwar al Awlaki told an operative based in the UK in an encrypted internet communication in 2010. While Osama bin Laden thought in terms of weapons of mass destruction and mass casualties, Awlaki's template recognizes that western intelligence has vastly improved its ability to detect such ambitious plots. Instead, his group looks for vulnerable niches: in air cargo, or using explosives such as PETN that are difficult to detect. It is less about the destruction such attacks might cause and more about the expense in defending against them, and the psychological effect should they succeed. It is less about establishing bin Laden's dream of a global Caliphate and more about disrupting western economies. Above all, it's about attacks by individuals, some of them directed and mentored in the mountains of Yemen, others self-radicalized by the slick online propaganda being produced by AQAP. And it seems this approach is finding favor elsewhere. Al Qaeda central's media arm As Sahab recently released a video titled "You are Only Responsible for Yourself," encouraging followers to carry out acts of individual terrorism in the West - by buying weapons at gunshows in America for example, where background checks are not carried out. In it, American al Qaeda propagandist Adam Gadahn said: "It's simply a matter of taking precautions, working in total secrecy, and making use of all means to do damage to the enemy." Gun attacks by terrorists are one of the scenarios that are now causing most concern to Western-counter-terrorism officials because of the relative ease with which such weapons can be acquired. Their potential lethality was demonstrated by alleged Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik in his shooting rampage outside Oslo in July, an attack that has drawn comment on jihadist forums. Counter-terrorism sources in Europe and the United States tell CNN that their greatest concern is the vulnerability of soft targets such as hotels and shopping malls to gun attacks and hostage-taking. The Mumbai attack in November 2008 captivated global media attention for three days, as a small group of Lashkar-e-Taiyyiba terrorists held off Indian security forces in two of the city's luxury hotels. A total of 164 people were killed. Senior al Qaeda figures have publicly called for the Mumbai model to be exported. The New Global Al Qaeda Network If al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula seems the most potent affiliate today, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) may not be far behind it. It has established a presence in areas of Mali, Mauretania and Niger where government is weak - and has made millions of dollars through kidnapping westerners and working with drug smugglers. It could take advantage of chaos in Libya to obtain sophisticated weaponry including surface to air missiles. So far relatively few of its fighters appear to have entered Libya but that could change. Libya's National Transitional Council has also been grappling with the increasing assertiveness of Salafi Islamists in the east of the country, some of whom they fear are sympathetic to al Qaeda, according to a former Libyan jihadist. AQIM may also forge links with other jihadist-terrorist groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria which has claimed responsibility for killing dozens in a suicide car bombing of a U.N. building in Abuja last month. "What is concerning about AQIM is that it's a group that's Africanizing and is trying to extend its zone of influence - making contact with Boko Haram in the north of Nigeria and with [Somali group] Al Shabaab, says EU Counter-terrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove. Its reach may not yet extend to the West, but nor did that of AQAP two years ago. Like AQIM, al Shabaab in Somalia is beset by internal rivalries and lost one of its key operatives Fazul Abdullah Mohammed in a fire-fight in Mogadishu recently. But it also has plenty of recruits from north America and Europe in its ranks. And there are signs that it is co-operating with al Qaeda in Yemen, a short distance across the Arabian Sea. Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, a Somali citizen captured in April and interrogated aboard a U.S. navy ship for two months before being taken to New York to face terrorism charges, had been in direct contact with Anwar al Awlaki and had attempted to broker a weapons deal between the groups according to the indictment in his case. Warsame has pleaded not guilty. In Iraq, the U.S. strategy to turn Sunni tribal sheikhs against al Qaeda vastly degraded the group, but under the title Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) it is still able to launch co-ordinated bombing attacks, as was illustrated by a wave of deadly bombings across the country in August. If allowed to re-establish itself, the group would try again to ignite sectarian conflict between Sunni and Shiite Iraqis, and sabotage the investment Iraq badly needs to revive its economy. In a recent paper for the New America Foundation, Brian Fishman argued that ISI "will have to look outside Iraq's borders to engage directly in al-Qaeda's global strategy of bleeding and weakening the United States." Globally, the only unambiguously positive picture in the fight against al Qaeda terrorism is in South East Asia where groups affiliated with al Qaeda - like Jamma Islamiya - have been significantly weakened by counter-terrorism operations by security services and by a hemorrhaging in local support because of the number of Muslim civilians killed in its attacks. Al Qaeda Central – trying to adapt Al Qaeda central has suffered one blow after another this year. Besides the death of Osama bin Laden, drone strikes have taken out several top al Qaeda commanders in Pakistan, most recently Atiyah al Rahman, al Qaeda's chief of operations. A senior U.S. counter-terrorism official told CNN that from an operational standpoint the death of al Rahman was a more severe blow to the terrorist organization even than the death of bin Laden. Another senior figure, Younis al Mauretani, was detained by Pakistani authorities in August, and Ilyas Kashmiri, one of the most effective terrorists in the world, was reported killed in a drone strike in June. But al Qaeda central remains the "policy-making" authority and has the allegiance of its regional affiliates. It has powerful associates who thrive on Pakistan's inability to control its border territory and its ambivalence towards the "new" Afghanistan. A grand bargain that led moderate the Taliban to join the political process and sever links with al Qaeda – – and at the same time injected new stability into Pakistan - would further shrink al Qaeda's space. But that seems a distant prospect. And there are signs that al Qaeda is adapting to its new circumstances. It appears to have moved some of its operations to Pakistan's settled areas to escape drone strikes. Al Mauretani and two other operatives were captured in the teeming city of Quetta in south-western Pakistan. And both al Qaeda and the Pakistan Taliban have established a foothold in Karachi, Pakistan's violent metropolis on the Arabian Sea. In May an al Qaeda unit attacked and occupied a Pakistani naval station in the city. In recent years al Qaeda has tried to 'turn' western jihadists intent on fighting in Afghanistan, training them to return to Europe and the United States to carry out attacks. Najibullah Zazi, a young Afghan living in Denver, was one such recruit. Bryant Neal Vinas from Long Island was another. And it's not just al Qaeda. Pakistani American Faisal Shahzad who tried to blow up a car bomb in New York's Times Square on May 1, 2010 was recruited and trained by the Pakistani Taliban, not al Qaeda. British authorities say hundreds of Western militants are currently training or operating in Pakistan. Al Qaeda has also promoted new recruits who have a keen understanding of Western vulnerabilities. One of them is American but Saudi-born Adnan Shukrijumah, who is thought to have orchestrated Zazi's bomb plot against the New York subway system. And the organization appears to be using increasingly sophisticated encryption techniques in internet communications with operatives dispatched to the West. Even so, it is now a more fragmented organization. Rami Makanesi, a militant from the German city of Hamburg who spent time in al Qaeda camps in Waziristan in 2009-2010, and was subsequently convicted of involvement in plans to attack European targets, told German interrogators that al Qaeda had split up into 30-40 subgroups. He said al Qaeda was now a "title" for a constellation of jihadist groups in the area, including militants from the Arab world, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and "even the Taliban." Vinas, the American al Qaeda recruit, convicted of helping to plot an attack on the Long Island Railroad in 2008, said cooperation was so close between al Qaeda, the Pakistani Taliban, and other Pakistani militant groups that lines blurred between them. U.S. counter-terrorism officials say it is this blurring between different jihadist groups - together with the danger posed by completely homegrown "al Qaeda inspired" terrorists - that makes the terrorist threat to the United States so complex today. "The fact that the threat can now come at us from so many directions means that our work is more challenging than ever," a senior U.S. counter-terrorism official told CNN. The New Al Qaeda Strategy New al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri's strategy is to harness the energies of al Qaeda's affiliates but to exert greater direction over them, according to Noman Benotman, a former Libyan jihadist once acquainted with bin Laden, Zawahiri, and several other al Qaeda leaders. While every al Qaeda affiliate has recognized Zawahiri as al Qaeda's new leader, counter-terrorism analysts believe it will be difficult for Zawahiri - long a polarizing figure in the jihadist movement - to exert strategic direction over them. The death of Libyan operative Al Rahman appears to have been a further blow in this regard. "Atiyah was the one affiliates knew and trusted, "a U.S. official told CNN. According to Benotman, now a senior analyst at the Quilliam Foundation, a UK counter-terrorism think-tank, Zawahiri is determined to take advantage of political turmoil in the Arab world. "Their top priority right now is not Afghanistan or Pakistan or launching attacks against the United States, but re-organizing themselves in the Arab world," Benotman told CNN. Benotman says he has detected a noticeable softening in Zawahiri's ultra-hardline rhetoric in recent months, and believes he may be trying to revive support for the organization in the Arab world after a backlash against it because of the barbaric violence of its Iraqi affiliate. In the short term Benotman predicts that al Qaeda will devote significant energy to building up a capability to strike Israel from the Sinai, Gaza, and neighboring countries because of the group's ideological view that Israel props up what it views as a secular Arab political order that it seeks to topple. Launching attacks against Israel would also be a calculated attempt by the group to re-energize its support base, according to Benotman. The Importance of the Arab Spring Most counter-terrorism analysts agree that key to al Qaeda's fortunes will be the evolution of the Arab Spring. The dismantling of oppressive security and intelligence police in several Arab countries has given it an opportunity to re-organize and more easily transit operatives though the region. "Some of their comrades from the Afghan days are now commanding rebel units in Libya. They see Islamist-only rebel brigades being formed there. They see what is going on in Yemen - of course they feel they have a huge opportunity," Benotman told CNN. While the origins of the protests made al Qaeda seem irrelevant for a period, the well-organized young professionals who led those protests are vastly outnumbered by poor, conservative Muslims who - in Egypt at least - are beginning to display their political muscle. For al Qaeda the Arab revolts are a double-edged sword. Prolonged instability and a deepening economic crisis would work in its favor. But a new political model in the Arab world, where popular Islamist parties play a constitutional role, would undercut al Qaeda's appeal. U.S. State Department Counter-terrorism Coordinator Benjamin says that should events in the Arab world lead to "durable, democratic, elected, non-autocratic governments then AQ's single-minded focus on violence as an instrument of political change will be severely, and I think irretrievably delegitimized." But the Arab Spring is like a ladder whose rungs are far from secure, and the events of 2011 are just a couple of steps up that ladder. Filed under: Al Qaeda • Arab Spring • Libya • Living With Terror • Osama bin Laden • Pakistan • Terrorism • Yemen vardenafil vs tadalafil https://www.pharmaceptica.com/ Everett Loverink But be careful, if your opponent is stuck at step 2, too much thinking might do harm. 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Anglican Mainstream South Africa ACNA ANGLICAN ANALYSIS Contact AMSA FCA – Southern Africa FCA and EFAC RSVP Publications Order Form South African Articles The Anglican Church in Africa The Jerusalem Declaration « Older Entries « Of course women can have it all – they just don’t want it Friday, December 24th, 2010 A highly provocative view from a leading female academic By Rachel Porter There would be a gasp of horror from the small but vocal minority of women who are still fighting tooth and nail for their ­version of gender equality. But if it were possible to switch off the pressure that women feel to smash the glass ceiling and become high-flying, have-it-all executive superwomen, I suspect the majority in Britain would heave a collective sigh of relief. Somehow, over the decades, unhelpful, unrealistic and inaccurate myths about ­gender equality have been hung around our necks like lead weights by the feminists and politicians who have dominated the debate. Myths: Feminists and politicians who have headed the debate for decades have created an unrealistic expectations of gender equality They have encouraged us to strive for a world in which women and men occupy exactly the same positions in the home and the workplace. And they would have us believe that until there are as many househusbands as housewives, and as many female CEOs as male, we will not have attained gender equality of any kind. But this notion is false and hopelessly out of touch with the ­aspirations of the majority of women. Try telling these ‘experts’ that real ­equality is not about shoe-horning more women into the boardroom or more men into ­primary school teaching, but about opportunity and choice instead. Try telling them that a stay-at-home mother is exercising the same right to choose her own path as any dedicated career woman, and that those personal choices and preferences are the real reason why men and women tend to order their lives differently. They will tell you that you that you’re a product of an inherently sexist world and that heavy-handed social engineering — like the kind of ‘positive discrimination’ introduced in Norway to boost the ­numbers of women in high level professional ­positions — is the only cure for it. I am a sociologist and a feminist of sorts, and I have watched with growing horror as the political classes have cultivated around a dozen key myths about gender equality to prop up their leaky arguments about the need for drastic action. And with these arguments gaining ground in some parts of the world, it feels high time someone tackled the myths behind them. The first of these is the idea that our equal opportunities policies have failed. That ­simply isn’t true. The big success of British equal ­opportunities legislation has been to narrow the pay gap between men and women, from around 29 per cent in 1975 to as little as ­- 10 per cent today. And in fact, more detailed studies of pay today show that the gap doesn’t exist at all for the generation who are just entering the workforce. Most of this change took place quickly in the Seventies, when the Equal Pay Act came into force after high-profile protests for equal pay of the ­previous ­decade — the Dagenham Ford strike, on which the recent film Made In Dagenham was based, is the most famous. Choice: Equality isn’t about shoe-horning women into the boardroom but giving them the opportunity to decide themselves (posed by models) Since the mid-Nineties, the pay gap has remained more or less stable in the UK and across Europe. In that time, household income and disposable income has almost doubled, women have been having fewer children, and the number of them in higher education has risen from a third to over half. In every meaningful way, our opportunities are equal to men’s, but still we hear cries of disappointment that women are not taking an equal number of top jobs. In reality, although opportunities are now equal, women’s attitudes and aspirations regarding work haven’t changed much at all. In 1975, six out of ten women of working age had a job. Today that number has risen to just seven out of 10. In the workplace, men are more likely to ask for pay rises, while women are more likely to ask for a reduction in their hours, to achieve a better work/life balance. Does that mean that sexism is still rife? Or does it simply mean that women and men have ­different attitudes to work, despite ­having equal opportunities? And if so, why should they be made to feel bad about that? Women are the subject of several other myths favoured by those intent on pushing more of them up the career ladder: There’s one about their distinctively ‘soft’ managerial style, which it is often argued is an asset to any male-dominated business. It seems that those feminists who would baulk at sweeping generalisations in any other context are more than happy to suggest that all women (and presumably, no men) bring this quality to the workplace. Then there’s the idea that women prefer to earn their own money, instead of being financially dependent upon a man. Yet, women’s aspirations to marry up to a man who is better-educated and higher-earning persists in most European countries. It may make the radical feminists wince, but it’s true. For it is only a small number of women who really hanker after ‘having it all’. In the UK, roughly half of women in senior professional roles don’t have children by the time they’re 40, and probably never will. Of those who do, the majority have a ‘nominal’ family — an only child, cared for by someone else. It ticks a box, satisfying their ambition to be a parent, while minimising the cost and ­inconvenience of childcare, inevitable once she returns to work. Are these the women who have it all? If so, is it any wonder so many prefer to make a choice between career and family? But still, we’re fed more myths about how we can, and should, eradicate the differences between the sexes to benefit women, ­business, and society as a whole. Out of touch: So-called experts may suggest that more men should become primary school teachers (posed by models) We’ve been told untruths about the ­success of policies implemented in Scandinavia, from ­Norway’s ­quotas for the percentage of women on every company board, to ­Sweden’s famous family-friendly legislation entitling every working parent to 16 months paid leave per child (two of which are compulsory). They never ­mention that in ­Norway, companies ­have to fulfil their government-decreed boardroom quotas with female executives from Britain and America (where more women make it to the top without the help of any such social engineering). And while we hear so much about the possibility of equal parental leave in Sweden, the fact that only five to 10 per cent of men chose to take any parental leave until they were forced to by law remains a quiet little secret. In those same countries, the pay gap is no smaller than ­average, and job segregation — where men and women are ­unevenly spread across all jobs and ­paygrades — is actually worse than in Egypt, and substantially higher than in Asian countries such as China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and India. Only in the predominantly Islamic Middle East and North Africa, and in certain developing countries, were there similar ­levels of job segregation. But undeterred, Harriet Harman and her colleagues continue ­fighting to force similar policies into the British statute books. They claim to speak for all women, but denigrate the efforts of those who choose not to pursue their career to the top, and consistently portray women as the pathetic victims of society; unable to look after our own ­interests in a genuine meritocracy. They insist the only way to ‘level the playing field’ is to skew the game in women’s favour with the introduction of more legislation. They wilfully ignore evidence that those women who want high-flying careers can get there under their own steam, under current laws. Instead they believe in a ridiculous fantasy in which women are body-blocked in the corridors of power by men intent on protecting their boardroom majority. The fact is that we have everything in place to give women every choice they could want, and that’s the only kind of equality that ­matters. ‘Having it all’ is just one option. But isn’t it time we accepted that, for most women, it’s not the most desirable one? n Dr Catherine Hakim is a sociologist at the London School of Economics and author of Feminist Myths And Magic Medicine, which will be published by the Centre for Policy Studies on Tuesday. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1340956/Of-course-women–just-dont-want-says-leading-female-academic.html#ixzz1900GbqSn SCREWTAPE Proposes an Episcopal Toast (15) Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010 With apologies to C.S. Lewis A Satirical Essay By David W. Virtue www.virtueonline.org My dear Wormwood, What a thoroughly splendid year it has been for us. The Council of Hades met last week. Your name came up as one who has singularly honored us with your ability to undermine, prevaricate, destroy, deceive and provide the necessary waffle and fudge that has kept the Anglican Communion going. You should take pride in your achievements, Wormwood. A goblet of Pike’s blood was passed around the council table in remembrance of you. You have brought clarity where there was only guessing and wonderment. You have made The Episcopal Church the Queerest Church on earth (as it won’t be in heaven). This achievement by itself will probably guarantee you a place at the council table within a decade or so. Like earthly law firms, you must first do the time before the elevation comes, but I can assure you that unless there is an outbreak of orthodoxy or one of those horrible spiritual revivals that occurs every so often when vulgar displays of public repentance and humility take place, then your place is assured at the council table. Well done. The Glasspool election this past year was truly the icing on the fruit cake. Once again, The Episcopal Church stuck it in the face of Rowan Williams. He could only whimper that this would further strain relations within the communion. He wants The Episcopal Church to take a lesser role in the Anglican Communion. That will only happen when Hell freezes over and you know that won’t happen. Of course, they just keep laughing at him, or conversely get angry with him for not casting his lot totally with the church’s sodomites. Keep Colin Coward, Susan Russell and Louie Crew raging against the light. Their dark hearts are ours, all ours. Our Father dragged up Hegel to dinner just to thank him. His whole thesis, antitheses, synthesis thing has worked well for us. Being neither hot nor cold, but straddling the fence has worked well for us. Make sure the fence gets new more comfortable saddles for the spring, Wormwood. Also keep liberal bishops and archbishops preaching tolerance and beating up on Christians over so-called moderate Islamic mullahs and Imams. Nothing is sweeter music to our ears than watching Christians being persecuted and killed by Imams and their mob followers while watching liberal Anglican archbishops blast Christians for their alleged Islamophobia. The one fly in the ointment that has our Father worried is the distancing of the Global South Primates from the more liberal and enlightened Primates. That 11 archbishops will be no shows in Dublin is not something we relish at all. It will void Williams’ ability to negotiate the nonnegotiable. We loved it when he ran from room to room muttering “a pox on both your houses”, but he loved the whole game. That is all it was. The poor fool and those on his left flank who believe that G-d has changed his mind about sexual behavior have pushed millions into our camp. It has been a stunning reversal of 2,000 years of church teaching. We especially love all the eulogies to those who have died of HIV/AIDS, this year, especially the one in Vancouver, BC, Canada, recently that likened the death of Peter Jepson to John the Baptist by an Anglican archdeacon. That one had our Father in stitches…the howls could be heard all over Hades. http://www.vancouver.anglican.ca/portals/0/repository/Markusdrpetersermon.pdf Make sure that public scorn is continually poured out on those who believe in reparative therapies. Have the cries of homophobia shouted from the roof tops. Under no circumstances must those who believe that same-sex attractions can be corrected be allowed any place in post-Christian North America and especially in a post-Christian Episcopal Church. Keep the “Listening Process” alive as pushed by the liberals, revisionists and the ABC. We want the orthodox to have it shoved in their faces till they fall over over in boredom or acceptance…(the latter is to our liking). You must remember that this is about desensitizing the orthodox so they just roll over. Listening is not about listening, but is about acquiescing to our side, Wormwood. Keep the pressure and the checks rolling in. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES are you to give any ground to the other side. They must be force fed and destroyed if necessary. That Duncan fellow dropped a bomb shell at that horrible Lausanne Congress on Evangelism in Cape Town, South Africa, recently, when he said that Jefferts Schori and her ilk were out to exterminate the orthodox in TEC. He was right, of course, but what a horrible revelation. We can’t touch him. Unfortunately, a great cloud of witnesses and angels surrounds him. Our Father grinds his teeth every time his name is mentioned. The trip switch for 2011, Wormwood, will be the destruction of the Diocese of South Carolina and its bishop, Mark Lawrence. With the new canons giving more power to the national church than the sovereign rights of local dioceses, see that David Booth Beers is geared up to wreck havoc on this diocese. Keep the pansexual mill alive in 2011, Wormwood. We noted with interest that the road to legalizing same-sex marriage has lead to the floodgates opening. Any and all forms of sexuality are now fair game for legalization and promotion. Homosexual marriage was simply the thin edge of the wedge. Our full-frontal assault on the institutions of marriage and family means there is no logical reason to prevent other deviant types of sexuality from being recognized and legitimized. So it was absolutely wonderful news to read recently that there is now a push to legalize incest. The slippery slope, which was ridiculed and mocked by some on our side claiming no one is arguing for polyamory or incest, is now coming to pass. There are people all over the world pushing for these very things. They are happy to ride on the success of the same-sex marriage movement, much to our delight. We noted with gladness that the the upper house of the Swiss parliament has drafted a law decriminalizing sex between consenting family members which must now be considered by the government. There have been only three cases of incest since 1984. No matter, Wormwood, once it is legislated in, there will be no holding back the floodgates. The final sexual barriers are coming down across the world, Wormwood. We must make sure that churches, especially the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, which once followed the culture, will now be in the vanguard for total change. It is a triumph that only our Father could have dreamed of. Now it will be yours to implement. I remain your affectionate uncle, Screwtape The Crusade against Christians By: Stan Guthrie|Published: Those who have declared war on the West are telling us who they hate. Somali-born U.S. citizen Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was just nabbed by the FBI for trying to murder thousands of people at a Christmas-tree lighting ceremony the weekend after Thanksgiving in Portland’s central square. “I want whoever is attending that event,” the would-be mass murderer said, “to leave either dead or injured.” His choice of a Christmas-related event was no quirk. Last year, Nigerian citizen Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, attempted to detonate plastic explosives stashed in his underwear during Northwest Airlines Flight 253, en route from Amsterdam to Detroit. The date of the foiled attack? December 25. A video by al-Qaeda in Yemen last year shows Abdulmutallab justifying his attack against “the Jews and the Christians and their agents.” Are you starting to sense a pattern? Then there’s Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army major and psychiatrist who murdered 13 people and wounded 30 more at the Fort Hood Army base on November 5, 2009. Hasan earlier had told an associate that “you’re not supposed to have alliances with Jews or Christian or others, and if you are killed in the military fighting against Muslims, you will go to hell.” Next we come to Osama bin Laden, who characterized U.S. troops in Lebanon as “crusader forces.” Crusaders, of course, were the fighters of Christendom during the Middle Ages who ignored the teachings of Christ and attempted to forcibly regain control of the Holy Lands from Muslims—often brutally. Whether out of ignorance or malice, bin Laden frequently conflates that ancient mob with the highly trained armed forces of the United States, many members of which would not claim to be Christians. Concerning a 1996 attack in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 U.S. servicemen, bin Laden stated, “The crusader army became dust when we detonated al-Khobar with courageous youth of Islam fearing no danger.” After the deadly 1998 attacks against the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the leader of al Qaeda told Al Jazeera, “Every Muslim, from the moment they realize the distinction in their hearts, hates American[s], hates Jews, and hates Christians. This is a part of our belief and our religion.” After the 9/11 attacks, the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, and President Bush’s unfortunate characterization of the American response to the terrorists as a “crusade,” bin Laden broadcasted a statement that further clarified his motives. Christians were again on his mind. “This war is fundamentally religious,” bin Laden said. “The people of the East are Muslims. They sympathized with Muslims against the people of the West, who are the crusaders.” Further, the terrorist leader seems to also label Jews and Christians as infidels: “We must be loyal to the believers and those who believe that there is no God but Allah. We should also renounce the atheists and infidels. … God says: ‘Never will the Jews or the Christians be satisfied with thee unless thou follow their form of religion.’ It is a question of faith, not a war against terrorism, as Bush and Blair try to depict it.” So as much as our leaders try to stress that this is a generic “war on terror” or a challenge against “man-caused disasters,” the Islamists trying to kill us see the conflict as religious in nature. It’s not a question of us turning it into a religious war. They have already announced a religious war—a new crusade—on all of us, whether we have agreed to their terms or not. And they particularly have placed Christians and Jews in their crosshairs. What does that mean for the West? First, it means that many Americans who are not very religious have unexpectedly found themselves in the middle of a religious war. Whether we believe in God, or karma, or human reason alone, we are all at risk. After all, a bomb does not distinguish between Christian, Jew, atheist, or Muslim before it maims or kills. The bin Ladens of this world see us all as crusaders or infidels—in other words, as legitimate targets. It matters not whether our faith is vibrant, lukewarm, or nonexistent. Second, it means that Christians, Jews, and indeed all peace-loving people must unite against a common foe, much as we did against the Third Reich. Our survival may depend on it. What special message does this new crusade send to those of us who take our stand on Jesus Christ as the foundation of our lives? Since we are now official targets of the Muslim terrorists, doesn’t it make sense to live what we say we believe? It is senseless to die for the name of Christ if you’re not willing to live for him. Persecution, of course, has been a persistent reality for believers, Christian and Jew, across the ages. Why should we be surprised by the hatred of the Islamists? As the Apostle Paul said, “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” That all includes us, even in the formerly comfortable West. For whatever reason in God’s sovereign plan, persecution is finally coming around to Western Christians. As this war will likely last for generations (since it was generations in the making), we may face the unholy wrath of the Islamists for a long, long time. While this is a scary prospect, at a minimum it may help us to better understand and respond to the unjust suffering that our Christian brothers and sisters around the world are experiencing right now. For example, on the evening of October 31, armed Muslim extremists in Baghdad took over the Our Lady of Salvation church. When Iraqi police stormed the building, a suicide bomb was detonated, killing 58 people and wounding another 78. After the attack, al Qaeda in Iraq warned, “All Christian centers, organizations and institutions, leaders and followers are legitimate targets for the mujahedeen wherever they can reach them.” It also threatened to carry out more attacks against Christians in other countries. The Obama administration called the attack “senseless.” Unfortunately, such carnage makes perfect sense to the new crusaders. Meanwhile, Asia Bibi, charged with insulting Muhammad under Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy law, has just become the first woman there to receive a death sentence under it. The 45-year-old mother of five, already imprisoned for over a year, allegedly is guilty of “wounding the religious feelings” of some Muslim neighbors. Outrageous? Of course. But get ready for more of it. A new crusade is upon us. History’s greatest male role model and a humbling lesson for feckless fathers today By Iain Duncan Smith Over the last ­fortnight, many of us will have been enjoying the ­familiar ­delights of the school ­Nativity play, sharing the excitement that a new generation of children ­always brings to it. Their costumes may be fashioned from blankets, tea-­towels and old dressing-gown cords but you can see from their rapt expressions that the Christmas Story has lost none of its power and magic. With Mother and the Christ Child holding centre stage, the final tableau, helped perhaps by a bit of prompting from ­parents and teachers, slowly assembles. On come the shepherds, ­earnestly clutching their crooks and toy lambs, closely followed by the three Wise Men, a riot of colour and gold gift-wrap. Forgotten hero: Joseph’s loyalty to Mary was admirable It’s such a familiar and enduring image that most of us can conjure it from memory in a moment. But it’s an image that I believe runs the real risk of overlooking the most important character of all, an ­individual whose vital role in shaping the Christian message is downplayed and yet whose story couldn’t be more important, or more significant, in today’s society. You’ll normally find him in the second row, slightly hidden by Mary or a particularly large King, maybe fiddling with his false beard or tugging nervously with his head-dress. His name, of course, is Joseph, a vital character of any Nativity story you would think. But ask yourself one thing. In all ­honesty, whoever remembers who played Joseph? Joseph’s extraordinary contribution to the Nativity story and to Christianity itself has been underplayed for centuries but it is my hope that it will be overlooked no longer, for his importance hinges on the critical decision he took, which holds such a powerful message for our own time. Joseph’s mind must have been in turmoil. The initial sense of shock would have been palpable, followed, surely, by an overwhelming sense of betrayal To understand this, consider how Joseph responds to news that Mary was with child, an extraordinary event that Matthew’s Gospel rather rushes through, almost dismissively. ‘When as his Mother was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with the child of the Holy Ghost.’ Think about what that actually means. Mary and Joseph may have become engaged but she has let him know that not only is she pregnant but he is not the father. And there’s worse — or certainly more improbable — news to come for Joseph, with Mary insisting that she is still a virgin and that her unborn child is the Son of God. Even today that would be nigh-on impossible to swallow but back then, for Mary and Joseph, living in a traditional Jewish society, announcing you were pregnant with the Son of God would have been the most serious blasphemy. Mary could have been stoned to death. Joseph’s mind must have been in turmoil. The initial sense of shock would have been palpable, followed, surely, by an overwhelming sense of betrayal. The woman he loved was pregnant and yet he was not the father. Matthew’s ­Gospel touches on what his ­initial reaction must have been. Miracle birth: Oscar Isaac as Joseph and Keisha Castle-Hughes as Mary appear in a scene from The Nativity Story ‘Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and not ­willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.’ In other words, he would have cancelled the betrothal and in such a way that Mary might hide from her shame. And who could have blamed him — the woman he loved, having betrayed him, had also taken leave of her senses. I’m quite sure that many of us today, if confronted with a similar story, wouldn’t have believed a word of it. Strangely, the Bible solves this problem in a rather ­matter-of-fact manner, with the Angel of the Lord conveniently appearing to Joseph in a dream and telling him that Mary was telling the truth. ‘Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived of her is of the Holy Ghost.’ In other words, according to the Bible, Joseph woke up and promptly married her. But even if Joseph believed the dream entirely, I don’t think this does justice to the enormity of the decision confronting Joseph when he awoke that morning. It conveniently forgets that notwithstanding the vision, he still had his free will, one that had been forged from the social and religious norms of the day. Despite the huge social pressure he was facing and despite the potentially dangerous consequences, Joseph took the decision to stand by Mary, to marry her, protect her and raise the child as his own Running through his head must have been some enormous concerns: there was still the problem of her pregnancy out of wedlock, the social stigma — for him as well as her — and the anger of friends and neighbours about her blasphemy. No, it must have been a truly daunting prospect, one he could easily have chosen to walk away from, and left her to her fate. After all, he was a respected man in his community, descended as he was from King David — he had much to lose. And yet he didn’t disown her. Despite the huge social pressure he was facing and despite the potentially dangerous consequences, Joseph took the decision to stand by Mary, to marry her, protect her and raise the child as his own. I like to think he took this decision not just because of a vision in some night-time dream but because he loved her and wanted to keep her safe. Certainly, if he hadn’t, the consequences for her could have been dire. A pregnancy out of wedlock would have made her an outcast, a pariah; but giving birth to a baby she called the Son of God could have got her killed. That’s why Joseph’s role is so important; without his support, neither Mary nor Jesus might have survived at all. Supportive: Joseph’s love of Mary and Jesus was vital to the story of Christ Thanks to Joseph, however, they did survive. This quiet and skilled man bravely stepped out into the unknown — deliberately choosing to protect, provide for and raise Jesus as his own. He mentored him and taught him and even gave him the trade — carpentry — that Jesus would use until the time came for him to embark on his ministry. Joseph must have given Jesus so much as a father and Jesus must, in turn, have learned so much about life from Joseph. Later, during his ministry, when Jesus spoke of God as being like a loving father, surely he must have been drawing from his own upbringing, drawing on his intimate knowledge of this extraordinarily good man, Joseph. I am not a churchman and I am not given to commenting on Christian theology — rather I raise all this partly because I have long wondered why Joseph seems to have been so forgotten and partly because it has a very clear message for our own time. Joseph was not an absent father; he was there, with Mary and with Jesus; and the Christian Church, by underplaying the importance of this in the story of Christ, has missed a real example of selfless dedication and commitment which should resound today In parts of our society, too many young men and women grow up without the experience of a loving father. And we seem to have forgotten what an important role a father plays. It’s about far more than earning enough money to provide shelter and place food on the table; it’s about nurturing, support and loyalty, it’s about providing the best male role model that a man can. But we seem to have forgotten that or wrongly come to the conclusion that we can somehow get by without it. The result is that in too many communities, there are deep-rooted problems now shared by ­generations of young people that stem — directly or indirectly — from the absence of fathers in the vital early years. I have seen how family breakdown, which often begins with fatherlessness, can lead to high levels of truancy, anti-social behaviour, youth crime, street gangs and teenage pregnancy. But Joseph was not an absent father; he was there, with Mary and with Jesus; and the Christian Church, by underplaying the importance of this in the story of Christ, has missed a real example of selfless dedication and commitment which should resound today. Extraordinary: Joseph is a superb example of a loving father Whether it was battling for accommodation for his pregnant and exhausted wife in a crowded town or protecting his family as they fled from ­Herod’s soldiers, this simple man of courage and honour was always there when his wife and son needed him. For some children, we might reasonably ask: where are the men of such courage and ­honour today? So this Christmas, when you encounter that familiar Nativity tableau, try to look past Mary, the crib and even the Baby Jesus. Seek out that ordinary-looking face in the second row, almost lost behind the shepherds and wise men, and look into the eyes of the forgotten hero in the story of Christ; then smile and give thanks for Joseph. Pope: sex abuse scandal ‘humiliating’ but society must share the blame Tuesday, December 21st, 2010 The Catholic Church must examine the failures in its teaching that allowed the “unimaginable” sexual abuse of children by priests to continue unchallenged for so long, the Pope said yesterday. Benedict has previously acknowledged that the scandal was the result of sin within the church and that the church as a result must repent for it and make amends with victims Photo: REUTERS By Tim Ross, Social Affairs Editor 4:30PM GMT 20 Dec 2010 The worldwide “humiliation” that the church has experienced as a result of the scandal must serve as a spur to reform, Benedict XVI told his cardinals gathered in Rome. However, the pontiff argued that the abuse crisis must be seen in its social “context”, suggesting that part of the blame lay with permissive attitudes in western society dating from the 1970s. Survivors of clerical sex abuse condemned the Pope’s statement as another attempt by Church authorities to evade responsibility for the scandal. The Pope was speaking in his annual Christmas address to bishops and cardinals, assembled in the frescoed Sala Regia of the Vatican’s apostolic palace. It was seen as evidence of the seriousness with which the Pope views the issue that he chose tackling child sex abuse as the major theme for one of his highest profile set-piece speeches of the year. While stressing that most priests were honourable, Pope Benedict said revelations of abuse in 2010 had reached “an unimaginable dimension” that required the church to accept the “humiliation” as a call for renewal. “We know of the particular gravity of this sin committed by priests and our corresponding responsibility,” he said. “We must ask ourselves what we can do to repair as much as possible the injustices that occurred. “We must ask ourselves what was wrong in our message, in our entire way of configuring the Christian being, that allowed such a thing to occur.” However, Benedict said the fault lay not only with the Church but also with the “context of our times”, in which child pornography, drug use, sexual trafficking were to some degree considered permissible. “There exists a market of pornography regarding children that seems to be increasingly accepted as normal by society,” he said. “The psychological devastation of children, in which human beings are reduced to a marketplace article, is a terrifying sign of the times.” The underlying ideology of such excesses stemmed from the 1970s, when “paedophilia was theorized as something that was in keeping with man and even the child”, he said. “The effects of such theories are evident today.” Representatives of abuse victims dismissed the Pope’s comments as “absolute nonsense”. Margaret Kennedy, from the Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors group, said: “He is trying to say that the modern world is corrupt and sexually rampant. It is blaming society for what is actually their responsibility,” she said. “No-one in any age has ever thought that adults having sex with children is right.” The scandal first came to public consciousness in the US in 2002, and spread across the world earlier this year, with thousands of victims emerging in Europe and beyond. Details were disclosed of bishops who covered up for paedophile priests and Vatican officials who turned a blind eye to the crimes for decades. Benedict himself faced questions over his handling of the crisis, in his former roles as archbishop in Munich and as head of the Vatican office that was responsible for dealing with abuse cases. There’s Something About Mary Beliefs about Jesus’ virgin mother vary between Christians of the early church, Roman Catholics, and modern-day Protestants, but this model of total trustful devotion has lessons to teach all Christians. J.I. Packer and Tom Oden Protestants pay a lot of attention to Jesus’ mother at Christmas but she is largely forgotten the rest of the year. How has the church historically viewed her? And has that changed? Christianity Today assistant online editor Todd Hertz sat down with CT executive editors and theologians J.I. Packer and Tom Oden to discuss the role of Mary throughout history and why she remains important to all Christians today. J.I. Packer is Board of Governors’ Professor of Theology at Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia. Tom Oden is Henry Anson Buttz Professor of Theology and Ethics at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey and general editor of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. What were early church impressions of Mary? Oden: It is very speculative, but my own view is that the mother of Jesus was quite important to the earliest church—the church during the writing of the gospel of Luke. It was probably written in Ephesus during the middle part of the first century, and there is a very good chance that Mary was living there at that time. Now if you take that as a premise, which is uncertain historically, you then have a very important figure in the whole world church who is still alive. She has stored these memories in her heart. She is highly revered. After she died, [the church] was facing much persecution, and there was a great emphasis on the memory of holy lives. She was certainly at the center of that. From the outset she was remembered as a virgin in whom the Holy Spirit conceived the incarnate Lord. In my view, the incarnation was an early recognition of the church. There’s good textual evidence [to support that] in the earliest documents we have. Luke supported this view, as did other documents such as Paul’s writings. How did official church thinking about Mary change? Oden: In 431 A.D., there was the ecumenical Council of Ephesus, which raised the question as to whether the liturgy is right or wrong in calling Mary, theotokos. That Greek word means “Bearer of God.” There was a certain party that said, “We should not say theotokos, we should say only christotokos.” They were saying, “No, Mary didn’t bear God, she just bore Jesus Christ.” The council affirmed that the liturgy is right—not that Mary is the source of God but rather that Mary is the bearer of the Incarnation. She is the one through whom the fleshly incarnate Lord becomes living history for us. That was a key point of doctrine that Protestants later took. Both Calvin and Luther affirmed the term theotokos. As Catholic piety began to develop, you see Mary viewed as an intercessor. It is hard to say when that begins to develop, but it is evident in the early second century. So then Marian piety becomes increasingly important. In almost every decade of the church’s life in the first four or five centuries it seems to accelerate. How did the Reformation change Protestant impressions of Mary? Packer: At the time of the Reformation, Anglican Archbishop Thomas Cranmer produced a prayer book to be used in evening prayer. It included Mary’s song, the Magnificat, from Luke chapter one. The effect of its use was to celebrate Mary as the model, the pioneer, and the archetype of the saved sinner. The shift [this represented] was from Mary as a focus of devotion to Mary as the first beneficiary from the incarnation. So straightaway you have a changed perspective on Mary. What has happened in recent decades is that since evening prayer has ceased to be a reality in nearly all Anglican churches everywhere in the last 50 years, Anglicans simply do not think of Mary, and many don’t know the Magnificat by heart. next page… | 1 of 2 Responding to bad news December 20th, 2010 Posted in From Lisa’s Lookout | Comments Off There has been great ‘celebration’ in gay world recently. Yesterday was a significant day both in the US and the UK in terms of the active, aggressive promotion and embedding of LGBT rights in the public sphere. This news strikes people differently. Many are still caught up in the past, where gay-as-victim was the dominant narrative, and dreadful things happened to homosexual people. We deplore this, and support the right of all to get on living their lives peacefully. However, what is presently occurring is taking the LGBT — and related — cause to a different and far more ominous place. It is not a ‘live and let live’ approach, but an insistence now that all will promote LGBT rights in public or tacitly collude by keeping quiet. My readers are perhaps aware of how other previously taboo behaviour/minorities are now out. Of course they clamour for the same legitimacy as the LGBT, and why not? They note the basis upon which the LGBT succeeded, believe theirs is the same, and respond with ‘me too!’ So, right now, we have the polyamorists and the polygamists up in Canada pushing for the right to engage in plural marriage, and those who engage in adult familial relationships (incest) are saying much the same both in the US and in Switzerland. See here and here. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, as I have said countless times. But how can one respond to the whole host of challenges mentioned above? May I encourage you on two fronts?First is that of prayer, and praying with like minds. Asking God to show whom to pray with and what to pray for is becoming increasingly important; this is a supernatural issue as well, as we need the learn that ‘the battle is the Lord’s’. One of my favourite prayers is that God will bring good out of evil, that things will be seen for what they are, and that it will not be too late. In particular, prayers for the media are needed, that the truth will not remain hidden or be distorted, and that Christian leaders, groups and news sources will know how best to equip people to respond to today’s alarming challenges. Secondly (and related to the first issue), may I suggest that one of the primay reasons the LGBT political agenda has done so well is because we refuse to discuss what is actually occurring in these lifestyles according to those who represent them publically and to thus evaluate in a more objective way the potential physical and psychological risks? See here and here for material from Terrence Higgins Trust, (the leading gay ‘health’ agency in the UK and beyond) [warning, graphic]; see here here here and here for information on how these sexual activites damage, both as part of a minority lifestyle or as experimented with by open-minded ‘straight’ kids and young adults. If those of us who have concerns about the official promotion of gay and other alternative lifestyles do not discuss how it harms those involved, those on the other side of the ideological fence who have no such scruples determine how the ordinary person views and understands these lifestyles. Disturbing and difficult as it may be, these issues are not going away and we must confront them. Anglican Mainstream is a community within the Anglican Communion committed to promote, teach and maintain the Scriptural truths on which the Anglican Church was founded. These also guarantee its fellowship with Christians down history and throughout the world. Faithfulness to Scripture as God's Word is essential for sharing the love and purpose of God in Jesus Christ. Categories Select Category ACNA Anglican Communion Current divisions FCA – Southern Africa Lambeth Lambeth 2008 News Uncategorized Unquotable quotes Sidebar Title 1 FCA - South Africa Join FCA Southern Africa 2 ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2011 Bible Human Rights and AIDS. 2011 confernce. THE CONFERENCE SPEAKERS 3 FCA International 4 ANGLICAN LINKS AMERICAN ANGLICAN COUNCIL ANGLICAN COMMUNION NETWORK ANGLICAN MAINSTREAM INTERNATIONAL ANGLICAN MAINSTREAM NEW ZEALAND ANGLICAN MISSION IN THE AMERICAS COMMON CAUSE PARTNERSHIP FORWARD IN FAITH NORTH AMERICA Archbishop Robert Duncan Canterbury won’t block or bless new province Disease of Unbelief Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Membership FCA Membership application T-shirt Order Form GAFCON STATEMENT ON THE GLOBAL ANGLICAN FUTURE Faithful?…. Committed?…….. or Deceived? Homosexual Honesty Lambeth at a “Local” Level Psychiatrist Pinpoints Sexuality Struggles Spiritual Anthrax: Why God’s Man Must Not Blend July 2009 Gay unions and blessings. GSE4 Thematic Address 1: “The Gospel of Jesus Christ” – Abp Nicholas Okoh POSITION PAPER: GENDER MINISTRY ON SEXUALITY Response to proposed guidelines Sermons and Papers from Global South, April 2010 Statement by the Synod of Bishops The Book of Common Prayer Online Why have a Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans in South Africa? Anglican Mainstream South Africa is proudly powered by WordPress and the Simplicity theme.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: i got treatment for periodontisis.now i feel i am free of swelling , redness, bleeding of gums. but i lost gum tissue which was removed during surgery. now d problems was in b/w tooth at upper region i have gaps. every time wen i am eating food particles are placed within those gaps n one more thing is i found yellowness and plaque formation at that location. wt my present condition is? output: e., the tissues that support the teeth. You might have gone through scaling & root planing that involves removal of plaque & calculus resulting in empty space & loosening of teeth. Its quiet natural after scaling. Need not worry, just start with gum massage with some gum paint like Rexidine-M gel for 15 mins,2 times a day. Also start using 0.2% chlorhexidine mouthwash 10ml half an hour after brushing once daily. All this will definitely help you out. Still if your problem persist than talk to your dentist about periodontal flap surgery. Its also good option in severe cases. Also maintain proper oral hygiene by regular brushing & interdental flossing for cleaning that gap.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: What to expect if I have Ventricular fibrillation (Outlook/Prognosis)? output: VF will lead to death within a few minutes unless it is treated quickly and effectively. Even then, long-term survival for people who live through a VF attack outside of the hospital is between 2% and 25%. People who have survived VF may be in a coma or have long-term damage.

Home » Landmarks » Sanjay Vs. State of U.P. Sanjay Vs. State of U.P. Supreme Court of India Year : 2016 NON-REPORTABLE CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 11 OF 2016 (Arising out of S.L.P. (Crl.) No.3896 of 2013) SANJAY ..Appellant STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH ..Respondent NARENDRA ..Appellant J U D G M E N T R. BANUMATHI, J. Leave granted in both the special leave petitions. 2. These criminal appeals have been filed assailing the impugned judgment dated 30.08.2012 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad dismissing the criminal appeals No.2188/2007 and 2561/2007 upholding the conviction of the appellant Narendra for offences under Sections 302, 307 read with Section 34 IPC and Section 452 IPC and also the sentence of life imprisonment, ten years imprisonment with fine of Rs.5,000/- and three years imprisonment with fine of Rs.1,000/- respectively. The High Court also confirmed the conviction of the appellant Sanjay under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC, Section 307 read with Section 34 IPC and Section 452 IPC and sentence of life imprisonment, ten years imprisonment with a fine of Rs.5,000/- and three years imprisonment with a fine of Rs.1,000/- respectively. 3. Case of the prosecution is that appellant-Sanjay is the brother of deceased Roop Singh. According to PW-2 Sheela wife of Roop Singh, after selling his land to Narendra, Sanjay was insisting his brother Roop Singh to sell his land to Narendra for which Roop Singh refused, due to which appellant-Sanjay is said to have developed enmity towards Roop Singh. On the intervening night of 10/11.08.1998 at 3.00 a.m., Roop Singh and his wife Sheela were sleeping in their chowk and a lantern was lit in the house. Appellants–Narendra and Sanjay along with another person armed with tamancha (pistol) came to the house of Roop Singh. Appellant-Narendra fired multiple bullets at Roop Singh and Roop Singh sustained bullet injury in his head. Sanjay fired at PW-2 Sheela and she sustained bullet injuries at neck, abdomen and her right leg. Hearing sounds of bullets, the complainant-Partap Singh and one Ompal and several other persons rushed to the spot and on seeing them, the appellants Narendra, Sanjay and the third assailant fled away from the scene. On the basis of the complaint lodged by Partap Singh at Police Station Sardhana, Meerut, case was registered in Crime No. 387/1998 for offences under Sections 307 and 452 IPC. Injured victims were sent to Primary Health Centre, Sardhana, Meerut for treatment. Roop Singh (deceased) was admitted at Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi and after treatment, Roop Singh was discharged from the hospital on 25.09.1998. Subsequently, Roop Singh developed complications, Roop Singh was taken for check up to Delhi and Roop Singh died on 13.10.1998. Ram Pal gave written information about the death of injured Roop Singh to the police and Section 302 IPC was added to the FIR. After completion of investigation, chargesheet was filed against the appellants for offences under Sections 302, 307 and 452 IPC. 4. To substantiate the charges against the appellants, prosecution examined nine witnesses and exhibited twenty five documents and material objects. Upon appreciation of evidence, the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Meerut vide judgment dated 17.03.2007 found the appellants guilty for offences under Section 302 IPC read with Section 34 IPC and Section 307 IPC read with Section 34 IPC and Section 452 IPC and they were sentenced to suffer life imprisonment, ten years imprisonment with a fine of Rs.5,000/- and three years imprisonment with a fine of Rs.1,000/- respectively. The trial court ordered that half of the fine amount be paid to PW-2 Sheela as compensation. Aggrieved by the verdict of conviction, the appellants filed criminal appeals before the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad which were dismissed vide common impugned judgment dated 30.08.2012 upholding the conviction and sentence imposed upon the appellants as aforesaid. Aggrieved, the appellants have preferred these appeals assailing the conviction and sentence imposed on them. 5. Learned counsel for the appellants contended that as the deceased Roop Singh had already transferred his land to Partap Singh (PW-1) about one and a half years prior to the occurrence and therefore it is improbable that Sanjay would have insisted his brother Roop Singh to sell his land also to appellant-Narendra and as such the motive suggested by the prosecution is not a probable one. It was further submitted that death of Roop Singh as seen from the evidence of Dr. Laxman Das (PW-9) when Roop Singh was discharged from the hospital his condition was stable and two months thereafter Roop Singh died due to septicaemia and therefore conviction of the appellants under Section 302 IPC is not sustainable. 6. Per contra, Mr. Ratnakar Dash, learned Senior Counsel for the respondent contended that death of Roop Singh was the direct result of the multiple bullet injury inflicted by the appellants and the head injury caused by the appellants was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death and the courts below rightly convicted the appellants under Section 302 IPC and the same cannot be interfered. Learned Senior Counsel submitted that as the deceased Roop Singh sustained bullet injuries on his head, intention to cause death can be inferred from the situs and nature of the injury and the weapon used. 7. Case of the prosecution as seen from the evidence is that appellants-Sanjay and Narendra and one unidentified assailant armed with countrymade pistols entered the house of deceased Roop Singh at the wee hours-3.00 a.m. on 11.08.1998. It is alleged that the appellant-Sanjay fired four times at his sister-in law-Sheela (PW-2) wife of the deceased and Narendra fired one gun shot on the deceased-Roop Singh. Roop Singh was operated at Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi and was discharged on 25.09.1998 and he was taken back to his home at village Sardhana. When injured Roop Singh was taken to Delhi for check up, he died on the way to hospital on 13.10.1998, PWs 1 and 2 have consistently spoken about the overt act of the appellants. PW-2-Sheela is an injured witness and her version stands on a higher footing. The testimony of the injured witness coupled with the fact that the complaint was promptly lodged by the complainant-Partap Singh within one and half hours of the incident lends assurance to the prosecution case. As the prosecution version is unassailable, by order dated 18.04.2013, this Court issued notice limited to the question of nature of the offence committed by the appellants. 8. In the light of the specific contention advanced by the appellants that after the attack the deceased survived for sixty two days after his surgery discharged in stable condition, the only issue which needs to be examined is whether conviction of the appellants under Section 302 IPC is sustainable. 9. Dr. Laxman Das (PW-9), Neuro Surgeon at Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi who examined injured Roop Singh on 12.08.1998 found one wound of insertion of bullet in the head mid frontal region of Roop Singh which measured 2 cm x 2 cm. PW-9 conducted the operation on 15.09.1998 and bullet was extracted from the supra cellar part of the head of Roop Singh. PW-9 stated at the time of admission of Roop Singh in the hospital on 12.08.1998, general condition of the patient was serious and that the injuries received in the head was dangerous to his life. Dr. Laxman Das (PW-9) opined that condition of the deceased at the time of discharge from the hospital on 25.09.1998 was not critical and his condition was stable. In the instant case, admittedly, deceased Roop Singh died after sixty two days of the fateful incident. PW-3-Dr. M.C. Gulecha, who conducted the postmortem examination on the body of deceased-Roop Singh opined that the cause of death was septicaemia which was due to the wounds sustained by him prior to his death. 10. Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that since Roop Singh died more than two months after the date of the occurrence and that he was discharged from the hospital in good condition and septicaemia might have set in due to lack of proper care after he was discharged from the hospital and therefore the appellants cannot be said to have caused the death of deceased and the conviction under Section 302 IPC is not sustainable. 11. Learned Senior Counsel for the respondent contended that second appellant-Narendra inflicted serious injuries on the forehead of the deceased and fire shots with intention to kill the deceased and the intention to cause death can be inferred from the situs of the injury and that the act was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. Reliance was placed upon the judgment of this Court in Jagtar Singh And Anr. vs. State of Punjab, (1999) 2 SCC 174 and Dhupa Chamar And Ors. vs. State of Bihar, (2002) 6 SCC 506. 12. In Jagtar Singh’s case (supra), Harbans Singh gave gandasa blow on the left side of the head of deceased-Naib Singh, Jagtar Singh inflicted khapra blow to the deceased. The incident happened on 23.09.1991 and the injured succumbed to his injuries even while he was undergoing treatment at PGI Hospital Chandigarh on 09.10.1991. In the said case, it was brought out from evidence that the deceased succumbed to injuries even while he was undergoing treatment and in such facts and circumstances, court drew inference that the injuries were sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause the death. In Dhupa Chamar’s case (supra), Dhupa Chamar gave a bhala blow on the left side of neck of Ram Patia Devi and she fell down and died instantaneously. Accused No.2-Tokha Ram assaulted Dharam Chamar in the abdomen with bhala and he was rushed to the hospital whereupon he was declared brought dead. On the basis of nature of injuries inflicted which resulted in the instant death of the deceased persons and other circumstances, court held that the intended injury was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death and convicted the accused for the offences under Section 302 IPC. 13. However, in the instant case, it is apparent that the death occurred sixty two days after the occurrence due to septicaemia and it was indirectly due to the injuries sustained by the deceased. The proximate cause of death on 13.10.1998 was septicaemia which of course was due to the injuries caused in the incident on 11.08.1998. As noted earlier, as per the evidence of Dr. Laxman Das (PW-9), Roop Singh was discharged from the hospital in good condition and he survived for sixty two days. In such facts and circumstances, prosecution should have elicited from Dr. Laxman Das (PW-9) that the head injury sustained by the deceased was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. No such opinion was elicited either from Dr. Laxman Das (PW-9) or from Dr. Gulecha (PW-3). Having regard to the fact that Roop Singh survived for sixty two days and that his condition was stable when he was discharged from the hospital, the court cannot draw an inference that the intended injury caused was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death so as to attract clause (3) of Section 300 IPC. 14. In Ganga Dass alias Godha vs. State of Haryana, 1994 Supp (1) SCC 534, the accused gave iron pipe single blow on the head of the deceased and the deceased died eighteen days after the occurrence due to septicaemia and other complications, the conviction of the appellant under Section 302 IPC was altered by this Court to Section 304 Part II IPC. This Court observed as under:- “6. We find considerable force in this submission. As stated above the occurrence took place on November 18, 1988 and the deceased died 18 days later on December 5, 1988 due to septicaemia and other complications. The Doctor found only one injury on the head and that was due to single blow inflicted with an iron pipe not with any sharp-edged weapon. Having regard to the circumstances of the case, it is difficult to hold that the appellant intended to cause death nor it can be said that he intended to cause that particular injury. In any event the medical evidence shows that the injured deceased was operated but unfortunately some complications set in and ultimately he died because of cardiac failure etc. Under these circumstances, we set aside the conviction of the appellant under Section 302 IPC and the sentence of imprisonment for life awarded thereunder. Instead we convict him under Section 304 Part II IPC and sentence him to undergo six years’ RI. The sentence of fine of Rs.2000 along with default clause is confirmed. Accordingly the appeal is partly allowed.” 15. In the instant case, the appellants used firearms countrymade pistol and fired at Roop Singh at his head and the accused had the intention of causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death. As the bullet injury was on the head, vital organ, second appellant intended of causing such bodily injury and therefore conviction of the appellant is altered from Section 302 IPC to Section 304 Part I IPC. The learned counsel for the appellantSanjay submitted that it was only Narendra who fired at Roop Singh at his head, appellant-Sanjay fired on Sheela (PW-2) on her neck, stomach and leg. Learned counsel for the appellant-Sanjay contended that as Sanjay fired only at Sheela, he could not have been convicted for causing death of Roop Singh under Section 302 IPC read with Section 34 IPC. There is no force in the above contention. The common intention of the appellants is to be gathered from the manner in which the crime has been committed. Both the appellants came together armed with firearms in the wee hours of 11.08.1998. Both the appellants indiscriminately fired from their countrymade pistols at Roop Singh-deceased and Sheela (PW-2) respectively. The conduct of the appellants and the manner in which the crime has been committed is sufficient to attract Section 34 IPC as both the appellants acted in furtherance of common intention. The conviction of the appellant-Sanjay under Section 302 IPC read with Section 34 IPC is modified to conviction under Section 304 Part I IPC. 16. Conviction of the appellants-Narendra and Sanjay under Section 302 IPC and Section 302 IPC read with Section 34 IPC respectively is modified to Section 304 Part I IPC and Section 304 Part I IPC read with Section 34 IPC respectively and each of them are sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for ten years and the same shall run concurrently alongwith sentence of imprisonment imposed on the appellants. Conviction of the appellants for other offences and the respective sentence of imprisonment imposed on the appellants and fine is affirmed. The appeals are partly allowed to the above extent. ……………………CJI. (T.S. THAKUR) .………………………J. (R. BANUMATHI) B&B Associates LLP Advocates & Legal Consultants Chandigarh - Panchkula - Noida - Faridabad - Dehradun - Lucknow - Ludhiana Monday to Saturday 10:00 am to 06:00 pm. Sundays and Holidays Reserved for urgent & prior appointments. 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instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Hi I am 30 years old and suffering from chicken pox. it started almost four days before from a blister on my nose. these watery blisters mostly appears on my face and unluckily the first blister when appeared on my nose i rubbed it so many time that now it covers the whole nose and filled with whitish puss type liquid and outer layer dried and turned into honey colored. my doctor suggest me to splash/clean my face from salline water. plus acylex tablets,novidat and genticyn hc cream. is it all ok?......some one told me to use coconut milk?...should i use it.....kindly suggest me some thing which would result in leaving no scars on my face and especially the worsen nose blister...what should i do with this blister now that it leaves no scar ? ...can i work on my laptop during this period? or it has any side effect? output: Chickenpox is a highly contagious disease caused by primary infection with varicella zoster virus. A person with chickenpox is infectious one to two days before the rash appears and remains contagious until all lesions have crusted over and this takes approximately six days. I would suggest you to follow1. Trim your nails2. Apply calamine solutions over the rashes3. Oral antihistamines. With these remedies the symptoms will come down and improve your condition. Thank you..

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: My mouth feel dry and it is hard to eat and drink anything except water and I am coughing up brown mucous. This has been going on for four days now. Yesterday I let my coworker know about the brown mucous and they said I may have an infection. Then they looked in my mouth and saw that my uvula and tonsils were red and swollen. Do you know what could possibly be wrong with me and ways I can treat it. t causes red and swollen uvula and tonsils? output: Hi..Thanks for the query..Red and swollen uvula and tonsils along with coughing up of brown mucous are a sign of throat infection causing TONSILLITIS and UVULITIS..It can be either due to bacterial or viral infection leading to inflammation of throat and bleeding can occur in throat which dries up and can appear with mucous and leads to brown colour..You should not worry and start aking AZITHROMYCIN 500 mg once a day for 5 days..Take IBUPROFEN 400 mg thrice a day for reducing pain and inflammation.Chew a Vitamin C pellet daily..Do warm saline gargles atleast 3 to 4 times a day..Take a soft diet..Avoid spicy and hard foods...Hope this helps..Regards....

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: I have had trouble with back pains since I was a child, as my spine is curved, but as I ve got older the pain has got worse over time and had started to travel down my legs when walking for more than 10 minutes, recently it has got even worse, shorter time of how long I can walk, and in the cold it s even worse. I went to doctors as it was really hurting, and been diagnosed with Spinal stenosis , my dad s sister has spinabifida, my brother had to have a metal rod placed in his back when we was kids. will I be able to claim dla as this is effecting my health? and if so how do I go about doing this? fering from severe back pain due to spinal stenosis. Family history of spinabifida. Treatment? output: Hi there,Thanks for your query.You have not mentioned if you too have spina bifida.Due to spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal canal), there is compression over the nerves which supply the buttocks and lower limbs.Initial non-operative treatment with pain-killers, reduction of swelling with use of steroids can be tried. If there is no response, surgery to widen the canal and remove compression over the nerves, is the only option.You have not mentioned age. If the problems, including curved spine) have been since childhood, it may be a congenital condition. I am not aware of your country's laws, whether disability due to congenital conditions is entitled to compensation. You will have to consult the concerned authority to learn about the entitlements for dla.In case of any further queries, revert back to me THROUGH DIRECT PREMIUM QUERY (Paid), addressed to me personally. You will receive- almost immediately- my response in great details.If you find my response helpful and informative, do not forget an “excellent” (5-star rating) to my answer, to ENCOURAGE all doctors- engaged in social service- to render sound advice to the FREE queries..

All posts tagged Richard Hannay A Brief History of Superheroes by Brian J. Robb (2014) Robb has previously written biographies of Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt. This volume is one of a series titled ‘A brief guide to [or A history of] …’ which includes guides to Stephen King, ghost-hunting, the Roman Empire, Star Wars and any other topics they thought would sell. Written for a popular audience, then. No illustrations At 340 pages, including notes and index, it’s quite a long book, but its most obvious feature is that there are no illustrations, none, nada, zip – which is a big drawback seeing as comic books are a largely visual medium. When it gives descriptions of the early artwork for Superman, or how Batman’s look was refined over time, or the visual makeover of many comic book heroes in the 1960s, the reader is crying out for illustrations to show what he’s talking about. But you have to turn to the internet to do your own research… So the book is solely prose, made up of thumbnail profiles of the writers, artists and publishers who created comic book superheroes, along with a dense account of how they developed and evolved over time. Superman 1938 Comic Superhero history starts in May 1938 when Superman made his first appearance in Action Comics #1. In other words, Superman is 80 years old this year, in fact this month! He was the creation of two schoolfriends from Cleveland, Jerry Siegel (writer) and Joe Shuster (artist). Everything before this date is the pre-history of superhero comics; everything afterwards is the complex unfolding of superhero comic history. Cultural forebears of superheroes The prehistory is entertaining because Robb (like many others writing on the subject) feels compelled to give a brisk popular history of the wide-ranging role of ‘the hero’ in myth, legend, history and folklore (the word ‘hero’ is itself of Greek derivation). Thus a man gifted with magic powers to protect his people can be made to include Moses and Aaron and the Biblical hero Samson. It can include the pantheon of Greek gods and mortal heroes like Heracles, Perseus and Theseus. Robb quotes Joseph Campbell on the importance of ‘the Journey’ in numerous ancient stories about heroes, and references the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Odyssey and the Mahabharata as cultural forebears of Batman and Robin. This is both fun and a little pompous. Folklore forebears of superheroes More persuasive is the notion of a lineage from more folklore elements of ‘the hero’ through to the popular fictions of the late 19th century. Robin Hood and Dick Turpin are two prime examples. Robin Hood is not only an epitome of schoolboy morality (stealing from the rich to give to the poor) but he wears an early version of the superhero costume: tights and a distinctive cap, all in bright primary colours (Lincoln green with some red thrown in). Dick Turpin concealed his face behind a neckerchief and a pulled-down hat, and wore a cloak or cape. Pop culture forebears of superheroes But in fact, historians have no idea what Robin Hood or Dick Turpin wore. The images I’ve described above derive from movies, and it is Hollywood which is probably the prime factor in the origin of the superhero look. Superheroes didn’t derive from scholarly study of ancient mythology and folklore: they came out of the extraordinary rich, bubbling swamp of popular and pulp culture of the 1920s. If Jerry and Joe knew about Sherlock Holmes or the Scarlet Pimpernel it wasn’t from reading the books about them (Sherlock had debuted in 1887, the Pimpernel in 1905). It was from paying a few cents to sit in the cheap seats of the local movie house, chomping on popcorn and watching the adventure films of a movie star like Douglas Fairbanks, who starred in a movie about Zorro (created 1919, turned into a movie in 1920), Robin Hood (1922) or the Black Pirate (1926). In a sense superheroes began in the movies before, in our time, returning to the movies. Like other historians of the subject, Robb pays special attention to characters with dual identities, a standard feature of most comic book superheroes – the classic example being Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. (Although if you stop and think about it for a moment, a dual identity is a basic element of almost all detective, spy and crime fiction of the kind that was growing more and more popular at the end of the 19th century and start of the 20th. Many thousands of detective stories take their time working up to the grand ‘reveal’ of the ‘true identity’ of the criminal, of the dope dealer or jewel thief or murderer etc caught by Sherlock Holmes or any one of the hundreds of copycat detectives invented in the 1890s and 1900s. (See my review of The Shadows of Sherlock Holmes a collection of stories about fictional detectives inspired by Holmes.) Spy stories, are by their very nature, about people concealing their true task and intentions. Anyway, Robb’s book becomes really interesting when it gets to the extraordinarily dense jungle of popular culture which flowered in the 1890s and then just got denser and denser in the decades that followed, proliferating in penny dreadfuls, shilling shockers, pulp magazines, newspaper supplements and then in the new format of moving pictures and related magazines and merchandising. Robb dwells on two Edwardian doers of good deeds who hid their true identity: the Scarlet Pimpernel (real name Sir Percy Blakeney) who rescues aristocrats from the guillotine, leaving a calling card with a picture of the pimpernel flower Zorro, who wears a black face mask and cape, protects the poor of California, and leaves a distinctive ‘Z’ carved into various objects with his stylish swordplay Just as important for a superhero is the fiendish villain, and these were prefigured by – among many – Holmes’s opponent, the ‘Napoleon of crime’, Professor Moriarty, or the diabolical criminal mastermind Fu Manchu (1913). British hero fiction included John Buchan’s hero Richard Hannay who debuted in 1915, followed by the more thuggish Bulldog Drummond, who appeared in 1920. Lesley Charteris’s crime-fighting hero, the Saint, first appeared in 1928. Biggles the heroic fighter pilot first appeared in 1932. All these heroes were morally unambiguous fighters against Crime and Fiendish Plots. In America the spread of radio gave rise to a florid variety of heroic fighters against crime: the Shadow, a masked crime-fighting vigilante (1930), the Spider (1933) and Doc Savage (1933), a kind of ‘peak human’, reared to have perfect abilities, who had a base in mid-town Manhattan and a rich armoury of state-of-the-art gadgets, funded by money from a secret Mayan goldmine, to help him fight crime. In 1936 the Green Hornet, another crime-fighting, masked vigilante was created specially for radio. Also in 1936 appeared The Phantom, who wore a skin-tight bodysuit and a ‘domino’ eye-mask to fight crime. Off in another part of the rich jungle of popular and pulp culture which exploded around the time of the Great War, was the more unrestrained world of science fiction and fantasy. Important forebears were John Carter of Mars (1912) and Tarzan (1912), both created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Philip Francis Nowlan’s hero Buck Rogers (1928) and Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian (1932), soon joined by Alex Raymond’s newspaper strip hero Flash Gordon (1934). What these numerous figures have in common is that they are modern, pulp versions of ‘the hero’, who always outwit their fiendish opponents after a string of exciting adventures, and that they appear in series or serials: once invented they can appear in almost limitless numbers of adventures (as Conan Doyle, who came to hate his invention, Sherlock Holmes, knew all too well). By now you might share the feeling I had that the first appearance of Superman in 1938 was maybe not quite the dazzling innovation I thought it was; in fact reading about this proliferation of heroes might make you wonder why it took quite so long to come up with what seems to be the logical conclusion of all these trends. Robb tells the story of how two teenagers from Cleveland conceived the idea, developed it over many years, were repeatedly rejected by newspapers and comic publishers, and were forced to work on other characters and projects, until finally given their big break in 1938. I found the two most interesting things about Superman were: 1. His descent not so much from all these detectives and crime fighters, but from the Victorian circus strongman. These popular performers generally wore tights and pants, a figure-hugging suit to highlight their musculature which was strapped in with an impressive belt, and often stylised boots. A Victorian circus strongman, whose shiny boots, tight pants, utility belt and stylised vest all anticipate the ‘superhero look’ 2. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster sold the exclusive rights to their then-new character, Superman to DC (short for Detective Comics) Publishing for just $130 (split between the two of them). Superman was an instant hit and not only went on to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the publisher and the film company that eventually bought it, but to inspire an entire genre of superhero fiction across all media. As they watched this happen Siegel and Shuster continued to work as a comic book writer and illustrator, respectively, but made repeated attempts to sue for a share of the vast revenue generated by their invention. In fact their heirs are still locked in litigation with DC’s parent company, Time Warner, to this day. The development of the comic strip Robb gives a brief and fascinating recap of how the comic strip itself evolved. As far back as the record stretches, human beings have always told stories. Bas-relief carvings on Greek and Indian temples capture moments from religious or legendary narratives. (Robb doesn’t mention it but I’d have thought the 12 Stations of the Cross which appear in tens of thousands of Catholic churches are an early example of a story told through snapshots of key moments.) He does mention the use of ‘scroll speech’ in medieval and Renaissance art work, where a scroll unfolds from a figure’s mouth, containing their speech (something I’m familiar with from my readings of the British Civil Wars). 17th century Civil War cartoon with speech scroll Robb says the next step forward was marked by the popular engravings of the 18th century artist William Hogarth, famous for the series of pictures which depict The Rake’s Progress and A Harlot’s Progress. These popular engravings showed the decline of the eponymous rake and harlot with plenty of humorous detail. They gave rise to similar pictorial sequences by Rodolphe Töpfler later in the century, and by the Victorian artist Gustave Doré, among others. Throughout the 19th century Punch in Britain and similar magazines across the Continent used cartoons, often with speech captions, to convey narratives with punch lines. Capitalist competition creates comics But all these sometimes dubious historical antecedents are there simply to pave the way for the real start of popular comic books which, as with most things American, came out of ferocious competition to make money. Starting in 1887 a newspaper war was waged between Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst’s newspaper empires. One among many fronts in this war was the innovation of cartoon strips with catchy titles and populist characters. In 1892 The Little Bears was created by Jimmy Swinnerton for Hearst’s San Francisco Examiner, probably the first cartoon strip anywhere which featured regularly recurring characters. In 1895 Pulitzer debuted a strip titled The Yellow Kid for his paper The New York World, drawn by Richard Felton Outcault, which pioneered the use of speech text to indicate dialogue. In 1897 the paper added a supplement featuring just Outcault’s strips and expanding it to describe an array of characters from the yellow kid’s neighbourhood – titled McFadden’s Row of Flats – and a new term, ‘comic book’, was invented to describe it. As a direct response to all this, Hearst’s New York Journal commissioned their own strip, The Katzenjammer Kids, created by Rudolph Dirks. Dirks developed Outcault’s device of speech balloons and invented the ‘thought balloon’, indicated by a series of bubbles leading up to the text balloon itself. The same year saw the first use of colour printing (as the name, The Yellow Kid, indicates). These kind of narrative cartoons featuring recurring characters proved tremendously popular (nicer, after all, than reading the depressing news) and spread like wildfire to every other newspaper which could find a decent illustrator. By 1912 Hearst was devoting an entire page of the New York Daily Journal to comic strips, a feature which became known as the ‘funny pages’, the ‘funny papers’, or simply ‘the funnies’. It was quickly realised that the strips which appeared during the week could be repackaged into a bumper weekend supplement. Rather than broadsheet size, it made financial and practical sense to publish them in magazine format, which was easier for readers to handle and read. The comic book was born. Superhero history So much for the multi-stranded prehistory of the comic superhero. The publication of Superman in 1938 transformed the landscape, inventing a whole new genre of superhero. From this point onwards Robb’s book becomes a dense and fascinating account of how numerous newspapers and publishers sought to cash in on the fad by creating their own superheroes. He describes the complicated evolution of the two publishing houses which would eventually become known as Marvel and DC, and reading his book gives you a good sense of the difference between them. Basically, DC owned Superman (1938) and Batman (1939) who spawned hundreds of imitators but managed to remain ahead of the pack. Through the war years the superheroes performed their patriotic duty with a strong sideline in film noir-style violence against all manner of crime or fantasy baddies. In the 1950s there was a moral backlash against comics, with a nationwide panic in America that they were one of many influences turning teenagers into ‘juvenile delinquents’. This resulted in 1954 in the establishment of The Comics Code Authority (CCA) which forced comic books to abandon much violence and all references to drugs and sex, tending to replace hard 1940s stories with softer, romance elements. Marvel began existence in 1939 as ‘Timely Publications’, and by the early 1950s was generally known as Atlas Comics. The Marvel branding began 1961 with a rack of superhero titles created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and others. Robb describes the period 1961-62 as a kind of annus mirabilis, during which Lee oversaw the creation of The Fantastic Four and their nemesis Dr Doom (November 1961), Ant-Man (January 1962), the Incredible Hulk (May 1962), Spider-Man (August 1962), the Mighty Thor (August 1962), Iron Man (March 1963), the Avengers (September 1963) and the X-men (1963). Even if you think comic books are rubbish, this is by any measure still an incredible outpouring of creativity, the creation of characters which would go on to have multi-billion dollar futures in popular culture. Although other artists and writers were involved, Stan Lee is commonly associated with this outburst of imagination and the key element of it seems to have been his conviction that superheroes must be flawed – realistic characters who often struggle with their own superpowers. Thus Spider-Man is deeply confused about how to use his skills, the X-Men bicker amongst themselves, the Fantastic Four are riven by rivalries, and the Hulk considers committing suicide he is so upset by the scientific accident which has turned him into a monster. It was this troubled psychology which set them completely apart from DC’s untroubled hero Superman and made them feel more contemporary than their older cousins (although, admittedly, DC’s Batman is a much darker creation). In a second nod to contemporary concerns, Lee’s Marvel creations were nearly all connected to contemporary paranoia about the atom bomb and atomic energy. It is radioactivity which messes up the DNA of almost all these superheroes, a paranoia about the potentially damaging impact of modern science which remains relevant right down to the present day. It is this more ‘modern’ way of conceiving superhero psychology, as well as the more modern concerns about science, which possibly account for the relative success of the Marvel characters in the movies, and the rather staid, static quality of the DC movies. The difference between the Superman era and the Fantastic Four era is recognised by comic book historians who have divided the past eighty years into a series of ‘ages’. The golden age of comic books was from 1938 to about 1950, when waning interest in superheroes was capped by the baleful influence of the Comics Code Authority. The silver age of comic books is dated from DC Comics’ new character Flash, introduced in Showcase #4 in October 1956. This led up to the Marvel outburst in the early 1960s which spawned a great sprawling cast not only of heroes but of baddies and enemies. This era also another important Marvel innovation, which was introducing one set of heroes into the adventures or ‘universe’ of another set. As the 1960s progressed, the interactions of heroes from different narratives became not only more complex in itself, but led to the notion of parallel worlds in which the various characters might have different superpowers, fight each other and even die. The bronze age of comic books runs from about 1970 to 1985. The bright, Pop optimism of the 1960s turned into a nitty-gritty concern with social ‘issues’, such as the environment, feminism, racism and drugs, along with more realistic depictions of alcoholism, addiction, urban decay and so on. Alongside the two giants of Marvel and DC there arose a new wave of independent comic book publishers who took a whole new approach to the superhero genre. This was crystallised in the epoch-making Watchmen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, which set out to deconstruct the entire mythos of superheroes. Superheroes in movies Although Robb doesn’t quite make this point, his book ends where it began, with the movies. Not with the distant antecedents of Gilgamesh or Robin Hood, but with the fact that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster loved the movies and were influenced by what they saw, by the sight of Douglas Fairbanks swashbuckling his way across the screen and that now, we in our time, queue up to watch the Amazing Spiderman, Thor and Iron Man swing across our multiplex 3D screens. Poster for Douglas Fairbanks in The Mask of Zorro (1920) Radio Robb’s last few chapters give a bewilderingly dense account of the way superheroes were adapted to other media beyond comic books. Radio was the first, and it’s interesting to learn that radio developed catchphrases, plot lines and even new characters, which hadn’t existed in the original comics but which the comics then co-opted. Television From the 1950s various television series portrayed superheroes, probably the most memorable being the camp classic Batman of the 1960s. Animations Movies were slower to adapt superheroes because of the technical challenges of portraying superhero action. It was easier to do this in animations, so there have been scores of animated TV shows and movies about superheroes. The Modern Age of Superhero Movies starts with Christopher Reeve’s portrayal of Superman in the film of the same name, directed by Richard Donner in 1978. Although the special effects look creaky to the modern eye, they were a quantum step up from all previous attempts and made superhero film-making a real possibility. Three sequels were released, in 1980, 1983 and 1987. The next benchmark was the pair of Batman movies directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton. Robb is great on the showbusiness gossip and behind-the-scenes manoeuvring which accompanied these films, for example the way that Keaton, previously known mainly for light comic roles, was widely opposed by comicbook fans, who mounted a campaign to prevent him taking the role. In the event, Burton’s two Batman movies (Batman, 1989 and Batman Returns 1992) were widely seen as a triumph, and made stacks of money ($411 million and $266 million, respectively). Robb details the ongoing attempts to stage other superhero movies during the 1980s and 90s, which met with mixed success, and a fair share of dazzling flops. Along with most fans he considers the last two Reeve Superman movies (Superman III, 1983 and Superman IV, 1987) and the Val Kilmer and George Clooney Batmen (Batman Forever, 1995, and Batman and Robin, 1997) to be disasters. The modern age of superhero movies The Current Age of Superhero Movies was launched with the X-Men directed by Bryan Singer and released in 2000. With an intelligent script, the steadying presence of two top-class British actors (Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen) and state-of-the-art, computer-generated graphics, X-Men inaugurated the modern age. It cost a lot to make, but it: a) made a fortune ($296 million) b) spawned a host of sequels (there are now no fewer than 10 films in the X-Men series) c) and led to a number of successful television spin-off series The X-Men movies played an important role in creating the superhero cultural, film and TV universe that we now inhabit. This is a list of the main superhero movies of the last 18 years, excluding various flops and failures, with an indication of their costs and revenues. 2000 X-Men ($296 million gross on $75 million budget) 2002 Spider-Man ($821 million on $139 million) 2003 Daredevil ($179 million on $78 million) 2003 X-Men 2 ($407 million on $125 million) 2004 Fantastic Four ($330 million on $100 million) 2004 Spider-Man 2 ($783 million on $200 million) 2005 Batman Begins ($374 million / $150 million) 2006 Superman Returns ($223 million / $223 million) 2006 X-Men: The Last Stand ($459 million / $210 million) 2007 Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer ($290 million / $130 million) 2007 Spider-Man 3 ($890 million / $258 million) 2008 Batman: The Dark Knight ($1 BILLION / $185 million) 2008 Iron Man 1 ($585 million / $140 million) 2008 The Incredible Hulk ($263 million / $150 million) 2009 Watchmen ($185 million / $138 million) 2009 X-Men Origins: Wolverine ($373 million / $150 million) 2011 Thor ($449 million / $150 million) 2011 X-Men: First Class ($353 million / $160 million) 2011 Captain America: The First Avenger ($370 million / $140 million) 2012 The Amazing Spider-Man ($757 million / $230 million) 2012 Batman: The Dark Knight Rises ($1.08 BILLION / $300 million) 2012 Marvel’s The Avengers ($1.5 BILLION / $220 million) 2013 Iron Man 3 ($1.2 BILLION / $200 million) 2013 Man of Steel ($668 million / $225 million) 2013 Thor: The Dark World ($645 million / $170 million) 2013 The Wolverine ($414 million / $120 million) 2014 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($709 million / $293 million) 2014 Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($714 million / $177 million) 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy ($773 million / $232 million) 2014 X-Men: Days of Future Past ($747 million / £205 million) 2015 Ant-Man ($519 million / $142 million) 2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron ($1.4 BILLION / $444 million) 2015 Fantastic Four ($168 million / $155 million) 2016 Captain America: Civil War ($1.15 BILLION / $250 million) 2016 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($874 million / $300 million) 2016 Deadpool ($783 million / $58 million) 2016 Doctor Strange ($678 milllion / $165 million) 2016 X-Men: Apocalypse ($544 million / $178 million) 2017 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($864 million / $200 million) 2017 Superman: Justice League ($658 million / $300 million) 2017 Spider-Man: Homecoming ($880 million / $175 million) 2017 Thor: Ragnarok ($854 million / $180 million) 2017 Logan ($619 million / $127 million) 2018 Ant-Man and the Wasp 2018 Avengers: Infinity War 2018 Black Panther ($1.334 BILLION / $210 million) 2018 Deadpool 2 Quite a few, aren’t there? The first superhero movie to gross over a billion dollars was Christopher Nolan’s Batman: The Dark Knight, and six other superhero movies have grossed over a billion since then. The X-Men movies between them have generated $5 billion. In 2010 Marvel produced the first in a carefully planned sequence of movies designed to maximise revenue from their stable of characters, and which has become known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe or MCU. This is divided into ‘phases’ of six movies each, the first five of each phase devoted to individual Marvel heroes, the sixth bringing the previous five altogether into a grand finale which ties together plotlines from the previous movies. As I write we are approaching the end of Phase Three, which has just seen the phenomenal success of Black Panther (phase 3, movie 5) which grossed over $1.3 billion, and paved the way for the sixth in this phase, Avengers: Infinity War which has just opened in the States to the usual mass marketing and hype. Despite having no illustrations at all, Robb’s book is an eminently readable and very enjoyable overview of the entire history of the superhero comic book phenomenon, which puts it in the context of expanding popular culture, twentieth century history, and the evolving media of radio, TV and film – all told in a light, accessible prose style with a sure sense of the interesting anecdote and fascinating fact. Great fun, and a very useful introduction to a cultural phenomenon which is bigger than ever, and set to dominate our movie and TV screens for the foreseeable future. A Brief History of Superheroes on Amazon Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986) Themes and issues in Superhero movies by Simon on May 3, 2018 • Permalink Posted in America, American literature, Art, Books Tagged 2014, A Brief History of Superheroes, A Harlot's Progress, Alan Moore, Alex Raymond, Ant-Man, Avengers: Infinity War, Batman, Batman Returns, Biggles, Black Panther, Brian J. Robb, Bryan Singer, Buck Rogers, Christopher Reeve, comic book, Conan the Barbarian, Dave Gibbons, DC Comics, Dick Turpin, Doc Savage, Douglas Fairbanks, Dr Doom, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Flash, Flash Gordon, Fu Manchu, George Clooney, Gustave Doré, heroes, Ian McKellen, Iron Man, Jack Kirby, Jerry Siegel, Jimmy Swinnerton, Joe Shuster, John Buchan, John Carter of Mars, Joseph Campbell, Joseph Pulitzer, Lesley Charteris, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Comics, Michael Keaton, Patrick Stewart, Philip Francis Nowlan, Professor Moriarty, Punch, Richard Donner, Richard Felton Outcault, Richard Hannay, Robert E. Howard, Robin Hood, Rudolph Dirks, Sherlock Holmes, Sir Percy Blakeney, Spider-Man, Stan Lee, Stations of the Cross, Steve Ditko, superheroes, Superman, Tarzan, the Avengers, the Civil War, The Comics Code Authority, the Epic of Gilgamesh, The Fantastic Four, the Green Hornet, the Incredible Hulk, The Katzenjammer Kids, the Mahabharata, the Mighty Thor, the Odyssey, The Phantom, the Rake's Progress, The Saint, the Scarlet Pimpernel, the Shadow, the Spider, the X-men, The Yellow Kid, Tim Burton, Time Warner, Val Kilmer, Watchmen, William Hogarth, William Randolph Hearst, X-Men, Zorro Posted by Simon on May 3, 2018 https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2018/05/03/superheroes-brian-j-robb/ The Island of Sheep by John Buchan (1936) The fifth and final of the series of Richard Hannay ‘spy’ novels by John Buchan. As usual, more interesting for its social history and the light it sheds on the mentality of the right-wing squirearchy than for the – in fact quite thrilling – boys’ adventure plot. Plot in three parts 1. In the glory days of Empire before the Great War Hannay had an adventure which led up to him, Peter Pienaar and another young Imperialist called Lombard helping save the life of a burly Norwegian named Haraldsen, looks like a Viking and fond of quoting the old sagas. Before the final attack Haraldsen makes them swear a blood vow to defend him or his son if attacked. Thirty years later, Hannay stumbles across Lombard by accident, then across Haraldsen’s son who, we discover, is being pursued by a gang of international criminals for he not only inherited millions from his successful gold magnate father, but his father seems to have discovered a kind of Eldorado of gold right at the end of his life, a find recorded in a mysterious chunk of green jade. Our heroes revive the pact they made with Haraldsen père and spirit Haraldsen fils to safety at Fosse, Hannay’s country pile in Gloucestershire. 2. But the vultures close in, so Hannay’s whole family with servants and Haraldsen decamp to Sandy Arbuthnot’s castle in Scotland, where they figure to be safe, and Lombard pulls off a ripping stunt in spiriting Haraldsen’s daughter away from her private school under the noses of the baddies who were about to kidnap her. After quite a lot of local colour in Scotland, with much hunting and fishing and a traditional Scots wedding, Haraldsen has one of his Norse moments and insists he returns to his Norwegian home island – the Island of Sheep – to confront his pursuers in a Last Battle, and Sandy – who has just returned from meeting and sizing up the enemy – agrees. 3. They all decamp to the Isle of Sheep, a fictional member of the fictional Norland Islands off the coast of Norway. Here the focus switches to the two teenagers, Hannay’s son and Haraldsen’s daughter, who kayak over to what they think is a government ship only to discover it is the bad guys who have cut the telephone cable from the island to the mainland. After a spell locked up, they are mysteriously released by one of the baddies and make a desperate escape in the fog back to the island only to discover the goody house is surrounded, only to go down to an inlet where – unexpectedly but rather conveniently – a hundred locals have arrived to hunt a pod of whales and who are easily stirred up at the news that outsiders are attacking one of them. Peter John, Anna and their pet peregrine falcon, Morag, save the day, hooray! Here, at its climax, the children come into their own and the book mutates into a Famous Five adventure avant la lettre (the first FF adventure was published in 1942); also I can’t get images from Tintin and the Black Island (1937) out of my mind, and wonder what if any connection there was between Buchan and Hergé. Lost dreams of Empire The opening chapter is both an intriguing start to a ripping yarn and historically interesting: on the train back from London Hannay remembers the glory days of Empire before the Great War, when he mingled in Africa with white men with grand dreams of what the British Empire could be and do. My mind went back to Lombard. I remembered how we had sat on a rock one evening looking over the trough of Equatoria, and, as the sun crimsoned the distant olive-green forests, he had told me his ambitions. In those days the after-glow of Cecil Rhodes’s spell still lay on Africa, and men could dream dreams. Lombard’s were majestic… He had had his ‘call’ and was hastening to answer it. Henceforth his life was to be dedicated to one end, the building up of a British Equatoria, with the highlands of the East and South as the white man’s base. It was to be both white man’s and black man’s country, a new kingdom of Prester John. It was to link up South Africa with Egypt and the Sudan, and thereby complete Rhodes’s plan. It was to be a magnet to attract our youth and a settlement ground for our surplus population. It was to carry with it a spiritual renaissance for England. ‘When I think,’ he cried, ‘of the stuffy life at home! We must bring air into it, and instead of a blind alley give ’em open country. . . .’ (Chapter 1) In terms of the plot and drama, it is a crude coincidence that the fat stockbroker sitting opposite him on the train prattling about golf to his colleagues then turns out to be the very same Lombard, 25 years older, fatter and unromantic. But as social history it is a fascinating insight into how romantic and idealistic the dream of Empire was, how it captured the imagination of so many capable men – and how infinitely sad was its slow collapse and the attrition of those ideas in the difficult years between the Wars, before the final capitulation and death of that dream in the independence of India and the other colonies. The power of that dream, and the shadow its slow decline cast over the entire ruling class of Britain, are vital parts of the social, political and cultural history of Britain in the twentieth century, and Buchan’s novels, in their shilling shocker way, give powerful insights into it, from the mind of a man who was at the heart of Imperial administration from his time with Milner in South Africa at the turn of the century to his role as Governor-General of Canada 40 years later. Decadent Britain There’s a section which made me laugh out loud in its right-wing triteness. One of the baddies fancies himself a great intellectual and enjoys going to parties of left wing artists and so on. Buchan gives a suitably dismissive description: ‘I got a young friend to take me to a party – golly, such a party! I was a French artist in a black sweater, and I hadn’t washed for a day or two. A surréaliste, who had little English but all the latest Paris studio argot. I sat in a corner and worshipped, while Barralty held the floor. It was the usual round-up of rootless intellectuals, and the talk was the kind of thing you expect–terribly knowing and disillusioned and conscientiously indecent. I remember my grandfather had a phrase for the smattering of cocksure knowledge which was common in his day – the “culture of the Mechanics’ Institute.” I don’t know what the modern equivalent would be – perhaps the “culture of the B.B.C.” Our popular sciolism is different–it is a smattering not so much of facts as of points of view. But the youths and maidens at this party hadn’t even that degree of certainty. They took nothing for granted except their own surpassing intelligence, and their minds were simply nebulae of atoms. Well, Barralty was a king among those callow anarchists. You could see that he was of a different breed from them, for he had a mind, however much he debased it. You could see too that he despised the whole racket.’ (Ch 7) Fancy trying to teach mechanics anything. Ha ha ha ha. Their job is to fix my charabanc and know their place. And fancy the modish new BBC trying to ‘educate and inform’ the ghastly inhabitants of our dreary cities, ha ha ha. Anyone knows that only chaps who have titles, country houses and went to pukka schools are allowed to be educated. Something about a private education seems, or seemed, to leave these men permanently immature and harking back to the halcyon days of their boarding schools. Again and again the finest moments in the chase or fight or whatever peril our heroes are in, is said to bring out a boyish brightness in their eyes, or they look like fine boys again – or they feel like boys summoned to the headmaster’s study or…. boys boys boys. I certainly remembered one instance when Haraldsen had talked to me about a house he was building in a little island somewhere in the north, and had rhapsodized over it like a boy. I recognized in him the boy I had known in Equatoria, and I felt as if I had suddenly recovered an old friend. His lean, dark head and smooth, boyish face were just as I remembered them twenty years ago. His face was so lit up and eager that I thought it was simply another ebullition of the boy in him that could not die… When I called to him he was laughing like a care-free boy at the figure Peter John cut in Sandy’s short waders. In the end they caught Haraldsen’s eyes, and some compelling force in them made him pull up a chair and sit down stiffly, like a schoolboy in the headmaster’s room. Part of his cheerfulness was due to the admiration he had acquired for Sandy, which made him follow as docilely as a small boy in the wake of a big brother. They were like schoolboys playing at pirates who had suddenly found themselves enrolled under the authentic Blackbeard. This arrested development or emotional immaturity is very apparent in their dealings with women – for Hannay/Buchan these come in three flavours, either sweet old ladies in Highland villages, adorable wives, or over-made-up slatterns. That’s it. The homosexuality which notoriously flourished in English public schools – partly due to the complete absence of women – and led to what the French called ‘the English vice’ i.e. spanking and bondage – made it notoriously difficult for these men to have thoughtful adult relationships with women. True, in this novel, both Hannay and Sandy are now married with young children, but women play no real role in the book. In fact, going back a book, Mr Standfast came in for much criticism at its publication and ever since because Buchan repeatedly describes his wife-to-be as a boy, consciously or not suppressing her feminine characteristics and (comically) emphasising that she is nearly as good as a boy! She seemed little more than a child, and before the war would probably have still ranked as a flapper. She wore the neat blue dress and apron of a V.A.D. and her white cap was set on hair like spun gold. She smiled demurely as she arranged the tea-things, and I thought I had never seen eyes at once so merry and so grave. I stared after her as she walked across the lawn, and I remember noticing that she moved with the free grace of an athletic boy. (MS Ch 1) I puzzled over this till I realized that in all my Cotswold pictures a figure kept going and coming – a young girl with a cloud of gold hair and the strong, slim grace of a boy, who had sung ‘Cherry Ripe’ in a moonlit garden. Up on that hillside I understood very clearly that I, who had been as careless of women as any monk, had fallen wildly in love with a child of half my age. (MS Ch 5) With a child – not a woman. The grace of a boy – not a woman. Although Buchan goes out of his way to prove his wife every bit as capable (or more) than Hannay, the impression remains nonetheless that she is a cracking chap and would have been a splendid addition to the First Eleven. It is a cliché that public schoolboys were encouraged to play games at the expense of intellectual pursuits, and that the spirit of team sports, abiding by rules, playing for the team etc, were directly related to the mentality they were expected to bring to running the greatest empire the world had ever seen. the famous quote, ‘Play up, play up, and play the game’, is the famous line from Sir Henry Newbolt’s 1892 poem Vitaï Lampada. Huntin’, shootin’, fishin’ It is fascinating to see how this mentality works out in practice, for almost every aspect of Hannay’s life really is referred to as a game. His ordinary, non-perilous-adventure activities are all based around ‘games’ with rules: lots of hunting, whether it be stalking deer, fishing for trout or shooting ducks in Norfolk – and of course all the animals you’re hunting are themselves game – there are precise rules on how to do it, and not only that but the rules extend to the relationships you have with the servants who help you, ghillies and groundsmen and fly fishing suppliers and the owners of inns near good hunting, shooting and fishing territory. Etiquette There are also, obviously enough, precise rules around etiquette, about how one dresses for dinner, or informally, or for sports activities, and how one comports oneself in public and at dinner, where strict rules surround what is eaten with what, and what is drunk with what, and when at which course, and then what subjects are permissible and which taboo, for a room full of like-minded men smoking their pipes after dinner. Life as games All this means that when adventure comes along, it too is turned into a game, or rather into a series of mini-games, each of which can be controlled and conceived of as games. Thus when Hannay pretends to allow himself to be hypnotised by the baddie in The Three Hostages, it is part of the game. Whenever he and allies realise they’re in peril they’ll say ‘the chase is on’, the game has started’. Notoriously, our chaps described the rivalry between Russia and Great Britain at the borders of India and in Afghanistan as the Great Game. And in the two Great War-related novels, Greenmantle and Standfast, the War itself is conceived as a gigantic game, made up of myriads of smaller games, offensives and ‘shows’, all of which must be played by rules which are comprehensible and definable, at least to the officer class who all went to the same schools – if not quite so obvious to the ‘lions’ who were led to slaughter in their millions. War, business, adventure, Empire, crime, love, sport – almost all human activities can be turned by these huntin’, shootin’, fishin’ elite into a game. ‘He wasted a lot of time in that barren game, and more than once nearly had his throat cut, and then he was lucky enough to turn up on the Rand when that show was beginning. Albinus looked a workmanlike fellow who had been at the game before, and even Troth made a presentable figure for the wilds. He didn’t get much beyond a few klipspringer and bushbuck, but it was a good game area, and he lived in hopes of a kudu. ‘They visited the Island of Sheep – this was the name of Valdemar’s place – and, when they found it empty, pretty well ransacked the house, just like so many pirates from the sea. But they did no mischief, for they were playing a bigger game.’ ‘He doesn’t appear to care for money so much as for the game.’ ‘I felt somehow that we had the game in our hands, and had got over the worst snags.’ His opponents’ game was the old one of the pack, learned when their ancestors hunted on the plains of Asia. ‘Oh, nonsense!’ I said. ‘We’re not here cadging hospitality. We’re all in the same game, and this is part of it.’ ‘I see what your game is, and I don’t like it either.’ ‘The Skipper knows that game too well. If we try to double-cross him he’ll shoot.’ Another way of thinking about Hannay’s racism, his racist contempt for the excluded and the outsiders which I considered in my previous post, is that they are outsiders because they don’t play the game (whatever the particular game happens to be). They are either completely outside the gaming culture – like Africans, Indians and natives everywhere – or they are white but perversely refuse to play the game like, in Hannay’s opinion, socialists, Germans or – worst of all – Jews. And this refusal to join in the White Man’s game mentality, with its elaborate rules and etiquette, can only mean one thing – it can’t be that they think the game silly or are playing their own game – it must be that the refusers are wicked degenerates, or helpless half-wits who are the pawns of wicked degenerates. And that precisely describes the gang in The Three Hostages who are more or less stooges of the wicked mastermind Medina – or the gang in Island of Sheep, who are more or less weak-minded pawns of the real wicked baddie, Jacques D’Ingraville (‘Foreign blighter is he, Sandy? Yeees, doesn’t surprise me.’). Master and servant Chapter 4, which explains how Hannay and Pienaar and Lombard came to be blood brothers with Haraldsen, is set in pre-War Africa. All the blacks ie the native inhabitants of Africa, are referred to as ‘boys’, if they are working for our heroes, or ‘Kaffirs’ if they’re the 99.9% of the population who aren’t. Both these terms would develop nastier and nastier overtones of domination and racism as the century progressed and white men’s hold upon Africa came to seem more and more perilous. Similarly, Hannay in England or Scotland knows where he is in his relations with other white men – either they’re of his own class, or they are servants of some kind, butler, gardener, groundsman, ghillie, driver, beater, help on a shoot or fish. The same thing applies as with the concept of ‘the game’ which is that, there is a set of clearly defined relationships which a posh man can have with other Brits, almost all those of master and servant, all of which carry an etiquette and rules for both parties. It is when Hannay steps outside the easy master-servant relationship he is used to that he is nervous and becomes generally critical if not nasty. For example, the population of most of the UK is a mystery to him; all city-dwellers belong to the ghastly middle classes or, worse, the violent working classes unless that is, they are redeemed by being in the Army – in which case the rules and regulations surrounding Army life immediately kick in – thus Hannay is at sea when caught in a fight with a drunk Scots Fusilier in Mr Standfast – but when he meets the same man and is wearing his general’s uniform he is immediately able to patronise and control him and, indeed, persuade him to become his manservant which – in these wish-fulfilment fantasies of the upper-classes – the working class man (Geordie Hamilton) is immediately happy to do. But introduce him to the mixed lower-middle-class society of pacifists and artists in Biggleswick, or to the would-be artists described in the BBC quote above, or to the nightclub clientele in The Three Hostages, then Hannay is all at sea, then his limited world-view struggles to cope with the chaotic realities of an unpredictable population of 50 million fellow human beings most of whom along with the nature of their lives and struggles for money and food and shelter and love – due to the blinkers wrapped round him from birth – are a complete mystery to him, then he reduces them to crude ciphers, dismisses them as half-baked or naive, and his anxiety about not being able to define his relationship to them, not being able to incorporate them into one of his games, comes out in abuse and insults, often crudely racist – in references to a nigger band, a dirty Jewess, greasy Dagos, the hoydenish Irish and so on. Playing the game is fine if you’re inside the game, involved in the game. But eventually the 99% of the Empire’s population who were excluded from the game decided the situation was no longer tenable. Thus these books, the confident, well-written and frequently thrilling expressions of an ideology its author thought would never die, are now not only quaint ripping yarns but museum pieces pored over by scholars exploring the psychopathology of a vanished culture. The Island of Sheep online The Richard Hannay novels The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915) Greenmantle (1916) Mr Standfast (1919) The Three Hostages (1924) The Island of Sheep (1936) by Simon on August 26, 2014 • Permalink Posted in Adventure, Books, Novel, Thriller Tagged 1936, John Buchan, Richard Hannay, Sandy Arbuthnot, The Island of Sheep, thriller Posted by Simon on August 26, 2014 https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2014/08/26/the-island-of-sheep-john-buchan/ The Three Hostages by John Buchan (1924) Buchan’s hero, Richard Hannay, was always a posh pukka public schoolboy hero; his ‘let’s biff the blighters, Sandy!’, ‘oh hooray! another grand show!’ style is part of the semi-comic appeal of The Thirty-Nine Steps and Greenmantle, novels in which he is a relatively junior, unknown, everyman figure. However, by the time of Mr Standfast, Hannay is a Lieutenant-General in charge of his own division of the British Army during World War I, and his schoolboy pluck begins to seem out of keeping for a man responsible for so many others’ lives. My favourite parts of Standfast was not the far-fetched plot, but a) the slow beginning where Hannay goes undercover in one of the new garden suburbs to hobnob with pacifists and conscientious objectors, then goes on to meet working men in Glasgow, both of which shed fascinating light on social attitudes during the Great War b) the very end, the description of the 1918 German Spring Offensive, where Hannay’s division has to hold the line outside Amiens, which is genuinely gripping Setting and plot This, the fourth Richard Hannay thriller, is set in the early Twenties and the volume of all the pukka, jolly-good-chaps characteristics of the earlier books have been turned up until it almost reads like a parody. Our hero is now Sir Richard Hannay KCB, OBE, DSO and Legion of Honour, married to the beautiful clever Lady Mary whom he met in Mr Standfast, and living the quiet life of a country squire in his venerable Gloucestershire pile. From here he is only very reluctantly enticed back into an adventure by the combined forces of his old friends in the police, his pleading wife and the parents or lovers of the three unfortunates who have been kidnapped by a dastardly gang of international crooks. These three hostages (hence the title) are being held in order to silence their relatives while the baddies carry out some kind of wicked international crime which, frankly, is never explained. Everything in the book feels stereotyped and exaggerated: Hannay is no longer just an ordinary chap who is plunged into sudden adventure (as in the The 39 Steps), he has become for Buchan an embodiment and epitome of everything that is good and solid and traditional and conservative about British life. He knows everyone and everyone knows him. He knows the local nobs from the annual shoots or fishing trips or balls given by the Lord Lieutenant. Up in Town he meets everyone at his club or strolling down Pall Mall or is invited to join the most elite club in the land, the Thursday Club with just 15 members, half of them cabinet members. … and in the few minutes while the men were left alone at table I fell into talk with an elderly man on my right, who proved to be a member of the Cabinet. (Chapter 4) All his friends have similarly gone up in the world, including the dashing Sandy Arbuthnot, the hero of Greenmantle who turns out – in line with the novel’s emphasis on the rootedness of Britain’s squirearchy and class system – to be heir to a title. I had seen his elder brother’s death in the papers, so he was now Master of Clanroyden and heir to the family estates, but I didn’t imagine that that would make a Scotch laird of him. (Ch 4) The three hostages are, in their way, supposed to stand for everything fine and noble in Hannay’s world – a dashing young man just up at Oxford and desperate to get into the cricket team – a beautiful young woman engaged to a French fellah Hannay knew from the Division during the last show – and a schoolboy at Eton (which Hannay’s own son, the puppet-like Peter John, is down for, inevitably). The schoolboy is clearly intended to be a model child – and draws forth from Lady Mary, throughout the book, gallons of maternal concern – which makes the description of him all the more revealing – and nauseating. The tearful parent, noble old Sir Arthur Warcliff … showed us a miniature he carried with him – an extraordinarily handsome child with wide grey eyes and his head most nobly set upon his shoulders. A grave little boy, with the look of utter trust which belongs to children who have never in their lives been unfairly treated. Mary said something about the gentleness of the face. ‘Yes, Davie was very gentle,’ his father said. ‘I think he was the gentlest thing I have ever known. That little boy was the very flower of courtesy. But he was curiously stoical, too. When he was distressed, he only shut his lips tight, and never cried. I used often to feel rebuked by him.’ And then he told us about Davie’s performances at school, where he was not distinguished, except as showing a certain talent for cricket. ‘I am very much afraid of precocity,’ Sir Arthur said with the ghost of a smile. ‘But he was always educating himself in the right way, learning to observe and think.’ It seemed that the boy was a desperately keen naturalist and would be out at all hours watching wild things. He was a great fisherman, too, and had killed a lot of trout with the fly on hill burns in Galloway. And as the father spoke I suddenly began to realise the little chap, and to think that he was just the kind of boy I wanted Peter John to be. I liked the stories of his love of nature and trout streams. It came on me like a thunderclap that if I were in his father’s place I should certainly go mad, and I was amazed at the old man’s courage. ‘I think he had a kind of genius for animals,’ Sir Arthur said. ‘He knew the habits of birds by instinct, and used to talk of them as other people talk of their friends. He and I were great cronies, and he would tell me long stories in his little quiet voice of birds and beasts he had seen on his walks. He had odd names for them too. . . .’ The thing was almost too pitiful to endure. I felt as if I had known the child all my life. I could see him playing, I could hear his voice, and as for Mary she was unashamedly weeping. (Ch 2) The excluded The corollary of all this tight inclusiveness, of the clubbishness of the white Anglo-Saxon Protestant squirearchical elite, is that it defines itself by everything it excludes, which is an impressively big list starting with: the entire working and middle class of the nation (unless they are suitable as servants or butlers) all political parties who aren’t on the side of good old England and good old country squires all foreigners – except other white men from the Empire or the occasional ‘darkie’ who becomes an honourable white man by being a crack shot or good fisherman It is fascinating to watch Buchan blame almost all the woes of the troubled years after the War on foreigners: for example, as a thick-headed Imperialist he cannot for the life of him see why the Irish want to leave the British Empire and establish their own nation: ‘Look at the Irish! They are the cleverest propagandists extant, and managed to persuade most people that they were a brave, generous, humorous, talented, warm-hearted race, cruelly yoked to a dull mercantile England, when God knows they were exactly the opposite.’ In fact, the baddie at the heart of the novel, the spider spinning vast webs of evil and crime, the Blofeld, the Mr Big, turns out to be of Irish descent and his Irishness racially and genetically predisposes him to crime. ‘This is how I read him,’ Sandy went on. ‘To begin with, there’s a far-away streak of the Latin in him, but he is mainly Irish, and that never makes a good cross. He’s the déraciné Irish, such as you find in America. I take it that he imbibed from that terrible old woman – I’ve never met her, but I see her plainly and I know that she is terrible – he imbibed that venomous hatred of imaginary things – an imaginary England, an imaginary civilisation, which they call love of country. There is no love in it. They think there is, and sentimentalise about an old simplicity, and spinning wheels and turf fires and an uncouth language, but it’s all hollow. There’s plenty of decent plain folk in Ireland, but his kind of déraciné is a ghastly throw-back to something you find in the dawn of history, hollow and cruel like the fantastic gods of their own myths. Well, you start with this ingrained hate…’ (Ch 10) On the surface the man they’re talking about, Dominic Medina, is the handsomest man in England, the best shot in England (after the King), a leading poet of the new school, and an MP with a promising political career ahead of him, and so, improbably, on. But behind this facade, lurks a devil incarnate etc, who is using ancient Eastern techniques of hypnosis to bend the most important people in Britain to his will. History is a record of conflict There’s a strand of right-wing thinking which is convinced this country is a great nation with a great history which has somehow been dragged down to its present sad and tawdry state by them; if only we could get rid of them, if only we could leave the EU, if only we could get rid of red tape, if only we could get rid of all these immigrants, then England would return to being the paradise it was, er, back, er, in, you know, those far-off golden days. This thick-headed attitude refuses to acknowledge that history is a history of conflict and struggle – in the past week I’ve been walking across Kent where monuments indicate that the first neolithic farmers lived in a society of violence and conflict, that the Romans invaded and conquered the Britons, that the Saxons invaded and conquered the post-Romans, that the Danes invaded and attacked the Saxons, that the Normans invaded and conquered the Saxons, that the Normans fell out among themselves during the civil wars of King Stephen’s and King John’s reigns, that the peasants revolted in the 14th century, that the country was riven by the Wars of the Roses for much of the 15th, that the entire social fabric of the country was turned upside down by Henry VIII’s dictatorship, that the Great Rebellion of the 17th century led to battles across all the kingdoms of Britain and to the execution of the king, that we were invaded and conquered by a Dutch king in 1688 and then by German kings in the 18th century against whom Scottish rebels rose up in 1705 and 1715 and 1745, that we were then involved in a 20-year war against the French during which many intellectuals and workers sided with the revolutionaries, that peace brought such misery there were riots and rebellions across the land which led to the agricultural disturbances of the 1810s and 20s and into the mass movement of the Chartists, which led to the organisation of trades unions and political parties which by the 1880s were calling for armed overthrow of the entire existing social order in England, which led to the Liberal reforms just before the Great War when Parliamentary government almost collapsed, and that the Great War itself was followed by an era of Depression and economic hardship among the majority of the population, which in turn led to the General Strike. To ignore the evidence of history, to refuse to see that conflict and struggle for power and money have characterised most of English history, and instead to sit on the lawn of your Gloucestershire manor house admiring the servants stocking the pond with fish and shoeing your horses and preparing another fine dinner and imagining that there is some kind of timeless peacefulness about England, is dunderheaded idiocy. You are in the privileged position of having servants and workers to do things for you, and so do all your friends, and so you assume it is normal and natural. But if you are this kind of thick-headed squire – the kind of empty-brained ignoramus that P.G. Wodehouse started satirising in his Jeeves & Wooster stories, starting in 1915 – if you can’t accept that violence and conflict is intrinsic to human nature and society, then the only explanation for all the violence and wickedness in the world is that it must result from conspiracies of wicked men. And thus you are led to believe that these others – the non-white ones, the causes of all this mayhem – are somehow inferior, morally, spiritually etc and it is this inferiority, this moral degeneracy, which leads them to conspire and revolt against a social order which is, well, so obviously super and just right for you and the fragrant Lady Mary and sweet little Peter John. These ‘lesser breeds’ of Kipling’s notorious poem, need to be kept in check like the Germans or managed like the various dark-skinned savages under the supervision of other white men like yourself, until they have reached the lofty eminence of the English public schoolboy who knows how to play cricket, the game and life, according to the rules. Instead of which the long-hoped-for victory in the Great War did not lead to a New Jerusalem but seemed to have unleashed a new world where ‘standards’ had collapsed: in politics there was Bolshevism in Russia, Fascism in Italy, economic collapse in Germany; in society there was a flood of new culture, from awful negro jazz to all sorts of ghastly modern art and music and literature. Far from leading to the restoration of the status quo ante, with sound British cricketing virtues re-established in Blighty and around the world, victory in World War I seemed to have ushered in a completely new, far more threatening and chaotic world, both at home and abroad. And to those unused to thinking of history as a history of class struggles or struggles for power and resources, the post-war chaos could only be read as the result of wicked conspiracies, conspiracies by dastardly bad men – by them. This is my theory as to why the racism and anti-semitism which mar the earlier Hannay books have, in this fourth, post-War, offering, become too pronounced and intrinsic to the plot to be laughed off. I went to bed fuming. This new possessory attitude, this hint of nigger-driving, had suddenly made me hate Medina. (Ch 7) We paid five shillings apiece for a liqueur, found a table and took notice of the show. It seemed to me a wholly rotten and funereal business. A nigger band, looking like monkeys in uniform, pounded out some kind of barbarous jingle, and sad-faced marionettes moved to it. There was no gaiety or devil in that dancing, only a kind of bored perfection. Thin young men with rabbit heads and hair brushed straight back from their brows, who I suppose were professional dancing partners, held close to their breasts women of every shape and age, but all alike in having dead eyes and masks for faces, and the macabre procession moved like automata to the niggers’ rhythm. I dare say it was all very wonderful, but I was not built by Providence to appreciate it. (Ch 7) It was the dancing-club which I had visited some weeks before with Archie Roylance. There were the sham Chinese decorations, the blaze of lights, the nigger band, the whole garish spectacle. (Ch 13) ‘I suppose he’s some sort of a Dago.’ ‘Not a bit of it. Old Spanish family settled here for three centuries. One of them rode with Rupert.’ (Ch 3) Ah. Rode with Prince Rupert. How much more white could a man be? Round the skirts of the hall was the usual rastaquouère crowd of men and women drinking liqueurs and champagne, and mixed with fat Jews and blue-black dagos the flushed faces of boys from barracks or college who imagined they were seeing life. (Ch 13) He was just starting to prospect, when he saw a little dago whom he recognised as one of the bar-tenders. (Ch 15) And it is repellent and ugly to see Hannay/Buchan returning again and again to blame the great whipping boy of the first half of the century, the Jews. Why is Buchan at such pains to identify people as Jews and why does the word always appears as an insult in the novels? One of the three hostages is, in fact, the son of a wealthy Jew: Paddock met me in the hall and handed me a card, on which I read the name of Mr. Julius Victor. I knew it, of course, for the name of one of the richest men in the world, the American banker who had done a lot of Britain’s financial business in the War, and was in Europe now at some international conference. I remembered that Blenkiron, who didn’t like his race, had once described him to me as ‘the whitest Jew since the Apostle Paul’. (Ch 2) He began by saying very much what Dr. Greenslade had said the night before. A large part of the world had gone mad, and that involved the growth of inexplicable and unpredictable crime. All the old sanctities had become weakened, and men had grown too well accustomed to death and pain. This meant that the criminal had far greater resources at his command, and, if he were an able man, could mobilise a vast amount of utter recklessness and depraved ingenuity. The moral imbecile, he said, had been more or less a sport before the War; now he was a terribly common product, and throve in batches and battalions. Cruel, humourless, hard, utterly wanting in sense of proportion, but often full of a perverted poetry and drunk with rhetoric – a hideous, untameable breed had been engendered. You found it among the young Bolshevik Jews, among the young gentry of the wilder Communist sects, and very notably among the sullen murderous hobbledehoys in Ireland. (Ch 2) He shrugged his shoulders. ‘I wasn’t much taken by him. He’s too infernally un-English. I don’t know how he got it, but there seems to be a touch of the shrill Levantine in him. Compare him with those fellows to-night. Even the Frenchmen – even Victor, though he’s an American and a Jew – are more our own way of thinking.’ (Ch 7) The place was very empty – only about a dozen, and mostly a rather bad lot. Archie asked what right he had to carry off the girl, and lost his temper, and the manager was called in – the man with the black beard. He backed up Odell, and then Archie did a very silly thing. He said he was Sir Archibald Roylance and wasn’t going to be dictated to by any Jew. (Ch 14) Archie is the young air ace who helped Hannay out in Mr Standfast; as with Arbuthnot, it is typical of the snobbishness of this novel that he turns out to come from a rippingly upper-class family. Buchan is solidly of his time and class in accepting the common belief that the Bolshevik revolutionaries were somehow all Jews. A lot of them were, but a lot of them weren’t, but either way it wasn’t their ethnicity that counted – the Russian revolution wasn’t caused by Jewishness! It was the Bolsheviks’ revolutionary theory and practice which not only seized power in Russia but threatened for a while to do the same in Poland and even Germany. Hannay/Buchan cannot see or understand that. ‘Think of it!’ he cried. ‘All the places with names like spells – Bokhara, Samarkand – run by seedy little gangs of communist Jews.’ (Ch 1) Yes, all those places which should be accessible to upper-class white men like Hannay and his pukka friends to treat as adventure playgrounds, now being run by the people who live there – outrageous! The plot is twaddle which doesn’t make sense even on its own terms – a shadowy criminal organisation which links American financiers with Greek traders with Baku oilmen etc is on the verge of some never-defined ‘liquidation’. This is just the conspiracy theory background – the plot quickly boils down to focusing on one charismatic baddie in London who a) unnecessarily takes three random hostages b) unnecessarily sends a clue about their whereabouts in a poem (!) to the authorities c) unnecessarily takes Hannay into his confidence once he’s convinced he’s hypnotised him to become one of his ‘followers’ This allows Hannay and his trusty lieutenants, Sandy Arbuthnot and Archie Roylance, plus his beloved wife Lady Mary, to solve the riddle, track down the hostages, and foil the dastardly ‘liquidation’, whatever that was going to be. Thriller motifs More interesting than the paper-thin plot is the literary interest of observing how many of motifs of the thriller genre Buchan established or popularised: car chases and crashes, helpless hostages, hair-raising mountain climbs, breakneck airplane stunts, sinisterly empty chateaux, germ warfare – as well as the fundamental trope that it’s all being controlled by a shadowy, secret, criminal organisation with tentacles reaching up to the highest in the land. And full of social history. If the opening chapters of Mr Standfast give a sense of the range of opposition views about the Great War, then The Three Hostages gives a fascinating insight into the mindset of right-wing, philistine, Imperialist landed gentry of the 1920s. Ireland The Irish are deluded to want their own country – and are depicted as lazy, good-for-nothing, violent fanatics. Bolshevik Russia turns out to have been seized not by revolutionaries with a clear political and economic theory, but by dirty Jews. We would have drifted into politics, if Pugh had not asked him [the Right Honourable Sandy Arbuthnot] his opinion of Gandhi. That led him into an exposition of the meaning of the fanatic, a subject on which he was well qualified to speak, for he had consorted with most varieties. ‘He is always in the technical sense mad – that is, his mind is tilted from its balance, and since we live by balance he is a wrecker, a crowbar in the machinery. His power comes from the appeal he makes to the imperfectly balanced, and as these are never the majority his appeal is limited. But there is one kind of fanatic whose strength comes from balance, from a lunatic balance. You cannot say that there is any one thing abnormal about him, for he is all abnormal. He is as balanced as you or me, but, so to speak, in a fourth-dimensional world. That kind of man has no logical gaps in his creed. Within his insane postulates he is brilliantly sane.’ It was Brits like this, with this unsophisticated racist mindset, who were still running India and simply couldn’t understand Gandhi or Jinnah or, in the end, the entire nation they were put in charge of. Psychoanalysis It is a surprise to see psychoanalysis mentioned early on in the book – in fact it provides a basis for the plot insofar as its popular versions brought to the fore the themes of madness and sanity and the idea of the unconscious, savage or primitive mind. This proves to be the crux of the plot, that Medina’s success is due to him exerting a deeper-than-hypnotic control over various high public officials. But, typically, Buchan mentions psychoanalysis only to pooh pooh it – though he doesn’t mention it, psychoanalysis was of course the invention of his least favourite people, the Jews – and he has that stock character of English fiction, the bluff 18th century country doctor, explain that of course there’s nothing new in this psychoanalysis stuff – ‘Why, you know old chap, we knew about that all along, no need for some damn foreigner to tell us Brits.’ ‘Take all this chatter about psycho-analysis. There’s nothing very new in the doctrine, but people are beginning to work it out into details, and making considerable asses of themselves in the process. It’s an awful thing when a scientific truth becomes the quarry of the half-baked.’ (Ch 1) If the novel were retitled ‘A pure white English virgin, a young sportsman up at Oxford and a virtuous public schoolboy are threatened by an Irish degenerate, nigger bands, filthy dagos and grasping Jews’ it might give a more accurate flavour of this thrilling, fascinating and appalling text. The Three Hostages online Tagged 1924, Blenkiron, Hannay, John Buchan, Richard Hannay, Sandy Arbuthnot, The Three Hostages https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2014/08/24/the-three-hostages-john-buchan/ Mr Standfast by John Buchan (1919) I always felt that I was a better bandit than a detective Thiis is the third and longest of the five Richard Hannay novels, set against the backdrop of the Great War as it entered its fourth and crucial year. Its length is its terrible weakness as, instead of depth or subtlety, Buchan just piles on incident after incident until the plot becomes completely untenable and almost incomprehensible. As just a sample, Hannay: goes undercover in a garden village of pacifists goes undercover in working class Glasgow, gets involved in speeches and fistfights goes undercover across Scottish Highlands to the Isle of Skye is involved in spying and fighting in secret coves on Skye adopts the identity of a travelling salesman of religious books is chased by police around Edinburgh, jumps a train south, escapes from that into a troop train flies south in a commandeered airplane and crashes takes command of a film shoot re-enacting a scene from the War as he makes his escape through the set returns to command of his brigade in France breaks into a mysterious french chateau and discovers germ warfare is trapped in the dungeon of a Swiss castle, escapes disguises himself as a Swiss peasant climbs an inaccessible Alpine pass is involved in a life-or-death race to capture Germany’s leading spy takes command of his brigade against the Germans’ 1918 Spring offensive Buchan’s war work At the outbreak of war Buchan – at that point editor of The Spectator and popular novelist, well-known for his pro-Empire views – had gone to work for the British War Propaganda Bureau. He worked for a bit as French correspondent for The Times. Early in 1915 he was commissioned to write an official history of the War in monthly instalments to be produced by the publishers he was a partner in, Thomas Nelson & Son, hence named Nelson’s History of the War. This started in February 1915 and was eventually published in 24 volumes. Buchan was given the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Intelligence Corps and given access to the official documents to write the work. Around this time he was also commissioned to write speeches and communiqués for Douglas Haig, Head of the British Army. In 1916 the War Propaganda Bureau was subsumed into the Foreign Office at which point Buchan can be said to have officially joined the FO’s Intelligence Department. As a result of his achievements in all these tasks, in February 1917 when the government established a Department of Information, Buchan was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and put in charge of it – Buchan called it ‘the toughest job I ever took on’. Given Buchan’s role at the heart of the Allied Propaganda effort you might expect the Hannay novels to be unmitigated propaganda, but they’re not. In this novel as in Greenmantle, he goes out of his way to be fair to his opponents, to respect their intelligence and to discriminate between good Germans and bad Germans. In fact Buchan makes the first hundred pages of this novel a kind of tour of the opposition camp: he is told, on a rather flimsy pretext, to pretend to be a South African sceptical of the war and ingratiate himself with pacifists and conscientious objectors and all the domestic opponents of the war. The stated aim is that some fiendish mastermind is feeding information to the enemy via a network of spies and Hannay is tasked with establishing himself as an opponent of the war in order to sniff our the traitors. But it gives Buchan the opportunity to do systematic pen portraits of Bloomsbury pacifists and COs and very interesting it is. Apart from its other value, as insight into the period, it contains an acid portrait of a whiny novelist generally taken to be DH Lawrence. Aronson, the novelist, proved on acquaintance the worst kind of blighter. He considered himself a genius whom it was the duty of the country to support, and he sponged on his wretched relatives and anyone who would lend him money. He was always babbling about his sins, and pretty squalid they were. I should like to have flung him among a few good old-fashioned full-blooded sinners of my acquaintance; they would have scared him considerably. He told me that he sought ‘reality’ and ‘life’ and ‘truth’, but it was hard to see how he could know much about them, for he spent half the day in bed smoking cheap cigarettes, and the rest sunning himself in the admiration of half-witted girls. The creature was tuberculous in mind and body, and the only novel of his I read, pretty well turned my stomach. Mr Aronson’s strong point was jokes about the war. If he heard of any acquaintance who had joined up or was even doing war work his merriment knew no bounds. My fingers used to itch to box the little wretch’s ears. (Chapter 2) England, my England I read the book as I was walking the North Downs Way in Kent, and I was struck by Hannay’s descriptions of rural England; repeatedly the hero goes for walks or comes to places in the Cotswolds so beautiful that he is enraptured. I enjoyed these descriptions so much that I read the first 50 or 60 pages several times: The small Ford car… carried me away from the suburbs of the county town into a land of rolling hills and green water-meadows. It was a gorgeous afternoon and the blossom of early June was on every tree… … Isham stood high up in a fold of the hills away from the main valley, and the road I was taking brought me over the ridge and back to the stream-side. I climbed through great beechwoods, which seemed in the twilight like some green place far below the sea, and then over a short stretch of hill pasture to the rim of the vale. All about me were little fields enclosed with walls of grey stone and full of dim sheep. Below were dusky woods around what I took to be Fosse Manor, for the great Roman Fosse Way, straight as an arrow, passed over the hills to the south and skirted its grounds. I could see the stream slipping among its water-meadows and could hear the plash of the weir. A tiny village settled in a crook of the hill, and its church-tower sounded seven with a curiously sweet chime. Otherwise there was no noise but the twitter of small birds and the night wind in the tops of the beeches. In that moment I had a kind of revelation. I had a vision of what I had been fighting for, what we all were fighting for. It was peace, deep and holy and ancient, peace older than the oldest wars, peace which would endure when all our swords were hammered into ploughshares. It was more; for in that hour England first took hold of me. Before my country had been South Africa, and when I thought of home it had been the wide sun-steeped spaces of the veld or some scented glen of the Berg. But now I realized that I had a new home. I understood what a precious thing this little England was, how old and kindly and comforting, how wholly worth striving for. The freedom of an acre of her soil was cheaply bought by the blood of the best of us. I knew what it meant to be a poet, though for the life of me I could not have made a line of verse. For in that hour I had a prospect as if from a hilltop which made all the present troubles of the road seem of no account. I saw not only victory after war, but a new and happier world after victory, when I should inherit something of this English peace and wrap myself in it till the end of my days… … Outside the house beyond a flagged terrace the lawn fell away, white in the moonshine, to the edge of the stream, which here had expanded into a miniature lake. By the water’s edge was a little formal garden with grey stone parapets which now gleamed like dusky marble. Great wafts of scent rose from it, for the lilacs were scarcely over and the may was in full blossom. Out from the shade of it came suddenly a voice like a nightingale. It was singing the old song ‘Cherry Ripe’, a common enough thing which I had chiefly known from barrel-organs. But heard in the scented moonlight it seemed to hold all the lingering magic of an elder England and of this hallowed countryside… …For the rest I used to spend my mornings reading in the garden, and I discovered for the first time what a pleasure was to be got from old books. They recalled and amplified that vision I had seen from the Cotswold ridge, the revelation of the priceless heritage which is England. I imbibed a mighty quantity of history, but especially I liked the writers, like Walton, who got at the very heart of the English countryside… In the afternoons I took my exercise in long tramps along the good dusty English roads. The country fell away from Biggleswick into a plain of wood and pasture-land, with low hills on the horizon. The Place was sown with villages, each with its green and pond and ancient church. Most, too, had inns, and there I had many a draught of cool nutty ale, for the inn at Biggleswick was a reformed place which sold nothing but washy cider. Often, tramping home in the dusk, I was so much in love with the land that I could have sung with the pure joy of it… Sweet and kind There’s a sweetness and kindness to Buchan’s spirit, he is good at countryside and good at quick pen portraits of the strangers he meets. Presently the road fell to a gleaming sea-loch which lay like the blue blade of a sword among the purple of the hills. At the head there was a tiny clachan, nestled among birches and rowans, where a tawny burn wound to the sea. When I entered the place it was about four o’clock in the afternoon, and peace lay on it like a garment. In the wide, sunny street there was no sign of life, and no sound except of hens clucking and of bees busy among the roses. There was a little grey box of a kirk, and close to the bridge a thatched cottage which bore the sign of a post and telegraph office…. I entered the little shop, and passed from bright sunshine to a twilight smelling of paraffin and black-striped peppermint balls. An old woman with a mutch sat in an arm-chair behind the counter. She looked up at me over her spectacles and smiled, and I took to her on the instant. She had the kind of old wise face that God loves. (Chapter 5) For complicated reasons Hannay has gone undercover to try and figure out how secrets are being smuggled to the Germans and this brings him to the Highlands and, eventually, to the Isle of Skye. But not before his enemies get the police to put out an alert for him and he is hunted across the Highland countryside rather as in The Thirty-Nine Steps. He is picked up by well-meaning local gentry with whom he suddenly returns to his full military bearing and in this mode meets the son, who has been invalided out of the war. The boy looked at me pleasantly. ‘I’m very glad to meet you, sir. You’ll excuse me not getting up, but I’ve got a game leg.’ He was the copy of his father in features, but dark and sallow where the other was blond. He had just the same narrow head, and stubborn mouth, and honest, quick-tempered eyes. It is the type that makes dashing regimental officers, and earns V.C.s, and gets done in wholesale. I was never that kind. I belonged to the school of the cunning cowards. (Chapter 5) The book is in two parts, which adds to the sense of bittiness, of numerous hair-raising escapades strung together on very slender threads and coming pell-mell. Once again there’s a volta or switch of emphasis, when the German spy ring which had been the focus of the first 200 pages, which had seemed so dangerous and all-encompassing – is suddenly swept up with no problems, including its dastardly ringleader, who had metamorphosed into all the Bad Men who started this beastly war. All the previous shenanigans are completely overshadowed by the last 30 pages or so of the book which are a genuinely riveting account of the German Spring offensive, Germany’s last throw of the dice which almost penetrated the thin Allied lines and opened the way to Paris. I can’t discover how accurate Buchan’s account is of Hannay’s fictional division holding the line outside Amiens, but the stress and anxiety and the detail of reinforcements and the terrible casualties and the high stakes make for a genuinely gripping climax to an otherwise chaotic and exhausting novel. Mr Standfast on Project Gutenberg Mr Standfast Wikipedia article (with plot synopsis) Posted in Books, Great War, Thriller Tagged 1917, 1919, Buchan, DH Lawrence, Hannay, John Buchan, Mr Standfast, Richard Hannay, Spy novel, thriller https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2014/08/22/mr-standfirst-john-buchan/ Greenmantle by John Buchan (1916) This is the second of Buchan’s five thrillers told in the first person by the bluff, straight-talking South African mining engineer-cum posh chap Richard Hannay. Whereas The Thirty-Nine Steps which is about foiling a German plot to smuggle military secrets out of England, is set just before the outbreak of the Great War, this sequel was written between February and June 1916 and is very much set during the Great War: the plot starts in November 1915 and goes on into early 1916. (NB In June 1916 Buchan joined the intelligence department of the Foreign Office and in July the first installment of the Greennmantle appeared in Land and Water magazine. Buchan’s role working for British propaganda is worth bearing in mind when reading any of his books, and I will discuss more fully in the next blog post, about Mr Standfast.) Hannay is joined in his adventure by three friends: Sandy Arbuthnot, a dashing hero who is blood brother to half the tribes of bedouin and gypsies throughout the Middle East (‘He rode through Yemen, which no white man ever did before.’); Peter Pienaar, a grizzled old big game hunter friend of Hannay’s from South Africa; John S. Blenkiron, a tubby and extremely knowledgeable American on our side. Sir Walter Bullivant, the senior intelligence man who came to Hannay’s aid in the Steps, now informs them there is a dastardly German plot to cause a muslim uprising against the British in the Middle East and beyond, down the east coast of Africa. Our heroes are tasked with finding out who’s organising it and stopping it. This rather vague commission leads them to plan to journey via separate routes to Istanbul to find out everything they can along the way, rendezvous, and come up with a plan. While Blenkiron travels in style through Germany posing as an outspoken opponent of the War and of the Allies and Sandy plans his own mysterious journey via the Med, Hannay poses as a disgruntled South African Boer ready to throw in his lot with the Germans, and this leads him to be presented to the sinister Hun General von Stumm, to overhear vital conversations, and then to escape and go on the run through the winter snows of Germany, involving extremes of physical endurance, car chases, fake identities and so on. Plot shift – a volta? In the Alistair MacLean novels I identified the frequent use of an abrupt volta or shift, whereby the hero reveals he is something completely different from what he’d led us to believe for the first half of the text. Something similiar though less calculating happens in The Thirty-Nine Steps: the first half of the plot is driven by Hannay’s need to hide from the German spy organisation until he can get news to the authorities about their plot to assassinate the Greek Prime Minister on a state visit to London. But in the last chapter or so, the Greek PM is assassinated and, suddenly, it doesn’t matter because it has become a much more chamber affair of a German spy impersonating the First Sea Lord – an incident Hannay happens to witness through incredible coincidence as he happens to be waiting outside the meeting to see Bullivant, the head of British intelligence. It is only by the slenderest of accidents that Hannay spots this and realises the true meaning of the fragmentary message about the 39 steps ie they are steps down to the sea from a coastal house for a German spy to escape taking the information the imposter has learned at this high-level meeting. Well, the same thing happens in Greenmantle. The first half or more relates Hannay’s dashing adventures in wintry Germany, before he finally makes it to Istanbul where our heroes meet up and establish that a new muslim prophet has arisen and is being steered and managed by a fiendish German mastermind. BUT then the book’s focus changes. Whereas the uprising had formerly been a general jihad of all muslims in the Middle East, now it becomes focused on the battle around the eastern city of Erzerum where the Russians are besieging the Turkish Army, bolstered by German forces – and then, in exactly the kind of slender coincidence on which the Steps turned, Hannay – escaping over rooftops from pursuing soldiers – accidentally sees the General poring over plans before leaving the room, so – in a typical moment of dash and pluck – Hannay opens the window, nips across the room and snaffles the plans, returns to the window, and completes his rooftop escape. The plans turn out to be the enemy deployments around Erzerum and, in a further adventure, our heroes smuggle them through enemy lines to the Russians who, thus informed, are able to storm the city and capture that front. (Incidentally, it’s worth mentioning that the final scene, the climax of the book, where the attacking Cossacks not only rescue Hannay and pals from being shelled by the wicked von Stumm, but also lend them horses so they can lead the cavalry charge into Erzerum, is genuinely exciting and thrilling.) A small world of toffs The upper class world Hannay inhabits is small: everyone of importance in England knows everyone else or has heard of them via the public school network; and similarly, everyone abroad is connected with that network somehow, creating an international matrix of acquaintances. For example, when Peter Pienaar arrives after perilously crossing the front line between the Turkish and Russian armies, it is absolutely classic that the Russian general he is presented to turns out to be a decent feller who he once went wild game shooting with in Matabeleland. Of course. In this world there are only two or three hundred people of note who all went to school together or are related to each other or a few foreigners who one has had scrapes with. This small world is, to quote Auden, ‘everso comfy’. It is part of the childishness of these thrillers not only that our chaps will get out of their scrapes, but that their and our values are correct, the only decent ones – and shared by all good-hearted people everywhere ie all the upper crust people or chaps who’ve knocked about and done a bit of hunting. There is none of the anxiety or alienation which has struck most writers as characteristic of the 20th century world. This uber-confidence is most apparent in Buchan’s amazing prose style. People say Buchan’s adventures are fast-paced. Sure, things happen and, after a generally slow start, at an accelerating rate – but I suggest the sense of ‘pace’ is created by his amazingly crisp and no-nonsense style. By pacy I mean his ability to describe a person, place or situation in a minimum of words, with precise, well-turned phrases. This lack of dawdling, no hesitation or doubt, this ability to say things fast, creates a sense of speed even when not much is actually happening. The opening sentences are: I had just finished breakfast and was filling my pipe when I got Bullivant’s telegram. It was at Furling, the big country house in Hampshire where I had come to convalesce after Loos, and Sandy, who was in the same case, was hunting for the marmalade. I flung him the flimsy with the blue strip pasted down on it, and he whistled. (Chapter 1) Setting: breakfast, pipe, marmalade. the same super-English atmosphere of cosy domesticity that characterises Sherlock and Watson. Actions: flung, whistled; aristocratic gestures of nonchalance, calm, confident, urbane. This is the tone throughout, the unflustered Englishman. When they meet to plan it is in Claridges, the Savoy, their club. There was a motor-car waiting—one of the grey military kind—and we started at a terrific pace over bad forest roads. Stumm had put away his papers in a portfolio, and flung me a few sentences on the journey. (Ch 5) Pace, speed, flung. Cars were relatively new and almost as soon as they were invented they were being stolen and involved in high speed chases: Hannay steals one in Germany and then another in Turkey. Here he is ditching his stolen car, sounding like Raymond Chandler 20 years later. Presently I came on a bit of rough heath, with a slope away from the road and here and there a patch of black which I took to be a sandpit. Opposite one of these I slewed the car to the edge, got out, started it again and saw it pitch head-foremost into the darkness. There was a splash of water and then silence. Craning over I could see nothing but murk, and the marks at the lip where the wheels had passed. (Ch 7) Pen portraits and memorable scenes The precision and briskness of his style lends itself to acute pen portraits and memorable scenes, written with verve and clarity. Probably the most tremendous is when he is accompanying von Stumm as a potential helper and ally, and finds himself being presented to the Kaiser himself! At the far side of the station a train had drawn up, a train consisting of three big coaches, chocolate-coloured and picked out with gold. On the platform beside it stood a small group of officers, tall men in long grey-blue cloaks. They seemed to be mostly elderly, and one or two of the faces I thought I remembered from photographs in the picture papers. As we approached they drew apart, and left us face to face with one man. He was a little below middle height, and all muffled in a thick coat with a fur collar. He wore a silver helmet with an eagle atop of it, and kept his left hand resting on his sword. Below the helmet was a face the colour of grey paper, from which shone curious sombre restless eyes with dark pouches beneath them. There was no fear of my mistaking him. These were the features which, since Napoleon, have been best known to the world. I stood as stiff as a ramrod and saluted. I was perfectly cool and most desperately interested. For such a moment I would have gone through fire and water. ‘Majesty, this is the Dutchman I spoke of,’ I heard Stumm say. ‘What language does he speak?’ the Emperor asked. ‘Dutch,’ was the reply; ‘but being a South African he also speaks English.’ A spasm of pain seemed to flit over the face before me. Then he addressed me in English. ‘You have come from a land which will yet be our ally to offer your sword to our service? I accept the gift and hail it as a good omen. I would have given your race its freedom, but there were fools and traitors among you who misjudged me. But that freedom I shall yet give you in spite of yourselves. Are there many like you in your country?’ ‘There are thousands, sire,’ I said, lying cheerfully. ‘I am one of many who think that my race’s life lies in your victory. And I think that that victory must be won not in Europe alone. In South Africa for the moment there is no chance, so we look to other parts of the continent. You will win in Europe. You have won in the East, and it now remains to strike the English where they cannot fend the blow. If we take Uganda, Egypt will fall. By your permission I go there to make trouble for your enemies.’ A flicker of a smile passed over the worn face. It was the face of one who slept little and whose thoughts rode him like a nightmare. ‘That is well,’ he said. ‘Some Englishman once said that he would call in the New World to redress the balance of the Old. We Germans will summon the whole earth to suppress the infamies of England. Serve us well, and you will not be forgotten.’ Then he suddenly asked: ‘Did you fight in the last South African War?’ ‘Yes, Sir,’ I said. ‘I was in the commando of that Smuts who has now been bought by England.’ ‘What were your countrymen’s losses?’ he asked eagerly. I did not know, but I hazarded a guess. ‘In the field some twenty thousand. But many more by sickness and in the accursed prison-camps of the English.’ Again a spasm of pain crossed his face. ‘Twenty thousand,’ he repeated huskily. ‘A mere handful. Today we lose as many in a skirmish in the Polish marshes.’ Then he broke out fiercely. ‘I did not seek the war … It was forced on me … I laboured for peace … The blood of millions is on the heads of England and Russia, but England most of all. God will yet avenge it. He that takes the sword will perish by the sword. Mine was forced from the scabbard in self-defence, and I am guiltless. Do they know that among your people?’ ‘All the world knows it, sire,’ I said. He gave his hand to Stumm and turned away. The last I saw of him was a figure moving like a sleep-walker, with no spring in his step, amid his tall suite. I felt that I was looking on at a far bigger tragedy than any I had seen in action. Here was one that had loosed Hell, and the furies of Hell had got hold of him. He was no common man, for in his presence I felt an attraction which was not merely the mastery of one used to command. That would not have impressed me, for I had never owned a master. But here was a human being who, unlike Stumm and his kind, had the power of laying himself alongside other men. That was the irony of it. Stumm would not have cared a tinker’s curse for all the massacres in history. But this man, the chief of a nation of Stumms, paid the price in war for the gifts that had made him successful in peace. He had imagination and nerves, and the one was white hot and the others were quivering. I would not have been in his shoes for the throne of the Universe … (ch 6) Similarly, he meets the leader of Turkey, Ismail Enver Pasha, a leader of the 1908 Young Turk Revolution and effective leader of the Ottoman Empire in both Balkan Wars and World War I. But the great event was the sight of Enver. He was a slim fellow of Rasta’s build, very foppish and precise in his dress, with a smooth oval face like a girl’s, and rather fine straight black eyebrows. He spoke perfect German, and had the best kind of manners, neither pert nor overbearing. He had a pleasant trick, too, of appealing all round the table for confirmation, and so bringing everybody into the talk. Not that he spoke a great deal, but all he said was good sense, and he had a smiling way of saying it. Once or twice he ran counter to Moellendorff, and I could see there was no love lost between these two. I didn’t think I wanted him as a friend—he was too cold-blooded and artificial; and I was pretty certain that I didn’t want those steady black eyes as an enemy. But it was no good denying his quality. The little fellow was all cold courage, like the fine polished blue steel of a sword. (ch 13) Anti-semitism No point denying it. Hannay is given to quick stereotypes of all sorts of races and nationalities – it’s part of the speedy summing-up of people and places which is an aspect of his upper-class English confidence and of his style. Nonetheless, his comments about Jews go above and beyond this stereotyping to have an unpleasant, vengeful flavour. In Germany only the Jew can get outside himself, and that is why, if you look into the matter, you will find that the Jew is at the back of most German enterprises. (Ch 6) Poor old Peter had no greatcoat, so we went into a Jew’s shop and bought a ready-made abomination, which looked as if it might have been meant for a dissenting parson… Peter and I sat down modestly in the nearest corner, where old Kuprasso saw us and sent us coffee. A girl who looked like a Jewess came over to us and talked French, but I shook my head and she went off again. (Ch 11) Blacks There is one stunning reference to people of colour which reminds us that Hannay is meant to have spent a lot of time in South Africa based, of course, on Buchan’s own time as assistant to the High Commissioner in South Africa from 1901 to 1903. He liked the way I kept the men up to their work, for I hadn’t been a nigger-driver for nothing. (Ch 9) Whites the corollary of these stereotypes of other races is, if you like, a stereotype of ‘the good white man’, phrases which assume the white man’s unquestioned place at the top of the racial pyramid. In particular, I was startled to read the phrase ‘like a white man’ used to denote, well, being a sound chap. That fellow gave me the best ‘feel’ of any German I had yet met. He was a white man and I could have worked with him. I liked his stiff chin and steady blue eyes. (Ch 4) Gaudian was clearly a good fellow, a white man and a gentleman. I could have worked with him for he belonged to my own totem. (Ch 5) Still the ride did us good and shook up our livers, and by the time we turned for home I was feeling more like a white man. (Ch 14) Good Germans But Buchan is wise enough not to belabour the stereotypes: in the race across Germany section of the book he goes to great lengths to describe good Germans: the engineer Gaudian is honest and open. There is a maybe sentimental but nonetheless moving account of the poor woman who takes Hannay in in the depths of winter and allows him to have his malaria bout in her quiet attic room and in return Hannay carves toys for her poor children. And there’s a long sequence where Hannay manages to get a berth on a set of barges from Essen which is chugging south through Austria and, as he does so, gets to know the captain and crew and gets, as usual, to like them. It is one of Hannay’s endearing qualities that he is quick to see the good side of people, or to admire them, even if he disagrees with them or they are sworn enemies. As with She, Rider Haggard’s classic boys adventure story about the Eternal Woman, Greenmantle suggests the English public school boy has made little or no progress in being able to accept or understand women as women. Buchan’s Hilda von Einem must run Ayesha a close second in the stakes of being a shocking collection of feminine (and sexist?) clichés. Although she’s meant to be the wicked mastermind behind the whole uprising plan, the entire new prophet-von Einem-muslim uprising part of the plot doesn’t come alive for me. It is the monstrous General von Stumm and the intense period Hannay spends with him in Germany, and then the long escape through the snow, and the long barge ride down the Danube, and then von Stumm’s magical reappearance in Erzerum to chase and corner Hannay and chums on an isolated hilltop, it is these elements of the book which have real life because they are the physical tests and tribulations which are the core of the good thriller – the sense of a fit man pushed to the physical and mental limit – and are described with such vividness. I must have run miles before the hot fit passed, and I stopped from sheer bodily weakness. There was no sound except the crush of falling snow, the wind seemed to have gone, and the place was very solemn and quiet. But Heavens! how the snow fell! It was partly screened by the branches, but all the same it was piling itself up deep everywhere. My legs seemed made of lead, my head burned, and there were fiery pains over all my body. I stumbled on blindly, without a notion of any direction, determined only to keep going to the last. For I knew that if I once lay down I would never rise again. (Ch 7) Jihad and the muslim world A hundred years after this novel speculated about a muslim uprising in the Middle East against the Western powers, the forces of ISIS are storming through Iraq and claiming Syria as part of the Caliphate. Is it a topical subject, or just a subject which never goes away in the muslim world, a world which seems to permanently long to return to the imagined purity of some fictional middle ages. What is a bit more characteristic is Buchan/Hannay’s assumption that this is a world only Brits can really understand – unlike the blundering Germans and – later – Americans. Buchan knows his and Hannay’s limits, so he gives the role of special insight into the Arab mind, and into the muslim prophet who is called Greenmantle, to fellow hero Sandy Arbuthnot: ‘I never saw such a man. He is the greatest gentleman you can picture, with a dignity like a high mountain. He is a dreamer and a poet, too – a genius if I can judge these things. I think I can assess him rightly, for I know something of the soul of the East, but it would be too long a story to tell now. The West knows nothing of the true Oriental. It pictures him as lapped in colour and idleness and luxury and gorgeous dreams. But it is all wrong. The Kaf he yearns for is an austere thing. It is the austerity of the East that is its beauty and its terror… It always wants the same things at the back of its head. The Turk and the Arab came out of big spaces, and they have the desire of them in their bones. They settle down and stagnate, and by the by they degenerate into that appalling subtlety which is their ruling passion gone crooked. And then comes a new revelation and a great simplifying. They want to live face to face with God without a screen of ritual and images and priestcraft. They want to prune life of its foolish fringes and get back to the noble bareness of the desert. Remember, it is always the empty desert and the empty sky that cast their spell over them – these, and the hot, strong, antiseptic sunlight which burns up all rot and decay. It isn’t inhuman. It’s the humanity of one part of the human race. It isn’t ours, it isn’t as good as ours, but it’s jolly good all the same. There are times when it grips me so hard that I’m inclined to forswear the gods of my fathers! Probably critics would damn this and Buchan’s entire approach as Orientalist ie assuming Western superiority to a stereotype of the corrupt, lazy East. But it feels to me an accurate enough dramatisation of that mentality, of the mentality of the jolly rugger captain whose soul is captured by the simplicity and purity of bedouin life and becomes a devotee of Arab culture, from Sir Richard Burton to the TE Lawrence who was making a name for himself among the Arabs just as Greenmantle was published. Greenmantle online Greenmantle on Amazon Posted in Adventure, Books, Great War, Novel, Thriller Tagged 1916, British Empire, Buchan, Great War, Greenmantle, Hilda von Einem, John Buchan, Richard Hannay, Sandy Arbuthnot, Spy novel, thriller, World War I https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/greenmantle-john-buchan/

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: I AM 57 YRS. OLD AND IN GOOD HEALTH. I DO HAVE FIBROMGALGIA, BUT IT IS UNDER CONTROL FOR THE MOST PART RIGHT NOW. I HAVE FOR THE PAST 3 OR 4 DAYS BEEN HAVE CHEST PAIN ON MY LEFT SIDE, RIGHT UNDER MY BREAST. ITS NOT ALWAYS THERE, BUT COMES AND GOES.IT IS A VERY SHARP PAIN. I HAVE BEEN GETTING THEM OF AND ON FOR A YEAR OR SO, BUT THIS TIME THEY SEEM TO HAVE LASTED LONGER. IS THIS SOMETHING I SHOULD BE WORRIED ABOUT?THANK YOU,BETTY output: You have diagnosed fibromyalgia... When pain occurs you can take simple analgesic like paracetamol .... Hot pad application useful........ Counselling session can be helpful. If muscular spasm associated then muscle relaxant given.... You are complaining somewhat increasing pain so investigate with blood pressure monitoring, treadmill and ECG just to rule out cardiac cause... Hope your concern solved.... Take care.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: What is causing a burning sensation on top of my Lt foot 3 inches from the beginning of My toes in a circular shape. I noticed that I got a pedicure for the first time 2 years ago and I noticed a puffy darker at the cuticle of MT big toe and second toe. My gglucose has been in the normal limits. So please don t tell me I am becoming a diabetic. gest remedy for burning sensation in legs output: Dear Sir/MadamI have gone through your query and read your symptoms.In my opinion, the symptoms you describe are suggestive of nerve involvement, and mainly peripheral neuritis, or compression neuritis can cause such symptoms, now since you say you are not diabetic, lets concentrate on other causes, and the next major reason for peripheral neuritis is Chronic Alcoholism and long term use of certain drugs. so make sure if you fall in one of those categories. also make sure that you do not have any spinal problem or pain, as nerve compression can also give such symptoms, moreover local compression can also cause such symptoms. you need to consult a neurologist, and work with him to find the cause. I hope that answers your query. If you want any more clarification, contact me back...

Magi: The World of Magic » The South » Balbadd » From Different Walks Of Life (Open-Social) From Different Walks Of Life (Open-Social) 1 From Different Walks Of Life (Open-Social) on 11/02/18, 05:03 am Page looked out into the water from her spot at the docks of Balbadd and watched as the ship that she had arrived in slowly sailed away. She was glad to be off of the ship, it was old and in poor condition, it looked like it could break at any given moment. Most of the people manning the ship tried to strike up a conversation with her, leaving her with very little time to be alone. It brought her no end of relief to be finally back on dry land, or so to speak. Her lips shifted into a slight frown as she pulled her black hooded cloak over her head, further concealing her burnt face, and around her body, hiding most of her body away. She took a few moments to secure her large wrapped bundle before picking it up in one hand and carrying it like a bag Shadows concealed the upper half of her face, a trick she had learned from the Torres Merchant Tiel who used it to look intimidating. She used it to hide herself and to avoid having to talk to others. She took to the populated streets of Balbadd, maneuvering her way around clusters of strangers. She was probably bound to find something interesting to do after spending a few days in Balbadd. 2 Re: From Different Walks Of Life (Open-Social) on 11/02/18, 06:46 pm Silva Kaida C-Tier A couple of people bumped into the girl as the ran excitedly toward a large crowd talking to each other. "come on! We are going to miss the magic show!" one kid says to another. The crowd made a loud ooo sound as a tiger made of lightning flies into the air. If she would maker her way threw the brought she would see a wooden stage with an elderly man standing on top of it. In the man's hand was a wicked looking cane or staff. It was clear by look that he was a magician and most likely a talented one at that as he creates several Animals all out of lightning. Crimson Plague: Name: crimson plague Material: Mahogany and the ring is brass Appearance: The staff is 61cm tall And 5 cm diameter and the top of the staff id the carving of a bird skull with a brass ring connecting through the eyes. Silva uses it as a walking stick outside of combat. Page grunted as she felt a few people bump into her. She shied away each time, forgoing giving an apology and instead scurrying away even faster. She paused, her interest piqued as she heard a child mention something about a magic show. Always having been an avid admirer of magic, she couldn't help but follow the crowd. She tried to appear smaller than she really was, trying not to touch other people or do anything that would start a conversation. She was uncomfortable being in a crowd but for the sake of seeing a display of magic she would have to endure it. She couldn't help but stare starry eyed, in both figurative and literal sense, at the sudden tiger made of lightning that passed over the crowd. To her, it was a wondrous display, magic always was a fantastic thing, no matter how many times she would see something, as long as it was magical she would never get tired of it. Her eyes fell upon the elderly man on a wooden stage and she assumed that he was the magician making the animals out of lightning. He was wielding a staff and was on a stage after all, it was safe to assume so. 4 Re: From Different Walks Of Life (Open-Social) on 12/02/18, 03:09 am The silver haired magician continued to perform magic "tricks". His last trick involved making a bunch of flowers out of the lightning before a lightning bolt strikes down hitting the man cause the crowd to scream and look away. When they looked back the magician was gone. They start to look around to see where the old man went. While they were looking they eventually started to disperse. While the crowd was dispersing the elderly man from the stage walks up to the girl as if out of nowhere. He smiles looking at the young girl intrigued by her star shaped eyes. "Hello there young one. I couldn't help but notice that you seemed to enjoy my show better then most " he would say leaning on his staff. Page could not bring herself to look as a lightning bolt suddenly struck down the magician performing on stage. She did not scream like the crowd had, instead she meekly whimpered. When she looked back, she, along with the rest of the crowd, found that the elderly man was gone with nary a trace of him left. She joined the crowd in looking around for him but to no avail, it seems like whatever the magician did to make himself disappear was very effective. The crowd slowly dispersed as she stared longingly on the stage, wanting to see more fantastical displays of magic. When the crowd had been thinned enough for her to move freely, she began to move back into the streets of Balbadd. Before she even managed to take a step someone had approached her from the side, seemingly out of nowhere. She adjusted her hood and seemingly shrank down as she recognized the man to be the magician on stage She felt twitchy, anxious, she had the urge to run, to flee to the streets when he began to speak with her. Could this man be trusted? "Magic is beautiful." She replied. Her eyes, hidden away by the shade provided by her hood, warily glanced at the man, trying to spot anything hidden on his person. The old man smiles as he looks at the young one standing in front of him. He could tell that she was anxious, probably doesn't like crowds and such. He could aslo tell that she was probably hesitant to trust him. He couldn't blame her there, he was in fact an assassin, however he meant her no harm and hopes that he can gain her trust. He nods at her statement smiling softly. "Yes it is. You would be one of the few who believe that. Most see magic as something dangerous, something to be feared, others see it as a weapon to gain what they desire. But yes magic is one of the most beautiful things there are in this world." He would say to the girl. "I am known as Silva by the way." Job Durkfahl I wandered the streets still tired from my arrival in Balbadd. I was not prepared for the sheer heat and humidity of this damn place I walked around pier enjoying the sites and sounds of the ships coming in and leaving walking through the crowds I heard various conversations people haggling and such. However a conversation piqued my interest as I was passing though. They were talking about magic! Perhaps they would know something about that I could use to find my sister. I would walk up to them rather nonchalantly and introduce myself. "Hi I'm Job. I couldn't help but overhear you guys talking about magic I'm a magician too" I said politely "Do you know magic at all?" I would ask interested in their response of the older mage and young archer. http://magiworld.forumotion.com/t5462-job-s-vault#28607 Page had finally gathered enough courage to speak her name, introducing herself to the older magician. However, before she could even begin to open her mouth, another person, a young man this time, had approached them and made her tense up. The first thing she had noticed about him was his hair, she couldn't tell whether it's color was blue or purple, either way, it wasn't a color she didn't see often. But who was she to talk about hair colors that she didn't see often, she had yet to see someone with green hair like hers. Page nearly ran away from the two. It was one thing to muster up the courage to talk to one person, talking to two was twice as challenging for her. "Page." She motioned to herself, signifying that it was her name. "Don't know magic." She says, her voice tinge with a nigh undetectable amount of sadness. She took a deep quiet breath and mentally recited a mantra. 'Be professional, I can be professional, professionalism..' She repeated over and over in her head. The old man smiles as the girl was about to say something only to stop herself as another young person walked up to the two. He appeared to have bluish hair which Silva found to be interested. Perhaps he was on of the blue haired giants from the island in the North. This was something he would have to look into later. He smiles as the man describe himself as a fellow magician. He seemed a bit frantic as if he may need help with something. "I am a magician young one. I know a bit about magic." He says and turns to page. "It is a pleasure to meet a beauty such as you Page. You can call me Silva." He would reply to the girl. 10 Re: From Different Walks Of Life (Open-Social) on 16/02/18, 12:24 am Though I was admittedly nervous, I tried to talk to them as friendly as possible. "How long have you guys been in this city I'm still new here and I know fog is super common. Its easy to get lost. You know so I guess kind of drifted in your conversation. Still though, its nice to meet new people." I realized that I might be overly forward but I wanted to meet people so that I try to find my sister. "My family are very prominent magicians in Magnostadt" I would say with semi gritted teeth trying to hide my anger and sorrow of the death of my father and the loss of my sister. If I could only find a little lead i would be so happy. I knew that it might be a lost cause but I needed to try. Better yet, if I could get them to be on my side I could make this work for me. 11 Re: From Different Walks Of Life (Open-Social) on 16/02/18, 10:03 pm "Okay." Page says curtly, using it as as both a response and a way to shift the topic. She was proud of herself for managing to hold a conversation for more than a few seconds but that was as much as she could muster. Quietly and abruptly she turns around and quickly walks back to the streets of Balbadd, looking around for an inn to stay in. She eventually finds an inn that has a nice view of the surrounding area and decides to use it as her base of operations for a few days before she moves on to a random city. He nods listening to the young boy. "I have been here for a couple months and probably panning on staying here for a bit longer do to my business." He says listening to the boy as he mentions that he comes from a respectable family from Magno. However he could since that there was pain in the young man's voice, there was clearly something that he wasn't mentioning and was making the man even more curious. However before he could say anything he hears page speak and then walks off. He wants to keep talking to her but could sense she was nervous to talk and decided to give her space and try to talk to her again another time. "I hope to see you again soon Miss Page!" He would say to the girl as she walks away. I watched the archer leave. "Well done," I thought "I scared her off" I couldn't help it though, there was too much emotion in me. I decided to let her go. I don't think that she could help me anyway...whatever. I decided to turn my attention to the older magician who I immediately was interested in. I suspect it was because he was interested in me. I felt the warm ocean wind flow around me. It was warm. it felt good, too good I decided to take a second and think on what i wanted to say before I decided. I decided to cut to the chase, "Do you know of any other magicians here? in fact," I asked in a hushed tone "Have you heard of the story of the Magi?" I decided to ask that question with a glance around me as to make sure anyone unsavoury was not paying attention to us. He smiles before looking at the young man. "Don't mind her. She just arrived, I'm sure she is just nervous about being in a new place." He says hoping to make the young man feel a bit better and more relaxed. He shakes his head at the boys question, "I have been here for a bit but I have not seen another magician here until you arrived here. The Palace may have a court magician or two." His eyes widen a bit at the mention of the Magi, what is a Magi?"I do not know of any such thing as a Magi. QPlease tell me what you know?" I couldn't be surprised I only just learned about it myself. I appreciated the fact that silva took it upon himself to try to comfort me but I wasn't consoled. "Well, This is still just hearsay, but magi's supposedly amazingly powerful magicians that can do extraordinary things!" I paused thinking about what to say next. Do I tell him about my sister and my theory? It seems so farfetched but I need someone on my side. I decided I would who knows what would happens..."I think its the reason my sister was kidnapped and my father was killed..." As painful as it was I was important to tell someone. "My father was very interested in complex magic and worked with my sister despite her ostensibly not having a ton of magical experience at least compared to the rest of my family." Frankly it doesn't matter, I want to find them and kill them all. "I don't like it when people mess with my family and they will pay for this." I didn't mean to say this but when I did I felt good. I wondered if he would join me. As much as I would have liked a companion helping me, I was fine if he didn't. I just listed to what he would say. The silver haired mage frowns as he listens to the young wizards story about his family and his sister. He normally wouldn't feel sympathy but the boy was having trouble, plus he could be of use later on. He looks over at the young boy nodding, "I will help you to the best that I can young one. I don't know how I can help since I have no contacts here but I am sending you my support." he would say grinning. He wonders what he could possibly do to help this poor soul out. "So do you have any ideas where your sister could be my young friend?" I was definitely glad that I had at least someone on my side to help me destroy this cult or whatever they were tearing my family apart. though I honestly didn't know where to begin "I've heard that there have been lots of kidnappings all around here and even up by where my family lives" I surmised, "I wouldn't be surprised if they had something to do with Rebecca's kidnapping." I scanned the crowd to see if there were any suspicious looking people but I was good at blending it so I would scan the throngs of people selling stuff later. I would tell the old magician "I don't know of any solid leads yet but when I do I'll let you know I'll go scan through the crowd see if I hear anything strange." I would begin to walk away and try to find out who did this and how they were going to pay. The old man hears the boy mention about kidnappings in the area and decided that if he was going to help this young boy then he was going to convince this boy to help him as well. He walks after the boy deciding to walk side by side with him and he would speak, "I don't have any hard evidence but from the rumors from the locals here there seems to be a local legend called The Spiders, They seem to be a local boogey man here and everyone seems to believe that hey are behind these disappearances. My goal is to find them and join them for my own reasons. If you are interested I would very much like you to join me in this quest. A group of people that are capable of disappearances like these could know something about your sister, however it will be better if we get on the inside for the information the try to beat it out of them. So what do you say my boy, up for an adventure?" he would ask hoping that the young boy would be interested in helping the old man. I looked at the older magician, thinking about my morals. Do I compromise them by joining an underground slaver organization? If I do, it means that I don't have to go searching in an endless, fruitless loop. What does it matter, I want to do anything to find my sister. I want to change everything and I'm ready to waver a little bit if it means that I can avenge my father and find my sister finally. The feeling of reuniting with my sister is way to hard to resist "I'm interested in joining this organization and ...finally find my sister" I wouldn't reveal to him all of my full machinations but I had an unceasing look of determination and angst. But I was ready. I wanted to do something. I wasn't that young kid anymore. I needed more I wanted more and I could do it. "I'm ready whenever you are" I left soon after to get ready I needed to get prepared. He smiles seeing the fire of determination and fuel to look for his sister non stop. He liked to see someone so young with a bright fire in him, even if that fire was fueled by revenge, he was a bit worried that the boy may end up turning into depravity and MADNESS so he must keep a close eye on him. He looks at the boy and smiles, "that is something I like to hear, and know I will do anything to help you find her my boy. Try and find the spiders on your on if you can. It will looks suspicious if we show up to join together. Then after you join find me and stick close during jobs if we can." he says then walks off in his own way smiling. 21 Re: From Different Walks Of Life (Open-Social) Free forum hosting | © PunBB | Free forum support | Contact | Report an abuse | Forumotion.com

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: What are the current recommendations for VTE prophylaxis in patients with chronic kidney disease? output: The current recommendations for venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) emphasize the need for careful selection and dosing of anticoagulants due to the increased risk of both thrombosis and bleeding in this population. Low Molecular Weight Heparin (LMWH): The American Society of Hematology (ASH) suggests that for patients with severe renal dysfunction (creatinine clearance <30 mL/min), LMWH should be used with caution. Dose adjustments are necessary, and anti-Xa monitoring is recommended if LMWH is used. Enoxaparin, for instance, requires dose reduction in patients with severe renal impairment, while tinzaparin may not require such adjustments.[1-3] Unfractionated Heparin (UFH): UFH is often preferred in patients with severe renal impairment due to its shorter half-life and ease of monitoring. The ASH guidelines recommend UFH as a safer alternative to LMWH in this population.[1] Direct Oral Anticoagulants (DOACs): DOACs such as apixaban and edoxaban have shown favorable profiles in patients with moderate CKD (creatinine clearance 30-50 mL/min). However, their use in severe renal impairment (creatinine clearance <30 mL/min) is limited due to insufficient data and higher bleeding risks. Dose adjustments are necessary, and therapeutic drug monitoring may be considered in individualized cases.[4-5] Vitamin K Antagonists (VKAs): Warfarin remains an option for patients with severe renal impairment, particularly those on dialysis, although the net clinical benefit is uncertain. High-quality anticoagulation control is crucial to minimize bleeding risks.[5-6] In summary, for patients with CKD, especially those with severe renal impairment, UFH and adjusted-dose LMWH are preferred options for VTE prophylaxis. DOACs may be considered in moderate CKD with appropriate dose adjustments, while VKAs can be used with careful monitoring.

Syed Nazri’s “Theatrics of PKR’s Ketua Umum” http://www.nst.com.my Zaid Ibrahim would be delighted at Syed Nazri’s “Theatrics of PKR’s Ketua Umum“ FOR a person who goes around talking so much about democracy and human rights, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is a walking, talking contradiction. How else could you describe it when he is now actually stepping into another term as unconstitutional, non-elected ketua umum — the supremo, great leader, the mighty chief — of Parti Keadilan Rakyat? To many, the declaration of support by delegates at the weekend party congress legitimising his position would remain just that — a show. A rerun of 2007, in fact. He is de facto leader definitely because his powers seem to exceed and override those of party president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, his wife — which makes it bad enough that it has to be a family-run party. But wasn’t it just two weeks ago that the parliamentary opposition leader was in Australia spinning a yarn about Malaysian democracy? He was telling his audience that Australian leaders had been “ill-advised” to avoid speaking out about human rights and democracy in Malaysia. “I think the issue of democracy, human rights, rule of law — they’re not something that you can just ignore,” he was heard saying over Radio Australia on Nov 16. Absolutely, Datuk Seri. But it does seem a little strange, doesn’t it, coming from a person who is not really living up to what he preaches. The latest PKR elections were mired in so much controversy, with reports indicating that, of the 162 formal election complaints from members about fraud and non-compliance of election rules, less than 15 per cent were officially discussed. It was also alleged that some of the most blatant frauds occurred in Libaran, Sandakan and Tawau (all in Sabah) and Sri Aman (Sarawak) where the process and voter attendance were heavily disputed. But the cases, some insiders said, were ignored by the Ketua Umum. Disgruntled PKR members even staged protests on many occasions against unfair practices in the party. Just imagine — Anwar, the godfather of street demos, now having to face this wrath. It was really a case of senjata makan tuan or the weapon turning on its master. But perhaps his most glaring disregard for democracy is his continued tenure as non-elected ketua umum, even if the “legitimisation” came from the floor on Sunday (1,200 delegates declaring without vote on behalf of the thousands of other members). What do you expect when it was done in his presence? A pattern seems to be building up somewhere with this latest development. Let’s look back a little at what happened when PKR had its last elections in 2007. Members had then wanted Anwar to run for president, giving him numerous nominations in the process. So, it was to be a three-cornered fight between him, Dr Wan Azizah, the incumbent, and former party treasurer Abdul Rahman Othman. But at the very last minute, the scenario changed when Anwar suddenly announced he was withdrawing as he did not want to run foul of the law, which prohibited someone who had been in prison from holding any post in any society for five years upon release. Anwar, who came out of prison three years earlier, made an impassioned plea at the party congress in Seremban. And this was how the New Sunday Times of May 27, 2007 reported it: “He presented a tough choice to the 1,500 delegates — if he won, he was prepared to face a personal legal battle. But if the PKR ended up being dissolved as a result of his victory, both the party and members would suffer the consequences. “It was then that some delegates stood up, interrupting Anwar’s speech to convey their support for him. Then, a long line of delegates waited for the same opportunity to use the floor’s microphone to give their two sen’s worth. “The exchange of opinions on the pros and cons of Anwar being the party president went on for almost an hour. And when Anwar returned to the podium on stage after more than a dozen people had expressed their views, the silent hall of the Chung Hua High School heard him propose a formula.” It was at that moment, it was reported, that Anwar announced to everyone that he could be the leader, but asked delegates to accept Dr Wan Azizah as president. A delegate then stood up to propose that Anwar be made PKR’s de facto leader with a provision that he would stand in the next elections (this year). And the floor shouted its agreement in unison. To add to the drama, Abdul Rahman then declared he was withdrawing from the contest as a mark of respect for Anwar’s announcement. It was theatrics at its best. The no-contest has left Dr Wan Azizah as president for another term and Anwar stronger than ever in the party. Are we seeing another round of theatrical outburst this time with the Wanita motion? But the question remains as to why Anwar is reluctant to contest the PKR presidency this time around when he is, by law, eligible. Why should he hold on to the very ambiguous position of ketua umum? Is he afraid of a possible embarrassment that he might not get 100 per cent support, hence a dent on his ego? Or is there another underlying reason? Anwar is trying to portray that he has been so wronged he could be the Aung San Suu Kyi of Malaysia. But the way things are going, he could end up more like Kim Jong-il. Posted in Anwar Ibrahim, Democracy, Politics. Malaysia Airlines’ Multi-Billion Ringgit Losses Malaysia Airlines’ Multi-Billion Ringgit Losses: Social Care Foundation’s Robert Phang urges the Attorney-General to explain by Leven Woon Zheng Yang@http://www.malaysiakini.com Attorney-general (AG) Abdul Gani Patail has been called to explain allegations implicating him for the lack of action over Malaysia Airlines’ (MAS) multi-billion ringgit losses. Social Care Foundation chairperson Robert Phang Miow Sin (left) said records and pictures from a whistleblower website of Abdul Gani together with an individual said to be close to former MAS chairperson Tajuddin Ramli have added a different dimension to the controversy. Phang, who is also a member of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) consultative and advisory panel, said Abdul Gani may see adverse public speculation over his connection to the issue if he ignored the allegations. Phang was responding to the emergence of photographs on news portal Malaysia Today, showing Abdul Gani together with one Shahidan Shafie during their recent haj pilgrimage to Mecca. Abdul Gani’s relationship with Shahidan was a close one, Malaysia Today alleged further, as reflected in the former’s early exit from a Malaysia Day function last September to accompany Shahidan to the hospital when the latter’s child suffered an accident. The website had in September and November also claimed that it was Shahidan, said to be an ex-police officer, who had convinced Abdul Gani not to press charges against Tajuddin. Tajuddin, who was MAS’ executive chairperson from 1994 to 2001, has been blamed for the national carrier suffering losses amounting to more than RM8 billion. MAS had also filed several reports against Tajuddin with the MACC, citing Tajuddin’s move to relocate MAS’ cargo operations in Amsterdam and Frankfurt to a single hub in Hahn, Germany, as the single biggest loss suffered under him. The new hub operation reportedly incurred monthly losses of between RM10 million to RM16 million before it was terminated and the government took over control of MAS in 2001. At a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Phang said MACC is entitled to investigate the AG if there was a directive to do so by the Prime Minister’s Department. Also the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Mohamed Nazri Aziz, can appoint a panel to oversee the MACC’s investigations into the matter. He hesitated, however, to say whether MACC would initiate its own probe. “They (Home Ministry) must form the panel first, then MACC can investigate,” said Phang. Posted in civil society issues, Governance, Judiciary. Make use of Bank Negara reserves Make use of high reserves, says Malaysia’s self appointed Economic Advisor Malaysia’s high international reserves can be mobilised, says former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. “Our reserves today are too high. We have over US$100 billion as reserves, which can sustain eight months of retained imports,” he said. The country only needs to have reserves up to three or four months of retained imports, he said in his address at the ‘Revisiting Vision 2020’ organised by the Institute of Marketing Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur today. “Out of the US$100 billion, you can actually mobilise US$50 billion, which will help the government. It is saying it does not have the money to do this and that, no money to subsidise. “So, why not use this money,” he said. During the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis, Malaysia’s foreign reserves was only US$17 billion and during recovery it was US$30 billion, he said. Dr Mahathir however said he was not sure if the higher reserves were due to the depreciation of the US dollar or it was the actual reserves the country has. The US dollar has depreciated about 20 per cent versus the ringgit. Bank Negara Malaysia announced that as at November 15, its international reserves amounted to RM326.5 billion (equivalent to US$105.8 billion). The reserves position is sufficient to finance 8.8 months of retained imports and is 4.5 times the short-term external debt, it said. Dr Mahathir also said Malaysia could easily emerge as a rich nation if the ringgit strengthens to the pre-crisis level of RM2.50 to a US dollar. Currently, the ringgit is hovering at RM3.1 versus a greenback. More focus on domestic direct investments “If the ringgit strengthen to the (pre-crisis) level of RM2.50, of course the country’s gross domestic product growth would have become higher,” he said. Dr Mahathir said due to external factors and the crisis, Malaysia’s per capita income did not grow to US$16,000 as envisaged under Vision 2020. He said the country has a good 10 years to work to realise Vision 2020 goals provided the government very carefully manages the country’s economy and its finances as well as supervise these things vigilantly. There should also be more focus and drive towards domestic direct investments (DDIs) as compared with foreign direct investments (FDIs), said Dr Mahathir who helmed the nation for 22 years as prime minister. “There is not much money coming in and at the same time you should remember that there are two million foreign workers who remit money home,” he said. “Hence, if the country continues to woo more foreign investments, the revenue will not be high enough to achieve Vision 2020. “It will take much longer to achieve Vision 2020 and not in 2020. Therefore, the country needs more DDIs, whereby the profits remain here and achieve the seven per cent GDP growth that is needed to achieve Vision 2020. I am very sure that our industries will grow even faster and contribute to the nation’s GDP and per capita income provided the government gives good incentives as well as free them from obstacles for their growth,” he said. Hence, the strategies to attain Vision 2020 has to be changed as “we can’t follow the path we took before, which is very dependent on foreign direct investments to domestic direct investments.” “The government is already thinking about it and I hope a decision will be made (soon),” he added. Posted in business, Economy, Finance, Governance. Take the bull by the horns and fix PKR Anwar, take the bull by the horns and fix PKR by Terence Netto@http://www.malaysiakini.com COMMENT The hour has come for Anwar Ibrahim to match deed to word. This now rapidly receding year has been one of dismal frailty in his party, what with defections, resignations and disruptions that have sown doubt about the party’s capability to lead the agenda of political change for the country. A party seemingly smoothing along nice and easy has been badly thrown off-stride, afflicted by confidence-eroding jerks and twitches. Out of the discontinuity between the image it aspires to create – its capacity for a lead role in governing the country – and the reality that is less grand – disarray in its ranks and defective mechanisms in its administration – comes the opportunity for grand retrieval. Where there is crisis there must also be opportunity. A grand recovery is what is required of Anwar to slide back to the top of the wave for change he campaigned for intensively three years ago and that was partly consummated in the tsunami of March 2008. Lapses and slips are par for the course in a political career. But when these are allowed prolonged tenancy, they erode gains made earlier and destroy reputations long in the making. After a torrid exercise in leader-selection that tried to enshrine the most radical principle yet in Malaysian democratic politics – direct voting by party members of its principal office-bearers – the PKR supremo must make the remaining days to the year a period of unequivocal action rather than prevarication. Anwar’s month of decisive action These actions could begin with the appointment of a new secretary-general, one of professional administrative bent, uninterested in a personal career in politics. PKR needs such a person in this critical role, to insulate the nerve centre of the party from the vagaries of the factional battles that democratic parties are prone to. Anwar’s month of decisive action could continue with the selection of a new election director because the current one (Fuziah Salleh, right) has now a party veep position to take care of in addition to the defense of her MP-ship of Kuantan, not an easy seat to secure in the next general election. The top range to this activist response to crisis would be the appointment of Dr Jeffrey Kitingan to the post of chief selector of candidates for all the seats PKR intends to contest in Sabah, and not just the seats with a Kadazan-Dusun-Murut majority. This move would effectively forestall what is being anticipated through the resignation the other day from PKR of Philip Among, Jeffrey’s chief aide. The resignation is a harbinger of disintegration to the party’s Sabah chapter. Other moves would include the naming of a respected luminary in socio-political society to the chairmanship of PKR’s disciplinary committee. Last but not least, Anwar ought to outline what should be done for the education of Dr Molly Cheah , PKR’s hapless party election monitor who has had a role akin to the retired Tony Blair’s in the Middle East peace process – a walk-on role of embarrassing nullity. An Alternative Paradigm for Change and Reform(?) “In the aftermath of the previous general election, opposition politicians talked about the political tsunami that engulfed the nation in tones of euphoric surprise initially. Over time, the tone and tenor of the rhetoric mutated and it is beginning to seem as if some of the politicians feel they are where they entitled to be. Some have gone so far as to posture as if they are our only choice… The PR (Pakatan Rakyat) cannot run away from the fact that the Keadilan controversy has dented public confidence. Simply repeating that all is well will not go far in addressing the fundamental difficulties that have been brought into focus by it. Concrete steps must be taken.”–Malik Imtiaz An Alternative Paradigm for Change and Reform (?) by Malik Imtiaz Sarvar I do not think I am alone in feeling that this country is in need of a serious overhaul. Sweeping reform, of a nature far deeper than the superficial changes conceived by consultants to seduce voters, is critical to our continued survival. If voter sentimentnat the last general election is any indication, I think I am similarly not alone in believing that a change of government is in order. I am guided to this conclusion not by dint of any admiration for those currently in Pakatan Rakyat(PR). Although admitted , there are individuals among them for whom I have a great deal of respect, this in itself is not a reason for change. The matter is addressed rather by reference to the seming inability of Barisan Nasional (BN) at the present time to form the kind of government this country needs. It is not very difficult to prove this proposition: the BN is held by its component parties and their members, in particular UMNO. In as much as some within the BN may wish to push the envelope on reform, they are subject to those who shape influence with these parties. Sadly, these influences seem to be driven by the belief that the ends justify the means. It is for this reason that painfully sectarian communal politics and the attendant inflammatory race and religious posturing are still very much a part of our lives despite this obviously being counter to the interests of us all. Repeated pleas to reconsider the value of such politics is met with hostility or simply ignored. Their impact on the landscape is undeniable. Constant pandering to the politics of race and religion has resulted in grave consequences. Our country has been left terribly weakened, its institutions in seeming disarray, with no clear direction as to how to restore things to the way they once were. At the heart of this is a highly worrisome race relations problem that is not only disruptive of desperately needed unity but also undermines our fundamentals, not least for standing in the way of constructive dialogue. Rather than engage in the issues, the government chooses to police thought and expression, the imminent sedition laws for cyberspace aptly illustrating the seige mentality of the current leadership. To say that the citizenry is fearful for its future would not be overstating the situation, I think. For many of us, hope of the leadership recognising that what is best for our country is not necessarily defined by its political interests has diminished, if not wholly faded away. Trends that led us to doubt the quality and integrity of the government have not been arrested; concerns about the independence of key institutions–the Attorney-General’s Chambers, police, anti-corruption commission, Judiciary, and Election Commission, to name but a few–still abound as do doubts about the commitment of these bodies to the spirit of the Constitution. The rakyat (people) has for some time felt that it cannot take their government at face value or believe in it being committed to do right by them. The constant refrains by its agents that all is well have worn thin. It is for this reason that the vote turned against the BN in 2008 the way it did. Wisdom would dictate that this was not so much due to voters favoring the PR rather than rejecting the BN. Forgive me if I am not saying anything new in this. There is a purpose in reiterating this for the benefit of the PR. In the aftermath of the previous general election, opposition politicians talked about the political tsunami that engulfed the nation in tones of euphoric surprise initially. Over time, the tone and tenor of the rhetoric mutated and it is beginning to seem as if some of the politicians feel they are where they entitled to be. Some have gone so far as to posture as if they are our only choice. This sense of entitlement is worrying as it is possibly indicative of politics having trumped the underlying cause of change and reform. If this is the case, the line between these politicians and those whom they condemn is less defined than they would have us believe. It would be wise for these politicians to recall that they were swept to success by a voter sentiment that is as likely to change its direction if the voters are left dissatisfied with what they perceive. Leave aside the fact that the PR has precious little to make voters aware of what it expects to when, and if, it gets to Putrajaya. Or that it has not made clear what and how it will do as the government will be more viable for the nation than what the BN is doing. These are important issues but are unfortunately beyond the scope of this commentary. Consider instead what it is Malaysians are being shown about PR through Keadilan. The Keadilan party election controversy raises serious questions about the ability of the party, and its allies whose fate is tied to it, to champion democracy it says it is fighting for. Electoral irregularities are bound to happen and in any race, there will always be concerns about how The PKR Troika for Change and Reform level the playing field is. What is troubling is the scale of the complaints and the manner in which they have, or rather have not, been addressed. We have heard much about naysayers, traitors and the like, but we have heard little about the complaints levelled against the process and how they have been dealt with. Malaysians need to understand clearly what it is that happened and why it happened. In particular, they need to be made to understand why there are factions within the party that have allowed their personal interests to get in the way of the cause they have represented themselves as championing. Equally of concern is how, despite the matter having a direct bearing in the reputation of the reputation of the coalition as a whole, the other members of the PR feel unqualified to raise their concerns about it publicly. This is reminiscent of the relationship that the other component parties have with UMNO and, if so, raises an issue as to the power dynamics within the coalition. The PR cannot run away from the fact that the Keadilan controversy has dented public confidence. Simply repeating that all is well will not go far in addressing the fundamental difficulties that have been brought into focus by it. Concrete steps must be taken. Which brings me to the crux of the matter. It still hold the view that we need a new way of governing our country.. The question is, are we comfortable with placing our hopes entirely on PR? Some would have us believe that it is one or the other, a model that is problematic now that PR has shown itself to have feet of clay. I do not think our options are that limited. For one, PR can be made to see that it does not play a messianic role in the unfolding saga. For another, who is to say that we should not be recasting the paradigm and looking at alternatives? *Malek Imtiaz Sarwar is a lawyer and the president of the National Human Rights Society (HAKAM). Source: The Edge Malaysia (November 29, 2010) India: “Our Moral Universe seems to be shrinking”, says Sonia Gandhi by Anand Giridharadas@http://www.nytimes.com HAD the judgment come from a philosopher or sociologist or foreign journalist, it might have been unremarkable. But it came instead from the political matriarch of India’s governing party. “Our economy may increasingly be dynamic,” Sonia Gandhi, the president of the Congress party, said last week in New Delhi, “but our moral universe seems to be shrinking.” Her words quickly swirled into the tempest of India’s ongoing corruption scandal. A recent government audit found that roughly US$40 billion (RM126 billion) had been frittered away by selling telecommunications licences to well-connected companies at far below market values. That is enough money, had it properly been collected, to feed the hungriest tenth of Indians for one full year. But Gandhi seemed to be speaking of more than just the scandal. Her diagnosis was severe and far-reaching, sharpened perhaps by her special insider-outsider lens as an Italian-born, Indian-widowed, Uttar Pradesh-elected national leader. “Prosperity has increased, but so has social conflict,” she said. “Intolerance of various kinds is growing. Graft and greed are on the rise. The principles on which independent India was founded, for which a whole generation of great leaders fought and sacrificed their all, are in danger of being negated.” She is hardly the only Indian to feel this way. One hears this anguish more and more in the salons of Delhi and Mumbai, and in the Indian media. In China, too, on a visit last summer, I heard over and over from young people fortunate enough to be thriving that their nation was unmoored, lost, morally confused, suffering a crisis of meaning often hard to perceive in the shadows of frothing growth. “It is impossible to feel calm and quiet in a society that only chases profits,” Ji Qi told me in the lobby of a Marriott Hotel in Shanghai. He is a serial entrepreneur, the founder of two hotel companies and the online travel portal Ctrip.com. He is part of what has made China grow so quickly, but he said he had come to regret some of the by-products of that speed. In this view, there is too much mimicry of Western models, regardless of their fit. There is too much attention to money and not enough on culture and values. Journalists, Ji said, did not ask him what he thought or how China might be changed; they concentrated on his Forbes rich-list ranking. “A good civilisation should be balanced between material and spiritual,” he said. He thinks that China will undergo, like South Korea before it, a rapid religious revival in the coming decades as more and more people come to feel what he feels. Lately, he finds himself turning to ancient Taoist texts, to Confucius, to Buddhism, all to anchor himself. He said what so many others did, in different ways: “We need an evolution of thoughts and ideas.” The world has been aflutter with talk of India and China for several years now. So much of that talk — like so much of the chatter within those countries — is about doing: what their software industries will do to the West, what their coal industries will do to the ecosystem, what their navies will do on the high seas, what their manufacturing sectors will do to the global trade in shoes, medicine, cars. But if the sentiments of young thrivers in these countries is any guide, the next chapter in the Indian and Chinese stories will not be about doing. It will be, rather, about being. The frenetic doing will go on. India and China each have hundreds of millions of citizens waiting to escape hard, impoverished lives. Many still lining up to thrive would be surprised to hear that change is coming too quickly. But, among those who have arrived, we may see a rising tendency toward self-scrutiny. It could take disparate forms: Indians and Chinese turning down lucrative jobs to join think-tanks, become journalists, activists or otherwise play their part in the public sphere; young people digging into these two ancient cultures to find ideas of what to wear, read and eat, after the feverish years of Westernisation; sobering media that interrogate growth instead of just giving evidence of it; and philosophers guiding these nations towards new constellations of values. It is easy to forget, especially when in the West, but also when towering above the land in the sparkling new apartment complexes of Beijing and Mumbai, just how much India and China are going through right now — not economically, not militarily, but deep in their souls. A relentless futurism has gripped two societies that long prided themselves on reverence for the past. A migration from the countryside to the city is changing their essential characters, with restless, rootless urbanites replacing villagers as the cultural centre of gravity. Social upheavals that took decades, even centuries, in the West — from feminism to gay rights to the rise of respect for the young — are happening in a historical flash. Parents are finding themselves unforeseeably abandoned in their final earthbound years. Founding heroes whose faces adorn currency — in China, Mao; in India, Gandhi — no longer inspire the same fervour, but new heroes are nowhere to be found. Indians and Chinese now have time to reflect about growth — as evidenced perhaps in the thousands who turned out last weekend to mourn those who perished in an apartment tower inferno in Shanghai. The questions they are asking are not only about superpowerdom and their place in the world. They are also about anchoring and purpose, about the quiet life within. For what great idea will each be known? What counterweights will each poise against the pull of money? Who will be their new heroes? What kind of world will they summon? What will be, when the hot growth cools and the deeper reckoning comes, the meaning of their rise? — NYT/http://www.nst.com.my Posted in civil society issues, Democracy.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Which laboratory tests are essential for monitoring patients on long-term warfarin therapy? output: For monitoring patients on long-term warfarin therapy, the prothrombin time (PT) and its standardized form, the international normalized ratio (INR), are essential laboratory tests. The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology Foundation recommend using the INR to monitor warfarin therapy due to its ability to standardize PT results across different laboratories and reagents. The INR should be determined at least weekly during the initiation of therapy and at least monthly once the patient’s anticoagulation is stable.[1-3] The American College of Chest Physicians also emphasizes the importance of the INR for monitoring warfarin therapy, noting that it reflects the reduction of vitamin K-dependent clotting factors (II, VII, and X).[4] The INR is preferred over the PT ratio because it accounts for variations in thromboplastin sensitivity, thereby providing a more accurate measure of anticoagulation intensity.[1][4] In addition to the INR, it may be useful to monitor plasma warfarin concentrations in certain clinical scenarios, such as when there is significant inter- or intra-individual variability in response to warfarin, which can be influenced by genetic polymorphisms, drug interactions, and patient compliance.[5] In summary, the INR is the primary laboratory test for monitoring long-term warfarin therapy, with additional monitoring of plasma warfarin concentrations in specific cases to ensure optimal therapeutic outcomes.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Hi I am on day number five of recovering from (Stomach Flu), I have had the runs really bad, and now it has stopped with meds from the Dr, but I have only drank water and ate crackers, what can I now eat, im scared, and my heart is fluttering a little, I type slow sorry. ro output: Dear Friend. We suggest following diet in case of Acute Gastroenteritis (Stomach Flu):1. Soft bland diet2. More of liquids3. Curd4. Soup and Khichidi5. Pulses. More important here is to see if stomach flu is infective, then antibiotics are required. This is my personal opinion based on details available here. If you still have any other query, you may please ask me. Stay Healthy.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: How does the presence of perineural invasion in prostate cancer biopsies impact treatment decisions? output: The presence of perineural invasion (PNI) in prostate cancer biopsies is a significant prognostic factor that can impact treatment decisions. PNI is associated with more advanced disease and poorer outcomes, influencing the choice between active surveillance and more aggressive treatments. For patients with localized prostate cancer, PNI is linked to higher rates of biochemical recurrence and adverse pathological features such as extraprostatic extension and seminal vesicle invasion. This suggests that immediate treatment rather than watchful waiting may be more appropriate for these patients. Specifically, patients with low-risk prostate cancer but with PNI may benefit from treatments typically reserved for intermediate-risk patients, such as radiation therapy or surgery.[1-3] In the context of active surveillance, PNI is associated with a higher likelihood of grade reclassification and adverse pathology at radical prostatectomy. Therefore, while PNI should not automatically exclude patients from active surveillance, it warrants more stringent monitoring.[3-5] For surgical planning, the presence of PNI on biopsy can influence the decision regarding nerve-sparing techniques. PNI is associated with positive surgical margins, particularly at the posterolateral aspects of the prostate, suggesting that a more conservative approach to nerve-sparing may be warranted in these cases.[6] In summary, PNI in prostate cancer biopsies is a marker for more aggressive disease and should be considered in treatment planning, potentially leading to more aggressive initial treatment and closer monitoring during active surveillance.

Hard features crew and watched a lot 55 by Wholesale NFL Jerseys on August 30, 2019 He’s been Mr.You can check out our photo gallery to view behind the scenes pictures from the Swimsuit photoshoot.This is going to be an issue until Sale shows us a semblance of his old self.The concept will take the form of a luxury sports car, Autocar reports. In signing Riley Nash and Anthony Duclair this past offseason, it was expected that one of them would likely outperform the other.Last year the team went undefeated in the regular season.Timberwolves Unhappy With Bulls Rookie Dec 12 7 AM It is an unwritten rule in the NBA that if the game is out of reach you dribble out the clock.The APCC gets nearly 60 cases related to cocoa every single day!Caldwell-Pope is available and has been floated out there for some spots.NFL Network Free Agency Frenzy producers: Couldn’t the Steelers have waited until free agency coverage started Sunday? When respondents were asked why they were so concerned about their appearance following child birth, the top reasons were looking good in photos , looking presentable for visitors or to avoid looking ill, drained and tired .Last season, Vehviläinen won Liiga’s goalie of the year award and helped Karpat win its seventh league championship.The pair tied the knot in July 2013, but split a year later.�?Ottawa’s Thomas Chabot, who has missed the last two games with a broken toe, is expected to play Saturday in Edmonton.Fred Hoiberg Downplays ‘Hot Seat’ Talk Dec 31 1 PM Fred Hoiberg has downplayed a report that he’s on the hot seat as the Chicago Bulls struggle. The property has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a drawing room, dining hall, a large kitchen, a study and conservatory.Georgia had asked Plumlee to take a blueshirt, meaning that he would not have been on scholarship until classes start until the fall and that his scholarship would count toward the 2020 total.Sometimes you change teams and you move on to different places and you go out and you start lighting it up right away, and sometimes you change teams and have tough times adjusting and you’re put in different roles and doing different things, said Neal, who signed a five-year, $28 million contract with Calgary last summer. He asked her why she was crying and told her not to be upset because she was beautiful.Firing a coach just 20 games into his tenure would set a precedent that might discourage other coaching candidates from taking a job in Arizona.Artist: Clint Black Billboard rank: #90 In 1989, Billboard declared Killin’ Time the #2 country song of the year-defeated only by another Clint Black song.My group is like a second family now, I couldn’t have done it without them.We need a mesmerizing new young star with extraordinary range, it reads, per .Hassell snapped the tie with a jumper for a 21 lead going into the second quarter. If the Canucks chose to retain some salary, there might almost certainly be a buyer. Middle school dance teacher with prince George’s county public schools Although people were supposed to return to their homes after the war, a compulsory purchase order placed by the Army on the land in 1948 stopped them from coming back.Green Bay …Had 2 solo tackles, his 6th sack of the year, 2 TFL, 2 QBH and his 1st FF of the year at Chicago …Led the team and tied a career-high with 11 QBH vs.Following his departure from New Jersey, MacLean returned to coaching during 2011 as an assistant on Kirk Muller’s staff in Carolina, where he served until the Hurricanes cleaned house at the end of the 2013 season.Gallery: Harry and Meghan – their relationship in pictures.The Oilers have alternated between regulation wins and losses over their last eight games and will struggle to make up ground in the Western Conference until they can string some wins together. Chris Watt’s on the Reserve Retired list.When I was asked to play it was a no-brainer for me to say yes, Picard said.But in the side I would be picking for game one, he’d be the unlucky player.Turn to Jesus Christ who will set you free.In all, Ellis played in parts of 16 seasons for the Leafs and concluded his career in contention for a number of the greatest offensive totals in team history. stopped 24 of 28 shots for the loss, while Curtis McElhinney made 28 saves for the win.I added a garden salad and I was SATISFIED!The Islanders are counting on young players like Beauvillier, Mathew Barzal, and Joshua Ho-Sang to provide that secondary scoring punch.Big left arrow icon Big right arrow icon Close icon Copy Url Three dots icon Down arrow icon Email icon Email icon Exit Fullscreen icon External link icon Facebook logo Football icon Facebook logo Instagram logo Snapchat logo YouTube logo Grid icon Key icon Left arrow icon Link icon Location icon Mail icon Menu icon Open icon Phone icon Play icon Radio icon Rewind icon Right arrow icon Search icon Select icon Selected icon TV icon Twitter logo Twitter logo Up arrow icon User icon Audio icon Tickets iconAdd to calendar iconNFC icon AFC icon NFL icon Carousel IconList ViewWebsite InstagramTwitterFacebookSnapchatShop IconProfile Overlay AvatarAddAirplayArrow LeftArrow RightArrow UpArrow DownAudioBack 5sBack 10sBack 30sCalendarChartCheckDownLeftRightUpChromecast OffChromecast OnCloseClosed CaptionsBench OffBench OnBroad OffBroad OnVertical OffVertical OnCommentDockDoneDownloadDraftFantasyFilterForward 5sForward 10sForward 30sFull Screen OffFull Screen OnGamepassGamesInsightsKeyLeaveLiveCombineDraftFantasyMenu GamesMenu NetworkMenu NewsMenu PlayoffsMenu Pro BowlMenu ShopMenu StandingsMenu StatsMenu Super BowlMenu TeamsMenu TicketsMenuMore HorizontalMore VerticalMy LocationNetworkNewsPauseplayMultiple PlayersSingle PlayerPlaylistPlayoffsPro BowlPurgeRefreshRemoveReplaySearchSettingsShare AndroidShare Copy URLShare EmailShare FacebookShare InstagramShare iOSShare SnapchatShare TwitterSkip NextSkip PreviousStandingsStarStatsSwapTeamsTicketsVideoVisibility OffVisibility OnVolume HiVolume LowVolume MediumVolume MuteWarningWebsite Caret downCaret up.There’s plenty of methods to link the two, and here’s the most common�?Bluetooth is no new technology – in fact, it’s been around since the late �?0s. The concept of the sticky bottle, for example, is a farce and an embarrassment.That has never been in doubt, just the timing.had just enough offense.He’s got a long way to go for that.To hear him tell it, he’s been adjacent to many major developments of the internet era.Dennis Seidenberg has played in just 11 games and acts mostly as the team’s seventh defenseman. Friday nights are my nights to cheat.A meat thermometer is the only tool that can give you true confidence that the meat is fully cooked.To ensure homologation, BMW had to build 400 examples of their rushed creation. It was official.If Phil wanted me and I could contribute, not be a 12th or 13th man.asked Karen Levy, a Cornell University assistant professor who has researched family and workplace monitoring.The ad celebrates Williams’ career in the US Open, a tournament she has won a record six times in the open era, by mixing old home-video footage with broadcasts and using the tennis teachings of her father, Richard Williams, as a voiceover.The matter received extra attention in the sports arena when Dolphins wide receiver Kenny Stills called out Ross, openly questioning his boss. Zavon Godwin added 14 points and Adam Goetz had 13.East German drivers abandoned them in the streets the minute they had access to faster, more modern cars made in the west.”I think just my presence alone altered some shots,” he said.Yes, Halak likely cost the Islanders at least a point against the Capitals on Thursday night. Their winning percentage is slightly higher than the Buffalo Sabres, who only won 35 percent of their games , but neither is quite as bad as the Harlem Globetrotter’s arch-enemy, the Washington Generals.You can expect to see quite a bit of a buzz in the exhibition hall this year where, as well as some really interesting exhibitors, there will be a hackathon taking place each day.All told, it was an expensive and invasive procedure, which is particularly striking considering that there’s nothing wrong with him. Victories that spring earning the conn smythe The question is whether the Heat will have a dynamic personality in place to spearhead free agent recruiting.Named after the dim ‘milky’ glow generated by the indistinguishable mass of stars that it’s made from, when the Milky Way is observed from Earth, it appears like a band, due to its disc shape, but is actually a barred spiral galaxy.A 2018.2 Play with just over 1000 miles is £8630 when previously it was £13, so be prepared to feel smug. In another first, Sojourner was the original robotic rover to land on Mars.The self-contained courtyard accommodation is ideal for guests staff.According to wedding photographers there are a few ‘red flags’ which might suggest the relationship might not go the distance.By the time she returned from London, Nielsen had been steamrolled in the power struggle. If Williams can, it would add a dangerous new element to the defense.Mr Conway said that there had a concern that if all cheques that had been issued by the Association at the end of April that year were cashed at the same time there was a likelihood of insufficient funds being available to cover all the cheques issued.She birdied the 16th, too, and a Fassi bogey meant it was close to a wrap. Klopp’s men host the Portuguese champions at Anfield in the first leg on Tuesday night and are backed to progress past the side they beat 5 on aggregate in their last-16 encounter just over 12 months ago.This change in momentum created by Meier’s effort carried over for the rest of the game, turning a close game early in period three into a blowout.2016 : Appeared in 11 games, primarily on special teams, and finished with three special teams tackles and one fumble recovery…Was inactive for the last five games of the regular season and all three postseason contests…Suter watched from the press box, often still in shock over his bad luck.Led the Ravens to the AFC Championship for the first time since 2000, winning both starts on the road at Mia. If you only want two people coming, make sure you let them know.’ However not everyone agreed.These cattle dropped 1c kg on average.This isn’t likely a trend that will continue into the regular season.Usually eating anywhere near this much dead money only happens when teams have to cut some huge personnel mistake, not the league leader in touchdowns.17-ranked Australia native ultimately outlasted Troicki three sets – 7, 6, 7. I will never forget the rush of adrenaline I had stepping onto the stage for our big debut.I think it’s for every home team because they always want to see something extra, and you can’t blame them.You have always valued sisterhood and traditions, which is what makes WRC so unique.Three tickets may be purchased for One Hundred Dollars , and five tickets may be purchased for One Hundred Fifty Dollars .Pete Alonso went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run in Friday night’s win over the Nationals.Alonso smacked a two-run homer in the fourth inning to cut New York’s deficit to one, and the New York Mets would manage to come back in the bottom of the ninth for a 7 victory. Leader Jeremy Corbyn told his MPs to abstain.It’s just so that nobody would pick her up, because she’d get scared and she’d flap her wings, but she’s not going to go after anyone. Point game on oct 28 chicago east 17 and signed to the team’s practice squad a day later.Western Carolina spread to jump on, all from the advanced model that is up more than $4 on its college basketball picks the past two years, and find out.Everybody is devastated.The Wildcats led by as many as 19 points in the second half, but Campbell closed to 72 on Clemons’ jumper with 2 to go.Mittelstadt’s situation is relatively tricky in terms of what his options are for the remainder of the season. I just feel like each opportunity I get to touch the field, to learn something, I’m going to soak it in.Pedroia appeared in just three games in 2018 before re-injuring his knee and being shut down for the season.Maybe he is that right player, right time guy.If you would like to search for all players born on a certain day, for example all players born on December 25th in any year, choose the month and day with the drop down boxes and then choose the ‘Month and Day Search’ option.QB Jim Plunkett, 1st overall 1971, Patriots: Yes, he won two Super Bowls …BIG PICTURE Wake Forest: It was a win, but Tuesday’s game was a continuation of an inauspicious start to the season for the Demon Deacons, who were picked to finish next-to-last in the Atlantic Coast Conference preseason media poll. Drafted in the sixth-round of the same year as Cammalleri, Jokinen has played for the Dallas Stars , the Tampa Bay Lightning , the Carolina Hurricanes , the Pittsburgh Penguins , the Florida Panthers and most recently the Oilers this season. I beg to differ. �?As a senior , started all 10 games for Harvard and made 45 receptions for 702 yards and seven touchdowns.The irony is that if Elliott hits the 60-yarder in Indy, he makes the team. Some have compared him to Alshon Jeffrey, but I think Metcalf plays faster.The NFL has been drafting college players since 1936.He stayed steadfast.David Helman: It’s too obvious to say the Cowboys’ top offseason priority is DeMarcus Lawrence, so I’ll throw in a caveat. If you would like to search for all players born on a certain day, for example all players born on December 25th in any year, choose the month and day with the drop down boxes and then choose the ‘Month and Day Search’ option.His ability to throw it is exceptional.The next day, I was in a 97 jersey, practicing with those guys. is listed as available for Saturday’s tilt with the Spurs, Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune reports.Too often, the Ducks have been unable to play for long stretches at even strength or with a man-advantage.Wasps at last gave their supporters something to cheer when Hughes crashed over for a 53rd-minute try that Sopoaga converted, but normal service was quickly resumed through a second Cronin try from another driving maul.I loved it because he was all about effort and energy and playing hard and that was right up my alley.I am incredibly proud to be the coach of this team. With Avery coming back, obviously that will be a better pick-and-roll defender for the guard spot, but it’s not just going to be on Avery.Patrick Good scored a career-high 35 points, shooting 11 of 17 from beyond the 3-point arc, and East Tennessee State routed Western Carolina 91 on Saturday night.This is great for NHL teams through the three years following the draft pick’s entry-level contract signing.But Cousineau took the Canadian Football League’s money and ran, never playing a down for the Bills. The doctors and Brandon are ultimately going to make that decision.There were times I’d wake up in the morning and would think that football must not be for me, but I still had a passion and the fire in my heart to keep going.While every game is critical at this point, the Saturday game against the Wild.There is no question the Kings need to do a better job of allowing their skilled players the opportunity to showcase their talents on the ice and not having them focus solely on being a shutdown group. Townsend ryan yurachek darren waller paul butler distinguished San Diego in season-high 20 defensive snaps.The Stars play the Nashville Predators in Game 1 of the best-of-7 Western Conference First Round at Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday .The puck’s visible.Now he will be placed on a ballot for consideration of the NCAA Division II Wrestler of the Year.They could do little to quell the offseason joking about an expansion franchise but once the season began, to a man, they shut everybody up. On the first play of team’s next drive, Morton threw a 75-yard score to Zarrian Holcombe for a 14 lead.The Oilers also traded the second round pick that they received in this deal.The 17-year-old also helped lead the Spitfires to a Memorial Cup Championship this past season, recording seven assists in just four games.Thanks to the generous commitment of the New Era Cap Foundation, the Buffalo Bills Foundation and Buffalo Sabres Foundation today, along with a prior $1 million investment from Delaware North – we are able to turn that vision into a reality for Buffalo’s children.Varlamov has played in 26 career playoff outings, registering a 13 record to go along with a 2 goals-against average and .915 save percentage.How to turn your feet �?Because his mother, Joanne, was American, Hull had the option of playing for Canada or the United States. Saros, 23 , was named to the NHL’s All-Rookie Team after posting an record with a 2 goals-against average, .925 save percentage and three shutouts in 2017.I’m working my butt off.British Olympic show jumper Tim Stockdale has died at the age of 54 after losing his battle with cancer.With the emergence of Joe Mixon, it appears increasingly likely that Jeremy Hill has played his last down in Cincinnati. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS is strictly prohibited.will serve as Christian McCaffrey’s backup following Monday’s release of C.J.Of those 351 points, 205 have come in his six-plus seasons with the Ducks.Nick Bellore, FB, Detroit: Nick Bawden is expected to be back in the fold at fullback for the Lions after missing his rookie season with a torn ACL. He makes the difference in games and you can win because of him.K Steve Little, 15th overall 1978, Cardinals: Taking a kicker in Round 1, especially in an era when the position was far less reliable, could be forgiven.However, thanks to the heroics of Jonathan Quick, Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and company, they now finally have a Cup. School: LSU | Year: Junior Kwon Alexander signed in San Francisco, further depleting a defense that allowed a league-worst 110 passer rating last season.Call or visit for more information and to get yours today.Originally drafted by the Predators in the first round of the 2009 NHL Draft, Ellis spent parts of two seasons with the American Hockey League’s Milwaukee Admirals from 2011 before jumping to Nashville.Pedroia appeared in just three games in 2018 before re-injuring his knee and being shut down for the season.Brough missed the difficult kick from the touchline but he stretched his side’s advantage with his second penalty midway through the half.Persson made his professional hockey debut with the SHL’s HV71 in 2014, recording an assist in four games. They extended the lead to 22 by the middle of the first half and were never seriously challenged.Sick to my stomach for him, Kalil said.Played in 51 games with 12 starts, with 11 of those starts coming last season during his senior year for the Tigers. Pedroia has said he was hopeful to return by April 9 – the Sox’s home opener – but manager Alex Cora wouldn’t say yes or no as to whether his second baseman would be ready by then.We found ourselves, in most of the games we haven’t been able to win, right there at the end and so close to getting it done.Finally, his rebound control still needs improvement.Onno Steger and Marcus Thomas scored 21 points apiece for the Catamounts .I never lifted weights, but built up some strength.After a slow start, the Kings fired then-head coach Terry Murray in December and brought in Sutter to replace him. 3) Curt Schilling Schilling took a big step forward in voting this year.He was that smart.He played both corner and safety for the Gators, which is why his value is high.Justin Coleman, CB, Seattle: Coleman played for Patricia in New England in 2015 and 2016, and spent the last two years in Seattle playing in all 16 games each season with 10 starts in the slot.Pastrnak had 20 points in two rounds last postseason. It feels pretty incredible.did not participate in practice Wednesday or Thursday, John Boyle of the ‘ official site reports. Asked house targaryen guard first left her name third The property has a warm color palette of natural sand tones to mimic the Los Cabos Desert.It’s not all bad news for Coleman and the Devils, as he took part in Thursday’s morning skate.He was playing 22 minutes per night during his first two seasons with the Flyers, but again last season his average ice time dropped to 19 per game.At speeds of up to 108 kilometres per hour, the Hulk puts you through a weightless gravity roll and at one point sends you flying upside down.We could have gone much lower than $250 nightly: I saw three-bedroom properties that I would have happily slept in for $150 night.Chris Moore, Breshad Perriman and Michael Campanaro figure to split playing time behind No. Applications are considered from candidates who are residents of Mecklenburg County in North Carolina and Spartanburg County in South Carolina..Fort Jefferson may have never seen any action at its high brick walls �?it’s said there are 16 million bricks making up this behemoth fort �?but it was still home to 2 people during the 1860s.suffered a lower-body injury in the first period of Monday’s game against Montreal and didn’t come out for the second, Chris Ryan of NJ Advance Media reports.Anthony Mantha netted a hat trick for the Red Wings, while Taro Hirose netted the game-winner in the third.Flight deals to Cancun pop up regularly, making this destination incredibly accessible.Both Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky are pending unrestricted free agents with as-yet-to-be-resolved situations, and the Blue Jackets are tied for first place in the Metropolitan Division only days before the All-Star break. Astronomy programs are also offered at the visitor center in addition to the park’s more remote archaeological sites.The Cardinals acquired him from the Arizona Diamondbacks in December.The Saints improve to 2 against the Purple Eagles this season.Williams of reports.I would like to think so, Tech’s Brandone Francis said. Denver’s Joe Rosga, who finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, answered with a 3-pointer that started the Pioneers on a 24 run, closing to 71 with 1 left.No resort in modern-day Vegas is complete without a standout party scene, and Kaos, the new dayclub nightclub at Palms, is unique for a variety of reasons.To search for players who were born on a certain date, for example all players born on December 25, choose the month, day and year with the drop down boxes and then choose the ‘Full Date Search’ option.Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves for Boston, while Jimmy Howard stopped 31 pucks for Detroit. If you’re feeling energetic, ride to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and back, about 15 miles.The last to qualify on Monday and win a PGA Tour event was Arjun Atwal in 2010 at the Wyndham Championship.They moved the ball a little better than in Game 1; they hit some open shots they had previously missed.22 �?Posted a gross punting average of 50, which ranked first in the NFC and second in the NFL and a net punting average of 43, which ranked second in both conference and Instead of having to send someone to the minors, Dickerson hits the IL. Krejci dished the puck back in a perfectly executed give-and-go that led to the goal.1 receiver Mike Wallace as the Ravens attempt to clinch a postseason berth.Then we did another one, and he drilled a 48-yarder down the middle.It only would get worse from there with Hronek cushioning Detroit’s lead with a goal at 12 off an assist from Mantha.The Wolves fans gloated about their Wembley trip at the final whistle, but that’s no concern to Solskjaer now. 9 at Cleveland: Recorded 6 tackles , 2 sacks , two quarterback hits and an interception in his NFL debut�?became the third player in NFL history and first on Kickoff Weekend to record 2 sacks and an interception in an NFL debut, joining Charles Glaze and Tommy Haynes …is the first Steeler with at least 2 sacks in their NFL debut since sacks became an official statistic in 1982 …is the first Steeler with at least 2 sacks and an interception in the same game since 2010 …brought down Cleveland QB DeShone Kizer for losses of eight and three yards in the third quarter…picked off Cleveland QB DeShone Kizer in the third quarter and returned the ball 17 yards.He added five rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.Not far from its sister resort in Playa Mujeres lies Excellence Riviera Cancún.The Bruins had two opportunities on the power play late in the period, but were unable to capitalize on either, the second of which came to an early end when Matt Grzelcyk was whistled for a slash at 19.Participants are free to bring their own nut-free food to enjoy during the week. Go: October on Cape Cod, Massachusetts Seventeen years ago, the small town of Wellfleet launched its annual Oysterfest to bring some of the summer crowds back to Cape Cod by putting food, fun, and music on the half shell.”He’s making history right now,” said Knicks Coach David Fizdale.Damian Chong Qui had seven rebounds. At night, the 65 square-foot club is known for its hip-hop programing; before dusk, though, the five-year-old venue is more eclectic.Anybody from Pennsylvania I’m a fan of.The Bearcats miss him.or have you just been accumulating them like a towel hoarder?Korpisalo STORYLINES.

Faraday's law of induction Faraday's law of induction dates from the 1830s, and is a basic law of electromagnetism Electromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation... relating to the operating principles of transformer A transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another through inductively coupled conductors—the transformer's coils. A varying current in the first or primary winding creates a varying magnetic flux in the transformer's core and thus a varying magnetic field... s, inductor An inductor is a passive two-terminal electrical component used to store energy in a magnetic field. An inductor's ability to store magnetic energy is measured by its inductance, in units of henries... s, and many types of electrical Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire... An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force... and generators Electrical generator In electricity generation, an electric generator is a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. A generator forces electric charge to flow through an external electrical circuit. It is analogous to a water pump, which causes water to flow... . Faraday's law is applicable to a closed circuit made of thin wire and states that: Or alternatively: The law strictly holds only when the closed circuit is an infinitely-thin wire; for example, a spinning homopolar generator Homopolar generator A homopolar generator is a DC electrical generator comprising an electrically conductive disc rotating in a plane perpendicular to a uniform static magnetic field. A potential difference is created between the center of the disc and the rim, the electrical polarity depending on the direction of... has a constant magnetically-induced EMF, but its magnetic flux does not rise perpetually higher and higher, as would be implied by a naive interpretation of the statements above. EMF is defined as the energy available per unit charge that travels once around the wire loop (the unit of EMF is the volt The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the... ). Equivalently, it is the voltage that would be measured by cutting the wire to create an open circuit, and attaching a voltmeter A voltmeter is an instrument used for measuring electrical potential difference between two points in an electric circuit. Analog voltmeters move a pointer across a scale in proportion to the voltage of the circuit; digital voltmeters give a numerical display of voltage by use of an analog to... to the leads. According to the Lorentz force law, the EMF on a wire loop is: Faraday's law of induction is closely related to the Maxwell-Faraday equation: where: denotes curl E is the electric field In physics, an electric field surrounds electrically charged particles and time-varying magnetic fields. The electric field depicts the force exerted on other electrically charged objects by the electrically charged particle the field is surrounding... B is the magnetic flux density, or magnetic field. The Maxwell-Faraday equation is one of the four Maxwell's equations Maxwell's equations are a set of partial differential equations that, together with the Lorentz force law, form the foundation of classical electrodynamics, classical optics, and electric circuits. These fields in turn underlie modern electrical and communications technologies.Maxwell's equations... , and therefore plays a fundamental role in the theory of classical electromagnetism Classical electromagnetism Classical electromagnetism is a branch of theoretical physics that studies consequences of the electromagnetic forces between electric charges and currents... Electromagnetic induction is the production of an electric current across a conductor moving through a magnetic field. It underlies the operation of generators, transformers, induction motors, electric motors, synchronous motors, and solenoids.... was discovered independently by Michael Faraday Michael Faraday, FRS was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry.... and Joseph Henry Joseph Henry was an American scientist who served as the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, as well as a founding member of the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, a precursor of the Smithsonian Institution. During his lifetime, he was highly regarded... in 1831; however, Faraday was the first to publish the results of his experiments. In Faraday's first experimental demonstration of electromagnetic induction (August 29, 1831), he wrapped two wires around opposite sides of an iron torus (an arrangement similar to a modern transformer ). Based on his assessment of recently-discovered properties of electromagnets, he expected that when current started to flow in one wire, a sort of wave would travel through the ring and cause some electrical effect on the opposite side. He plugged one wire into a galvanometer A galvanometer is a type of ammeter: an instrument for detecting and measuring electric current. It is an analog electromechanical transducer that produces a rotary deflection of some type of pointer in response to electric current flowing through its coil in a magnetic field. .Galvanometers were... , and watched it as he connected the other wire to a battery. Indeed, he saw a transient current (which he called a "wave of electricity") when he connected the wire to the battery, and another when he disconnected it. This induction was due to the change in magnetic flux Magnetic flux Magnetic flux , is a measure of the amount of magnetic B field passing through a given surface . The SI unit of magnetic flux is the weber... that occurred when the battery was connected and disconnected. Within two months, Faraday had found several other manifestations of electromagnetic induction. For example, he saw transient currents when he quickly slid a bar magnet in and out of a coil of wires, and he generated a steady (DC Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through... ) current by rotating a copper disk near a bar magnet with a sliding electrical lead ("Faraday's disk"). Faraday explained electromagnetic induction using a concept he called lines of force. However, scientists at the time widely rejected his theoretical ideas, mainly because they were not formulated mathematically. An exception was Maxwell James Clerk Maxwell of Glenlair was a Scottish physicist and mathematician. His most prominent achievement was formulating classical electromagnetic theory. This united all previously unrelated observations, experiments and equations of electricity, magnetism and optics into a consistent theory... , who used Faraday's ideas as the basis of his quantitative electromagnetic theory. In Maxwell's papers, the time varying aspect of electromagnetic induction is expressed as a differential equation which Oliver Heaviside Oliver Heaviside was a self-taught English electrical engineer, mathematician, and physicist who adapted complex numbers to the study of electrical circuits, invented mathematical techniques to the solution of differential equations , reformulated Maxwell's field equations in terms of electric and... referred to as Faraday's law Faraday's law Faraday's law may refer to the following:*Faraday's laws of electrolysis in chemistry*Faraday's law of induction, also known as Faraday-Lenz Law, in electromagnetism physics**The Maxwell–Faraday equation... even though it is slightly different in form from the original version of Faraday's law, and does not describe motional EMF. Heaviside's version (see Maxwell-Faraday equation below) is the form recognized today in the group of equations known as Maxwell's equations Lenz's law, formulated by Heinrich Lenz Heinrich Lenz Heinrich Friedrich Emil Lenz was a Russian physicist of Baltic German ethnicity. He is most noted for formulating Lenz's law in electrodynamics in 1833.... in 1834, describes "flux through the circuit", and gives the direction of the induced electromotive force and current resulting from electromagnetic induction (elaborated upon in the examples below). Faraday's law as two different phenomena Some physicists have remarked that Faraday's law is a single equation describing two different phenomena: the motional EMF generated by a magnetic force on a moving wire (see Lorentz force), and the transformer EMF generated by an electric force due to a changing magnetic field (due to the Maxwell-Faraday equation). James Clerk Maxwell drew attention to this fact in his 1861 paper On Physical Lines of Force. In the latter half of part II of that paper, Maxwell gives a separate physical explanation for each of the two phenomena. A reference to these two aspects of electromagnetic induction is made in some modern textbooks. As Richard Feynman states: Reflection on this apparent dichotomy was one of the principal paths that led Einstein to develop special relativity Special relativity is the physical theory of measurement in an inertial frame of reference proposed in 1905 by Albert Einstein in the paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies".It generalizes Galileo's... Flux through a surface and EMF around a loop Faraday's law of induction makes use of the magnetic flux ΦB through a hypothetical surface Σ whose boundary is a wire loop. Since the wire loop may be moving, we write Σ(t) for the surface. The magnetic flux is defined by a surface integral Surface integral In mathematics, a surface integral is a definite integral taken over a surface ; it can be thought of as the double integral analog of the line integral... where dA is an element of surface area of the moving surface Σ(t), B is the magnetic field, and B·dA is a vector dot product In mathematics, the dot product or scalar product is an algebraic operation that takes two equal-length sequences of numbers and returns a single number obtained by multiplying corresponding entries and then summing those products... . In more visual terms, the magnetic flux through the wire loop is proportional to the number of magnetic flux lines Field line A field line is a locus that is defined by a vector field and a starting location within the field. Field lines are useful for visualizing vector fields, which are otherwise hard to depict... that pass through the loop. When the flux changes—because B changes, or because the wire loop is moved or deformed, or both—Faraday's law of induction says that the wire loop acquires an EMF In physics, electromotive force, emf , or electromotance refers to voltage generated by a battery or by the magnetic force according to Faraday's Law, which states that a time varying magnetic field will induce an electric current.It is important to note that the electromotive "force" is not a... , defined as the energy available per unit charge that travels once around the wire loop (the unit of EMF is the volt ). The EMF is given by the rate of change Time derivative A time derivative is a derivative of a function with respect to time, usually interpreted as the rate of change of the value of the function. The variable denoting time is usually written as t\,.-Notation:... of the magnetic flux: where is the magnitude of the electromotive force (EMF) in volt s and ΦB is the magnetic flux in webers. The direction of the electromotive force is given by Lenz's law Lenz's law Lenz's law is a common way of understanding how electromagnetic circuits must always obey Newton's third law and The Law of Conservation of Energy... For a tightly-wound coil of wire , composed of N identical loops, each with the same ΦB, Faraday's law of induction states that where N is the number of turns of wire and ΦB is the magnetic flux in webers through a single loop. The Maxwell-Faraday equation A changing magnetic field creates an electric field; this phenomenon is described by the Maxwell-Faraday equation: B is the magnetic flux density. This equation appears in modern sets of Maxwell's equations and is often referred to as Faraday's law. It can also be written in an integral form by the Kelvin-Stokes theorem: where, as indicated in the figure: Σ is a surface bounded by the closed contour ∂Σ, E is the electric field, dℓ is an infinitesimal Infinitesimals have been used to express the idea of objects so small that there is no way to see them or to measure them. The word infinitesimal comes from a 17th century Modern Latin coinage infinitesimus, which originally referred to the "infinite-th" item in a series.In common speech, an... vector element of the contour ∂Σ, B is the magnetic field A magnetic field is a mathematical description of the magnetic influence of electric currents and magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any given point is specified by both a direction and a magnitude ; as such it is a vector field.Technically, a magnetic field is a pseudo vector;... dA is an infinitesimal vector element of surface Σ. If its direction is orthogonal to that surface patch, the magnitude is the area of an infinitesimal patch of surface. Both dℓ and dA have a sign ambiguity; to get the correct sign, the right-hand rule Right-hand rule In mathematics and physics, the right-hand rule is a common mnemonic for understanding notation conventions for vectors in 3 dimensions. It was invented for use in electromagnetism by British physicist John Ambrose Fleming in the late 19th century.... is used, as explained in the article Kelvin-Stokes theorem. For a planar surface Σ, a positive path element dℓ of curve ∂Σ is defined by the right-hand rule as one that points with the fingers of the right hand when the thumb points in the direction of the normal n to the surface Σ. The integral around ∂Σ is called a path integral or line integral Line integral In mathematics, a line integral is an integral where the function to be integrated is evaluated along a curve.The function to be integrated may be a scalar field or a vector field... . The surface integral at the right-hand side of the Maxwell-Faraday equation is the explicit expression for the magnetic flux ΦB through Σ. Notice that a nonzero path integral for E is different from the behavior of the electric field generated by charges. A charge-generated E-field can be expressed as the gradient of a scalar field Scalar field In mathematics and physics, a scalar field associates a scalar value to every point in a space. The scalar may either be a mathematical number, or a physical quantity. Scalar fields are required to be coordinate-independent, meaning that any two observers using the same units will agree on the... that is a solution to Poisson's equation Poisson's equation In mathematics, Poisson's equation is a partial differential equation of elliptic type with broad utility in electrostatics, mechanical engineering and theoretical physics... , and has a zero path integral. See gradient theorem Gradient theorem The gradient theorem, also known as the fundamental theorem of calculus for line integrals, says that a line integral through a gradient field can be evaluated by evaluating the original scalar field at the endpoints of the curve: \phi\left-\phi\left = \int_L... The integral equation is true for any path ∂Σ through space, and any surface Σ for which that path is a boundary. If the path Σ is not changing in time, the equation can be rewritten: Proof of Faraday's law The four Maxwell's equations (including the Maxwell-Faraday equation), along with the Lorentz force law, are a sufficient foundation to derive everything in classical electromagnetism . Therefore it is possible to "prove" Faraday's law starting with these equations. Click "show" in the box below for an outline of this proof. (In an alternative approach, not shown here but equally valid, Faraday's law could be taken as the starting point and used to "prove" the Maxwell-Faraday equation and/or other laws.) Outline of proof of Faraday's law from Maxwell's equations and the Lorentz force law. The integral can change over time for two reasons: The integrand can change, or the integration region can change. These add linearly, therefore: where t0 is any given fixed time. We will show that the first term on the right-hand side corresponds to transformer EMF, the second to motional EMF (see above). The first term on the right-hand side can be rewritten using the integral form of the Maxwell-Faraday equation: Next, we analyze the second term on the right-hand side: This is the most difficult part of the proof; more details and alternate approaches can be found in references. As the loop moves and/or deforms, it sweeps out a surface (see figure on right). The magnetic flux through this swept-out surface corresponds to the magnetic flux that is either entering or exiting the loop, and therefore this is the magnetic flux that contributes to the time-derivative. (This step implicitly uses Gauss's law for magnetism: Since the flux lines have no beginning or end, they can only get into the loop by getting cut through by the wire.) As a small part of the loop moves with velocity v for a short time , it sweeps out a vector area vector . Therefore, the change in magnetic flux through the loop here is where v is the velocity of a point on the loop . Putting these together, Meanwhile, EMF is defined as the energy available per unit charge that travels once around the wire loop. Therefore, by the Lorentz force law, Combining these, "Counterexamples" to Faraday's law Although Faraday's law is always true for loops of thin wire, it can give the wrong result if naively extrapolated to other contexts. One example is the homopolar generator (above left): A spinning circular metal disc in a homogeneous magnetic field generates a DC (constant in time) EMF. In Faraday's law, EMF is the time-derivative of flux, so a DC EMF is only possible if the magnetic flux is getting uniformly larger and larger perpetually. But in the generator, the magnetic field is constant and the disc stays in the same position, so no magnetic fluxes are growing larger and larger. So this example cannot be analyzed directly with Faraday's law. Another example, due to Feynman, has a dramatic change in flux through a circuit, even though the EMF is arbitrarily small. See figure and caption above right. In both these examples, the changes in the current path are different from the motion of the material making up the circuit. The electrons in a material tend to follow the motion of the atoms that make up the material, due to scattering Scattering is a general physical process where some forms of radiation, such as light, sound, or moving particles, are forced to deviate from a straight trajectory by one or more localized non-uniformities in the medium through which they pass. In conventional use, this also includes deviation of... in the bulk and work function Work function In solid-state physics, the work function is the minimum energy needed to remove an electron from a solid to a point immediately outside the solid surface... confinement at the edges. Therefore, motional EMF is generated when a material's atoms are moving through a magnetic field, dragging the electrons with them, thus subjecting the electrons to the Lorentz force In physics, the Lorentz force is the force on a point charge due to electromagnetic fields. It is given by the following equation in terms of the electric and magnetic fields:... . In the homopolar generator, the material's atoms are moving, even though the overall geometry of the circuit is staying the same. In the second example, the material's atoms are almost stationary, even though the overall geometry of the circuit is changing dramatically. On the other hand, Faraday's law always holds for thin wires, because there the geometry of the circuit always changes in a direct relationship to the motion of the material's atoms. Although Faraday's law does not apply to all situations, the Maxwell-Faraday equation and Lorentz force law are always correct and can always be used directly. The EMF generated by Faraday's law of induction due to relative movement of a circuit and a magnetic field is the phenomenon underlying electrical generator s. When a permanent magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, and attracts or repels other magnets.A permanent magnet is an object... is moved relative to a conductor, or vice versa, an electromotive force is created. If the wire is connected through an electrical load, current will flow, and thus electrical energy is generated, converting the mechanical energy of motion to electrical energy. For example, the drum generator is based upon the figure to the right. A different implementation of this idea is the Faraday's disc , shown in simplified form on the right. In the Faraday's disc example, the disc is rotated in a uniform magnetic field perpendicular to the disc, causing a current to flow in the radial arm due to the Lorentz force. It is interesting to understand how it arises that mechanical work is necessary to drive this current. When the generated current flows through the conducting rim, a magnetic field is generated by this current through Ampère's circuital law (labeled "induced B" in the figure). The rim thus becomes an electromagnet An electromagnet is a type of magnet in which the magnetic field is produced by the flow of electric current. The magnetic field disappears when the current is turned off... that resists rotation of the disc (an example of Lenz's law ). On the far side of the figure, the return current flows from the rotating arm through the far side of the rim to the bottom brush. The B-field induced by this return current opposes the applied B-field, tending to decrease the flux through that side of the circuit, opposing the increase in flux due to rotation. On the near side of the figure, the return current flows from the rotating arm through the near side of the rim to the bottom brush. The induced B-field increases the flux on this side of the circuit, opposing the decrease in flux due to rotation. Thus, both sides of the circuit generate an emf opposing the rotation. The energy required to keep the disc moving, despite this reactive force, is exactly equal to the electrical energy generated (plus energy wasted due to friction Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and/or material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction:... , Joule heating, and other inefficiencies). This behavior is common to all generators converting mechanical energy Mechanical energy In physics, mechanical energy is the sum of potential energy and kinetic energy present in the components of a mechanical system. It is the energy associated with the motion and position of an object. The law of conservation of energy states that in an isolated system that is only subject to... to electrical energy. Electrical motor An electrical generator can be run "backwards" to become a motor. For example, with the Faraday disc, suppose a DC current is driven through the conducting radial arm by a voltage. Then by the Lorentz force law, this traveling charge experiences a force in the magnetic field B that will turn the disc in a direction given by Fleming's left hand rule Fleming's left hand rule Fleming's left-hand rule , and Fleming's right-hand rule are a pair of visual mnemonics that is used for working out the direction of motion in an electric motor, or the direction of electric current in an electric generator... . In the absence of irreversible effects, like friction or Joule heating, the disc turns at the rate necessary to make d ΦB / dt equal to the voltage driving the current. The EMF predicted by Faraday's law is also responsible for electrical transformers. When the electric current in a loop of wire changes, the changing current creates a changing magnetic field. A second wire in reach of this magnetic field will experience this change in magnetic field as a change in its coupled magnetic flux, a d ΦB / d t. Therefore, an electromotive force is set up in the second loop called the induced EMF or transformer EMF. If the two ends of this loop are connected through an electrical load, current will flow. Faraday's law is used for measuring the flow of electrically conductive liquids and slurries. Such instruments are called magnetic flow meters. The induced voltage ℇ generated in the magnetic field B due to a conductive liquid moving at velocity v is thus given by: where ℓ is the distance between electrodes in the magnetic flow meter. Parasitic induction and waste heating All metal objects moving in relation to a static magnetic field will experience inductive power flow, as do all stationary metal objects in relation to a moving magnetic field. These power flows are occasionally undesirable, resulting in flowing electric current at very low voltage and heating of the metal. There are a number of methods employed to control these undesirable inductive effects. Electromagnets in electric motors, generators, and transformers do not use solid metal, but instead use thin sheets of metal plate, called laminations. These thin plates reduce the parasitic eddy currents, as described below. Inductive coils in electronics typically use magnetic core Magnetic core A magnetic core is a piece of magnetic material with a high permeability used to confine and guide magnetic fields in electrical, electromechanical and magnetic devices such as electromagnets, transformers, electric motors, inductors and magnetic assemblies. It is made of ferromagnetic metal such... s to minimize parasitic current flow. They are a mixture of metal powder plus a resin binder that can hold any shape. The binder prevents parasitic current flow through the powdered metal. Electromagnet laminations Eddy currents occur when a solid metallic mass is rotated in a magnetic field, because the outer portion of the metal cuts more lines of force than the inner portion, hence the induced electromotive force not being uniform, tends to set up currents between the points of greatest and least potential. Eddy currents consume a considerable amount of energy and often cause a harmful rise in temperature. Only five laminations or plates are shown in this example, so as to show the subdivision of the eddy currents. In practical use, the number of laminations or punchings ranges from 40 to 66 per inch, and brings the eddy current loss down to about one percent. While the plates can be separated by insulation, the voltage is so low that the natural rust/oxide coating of the plates is enough to prevent current flow across the laminations. This is a rotor approximately 20mm in diameter from a DC motor used in a CD player. Note the laminations of the electromagnet pole pieces, used to limit parasitic inductive losses. Parasitic induction within inductors In this illustration, a solid copper bar inductor on a rotating armature is just passing under the tip of the pole piece N of the field magnet. Note the uneven distribution of the lines of force across the bar inductor. The magnetic field is more concentrated and thus stronger on the left edge of the copper bar (a,b) while the field is weaker on the right edge (c,d). Since the two edges of the bar move with the same velocity, this difference in field strength across the bar creates whorls or current eddies within the copper bar. This is one reason high voltage devices tend to be more efficient than low voltage devices. High voltage devices use many turns of small-gauge wire in motors, generators, and transformers. These many small turns of inductor wire in the electromagnet break up the eddy flows that can form within the large, thick inductors of low voltage, high current devices. An alternator is an electromechanical device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current.Most alternators use a rotating magnetic field but linear alternators are occasionally used... Faraday paradox The Faraday paradox is an experiment that illustrates Michael Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction. Faraday deduced this law in 1831, after inventing the first electromagnetic generator or dynamo, but was never satisfied with his own explanation of the paradox.-The equipment:The experiment... Moving magnet and conductor problem The moving magnet and conductor problem is a famous thought experiment, originating in the 19th century, concerning the intersection of classical electromagnetism and special relativity. In it, the current in a conductor moving with constant velocity, v, with respect to a magnet is calculated in... Maxwell, James Clerk (1881), A treatise on electricity and magnetism, Vol. II, Chapter III, §530, p. 178. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0486606376. A simple interactive Java tutorial on electromagnetic induction National High Magnetic Field Laboratory R. Vega Induction: Faraday's law and Lenz's law - Highly animated lecture Notes from Physics and Astronomy HyperPhysics at Georgia State University Faraday's Law for EMC Engineers Tankersley and Mosca: Introducing Faraday's law

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: hi doctor..i was diagnosed with minimal.ptb when i was in high school that was 25yrs.ago i had my treatment for 6mobths but i am afraid to have my xray again because the last time i had mt xray it reveals still minimal ptb but according to.my doctor it was a.scar. Doctor, is there any way to remove the scar? i am afraid to look for a new job because of that. please help. thanks.a.lot. Anxious Lady gest remedy for minimal PTB output: HelloI have gone through your question and understand your concern. Unfortunately scarring caused by the healing of lungs due to pulmonary tuberculosis is almost unavoidable. If your are concerned about not being able to get a job due the scar on x-ray then the issue can be taken care of and it is nothing to worry about.All you need is to consult a pulmonologist, get few diagnostic tests to show that currently patient is healthy with no active tuberculosis. And a written note from the pulmonologist about your previous illness and the course of treatment followed and the scar seen on x- ray is a fibrotic scar from healing. Hope your concern is answered. Thank you...

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: i have some kind of bug started off like sinus infection(bloody mucus) this blood cleared up head plugged up with mucus that went to chest now sputum is white and thick at time cough hard- eyes itch and have discharge around by lashes sneezing a lot chest feels tight output: Hello, I understand your concern. In my opinion you should be investigated for autoimmune disease. The symptoms you have mentioned is exactly matching with the autoimmune disease. Proper diagnosis in terms of what autoimmune condition is exactly is must in terms of treatment. For relief purpose you can take the low dose steroid under your doctors' guidance. But remember that it will be taken only when required. There is also possibility of allergic reaction in you. I advise you can also look for possible allergen in you. DIMITRYInfectious diseases specialist..

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Hello my name is mbjbma. I had high risk hpv 5 years ago and different doctors either tell me it is gone or it s format. The past 2 years my hpv test have been negative and i have always had a normal pap. Does that mean my hpv is gone if it has been negative? Thanks output: Association of high risk HPV with abnormal Pap is significant. Recurrence is common and I suggest you get regular screening done just to be on the safer side. Intervals between screening can be discussed with your gynecologist who is seeing you right now. Thanks..

João Havelange Havelange in 2010 7th President of FIFA 8 May 1974 – 8 June 1998 Stanley Rous Sepp Blatter Jean-Marie Faustin Godefroid de Havelange (1916-05-08)8 May 1916 16 August 2016(2016-08-16) (aged 100) Respiratory tract infection Brazilian[1] Fluminense Federal University Medal record 1951 Buenos Aires Team Jean-Marie Faustin Godefroid "João" de Havelange (Brazilian Portuguese: [ʒuˈɐ̃w aviˈlɐ̃ʒi]; 8 May 1916 – 16 August 2016) was a Brazilian lawyer, businessman, athlete and centenarian who served as the seventh President of FIFA from 1974 to 1998. His tenure as President is the second longest in FIFA's history, behind only that of Jules Rimet. He received the title of Honorary President when leaving office,[2] but resigned in April 2013.[3] He succeeded Stanley Rous and was succeeded by Sepp Blatter. João Havelange served as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1963 to 2011. He was the longest-serving active member upon his resignation.[4] In July 2012 a Swiss prosecutor's report revealed that, during his tenure on FIFA's Executive Committee, he and his son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira took more than $41 million in bribes in connection with the award of World Cup marketing rights.[5] 1 Early life, professional and Olympic career 2 Sports administrator 3 President of FIFA (1974–98) 3.1 Associates Lacoste and de Andrade 3.2 Associates Pelé and Teixeira 3.3 FIFA Presidential elections 4 Corruption allegations 4.1 Collapse of ISL 4.2 FIFA involvement 5 Health issues and death 7.1 Awards 7.2 Eponyms Early life, professional and Olympic career[edit] Havelange was born on 8 May 1916, in Rio de Janeiro, to an affluent family; his father, Faustin Havelange, had immigrated to Brazil from Belgium, worked as an arms dealer, and owned a large estate that stretched along the present-day districts of Laranjeiras, Cosme Velho and Santa Teresa. An excellent student at school, Havelange was accepted to the prestigious Law School of Fluminense Federal University, from which he graduated at the age of 24 with a BA in Law.[6] He worked as a legal advisor for bus company Auto Viação Jabaquara, and became president-director of another bus company, Viação Cometa S/A.[6] He was also senior partner at chemical and metallurgical company Orwec Química e Metallurgia Ltda.[6][7] Interested in sports since his childhood years, at the age of 20 Havelange competed as a swimmer at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, but failed to go beyond the heats of the 400m freestyle and 1500m freestyle events. He was also part of the Brazilian team that tied for 13th in water polo at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki.[8] He was the chef de mission of the Brazilian delegation at the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne. Sports administrator[edit] As President of the Metropolitan Swimming Federation in Brazil, Havelange became a member of the Brazilian Olympic Committee and joined the Union Cycliste Internationale in 1958. After becoming Vice-President of the Brazilian Sports Confederation, he served as President of the Confederation from 1958 to 1973.[9] President of FIFA (1974–98)[edit] Havelange with Sepp Blatter in 1982. In 1974 Havelange defeated Englishman Stanley Rous for the presidency of FIFA, the governing body of world association football. Havelange became the first (and, to date, only) non-European to hold the post. He lobbied in 86 different countries for the presidency, often accompanied by Pelé.[10] Sports marketer Patrick Nally said that "Havelange had seen the future...he knew that if he became the president of the only federation already running its own high-profile world championship then he would enjoy huge economic power".[11] Appealing to developing nations, Havelange promised an expanded World Cup, and a youth World Cup that they might be able to host.[10] Threatened by Havelange's international campaign for the presidency, Rous asked Horst Dassler, then managing Adidas' French subsidiary to help his campaign.[11] Dassler engaged in intense lobbying of the delegates at the 39th FIFA Congress, where the vote was to be held. The election went to a second round, and Havelange won by sixteen votes.[11] Havelange did not have sufficient money to fund his programme for FIFA, so he sought financial support from Dassler, who wished to supply Adidas branded equipment to the national federations.[11] Supported by sports marketer Patrick Nally, Havelange enlisted Adidas and Coca-Cola as primary sponsors of FIFA tournaments.[12] Havelange in 1982, during his presidency of FIFA. The support of commercial organizations was crucial to the future of Havelange and FIFA, and provided a model for global sporting federations. Nally stated that: "The money we brought into FIFA through Coke was clearly changing the face of the federation. Havelange was building a new international headquarters in Zurich, appointing professional full-time staff and PR and finance people. FIFA was showing the way. Other federations were watching closely. Many others were eager to follow and quick to fall into the hands of Horst and myself"[11] The sale of television rights increased greatly under Havelange's leadership. In 1987 the European rights to the next three FIFA World Cups were sold for $440 million, the non-United States rights for the three tournaments from 1998 sold for $2.2 billion.[13] Under Havelange's presidency the FIFA World Cup expanded from 16 to 32 teams, with Havelange overseeing six world cups during his time in office.[14] The FIFA U-17 World Cup, FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA Confederations Cup and FIFA Women's World Cup were all introduced under his tenure.[14] Associates Lacoste and de Andrade[edit] The head of the Argentina's 1978 FIFA World Cup organizing committee, Omar Actis, was assassinated in August 1976. Awarded the World Cup in 1966, Argentina did little to prepare for the event before the 1976 Argentine coup d'état that saw a military junta rule the country. In 1982 Carlos Lacoste, former de facto President of Argentina during the junta, became Vice-President of FIFA. Lacoste had previously been head of the organising committee for the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina and was cousin of de facto President Jorge Rafael Videla. Democratic rule was restored to Argentina in 1983 and Lacoste was investigated for corruption.[15] Havelange was also an associate of Brazilian criminal Castor de Andrade, head of an illegal gambling association.[16] Andrade was sentenced to six years in prison in 1994 for racketeering. Havelange wrote a character reference for Andrade in 1987 as "amiable and pleasant ... predominant feature .. loyalty .. good family man, a devoted friend, and is admired as a sports administrator".[17] "I authorize Castor de Andrade to use this statement as he deems appropriate".[16] Police investigating Andrade found this reference and evidence that Andrade had provided Havelange with a box at the Rio Carnival.[16] Associates Pelé and Teixeira[edit] Havelange's daughter, Lucia, was married to the Brazilian football administrator Ricardo Teixeira for 30 years. They divorced in 1997.[14] Teixeira was President of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) between 1989 and 2012. A financier, Teixeira had no previous experience of sports administration.[18] In 1993, angry when his television company was rejected in a contest for domestic rights,[19] Brazilian footballer Pelé accused Teixeira of corruption, resulting in an eight-year feud between Pelé and Havelange.[18] Consequently, Havelange banned Pelé from the draw for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in Las Vegas. Criticisms over the ban were perceived to have negatively affected Havelange's chances of re-election as FIFA President in 1994.[19] As in 1974, Havelange embarked on an intense lobbying mission, with the aim of securing votes from the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the Central American, North American and Caribbean Football Confederation (CONCACAF). The loyalty of these "third world" football federations was rewarded by the expansion of the World Cup from 24 to 32 teams for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. As a result of the expansion and allocation of places, tension grew between the governing body of European football (UEFA) and the FIFA leadership.[20] As Brazilian Minister for Sports, Pelé drafted legislation approved as the Pelé Law in December 1997 by the lower house of the Brazilian congress. Football clubs had to become companies within two years, giving players greater freedom of contract and limiting the power of the Brazilian Football Confederation. Havelange threatened to ban Brazil from the 1998 FIFA World Cup if the law passed.[21] FIFA Presidential elections[edit] At the 1994 meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee in New York, Havelange was criticized for his allocation of appointments to FIFA's standing committees. Havelange postponed a discussion on the appointments, distributed a list with the new composition of the committees, and declared the list passed without a vote.[19] In 1998 Havelange announced that he would stand down as FIFA president after 24 years in charge.[22] He told British Prime Minister Tony Blair he wanted England to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup.[22] The English Football Association had pledged support to Lennart Johansson in the forthcoming FIFA Presidential election, whereas Havelange supported FIFA General Secretary Sepp Blatter.[22] Johansson was in favour of honouring a "gentleman's agreement" between the English and German football associations, that Germany would not oppose England's bid for the 1996 European Football Championship, and England would not oppose Germany's bid for the 2006 World Cup.[22] Johansson said "The dumbest thing about breaking the agreement is that we're faced with an expensive competition. We would be better off spending the money on real soccer." Johansson criticized Havelange's financial decisions and "undemocratic behaviour."[22] At a meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee, Johansson demanded Sepp Blatter resign as FIFA General Secretary if he planned to run for the presidency of FIFA. Havelange rejected the demand and ended the meeting before a vote could be taken, described as "a defeat for democracy" by Johansson.[22] If elected, Johansson planned that an independent accountant would examine FIFA's business practices under Havelange.[22] Blatter was elected by 111 to 80 votes, amid claims of bribery.[23] Corruption allegations[edit] In 1999 De Telegraaf reported that Havelange accepted gifts of diamonds, bicycles, sports articles, Delft blue porcelain, paintings and art books, in connection with Amsterdam's failed bid for the 1992 Summer Olympic Games.[24] "I remember it very well because he had special wishes, wishes which were in conflict with the IOC laws," said Peter Kronenberg, who headed the press office of the Amsterdam Olympic Games 1992 Foundation.[24] Collapse of ISL[edit] Disagreements between Nally and Dassler led to the foundation of International Sport and Leisure (ISL) in 1982. Dassler, French businessman Andre Guelfi, and Japanese advertising firm Dentsu established ISL to help market the rights for the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. Dassler's proximity to Havelange, and his support for Juan Antonio Samaranch, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) enabled ISL to win lucrative future World Cup and Olympic contracts. Following Dassler's death in 1987, and the departure of key executives, ISL overpaid for sports rights in the 1990s, and was declared bankrupt in 2001. From 1989 to 2001, ISL paid 185 million Swiss francs (CHF) in "personal commissions" to sports officials and other people involved in the marketing of sports rights. In the 2008 fraud trial that arose from the collapse of ISL, a judge referred to the commissions as "schmiergeld", a German word for bribery.[25] In May 2006 British investigative reporter Andrew Jennings' book Foul! The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote-Rigging and Ticket Scandals implicated Havelange in the collapse of ISL, and revealed that some football officials were urged to secretly repay the commissions they received.[26] In 2011 Jennings told Brazil's Senate that Havelange may have amassed $50 million or more in bribes, through a front company called Sicuretta.[27] A IOC ethics committee was announced in June 2011 to investigate claims that Havelange received a bribe of $1 million in connection with ISL.[28] The investigation was prompted by Jennings' claims in FIFA's Shame, an episode of Panorama broadcast on BBC One in May 2011.[28] Days before the ethics committee was set to happen, Havelange resigned as a member of the IOC, citing health concerns. The investigation was closed, with reports that it would have suspended the membership of Havelange for two years.[29] In November 2011 Jennings accused Havelange of being one of the people who collectively paid 5.5 million CHF to close the 2008 ISL fraud trial.[30] In July 2012, after protracted court proceedings, Havelange and Teixeira were named as beneficiaries of bribes from ISL. A prosecutor in the canton of Zug revealed a document saying that, from 1992 to 2000, Havelange and Teixeira were paid 41m CHF by ISL.[5] Teixeira had resigned from FIFA in March 2012.[31] In 2012 Sepp Blatter said that at the time of this payment, commercial bribery was not a crime in Switzerland.[5] In 1997, as President of FIFA, Havelange had granted ISL FIFA's exclusive marketing rights, and exclusive TV and radio rights to the 2002 and 2006 World Cups in 1998. ISL paid FIFA 200m CHF for the marketing rights and $1.4 billion for the TV rights. After ISL's bankruptcy, its liquidators examined all payments made by the company.[5] FIFA involvement[edit] FIFA, under the presidency of Sepp Blatter, was found to have known about the bribes, yet argued it did not need to have the money repaid. Prosecutions were mounted for alleged embezzlement against Havelange and Teixeira, but were stopped in May 2010, after Havelange and Texeira repaid CHF500,000 and CHF2.5m respectively.[5] The repayments were considered reasonable, because bribes paid before 1995 were outside the statute of limitations and Havelange was now over 90 years old.[5] The prosecutor also believed that Havelange and Teixeira were guilty of criminal breaches of their duties to serve FIFA as senior executives.[5] Following the release of the report, Blatter vowed to strip Havelange of his honorary presidency at the next FIFA Congress.[32] Health issues and death[edit] In March and April 2012 Havelange was hospitalized for a seriously infected right ankle in Rio de Janeiro, which necessitated a period in intensive care.[33][34][35] In April 2013 he resigned from his position as FIFA's Honorary President for "health and personal reasons".[3] Havelange was again admitted to hospital in June 2014, for a lung infection, and in November 2015 with respiratory problems.[36][37] He died on 16 August 2016 at the age of 100 in Rio de Janeiro during the 2016 Summer Olympics which were being held there.[38][39][40] Writing in June 1998, as Havelange was leaving FIFA, and before the eruption of most of the controversies surrounding him, The New York Times commented on Havelange's leadership: [Havelange] ran FIFA, as the world soccer federation is known, with a combination of autocratic rigidity and progressive reform. In 24 years as FIFA's president, Havelange was credited with building the Zurich-based organization from a fledgling operation in a private residence to a worldwide force that oversees a $250 billion-a-year international industry. With Blatter working by his side for 17 years and implementing his programs as FIFA's general secretary, Havelange increased the size of the World Cup from 16 to 32 teams, introduced a World Cup for women, gained a place for women's soccer in the Summer Olympics and built up marketing and television rights fees to the point that each of FIFA's 204 national federations will receive $1 million from the 1998 World Cup. —  The New York Times, [41] Havelange was elected honorary president of FIFA in 1998,[2] but resigned in 2013.[3] On August 24, 2006, Havelange was named honorary Vice President of the Brazilian Ice Sports Federation (CBDG) for his support in the development of winter sports in Brazil.[42] Awards[edit] Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur (France)[43] Order of Special Merit in Sports (Brazil)[44] Commander of the Cavaliers of the Order of Infante D. Henrique (Portugal)[44] Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (Spain)[44] Eponyms[edit] Aerial view of the Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos, formerly named after Havelange. The following have been named after Havelange in his honor for his important contributions. The 2000 Brazilian Championship, won by Vasco da Gama, and organized by Clube dos 13 (an association of the Brazilian most traditional clubs), was called Copa João Havelange. A stadium built for the 2007 Pan American Games was named Estádio Olímpico João Havelange. The stadium hosted the athletics competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[45] On 10 February 2017, the stadium was renamed Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos. The Estádio Parque do Sabiá's former name[46] Trinidad's Dr. João Havelange Centre of Excellence ^ "João Havelange". Estadão – Acervo. ^ a b Enciclopédia do Futebol Brasileiro Lance Volume 2. Rio de Janeiro: Aretê Editorial S/A. 2001. p. 534. ISBN 85-88651-01-7. ^ a b c "Resigns Honorary Presidency". Retrieved 1 May 2013. ^ "Joao Havelange resigns from IOC". BBC News Online. 4 December 2011. Retrieved 29 March 2012. ^ a b c d e f g Conn, David (12 July 2012). "Sepp Blatter faces calls to step down at Fifa over 'bribery cover-up'". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 12 July 2012. ^ a b c "João Havelange" (in Portuguese). Netsaber. Retrieved 2 July 2008. ^ "João Havelange" (in Portuguese). Guia dos Curiosos. Retrieved 2 July 2008. [permanent dead link] ^ "João Havelange profile". Sports Reference. Retrieved 29 March 2012. ^ "Joao Havelange: The swimmer who revolutionised World Football". MyLaw/The Sports Capmus. 7 June 2011. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2012. ^ a b Tim Harris (10 November 2009). Players: 250 Men, Women and Animals Who Created Modern Sport. Random House. pp. 419–. ISBN 978-1-4090-8691-8. Retrieved 29 March 2012. ^ a b c d e Vyv Simson; Andrew Jennings (1 July 1992). Dishonored games: corruption, money & greed at the Olympics. SP Books. pp. 51–. ISBN 978-1-56171-199-4. Retrieved 31 March 2012. ^ Nauright, John; Parrish, Charles (2012). Sports around the world: history, culture, and practice. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. pp. 6–8. ISBN 9781598843002. ^ "The paymasters". The Economist. 4 June 1998. Retrieved 30 March 2012. ^ a b c "Brazil football boss Ricardo Teixeira takes sick leave". BBC News Online. 9 March 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2012. ^ J. A. Mangan; Lamartine Pereira da Costa (2002). Sport in Latin American society: past and present. Psychology Press. pp. 113–. ISBN 978-0-7146-5126-2. Retrieved 31 March 2012. ^ a b c Richard Brentnall (1 August 2004). Pitch black. Troubador Publishing Ltd. pp. 163–. ISBN 978-1-904744-35-1. Retrieved 29 March 2012. ^ Hill, Declan (2010). "21". The Fix: Soccer and Organized Crime (pb). Toronto Canada: Random House, McLelland & Stewart. p. 292. ISBN 9780771041396. Retrieved 23 May 2013. ^ a b Bellos, Alex (2003). Futebol. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-7475-6179-8. ^ a b c Paul Darby (2002). Africa, football, and FIFA: politics, colonialism, and resistance. F. Cass. pp. 110–. ISBN 978-0-7146-4968-9. Retrieved 31 March 2012. ^ Darby, Paul (2001). Africa, Football and FIFA: Politics, Colonialism and Resistance. London: Frank Cass. pp. 181–182. ISBN 9780714649689. ^ "Facing football's bald facts". The Economist. 18 December 1997. Retrieved 30 March 2012. ^ a b c d e f g "Uefa chief backs Germany". BBC News Online. 22 March 1998. Retrieved 29 March 2012. ^ Jennings, Andrew (2006). Foul! The secret world of FIFA: Bribes, Vote rigging and ticket scandals. Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-00-720869-2. ^ a b "Taking advantage". CNN. 22 January 1998. Retrieved 29 March 2012. ^ Bond, By David (13 March 2008). "The £66m 'bribe' shadow hanging over Fifa". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 August 2016. ^ "Livro acusa cartolas brasileiros" (in Portuguese). O Estado de S. Paulo. 13 May 2006. Archived from the original on 28 March 2008. Retrieved 2 July 2008. ^ "Corrupt Fifa stinks says Jennings". BBC News. ^ a b Scott, Matt (16 June 2011). "Fifa's João Havelange faces IOC inquiry into £610,000 bung allegation". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 29 March 2012. ^ Gibson, Owen (4 December 2011). "João Havelange resigns from International Olympic Committee". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 29 March 2012. ^ "Sums of bribes for top FIFA officials exposed at hearing in Brazil". Play the Game. 2 November 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2012. ^ "Teixeira resigns FIFA". Retrieved 1 May 2013. ^ "Fifa president Sepp Blatter plans to strip disgraced Joao Havelange of honorary president title". London: The Telegraph. 15 July 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2012. ^ "Former Fifa president João Havelange has serious bacterial infection". London: The Guardian. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2012. ^ "Havelange condition still serious, says hospital". Reuters. 26 March 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2012. ^ "Joao Havelange to leave ICU". ESPN. 3 April 2012. Archived from the original on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2012. ^ "Brazil: Former Fifa president Joao Havelange in hospital". London: BBC News Online. Retrieved 6 June 2014. ^ "Fifa's former president João Havelange admitted to hospital in Brazil". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 27 November 2015. ^ "Ex-presidente da Fifa, João Havelange morre aos 100 anos no Rio de Janeiro" (in Portuguese). UOL. Retrieved 16 August 2016. ^ "Joao Havelange: Former Fifa president and IOC member dies aged 100". BBC Sport. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016. ^ "João Havelange, president of Fifa from 1974 to 1998, dies aged 100". Guardian. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016. ^ Longman, Jere (9 June 1998). "WORLD CUP '98; U.S. Ally Elected to Head World Soccer Body". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 August 2016. ^ "João Havelange (FIFA) nomeado vice presidente da CDBG" (in Portuguese). Brazilian Ice Sports Federation. 24 August 2006. Archived from the original on 7 April 2008. Retrieved 2 July 2008. ^ Shaw, Phil (17 August 2016). "Joao Havelange obituary: Former Fifa president and IOC member". The Independent. Retrieved 19 August 2016. ^ a b c Steen, Rob (2014). Floodlights and Touchlines: A History of Spectator Sport. A&C Black. p. 159. ISBN 9781408181379. ^ "Sport and Venues" (PDF). Rio 2016 Committee. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 November 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2015. ^ "Cidade mineira muda nome de estádio e retira homenagem a João Havelange". Globo.com (in Portuguese). Retrieved 18 August 2016. 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Clinical MedicineClinical trials Open Access | 10.1172/jci.insight.147474 The effect of low-dose IL-2 and Treg adoptive cell therapy in patients with type 1 diabetes Shen Dong,1,2 Kamir J. Hiam-Galvez,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 Cody T. Mowery,10,11 Kevan C. Herold,12 Stephen E. Gitelman,2,13 Jonathan H. Esensten,14 Weihong Liu,1,2 Angela P. Lares,1,2 Ashley S. Leinbach,1,2 Michael Lee,1,2 Vinh Nguyen,1,2 Stanley J. Tamaki,15 Whitney Tamaki,2 Courtney M. Tamaki,2 Morvarid Mehdizadeh,1,2 Amy L. Putnam,1,2 Matthew H. Spitzer,3,4,6,7,8,9 Chun Jimmie Ye,10 Qizhi Tang,16 and Jeffrey A. Bluestone1,2,3 1Sean N. Parker Autoimmune Research Laboratory and 2Diabetes Center, UCSF, San Francisco, California, USA. 3Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, San Francisco, California, USA. 4Department of Microbiology and Immunology, 5Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, 6Department of Otolaryngology, 7Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and 8Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCSF, San Francisco, California, USA. 9Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, California, USA. 10Institute for Human Genetics and 11Medical Scientist Training Program, UCSF, San Francisco, California, USA. 12Department of Immunobiology and Internal Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. 13Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, Department of Pediatrics; 14Department of Laboratory Medicine; 15Parnassus Flow Cytometry Core; and 16Transplantation Research Lab, Division of Transplant Surgery, Department of Surgery, UCSF, San Francisco, California, USA. Address correspondence to: Jeffrey A. Bluestone, HSW 1112 Box 0540, 513 Parnassus Ave., San Francisco, California 94143, USA. Phone: 415.514.0417; Email: Jeff.Bluestone@ucsf.edu. Find articles by Dong, S. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar Find articles by Hiam-Galvez, K. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar Find articles by Mowery, C. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar | Find articles by Herold, K. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar | Find articles by Gitelman, S. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar Find articles by Esensten, J. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar Find articles by Liu, W. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar Find articles by Lares, A. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar Find articles by Leinbach, A. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar Find articles by Lee, M. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar Find articles by Nguyen, V. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar Find articles by Tamaki, S. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar Find articles by Tamaki, W. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar | Find articles by Tamaki, C. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar Find articles by Mehdizadeh, M. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar | Find articles by Putnam, A. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar Find articles by Spitzer, M. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar | Find articles by Ye, C. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar Find articles by Tang, Q. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar | Find articles by Bluestone, J. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar Published July 29, 2021 - More info Published in Volume 6, Issue 18 on September 22, 2021 JCI Insight. 2021;6(18):e147474. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.147474. © 2021 Dong et al. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Published July 29, 2021 - Version history Received: January 12, 2021; Accepted: July 28, 2021 BACKGROUND. A previous phase I study showed that the infusion of autologous Tregs expanded ex vivo into patients with recent-onset type 1 diabetes (T1D) had an excellent safety profile. However, the majority of the infused Tregs were undetectable in the peripheral blood 3 months postinfusion (Treg-T1D trial). Therefore, we conducted a phase I study (TILT trial) combining polyclonal Tregs and low-dose IL-2, shown to enhance Treg survival and expansion, and assessed the impact over time on Treg populations and other immune cells. METHODS. Patients with T1D were treated with a single infusion of autologous polyclonal Tregs followed by one or two 5-day courses of recombinant human low-dose IL-2 (ld-IL-2). Flow cytometry, cytometry by time of flight, and 10x Genomics single-cell RNA-Seq were used to follow the distinct immune cell populations’ phenotypes over time. RESULTS. Multiparametric analysis revealed that the combination therapy led to an increase in the number of infused and endogenous Tregs but also resulted in a substantial increase from baseline in a subset of activated NK, mucosal associated invariant T, and clonal CD8+ T cell populations. CONCLUSION. These data support the hypothesis that ld-IL-2 expands exogenously administered Tregs but also can expand cytotoxic cells. These results have important implications for the use of a combination of ld-IL-2 and Tregs for the treatment of autoimmune diseases with preexisting active immunity. TRIAL REGISTRATION. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01210664 (Treg-T1D trial), NCT02772679 (TILT trial). FUNDING. Sean N. Parker Autoimmune Research Laboratory Fund, National Center for Research Resources. Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) is an increasingly prevalent, yet still poorly understood, medical condition with devastating long-term complications, such as retinopathy, neuropathy, cardiovascular disease, and renal failure. The disease pathogenesis, which is influenced by genetic and environmental factors, is attributed to the loss of immune tolerance, which results in the development and inadequate control of pathogenic, autoreactive T cells that recognize and destroy islet β cells (1–3). Tregs play a predominant role in maintaining peripheral tolerance, and defects in their function have been described in patients with T1D (4–6). For instance, several studies have shown that the Tregs in the peripheral blood of patients with T1D can produce effector cytokines, such as IFN-γ (7, 8), and fail to regulate activated T effector cells (9, 10). Adoptive transfer of Tregs has been shown to reverse T1D in a mouse model of spontaneous disease (11). Based on these results, we previously conducted a phase I trial (NCT01210664 — Treg-T1D) testing expanded autologous polyclonal Tregs as therapeutics aimed to restore tolerance in patients with recent-onset T1D (12). We demonstrated that Tregs could be efficiently isolated from peripheral blood of patients with T1D and expanded 300- to 2000-fold within a 2-week period. Moreover, the dysfunction that was associated with Tregs from patients with T1D was improved during culture. The expanded Tregs expressed higher levels of cytotoxic T lymphocyte–associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) and latency-associated peptide, and a defect in IL-2–induced STAT5 signaling was reversed. Infusion of the Tregs in patients with recent-onset T1D had an excellent safety profile, and about 50% of recipients maintained their insulin production for 2 years. Moreover, we showed that the adoptively transferred Treg cells remained phenotypically stable in the blood for at least 1 year postinfusion. However, there was a considerable and rapid decline in the percentage of infused Tregs in the peripheral blood, with, on average, over 75% of the infused Tregs absent from the circulation within 90 days. We hypothesized that the rapid decline might be attributed, at least in part, to a lack of IL-2 in patients with T1D, especially because GWAS have suggested a genetic link to IL-2 deficiency in this autoimmune setting (13). IL-2 is a survival and growth factor cytokine essential for Treg development and function, inducing effective STAT5-mediated signaling to achieve full functionality and survival (14–17). In fact, genetic deficiency in the IL-2/IL-2R pathway leads to systemic autoimmunity (18). Tregs express the highest level of high-affinity α chain (CD25) as part of the trimeric receptor (α, β, γ) receptor complex, which make them highly responsive to even small amounts of the cytokine in the biological environment. In vivo administration of low doses of IL-2 can expand Tregs and ameliorate disease in multiple autoimmune disease models in mice. For instance, low-dose IL-2 (ld-IL-2) prevents and reverses diabetes in the spontaneous NOD mouse model (19, 20). Early clinical studies suggested that ld-IL-2 blocks the progression of graft-versus-host disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, and autoimmune hepatitis (21–24). However, IL-2 is also a growth factor for conventional T, NK, and other potentially pathogenic cells due to the ubiquitous expression of the IL-2 receptor subunits in multiple activated immune cell populations. Hence, the dual activity of IL-2 put the drug at the crossroads of tolerance versus activation, and predicting its therapeutic effects remains uncertain (25). Thus, we designed a phase I study to determine if a combination of autologous Treg and ld-IL-2 therapies could demonstrate significant biologic activity based on multiparametric biomarker analyses of peripheral blood samples collected longitudinally from patients with T1D enrolled in the study. Study design, patient population, and analysis of metabolic function levels. The phase I trial was designed as an open-label, dose-escalating study conducted at 2 sites, Yale University and the UCSF. Nine patients met the eligibility criteria. Seven were enrolled in the first cohort and 2 in the second cohort (Supplemental Figure 1; supplemental material available online with this article; https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.147474DS1). A schematic representation of the Treg dose escalation plan and the approved plan for Proleukin (IL-2) dosing are illustrated in Supplemental Figure 2, A and B, respectively. Representation of an individual’s planned participation is shown in Supplemental Figure 2C. All the participants in the first cohort received the prescribed infusion of the expanded Tregs (3 × 106/kg) (Supplemental Table 1). There were 2 dosing cohorts planned, each consisting of 6–8 subjects treated with a single infusion of polyclonal Tregs and ld-IL-2 at the doses shown in Supplemental Table 1. Supplemental Table 1 and Supplemental Data File 3 show the demographics and baseline hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels. The mean age was 25.7 ± 4.7 years, and the mean disease duration was 46.1 ± 15.7 weeks at the time of screening. Metabolic assessment of all patients from cohort 1 and cohort 2 was followed up to 104 weeks and 78 weeks, respectively. Changes in β cell function over time were assessed by measuring the mixed meal tolerance test–stimulated (MMTT-stimulated) 4-hour C-peptide AUC, HbA1c, and insulin usage. The adverse events were limited to local events at the site of IL-2 injection (Supplemental Data File 1). The stimulated C-peptide levels decreased in all the patients within the first 30 days of treatment (Figure 1A). After 30 days, the stimulated C-peptide levels stabilized or increased slightly in 2 participants but continued to decline in the other 7 participants. Consistent with this, the insulin usage and HbA1c increased in 6/7 and 5/7 participants, respectively (Figure 1A). Retrospective analyses, made available after the initiation of the TILT study, showed a similar C-peptide decay in the TILT patients when compared to the C-peptide responses in age-matched individuals who received placebo drugs in the anti-interleukin 1 inhibitor (Anakinra) AIDA and the anti-IL-1β Canakinumab TrialNet TN-14 trials (26, 27). Thus, the TILT combination therapy did not improve islet metabolic function in any of the first 9 patients (Figure 1, B and C). These results suggested that the number of participants planned for the trial would not be sufficient to demonstrate efficacy, which led to termination of the trial after the second patient in cohort 2 was treated. Metabolic assessments. (A) (Left column) C-peptide AUC is reported for fasting 4-hour mixed meal tolerance test (MMTT) without carbohydrate restriction for 3 days preceding testing. The target glucose level at the start of the test was between 70 and 200 mg/dL. Regular insulin or short-acting insulin analogs were allowed up to 6 and 2 hours before the test, respectively, to achieve the desired glucose level. The baseline blood samples (−10 minutes and 0 minutes) were drawn, and then patients drank Boost high protein nutritional energy drink (Nestle Nutrition) at 6 kcal/kg (1 kcal/mL) to a maximum of 360 mL. Blood was drawn at 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, and 240 minutes following Boost dose. C-peptide AUC was calculated using the trapezoid rule. (Middle column) Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). (Right column) Insulin use. Insulin use for the 3 days immediately preceding the scheduled visit was self-reported. The average total insulin (long acting + short acting) use per day normalized to weight is reported. Table shows Treg and IL-2 dosage of each patient. MIU, million international units. (B) Percentage of relative C-peptide loss up to 104 and 78 weeks in patients from cohorts 1 and 2, respectively, of the TILT trial (2 left graphs) and from the placebo cohort of the AIDA and NT-14 trial (right graph). (C) Comparison of percentage of relative C-peptide loss at the indicated time point between the patients from TILT and placebo groups. Longitudinal tracking of Treg postinfusion. In our previous studies, in vitro–expanded Tregs retained a stable functional phenotype after infusion but declined precipitously as a percentage of total T cells in the peripheral blood after 1 month. We had hypothesized that the ld-IL-2 treatment might increase the functional phenotype and persistence of the adoptively transferred Treg population in vivo. To track the effect of ld-IL-2 on the infused Tregs’ persistence, Treg cell DNA was labeled with deuterium (2H) during the ex vivo expansion phase, and percentage of 2H-enriched DNA in PBMC sorted Tregs was measured by mass spectrometry. Figure 2A shows detailed kinetics of 2H-enriched DNA of Tregs isolated from each patient at the indicated time point. In most patients, there was an increase in the percentage of 2H-labeled Tregs after each 5-day course of IL-2 (at day 7 and day 43, shown with dashed lines) (Figure 2A, small graphs). The increased percentage of 2H-labeled Tregs was transient and declined by 91 days. Depending on the participant, this occurred ~6–12 weeks after the last course of IL-2 treatment. Figure 2B shows the level of 2H enrichment normalized to the maximum value of each patient. Since the 2H labeling would be expected to dilute if the cells went into cycle, it seemed likely that the increase in the percentage of 2H label after IL-2 treatment reflected changes in Treg trafficking or survival rather than proliferation. A comparison of the kinetics of 2H enrichment in the peripheral blood Tregs of TILT trial participants with analyses performed in the previous Treg-T1D trial in participants treated with a similar number of infused Tregs (as described in Supplemental Table 1) showed that there was a longer term maintenance of the cells in the peripheral blood up to a year in the 6 patients who received both doses of IL-2 (Figure 2B), supporting the hypothesis that IL-2 therapy enhanced long-term Treg survival. Longitudinal tracking of in vitro–expanded Tregs postinfusion. (A) Graphs show the percentage of DNA enrichment with deuterium (2H) in PBMC sorted Treg cells from TILT trial patients. Enlarged view of the 2H labeling kinetics up to 63 days is represented in the upper right of each graph. Black dashed lines indicate the fifth day of each IL-2 infusion course. Table shows Treg and IL-2 dosage of each patient. (B) Graphs show the percentage of deuterated DNA enrichment normalized to the maximum value in total PBMCs over time in each patient from the TILT trial. Light blue lines and gray areas show superimposition to normalized percentage of deuterated DNA enrichment of the T1D trial. Table shows Treg dosage. (C) Percentage of 2H level in postinfusion sorted non-Tregs versus Tregs in TILT trial patients. Paired 2-tailed t tests were performed in order to assess statistical significance. *P < 0.05. To determine the stability of the adoptively transferred Tregs, at various time points, PBMCs were sorted into Treg (CD4+CD25+CD127lo/–) and non-Treg populations (CD4+CD25loCD127hi CD45RO+, CD45RO+CD62Llo, CD45RO+CD62Lhi) and analyzed for the presence of 2H label. As seen in Figure 2C, all the 2H labeling remained associated with the CD4+CD25+CD127lo/– Treg population over the first 28 days. Only background levels of 2H label were observed in non-Treg subsets (including activated T effector/memory cells), suggesting that the adoptive cell transferred (ACT) Tregs retained a stable phenotype over time (Figure 2C). Phenotypic changes of infused and endogenous Treg population after ld-IL-2 treatment. The effects of ld-IL-2 on the Treg populations (both adoptively transferred and endogenous) in the 9 patients of the TILT trial were compared with those of 9 Treg-T1D study that had received a comparable or higher Treg dosage in the original phase I trial (NCT01210664-Treg-T1D trial) (Figure 3A legend table and Supplemental Table 1). A total of 76 frozen PBMC samples from the 18 patients, harvested at different time points (Supplemental Table 2), were analyzed by flow cytometry, cytometry by time of flight (CyTOF), single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq), and TCR sequencing (TCR-Seq). Low-dose IL-2 induces activation phenotype in the Treg subset at a protein level. (A) Graphs represent the percentage of Tregs (left column) by flow cytometry at the indicated time points. TILT trial patient data are shown in upper graphs, and the Treg-T1D trial patients are represented in the lower graphs. Red asterisks indicate patients who received only 1 dose of IL-2. Tables indicate dosage of IL-2 and Tregs for each patient. Paired 2-tailed t tests were performed in order to assess statistical significance. (B and C) Percentage of FOXP3+ and median expression of FOXP3+ as well as median expression of CD27, CTLA-4, and HLA-DR was assessed by CyTOF. Data were normalized; cell populations were gated manually in CellEngine. Populations were then exported for analysis in R, and marker expression values were then arsinh-transformed with a cofactor of 5 and represented in dot plots. The results are plotted into 2 separated batches (batches 1 and 2) due to batch effect affecting the comparison of the samples within the same analysis pipeline (batches layout of the samples, Supplemental Table 3). Asterisks indicate significance relative to the control group determined by 1-way ANOVA. ***P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001. Flow cytometric analyses of the whole PBMCs showed a significant increase in the percentage of the CD4+CD25+CD127lo/– population in all the TILT patients after each ld-IL-2 treatment (Figure 3A). Similarly, CyTOF analysis showed an increase in the percentage and median expression of FOXP3 and also an increase in the median expression of activation markers such as CD27, CTLA-4, and HLA-DR in the Treg population after each course of ld-IL-2 treatment (day 7 and day 42) (Figure 3, B and C). The ld-IL-2–dependent increase of FOXP3+ Treg population was consistent with data shown in previous ld-IL-2 trials (28–30). To delve more deeply into phenotypic changes in immune subsets, CD45+ cells were isolated by FACS, combined into 30 pools, and sequenced in 3 distinct batches (Supplemental Table 4). The data from individual time points of each patient’s samples were then deconvoluted using the Demuxlet computational package (Supplemental Figure 3A) (31). The gene expression profile of more than 400,000 cells was integrated into a single uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP) plot clustering. The main immune cell populations were identified by known markers (Supplemental Figure 3B, including Tregs, B cells, NK cells, CD4 cells, CD8 cells, and dendritic cells/macrophages) as well as populations of granzyme B–activated (GZMB) and perforin-activated (PRF1) cells were illustrated using violin plots and UMAP plots (Supplemental Figure 3, C and D). UMAP analysis showed that FOXP3 expression was localized to cluster 11 (Supplemental Figure 3) in both the TILT and Treg-T1D samples (Figure 4A). Longitudinal analysis showed that each ld-IL-2 treatment (day 7 and day 42) resulted in an increased percentage of FOXP3+ T cells for all the patients from the TILT trial compared with Treg-T1D patients (Figure 4B). Expressed genes in the Treg cluster were compared between Treg-T1D and TILT samples. There were only a limited number of differences in gene expression between Treg-T1D and TILT Treg population before ld-IL-2 treatment (day 0) (Figure 4C, left volcano plot). In contrast, Tregs from TILT patients showed multiple upregulated mRNAs at day 7, after the first course of IL-2. The upregulated gene expression profiles included both phenotypic and functional Treg markers, including FOXP3, TNFRSF18 (GITR), LRRC32 (GARP), and IKZF1 (IKAROS); activation marker genes, including HLA-DRA and IL2RA; and IL-2 signaling genes, including CISH, SOCS2, BCL2, and PRDM1 (Figure 4C, right volcano plot). Moreover, corroborating CyTOF data (Figure 3, B and C), FOXP3, LRRC32, TNFRSF18, HLA-DR, and CD27 mean mRNA expression was increased in Treg populations in the majority of the participants after ld-IL-2 treatment at day 7 and day 42 (Figure 4D; upper graphs) when compared with samples from patients in the Treg-T1D trial (Figure 4D, lower graphs). Low-dose IL-2 induces activation phenotype in the Treg subset at the mRNA level. 10x Genomics single-cell RNA-Seq data were analyzed by Scanpy package. (A) UMAPs show expression of FOXP3 in cluster 11 from UMAP in Supplemental Figure 2 in the TILT patient samples and Treg-T1D patient samples. (B) Volcano plots represent differential gene expression analysis of the Treg cell compartment (Supplemental Figure 2, cluster 11) from TILT and Treg-T1D patients at day 0 (left volcano plot) and day 7 (right volcano plot). Downregulated (red dots) and upregulated genes (green dots) are indicated in log2(fold change) (log2FC) with a P < 0.005. Gene expressions with P values greater than 0.005 were filtered out. Vertical dashed lines represent thresholds of log2FC of –0.6 and 0.6 corresponding to a fold change of 1.5 times. Table indicates the log2FC values of the indicated genes. Blue cells indicate nonsignificant genes filtered out due to a P > 0.005. (C) Dot plot shows longitudinal changes over time of percentage of FOXP3+ cells in cluster 11 for the 2 trials. Asterisks indicate significance relative to the control group determined by 1-way ANOVA. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001. (D) Graphs represent mean mRNA expression of the indicated genes normalized to day 0 for the patients of each clinical trial group (TILT in upper graphs and Treg-T1D in lower graphs). Red asterisks indicate patients that received only 1 dose of IL-2. (E) UMAP and leiden clustering of the Treg cluster 11. Heatmap shows Treg markers’ and activation markers’ mean expression in the indicated clusters. Stacked bar chart shows the percentage of cells in each cluster in Treg-T1D versus TILT patients. Next, the cluster 11 was reanalyzed based on leiden clustering (UMAP, Figure 4E) to determine the heterogeneity of the Treg populations. A gene expression heatmap of the Treg population subclusters for all time points revealed increased CD44 and CCR7 expression in subclusters 1 and 2, matching the phenotype of an activated Treg population similar to activated Tregs seen in secondary lymphoid structures (32). Subcluster 3 cells represented the gene expression profile of memory Treg population with high expression of CD25 (IL-2RA), BCL2, CTLA4, ICOS, and CD27 and low expression of CD62L (SELL) and Ki-67 (MKI67) while subcluster 4 cells expressed low levels of FOXP3, but high levels of ICOS and CTLA4, consistent with a population of conventional T cells that upregulated FOXP3. Subcluster 7 Tregs expressed markers similarly to subcluster 3 but high levels of the proliferation marker, MKI67 (Figure 4E, heatmap). Next, patient samples were examined for changes in Treg subclusters after Treg transfer and ld-IL-2 therapy. TILT patients showed a reduced number of activated Treg populations (subclusters 1 and 2) and an expanded percentage of memory and proliferating Treg cells (subclusters 3 and 7) (Figure 4E, stack bars chart). Interestingly, there was also an increase in subcluster 4, representing activated FOXP3lo conventional T cells, suggesting that ld-IL-2 treatment resulted in increased percentages of Tregs, and some conventional T cells, expressing activated/memory markers. However, TCR analysis of the TCR repertoire and Gini coefficient calculation suggested that there was no selective clonal expansion of the Treg TCR repertoire (see below in Gini index graph of the CD8 population and Supplemental Table 5), consistent with the ld-IL-2 treatment broadly inducing the proliferation of activated Tregs and/or mobilized activated Tregs from the tissue into the circulation. Changes in innate cell subsets after Treg and ld-IL-2 treatment. Multiparameter longitudinal single-cell analysis allowed the identification of other immune populations affected by ld-IL-2 and Treg treatment. Previous clinical trials have shown that ld-IL-2 treatment altered the percentage of CD56+ NK populations in the circulation (23, 29, 33–35). In this study, single-cell analysis of differentially expressed genes in the GZMB+ NK cluster (cluster 4 in Supplemental Figure 3) between Treg-T1D and TILT samples showed limited differences at day 0 while a large set of phenotypic and activation markers of mature NK cells was altered in peripheral blood cells isolated from TILT patients at day 7 after the first course of IL-2 (Figure 5A). Longitudinal analysis showed that most of the patients in both trials presented a similar percentage of GZMB+ NK cells at day 0. This population was increased in 3 TILT trial participants, while 2 patients showed no change and 4 patients showed a decline in this population after each ld-IL-2 course (Figure 5B, upper graph). In contrast, all the percentages of GZMB+ NK cells remained constant or decreased in samples from patients of the Treg-T1D trial (Figure 5B, lower graph). More importantly, at day 28, the percentage of GZMB+ NK cells significantly increased in all the TILT trial patients as compared with the patients in the Treg-T1D trial (Figure 5C). Interestingly, over time, the percentage of GZMB+ NK cells returned to baseline levels in all IL-2–treated patients. These data suggest that the administration of ld-IL-2 to patients with T1D led to changes in the phenotype and distribution of GZMB+ NK cells over time, likely a consequence of changes in expansion and trafficking in these patients. In fact, there was a positive correlation between changes in the Treg percentage and changes of the GZMB+ NK cells’ percentage after ld-IL-2 treatment (Figure 5D, upper graph). In contrast, those changes were not correlated in patients treated with Tregs only (Figure 5D, lower graph), suggesting that the ld-IL-2 treatment affected those 2 populations at the same time. Low-dose IL-2 induces cytotoxic phenotype in the NK cell subset and mucosal invariant associated T cell subset. 10x Genomics single-cell RNA-Seq data were analyzed by Scanpy package. (A) Volcano plots represent differential gene expression analysis of the NK cell compartment (Supplemental Figure 2, cluster 4) from TILT and Treg-T1D patients at day 0 (left volcano plot) and day 7 (right volcano plot). Downregulated (red dots) and upregulated genes (green dots) are indicated in log2FC with a P < 0.005. Gene expressions with P values greater than 0.005 were filtered out. Vertical dashed lines represent thresholds of log2FC of –0.6 and 0.6 corresponding to a fold change of 1.5 times. Table indicates the log2FC values of the indicated genes. Blue cells indicate nonsignificant genes filtered out due to a P > 0.005. (B) Percentage of GZMB+ cells in the NK cluster (Supplemental Figure 2, cluster 4) were calculated and shown on upper graphs for TILT trial patients and lower graphs for Treg-T1D trial patients. Tables indicate dosage of IL-2 and Tregs for each patient. (C) Dot plot represents percentage over time of GZMB+ cells in NK clusters in TILT and Treg-T1D trial patients. Asterisks indicate significance relative to the control group determined by 1-way ANOVA. *P < 0.05. (D) Graphs show correlation of day 0 to day 28 changes in the percentage of GZMB+ NK and day 0 to day 7 changes in the percentage of FOXP3+ Treg cells in TILT patients (upper graph) and Treg-T1D patients (lower graph). (E) Volcano plots represent differential gene expression analysis of the MAIT cell compartment (Supplemental Figure 2, cluster 6) from TILT and Treg-T1D patients at day 0 (left volcano plot) and day 7 (right volcano plot). Table indicates the log2FC values of the indicated genes. Blue cells indicate nonsignificant genes filtered out due to a P > 0.005. Based on the above observations, we examined whether other innate cell subsets were altered by the Treg and ld-IL-2 treatment. Interestingly, TCR analysis of the cluster 6 cells showed that the TRAV2-1 gene was paired with TRAJ33/20/21 genes in a significant percentage of the cells (Supplemental Table 7). This TCR pairing was reminiscent of mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cells, a unique innate-like T cell subset, activated by conserved bacterial ligands presented by the invariant MHC MR1 molecule in host defense against bacterial and viral infections (36, 37) that can have a deleterious function in autoimmune diseases (38–40), especially when CD25 is upregulated on the cells (41). Although single-cell analysis of differentially expressed genes in the MAIT cell cluster (cluster 6 in Supplemental Figure 3B) showed limited differences between Treg-T1D and TILT samples at day 0, by day 7, after the first course of IL-2, activation markers such as PRF1, CD69, GZMA, CXCR4, and killer cell lectin like receptor B1 were upregulated in the MAIT population in the circulation of TILT patients (Figure 5E). Those results suggest that ld-IL-2 selectively promoted expansion of activated NK and MAIT cell populations in the circulation of T1D patients treated with ld-IL-2. Changes of CD8 population after Treg and IL-2 treatment. Flow cytometry analysis of the PBMCs from Treg and ld-IL-2–treated patients showed that the overall percentage of CD3+CD8+ remained unchanged (Figure 6A), similar to what has been seen in other clinical studies. However, the percentage of CD3+CD8+CD25+ subset contracted after the first or second course of ld-IL-2. This was followed by a rapid recovery in the majority of the patients and, in some cases, exceeded the day 0 baseline when examined at day 63. These variations may be the consequence of the expansion of Treg population negatively regulating the expansion of the CD3+CD8+CD25+ subset or, alternatively, extravasation of this activated subset of cells from the peripheral blood compartment. Low-dose IL-2 treatment promotes a cytotoxic phenotype in the CD8+ T cell subset. (A) Flow cytometry analysis shows the percentage of total CD3+CD8+ T cells (left column) and CD8+CD25+ T cells (right column) at the collected time points. Upper graphs represent patients from the TILT trials, and lower graphs represent patients from the Treg-T1D trial. The table indicates the dosage of IL-2 and Tregs for each patient. (B) Single-cell RNA-Seq data were analyzed by Scanpy package. Volcano plots represent differential gene expression analysis of the PRF1+GZMB+CD8 T cell compartment (Supplemental Figure 2, cluster 5) from TILT and Treg-T1D patients at day 0 (left volcano plot) and day 7 (right volcano plot). Downregulated (red dots) and upregulated genes (green dots) are indicated in log2FC with a P < 0.005. Gene expressions with a P values greater than 0.005 were filtered out. Vertical dashed lines represent thresholds of log2FC of –0.6 and 0.6 corresponding to a fold change of 1.5 times. Table indicates the log2FC values of the indicated genes. Blue cells indicate non-significant genes filtered out due to a P > 0.005. (C) Table indicates the log2FC values of the indicated genes. Blue cells indicate nonsignificant genes filtered out due to a P > 0.005. (D) Dot plot shows PRF1 mRNA mean expression over time in PRF1+GZMB+CD8+ T cell cluster in TILT and Treg-T1D trial patients. Asterisks indicate significance relative to the control group determined by 1-way ANOVA. *P < 0.05. Further analysis by single-cell RNA-Seq analysis supported the finding that selected activated CD8+ T cell subsets were altered dynamically by the ld-IL-2 plus Treg therapy. Specifically, there were significant changes in the gene expression profile of an activated CD8+ T cell subset expressing PRF1 and GZMB, 2 major cytotoxic proteins expressed by CD8+ T cells after activation (cluster 5, Supplemental Figure 3). Analysis of differentially expressed genes between Treg-T1D and TILT samples showed minor differences within the PRF1+GZMB+CD8+ T cells at day 0, while activation markers such as PRF1, CD69, and HLA-DRA were upregulated in the TILT patient samples by day 7, after the first course of IL-2 (Figure 6, B and C). Longitudinal analysis showed that PRF1 mean expression in cluster 5 was higher in TILT trial patients compared with Treg-T1D trial patients at day 7 after the first course of IL-2 (Figure 6D). These results suggest that the ld-IL-2 treatment expanded a preexisting population of PRF1+GZMB+CD8+ T cells in a subset of the patients. It is important to note that we have only assessed circulating cells. There may be activated cells in the inflamed tissue that may be mobilized as a consequence of the treatment, resulting in an increase in activated cells in the circulation. In order to assess whether the activated PRF1+GZMB+CD8+ T cells represented the expansion of a clonal population, we evaluated the sequences of TCRα and β chains. Analysis of the Gini coefficient of individual T cell subsets for the TCRα chains (left) and the TCRβ chain (right) was determined (Figure 7A). The Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the distribution of the clonal diversity. As expected, the Gini index value was close to null in the Treg compartment for patients from the 2 trials, reflecting the high diversity of Treg TCRs with no clonal expansion. However, there were substantial changes in diversity of TCR usage in the PRF1+GZMB+CD8+ T cell compartment. Dot plots shown for both TCR chains demonstrated an increased Gini index in the Treg-T1D patients, indicating a preexistent clonal expansion of this T cell subset. Moreover, ld-IL-2 further enhanced the clonal expansion of this population, consistent with a role for IL-2 in the expansion of activated PRF1+GZMB+CD8+ T cells. In this regard, the Gini index calculation for TCRα and TCRβ for the whole CD3+ T cell population was unaltered after ld-IL-2 treatment or in samples from the Treg-T1D trials, suggesting that effects of ld-IL-2 treatment were manifested in the PRF1+GZMB+CD8+ T cell subset selectively (Figure 7A). The top CDR3 α and β sequences and frequencies from the PRF1+GZMB+CD8+ T cell population from the TILT patients are shown in the Supplemental Table 6. TCR sequences observed more than 30 times in the single-cell sequencing analyses mostly mapped within the PRF1+GZMB+CD8+ cluster 5 in both clinical studies (Figure 7B, Treg-T1D and TILT UMAPs). The cells from which these TCRs were derived (Figure 7C) exhibited very similar gene expression profiles for activation markers and cytotoxic genes in the TILT and Treg-T1D patients, confirming that a similar PRF1+GZMB+CD8+ T cell subset was present in both patient groups but selectively enriched in the ld-IL-2–treated TILT patients. Low-dose IL-2 increases clonal expansion of the PRF1+GZMB+CD8+ T cell compartment. (A) Clonal diversity from the Treg, PRF1+GZMB+CD8 T cell, and total CD3+ populations was evaluated by the calculation of the Gini index. Dot plots show values of Gini index for each patient from the TILT and the Treg-T1D trial. Unpaired 2-tailed t tests were performed in order to assess statistical significance. (B) Left UMAP plot represents clusters of immune cells identified in Supplemental Figure 2. Density plots on the right represent mapping of TCR clones expanded more than 30 times in each clinical trial group. (C) Heatmaps represent cytotoxicity and activation markers gene expression (log normalized) of all the cells expressing expanded TCRs. Left y axis links the patient to the depicted expanded TCRs. The conduct of the TILT trial was designed to test for the safety of the combination of Tregs and changes in molecular and cellular biomarkers that could be used to assess the clinical impact of T1D disease progression. There was no evidence that the combined therapy led to preservation of insulin production. Moreover, there were limited effects on the proportion of circulating adoptively transferred polyclonal Tregs (PolyTregs), and we were unable to determine if there were functional changes in the cells, as the cells could not be analyzed on a per-cell level. However, the longitudinal study confirmed that the ld-IL-2 treatment increased the number of endogenous Tregs in the peripheral blood as previously reported (20, 42–45). Moreover, there were transient changes in the distribution of the adoptively transferred Treg product, something underappreciated in previous studies of ld-IL-2 treatment, where individual Treg populations could not be tracked effectively. Importantly, the treatment led to the expansion of PRF1- and GZMB-expressing CD8+ T, MAIT, and NK cells and clonal expansion of a subset of the activated CD8+ T cells. This effect was likely due to expansion of preexisting activated immune cells, including a subset of activated CD8+ T cells expressing high levels of the IL-2 receptor (CD25, CD122, CD132) complex cells in response to the exogenously administered IL-2. These results support the hypothesis that ld-IL-2 expands exogenously administered Tregs but also indicates how the same dose of ld-IL-2 can expand non-Tregs with increased expression of activation/cytotoxic genes in several immune cell subsets, potentially shifting the immune balance toward activation rather than tolerance. These results have important implications for the use of a combination of ld-IL-2 and Tregs for the treatment of autoimmune disease. Many studies of IL-2 and CD25 deficiency have demonstrated that IL-2 is critical for the maintenance of the survival and the function of Treg cells (20, 42–45). In adoptive Treg transfer therapies, the survival and function of infused Tregs is the key to their potential efficiency in the prevention of T1D progression. In a polyclonal Treg therapy trial, Marek-Trzonkowska et al. showed that infusing up to 2 doses of Tregs at 30 × 106/kg in young individuals led to a decrease of IL-2 in the serum of T1D patients after Treg infusion (46). In addition, in a previous Treg ACT trial, we showed a decrease of the adoptively transferred ex vivo expanded Treg populations 2 weeks after ACT, which may have reflected lack of access to IL-2 in the periphery (12). Therefore, we hypothesized that the combination of ld-IL-2 and Tregs might result in a more robust survival and function of the adoptively transferred polyclonal Tregs. In fact, multiple studies have examined the use of ld-IL-2 therapy to boost Treg cell survival and function for the treatment of autoimmunity and graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) (21, 30, 34, 47, 48). One of the earliest studies testing the effects of ld-IL-2 treatment was performed after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The investigators showed that treatment with ld-IL-2 increased early Treg expansion and suppressed acute and chronic GvHD (21, 22). Moreover, in 2011, Saadoun et al. showed that ld-IL-2 treatment could reduce hepatitis C virus–induced (HCV-induced) vasculitis in a majority of patients (34). Several T1D clinical trials using ld-IL-2 have been conducted, including a phase I/II trial IL-2 dose-defining study of 24 patients with T1D. In this study, patients were treated with 0.33 M to 3 M IU daily, and the treatment was shown to be well tolerated and led to an increase in the percentage of Tregs (28), although it should be pointed out that Treg percentages went back to pretreatment levels after discontinuation of the therapy. Importantly, in a study that tested a higher dose of IL-2 combined with rapamycin, an increased and persistent ability of IL-2 to induce STAT5 phosphorylation, a defect found in endogenous Tregs isolated from patients with T1D, was observed (49). The gene expression profile of endogenous Tregs was assessed in order to understand whether ld-IL-2 could have affected the phenotype and function of the Treg population in patients with T1D. In all the TILT patients, CyTOF, flow cytometry, and single-cell RNA-Seq data showed that the whole population of Tregs exhibited upregulated activation markers, including CD25, GITR, CD27, HLA-DRA, and GARP, after ld-IL-2 treatment. Moreover, an increase in Treg memory phenotype and secondary lymph node homing marker expression in the whole Treg population was observed, suggesting that there was dynamic circulation of Tregs between tissues and the peripheral blood. Taken together those data corroborate previous studies showing that ld-IL-2 treatment resulted in an expansion of Tregs with an activated and memory phenotype (30, 35, 50). In parallel, the overall increase in the percentage of adoptively transferred Tregs in the peripheral blood, as shown by the 2H tracking, suggested that the ld-IL-2 treatment enhances survival and/or redistribution of Tregs in the circulation. In the latter case, the ld-IL-2 may have activated ACT Tregs, which then redistributed from the tissue where they had migrated after the transfer. Similar results were observed in the single dose of subcutaneous aldesleukin in the Adaptive Study of IL-2 Dose on Regulatory T Cells in type 1 Diabetes trial (DILT1D), where Todd et al. showed the early altered trafficking of the Treg population (51). However, the limitation of using 2H labeling and subsequent mass spectrophotometry analyses is that the labeling method does not allow the determination of proliferative activity as the label dilutes during this process, allowing only a summation of total percentage of 2H-enriched DNA as a percentage of total Tregs. In summary, the impact of ld-IL-2 on the endogenous and infused Tregs populations in the TILT study was similar as compared with other clinical trials treating patients with T1D with ld-IL-2, and no evidence links those changes to a less functional Treg compartment. In the TILT study, we observed that some patients treated with the ld-IL-2 plus PolyTregs showed a transient downregulation of both NK and CD25+CD8+ population followed by a recovery phase. Other patients showed increased percentages of activated GZMB+ NK, PRF1+ MAIT, and PRF1+GZMB+CD8+ T cell subsets. Several studies in healthy donors and GvHD showed that ld-IL-2 induced proliferation of non-Treg populations such as NK and CD8+ T cells (29, 35). In T1D, Todd et al. reported in an IL-2 clinical trial that a single dose ranging from 0.04 to 1.5 MIU/m2 body surface area induced transient downregulation of NK cells’ percentage in circulation at 90 minutes followed by an expansion of the population above baseline in an IL-2 dose-dependent manner (51). These results and others (35, 52) suggest that ld-IL-2 treatment affects the homeostasis of NK and activated CD8+ T cells, raising a concern about the limited dosing window with this cytokine. In another dose-defining study in T1D, Rosenzwajg et al. reported a transient induction of CD8+ T cells at 3 MIU/d, and the NK gene expression signature was upregulated. The doses used in the TILT study were similar to those reported (0.33 to 1 MIU/d for 5 consecutive days) (35). Most recently, the same group tested an ld-IL-2 in children with T1D within 3 months of diagnosis (52). The authors showed by immune cytometry no differences in the CD8 and NK population between IL-2–treated and placebo groups. However, the dosage used was significantly different from the TILT trial as 0.125, 0.250, or 0.500 MIU/m2 was given daily for a 5-day course and then every 2 weeks for 1 year. A number of factors, including the dosage scheme, amount of IL-2, regimen of ld-IL-2 administration, or length of administration, as well as disease-related factors such as time after diagnosis or age, might also affect the outcomes with IL-2 administration. Moreover, it has been shown that genetic variants of the enhancer region of IL-2RA could affect activation of the gene (53). In the present study, there was a positive correlation between IL-2–dependent NK/Treg proliferation, suggesting that the effectiveness of ld-IL-2 may depend on responsiveness and sensitivity of IL-2 activation/regulation pathways in the Treg and the cytotoxic cell populations. In addition, differences in the basal level of percentage of GZMB+ NK Treg-T1D and TILT patients could account for the effects of IL-2 administration on the expansion of non-Treg cells. It is possible that the presence of preexisting populations of activated cells, either due to the remitting/relapsing nature of the disease or viral or other infections in the patients concurrent with ld-IL-2 administration, could impact effector cell expansion. In this regard, it should be noted that 2 patients in the Treg-T1D trial showed expanded activated Tregs. The characterization of specificities of the expanded PRF1+GZMB+CD8+ T cells for self-antigen and/or viruses such as CMV or EBV would be informative in order to determine if IL-2 targets a functional autoimmune subset of the adaptive immune cell population. Age and environmental exposure play a major role in shaping TCR repertoires in each individual; those factors may therefore play an important part in the response of the cytotoxic CD8 compartment to Proleukin. Taken together these data suggest that the individual’s TCR repertoire of cytotoxic/activated immune cell populations could be targeted by ld-IL-2 treatment. Profiling of the basal cytotoxic immune cells in young children, healthy individuals, or other autoimmune disease patients may bring more insight to cellular mechanisms involved in the onset and development of T1D, as well as the impact of Proleukin and other immunotherapies within diverse groups of individuals. There were limitations of our clinical study. Although we did not detect a significant improvement or even maintenance of insulin secretion in the participants studied when compared with placebo-treated patients from 2 other clinical trials, the number of patients that were studied was small and lacked clear statistical power to declare a correlation between IL-2–induced activation of cytotoxic cells and the inability of the combined therapy to maintain or improve C-peptide level. The concern about dramatic reduction in C-peptide production at 28 days led the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) to recommend altering the IL-2 dose and ultimately led to termination of the study because of the low likelihood that clinical benefit could be achieved with the Treg plus ld-IL-2 combination. This decision was based on current information available to the DSMB and based on incomplete data on the impact of T1D on C-peptide production in short intervals of time. Only through retrospective comparisons with a placebo group identified through access to data in other clinical trials including patients who were age matched was it determined that many patients can experience dramatic reduction in C-peptide production in this limited time frame. However, even given these additional comparative data, it was clear that the combination therapy did not significantly preserve or improve C-peptide production in the treated individuals. In conclusion, the off-target effect of ld-IL-2 stresses the need to develop immunotherapy molecules targeting the Treg population more specifically. We and others have developed reagents such as antibodies, pegylated IL-2, engineered or even mutant IL-2 that can expand Tregs but not NK or CD8+ T cells (54–57). These studies show the versatility of IL-2 and lay the foundations for design of a more specific cytokine in the treatment of T1D. Furthermore, a better understanding of the endogenous cytotoxic profiles in patients with T1D and other autoimmune diseases would be also valuable in order to anticipate the effect of IL-2 treatment in future clinical trials. Participants. This study enrolled men and women diagnosed with T1D according to the American Diabetes Association standard criteria within 3 to 24 months of screening who were 18 to 45 years of age with peak C-peptide greater than 0.2 pmol/mL (0.6 ng/mL) during MMTT challenge and who were positive for at least 1 of the following antibodies: ICA 512-antibody (IA-2ic), glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), insulin, and zinc transporter 8 (ZnT8). Patients also had to have adequate venous access to support draw of 400 mL of whole blood and infusion of investigational therapy. They were determined to be ineligible if they had hemoglobin < 10.0 g/dL; leukocytes < 3000/mL; neutrophils < 1500/mL; lymphocytes < 800/mL; platelets < 100,000/mL; Tregs < 10/mL; evidence of active infection (HIV-1/HIV-2, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, EBV or CMV genomes, or positive purified protein derivative skin test); chronic use of systemic glucocorticoids or other immunosuppressive agents or biologic immunomodulators within 6 months before study entry; history of malignancy except adequately treated basal cell carcinoma; or any chronic illness or previous treatment that, in the opinion of the investigator, should preclude participation in the trial. Pregnant or breastfeeding women were excluded from the study, as well as any woman who was unwilling to use a reliable and effective form of contraception for 2 years after Treg dosing, and any man who was unwilling to use a reliable and effective form of contraception for 3 months after Treg dosing. Administration and follow-up. Results of blood chemistries and hematology were reviewed, and a history of any recent illness or fever was obtained before infusion of the cells. Patients received premedication with acetaminophen and diphenhydramine. PolyTregs were manufactured under cGMP conditions from autologous participant whole blood, as previously described (12). PolyTregs were infused fresh after a 14-day ex vivo expansion via a peripheral intravenous line over 10 to 30 minutes. Vital signs were taken before infusion and 15, 30, 60, 120, and 240 minutes postinfusion. Participants were discharged after being monitored at the clinical research unit for 4 hours postinfusion. Participants were seen for follow-up assessments on days 1, 3, 7, 14, 28, 38, 42, 49, 63, and 91 after infusion, then every 13 weeks up to 1 year postinfusion, and then every 26 weeks up to 2 years postinfusion. Telephone monitoring for adverse events continued every 26 weeks up to 3 years after infusion. IL-2 administration. Each course (5 consecutive days) of IL-2 was prepared by, and dispensed from, the investigational pharmacy at each clinical site for administration by subcutaneous injection in the thigh at days 3–7 and 38–42 (if applicable). Clinical personnel at the research site administered the first injection of each 5-day course of IL-2. Self-administration by participants was allowed for subsequent IL-2 injections. An administration diary was provided to record the date, time, and injection site for each administration. The cell infusions were well tolerated based on safety criteria outlined in the protocol. There was a precipitous decline of C-peptide (<50% of the baseline C-peptide response at day 28) in the first patient (patient 002-003) enrolled in the trial. Thus, the second course of IL-2 was withheld based on a mandated stopping rule and DSMB review. The rapid loss of C-peptide production was observed in 2 additional participants (002-003 and 002-005), who were administered 1 × 106 and 0.33 × 106 U/d 5 times, respectively (Supplemental Table 1). These results led to a modification of the protocol with additional participants in the second cohort receiving 2 courses of IL-2 of 0.33 × 106 U/d × 5 each. Phenotypic analysis of expanded Treg populations and peripheral blood samples. Frozen PBMCs were thawed in 10 mL X-VIVO media, spun down, and resuspended in 5 mL of X-VIVO media. Each sample was counted and distributed into 3 aliquots and processed for flow cytometry analysis, CyTOF, and 10x Genomics analysis. Phenotypic and functional analyses showed that the percentage and level of expression of FOXP3+ in expanded Tregs before infusion was similar in this trial as compared with the previous Treg-T1D study (Supplemental Figure 4). Moreover, the expanded population showed high levels of CD25 expression as well as a highly demethylated Treg-specific demethylated region (TSDR) locus consistent with a bona fide Treg population (Supplemental Figure 4). Flow cytometry. A total of 1 × 106 PBMCs were washed in FACS buffer (phosphate-buffered saline + 1% FBS) and distributed into 96-well plates. Cell were stained in FACS buffer containing 1/500 of LIVE/DEAD blue reagent (Invitrogen) and incubated at room temperature for 30 minutes protected from light. After 1 wash with FACS buffer, cells were incubated with human Fc block reagent for 5 minutes, stained with cell surface fluorochrome-conjugated anti-human CD19, CD45RA, HLA-DR, CD8, CD127, CD27, CD4, CRO, CD40, CD56, CD38, CD3, CD14, and CD25 for 30 minutes on ice. After 2 washes in FACS buffer, cells were analyzed by BD LSRII flow cytometer. All data analysis was performed using FlowJo software. Antibody panel is listed in Supplemental Data File 2. CyTOF. Cryopreserved cells were thawed and placed in 10 mL of 10% FBS-DMEM and pelleted, resuspended in 2 mL of the same media, and counted, and 1 × 106 cells were removed for CyTOF staining. Cells were centrifuged and resuspended in 0.5 mL PBS in 15 mL conical tubes, and an equal volume of 1:5000 diluted cisplatin was added for a final concentration of 5 μM (Fluidigm catalog 201198) and incubated at room temperature (RT) for 5 minutes. Cisplatin reaction was quenched by adding 14 mL CSM (0.5% BSA, 2 mM EDTA in PBS) to each tube and pelleted. Cells were resuspended in 50 μL of FcBlock (Miltenyi Biotec catalog 130-059-901), diluted to manufacturer’s recommendations for 5 minutes. Mass cytometry antibodies were previously titrated using cryopreserved peripheral blood controls to achieve optimal signal-to-noise ratios. After blocking, 50 μL of cell surface cocktail was added and incubated on ice for an additional 40 minutes. Antibodies were washed with CSM and pelleted. Cells were resuspended in residual volume after aspiration of CSM wash, and 200 μL of fix/perm buffer (eBioscience catalog 88-8824-00) was added to each sample and incubated for 30 minutes at RT. Subsequently, 1 mL of diluted eBioscience Perm Buffer (catalog 00-8333-56) was added and centrifuged at 400g for 7 minutes. These centrifuge conditions were used for all subsequent steps. The pellets were resuspended in 50 μL intracellular antibodies diluted with the Perm Buffer and incubated on a shaker for 1 hour at RT. One mL of diluted Perm Buffer was added to each tube and centrifuged. Cells were further washed with 14 mL CSM and pelleted. Pellet was resuspended in 1 mL of 3.2% paraformaldehyde, 0.02% Saponin (MilliporeSigma catalog 47036), and 100 nM Ir (iridium) used for identifying nucleated cells (Fluidigm catalog 201192B)/PBS and stored at 4oC. Prior to running the samples on the CyTOF machine, 10 μL of 20-plex Pd (palladium) (15 μM each isotope, UCSF flow core) barcode was added to each sample and incubated at RT for 20 minutes. A total of 14 mL of CSM was added to each tube to sequester the remaining free Pd isotopes and the tubes were centrifuged. Each barcoded sample was resuspended in 0.5 mL PBS and pooled into a single 15 mL conical tubes and centrifuged. Pooled cells were resuspended in MilliQ water (MilliporeSigma) and centrifuged at 400g for 10 minutes. Cells were resuspended in water containing 1:10 diluted Eq beads (Fluidigm catalog 2010778) and adjusted to a concentration of 1.2 × 106/mL and run on the Helios CyTOF at approximately 500 cells per second at the UCSF flow core. Antibody panel is listed in Supplemental Data File 2. FCS files acquired on Helios CyTOF at approximately 500 cells per second at the UCSF flow core are available on request. Data normalization was performed as previously described (58). All mass cytometry files were normalized together using the mass cytometry data normalization algorithm (59), which uses the intensity values of a sliding window of these bead standards to correct for instrument fluctuations over time and between samples. After data collection, each condition was deconvoluted using a single-cell debarcoding algorithm (60). After normalization and debarcoding of files, singlets were gated by event length and DNA. Live cells were identified by cisplatin-negative cells. All positive and negative populations and antibody-staining concentrations were determined by titration on positive and negative control cell populations. After debarcoding and normalization of CyTOF data, cell populations were gated manually in CellEngine. Populations were then exported for analysis in R. Marker expression values were then arsinh-transformed with a cofactor of 5, and then expression values from all cells from a trial and time point were plotted as a violin plot using ggplot2. The results are plotted into 2 separated batches (1 and 2) due to batch effect affecting the comparison of the samples within the same analysis pipeline (batches layout of the samples, Supplemental Table 3). 10x Genomics. For 10x Genomics single-cell RNA-Seq, we first used FACS to isolate living cells (CD45+ and LIVE/DEAD blue) and then implemented the Chromium Single Cell V(D)J Enriched and 5′ Gene Expression library generation and sequencing under the guidance of the official instruction manual. Cells were loaded onto a Chromium Next GEM chip G. Cells were lysed for reverse transcription and cDNA amplification in the Chromium Controller (10x Genomics). Then 76 samples were pooled into 5 samples, and 3 duplicate wells were run for each sample pool. Full-length cDNA along with cell barcode identifiers were PCR amplified, and sequencing libraries were prepared and normalized. The constructed library was sequenced on NovaSeq S4 flow cell (Illumina). Libraries’ preparation and sequencing were performed at the institute for human genetics at the Parnassus campus of UCSF. Cell Ranger Single-Cell Software Suite (version 3.1.0, 10x Genomics) was used for library demultiplexing, FASTQ file generation, read alignment, doublet filtering, barcode counting, unique molecular identifier (UMI) counting, and to generate feature-barcode matrices, determine clusters, and perform gene expression analysis. Droplet-based sequencing data were aligned and quantified against the GRCh38 human reference genome. Quality of cells in each demultiplexed sample was then assessed based on 3 metrics: the number of total UMI counts per cell (library size), the number of detected genes per cell, and the proportion of mitochondrial gene counts. After quality control metric filtering, a total of 464,348 cells were retained for downstream analysis. Using Scanpy (61), we performed BBKNN batch correction and principal components analysis on the gene expression matrix, and we then built a nearest neighbor graph to calculate a UMAP and find clusters via the louvain algorithm. Clusters were identified based on the expression of canonical marker genes. Differential gene expressions were generated using Scanpy, and volcano plots depicting gene expression changes in distinct immune cell subsets were generated using GraphPad Prism 6.0 software. Single-cell TCR-Seq data processing and RNA-Seq integration. Data from 10x Genomics single-cell VDJ sequencing were aligned and quantified using the Cell Ranger Single-Cell Software Suite (version 3.1.0) against the GRCh38 human VDJ reference genome. Resultant filtered annotated contigs were analyzed and concatenated to the 10x single-cell gene expression data in python. Frequency of each clonotype was calculated in python and Gini coefficient was calculated using Olivia Guest, Gini, and Calculate the Gini coefficient of a numpy array, from GitHub repository, https://github.com/oliviaguest/gini The Gini coefficient measures the inequality among values of a frequency distribution. A Gini score equals 0 when each element of the population has the same frequency. A high Gini score, closer to 1, suggests clonotype enrichment. Demuxlet pipeline analysis. Samples from each patient were genotyped by Infinium Omni Express Exome array (Illumina). Resulting VCF genotype files and single-cell RNA-Seq BAM files were used to run Demuxlet (31) with default parameters. Demultiplexing results were largely concordant with freemuxlet (https://github.com/statgen/popscle/). Subsequently, the multiplexed single-cell RNA-Seq and single-cell TCR-Seq data were filtered according to a singlet white list extracted from the demuxlet.best output file. TSDR methylation assay. Genomic DNA from 1 × 106 expanded Tregs was analyzed by Epiontis GmbH according to established protocol. Percentages of demethylated TSDR were calculated as follows: (mean copy numbers of unmethylated DNA/[mean copy numbers of unmethylated DNA + copy numbers of methylated DNA]) × 100. For Tregs from women, the percentages calculated above were multiplied by 2 to correct for X chromosome inactivation. Treg 2H tracking. During the 14-day clinical expansion period, the 2H2 label from [6,6-2H2]glucose in the X-VIVO 15 culture medium was incorporated into the DNA of replicating polyclonal CD4+CD127lo/−CD25+ Tregs as previously described (42). Initial qualifying experiments showed no differences in fold expansions, phenotype, or percentage TSDR demethylation between Tregs grown in X-VIVO 15 and Tregs grown in [2H2]glucose-containing X-VIVO 15. Functional suppression assay results showed similar inhibition between Tregs expanded in either type of medium, and cultures were free from bacteria, fungi, mycoplasma, or endotoxin contaminants. Mass spectrometry analyses showed that Tregs expanded in X-VIVO 15 with [6,6-2H2]glucose in the medium at 100% enrichment were approximately 60% enriched for 2H2 in the deoxyribose moiety of purine deoxyribonucleotides isolated from DNA, which is the theoretical maximum deuterium enrichment observed in deoxyribose in fully replaced cells that divided in the presence of [6,6-2H2]glucose (42, 43). This 60% enrichment level was consistently observed in all 7 preparations in this clinical study. After infusion of the labeled Tregs, peripheral blood was collected from the study participants, and PBMCs were sorted into the Treg population (CD4+CD25+CD127lo/–) and 3 non-Treg populations (CD4+CD25loCD127hi CD45RO+, CD45RO+CD62Llo, CD45RO+CD62Lhi). Deuterium enrichments were compared between the Treg population and a mixture of the 3 non-Treg populations. Laboratory tests. Biochemical autoantibody titers were assayed at the Barbara Davis Center using radioimmunobinding assays, and ICA was measured at the University of Florida. C-peptide and HbA1c were measured at the Northwest Lipid Research Laboratory. Viral loads for EBV and CMV were assessed by ViraCor Laboratories. Chemistries and hematology were performed at local clinical laboratories at UCSF and Yale. Mass spectrometry analysis was performed the Department of Nutritional Sciences & Toxicology at the University of California, Berkeley. Data availability. The 10x Genomics single-cell sequencing data reported in this paper have been deposited in the Gene Expression Omnibus database (Study: GSE178991 and Series record: GSE178991). Statistics. Data analyses were performed using GraphPad Prism 6.0 software, and values at P < 0.05 were deemed significant. One-way ANOVA tests were performed in order to assess statistical significance. Study approval. All participants provided written informed consent before participating in any study procedures. UCSF Institutional Review Board, San Francisco, California, USA, approved the study. JAB, SEG, KJHG, and QT were the principal investigators of the study, participated in its design, and analyzed results. JHE supervised Treg production and study design and monitoring. SD performed flow and 10x Genomics experiments and analysis; KCM performed analysis of CyTOF data; CTM performed Demuxlet analysis; WL, SJT, CMT, and WT performed CyTOF experiments; APL, WL, VN, ML, and ALP generated Treg products and performed the quality control assays; ASL is the clinical coordinator and analyzed clinical data and metabolic responses; WL, MM, and SD participated in sample preparation for flow cytometry, CyTOF, and 10x Genomics experiments; MHS advised for CyTOF analysis; CJY advised 10x Genomics experiment design and supervised Demuxlet analysis; and SD and JAB analyzed the results and wrote the article. All authors edited the report and approved the final manuscript. View Supplemental data 1 View Trial reporting checklists View ICMJE disclosure forms The authors would like to thank the members of the Bluestone and UCSF cGMP facility for their efforts to develop Treg therapies to treat human disease. Study funding was provided through the Sean N. Parker Autoimmune Research Laboratory Fund and supported in part by the National Center for Research Resources through Clinical Translational Science Awards NIH/NCRR UCSF-CTSI grant number UL 1 TR000004. Study drug was provided by Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. Biomarker studies were performed in collaboration with the Immune Tolerance Network and supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the NIH under award number UM1AI109565. Flow core funding was provided by RRID:SCR_018206 and DRC Center Grant NIH P30 DK063720, NIH S10 1S10OD018040-01, and NIH S10 1S10OD021822-01. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. Conflict of interest: JAB is a member of the scientific advisory boards of Arcus Biosciences, Solid Biosciences, and VIR Biotechnology and a member of the board of directors of both Gilead Sciences and Provention Bio. JAB is cofounder, president, and CEO of Sonoma Biotherapeutics, a company developing Treg-based cell therapies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. JAB has a patent 62/667,981 licensed to Juno, a patent 62/744,058 pending, a patent 7,722,862 issued to Sonoma Biotherapeutics, a patent 9,012,134 issued to Sonoma Biotherapeutics, a patent 62/629,103 pending, and a patent 20060292142 issued to Provention Bio. KCH has consulted for Roche Pharmaceuticals. SEG has consulted for Biolojic, Caladrius Biosciences, Roche Pharmaceuticals, Avotres, Immunomolecular Therapeutics, and Tolerion. MHS receives research funding from Genentech (Roche), Bristol Myers Squibb, and Valitor and has been a paid consultant for Five Prime Therapeutics, and Ono Pharmaceutical, and January Inc. QT is a cofounder of Sonoma Biotherapeutics. Copyright: © 2021, Dong et al. This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 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instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Hi, i am 32 yrs old mother of 1. I used birthcontrol pills for 6 months and after stopping it in nov 2011, i am not having my periods back.it is almonst 6months now. i went to doc and he did some blood test for thyroid . all came negative..doc prescribed me again birthcontrol pill for 2 months..he said if my period will not come back then i have to go for hormone therapy ...so is it ok to go again for birthcontrol pill to start my period again??? i am so confused..pls help me... output: It is OK to use birth control at your age to start having periods again. In fact, it is a good idea and may help prevent the possibility of uterine cancer later in life. However, if you desire pregnancy, you will obviously need to talk to your doctor about what the possible causes are for your periods not coming back (There are many possibilities, and you would need to talk to your doctor about how to figure out what your problem might be). Once you figure that out, you should be able to try and treat it with other medications that may help you get pregnant. I hope this answers your question, please let me know if you need any more information..

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Hi I had an mri and the dx was mild stress reaction 3rd tibia, my ortho told me 3 weeks on crutches...what about air cast leg brace or walking boot? I am a mother of two young kids...I would assume that there is some sort of functional method to heal this??? gest treatment for mild stress reaction in tibia output: Hello, As you had a mild stress fracture in tibia, where was the fracture and if you advise for crutches then it means no weight bearing should be applied to the injured limb. As it may aggravate the symptoms and non healing or malunion. To avoid this the doctor must have asked to apply no weight. Air cast leg brace or walking is advised in the later stages and not for now in the acute situation. It's totally your call to take a wise decision but I think the doctor has taken the right decision. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further. Take care Regards, Jay Indravadan Patel, Physical Therapist or Physiotherapist..

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Answer the following question from the document below. ##Question: What was the patient's CO/CI (Fick method) and CO/CI (CCO method)? ## Document: CVICU HPI: 57F POD 2 from redo sternotomy AVR (23 StJude tissue), Asc Ao/Hemiarch replacement (28 Gelweave) Ao endarterectomy, complicated by new onset seizure and ? CVA with labile BP. Chief complaint: PMHx: Current medications: Dialated Asc Ao, B breast CA(XRT/chemo), CLL(chemo), TB, Splenomegaly, Cholelithiasis, AS s/p AVR('82), s/p B lumpectomy, s/p cerebral AVM repair ('69). 24 Hour Events: EEG - At 2196-2-2 12:30 PM PAN CULTURE - At 2196-2-2 06:00 PM EKG - At 2196-2-3 05:00 AM -- Newly diagnosed seizure, placed on continued monitoring, Keppra started -- Head CT done with no evidence of acute process Post operative day: 2 Allergies: Ancef (Intraven.) (Cefazolin Sodium) Rash; Iodine; Iodine Containing Unknown; Last dose of Antibiotics: Cefazolin - 2196-2-2 06:00 PM Infusions: Phenylephrine - 2.3 mcg/Kg/min Other ICU medications: Midazolam (Versed) - 2196-2-2 12:55 PM Ranitidine (Prophylaxis) - 2196-2-3 07:22 AM Other medications: Flowsheet Data as of 2196-2-3 01:04 PM Vital signs Hemodynamic monitoring Fluid balance 24 hours Since 98 a.m. Tmax: 37.4 C (99.4 T current: 37.4 C (99.4 HR: 81 (80 - 108) bpm BP: 149/71(96) {76/46(59) - 158/80(104)} mmHg RR: 16 (15 - 26) insp/min SPO2: 100% Heart rhythm: V Paced Wgt (current): 64 kg (admission): 54.4 kg Height: 63 Inch CVP: 13 (7 - 20) mmHg PAP: (35 mmHg) / (14 mmHg) CO/CI (Fick): (5.8 L/min) / (3.7 L/min/m2) CO/CI (CCO): (4.4 L/min) / (2.8 L/min/m2) SvO2: 73% Mixed Venous O2% sat: 57 - 73 Total In: 2,596 mL 1,423 mL PO: Tube feeding: IV Fluid: 2,446 mL 1,383 mL Blood products: Total out: 2,036 mL 660 mL Urine: 1,200 mL 500 mL NG: 200 mL Stool: Drains: Balance: 560 mL 763 mL Respiratory support O2 Delivery Device: Endotracheal tube Ventilator mode: CPAP/PSV Vt (Spontaneous): 411 (411 - 475) mL PS : 12 cmH2O RR (Spontaneous): 16 PEEP: 5 cmH2O FiO2: 40% RSBI Deferred: RR >35 PIP: 20 cmH2O SPO2: 100% ABG: 7.46/32/130/28/0 Ve: 7.9 L/min PaO2 / FiO2: 325 Physical Examination General Appearance: No acute distress HEENT: PERRL Cardiovascular: (Rhythm: Regular), (Murmur: No(t) Systolic, No(t) Diastolic) Respiratory / Chest: (Expansion: Symmetric), (Breath Sounds: CTA bilateral : ), (Sternum: Stable ) Abdominal: Soft, Non-distended, Non-tender, Bowel sounds present, No(t) Distended Left Extremities: (Edema: Trace), (Temperature: Warm), (Pulse - Dorsalis pedis: Present) Right Extremities: (Edema: Trace), (Temperature: Warm), (Pulse - Dorsalis pedis: Present) Neurologic: No(t) Follows simple commands, (Responds to: Noxious stimuli), No(t) Moves all extremities, (RUE: No movement), (LUE: No movement), Pt does not withdrawal to noxious stimuli in upper extremeties. Labs / Radiology 122 K/uL 9.7 g/dL 124 1.0 mg/dL 28 mEq/L 4.0 mEq/L 27 mg/dL 116 mEq/L 147 mEq/L 27.3 % 15.8 K/uL [image002.jpg] 2196-2-2 10:15 PM 2196-2-2 11:18 PM 2196-2-3 12:00 AM 2196-2-3 01:00 AM 2196-2-3 02:07 AM 2196-2-3 02:24 AM 2196-2-3 03:00 AM 2196-2-3 07:15 AM 2196-2-3 10:00 AM 2196-2-3 12:00 PM WBC 15.8 Hct 27.3 Plt 122 Creatinine 1.0 TCO2 28 29 23 Glucose 108 104 120 112 64 95 68 131 124 Other labs: PT / PTT / INR:14.1/36.6/1.2, Fibrinogen:119 mg/dL, Lactic Acid:1.2 mmol/L, Mg:2.4 mg/dL, PO4:3.2 mg/dL Assessment and Plan SEIZURE, WITHOUT STATUS EPILEPTICUS, AORTIC STENOSIS, .H/O VALVE REPLACEMENT, AORTIC BIOPROSTHETIC (AVR) Assessment and Plan: 57F POD 2 from redo sternotomy AVR (23 StJude tissue), Asc Ao/Hemiarch replacement (28 Gelweave) Ao endarterectomy, complicated by new onset seizure and ? CVA with labile BP. Neurologic: Neuro checks Q: 1 hr, Pain controlled, Avoid any sedation. On Keppra 750 mg Haynes city hospital per neurology. ? CVA. No evidence of CVA on CAT scan, but per neurology patient may have had a brainstem stroke. Per neurology, no need for repeat head CT, but would get an MRI once able to (still requires pacemaker). Cardiovascular: Aspirin, Labile BP on neo (up/down) to maintain BP. Keep SBP > 150 Pulmonary: Cont ETT, (Ventilator mode: CPAP + PS) Gastrointestinal / Abdomen: Bowel regimen Nutrition: NPO, Please start TF today Renal: Foley, Adequate UO Hematology: Serial Hct, Stable anemia. Monitor for now. Would not transfuse at this point. Endocrine: RISS, Glucose well controlled on RISS. Keep < 150 Infectious Disease: No evidence of infection Lines / Tubes / Drains: Foley, OGT, ETT, Chest tube - pleural , Chest tube - mediastinal, Pacing wires Wounds: Dry dressings Imaging: Fluids: KVO Consults: CT surgery, Neurology Billing Diagnosis: Seizure, (Respiratory distress: Failure), Post-op hypotension, Post-op complication ICU Care Nutrition: Glycemic Control: Regular insulin sliding scale Lines: Arterial Line - 2196-2-1 04:30 PM Johnny Pratt - 2196-2-1 04:30 PM 16 Gauge - 2196-2-1 04:32 PM Prophylaxis: DVT: Boots Stress ulcer: H2 blocker VAP bundle: HOB elevation, Mouth care, Daily wake up, RSBI Comments: Communication: Patient discussed on interdisciplinary rounds , ICU Code status: Full code Disposition: ICU Total time spent: 33 minutes output: The patient's CO/CI (Fick method) was 5.8 L/min and 3.7 L/min/m2, and the CO/CI (CCO method) was 4.4 L/min and 2.8 L/min/m2.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: I powerwashed a lanai for a friend the other day the mold on the floor was about 2 inch. thick I breathed it for over an hr. I have asthma. I am now sick for 2 days, low fever feels like the flu thick mucous in my chest med centers closed. what shoud I take gest medication for flu and thick mucous for asthma patient output: Hello dear,The symptoms as mentioned in your post can be attributed to acute exacerbation of asthma, secondary to a respiratory tract infection.Management involves:1. A course of antibiotics to eradicate the causative organism.2. Asthalin & Seroflo inhaler- provide symptomatic relief by causing broncho-dilation (dilating the smaller airway passages, relieving the obstruction & increasing airflow to lungs)3. Montelukast preparations- used as a maintenance therapy to relieve symptoms of asthma.4. Antihistamine & anti tussive preparations for symptomatic relief from cough.5. Steam inhalation & deep breathing exercises.6. Maintain adequate hydration & a healthy balance diet.7. Also make sure that you are well protected from cold, dust & other allergens.If symptoms still persist, kindly consult a Pulmonologist for proper clinical evaluation.Wishing you a good health.Take care...

Table-top RPG Discussions Over a Pint and a Pipe! Labyrinth Lord of the Rings So in the back of the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide is the famous Appendix N, listing inspirational reading and influences that helped inspire the creators of D&D. Dying Earth, Conan the Barbarian, Lankhmar. These are all wonderful pieces of fiction and well worth a read, but for me it's always, always, always come back to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Now I know that a lot of gamers prefer their basic fantasy with a lot of pulp. Kick in the door, slay the monster, take the treasure, win the maiden. That's all well and good, but personally, I've always liked the epic plot, the personal drama and the sheer power of Tolkien's epic fantasy. Many would argue that Middle-earth isn't a great fit for OSR gaming. Sure, there are obvious influences, but it's not quite the vision that Dave and Gary were going for - and while that's probably true, when I run my fantasy games I'm aiming for an epic worthy of Tolkien and short of The One Ring: Adventurers Over the Edge of the Wild, the officially licensed Middle-earth role-playing game current being published by Cubicle 7 Entertainment and Sophisticated Games, Labyrinth Lord is the best fit to accomplish that. "No," you say? Hear me out. I'm going to compare a few basic fantasy staples with Tolkien's masterpiece and let you decide. The World is Wild and Dangerous Most fantasy gaming is set in a wild, vastly unexplored world that is dotted with ruins of a lost high age. That sounds a lot like the ruins of Arnor and the kingdoms of Numenorian King Elendil to me. These once grand places have fallen to ruin and their history is all but forgotten by everyone but the wisest of scholars. Sounds like an easily stocked dungeon to me. Not all the ruins were once "good" either. The Witch-King of Angmar once ruled a kingdom that fell to ruin over one thousand years ago, but evil lingers there even one thousand years after his defeat. There are a few idyllic places in the world, the most obvious being the Four Farthings of the Shire - but the Shire is kept that way by the unknowing protection of the Rangers of the North. Just beyond the horizon are horrors that would claim their lands if not for a few brave souls and sharp swords. Even the towns are rough and tumble, few and far between. Bree is the only real town we see in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and it is little more than a walled village on a hill with a few outling hamlets.Strider even says to Prancing Pony innkeeper Barliman Butterbur: "I am to one fat man who lives within a day's march of foes that would freeze his heart, or lay his little town in ruin, if he were not guarded ceaselessly." This is a world on the razor's edge of collapse, and without heroes (ie player characters), it would be a terrible place indeed. The few cities and fortresses that exist are either crumbling into the past, like Minas Tirith or are hidden from the forces of evil - like Rivendell. Some have even already fallen to darkness. Minas Morgul was once known as Minas Ithil before it was taken over by the forces of Sauron, and Osgiliath (the former captial of Gondor) is a ruined husk. All of this harkens to the almost constant theme in classic fantasy gaming of a dangerous and vast wilderness just beyond your sight. It's filled with wild terrain and abandoned ruins and though these places might be filled with riches and magical trinkets of old there are very few who are willing to risk their lives for such things - if they are even aware of their existence. Protagonists Earn Their Place as Heroes I'd put forth the argument that no member of the Fellowship of the Ring is higher than 5th level. Madness, you say? Think about it. Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin set out from the Shire having never gone on an adventure before. That means, by default, that they're all 1st level - and it shows. They use their class abilities (initiative bonuses, hide in wilderness, etc) to avoid trouble on the road, but even then, it still finds them sometimes. Heck, when they first set out none of them even have weapons and armor - and why would they? Legolas and Gimli have no adventures to speak of before traveling to Rivendell - so it's also likely that they're 1st level, but because of their cultures (and thus classes), they're suitably armed and armored - but not necessarily experienced. Boromir is, in my opinion, probably a 2nd level fighter. He talks about facing many trials on his journey from Gondor to Rivendell - so its possible he recently earned a level based on those encounters when combined with the recent campaign in Gondor against the enemy. I mean, after all, if a single orc is worth around 15xp, that means he'd have killed quite a few to earn the 2000xp to reach 2nd level - and by the simple virtue of being a fighter he's already a cut above a man-at-arms or other hireling type. Next we have Aragorn. Depending on which version of D&D you're playing he's either a fighter or ranger - either can work. He's clearly experienced and well-traveled, no fool to the dangers of the world. He's been traveling it active for quite some time and fought in battles in both Rohan and Gondor - in addition to his work in northern Eriador and Bree-land. So, I'd put him at about 4th level. Why so low if he's been kicking around for several decades doing this? Because not all of it has been "active adventuring." He spent long spans of time in Rivendell and Lothlorien, "between adventures" as it were. Still, he can handle a reasonable number of orcs single-handedly, so he's no slouch job. But, even with that, he's still not quick to engage in battle because he recognizes how deadly it can be - after all a 4th level fighter is only going to have between 20-30hp typically. A few lucky shots and a critical hit will still kill him. Then there's the controversal Gandalf. Personally, I love the article "Gandalf is Only a 5th Level Wizard" that was published in The Dragon #5, by Bill Segilman. It makes a strong argument regarding how Gandalf cultivates the perception of power and uses his spells in a subtle fashion and only when absolutely necessary - after all, he's only got so many slots per day. Even the "powerful" characters in Lord of the Rings aren't extrordinarily high level. Personally, I'd put Saruman at 11th level (he has a tower, after all - and he's the most powerful spellcaster in the world). Denethor also comes to mind. He is, after all, able to almost win a battle of wills with Gandalf - this being reflected in high saving throw values. Encounters Aren't Balanced When you think of Lord of the Rings you often picture epic battles - but that's a bit of a misconception. There's not actually a whole lot of combat in the series. In fact, most often the characters run away instead of facing off against a powerful foe. The Nazgul are, at the very least, wights - if not something more powerful and its a sadistic referee who expects a party of four 1st level halflings to face off against nine of them. Even the more powerful members of the party run from battle. Aragorn doesn't stand and fight these creatures. He delays, plans, and avoids. He knows that these monsters are terrible foes not to be messed with. Combat isn't "fun," it's life-or-death. When the Fellowship reaches Moria (the original megadungeon!), the referee throws approximately seventeen million orcs at them, oh and a major demon. Again, they run - or fly, you fools, as they say. One of the major personal battles in Lord of the Rings is Eowyn vs. the Witch-King. Let's be generous here and say that Eowyn's training as a shield-maiden of Rohan equates to being a 2nd level fighter. Also, at this point it's probably safe to say Merry is a 2nd or 3rd level halfling. The two of them vs a wight (probably with increased stats to boot) is no easy fight. It's horrible, terrible and probably going to result in their deaths - but the referee is using the framework of fantasy gaming to create an epic conflict. Maybe Eowyn's weapon is considered to be a Sword+1 while she's fighting the Witch-King, so that she can actually damage him. Merry's already wielding what is likely a magic sword, the Barrow Blade. The Witch-King can kill with a touch. Draining one level off a man at arms is instant death. So of course armies are afraid of him. But this is an epic battle, and though its quite possible Eowyn and Merry might die, it's also not entirely unreasonable for them to achieve victory. I'd even say that Merry used his wilderness stealth ability (he is outside on the Pelennor after all) to remain unnoticed until making his strike and then giving Eowyn her moment. Another iconic battle is Gandalf vs. the Balrog. I know it's going to sound crazy, but I put forth that Gandalf held off the Balrog with one 1st level spell. Protection From Evil prevents summoned or extra-planar creatures from touching the caster in melee. So Gandalf charged up to the Balrog and cast PoE ("You cannot pass!"), to protect the rest of the party. Simple as that. The spell is only going to last a few rounds from his level so as the Balrog beats on it, the protection wavers.As for breaking the bridge, its quite possible that Gandalf's staff (obviously magical) was a Staff of Striking. So, in the last round of combat with the Balrog he used the staff to break the bridge, but lost the initiative. His effect went off, but the Balrog got a critical hit with its whip and with the Protection from Evil over, it was able to land a hit on him with the whip (maybe even a critical hit) and drag him down as well. Gandalf's player went into this fight knowing Gandalf would die - but the party would survive. Equipment Matters, But Isn't as Powerful as You Think Loot is a staple of fantasy role-playing games and the Fellowship is certainly decked out. But none of these objects (except the One Ring, obviously) are massively powerful. Sting could easily be a Short Sword +1, Detect Orc 60'. Yes, Sam uses it to almost slay Shelob, but most major monsters only require a +1 weapon to damage them. Meanwhile everyone in the fellowship recieves a Cloak of Elvenkind. The elvish cordial Miruvor could easily be several doses of a Potion of Cure Light Wounds. Legolas's Bow of the Galladhrim? Eh, probably just a Long Bow +1 - enough to make a difference, but it doesn't change the dynamic of his character. The major magical weapon in this campaign are probably Anduril (the broken blade of Elendil, reforged by the elves in Rivendell). But it's not described as being particularly magical, when compared to Sting for example. Instead Anduril probably offers a morale bonus to nearby allies, as it is a weapon of inspiration as of war. The other major magic item is the Phial of Galadriel, I would imagine has several minor effects that can be combined to great effect. It obviously radiates Light or Continual Light. In addition, I would argue that when invoked by an elvish prayer it grants its bearer the effects of a Bless spell. Finally, it can be used to dispel magical barriers ala Dispel Magic. None of these are above 3rd level spell effects, but in the context of the story, they're still amazingly useful. What about when it's all over and the story comes to a close? I'd imagine the player characters who are alive have gained two to three levels, but aren't warlords or such in their own right. The hobbits are able to organize their people in the Battle of Bywater, but by comparison a 3rd - 4th level Halfling is an excellent leader to a group of 0th level men-at-arms, Now some of you might say "An entire campaign, and they only gained a few levels?" Well, yes. Because a campaign isn't about leveling to me - it's about telling a good story. And Lord of the Rings is my personal favorite. Posted by James M. Spahn at 8:59 PM 2 comments: Labels: Labyrinth Lord, Lord of the Rings, OSR Review: The Witch Dedicating an entire sourcebook to a single class is a single class it quite a task, but that's what Timothy Brannan has done with The Witch: A New Class for Basic Era Games, published by Elf Lair Games. In 122 pages he's not only created an original class for Labyrinth Lord, but done an excellent job fleshing it out mechanically, how it fits into existing fantasy role-playing and providing a healthy does of historic context. The book begins with an introduction where the author goes over class concepts and what exactly it means to play a witch and how they relate to more traditional spellcasters in basic era gaming. This kind of lead in gives the supplement more depth in my opinion instead of simply throwing a class at you and saying "have at it!" Brannan's witch doesn't wear a pointed black hat and feed poison apples to princesses. Instead he's taken the simplicity of basic era fantasy and used it as a framework. Chapter 2 offers all the detail necessary to play a witch. It provides statistics, flavor, and options for playing them as a class that ran run up to level 36, at the referee's option. It's a solid class with a strong historic flavor to it, and Brannan could have stopped there - but the fact that he didn't is what makes this book worth reviewing. Instead of offering a simple cookie-cutter class, Brannan takes us into chapter 3 where several different traditions are offered. I'm reminded very much of the AD&D 2nd edition "kits" system. He offers six traditions and while one could play the the witch without one of these traditions, its implied and assumed that they're going to be used. Each tradition offers not only mechanical benefits, but Brannan describes what exactly it means to be in a given tradition, what their basic tenants are, how one joins and how one leaves. Admittedly, this is a lot of depth for a basic era game, and I can see why some referees would be reluctant to allow it - but I'm all about the flavor and enjoyed the tradtion system. The Aquarian Witch is a witch who draws upon the power of the stars and the cosmos. Not in a creepy Lovecraftian way, but in a kind of historic context. They study the stars, astrology and celestial bodies to gain power. They understand fate is written in the stars and seem to draw their power from that understanding. The Classical Witch is exactly that. Black cats. Bubbling cauldrons. The whole nine. While this could be bland, the author has a sidebar explaining different historic traditions that encourage the reader to crack a book and learn more for themselves - not greater sourcebook than the past. The Fairie Witch draws their power by establishing and maintaining a connection to the fair folk, or the fey. This is a classic trope, but there's a subtle sense in reading it that the fair folk are not pixies, sprites and happy little brownies. They are creatures beyond mortal understanding and perception and that those in this tradition see the fey with respect and awe. The Family Tradition is pretty darn original, but makes total sense. A character who selects this tradition has the gift "in the blood" so to speak. It's both an art and a gift handed down from mother to daughter for generations. This could easily be used to reflect a character who has a hidden family secret or a clan of gypsies who carry on an obscure magical tradtion. Easily my favorite of the traditions. The Maleficia Tradition. The name says it all. They made a pact with less than respectable powers and now they've got dark power drawn from an evil patron of unimaginable power. While this could easily be dismissed as a "evils only" kind of tradition, Brannan offers the idea of playing a Maleficia as someone who is using the weapon of the enemy against them - which is intruging and could make for some great role-playing. Finally we have the redheaded stepchild of the traditions - Eclectic. No so much a tradition as a mishmash of other traditions. They have penalties when interacting with other witches, but the freedom to select abilities granted to other traditions. I really life this ala carte approach. It offers a kind of blank canvas if played from early levels where the character can select abilities based on their expereinces through out the game. We end the traditions section with a brief, but thorough overview on familiars - which are a staple of any witch character. Brannan offers good description and excellent listing of familiars both mundane and magical - with my personal favorite being the floating skull. Next up we have a chapter of new spells and magic rules. Brannan introduces cantrips here, and while I like the idea of cantrips, they're another option to keep track of and some referees may not want to do so. I found some inconsistency in them too. The text states that cantrips can't affect living creatures, but there's one called Daze that clearly targets living creatures. In addition to cantrips we also have ritual magic, another staple of the traditional image of the wtich. These spells have longer casting times, require greater components as well as multipule casters. I enjoyed this section a lot, as again it really added to the flavor and depth of the class. It's not likely that a ritual would be cast during an adventure, so they lend themselves to bluebooking between adventures and that's a nice touch. Covencraft is a kind of expanded followers and sanctuary section that goes into great detail on establishing, maintaining and running a group of witches. In addition it offers detailed overviews of example covens. to get an enterprising player or referee started. A really nice touch is an overview of the non-magical tools used by witches in their spellcasting and coventry. Special distinction is given to a witch's personal Book of Shadows and the coven's Book of Law. Again, an excellent springboard for role-playing. This is followed up by a collection of several new monsters.The vast majority of new monsters presented here are taken from real-world mythology and continue to lend a kind of earthy that runs through the entire book. While I've not gotten a chance to use them in-play, they read as well written and can easily be usd as NPCs for the characters to interact with and not just a pile of hit points with XP as a reward after they're dead. The magical items presented in chapter seven are flavorful and unique. Brannan introduces the concept of magic cords which can be knotted around a subject (whether the self or someone else) to achieve a magical effect. This is a nice addition to more traditional magical jewelry and very evocative of the image of a witch and how their magic works. The magic items seem reasonable for the most part, but I found the Dagger+1, Deep Sleep to be particularly powerful, and something that could be rather dangerous - still it was so fitting for the flavor of the book that I can't fault it too much for feeling a bit unbalanced. Lastly we come to the Appendicies. Here Brannan offers rules for using the witch with the Advanced Edition Companion, rules for demi-human liches, and how some of the witch's new spells might be used by magic-users. The section on demi-humans is a bit of a contradiction to me. He offers a lot of flavorful detail on playing dwarf, elf, and halfling witches. They each have a kind of unique tradition, but intead of offering an original class for each, the reader is presented with a kind of universal "demi-human witch" template to fit all three. However, what is particularly cool is that the author discusses several "monster" races as witches, from fairies and hags along with a few others. My final thoughts are that the witch is a solid, well-written supplement, but it might be a bit much if taken as a whole for a basic era game. That being said, it's so well-researched and evocative that its worth a purchase even if you only use the base class or a single tradition. It feels like a natural, easy fit to almost any fantasy campaign. It's available on RPGNow for $5.00 as a PDF, $20.00 for the softcover, or $25.00 for both products. If you don't mind a little extra crunch in your basic fantasy, then by all means its worth a physical purchase. Even if you don't want a few extra rules floating around it's still an absolute steal for the PDF. More than just another class variant, there's an entire culture presented in these pages that can easily be used to enrich any fantasy RPG, even if your players never take up the class. Posted by James M. Spahn at 7:06 AM 5 comments: Labels: Labyrinth Lord, OSR, Review, Timothy Brannan, Witch Review: Magical Theorems and Dark Pacts Dyson Logos might be one of the coolest names I've ever heard. I don't know if it's the author's pen name or his real name - but either way, it's still pretty awesome. Alright, on with the review. This time around the Traveling Spellbook is looking at Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts, published by Zero/Barrier Productions and written by Dyson Logos. This is a big book that clocks in at 157 pages filled to the brim with all kinds of magical goodness packed into five chapters. The first thing that struck me about MT&DP is the fact that there is no art. None. But its a bit deeper than that. The content of this book is so well written, well laid out, and engaging that its not until after I read it for the first time and began to go through it for a second time that I noticed the lack of art. Logos's work is so engrossing that I'll make the bold claim that it doesn't need art. In fact, given that Logos does fine art in his own right, I wonder if it was a conscious choice. The lack of art evokes the aesthetic of being a physical tome, a traveling spellbook if you will. It subconciously draws the reader into the text of the document. It's subtle and powerful and very well done. Or I could be completely off base, and Logos just didn't feel like doing art or hiring an artist - but I doubt that very much. Chapter One: Spellcasting Classes presents ten new classes who rely in a large degree on magic or divine spells in their adventures. Logos begins by offering his own presentations on the traditional Magic-user, Elf and Cleric classes. For the most part these classes are very, very similar to what is presented in the Labyrinth Lord core rules, with the most changes being present in the Wizard (Logos's version of the Magic-user). Logos offers Wizards access to 10th level spells. Now, at first I had a knee-jerk reaction of "No! This is going to be broken!" But, I was wrong. What Logos has done with 10th level spells is place some truly campaign changing spells and put them in the catagory of 10th level. This includes iconic spells like Wish, Gate, & Time Stop along with a few others. By breaking the mold and making these 10th level spells, Logos gives the subtle nod to the fact that these spells are god-like in power and should be treated as such. The Elf is renamed the Elven Swordmage. Other than the change in name, this class functions exactly as the Elf in the Labyrinth Lord core rules. Then we come to the last MT&DP "reskin," the Cleric. Logos's clerics function almost exactly as those presented in the Labyrinth Lord core rules except for their turn undead ability which has been changed up a bit. While the ability itself as written by Logos isn't as powerful as it was presented in the LL core when one looks at the straight numbers, clerics have the potential to destroy an undead creature that has been turned when they reach certain levels. So it's not just a simple matter of potentially turned, always turned, or destroyed. When clerics face certain undead they might be turned, destroyed or neither depending on the compared level of power of the undead foe and the cleric. It's an extra rule and it might not suit everyone who wants to keep their old school games pretty streamlined, but I like it. If not, the rule can easily be ignored or the referee can just use the original rules for a cleric. Logos offers seven new spellcasting classes, each of them both simple and still with a unique twist. He's truly embraced the philosophy of Labyrinth Lord being a framework and it shows. First up is the Elven Warder, who is an elf with strong ties to nature. Combining limited spellcasting with some nature-based stealth abilities. They are permited the use of all weapons and armor, but many of their abilities are hampered when wearing armor - which offers a flexibility to the class. If necessary they can suit up and move to the front lines, but the class is clearly at home when operating in the wilderness and in the capacity as a scout or ranger-type role. Enchanters fall somewhere between a bard and an illusionist. They have a broader selection of weapons than their wizard cousins, but are still prohibited from wearing armor. In addition to a collection of spells that focuses on trickery, deception and charm, they also have the natural ability to craft an art object that can inspire powerful emotions in those who look upon it. In my opinion this is definitely a social class, which might seem at odds with the old school stereotype of constant dungeon crawling - but I think the freedom of OSR gaming can actually facilitate easier role-playing if the referee allows it and thus makes the Enchanter an asset to most adventuring companies. Next we have Fleshcrafters, who practice a kind of unnatural form of transmutation magic that is unnatural and reviled by most civilized societies. They have a spell list that is more limited than wizards or clerics, but they do not need to memorize their spells ahead of time - as they draw upon a kind of unnatural application of magic transmited through touch. While this is an interesting and creepy class, I noticed that Logos has omitted any text in the class description regarding weapon and armor restriction for the Fleshcrafter. Given their limited spell choice and limited method of application of said spells, I presume that they are able to wield all weapons and armor - but his is a nebulous area, and something I believe was an unintentional omission on the part of the author. If the Fleshcrafter corrupts the body, then the Healer restores it. Written as a kind of folk witch or commoner midwife, the Healer does exactly what it says: Keeps you alive. But the subtle tone of the descriptive text and abilities gives them a distinct feel and could make for a lot of good role-playing opportunities. Personally, I got a kind of "Miracle Max" vibe off of them, and that's a good thing. Also, I can't imagine any adventuring party that would turn down the company of a class the specializes in keeping you alive even more than a Cleric. Speaking of holy magic, now we come to the Inquisitor - which was not what I expected. I was expecting a sort of paladin variant focused on demon slaying. What I got was a truely historic inquisitor. These militant evangelists have fewer spells and less weapon and armor options than their clerical counter parts, but instead they have a unique and powerful ability called Authority. It functions similar to Turn Undead, but can actually be used to command living beings through sheer force of will - or even dominate them into submission. While this ability could easily be abused by aggressive players, the other restrictions on the class and the fact that its a non-magical ability left me feeling like it was fairly balanced or even less powerful over all, when compared to the cleric. The Merchant Prince is by far my favorite class in this supplement. A kind of swashbuckling or noble businessman who dabbles in magic, they have a small collection of spells as well as an ample selection of weapons and armor that combine with special abilities to reflect business acumen and financial savvy to create a kind of jack-of-all-trades. I love, love, love this class. What would a book on magic be with out a Necromancer, right? Logos's version is simple, quick and it works. With a restricted spell list, a rate of progression that's almost as good as a Wizard, and the innate ability to limit nearby undead from being turned or destroyed, the author has managed to create a tightly packaged class that still brims with just enough evil. But more evil still than the Necromancer is the Pact-Bound - Spellcasters who made a deal with a great and evil entity to gain arcane power. Though they are equal in power, diversity and proficiency of magic as any wizard, as the Pact-Bound increases in experience level they become more and more hideous and unnatural,. After long enough, they eventually appear to be completely inhuman - marked forever by the vile trade they made in a mad power grab. By contrast the Theurge is a kind of divine wizard if you will. reciting liturgical prayers and hymns in a manner similar to a wizard's arcane incantations. They have unique combination of utility and healing spells as well as a few more surprising spells - like lightning bolt and magic sword that make them a well-rounded class that could easily serve as a combined magic-user and cleric for a small band of heroes. Finally, we have the Unseen. They are a thief/magic-user hybrid with a few unique special abilities. They're not as skilled at theivery as thievies and nor are they as adept with the arcane as magic-users, but creative players who combine the options presented in this class with find that they can hold their own against things offered by any dungeon. At first read this class even seemed a bit too powerful, but given that their spells are almost all utilitarian in nature and that they have a d4 hit die, they might work. I'd have to see one in play to be certain one way or another. Chapter Two of Magicial Theorems and Dark Pacts features new spells as well as reprints of spells originally found in the Labyrinth Lord core rules. While some might regard this as filler, I think it's a matter of convience. Having everything in one place for your class and its spells is always a good thing in my opinion. Now, with so many new classes that deal wtih the arcane, it was necessary for Logos to devise new spells to help evoke the feel of each of these classes. For the most part the spells read in a balanced fashion, but a few do stick out. Bad Luck seems a bit overpowered, even if it is restricted to the new Unseen. Forcing a target to re-roll their saving throw after a success and take the second roll if its worse thriteen times before the spell effect ends is a bit much, even if the target does get an intital save to avoid the effect entirely. That spell sticks out in my mind because it's really the only one that felt really out of joint. Several other new spells like Daggers of Nur seem balanced, flavorful and a lot of fun. Chapter Three: Magic Items & Mystic Charms is more than just a listing of new trinkets for your game. Logos takes time to go into why magic items are important and how the referee should take the time to make them as flavorful and unique as possible. I couldn't agree with him more and am really glad to see him addressing this. The magic items themselves are absolutely fantastic. They're flavorful and evocative and can easily be dropped into an existing game very, very easily. Logos also introduces the concept of Mystic Charms. These are trinkets with very minor magical benefits when used in specific situations - usually for protective purposes. There's even a rule about having too many and this making them difficult to retrieve. I couldn't help but think of the scene from the film The Mummy where the weasley guy is hold up a bunch of holy symbols at the mummy and it takes a few minutes for the mummy to recognize one. Mystic Charms could definitely be useful, if not overdone. Chapter Four: Creatures and Elementals could have been used to pad the page count on this book by throwing a whole plethora of new monsters at us, but Logos keeps it clean and quick. Instead of stating whole new elementals, he gives quick one or two line modifications to existing elemntals to make them into the new subtypes offered in the book. This coupled with two half-page monster listings is really a nice way to do it in my opinion. What easily could have bloated this book into a 250 page monster was done in an honest way that keeps page count and price down. Chapter Five: Magical Theorems & the AEC addresses how to use MT&DP with the Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion, but I get the impression that the author has the point of view of "it's not my first choice of how to do things, but it's your game." A quick page offering hit die upgrades for those of you who are into that kind of thing and how multi-classing works with the new classes is all you get - but to be fair it's probably all you need. So, my final thoughts on Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts? It's $9.99 for the PDF on RPGNow.com, and I'm really reluctant to spend more than $5 on a digital product. That being said, there's a lot of good stuff in here. So much so that I'll probably end up picking up a physical copy. Logos's Lulu page offers the hard cover for $35 and the softback for ten dollars less. I'd definitely recommend the PDF. If you like what you see, decide whether or not its worth plunking down $30-$40 (after shipping) for the book itself. What's nice is that with books that featrue new classes you can easily buy the PDF, print out the pages pertaining to your specific class and go from there. There's a lot of useful material in here, but I'd be reluctant as a referee to just throw it all in there and see how it jives in a single campaign. Instead, I'd probably allow bits and pieces as suits an individual campaign or use some of the variants for NPCs so they have a few new tricks up their sleeves when pesky adventurers come to bother them. Posted by James M. Spahn at 7:26 PM 1 comment: Labels: Dyson Logos, Labyrinth Lord, OSR, Review, Zero/Barrier Review: Labyrinth Lord My window into the OSR community was Labyrinth Lord, written by Daniel Proctor and published by Goblinoid Games. When I first encountered this game I was immediately reminded of the Rules Cyclopedia, even though that's not an entirely accurate comparison. The connection in my mind comes from the fact that the RC was my go-to game in my junior high days. To be honest when I was first exposed to it back during its inital release around 2007, I dismissed the game outright. But I was younger, more foolish, and being driven by the almighty d20-system. "Who would want to play an old game? Why bother when D&D 3.5 is so much better and has so many more options? This is kids' stuff." So, for the next four years, I ignored Labyrinth Lord and the OSR community in general. But as the years passed I found that I had less and less time to dedicate to designing characters with countless feats, a huge collection of special abilities and powers that were drawn from the Codex of Inifinite OGL Supplements. Somehow, unfortunately, I'd grown into a (semi) responsible adult. But I'll be damned if I was gonna give up gaming! I thought back to simplier games and simpler times an looked back on my Rules Cyclopedia days with a gentle fondness. But getting my hands on an RC was no inexpensive task. Then, I remembered Labyrinth Lord. I downloaded the free no-art PDF and dove in with fresh eyes. And I fell in love. Labyrinth Lord is written to be a retro-clone of the Moldvay & Cook Basic/Expert version of D&D that was released in 1981. It wasn't quite the RC and before reading LL I'd never had much exposure to pre-RC D&D. I was locked in that foolish mindset that "newer" means "better," and I couldn't be more wrong. Proctor doesn't sugarcoat what he's created. He openly says it's not something new and not original. That kind of brutal honesty in the forward is something I found endearing. In one page, Proctor expresses love and child-like wonder for long lost gaming days of yore. He's humble and honest and disarming. He's the kind of guy who is probably a lot of fun to sit down with and roll a few dice. But Proctor's designed Labyrinth Lord to be a game in is own right and spends the first few pages of the book describing dice, terminology, and other nuances of table-top gaming that might be unfamiliar to someone who had never played an RPG before reading his book. While many would argue that "everyone knows what a role-playing game is," I think this is a smart move on Proctor's part because while his forward pays homage to the fathers of the hobby, by taking the time to offer this seemingly obvious information in the beginning then Proctor is creating a game that will stand on its own. While it honors its ancestors, it does not expect the reader to necessarily do so. However, once the book proper begins, it moves at a brisk pace. In its first fifteen pages Labyrinth Lord covers character creation, class selection and detailing exactly what those classes can do, as well as purchasing gear. Like Proctor says, Labyrinth Lord isn't trying to do anything new. The traditional D&D attributes are there: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma. Same goes for classes: Cleric, Dwarf, Elf, Fighter, Halfling, Magic-user and Thief. Proctor follows the conventions of its basic D&D progenitor - with the exception of the Cleric. There is a minor, but controversial change. In original B/X, clerics did not recieve their first spell until 2nd level. Labyrinth Lord allows clerics to cast a single 1st level spell right out of the gate - and frankly, most folks I gamed with often house ruled their home games to accomplish the same thing. So, this is a change that I applaude. Every little bit helps at low levels, after all. The game provides an ample collection of spells for use by elves, magic-users and clerics. For the most part, they're direct ports of the Moldvay-era spells of the same name - though I think there may be some of Proctor's own house rules in there in a few places. For example, Proctor's Magic Missile does 1d6+1 damage, and by my recollection (and I could be wrong) that spell has always done 1d4+1 - but, like the change in the cleric's spell casting progression, I find it to be a good thing. Again, it's a little edge to help the player character's survive. Following this, we come to 16 pages of rules covering movement, overland travel, combat, encumbrance, saving throws, non-player characters, and other general rules to help cover situations that might arise in the course of the game. Again, they're simple, direct and very no frills. Monsters are up next, and Proctor gives quite an ample collection of foes (and a few friends) for adventurers to face as they brave the dark dungeons of the world. In 40 pages the sampling given is enough to keep any adventure campaign going for quite some time - though I have to admit there did seem to be a marked absence of "high-level" foes. And why do so so many brave the dungeons and monsters of these fantasy worlds? For glory and treasure, of course - but mostly treasure. Given that the rest of this book is so concise, I'm really impressed at the eleven pages given to magic items. While this doesn't sound like much, given how briskly and tightly written the rest of the Labyrinth Lord rules are, I call this quite a bit of information. But there's no labyrinth without a referee (or Labyrinth Lord, as they are called in this game). An overview of what to expect being a referee is given - a few pages of hints and tips about stocking a dungeon and running the game. Again, there's not a lot given, and that's a good thing - but I'll get to that later. Finally the game closes with a small example dungeon and a map of the "Known World." This simple hex map is sparse and though the author never says I feel like this is less an empty world and more a canvas for the enterprising referee to paint upon. Several small presses seem to agree with my perception of things, having released supplements detailing some of the locations on the this map. The book closes with the legalize of the OGL and this might be the best part of the book for me. You see, what Proctor has done is he made this game and then he literally gave it to the world. Everything in this book, except for the names Labyrinth Lord, Goblinoid Games and the art are product identity. Everything else is open gaming content. This means that other authors can take the rules, ideas and concepts presented in Labyrinth Lord and base their own professional works upon it. Proctor has literally given his audience the world - and so far they've done amazing things with it. As I've reviewed Labyrinth Lord you've probably noticed I constantly reference how tightly written the book is and how loose many of the rules are. To many modern gamers, this could be seen as a weakness. Instead, I regard it as one of the game's greatest strengths. By giving a framework, Proctor allows players and referees the freedom to truly make Labyrinth Lord their own game - a personal expereince customized to the play style each group. This makes the game different things to different groups. It's a set of rules that can be bent, broken or contorted into whatever kind flavor of old-school fantasy gaming one desires - and that certainly makes it worth more than the sum of its parts. Labyrinth Lord is available in four different formats. It can be downloaded for free at the Goblinoid Games website as a no art PDF. No text is omitted, no rules removed. For $5.95 you can purchase the full art PDF, which I highly recommend. The art by Steve Zieser is thick black line art and very evocative of traditional old school gaming. It is also available as a softcover book for $21.95 or a hardcover for ten dollars more. The latter three formats are available at RPGNow. At any price, this game is well worth it. I've purchased all four versions of the game and do not regret repeat buys. I pritned out the no-art PDF and put it in sheet protectors and a binder as a "table copy." That way I don't have to feel like I'm out a few dollars when battle damage from Cheeto powder or Mountain Dew inevitably occurs, while my physical copies can be used for my own reference. Labyrinth Lord is very well supported as well. Numerous third party publishers have taken advantage of the OGL and a plethora of products are available on RPGNow and Lulu. Original adventures, sourcebooks, and supplements beyond count mean that you can turn this game into exactly what you want it to be. So, you're really only left with one question: What are you watiing for? Get it now and have a helluva a lot of fun. Posted by James M. Spahn at 11:21 AM 4 comments: Labels: Labyrinth Lord, OSR, Review Introduction & the Primer for Old School Gaming Welcome to Traveling Spellbook, a new blog focusing on OSR Gaming. What is OSR Gaming? Well, if you don't know you probably stumbled on to this blog by accident, but let's assume you're still reading. OSR stands for Old School Renaissance or Old School Revival and generally refers to a movement among table-top role-playing game enthusiasts to return to a the style of gaming from the early days of fantasy gaming. Rules are light and fast, with lots of room for interpretation by the game master or referee. The most famous of these games is Dungeons and Dragons and the values of OSR gaming are reflected in versions of D&D that existed before the release of the game's 3rd edition. Often drawing on the themes of pulp fantasy like that authored by Robert E. Howard, Jack Vance and Fritz Leiber, early fantasy game had the stereotype of being a game that was little more than “kick in the door, kill the monster, take the treasure.” But there is a whole lot more there if the gamer bothers to scratch a little bit beneath the surface of this over-simplified mentality. Often early fantasy games told you what your character could do, not what they couldn't do. If you wanted to do something that wasn't specified on your sheet and hadn't been specifically denied to you based on the confines of the game, then the player told the referee exactly how they were attempting to accomplish the task at hand and the referee made a ruling. Simple as that. No complex rules, no endless feats, no extensive rules. The players had faith in the referee to be fair in their ruling and the game moved forward. Another “hallmark” of OSR gaming is a high rate of lethality. I've always found this convention to be a bit disingenuous. It implied that old school fantasy games were built around the mentality of “Player vs. Referee” or that it was the referee's job to try to kill the player characters. To me the truth of the matter is that deciding you're going to go into the dark dungeons and deep caverns of the world where horrible monsters live is, by its very natrue, very dangerous. Players, and their characters, will need to be cautious, aware, prepared, and a bit lucky. But even then, sometimes things go poorly. It's a high-risk/high-reward situation and sometimes people die. That's why not everyone is an adventurer and whether the characters are risking their lives for a great and noble cause or for fun and profit, what really matters is that they're choosing to embark on a very dangerous, very rarely chosen path to greatness – a path fraught with peril. As for the player characters themselves, they are exceptional, but not necessarily extraordinary. In OSR gaming typically the roles taken up by the players are that of characters who are slightly better than the average villager or idle noble. That being said, if they manage to make their way to 2nd level or beyond, they may indeed rise to great heights of heroism. That being said, it has to be earned. In OSR, no one starts out a fireball slinging arch mage or a master swordsman. That's all part of the genre convention. Heroism and glory are often sought after and rarely achieved – again, it's a high-risk/high-reward situation. As for Traveling Spellbook itself, his blog will discuss OSR gaming in general and review products designed for OSR gaming. To that end, the first product recommended by TS is Matthew Finch's A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming. This product is available as a free PDF download from Lulu.com. At 13 pages, it's a quick read – but no words are wasted. Finch cuts a brisk pace, describing what exactly old school gaming is and why it can be so darned fun. Finch breaks this down for both players and referees alike. For the players he provides what he calls four “Zen Moments” that highlight how playing in an OSR game is different from its modern counterparts and why its awesome. His examples are detailed, but never long-winded. The author's energy and passion for OSR gaming is evident. For referees he presents the “Tao of the GM.” The insights here showcase the subtle (or not-so-subtle) responsibilities a referee has when running an OSR game when compared to the more modern style of running a game. Again, Finch's enthusiasm just jumps off the page and it feels almost infectious. By Orcus, OSR gaming is just too damned fun! In closing, Matthew Finch recommends that those interested in OSR gaming pick up a copy of Swords & Wizardry – and while this feels like a plug for his own product at first, he goes out of his way to tell the reader that the recommended products are available free of charge. He's clearly in it for a love of the game. There's a reason that A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming is the first product I'm reviewing on Traveling Spellbook: Because it opened my eyes up to the magnificent simplicity of OSR gaming. Personally, I came into fantasy gaming in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and have fond memories of the 1991 Rules Cylopedia compiled by the late, great Aaron Allston. But, having quickly moved on to 2nd edition AD&D and 3rd edition soon after, I never quite “got” old-school gaming. But with Finch's Primer, I truly had moments of zen and knew the tao that could not be described. Whether you're a grizzled old gamer whose lost interest in the hobby with the advent of ascending AC or if you're of the newer generation who enjoys 4th edition's streamlined, modular approach to table-top gaming, Matthew Finch makes understanding, and more importantly appreciating, old school gaming an easy thing. Matthew Finch's A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming is available as a free PDF on lulu.com. Give it a read, roll up a character, trust your DM, and get ready to have a helluva good time. Posted by James M. Spahn at 12:01 AM No comments: Petty Gods Other OSR Blogs & Sites Barrel Rider Games Official Website White Box Blog - Seattle Hill Games Gamers and Grognards Die Heart: A Blog About Pen & Paper RPGs Kickassistan The Evil DM Mystic Bull Games Experience Points (Portuguese Language) The Other Side: Celebrating 40 Years of D&D Barrowmaze: A Labyrinth Lord Megadungeon Samwise7RPG's Blog Labyrinth Lord Society

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: sir...my back neck is pained sometimes heavily...that time my head is also pained..i cant slepp at that time...this problem occur from my 9th standard..now my age is 21...thir problem based on nero or bone...what shal i do now?i l see neurologist or ortholigist..please reply me.. output: Hi, Firstly, sorry to hear that this issue is lasting too long. Coming to the point. I think you need to get consulted with a neurologist for now as this is a long persisting issue. As per me, either the pain is due to the headache or any muscle groups in the cervical region getting tightened due to any unknown factor leading to trouble. A neurologist will be of choice to get answered the complaints. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: How does endometriosis affect fertility and what are the management strategies for patients desiring pregnancy? output: Endometriosis is a significant factor in infertility, affecting up to 50% of infertile women. The mechanisms by which endometriosis impairs fertility are multifactorial, including anatomical distortions due to adhesions and fibrosis, endocrine abnormalities, and immunological disturbances. These factors can lead to altered ovarian, tubal, and uterine function, which collectively reduce fertility.[1-3] Management strategies for patients desiring pregnancy include both surgical and assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Surgical intervention is often considered, particularly for early-stage endometriosis and deeply infiltrating endometriosis, as it can improve spontaneous pregnancy rates and ART outcomes by reducing inflammation and restoring normal pelvic anatomy. Laparoscopic surgery is the preferred approach, with techniques such as ablation or resection of endometriotic lesions.[3-5] For patients with minimal to mild endometriosis, controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) combined with intrauterine insemination (IUI) can be effective, especially in younger women. However, for those with more advanced disease or those who do not conceive following surgery, in vitro fertilization (IVF) is recommended. IVF can bypass the hostile peritoneal environment and anatomical distortions associated with endometriosis.[2][4-5] Medical treatments alone, such as hormonal suppression, are generally not effective for improving fertility and should be used in conjunction with ART if at all. Pre-treatment with gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists before initiating an IVF cycle may improve outcomes in some patients.[2][4][6-7] In summary, the management of endometriosis-associated infertility should be individualized, considering the extent of the disease, patient age, ovarian reserve, and other infertility factors. Surgical management and ART, particularly IVF, are the mainstays of treatment, with medical therapy playing a supportive role in specific contexts.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Hello doctor I have my result from my blood test yesterday. Then I know from the old doctor that I have hepa since 1999 which I am not aware of it.when I make a test long time ago. And the result from my SGPT Is 18.62 and my SGOT is 21.65. What does it means? Do I have my hepatitis B worst? And what is HBSAG - reactive? And what about my Anti-HBS (quanti) result is 2.00 - cut off value 10.00 mlU/ml - nonreactive. Is my health getting bad? Pls help me it effects me a lot:( I thougth it s for free sorry I can t pay and I don t have credit card or anything.. YYYY@YYYY output: Hi, Thanks for posting your query. You have presently normal GOT and SGPT. These two enzymes indicates liver status. These two enzymes originate from liver. Out of these two, SGPT is very liver specific. You have positive Bag, and it indicates that you are suffering from hepatitis B. Though you have hepatitis B but normal GOT/ SGPT indicates dormant stage of hepatitis B and you don't need any medication right now. Anti-HBs shows immunity level after vaccination by hepatitis B vaccines. Anti-HBs must be above 10 mid/ ml. You should also get for hepatitis B vaccination, if not done previously. You should go for regular check up with regular GOT/ SGPT analysis every 6 months. Take care,.

Tagged: Joe Mauer Span to get precautionary MRI on shoulder; Mauer gets cortisone shot By: Kelly Thesier/MLB.com Twins center fielder Denard Span is scheduled to undergo an MRI on his right shoulder on Thursday. General manager Bill Smith said that the team had scheduled the MRI after Span missed three games last weekend after injuring the shoulder while diving for a ball in a game at Chicago on Sept.16. Span returned to the lineup on Monday and played all three games against the Indians. “When he missed a couple games last week set this up,” Smith said. “And we decided to go ahead and have the MRI as a precautionary measure.He’s played a few games without any significant problems but we decided just to have it done.” Span told ESPN 1500 AM on Thursday that he initially injured the shoulder during a dive in Oakland in early June. He said he’s been dealing with soreness in the shoulder on and off since that time, but said that it’s nothing that he can’t play through. Smith also confirmed that catcher Joe Mauer received a cortisone shot in his left knee on Wednesday. Mauer injured his knee in Sunday’s game against the A’s, leaving after his at-bat in the sixth inning, but an MRI revealed no structural damage, just some tissue inflammation. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said that Mauer, who has not played since Sunday, would miss a few days if he received a cortisone shot. Written by mlblogskellythesier1 3 Comments Posted in Dailies Tagged with Denard Span, Joe Mauer, Twins Mauer’s MRI provides good news MINNEAPOLIS – The MRI on Joe Mauer’s left knee showed some tissue inflammation but nothing more serious, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said before Tuesday’s game against the Indians. “Everything came out good, so good news,” Gardenhire said. Gardenhire said that Mauer would probably receive a cortisone shot to help with the inflammation in his knee, which would sideline him for around 4-5 days. A decision on whether Mauer will get the shot will be made once he consults with the Twins doctors on Tuesday night. Mauer injured his knee while swinging in the sixth inning of Sunday’s 6-2 loss to the A’s, and the catcher left the game after it started to get worse while he ran up the first-base line. The Twins are on the verge of clinching the American League Central title as their magic number was 2 entering Tuesday and there are 12 games remaining in the regular season, so Gardenhire said the timing of the injury isn’t such a bad thing. “If they decide to do [the cortisone shot], then it’s probably 4-5 days, which he could use,” Gardenhire said. “That would be good [for him].” Although Gardenhire had said that he wasn’t concerned that Mauer’s knee injury was anything serious since the doctors had not seemed concerned, he acknowledged that the positive results of the MRI were a bit of a relief. “They told me in the first place it was nothing so I was listening to them,” Gardenhire said. “But I think you never know until you see an MRI, you never know what you can find.” Until Mauer is ready to return to the lineup, the Twins catching duties will be split between Drew Butera and Jose Morales. Butera was behind the plate for Tuesday’s contest to catch starter Scott Baker and Morales was slated to catch Wednesday afternoon’s contest with Nick Blackburn on the mound. Written by mlblogskellythesier1 Leave a comment Posted in Dailies Tagged with Joe Mauer, Twins Thursday’s postgame tidbits — Liriano, Mauer, Portes The Twins saw something from Francisco Liriano on Thursday night that they had been hoping to see this spring — confidence. In his second outing of the spring, Liriano faced the Orioles for two innings in relief. He impressed with his outing, holding Baltimore scoreless while striking out three and allowing just one hit — a two-out triple to Robert Andino in the fifth inning. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said he was pleased with the way that Liriano located his fastball. Liriano’s breaking pitches looked good in his first spring outing but it’s been his fastball that he’s struggled with at times during his career. “He was in one of those outings where you kind of get a little disappointed when they hit the ball,” Gardenhire said on Thursday. “There are a lot of swings and misses going on so when they hit it, you’re like [disappointed]. That’s how he threw the ball tonight. The ball was darting. I’m sure the guys on the other side will tell you he was pretty nasty.” Gardenhire credited the difference in the way Liriano was throwing to his newfound confidence, not only in his stuff but the way he’s feeling physically. “This game is all about confidence,” Gardenhire said. “Last year, he had just lost his confidence. He was questioning himself about which pitch to throw and all those things. When your stuff gets to a certain point and comes back and your arm feels good and your body feels good then everything starts to fall into place. By listening to him talk, that’s about where he is right now.” — Drew Butera caught Liriano in his outing, although Joe Mauer had originally planned to do so. But Mauer left the contest after the third inning, thanks to taking a foul tip off his right shoulder. Gardenhire said Mauer was pretty sore after he came out of the game. Mauer had originally been scheduled to play on Friday against the Mets but now they’ll give him the day off. “We all know catchers take a beating and there is no sense in pressing that,” Gardenhire said. — Juan Portes continues to impress at the plate. The outfielder went 2-for-2 on Thursday night, with a double and his third home run of the spring. He’s now batting .700 (7-for-10) in six games this spring. His slugging percentage is a ridiculous 1.700. Gardenhire said he first saw Portes back in Instructional League a few years ago and he liked the outfielder’s swing then. “I always said he could swing the bat and I think he’s really showing it here,” Gardenhire said. “When you get invited to Major League camp, this is what you try to do. You try to open eyes and impress people. I think he’s doing that very well.” — Twins bench coach Steve Liddle spent Thursday night in a local hospital after experiencing some dizziness and tightness in his chest during batting practice. Gardenhire said Liddle underwent some tests at the hospital on Thursday night but so far everything has checked out OK. — Rain forced Thursday night’s contest to be called early and it could impact Friday’s game against the Mets. Gardenhire said there could be a window in the afternoon although rain is forecast for the entire morning. Written by mlblogskellythesier1 Leave a comment Posted in Dailies Tagged with Francisco Liriano, Joe Mauer, Juan Portes, Twins Game 2: All eyes on Joe Mauer When Joe Mauer stepped to the plate in the first inning of Friday’s spring home opener at Hammond Stadium, he drew the biggest ovation from the crowd of any Twins player. Perhaps that’s because Twins fans want to remind the catcher just how much he’s loved in Minnesota. All eyes have been focused this spring on the catcher’s contract status and that was intensified on Thursday with the news that Mauer’s agent, Ron Shapiro, was at Twins camp in Fort Myers, Fla. Shapiro is expected to remain in Fort Myers this weekend. The two sides are still negotiating a contract extension for the reigning AL MVP, although neither will comment publicly on it, so more face-to-face talks are likely to take place while he’s in town. Still, Shapiro’s presence in camp doesn’t necessarily mean that a deal is close. So far there have been no indications from either side that anything is imminent. There have been plenty of questions directed to Mauer this spring about his contract, although the catcher has politely chosen not to discuss specifics about talks taking place. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said that Mauer, who prefers to stay out of the spotlight, has been holding up well despite all of the attention. “He’s fine. Joe’s so quiet, you don’t even know. … He’s just Joe,” Gardenhire said. “He goes about his business. He’s preparing for the season, and all the other things take care of themselves. The only time he talks about it is when somebody asks him.” Here are a few other notes from today: — Loek Van Mil, the 7-foot-1 pitcher from the Netherlands, is going to have another MRI done on his right shoulder. Van Mil, who has been bothered by shoulder tendinitis, threw one pitch in a bullpen session today before shutting it down. –Nick Punto is expected to make his spring debut on Sunday in one of the Twins’ split squad games. Punto, who underwent minor surgery on his right wrist at the end of January, has taken one session of live batting practice so far this spring. The club was going to try to get him another one but Gardenhire said there were not enough pitchers due to the fact there is a split squad this weekend. –Carl Pavano was pleased with the way he threw in Friday’s contest, tossing two scoreless innings while allowing one hit, walking two and striking out one. He said that he’s been working on a mechanical adjustment with pitching coach Rick Anderson to get himself better extended out toward home plate in his delivery and he said he feels it’s starting to help already. –Shortstop Estarlin De Los Santos is expected to get back to seeing action on the field after the team’s off day on Wednesday, Gardenhire said. Written by mlblogskellythesier1 Leave a comment Posted in Dailies Tagged with Game 2, Joe Mauer, tidbits, Twins Cage time: Tuesday’s tidbits and notes Rainstorms throughout the Fort Myers area this morning forced the Twins workouts inside the indoor batting cages this morning. Both pitchers and hitters got their work done in the cages, although it wasn’t without a little havoc. Manager Ron Gardenhire said the club had to pin up the netting in one of the cages because 6-foot-11 Jon Rauch was too tall and his arm was hitting the netting during his delivery. Still despite the cramped space and less than ideal conditions, the Twins were able to get enough done on Tuesday. “We got plenty of work, just inside, not on the grass,” Gardenhire said. “ Guys got out there, ran around, whatever, all that stuff. But we had to do most of our work inside, the fields got pretty ugly, which is never a bad thing. You get your work in, sometimes give them a little break on their legs, a little less throwing on a day like this is fine. Just don’t want too many of them. We just moved today’s program back to tomorrow. Perfect.” Here are a few more news nuggets from Tuesday: — All of the injury concerns seem to be doing OK. Brian Duensing and Jose Mijares were both able to throw after getting hit during live batting practice in recent days. — Gardenhire passed along his lineup for Thursday’s Grapefruit League opener against the Red Sox at City of Palms Park It’s as follows: Denard Span CF, Alexi Casilla 2B, Jason Kubel DH, Michael Cuddyer RF, Jacque Jones LF, Brendan Harris 3B, Brock Peterson 1B, Drew Butera C, Matt Tolbert SS Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau will play in Friday’s home opener at Hammond Stadium. Orlando Hudson and J.J. Hardy will likely make their Twins spring debuts in that contest as well. — Gardenhire is also scheduled to receive his Chuck Tanner Manager of the Year Award during Sunday’s split squad game in Bradenton against the Pirates. The award was given out this offseason but Gardenhire was unable to attend due to traveling across the country with his mother. One person who gave Gardenhire grief for not attending was Tigers manager Jim Leyland, who was roasted at the event in Pittsburgh. Leyland also had a bit of advice to pass along to Gardenhire recently. Having heard Gardy’s comment about Joe Mauer’s contract in that the Twins were deciding whether to give the catcher Minneapolis or St. Paul, Leyland said he had the answer. “Give him both,” the Tigers skipper said. Written by mlblogskellythesier1 Leave a comment Posted in Dailies Tagged with batting cages, Jim Leyland, Joe Mauer, lineups, rain, Twins Bring on the Hitters Today marked the final day that only the Twins pitchers and catchers worked out. On Saturday the club will hold its first full squad workout and that means the annual team meeting will take place. It’s the time when manager Ron Gardenhire gives his speech to the team for the 2010 season. Gardy was asked on Friday if the message was going to be pretty simple considering that expectations are high for his club in 2010. “It’s the same every year. Our goal is to be consistent and try to win our division,” Gardenhire said. “If everything works out OK we should do just fine. Talking about it doesn’t get it done. It’s all about the work on the field and the games. Sure we have high expectations. Absolutely. I think I do and I think everybody should. We like our baseball team. We will see how it goes. “The meeting tomorrow is about getting the work done. We have never rested on our laurels. We have never said that we are OK. We will continue to work our tails off and try to outwork everybody else.” — As I wrote in a story for the website, Justin Morneau arrived to camp today. Surprisingly, though, there were no USA decorations in his locker when he showed up. I thought there would be since so many of his teammates seemed ready to trash talk about Team USA beating Canada in Olympic hockey last Sunday. The only gesture was that Brendan Harris put on a USA hockey hat and teased Morneau at his locker with it for a few minutes early in the morning. So why no decorations? “I think there probably was,” Morneau said. “Then they saw that Russia game and took them down.” — The only position player who had not been spotted in the clubhouse by Friday afternoon was shortstop Estarlin De Los Santos. In addition to Morneau, outfielder Juan Portes also reported to camp on Friday. — One sign that was spotted in a locker by day’s end was this “1st place Long and Mean: 55” by Joe Mauer’s stall. It was to celebrate that the catcher’s group won the charity golf tournament by shooting a 55 on the Long and Mean course at Fiddlesticks on Thursday afternoon. Mauer couldn’t resist putting it up. “This is the first time I’ve won the thing,” Mauer said with a smile. More tomorrow when pitchers start throwing live batting practice. It’s always a day of entertainment as the pitchers have a clear advantage over hitters early in camp. Follow me on Twitter @kellythesier Written by mlblogskellythesier1 Leave a comment Posted in Dailies Tagged with Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Ron Gardenhire, Twins Day 4: Time for a little golf Every year during Spring Training the Twins host a charity golf tournament to benefit the Lee Memorial Regional Cancer Center. This year’s event took place on Thursday at the Fiddlesticks Country Club in Fort Myers. I’ve been fortunate enough to be invited to participate in the event in each of the past four years and it’s a chance for me to not only get in a round of golf, but also to have some fun while raising money for a very good cause. More than 30 Twins players and coaches hit the links on Thursday, including manager Ron Gardenhire, Joe Mauer, Joe Nathan, Michael Cuddyer, Carl Pavano, Nick Punto, and Matt Guerrier. But the player who drew the most attention on the driving range before the tournament was Twins outfield prospect Aaron Hicks. The California native is a scratch golfer and was blasting drives past the end of the driving range — and mind you, they were straight shots that would land in the middle of the fairway. Other players such as Cuddyer gathered around to watch Hicks hit, and they were clearly impressed. However it was Mauer’s foursome that took the top spot of the day, as they shot the lowest score of any group — 55. Due to the golf tournament, Thursday’s workout was quick and the players were off the field a little earlier than usual. That meant there wasn’t much news from the workout. Alexi Casilla was the one position player who reported to camp, leaving just three players — Justin Morneau, Estarlin De Los Santos and Juan Portes — missing. The buzz in camp is that Morneau is in Florida but just hasn’t attended a workout yet. For manager Ron Gardenhire, that’s actually a positive because it means that Morneau is listening to the advice that he needs to back off his excessive workload at Spring Training. The first baseman has often been one of the first position players to report and is at the complex nearly every morning by 7 a.m. to hit in the cages. Yet the team wants that to change a little this spring following Morneau’s back injury last year. “He knows he’s got a long spring training and a long season. It’s good that he’s taking his time,” Gardenhire said. “He’s not supposed to report until Friday and work out Saturday, and that’s good. Stay away, it’s less stress on his back.” Written by mlblogskellythesier1 Leave a comment Posted in Dailies Tagged with Aaron Hicks, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Twins Day 2: Camp roster is growing As Friday’s reporting date for position players draws closer, the clubhouse inside Hammond Stadium is slowly starting to fill up. Among the notable names arriving at camp on Tuesday were Jim Thome, Jason Kubel, and Nick Punto. There was also another familiar face when Jacque Jones arrived, taking over the locker stall that Torii Hunter occupied for many years. Some other prospects have also unpacked stuff into their lockers including third baseman Danny Valencia and 2006 first-round pick Chris Parmelee. Position players take part in their own informal workouts on the back fields of the Minor League complex during the early days of camp. Every year the hitters are behind the pitchers early in Spring Training, which always makes for some entertainment when live batting practice starts. And the pitchers enjoy getting to rag on the position players a little about it as well. So it was no surprise to hear this exchange in the clubhouse today between Thome and reliever Jon Rauch as the veteran slugger was putting some bats back in his locker. Rauch: “Just like riding a bike?” Thome: “Some years. [laughs] But not this early.” Joe Mauer even joked about getting his swing back. As the catcher grabbed a couple of bats to take part in catcher’s batting practice on Tuesday morning, he said, “We’ll see if I can still remember how to do this.” Just a guess, but I think the three-time AL batting champion will be OK. Here are a few other notes and tidbits from Day 2 of camp. — Prospect Estarlin De Los Santos hasn’t arrived at camp yet but manager Ron Gardenhire said that he’s heard the shortstop is battling a little tendinitis in his shoulder. The club will know more once he reports but Gardenhire said the infield is already starting to get thin, and position players aren’t even officially in camp yet. –Since pitchers are still just throwing bullpens, it’s difficult for the coaches to get much of a sense of how they’re doing. But the questions about Francisco Liriano are already starting due to his strong performance in winter ball. Gardenhire had this to say about Liriano today. “He looks good, his body is in great shape,” the manager said. “It’s just going to get down to how we go through Spring Training, facing hitters and all that stuff. Really, he’s past this point [of bullpens], he’s pitched all winter long. This is kind of something that he’s not here to get in shape like everyone else because he played all winter. It’s just about getting through it now, getting in games and continuing where he left off during the winter for him.” –A common sight during the first two days of camp has been a herd of fans moving around the Lee County Sports Complex whenever Mauer switches fields. The catcher has always been a big attraction at camp but this year the crowds seem to be even more interested in the reigning AL MVP. — The Twins are also expected to officially announce on Wednesday that the first game at Target Field will be a contest between the University of Minnesota and Louisiana Tech on March 27. More details will be unveiled in a press conference at Target Field. Hall of Famer and former Twin Paul Molitor will be on hand for the announcement. You can follow me on Twitter @kellythesier Written by mlblogskellythesier1 Leave a comment Posted in Dailies Tagged with Jim Thome, Joe Mauer, Twins Welcome to the Fort Greetings everyone from sunny Fort Myers, Fla. (I can’t say warm because it hasn’t exactly been that way over the past week. I know, I know, no complaining to those who are still in Minnesota). I was on vacation for the last seven days, although I spent that time down here in Florida –working on my golf game. (It’s training time for everyone, right?) Today was my first day back at the ballpark and so I thought I’d share a few of the sights and sounds at the Lee County Sports Complex two days before the club’s official reporting date for pitchers and catchers. While I’d heard that players had been slowly trickling in all week, there was quite a bit of activity there today. Among the notable names who were working out at the ballpark today were Joe Nathan, Matt Guerrier, Michael Cuddyer, Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Brian Duensing and Pat Neshek. A few of them, including Nathan and Guerrier threw bullpen sessions while Neshek threw some live batting practice. In addition to the numerous players on the fields, there were plenty of fans wandering about. I got a chance to catch up with a few of them and always enjoy hearing about their enthusiasm for the upcoming season. After hanging around the fields, I headed over to the main clubhouse to see who might be dropping off stuff at their lockers. Joe Mauer and J.J. Hardy were there, having just returned from a week up in Minnesota. As I tweeted earlier, Mauer was sporting a new beard that he grew while spending time up at his cabin. Mauer took Hardy to the cabin where they worked out and even did some ice fishing there. Hardy said he can’t believe how famous Mauer’s cabin has become, but did add that it was a pretty impressive place to visit. Golf was a common topic of conversation in the clubhouse, and not just from me talking about how my swing was feeling this week. Nathan and Carl Pavano were headed out to play 18 holes — one of many rounds of golf that they’ll likely play this spring. While my golf game goes on hiatus pretty much over the course of Spring Training, the players get to enjoy their time on the links (especially during the short workout days early in camp). So I’m sure I’ll get to hear quite a bit about how their golf games are progressing. One person who was only too happy to share his golf story was manager Ron Gardenhire, who got the opportunity to play Augusta National on Friday. The timing was not ideal as the South was hit by a massive snowstorm on Friday afternoon, and Gardy’s playing group had to golf in the snow for the final three holes. He said he got some pictures of the group on hole No. 18 with the snow falling. Augusta got a total of four inches — something that hadn’t happened in 37 years — so Gardy was proud to at least have pictures of the event. He didn’t shoot too shabby either, telling me he was only one over after the front nine Tomorrow will be the final day for players to work out before the official reporting day. It’s often a little quieter around the ballpark as guys enjoy their final day off before things really get underway. I’ll be back out at the complex tomorrow to start working on a few stories so I’ll share more at that time. Written by mlblogskellythesier1 Leave a comment Posted in Dailies Tagged with golf, Joe Mauer, Joe Nathan, Ron Gardenhire, Spring Training, Twins No deal in place yet for Mauer There has been a lot of speculation in recent days that the Twins will soon sign catcher Joe Mauer to a contract extension. But so far there is no deal in place. A source familiar with the negotiations denied a report by WCCO-TV that Mauer and the Twins have reached preliminary agreement on a 10-year contract. While no deal is currently in place, negotiations on a contract extension have been ongoing between Mauer’s agent, Ron Shapiro, and the Twins. But the two sides have been reluctant to discuss any details of the situation publicly. The idea of a 10-year deal for the catcher does not seem out of reason based on the catcher’s career so far. Mauer, who will turn 27 on April 19, has already won thee batting titles, two Gold Gloves and the 2009 American League MVP Award. He is set to make $12.5 million this season, the final year of a four-year, $33 million deal. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said on Friday he hasn’t gotten involved in the negotiations concerning Mauer, but he’s optimistic that the club will ink the St. Paul native to a contract extension. His belief is that something will get done before the team reports for Spring Training. “I don’t sit and fret about it,” Gardenhire said. “I think the right thing is going to happen. I think we all know the ramifications if something weren’t to happen and it were to go the other way. That wouldn’t be a good thing for anybody, except for maybe some clubs out East. “I think everybody knows what needs to get done here. From our owners to our general manager to our fan base, we all know what everybody wants. It is right out there for us … and I think they’ll On Friday, Mauer said he hopes his contract situation doesn’t become a distraction for the team. Pitchers and catchers will report to Fort Myers, Fla. on Sunday, Feb. 21 for the start of Spring Training.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: I don t know if its worth seeing a doctor or not. But I always feel like I m never getting enough oxygen and my heart races a lot, even if I m just sitting down or trying to sleep. Sometimes my vision will fade away and then come right back. And I get confused or like a dream state. Tired all the time. I m starting to sleep 12 hours and more, and can still take a nap. Even though I sleep a lot I now have dark circles under my eyes. I have a healthy diet. I never eat fast food. And watch what I take in. But I m slowly losing weight like crazy! I m 5 6 and 107 pounds. Any clue what could be wrong? output: * This is most likely combination of anxiety, stress ; deficiency of hemoglobin, vitamins, anti oxidants ; alterations in hormonal levels as thyroid or others.* Needs thorough clinical evaluations with history, physical examination and series of laboratory tests. Hope this solves your query. Can ask further doubts without any hesitations. Regards..

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: I have been sick for over 5 days now. Swollen lymph nodes on both sided of throat. Sever diarrhea, high fever 101.9, chills, aches and pains. Thought it was just the flu but now not so sure. Age is 39 female, non smoker, weight is 160lbs. Now I probably lost 10 from the diarrhea. gest treatment for swollen lymph nodes,severe diarrhea,high fever output: Hi Dear,Welcome to HCM.Understanding your concern. As per your query you have symptoms of swollen lymph nodes,severe diarrhea,high fever which seems to be due to strep throat which is a bacterial infection. Need not to panic about it. I would suggest you to 1) Sip on lukewarm water and take throat lozenges. 2) Antibiotics are first line of treatment option in this case. In case of mild fever you can take Calpol or paracetamol for relief as well as it will relieve throat pain too.3) Avoid spicy and rough food. Take diet rich in soft food. 4) Hot milk with a pinch of turmeric boiled with it at bed time for 2-3 days as it has antimicrobial action. 5) Take anti inflammatory drugs such as Levocetirizine.If symptoms keeps on persisting visit pediatrician once and get it examined. Maintain oral hygiene. Take proper course of antibiotics. Get blood tests done if required.Hope your concern has been resolved.Get Well Soon..

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: The kitchen cabinet door came off the hinges and hit me over the left eyebrow and forehead. I m applying ice. Question: how long should I apply ice and could this be serious? There is just a slight scratch with a very little blood. Blood has stopped. I feel a little pain. gest treatment for injury in forehead output: DearWelcome to HCMWe understand your concernsI went through your details. If the blood flow has stopped, there is nothing to worry about for the time being. You can stop ice application once the blood stopped. Now you should examine the wound. If the wound is just a scratch, you may just apply some anti septic lotion or ointment. Examine the wound thouroughly. If it is even a little deep, you should consult a surgeon for tetanus shots or may be for stitches. If you feel the deep seated pain or contusion or progressive swelling, you should consult a surgeon.If you still need my assistance in this regard, please use this link. Please remember to describe the whole problem with full detail.Hope this answers your query. Please feel free to post follow up queries. Available for further clarifications.Good luck. Take care...

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Do low baseline plasma concentrations of HGF and IL-8 predict better disease control rate (DCR) and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer? output: Based on the provided documents, there is some evidence to suggest that low baseline plasma concentrations of certain markers may indeed predict better disease control rates (DCR) and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). While none of the documents specifically focus on hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), they do discuss interleukin-8 (IL-8) and other markers that might offer similar insights. Here's a summary of the relevant findings: 1. Document 1: This study found that higher plasma levels of soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) before initiating palliative chemotherapy were associated with shorter survival in mCRC patients. Although HGF and IL-8 weren't explicitly mentioned, this suggests that lower baseline levels of certain markers might correlate with improved outcomes. 2. Document 4: This study examined the clinical benefits of monitoring plasma IL-8 levels during breast cancer chemotherapy. They discovered that patients with consistently low IL-8 levels throughout the treatment had significantly better overall survival compared to those with higher IL-8 levels. This indicates that maintaining low IL-8 levels during chemotherapy could be beneficial for patients. 3. Document 5: This study investigated the predictive and prognostic values of pre-treatment blood inflammation-based scores, such as neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR), in mCRC patients receiving TAS-102 and bevacizumab treatment. The results showed that the pre-treatment LMR is a valid predictive and prognostic biomarker for mCRC patients, with the high-LMR group having a higher disease control rate and longer progression-free survival. While these documents don't directly address whether low baseline plasma concentrations of HGF and IL-8 predict better DCR and PFS in mCRC patients, their findings suggest that monitoring certain markers before and during treatment could provide valuable information about patient outcomes. Specifically, maintaining low levels of markers like IL-8 and possibly others might be associated with better disease control and longer progression-free survival. Further research would be necessary to confirm these associations and determine the applicability of these findings to different treatments and patient populations.

Tag: Robert Culp Posted on December 23, 2010 August 30, 2011 The latest issue of Newsweek magazine honors some of the notable folks who we lost in 2010. Unfortunately, there was somebody missing from that list… No mention at all of Robert Culp. None. For shame Newsweek! Originally released October 1975 (UK), January 1976 (US) **Contains spoilers** I purchased this publicity photo of Robert Culp for this movie off eBay back in September 2010. The photo prompted me to try to find this movie as I knew little of it and seriously, a pose like that? Facing down some bad dude, dressed in a military uniform? SOLD! At the time it was only available on places like iOffer and the occasional vintage VHS tape on eBay. I was almost going go with a DVD “copy” from iOffer when I learned that Warner Brothers would be releasing the film through their Archive Collection as a DVD on demand. It couldn’t have been more than two weeks after I bought the photo and started searching for the movie. Strangely enough the same thing happened when I first “discovered” Culp and went looking for I Spy DVDs. Just a few weeks later, all three seasons were released. Although there’s mixed reviews out there for Inside Out, I enjoyed the film and found it to be a pretty good caper type movie. Culp plays Sly Wells, an ex-con and former thief, now trying to live quietly and keep out of jail in Amsterdam. Telly Savalas is Harry Morgan, a WWII veteran and former POW living in London trying to find his next big hustle (indeed, his flat is for sale and his car is repossessed at the start of the movie). Harry gets a letter from the former POW camp Kommandant who had a business proposition for him: Help him find six million dollars in Nazi gold persumed lost during the war. The answer to the gold’s location lies with a high ranking Nazi official who is being held in a high security prison in West Berlin. To get the answer, he’ll have to be removed from the prison for a little while and then returned – with no one knowing he’s gone. Harry tells the former Kommandant that he knows somebody who might be able to help them. Enter Sly Wells. Sly is a little gun shy at first (staying out of jail has been nice) but given the potential financial windfall if they pull it off, he agrees. He and Harry fly to West Berlin to meet with former Kommandant Ernst Furben (James Mason). Furben shows them the Seigfried Prison and then Harry sets up Sly and himself at a fancy hotel. Harry then sets out to get some help from a few more players in our caper. Harry makes a connection with an old friend who is a dealer in precious metals and gems. He agrees to help convert the gold into cash – for a price of course. Further details are hashed out over dinner where Harry is introduced to the lovely Erika – a nurse – and learns about Udo Blimpermann, a man with an insatiable appetite and the owner of the largest West Berlin costume company. Harry brings Erika and Udo back to the hotel later that evening, although getting Udo to the room causes quote a commotion because he’s eaten too much and has passed out. Harry introduces Sly to the two newest additions to the troop. Sly takes a shine to Erika as she does to him. Now if I had met Sly looking the way he did with the black robe and all…I’d have taken a shine too. Chess? I don’t know how to play chess but who cares?! Ahem. Moving right along… The next day, Ernst introduces Sly to Schmidt, who served in a transportation company during the war and had originally been assigned to pick up the gold at a train depot. His orders were overruled by the SS at the depot. He didn’t know it was gold that he was going to be picking up but found out when he witnessed one of the boxes drop and break open while being unloaded from the train. Harry, meanwhile, makes contact with the ranking NCO at the prison, Prior, a guy that was a POW along with Harry during the war. Harry elicits the Master Sergeant’s help (again, for a cut of the profits) and Harry, Sly, Ernst and Schmidt and Prior have a meeting back at the hotel to lay out the early foundation of their plan. Sly takes care of some logistics with a helping hand from Erika, including finding an abandoned public building to borrow for awhile and a few props to go with it. Erika also studies up on preparing the proper amount of a tranquilizer drug for Holtz – the top Nazi being held at the prison. Ernst and Schmidt, meanwhile, set up a simple blackmail against the doctor who is allowed in and out of the prison to see Holtz. Holtz, by the way is the only prisoner in the ENTIRE prison. He’s guarded 24 hours a day by an entire compliment of American soldiers. With everything in place, and American military uniforms care of Udo Blimpermann, Harry and Sly arrive at the prison with the doctor to make the switch, which is to leave the doctor behind in Holtz’s cell and bring Holtz out dressed as the doc. Holtz is told he’s being given a vitamin B12 shot when in fact it’s the tranquilizer. Doc switches his clothes for Holtz’s and Holtz is ready to go. Doc remains behind in the cell and Harry gives the story that Holtz will need to see a dental surgeon in the morning and Master Sergeant Prior issues orders that ensure the prisoner will not be seen by anyone other than the “doc” the next morning – along with a “dental surgeon” (Ernst). Harry and Sly escort Holtz out of the prison, although barely – a few checkpoint protocols are nearly breached but between Harry (acting as an Army Major) and Prior they manage to pull enough rank to make it out of the prison. They make a quick stop to pick up Erika and as they drive on to the abandoned public building Sly had scouted earlier, Erika and Sly do up some makeup on Holtz to make him look like he did during the war. At the old courthouse, Harry, Sly and Erika bring Holtz in (who’s just loopy enough under the tranq to walk upright but not comprehend what’s going on). He’s put into a Nazi uniform and stood up at the doorway, just as the effects of the tranq are wearing off. He enters the old courtroom where Ernst, Sly and Schmidt are waiting for him. Ernst wears a uniform of the German High Command, Sly is dressed in the uniform of the SS (the fact that Culp looks so good in it is just so wrong) and Schmidt is dressed as a very convincing Hitler. All of it convinces Holtz that he’s right back in 1942. Hitler wants to know where the gold is. It takes a little time to jar Holtz’s memory but they succeed. There’s just one slight problem. The location of the gold, at Holtz’s former summer residence, is located in East Germany (remember, this was 1975 and Germany was still very much divided. Berlin, also divided East and West, was located in East Germany). Harry, Sly, Ernst and Schmidt make their way through Checkpoint Charlie and cross over into East Germany. They locate Holtz’s former summer residence and know that the underground bunker was to the left of the residence but here they come up to their next problem: The underground bunker where Holtz hid the gold now has a tenement building sitting over it. To gain access to the building, Ernst figures to contact a former fellow German soldier who had defected to the Russians at the end of the war. Ernst is sure they can get his help, with the promise of a cut. The man’s loyalty to the Russians, however, proves stronger. He holds everyone at gunpoint until a Russian colonel arrives. The Russian colonel, however, is more easily persuaded by money. He shoots down Ernst’s former comrade and instead of arresting the Americans, he agrees to help them to get the gold – for a cut. Sly, knowing they might need an ace in the hole, manages to snag the dead East German’s gun without the Russian seeing him and quietly pockets it in his trench coat. The Russian colonel mobilizes the East German police and has the building evacuated under the guise of there being an unexploded bomb inside. Harry, Sly, Ernst and Schmidt go in as a bomb disposal team. They access the bomb shelter by blowing a hole through the basement floor. Down in the bunker they find the gold, hidden behind a folding dressing screen. The fruits of their labor realized, the four men bask for a moment in the glow of the gold. They load up the gold in their truck and return to the garage of Holtz’s summer residence (next door to the tenement building) to change back to their American uniforms and get the hell out of Dodge. When Schmidt goes to open the garage doors, however, the Russian colonel is right there. He orders them to load the gold into his car after which he will kill them. Harry attempts to disarm the Russian only to trigger a brief but chaotic shootout in the garage. Schmidt goes down by the Russian’s gun, Sly takes the Russian down. Harry doesn’t allow much of a pause upon Schmidt’s death and he, Sly and Ernst clear out immediately following the shooting. They get half way to the checkpoint when Sly suddenly turns the car in a 180. At the checkpoint crossing they came over with four in the car, he explains. They had to go back with four in the car. So they go back for Schmidt, sit him up in the back seat and head back to the checkpoint. They clear through, but not before being told the flags on their car are on wrong. (Dead body in the back seat? No problem. Flags wrong on staff car? Problem). The guard at the checkpoint fixes the flags and then sends them on their way. Cleared through, they stop at a bridge to dump Schmidt’s body into the river. They then arrive at the business of the gem dealer to unload the gold. Sly makes one final stop to see Erika, who has been keeping a watch over a more heavily sedated Holtz, to let her know they had been successful. The next morning, Harry, Sly and Ernst head back to the Siegfried Prison with Holtz, but not before being held up by a jackknifed truck and pile of wooden shipping pallets all over the road. The clean up will only take about five minutes…but they have to wait an hour for a tow truck. The boys certainly don’t have an hour to wait so Harry makes a suggestion to Sly: Jump the car. Sly thinks he’s crazy but they had little choice so Sly agrees to do it. I loved Culp’s look of grim determination as he’s speeding the car across the bridge. Successfully jumping the car, they continue on to the prison and arrive to return Holtz back to his prison cell (but not without nearly getting their cover blown). Nonetheless, they get Holtz back in, they (and the Doc) get back out and after leaving their car in the middle of a busy street in West Berlin, the only thing left for Harry, Sly and Ernst to do is laugh all the way to the bank. As I said at the beginning, despite mixed reviews, I enjoyed this one. There is one part where the movie drags a little and I literally looked at my watch and thought “Uh, fellas, you got about 30 minutes left of this movie and you haven’t gotten Holtz out of the prison yet!” But those last 30 minutes move a good pace. The music in this thing was the only thing I had a problem with. The dramatic music was good, but the cheezy-even-for-the-70s wah wah stuff seemed poorly chosen. I also found interesting seeing the scenes of West Berlin of that time period, especially the scene where Erika and Sly go to the observation deck at the checkpoint and look toward East Berlin. The portion of the Berlin Wall that can be seen didn’t have as much graffiti on it as it did by the time it came down in 1989 and the part of East Berlin that can be seen looks frozen in time, with wrecked buildings that made it look like the war had ended yesterday, not thirty years earlier. A good film and an enjoyable Culp performance! “Inside Out” is available from the Warner Brothers Archive and also through Amazon.com. Columbo: The Most Crucial Game Originally aired: November 5, 1972 Two things to note here… 1. The moustache. It was real and it threw me for a loop. He looked so different with it! Outside of a game show appearance from the same year and a photo of Culp from a documentary on race relations from around the same time period (’71?), I was used to seeing Culp pretty much sans facial hair. (The Grizzly Adams beard in Hannie Caulder is a different story). 2. The Los Angeles Coliseum. If I’ve got the timeline right in my mind, about the time Culp filmed his first appearance on Columbo in 1971, he either just completed or was just about to start on filming for Hickey & Boggs. By the time this episode aired in November of 1972, Hickey & Boggs had been out in the theatres for about a month. So you could watch Culp on the big screen running around the Coliseum and then come home and watch him in the same place on the small screen! Culp plays Paul Hanlon, general manager for a pro football team owned by Eric Wagner. Eric inherited the sports empire from his father but would rather spend his days partying and playing. Paul, however, sees a better and brighter future for himself – if he can get Eric out of the way. Paul arrives at the Coliseum and makes his way up to the owners box. He dismisses the busboy for the afternoon, explaining that it would only be him in the box and no guests. After the busboy leaves, Paul gets on the phone to Eric, rustling him out of bed (it’s already afternoon) and telling him to do some laps in the pool and be ready to be picked up as soon as the game was over. They had a flight to catch to Montreal for a business meeting regarding the purchase of another sports team. Eric grudgingly says he’ll be ready but honestly couldn’t care less about buying another sports team. As soon as Paul is off the phone with Eric he phones down to the team locker room and talks to the head coach giving him a hard time about the team’s performance and what plays to do (and the game hasn’t even started yet). While doing this, Paul puts the phone on speaker phone and carries on the conversation while beginning to change his clothes. Yeah, we’re not five minutes into this thing and Culp’s taking his shirt off. What he changes into is the uniform of a concession man. Complete with paper hat and popcorn box. (I couldn’t help but laugh when he grins at his reflection after he puts the hat on.) The get up allows him to leave the stadium unnoticed. With a commandeered “Ding-a-Ling” ice cream truck, Paul drives out to Eric’s house. He carries a transistor radio with him to keep tabs on the game. Just before getting to Eric’s house, he stops at a payphone and calls Eric to make sure he was out of bed and in the pool, as requested earlier. At first, Paul can’t get through because Eric is on the phone ordering food or booze or something. Paul waits a minute or so and then dials again. Eric answers and is right where Paul wants him to be. Paul gets back in the ice cream truck and drives away from the payphone…just as a little girl is calling after him for ice cream down the road. He arrives at Eric’s house and selects his weapon of choice from the back of the ice cream truck, a big chunk of ice. (No, no Death By Drumstrick). Chunk of ice in hand, Paul sneaks onto the property and does his dastardly deed, killing Eric at the pool. Before he leaves, however, Paul has to cover his tracks. Literally. His wet shoes leave footprints behind on the deck, so he removes his shoes and hoses down the deck. Then he’s back in the ice cream truck, racing down the highway back to the football game. Ah but he takes a moment to have fudgesicle on the way. And if I’m sounding smarmy by this point it’s because I couldn’t take any of the rest of this episode seriously. The changing of shirts, his grinning after putting the hat on and then the fudgesicle. The fudgesicle did me in. Back at the stadium, Paul returns by the halftime – in time to meet with the head coach (and thus further substantiate his alibi). Paul smoothes over whatever issues he had at the start of the game and tells the coach that he’s doing a fine job. As he says, he has bigger fish to fry now… When Lieutenant Columbo arrives at Eric’s house he suspects a little too quickly that Mr. Wagner’s death was no accident. When Columbo goes to the stadium to report of Eric’s death to Paul, Paul reacts appropriately enough. And the most crucial game begins as Columbo investigates and spends the rest of the episode dogging Paul Hanlon. The scenes between Falk and Culp are worth watching the episode for because Columbo really just annoys the hell out of Paul. He shows up at Eric’s house to ask questions and poke around. He follows Paul to the airport, which irritates Paul to no end. And Paul can’t shake the Lieutenant loose for the life of him until Mrs. Wagner’s plane arrives. Yes, Mrs. Wagner. Eric had a wife. And Mr. Hanlon had his sights set on more than just Eric’s fortune. Columbo casually remarks how she’ll inherit everything now and continues his pestering of Paul until she arrives. Columbo, respectfully, leaves Mrs. Wagner alone. He remains zeroed in on Paul Hanlon, showing up at a media event for the basketball team and informing him that his office phone and the phone at the Wagner house had been bugged, turns out, by the family lawyer. Columbo has everyone (including Mrs. Wagner) gather at the house to listen to some choice cuts of phone conversations, particularly Paul’s phone calls to Eric just before Eric was killed. The recorded phone conversations seem to further reinforce Paul’s alibi, but Columbo’s bothered by something with the calls. Eventually, he does figure it out. There’s one minor innocent sound that’s missing from Paul’s phone calls to Eric and when Columbo shows up at the stadium on another day he casually blows Paul’s alibi all to pieces. My favorite exchange of dialogue in this scene is Paul – thoroughly annoyed with Lt. Columbo – says, “Columbo, I’m going toss you out of here on your ear!” to which Columbo calmly replies, “I wouldn’t do that sir. Because then you’re gonna miss the best part…” Compared to the first Columbo episode, this one wasn’t as good. The performances were all great and the episode has its moments, but the storyline itself was lacking somewhat. I didn’t really full grasp Hanlon’s motive for murder and didn’t pick up on much malice forethought on the first viewing of the episode. The second viewing, when I capped it, I at least picked up on the motive but still found it vague. Would I watch it again? It’s Culp, of course I would! “The Most Crucial Game” is available on the second season Columbo DVD set available at Amazon.com. Columbo: Death Lends a Hand Originally aired: October 6, 1971 Here we go! The episode that started it all for me in being a Fan of All Things Culp. Culp plays Brimmer, a former police officer turned private investigator who runs a very sophisticated investigative operation (indeed, he was not Jim Rockford. This firm had several operatives, a fleet of vehicles, electronic gizmos, high rise office space and support staff ). Brimmer’s latest case involved investigating the allegations of infidelity on the part of the young wife of Arthur Kennicut, a prominent LA newspaper publisher. Brimmer reports to Mr. Kennicut that his wife had a “clean bill of health” and was not having any affairs. Mr. Kennicut accepts this finding with relief but we find out after he leaves Brimmer’s office that the report from Brimmer was a total lie. Brimmer then attempts to blackmail Mrs. Kennicut, saying he would keep the proof of her affair quiet if she would provide him with inside information of the powerful people in LA that Mr. Kennicut had connections to. Right. Mrs. Kennicut throws Brimmer’s blackmail attempt right back in his face, saying she would come clean to her husband first and admit her infidelity – and then expose Brimmer’s blackmail attempt, turning those same powerful connections Brimmer wanted information on into a serious source of trouble, not to mention totally ruining his reputation and his business. Brimmer, a short tempered kinda guy to begin with, becomes furious with Mrs. Kennicut and accidentally kills her. Of course, he didn’t intend to kill. And once he realizes what he’s done, he knows the murder of this woman is worse than being exposed for the blackmail attempt. Thus he does his damnedest to cover it up, cleaning up all evidence of anything she touched from his beach house and then transporting her body across LA to leave her in an industrial area. It should’ve worked. Once her body is discovered the next morning, it looks like a mugging. Tragic and unfortunate, but she was killed for her money. Brimmer, in a further attempt to keep any suspicion possible away from himself shows up at Mr. Kennicut’s home to offer condolences and offer the services of his firm to find Mrs. Kennicut’s killer. Yup, the whole cover up should’ve worked. Accept for this pesky, cigar chomping police lieutenant named Columbo… Despite all the charm Brimmer can put forth, he knows right off the bat that Columbo is going to be a challenge. Scratch that. Not a challenge. A full fledged pain in the posterior. The rest of the episode is Brimmer trying to outwit Columbo and throw the Lieutenant off the trail. But it doesn’t work. After one particular conversation where the seemingly scatterbrained Lieutenant reveals a couple of innocent facts and makes a couple of innocent statements, Brimmer realizes the heat is on… Brimmer only digs himself even deeper when he tries to woo Columbo into leaving the police force and joining the detective agency with the promise of more money and complimenting him on his detective skills. Columbo says he’ll think it over, talk to the wife. Brimmer thinks he might have a chance. Then two strange things happen. Brimmer’s car won’t work and he sends it off to the garage to be fixed. Then he gets a call from Mr. Kennicut; Columbo has requested that Mrs. Kennicut’s body be exhumed for some reason. Now this is where I have to apologize for not remembering exactly how Columbo set this up (were they looking for the contact lens in the casket? Were they looking to see if she had both lens still, or didn’t? Or…gah. Sorry!). What I do know, is the “missing” contact lens sets Brimmer on a search through his beach house, where Columbo shows up, “innocently” enough, says something to further unsettle Brimmer and Brimmer searches a little more once Columbo leaves. Then Brimmer decides he has to search his car – which is still in the shop. Brimmer breaks into the repair shop and finds his car. He searches the trunk and does indeed find a contact lens… …and the Lieutenant is waiting for him. Brimmer, indignant, storms away from Columbo and reaches for his cigarettes in his pocket. He then attempts to throw the empty cigarette package away when Columbo stops him, grabbing his hand before the contents are ejected into the wastebasket. The contact lens in Brimmer’s hand is evidence enough. Caught “red handed” Brimmer accepts being busted, admits his guilt and apologizes quietly to Mr. Kennicut, who was also present during this. I enjoyed watching this episode and for it being over 2 years since I saw it, the fact I can still remember the plot well enough speaks to how good it is. I capped it pretty much right after I watched it. Definitely a worthwhile introduction to Robert Culp! “Death Lends a Hand” is available on the Season One DVD of Columbo available at Amazon.com.

THE HIGH SEAS ALLIANCE The HSA have a mission to tackle plastic in the marine environment to preserve fish stocks We take fish for granted, but our untidy habits are poisoning the high seas leading to an inevitable crash - when fish is no longer deemed safe to eat and we have overfished the oceans to extinction. To ensure fish stocks we need to eliminate plastic waste from the food chain before it's too late and curb pirate fishing. The High Seas Alliance is a partnership of organizations and groups aimed at building a strong common voice and constituency for the conservation of the high seas. The Alliance is currently made up of 27 NGOs plus the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The High Seas Alliance is sponsored by The Ocean Foundation. The objective of the Alliance is to facilitate international cooperation to establish high seas protected areas and to strengthen high seas governance. Members of the HSA share and facilitate access to information in order to promote transparency and encourage an informed public discourse related to the mission and goals of the Alliance. High Seas Alliance members commit to work together to achieve these goals either as members of a collaborative effort through the Alliance, or as individual organizations supported by or affiliated with the Alliance. HIGH SEAS ALLIANCE - CURRENT PRIORITIES: NEGOTIATIONS At the Rio +20 Summit in June 2012, governments committed to "address, on an urgent basis, the issue of the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction including by taking a decision on the development of an international instrument under UNCLOS" (para. 162, The Future We Want). The High Seas Alliance (HSA), on behalf of its 27 member organizations, welcomes this high level expression of political will. We stress the importance of beginning the process to negotiate a High Seas Biodiversity Agreement under UNCLOS, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This will apply to the high seas, which is the ocean beyond any country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) - amounting to 64% of the ocean - and the ocean seabed that lies beyond the continental shelf of any country. These areas make up nearly 50% of the surface of the Earth and include some of the most environmentally important, critically threatened and least protected ecosystems on the planet. Only an international High Seas Biodiversity Agreement would address the inadequate, highly fragmented and poorly implemented legal and institutional framework that is currently failing to protect the high seas – and therefore the entire global ocean – from the multiple threats they face in the 21st century. HRH the Prince of Wales speaking at a Global Ocean Commission event in Washington DC in March of 2015. The future King of England has consistently kept a weather eye open to help safeguard the marine environment. OCEAN GOVERNANCE - BACKGROUND The high seas are open to all states, whether coastal or land-locked. Freedom of the high seas, and particularly the governance of high seas fishing, is exercised under the conditions laid down in 'Part VII: High Seas' of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which entered into force in 1994, and in the 1995 Agreement on the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks And Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (known as the UN Fish Stocks Agreement), which entered into force in 2001. The FAO Code of Conduct on Responsible Fisheries integrates the requirements of UNCLOS and the Fish Stocks Agreement, as well as bridging them with the wider requirements of the UN Convention on Environment and Development (UNCED). High seas resources are currently primarily managed by regional fishery organizations (RFOs) charged with organizing international cooperation around a number of tasks, including: the collection of fishery statistics; the assessment of the state of resources; the imparting of scientific advice; management decisions; and monitoring. The implementation and enforcement of measures is, however, usually the preroga-tive of the Flag State, and the relative effectiveness of RFOs varies from region to region, and task to task. Marine life needs to be protected against ocean pollution. Ocean pollution includes plastic, nets and oil spills. Technology with the potential to alleviate such issues should be accelerated as a high priority. LEGAL LOOPHOLES The existing framework of governance for the high seas is not fit for purpose in the 21st century. Since UNCLOS was agreed more than thirty years ago, activities such as deep sea bottom trawling and offshore oil and gas exploration have extended further and deeper, and today we are on the brink of deep sea mineral mining becoming a viable global industry. Meanwhile, under UNCLOS, there is no global framework of rules for protecting the biodiversity of the high seas — indeed, UNCLOS does not even contain the word "biodiversity". The Law of the Sea urgently needs to extend further and deeper, to catch up with the pace of human technology and exploitation before the high seas fall victim to even greater levels of irrevocable plunder. Just 0.79% of the high seas are marine protected areas (MPAs), and this paltry figure would be far smaller without the significant progress in the Southern Ocean and North-East Atlantic of the past few years, in two cases where a legal framework for such MPAs exists. Even including coastal zones and areas within EEZs, only 1.6% of the global ocean is protected, compared with 12.7% of the world's land area. There is a very long way to go if governments are to meet Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which calls for at least 10% of the ocean to be covered by a network of MPAs by 2020. Scientists have advised going even further, recommending that between 20-40% of the ocean be given MPA status in order to conserve viable populations of key species, secure ecosystem functions and allow sufficient connectivity between individual protected areas. The international community has recognized that the lack of protection of high seas biodiversity is a huge and urgent problem; now it is time to get to work to address it. Agreeing to an international High Seas Biodiversity Agreement is a vital step towards ensuring that the life-giving wonders and precious biodiversity of the high seas are conserved now and for the future. THE CASE FOR NEGOTIATING A NEW HIGH SEAS High SEAS AGREEMENT More information on ocean governance can be found on the website of the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea. “We hope that all states will act urgently on this global issue by developing a strengthened oceans governance regime under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, including for the establishment of marine protected areas.” (Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia, statement at Rio+20) “The EU therefore supports a new implementing agreement of UNCLOS which would address both the conservation and the sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. It should address the issues of marine protected areas and environmental impact assessments.” (Maria Damanaki, European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, statement at the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, Paris, 11 April 2013) HIGH SEAS ALLIANCE CONTACTS Email: info@highseasalliance.org HIGH SEAS ALLIANCE - MEMBERS Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition Ecology Action Centre Iceland Nature Conservation Association International Ocean Institute International Programme on the State of the Ocean Marine Conservation Institute Marine Watch International MarViva Migratory Wildlife Network Morigenos PRETOMA Sargasso Sea Alliance Tara Expeditions The Pew Charitable Trusts The TerraMar Project Turtle Island Restoration Network Whale and Dolphin Conservation Wildlife Conservation Society World Commission on Protected Areas Zoological Society of London HIGH TIME FOR HIGH SEAS AT THE UN The High Seas Alliance is coordinating an effort to collect scientists’ support for a high seas biodiversity agreement under the UN Law of the Sea Convention. It urges countries to honor the commitment made by governments at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development Rio+20 Conference. Click here to sign the letter THE UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT ASSEMBLY (UNEA) UNEA is the highest-level UN body ever convened on the environment. It enjoys universal membership of all 193 UN member states as well as other stakeholder groups. With this wide reach into the legislative, financial and development arenas, the new body presents a ground-breaking platform for leadership on global environmental policy. The UNEA boasts over 1200 participants, 170 national delegations, and 80 ministers. With all this muscle, can we expect to see some positive action to clean up ocean plastic from local and international waters? For more information, visit the website of the UNEP Regional Seas Programme: http://www.unep.org/oceans40 Global Ocean Commissioners at the 2013 launch. From left: David Miliband, Obiageli 'Oby' Ezekwesili, Jose Maria Figueres. The Commission will publish its final recommendations in early 2014, shortly before the United Nations General Assembly begins discussions on protecting high seas biodiversity. The Commission’s report will consist of proposals improve the system of governance, thus ending high seas overfishing, stopping the loss of habitat and biodiversity, and improving monitoring and compliance. GOC PROPOSAL 5 - KEEPING PLASTICS OUT OF THE OCEAN Plastics are a major source of pollution on the high seas and a health threat to humans and the environment. This reflects poor handling and waste management practices on land and requires a combination of political and regulatory action supported by an increase in consumer awareness. It is important to intensify efforts to address the variety of sources of marine pollution (persistent organic pollutants, hydrocarbons, heavy metals, nitrates, radioactive substances, marine debris, etc.). In particular, the Commission calls for coordinated action by governments, the private sector and civil society to eliminate plastics entering the global ocean including by: 1. Minimising single-use plastics by direct government intervention and consumer incentives. 2. Creating incentives to promote recycling and extend producer responsibility. 3. Establishing time-bound, quantitative reduction targets. 4. Achieving improved waste management. 5. Promoting consumer awareness. 6. Replicating local initiatives to restrict or ban certain unsustainable uses of plastic materials and clean-ups. 7. Addressing lost and discarded fishing gear, in particular FADs, to avoid abandonment. 8. Encouraging XPRIZE-like innovation around substitution, waste avoidance, recycling and clean-ups. 9. Exploring taxation and other levies to establish a Global Marine Responsibility Fund. Given its mandate and its focus on the high seas, the Commission debated long and hard as to whether we should seek to address the problem of marine pollution at all, bearing in mind that it is estimated that 80% of all inputs of marine pollution come from land-based activities. Nevertheless, we could not ignore that plastics are by far the most abundant and problematic type of marine debris in terms of the number of items. The amount of plastic in the ocean has risen sharply since the 1950s, with a tenfold increase every decade in some places. Scientists expect this trend to continue, given the increasing use of disposable plastic packaging and containers. In addition, the projected massive growth in plastic production is enhanced by the falling cost of plastic resin, which has become cheaper with the expansion of natural gas production. WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE? Given that the vast majority of plastic entering the ocean is from land-based sources, which reflects poor handling and waste management practices on land, tackling these problems requires a combination of political and regulatory action supported by an increase in consumer awareness. The Commission is therefore calling for more coordinated action by governments, the private sector and civil society to stop plastics from entering the global ocean in the first place. Plastics pollution does not respect borders or boundaries, it affects everyone and needs to be addressed collectively. Tons of plastic floating in our oceans is a serious problem we face on this globe, considered to be one of most serious threats to our oceans. 90% of all trash floating on the ocean’s surface is in the form of plastic materials, with 46,000 pieces of plastic per square mile. Plastic does not biodegrade, it photo-degrades with sunlight, breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces. These plastic pieces are eaten by marine life and eventually works it way up the food chain - as per the diagram below. Plastic is also swept away by ocean currents, landing in swirling vortexes called ocean gyres. The North Pacific Gyre off the coast of California is home to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the largest ocean garbage site in the world. The floating mass of plastic is twice the size of Texas. These floating garbage sites are impossible to fully clean up. Over 100,000 marine mammals and one million seabirds die each year from ingesting or becoming entangled in plastic. Plastic poses a significant threat to the health of sea creatures, both big and small. It takes 500-1000 years for plastic to degrade, threatening both human and ocean health. EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR ENVIRONMENT, FISHERIES & MARITIME AFFAIRS The Commissioner for Maritime affairs and Fisheries is a member of the European Commission. The portfolio includes policies such as the Common Fisheries Policy, which is largely a competence of the European Union rather than the members. The Union has 66,000 km of coastline and the largest Exclusive Economic Zone in the world, covering 25 million km². They also participate in meetings of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council (Agrifish) configuration of the Council of the European Union. Their governance is thus a model for the world and should send a signal to other fishing nations as to important issues and remedies. Actions speak louder than words. Global Ocean Commission co-Chairs David Miliband, Trevor Manuel and José María Figueres wrote to new European Commissioner for Environment, Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, Karmenu Vella, to express support for the EU’s pioneering regulation on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and to seek a meeting for further exploration and discussion. IUU fishing has a devastating impact on marine environments, livelihoods, food security and illegal fishers. The Global Ocean Commission believes that the EU IUU Regulation has tremendous potential for stopping the trade of illegal fish products into the world’s largest seafood market – the EU – and, as a result, contributing to discouraging and eliminating IUU fishing practices around the globe. The Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (also known in short as DG MARE) is the Commission department responsible for the implementation of the Common Fisheries policy and of the Integrated Maritime Policy. DG MARE reports to Karmenu Vella (left), Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. Lowri Evans has been Director-General in DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries since 2010. Prior to that she has worked in several policy areas in the European Commission notably Competition and Employment. Stopping illegal products from entering the EU allows for the creation of a level playing field for EU fishermen who operate in a legal, transparent and fair way and provides a safety net for protecting the supply chains of European processors and retailers. The Regulation is also a showcase at the international level, demonstrating the influence one key market state can have as it encourages on-the-ground improvements in fisheries governance, monitoring control and surveillance in flag, coastal and port states, and eradicating some of the key IUU fishing hotspots globally. As a direct outcome of the EU’s IUU yellow-carding (warning) and red-carding (trade restrictions) process, at least four countries – namely Fiji, Panama, Togo, and Vanuatu – have entirely reformed their fisheries policies and laws, introduced more sophisticated and effective vessel monitoring systems, and brought in sanctions for their nationals and vessels involved in IUU fishing. A large number of pre-identified countries have stressed the importance of cooperation and collaboration with the EU in this process, acknowledging its significant role in the global effort to deter IUU fishing. High Seas Alliance Twitter highseasallianc Telegraph US-royal-tour-Prince-of-Wales-makes-plea-for-cleaner-oceans Prince-of-Wales-speech-hrh-the-prince-of-wales-event-titled-plastic-the-marine-environment-scaling Daily Mail Charles-horrified-toll-plastic-dumped-sea-Prince-Wales-plea-solve-issue-sake-future-generations The Guardian environment 2015 March 19 Prince-charles-calls-for-end-to-dumping-of-plastic-in-worlds-oceans http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/prince-charles-speaks-dangers-plastic-waste-oceans-29736519 Global Ocean Commission Time environment-prince-charles-oceans National Geographic Prince Charles oceans trash plastic britain Wikipedia Global_Ocean_Commission ITV 2015-03-18 prince-charles-makes-impassioned-plea-for-oceans-clean-up The-terramar-project-become-a-citizen-and-protector-of-the-high-seas National Geographic news 2014 June Global-ocean-commission-report-high-seas-fishing-environment Virgin leadership and advocacy introducing global ocean commission The terramar project daily catch become a citizen and protector of the high seas Wikipedia European_Commissioner_for_Maritime_Affairs_and_Fisheries UNEP newscentre June 2014 Prince Albert II Monaco calls for ocean governance http://www.unep.org/oceans40 http://oceanfdn.org/ http://highseasalliance.org/ https://twitter.com/highseasallianc http://sd.iisd.org/events/high-seas-alliance-towards-an-agreement-for-protecting-the-high-seas/ US Whales news 2011 high-seas-alliance-urges-concrete-steps-for-high-seas-protection-are-taken-to-rio20 http://www.unep.org/newscentre/Default.aspx?DocumentID=2791&ArticleID=10916&l=en http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Commissioner_for_Maritime_Affairs_and_Fisheries http://www.virgin.com/unite/leadership-and-advocacy/introducing-global-ocean-commission http://www.scienceifl.com/ocean-plastic-pollution.htm http://www.globaloceancommission.org/ http://time.com/3750375/environment-prince-charles-oceans/ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/03/150318-prince-charles-oceans-trash-plastic-britain/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Ocean_Commission http://www.itv.com/news/2015-03-18/prince-charles-makes-impassioned-plea-for-oceans-clean-up/ ACIDIFICATION - ADRIATIC - ARCTIC - ATLANTIC - BALTIC - BERING - CARIBBEAN - CORAL - EAST CHINA ENGLISH CH - GOC - GULF MEXICO - INDIAN - IRC - MEDITERRANEAN - NORTH SEA - PACIFIC - PERSIAN GULF - SEA JAPAN STH CHINA - PLASTIC - PLANKTON - PLASTIC OCEANS - SEA LEVEL RISE - UNCLOS - UNEP WOC - WWF This website is Copyright © 2015 Bluebird Marine Systems Ltd. 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instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Hi, my 47 year old sister was bit by a black widow spider about half an hour ago. She is nauseated, and has a bad pain moving up her leg. She also has a blister at the bite site, when she busts this blister, it drains, then will be back in a few minutes. Ice did not seem to help. She does not have money to go to hospital, what can I do to help her? gest treatment for a painful black widow spider bite output: Hello, Treatment for serious reactions to a black widow spider's bite will be beyond the scope of most medical offices and urgent care centers. Pain relief may require the use of narcotics and antivenin (antitoxin to counteract the effects of the spider venom).The decision to seek emergency care should be made early. If the person who was bitten by a black widow spider has more than minor pain or has whole-body symptoms, seek care at a hospital's Emergency Department. If symptoms are severe, for emergency medical transport so that evaluation and treatment can start en route to the hospital.Home remedies for treatment of black widow spider bites are few. Hot and cold compresses are suggested remedies; as are baths with hot water. Over the counter medications for pain relieving are available and may be helpful in some minor cases. A paste of the content of charcoal capsules and water is believed by some people to be helpful in extracting the venom. A slice of potato may also be placed over the bite. Turmeric and olive oil applied to the bite may help to reduce the pain. Garlic and onion may also help to encourage recovery. Hope this helpsKind regards..

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Sigma 14mm f/1.8 ART Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 Art Lens Review Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 Review Sigma 85mm f/1.4 HSM DG Art Lens Review Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art Lens Review Tamron 35mm f/1.8 VC The Yongnuo Trio Two 15mm Manual Focus Choices Nikon Lens Database Recommended DX Lenses Recommended FX Lenses 10-20mm VR 18-55mm * 18-55mm II 18-55mm VRII 18-55mm AF-P VR 18-55mm AF-P 18-300mm II 55-200mm * 55-200mm VR * 55-200mm VR 40mm Micro Nikon FX Lenses Wide Angle & Normal Primes 20mm f/1.8G 24mm PC-E 28mm f/1.4E 35mm f/2 50mm f/1.4D 60mm f/2.8 macro Telephoto Primes 85mm f/2.8 PC-E 105mm f/1.4E 105mm f/2 DC 105mm f/2.8 macro 135mm f/2.8 DC 180mm f/2.8 200mm f/2 200mm f/4 macro 300mm f/2.8 II 300mm f/4D 300mm f/4E 400mm f/2.8G 500mm f/4G Wide Angle Zooms 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E 14-24mm f/2.8 16-35mm f/4 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5 II Mid-Range Zooms 24-70mm f/2.8G 24-70mm f/2.8E VR 24-85mm f/2.8-4 Nikkor 24-120mm f/4G ED VR Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S Telephoto Zooms 70-200mm f/2.8 70-200mm f/2.8E FL 70-200mm f/4 70-300mm AF-P VR 80-400mm AF-S 200-400mm II 200-500mm f/5.6 Teleconverters for Nikon Lenses How does a teleconverter change lens characteristics? Can I use a teleconverter on my 16-35mm f/4? Can I use a Sigma teleconverter on a Nikon lens? Why can't I use a TC-17E or TC-20E on an f/4 lens? Why do you seem to be so negative about teleconverters? How do I stack teleconverters? Nikon Lens FAQ Canon Lens Database Canon Prime Lenses 35mm f/2.8 EF-S Macro 50mm f/2.8L TS-E Macro 85mm f/1.4L IS 135mm f/4L TS-E Macro 400mm f/2.8L IS III USM 600mm f/4L IS III USM Canon Zoom Lenses 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM 2 70-200mm f/2.8 IS III USM 70-200mm f/4 IS II USM 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM 3rd Party Lens Database Sigma DX Lenses 4.5 f/2.8 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Sigma Lenses for FX Cameras Sigma Full Frame Prime Lenses 8mm f/3.5 EX DG Circular Fisheye 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art 15mm f/2.8 EX DG Fisheye 20mm f/1.8 EX DG ASP RF 20mm f/1.4 DG HSM 24mm f/1.8 EX DG ASP Macro 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM A 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM (2014) 50mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro 70mm f/2.8 DG Macro Art 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM Art 105mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art 2 150mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM APO Macro 180mm f/2.8 APO EX DG OS HSM Macro 300mm f/2.8 EX APO DG HSM 500mm f/4 DG OS HSM Sports 500mm f/4.5 EX DG AO HSM Sigma Full Frame Zoom Lenses 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 DG HSM II 12-24mm f/4 DG HSM Art 14-24mm f/2.8 Art 24-70mm f/2.8 IF EX DG HSM 24-70mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Art 24-105mm f/4 DG OS HSM 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM 60-600mm f/5-6.3 S 70-200mm f/2.8 APO EX DG OS HSM 70-200mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Sports 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG Macro 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG OS 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary 120-300mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM S 120-400mm f/4.5-5.6 DG APO OS HSM 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM 150-600mm f/5-6.3 S 150-600mm f/5-6.3 C 200-500mm f/2.8 APO EX DG 300-800mm f/5.6 EX DG APO HSM Sigma Lens Firmware Versions Tamron DX Lenses 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 VC II Tamron 17-50mm Tamron FX Lenses 15-30mm f/2.8 G2 35-150mm f/2.8-4 70-200mm f/2.8 VC 70-210mm f/4 VC 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VC 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VC II 70-300mm f/4-5.6 90mm f/2.8 * 90mm f/2.8 VC * 90mm f/2.8 VC II 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 150-600mm f/5-6.3 150-600mm f/5-6.3 G2 Tamron VIP Program AT-X 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 AF DX Fish-Eye AT-X 11-16mm f/2.8 Pro DX ATX-i 11-16mm f/2.8 CF AT-X 12-24mm f/4 Pro DX II AT-X 12-24mm f/4 Pro DX AT-X 16-28mm f/2.8 Pro FX 16-28mm f/2.8 Opera AT-X 16.5-135mm f/3.5-5.6 DX Firin 17-35mm f/4 Pro FX Tokina 17-35mm f/4 atx-i AT-X 35mm f/2.8 Pro DX Macro 50mm f/1.4 Opera AT-X 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 AF D AT-X 100mm f/2.8 Pro D Macro ATX-i 100mm f/2.8 Macro Kenko 400mm f/8 N II Voigtlander Lenses 20mm f/3.5 Skopar SLII 40mm f/2 Skopar SL-II 40mm f/2 Skopar SL-II S 58mm f/1.4 Nokton SL-II 58mm f/1.4 Nokton SL-II S 90mm f/3.5 Lanthar SL-II 15mm f/2.8 Distagon T 15mm f/2.8 Milvus 21mm f/2.8 Milvus Distagon T 25mm f/1.4 Milvus Distagon 25mm f/2 Distagon T 28mm f/1.4 Otus 35mm f/1.4 Milvus ZF.2 35mm f/2 Milvus Distagon 50mm f/1.4 Planar T 50mm f/2 Makro-Planar T 50mm f/2 Milvus Makro-Planar 85mm f/1.4 Milvus Planar 100mm f/1.4 Otus 100mm f/2 Makro-Planar T 100mm f/2 Milvus Makro-Planar T 135mm f/2 APO Sonnar T 135mm f/2 Milvus Kerlee 35mm f/1.2 Laowa (Venus Optics) Lensbaby 56mm f/1.6 Meike 85mm f/2.8 Macro Meike 85mm f/1.8 Mitakon Lenses Mitakon 20mm f/2 (EF, F, A, K mounts) Mitakon 35mm f/2 Mitakon Speedmaster 85mm f/1.2 Mitakon Speedmaster 135mm f/1.4 Samyang Xeen 85mm t/1.5 Schneider Lenses Zenitar 16mm f/2.8 2 ProGrade 64GB SD Vello D850 Grip Flash for Nikon The State of Nikon Flash Current Flash Database Older Flash Database FAQ for Nikon Flash Brackets/Plates Cage Your DSLR EN-EL15 Batteries The Card Situation XQD and CFe Cards Filters 101 Tripod 101 Nikon Remotes In Thom's Bag The 7Kg Wildlife Bag Photography Software FAQ Photo Software Thom Uses File Hierarchy B&H Accessory Lists Accessories FAQ How Will my Tripod Break? 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D600/D610 Guide D5 Guide D7500 Guide Configuring Sony Mark III A7/A7R Other byThom Sites What's New: bythom.com Nikon film SLRs: filmbodies.com Nikon Z cameras: zsystemuser.com Mirrorless cameras: sansmirror.com Nikon D5 1.40 (Dec 2020) Nikon D850 1.20 (Dec 2020) Canon 1DXm3 1.3.0 (Nov) Nikon D6 1.11 (Nov 2020) Canon 5DmIV 1.3.0 (Oct 2020) Canon 6DmII 1.1.0 (Oct 2020) Nikon D780 1.01 (May 2020) Canon 6D 1.1.9 (Nov) Canon 7Dm2 1.1.3 (Nov) Canon 70D 1.1.3 (Nov) Canon 1DX 1.2.1 (Sept) Canon 5Dm3 1.36 (Sept) Canon 5DS (&R) 1.1.3 (Sept) Canon 80D 1.0.3 (August) Nikon D7200 1.0.4 (June) The camera data pages (Nikon)(Canon) contain current firmware listings. This list is for updates made in last six months. What Nikon Should Fix Original article appeared 4/04 If I ran Nikon Okay, it's a daydream. But I think it's a good one... Over the thirteen years since a version of this article first appeared I’ve gotten quite a bit of feedback, including some off-the-record responses from various Nikon employees around the world. I've considered all of those emails in updating this article for the new site design. The most depressing aspect is that I wrote most of the things you’re about to read for the first time on this site in 2001. Then again in 2004. I had to do very little updating to this article to make it current for 2013 and again in 2018, which indicates that very little has changed. Nikon is an interesting company. I'm generalizing here, but unlike Canon, which has a decided marketing outward focus (be #1 or #2 in your product markets; advertise the brand advantage), Nikon is more traditionally engineering based and mostly inwardly focused. You're more likely to see a Technical Brochure on a new product from Nikon than a coordinated and well-targeted advertising campaign (the D80 Flickr and D40 Town campaigns being welcome exceptions, though never really followed up on despite the fact that they were successful campaigns; the current Ashton Kutcher-hosted campaigns are mostly about association, not product). More than once I've talked with a Nikon engineer who was justifiably proud of a new product but perplexed about why it wasn't dominating the market. Canon treats their overseas subsidiaries as part of their primary business and expects marketing to drive sales; Nikon seems to consider their overseas subsidiaries as necessary distribution points that should be self-supporting, and expects quality engineering in Japan that is isolated from customers to drive sales. The net result of these differences is that Nikon has built some fine products (though some seem to be more the pet projects of the engineers: witness the FM3a, the Coolpix 1000j with its projector, the Android S800C, and the 85mm DX Micro-Nikkor), but has never broken through as the International leader in imaging that they really should be (after losing the initial leadership they had with the Nikon F and early film cameras). Canon's fancier and more ubiquitous advertising is what people tend to remember (quick, which famous tennis player touted which 35mm SLR? Yes, this is marketing by association, but you remember the product and what it does, whereas in the Ashton Kutcher commercials the product is mostly interchangeable). Nikon's surprise launch of the original D1 in 1999 took the world by surprise and caught Canon flat-footed, but it wasn't particularly well supported on the business and marketing side, so the early momentum Nikon had in DSLR sales didn't carry them for long. Canon's marketing of their D60 and later the 10D and Digital Rebel is a case in point: to get back market share, Canon became very aggressive on price, eventually undercutting the every-bit-as-equivalent Nikon D100 by as much as US$500 with the 10D, which eventually forced Nikon to lower their price. In the first generation consumer DSLR wars (10D/30D/60D versus D100/D70), Canon built up a substantive market share lead (typically ~45% to Nikon's ~33%). Nikon's continuous onslaught of consumer models and price competitiveness wore this down until the market share positions reversed (Nikon 45%, Canon 39% at the peak). But Canon eventually won this back with something close to the old 45/33 position favoring Canon, despite the D3/D700/D300 successes. This is a good example of what I mean when I say that Nikon makes technologically advanced products (the D3s and D3x were arguably better than the current Canon equivalents when they came out) but seems not to carry through on the sales and marketing side as well as they could or should. Moreover, Canon has pushed more technology and features down into their consumer product line than Nikon, which sort of negates the Nikon foundation of “we’re better at the technology.” Why am I so concerned about the non-engineering issues and consumer marketing? Well, consider what history has taught us: Nikon once owned the advanced and pro SLR marketplace with the Nikon F. But Canon eventually eroded that by getting the non-technical side right (that's not to say they didn't make a decent camera, too). While Nikon managed to retain the #2 position in the 35mm film SLR market, they consistently lost market share over the years. There was even a time in the late 80's and early 90's when it appeared that Minolta's autofocus onslaught might manage to unseat Nikon's #2 position. The introduction of the original D1 was much like the introduction of the F. It caught the rest of the market by surprise, it was well engineered and priced right, and it quickly dominated the pro market (this time for DSLRs). And while Nikon initially retained the larger overall market share (at least through mid-2003), the problems I list in this article, coupled with some slowness in delivering updated products, let Canon get the leg up again. In 2003 I made this prediction: regardless of how good the D2h, D2x, and D200 might eventually prove to be, Nikon would slip to 2nd in DSLR market share if the problems I pointed out weren't fixed. Nikon indeed did slip to #2 in market share in the pro market. Was it because of the problems I mentioned? Not completely. The D3 generation did indeed push Nikon somewhat ahead of Canon with pros again, and it was again mostly the technology that did it, not the sales and marketing efforts, though to their credit, Nikon did get some of the early D3 marketing right. Nikon remains vulnerable to others, but fortunately for Nikon, nobody else has exactly stepped to the plate, either. For every problem I mention that Nikon has, Canon has a different problem. Still, my contention is that Nikon should own the DSLR camera market at this point. A 50% share is still not out of the question. It’s in the interaction with the customer that Nikon keeps hurting itself. This was true in the last part of the film days, and has gotten worse in the digital days. With the above in mind, here’s what I'd do if I ran Nikon: Cut the warranty run-around. Many ways could be used to deal with the gray market camera problem. The first would simply be for Nikon to stop supplying excess inventory to the gray market suppliers. Still, let's assume for a moment that gray market serves some purpose to Nikon (it can serve a purpose for the customer, too, as it effectively lowers prices), and thus should continue. The customer issue is that Nikon's current warranty and repair practices for gray market products are so unfriendly and anti-consumer that it makes one pause before purchasing any Nikon product. It most certainly hurts the used marketplace and uninformed consumer. My first act in running Nikon would turn that around. First, out-of-warranty products would no longer be refused for repair. Second, in-warranty-but-gray products should have a place that they can be shipped to for warranty work: a well-publicized repair station, even if that is in Japan. Third, in-country-non-gray warranties would run longer than basic warranties (note Nikon already does a form of this in the US with lenses). Fourth, there would be an obvious and publicized way to tell if a product is Nikon-imported or gray (e.g., the barcode on the side of the box, or a real identity card in every box) and any reseller found trying to modify that will be immediately prosecuted for fraud. Why is this necessary? Because current practices make it impossible to purchase used equipment reliably; because Canon and some other camera companies have less rigorous policies and thus attract consumers who are worried about possible repair issues; because consumers want to know that the company stands behind its products; because it's the right thing to do. Update: Nikon went back to including printed USA warranties for DSLRs again, a good first step. Work closely with third parties. That means a full, modern, easily available, and well-supported SDK (software development kit) for every product, just like Kodak did. It means open lens mount specifications and remote pin-outs. Capture NX3 and other Nikon software products would be made "open socket" and extensible, and information on how to interface to these functions will be in their SDKs. Proprietary connectors will be freed (either they won't be used, or they will be made readily available to others, and pin use documented). All Nikon products would have open and extensive documentation in all but absolutely trade secret areas. That includes documenting the lens mount. Cameras themselves would be programmable as I outline in my 2007 Camera Redefined article (not necessarily by the end customer). Why is this necessary? Because when there are two equal-sized markets developers go where they get the most support, which right now would be Canon; because better supported products attract more customers. Register serial numbers. Here's my proposal: Nikon would act as a clearing house for stolen Nikon equipment. As part of the longer warranty offer (see above) you would have to register the serial number. Should your camera/lens/whatever ever be stolen, you can then report it stolen to the database. First, the stolen numbers would be publicly available on a Web site (hey, look at that great bargain on eBay, what's the serial number?). Second, if an item with a reported stolen number ever shows up for repair (and since all equipment is now repaired by Nikon, it very well might), you're notified and the authorities are given the information they need to back-trace. Why is this necessary? It's not, but it's a marketable advantage over any other camera company that costs very little to implement. Update: Nikon does decline repair of product they know to be stolen, though this can catch used purchasers by surprise the way it is implemented. Improve tech support. I can't begin to count how many times someone has told me that Nikon's Level 1 tech support has told them that the problem they were having was because they weren't using a Nikon-approved card. I believe it to be the incorrect posture (and Nikon did indeed loosen that posture after hearing many complaints; but you still can get the “it’s probably the card not the camera” answer from Nikon too easily). Nikon should be helping customers regardless of why they're having a problem. Each week I get emails from users who've given up on getting an answer from Nikon technical support asking for my help, so I know that the current level of support is not working for a significant number of users. And here's an amusing anecdote: I once had to call tech support on an issue with a Capture serial number change. The tech support person recognized my name and told me that he read all my articles and posts on the Internet because that was the only way he got good information to answer questions. Are you kidding me? If my writing is the best source of training for Nikon technical support reps, then the current training is indeed badly broken. [Note: I had previously written that Nikon should test and approve more cards. Someone from Nikon emailed to tell me that they had. At present some of the camera card support lists include as many as 42 cards, though from only four manufacturers other than Nikon, and still only a small subset of what's available and what people are actually using in the cameras. I had also suggested that Nikon needed to have more information and FAQs posted. They have worked at this, too, though the information is buried a bit in the NikonUSA site, difficult to search well, so it's easy to miss something. And you should be able to sign up for RRS updates about knowledge items that update. Nikon has made progress, but still has a long ways to go to be considered doing a better-than-average job at tech support.] Why is this necessary? Because photographic equipment isn't as simple to operate as a toaster, and customers appreciate companies that understand that and do things to address it; because the current tech support system still needs work; because word of mouth on what product to buy often is related to the level of service the customer gets, not the product capabilities. Improve parts availability. Here's an actual customer nightmare that was told to me (I’ve got a long list of these, I’ve just picked one): a D1x body was sent to Nikon for firmware upgrade, cleaning, and check by an NPS member (Nikon Professional Services; members are working professionals who get faster service and close attention due to their verified status). Nikon's repair department told the customer that the shutter appeared to be near failure and should be replaced. The customer told them to replace it. Nikon said that the parts were on back order and it might be a long while before they got them. The customer asked for his camera back, figuring he could at least shoot with it until the shutter failed. Nikon indicated that they would not order a part for a camera that wasn't in their possession for repair. Say what? Essentially Nikon has told a working professional with whom they have a special relationship that their camera is about to fail, and when that happens they will be without a camera for a long period of time. This is unacceptable behavior. Yes, I understand that parts may be in short supply due to the strong sales of certain products. Still, I wouldn't tolerate such behavior from my auto dealer, and I don't think we should tolerate it from camera manufacturers, either. Nikon's current policy shows that they do not fully value working relationships with professionals (let alone consumers). Why is this necessary? Because professionals can't afford to be without their cameras for long, indeterminate periods of time; because long repair times lead to unhappy customers and bad word of mouth; because you shouldn't be stiffing your paying customers by using the parts supply to make new cameras instead; because short of having a working JIT (just in time) inventory system, not stocking parts is a potential quagmire. Unleash the knowledgeable. Perhaps it’s an ombudsmen (see below), perhaps it’s a knowledgeable engineer or two, perhaps they need to hire a few Thom Hogans to be proactive, but Nikon needs a presence in the online forums and photographic communities throughout the world. It is so much better to simply give out reliable, useful, and accurate information and respond to questions than it is to let consumer communities run wild with speculation and innuendo. It’s no contest. [Side note: assuming spam blocking doesn't gobble it up, I try to answer every email question I receive. I do not get paid by anyone to do this. Just don't send attachments or photos with your email. And ask a clear question, don't make me guess what you want to learn.] There was one small, product-specific online forum that two Nikon engineers used to follow and post responses on, and it was a breath of fresh air. About a few Nikon products we got fairly accurate, up-to-date, and useful information because of that (and indeed, it even seems as if a few customer feature requests were heard that way, too). I'm sure the Nikon employees do this on their own initiative and on their own time, but it needs to be encouraged corporately. No, I'm not advocating that every Nikon employee get online or go to photo clubs every week, and I'm not even advocating that they answer every post/question. A policy of monitoring and responding/involving when necessary needs to be put in place. Why is this necessary? Because Nikon employees ought to be best and most knowledgeable Nikon product advocates, not Thom Hogan or Moose Petersen, Scott Kelby, Joe McNally, or whoever. Hire and fund an ombudsman. Back in the old days, Nikon's service for professionals (NPS) used to have what essentially was an ombudsman. If you needed a repair expedited, weren't happy with something, needed a loaner, whatever, you could call up one of two people in NPS and usually get rapid satisfaction. These days, by comparison, NPS seems to be little more than a way to get early access to cameras and lenses, and to get equipment repaired slightly faster. I've barely heard a peep out of Nikon since re-joining a few years back, their NPS Web site still tends to be an out-of-date joke (the "global NPS site" at least has a somewhat complete calendar of events NPS is involved with, but other than that, you can see the tumbleweed rolling on by), and I've heard tale after tale of professionals who couldn't easily reach a human to find out where their equipment went. But even when NPS works, that only applies to professionals, and a limited group at that [disclosure: I am an NPS member]. So I propose that there be separate consumer ombudsmen for Asia, North America, and Europe. These ombudsmen would have a small budget (not controlled by the subsidiaries!) plus demo inventory to "do what's right" by the customer. In order to keep the ombudsman from being overwhelmed with every Nikon user question and complaint, the process for getting to the ombudsman would require that you show that you've first exhausted the usual method of problem resolution (which is another reason why Tier 1 and Tier 2 tech support have to improve). Why is this necessary? Because as cameras get more complex and expensive, there's more chance of a single lemon causing a bad taste in all consumers mouths (note, the auto companies have ombudsmen); because it's another marketable consumer-oriented service. Fix the delivery issues. It's been clear ever since the launch of the original D1 that Nikon often has product launch problems. With the D1h, D1x, D2h, D2x, D3, D4, D5, D500, D800/D800E, and D850 they attempted to partially fix that by allowing NPS members to completely cut the line, which was part of the right idea, but wasn't always handled well and didn't address regular consumer access. Virtually everything Nikon has announced except the lowest end products has been slow to market and demand for them has exceeded supply in such an overwhelming manner that most people experience months of delay in getting a product. Long term, that hurts. When products are relatively equal in quality/ability but one is unavailable, the available product wins. Fortunately, Nikon has been lucky that Canon has also had difficulties keeping up with DSLR demand at times, though recently that’s not been true. Indeed, I have quite a few recent emails in my archive now where pros simply gave up on Nikon because they couldn’t get everything they needed in a timely fashion. High-end lenses have been a real delivery issue for Nikon with some of the lenses being completely unavailable through most of 2010, 2011, and 2012 (with smaller shortages happening in 2016 and 2017). Shortages of almost every key lens seem to happen with regularity. It doesn't really help to sell a body if the user is going to be frustrated by not being able to get the lens they want. And if lenses are bad, accessories are worse. Some cable releases have been out of stock for long periods of time, as have various AC adapters and chargers. Three things that need to be addressed by Nikon: manufacturing capacity, demand estimation, and delivery consistency. And until all three are fixed, this problem will continue, and consumer frustration will build. Why is this necessary? Because even professionals can't always get new products in a timely fashion, and guess what that means in terms of brand loyalty? Because you waste enormous money and energy building up the marketing message and then waste it when the customer doesn't find the product in stock today, next week, or even next month. By the time the stores have the product, the initial marketing has been forgotten or overridden by some other company's newer message; because you don't want to establish a pattern where every new announcement is greeted by the customer reaction "who cares, I won't be able to get one in the next six months, anyway." Find a real marketing message. I don't know if you ever noticed, but every new Nikon SLR and digital camera has had a different slogan that follows it around. This slogan is used in the advertising, in the product brochures, on the boxes, basically everywhere the product is presented (F5: "Imported from the Future," FM3a: "Crafted for Your Personal Control," N80: "Engineered to Exhilarate," D1h/D1x: "Two Solutions, One Ideal," Coolpix 995: "Driven by your Imagination," or the day the creative department was apparently out to lunch—F100: "Professional."). Personally, almost none of these catch phrases manages to do much for me, especially since so many of them seem interchangeable (can't an F5 be "driven by your imagination?"). They also tell prospective customers almost nothing about what to tangibly expect out of Nikon products. You'll note that most of Nikon's messages tend to have an engineering implication to them, which does reflect the kind of company Nikon thinks of itself as. But did you notice that none of the ones I list say anything about images or image quality? Only when we get to the true consumer cameras do we get anything that suggests that you take pictures with these things—N55: "Make Sharp and Colorful Pictures," or N65: "Expect More From Your Pictures." Still, all this word play is somehow vague and insubstantial, and it really doesn't tell me much about the brand. Nikon needs an overriding brand marketing position that is communicated with all their products, in all their materials. Of course, some of you will point out that Nikon did introduce such a position: "At the heart of the image." Anyone care to tell me what that means to the casual observer? We get no indication of why Nikon is any different from any other imaging company, we also have to understand that heart is a metaphor. “Image” is also not the word most people would use to describe the end result. Moreover, I find it interesting that a company that thinks of itself of a precision engineering company would choose the heart over the brain as the metaphor—so the slogan is a real stretch for Nikon to embrace, I think. A more direct and meaningful variant would have been "We engineer the heart of your camera," or if we can drop the heart metaphor for a moment: "Better engineering makes better pictures" or " Engineering products that make better pictures." (These are, obviously, are simple and straight-to-the-point statements off the top of my head, and are used to illustrate my point, not to say that these should be the final Nikon marketing statements. Still, I wouldn't be complaining about this point if either of the last two were Nikon's new image statement, though I might mumble under my breath that they weren't very creative ;~). The "I Am…" campaign is another puzzler. Clever, and sometimes it works. But it has never really connected well to Nikon's world-wide marketing. In short, Nikon needs something akin to Chevrolet’s “Like a Rock" or Ford’s “Quality is Job One.” And they need to use it everywhere and for a long period of time, just as the automakers have. And, lest I forget: any new marketing message must not be contradicted by any of the other problems I've listed above. Update: Nikon ran three campaigns that impressed me: the D80 Flickr campaign ("we gave Flickr users a D80 and this is what they did...") and the D40 Town campaign ("we gave everyone in a town in Georgia a D40 and this is what they did..."), plus the initial ads for the D3 that featured the motorcycle poster shot at ISO 6400. These campaigns actually worked well for the individual products (my next door neighbor wanted and got a D40 because of that campaign--they associated with the premise that they were just a random person in a random town). But these campaigns still need to be tied to a Nikon-wide thrust (as in "when we lend someone a Nikon, they take better pictures, because it's a better camera"). I fear, actually, that this short-lived improvement in advertising was solely due to the agency involved and not because Nikon themselves “got it." Why is this necessary? Because Nikon's chief competitor, Canon, is very much a sales and marketing driven company that is better at delivering consistent and understandable messages to customers; because getting the message right helps attract the right customer. [Update: Canon seems to have taken a vacation in the US in 2010 through 2012, canceling trade show involvement, scaling back advertising, and basically pulling a Nikon. But I don't expect that to stay the case.] Now you may have noticed something interesting in all my suggestions. I didn't say anything about improving products! That's one of the things that makes Nikon's current practices so bothersome: there's nothing particularly wrong with Nikon products. Indeed, if you go back and look through Nikon's product history, they have a long, storied career of building excellent products and then engineering them to be even better. Nikon does not tend to add features at a whim, it tends to quickly fix ergonomic mistakes, it eschews marketing gimmicks for real engineering advances, and it builds rock solid, excellent equipment. Yes, this means that they sometimes lag a bit on a feature here and there (IS/VR being the most notable one on lenses, full HD video on DSLRs), but each generation of Nikon products moves forward, not laterally, as I've seen with some companies. In short, it's not Nikon's engineering team that needs change. So if I were in charge of Nikon my primary goal would be to keep the internal engineering nature of the company intact while improving the external message, consistency, and customer contact. Is Nikon listening, or will they suffer a heart-of-the-image attack? Only time will tell. Looking for gear-specific information? Check out our other Web sites: mirrorless: sansmirror.com | general: bythom.com| Z System: zsystemuser.com | film SLR: filmbodies.com dslrbodies: all text and original images © 2021 Thom Hogan portions Copyright 1999-2020 Thom Hogan—All Rights Reserved Follow us on Twitter: @bythom, hashtags #bythom, #dslrbodies

Location: Women’s Club of Hollywood BOARD MEETING AGENDA Women’s Club of Hollywood Directions: South of Franklin and North of Hollywood Blvd. – West side of the street. Accessibility: Building is accessible to the handicapped. Entrance at rear door. Parking: Parking is available in a free off-street parking lot behind the building. The public is requested to fill out a “Speaker Card” to address the Board on any item of the agenda prior to the Board taking action on an item. Comments from the public on non-agenda and agenda items will be heard during the Public Comment Period and, within the discretion of the presiding officer of the Board, when the respective item is being considered. Comments from the public on other matters not appearing on the Agenda that is within the Board’s subject matter jurisdiction will be heard during the Public Comment period. Public comment is limited to 2 minutes per speaker unless waived by the presiding officer of the Board. Agenda is posted for public review: on bulletin boards at the top and bottom of Runyon Canyon Park, and electronically on the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council website ww.hhwnc.org and on the Department Of Neighborhood Empowerment (www.lacityneighborhoods.com). As a covered entity under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City of Los Angeles does not discriminate on the basis of disability and upon request, will provide reasonable accommodation to ensure equal access to its programs, services, and activities. Sign language interpreters, assistive listening devices, or other auxiliary aids and/or services may be provided upon request. To ensure availability of services, please make your request at least 3 business days (72 hours) prior to the meeting you wish to attend by contacting the Neighborhood Council Project Coordinator at 213-485-1360 or e-mail to [email protected] 1. Call to order by President (Anastasia Mann) 2. Roll call by Secretary (Bruce Gorelick) 3. Minutes – Review and approve prior May 24, 2007 minutes (Please see attached) (Vote) (5 minutes) 4. President’s Report by Anastasia Mann (20 minutes) a) Josh Englander from Assemblymember Mike Feuer’s office. b) Mayor Villaraigosa’s Annual Community Budget Day c) Ad Hoc Committee regarding NBC/Universal City and Thomas Properties Projects. Re-appoint of Ad Hoc committee for NBC/Universal Vision Plan. 5 Ad Hoc Committee Report and Update on NBC/Universal City by Joan Luchs. (5 minutes) 6. Vice President’s Report by Orrin Feldman (5 minutes) – Update MOTION: That HHWNC approves an allocation of $1,500 towards paying the fees which will be incurred by the Universal/MTA Working Group’s traffic consultant(s) for analyzing the traffic studies which will be generated by the MTA and Vision Plan Project’s developers. DONE and HHWNC would retain the funds, and pay the traffic consultant directly per DONE’s regulations and procedures after appropriate documentation is presented to HHWNC’s treasurer. The traffic studies analysis is expected to cost far more than HHWNC’s $1,500 share, and it is expected to be made available to everyone by being posted on the working group’s website. 7. Treasurer’s Report by William Bell (5 minutes) 8. Hollywood Beautification Team: Event October 4th ’07 – Presentation by Sharyn Romano – request for participation by HHWNC. Possible motion and vote. 9. Neighborhood Council Survey by Dept of Disability- by Tamara Nelson, MPH/Project Coordinator, Vital Research, LLC 10. “Review and Approval of Draft 2007 Election Procedures. Possible motion and vote.” (Michael P. Meyer) 11. Committee Reports (20 minutes) a.) ISSUE COMMITTEES i.) Community Development & Outreach (Terry Migliaccio) SPLASH BASH 2 Post Event report/results ii.) Environment, Beautification & Aesthetics (Wendy Kneedler-Senior) aa.) Hollywood Beautification Team Event on Thursday, October 4, 2007 at the Globe Theatre at Universal Studios. (Presented by Krista Michaels) iii.) Traffic, Public Transportation and Parking (Wayne C. Johansson) aa.) MOTION: Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council sends a letter to Council Members Garcetti and LaBonge that: 1) States enforcement of zoning regulations / requirements for parking in the business areas of Hollywood is of utmost interest to the stakeholders of HHWNC 2) Requests they actively and regularly work with the appropriate City departments to enforce compliance of the zoning regulations / requirements for parking in the business areas of Hollywood. (Possible Motion and Vote) bb.) MOTION: Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council sends a letter to the LADOT General Manager, copying Mayor Villaraigosa and Council Members Garcetti, LaBonge and Weiss that: 1) States the stakeholders of HHWNC would like the neighborhood traffic management programs be of a higher priority 2) Department staffing levels be increased such that: – responses to all requests take less than 30 days, and -neighborhood traffic management plans are developed within 6 months of the initial request. (Possible Motion and Vote) cc) MOTION: Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council sends a letter to Council Members Garcetti and LaBonge that: 1) States the traffic congestion resulting from events at the Hollywood Bowl is detrimentally impacting the quality of life for the stakeholders of HHWNC 2) Requests they work closely with the appropriate City departments to place traffic control officers from 10 pm until 2 am every Friday and Saturday when is an event at the Hollywood Bowl at the intersections of Hollywood Blvd./Highland Ave. and Sunset Blvd./Highland Ave. (Possible Motion and Vote) iv.) Other Issue Committees aa.) Reports by Committee Chairs in attendance (Optional) b.) AREA COMMITTEES i.) Area 1 (Daniel Savage) aa.) The Area 1 Committee, the Housing Issue Committee and the EMS, Police and Fire Issue Committee voted unanimously to approve to following action: We approve of Archstone Smith’s proposal to add an additional 307 residential units and 472 additional parking stalls at the Toluca Lake Oakwood Property at 3600 Barham Blvd. and enter into a covenant to prevent future additional development. We request full information on the covenant when available, as promised by Archstone. Presentation by Matthew M. Winsryg, Assistant Vice President of Archstone Smith. (Possible Motion and Vote. ii.) Area 2 & Housing Committees Joint Update (Joan Luchs/Paul Ramsey) aa.) That the HHWNC board support and approve the 7153 and 7159 Woodrow Wilson plans as submitted. (Motion and Vote) bb.) That the HHWNC board supports the “conditional denial” of 3000 Passmore Drive unless the following conditions are met. 1.) Provide a wet stamped and signed topographic survey of site by a licensed Surveyor. 2.) Superimpose the proposed addition on original accurate site plans by a licensed Surveyor. 3.) Obtain oak tree report and apply for Oak Tree Permit 4.) Present new plans, new survey and Oak Tree Report before the Area 2 and Housing Committees of HHWNC for review and approval. (Motion and Vote) cc.) That the HHWNC board disapproves the project located at 7218 Sunnydip Trail at 3.700 sq. ft. (Motion and Vote) dd.) That the HHWNC board supports the appeal filed to the South Valley Area Planning Commission regarding the disapproval and denial of 7218 Sunnydip Trail at 3,700 sq. ft. (Motion and Vote) ee.) That HHWNC board writes a letter to Councilman LaBonge that includes the following: 1.) Requesting that Sunnydip Trail be reconstructed and improved to a width that meets Standard safety and access conditions within the next 2.) Request that a mandate and enforcement of limits for the weight of all trucks using Sunnydip and Oakpoint Trails be limited to no more than 15,000 lbs. 3.) Request for a hearing within 30 days with Building and Safety as well as Public Works to review and come up with a plan regarding the ongoing (last 20 years) unsafe conditions on Sunnydip Tr. that are jeopardizing community safety and access. 4.) That Councilman LaBonge writes a letter to Building and Safety requesting their enforcement of an existing ordinance which requires public hearings for all building permit applications where the width of the street is improved to less than 20 ft. (Motion and Vote) iii.) Area 3 (Paul Woolsey) aa.) The Area 3 and Business planning committee have voted to support the Adoption of templates to be used voluntarily in formulating C.U.P. and A.B.C. license conditions for entertainment type businesses. The attached are the condition templates with the addition that we shall support no application to have such a license with a variance relieving the applicant from the obligation to provide parking. Also added is the condition to support no application containing an entitlement to loud amplified music in outdoor areas. (Possible Motion and Vote) bb.) The Area 3 and Business committees have voted to purchase three security patrol signs for the Whitley Heights Association at cost of $150 each for a total of $450 presumably from the outreach budget & asks the board to support this in the community interest. (Possible Motion and Vote) cc.) The Area 3 and Business committees have voted to support asking the Los Angeles City Department of Parks to provide off-leash dog facility either at the Yucca Community Center or elsewhere in this neighborhood. (Possible Motion and Vote) dd.) The Area 3 and Business committees have voted to support asking for the installation of traffic signals (lights) at the intersections of Franklin with Cherokee and with Whitley. This request goes to either D.O.T. OR Streets. (Possible Motion and Vote) ee.) The Area 3 and Business committees ask the board to support historic designation for the house located on the northwest corner of Franklin and Grace. (Possible Motion and Vote) iv.) Area 4 (Conrad Schoeffter) & Area 5 (Michael P. Meyer) aa) MOTION: The Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council wishes to express its firm commitment to the process of code enforcement, especially in those situations where the abatement of a nuisance will necessarily follow, and the HHWNC supports the City Attorney in taking all necessary steps to assure code enforcement with priority to these situations. (Possible Motion and Vote) bb.) MOTION : HHWNC requests that CD4 direct LADOT to evaluate alternatives to improve traffic flow on Franklin Avenue in advance of the completion of the Highland/Franklin project. The concepts in the attached graphics represent potential alternatives to be considered, but are not meant to restrict LADOT’s analysis of alternatives. We also request that a traffic Officer be assigned to the Franklin/Highland intersection to ticket drivers that block the intersection. Motion carried 10-yes, 0- no, 3- abstention. cc.) MOTION: There is a strong sense in the community that the number and size of billboards and super graphics in Hollywood has gotten out of control. HHWNC requests that CD4 and CD13 initiate the process to review/amend existing laws regarding billboards and super graphics. We understand the need to balance businesses needs for advertising, but we feel it needs to be done with respect to the architecture of buildings, particularly historic ones, and to the views of the neighbors. We feel the existing laws need more teeth and we want the process to revise these laws to involve the community in the decision making. We request that in the interim, no variances be granted for billboards or super graphics, and we request that this motion be distributed to adjacent neighborhood councils in Hollywood so the y can also be involved in the process. Motion carried 13-yes-)-no, 0 abstention. dd.) MOTION: We request that CD4 provide updates to the full HHWNC Board with regard to the following: 1.) Paving of north entry area to Runyon Canyon Park and striping of parking stalls adjacent to the park entrance and private driveways, adjacent safety improvements along Mulholland 2.) Repair of the landscaped island on Outpost Drive at Castilian that was damaged by a drunken driver in October 2006 3.) City Council motion to authorize the city to negotiate for the purchase of property adjacent to Runyon Canyon Park 4.) Status of the parking lot proposed for the lower portion of Runyon Canyon Park Motion carried 13-yes-)-no, 0 abstention ii.) Other Area Committees 12. Public Comments – Comments from the public on agenda items and non-agenda items within the Board’s subject matter jurisdiction. Public comments are limited to 2 minutes per speaker. 13. Old Business 14. New Business APPROVED BOARD MEETING MINUTES 1. Call to order by President (Anastasia Mann): 6:41 p.m. Ken Jones Present Wilson Bell Absent Wendy Kneedler-Senior Present Anne Marie Lardeau Present Paul Ramsey Present Deana Ruggieri Present Cheryl Holland Absent Claire Guy Absent Thor Lee Absent William Bell Absent Orrin Feldman Present Anastasia Mann Present Wayne C. Johannsen Present Terry Migliaccio Present Michael Meyer Present Joan Luchs Present Daniel Savage Tardy (6:48 p.m.) Paul Woolsey Present Conrad Schoeffler Present Rick Solomon Present John Pogue Tardy Anastasia Mann announces that she is not feeling well and might leave the meeting early. Orrin Feldman will be in charge if she leaves. 3. Minutes – Review and approve prior May 24, 2007 Joan Luchs introduces a motion to approve the minutes from May 24, 2007. Paul Woolsey seconds. Vote taken: 13 in favor 2 opposed Motion passes. a. CITY COUNCIL OFFICES REPORT i. Josh Englander, Field Representative for 42nd Assembly District, from Assembly member Mike Feuer’s office In his report, he says that the district officials have passed the Councilman LaBonge’s office in an attempt to buy a piece of land between Franklin and Ivar and turn it into a park. The 42nd Assembly District is working with the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce on the proposed Hollywood Central Park. The District officials are also working on Legislation Bill 1371, the Microstamping Bill, which would place a microscopic laser on a gun that would allow the original owner of the gun to be traced. ii. Report from Chief Deputy Rory Fitzpatrick, of Councilman LaBonge’s staff CD 4. Rory Fitzpatrick is providing commentary on the reports as the council requested. He first commends Deana Ruggieri for Growth Foundation efforts which included recently bringing some students to visit Councilman LaBonge. [Daniel Savage arrives at 6:48 p.m.] Point 1: In his report, Fitzpatrick outlines the progress of the resurfacing projects in council district 4. The streets are rated from A to F, and the council district attempts to improve the roads with the direst need of improvement. The council will fix the median on Outpost Drive where someone ran u the median and damaged it. Point 2: Fitzpatrick cites the pedestrian and non-pedestrian traffic fatalities in the district. There were 81 pedestrian fatalities, and 140 non-pedestrian fatalities. To reduce fatalities, the district officials highlight engineering, enforcement, and education. Improvements in infrastructure are impeded because the tax revenue outlined for those improvements went back to general funds. [Josh Englander interrupts the presentation to clarify Assemblyman Feuer’s position on infrastructure funds. The assemblyman wants to reallocate funds in order to provide more money for mass transit.] Anastasia Mann requests information about the repaving of Outpost, and Deputy Rory Fitzpatrick explains that the repaving of Outpost will be in the 2009 plan. iii. Presentation from Jeanne Chang, Council Member LaBonge’s director of special projects. Ms. Chang informs the board of the changes in the plan for the Runyan Canyon south parking lot. After complaints from civilians, the Bureau of Engineering released a revised draft. The new version will be available in thirty days for public viewing, and the board will be reminded of the plan’s availability. On the Franklin/Highland Project, structural problems caused a delay. The group is working with the Chevron station to establish a resurfacing and landscaping component. The left turn lane on Yucca will be included in the project, and the project should be finished by the end of November. The group did not put up an offer on 2450 Solar Drive adjacent to Runyan Canyon. The group is now gathering resources, and soon, the Department of Recreation and Parks hopes to write up a formal offer for the property. iv. Stacy Marble CD 4’s Hollywood Field Deputy Stacy —–Marble reports on the placement of “No Smoking” signs in the hillside/canyon areas. The Department of Recreation and Parks is proposing a working group with Council Districts 4, 5, and, ideally, the HHWNC. There is and will be a cleanup in Griffith Park every other weekend. The Department of Recreation and Parks is looking for volunteers. The Department has also done a press conference, filmed by Channel 35, on a beautification project. Council Member LaBonge introduced a motion in the City Council to offer a reward of $50,000 for information leading to the capture of a person who robbed Limelight Liquors and murdered an innocent bystander on July 19. Conrad Schoeffter asks Stacy Marble if the camera image of the robber and the information on Griffith Park cleanup volunteering could be distributed to the HHWNC. Through the City’s Nuisance Abasement Program, the Department of Recreation and Parks is trying to buy a property plagued with drug trafficking. v. Dennis Lytton, CD4’s Field Deputy for Los Feliz and Silverlake. Mike Meyer and Dennis Lytton analyzed the traffic flow in Runyon Canyon. Lytton has followed up with the Department of Transportation, and they are working on a report. vi. Sonia Kwon, the new field deputy for Council District 5’s Laurel Canyon area(s). Sonia Kwon reports that she has recently replaced the previous field rep and is in the process of getting acclimated. The risk of fires are a big topic in the district, and Council member Jack Weiss introduced a measure asking all local departments for input on how to avoid fires. She provided her contact information to the HHWNC. b. Mayor Villaraigosa’s Annual Community Budget Day Anastasia Mann announces that the mayor’s Annual Community Budget Day will be held on Saturday, October 13, 2007. c. Ad Hoc Committee regarding NBC/Universal City and Thomas Properties Projects. Re-appoint of Ad Hoc Committee for NBC/Universal Vision Plan Anastasia Mann is reappointing the Ad Hoc Committee. The members are Joan Luchs, Daniel Savage, Paul Ramsey, Thor Lee, Anne Marie Lardeau, and Wayne Johansson. There are no objections to the reappointment(s). 5. Ad Hoc Committee Report and Update on NBC/Universal City by Joan Luchs (5 minutes) Joan Luchs reports that the committee has had several well-attended meetings. They believe that the Metro-Universal system will cause traffic problems, and the committee lists its complaints about the development project, namely: -No crime reduction system using environmental design -No resolution for transient in parks – No housing projects -No southbound exits on the 101 from the area -No assurance of safety for residents Joan Luchs wants the HHWNC to have a meeting in September in order to prepare a motion to be submitted publicly to the EIR component. PUBLIC SPEAKER Krista Michaels states that the Metro-Universal Development Plan includes a southbound exit and a housing component. The draft for the Plan will come out in the second week of October, and the Universal Vision Plan will be out sometime in January. Ms. Luchs questions the validity of these statements. [Wendy Kneedler-Senior arrives at 7:28 p.m.] Orrin Feldman introduces the following motion MOTION: That HHWNC approves an allocation of $1,500 towards paying the fees that will be incurred by the Universal/MTA Working Group’s traffic consultant(s) for analyzing the traffic studies that will be generated by the MTA and Vision Plan Project’s developers. DONE and HHWNC would retain the funds and pay the traffic consultant directly per DONE’s regulations and procedures after appropriate documentation is presented to HHWNC’s treasurer. The traffic studies analysis is expected to cost far more than HHWNC’s $1,500 share, and it is expected to be made available to everyone by being posted on the working group’s website. Wendy Kneedler-Senior seconds. Michael Meyer asks what percentage of the total contributions to the Universal Project Plan will consist of the HHWNC’s donation of $1,500.00. Although no one has a definite figure, Daniel Savage says that the percentage will likely be comparable to the donations of the other 9 neighborhoods. Kenneth Jones asks if the board is compelled to donate and whether the HHWNC will be the only one to submit. VP Feldman explains that the project is within the HHWNC boundaries and we should show leadership in this area. Anastasia Mann calls for a vote. Vote taken: The vote is unanimous. Motion passes. Michael Meyer gives in report in lieu of William Bell. There is $136,915 in the treasury, and all bills are paid. DONE suggests that 25% of the budget goes to community projects. President Mann points out that the annual additional funding of $50,000 is included in this total amount with the new fiscal year which began July 1st, 2007. 8. Hollywood Beautification Team: Event October 7, 2007 – presentation by Sharyn Romano – request for participation by HHWNC. Krista Michaels, a member of HBT event committees for 4 years, gives the report in lieu of Sharyn Romano. The HBT helps remove graffiti, and this year’s funds have not met the increase in graffiti. On October 07, the HBT will host a fund-raising event honoring David Hockney and Julius Schulman held at the Universal Studios Globe Theater. A donation from the HHWNC will help pay for a large advertisement in the paper, and the HHWNC will be able to have an outreach booth at the event in exchange for the donation as well as two seats to the event. Anastasia Mann asks for a motion on the agenda approving the allocation of $2000 for outreach at HBT’s event. Wendy Kneedler-Senior introduces the motion. Paul Woolsey seconds. Anne Marie Lardeau complains that her negative recent experience with the HBT on a Barham Blvd. project makes her not want to support any donation to the organization. Although Michael Meyer agrees that there have been problems with HBT -and he sites the Outpost area as an example, he believes that the HBT events are a good source of outreach, and the HHWNC has consistently made donations to their prior events. Paul Woolsey also defends the HBT because they have improved the appearance of his area. Anastasia Mann calls the board to vote. Vote taken: 11 in favor 3 opposed 3 abstain Motion carries. 9. Neighborhood Council Survey by Department of Disability by Tamara Nelson, MPH/Project Coordinator, Vital Research LLC. Ashley Benjamin and David Zimmer, City HIV/AIDS service committee representatives, passed out a survey on HIV awareness and the public interest in prevention services. He asks the public and the HHWNC board to please fill out the survey while they area at the meeting and to come to them with any questions. 10. “Review and Approval of Draft 2007 Election Procedures. (Possible motion and vote.) (Michael Meyer) On Saturday, December 15,the elections will be held from 10 am to 4 pm at the Durant Library. On Monday, December 17, the elections will be held at the elementary school from 3 to 7 pm. Michael Meyer was appointed chair of the election committee by President Mann, and he has placed all members of the board not running for reelection on the election committee. He asks for more help from the board members with running the election. Michael Meyer also suggests that the hours on Saturday be cut down from six to four and that the board does not use translation services for Russian or Spanish this year because no one used them in last (2) years elections. He also suggests that the board pay for food at the election locations to encourage attendance. The fliers for the elections will go out on September 04 around the time so that candidates can make themselves known. Joan Luchs introduces a motion that the hours on Saturday, December 15, 2007, be reduced from six to four. Rick Soloman seconds. In a response to Orrin Feldman’s concern that the reduction of hours will reduce the number of votes, Michael Meyer and Joan Luchs say that last year’s voting turnout was unaffected by the number of hours. Most people showed up in the last two hours of voting anyway. Vote taken: 8 in favor 7 opposed. 0 abstain. The motion carries. Ann Marie Lardeau suggests installing voting-by-mail procedures, and Michael Meyer says the board will have to do the work to get that procedure into the draft of the 2007 Election Procedures. Paul Woolsey introduces a motion to strike provision 6 from the 2007 Electing Procedures. Joan Luchs seconds. Vote taken: 10 opposed. 1 abstaining. The motion fails. Michael Meyer asks for a motion to approve the 2007 Election Procedures with changes in the hours. Joan Luchs introduces the motion. Conrad Schoeffler seconds. Vote taken: Unanimous approval. Motion passes. a. ISSUES COMMITTEES i. Community Development & Outreach (Terry Migliaccio) SPLASH BASH 2 Post Event report/results: Over seven hundred people registered as new Stakeholders for this year’s “Splash Bash 2,” hosted solely by HHWNC. This is over 300 new members more than Splash Bash 1. About 1020 people were in attendance and the event was considered a major success. At last year’s “Splash Bash,” hosted by several neighborhood councils, 2000 people attended. The lower numbers this year are likely due to the decrease in sponsoring NCs. The board thanks Terry Migliaccio for his hard work, and Anastasia Mann notes that she has gotten positive feedback about the event from many of the attendees via email. ii. Environment, Beautification, & Aesthetics (Wendy Kneedler-Senior) iii. Traffic, Public Transportation, and Parking (Wayne C. Johansson) Wayne Johansson says that he is open to friendly amendments from the board. Michael Meyer, Joan Luchs, and Ken Jones commend Wayne Johansson’s efforts to express in writing to the council members the HHWNC’s opinion regarding parking problems; however, they suggest changing the language to focus on parking problems occurring around entertainment venues. The adjusted language of the letter is: 1) States enforcement of zoning regulations/requirements for parking in the business areas of Hollywood is of utmost interest to the stakeholders of HHWNC, in particular the parking for entertainment uses. There needs to be better monitor off-site parking agreements so that spaces are not double-counted. 2) Requests they actively and regularly work with the appropriate City departments to enforce compliance of the zoning regulations/requirements for parking in the business areas of Hollywood. The board votes to approve the amended text of the letter. Vote taken: 19 in favor. 1 opposed. Motion passes. Paul Woolsey makes a friendly amendment asking Council Members Vincetti and LaBonge to make a commitment to build more parking spaces. Wayne Johansson does not approve the amendment, and Anastasia Mann believes that the suggested amendment may be a separate issue. A vote is taken to approve the letter. 12 in favor. 1 opposed. 2 abstain. Motion carries. Wayne Johansson introduces a motion to approve the language of the letter. Rick Solomon seconds. Wayne Johansson introduces a motion to approve the delivery of the letter to the Council members in its current language. Paul Woolsey seconds. Paul Ramsey makes friendly amendment suggesting that the letter go to the County Supervisor because the Bowl is a public facility. Wayne Johansson seconds. Vote taken: Unanimous approval. Michael Meyer makes a friendly amendment that the letter should begin with a positive statement that the Hollywood Bowl is well loved. Daniel Savage makes a friendly amendment that the letter specifies that traffic control officers should be posted at the Bowl on every night when there is a major event. Vote taken: 10 in favor 4 abstain. 0 opposed. Paul Woolsey makes a friendly amendment that the letter include a request for the posting of traffic officers at Franklin and Highland. Public Comment: On nights with classical events, there posted. Anastasia Mann requests that the motion be restated with the amended portions: MOTION: Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council sends a letter to Council Member Garcetti, Council Member LaBonge, and the County Supervisor that: 1) States the Hollywood Bowl is a well-loved building in Hollywood and that the traffic congestion resulting from events at the Hollywood Bowl is detrimentally impacting the quality of life for the stakeholders of HHWNC and 2) States that the Hollywood Bowl is a public facility and it is the county’s responsibility to mitigate the Bowl’s traffic at least to the extent a private developer would be required. 3) Requests they work closely with the appropriate City departments to place traffic control officers from 10 pm until 2 am every evening when there is an event at the Hollywood Bowl at the intersections of Hollywood Blvd./Highland Ave and Sunset Blvd./Highland Ave. Also requests that a traffic officer be assigned to the Franklin/Highland intersection at busy times to improve traffic flow and ticket drivers that block the intersection. (Possible Motion and Vote) Vote is taken: 12 in favor 1 opposed. 2 abstain. Motion passes. Daniel Savage withdraws the motion because it will have to be reapproved after Archdome makes its changes. The board moves to the next area committee report. Joan Luchs reads out the motion and suggests a friendly amendment that the approved plans as submitted should require that the owner have a landscape contract to be recorded and maintained. Ken Jones seconds. The motion is amended to read as following: Area 2 and Housing Committees As amended, HHWNC Board supports and approves 7153 and 7159 Woodrow Wilson plans/projects as submitted but adds a friendly amendment requiring the owner to record a covenant and agreement that runs with the land and that they will maintain landscaping throughout the life even if it changes ownerships. Vote taken: 9 in favor 2 opposed 5 abstain Motion carries. Joan Luchs withdraws the motion. Joan Luchs reads out point dd. because it pertains to point cc. She explains that the appeal is being resubmitted, so the current appeal is withdrawn. Conrad Schoeffler introduces a motion to approve the disapproval, and Anne Marie Lardeau seconds. Vote taken: 7 in favor 2 opposed 6 abstain Motion passes. dd.) That the HHWNC board supports the appeal filed to the South Valley Area Planning Commission regarding the disapproval and denial of 7218 Sunnydip Trail at 3,700 sq. ft. (Motion and Vote) Joan Luch requests that the motion to support the appeal filed at South Valley Area. Planning Commission regarding CASE #2007-3681-DRB-SPP for 7218 Sunnydip Trail be withdrawn as the first appeal was already approved and the second appeal has not yet been processed. 1.) Requesting that Sunnydip Trail be reconstructed and improved to a width that meets Standard safety and access conditions within the next 12 months. Throughout the vote taking and report by Joan Luchs, Michael Meyer leads the complaints from the board that these motions are unrelated to the board’s role. Orrin Feldman explains that the HHWNC is an advisory board that can advise with regard to any and all requests to City agencies for discretionary action(s)- but that the neighborhood council does not have to exercise its role as an advisor and make recommendation if it chooses not to do so, or if the information provided is insufficient to reach a recommendation/decision. Michael Meyer wishes that he could hear about the situation from the house owners, and he feels unequipped to vote. ee.) That HHNNC board writes a letter to Councilman LaBonge that includes the following: When a public hillside street dangerously erodes over the last 25 years and should be reconstructed and maintained in order to protect, preserve and provide safe access for its residents and an overwhelming majority of HHWNC agreed and voted. 1) Requests that Sunnydip Trail be reconstructed and improved to a width that meets standard safety and access conditions within the next 12 months. 2) Requests that a mandate and enforcement of limits for the weight of all trucks using Sunnydip and Oakpoint Trails be limited to no more than 15,000 lbs. 3) Request for a hearing within 30 days with Building and Safety as well as Public Works to review and come up with a plan regarding the ongoing (20 years) unsafe conditions jeopardizing community safety and access on Sunnydip Trace. 4) That Councilman LaBonge write a letter to Building and Safety requesting their enforcement of an existing ordinance that requires public hearings for all building permit applications where the width of the street if improved to less than 20 ft. (Motion and Vote) Joan Luchs withdraws point 3 from the motion. Orrin Feldman, and John Pogue are all reluctant to intercede on the problems with Sunnydips’s roads because they believe that the relevant City agencies and Councilman LaBonge have a handle on the problem. Anastasia Mann calls for the board to vote. Vote taken: 12 in favor 1 opposed 2 abstain Motion passes. aa.) The Area 3 and Business planning committee have voted to support the Adoption of templates to be used voluntarily in formulating C.U.P. and A.B.C. license conditions for entertainment type businesses. The attached are the condition templates with the addition that we shall support no application to have such a license with a variance relieving the applicant from the obligation to provide parking. Also added is the condition to support no application containing an entitlement to loud amplified music in outdoor areas. (Possible Motion and Vote) (see attachment) The HHWNC finds the issue too complicated to address at this late point in the meeting. Michael Meyer finds that there are too many conditions. They ask for a more detailed presentation about the templates, and Paul Woolsey agrees to table the issue. Orrin Feldman expresses a grave concern that this motion is a request for subsidy because the security company is commercial. Paul Woolsey suggests a friendly amendment that the post be removed. Vote taken on motion as amended: 2 in favor 5 opposed 7 abstain. Motion does not carry as amended. The motion carries. After questions from Michael Meyer and Conrad Schoeffler about the specifics of the plain, including the effect of the installation of lights on overall traffic, the board asks for a more detailed presentation. Per Ken Jones’ request, Paul Woolsey tables the issue and agrees to prepare a more detailed report with Paul Anderson. iv.) Area 4 (Conrad Schoeffter) & Area 5 (Michael Meyer) The board wants to correct the language of the motion. Orrin Feldman says he’s empathetic, but that he thinks the language is not clear and that the statement seems meaningless. Joan Luchs makes a friendly amendment to change the language. The motion is rewritten as follows: The HHWNC wishes to support the city attorney’s office in its firm commitment to the process of code enforcement with giving priority to situations where code enforcement will lead to nuisance abatement. The HHWNC wishes to support the city attorney in taking all necessary steps to assure code enforcement with giving priority to these situations. Vote taken: Unanimous approval Michael Meyer introduces the motion to approve the order. John Pogue seconds. Vote taken: 10 in favor. 0 opposed. 3 abstain. Motion carries. PUBLIC COMMENT: Paul Anderson suggests that Michael Meyer add the enforcement of the double yellow line east of Highland on Franklin. The traffic flow problem is partly due to the crossing of the yellow line. Another public commenter suggests enforcing the same rule in the morning and evening on Franklin and La Brea. Vote taken on the motion as stands: Unanimous approval. billboards and super graphics in Hollywood have gotten out of control. HHWNC requests that CD4 and CD13 initiate the process to review/amend existing laws regarding billboards and super graphics. We understand the need to balance businesses needs for advertising, but we feel it needs to be done with respect to the architecture of buildings, particularly historic ones, and to the views of the neighbors. We feel the existing laws need more teeth and we want the process to revise these laws to involve the community in the decision-making. We request that in the interim, no variances be granted for billboards or super graphics, and we request that this motion be distributed to adjacent neighborhood councils in Hollywood so the y can also be involved in the process. Ken Jones wants to specify the conditions of the buildings with Historical value. Vote taken: 13 in favor 2 opposed O abstain. Motion carries. MOTION: We request that CD4 provide updates to the full HHWNC Board with regard to the following: Michael Meyer introduces the motion. Joan Luchs seconds. 12. Public Comment — No public comment. 13. Old Business – No old business. 14. New Business – No new business. 15. Adjournment – Anastasia Mann calls the meeting adjourned at 10:03 p.m.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Hi I recently had several weeks of being dizzy,off balance, ears felt like they were stuffed with cotton I thought I was going deaf. Made an appointment with an ENT was tested for Vertigo and Meiners disease,but did not have.ENT Dr. sent me for a MRI The MRI shows spot/something on the brain stem. Can't see the neuro until Sept. any suggestions. ziness, stuffed feeling in ears, problems with balance. MRI shows spot in brain stem. Suggestions? output: Hi, thanks for using healthcare magicVertigo can be due to central or peripheral causes. Central causes mean that the problem originates from the brain or spinal cord.The structures in the brain that are mainly involved in balance are the brainstem and the cerebellum.The lesion or 'spot' that was seen on the MRI can be due to different possible conditions such as : (1) artefact- this is something that is not actually present within a person but due for example to the machine used or tool(2)a mass within the brainstem- it is possible that it is related to a tumor(3) stroke- this is due to disrupted blood supply to an area of the brain, it would also cause a change in the image(4)infection(5)trauma(6) multiple sclerosisYOur neurologist would be able to determine, based on physical findings and reviewing the image, what the area represents.I wish you the best and hope this helps..

Heat shock proteins and hormesis in the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases Sandro Dattilo1, Cesare Mancuso4, Guido Koverech1, Paola Di Mauro2, Maria Laura Ontario1, Cateno Concetto Petralia6, Antonino Petralia3, Luigi Maiolino2, Agostino Serra2, Edward J. Calabrese5 & Vittorio Calabrese1 Immunity & Ageing volume 12, Article number: 20 (2015) Cite this article Modulation of endogenous cellular defense mechanisms via the vitagene system represents an innovative approach to therapeutic intervention in diseases causing chronic tissue damage, such as in neurodegeneration. The possibility of high-throughoutput screening using proteomic techniques, particularly redox proteomics, provide more comprehensive overview of the interaction of proteins, as well as the interplay among processes involved in neuroprotection. Here by introducing the hormetic dose response concept, the mechanistic foundations and applications to the field of neuroprotection, we discuss the emerging role of heat shock protein as prominent member of vitagene network in neuroprotection and redox proteomics as a tool for investigating redox modulation of stress responsive vitagenes. Hormetic mechanisms are reviewed as possibility of targeted therapeutic manipulation in a cell-, tissue- and/or pathway-specific manner at appropriate points in the neurodegenerative disease process. Cellular stress response and the vitagene system Protein thiols play a key role in redox sensing, and regulation of cellular redox state is a crucial mediator of multiple metabolic, signalling and transcriptional processes [1]. Under optimal conditions long-term health is maintained by protein homeostasis, a highly complex network of molecular interactions that balances protein biosynthesis, folding, translocation, assembly/disassembly, and clearance [2, 3]. Protein quality control is a critical feature of intracellular homeostasis [4]. When conformationally challenged aggregation-prone proteins are expressed, the resulting unfolded or misfolded proteins are rapidly degraded via the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway. The ability of a cell to counteract stressful conditions is also known as cellular stress response or heat shock response, which is an ancient and highly conserved cytoprotective mechanism [3, 5]. Production of heat shock proteins (HSP), including protein chaperones, is essential for the folding and repair of damaged proteins, serving thus to promote cell survival conditions that would otherwise result in apoptosis [6]. There is significant interest in the discovery and development of small molecules that modulate heat shock responses and parallel stress response pathways for therapeutic purposes [1, 7–9]. The cellular stress response is regulated at the transcriptional, translational and post-translational levels. The major regulator of the heat shock response genes is the heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1) which is kept in a latent state by an inhibitory complex of stress-proteins, and plays a key regulatory role in response to environmental stress, development, and many pathophysiological conditions, including cancer, ischemia-reperfusion injury, diabetes, and aging [10, 11] (Fig. 1). Vitagenes and the pathway of cellular stress response. Proteotoxic stresses causing accumulation of misfolded proteins trigger the cellular stress response. HSPs that are normally bound to HSF1 are titrate away by damaged proteins with resulting HSF-1 activation. Multi-step activation of HSF1 involves post-translational modifications, such as hyperphosphorylation, deacetylation or sumoylation, which allow HSF1 to trimerize, translocate into the nucleus, and bind to heat-shock elements (HSEs) in the promoter regions of its target hsp genes. Nutritional antioxidants, are able to activate vitagenes, such as heme oxygenase, Hsp70, thioredoxin reductase and sirtuins which represent an integrated system for cellular stress tolerance. Activation of Vitagene system, with up-regulation of HO-1, Thioredoxin, GSH and Sirtuin, results in reduction of pro-oxidant conditions. During inflammaging, including aged-associated pathologies a gradual decline in potency of the heat shock response occur and this may prevent repair of protein damage, leading to degeneration and cell death of critical parenchymal cells. Phytochemicals and acetylcarnitine act through the activation of transcription factor Nrf2, which after binding to the antioxidant responsive element up-regulates vitagenes Mammalian cells contain at least 3 HSF family members, HSF1, HSF2 and HSF4 [12, 13]. Neurons appear to be deficient in the heat shock response while retaining the ability to express such HSF proteins [14]. Furthermore, HSF1 fails to be activated in motor neurons even when these cells are microinjected with plasmids encoding an HSF1 expression vector, suggesting a block to the HSF1 signal transduction pathways [15]. HSF1 is repressed under non-stress conditions by a complex containing Hsp90 and other proteins. In this inactive state, HSF1 is a monomer that lacks the ability to bind cis -acting heat shock elements (HSE) in the promoters of HSP genes. Protein stress results in conversion of HSF1 from inactive monomer to DNA binding trimer and remodeling of the inhibitory molecular chaperone complex [16]. Activation of HSF1 by heat shock is a multi-step process, involving multiple inducible phosphorylation, dephosphorylation, acetylation and deacetylation steps, the sum of which results in the transcription of HSP genes. Extracellular signal input during heat shock involves tyrosine phosphorylation upstream of HSF1, involves the receptor tyrosine kinase HER2 and launches downstream signaling cascades through intracellular kinase Akt [17]. Akt regulates HSF1 at least in part by modulating its association with the phosphoserine binding scaffold protein [17]. The major activator of HSF1 is proteotoxic insults, like heat shock. Misfolded proteins displace HSF1 form the inhibitory chaperone complex, HSF1 trimerizes, becomes phosphorylated and is translocated to the nucleus where it is able to bind to the heat shock element of HSP genes [18, 19]. Cellular stress response requires the activation of pro-survival pathways as well as production of molecules endowed with anti-oxidant and anti-apoptotic activities, which is under control of protective genes called vitagenes [1, 4, 7]. Generally, molecular chaperones help hundreds of signaling molecules to keep their activation-competent state, and regulate various signaling processes ranging from signaling at the plasma membrane to transcription. In addition to these specific regulatory roles, recent studies have revealed that chaperones act as genetic buffers stabilizing the phenotypes of various cells and organisms [19]. This may be related to their low affinity for the proteins they interact with, which means that they represent weak links in protein networks [20]. Chaperones may uncouple protein, membrane, organelle and transcriptional networks during stress, which gives the cell additional protection. The same networks are preferentially remodeled in various diseases and aging, which may help us to design novel therapeutic and anti-aging strategies [21]. Among the cellular pathways involved in the so called “programmed cell life” and conferring protection against oxidative stress, a key role is played by the products of vitagenes [1, 4, 7, 22–25]. These include members of the HSP family, such as heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), Hsp72, sirtuins and thioredoxin/thioredoxin reductase (Fig. 1) [7, 26, 27]. Heme oxygenase-1, also referred to as Hsp32, degrades heme, which is toxic if produced in excess, into free iron, carbon monoxide and biliverdin (BV) this latter being the precursor of bilirubin, a linear tetrapyrrole which has been shown to effectively counteract oxidative and nitrosative stress due to its ability to interact with NO and RNS [28, 29]. Sirtuins are a group of proteins linked to aging, metabolism and stress tolerance in several organisms [30, 31]. Mammalian sirtuins are histone deacetylases, requiring NAD+ as a cofactor to deacetylate substrates ranging from histones to transcriptional regulators. Through this activity, sirtuins are shown to regulate important biological processes, such as apoptosis, cell differentiation, energy transduction and glucose homeostasis [30]. Recent studies have shown that the heat shock response contributes to establishing a cytoprotective state in a wide variety of human diseases, including inflammation, cancer, aging and neurodegenerative disorders. Given the broad cytoprotective properties of the heat shock response there is now strong interest in discovering and developing pharmacological agents capable of inducing the heat shock response [1]. Heat shock proteins and neuroprotection In response to various forms of stress, cells activate a highly conserved heat shock response in which a set of HSP are induced, which play important roles in cellular repair and protective mechanisms [3, 32]. Evidence suggests that manipulation of the cellular stress response may offer strategies to protect brain cells from damage that is encountered following cerebral ischemia or during the progression of neurodegenerative diseases [1, 27, 33, 34]. Heat shock proteins are evolutionarily conserved and present in all cellular compartments. Some of the major chaperones (Hsp70, Hsp90, small Hsps) are present at high concentrations in non-stressed cells reaching 1–5 % of total cellular protein, consistent with an important role for chaperones in cellular homeostasis. Indeed, chaperones display various activities in the cell, such as (i) proper folding of nascent polypeptide chains, (ii) facilitating protein translocation across various cellular compartments, (iii) modulating protein activity through stabilization and/or maturation to functionally-competent conformation, masking mild mutation at the conformational level (iv) promoting multiprotein complex assembly/disassembly, (v) refolding of misfolded proteins, (vi) protecting against protein aggregation, (vii) targeting irreversibly damaged proteins to degradation, (viii) sequestering damaged proteins [35, 36]. Heat shock proteins are classified according to their molecular weight [37]. The 70 kDa family of stress proteins is one of the most extensively studied. Included in this family are HSC70 (heat shock cognate, the constitutive form), HSP70 (the inducible form, also referred to as HSP72) and GRP-75 (a constitutively expressed glucose-regulated protein found in the endoplasmic reticulum) [5]. Heat shock proteins 70 function in co- and post-translational folding and the quality control of misfolded proteins [38]. More specifically, HSP70 participate in folding and assembly of newly synthesized proteins into macromolecular complexes; aggregation prevention; dissolution and refolding of aggregated proteins; as well as protein degradation [20]. Heat shock proteins 70 have an N-terminal ATP-binding domain (NBD) and a C-terminal substrate-binding domain (SBD) which are both critical for chaperone function. Non-native substrates with exposed hydrophobic stretches within an accessible polypeptide backbone associate transiently with HSP70 via its SBD. ATP binding to the NBD triggers opening of the SBD binding pocket, decreasing affinity for polypeptide substrates, thereby accelerating both on and off rates. Reciprocally, substrate binding induces ATP hydrolysis, ‘closing’ the SBD and thus stabilizing the substrate-HSP70 complex [20]. It is this cycle of rapid but controlled binding and release of the substrate that fosters folding and assembly with partner proteins while preventing aggregation of substrates; however, detailed mechanistic understanding of how HSP70 accomplishes these feats is not yet available [20]. Numerous hypotheses have been put forth to explain the molecular mechanism of HSP70-induced structural conversion of substrate proteins. For example, an ‘entropic pulling’ mechanism has been proposed, whereby HSP70 binding stabilizes peptide segments in an unfolded state, causing local unfolding, thereby facilitating disaggregation and allowing refolding upon HSP70 release [39]. Co-factors, such as the nucleotide exchange factors (NEFs) and co-chaperones, are crucial regulatory components of the HSP70 cycle that confer versatility and specificity to the HSP70 chaperone machine [20]. The HSP40 co-chaperone targets substrates to HSP70 while stimulating ATP hydrolysis; NEFs like Bag-1 (BCL2- associated athanogene 1) and HSP110 reinitiate the HSP70 cycle by facilitating ADP release and rebinding of ATP [40]. Moreover, Bag-1 has the additional ability to bind to the 26S proteasome and another BAG isoform, the Bag-3 co-chaperone, links HSP70 to the macroautophagic degradation pathway during aging [17]. CHIP (carboxy terminus of HSC70-interacting protein), a co-chaperone of HSP70 that also has E3 ubiquitin ligase activity, cooperates with Bag-1, and possibly Bag-3, in order to facilitate degradation of terminally misfolded substrate proteins. Notably, mutations in HSP70 co-factors are lethal [41] or may be associated with neurodegenerative disease [41, 42]. Recent studies indicate that the heat shock response declines in aging cells and becomes weaker as organisms live beyond the mature adult stage [17]. Cells lose the capacity to activate the transcriptional pathways leading to HSP synthesis (Fig. 1). In neuronal tissues, decline in protein quality control has been widely predicted, as the etiology of a number of diseases involve aggregation-prone proteins that form inclusion bodies whose occurrence is linked to pathology. Heat shock protein 70 has been extensively implicated in the pathogenesis of misfolding disease [17]. Numerous studies indicate that HSP70 and components of the ubiquitin–proteasome system associate with inclusion bodies/plaques characteristic of misfolding diseases, indicating a general activation of the cellular quality control machinery in an attempt to circumvent the accumulation of misfolded species [43]. In these conditions the HSP70 system is unable to refold disease-related proteins, causing perturbation of protein homeostasis associated with disease onset. Several hypotheses account for this apparent disruption of the balance between the production of misfolded proteins and HSP70 activity. As misfolded disease proteins accumulate, these can overwhelm the capacity of the HSP70 system to control the cellular folding milieu [32]. Progressive reduction in protein levels and/or activity of HSP70 and other components of the quality control network may exacerbate this imbalance, permitting further accumulation of toxic misfolded proteins. Such reduction could be due to the ageing process, as transcription of HSP70 decreases during ageing of the human brain. Alternatively, disease processes themselves might cause, or worsen, chaperone deficiency. Inclusions have been proposed to sequester HSP70 and other proteins in a non-functional state, inhibiting their essential function in cellular processes [20]. Another studies about diabetes DPN is unrelated to one specific misfolded protein aggregate, In this case hyperglycemia can promote the oxidative modification of amino acids [44] that may impair protein folding [45], decrease mithochondrial protein import [46], and promote mitochondrial dysfunction [47]. The availability of transgenic animals and gene transfer allowing over-expression of the gene encoding for HSP70, has revealed that overproduction of this protein leads to protection in several different models of nervous system pathology [4]. Overexpression of HSP70 and/or its co-chaperones suppresses aggregation and toxicity in models of misfolding disease [48]. Increased HSP70 levels caused reduced aggregation and toxicity of tau and Aβ, respectively, two components associated with Alzheimer’s disease [5]. Similarly, overexpression of HSP70 reduces toxicity and accumulation of α-synuclein in high molecular weight and detergent-insoluble deposits [5]. Increased expression of HSP70 has been reported to be associated with a decrease in apoptotic cell death, an increase in the expression of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2, a suppression of microglial/monocyte activation, and a reduction in matrix metalloproteinases. Up-regulation of HSP70 likewise reduced apoptosis and the formation of co-aggregates of the prion disease protein, PrP [4]. Numerous studies have also shown that HSP70 overexpression reduces polyQ toxicity. Results obtained in vitro have elucidated the mechanism of action of HSP70 against misfolding and thus toxicity of disease proteins. Purified HSP70 acts preferentially on monomers or oligomers, rather than fibrillar aggregates of Aβ, huntingtin, and α-synuclein species modulating the aggregation process [4]. Heat shock proteins 70 inhibits the aggregation of Aβ and α-synuclein species even at substoichiometric levels, suggesting that HSP70 can recognize multimeric protein assemblies [20]. As mentioned before, the effect of HSP70 on aggregation, which requires its ATPase activity, is enhanced by the cochaperone HSP40. Thus, HSP70 together with HSP40 stabilizes huntingtin in a monomeric conformation and prevents accumulation of spherical oligomers which are the toxic species for fibril formation [49]. As a result, mutant huntingtin is deviated from the potentially toxic, fibrillar aggregation pathway and instead accumulates in amorphous aggregates, or other benign conformers. Sequestered in these conformers, mutant huntingtin may no longer participate in heterotypic interactions known to inactivate essential cellular machinery, such as polyQ-containing transcription factors [49, 50]. Following focal cerebral ischemia, HSP70 mRNA is synthesized in most ischemic cells except in areas of very low blood flow, due to scarce ATP levels. Heat shock proteins 70 are produced mainly in endothelial cells, in the core of infarcts in the cells that are most resistant to ischemia, in glial cells at the edges of infarcts and in neurons outside the areas of infarction [51]. It has been suggested that this neuronal expression of HSP70 outside an infarct can be used to define the ischemic penumbras, which means the zone of protein denaturation in the ischemic areas, consistently in in vivo transgenic mice overexpressing HSP70, compared to wild-type mice in a middle cerebral artery occlusion model of permanent cerebral ischaemia, it has been demonstrated that overexpression of HSP70 reduces the overall lesion size and also limits the tissue damage within the lesion [51]. Heat shock protein 70 overexpression in post-mortem cortical tissue of AD patients and an increase in HSP70 mRNA were found in cerebellum hippocampus and cortex of AD patients during the agonal phase of the disease [4, 37]. Consistently, the use of agents that limit microglial activation and inflammation in AD has recently emerged as an attractive therapeutic strategy for this disease. For instance, the vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), has been shown to prevent Abeta-induced neurodegeneration, through inhibition of major pathways involved in the production of inflammatory mediators, such as the p38 MAPK, p42/p44 MAPK, and NFkB cascades, in activated microglial cells [52]. In keeping with this, HSP70 induces IL-6 and TNFα in microglial cells in a mechanism which has been demonstrated to be NFkB and p-38 MAPK-dependent [53] and this leads to an increased phagocytosis and clearance of Aβ. A large body of evidence now suggests a correlation between mechanisms of nitrosative stress and HSP induction. We have demonstrated in vitro and in vivo that cytokine-induced nitrosative stress is associated with an increased brain synthesis of HSP70 stress proteins. The molecular mechanisms regulating the NO-induced activation of heat-shock signal seems to involve cellular oxidant/antioxidant balance, mainly represented by the glutathione status and the antioxidant enzymes [1, 54, 55]. Neuroprotective effects of extracellular heat shock proteins Heat shock proteins are transferred between cell types in the nervous system. Thus, stress tolerance in neurons is not solely dependent on their own HSP, but can be supplemented by additional HSP transferred from adjacent glial cells. Therefore, supplying exogenous HSP at neural injury sites could be an effective strategy to maintain neuronal viability. This idea has been tested in a number of model systems. Injection of HSC/HSP70 into the vitreous chamber of the eye protected retinal photoreceptors from photodamage. Application of exogenous HSC/HSP70 to the cut end of the sciatic nerve reduced cell death in sensory and motor neurons. Extracellular HSP70 protected spinal cord motor neurons deprived of trophic support in vitro or undergoing cell death in vivo. Thus, exogenous application of HSP has potential as a therapeutic strategy for acute injury in the nervous system. Heat shock proteins are released into the blood stream after stressful stimuli and this may represent an important feature of the stress response. Exercise stress has been reported to induce the release of HSP70 from the human brain into the blood stream in vivo. The biological significance of this neural release is yet to be determined [56, 57]. In addition, stress proteins, such as HSP90 are necessary for the maturation of several transcription factors, including the nuclear hormone receptors and the hypoxia-inducible factor-1 [58]. Remarkably, there is increasing interest in the interaction between Hsp90 and p53 [59], the latter being a transcription factor regulating apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, senescence, DNA repair and genetic stability, and is activated primarily during cellular responses to DNA damage [60]. Consistently, a large number of proteins need the help of molecular chaperones to maintain their activation-competent conformation. ‘Conventional’ inhibitors interact with their target, directly inhibiting its function. However, chaperone-based inhibitors do not interact with the effector proteins, but inhibit the ability of the associated chaperone(s) to maintain their activation-competent conformation. As a result, the client proteins became degraded by the proteasome [38]. Due to its biological relevance in the folding, maturation and stabilization of pro-tumorigenic client proteins, HSP90 is emerging as therapeutic target in cancer treatment, representing a viable drug target for the design of chemotherapies [38]. The heme oxygenase family The heme oxygenase (HO) isoforms have been recognized as dynamic sensors of cellular oxidative stress and modulators of redox homeostasis throughout the phylogenetic spectrum. Two main isoforms of heme oxygenase were identified so far and named HO-1 and HO-2 [61, 62]. Heme oxygenase-1 is the inducible isoform and it is overexpressed under conditions of oxidative/nitrosative stress whereas heme oxygenase-2 is the constitutive enzyme and it plays a main role in the physiologic turnover of cellular heme [61, 62]. Interestingly, although the constitutive nature, HO-2 (no HO-1!!!!) is also up-regulated as an effect of some drugs, such as glucocorticoids, opiates and nitric oxide [61–63]. Though this different behavior in terms of regulation, both HO-1 and HO-2 catalyze the same reaction, namely the oxidation of the alpha-meso-carbon bridge of the heme moieties of hemoproteins thus generating equimolar amounts of ferrous iron, carbon monoxide (CO) and biliverdin (BV) [62, 64]. Among these by-products of HO activity (Fig. 2), CO is mainly involved in the regulation of important functions such as neurotransmission, regulation of neuropeptide release and modulation of the local/systemic immune-inflammatory response [65–68]. As far as BV concerns, it is a “virtual” by-product in mammal cells, because it is rapidly reduced to bilirubin (BR) by the cytosolic biliverdin reductase (BVR) [62]. Worth of noting is the fact that HO and BVR have to be considered as a single “fighter” against free radicals because of they reach the maximum of the antioxidant power when they act in concert. Over the last years, the role of BVR in the adaptive stress response was under-estimated because this enzyme was only considered necessary for the production of BR, which is responsible for free radical scavenging (Fig. 2). Several lines of evidence underlined the role of the HO/BVR system in the central nervous system and in neurodegenerative diseases. Previous preclinical studies put forth the idea of the neuroprotective role of the HO/BVR system because of its ability to (i) restore redox imbalance [2, 69], (ii) interact with neurotrophins [70], (iii) nitric oxide [71] and (iv) trap both reactive oxygen and nitrogen species [72–75]. However, recent results obtained in post-mortem brain tissues of subjects with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) demonstrated a down-regulation of both HO-1 and BVR in cognitive the hippocampus, a brain area involved in cognitive function. The down-regulation of these enzyme was secondary to phosphorylative, oxidative and/or nitrosative post-translational modification on the protein structures [75, 76]. These post-translational modifications are responsible for a reduced production of bilirubin and impaired interaction of BVR with members of the MAPK family [75]. A first corollary of these results is that the HO-1/BVR axis is not able to fully protect hippocampus in AD individuals. A possible approach to overcome this limitation in the neuroprotective activity is to prevent the oxidative and nitrosative modifications occurring on both HO-1 and BVR thus restoring their antioxidant potential. Very recently, atorvastatin, a well known hypolipidemic drug was shown to reduce oxidative/nitrosative stress biomarkers in the parietal cortex of aged canine, which is currently considered as the best predictive preclinical model to study dementia of Alzheimer type [77]. In particular, atorvastatin (80 mg/day for 14.5 months) was able to prevent oxidative/nitrosative modification on both HO-1 and BVR in the parietal cortex of aged canine [78, 79]. Importantly, atorvastatin increased BR production in the parietal cortex and improved cognitive skills in aged beagle dogs [79]. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the HO-1/BVR axis can be modulated by atorvastatin and open new avenues in terms of activation of the HO-1/BVR system and neuroprotection [80, 81]. Heme metabolism and HO-1 enzyme activity. HO-1 catalyze the rate-limiting step in heme metabolism. Heme is cleaved by HO-1 to yield equimolar quantities of iron, CO, and biliverdin. The regulatory actions of CO can be, at least in part mediated, by the activation of MAPK pathway. Biliverdin is converted to bilirubin by biliverdin reductase, this latter being also endowed with Ser/Thr/Tyr kinase activity through which regulates cell growth and metabolism. At low physiological concentrations, bilirubin behaves as a powerful antioxidant Hormesis Hormesis is the most powerful endogenous protective mechanism against life threatening ischemic and oxidative insults to multiple organ systems [82]. It is a dose response phenomenon characterized by a low dose stimulation and a high dose inhibition (Fig. 3), that may be graphically represented by either an inverted U-shaped dose response or by a J- or U-shaped dose response. The term hormesis was first presented in the published literature in 1943 by Southam and Ehrlich who reported that low doses of extracts from the Red Cider tree enhanced the proliferation of fungi with the overall shape of the dose response being biphasic. However, credit for experimentally demonstrating the occurrence of hormesis goes to Hugo Schulz [83] who reported biphasic dose responses in yeast following exposure to a large number of toxic agents. The work of Schulz inspired a large number of investigators in diverse fields to assess whether such low dose effects may be a general feature of biological systems. In fact, similar types of dose response observations were subsequently reported by numerous researchers assessing chemicals [84] and [85–93] with investigators adopting different names such as the Arndt-Schulz Law, Huppe’s Rule, and other terms to describe these similar dose response phenomena. Dose–response curve depicting the quantitative features of hormesis Hormesis concept had a difficult time being incorporated into routine safety assessment and pharmacological investigations, principally because it (i) required more rigorous evaluation in the low dose zone, (ii) failure of investigators to understand its clinical significance (iii) failure to appreciate the quantitative features of the hormetic dose response (iv) failure to understand the limitations of its implications for commercial applications in agricultural as well as medicine, (v) because of the predominant interest in responses at relatively high doses during most of the 20th century as well as (vi) the continuing, yet inappropriate, tendency to associate the concept of hormesis with the medical practice of homeopathy [94–97]. However, from the late 1970’s [98] there has been a growing interest in hormetic-like biphasic dose responses across the broad spectrum of biomedical sciences. This resurgence of interest resulted from a variety of factors, including the capacity to measure progressively lower doses of drugs and chemicals and the adoption of cell culture methods which has permitted more efficient testing. Re-examine the validity of linear at low dose modelling of cancer risks due to their enormous cost implications for regulations [99, 100] as well the astute observations of independent investigators and their capacity to generalize their findings across biological systems [98, 101]. What has emerged from these research initiatives from highly diverse biomedical areas is the recognition that hormetic dose responses were common and highly generalizable, being independent of biological model, endpoints measured and chemical class and/or physical agent studied [84, 85, 92, 102, 103]. This was an unexpected finding as hormetic responses were often considered by many in the so-called mainstream branches of toxicology and pharmacology to be paradoxical, not commonly expected and being of questionable reliability with a lack of capacity for replication. The casual dismissal of the hormesis concept during the mid decades of the last century is reflected in the general absence of the hormesis concept from the leading toxicological and biomedical textbooks. This situation has radically changed such that hormesis is now incorporated into all leading textbooks of toxicology [104] encyclopedias [105–107] and other leading monographs. In fact, while the terms hormetic and hormesis were cited only about 160 times during the entire decade of the 1980’s within the Web of Science database, in 2014 alone these terms were cited over 6,000 times. Of further significance were observations that these broad ranging dose response relationships also shared the same general quantitative features. More specifically, the low dose stimulation which becomes manifested immediately below the pharmacological and toxicological thresholds is modest in magnitude being at most only about 30–60 % greater than the control group response. The width of the hormetic stimulation is usually about 10–20 fold starting immediately from the zero equivalent dose (i.e., estimated threshold) (Fig. 3). The hormetic dose response may result from either a direct stimulation or via an overcompensation stimulatory response following disruption in homeostasis [107, 108]. Regardless of the mode of action by which the stimulation occurs the quantitative features of hormetic dose responses are similar. These observations are based on copious data derived from the published literature ranging from plants to humans [109, 110], involving numerous receptor systems [111, 112]. These findings have led to nearly 60 biomedical scientists recommending that biological stress responses, including those of pre- and post-conditioning, be integrated within an hormetic context, along with the adoption of a terminology that would be based within an interdisciplinary framework [113]. The hormetic dose response confers a new set of interpretations for the dose response. At high doses within a toxicological setting, the typical endpoints measured indicate cellular damage. However, as the dose decreases below the threshold the low dose stimulation more likely represents a manifestation of an adaptive response that conforms to a measure of biological performance as may be seen in the cases of modest increases in cognition, growth, longevity, bone density and other biomedical endpoints of interest. The consistency of the vast array of hormetic findings suggests strongly that this dose response may be a manifestation of the plasticity of biological systems. Numerous papers have explored how hormesis may affect aging and numerous diseases associated with age including cardiovascular disease and a range of neurodegenerative conditions and their underlying mechanisms [114–118]. How the hormesis concept may prolong life and reduce the occurrence of chronic disease involves the optimized challenging of cells and whole organisms by any of a wide range of stressors including pharmacological, physical, dietary, exercise, and ischemic. Using a wide variety of in vitro and in vivo models, anti-aging and neuroprotective effects have been reported using hormetic experimental protocols [119–122]. Essentially all biological models respond to imposed stress with the same quantitative features of the dose response is a central finding within the biological sciences that has not been previously recognized. These findings suggest that the hormetic dose response would have been broadly selected for and highly conserved. This adaptive response not only enhances survival by conferring resistance to environmental stress but it represents a way to regulate the allocation of biological resources in a manner that ensures cellular and organismal stability. These quantitative features of the hormetic dose response have important medical implications. Most significantly, the hormetic dose response imposes constraints upon the magnitude of a drug to induce a desired effect. For example, if a drug increased cognitive performance in an elderly patient by approximately 25–30 %, the hormetic model suggests that this level of performance could not be further increased using a new drug combination. This concept has been supported in a variety of studies on hormesis and drug interaction. Flood [123, 124] has demonstrated that the hormetic response for memory was bounded by the 30–60 % increase even when several drugs were used in combination which were designed to maximize memory outcome. This response magnitude constraint has been reported for immune stimulation, bacterial growth, increases in hair growth, plant growth, decrease in anxiety, decreases in tumor incidence and numerous other endpoints [125]. This limitation in the magnitude of the stimulatory response is a critical implication of the hormesis dose response concept. It is an observation which is based on extensive findings and it is a controlling feature which defines what pharmaceutical companies can expect to achieve with drugs that are designed to enhance performance. However, the limitation in the magnitude of response is also potentially important with respect to the capacity to detect a desirable response. This may not be a particularly important issue when using highly inbred animal models or cell cultures where experimental conditions can be highly controlled. However, attempting to measure a low dose hormetic stimulation within the context of a clinical trial can be problematic. Given the likelihood of considerable human variation in response to a drug, it is possible that the test population may have their responsiveness distributed over a range of responses that includes toxicity, optimal response and a group in which the dose is ineffective. The data from all subjects in such studies would normally be averaged together leading to a marked dilution of an overall positive treatment effect in the optimal response zone subgroup. This suggests a possible reason why drugs that were very successfully tested in preclinical studies with highly inbred strains of animals could and often have failed during the clinical trial. Of particular note is that investigators may have to modify doses based upon the sensitivity or susceptibility of the subjects. Calabrese and Baldwin [126] have shown that the hormetic dose response is often expressed in the broad range of subjects independent of their susceptibility. As expected, those individuals that are very resistant to the drug or chemical treatment would have their hormetic response shifted to the right on the dose response graph whereas those individuals with greater than normal susceptibility would have their hormetic response shifted to the left. The hormetic dose response therefore imposes considerable challenges to the biomedical community that is interested in the development of drugs that are concerned with improvements in human performance. The hormetic dose response can also have undesirable effects. This may be most readily seen in the case of drugs that are designed to suppress growth or kill cells or organisms at higher doses. For example, there is now substantial evidence that low doses of many antitumor drugs can stimulate the proliferation of such cells at lower concentrations [127]. This also been shown to be the case with antibiotics, including penicillin [128] and streptomycin [128–130]. This phenomenon has also been reported with selected cardiac glycosides that have effects on non-target tissues such as the prostate where it is able to enhance the proliferation of smooth muscle cells by about 30 % with clinically relevant doses [130, 131]. Such a 30 % increase in prostate smooth muscle was considered likely to impede urination in males. The failure to consider the possibility of the hormetic response not only can lead to a lack of recognition of a desirable drug induced response but it can also result failure to prevent an adverse effect of drug treatment. Of relevance to the present paper is that the hormetic dose response has been extensively reported across the spectrum of neuroscience research, including anxiolytic drugs [132], anti-seizure agents [133], pain [134] memory enhancing drugs [135], brain traumatic injury [136] several neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease as well as for neurite outgrowth [137] and as astrocyte functioning [138]. Puzzo et al. [139] also reported that β-amyloid 25–35 enhanced LTP within a very detailed dose response study, clearly demonstrating an hormetic dose response. While numerous mechanisms have been shown to mediate hormetic processes [84], one common mechanism involved in affecting adaptive responses is the induction of broad spectrum of stress-related proteins, such as heat shock. The response features of these induced stress-related proteins typically follows an hormetic like biphasic dose response regardless of the inducing agent, affected cell type, and endpoint. For example, methyl mercury induced an hormetic biphasic dose response for GRP 78 protein expression (i.e., a marker of endoplastic reticulum stress) in the cerebral cortex of young adult male Sprague–Dawley rats [140]. The plant derived curcumin likewise induced a hormetic effect on proteasome activities in human keratinocytes [141]. The widely recognized cytoprotective heat shock protein inducing hydroxylamine derivative, bimoclomol, also induced adaptive hormetic responses in multiple systems involving a spectrum of neuropathologies [142]. Similar hormetic patterns are very general, extending from plants [143, 144] to invertebrates [145–147] and to mammals [148–151] affecting multiple indices of health and disease with a wide range of inducing agents. Heat shock also induced protection in multiple organs including the brain with pre-conditioning protocols [152–155]. This is of particular relevance to the present paper because pre-conditioning represents a specific type of hormesis with respect to study design while still retaining its complete set of dose response features. These collective findings demonstrate that inducers of heat shock protein often follow an hormetic dose response pattern, and that observed optimized protection occurs in association with the maximal production of the heat shock protein response [145] and that this response can be abolished by specific pathway inhibitors, blocking the protection, thereby providing an explanatory mechanism for the hormetic protective effect. Theoretical bases and technical approaches Redox proteomic studies Redox proteomics is the subset of proteomics in which oxidatively or nitrosatively modified proteins are identified, these are post-translational events that occur in the cell resulting in post-translational modification (PTM) of proteins. The protein post translational modifications (PTM) play a crucial role in modifying the end product of expression and contribute towards biological processes and diseased conditions. Important posttranslational modifications include phosphorylation, acetylation, glycosylation, ubiquitination, and nitration [156]. The analysis of posttranslational modifications on a proteome scale is still considered an analytical challenge [157] because of the extremely low abundance of modified proteins among very complex proteome samples. Among several types of post-translational protein modifications, phosphorylation and oxidative modifications play essential roles in the regulation of a variety of cell functions. Increasing evidence suggests that changes in protein modifications over time correlate with particular phenotypes and disease states. Reactions of free radicals and reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS and RNS) with proteins lead to oxidative modifications such as formation of protein hydroperoxides, hydroxylation of aromatic groups and aliphatic amino acid side chains, nitration of aromatic amino acid residues, oxidation of sulfhydryl groups, oxidation of methionine residues, conversion of some amino acid residues into carbonyl groups, cleavage of the polypeptide chain and formation of cross-linking bonds. If oxidized proteins are not appropriately repaired or removed from cells, they are often toxic and can threaten cell viability [158]. Numerous studies demonstrated the harmful effects of irreversible oxidative PTM as a result of oxidative stress and increased levels of oxidatively-modified proteins have been shown to correlate with ageing [159]. Oxidative modifications of proteins lead to loss of their function, enzymatic activity, accumulation and inhibition of their degradation. All these metabolic dysfunctions have been observed in several human degenerative diseases such as cancer [160] and neurodegeneration [161]. Based on these findings, growing interest is currently given to better understand selective protein target of oxidative damage. Common markers of oxidative stress are: protein oxidation indexed by protein carbonyls, 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT) and protein glutathionylation [162], lipid peroxidation indexed by thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), free fatty acid release, iso- and neuro-prostane formation, 2-propen-1-al (acrolein), and 4-hydroxy-2-transnonenal (HNE), DNA oxidation (8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine) and advanced glycation end products (AGE) detection. In the case of increased oxidative stress, redox proteomics analyses are broadly used as a tool to identify proteins that are modified by ROS/RNS that contribute to the development of neurodegenerative [163–165] and other diseases. Recently, redox proteomics approach has been employed to identify post-translational modification of proteins caused by oxidative damage. Among general types of protein modifications, we focused our attention on protein carbonyls, lipid peroxidation adducts (HNE-adducts), glutathionylation and nitration of tyrosine residues (3-NT). An interesting bridge between HSP and PTM and redox proteomics has been found in the brain of subjects with AD. In the hippocampus of these individuals, oxidation and nitration of HO-1 have been linked to loss of function in terms of neuroprotection secondary to the significant reduction of BR production and BVR-ERK interaction [76]. The lines of evidence regarding the PTM on HO-1 are reinforced by the concomitant findings on the PTM on BVR’s structure [75, 166] thus corroborating the idea of an intriguing puzzle involving HSP and proteomics. Protein carbonylation Carbonylation is an irreversible, non-enzymatic modification of proteins leading to a change in their activity or function. While protein carbonylation and the chemistry of the reactions that give rise to carbonyl groups are now well characterized [165], the overall biology of oxidative protein modifications is a complex picture and remains poorly defined. In more detail, protein carbonylation generated by reactive carbonyl species (RCS) arising by peroxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) has recently gained an even greater importance, in view of the emerging deleterious role of the RCS–protein adducts in the etiology and/or progression of several human diseases, such as cardiovascular (atherosclerosis, long-term complications of diabetes) and neurodegenerative diseases (AD, PD and cerebral ischemia). Most of the biological effects of intermediate RCS are due to their capacity to react with the nucleophilic sites of proteins, binding to the sulfhydryl group of cysteine (Cys), the ε-amino group of lysine (Lys) or the imidazole group of histidine (His) residues to form Michael or Schiff base protein adducts, known as advanced lipoxidation end-products (ALEs) [167]. As a consequence, determination of the biochemical factors that induce cellular responses resulting from protein carbonylation is now considered a key element to developing therapeutic approaches and ameliorating disease pathologies [168]. Indeed, proteins can be modified through the reaction between arginine and lysine amino groups with reducing sugars or reactive aldehydes, such as glyoxal and methylglyoxal, based on the Maillard reaction. This reaction is named glycation or non-enzymatic glycosylation. Glycation, which leads to the formation of early stage glycation adducts and then advanced glycation end products (AGE), is considered as one of the major cause of spontaneous damage to cellular and extracellular proteins [169]. Formation of AGEs on proteins is found in many tissues and is thought to contribute to a variety of age-associated diseases, such as AD and PD [170]. Although glycation is not an oxidative phenomenon, it can be amplified by oxidative stress and hence referred as to glycoxidation [171]. Thus, under conditions of oxidative stress, reducing sugars (glucose, fructose) and ascorbic acid can be self-oxidizing generating highly reactive dicarbonyl compounds, which can in turn react with proteins to form AGEs. Finally, among the most important glycating agents are the dicarbonyl compounds glyoxal and methylglyoxal that are derived from glucose auto-oxidation and glycolytic intermediates. The reactivity of these dicarbonyls is much higher than that of glucose, so they represent important precursors of AGEs in physiological systems. Interestingly, carbonylated adducts are being formed upon conjugation with these by dicarbonyl compounds. In addition, ROS can oxidize membrane lipids generating lipid hydroperoxides and many aldehydes such as acrolein, malonaldehyde, 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE) and other hydroxyalkenals. Lipid peroxidation adducts (HNE-adducts) Lipid peroxidation is one of the major sources of free radical mediated injury that directly damages membranes and generates a number of secondary products. The overall process of lipid peroxidation consists of three stages: initiation, propagation and termination. Free-radical-mediated lipid peroxidation, occurs when a carbon-centred radical is produced on a PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acid) by the abstraction of an allylic hydrogen by some form of radical present within the bilayer, for example the sulfuranyl free radical on Met35 ofAβ-(1– 42). Oxygen, which lacks a dipole moment, diffuses into the lipid bilayer where it may react with the carbon-centred radical to form a lipid peroxyl-radical [172, 173]. The lipid peroxyl-radical may then abstract an allylic hydrogen from an adjacent polyunsaturated lipid which propagates the chain reaction and forms a lipid hydroperoxide that may then undergo cleavage forming an array of possible reactive aldehydes such as F2-isoprostane, HNE and 2-propenal (acrolein). HNE for example is primarily produced from arachidonic acid, an omega-6 PUFA with inflammatory and signalling properties of its own. In neuronal cells under Aβ toxicity an increase in HNE to concentrations of 5–10 μM was demonstrated within the lipid bilayer [174]. HNE and malondialdehyde (MDA) are significantly elevated in several neurodegenerative diseases [175, 176]. HNE can accumulate in cells in relatively high concentrations and cause cell toxicity. Increased levels of HNE cause disruption of Ca2þ homeostasis, glutamate transport impairment, membrane damage, and cell death [177]. Once formed, HNE can covalently modify cysteine, lysine, or histidine residues by Michael addition altering protein structure and causing loss of function and activity [178]. Several methods have been developed for detection of free HNE, its metabolites, or its conjugation products with biomolecules. Other PUFAs that are important in the generation of lipid peroxidation products are LA (linoleic acid), DHA (docosohexanoic acid) and cholesterol, among others [173]. Glutathionylation One of the most common outcomes of a rise in cellular oxidant levels is the modification of redox-sensitive proteins via a process known as S-glutathionylation [179]. Glutathionylation occurs as a posttranslational modification of proteins at the cysteine residues by adding a glutathione (GSH, γ-glutamylcysteinylglycine) moiety [180]. Glutathione is a ubiquitous tripeptide that acts as an inherent antioxidant, and works in conjunction with oxidised glutathione (glutathione disulphide, GSSG) as an intracellular redox buffer. Glutathionylation can protect cysteine thiols against irreversible oxidation but can also alter, either positively or negatively, the activity of many proteins. Therefore, glutathionylation allows cells to sense and signal harmful stress conditions and trigger appropriate responses [181]. Protein disulfides are formed by the action of protein disulfide isomerase in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Inappropriate disulfide bridges (and cysteine sulfenic acids) arise in response to OS and are under the reversible control of the thioredoxin reductase system. Oxidatively damaged proteins have been reported as being cleared via ubiquitinylation followed by digestion in the 20S core of the 26S proteasome in the cytosol and nucleus [182]. Thus targeting ubiquitin bound to protein can be used as a parameter of protein oxidation. However, protein oxidation and ubiquitinylation might not be always directly correlated [183]. To date, a number of proteins have been identified that undergo S-glutathionylation, often in response to oxidative stress. S-Glutathionylation of proteins can induce a range of consequences [184], including a downregulation [185, 186] or upregulation [187] of enzymatic activity, altered DNA binding by transcription factors [188, 189], and increased [190] or decreased [191] protein stability. Nitration of tyrosine residues (3-NT) 3-NT (3-nitrotyrosine), a PTM of tyrosine, is a well-recognized marker of nitrosative stress. The formation of 3-NT is the product of the reaction between ONOO− and CO2 which form both NO2, a free radical, and the carbonate radical (CO3• −) through the intermediates nitrosoperoxycarbonate and nitrocarbonate [192]. However, there is evidence for alternative pathways, including one mediated by myeloperoxidase [193]. Nitration of tyrosine may also result in stearic hindrance that blocks a potential phosphorylation at the 4- paraposition, affecting the potential of tyrosine to be phosphorylated, resulting in a potential for decreased tyrosine signalling [152]. A decrease in tyrosine signalling may result in the progression of neurodegenerative diseases and increased 3-NT levels have been detected in AD, ALS, PD, atherosclerosis, and acute lung disease disorders [193, 194]. 3-NT formation has recently been linked to systemic autoimmune disorders such as lupus through the generation of endogenous antibodies against native proteins that may be nitrated [192]. Redox proteomics methods The complexity of tissue and body fluid proteomes calls for a separation step ahead of mass spectrometric (MS) analysis. Depending on the composition of the proteome, several well studied separation techniques are available including two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D-DE), liquid chromatography (LC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) that are used in redox proteomics research into two major approaches; gel-based and non gel-based methods. With respect to the separation and mass spectrometric technique selected, proteins may have to be fractionated in a controlled manner into peptides through enzymatic digestion using e.g., trypsin up or downstream of the separation step. Gel–based methods In gel-based methods, oxidized proteins extracted from biological tissues are separated using for example two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-D PAGE) [195]. 2-D PAGE is currently one of the powerful protein separation method for the resolution of complex mixtures of proteins, permitting the simultaneous analysis of thousands of gene products. Proteins are separated according to their charge (pI) by isoelectric focusing (IEF) in the first dimension and according to their size (Mr) by SDS-PAGE in the second dimension. The introduction of immobilized pH gradients (IPG) for IEF has overcome the problems of pH gradient instability (caused by prolonged focusing time). IPGs allow the generation of pH gradients of any desired range (broad, narrow or ultra-narrow) between pH 3 and 12. In addition, the use of pH gradient allowed high riproducibility and large scale separations. However some limitations still remain to be solved including solubilization of membrane proteins, identification of low-abundance proteins and identification of highly idrofobic proteins. Coupled 2D-PAGE with immunochemical detection of protein carbonyl derivatized by 2,4-dinitrophenyhydrazine (DNPH), nitrated proteins indexed by 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT), glyutathionylated proteins (GSH-bound proteins) and HNE-bound proteins followed by MS analysis is a workflow utilized in redox proteomics. Western blotting (WB) is usually incorporated in 2D-gel based redox proteomics because immunochemical detection of oxidatively modified proteins offers high sensitivity and specificity. A 2D western blot map is achieved by using specific antibodies, e.g., anti-DNP, anti-3-NT, anti-GSH or anti-HNE, that react with those proteins containing reactive carbonyl groups/3-NT/GSH/HNE. 2D gel images, used to obtain the protein expression profile, and the 2D western blots are analyzed by image software (PD Quest, BioRad). This sophisticated software offers powerful comparative analysis and is specifically designed to analyze many gels or blots at once that were performed under identical experimental conditions. Powerful automatching algorithms quickly and accurately match gels or blots and sophisticated statistical analysis tools identify experimentally significant spots. The principles of measuring intensity values by 2D analysis software are similar to those of densitometric measurements. After completion of spot matching, the normalized intensity of each protein spot from individual gels (or membranes) is compared between groups using statistical analysis [196]. Oxidized spots of interest are excised from the gel and identified using a peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF) MS approach [164, 197–199] The PMF approach can be carried out with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI)-MS or electrospray ionization (ESI)-MS. Gel-based methods are advantageous because they target a specific subset of the proteome and numerous gels can be ran and aligned with sophisticated software tools. Another used gel based redox proteomics method is two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE). This method uses fluorescent dyes (e.g., Cy2, Cy3, and Cy5) to covalently label protein samples, allowing two to three samples to be analyzed simultaneously on the same gel in which signals are scanned at different wavelengths [200]. The common labeled residues are cysteine and lysine with functional NHS-ester and maleimides dyes, respectively. Incorporation of multiple dye molecules into protein sequence may change its migration significantly therefore minimal labeling has been developed to address this issue [201]. 2D-DIGE technique addresses the limitations of lack of reproducibility between gels and has femptomolar sensitivity and a 104dynamic range [202]. Non Gel-based methods A non gel based proteomic method includes the digestion of proteins into peptides in solution, the nanoflow liquid chromatography (LC) separation or capillary electrophoresis (CE) of peptides and automated MS and MS/MS data acquisition. LC comprises high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or ultra high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) to achieve a high-resolution separation of various chemically different compounds depending on the LC column. Separation is achieved via differences in the affinities/distribution between the stationary and mobile phase. Modern nano LC systems achieve high resolution separation of peptides and are excellent tools for shot gun proteomics combined with data-dependent analysis [203]. Multi-dimensional protein identification technology (MudPIT) based on2-D LC allows the analysis of highly complex samples (tissues and body fluids) [204]. The high sensitivity associated with LC can also become a limitation towards interfering compounds. Sample carry-over is another limitation of LC characterised by the detection of residual analytes from previous measurements introducing biases into newer analyses [205]. Capillary electrophoresis perform separation of analytes from a complex protein mixture in a single step and with high resolution through buffer-filled capillaries flowing in a strong electrical field (300–500 V/cm). Additionally, CE–MS is fast, enabling separation of several thousand peptides in 60 min in a single run making it an ideal technology to be used in clinical proteomics [206]. A potential limitation is the fact that only small sample volumes can be applied to CE capillaries even if stacking approaches are used. In addition, the technique is not appropriate for the separation of proteins >20 kDa due to potential precipitation. With recent developments in mass spectrometry, such as isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) (Unwin et al.) selected reaction monitoring (SRM, which is also termed multiple reaction monitoring or MRM, [207], as well as stable isotope standards and capture by anti-peptide antibodies, the non-gel proteomic approach has become the method of choice because of its efficiency and convenience. Compared to the traditional gel-based method which is more complicated, the non-gel proteomic approach requiresonly 3 steps: digestionand labeling of resultant peptides, the separation of peptides and automated data acquisition. Below, we report key examples of these recently reported non-gel proteomic approaches which hold the potential for identification of novel redox regulations associated with different disease. To quantify the level of the thiol modifications under oxidative stress conditions, thiol trapping techniques and isotope coded affinity tag (ICAT) can be combined to label unmodified and oxidized thiol groups with light and heavy tags, respectively [208]. This method named NOxICAT is specific for nitrosative and oxidative modifications of thiol groups. After protein denaturation, free thiol groups are labeled with light ICAT reagents. Oxidized thiols are labeled with heavy ICAT reagents and the extent of cysteine oxidation is measured by quantifying the relative ratios of light and heavy labeled peptides with MS. The Tandem Mass Tag(TMT) approach, which enables concurrent identification and multiplexed quantitation of proteins in different samples, is a well-established multiplex mass spectrometry analysis method. CysTMT is a version of the TMT approach that is thiol reactive [209]. The cysTMT reagents, which are several isobaric (mass and structure) isomers, can be used to label the sulfhydryl (−SH) groups irreversibly. CysTMT reagents react specifically with reduced cysteines in peptides and proteins. After labeling, peptides with various cysteine modifications, such as oxidation, disulfide bonds and S-nitrosylation can be identified and quantified by MS. Compared with the traditional biotin switch technique that has been widely used for identification of protein S-nitrosylation [210], this new reagent fulfills the requirements for a biotin switch label and offers some distinct advantages, including a permanent mass tag and the fragmentation of up to 6 isotopically balanced reporter ions between 126 and 131 Da permitting multiplex quantification [211]. Non-gel redox proteomics have been widely applied in the study of protein carbonylation. A key step in these approaches is the incorporation of enrichment procedures for protein carbonyl (PCO) which is necessary since the average abundance of carbonylated proteins has been reported as 0.2 % in human plasma [212]. Some reagents are able to directly increase the ionization efficiency of PCO prior to MS analysis. An example is dansylhydrazide which enhances efficiency of ionization due to its secondary nitrogens. Dansylhydrazide generates reproducible fragmentation patterns which allows MS3 scans to be employed for localization of PCO sites in proteins [213]. Conclusions and perspectives Although continually increasing resources are being expended to combat age-related diseases such as AD, PD, diabetes, osteoporosis, metabolic syndrome, and cancer, yet, the causal identification of these disease remain elusive. Thus, incidence and morbidity remain either constant or increase. Huge investments in biomedical research in the recent past have resulted in some striking accomplishments, including the sequencing of the human chromosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and the identification of regional clusters of chromosomal SNPs (the HapMap). However, these accomplishments have failed to reveal the anticipated genetic causes for the common age-related diseases [214]. Modulation of endogenous cellular defense mechanisms via the stress response signaling represents an innovative approach to therapeutic intervention in diseases causing tissue damage, such as neurodegeneration, for example is reported how drugs that modulate proteostasis by inhibiting Hsp90 function or promoting Hsp70 function enhance the degradation of the critical aggregating proteins and ameliorate toxic symptoms in cell and animal disease models [215]. Efficient functioning of maintenance and repair processes seems to be crucial for both survival and physical quality of life. This is accomplished by a complex network of the so-called longevity assurance processes, which are composed of several genes termed vitagenes. Consistently, by maintaining or recovering the activity of vitagenes can be possible to delay the aging process and decrease the occurrence of age-related diseases with resulting prolongation of a healthy life span [2, 69, 216–218] As one of the most important neurodegenerative disorders, AD is a progressive disorder with cognitive and memory decline, speech loss, personality changes and synapse loss. With the increasingly aging population of the United States, the number of AD patients is predicted to reach 14 million in the mid-21st century in the absence of effective interventions. This will pose an immense economic and personal burden on the people of this country. There is now strong evidence to suggest that factors such as oxidative stress and disturbed protein metabolism and their interaction in a vicious cycle are central to AD pathogenesis. Brain-accessible antioxidants, potentially, may provide the means of implementing this therapeutic strategy of delaying the onset of AD, and more in general all degenerative diseases associated with oxidative stress. As one potentially successful approach, potentiation of endogenous secondary antioxidants systems can be achieved by interventions which target the HO-1/CO and/or Hsp70 systems. The hormetic dose–response, challenges long-standing beliefs about the nature of the dose–response in a lowdose zone, having the potential to affect significantly the design of pre-clinical studies and clinical trials as well as strategies for optimal patient dosing in the treatment of numerous diseases [219, 220]. Reports exist of enhanced longevity via treatment with a large number of agents in a wide range of animal models displaying hormetic dose responses [25]. The generality of the hormetic dose response, being independent of biological model, endpoint, inducing agent and mechanism and with its quantitative features being a measure of plasticity constrained biological performance, strongly suggests that attempts to extend normal lifespan will be likewise limited to the 30–60 % as has been typically reported. Thus, hormesis has a fundamental role in aging research, affecting both the quality and the length of life as well as affecting the research methods (e.g., study design, statistical power, etc.) by which such biological concepts are studied. Consisent to this notion, Protein redox regulation plays important roles in many biological processes. Protein cysteine thiols are sensitive to redox changes and may function as redox switches, which turn on or turn off signaling and metabolic pathways to ensure speedy responses to environmental stimuli or stresses. 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Highlight Commentary on “Redox proteomics analysis of oxidatively 3 modified proteins in G93A–SOD1 transgenic mice—A model of 4 familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis”. Free Radical Biol Med. 2007;43:160–2. Calabrese V, Mancuso C, Sapienza M, Puleo E, Calafato S, Cornelius C, et al. Oxidative stress and cellular stress response in diabetic nephropathy. Cell Stress Chaperones. 2007;12:299–306. Mancuso C, Santangelo R, Calabrese V. The heme oxygenase/biliverdin reductase system: a potential drug target in Alzheimer s disease. J Biol Regul Homeost Agent. 2013;13:75–87. Currò M, Trovato-Salinaro A, Gugliandolo A, Koverech G, Lodato F, Caccamo D, et al. Resveratrol protects against homocysteine-induced cell damage via cell stress response in neuroblastoma cells. J Neurosci Res. 2015;93(1):149–56. This work was supported by grants of MIUR, FIRB RBRN07BMCT. Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, University of Catania, Via Andrea Doria, 95100, Catania, Italy Sandro Dattilo, Guido Koverech, Maria Laura Ontario & Vittorio Calabrese Department of Medical and Surgery Specialties, University of Catania, Catania, Italy Paola Di Mauro, Luigi Maiolino & Agostino Serra Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy Antonino Petralia Institute of Pharmacology, Catholic University School of Medicine, Rome, Italy Cesare Mancuso Environmental Health Sciences Division, School of Public Health, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA Edward J. Calabrese University College London Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK Cateno Concetto Petralia Sandro Dattilo Guido Koverech Paola Di Mauro Maria Laura Ontario Luigi Maiolino Agostino Serra Vittorio Calabrese Correspondence to Vittorio Calabrese. Authors’ contribution SD participated in study design, writing of the proteomic section and drafted the manuscript. CM participated in study design, writing of cellular stress response section and drafted the manuscript. GK participated in the design and writing of the hormesis part. PD participated in study design and drafted the manuscript. MO participated in writing the proteomic section. LM participated in study design and drafted the manuscript. AS participated in study design and drafted the manuscript. AP participated in study design and drafted the manuscript. EC participated in study design, writing of the hormesis section and drafted the manuscript. VC conceived the study, participating in its design and coordination and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Sandro Dattilo and Cesare Mancuso contributed equally to this work. Dattilo, S., Mancuso, C., Koverech, G. et al. Heat shock proteins and hormesis in the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Immun Ageing 12, 20 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12979-015-0046-8 Heat shock proteins Heme oxygenase Vitagenes

Music: Popular and Jazz: Biographies Knight, Gladys “Of all the voices in the pop pantheon, one of the richest, warmest and most comforting belongs to Gladys Knight…. Knight’s husky, raw honey vocals are full of heat and miles deep. From the beginning, Knight’s was a strikingly seasoned voice, dark and smokey, intense but contained, more glowing than explosive.” Vince Aletti’s praise for the vocal power of Gladys Knight is only one of the many such descriptions that she has received over her more than thirty years of performing and recording with the Pips. Together, Gladys Knight and the Pips are one of the classic R&B and crossover groups whose sound has grown in popularity from the heyday of Motown in the early 1960s to the present day. Born in Alabama in 1944, Gladys Knight was a gospel singer from childhood. Her debut was made at the Mount Mariah Baptist Church in Atlanta at the age of four. She was a prize winner on the Ted Mack “Amateur Hour” in 1952, singing popular solos. The Pips were invented when she joined with her bother Merald (”Bub-ba”) and cousin William Guest to perform at a family party. Knight told the New York Times that their first professional engagement was singing “Canadian Summer” and “In the Still of the Night” at a Y.M.C.A. tea. They performed pop music as the Pips, opening for such soul stars are Sam Cooke, and maintained the gospel audience by singing as the Fontaineers. Their first single, “Whistle My Love,” was released by Brunswick in 1957. Their first hit, “Every Beat of My Heart,” although reaching the Top 20 Rhythm and Blues chart, was pirated and earned them no money. Knight told Ebony that her status as lead vocalist developed by accident, but theirs was a contemporary sound in the early 1960s, when male and female close harmony groups were popular. The creative dance routines and exquisite harmonies of the Pips evolved in time, along with Knight’s own voice, influenced by the song stylists whom she heard on recordings. In a 1983 interview in the New York Times, she defended the unified sound of the group: “Throughout our career, people have tried to break us up. Because my voice is out front most of the time, they tend to want to separate that personality. But we know differently. People don’t know why the picture is being painted so beautifully. One reason is that the background voices—the ‘oohs and ahs’ against the powerful lines I’m singing—work on the subconscious. They make the picture complete.” In 1965, Gladys Knight and the Pips (by now Merald Knight, William Guest, and their cousin Edward Patten) joined Motown Records, home of the black close harmony sound. They soon began a string of successes for the R&B and crossover markets with such songs as “Just Walk in My Shoes,” “I Heard It Through the Full name, Gladys Maria Knight; born May 28, 1944, in Atlanta, Ga. ; daughter of Merald, Sr., and Elizabeth (Woods) Knight; married Barry Hankerson, October, 1984; children: (previous marriage) Kenya, James; (second marriage) Shanga. Education: Graduated from high school. Made singing debut at age four at Mt. Mariah Baptist Church, Atlanta, Ga.; toured with Morris Brown Choir, 1950-53, and performed at numerous recitals at local churches and schools; member of vocal group Gladys Knight and the Pips (originally known as just the Pips), 1953—; began recording 1957; has toured throughout the world, and has made a number of television appearances. Awards: Two Grammy Awards; NAACP Image Award; numerous awards from magazine readers polls. Addresses: Office –c/o MCA Records, 445 Park Ave., New York, NY 10022. Agent— Sidney A. Seidenberg, 1414 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019. Grapevine,” and “The End of the Road.” Touring with the Motown Revue, along with television appearances, helped bring the unique performance style of Knight and the Pips to the general audience. Unhappy with their status at Motown (which then featured the Supremes, the Temptations, and Marvin Gaye), they switched to Buddah records at the conclusion of their contract. Ironically, their final Motown recording, “Neither One of Us,” became their first number-one crossover hit single. The mid-1970s was a period of personal triumphs for the group, which had a hit album, Imagination, four gold singles, “Midnight Train to Georgia” (1973’s number 1), “Imagination,” “On and On,” and “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me.” They won Grammy awards for “Neither One of Us” (Best Pop Vocal) and “Midnight Train” (Best R&B Vocal Performance). I Feel a Song, although not as succesful as Imagination, featured a performance of the Oscar- and Grammy-winning Marvin Hamlisch song, “The Way We Were,” putting Knight in direct competition with Barbra Streisand. Knight’s version reached number 11, despite the tremendous publicity campaign for Streisand’s single and the soundtrack album. The group was featured on a television special on NBC in the summer of 1975. Contractual problems between Buddah and Columbia Records forced Knight and the Pips to record separately in the late 1970s, although they continued to perform together in person. Their “reunion” albums, About Love (1980), Touch (1982), and Visions (1983), produced a new string of hit singles, among them “Landlord,” “Save the Overtime for Me,” and “You’re Number One.” They currently record for MCA, which released their album All Our Love and most recent hit single, “Love Overboard.” Knight has acted in films, such as “Pipe Dreams” (1976), and on television, including a season as Flip Wilson’s wife on the comedy series “Charlie and Company” (CBS, 1985-1986). She has also produced television musical specials, among them the highly acclaimed “Sisters in the Name of Love” (HBO, 1986), which featured the voices of Patti LaBelle and Dionne Warwick. The continuity of the Pips is unique as both a back-up group and a close-harmony trio. Their voices mesh perfectly, and the rhythm that they maintain on stage with their dance routines is perceptible even on recordings. Although Knight and the Pips record music by a variety of artists, many of their songs have lyrics by Pip William Guest. He told Ebony his feelings about the group’s image: “We dig being funky, but we will never exploit that to the point of lewd bumps and grinds. Our roots are in our culture, so that’s where our future lies.” The group tours constantly in the United States and Europe. Despite their unquestioned popularity around the world, Gladys Knight and the Pips have always been considered an act that was unable to reach its full professional potential. An article in Rolling Stone, for example, asked in its sub-head “Why can’t [Gladys Knight] score with a mainstream audience?” The recordings she made with the Pips that were in direct competition with other artists’ seem to bear out her claim that they were not allowed to cross over as did Marvin Gaye’s “Heard It Through the Grapevine.” Their continuing success, however, makes their fans hope that they, at least, will be able to continue buying records—no matter how they are marketed. “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (single), Motown, 1967. “Neither One of Us [Wants to be the First to Say Goodbye]” (single), Motown, 1973. Imagination (includes “Midnight Train to Georgia,” “Imagination,” and “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me”), Buddah, 1973. I Feel a Song (includes “The Way We Were”), Buddah, 1975. About Love (includes “Landlord”), Columbia, 1980. Visions (includes “Save the Overtime for Me” and “You’re Number One”), Columbia, 1983. All Our Love (includes “Love Overboard”), MCA, 1988. Ebony, June 1973; November 1980. New York Times, October 7, 1983; April 29, 1978. Rolling Stone, June 30, 1988. —Barbara Stratyner Contemporary Musicians Stratyner, Barbara Stratyner, Barbara "Knight, Gladys ." Contemporary Musicians. . Encyclopedia.com. 28 Dec. 2021 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>. Stratyner, Barbara "Knight, Gladys ." Contemporary Musicians. . Encyclopedia.com. (December 28, 2021). https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/knight-gladys Stratyner, Barbara "Knight, Gladys ." Contemporary Musicians. . Retrieved December 28, 2021 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/knight-gladys Knight, Gladys 1944– Gladys Knight 1944– Vocalist, actress Hit the Charts Temporary Separation On Her Own Late Life Ventures Selected writings Acclaimed female vocalist Gladys Maria Knight was born May 28, 1944 in Atlanta, Georgia to Merald, Sr. and Elizabeth (Woods). Both of Gladys’s parents were singers in the “Wings Over Jordan” gospel choir. Raised in a family which valued education and the sounds of gospel music, Gladys began singing gospel music at the Mount Moriah Baptist Church and had her first recital published there in 1948 when she was four-years-old. Gladys then toured southern churches with the Morris Brown Choir of Atlanta, Georgia from 1950 through 1953, performing recitals at local churches and schools. By age seven, with her mother’s encouragement, Gladys appeared on Ted Mack’s “The Original Amateur Hour” in 1952, where she won the first prize of $2,000 for singing Nat King Cole’s “Too Young.” In 1952, Gladys entertained her family by singing with ten-year-old brother Merald (known as “Bubba”), sister Brenda, and cousins William and Elenor Guest at Bubba’s 10th birthday party. Another cousin, James “Pip” Woods later suggested that they turn professional and he lent them his nickname, whereafter the “Pips” were formed. The “Pips” sang at supper clubs during the week and in church on Sundays. Gladys periodically left the group, but firmly rejoined them in 1964, whereafter the group released numerous successful hits and recordings through the 1980s. By 1957, the group had expanded to include cousins Edward Patten and Langston George along with Gladys, Bubba and William Guest, though sister Brenda Knight and cousin Elenor Guest had left the group to be married. By 1960, Langston George left the group, leaving the quartet which comprised “Gladys Knight and the Pips” through the 1980s. Knight, who graduated from Shaw University with honors, was married in the 1960s and had two children, James and Kenya. Eventually divorced, she later married Barry Hankerson in October of 1974 whom she divorced by 1979. The couple had one son from this marriage, Shanga-Ali. Since then, Knight wed once again, this time to Les Brown, whom she married on August 29, 1995—the couple is now separated and plan to divorce. In 1997, Jimmy Newman, Knight’s son and current manager, is now 35-years-old, while daughter Kenya is 34, and her youngest son, Shanga, is 21-years-old. Born Gladys Maria Knight, May 28, 1944, Atlanta, GA; daughter of Merald, Sr. and Elizabeth (Woods); married in 1960s, divorced, children: James and Kenya; married Barry Hankerson, 1974, produced son, Shan-ga-Ali, divorced, 1979; married Les Brown, 1995, divorced. Education: graduated Shaw Univ. (w/honors) Recording artist for Brunswick 1957-61; Fury, 1961-62; Everlast, 1963; Maxx and Bell, 1964-66; Motown, 1966-73; Buddah, Capitol, Columbia, and MCA, 1973-88. Albums with the Pips include: Letter Full of Tears (1961); Gladys Knight and the Pips (1964); Everybody Needs Love (1967; Feelin’ Bluesy (1968); Silk N’ Soul (1968); Nitty Gritty (1969); All In A Knight’s Work (1970); Greatest Hits (1970); If I Were Your Woman (1971); Standing Ovation (1971); Neither One of Us (1973); All I Need Is Time (1973); Imagination (1973); Knight Time (1974); Claudine (1974); I Feel A Song (1974); Anthology (1974); A Little Knight Music (1975); Second Anniversary (1975); The Best of Gladys Knight and the Pips (1975); Bless This House (1976); Pipe Dreams (1976, film soundtrack); Still Together (1977); Gladys Knight and the Pips’ 30 Greatest Hits (1977); The One and Only (1978); About Love (1980); Touch (1981); That Special Time of Year (1982); Visions (1983); The Collection—20 Greatest Hits (1984); Life (1985); All Our Love (1988); The Singles Album (1989); and 17 Greatest Hits (1992). Solo albums include: Miss Gladys Knight (1979); Good Woman (1991); and Just for You (1994). TV appearances include: co-starring role in Charlie & Co., 1985; Pipedreams, 1975; produced and appeared in HBO film Sisters in the Name of Love, 1986; role of Natalie, nightclub owner, on New York Undercover, 1994; Living Single, role of Overton’s mother, 1997; The Wayans Brothers, role of Jamie Fox’s mother, 1997. Selected awards: Six gold singles; one gold album; one plantinum album; six Grammy awards; other awards include Clio, AGVA, NAACP Image, Billboard, Rolling Stone, Amer. Music Awards. Addresses: Office—c/o Shakeji, Inc., 2700 East Sunset Rd., Ste. 31 D, Las Vegas, NV, 89120-3506; Agent—William Morris Agency, 2700 Sunset Rd., Ste. 310, Beverly Hills, CA 90212. Gladys Knight and the Pips toured nationally with Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke before Knight was 13, but their 1957 recording debut with Brunswick went nowhere. In 1960, the group produced their first Rhythm and Blues (R & B) Top-20 hit in 1961 with a version of Johnny Otis’s “Every Beat of My Heart,” which attracted national attention, moving to #6 of the R & B charts in July of 1961. George Langston retired from the group in the early sixties after two more singles, including “Letter Full of Tears,” a top 20 hit in 1962. The group faltered somewhat in the early 1960s, as Knight had two children and the Pips did studio back-ups. Once reunited as a quartet, the group was known mostly to R & B fans, with little connection to a mass audience until the mid-sixties. Although the group signed a long-term deal with Fury Records, sealing their R & B credentials, their success halted when they switched to the Maxx label in 1964. The group’s breakthrough began tentatively in 1966, when Gladys Knight and the Pips signed to Motown’s subsidiary, Soul, teaming with producer/songwriter Norman Whitfield. As the group began their rise to prominence, Knights’ grainy alto vocals left them slightly out of the mainstream at first. By December of 1967, however, the group released their major hit single, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” which became a Motown standard, reaching #2 on the Billboard charts, where it remained for three weeks. The song remains a classic to date. Numerous hits followed successfully including, “The Nitty Gritty,” “Friendship Train,” and “If I Were Your Woman,” which became one of the label’s biggest selling releases in 1970. Also in 1970, Knight used her influence to help the Jackson 5 become discovered. While Knight wrote to label owner Berry Gordy suggesting that he check them out, credit for the group’s discovery is sometimes mistakenly given to Diana Ross. In the early 1970s, Gladys Knight and the Pips moved slowly toward a middle-of-the-road harmony which contributed to their success in 1972 with Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Good-Bye). By 1973, the group left Motown and signed with Buddah records, just as the Weatherly-penned “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)” mounted the charts to become the #2 hit during March of that year. The group attributed their label switch to a lack of support from Motown since moving its operations from Detroit to Hollywood. At Buddah, Knight and the Pips met with instant success as their popularity peaked. Their first album released with Buddah was Imagination, their biggest selling album to date. Not only did the album go gold, but it also produced three gold singles, “Midnight Train to Georgia;” “Ive Got To Use My Imagination;” and “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me.” Although contracted with Buddah, Motown continued to release albums by Gladys Knight and the Pips, which the group claims they never received royalties for, including the single “Neither One of Us.” Also in 1974 the group performed on Curtis Mayfield’s soundtrack for the film Claudine, which included the hit single, “On and On.” The following year, the title track of I Feel A Song yielded yet another #1 soul hit. The group successfully continued singing with a smoother approach, as evidenced by “The Way We Were/Try to Remember,” which became the centerpiece for their Second Anniversary album in 1975. During this same year, the group hosted their own U.S. television series and, the following year, Knight made her acting debut in Pipedreams, for which the group recorded a soundtrack. The subject of this film involved love among the Alaskan oil pipelines. Despite the group’s growing success, legal problems ensued for the remainder of the decade as a result of their attempted label switch to Columbia, coupled with a previous unsettled suit by Motown. Because of these legal proceedings, Knight was not allowed to record with the Pips for three years—though they sang together live). During this time, she recorded a solo album and the Pips released two albums on Casablanca. Because of their inability to record together, the group’s popularity waned. An out of court settlement in 1980, however, resulted in a new contract for Knight and the Pips through 1985. Once reunited on Columbia, the group rapidly regained their former status with All About Love and the #3 R & B hit, “Landlord,” produced by one of the most enduring songwriting teams, Ashford and Simpson. In November of 1982, the group performed with a variety of musicians at the first Jamaican World Music Festival in Montego Bay. Following this, Knight recorded the Grammy award winning gold single “That’s What Friends Are For” with Dionne Warwick and Elton John in support of Aids in 1986. The album Visions also produced a hit single, “Save the Overtime” and subsequent releases alternated between R & B and middle of the road tunes, where Knight’s group demonstrated their ability in each genre. In 1988, the title cut of the group’s Love Overboard album became their biggest selling single in decades. This song earned them a Grammy award in early 1989 for the best R & B performance. Following the release of “Love Overboard” and its Grammy recognition, Knight and the Pips broke up to pursue different career paths, though brother Bubba stayed on as her road manager, who thereafter achieved a United Kingdom Top Ten hit with the James Bond theme song, “License to Kill.” Knight states that Bubba had always handled the business affairs of the Pips in addition to being a musician with the group. On November 8, 1989, Knight performed without the Pips at Constitution Hall with David Peaston, a newcomer, and the pair performed incredible duets. The set was dominated by popular soul singles of the 1980s and enhanced by Knight’s gospel roots. She then released an album in late 1991, Good Woman, featuring guest stars Patti Labelle and Dionne Warwick. This recording proved that Knight and her colleagues still have what it takes to compete with younger female vocalists such as Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and Karyn White. Knight’s Good Woman album was consistent, with its major song, “Superwoman” performed by Knight, LaBelle and Warwick. Knight also performed another successful duet with David Peaston entitled, “Give Me A Chance.” Her gritty, compelling voice is not her only talent, as she helped to write some of the album’s more substantial songs, including the emotional ballad, “Waiting on You,” inspired by the Persian Gulf War. In March of 1992, Knight toured again without the Pips, backed by a ten piece ensemble where she again performed to a full house at Constitution Hall. She has earned a good deal of respect as a fabulous singer and performer who relates one-on-one with her audience. While Knight has proven her solo success with her recent album, Good Woman, she does not hesitate to perform former hits released with the Pips, including “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” “Midnight Train to Georgia,” and “Every Beat of My Heart.” The audience loves these old favorites and Gladys Knight proves, both with and without the Pips, that she has the enduring power of song. Again performing at Constitution Hall in early 1993, Knight continued to perform hits from her former Pips days, which evoked a strong audience response. Knight infuses soul, gospel, and pop with enormous feeling and energy and is accompanied by a seven piece instrumental section and three singers. During this 1993 concert, she performed the previously recorded AIDS anthem, “That’s What Friends Are For” along with hits by Smokey Robinson and the Staple Singers. In mid-spring of that year, Knight appears for the first time in public as a couple with Les Brown, known for his motivational lectures and best-seller Living Your Dreams, at a 65th birthday celebration for poet Maya Angelou. The party was hosted by Oprah Winfrey, renowned talk show hostess. Brown, a highly acclaimed speaker who lectures nationwide and appears on PBS specials, was a divorced, single parent of 14 years. Brown says that she is everything in his life, believing he has found his soulmate. Of Les Brown, Knight says, “He’s my heart,” according to Jet magazine. By the end of 1994, Knight was still happy with her relationship with Brown, as well as being a secure diva. She was secure about her talent, her accomplishments, her future plans, and her successful album, Just For You. Though pressured in the past to perform a certain type of music for audience appeal, Knight says she did not do so with this album because she was beyond worrying about competing for charts, believing that it suppresses creativity. Celebrating her 40th anniversary in show business with this album, Knight says the title refers to the people she performs for, those family members and fans who have always been there, as well as her latest fans. In addition to her merit as a vocalist and songwriter, she continued to prove successful in her recurring role as Natalie, a nightclub owner, on television’s “New York Undercover.” Knight spoke freely about her career and the music industry in general, claiming that today’s music scene is heavily influenced by the music of the past, with over 60% of records being remakes, including certain rap groups which utilize remakes. Knight is involved in a number of successful business ventures outside of her music career, including being spokeswoman for Aunt Jemima pancake products, for whom she has featured in a commercial with her own grandchildren. She takes insult to those who have insinuated that she hurts the black cause through such advertisement, as she has always loved and helped the black population. Knight emphasized that she pitched for Aunt Jemima because she values the products, not the money derived from advertising. She further recalled when she refused to perform in South Africa during the height of apartheid even though she was offered four times the amount of money she makes from Aunt Jemima commercials. Some of Knight’s other ventures include joining her daughter Kenya Love in 1995 to open a celebrity bakery in Las Vegas called “Kenya’s Cakes of the Stars.” Additionally, Knight supported American Greeting card company’s “Birthday Song Writing Contest” which is a national search for an original happy birthday greeting in song form. Knight made an appearance at Constitution Hall in March of 1995, which is now an annual event; she performed from her latest album, Just For You. Her gospel-trained voice is described as possessing gritty stubbornness on this album, which includes songs entitled, “Next Time,” and “I Don’t Want To Know.” Knight acknowledged her African American feminism in “Guilty” and stated in the Washington Post that, “There are two strikes against me when I come up to bat: one strike for being female, one strike for being black.” Highlights of Just for You include “If You Don’t Know Me By Now,” “Love Don’t Love Nobody,” and “End of the Road,” previously recorded by other artists. According to a reporter who attended the 1995 Constitution Hall concert, Knight remained possessed of an “instantly identifiable voice, smooth and raspy, like sand in honey, with her signature vocal catch somewhere between a chuckle and a sob, according to The Washington Post. She performed this 1995 concert in front of another sold-out crowd, as she has long been an icon of pop-soul royalty, known for her generosity toward young singers. Knight performed with background vocalists and her own trio of singers, never oversinging, always passionate, yet relaxed. Her audiences remain fond of former Pips hits and sing along with her in concerts to famous tunes such as “Midnight Train to Georgia.” In May of 1995, Knight received the Whitney M. Young Award from John Mack, president of the Los Angeles Urban League. John Mack says that Knight is, “… a very caring, decent human being. Gladys is a superstar off stage and on. She hasn’t forgotten from whence she came, according to Jet. The 22nd annual black tie dinner commemorating this event was held at the Century Plaza Hotel and raised nearly $700,000 for numerous employment and educational programs supported by the Urban League. To further add to Knight’s happiness in her later years, she and Brown, wed in a private ceremony in Las Vegas. When Knight performed her 1994 hit, “You’re Number One (In My Book)” at the American Black Achievement Awards, she was referring to Brown. The couple were a constant twosome during their three year engagement, which led to their wedding one another on August 29, 1995 at a private ceremony in a Las Vegas chapel. Knight and Brown, both previously married were very happy together. Knight explained that they just happened to meet one night at Chicago’s Regal Theatre and hit it off immediately. Unfortunately, the couple has since divorced. She told Ebony, “I thought he was on the same spiritual plane that I was. But, it turns out he was on a difference plane.” The crowning glory of Knight’s incredible achievements were realized in New York on January 17, 1996, at the Waldorf-Astoria Grand Ballroom. Here, the 11th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony included the long-due induction of Gladys Knight and the Pips, having 48 years in show business, 43 of which were with the Pips. Knight and the Pips were inducted by popular vocalist Mariah Carey, who recalled, “sneaking a radio under the bed covers to listen to a singer as real as it gets. All she has to do is stand there and sing and she’ll blow you away,” according to the Washington Post. By 1996, even though Knight felt that the music industry and radio stations ignore veteran recording stars in favor of recent singers, she continued to have a large following who admired her music and treasure her songs. One of the most prolific groups in the history of American rhythm and blues and pop music, Gladys Knight and the Pips made national charts for the first time in 1961 and were there consistently until the group disbanded, with 55 chart entries in all. Following is a chronological listing of most of their recordings, with those receiving 11+ weeks coverage marked with an asterisk. Every Beat of My Heart (Vee jay) Letter Full of Tears (Fury) Giving Up (Maxx) Lovers Always Forgive (Maxx) Everybody Needs Love (Soul) I Heard It Through the Grapevine (Soul) The End of the Road (Soul) It Should Have Been Me (Soul) I Wish It Would Rain (Soul) Didn’t You Know (Soul) The Nitty Gritty (Soul) Friendship Train (Soul) You Need Love Like I Do (Soul) If I Were Your Woman (Soul) * I Don’t Want to Do Wrong (Soul) Make Me the Woman that You Go Home To (Soul) Help Me Make It Through The Night (Soul) Neither One Of Us (Soul) * Daddy Could Swear, I Declare (Soul) Where Peaceful Waters Flow (Buddah) All I Need Is Time (Buddah) Midnight Train To Georgia (Buddah) * I’ve Got To Use My Imagination (Buddah) * Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me (Buddah)* On and On (Buddah) * Between Her Goodbye and My Hello (Buddah) I Feel A Song (Buddah) Love Finds Its Own Way (Buddah) The Way We Were/Try To Remember (Buddah) Money (Buddah) Part Time Love (Buddah) Make Yours A Happy Home (Buddah) So Sad the Song (Buddah) Baby Don’t Change Your Mind (Buddah) Sorry Doesn’t Always Make It Right (Buddah) The One and Only (Buddah) It’s a Better Than Good Time (Buddah) Landlord (Columbia) Taste of Bitter Love (Columbia) Bourgie Bourgie (Columbia) Forever Yesterday If That’ll Make You Happy A Friend of Mine Save the Overtime You’re Number One When You’re Far Away Keep Givin’ Me Love “Till I See You Again” Love Overboard (MCA Records) Lovin’ On Next to Nothin’ (MCA Records) It’s Gonna Take All Our Love (MCA Records) Between Each Line of Pain and Glory, Hyperion, 1997. African American Almanac, 6th edition, Gale Research, 1994, 7th edition, 1995. Bronson, Fred, The Billboard Book of Number One Hits, Billboard Publications, New York, 1985, p. 347. Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: 1995 to Present, p. 159. The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, volume 1, second edition, ed. by Colin Larkin. Guinness Publishing, Middlesex, 1995, volume 3, 1995, pp. 2342-2343. The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll, Jon Pereles and Patricia Romanowski, editors. New The Story of Rock ’n’ Roll: The Year-By-Year Illustrated Chronicle, Paul Du Noyer, consulting editor. Schirmer Books: New York, 1995, pp. 95, 115, 193. Ebony, October 6, 1997, pp. 58-63. Jet, May 15, 1995, p. 40; July 29, 1996, p. 61; November 27, 1995, pp. 58-60; November 7, 1994, pp. 56-59; April 19, 1993, pp. 56-58. Washington Post, November 9,1989, p. Fl7; October 23,1991, p. B7; March 23,1992, p. D12; February 27, 1993, p. D8; March 31, 1995, p. WW13; April 3, 1995, p. D4; January 18, 1996, p. C1. —Marilyn Williams Contemporary Black Biography Williams, Marilyn Williams, Marilyn "Knight, Gladys 1944– ." Contemporary Black Biography. . Encyclopedia.com. 28 Dec. 2021 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>. Williams, Marilyn "Knight, Gladys 1944– ." Contemporary Black Biography. . Encyclopedia.com. (December 28, 2021). https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/knight-gladys-1944 Williams, Marilyn "Knight, Gladys 1944– ." Contemporary Black Biography. . Retrieved December 28, 2021 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/knight-gladys-1944 views updated Jun 27 2018 Gladys Knight is a female vocalist best known for her work with the rhythm and blues group Gladys Knight and the Pips, but she has sustained her musical career through the course of more than four decades. Knight was born into a musical career. Her parents were singers in the Wings Over Jordan gospel choir. She began singing gospel music at the Mount Moriah Baptist Church and had her first recital in 1948. Gladys then toured southern churches with the Morris Brown Choir of Atlanta, Georgia from 1950 through 1953, and she also performed in recitals at local churches and schools. By age seven, with her mother's encouragement, Gladys appeared on Ted Mack's "The Original Amateur Hour" in 1952, where she won the first prize of $2,000 for singing Nat King Cole's "Too Young." In 1952, Gladys entertained her family by singing with ten-year-old brother Merald (known as "Bubba"), sister Brenda, and cousins William and Elenor Guest at Bubba's 10th birthday party. Another cousin, James "Pip" Wood later suggested that they turn professional. He lent the group his nickname to The Pips. They sang at supper clubs during the week and at church on Sundays. Gladys Knight and the Pips toured nationally with Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke before Gladys was 13, but their 1957 recording debut with Brunswick went nowhere. By then, the group expanded to include cousins Edward Patten and Langston George along with Gladys, Bubba and William Guest; Brenda Knight and Guest had left the group to be married. In 1960, the group produced their first Rhythm and Blues (R&B) Top-20 hit in 1961 with a version of Johnny Otis's "Every Beat of My Heart," which attracted national attention and moved to number six on the R&B charts in July of 1961. George Langston retired from the group in the early 1960s after two more singles, including "Letter Full of Tears," a top 20 hit in 1962. The group faltered somewhat in the early 1960s, as Gladys had two children and the Pips recorded as back up singers in the studio. When Langston left the group, it became a quartet – Gladys Knight and the Pips. Gladys had periodically left the group, but firmly rejoined them in 1964. Once reunited as a quartet, the group was known mostly to R&B fans, with little connection to a mass audience until the mid-sixties. Although the group signed a long-term deal with Fury Records, thus solidifying their R&B credentials, their success halted when they switched to the Maxx label in 1964. Classic Hits with the Pips The group's breakthrough began tentatively in 1966, when Gladys Knight and the Pips signed to Motown's subsidiary, Soul. They were teamed with producer/songwriter Norman Whitfield. Knight's grainy alto vocals left them slightly out of the mainstream at first. By December of 1967, however, the group released their major hit single, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," which became a Motown standard, reaching number two on the Billboard charts, where it remained for three weeks. The song remains a classic to date. Numerous hits followed successfully including, "The Nitty Gritty" (1968), "Friendship Train" (1969), and "If I Were Your Woman," which became one of the label's biggest selling releases in 1970. Also in 1970, Gladys Knight used her influence to help the Jackson 5 become discovered. Knight wrote to label owner Berry Gordy suggesting that he check out the group, however, credit for the group's discovery is sometimes mistakenly given to Diana Ross. In the early 1970s, Gladys Knight and the Pips moved slowly toward a middle-of-the-road harmony which contributed to their success in 1972 with "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)." By 1973, the group left Motown and signed with Buddah records, just as the Weatherly-penned "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)" was climbing the charts. It became the number two hit in March 1973. The group attributed their label switch to a lack of support from Motown after its relocation of operations from Detroit to Hollywood. At Buddah, Knight and the Pips met with seemingly instant success and popularity. Their first album released with Buddah was Imagination, their biggest selling album to date. Not only did the album go gold, but it also produced three gold singles, "Midnight Train to Georgia"; "I've Got To Use My Imagination"; and "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me." Although contracted with Buddah, Motown continued to release albums by Gladys Knight and the Pips, for which the group claims they never received royalties. This includes the single "Neither One of Us." Knight Made Her Film Debut Also in 1974 the group performed on Curtis Mayfield's soundtrack for the film Claudine, which included the hit single, "On and On." The following year, the title track of I Feel A Song yielded yet another number one soul hit. The group successfully continued singing with a smoother approach, as evidenced by "The Way We Were/Try to Remember," which became the centerpiece for their Second Anniversary album in 1975. During this same year, the group hosted their own American television series and, the following year, Gladys made her acting debut in Pipedreams, for which the group recorded a soundtrack. The subject of this film involved love among the Alaskan oil pipelines. For the Record … Born Gladys Maria Knight on May 28, 1944, in Atlanta, GA; daughter of Merald, Sr. and Elizabeth (Woods); married in 1960s (divorced); married Barry Hankerson, 1974, (divorced, 1979); married Les Brown, 1995 (divorced, circa 1997); married William McDowell, April 12, 2001; children: James (deceased), Kenya, Shanga-Ali. Education: Graduated from Shaw University with honors. Vocalist, lyricist, and producer. Morris Brown Choir, singer, 1950-53: member of Gladys Knight and the Pips, 1953-90; Lloyd Terry Jazz Ltd., jazz vocalist, 1959-61; solo artist, 1990–. Awards: Blues and Soul magazine, Top Female Vocalist, 1972; Grammy Awards, Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group, or Chorus (with The Pips) for "Midnight Train to Georgia," 1973; Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group, or Chorus (with The Pips) for "Neither One of Us," 1973; Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (with Dionne Warwick, Elton John, and Stevie Wonder) for "That's What Friends Are For," 1986; Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group, or Chorus (with The Pips) for "Love Overboard," 1988; Best Traditional R&B Vocal Album for At Last, 2001; other awards include Clio, AGVA, NAACP Image, Ebony Music, Cashbox, Billboard, Record World, Rolling Stone, Ladies Home Journal, American Music Award (with Pips); inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1996. Addresses: Office—c/o Shakeji, Inc., 2700 East Sunset Rd., Ste. 31 D, Las Vegas, NV 89120-3506. Record company—MCA Records, Universal Music Group, 2220 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90404. Despite the group's growing success, legal problems ensued for the remainder of the decade as a result of their attempted label switch to Columbia, coupled with a previous unsettled suit by Motown. Because of these legal proceedings, Gladys was not allowed to record with the Pips for three years—though they sang together live. During this time, Gladys recorded a solo album and the Pips released two albums on Casablanca. Because of their inability to record together, the group's popularity waned. An out of court settlement in 1980, however, resulted in a new contract for Knight and the Pips through 1985. Once reunited on Columbia, the group rapidly regained their former status with All About Love and the R&B hit, "Landlord," produced by one of the most enduring songwriting teams, Ashford and Simpson. First Solo Release Was a Hit In November of 1982, the group performed with a variety of musicians at the first Jamaican World Music Festival in Montego Bay. Following this, Gladys recorded the Grammy award winning gold single "That's What Friends Are For" with Dionne Warwick and Elton John in support of AIDS in 1986. The album Visions also produced a hit single, "Save the Overtime" and subsequent releases alternated between R&B and middle of the road tunes, where Knight's group demonstrated their ability in each genre. In 1988, the title cut of the group's Love Overboard album became their biggest selling single in decades. This song earned them a Grammy award in early 1989 for the Best R&B Performance. Following the release of "Love Overboard" and its Grammy recognition, Knight and the Pips broke up to pursue different career paths. Bubba had always handled the business affairs of the Pips in addition to being a musician with the group. He served as road manager for Knight. She had her first hit as a solo act in the United Kingdom top ten hit with the James Bond theme song, "License to Kill." Knight first performed without the Pips at Constitution Hall on November 8, 1989, with newcomer David Peaston, and the pair performed incredible duets. The set consisted of popular soul singles of the 1980s and also included songs from Knight's gospel roots. Knight then released an album in late 1991, Good Woman, featuring guest stars Patti LaBelle and Dionne Warwick. This recording proved Knight and her colleagues still could compete head-to-head with younger female vocalists such as Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and Karyn White. Good Woman was consistent, with its major song, "Superwoman" performed by Knight, LaBelle and Warwick. Knight also performed another successful duet with David Peaston entitled "Give Me A Chance." Knight also contributed to writing several songs on the album, including the emotional ballad, "Waiting on You," said to have been inspired by the Persian Gulf War. Gladys Knight has had as busy a personal life as a professional career. She graduated from Shaw University with honors, was married in the 1960s and had two children, James and Kenya. Eventually divorced, Gladys later married Barry Hankerson in October of 1974; they divorced in 1979. The couple had one son from this marriage, Shanga-Ali. In 1993, Knight began appearing in the company of Les Brown, well known for his motivational lectures and best-selling book Living Your Dreams. Brown, a highly acclaimed speaker who lectures nationwide and appears on PBS specials, was a divorced, single parent. Brown said in subsequent interviews that in Gladys, he believed he had found his soulmate. Knight said of Brown, "He's my heart," according to an interview with Jet magazine. Knight eventually wed Brown on August 29, 1995. They divorced in 1997. She and William McDowell, a spa manager whom she had met in 1990, married April 12, 2001. In a 2003 interview with Jet, she addressed her latter marriages, saying that her marriage to Brown, "made me realize what kind of man I didn't want. It really was a lesson. I don't regret it. I don't regret any decisions I've made in my life." Knight says that although she and McDowell have a considerable age different, she is very happy. "He is everything I've prayed for. I knew what I need in a relationship this time. I finally grew up." Although he once worked as a spa administrator, he is know involved in Knight's business concerns and sells real estate. Alhough pressured in the past to perform certain types of music to cater to audiences, Knight said she refused to worry about that or about competing for chart placement for this recording. In her opinion following those dictates suppresses creativity. With this album, Knight celebrated her 40th anniversary in show business. She says the title refers to those people for whom she performs—family members and fans who have always been there, as well as her latest fans. In addition to her career as a vocalist and songwriter, Knight continued to prove successful as an actress. She had a recurring role as Natalie, a nightclub owner, on the television series New York Undercover. Knight has been continually involved in a number of successful business ventures outside of her music career. This includes a period as spokeswoman for Aunt Jemima pancake products, for which she was roundly criticized. In response, Knight said she lends her celebrity to the product because she values the products, not the money derived from advertising. As a example, Knight said she refused to perform in South Africa during the height of apartheid. The fee would have been four times the amount of money she made from Aunt Jemima commercials. Some of Knight's other ventures included joining her daughter Kenya Love in 1995 to open "Kenya's Gourmet Bakery" in Las Vegas. She was instrumental in the opening of Gladys Knight and Ron Winan's Chicken & Waffles, the Atlanta-based fast-casual restaurant chain she founded in 1997. Among her other business ventures has been the launching of Many Different Roads, a recording label founded by Knight. The label is reportedly open to artists of any genre, so long as they don't use profanity. Another important cause to which she lends her celebrity is diabetes awareness. She established the American Diabetes Association Elizabeth Knight Fund, named for her mother who died from complications from the disease in 1998, to raise funds for the nonprofit organization. She also frequently speaks on the topic at seminars and published a cookbook designed with dietary issues, including diabetes, in mind. In May of 1995, Knight received the Whitney M. Young Award from John Mack, president of the Los Angeles Urban League. John Mack said that Knight is "… a very caring, decent human being. Gladys is a superstar off stage and on. She hasn't forgotten from whence she came," according to Jet. The 22nd annual black tie dinner commemorating this event was held at the Century Plaza Hotel and raised nearly $700,000 for numerous employment and educational programs supported by the Urban League. The crowning glory of Knight's incredible achievements thus far occured in 1996, when she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—an honor some contended was long overdue after 48 years as an entertainer. Knight and the Pips were inducted by popular vocalist Mariah Carey, who recalled "sneaking a radio under the bed covers to listen to a singer as real as it gets. All she has to do is stand there and sing and she'll blow you away," according to the Washington Post. By 1996, even though Knight felt that the music industry and radio stations ignore veteran recording stars in favor of contemporary, younger singers, she continued to have a large following who admired her music and treasure her songs. Knight has maintained a close relationship with her adult children. Jimmy Newman, Knight's son and long-time manager, died in his sleep in 1996; Kenya, her daughter became Knight's manager after Newman's death; her youngest son, Shanga-Ali Hankerson, is head of operations for Gladys Knight and Ron Winan's Chicken & Waffles, the Atlanta-based fast-casual restaurant chain Knight founded in 1997. She also has 11 grandchildren, at least one of whom has performed with her. After her divorce from Brown in 1997, Knight converted to the Mormon religion. She has been very active and visible in church functions and is very vocal about her religious beliefs. She, for example, credits her faith as well as her family with helping support her after Jimmy's death. She continued to perform on stage and record. At Last was released in 2001. At the time, it had been six years since her last recording apart from a gospel album. She produced the alnum with the assistance of her then 16-year-old grandson, Rishawn Newman. The album won a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Album in 2001. She signed a contract to perform at the Flamingo Las Vegas after the success of that album. Knight said the fit was perfect, especially she has been based in Las Vegas for many years. "I was looking for the perfect engagement to allow myself the chance to travel less, and this couldn't have come at a better time," she told Jet."I … am blessed that the Flamingo Las Vegas has given me this golden opportunity." The show, which featured her own hits as well as other Motown classics, became one of the top drawing shows on the strip and her contract was extended four years beginning in 2003. What's more, Knight shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. She remained active in her career and her businesses, in her church life, in her community, and in her family and personal life. "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," Motown, 1967. "Neither One of Us (Wants to be the First to Say Goodbye)," Motown, 1973. Imagination, Buddah, 1973. I Feel a Song, Buddah, 1975. About Love, Columbia, 1980. Visions, Columbia, 1983. All Our Love, MCA, 1988. Soul Survivors: The Best of Gladys Knight & the Pips (compilation), Rhino, 1990. Good Woman, Universal, 1991. Just for You, MCA, 1994. Midnight Train to Georgia (compilation), BMG Special, 1997. Many Different Roads , Many Roads, 1998. Soulfully Yours (compilation), Hallmark, 1999. At Last, MCA, 2000. The Early Times of Gladys Knight & the Pips (compilation), Orpheus, 2002. Platinum & Gold Collection (compilation), Buddha, 2003. African American Almanac, 6th edition, Gale Research, 1995. Bronson, Fred, The Billboard Book of Number One Hits, Billboard Publications, New York, 1985. Du Noyer, Paul, editor, The Story of Rock 'n' Roll: The Year-By-Year Illustrated Chronicle, Schirmer, 1995. Larkin, Colin, editor, The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, second edition, Guinness Publishing, 1995. Pereles, Jon, and Patricia Romanowski, editors, The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll, Rolling Stone Press, 1983. In Style, February 1, 2002. Jet, May 15, 1995, p. 40; July 29, 1996, p. 61; November 27, 1995, pp. 58-60; November 7, 1994, pp. 56-59; April 19, 1993, pp. 56-58; January 12, 1998; July 19, 1999; August 2, 1999; February 7, 2000; July 10, 2000; March 5, 2001; February 18, 2002; March 3, 2003. Nation's Restaurant News, January 12, 2004. The Washington Times, April 14, 2001. Washington Post, November 9, 1989, p. F17; October 23, 1991, p. B7; March 23, 1992, p. D12; February 27, 1993, p. D8; March 31, 1995, p. WW13. "Gladys Knight," All Music Guide,http://www.allmusic.com (June 9, 2004). —Marilyn Williams andLinda Dailey Paulson Contemporary Musicians Williams, Marilyn; Paulson, Linda Williams, Marilyn; Paulson, Linda "Knight, Gladys ." Contemporary Musicians. . Encyclopedia.com. 28 Dec. 2021 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>. Williams, Marilyn; Paulson, Linda "Knight, Gladys ." Contemporary Musicians. . Encyclopedia.com. (December 28, 2021). https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/knight-gladys-0 Williams, Marilyn; Paulson, Linda "Knight, Gladys ." Contemporary Musicians. . Retrieved December 28, 2021 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/knight-gladys-0 Gladys Knight is an R&B vocalist whose enduring career has spanned more than five decades and reached the highest levels of commercial and critical success. She rose to fame during the 1960s and '70s as the lead singer of Gladys Knight and the Pips, with whom she recorded such hit songs as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “Midnight Train to Georgia.” Together Gladys Knight and the Pips were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. In announcing Knight's selection as the 2007 recipient of the Ella Award, president Jerry F. Sharell of the Society of Singers praised Knight's artistry, calling her resonant alto “one of the greatest and most distinctive voices of our time.” Gladys Knight was born May 28, 1944, in Atlanta, Georgia, to Merald and Elizabeth Knight, singers who performed in a gospel choir. Knight began singing at the Mount Moriah Baptist Church as a young child and had her first recital there in 1948 when she was four years old. With the Atlanta-based Morris Brown Choir, Knight toured the South from 1950 through 1953, performing at churches and schools. She appeared on the television talent show Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour in 1952, where she won the first prize of $2,000 for singing Nat King Cole's “Too Young.” That same year Knight, her brother Merald (known as “Bubba”), sister Brenda, and cousins William and Eleanor Guest performed together at a family party. Another cousin, James “Pip” Woods later suggested that they turn professional, and he lent them his nickname: the group became known as the “Pips.” By 1957 the Pips included cousins Edward Patten and Langston George, but Knight was the only female remaining after her sister Brenda and cousin Eleanor each left the group to get married. George exited the group as well in 1960, leaving the quartet that comprised Gladys Knight and the Pips through the 1980s: Gladys Knight, Bubba Knight, William Guest, and Edward Patten. The Pips sang at supper clubs during the week and in church on Sundays. They toured nationally with Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke before Knight was thirteen years old, but their 1957 recording debut with Brunswick went nowhere. In 1960 the group produced their first Top 20 hit with a version of Johnny Otis's “Every Beat of My Heart,” which attracted national attention, moving to #6 on the R&B charts in July of 1961. The group faltered somewhat during the early 1960s as Knight married and had two children; the Pips continued to work singing studio backing vocals for other artists. Once reunited as a quartet, the group was known mostly to R&B fans, with little connection to a mass audience until the mid-sixties. Recorded Hit Songs with the Pips The group's breakthrough began in 1966, when Gladys Knight and the Pips signed to Motown's subsidiary, Soul, teaming with producer/songwriter Norman Whitfield. As the group began their rise to prominence, Knight's grainy alto vocals left them slightly out of the mainstream at first. By December of 1967, however, the group released their major hit single, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” which became a Motown standard, reaching #2 on the Billboard charts, where it remained for three weeks. Numerous hits followed, including, “The Nitty Gritty” (1968), “Friendship Train” (1969), and “If I Were Your Woman,” which became one of the label's biggest selling releases in 1970. During the early 1970s Gladys Knight and the Pips moved slowly toward a middle-of-the-road harmony which contributed to their success in 1972 with “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Good-Bye).” By 1973 the group left Motown and signed with Buddah records, just as “Neither One of Us” mounted the charts to become the #2 hit during March of that year. The group attributed their label switch to a lack of support from Motown after it relocated its operations from Detroit to Hollywood. At Buddah, Knight and the Pips met with instant success as their popularity peaked. Their first album released with Buddah was Imagination, their biggest selling album to date. Not only did the album go gold, but it also produced three gold singles: “Midnight Train to Georgia” (#1 in 1973), “I've Got to Use My Imagination” (#4 in 1974), and “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me” (#3 in 1974). Also in 1974 the group performed on Curtis Mayfield's soundtrack for the film Claudine, which included the hit single, “On and On.” The following year, the title track of I Feel a Song yielded yet another #1 soul hit. The group successfully continued singing with a smoother approach, as evidenced by “The Way We Were/Try to Remember,” which became the centerpiece for their Second Anniversary album in 1975. During this same year, the group hosted their own U.S. television series and, the following year Knight made her acting debut in Pipe Dreams, for which the group recorded a soundtrack. The subject of this film involved romance set among the Alaskan oil pipelines. Despite the group's growing success, legal problems ensued for the remainder of the decade as a result of their attempted label switch to Columbia, coupled with a previous unsettled suit by Motown. Because of these legal proceedings, Knight was not allowed to record with the Pips for three years—though they sang together live. During this time, Knight recorded a solo album, and the Pips released two albums on Casablanca. Because of their inability to record together, the group's popularity waned. An out of court settlement in 1980, however, resulted in a new contract for Knight and the Pips through 1985. Once reunited on Columbia, the group rapidly regained their former status with All About Love and the #3 R&B hit, “Landlord.” At a Glance … Born Gladys Maria Knight, May 28, 1944, in Atlanta, GA; daughter of Merald and Elizabeth (Woods) Knight; married James Newman, 1960 (divorced), married Barry Hankerson, 1974 (divorced, 1979), married Les Brown, 1995 (divorced, 1997), married William McDowell, 2001; children: James and Kenya (first marriage), Shanga-Ali (second marriage). Education: Shaw University, graduated (with honors). Career: Recording artist and performer, 1957—. Actor in television programs, including Pipe Dreams, 1975; Charlie & Co., 1985; Sisters in the Name of Love, HBO, 1986; New York Undercover, 1994; Living Single, 1997; and The Wayans Brothers, 1997. Selected awards: Grammy Awards, 1973, 1974, 1987, 1989, 2002, 2005, 2006; Billboard award, Ebony Music award, Ladies' Home Journal award, and Rolling Stone award, all 1975; American Music Awards, 1975, 1976, 1984, 1989; Heritage Award and Soul Train Music Award, 1988; NAACP Image Award, 1989; inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1996; BET Lifetime Achievement Award, 2006; Las Vegas Music Awards, Legendary Award, 2006; Ella Award, Society of Singers, 2007. Addresses: Office—c/o Shakeji, Inc., 2700 East Sunset Rd., Ste. 31D, Las Vegas, NV 89120-3506. Agent—William Morris Agency, One William Morris Pl., Beverly Hills, CA 90212. In November of 1982 the group performed with a variety of musicians at the first Jamaican World Music Festival in Montego Bay. Following this, Knight recorded the Grammy Award-winning gold single “That's What Friends Are For” with Dionne Warwick and Elton John in support of AIDS research and prevention. The album Visions also produced a hit single, “Save the Overtime (For Me)” and subsequent releases alternated between R&B and pop ballads, where Knight's group demonstrated their ability in each genre. In 1988 the title cut of the group's Love Overboard album became their biggest selling single in more than a decade. This song earned them a Grammy Award in early 1989 for the Best R&B Performance. Embarked on Solo Career Following the release of “Love Overboard” and its Grammy recognition, Knight and the Pips broke up to pursue different career paths, though brother Bubba stayed on as road manager for Knight. As a solo artist she achieved a Top Ten hit in the United Kingdom with the James Bond theme song “License to Kill” and released the album Good Woman in 1991. The album featured the emotional ballad “Waiting on You,” cowritten by Knight and inspired by the Persian Gulf War. Guest performances on the disc included by Warwick, Patti Labelle, and David Peaston, with whom Knight performed the duet “Give Me a Chance.” Knight's decades of achievement were recognized in New York on January 17, 1996, at the Waldorf-Astoria Grand Ballroom, when she and the Pips were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As reported in the Washington Post at the induction ceremony the vocalist Mariah Carey recalled, “sneaking a radio under the bed covers to listen to a singer as real as it gets. All [Knight] has to do is stand there and sing and she'll blow you away.” In 1999 Knight released the album Many Different Roads, which featured inspirational and traditional Christian music and debuted at #23 on Billboard's Top 40 gospel chart. The album was the first release from the newly formed Many Roads label, which was created by Knight's son Jimmy Newman Jr. in 1998. Shortly after the release of Many Different Roads, Newman died unexpectedly in his sleep at the age of thirty-seven. Knight's album release was overshadowed by the loss of her son, and she withdrew from the public to spend time with her family. When Knight returned to the studio in 2000 she went back to her roots, recording an album of traditional pop/R&B but with modern production and help from some of the industry's rising talent. Her 2001 release At Last contained a collection of R&B classics reimagined through modern production. Knight brought young producers onboard to help her capture a contemporary sound and released a duet single with up-and-coming R&B singer and actor Jamie Foxx. The album reached #98 on Billboard's Top 200 album chart and remained on the charts for weeks. Shortly after the release of her album, Knight married William McDowell, a corporate consultant and longtime friend whom she had begun seeing romantically in early 2001. Returned to Gospel Roots Knight's triumphant return to R&B won her a 2002 Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Album and showed that she was still able to hold her own in the modern music industry. While she was touring and performing selections from her newest release, Knight was also busy organizing her next venture, as leader and musical director of the Saints Unified Voices (SUV) Choir. Knight organized the 100-member choir as a way to support the Church of Latter Day Saints, which she had joined in 1997. By 2003 Knight and the SUV Choir were touring the gospel circuit and winning critical praise for their performances. Knight teamed with R&B legend Ray Charles to record a live version of “Heaven Help Us All,” which won the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance. In August of the same year, Knight was awarded Black Entertainment Television's Lifetime Achievement Award. At the award ceremony, a variety of artists performed in tribute to Knight and her contribution to African-American music and culture. Also in 2005 Knight and the SUV released their first album, One Voice, to critical acclaim. The album remained in the Billboard charts for over fifty weeks, and in 2006 Knight received her seventh Grammy Award for Best Gospel Choir. With a best-selling album, Knight's transition to musical director marked another success in her already illustrious career. Knight's list of accolades continued to grow as she received the 2006 Legendary Award at the Las Vegas Music Awards and the Ella Award in 2007 from the Society of Singers. Knight has been involved in a number of successful ventures outside of her music career, including acting in television series and joining her daughter, Kenya, in opening a celebrity bakery in Las Vegas. She lends her support to philanthropic causes, particularly diabetes education and research. From her start as the lead singer of one of the most popular and prolific R&B groups of the Motown era through an accomplished solo career to director of a Grammy Award-winning choir, Knight has proven herself to be a star with staying power and the ability to adapt and evolve. As an artist, singer, and songwriter, Knight helped to define African-American music in the twentieth century and remains one of music's leading ladies. Between Each Line of Pain and Glory: My Life Story, Hyperion, 1997. At Home With Gladys Knight, American Diabetes Association, 2001. Letter Full of Tears, Collectables, 1961. Gladys Knight & the Pips, Sphere Sound, 1964. Everybody Needs Love, Motown, 1967. Gladys Knight, Columbia, 1967. Feelin' Bluesy, Motown, 1968. Silk & Soul, Motown, 1968. Nitty Gritty, Motown, 1969. All in a Knights Work, Soul, 1970. If I Were Your Woman, Motown, 1971. Standing Ovation, Motown, 1971. That Special Time of Year, Columbia, 1971. Help Me Make It Through the Night, Motown, 1973. Gladys Knight & the Pips, Trip, 1973. Imagination, Pair, 1973. Neither One of Us, Motown, 1973. All I Need Is Time, Motown, 1973. Knight Time, Soul, 1974. Claudine, Buddah, 1974. A Little Knight Music, Soul, 1975. How Do You Say Goodbye, Springboard, 1975. I Heard It Through the Grapevine, Pickwick, 1975. Pow, Pickwick, 1975. Pipe Dreams, Buddah, 1976. Take Me in Your Arms, MFP, 1976. Bless This House, Buddah, 1976. Still Together, Buddah, 1976. Love Is Always on Your Mind, Buddah, 1977. The One and Only, Buddah, 1978. Miss Gladys Knight, Buddah, 1979. Memories, Buddah, 1979. Gladys Knight & the Pips, Up Front, 1979. Spotlight, PRT, 1980. Take Me Back, Manhattan, 1980. Nightful, Manhattan, 1980. First Shot, Manhattan, 1980. Funky, Manhattan, 1980. Touch, Columbia, 1981. Life, Collectables, 1985. Every Beat of My Heart, Chameleon, 1989. Christmas Album, Special Music, 1989. Good Woman, MCA, 1991. Many Different Roads, Many Roads, 1998. One Voice, Mormon Tabernacle, 2005. Before Me, Verve Records, 2006 Christmas Celebration, Many Roads, 2006. “Every Beat of My Heart,” 1960. “Letter Full of Tears,” 1962. “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” 1967. “The Nitty Gritty,” 1968. “Friendship Train,” 1969. “If I Were Your Woman,” 1970. “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Good-Bye),” 1972. “Midnight Train to Georgia,” 1973. “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me,” 1974. “I've Got to Use My Imagination,” 1974. “On and On,” 1974. “Landlord,” 1980. (With Dionne Warwick and Elton John) “That's What Friends Are For,” 1986. “Love Overboard,” 1987. “Save the Overtime (For Me),” 1988. “License to Kill,” 1989. (With David Peaston) “Give Me a Chance,” 1991. Bronson, Fred, The Billboard Book of Number One Hits, Billboard Publications, 1985. The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, second edition, ed. Colin Larkin, Guinness Publishing, 1995. The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll, ed. Jon Pereles and Patricia Romanowski, Rolling Stone Press, 1983. Business Wire, July 14, 1999. Jet, April 19, 1993, pp. 56-58; November 7, 1994, pp. 56-59; May 15, 1995, p. 40; November 27, 1995, pp. 58-60; July 29, 1996, p. 61. Rolling Stone, March 2001. Washington Post, November 9, 1989, p. F17; October 23, 1991, p. B7; March 23, 1992, p. D12; February 27, 1993, p. D8; March 31, 1995, p. WW13; April 3, 1995, p. D4; January 18, 1996, p. C1; April 17, 2007. Gladys Knight Official Web Site, http://gladysknight.com/ (accessed January 30, 2008). “Gladys Knight,” Verve Music Group, http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/artist/default.aspx?aid=6939 (accessed January 30, 2008). Saints Unified Voices Choir, http://www.suvchoir.org/ (accessed January 30, 2008). —Marilyn Williams and Micah L. Issitt Contemporary Black Biography "Knight, Gladys 1944– ." Contemporary Black Biography. . Encyclopedia.com. 28 Dec. 2021 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Knight, Gladys 1944– ." Contemporary Black Biography. . Encyclopedia.com. (December 28, 2021). https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/knight-gladys-1944-0 "Knight, Gladys 1944– ." Contemporary Black Biography. . Retrieved December 28, 2021 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/knight-gladys-1944-0 Gladys Knight, who was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, made her public singing debut at the age of four at Mount Mariah Baptist Church, where her parents were members of the choir. By the time she was five, Knight had performed in numerous Atlanta churches and toured through Florida and Alabama with the Morris Brown Choir. At the age of seven she won the Grand Prize on Ted Mack's nationally televised Original Amateur Hour. In 1952 Knight formed a quartet with her brother Merald "Bubba" Williams and cousins William Guest and Edward Patten. The group, named "The Pips" after James "Pip" Woods, another cousin and the group's first manager, quickly established itself in Atlanta nightclubs. By the late 1950s, the group was a popular fixture on the national rhythm-and-blues circuit. The first recording came in 1961, when Vee Jay Records released the single "Every Beat of My Heart," which became a Top-Ten pop and number one rhythm-and-blues (R&B) hit. The following year Fury Records signed the group, changed its name to Gladys Knight and the Pips, and released their Top-Ten R&B single "Letter Full of Tears." Though well known in R&B circles, Gladys Knight and the Pips did not become a major crossover act until 1965, when they signed with Motown Records and were featured on the label's touring reviews. Their 1967 Mo-town single, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," reached number two on the Billboard pop chart. The late 1960s brought the group mass acclaim for its polished, call-and-response singing style and slick, synchronized dance routines. The next big hit came in 1970 with the top-selling single, "You Need Love Like I Do." Six of the group's albums made the R&B charts: Nitty Gritty (1970); Greatest Hits (1970); If I Were Your Woman (1971); Standing Ovation (1972); Neither One of Us (1972); and All I Need Is Time (1972). In 1972 Gladys Knight and the Pips had another big hit with "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)." In 1973 the group switched to the Buddah label for its top forty album, Imagination, which included two of the group's most enduring successes, "Midnight Train to Georgia," a number one pop single in 1973, and "I've Got to Use My Imagination." The group won two 1974 Grammy Awards for "Neither One of Us" and "Midnight Train to Georgia." In the late 1970s the group's popularity began to wane. Legal conflicts with Motown forced Knight to record separately for a brief period in the late 1970s. The group reunited in 1980 and continued touring but was not able to record another chart-topping record until 1988, when "Love Overboard" reached the top twenty on the Billboard pop chart. The following year Knight once again left the group, this time voluntarily, to establish a solo career. The following year she released Good Woman, a solo LP that was moderately successful on black radio. In 1993, Knight began appearing in the company of Les Brown, a highly acclaimed speaker best known for his motivational lectures and best-selling book Living Your Dreams. The two eventually wed on August 29, 1995, but divorced in 1997. That same year, Knight published her autobiography, Between Each Line of Pain and Glory: My Life Story. After her divorce from Brown, Knight converted to the Mormon religion, engaging actively and visibly in church functions. She also continued to perform on stage and to record. Her collection At Last was released in 2001. She produced the album with the assistance of her then sixteen-year-old grandson, Rishawn Newman. The album won a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Album in 2001. On April 12 of that year, Knight married William McDowell, a spa manager whom she had met in 1990. In February 2005, Knight enjoyed a special honor, sharing the Grammy Award for best gospel performance for "Heaven Help Us All" with the late Ray Charles. See also Music; Rhythm and Blues Bloom, Steve. "Gladys Knight in No Man's Land." Rolling Stone (June 30, 1988): 23. Knight, Gladys. Between Each Line of Pain and Glory: My Life Story. New York: Hyperion, 1997. Whitaker, Charles. "Hotter Than Ever: Gladys Knight and the Pips Mark 36 Years of Making Music." Ebony (September 1988): 72. thaddeus russell (1996) Updated by publisher 2005 Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History Russell, Thaddeus Russell, Thaddeus "Knight, Gladys ." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. . Encyclopedia.com. 28 Dec. 2021 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>. Russell, Thaddeus "Knight, Gladys ." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. . Encyclopedia.com. (December 28, 2021). https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/knight-gladys Russell, Thaddeus "Knight, Gladys ." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. . 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Stacey Pfeffer “Play and Explore” May 28, 2019 by Stacey Pfeffer As crazy as June is with graduations, recitals and getting all my kids ready for camp, I absolutely love it. There is an aura of anticipation and excitement for all the summer adventures in store. Whether you plan on venturing abroad this summer or enjoying the beautiful beaches dotting our lovely county, I am pleased to offer our readers many articles in this issue that touch upon the theme of “Play and Explore.” When you step out of your comfort zone, life is more enriching. I distinctly remember one of my first summer memories when I was six years old. That summer my family headed up to Monticello, a town in the Catskills to a bungalow colony. It was a hot summer and my mother was seven months pregnant with my little sister. As a young girl growing up on a two-way street in Queens, I didn’t have much freedom. My mother was always worried about the traffic and as a result I spent a lot of time in my fenced in backyard. But ahhh, in the Catskills I was free to roam the grounds of the bungalow colony. I remember picking blueberries with friends and “hunting” for tadpoles with a plastic beach bucket. It was exhilarating and definitely out of my comfort zone. What I wish for everyone is to be inspired by the articles in this issue and to get out of your comfort zone, play and explore- from Shauna Levy’s beach bopping article to Sabra Staudenmaier’s essay on a bunch of daredevil dads who have an annual hiking trip, there’s something in here for everyone. And on the theme of exploration, Ronni Diamondstein’s cover story on the local award-winning documentary filmmakers the Kunhardts is not to be missed. Peter Kunhardt, along with his sons Teddy and George, always do a deep dive on their significant subjects from Senator McCain to Abraham Lincoln and in the process have made films about leaders who have shaped history. So whether you plan on swimming along the shore, catching up with friends at a Sparkle for a Cause event or seeing a Westchester Collaborative Theater production, here’s hoping that you have a memorable summer. Filed Under: In the Know Tagged With: comfort zone, explore, Family, June, picking blueberries, play, summer, Summertime Celebrating Grit & Resilience April 18, 2019 by Stacey Pfeffer When I think back to my 9th grade journalism class, I still remember my teacher saying that “everybody has a story to tell–you just have to ask the right questions, sit back and listen.” Her advice still rings true today. Because we live in affluent communities in a prosperous time, people often think that all is copasetic here in bucolic Northern Westchester but everyone has their struggles. Sure, some are bigger than other’s but it’s all relative. This issue features many stories focusing on grit and resilience. As a first generation American, Anna Young’s article on refugees coming to our shore despite dangerous circumstances with very limited support resonates deeply with me. Thankfully there are local residents doing amazing acts of kindness to help them resettle. Anyone who has ever suffered from a serious illness knows how it can impact the entire family. Gilda’s Club of Westchester is offering support workshops for bereaving parents and children. Plus, as Beth Besen’s article points out they are starting new support groups for anyone undergoing treatment for cancer at the Bedford Playhouse. Sometimes a story sticks with you and I’m sure you’ll remember Shauna Levy’s profile on alopecia awareness advocate Ali Lambert Voron. I had seen her at my gym swimming and smiling with her kids mistakenly thinking that she had cancer. Voron became completely bald at age 16 due to alopecia, an autoimmune illness. Her strength and resilience coupled with a sense of humor is something we can all aspire to. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention our cover story on The Armonk Players. Now you are probably wondering how this one relates to grit and resilience but anyone who ever has been in theater knows that it is takes blood, sweat and (sometimes) tears to put on a production. The fact that this community theater group has been churning out fabulous productions for more than two decades is proof that this group knows how to overcome obstacles. Finally, as a mom of three kids, Marlene Kern Fischer’s column perfectly describes the grit and resilience that any parent needs to survive to what I refer to as the “best but hardest job you’ll ever do with the lowest pay.” To all the moms out there in the trenches, Happy Mother’s Day and for all our readers happy spring! Filed Under: In the Know Tagged With: Alopecia Awareness, editor, Editor's Letter, Grit, in the know, Stacey Pfeffer, struggle, The Armonk Players, trust Kids’ Kloset Fashion Show Gala: A Fun-Filled Evening of Glamour Filled with Generosity Models Sam Berk, Olivia Berk, Marissa Senzon and Kayla Roth There they were sashaying down the red carpet clad runway–a nattily dressed toddler strutting his stuff in a stylish sweater, a tween decked out in a tulle skirt with on trend sunglasses. A DJ played the latest hits as these mini models advanced on the catwalk while Lindsay Brooke Weiss from Coco in Cashmere, an Armonk stylist and fashion blogger gave quick bios of the models. Only this fashion show held last month in Harrison at the Willow Ridge Country Club had a higher purpose than just showcasing the latest spring styles for kids. All of the 80+ child models representing towns from across the county were donating their clothing immediately after the show to Kids’ Kloset, a nonprofit that provides under-served Westchester County children with donated clothing and related items. Since Kids’ Kloset was created in 2011, the volunteer run organization has provided more than 17,000 “Bags of Love” containing clothing, footwear, diapers and other baby essentials to local children. Formerly under the auspices of Westchester Jewish Community Services, Kids’ Kloset recently became a division of (914) Cares and opened up new headquarters in North White Plains this past fall. Michael Slomsky, a Vice Chairman of (914) Cares and Chappaqua resident whose daughter Megan was in the show, said the new North White Plains spot is an ideal location with ample space to showcase the clothing with low overhead. Top Left (L-R): Jessica Reinmann Founder (914) Cares, Diane Katz (honoree) and Stephanie Roth Founder Kids’ Kloset. Top Right (L-R): Nathalie Joseph, Viola Regis and Tamar Joseph. Middle: Lindsay Brooke Weiss with her children, Colette and Steele Weiss. Bottom Left: Models Marley Gellert and Caitlin Samkoff. PHOTO BY LAUREN GELLERT Bottom Right: Models Emery Zipper, Emily Attar, Abigail Pfeffer. PhotoS BY Jamie Kaplan except where noted Although Kids’ Kloset has held fashion shows in previous years, this year’s event was the largest turn out to date, according to Jessica Reinmann, chairperson of (914) Cares and a resident of Chappaqua. “I really think the partnership between (914) Cares and Kids’ Kloset is what made this year’s event such a success,” said Reinmann. The event raised more than $100K as of press time and Reinmann hopes that next year’s event will have attendees from every zip code of Westchester. The event honored Diane Katz, a longtime Kids’ Kloset supporter and White Plains resident. During the show, attendees also learned of the dire need for essentials that some 51,000 families in Westchester face with annual incomes of less than $24,000. An attendee from Armonk, Michele Zipper was happy to have her daughter, Emery participate as a model in the show. “It’s great that she can do something with fashion that helps others,” said Zipper. Viola Regis, a Mount Vernon resident was an attendee and her daughters, Lily and Izzy, who also graced the runway have been the recipient of Kids’ Kloset’s “Bags of Love”. She donated $100 to the organization at the gala as a way to show her appreciation for Kids’ Kloset. For several summers, her daughters have attended sleep away camps on scholarships and Kids’ Kloset has outfitted them for the experience. One attendee remarked that many children who receive camp scholarships actually turn them down because the families can’t afford the many camp essentials. “My children always have a smile on their face when they go to Kids’ Kloset and I know they help not just my family but so many others,” said Regis. Kids’ Kloset founder Stephanie Roth was also excited at the gala to announce the launch of a “Baby Bank” this spring which will provide not only essentials like supplies of diapers for six months but also other items such as pack and plays. This “Baby Bank” and the evening’s gala illustrates just how much progress the organization has made since Roth decided to start the organization after a young mom in her community who couldn’t afford a stroller showed up at Roth’s doorstep a decade ago. For more information about Kids’ Kloset, visit 914cares.org. Filed Under: Cover Stories Tagged With: 914 Cares, Bags of Love, Diane Katz, Fashion show, Jessica Reinmann, kids, Kids Kloset, Models March Boutique: A Local Gem with On-Trend Clothing for Fashionistas Nestled into a corner of downtown Briarcliff Manor’s main thoroughfare, Pleasantville Road, March Boutique offers Westchester fashionistas on-trend apparel and accessories. Whether you are looking to mimic the styles of a model on a Milan runway or looking for a more casual Instagram-worthy outfit, this jewel-sized boutique should be on your radar. Lynn Puro, the owner and a Briarcliff Manor resident opened the store twelve years ago. Her exquisite taste and style is evident as soon as you step into the store. Puro scouts fashion showrooms in New York, Paris, Milan and Los Angeles and carries lines that you may not be familiar with such as Bailey 44 and Fifteen Twenty plus well-known and beloved labels like Nicole Miller and Joseph Ribkoff. Everything But the Shoes Saturday is the store’s busiest day as many customers come in needing something to wear that evening. “We get a lot of last-minute requests and we love helping clients choose an outfit and accessories such as handbags and jewelry. We offer everything but the shoes.” Puro strives to offer many options for customers at different price points. “Fit is everything” is Puro’s cardinal fashion rule. To that end, she always tries on every product in her store when visiting showrooms. She brings an additional employee to showrooms as well with a different figure to see how the clothing fits before deciding to sell it in her boutique. On a recent visit, I had fun perusing the racks and checking out spring trends. The store reminded me of a trendy Soho boutique with exposed brick and a copper tin ceiling. Everything was thoughtfully displayed and photos of Puro’s fashion icon Audrey Hepburn adorn the walls. As a petite person, I’ve been wondering how to embrace the wide-legged pants trend seen all over the spring fashion magazines. “Not to worry,” advises Puro and she pulls out a wide-legged jean made by Just Black Denim which I try on and lo and behold, it actually looks good. Puro and all her employees have a strong sense of style and can immediately size up your silhouette and provide ideas of items to try on. I wonder what shoes to wear with the jeans and Puro offers suggestions. “The number one question we get from customers, is what shoes should I wear with an outfit?” Next up, I want to try on a floral dress as the fashion magazines are saturated with them for spring. On a small frame, prints can look overwhelming but Puro knows what patterns will work with my figure. The kelly green floral wrap dress by Cupcakes & Cashmere is a winner and best of all, it is not like the dozens of black dresses I have hanging in my closet. With graduations and baby showers on the horizon, I am all sorted with this little number. Snapworthy Spring Trends I want to know what other spring trends are blooming and Puro is at the ready with several sartorial suggestions. Flower prints and pastel colors are popular. She also carries several leopard print items. Leopard print is big this spring but if you don’t want a full outfit with it, the store has leopard print hats, scarves and bags. Other trends include cropped and slightly flared jeans or pants and any item in blue. “Blue is the new black this season,” proclaims Puro. “Fashion should also be fun,” attests Puro. She holds several themed events to coincide with popular television shows that have stylish costumes such as “Downton Abbey” and “Mad Men”. Mrs. Maisel Trunk Show: April 27 This spring she will hold a “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” trunk show event on Saturday, April 27th from noon – 5 p.m. The event will pay homage to the style icon played by actress Rachel Brosnahan featuring retro-inspired clothing from Nanette Lepore and Fifteen Twenty. Champagne and snacks will be available and Puro will also be giving out cat eye sunglasses as a gift for customers who make a purchase. As Puro wraps up my items (I also purchase a Nicole Miller dress for an upcoming Bar Mitzvah on my visit on the sale rack no less), I notice the lovely tissue paper decorated with delicate dragonflies. It’s no surprise that before opening March, Puro worked in beauty for Estee Lauder. Confidence breeds beauty was one of Lauder’s favorite sayings and as I walk out the door with my fashion-forward items, I feel like a million bucks and can’t wait to wear my new dresses this spring. March Boutique Marchboutique.com Filed Under: Lifestyles with our Sponsors Tagged With: Briarcliff Manor, Event, fashion, Fashion Trends, Lynn Puro, maisel, March Boutique, Mrs. Maisel Trunk Show, Spring Fashion, Summer Fashion Behind the Scenes Scoop with Andrew Jupin at The Jacob Burns Film Center March 8, 2019 by Stacey Pfeffer Bo Burnham and Andrew Jupin in Eighth Grade PHOTO BY ED CODY Creating A Local & Cultural Mecca for Film Lovers of All Ages Back in the day when I lived in the city and was child-free, I had plenty of options to see independent or foreign films. I could traipse downtown to the Angelika Film Center to catch the latest Merchant Ivory film or head crosstown to Lincoln Plaza Cinemas to immerse myself in the latest Pedro Almodovar release. There were a few other art houses and independent movie theaters that I could go to but the Angelika and Lincoln Plaza still stand out vividly in my mind. Fast forward to a decade later and as a suburban mom with kids, I am lucky enough to live mere miles from the Jacob Burns Film Center (JBFC), a five-screen cinema offering a full range of programming from films, events, community screenings, visiting artists and special guests. I like to think of it as an art house theater with 92 Street Y caliber lectures and classes all rolled into one. And although I don’t get to go there as often as I like, I have been known to sneak in an early movie while the kids are in school or plan a date night to catch an indie film with my husband. I’ve even taken my kids to Family Saturdays at the Media Arts Lab just a stone’s throw away where they’ve made amazing hands-on projects. Programming Reigns Supreme “The breadth of programming is what makes us so unique,” explains Andrew Jupin, a Senior Programmer at the JBFC who started working there in 2006 as a projectionist. The movie theater landscape has changed significantly in Westchester in recent years with the Saw Mill Multiplex in Hawthorne shutting down and an anticipated closing of the Greenburgh Multiplex in Elmsford later this year. In addition, new players such as ultra-luxe iPic in Dobbs Ferry and a recently renovated Bedford Playhouse have been attracting moviegoers. But Jupin argues that seeing movies at these places is an “anonymous experience.” And he’s right. It is not uncommon to see people milling about in the JBFC lobby post-screening discussing a film they just saw. As a programmer, Jupin also works on planning director Q & As and curating films that engage moviegoers throughout Westchester. Each year more than 200,000 people visit the JBFC to see more than 400 films from over 40 countries. Since it opened in 2001, three million people have walked through the doors of this Spanish mission-style theater to see cutting-edge cinema. Carefully Curated Series One of Jupin’s responsibilities is programming an ongoing series called Retro Revival sponsored by Wine Enthusiast. It is now in its third year and Jupin is passionate about selecting the films that become part of the series. We discuss a recent showing of I Am Cuba and Jupin’s excitement about the movie which he dubs a “lost treasure” is palatable. “This movie from the former USSR was virtually unseen here.” Martin Scorcese and Francis Ford Coppola were champions of the film and Milestone Films had to fight legal battles to get it shown here.” Jupin loves introducing something like this to an audience. “They [the moviegoers] trust us and our selections.” Jupin likes to choose tried and true classics like It’s a Wonderful Life to offerings that are for “adventurous hardcore cinephiles.” And Jupin is well-qualified to make those selections. He’s an adjunct professor at the School of Film and Media Studies at Purchase College and also teaches at Westchester Community College. In his spare time, he also hosts a popular weekly podcast called We Hate Movies with several friends where they discuss terrible movies. He’s seen hundreds of “trashy films” and likes the dichotomy of working at JBFC where he gets to “bring worthwhile films to an audience.” Jupin laments that sell out crowds for a screening are often viewed as a barometer of success. “I’ve been to film screenings where there are ten people but those ten people are blown away and they want to see more films by that director or on a certain subject and they then tell their friends.” Jupin, along with other programmers at the theater, finds it incredibly rewarding when they can open their audience to new ideas or new films not seen in a mainstream moviehouse. Two other ongoing series at the Burns include Global Watch: Crisis and Social Action and Remix: The Black Experience in Film, Media and Art. “The films in these series are often not the most easiest to watch,” Jupin says but they hold true to board member and curator Jonathan Demme’s vision of the JBFC “as a force for social change disguised as a movie theater.” Thought-Provoking Q & As and Lectures As part of his programming responsibilities, Jupin also conducts Q & As with filmmakers, actors or other movie industry veterans. This past year he particularly enjoyed meeting first time director Bo Burnham of Eighth Grade and Alex Winter, the director of the documentary film, The Panama Papers. “The Q & As were so different. Burnham was a former comedian and the discussion was funny and light-hearted. With Winter, we spoke about journalism ethics.” An Economic Engine for 10570 and Beyond Having worked in Pleasantville for more than a decade, Jupin loves the tight-knit community aspect of the neighborhood. The Inwood resident enjoys the restaurants, book store and small local shops nearby. The JBFC has strong relationships with several local businesses offering discounts to JBFC members through a program called Reel Partners. This past summer, the JBFC released a study The Economic Close-Up showcasing how it is a cultural magnet and economic driver in the region. As we look out the windows of the Media Arts Lab, there are several multi-unit condos being built within walking distance of the JBFC. In 2018, 80 units of transit-oriented housing were under construction in Pleasantville and six new restaurants had opened within the past year. Senso Retro Revival An Exciting Future It is an exciting time for the JBFC with a recent Regional Economic Development Council initiative from Governor Cuomo providing $506,500 to the JBFC for capital improvements. The theater requires a lot of upkeep and they hope to use some of the funds for new seating and other things that will continue to make coming to the JBFC a top-notch experience. “A flat screen TV or a film being screened on Netflix still can’t compare with seeing a film on the big screen.” Throw in the fact that the JBFC is a true cultural and community hub and you’ll know why this five-screen theater continues to be one of the most successful suburban art houses in the country. Jacob Burns Staff Edie Demas, Executive Director Edie joined the JBFC as executive director in May 2014. Previously, she worked with the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles and was Director of Education at New York’s New Victory Theater, where under her direction, its education programs were honored with the Americans for the Arts award for Arts Education. She also spent several years in Ireland, where she worked as an education officer with Graffiti Theatre Company, founded UnReel, an international film festival for young people, developed scripts for children’s film and television, and served as an Associate Artist for Education and Outreach at The Abbey Theatre. Edie holds an MA and PhD from NYU’s Program in Educational Theatre. Dominick Balletta, Managing Director Dominick joined the JBFC in May 2008, following seven years as General Manager of NYC’s Film Forum. Since 2011, he has served as an advisor to the DeVos Institute of Arts Management. As a producer his credits include Another Telepathic Thing and I’m Carolyn Parker, both directed by Jonathan Demme, and Moisés Kaufman’s 33 Variations, starring Jane Fonda (Tony Award nomination). He has served as a grant panelist for NEA, NYSCA, ArtsWestchester, and CEC/ArtsLink. Brian Ackerman, Director of Programming Brian joined the JBFC as the Founding Programming Director in 2001, which followed several years in an advisory capacity assisting the planning and development of the theaters. He designed the programming template that presents over 400 films annually to include special events, new releases, documentary, foreign-language, retrospective films, as well as thematic series, under one roof. He has worked for over 30 years in the New York cinema arts scene–building, programming, and operating art houses. He also serves on juries at film festivals including SXSW and Full Frame. Judy Exton, Director of Development Judy joined the JBFC as Director of Development in December 2001. Prior to this, she raised money for a number of nonprofits, including New York City Ballet, Caramoor, and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Judy holds a B.A. in Communications from The College of Wooster. Emily Keating, Director of Education Emily has overseen the JBFC education programs since their inception in 2001. She has consulted for non-profit film centers on the development of their school programs, and has presented at many national education and literacy conferences. She is an adjunct faculty member at Pace University’s School of Education. Sean Weiner, Director of Creative Culture Sean received his M.F.A. from Hunter College in Integrated Media Arts and a B.A. in Cinema Studies from SUNY Purchase, where he is now a faculty member. At the JBFC, Sean is the director of Creative Culture, an initiative connecting emerging makers to creative careers through fellowship opportunities and residency programs. Westchester Jewish Film Festival Mark your calendars for one of the most popular film series featured at JBFC- the 18th Westchester Jewish Film Festival. The festival from April 2-17 features 42 entertaining, thought-provoking, and engaging film from documentaries to narratives. Plus, the festival will continue its tradition of bringing some of Israel’s fantastic television programming – 12 episodes of the hit comedy series The New Black (Shababniks) and all five episodes of the dystopian drama Autonomies. The New Black (Shababniks) This year for the first time, the festival will kick off with not one but two unique programs. One theater will showcase the New York premiere of award-winning Israeli filmmaker Yair Lev’s You Only Die Twice, a suspenseful documentary thriller with splashes of humor at just the right moments. At the same time, in another theater, we’ll screen the first four episodes of The New Black (Shababniks). Goldas Balcony Continuing to feature stunning new films from around the world, we’re also showing Shoah: Four Sisters by the late Claude Lanzmann, which reveals stunning footage not used in his epic 1985 masterpiece Shoah. The festival centerpiece is Golda’s Balcony, the Film, a cinematic event about Golda Meir’s extraordinary life and legacy, featuring a stellar performance by Tovah Feldshuh, who will appear at a post-screening discussion on April 6. All this, plus a very special tribute to the Carl Reiner! “This is our most popular series and several shows sell out, so book early,” advises Jupin. Opening Night with RECEPTION 6:30 p.m. You Only Die Twice 7:00 p.m. The New Black (Shababniks) Filed Under: Pleasantville Cover Stories Tagged With: Community Screenings, cultural mecca, Family Saturdays, film, film lovers, history, Independent, Jacob Burns Film Center, lectures, Media Arts Lab, Retro Revival, theater, Westchester Jewish Film Festival Nearly 800 Attended Community-Wide Program to Learn About Initiatives to Combat Antisemitism and Hate Gullotta House Presents ‘Escape from Sing Sing Plunge 2020’

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If not _NULL_, its value is set to _YES_ if the value was converted successfully and _NO_ otherwise. @return The point representation of the value or {0,0} if the input value cannot be converted. @see pointValue: */ +(CGPoint)pointValue:(id)value valid:(BOOL*)isValid; +(CGPoint)pointValue:(id)value bounds:(CGRect)bounds defaultOffset:(CGPoint)defaultOffset; +(CGRect)rectValue:(id)value; /** Converts input value into a float. @param value The input value. @return The float representation of the value. @see floatValue:def: */ +(CGFloat)floatValue:(id)value; /** Converts input value into a float with default fallback. @param value The input value. @param def The default value if the input value cannot be converted. @return The float representation of the value. @see floatValue: */ +(CGFloat)floatValue:(id)value def:(CGFloat) def; /** Converts input value into a float with default fallback. @param value The input value. @param def The default value if the input value cannot be converted. @param isValid The optional output parameter indicating the status of the convertion. If not _NULL_, its value is set to _YES_ if the value was converted successfully and _NO_ otherwise. @return The float representation of the value. @see floatValue: */ +(CGFloat)floatValue:(id)value def:(CGFloat) def valid:(BOOL *) isValid; /** Converts input value into a double. @param value The input value. @return The double representation of the value. @see doubleValue:def: */ +(double)doubleValue:(id)value; /** Converts input value into a double with default fallback. @param value The input value. @param def The default value if the input value cannot be converted. @return The double representation of the value. @see doubleValue: */ +(double)doubleValue:(id)value def:(double) def; /** Converts input value into a double with default fallback. @param value The input value. @param def The default value if the input value cannot be converted. @param isValid The optional output parameter indicating the status of the convertion. 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instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: I have it open cavity and it is my wisdom tooth I've been having a headache since this morning 9 o'clock a.m. I took multiple multiple pain relievers to soothe the pain as well as a antibiotic. The pain will not leave what should I do I fear the dentist the headache due to wisdom tooth cavity? output: Hi..Welcome to HEALTHCARE MAGIC..I have gone through your query and can understand your concern..As per your complain it seems that you have a deeply decayed wisdom tooth which has involved the Pulp which is central portion of the tooth and contains nerves and blood vessels and irritation and inflammation of the nerves leads to severe pain which can radiate to Jaw,Ear,and Head..Painkillers may or may not provide you relief and you need to consult a dentist and get an x Ray done and in case of deep infection you can be advised Root Canal Treatment followed by antibiotics and painkillers if tooth is in a condition to be saved.But in case if tooth cannot be saved due to excessive decay or you do not want to save the tooth Extraction followed by antibiotics and painkillers will relieve..You need not to fear the dentist as all the treatment will be carried out under local anaesthesia and will be painless..As for now you can take Tramadol as it can relieve severe pain but should not take for extended duration as it can cause addiction..Hope this information helps..Thanks and regards.....

THE PATH OF SELFLESS SERVICE Karma and Karma Yoga Nishkama karma yoga is a word that often comes in the Bhagavad Gita. Karma, akarma and vikarma are also mentioned in the Gita (Karmanohyapi…). Karma means the work done with a selfish desire for the limited circle of one’s family. Karma yoga means the work done for the sake of Lord. Akarma means inaction; not doing either karma or karma yoga. Vikarma means action, which disturbs the peace of the world by harming good devotees. For Arjuna, participating in the Mahabharata war was both karma and karma yoga. It was karma because Arjuna could get back his rightful kingdom, which represents money or wealth. It was karma yoga, because the war was the mission of God. The Lord was destroying injustice by fighting the war against evil people. Participation in such a war is karma yoga. Therefore, it was absolutely necessary for Arjuna to participate in this war and destroy the Kauravas, who stood as his enemy. The war happened to be the personal work (svakaryam—self-serving or self-centered work) and also the work of the Lord (Swami karyam). Svakaryam is another word for karma and Swami karyam is another word for karma yoga. ‘Karma’ is common to both terms: karma and karma yoga. This means that a person always has to work. The soul is born in this world only for doing work; therefore, one cannot remain idle or avoid work. The Gita says the same thing as “Nahi Kashchit....” Now in order to do any work or karma, an aim (sankalpa) is essential. Without an aim, no work (karma) can be done. In your body the blood circulatory system, the digestive system etc., are all working with the aim of keeping your body fit to do some work in this world. You are born in this world with a purpose. The purpose is that you should do minimum karma and maximum karma yoga. Unfortunately, you are doing maximum karma without doing even a minimum of karma yoga. That is, most of the work that you do is self-centered; you do it for yourself or for your limited family. Work of the Lord While you work for your limited family, the Lord works for the whole world, which is His family. Helping Him in His work is karma yoga. He comes down in human form as a Human Incarnation or Avatara, very frequently. He even comes down in different human forms at the same time for the upliftment of the entire human race. His work involves uplifting people present at various levels to higher and higher levels. One Incarnation may concentrate on converting atheists into believers of God by showing miracles, which are beyond scientific logic. That is the main work for that Incarnation. Another Incarnation may promote worship of God. He may introduce worship of God through names and forms. He may encourage traditional worship, prayers and worship in temples. The believers in God (aastikas) can climb only this step in the beginning. Another Incarnation reveals the Absolute Truth, which is Brahma Jnana (Real Knowledge of God). That is His chief purpose. Human Incarnations—A Spiritual Educational Complex Human Incarnations of various types, such as described above, form a complex of various educational institutions. In this complex, there are different levels of institutions such as school, college and university. At each level the Human Incarnation represents the head of that institution. There is the headmaster for the school, a principal for the college and a chancellor for the university. Various types of assisting staff to assist all the three are also present. The three levels of institutions perform their duties within their limited circles. School level: Atheist becomes a believer An uneducated person is first admitted into a school. He then goes to a college and finally to a university. The uneducated person cannot enter the university directly. Similarly, an atheist should first become a believer of God by seeing divine miracles. Converting atheists into believers is the main purpose of the first type of Human Incarnation. College level: Believer becomes a devotee After becoming a believer in God (theist), a person should become a devotee through different types of worship and devotional songs. The second type of Human Incarnation works for this. The above two types (school and college) of Incarnations, work for the purification of the mind of the person. Only when the mind is completely freed from jealousy and ego, is it said to be completely purified. Prayers, worship and traditional practices, promoted by the second type of Human Incarnation, purify the mind. Thus, the person becomes eligible for jnana yoga or the knowledge of God. Lord Shankara has said that the traditional practices bring about the purification of mind, which makes one eligible for receiving jnana yoga. University level: Devotee becomes a Jnani At the university level, the devotee becomes a Jnani (possessor of knowledge). Having gained the eligibility to acquire this knowledge, he works to get established in this knowledge, in this step. This third level is the most important level. However, if the mind is not completely purified, jnana yoga cannot be achieved. Once the person is established in jnana yoga, he is liberated. When you have this jnana yoga, you will be astonished as said in the Gita (Ashcharyavat pashyati…). The third Incarnation reveals the whole true knowledge in order to convert the devotee to a Jnani. This third Incarnation is called the Pari Poorna Tamavataram. The words ‘Pari’ and ‘Tama’ both indicate the superlative degree. The use of a double superlative degree is to emphasize that there can be no greater Avatara or Human Incarnation than this. He is God who is fully revealed. He says vehemently that He is God. Lord Krishna is the highest and fullest Incarnation (Pari Poorna Tamavataram). Only He can reveal the true knowledge, which can open all the knots of your heart. All your doubts are cleared with this knowledge. Your heart is immersed in the ocean of Bliss. This Avatara reveals jnana yoga. Nirvikalpa samadhi Lord Datta, who is the Human Incarnation of God, reveals Himself fully to deserving devotees and declares that He exists in that human form. If you recognize His human form and fix Him in your mind forever, such a state is called nirvikalpa samadhi. Nirvikalpa means not getting doubts after the decision. Samadhi is the unshakeable decision. Hanuman and Radha are the best examples for nirvikalpa samadhi. Both of them recognized the Human Incarnations of their time, Lord Rama and Lord Krishna respectively, and worshipped them with total faith. Both Hanuman and Radha did only Swami karyam and gave up their svakaryam. Radha and Hanuman—Ideal servants of God Radha preached firm devotion to the world. Hanuman proved his firm devotion by always doing selfless service to the Lord. Radha lived with the Lord when the Lord had not commenced His work. Therefore, Radha did not get the opportunity to participate in the work of the Lord. Hence, she did personal service to the Lord. Swami (the Lord) started His work only after leaving Radha. Radha was a simple milkmaid and could not participate in war and the destruction of evil. So she could not assist Lord Krishna in His mission on earth, which was to destroy injustice. Satyabhama, Lord Krishna’s wife, on the other hand, who was well versed in the art of warfare, helped Lord Krishna during the war with the demon, Narakasura. Hanuman was far from Lord Rama before the work of the Lord began. The reason for this was that Hanuman was a warrior and could help Lord Rama in His mission to destroy evil. Therefore, he got associated with the Lord in the latter part of the life of Lord Rama, when He needed Hanuman. Radha was associated with Swami (Lord) in the earlier part of the Lord’s life. Hanuman was associated in the latter part of the Lord’s life. When Lord Krishna left Vrindavanam, Radha did not go home. She wandered on the banks of river Yamuna till she died. Thus, Radha outwardly exhibited love for the Lord. Hanuman too had the same extent of love for the Lord in his heart. However, Hanuman did not exhibit it. He proved it in the performance of service. For all ordinary individuals, both exhibition of the love for God and proof of love through service are necessary. Arjuna, the ordinary What happened in the case of Arjuna? Arjuna refused to fight and get back his kingdom. What is the meaning of this? Arjuna did not want to perform svakaryam (self-centered work). Lord Krishna advised Arjuna to fight the war not for the sake of Svakarma but for the sake of participating in the Lord’s work, which was the destruction of injustice. So Arjuna did not participate in the war as svakaryam (karma), but fully participated in the war as Swami karyam (karma yoga). So far it was good. But there is one important point here. Arjuna had not refused to do his karma (fight the war for selfish desire) due to his devotion for the Lord. Had he left the war due to pure and extreme devotion for the Lord, it would have been good. Had Arjuna left the war due to true detachment from his kingdom (wealth), it would also have been good. But Arjuna refused to fight because of his blind attraction to family bonds. That is why the Lord advised Arjuna to first look upon the war as karma itself. The Lord wanted Arjuna to realize that the war was his duty as a warrior and was in fact beneficial for him even from the selfish point of view. Refusing to fight this war would not only mean a personal loss of kingdom, wealth and power for Arjuna and his family, but would also bring eternal ill fame to him. Arjuna did not have as much love for the Lord as Radha had for the Lord. Hanuman, who was also a warrior, had that much love. Therefore, Hanuman never had such doubts. Arjuna did not consider the war as karma yoga (the work of the Lord); in fact, this thought never even entered his mind. Therefore, the Lord first taught him karma, then taught Bhakti (devotion) through Jnana (knowledge), and then taught jnana yoga (knowledge of God) after the purification of mind through Bhakti. Lord Krishna revealed Himself as God in jnana yoga and finally advised him to participate in the war as the work of God—karma yoga. The essence of the Bhagavad Gita can be told in one sentence: Kill Duryodhana not for the sake of your kingdom, but as a servant participating in God’s mission to destroy injustice. Desireless service Hanuman’s case was different. He participated in the war as a servant of the Lord (Lord Rama) and not for any personal benefit. Therefore, nishkama karma yoga means the participation in the work of the Lord in human form, without any selfish aim. The work of the Lord is only to uplift humanity. Such participation results only through Jnana (knowledge) and Bhakti (devotion). In case of Lord Rama, the fruit of the war (freeing His wife Sita and the killing of the evil Ravana), went to Lord Rama alone. Hanuman did not get any benefit even though he fought the war by risking his life. Thus, you must give the fruit of your work to the Lord. To do so, you must get rid of selfishness. Then even in performing karma, you will not have any selfish aim. This lack of selfish aim is called nishkama. If you do not have any selfish aim, you will not be attached to the fruit of karma. Only then can you give the fruit to the Lord. Types of Devotees Highest devotees—Divine beings If one leads a life like Hanuman, who completely concentrated on the work of God, such a person can go from Brahmacharya (celibate-student stage in life) directly to samnyasa (stage of a renounced monk). A renounced monk is called a sanyasi and he too does work. But he surrenders the fruit of his entire work to the Lord. Hanuman was a brahmacharya sanyasi (one who directly took up the life of a renunciant after student life). That means that he did not marry and surrendered his whole life and work to the Lord. He did complete Swami karyam without doing any svakaryam. Adi Shankara, Swami Vivekananda, Ramana Maharshi etc., are others of this highest category of people. Mediocre devotees—Human beings People of the second category are called madhyamas (mediocre). These are people who take up family life after student life. They remain with their family for most of their life and do both svakaryam and Swami karyam. Among such people, the amount of Swami karyam that they do, is in proportion to the devotion (bhakti) they have and the amount of Svakaryam that they do is in proportion to their selfishness. In the case of Arjuna, by fighting the war, he got back his kingdom and also participated in the work of the Lord, which was the establishment of justice. Thus, he achieved both Svakaryam and Swami karyam with this one action of fighting the war. Arjuna is called Nara. Nara means a human birth. Hanuman was granted the post of the future Creator (Brahma) of the universe, in the next cycle of creation. Therefore, those of the first category become divine forms. People of the second category get human rebirths. Selfish non-devotees—Animals and demons There is a third category of people. Such people remain in Svakaryam during their entire life. That means, their time, work, energy and money are completely devoted for themselves, for their family members and for their blood relations alone. These are utterly selfish beings. They cannot recognize God in human form. They go on worshipping pictures and statues alone for their selfish ends. Duryodhana belonged to this type. He was always interested in having even his cousins’ kingdom for himself and for his blood-related family. He did not recognize Lord Krishna as God in human form. He did not participate or help in the Lord’s mission. Instead, he went to Lord Krishna to ask for His help even though Duryodhana’s cause was selfish and unjust. Even there Duryodhana was not interested in Lord Krishna but wanted Lord Krishna to give the vast and invincible Yadava army to Duryodhana. Such people are not devoted and even the worship that they perform is only to achieve their selfish ends. They will never help the Lord in His work but go on worshipping Him for their selfish ends. Duryodhana went to a terrible hell (Patala) forever. Such people are reborn as worms in pits of mud and excretory matter. They are caught in the cycle of such births forever. The Gita says that this is indeed the lowest category of people (Samsareshu Naradhaman). Therefore, you should make sure that you do not fall under the third category under any circumstances. The first category is like the sky, which you cannot reach. At least remain in the second category and attain human rebirth (Nara). That is why Lord Krishna preached the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna who was called Partha [1], the Nara. Ninety nine percent of people can reach the level of Nara by their sadhana (spiritual effort). It is better to remain on earth rather than falling to the lowest hell called Patala. The upper world (heaven) contains divine forms like angels, the earth, which is the middle world, contains human beings and lower world contains demons. This statement can be understood in the above sense. [1] Partha literally means the son of Pritha (Earth). Thus, in general, it means a human being (nara), who is a resident of Earth. More specifically, one of the main characters in the epic Mahabharata, Arjuna, was commonly referred to as Partha. He was the son of Kunti (also known as Pritha). Arjuna was an incarnation of sage Nara and Kunti was the incarnation of the Earth Goddess, Bhu Devi.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Hello doctor, My friend aged 30 had two drops of phenol mistaking for milk. He vomited and had lot of salt water. Please advice for any side effect. Please explain the poisonous effect of phenol ingestion. output: Hi. I want to assure you not to worry as everything is going to be fine if proper care and treatment is opted in for. I have thoroughly gone through your case and can well understand your genuine health concerns. 1. No, there is not much problem right now as he vomited and also had a lot of water. It is fine because it was only two drops. 2. We usually do not go for emesis (vomiting) for phenol poisoning cases. Because, it is a volatile compound and causes vapors entering the lungs through the airways. 3. As it was only two drops, I do not think it may cause much trouble. If he feels short of breath contact me back, otherwise fine. 1. He should avoid re-exposure. 2. Rule out if there is some sort of suicidal ideation due to depression or anxiety and take him to a psychiatrist for physical evaluation. For further follow up consult a general practitioner online.--->..

U.S.|50 Years of Affirmative Action: What Went Right, and What It Got Wrong 50 Years of Affirmative Action: What Went Right, and What It Got Wrong The commencement for the Class of 1973 at Columbia University. The number of black students admitted to Columbia rose sharply in 1969. About half of those who enrolled graduated four years later.CreditCreditUniversity Archives, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University in the City of New York By Anemona Hartocollis On cold mornings, Les Goodson shows up early outside the University Club, on a wealthy stretch of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, and races two panhandlers he has nicknamed Catman and Pimp-the-Baby for a warm spot in front of a steam vent. He launches into “Take Five” on his saxophone, leaving his case open for bills and coins. In a good week, it’s a living — enough to pay the rent on his railroad flat in Harlem and put food on the table. A few times, he has seen a former classmate, Gregory Peterson, bound into the social club without so much as a nod. Mr. Goodson, 67, and his classmate were among a record number of black students admitted to Columbia University in 1969. Columbia and other competitive colleges had already begun changing the racial makeup of their campuses as the civil rights movement gained ground, but the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, and the resulting student strikes and urban uprisings, prompted them to redouble their efforts. They acted partly out of a moral imperative, but also out of fear that the fabric of society was being torn apart by racial conflict. They took chances on promising black students from poor neighborhoods they had long ignored, in addition to black students groomed by boarding schools. A look back through the decades shows what went right in the early years of affirmative action in college admissions, but also what can go wrong even with the best of intentions. Those who were able, through luck or experience or hard work, to adapt to the culture of institutions that had long been pillars of the white establishment succeeded by most conventional measures. Others could not break through because of personal trauma, family troubles, financial issues, culture shock — the kind of problems felt by many white students as well, but compounded by being in such a tiny minority. And universities at the time, they said, did not have the will or the knowledge to help. “I think it’s a fair question to ask: Did we really understand or know what we were doing, or could we have predicted what the issues would be?” said Robert L. Kirkpatrick Jr., who at the time was dean of admissions at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., which was part of these early efforts. “The answer is no. I think we were instinctively trying to do the right thing.” Columbia — an Ivy League campus right next to Harlem — was a particularly revelatory setting. Perhaps nowhere else were the divisions more striking between the privilege inside university gates and the troubles and demands of black people outside them. The New York Times tracked down many of the nearly 50 black students in Columbia’s Class of 1973, who arrived on campus as freshmen in 1969. Some of them have remained close friends and helped locate others from directories and photographs. The number of black students admitted to Columbia more than doubled in 1969 from the year before. About half of those who enrolled received their degrees four years later. Many, like Mr. Peterson, went on to comfortable lives and professional success. His classmate, Eric H. Holder Jr., rose from a strivers’ neighborhood in Queens to become the first black attorney general of the United States. There were future doctors in the class, future executives and lawyers. Others, like Mr. Goodson, strayed from prescribed paths. The debate over race in college admissions only intensified. By the late 1970s, colleges began emphasizing the value of diversity on campus over the case for racial reparations. Today, Harvard and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are facing legal challenges to race-conscious admissions that could reach the Supreme Court. The Trump administration is investigating allegations of discrimination against Asian-American applicants at Harvard and Yale. University officials who lived through the history fear that the gains of the last 50 years could be rolled back. One of them is Lee Bollinger, the current president of Columbia, who first arrived on campus as a law student in 1968. “In that time, there was a sense, pure and simple, that universities had to do their part to help integrate higher education,” Mr. Bollinger said. “We are still on that mission, but the sense of purpose and urgency and connection to the past have dissipated.” The Musician Les Goodson, one of about 50 black freshmen who enrolled at Columbia in 1969, played the saxophone on Fifth Avenue in 2013.CreditDamon Winter/The New York Times Mr. Goodson sits on a plastic milk crate covered by a clean, brightly colored cushion. He is wrapped in layers of flannel shirts, sweatshirts, a canvas jacket, and wears stylish suede shoes. A watch cap and a graying goatee hide his face. He resents it when people assume he is homeless and plop down bags of food next to him without even asking. He is more forgiving of the police officers who routinely ask him if he would like to go to a shelter. He jokes: No thanks, he has a place at Trump Tower, across the street. (His apartment is a short subway ride away, not far from the jazz club where he plays a weekly gig.) Mr. Goodson grew up in a housing project in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and in those days he was known as Ervin. His mother was a housekeeper for a wealthy family on Park Avenue; his father was a tailor and owned a dry-cleaning shop for a time. He took an early liking to music, learning to play the viola from Cora Roth, his fifth-grade teacher at Public School 46 in Brooklyn, now a painter in Los Angeles who still remembers him as “a pure soul.” A number of programs sprang up at the time to find talented students from tough neighborhoods. In junior high school, Mr. Goodson was chosen to spend three summers in enrichment classes at Hotchkiss, a Connecticut boarding school, where he read incessantly. He was accepted to New York’s Stuyvesant High School, which at the time was mostly white. Now Stuyvesant is mostly Asian-American, and under attack for its test-based admissions. This year, seven black students were offered admission out of 895 slots. When a racially fueled teachers’ strike broke out during Mr. Goodson’s senior year, his parents managed to transfer him to the Wooster School, another boarding school in Connecticut. He had been a middling student at Stuyvesant, but vaulted to the top of his class in private school. An English teacher drove him to Columbia for the admission interview, and he remembers feeling “a little bit phony” as he answered questions. He was also accepted at Dartmouth, but chose Columbia because it was closer to home. Mr. Goodson at his apartment in 2019.CreditGabriella Angotti-Jones for The New York Times A selection of Mr. Goodson’s photos, including one of him as a freshman at Columbia with his girlfriend at the time, now mother of his daughter, center.CreditGabriella Angotti-Jones for The New York Times In college, Mr. Goodson realized that he could reinvent himself, and began going by Les, his middle name, instead of Ervin. He wanted to be a photographer, and took pictures of B.B. King, Amiri Baraka and the band Sha Na Na with his Miranda camera. He made some rash decisions, once spending $600 of a $1,500 student loan on a Karmann Ghia sports car. Not much in the course catalog spoke to him. “If you go back and look at that blue book, all the courses — I would say 95 percent — were Eurocentric,” he said. “I remember they had a few black courses, and all the black students would take them because they were known as cushy courses, because they were easy to pass.” The only black professor he can remember was Charles Hamilton, a political scientist who collaborated with Stokely Carmichael, the civil rights leader, to write about the Black Power movement, which Mr. Goodson said influenced him. Columbia’s first black department chair, Elliott Skinner, in anthropology, would not be named until 1972 — the year Mr. Goodson dropped out. After his freshman year, Mr. Goodson was asked to take a leave for bad grades. He lived surreptitiously on campus, crashing in friends’ dorm rooms. He got a student at Barnard, Columbia’s sister college, pregnant, and his daughter was born in August 1971. After three years, he left Columbia for good. “Nothing stopped me from finishing,” Mr. Goodson said. “I just did something else.” ‘I Didn’t Notice Being Black’ Student protests at Columbia in April 1968.CreditNeal Boenzi/The New York Times While civil rights leaders pressed colleges to admit more black students, the big push came after the assassination of Dr. King on April 4, 1968, followed by uprisings in more than 100 cities and student strikes. “I don’t see how you can understand it apart from the upheavals on campus, racial upheavals in the larger society, the general upheavals around the world,” said Jerome Karabel, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and a historian of college admissions. Later that month, students occupied several buildings in protest of what they saw as Columbia’s complicity in the Vietnam War and a plan to build a gym in a Harlem park. The standoff ended with a violent clash with the police. The radical politics of 1968 came too late to affect the admissions decisions that fall, as acceptance notices had already gone out. But in 1969, the number of black students recruited and admitted to Ivy League universities and their sister schools rose sharply from the year before, in many cases by more than 100 percent, according to statistics published in The Times in April 1969. From 1968 to 1969, according to archival data provided by Columbia this year, the number of students recorded as black who applied rose to 220 from 121, the number who were admitted rose to 130 from 58, and the number who registered rose to 48 from 31 out of a total class of about 700. (All of them were men; Columbia College did not begin admitting women until the 1980s.) Some black students in that class resisted being cast as emissaries of racial understanding. Gregory Peterson, the classmate Mr. Goodson has seen going into the University Club, did not see himself in any racial framework. “I shied away from anything that was like a ‘black’ group,” he said, “because I didn’t grow up that way.” Gregory Peterson, in the student directory for the Class of 1973.CreditUniversity Archives, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University in the City of New York Mr. Peterson today at his apartment in New York.CreditDemetrius Freeman for The New York Times He and his twin brother, Maurice, were in advanced classes in predominantly white schools, although they were part of the black middle class in East Elmhurst, Queens. Their father owned a barbershop; their mother was a teacher. When Mr. Peterson was in high school, the mother of a white friend took him to a cocktail party where he met a white intellectual who had gone to Exeter and Harvard. He became a mentor, encouraging Mr. Peterson’s ambitions to apply to Ivy League universities. At Columbia, Mr. Peterson was an English major, and mixed with white students. He discovered his gay identity, though he remained closeted. He did experience racial discrimination in college. A Southern white Barnard student apologized to him for not being able to invite him to a party back home. An older man at a reception once assumed he was on the basketball team. But race took a back seat to his sexuality. “I was so busy having problems being gay that I didn’t notice being black,” he said. After graduating in 1973, Mr. Peterson spent a few years in the arts before “the rational side took over,” and he went to Columbia Law School. He went on to become a corporate lawyer. His brother, who also graduated from Columbia, owns a spa. Mr. Peterson and his husband now live on a high floor of a prewar building at 72nd Street and Riverside Drive, a prime Manhattan location. The light-filled apartment is crammed with his art collection. A portrait by Paul Hodgson of Mr. Peterson in a formal suit, looking cerebral and commanding, hangs on one wall. A while back, as Mr. Peterson got out of a cab on his way to the University Club, he was greeted by a street musician. “Hey, Gregory, it’s Lester — from Columbia,” the musician said. The sounds of a saxophone had often filtered into the club gymnasium through the steam vents, but Mr. Peterson had never known who was playing it. He had not stopped before because he had not recognized his classmate. “I tell you, I just totally flipped out,” Mr. Peterson said. He did not know enough about Mr. Goodson’s life to judge him, he said. But the encounter made him conscious of his own good fortune. In July 1972, Eldridge McKinney, a black sophomore at Columbia, shot the dean of students several times with a .38-caliber handgun. Mr. McKinney had been suspended for bad grades, and was angry that he was not reinstated, the police said. By one news account, he shouted “racist bastard” at the dean, who was white, before opening fire. The dean, Henry S. Coleman, was badly wounded but returned to work. (Mr. Coleman had been caught up in campus turmoil before, when students occupied Hamilton Hall and took him hostage in 1968.) Henry S. Coleman, a Columbia dean who was taken hostage when students occupied a campus building in 1968.CreditDon Hogan Charles/The New York Times Mr. McKinney’s fall from grace was steep. He arrived at Columbia in the fall of 1970, a year behind Mr. Goodson and Mr. Peterson, as an overachiever: a Boy Scout leader; the valedictorian of his high school on the South Side of Chicago; a member of the band, school newspaper, yearbook, and the math, chess and Spanish clubs, according to The Chicago Tribune at the time. But at Columbia, something changed. After the shooting, Mr. McKinney’s mother and Roy Innis, the civil rights leader, publicly pleaded with him to turn himself in. Charged with attempted murder, he disappeared. Classmates remember the jarring sight of his face on wanted posters at the post office. His friends believe that he has been living under an assumed name and identity for nearly 47 years. Mr. McKinney, nicknamed E, became something of a legend. Some black students quietly cheered him on, understanding his rage. “E was sort of like a semi-hero at the time, because apparently he got away with it,” Mr. Goodson said. “And every once in a while, I’ll ask somebody, ‘Yo man, you ever hear from E?’” Darryl T. Downing, a black classmate of Mr. McKinney’s, stepped forward to defend him in 1972. He told The Times back then that Mr. McKinney wanted to be a lawyer, but found Columbia to be a hard adjustment. “Columbia is not the situation we’re used to,” Mr. Downing, who went to a neighborhood public school in New York City, said then. “But we felt we were lucky to be here, so we got together to adjust.” Mr. Downing now lives in a high-rise project in Harlem, where he answers the door warily; for many years, he said, the police or the F.B.I. would knock on his door asking if he had heard anything from Mr. McKinney. “Instead of just going to school and just having an experience, the experience was survival,” said Darryl T. Downing.CreditDemetrius Freeman for The New York Times Mr. Downing said he had been constantly looked on with suspicion at Columbia, as if he did not belong. Security guards would demand to see his identification every time he walked in, even though they knew who he was and did not demand the same of white students. Soon after the dean was shot, when the campus was “on high alert,” Mr. Downing said he was brought up on disciplinary charges for fighting with a white student who barged into his dorm room uninvited. He said that Dr. Skinner, the black anthropology professor, interceded on his behalf. “Instead of just going to school and just having an experience, the experience was survival,” said Mr. Downing, who is now an events promoter. In his last semester, he “just walked away.” Black and Hispanic alumni from those days recall forming tight bonds because they were so few. They studied together. They went to their own parties and listened to different music. Mr. Downing recalled that his black friends preferred rhythm and blues, while his white classmates listened to Jimi Hendrix. “We had massive — massive — study groups, where everybody would pile into a black lounge,” Mr. Downing said. Many black students felt pulled in two directions — assimilation or resistance. “I think that’s still an open question in some people’s minds: Are you expected to stay with your ghetto identity and the world has to adapt to you?” said Julius Gonzalez, the son of Cuban factory workers in West Harlem, and a member of the Class of 1973. “Or do you make a few adjustments and adapt more to the outside world?” ‘You Had to Prove Them Wrong’ Despite how hard it could be to adapt, there were many success stories among the black students in the Class of 1973. Mr. Gonzalez, whose factory-worker parents had grade-school educations, got an M.B.A. from Harvard and became a financial officer in energy ventures abroad. He is now retired and living in Florida. Gary Friday, son of a beer distributor in Philadelphia, became a neurologist. Eric Coleman, whose widowed mother straightened and curled hair in her kitchen and took in laundry, is a state judge in Connecticut. Eric Coleman, part of the Class of 1973, is a state judge in Connecticut.CreditGeorge Etheredge for The New York Times But many names disappeared from the class directory between freshman and senior years. “Sometimes I look through a list of people who actually graduated,” Dr. Friday said. “A lot of people are missing.” About half the students recorded as black in the class — 25 of the 48 — received diplomas in 1973, according to the data provided by Columbia. Seven more got their degrees later, and one, a student from Tanzania, graduated early. The common perception that professors made allowances for minority students was false, Mr. Gonzalez said. If anything, being black invited tougher scrutiny. “Some of these guys smirked and looked at you and said, ‘What are you doing here? You misspelled a term,’” he said. “You had to prove them wrong.” Within a few years, universities stopped taking as many gambles. The early press coverage was celebratory: “Colleges That Recruit in Ghetto Find Effort Benefits All Concerned” read a headline in The Wall Street Journal in 1968. But it soon became more skeptical. Julius Gonzalez, the son of Cuban factory workers, worked in the energy business and retired in Florida.CreditRose Marie Cromwell for The New York Times After graduating from Columbia, Mr. Gonzalez went on to get an M.B.A. from Harvard.CreditRose Marie Cromwell for The New York Times Thomas Sowell, a black professor of economics at the University of California, Los Angeles, wrote in The Times in 1970 that white college administrators, out of misguided “romanticism,” were admitting unqualified “‘authentic’ ghetto types” and setting them up to fail, while overlooking “intellectually oriented black students.” A 1973 New York Times Magazine article by Martin Kilson, a black Harvard professor of government, caused a furor by arguing that students had imported a culture of black separatism that was dysfunctional in academia. It was the dawn of a series of bitter battles in the Supreme Court over allegations of “reverse racism” against white students, beginning with Marco DeFunis, a white student rejected by the University of Washington Law School in 1971. The high court found the DeFunis case moot in 1974 because the plaintiff was graduating. David L. Evans, associate dean of admissions at Harvard, acidly complained that because of the DeFunis case, alumni believed that “semiliterate blacks are being accepted at the expense of white geniuses,” according to The Harvard Crimson in 1975. Since then, the Supreme Court has consistently upheld the right of colleges to use race as one factor in admissions. Now Harvard is fighting a claim that it is manipulating the admissions process to exclude Asian-Americans. A Timeline of Key Supreme Court Cases on Affirmative Action But what happened 50 years ago changed admissions forever. In some ways, affirmative action has become more sophisticated over time, as diversity has become an established principle, and schools — barred by law from using racial quotas — have sought an ideal mix of students that is more reflective of society. Colleges often turn to private schools to find even poor black and Hispanic students, because “they have the cultural and social capital to succeed on campus,” said Anthony Abraham Jack, a professor of education at Harvard and author of “The Privileged Poor.” Mr. Gonzalez said he saw the difference among the younger generation of black and Hispanic students at reunions: “They act like, ‘Yeah, I belong here.’” Life After Columbia Mr. Goodson's fifth-floor apartment in Harlem is decorated with art that he made himself.CreditGabriella Angotti-Jones for The New York Times After dropping out, Mr. Goodson worked a variety of jobs, from junk hauler to taxi driver to furniture refinisher. In a late-life bid for middle-class stability, he returned to college with renewed zeal for learning, and received a bachelor’s degree in history from Lehman College in 2003, then completed most of a master’s degree. He lasted only briefly as a high school social studies teacher, unable to abide students who addressed him as “Dawg” and freely used racial slurs among themselves. His daughter, Dara, graduated from Morgan State University, a historically black college in Baltimore. She and her husband, both teachers, have three children. A few years ago, Mr. Goodson was rejected from a Columbia Ph.D. program. The blow was softened by the interest that one professor, Eric Foner, an expert in the Reconstruction era, took in his proposal to study the 13th Amendment’s exception clause and its connection to black incarceration. (“When he proposed to study this subject, it was a very original project,” Professor Foner wrote in an email.) Mr. Goodson has not strayed far from the Columbia orbit. Every Wednesday night, his four-piece band, the Les Goodson Intergalactic Soul Jazz Band, performs at Paris Blues, an old-fashioned dive bar just a 15-minute walk from campus. What he whimsically calls his “penthouse,” a fifth-floor walk-up in central Harlem, is a few blocks farther. The apartment is a revelation. It is narrow, stylishly appointed. He has decorated the walls with art and photographs that he made himself. One painting is splattered like a Jackson Pollock. A homage to Miró features a big blue flying saucer; floating window bars were inspired by Chagall. He has stacked sheet music on the floor under a well-buffed antique wooden table that is a testament to his refinishing skills. A violin hangs on the wall. Scattered about are dismembered bits of saxophone, an instrument he first picked up some 50 years ago, in a classmate’s dorm room. “Columbia,” he said, “it changed my whole life.” Doris Burke and Alain Delaquérière contributed research. The Story Behind the Story A Reporter Walks Into a Bar … and Meets a Jazz Musician Who Can Riff on Affirmative Action Anemona Hartocollis is a national correspondent, covering higher education. She is also the author of the book, “Seven Days of Possibilities: One Teacher, 24 Kids, and the Music That Changed Their Lives Forever.” @anemonanyc A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Affirmative Action at 50: Successes and Regrets. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We Were Liars – E. Lockhart February 28, 2019 March 1, 2019 ChristieLeave a comment Cadence Sinclair, the narrator of E. Lockhart’s riveting YA novel We Were Liars, lives a seemingly charmed life. The eldest of the Sinclair grandchildren, she summers with her cousins Johnny, Mirren, Liberty, Bonnie, Will and Taft on Beechwood Island, a private island off the coast of Massachusetts, somewhere near Martha’s Vineyard. Her grandparents, Harris and Tipper, have a created a sort of kingdom on Beechwood. Each of their three daughters has their own house on the island, but everything revolves around the patriarch. There is a lot of drinking and in-fighting, all of it held together by Tipper. When she dies, the daughters and their children, who are used as pawns to secure Harris’s favour, go a little off the rails. The summer that Cadence is eight, Johnny brings his friend Gat to the island. His nose was dramatic, his mouth sweet. Skin deep brown, hair black and waving. Body wired with energy. Gat seemed spring-loaded. Like he was searching for something. He was contemplation and enthusiasm. Ambition and strong coffee. I could have looked at him forever. Cadence, Johnny, Mirren and Gat, the Liars, become an inseparable foursome. Gat is invited back every summer and by the time they are fourteen, Cadence and Gat have begun tentative steps towards crossing the friendship line. Cadence feels “the love rush from me to Gat and from Gat to me.” But then summer fifteen happens. That’s the summer Tipper dies. It’s also the summer that Cadence goes swimming alone at the little beach. She doesn’t remember much of what happened “I only remember this: I plunged down into this ocean, down to rocky rocky bottom, and I could see the base of Beechwood Island and my arms and legs felt numb but my fingers were cold. Slices of seaweed went past as I fell.” It’s a summer that changes everything. Cadence is taken home to Vermont to recover and she doesn’t return to Beechwood until summer seventeen. Her memory is suspect, making her a terrifically unreliable narrator. She suffers from debilitating migraines; she starts to give away her possession. Her island has changed and so have the Liars. One thing remains unchanged though: the way she and Gat feel about each other. I loved pretty much everything about We Were Liars. I loved the jagged edges of Cadence’s memory as she tries to piece together the mystery of her accident. I loved the dysfunctional nature of the Sinclair family. As Cadence admits in the beginning, “I am the eldest Sinclair grandchild. Heiress to the island, the fortune, and the expectations.” And I loved the Liars. Lockhart’s book has a big plot twist. Some might see it coming; I did not. I am not a teenage reader so while the twist wasn’t exactly shocking to me, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t effective. We Were Liars is a page-turning puzzle of a book. I read it in one breathless gulp. Book Chat2019, Book Review, highly recommended, page turner, YA This Is How It Always Is – Laurie Frankel February 25, 2019 February 24, 2019 ChristieLeave a comment Laurie Frankel tackles some compelling and timely questions in her widely-praised novel This is How It Always Is. It’s one of those “issues” novels that makes it, as the Globe and Mail suggests, “a must for your next book club discussion.” Penn and Rosie live a somewhat charmed life in rural Wisconsin. Rosie is an ER doctor; Penn is a writer-cum-stay-at-home- dad. They have five sons: Roo, Ben, the unfortunately named twins, Rigel and Orion, and finally, Claude. In almost every way the Walsh-Adamses seem to have life figured out. As almost everyone with children knows, parenting is hard. Harder still when life throws you a curve ball and the curve ball for this family comes when, at three, Claude announces that along with being a chef, a cat, a vet, a dinosaur, a train, a farmer, a record player, a scientist, an ice-cream cone, a first baseman, or maybe the inventor of a new kind of food that tasted like chocolate ice cream but nourished like something his mother would say yes to for breakfast. When he grew up, he said, he wanted to be a girl. Rosie tries to put Claude’s proclamation into context. He is, after all, only three; precocious, sure, but still only three. As time goes on, though, Rosie and Penn discover that his playing ‘dress-up’ is not a passing phase. Claude tells his parents “I’m not usually.” Like any good parents, Rosie and Penn want their son to be happy and it turns out that what would make Claude happy is not to be Claude, but to be Poppy. Eventually that necessitates a move (to Seattle), some secret-keeping and the first real bump in the matrimonial road for the couple. I had a few little issues with this book. Not with Claude/Poppy’s story, really. And not with the writing, which was excellent, (although I did find that the book was over-written and often bogged the story down). I really wished that Frankel had spent a little bit more time demonstrating how Poppy’s reality impacted her brothers. Clearly, Roo struggled a little, but somehow it seemed as though we were expected to believe that all his issues were resolved…by magic? good parenting? I dunno. I also took issue with the end of the book. Rosie runs away with Poppy to a place where ladymen are no big deal, and somehow this experience rights everyone’s ship. By the time they return to the States, people who had been mean to Poppy have seen the error of their ways in a manner far beyond what might be expected of ten-year-olds. It’s all a little too happily-ever-after for me. All of this aside, though, I think This Is How It Always Is is a big-hearted book about a topic that is both timely and important. It’s worth a look. Book Chat2019, book club pick, Book Review, literary fiction I Stop Somewhere – TE Carter February 22, 2019 ChristieLeave a comment Ellie Frias, the narrator in TE Carter’s YA novel I Stop Somewhere, is an awkward teenager who wants to make a good impression when she starts high school. Ellie understands that “Pretty is power.” She’s never really fit in, but she is determined that when she starts high school, things will be different. Ellie lives with her single father on the wrong side of town. Her mother took off when she was just a baby and although she and her father have always been close, Ellie feels herself drifting away from him. She understands that he tries, but it isn’t enough, so Ellie turns to Kate, an older girl who lives in the house behind her. She needs guidance and she has no friends. I started school with the right clothes. My curves showed where they were supposed to but nowhere else, and Kate had helped me with my hair. We’d bleached two strips down the front and dyed them blue so the color framed my face. With my new T-shirts that were a testament to my apathy, I fit in by not caring about fitting in. Ellie does get the attention of Caleb Breward, a popular boy at school, whose father is an important figure in their town, Hollow Oaks. He tells her she’s cute and names her “Elusive Ellie.” Ellie is so desperate to be accepted and loved, that she doesn’t realize what a shark Caleb is. Or maybe she actually does know, but she finds a way to rationalize it. …I knew very little about Caleb Breward, and most of what I did know wasn’t great. It tried to show me all the days he’d passed me in the hall and wouldn’t look at me. My brain had a long list of amazing reasons I should have walked away, but Caleb’s closeness did things inside of me I didn’t know how to process. Carter manages to capture what it is to be an insecure girl with remarkable accuracy. What makes Caleb such a chilling character – and trust me, he’s way more awful than just being some douche who breaks a girl’s heart – is that he plays on Ellie’s insecurities. He hasn’t really got very much going for him other than an oily charm and a seemingly bullet-proof family. This is a novel about rape, victim-shaming and what it means to survive. I found I Stop Somewhere compelling and heart-breaking in equal measure. Book Chat2019, mature teen, YA In Real Life – Cory Doctorow & Jen Wang Although I really don’t know very much about gaming (my gaming experiences consist of playing PacMan and Asteroids at the local pin ball joint, and then a few years later staying up all night to play Scorched Earth), I do understand the appeal of an on-line persona. During my years in fandom, I had a fake name for all the fanfiction I wrote, and I met loads of other people (mostly women) who wrote fic in their spare time: mothers and teachers and lawyers and even a judge. While my persona was very much me, having met some of these ladies in real life, I know that many of them were more daring, outgoing, over-the-top online compared to the way they were in their every day lives. That aspect of Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang’s graphic novel In Real Life was familiar to me. Anda has recently moved from California to Arizona with her parents. She hasn’t really settled in, except with the boys who play D & D, and so when Liza McCombs shows up in her computer class to invite girls to play Coarsegold, a first person game for girls only, Anda jumps at the chance. (This is the point where I admit that I don’t really know much of anything about this sort of thing.) Anda creates an avatar, Kalidestroyer, befriends another player, Sarge. Sarge recruits Anda to “kill some guys.” (Virtually, of course.) The guys Sarge wants Kalidestroyer/Anda to kill are gold miners, players who “collect items for gold and sell the gold to other players for cash.” Someone who actually games will probably understand the mechanics of this better than I did, but eventually Anda comes across one of these gold farmers and instead of killing him, she starts to talk to him. Turns out, he’s a boy from China. Doctorow says in In Real Life ‘s Introduction that he hopes readers will “be inspired to dig deeper into the subject of behavioral economics and to start asking hard questions about how we end up with the stuff we own, what it costs our human brothers and sisters to make those goods, and why we think we need them.” Doctorow believes that while the Internet doesn’t necessarily solve the injustices of the world – which we can all agree are many – it “solves the first hard problem of righting wrongs: getting everyone together and keeping them together.” As Anda’s gaming life spills over into her real life, it’s easy to see the point Doctorow is making. This is a worthwhile book for gamers and anyone interested in justice. Book Chat2019, graphic novel, YA Off the shelf – Love stories Not all love stories are created equal. Sure, sometimes we want a squishy, feel-good tale of two people who can’t live without each other. But then, other times, we want something less happily-ever-after and more dangerous. So, I thought I’d offer up some Valentine’s Day reading suggestions both sweet and bitter – kind of like chocolate, really. What makes a good love story? The answers are varied, of course, but there are some classics qualities that turn up over and over. A really skilled writer can steer couples away from the clichés and into the sunset. PASSION – no one likes a wishy-washy love story. We want to read about characters that are ALL IN. Jane and Rochester from Jane Eyre. MEANT TO BE – That sense of the inevitable, there’s just no way they can’t be together. It’s written in the stars. Fated. Romeo and Juliet, for instance. MEANT TO BE, BUT CAN’T BE/ FORBIDDEN LOVE – This is one of my favourites. I love angst. Couples that are meant to be with each other, who are passionate, but – for a variety of reasons, just CAN’T be together. That’s my total jam. Buffy and Angel. MEET CUTE – some unusual way to throw our lovers together. Really great – okay, maybe I shouldn’t say ‘great’ – love stories find a way to hook our characters up, tug at their emotions (and hopefully ours) and make us feel all swoony or – heartbroken, I like that too – at the end. So here are a handful of LOVE stories, some traditional, some not so much, for your reading pleasure. YOU – Carolyn Kepnes Read this book if you like a side of psycho with your roses and chocolates. This first person narrative tells the story of NYC book store manager, Joe, who falls in love with a beautiful wannabe writer, Beck. This is an interesting thriller because Joe isn’t your garden variety psycho. He’s crazy, for sure, but he’s also crazy smart. He’s instantly smitten with Beck and he finds a way to insinuate himself into her life. He wants her and he won’t let anything prevent him from having her. This is a page turner that’s actually really well-written. You can watch the series on Netflix, too. It’s a pretty true-to-the-book adaptation. Sadie – Courtney Summers Okay, this is not a romance novel by ANY STRETCH, but I have to include it on this list because I think everyone should read Courtney Summers and this book is getting a ton of buzz. It’s the story of Sadie, a teen whose younger sister is murdered and the culprit is never caught. Sadie is pretty sure she knows who did it, and so she sets off to find him. Running parallel to her story is a true crime podcast about the crime. This is not a traditional love story, like it’s not boy meets girl, but it is about love…because Sadie puts her own life in jeopardy out of love for her sister. Starry Eyes – Jenn Bennett Of all the books on this list, Starry Eyes is likely the most traditional. It concerns 17-year-olds Zorie and Lennon. They’ve been in each other’s lives forever and things were just starting to heat up when it all fell apart. When the story starts, the two are barely speaking to each other. Then they end up on a hiking trip together and things between to thaw between them. As teenage love stories go, this one is well-written, with believable, imperfect characters that it’s almost impossible not the fall in love with…as they fall in love with each other. Simon versus the Homo Sapiens Agenda – Becky Albertalli This novel won lots of awards and praise and it is delightful in every possible way. Simon is 17. He’s amazing in every category: bright, self-aware and gay. He isn’t really out yet, but he has confided in Blue, a guy he’s met online. When another student stumbles upon Simon’s emails to Blue – too complicated to explain how that happens – and starts to blackmail Simon, life gets complicated. Watching Blue and Simon fall in love without meeting is pretty much the best thing ever. All the feels. Book Love by Debbie Tung This is an adorable book of comics all about the ways in which bibliophiles love their books. Tung is a writer/illustrator from Birmingham, England, and she has totally captured what it means to be in love with all things bookish. Never mind the candy, give your book-loving sweetheart this as a gift instead. Marie Kondo would definitely not endorse this book about buying/owning more books. That makes Ms. Kondo wrong, imho. Book Chat, On the Radio2019, CBC, interesting stuff Although it took the story a little while to get going, Jenn Bennett’s YA romance Starry Eyes ended up being a sweet love story with believable main characters. Seventeen-year-old Zorie lives with her father and stepmother in Melita Hills, California. Her parents own a health clinic, acupuncture and massage and the like. Sharing the building with them is Toys in the Attic, a sex shop owned by Sunny and Jane, married mothers to Lennon. Lennon and Zorie used to be besties. Childhood friends whose feelings for each other had crossed the line into something more complicated before Lennon ditched Zorie, without explanation, Before the homecoming dance. Now the two are barely speaking to each other. And Zorie’s father seems to have a total hate-on for Lennon and his moms now, too. It’s the summer before senior year and Zorie is in hard-core planning mode. She’s a planner because “Spontaneity is overrated.” When she is invited on a glamping trip (high end camping) with her “kind of, sort of friend” Reagan, she really doesn’t want to go. Her mother thinks it would be good for Zorie to go, though, and when Zorie finds out that Brett, “a minor celebrity in our school” will be going, Zorie agrees to go with. Zorie has been “nursing a crush on him since elementary school” and the two had exchanged one kiss at a party. There’s also the problem that Zorie has recently discovered that her father has been cheating on her mom and she needs some time to decide how to handle the discovery. Things get complicated when it turns out that Lennon is also going on the trip. The first third of the book sets up this premise, and it’s the part of the book that moved the most slowly for me. When I was done reading, I did understand why some of this set up was important, but for the me, the best part of the book was when Zorie and Lennon suddenly find themselves on their own in the woods. Being alone gives them a chance to talk, something the two hadn’t really done for a long time. There’s real energy between the pair, sexual energy, for sure, but also something more powerful: Zorie and Lennon clearly care very deeply for each other. As they walk through the woods, they talk. They are not distracted by the outside world and the solitude gives them time to reveal long-held wounds. Readers will root for Zorie and Lennon. These are imperfect teens, but they also felt real to me. There’s a beating heart at the centre of this romance. Book Chat2019, Book Review, mature teen, romance, YA Watching You – Lisa Jewell February 7, 2019 February 3, 2019 ChristieLeave a comment The current flavour-of-the-month in book stores these days seems to be duplicitous nannies or wives, unreliable narrators of all stripes, characters and plots that simply can’t be trusted. In my experience, books like this come with varying degrees of pedigree. But then there’s Lisa Jewell. Watching You is my third novel by this British writer. My first experience with Jewell was The Girls in the Garden and then I read I Found You. I always have another of her books waiting for me because I know I can depend on Jewell to deliver a cracking story, believable characters and a few unexpected twists. Watching You takes place in Melville Heights, a tony neighbourhood in Bristol. The cast of characters is varied. There’s screw-up Josephine (Joey), newly married to gorgeous lug, Alfie. The two have recently returned to Melville Heights and are living with Joey’s older brother, Jack, a heart surgeon and his wife, Rebecca, who is pregnant. Then there’s Tom Fitzwilliam and his wife, Nicola, and their son, Freddie. Tom’s the new headmaster at the local school. Then there’s Jenna Tripp and her mother. Everyone is watching everyone else in Melville Heights. Freddie spies on people from his bedroom window, keeping tabs on their comings and goings because “In the absence of any friends or any real desire to have friends, Freddie had spent the past year or so compiling a dossier called The Melville Papers.” Down below, Mrs. Tripp is doing the same and while Freddie’s surveillance seems a bit creepy, Mrs. Tripp is clearly paranoid. And Joey watches Tom Fitzwilliam. She can’t help it. Joey watched him walking back to his table. He wore a blue suit with a subtle check. The bottom buttons, she noticed, strained very gently against a slight softness and Joey felt a strange wave of pleasure, a sense of excitement about the unapologetic contours of his body, the suggestion of meals enjoyed and worries forgotten about over a bottle of decent wine. She found herself wanting to slide her fingers between those tensed buttons, to touch, just for a moment, the soft flesh beneath. The story opens with a murder, a gory stabbing, and as the stories of this disparate cast of characters unravels, we watch (through a series of police interviews) the clues start to build a case. But of course, this is Lisa Jewell – so nothing is ever as it seems. They say you can never really know someone, and I think Jewell uses that premise to her advantage here. Who are these people? What are there motives? Where are their loyalties? I had zero problem turning the pages. Ultimately, at the end of a book like this, you want to feel satisfied with the resolution. The red herrings have to be plausible at least. I like to try to figure things out along the way, and I don’t like it when the plot drives off the cliff of ridiculous. No chance of that here. Jewell masterfully manages all the players, even those with only a minor role to play. Watching You is a great book to curl up with on these cold winter nights. Book Chat2019, Book Review, favourite authors, mystery, psychological suspense Foe – Iain Reid Foe is my second novel by Canadian writer Iain Reid. I read I’m Thinking of Ending Things a couple of summers ago. I found that book deeply unsettling. And clever. Foe is well… deeply unsettling and clever. Junior and his wife, Henrietta, Hen for short, live a sort of isolated existence out in the country. It’s just the two of them, so the arrival of a man, Terrance, is strange because as Junior remarks: “We don’t get visitors. Never have. Not out here.” Terrance has come to tell Junior that he’s made OuterMore’s long list. We’re an organization formed more than six decades ago. We started in the driverless automobile sector. Our fleet of self-driving cars was the most efficient and safest in the world. Our mandate changed over the years, and today it is very specific. We’ve moved out of the auto sector and into aerospace, exploration, and development. We’re working toward the next phase of transition. Junior has been selected to go to space as part of The Installation, “the first wave of temporary resettlement.” Junior isn’t all that chuffed, but Terrance is pretty excited on his behalf. It’s not a done deal yet, of course, and Terrance will have to make several visits over the coming months because if he is chosen, Hen will be provided with a companion – someone who looks and talks and acts just like Junior; someone who is 3D printed just for her – to stay with her while her husband is gone. When Terrance actually moves into their house to collect data (although even that is vague enough to cause Junior unease), Junior starts to feel his marriage unraveling. Hen is distant and secretive. The structure of their very ordered lives starts to crumble. Junior becomes more paranoid. It won’t be long before you, too, will be wondering just what in the heck is going on. You’ll be swept along by Reid’s unfussy prose and metaphysical questions. Junior tries to remember his life before Hen, but his life “was unremarkable, unmemorable.” We only get so much mental space in which to store our memories, and there’s no reason for me to waste it on what came before. Reid builds on these questions of identity and memory, while also creating an ominous atmosphere. I love unreliable narrators, and Reid is especially good at writing them. Reid is definitely an author to keep your eye on. Book Chat2019, Canadian, literary fiction, psychological suspense Skim – Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki I am surrounded by teenagers every day and their world seems difficult to me, more difficult than I remember my adolescence. There was no social media back then. We hung out, gathering at someone’s house on Friday night to play Trivial Pursuits and drink Pop Shoppe soda. We had dances where you’d just pray not to be asked to slow dance with some geeky guy, especially for the last dance, which was always “Stairway to Heaven” – longest song on the planet. My locker was covered with pictures of Robby Benson. The drama happened in the girls’ bathroom and the bullying happened in person. We talked for hours on the phone…which was in the kitchen, so your end of the conversation could be heard by pesky brothers and eavesdropping moms. It’s always interesting to read about young people because even though I feel so far removed from those years (my 40th high school reunion happens this summer!), their lives are fascinating to me. A really good YA novel can capture the essence of what it is to be young and send me spinning back to my own fraught teenage years. Skim, the award-winning graphic novel by the cousin team of Mariko Tamaki (writer) and Jillian Tamaki (illustrator), unspools the life of sixteen-year-old Kimberly Keiko Cameron aka Skim as she navigates friendships, crushes, school, suicide and depression. Like with their graphic novel This One Summer, the Tamakis zero in on what it is to be young and to cope with all the shit life often throws at you. Skim’s parents are divorced. She’s interested in wicca and tarot cards and her English and drama teacher, Mrs. Archer, who is “always saying weird stuff like – I’m telling you girls. You might think different, but chocolate is better than sex.” Skim relates to Mrs. Archer because she considers herself a bit of a freak, too. The simple black and white illustrations capture the essence of high school life; the constant navigating and negotiating that comes with being a young person. Skim is thoughtful and fragile, but there is a toughness to her that allows the reader to believe that she will survive. You couldn’t pay me money to be a teenager. All those hormones. All that heartache. Still, there is something about this period in your life that is pretty amazing. All that potential. All those feelings so close to the surface. Skim manages to capture that beautifully and Skim’s story will resonate with anyone…well, anyone. Because we were all young once and if you are young now – then at least part of Skim’s story is your story, too. Book Chat2019, award winner, graphic novel, YA teen

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: I have been having abdominal pain in the LLQ and in left ovary area and radiates up right across from my naval on the left side. It is very painful if I lift, strain or push on the area. Even if I lean up against the counter in the kitchen it hurts real bad. I do have a hx of ovarian cyst that grow to be quite large, but have never had the pain radiate up my stomach before. output: Hellenes, pain may be related to ovarian cyst. You need ultrasound of abdomen so that present size of cyst and its current status can be known. Ultrasound can also exclude other possibilities of pain abdomen. You may need CA 125 estimation and contrast CT scan of abdomen. If symptoms are due to ovarian cyst the surgical removal can be considered. Treatment depend upon findings. You should consult gynecologist. Get well soon.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: I fell 3 months ago hard on my knee I went to emergency because the pain was bad there where no broken bones but its now 3 months later and there is numbness on a spot on my knee and I can not put too much pressure with out it being uncomfortable.If its not broke whats wrong with it? there is numbness in my knee? output: Hi Dear,Welcome to HCM.Understanding your concern. As per your query you have numbness in your knee. Well there can be many reasons for symptoms you mention in query like diabetes mellitus , peripheral neuropathy , raynaud's disease , peripheral vascular disease , buerger's disease , nerve compression or injury . I would suggest you to consult orthopedic surgeon for proper examination . Doctor may order CT scan , MRI or physical examination by checking the movement . Doctor may prescribe muscle relaxant along with anti inflammatory and nerve supplement . Doctor may also recommend physical therapy or surgery in severe damage . For now apply warm compresses thrice day and give your knee proper rest . Hope your concern has been resolved.Get Well Soon..

Join the Fight for Reproductive Justice! Like many of you, I am enraged and overwhelmed by the recent abortion bans. The politicians who have proposed and passed these bills are certainly not pro-life; if they were, they would instead be passing bills to increase access to prenatal care, to address the horrific fact that women of color in the United States are 2 to 6 times more likely to die from complications of pregnancy than white women, and to allot more money for social services for new parents, such as paid parental leave, affordable childcare, lactation support, and postpartum doulas. In fact, these recent bills, with inclusions like limiting birth control options and mandating scientifically impossible surgeries, aren’t even focused on ending abortion. If that were the true motive here, we would instead be seeing legislation that addresses the root cause of abortion: unwanted pregnancy. But addressing this root cause would require acknowledging the fact that pregnancy happens only when a man’s semen is ejaculated into a woman’s body. Women can’t get pregnant from their own orgasms. Women can’t even get pregnant from having intercourse with men. Women can only get pregnant from men ejaculating inside of them. But how dare I suggest the passing of any kind of law that would regulate a penis? So no, the intention is not to support life nor end abortion. The intention – which is being shouted loudly and clearly and with pride – is to control women, especially women of color, and to overturn Roe v Wade. It feels like a war has been waged on us. But now is not the time to give in to anxiety and hopelessness. There are fierce people on the ground across these key states taking huge risks to fight back and do the work. We must support them. Here are some organizations and clinics to consider donating to or volunteering for: NARAL – nationwide but heavily involved in GA, OH, and AL Planned Parenthood – providing essential health services to women at low costs across the country, plus here’s a link to their “Get Involved” page which recommends other great actions to take NYAAF – based in NY but helps women across the US find access to providers National Network of Abortion Funds – nationwide, provides funding for abortions and transportation to offices and clinics Women’s Health West Virginia – one of the few, maybe the only, women’s clinic in WV that provides abortion services KY Health Justice Network – developed by women and people of color, providing support, education and outreach to Kentuckians to build reproductive justice, and includes services geared towards transpeople Arc Southeast – provides support (financial assistance, lodging, travel) to those in need of reproductive care of all types, in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee Another great way to fight back is to support progressive women running for office in the middle and southern states. You can donate and volunteer for campaigns even from the other side of the world. Here are some names to keep up with as they run for reelection or office for the first time: Stacey Abrams (GA; pictured) – narrowly (and suspiciously) lost the election for GA governor, she’s amazing and definitely one to follow, the best way to keep up with her right now is on Twitter Kelsey Coots (KY) – ran for KY State Auditor but lost the primary, we are now awaiting her next move Lauren Underwood (IL) – recently elected to US House of Reps, let’s keep her there Amy McGrath (KY) – not running right now but narrowly lost in 2018 and is expected to run for something in 2020 (maybe a McConnell opponent??) Brigid Kelly (OH) – current representative in Ohio’s state house, let’s keep her there Also stay tuned to Emily’s List, a great organization working to get pro-choice, Democratic women into offices across the country. While there is plenty of work to do, please remember to take care of yourself. For many of us, this war on women is frightening and triggering. But we have to be in it for the long haul, through the 2020 election and beyond, which means pacing ourselves and practicing self care every step along the way. If reading the news feels like too much, don’t read it. Instead, if you’re financially able, consider setting up a monthly donation to one of the above organizations so that you can contribute regularly to the fight without stressing yourself out. And if you need to check out for a day, a week, a month, do it. But please, come back ready. 1. Reproductive Justice, taken from Reflections Journal 2. KY Health Justice Network logo 3. Stacey Abrams, by Audra Melton Posted in Education & Activism and tagged abortion, access, act up, activism, equality, Planned Parenthood, pro-choice, racism, reproductive justice, reproductive rights, sexism, women's rights on May 2019 by Becky Fine-Firesheets. Leave a comment We call ourselves progressive, but what are we actually doing to progress our society toward a more just and equal future? Too many children across our country open their history textbooks to a page like the one pictured above. I understand that most parents want to protect their children’s innocence for as long as possible, but when we use language like “brought millions of workers” to teach our kids about this country’s history – about the way white people kidnapped people of color, stole them from their homes and forced them to work in brutal conditions for masters who committed horrible atrocities against them – we are not protecting our children’s innocence. We are not making them safer. We are not helping them. Instead, this language – this lie – is protecting, saving, and helping white supremacy. And in teaching these lies over and over, we have created generations of adults who don’t understand how our history connects to our present, how the fact that our country was established on the idea that white people are inherently better than everyone else means that our black and brown neighbors are still being systematically oppressed and murdered. I’m not saying we need to share every gruesome detail with our eight-year-old kids. But we do need to tell them the truth in terms that they can process. Let’s start with “enslaved people” instead of “workers,” for example, and “stole” instead of “brought.” I understand the desire to present our children with a world full of peace and love, but instead of pretending like that’s true, let’s make it true. Right now, eight-year-old children of color are being forcefully separated from their parents. They are starving in cells where they’re held without reason. They are witnessing the violent shootings of their fathers and uncles, often committed by police officers who are supposed to be protecting them. Compared to this reality, using words like “enslaved people” and “stolen” when talking to young white children is nothing. The fact that we recently elected such a diverse Congress filled with various races, ethnicities, religions, genders, and sexual orientations is thrilling to me. Representation matters, and voting for these candidates was huge. I do believe our children will benefit positively from growing up with this. But y’all, we have so much more to do! Voting in diverse people was step one. Now we need to demand legislation to end gerrymandering and reform our election processes – two ways in which the U.S. government currently operates against BIPOC (Black and Indigenous People of Color). We need to call the principals at our kids’ schools and review the way slavery and race relations is taught. We need to write emails to textbook publishers and explain why pages like the one above are not acceptable. In an age where so many of us are always on our phones, there’s no excuse for not regularly calling, emailing, or posting on social media about these issues. Original t-shirt available now at Black on Black. We also need to recognize that while these actions are important, altering our system from within isn’t enough. In order to be true allies, we need to put our bodies and our money where our tweets are. We need to show up at Black Lives Matter protests, patron local businesses run by BIPOC, donate to their organizations, read their books, visit their art exhibits, buy their music. Don’t think of these efforts as a one-and-done situation, but rather plan out how you can incorporate this into your regular routine. Maybe Sunday brunch can be at a local, black-owned restaurant like Daleview Biscuits and Beer. Or maybe all your friends can get birthday presents from a company like Black on Black. Or maybe instead of going to the same club every Saturday, you can try a new place featuring DJs of color. Taking action doesn’t have to feel like work. But you know what does, and probably should, feel like work? The self-analyzation that needs to come along with these external acts. Healing our country requires that we white people look honestly inside ourselves, that we dig deep to figure out what’s buried in there from our own childhoods. A good starting point is to think back to what you were taught about the discovery of our country, our founding fathers, slavery, Jim Crow, lynching, and/or the Great Migration. What did your textbooks say? Hell, I wasn’t taught about Jim Crow or the Great Migration in school, but when I think back to my elementary social studies classes, lessons on slavery were definitely brief and always ended with how Abraham Lincoln, a white man, was a savior. Lessons on our founding fathers similarly focused on their positive traits, how they were strong, smart, and brave. And the pilgrims were to be heralded as the bravest of all because they fled persecution in their homeland, found a new home, fought for it, and flourished. Now, let’s reframe these lessons using more honest words. For example, the pilgrims didn’t just fight for their new home, they actually committed genocide, or, “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group” – i.e., the Native Americans. And our founding fathers may have been strong, smart, and brave in some ways, but they were also terrorists, as in, they “advocated and practiced the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion.” Diving further into Merriam Webster, terror is defined as, “violent and destructive acts committed by groups in order to intimidate a population or government into granting their demands.” What was slavery if not violent and destructive acts – beatings, lynchings, rapes – committed by groups of white people in order to intimidate a population of black people into granting their demands to work the fields, cook dinner, clean the house, have sex, etc? For many of us, this process feels wrong. It goes against everything we’ve been taught, and it feels blasphemous to think this way about George Washington, our great American hero. But we can’t let our discomfort keep us from doing the work – remember, BIPOC are still being systematically murdered because we white people don’t want to feel uncomfortable about the reality of our country’s history. Instead of running from or explaining away our feelings, we need to be in and examine them. No one is saying you owned slaves or committed genocide. We so easily get defensive and start tossing around blame instead of being in our own emotions. The wrong-doing here isn’t the act of applying the word “terrorist” to our founding fathers. What’s wrong is that we’ve been taught to worship these white men while ignoring the rest of history. We as a country have never implemented a collective practice to reconcile our past with our present, to decolonize our society, to dismantle white supremacy. In fact, we celebrate it! And because we’ve never truly addressed what our white forefathers did to the African Americans and indigenous people, much less tried to amend it, we are incapable of fully addressing and amending what is currently being done to these populations. Eighteen-year-old Nia Wilson died on July 22, 2018 after her throat was slashed in a hate crime. Sure, we’ve outlawed slavery (except in prisons, which are disproportionately filled with black people working for little to no pay), we’ve granted people of color the right to vote (then created tons of obstructions to purposefully block them), we’ve passed the Civil Rights act (then did not enforce it), but these amendments have been treated as an end rather than a beginning – a measly beginning, at that. And now here we are, feeling defensive and claiming “not me,” or “I’m one of the good ones,” or “It’s not fair to lump all white people into the same category,” basically refusing to get past our own egos, insisting that our immediate reaction is more important than whatever anyone else may feel, thus blocking ourselves from truly examining how we benefit from and even contribute to white supremacy, no matter how unintentional it may be. And because so many of us white people keep getting stuck here, people of color keep getting murdered. No, I am not the one who shot Maurice E. Stallard and Vickie Lee Jones in a Kroger store while yelling racist slurs, nor am I the one who stabbed Nia Wilson to death in her car. But I am a part of a society that allows this to happen. I am a part of the race that perpetrates it. And as long as so many of us continue to deny our role, nothing will change. It’s okay to be ignorant. It’s okay to not understand. But it’s not okay to stay like that. Our kids are watching us – all of us, including those who aren’t parents. We have the resources and the power to change things, so please, let’s do the work and make some real progress toward a better future. Resources for Learning More and Taking Action: Find out what district you live in and which politicians represent you so that you can start making those calls and sending those tweets. Instagram Accounts to Follow: Hurray for the Riff Raff 1. McGraw Hill textbook via Diversity Inc. 2. Black on Black original design. 3. Nia Wilson via CNN. Writer’s note: A previous version of this post used the word “slaves” instead of “enslaved people.” I have since learned about the phrase “enslaved people” and prefer it to “slaves,” as it demonstrates the idea that slavery was done to a person rather than the idea that a person’s identify was being a slave. However, others feel that “enslaved people” is too polished, and that it glosses over the dehumanizing experience of slavery. Yet another testament to the importance of language. Posted in Brain-Picking Becky, Education & Activism and tagged activism, anti racism, BIPOC, diversity, education, equality, gerrymandering, history, justice, language, oppression, progress, progressive, race, racism, reform, slavery, social justice on March 2019 by Becky Fine-Firesheets. Leave a comment Did you know that toothbrushes are immortal? Unlike human beings, plastic toothbrushes keep on living even underneath tons of pounds of garbage. They keep on living even inside the bellies of dead dolphins. They keep on living even as they float all the way across the ocean until they wash up on Taiwanese beaches. Then, they keep on living even after they’ve become sculptures in the sand. — ◊ — The past six months have tried to end me. The life I once lived in which I wrote, mothered, taught, sang, performed, took politic action, and somehow also relaxed, has been shattered. Instead of making art, going out, or sleeping, I’ve learned firsthand about anencephaly, the gray area of sexual harassment, and municipal regulations on basement apartments. I’ve dealt with wild hormonal swings. I’ve worked my ass off for a job I was promised that ultimately didn’t exist, then found myself in an uncomfortable situation when I said no more. I’ve packed, moved, unpacked, re-packed, re-moved, and re-unpacked – all with a cat, two dogs, and a busy-bee toddler who recently dropped nap. I’ve never felt this much rage before, and while it has cracked me open in important ways, it has also shaken me to my core. My mind has raced in circles. My muscles have morphed into a single knot of tension. And my anxiety, after eighteen years of treatment, has found a new way to express itself: my throat is clenched tight, leaving my voice strained and hoarse, my neck and teeth throbbing with each heartbeat. Did you know that bamboo is the fastest-growing plant in the word? It is also one of the sneakiest. Its roots can run underground for over twenty feet before popping up again as a new shoot, called a culm. These culms then grow up to three feet a day for the next 120 years, sending their own runners out to sprout in surprising, faraway places. Three to five years after its initial sprouting, a culm can then be harvested and transformed into basically anything: food, medicine, toys, rugs, clothes, bikes, houses, roads, bridges. In fact, bamboo can withstand twice as much force as concrete, and can hold up to 16 tons of weight. It can also cure cancer. Becoming a mom has turned my home into a plastic palace. I look around the living room of my new new apartment, a place I hope will last much longer than the three months we spent in our illegal new apartment, and identify eleven items that will never die. The bathroom isn’t any better. Three toothbrushes stick out from inside a plastic cup. A plastic bin filled with plastic toys is propped precariously on the lip of the tub. I move it to the floor, out of sight, then run hot water for a bath, but as I soak my stress-induced hemorrhoids and eat the M&Ms intended to aid in my toddler’s potty regression, I can’t relax; plastic is still very much on my mind. Also on my mind: pregnant women who’ve been denied access to proper health care, immigrants who’ve been detained for going to work, animals whose homes have been destroyed by loggers. I lament my now inactive Quick Action email list, my abandoned blog, the phone calls to senators I never placed. The enormous task of surviving my day-to-day has been all consuming, and while the depths of my strength have truly amazed and buoyed me up, I also feel like a failure of an activist. Did you know that toothbrush bristles were once made from boar hair? Of course they contained loads of unhealthy bacteria, not to mention the moral issue of how these pigs were treated before they became tooth-brushing tools, yet, because animal hair is biodegradable and nylon is not, this is the only completely decomposable option presented thus far. There are scientists out there who have dedicated their entire careers toward dissecting the greater impact of a single bristle. I think of these people doing this work, and I feel the knot inside of me loosen a little. I’ve always approached my activism from the angle of who needs it the most, but for the first time, I’m now approaching it from the angle of what I can most reasonably do. I am not ready to jump back into the strict schedule that once worked for me, and perhaps I never will be, perhaps that life wasn’t sustainable with or without my recent crises. But either way, here I am, dealing with effects of events that, though they’ve calmed, are still very much present: an unfulfilled due date, a static career and lingering sense of violation, an unresolved case with the Department of Buildings. I will never solve all of the world’s problems. I will never even solve all of my own problems. But as I hold my recently purchased bamboo toothbrush and move its brand new form of bristles around my teeth, I realize, I don’t have to. You can buy your own set of bamboo toothbrushes by clicking here. And if you need some more motivation to start the long process of giving up plastic, check out Margaret Atwood’s compelling piece in the Guardian. Encyclopedia Britannica: Bamboo Bamboo Facts Bamboo Herb Brush with Bamboo The Bamboo Solution 15 Creative Uses of Bamboo 1. Flotsam and Jetsam by F Delventhal 2. Bamboo by Serlunar Posted in Brain-Picking Becky, Education & Activism and tagged abortion, activism, anencephaly, anti-Trump, bamboo, careers, chromosomal disorders, education, environment, grief, health, humanity, jobs, mental health, miscarriage, mother, motherhood, pain, plastic, plastic-free, politics, sexism, sexual harassment, strength, sustainability, toddler, toothbrushes, truth on May 2018 by Becky Fine-Firesheets. Leave a comment

Checking into Trump’s Washington hotel Co-produced with Checking in to Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel. Credit: Photo illustration by Gabriel Hongsdusit/Reveal Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Stitcher Spotify RadioPublic RSS In 2016, the Justice Department alleged that Malaysian officials stole billions of dollars from their people and funneled some of it through the United States. Reveal teamed up with Washington, D.C., public radio station WAMU to dig into one of the largest investigations ever by the Justice Department’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative. It’s a tale that features cameos from Leonardo DiCaprio, Donald Trump, the world’s largest yacht, a Malaysian playboy known for his lavish spending in New York nightclubs and – as you might imagine – lots of Champagne. This week's show was produced by Amy Walters and edited by Deb George. Lance Williams and Matt Smith helped out on today's show. Special thanks to Patrick Madden at WAMU and Reveal's Katharine Mieszkowski for help with fact-checking. Original score and sound design by Jim Briggs and Fernando Arruda. Support for Reveal is provided by the Reva and David Logan Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The John S. And James L. Knight Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation and the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. Reveal is a co-production of The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX. Reveal transcripts are produced by a third-party transcription service and may contain errors. Please be aware that the official record for Reveal's radio stories is the audio. Section 1 of 3 [00:00:00 - 00:18:04] (NOTE: speaker names may be different in each section) Al Letson: From the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, this is Reveal. I'm Al Letson. I remember when I was a kid my family loved to play Monopoly and I was ruthless. In fact, I don't play with my kids now because, well I would crush them under my heels. It's not exactly the type of modeling I want to give my kids, 'cause when I play a game like Monopoly I have to win. King of the World, or at least of Atlantic City. I want to grab everything for myself. All the money, all the power, everything. In real life, that kind of drive for power and money can corrupt and if the wrong people get in the right position they can turn government bank accounts into their personal ATM. Turns out there's word for it, kleptocracy. It means ruled by thieves. But you don't have to be king of the world to be a kleptocrat. You can be a king or a prime minister, or a president. The story we're telling today is about one of the United States biggest kleptocracy investigations. Loretta Lynch: The largest single action ever brought by the department's kleptocracy asset recovery initiative. The Department of Justice is determined to prevent the American financial system from being used as a conduit for corruption. Al Letson: This caper is world-wide and features Leonardo DiCaprio, one of the worlds biggest yachts, lots of champaign, allegations of a massive money laundering network, and a penthouse suite at Trump International Hotel and Tower. A penthouse that belonged to Donald Trump. Patrick Madden, our reporting partner at WAMU in Washington ran straight into it, right there on Pennsylvania Avenue, outside of President Donald Trump's hotel. Patrick worked with our reporter, Amy Walters, on the story. Patrick Madden: It's Tuesday, September 12th. I'm outside the Trump Hotel in downtown DC and it's a little after noon right now and there's about five or six black SUVs that have Malaysian flags in the windows of the car. It looks to be part of some sort of motorcade. Amy Walters: The Malaysian flag on these trucks looks a lot like the American one. Red and white strips, but on the upper left there's only one star and a crescent moon. Patrick Madden: I'm going to try to find out some more information here about whether or not these government officials are staying at the hotel. It would appear to be, because last night I saw the same trucks here. They left at one point but obviously they're back here and they're parked in the same place, right outside the front lobby to the Trump International Hotel. Excuse me, hi, are you guys with the Malaysian government? Malaysian: Oh yes, yes. Patrick Madden: Are you guys staying at the Trump Hotel? Malaysian: Yes, yes. Amy Walters: These two officials were in an entourage of dozens, more than 60 guests including Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah. They crossed into the lobby of President Trump's landmark hotel. Patrick Madden: How do you like it? Malaysian: Oh it's a very good place. Patrick Madden: Good place? So, Amy and I had been by Trump's hotel a few times trying to figure out who was spending money there. Looking around you'll see the Trump base in their red "Make American Great Again" trucker hats settled up to the bar next to these people in Italian suits and fancy shoes. Amy Walters: If you come here you might run into the President. He'll occasionally stop by for a steak dinner. But why did this Malaysian entourage book rooms here? We weren't the only ones asking that question. Sarah Huckabee: We certainly don't book their hotel accommodations, so I couldn't speak to the personal decision they made about where to stay here in DC. Patrick Madden: That's Sarah Huckabee Sanders the White House press secretary a little later that day. She got a little defensive fielding the same question we had at the daily briefing, but this one reporter kept on it. Amy Walters: He asked if she thought that they were spending money at the Trump Hotel to curry favor. Her answer was brief. Sarah Huckabee: No, I don't. Amy Walters: The Malaysians Patrick bumped into outside the hotel seemed a little friendlier and they had their own reason why they chose the Trump Hotel. Patrick Madden: What do you like about it? Malaysian: Very good meeting place. Amy Walters: They were right about the hotel being convenient. President Trump: Mr. Prime Minister, it's a great honor to have you in the United States and in the White House. Patrick Madden: The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, was part of their entourage and was meeting with President Trump at the White House that same day, just a few blocks from the hotel. PM Razak: Thank you very much, Mr. President, for your invitation for me and members of my delegation to meet with you at the White House. Amy Walters: And the meeting went great. Patrick Madden: At lease Najib said so at a press conference later. PM Razak: The whole trip has been, I would say, stress free. I was very happy to be received by the President at this date. He received me not as prime minister but as a friend. Patrick Madden: That was a little weird. Amy Walters: Yeah, it was really weird. Because remember that kleptocracy investigation? The prime minister of Malaysia is right in the middle of it. Patrick Madden: See, a year earlier Loretta Lynch, the then attorney general under the Obama administration, laid it all out. Loretta Lynch: Today the Department of Justice has filed a civil complaint associated with an international conspiracy to launder funds stolen from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, a company wholly owned by the government of Malaysia. Patrick Madden: Malaysia Development Berhad was an investment fund started in 2009 by Prime Minister Najib with government money and the Malaysian people were told it would create opportunities for them. Amy Walters: People hoped it would make the country more successful. Loretta Lynch: But unfortunately, sadly, tragically, a number of corrupt 1MBD officials treated this public trust as a personal bank account. Now, our complaint alleges that from 2009 through 2015 these officials and their associates conspired to misappropriate and launder billions of dollars from 1MDB. Amy Walters: Lynch and her team at the Justice Department were determined to recover the alleged stolen money, at least what was funneled through the US. Patrick Madden: This was a huge announcement but you may have missed it. A lot of people did. Amy Walters: Because it was July 20th 2016. President Trump: Thank you. Thank you very much. Amy Walters: And a day earlier, the Republican Party had announced the Presidential nomination of Donald J. Trump. President Trump: Friends, delegates, and fellow Americans, I humbly and gratefully accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States. Amy Walters: Fast forward, Trump's elected president. Patrick Madden: Prime Minister Najib books a stay at Trump's Washington DC hotel and meets with President Trump, but why? Amy Walters: Why was he staying at Trump Hotel? Why was he meeting with Trump? Why was he in the middle of this investigation? Patrick Madden: We decided to call Malaysia to see what we could find out. Cynthia Gabriel: Is he there? Alright, I can hear you better than Amy. Al Letson: When we come back, Amy and Patrick find out what the Prime Minister of Malaysia might want from President Trump and why the Malaysian people are afraid to speak out. There will also be a cameo by Leonardo DiCaprio and lots of cash. Speaker 1: You know what a fugasi is? Speaker 2: Fugasi, it's fake. Speaker 1: Fugasi is a wazi, it's a woozy, it's a ... Speaker 2: Fairy dust. Patrick Madden: Was all this legal? Absolutely not. Al Letson: Coming up on Reveal for the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX. Byard Duncan: Hi folks. Byard Duncan here from Reveal. I'm here to tell you about a really cool opportunity we have coming up and I'm going to bring in a friend to help me do it. Alonz Stevens: Hello. Byard Duncan: This is Alonz Stevens. Alonz Stevens: I am a reporter at KEP Austin's NPR Public Radio station. Byard Duncan: Alonz is also a former Reveal investigative fellow. I asked him is it something he'd recommend to other journalists. Alonz Stevens: Oh yeah, yeah, for sure. I went from like kind of a scrappy investigative reporter to, now I'm known as kind of this lean mean investigative reporting machine. You know I have people coming to me all the time for training, to help them out of binds of public information or just to put some teeth on their investigative stories. Byard Duncan: Applications are due April 19th. To find out more and to apply online, just go to RevealNews.org/fellowship. Again, that's RevealNews.org/fellowship. Al Letson: From the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX this is Reveal. I'm Al Letson. We're spending this hour looking at one of the Justice Departments biggest kleptocracy investigations. Started as a civil forfeiture under the Obama administration and is now a criminal investigation under President Trump. Reveals Amy Walters and Patrick Madden from Washington DC's WAMU started reporting this story last September when President Trump met with the Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak. While he was in Washington, Prime Minister Najib and his delegation stayed at Trump's hotel. Now you're probably thinking, why is this a big deal? Foreign leaders go to the White House all the time. Well the difference here is that the US Department of Justice was investigating what happened to money stolen from a Malaysian state fund begun by Prime Minister Najib. The DOJ alleges that a certain high ranking official in the Malaysian government, widely reported to be Najib, had hundreds of millions transferred into his own bank account. It's a claim Najib consistently denies. Malaysia's attorney general cleared him of those charges but a lot of Malaysians aren't pleased. Malaysian: Our government, our leaders are not doing their job. They are only fulfilling their pockets. Al Letson: When word spread that billions were allegedly stolen from this fund, people got upset. There were huge demonstrations. Malaysian: These protesters are directing their anger at one man, Prime Minister Najib Razak. He's been facing allegations of mismanaging a state fund called 1MDB, and also for allegedly taking public money. Al Letson: What does a kleptocracy mean for Malaysians and what does all of this have to do with Prime Minister Najib's visit with President Trump? That's what Amy and Patrick wanted to find out. Amy Walters: Hello? Cynthia Gabriel: Yeah, okay, all right, so maybe Amy just says speak a little slower and then it'll be fine. Amy Walters: Can you hear me? Cynthia Gabriel: Okay. Patrick Madden: That's Amy and me trying to dial up Cynthia Gabriel in Kuala Lumpur. She's a Malaysian human rights advocate and she's trying to get back the money that was supposedly stolen from the Malaysian people. Cynthia Gabriel: It shocked the entire nation here in Malaysia. It shocked a lot of people here. We're talking about 4.5 billion US dollars being stolen, and that's huge. Amy Walters: The Malaysian currency, the ringgit, dropped in value and news reports say the 1MDB scandal was part of the reason why. Cynthia Gabriel: A lot of burden is placed on the Malaysian people to actually pay for the burden of the corruption of the political leadership. Patrick Madden: But it's not just Malaysian leadership. Cynthia Gabriel: It was actually being facilitated by a massive industry out there, which includes banks, lawyers, and so on and so forth, to actually facilitate money laundering and dirty money to be scrubbed, to be made clean, and how the United States was actually being used as a hub for buying property in Los Angeles, New York, and that's huge. Patrick Madden: Cynthia's accusations are outlined in the Justice Department's complaints. Amy Walters: She came here to the US last year to accept a human rights award for her work fighting corruption. She'd originally studied chemistry and wanted to be a scientist. She never thought this is something she'd be doing full time. Listening to Cynthia talk on Skype now, she sounds very calm, very matter of fact talking about officials allegedly stealing from the Malaysian people. Patrick Madden: But what she's doing is a really dangerous job. She says the government has already taken her passport. Amy Walters: There's another threat, she says. Cynthia Gabriel: Yeah, yeah, for my citizenship to be revoked. Amy Walters: Cynthia's not alone. She says that several protesters who accused the Prime Minister of corruption ended up in jail. Cynthia Gabriel: Then there was a deputy public prosecutor who was on the case that was murdered mysteriously. Although there's no evidence directly to link him with the 1MDB but the timing, the fact that he was working on 1MDB case and his mysterious murder, I mean he was found in an oil drum, just sent shivers down people's spine. Amy Walters: The Malaysian government denies the prosecutor was involved in any investigation of 1MDB, but there have been efforts to crack down on criticism. Just this month the parliament passed something they call an anti-fake news bill. It carries a maximum sentience of six years in prison for anyone reporting news which is "wholly or partly false." Critics say it will allow the government to silence people questioning the prime minister about his connection to the 1MDB scandal. So to Cynthia, the US Justice Department's ongoing investigation into 1MDB, it's a rare source of hope. Cynthia Gabriel: I really hope the DOJ will not disappoint the Malaysian people even more, or the global community for that matter. Amy Walters: But when news broke in Malaysia that their Prime Minister would be visiting the White House while the investigation was going on, and staying at the Trump Hotel ... Cynthia Gabriel: It certainly raised eyebrows and it's like, how much? You know. That was the first question on everyone's mind and why Trump Hotel. Because the Trump Hotel is an active business property of President Trump so why stay at the Trump Hotel? To obviously curry favor from President Trump. Patrick Madden: This meeting wasn't a one-off. Najib and Trump had golf together at Trump's New Jersey country club in 2014 before Trump was president. Trump signed a photograph of the two of them calling Najib my favorite prime minister. The truth is, Najib has a habit of courting US heads of state. He's hit the links with President Obama as well. Amy Walters: But Najib's meeting with Trump at the White House and the stay over at the Trump Hotel was different. The way Cynthia explains it, Najib was using this latest date in their bromance to show the world he's not a crook. Cynthia Gabriel: It was very important for the Malaysian Prime Minister to have this meeting to actually show the Malaysian people that "Hey I'm not a wanted man in the United States contrary to what everyone else is saying." Amy Walters: The price for a night at the Trump Hotel hovers around $550 dollars on the low end. There were more than 60 guests. Some just spent one night, others were booked for over a week. Adding it all up, the total hovers around $100,000 not accounting for any sort of group discount. But it wasn't just the hotel bill. Patrick Madden: More money went to a lobbying group to help get Malaysian officials meetings with officials in Washington DC. Amy Walters: Patrick and I went on an urban adventure in downtown DC to find out who was paying for that. Patrick Madden: I mean talk about non-descript right. Amy Walters: I don't even see any signs on here. That was like a piece of paper taped to the window. Despite the lack of signage, we found what we were looking for. Patrick Madden: Hi, we're looking for the [Feron 00:16:38]. Amy Walters: The foreign agent registration office. Patrick Madden: It is not exactly one of DC's great monuments. Amy Walters: No. It's a tiny little ground floor office not far from the capital, but it's a lot more powerful than it looks. Patrick Madden: Exactly. Foreign governments wanting to lobby the US to spend money, to try to get us to do what they want, have to go through this office. It's a firewall against an invasion of foreign influence in the United States. Amy Walters: We can record all the [inaudible 00:17:07] pulling the records? Patrick Madden: No recording, but we were able to grab some of the information we were looking for. We came out of the office armed with a very small handful of papers. Amy Walters: We couldn't really wait to see the forms, so we kind of nerded out here. Instead of heading back to the office, we popped into a restaurant next door and had a look. There it is, name of registrant, the 45 Group. Patrick Madden: Address, Wheeling, West Virginia. Amy Walters: 45, like the 45th president of the United States. It's run by a former Trump campaign spokesperson and the documents show that the office of the Prime Minister of Malaysia paid the lobbying firm $250,000 four months before Prime Minister Najib visited the United States. Patrick Madden: It says "The 45 Group will assist the Republic of Malaysia via the Godfrey Group- Speaker 3: ... this, the Republic of Malaysia via the Godfrey Group with arranging meetings between the US government officials and Malaysian officials. That's all we know, but that's in May, but four months later, there's a meeting set up at the White House and this group is staying at the Trump Hotel. Byard Duncan: What was the Prime Minister's office trying to get out of its visit to Washington? Amy Walters: To try and find out, I headed to the quiet suburbs of northern Virginia. Hi, Don. John Malott: Hi, Amy, come on in. Amy Walters: Thank you. John Malott: You're welcome. Amy Walters: Ambassador John Malott retired to this neighborhood of cul-de-sacs and stately homes. These days he spends a lot of time with his small and aging canine friend. John Malott: Good dog. Amy Walters: But 20 years ago, he had a different life on the other side of the world. In the mid '90s, he was a US Ambassador to Malaysia. You can tell talking to him, it's a time he hasn't forgotten. John Malott: I knew Najib when I was in Malaysia so I'm frequently ... I knew his wife, I liked her, always got along very, very well. So to me, it's not personal. Amy Walters: It may not be personal, but Malott's pretty clear he's disappointed about the inflation of corruption in Prime Minister Najib's Malaysia now. John Malott: In the old days, we were talking millions and now we're talking billions that are being stolen and passed around. To me, it's a very different thing because, at the end of the day, I love Malaysia and I like the Malaysian people. And it pains me to see what has happened to that country under his rule. Amy Walters: In this case of 1MDB, 4.5 billion dollars were stolen according to the Justice Department. Some of that money landed in the US and the DOJ's going after more than a billion by civil forfeiture. Byard Duncan: In August of 2017, things escalated and a separate criminal investigation was announced. The civil complaint mentions money laundering a dozen times. If criminal charges are brought and proven in court, a big if, the maximum sentence for money laundering is 20 years in prison. Amy Walters: So after President Trump invited Prime Minister Najib to the White House, Malott says Najib took that as a positive sign. John Malott: Before he came to see Trump, the expression of interest was being made in Malaysia like, "I hope this invitation means that the case is going to be dropped," because they definitely would like to see the case dropped. Amy Walters: Joseph Yun was Ambassador to Malaysia when the Justice Department announced its investigation. I reached out asking if he'd been contacted by Najib or people connected with him about getting the investigation dropped. He didn't respond to the question. Whatever the outcome of the investigation, Ambassador Malott says Prime Minister Najib has nothing to worry about in the short term. John Malott: My understanding is, based on international precedent, that as long as he is the head of the government, he cannot be indicted. If the day ever comes when he is no longer Prime Minister, then of course, he can be charged. Amy Walters: A former Justice Department attorney I spoke with said, "It's not that a foreign head of state can't be arrested when they're on US soil, it's that it doesn't happen, not very often at least." But there's one person Ambassador Malott doesn't think would fare as well as Najib if charges are brought. Byard Duncan: His name is Low Taek Jho and everyone knows him as Jho Low. Amy Walters: Do they care about Jho Low? John Malott: He's expendable. Byard Duncan: We find out who Jho Low is. How he's connected to Prime Minister Najib and which expenses made him so expendable. Clare R Brown: Jho Low was becoming one of the world's most notorious big spenders, at the same time as he was the known advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia for an investment fund where all the money seemed to be disappearing. Speaker 5: That part of the story when we come back on Reveal. Byard Duncan: Hey, folks, Byard Duncan again. I wanted to tell you about a major scoop we published this week on our website. A little while back Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told a Senate committee that his department had no intention of messing with science. He even challenged everyone there to, "Find a document we've changed on a report." Well, Elizabeth Shogren, one of our reporters, did just that. In a draft report on sea level rise and storm surge, Elizabeth found that National Park Service officials deleted every mention of man's role in causing climate change. How do leading scientists feel about this? They call it censorship. To read this story right now, just text Wipeout to 63735. Again, that's one word Wipeout to 63735. You can text Stop or Help at any time and standard texting rates apply. Speaker 6: Reveal is supported by the all new Simplisafe. Simplisafe's brand new system is smaller, faster, stronger than ever before, completely rebuilt and redesigned with new safeguards against power outages, downed WiFi, cut landlines, bats, hammers, and everything in between. It's the first security system that you might actually call, "Beautiful." You should check it out. And what's remarkable, you still get 24/7 protection for only $15.00 a month and no contract, but supplies are limited. Visit simplysafe.com/reveal. Al Letson: From the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, this is Reveal. I'm Al Letson. Al Letson: So who is Jho Low? Low Taek Jho is his full name and the FBI claims he and his associates helped siphon off billions of dollars meant to help the people of Malaysia. They also claim Jho Low and his associates were laundering some of that money right here in the United States. Andrew McCabe: They used the money to pay gambling debts at Las Vegas casinos, they rented luxury yachts, they spent millions on property, some of which is subject to seizure and forfeiture based on the complaint filed today. Al Letson: That's Andrew McCabe when he was the Deputy Director of the FBI in 2016. The FBI claims Jho Low and Malaysian government officials took money from a Malaysian development fund, 1MDB. Jho Low is also family friends with the man who started 1MDB, Prime Minister Najib. The Justice Department complaint never mentions Malaysian Prime Minister. It only refers to Malaysian official one, but Jho Low's name appears more than 600 times. While most people in the US might not have heard of him, he did make a name for himself in the New York party scene. Patrick Madden of WAMU in Washington DC and Reveal's Amy Walters, pick up the story from here. Amy Walters: Before we start the party, we have to set the scene. This was around 2009, remember 2009? Patrick Madden: People were still losing their homes and their jobs due to the Great Recession. There were not a lot of champagne celebrations going on. Amy Walters: But in the nightclubs in New York, this 20 something guy, Jho Low, starts showing up with a different vibe. Patrick Madden: Jho Low would go a club and start passing around bottles of [crystalle 00:25:41]. And when you do that enough times, you get a writeup in the paper. New York nightclubs were fighting over him according to one gossip column. Amy Walters: And it started to seem like A list celebrities were fawning over him too, celebrities like Paris Hilton. In this video, Paris is waving a bottle of [crystalle 00:26:02] with a sparkler, leaning on Jho Low and his fedora and sunglasses while he's struggling to sing into the mike. At one point, she sort of falls on top of him. Patrick Madden: You know, the sign of a good party. Amy Walters: But with all this attention, people started asking, "Where's the money coming from?" Patrick Madden: Clare Rewcastle Brown is a former BBC journalist. She lives in the UK now, but grew up in Malaysia and writes a news blog about the country called the Sarawak Report. That's one of the Malaysian states. Amy Walters: And Clare had her eye on Jho Low. Clare R Brown: Jho Low was becoming one of the world's most notorious big spenders at the same time as he was the known advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia for an investment fund where all the money seemed to be disappearing. Amy Walters: Both the Prime Minister and Jho Low denied the allegations. The Malaysian Attorney General also cleared Prime Minister Najib of any wrongdoing. But Clare didn't. She started writing about Jho Low's links to 1MDB and the Prime Minister. Patrick Madden: Once the story started getting out, a tidal wave of leaked documents washed her way. Clare R Brown: It was a fairly painstaking piece of research, but those emails and documents showed very clearly the crucial role that Jho Low was playing. Patrick Madden: Jho Low siphoned off 700 million dollars from 1MDB according to Clare's reporting. Clare R Brown: Which he'd stolen and they were looking to invest that money in the United States. Patrick Madden: US investigators allege 700 million was deposited into a bank account controlled by Jho Low and that he laundered the money in a huge spending spree here in the US. Amy Walters: One of Jho Low's first projects was the Le Meritage, a Beverly Hills hotel.. Speaker 7: Celebrities past and present are no stranger to the famous hotel. Amy Walters: This is a recent promotional video. Speaker 7: From movie stars, such as Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, to today's Hollywood elites. Amy Walters: In 2009, the hotel was owned by Colony Capital. Thomas Barrack was its founder and CEO after a merger, it's now Colony Northstar. Patrick Madden: Barrack is also very close to Donald Trump. Thomas Barrack: I really consider him a really good friend, a person I know in a way that most people don't. Patrick Madden: That's from a 2016 Bloomberg interview with Barrack. He was a huge fundraiser for the Trump campaign, the chairman of his inaugural committee. His name had even come up as one of Trump's favorites for White House Chief of Staff. Amy Walters: In 2009, Barrack was accepting bids on the Le Meritage Hotel and Jho Low put in an offer. Patrick Madden: Remember, Jho Low was just starting out. He had a reputation in some circles for spending money on parties. Now he had to prove he had enough cash to buy a whole hotel. His bar tabs were steep, but not that steep. Amy Walters: But maybe Jho Low had a solution. He'd been cozying up to oil money from the Persian Gulf for some time. Jho Low: Saudi Arabia's in the house. Amy Walters: That's Jho Low screaming, "Saudi Arabia's in the house," from another party video. According to the Justice Department, there were Saudi nationals working with Jho Low. Patrick Madden: But his most important contact in this story isn't from Saudi Arabia. Yousef Otaiba: The UAE takes our responsibility to stand with our allies very seriously. And we are proud. Patrick Madden: Yousef Otaiba is the Ambassador to the United States from United Arab Emirates. Amy Walters: And according to Clare, Otaiba was Jho Low's guy. Clare R Brown: Jho Low was using Otaiba from early on, from at least 2008 to give an appearance of him being a guy with access to Arab cash. Amy Walters: And it seems like Otaiba helped because we have some emails from him. They were obtained by a group calling itself GlobaLeaks. Some of them were published in Clare's Sarawak Report. In one email, Otaiba introduces himself to Thomas Barrack, then he writes, "I'm contacting you today to endorse this bid." He's referring to Jho Low's bid to buy the Le Meritage Hotel in Beverly Hills though he doesn't mention Jho Low by name. "As the UAE Ambassador," he continues, "I'm confident the bid will surpass your expectations." Patrick Madden: And Barrack responds, "Thank you so much for your kind note. I will speak to our team today and get back to you soon. I hope to see you in person in the near future." Amy Walters: About a month later, the sale went through. Patrick Madden: Jho Low bought the hotel for 44 million, 800 thousand dollars. We confirmed that amount with public documents. Amy Walters: According to the Justice Department complaint, Jho Low bought the hotel with money stolen from 1MDB in Malaysia. Patrick Madden: And Thomas Barrack made a big investment with a very similar amount of money just two months later. That investment came after a conversation with his good friend, Donald Trump. That's according to reporting by The Washington Post. Here's Barrack again from that Bloomberg interview in 2016. Thomas Barrack: I've been a financial partner of his on many things that he's done. He's been a partner of mine on many things that I've done. Patrick Madden: And that relationship extends to Trump's son-in-law as well. Amy Walters: In 2007, Kushner Companies bought a skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan. Speaker 8: It's 666 Fifth Avenue, is a very interesting one. Speaker 9: Major, Kushner real estate properties, 666 Fifth Avenue. Amy Walters: Kushner Companies bought 666 Fifth Avenue for a record-breaking price, 1.8 billion dollars and it came with an equally hefty mortgage, 1.2 billion. In 2008, the recession hit and in 2009, Jared Kushner married Ivanka Trump. All of a sudden, Trump had the new son-in-law with a lot of debt. So according to The Washington Post, he went to his buddy Thomas Barrack hoping to get a little help. Jared Kushner reportedly flew to California for the meeting. Patrick Madden: In the end, Barrack bought some of Kushner's debt. In fact, Barrack's Colony Capital paid almost the exact same amount for the Kushner debt, 44.9 million, as Jho Low paid for the Le Meritage Hotel two months earlier. Amy Walters: We should say there's no evidence Thomas Barrack or Jared Kushner knew where Jho Low got the money to buy the Le Meritage Hotel, but the Justice Department is alleging Jho Low stole it. Barak Cohen: Money laundering essentially is taking the proceeds of illegal activity and making it very difficult to trace. Amy Walters: Barak Cohen is a former army ranger and a white collar criminal defense attorney at the Perkins Coie law firm in Washington DC. He used to be an attorney at the Justice Department and he knows what he's talking about when it comes to money laundering. Barak Cohen: I've experienced both prosecuting and defending against claims that involve money laundering. Patrick Madden: And Cohen says if that money was stolen, the government would have the right to seize it. Barak Cohen: Even if you know nothing about it and you're the best person on earth who would never get involved in money laundering, the asset can still get seized and that obviously has a financial impact on you. On the other hand, if you sold me the asset and I knew that it was part of the money laundering, well then, maybe I'm a co-conspirator too. Patrick Madden: Now the Justice Department lists the Le Meritage Hotel among the assets it wants to seize, but doesn't list the proceeds from the sale, the 44.8 million Jho Low paid for it. Amy Walters: We asked the Justice Department why wouldn't they go after that money. They declined to comment as it's on ongoing case. So we spoke to Sam Buell. He's a former federal prosecutor and now professor at Duke. Buell proposed some theories. Sam Buell: If you went to Colony Capital and said, "We are trying to seize 44.8 million dollars in account X which we have traced to the sale of this hotel, then Colony Capital's going to say we didn't have any reason to believe that there was anything wrong with that money." If the government thinks it's going to lose that argument, then they're not going to take it on because it's going to be expensive to litigate and not worth the effort. That's one possibility. Another possibility is just that the government hasn't gotten around to it yet. Amy Walters: Once in the White House, Kushner resigned as CEO of Kushner Companies and sold some interests to his mother according to The New York Times. But his company still holds the 1.2 billion dollar mortgage. Patrick Madden: And it's due next year. There are a lot of questions about Kushner's entanglements. We talked to Democratic Congressman, Ted Lieu and he's concerned about Kushner's relationship with the United Arab Emirates. Ted Lieu: Foreign countries including UAE think that they can manipulate Jarod Kushner because of his debts and financial arrangements. And he certainly should not be Senior White House Advisor. Patrick Madden: Kushner's top secret security clearance has been downgraded, but he's still in charge of pushing through Trump's Middle East peace plan. In his political reports, he's in regular contact with Ambassador Otaiba from the UAE. Amy Walters: We contacted Kushner Companies, we contacted Jared Kushner's attorneys, and we contacted the White House. No one responded. Patrick Madden: After buying the L'Ermitage Hotel, Jho Low kept doing deals. Jho Low: Trust is the fundamental aspect to our way of life. Patrick Madden: Here he is in a promotional video for his company, Jynwel Capital. Jho Low: Each deal changes a community, a country and a world. Patrick Madden: Some of these deals were with people very close to Donald Trump. Amy Walters: People like Steve Witkoff. Donald Trump: A friend of mine, Steve Witkoff, who is a great developer in New York City, Steve has been one of my great friends over the years. Tremendously successful man. Amy Walters: In November of 2013, Jho Low purchased Manhattan's Park Lane Hotel, partnering with Steve Witkoff's Witkoff Group. It started to look like either Jho Low was taking advantage of Trump's friends, or Trump's friends were taking advantage of the money Jho Low was throwing around. Patrick Madden: We should say, Jho Low's spending didn't slow down. The DOJ complaint lists more items: Fine art, a private jet, a yacht. Leslie Caldwell: A California-based motion picture company called Red Granite Pictures. Patrick Madden: That's Leslie Caldwell from the 2016 Justice Department press conference. Leslie Caldwell: Red Granite Pictures in turn used more than 100 million dollars of that money to finance the award-winning 2013 film, The Wolf of Wall Street. Patrick Madden: Yup, that Wolf of Wall Street. Matthew M.: You know what a fugazi is? Leonardo D.: Fugazi, it's a fake. Matthew M.: Fugazi, fugazi. It's a whazie, it's a woozie. It's fairy dust. Leonardo D.: Was all this legal? Absolutely not. Patrick Madden: The Malaysian Prime Minister's stepson paid for the film, according to the DOJ. He got an executive producer credit, and Jho Low got a special thanks. Amy Walters: There's still one more deal we have to talk about, a property that once belonged to Donald Trump. Howard Margolis: We're here today in my exclusive listing at 1 Central Park West. This is the Trump International Hotel and Tower, Apartment 52A. Amy Walters: That's Howard Margolis, a Manhattan real estate broker, showing the penthouse. 52A, 1 Central Park West. Howard Margolis: Which was formerly owned by Donald Trump himself. When they built the building, Donald Trump took this particular apartment as his own unit. Donald bought the apartment for five million dollars from the developers he was working with. Amy Walters: Then Trump sold it to an Italian film producer who soon found himself in debt to the tune of 33 million dollars. The Penthouse went up for auction. Speaker 11: We have a bid from an entity named: 1 Central Park West, NYC LLC. This was submitted by its counsel Shearman & Sterling ... Amy Walters: Starting at 18.5 million, it quickly turned into a bidding war ... Speaker 11: 21,600,000 net to the estate. Amy Walters: According to Justice Department documents, Jho Low transferred 35 million dollars to his New York attorneys for the winning bid on penthouse 52A, 1 Central Park West. Speaker 12: Your honor, 1 Central Park West bids 31,850,000 on a net basis. Speaker 11: Your honor, WF, is out. We're ... wish them good luck. Patrick Madden: That would be the most expensive residential condo purchase of the year, according to a New York real estate trade magazine, leaving Trump with bragging rights to this record-breaking sale. Al Letson: Amy and Patrick, let me get this straight, the Justice Department claims that Jho Low was involved in using stolen money for a bunch of business deals, and we've learned that some of those multi-million dollar deals involved President Trump's closest friends. Now, did any of them know? Did they know who they were dealing with? Amy Walters: It's actually a really crucial question, Al. Did Thomas Barrick know? Did Steve Witkoff know? Did any of them know that the money behind these business deals could have been stolen from the people of Malaysia? Patrick Madden: Up until July 2016, it's hard to know what they knew. There aren't a lot of people with the kind of money Jho Low had to throw around. There were news reports alleging Jho Low was buying millions in property, gossip columns were speculating about the sources, but without access to conversations, emails, bank accounts, it's impossible to know who knew what. The Justice Department is not sharing information because it's an ongoing investigation. Amy Walters: But in July 2016 ... and this is a crucial point ... the DOJ announced their 1MDB investigation. Eileen Decker was the US attorney in L.A. then, she said the government was going to be seizing assets. Those assets included the L'Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills and the Park Lane in New York, two of the properties we've been talking about. Eileen Decker: The Department of Justice is sending a message that we will not allow the United States to become a playground for the corrupt, that we will not allow it to be a platform for money laundering or a place to hide and invest in stolen riches. Al Letson: Do we know if the Justice Department is talking to any of these people you've reported on as a part of this story? Patrick Madden: We don't know, but it's hard to subpoena witnesses overseas. The question is: Are investigators talking to people in the US to trace the Malaysian money, people like Thomas Barrick, Steve Witkoff, maybe even Kushner and Trump? We asked Matt Klecko, one of the former Justice Department attorneys we spoke to, if he thought they were talking to Thomas Barrick. Matt Klecko: I would hope so. He doesn't have to speak to investigators. He has a right not to, but I would hope that they did. I would strongly, strongly suspect that this is ongoing. Al Letson: You stumbled onto this by walking by the Trump hotel where this Malaysian delegation, including the Prime Minister, was staying? Patrick Madden: Yes, last September. Keep in mind, we don't have receipts showing they paid, but they did stay at the hotel, so we had some questions. First, does this violate the emoluments clause, which says, "Elected officials can't profit from being in office?" Specifically, they can't accept payments or gifts from foreign governments. Amy Walters: We talked to John Mikhail, a professor at Georgetown University's law school. He filed friend of the court briefs for several of the emoluments clause cases against President Trump. He had a strong response. John Mikhail: It's truly outrageous. It's clear, or what I call the clearest kind of case, because even on the government's definition of emolument, a profit arising from office or employment, that seems to fall squarely within that definition in the following sense, there's a causal connection between his holding the office of president and the payments that he's receiving. Amy Walters: But so far these emoluments lawsuits are still working their way through the courts. One was tossed out. Others are pending. Patrick Madden: But Professor Mikhail also said that Trump's failure to divest from his company, including his hotels, is troubling. He says it looks a lot like the corruption we see in other countries around the world. Al Letson: Is this kleptocracy investigation still happening? Patrick Madden: Yes. In December of last year, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was pretty clear on that. He made a big statement about the investigation. Jeff Sessions: 1MDB officials allegedly laundered more than 4.5 billion in funds through a complex series of opaque transactions and fraudulent shell companies with bank accounts in countries ranging from Switzerland to Singapore, Luxembourg and the United States. This is kleptocracy at its worst. Today, the United States Department of Justice is working to provide justice to the victims of these alleged schemes. Amy Walters: He doesn't say what will happen to the alleged perpetrators, but it does sound like it's full-steam ahead, and some of the assets have been turned in. Leonardo DiCaprio gave back an Oscar once owned by Marlon Brando. He says he received that as a gift. According to the Justice Department complaint, Victoria Secret Angel Miranda Kerr also received a heart-shaped diamond from Jho Low. The Wall Street Journal reported she turned that over to the Justice Department too. Al Letson: We also heard that Jho Low's super yacht, the Equanimity, just got confiscated. How did that happen, because the Justice Department recently announced it stopped seizing assets? Patrick Madden: Well, first about the yacht, this boat is amazing. It has its own swimming pool. It's worth a quarter-of-a-billion dollars. The Equanimity was seized by Indonesian police while it was moored in Bali. According to court documents, the US government asked Indonesia to hand it over to the US. That hasn't happened yet. Jho Low, it turns out, wasn't on the boat when it was seized, and his whereabouts are still a big question. Amy Walters: As far as seizing assets though, you're right. Last year the Justice Department announced this 1MDB civil seizure was stayed, it just means paused for those of us who don't speak legalese. The reason is, now there's a criminal investigation. Borat Cohen, the attorney we spoke with who has worked on money laundering cases, he says the criminal investigation, it's a big deal. Borat Cohen: It's absolutely more serious if it becomes criminal. Obviously there are court proceedings and grand juries that are open, so there was information gathering, that's pretty aggressive. It's a lot more serious. Amy Walters: There's a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. As of now, no one's been charged. Al Letson: From your reporting, it sounds like there's been interest in getting this investigation dropped. Patrick Madden: Yes, that's right. Just a few weeks ago, a Republican donor was proposing Jho Low pay him 75 million dollars if he succeeded in settling the matter, presumably the DOJ investigation, in 180 days. Now this is according to emails obtained by the Wall Street Journal. We should say, the deal never went through. Amy Walters: We also have email obtained by the group GlobaLeaks. In one of them from October 2015, a D.C. lobbyist reaches out to the UAE ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba. Otaiba's the one who emailed Thomas Barrick trying to get him to sell the L'Ermitage Hotel to Jho Low. In the email, the lobbyist advises that the UAE assess whether to engage with the Justice Department at quote "the early stages, to steer the direction of the FBI's investigation." This was before the investigation was announced publicly. We reached out to the lobby firm, and they wouldn't comment on the legitimacy of the email. Al Letson: Do we know if President Trump has had any impact on this investigation? Amy Walters: We don't know of anything. The truth is, it's really hard to know. This is an ongoing Department of Justice investigation, which means no one is saying anything. It's like a black box. What we do know is President Trump started his administration firing the head of the FBI, James Comey. Attorney General Jeff Sessions seems to be hanging onto his position by a thread. Patrick Madden: Adam Schiff, a Democratic congressmen, told us he's very concerned about the Justice Department's independence from the President overall. Adam Schiff: Justice Department sadly takes some steps to accommodate the President, steps that break down the wall of independence between the White House and the Justice Department. Patrick Madden: Andrew McCabe was one of the FBI officials who announced the 1MDB investigation. Amy Walters: Maybe you remember, he was recently fired, hours before he was set to retire with a full pension. Patrick Madden: President Trump tweeted McCabe's firing was "A great day for democracy." But for Republicans like Senator Jeff Flake, it was a step too far. Here's Senator Flake on CNN's State of the Union. Jeff Flake: I think it was a horrible day for democracy. To have firings like this happening at the top, from the President or the Attorney General, does not speak well for what's going on. Al Letson: Did you reach out to the White House and President Trump? Amy Walters: We did. We reached out to the White House. They referred us to the Trump Organization. We reached out to them, but no response by Twitter or otherwise. Al Letson: What happens now? Patrick Madden: Well, first, we have to see what happens with the Justice Department's investigation into 1MDB. One of the attorneys who was working on the investigation with the money laundering and asset section of DOJ has now been pulled over to Special Prosecutor Mueller's team. Amy Walters: In Malaysia, there's an election coming up as early as this spring. Prime Minister Najib has a lot hanging on that. If he loses the election, he wouldn't only lose his position, he'd be more vulnerable to investigations that are happening around the world. Several countries, including the US, but also Switzerland, Singapore, Luxembourg, all these countries are trying to figure out what happened to the money that was supposed to be invested in 1MDB. Al Letson: What about Jho Low? Where is he? Amy Walters: Right now, no one knows. There's no warrant out for his arrest, but he's fallen out of site and hasn't been seen in any of those wild New York City parties in quite a while. Al Letson: Amy Walters is our reporter here at Reveal. Patrick Madden is our partner on this story from Washington D.C.'s public radio station, WAMU. Thanks, guys. Patrick Madden: Thanks, Al. Amy Walters: Thank you, Al. Al Letson: Lance Williams and Matt Smith helped out on this week's show. Amy Walters was our lead producer this week. Our show was edited by Deb George. Special thanks to WAMU and Catherine Mieszkowski for helping out with fact checking. Our production manager is Mwende Hinojosa. Our sound design team is the dynamic duo, "Jay Breezy," Mr. Jim Briggs and Fernando, "My man, yo," Arruda. We had help this week from [inaudible 00:52:04], Katherine Rae Mondo and Cat [inaudible 00:52:07]. Acting CEO is Krista Scharfenberg. Amy Powell's our editor-in-chief. Our executive producer is Kevin Sullivan. Our theme music is by Camerado-Lightning. Support for Reveal's provided by the Reva and David Logan Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the High Sing Simons Foundation, and the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. I'm Al Letson, and remember, there is always more to the story. Don’t miss the next big story Subscribe to the Reveal podcast today.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Had a very much needed nite with my wife Sunday nite some over due alone time. Things got rough and during sex i felt the bottom sides of my shaft hurting felt like my hair was being pulled. Woke up Tuesday had some pimple like bumps with my a hair coming out the middle of it i popped them put a little alcohol on my shaft, a little tender help should i shave or be worried output: HelloThanks for query. Based on the facts that you have posted I would state that you have developed Staphylococcal infection of hair follicle(Boil) on the shaft of your penis. Ensure to wash your genitals and private parts with warm water twice daily. Ensure to avoid sexual encounters till it heals up completely. Do not attempt to shave the private parts as there is risk of spreading infection to other area. Do not worry. It will get cured within a week.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Dear doctor, early this year, my Dad age 61, he has been diagnosed with eosinophilia, report shows Acidophilic Cell %: 9.4, above the healthy range (0.5-5%), Absolute Value of Eosinophil: 0.73 above the healthy range (0.02-0.5X10^9/L). Top Chinese hospitals have held a few consultations, however the cause cannot be found. 2 years ago, he starts to get red dots mainly on arms and legs, then dots expand to bigger circles and then disappear. In the mean time, he also gets tumour under skin, mainly on legs, arms, neck and forehead. Looking forward to hearing back from you. output: Hi, Your father has eosinophilic and tumor under skin. Eosinophils play two roles in your immune system, Destroying foreign substances and Regulating inflammationEosinophilia occurs when either many eosinophils are recruited to a specific site in your body or bone marrow produces too many eosinophils.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: my blood presssure reading on a home cuff moniter just read 200 over 121. It usually runs high in the evening, but this is the highest it has ever read. I take lisinopril 20 mg twice a day (40 mg total) and metorlol 50 mg twice a day (100 mg total). Should I go to the emergency room or wait and call my Dr. in the morinig? t causes 200/121 BP level? output: Hello, 200/121 BP is very high. As you are already having treatment for hypertension, then this much of high BP is not expected after treatment. * Check your BP once again, if its still high then do consult your doctor immediately as this much BP may lead to bleeding in body. Bleeding can be from nose as epistaxis but if it occurs internally then it might lead to serious outcomes.* Also keep some emergency medicine at home for emergency. You can keep capsule nifedipine (5mg) at home and in emergency take it sublingually. You can ask your doctor about this capsule.* Keep an eye on salt in your diet and cut off extra salt from diet and do walk daily. Both these things will help in controlling high BP.* But for now consult your doctor first.* I hope you are satisfied with my answer. Thank you...

Roles of Foster Parent Resource Workers | mijn-bsl Skip to main content Bekijk alle uitgaven vorige artikel Evidence-Based Parental Involvement Programs in... volgende artikel Parental overcontrol as a mechanism explaining ... Swipe om te navigeren naar een ander artikel 01-06-2015 | Original Paper | Uitgave 6/2015 Roles of Foster Parent Resource Workers Tijdschrift: Journal of Child and Family Studies > Uitgave 6/2015 Jason D. Brown, Julie Rodgers, Landy Anderson Foster care departments are primary sources of support to foster parents within the system. Resource workers are the main points of contact for foster parents within agencies but little has been reported in the literature about their role. Foster parent resource workers within a large metropolitan area were asked “What does a foster parent resource worker do?” Results were analyzed using the concept mapping method and ten concepts resulted from the analysis including: monitor placement, facilitate communication between parties, teach communication skills, match foster homes and foster children, retain foster parents, promote teamwork, address problems with placements, support foster families, exercise authority, and ensure smooth operation. BSL Psychologie Totaal Met BSL Psychologie Totaal blijft u als professional steeds op de hoogte van de nieuwste ontwikkelingen binnen uw vak. Met het online abonnement heeft u toegang tot een groot aantal boeken, protocollen, vaktijdschriften en e-learnings op het gebied van psychologie en psychiatrie. Zo kunt u op uw gemak en wanneer het u het beste uitkomt verdiepen in uw vakgebied. go back to reference Alpert, L. T., & Britner, P. A. (2009). Measuring parent engagement in foster care. Social Work Research, 33(3), 135–145. CrossRef Alpert, L. T., & Britner, P. A. (2009). Measuring parent engagement in foster care. Social Work Research, 33(3), 135–145. CrossRef go back to reference Altman, J. C. (2008). Engaging families in child welfare services: Worker versus client perspectives. Child Welfare, 87(3), 41–61. PubMed Altman, J. C. (2008). Engaging families in child welfare services: Worker versus client perspectives. Child Welfare, 87(3), 41–61. PubMed go back to reference Atukpawu, G., Mertinko, E., Graham, E., & Denniston, J. (2012). Supervisor training to support principle-driven practice with youth in foster care. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(4), 680–690. CrossRef Atukpawu, G., Mertinko, E., Graham, E., & Denniston, J. (2012). Supervisor training to support principle-driven practice with youth in foster care. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(4), 680–690. CrossRef go back to reference Atwool, N. (2013). Birth family contact for children in care: How much? How often? Who with? Child Care in Practice, 19(2), 181–198. CrossRef Atwool, N. (2013). Birth family contact for children in care: How much? How often? Who with? Child Care in Practice, 19(2), 181–198. CrossRef go back to reference Barth, R. P., Lloyd, E. C., Christ, S. L., Chapman, M. V., & Dickinson, N. S. (2008). Child welfare worker characteristics and job satisfaction: A national study. Social Work, 53(3), 199–209. CrossRefPubMed Barth, R. P., Lloyd, E. C., Christ, S. L., Chapman, M. V., & Dickinson, N. S. (2008). Child welfare worker characteristics and job satisfaction: A national study. Social Work, 53(3), 199–209. CrossRefPubMed go back to reference Botes, W., & Ryke, E. (2011). The competency base of social workers with regard to attachment theory in foster care supervision: A pilot study. Maatskaplike Werk Social Work, 47(1), 31–50. Botes, W., & Ryke, E. (2011). The competency base of social workers with regard to attachment theory in foster care supervision: A pilot study. Maatskaplike Werk Social Work, 47(1), 31–50. go back to reference Brenner, E., Kindler, D., & Freundlich, M. (2010). Dual relationships in child welfare practice: A framework for ethical decision making. Children and Youth Services Review, 32(10), 1437–1445. CrossRef Brenner, E., Kindler, D., & Freundlich, M. (2010). Dual relationships in child welfare practice: A framework for ethical decision making. Children and Youth Services Review, 32(10), 1437–1445. CrossRef go back to reference Briggs, H. E. (2009). The fusion of culture and science: Challenges and controversies of cultural competency and evidence-based practice with an African American family advocacy network. Children and Youth Services Review, 31(11), 1172–1179. CrossRef Briggs, H. E. (2009). The fusion of culture and science: Challenges and controversies of cultural competency and evidence-based practice with an African American family advocacy network. Children and Youth Services Review, 31(11), 1172–1179. CrossRef go back to reference Carter, V. B. (2009). Comparison of American Indian/Alaskan Natives to Non-Indians in out-of-home care. Families in Society, 90(3), 301–308. CrossRef Carter, V. B. (2009). Comparison of American Indian/Alaskan Natives to Non-Indians in out-of-home care. Families in Society, 90(3), 301–308. CrossRef go back to reference Casey, C. M., Cook-cottone, C., & Beck-joslyn, M. (2012). An overview of problematic eating and food-related behavior among foster children: Definitions, etiology, and intervention. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 29(4), 307–322. CrossRef Casey, C. M., Cook-cottone, C., & Beck-joslyn, M. (2012). An overview of problematic eating and food-related behavior among foster children: Definitions, etiology, and intervention. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 29(4), 307–322. CrossRef go back to reference Castellanos-Brown, K., & Lee, B. (2010). Transitioning foster youth to less restrictive settings: Perspectives of treatment foster parents. Families in Society, 91(2), 142–148. CrossRef Castellanos-Brown, K., & Lee, B. (2010). Transitioning foster youth to less restrictive settings: Perspectives of treatment foster parents. Families in Society, 91(2), 142–148. CrossRef go back to reference Ciarrochi, J., Randle, M., Miller, L., & Dolnicar, S. (2012). Hope for the future: Identifying the individual difference characteristics of people who are interested in and intend to foster-care. British Journal of Social Work, 42(1), 7–25. CrossRef Ciarrochi, J., Randle, M., Miller, L., & Dolnicar, S. (2012). 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Evaluation and Program Planning, 12, 87–110. CrossRef Trochim, W. M. (1989). Concept mapping: Soft science or hard art? Evaluation and Program Planning, 12, 87–110. CrossRef Jason D. Brown Julie Rodgers Landy Anderson Journal of Child and Family Studies Uitgave 6/2015 Elektronisch ISSN: 1573-2843 Andere artikelen Uitgave 6/2015 Naar de uitgave Erratum to: Familial Cultural Values, Depressive Symptoms, School Belonging and Grades in Latino Adolescents: Does Gender Matter? A Model for Creating a Supportive Trauma-Informed Culture for Children in Preschool Settings HIV-Risk Reduction with Juvenile Offenders on Probation Father–Daughter Attachment and Communication in Depressed and Nondepressed Adolescent Girls Running Away from Foster Care: What Do We Know and What Do We Do? Enhancing Maternal Sensitivity and Emotional Wellbeing Through a Preventative Parent–Child Relationship Intervention in a Community Setting

HotTrax HBCU Newz Fashion Gawdz 2018 Winter Olympics TV Schedule DaShawn R. The traditional event that every athlete around the world trains their whole life for has finally returned after it's four year hiatus. The 2018 Winter Olympics, hosted at the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium in South Korea, is here and we've got all the details to help you binge on the hundreds of hours of NBC's live TV coverage as well as how you can stream live coverage online between now and the . Both fubo.tv (which you can try for free) and the stream at NBCOlympics.com will certainly come in handy for those who want to stay up late and watch all the events overnight in realtime, since South Korea is 14 hours ahead of the Eastern time zone. For those who would like to watch on the television, The Olympic Games will be broadcast on various NBC networks. Those include NBC, NBCSN, USA Network. NBC will present 176 hours of live coverage, and its primetime coverage begins on Thursday, Feb. 8, at 8 p.m. ET, and concludes with the Closing Ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 25. NBCSN will present 369 hours of coverage, including live primetime and 10 days of 24-hour coverage from Feb. 18-25. The Pyeongchang Games officially begin on NBCSN on Wednesday Feb. 7 at 11 p.m. ET, with live coverage of mixed doubles curling. CNBC will present 46 hours of coverage, including its curling telecasts beginning Monday, Feb. 12 and concluding Friday, Feb. 23. USA Network will present 40.5 hours of ice hockey and curling coverage, most of which will air live between 7-9:30 a.m. ET. Coverage begins on Saturday, Feb. 10 with a live presentation of the Women's hockey qualifying round. Here is the full schedule of events for this year's games: Wednesday, Feb. 7 11 p.m.-12 a.m. -- Men's Alpine Skiing (downhill training), NBCSN Thursday, Feb. 8 12-2 a.m. -- Curling (mixed doubles): United States vs. OAR, NBCSN 2 -4 a.m. -- Curling (mixed doubles): Canada vs. Norway, NBCSN 4-6:05 a.m. -- Curling (mixed doubles): China vs. Switzerland, NBCSN 6:05-8 a.m. -- Curling (mixed doubles): United States vs. Canada, NBCSN (LIVE) 8-9 a.m. -- Curling (mixed doubles): China vs. S. Korea, NBCSN 9-10 a.m. -- Men's Ski Jumping (normal hill qualifying), NBCSN 8-9 p.m. -- Curling (mixed doubles): USA vs. Switzerland, NBCSN 8-11:30 p.m. -- Figure Skating Team Competition (Men's and pairs' short programs), NBC (LIVE) 8-11:30 p.m. -- Freestyle Skiing (men's and women's moguls qualifying), NBC (LIVE) 9-11:35 p.m. -- Men's Alpine Skiing (downhill training), NBCSN (LIVE) 9-11:35 p.m. -- Men's Luge (singles), NBCSN (LIVE) 11:35 p.m.-12 a.m. -- Curling (mixed doubles): USA vs. South Korea, NBCSN (LIVE) Friday, Feb. 9 12 -1:30 a.m. -- Curling (mixed doubles): USA vs. South Korea, NBCSN (LIVE) 8-11 p.m. -- Opening Ceremony, NBC Saturday, Feb. 10 2-3:05 a.m. -- Women's Cross-Country Skiing (skiathlon gold medal final), NBCSN (LIVE) 3:05-5 a.m. -- Curling (mixed doubles): USA vs. China, NBCSN 5-7:35 a.m. -- Men's and Women's Short Track Speed Skating (men's 1500, qualifying in women's 500M and 3000M relay), NBCSN (LIVE) 7:35-9:15 a.m -- Men's Ski Jumping (normal hill gold medal final), NBCSN LIVE) 7-9:35 a.m. -- Women's Hockey: Switzerland vs. Korea, USA (LIVE) 9:15-11:30 a.m. -- Men's Snowboarding (slopestyle qualifying), NBCSN 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. -- Men's Luge (singles), NBCSN 1-3 p.m. -- Women's Speed Skating (women's 3,000M), NBCSN 1-3 p.m. -- Biathlon (women's 7.5km sprint) 3-6 p.m. -- Short Track Speed Skating (men's 1500M gold medal final, women's qualifying in 500M, 3000M relay), NBC 3-6 p.m. -- Men's Ski Jumping (individual normal hill gold medal final), NBC 3-6 p.m. -- Men's Snowboarding (slopestyle qualifying), NBC 3-6 p.m. -- Men's Luge (singles competition), NBC 3-5 p.m. -- Curling (mixed doubles): USA vs. Norway, NBCSN 8-11 p.m. -- Figure Skating Team Event (ice dancing short program, ladies' short program), NBC (LIVE) 8-11 p.m. -- Men's Alpine Skiing (downhill), NBC 8-9:45 p.m. -- Men's Snowboarding (slopestyle gold medal final), NBCSN (LIVE) 9:45-11:30 p.m. -- Curling (mixed doubles): USA vs. Finland, NBCSN 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Figure Skating Team Event (pairs' free skate), NBC (LIVE) 11:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. -- Women's Snowboarding (slopestyle qualifying), NBCSN (LIVE) Sunday, Feb. 11 12-1:30 a.m. -- Women's Snowboarding (slopestyle qualifying), NBCSN (LIVE) 1:30-2:40 a.m. -- Curling (mixed doubles): Canada vs. Korea, NBCSN 2:40-5 a.m. -- Women's Ice Hockey: U.S. vs. Finland, NBCSN (LIVE) 5-9 a.m. -- Men's Biathlon (10k Sprint gold medal final), NBCSN (LIVE) 5-9 a.m. -- Men's Speed Skating (5000m gold medal final), NBCSN 5-9 a.m. -- Men's Cross Country (skiathlon gold medal final), NBCSN 7-9:30 a.m. -- Women's Ice Hockey: Canada vs. Olympic Athletes from Russia, USA (LIVE) 1:30-5:30 p.m. -- Mixed Doubles Curling (tiebreaker), NBCSN 1:30-5:30 p.m. -- Men's Luge (singles gold medal final runs), NBCSN 5:30-8 p.m. -- Men's Biathlon (10km sprint gold medal final), NBCSN 3-6 p.m. -- Men's Speed Skating (5,000m gold medal final), NBC 3-6 p.m. -- Men's Biathlon – (10km sprint gold medal final), NBC 3-6 p.m. -- Men's Cross-Country Skiing (skiathlon gold medal final), NBC 7-11 p.m. -- Team Figure Skating (team event gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 7-11 p.m. -- Women's Alpine Skiing (giant slalom), NBC (LIVE) 7-11 p.m. -- Women's Freestyle Skiing (moguls gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 7-11 p.m. -- Women's Snowboard (slopestyle gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 7-11 p.m. -- Men's Luge (singles gold medal final runs), NBC (LIVE) 8-9:45 p.m. -- Women's Snowboarding (slopestyle gold medal final), NBCSN (LIVE) 9:45 p.m. -- Mixed Doubles Curling (semifinal, teams TBD), NBCSN 11:30 p.m-1 a.m. -- Men's Speed Skating (5000m gold medal final), NBCSN 11:35 p.m.-1 a.m. -- Women's Alpine Skiing (giant slalom gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 11:35 p.m.-1 a.m. -- Women's Snowboarding (halfpipe qualifying), NBC (LIVE) Monday, Feb. 12 12-1 a.m. -- Women's Alpine Skiing (giant slalom gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 12-1 a.m. -- Women's Snowboarding (halfpipe qualifying), NBC (LIVE) 12-1 a.m. -- Men's Speed Skating (5000m gold medal final) 1-2:40 a.m. -- Curling (mixed doubles semifinal 1), NBCSN 2:40-5:10 a.m. -- Women's Ice Hockey: Switzerland vs. Japan, NBCSN (LIVE) 5:10-7 a.m. -- Women's Luge (singles competition, Run 1), NBCSN (LIVE) 5:10-7 a.m. -- Women's Biathlon (Pursuit gold medal final), NBCSN (LIVE) 7:10-9:30 a.m. -- Women's Ice Hockey: Sweden vs. Korea, NBCSN (LIVE) 9:30-10 a.m. -- Women's Luge (singles competition, Run 1), NBCSN 10-11 a.m. -- Men's Freestyle Skiing (moguls gold medal final), NBCSN 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. -- Women's Ski Jumping (individual normal hill gold medal final), NBCSN 12:15-1:30 p.m. -- Men's Biathlon (pursuit gold medal final), NBCSN 1:30-3 p.m. -- Women's Speed Skating (1,500m gold medal final), NBCSN 3-5 p.m. -- Men's Freestyle Skiing (moguls gold medal final), NBC 3-5 p.m. -- Women's Ski Jumping (normal hill gold medal final), NBC 3-5 p.m. -- Women's Luge (singles competition), NBC 5-7 p.m. -- Ice Hockey (game of the day), NBCSN 5-8 p.m. -- Mixed Doubles Curling (semifinal), CNBC 8-10 p.m. -- Curling (second of two mixed curling semifinals), NBCSN 8-11:30 p.m. -- Men's Alpine Skiing (combined, downhill run), NBC (LIVE) 8-11:30 p.m. -- Women's Snowboarding (halfpipe gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 8-11:30 p.m. -- Women's Speed Skating (1,500m gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 10-11:30 p.m. -- Ice Hockey (game of the day, part II), NBCSN 11:30-12:05 a.m. -- Men's Snowboarding (halfpipe qualifying), NBCSN (LIVE) 11:30 p.m.-2:40 a.m. -- Mixed Doubles Curling (bronze medal match), NBCSN Tuesday, Feb. 13 12:05-2 a.m. -- Men's Snowboarding (halfpipe qualifying), NBC 12:05-2 a.m. -- Men's Alpine Skiing (combined, slalom run), NBC 12:05-2:40 a.m. -- Curling (mixed doubles bronze medal game), NBCSN 2:40-5 a.m. -- Women's Ice Hockey: Canada vs. Finland, NBCSN (LIVE) 5-7:10 a.m. -- Women's Luge (singles gold medal final runs), NBCSN 5-7:10 a.m. -- Cross Country Skiing (men's and women's Individual sprint competition), NBCSN 7:10-9:30 a.m. -- Women's Ice Hockey: U.S. vs. Olympic Athletes from Russia, NBCSN 9:30-11:30 a.m. -- Women's Luge (singles gold medal final runs), NBCSN 9:30-11:30 a.m. -- Cross Country (men's and women's individual sprint gold medal finals), NBCSN 11:30-12:30 p.m. -- Men's Speed Skating (1,500m Gold medal final), NBCSN 12:30-2:30 p.m. -- Short Track Speed Skating (women's 500m gold medal final, men's 1000m and 5000m relay qualifying), NBCSN 2:30-4:30 p.m. -- Mixed Doubles Curling (bronze medal match replay), NBCSN 3-5 p.m. -- Women's Luge (singles gold medal final runs), NBC 3-5 p.m. -- Cross Country Skiing (men's and women's individual sprint gold medal finals), NBC 4:30-5 p.m. -- Medal Ceremonies, NBCSN 5-7 p.m. -- Ice Hockey (game of the day replay), NBCSN 5-8 p.m. -- Mixed Doubles Curling (Gold Medal Match), CNBC 8-11:30 p.m. -- Figure Skating (pairs' short program), NBC (LIVE) 8-11:30 p.m. -- Women's Alpine Skiing (slalom, first run), NBC (LIVE) 8-11:30 p.m. -- Men's Snowboarding (halfpipe gold medal final, NBC (LIVE) 8-10:10 p.m. -- Figure Skating (pairs' short program), NBCSN 10:10 p.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Women's Ice Hockey: Sweden vs. Switzerland, NBCSN (LIVE) Wednesday, Feb. 14 12:05-1:30 a.m. -- Women's Alpine Skiing (slalom, gold medal final run), NBC (LIVE) 12:05-1:30 a.m. -- Short Track Speed Skating (women's 500m gold medal final, men's 1000m and 5000m relay qualifying), NBC 12-12:30 a.m. -- Women's Hockey: Sweden vs. Switzerland, NBCSN (LIVE) 12:30-2:30 a.m. -- Men's Curling: USA vs. South Korea, NBCSN 2:30-5 a.m. -- Men's Nordic Combined (individual normal hill/10km gold medal final), NBCSN (LIVE) 2:30-5 a.m. -- Women's Skeleton (training), NBCSN 2:30-5 a.m. -- Women's Ice Hockey: South Korea vs. Japan, USA (LIVE) 5-6:30 a.m. -- Women's Speed Skating (1000m gold medal final), NBCSN (LIVE) 5-7:10 a.m. -- Women's Curling: Great Britain vs. Olympic Athletes from Russia, NBCSN 6:30-9 a.m. -- Men's Hockey: USA vs. Slovenia, NBC (LIVE) 7-9:30 a.m. -- Men's Hockey: Olympic Athletes from Russia vs. Slovakia, USA(LIVE) 9:30-11:30 a.m. -- Luge (doubles gold medal final), NBCSN |9:30-11:30 a.m. -- Women's Skeleton (training runs), NBCSN 11:30 a.m.-1:15 p.m. -- Women's Biathlon (15km gold medal final), NBCSN 1:15-5 p.m. -- Women Curling: Denmark vs. Sweden, NBCSN 3-5 p.m. -- Luge (Doubles gold medal final), NBC 3-5 p.m. -- Men's Nordic Combined (individual normal hill/10k gold medal final), NBC 5-7 p.m. -- Ice Hockey Game of the Day (replay), NBCSN 5-8 p.m. -- Women's Curling: U.S. vs. Japan, CNBC 7-8:30 p.m. -- Olympic Ice, NBCSN 8-11:30 p.m. -- Figure Skating (pairs' Gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 8-11:30 p.m. -- Men's Alpine Skiing (super-G gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 8-11:30 p.m. -- Men's Skeleton (qualifying), NBC (LIVE) 8-11:30 p.m. -- Women's Speed Skating (1000m gold medal final), NBC 8:30-10 p.m. -- Figure Skating (pairs' free skate), NBCSN (LIVE) 10-12:30 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey: Finland vs. Germany, CNBC (LIVE) 10:10-12:30 a.m. -- Women's Ice Hockey: U.S. vs. Canada, NBCSN (LIVE) Thursday, Feb. 15 12:05-1:30 a.m. -- Men's Snowboard Cross (gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 12:05-1:30 a.m. -- Men's Skeleton (Run 2 of 4), NBC (LIVE) 12:30-2:40 a.m. -- Women's Curling: USA vs. Great Britain, NBCSN 2:30-5 a.m. -- Women's Ice Hockey: Olympic Athletes from Russia vs. Finland, USA (LIVE) 2:40-5 a.m. -- Men's Hockey: Norway vs. Sweden, NBCSN (LIVE) 5-7:10 a.m. -- Men's Curling: Canada vs. Norway, USA 5-7:10 a.m. -- Women's Cross Country (10km gold medal final), NBCSN 7:10-9:30 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey: Czech Republic vs. South Korea, USA (LIVE) 7:10-9:30 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey: Switzerland vs. Canada, NBCSN (LIVE) 9:30 a.m.-Noon -- Luge (team relay gold medal final), NBCSN 9:30 a.m.-Noon -- Men's Speed Skating (10,000m gold medal final), NBCSN Noon-2 p.m. -- Men's Biathlon (20km gold medal final), NBCSN 2-5 p.m. -- Men's Curling: U.S. vs. Italy, NBCSN 3-5 p.m. -- Women's Cross Country (10km gold medal final), NBC 3-5 p.m. -- Men's Speed Skating (10,000m gold medal final), NBC 5-8 p.m. -- Women's Curling:U.S. vs. Switzerland, CNBC 7-8 p.m. -- Olympic Ice, NBCSN 8-11 p.m. -- Figure Skating (men's short program, NBCSN (LIVE) 8 p.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Figure Skating (men's short program), NBC (LIVE) 8 p.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Women's Snowboard Cross (gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 8 p.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Men's Skeleton (Gold medal final runs), NBC (LIVE) 8 p.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Women's Freestyle Skiing (aerials competition), NBC (LIVE) 8 p.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Women's Cross Country (10km gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 10 p.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey: U.S. vs. Slovakia, CNBC (LIVE) 11 p.m.-2:40 a.m. -- Men's Curling: U.S. vs. Sweden, NBCSN 11 p.m.-2:40 a.m. -- Men's Cross Country (15km gold medal final), NBCSN (LIVE) Friday, Feb. 16 12-1 a.m. -- Men's Curling: U.S. vs. Sweden, NBCSN 1-2:40 a.m. -- Men's Cross Country (15km gold medal final), NBCSN (LIVE) 1:05-2 a.m. -- Luge (team relay gold medal final), NBC 1:05-2 a.m. -- Men's biathlon (20km gold medal final), NBC 2:40-5 a.m. -- Men's Hockey: Olympic athletes of Russia vs. Slovenia, NBCSN (LIVE) 5-7:10 a.m. -- Women's Curling: Sweden vs. OAR, NBCSN 7-9:30 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey: Finland vs. Norway, USA (LIVE) 7:10-9:30 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey: Sweden vs. Germany, NBCSN (LIVE) 9:30-10:45 a.m. -- Women's Skeleton (competition), NBCSN 10:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m. -- Women's Speed Skating (5,000m Gold medal final), NBCSN 10:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m. -- Men's Ski Jumping (individual large Hill Competition), NBCSN 2-5 p.m. -- Women's Curling: South Korea vs. Switzerland, NBCSN 3-5 p.m. -- Women's Speed Skating (5,000m gold medal final), NBC 3-5 p.m. -- Men's Cross Country (15km gold medal final), NBC 3-5 p.m. -- Men's Ski Jumping (ndividual large hill competition), NBC 5-8 p.m. -- Men's Curling: U.S. vs. Denmark, CNBC 8–10:10 p.m. -- Figure Skating (Men's gold medal final), NBCSN (LIVE) 8 p.m.-midnight -- Figure Skating (Men's gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 8 p.m.-midnight -- Women's Alpine Skiing (Super G gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 8 p.m.-midnight -- Women's Freestyle Skiing (aerials gold medal final), NBC 8 p.m.-midnight -- Women's Skeleton (competition), NBC 10 p.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Women's Ice Hockey (quarterfinal), CBNC (LIVE) 10:10 p.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey: Canada vs. Czech Republic, NBCSN (LIVE) 12:35-2 a.m. -- Women's Freestyle Skiing (slopestyle gold medal final), NBC 12:35-2 a.m. -- Figure Skating – Men's Postgame, NBC 12:30-2:40 a.m. -- Women's Curling: U.S. vs. Olympic Athletes from Russia, NBCSN 2-5 a.m. -- Primetime Encore, NBC 2:40-5 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey: Switzerland vs. South Korea, NBCSN (LIVE) 5-7:10 a.m. -- Men's Curling: Canada vs. Sweden, NBCSN 7:10-9:30 a.m.- Men's Ice Hockey: USA vs. Olympic Athletes of Russia, NBCSN 9:30-10:30 a.m. -- Men's Freestyle Skiing (aerials qualifying), NBCSN 10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. -- Women's Cross Country (4x5km Relay Gold medal final), NBCSN 11:30 a.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Women's Biathlon (12.5km Mass Start Gold medal final), NBCSN 12:30-1:30 p.m. -- Short Track (men's 1000m and women's 15000 gold medal finals), NBCSN 1:30-2:30 p.m. -- Women's Skeleton (gold medal final runs), NBCSN 2:30-3:30 p.m. -- Men's Ski Jumping (individual large hill gold medal final, NBCSN 3-6 p.m. -- Men's Freestyle Skiing (aerials competition), NBC 3-6 p.m. -- Women's Biathlon (12.5km mass start gold medal final), NBC 3-6 p.m. -- Women's Cross Country (4x5km Relay Gold medal final), NBC 3:30-5:30 p.m. -- Ice Hockey Game of the Day (replay), NBCSN 5-8 p.m. -- Women's Curling: U.S. vs. Canada, CNBC 8–10:10 p.m. -- Men's Freestyle Skiing (slopestyle competition), NBCSN (LIVE) 8-11 p.m. -- Men's Alpine Skiing (giant slalom, first run), NBC (LIVE) 8-11 p.m. -- Short Track (gold medal finals), NBC 8-11 p.m. -- Women's Skeleton (gold medal final runs), NBC 8-11 p.m. -- Men's Ski Jumping (individual large hill gold medal final), NBC 10:10 p.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey: Germany vs. Norway, NBCSN (LIVE) 11:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. -- Men's Alpine Skiing (Giant slalom, gold medal final run), NBC (LIVE) 11:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. -- Men's Freestyle Skiing (slopestyle gold medal final), NBC 12:30-2:40 a.m. -- Men's Curling: U.S. vs. Japan, NBCSN 1:30-4:30 a.m. -- Primetime Encore, NBC 2:40-5 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey: Czech Republic vs. Switzerland, NBCSN (LIVE) 5-7:10 a.m. -- Women's Curling: Canada vs. Switzerland, NBCSN 7-9:30 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey: Canada vs. South Korea, USA (LIVE) 7:10-9:30 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey: Sweden vs. Finland, NBCSN (LIVE) 9:30-10:15 a.m. -- Two-Man Bobsled (competition), NBCSN 10:15-11:15 a.m. -- Men's Freestyle Skiing (Aerials gold medal final), NBCSN 11:15 am.-12 p.m. -- Speed Skating (women's 500m gold medal final, men's team pursuit competition), NBCSN 12-1 p.m. -- Men's Biathlon (15km mass start gold medal final), NBCSN 1-3 p.m. -- Men's Cross Country (4x10km relay gold medal final), NBCSN 3-6 p.m. -- Men's Freestyle Skiing (aerials gold medal final), NBC 3-6 p.m. -- Men's Speed Skating (Team Pursuit Competition), NBC 3-6 p.m. -- Men's Biathlon (15km Mass Start Gold medal final, NBC 4-7 p.m. -- Men's Curling: U.S. vs. Norway, CNBC 7 p.m.-Midnight -- Figure Skating (ice dancing short dance), NBC (LIVE) 7 p.m.-Midnight -- Women's Freestyle Skiing (halfpipe), NBC (LIVE) 7 p.m.-Midnight -- Women's Speed Skating (500m gold medal final), NBC 7 p.m.-Midnight -- Two-Man Bobsled (competition), NBC 7 p.m.-Midnight -- Men's Cross Country (4x10km relay gold medal final), NBC 8-10:15 p.m. -- Figure Skating (ice dancing short dance), NBCSN (LIVE) 10:15-11:10 p.m. -- Men's Freestyle Skiing (aerials gold medal final), NBCSN 11 p.m.-1:30 a.m. -- Women's Ice Hockey (semifinal), NBCSN (LIVE) 12:35-2 a.m. -- Women's Snowboarding (big air competition), NBC 1:30-4:30 a.m. -- Women's Curling: U.S. vs. Denmark, NBCSN 2-4:30 a.m. -- Primetime Encore, NBC 4:30-7:10 a.m. -- Men's Curling: U.S. vs. Canada, NBCSN 7:10-9:30 a.m. -- Women's Hockey (semifinal), NBCSN (LIVE) 9:30-11 a.m. -- Men's Ski Jumping (team large hill gold medal final), NBCSN 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. -- Two-Man Bobsled (gold medal final runs), NBCSN 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. -- Speed Skating (men's 500m gold medal final, women's Team Pursuit Competition), NBCSN 12:30-3:30 p.m. -- Men's Curling: U.S. vs Canada, NBCSN 3-5 p.m. -- Men's Ski Jumping (team large hill gold medal final), NBC 3-5 p.m. -- Speed Skating (men's 500m gold medal final, women's team pursuit competition), NBC 3:30-7 p.m. -- Ice Hockey Game of the Day (Replay), Ice Hockey Game of the Day II (Replay) 5-8 p.m. -- Women's Curling: U.S. vs. China, CNBC 7-8 p.m. -- Olympic Ice 8–10:10 p.m. -- Figure Skating (ice dancing gold medal final), NBCSN (LIVE) 8–10:10 p.m. -- Women's Alpine Skiing (downhill training), NBCSN 8-11:30 p.m. -- Figure Skating (ice dancing gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 8-11:30 p.m. -- Women's Freestyle Skiing (halfpipe gold medal final) NBC (LIVE) 8-11:30 p.m. -- Two-Man Bobsled (gold medal final runs), NBC 10:10 p.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Men's Hockey (Elimination round), NBCSN (LIVE) 12:05-1 a.m. -- Men's Freestyle Skiing (halfpipe competition), NBC (LIVE) 12:30 a.m.-2:40 a.m. -- Men's Curling: Canada vs. Japan, NBCSN 2:40-5 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey (elimination round), NBCSN (LIVE) 5-7:10 a.m. -- Women's Curling: U.S. vs. South Korea, NBCSN 7-9:30 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey (elimination round), USA (LIVE) 7-9:30 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey (elimination round), NBCSN (LIVE) 9:30-10:30 a.m. -- Men's Nordic Combined (individual large hill/10km gold medal final), NBCSN 10:30 a.m.-noon -- Biathlon (mixed relay gold medal final), NBCSN Noon-12:45 p.m. -- Men's Nordic Combined (individual large hill/10km gold medal final), NBCSN 12:45-2 p.m. -- Short Track (women's 3000 relay gold medal final, women's 1000 qualifying, men's 500 gold medal final), NBCSN 2-5 p.m. -- Women's Curling: U.S. vs. South Korea, NBCSN 3-5 p.m. -- Biathlon (mixed relay gold medal final), NBC 3-5 p.m. -- Men's Nordic Combined (individual large hill/10km gold medal final), NBC 5-8 p.m. -- Men's Curling: U.S. vs. Switzerland, CNBC 7–8 p.m. -- Olympic Ice, NBCSN 8-10:45 p.m. -- Figure Skating (ladies' short program), NBCSN (LIVE) 8 p.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Women's Alpine Skiing (downhill gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 8 p.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Figure Skating – Ladies' Short Program, NBC (LIVE) 8 p.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Women's Bobsled (competition), NBC 8 p.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Men's Snowboarding (big air competition), NBC (LIVE) 10 p.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey (quarterfinal), CNBC (LIVE) 10:45 p.m.-2:40 a.m. -- Women's Curling: Canada vs. Great Britain, NBCSN 12:30-2:40 a.m. -- South Korea vs. Olympic Athletes from Russia, NBCSN 1:05-2 a.m. -- Men's Freestyle Skiing – Ski Cross Gold medal final, NBC 1:05-2 a.m. -- Short Track – Gold medal final, NBC 2:30-5 a.m. -- Women's Ice Hockey (bronze medal game), USA (LIVE) 2:40-5 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey (quarterfinal), NBCSN (LIVE) 5-7:10 a.m. -- Men's Curling: U.S. vs. Great Britain, NBCSN 5-7:10 a.m. -- Men's Curling: Sweden vs. Norway, USA 7:10-9:30 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey (quarterfinal), USA (LIVE) 7:10-9:30 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey (quarterfinal), NBCSN (LIVE) 9:30-10:45 a.m. -- Women's Bobsled (gold medal final runs), NBCSN 10:45 a.m.-1:30 p.m. -- Speed Skating (men's and women's team pursuit gold medal finals), NBCSN 10:45 a.m.-1:30 p.m. -- Cross Country (men's and women's team sprint gold medal finals), NBCSN 2-5 p.m. -- Men's Curling: U.S. vs. Great Britain, NBCSN 8-10:45 p.m. -- Women's Curling: Canada vs. Olympic Athletes from Russia, NBCSN 3-5 p.m. -- Speed Skating (team pursuit gold medal finals), NBC 3-5 p.m. -- Men's Cross Country (team sprint gold medal final), NBC 5-8 p.m. -- Women's Curling: U.S. vs. Sweden, CNBC 8-11 p.m. -- Men's Alpine Skiing (slalom, first run), NBC (LIVE) 8-11 p.m. -- Men's Freestyle Skiing (halfpipe gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 8-11 p.m. -- Women's Bobsled (gold medal final runs), NBC 8-11 p.m. -- Women's Cross Country (team sprint gold medal final), NBC 10:45 p.m.-2 a.m. -- Women's Ice Hockey (gold medal game), NBCSN (LIVE) 11:35 p.m.-12:30 a.m. -- Men's Alpine Skiing (slalom gold medal final run), NBC (LIVE) 12-2 a.m. -- Women's Ice Hockey (gold medal game), NBCSN (LIVE) 12:30-3:30 a.m. -- Primetime Encore, NBC 2-5:20 a.m. -- Snowboard (men's and women's parallel giant slalom competition), NBCSN 2-5:20 a.m. -- Men's Nordic Combined (team large hill/4x5km gold medal final), NBCSN 2-5:20 a.m. -- Curling (men's and women's tiebreaker), NBCSN 5:20-7:45 a.m. -- Women's Biathlon (4x6km relay gold medal final), NBCSN (LIVE) 5:20-7:45 a.m. -- Men's Nordic Combined (team large hill/4x5km gold medal final), NBCSN (LIVE) 7:45-10 a.m. -- Short Track (gold medal finals), NBCSN 10-10:45 a.m. -- Medal Ceremonies, NBCSN 10:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m. -- Curling (men's and women's tiebreaker), NBCSN 1:45-– 4:45 p.m. -- Men's Curling (semifinal), NBCSN 4:45-7 p.m. -- Ice Hockey Game of the Day (replay), NBCSN 3-5 p.m. -- Women's Biathlon (4x6km relay gold medal final), NBC 3-5 p.m. -- Men's Nordic Combined (team large hill/4x5km gold medal final), NBC 5-8 p.m. -- Men's Curling (semifinal), CNBC 8-10 p.m. -- Figure Skating (ladies' free program), NBCSN (LIVE) 8 p.m.-Midnight -- Figure Skating (ladies' gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 8 p.m.-Midnight -- Women's Alpine Skiing (combined, downhill run), NBC (LIVE) 8 p.m.-Midnight -- Women's Snowboarding (big air gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 8 p.m.-Midnight -- Short Track (gold medal finals), NBC 10 p.m.-2 a.m. -- Men's Curling (semifinal replay), NBCSN 10 p.m.-2 a.m. -- Short Track – Gold medal final, NBCSN 12:35-2 a.m. -- Women's Alpine Skiing (combined, slalom gold medal run) NBC (LIVE) 12:35-2 a.m. -- Women's Freestyle Skiing (ski cross gold medal final), NBC 2-5 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey (semifinal), NBCSN (LIVE) 5-6:30 a.m. -- Men's Speed Skating (1,000m gold medal final), NBCSN (LIVE) 6:30-9:30 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey (semifinal), NBCSN (LIVE) 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Men's Curling (bronze medal match), NBCSN 12:30-3:30 p.m. -- Women's Curling (semifinal), NBCSN 3-5 p.m. -- Men's Biathlon (4×7.5km relay gold medal final), NBC 3-5 p.m. -- Figure Skating (ladies' review), NBC 3:30-4 p.m. Medal Ceremonies, NBCSN 4-8 p.m. -- Ice Hockey (game of the day I and II) (replay), NBCSN 5-8 p.m. -- Women's Curling (semifinal) CNBC 8-11 p.m. -- Alpine Skiing (team event gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 8-11 p.m. -- Men's Snowboarding (big air gold medal final), NBC (LIVE) 8-11 p.m. -- Four-Man Bobsled (competition), NBC 8-11 p.m. -- Men's Speed Skating (1,000m gold medal final), NBC 8 p.m.-midnight -- Men's Biathlon (4×7.5km relay gold medal final) , NBCSN 8 p.m.-midnight -- Women's Curling (semifinal replay), NBCSN 11:35 p.m.-1 a.m. -- Snowboarding (Men's and women's parallel giant slalom gold medal finals), NBC Midnight-3 a.m. -- Men's Cross Country (50km gold medal final), NBCSN (LIVE) 1 a.m. – 4 a.m. -- Primetime Encore, NBC 3-6:30 a.m. -- Men's Curling (gold medal final), NBCSN 6:30-9:30 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey (bronze medal game), NBCSN (LIVE) 9:30-11 a.m. -- Speed Skating (men's and women's mass start gold medal finals), NBCSN 11 a.m.-2 p.m. -- Women's Curling (Bronze medal match), NBCSN 2-4 p.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey (Game of the Day replay), NBCSN 3-6 p.m. -- Speed Skating (men's and women's mass start gold medal finals), NBC 4-6 p.m. -- Men's Curling (gold medal final replay), NBCSN 7-10:30 p.m. Women's Curling (gold medal final), NBCSN (LIVE) 8-11 p.m. -- Figure Skating (gala) (LIVE), NBC 8-11 p.m. -- Four Man Bobsled (gold medal final Runs), NBC (LIVE) 10:30 p.m.-2 a.m. -- Men's Hockey (gold Medal Game), NBCSN (LIVE) 11:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m. -- Primetime Plus Coverage, NBC 12:30 a.m. – 3:30 a.m. -- Primetime Encore, NBC 7-8 p.m. -- Olympic Gold, NBC 8-10:30 p.m. -- Closing Ceremony, NBC 11:35 p.m.-3 a.m. -- Primetime Encore, NBC 2-4 a.m. -- Women's Cross Country (30km gold medal final), NBCSN 4-6 a.m. -- Figure Skating (gala replay), NBCSN 6-10 a.m. -- Men's Ice Hockey (gold medal game replay), NBCSN HOTTRAX TOURS HOTTRAX NEWZ HOTTRAX ALBUMS FASHION LISTS SHORT STORIEZ PEOPLES POLITICZ HBCU SPORTZ Fashion Red Carpets Reality TV Shenaignas Happiest Birthdays Skip Marley & H.E.R’s NEW Single “Slow Down” Songs for You Something Real Indeed 28th Annual Bounce Trumpet Awards Recap DJ Tryfe’s inaugural VIRIBUS Ball Hopes To Raise Awareness In the Black Community About Mental Illness Isaac Carree New Singles! The Passing of former NBA Commissioner David Stern Top 15 Sports Moments of the Decade Eric Bellinger’s New Album “Cuffing Season 3” Wiz Khalifa’s new album is now available! 2019 The Divah Filez

Going the way of Poetry in Lagos II by Michael Chiedoziem Chukwudera Now, I am going into Freedom Park through its narrow entrance, with the stage not very far off by my right hand, enlarged photographs of some very famous people like the poets Wole Soyinka and Niyi Osundare, the YPP Presidential candidate Kingsley Moghalu, and a number of people who I do not know, but I’m sure are important people. I find my way around the big compound to the event location. At the hall entrance, a young lady is wearing a black shirt labelled LIPFEST, on which a bus, the logo of the year’s theme, is drawn, accompanied by the words: Wide Awake. She welcomes me nicely and I sign in, thank her and move up to the hall upstairs. A discussion on fake news (including its effect on the masses and how many establishments have come to ruin because of it) is being held between Toni Kan and Wana Udobang, anchored by Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún. The discourse is sometimes interesting, important and occasionally funny. Shortly afterwards, the audience is asked to make their contributions or ask questions if any, and afterwards, the session is rounded. Another discussion tagged ‘We Remember Differently’ is held between Wana Udobang and Lebo Mashile, after which Kwame Dawes, the founder of the African Poetry prize initiative, is interviewed by the poet, Dami Ajayi. There is a short break and I go downstairs to the other side of the park where a large basement is divided into sections. There I meet Jerry Chiemeke and Ikechukwu Nwaogu, fellow writers who I’d met before two years ago at the Ake Book and Arts Festival in Abeokuta, and they introduced me to the other man with them as Femi Fairchild Morgan, an event curator, writer and publisher, most notably of Bura Bari Nwilo’s A Tiny Place Called Happiness. We soon get engaged in the writer-reader chit-chats, how this was the first time they are seeing me in Lagos, as opposed to my posts on Facebook about my frequent visits to Port Harcourt. In the course of the discussion, I get to know about the Lagos Book And Arts Festival (LABAF) which is to begin the following week and whose poetry night is scheduled for Tuesday – my initial plan is to leave Lagos on Monday morning. I head back upstairs with Jerry Chiemeke where we listen to a chat between Niyi Osundare and the Sierra Leonean poet, Syl Cheney-Coker. Both poets discuss African history, their heydays and what made them go into writing poetry. Niyi Osundare, who is also a professor, tells us about how poetry saved his life, since he was increasingly becoming restless till he found it as a vocation, and began by drawing parody cartoons and writing anti-government poems in newspapers. When asked by Cynthia Osuchukwu, the founder of SynCity, if he was disappointed in poets of these days, who are less into the political activism which marked him and the poets of his day, Professor Osundare recounts his days as a young man and how different the status quo was at the time. ‘When I graduated from university, there were four jobs waiting for me,’ he recounts, ‘And I purposely chose to teach. But today, graduates don’t even have one opportunity, how much more as many as…’ Of course, this is not a direct answer to the question, but has many indirect meanings, including one in the direction of the recent lamentation that many Nigerian writers are nothing but hustlers. Osundare also talks about the sorry state of affairs of things in the country presently and laments that it is as a result of us having rulers and no leaders. And because of the ethnicism which results from the fact that we have not discovered, like Ayi Kwei Armah said, that ‘We are one river, flowing from Congo through the Niger, uninterrupted…’ L-R: Niyi Osundare & Kwame Dawes. Syl Cheney Coker tells us about his time in Nigeria, about Sierra Leone and the history of the Fourah Bay College, the oldest tertiary institution in West Africa, established in the 19thcentury and how even as early as then, women attended the college, earlier than women were allowed to do so in many European societies. He draws a parallel with much of what Chimamanda Adichie has been saying about the marginalization of women in African society. It indeed proves to be a great session, listening to two veteran poets discuss history and poetry. Later, Jerry Chiemeke and I head to the building behind the hall where upstairs is the bar, a large room with dull lights, furniture typical of a dining room arranged in sets, typical of an elite bar. Here, we meet with the poets, Tade Ipadeola, Niran Okewole, and the American scholar, Nathan Suhr-Sytsma, and a discussion on literature, politics, LGBT+ and history ensues. The Nigerian election is barely three months away, and at a point, our discussions centre around this; on whether it was relevant to vote or not to vote since it was very unlikely for Muhammadu Buhari, the dictator that he is, to conduct a free and fair election. I am of the opinion that voting is useless since the electoral system is largely compromised. It is at this juncture that a black woman who was discussing with a white man at the table beside us becomes interested in our discussions and why I am of the opinion that we shouldn’t vote. She introduces herself to me as Dr Naaluembe Binaisa, a Kenyan academic, teaching at the University of Lagos. One of my reasons that the problems of the country are fundamental and due to the structure, which enables outright ethnicism coupled with the marginalization of the South by the North, rendering votes useless, does not seem sufficient for her. ‘I think young people should vote,’ she says. She gives me a lecture on Pan-Africanism and how my idea of decentralisation of power was going against the idea of Pan-Africanism of our founding fathers. The 2018 LIPFEST closing party is my first silent party experience. Everybody is putting on a headset connected to the DJ, and music is playing through the headset in two musical genres – foreign and local. You can switch your headset to whichever genre you want to listen to. When I put on my headset, I feel the vibe of the party and the dance steps of half of the people make sense to me (at every given time, the other half is listening to another genre). When I take off the headset, it is as though everywhere is quiet and the hall is populated with crazy people dancing to imaginary music. And these schizophrenics would include Jerry Chiemeke – unlike Ikechukwu Nwaogu who sits quietly in a corner with his headset. When the party closes later in the night, Ikechukwu Nwaogu offers to accommodate me in his house. We are walking with a young man whom I don’t really know. Our discussion centres mainly around Kings College as we pass through it, their alumni and how people like Bola Tinubu and many other ‘important’ people are regular visitors to the school. Soon after, we go our separate ways, and me and my friend are walking so fast along the express road as he repeatedly tells me, ‘Michael, gbadokwa anya, Michael shine your eyes.’ He has this habit of being protective and indirectly enforcing that notion on you that Lagos is not safe. We chance upon a Hilux van which pulls up by the side of the road. The driver is with two men, one in the passenger seat and another at the back. ‘Oshodi!’ Ikechukwu calls. The driver asks us to get in for N200 each, and takes us on a high-spirited ride through the free expressway to Oshodi. The roads are very sparse, till we finally get to the long one which leads to Ikechukwu’s house. We might have walked three-quarters of a mile, but I don’t feel it, maybe because Ikechukwu is so full of infectious energy. We wake up the next morning to a neighbourhood which is already getting fairly noisy. And when I go out to buy a toothbrush, I find that all the shops in the neighbourhood are already open by 7am on a Sunday morning! When I return to the house, my friend and I have to rush our preparations because he has a thanksgiving service to attend at the toll gate, for which he was already late. And I have to attend mass before heading for Berger, where I was to wait for my uncle who would pick me up on his way from Oyo state later in the day, and take me to his place where I am to stay till Tuesday, when I am to head back to Lagos island for the poetry event of the Lagos Book and Arts Festival. It is not until about 5pm in the evening my uncle finally calls me that he is at Berger. Before this time, I have been roaming the place freely, after failing to locate any Catholic church in which I could attend morning mass and not bothering to ask anybody for directions because it seems the people living in Lagos do not know anywhere apart from their house and where they are headed. So, I spend the first few hours of the morning in a bet9ja shop where I listen to people arguing about football as they forecast games. Afterwards, I roam the crowded streets, the Ansar-ud deen community and also the flyover, which makes a big impression on me, for it has two staircases on each side; one for going up and one for going down, and both the staircase and the flyover have rails. I watch people streaming up and down simultaneously on each side of the bridge, it was like watching ants on a cross-country trail. My uncle quickly makes me comfortable in the house and even makes food for me; pap with a lot of milk and sugar which we eat with the bread we bought on our way coming. He is my mother’s younger brother. My relationship with him dates as far back as 18 years when he, and my aunt, was just a teenage boy living with us. We spend the night talking about many of the people who lived in our neighbourhood back in Benin City. He asks me questions about my cousins who lived (some of who still live) with their parents in one of the flat upstairs of the house. We talk deep into the night, discussing our shared acquaintances and shared history. My uncle is surprisingly compassionate and tells me of the plans he has even for me, should his plans of his whole family leaving Nigeria succeed, which is kind of flattering. I am very impressed with what he has done for himself as a man in his early thirties. It is not quite 6am when my uncle and I set out on Tuesday, he to the market and I, once again, to Freedom Park. Sango junction, when we come out, is already full of people and danfo. We say our goodbyes and I enter one of the danfo headed for Oshodi. One thing about these Lagos buses is how they are so rickety that you wonder how they manage to ply the roads even as they make loud and squeaking sounds as though about to disintegrate. The seats are made of metal and wood and for every bus you board, you are most likely to meet people rapping the Yoruba language among themselves, that is to say, the language is sure to serve you, all the time, an atmosphere of consciousness, concerning where you are. Freedom Park is remarkably empty this morning. No event has begun yet, neither does it seem like any was to begin in the next couple of hours. Since I had the island to myself, it doesn’t feel right that I settle for reading when I could either explore or meet a person or two. I call my good friend, Odeyemi Bolutife, who had told me that her workplace is not far from the park. She asks me to come to Sapetro towers on Adeola Odeku Street in Victoria Island, opposite The Place restaurant. There, she directs me on how to take the lift to her office reception. The receptionist asks me to sit there and wait for Odeyemi. I am seated, thinking about how Lagos island is indeed, very impressive. And not long after, my friend comes out looking far younger than she does in her online photos, and we are both mildly excited to see each other. The receptionist gives her an envelope that had just come for her. My friend introduces me to the receptionist as her friend, a writer and also to another colleague, the first Yoruba person I have met in all my life who speaks and understands Igbo to the extent of being able to interpret the exact meaning of my middle name, Chiedoziem, God has repaired me, because she grew up in Enugu state. She takes me to Cubana, not far from her office, and by their bar, she orders parfait: banana flavour for me and avocado for her. We begin discussions from pleasantries which soon focus on the topics of mutual interest to us throughout our friendship in the virtual space which was manifesting in the physical for the first time. First, I tell her about my journey and how it is really my first time in Lagos, which seems to surprise her, because I seem like much of a traveller and two years before, I had travelled to Abeokuta through the same route. ‘Ah! Ah! Did you not go to Abeokuta the other time,’ she asks, ‘Did you not pass through Lagos while going?’ ‘Yes,’ I reply, ‘But passing through a place doesn’t always pass for having been there. At the very least, I should step foot on the soil and spend some hours…’ ‘Yes, that’s true,’ she replies. We talk about family, the Lagos life, writing, our respective university days, places travelled to, work experience in general. I generally enjoy the conversation and the compassion which seems to come with every word my friend says. And at a point, we talk about things that are quite intimate when I tell her about my father and some of the recent arguments we are having and instead of taking my sides, she tries to make me see things from his perspectives. In lieu of this, she relates to me, how motherhood was teaching her lessons which helped her understand aspects of her own parents which she could hardly understand some years ago, and how it has made her come to appreciate them, even more now that she is a parent herself. Fortunately, we do not talk about the topic that is dichotomous between us: the topic of Biafra, a proponent of which I am, while she is a proponent of unity and a better country (by God knows how?). We meet two men at the front of her office building, one of whom she introduces to me as my Biafran brother, who, she jokes, should leave Lagos for the east. I shake hands with him, really excited about the idea that there are men approaching middle age, living in faraway Lagos who still have their eyes set on home. My friend and I soon say our goodbyes, after which I head back to Freedom Park. By the time I head back, Femi Morgan is already around and the banners to be used upstairs at the hall are already much in place. Not long after, the event kicks off with a chat between three fine artists. By evening, many poets begin to arrive at the venue, including Michael Akuchie, Jerry Chiemeke, Oko Owi Ocho, and William Moore. Femi Morgan kicks off the show and a delightful evening of a poetry reading. We sit around tables in front of the centre stage, everyone with a bottle of what he or she drinks as we listen to poetry upon poetry and Lagos, showing as always why it is the centre stage for a great many of our poets. I am particularly fond of the love poem, ‘Tokwase’ performed by Oko Owi Ocho in the African fashion of the days of yore. Soon, it is my turn and I read a love poem titled ‘Love Is Not for Perfect People’. A great many other poets read us their poems and soon we grow deep into the night and soon have to go home. Now that the end of my visit to Lagos has come, for while the festival is to continue for over a week, I have to go back to work in faraway Asaba. The parting highlight of the night is the love shown me and Femi Morgan by Mama Freedom Park when she packages my food for me and gives us enough money to pay for our hotel rooms. Alone in my hotel room that night, I look through my window the many lights which spread out on the island. I am thankful that cities do not always run away and are there waiting for us when next we return. Even though, in my little way, I have experienced the hostility of Lagos and the fast pace of living which could be a deterrence to serenity, the heightened struggle in which most people have lost their humanity in the race for survival, even the attitude of some Yoruba people who wanted to begin a discussion with me in Yoruba because they expected that everybody in Lagos was conversant in the language. Even though I had seen all these things in Lagos, it doesn’t escape my notice the evident thrill brought about by the adrenaline rush. The energy in the populace is real and infectious; it isn’t a city which slows down for you to catch up; it just continuously goes in its usual fast and furious pace and does not even bother to watch you cope, the adventure in the city is left all in your hands. ‘I am definitely coming back someday,’ I say to myself. ^This is a two-fold narrative essay and the concluding part of the post published yesterday. You may read the first part here. Michael Chiedoziem Chukwudera is a writer and journalist who works for Voice of the East Media. He is completing works on two novels, Waiting on a Dream and Loss is an Aftertaste of Memories. You may follow him on Twitter and Medium: @ChukwuderaEdozi. Cover photo credit: Lagos International Poetry Festival Share this with a friend: LagosLagos International Poetry FestivalMichael Chiedoziem Chukwudera Going the way of Poetry in Lagos I by Michael Chiedoziem Chukwudera A Travel Playlist: The Music of My Journey to Dakar by Tọ́pẹ́ Salaudeen-Adégòkè Postscript: The Last Act of Transaction by Tọ́pẹ́-ẸniỌbańkẹ́ Adégòkè A JJC in Lagos by Cynthia Adaobi Okpala Wow. Just wow. I walked through Lagos with you from this descriptive narration. Beautiful. You even make poetry sound like a good idea to ‘not-a-fan’

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Hi, my stomach is in knots, i feel constipated and my stomach is cramping at the top. I have had on off slight nausea and am wondering if im pregnant. I have done a test by it says negitive alothough I am might to have my period next week...Could I be pregnant? output: Hi dear, I have gone through your question and understand your concerns. Cramps in the lower abdomen, constipation, are present both in early pregnancy and in premenstrual phase. To confirm pregnancy by urine pregnancy test, I will suggest you to wait till your expected dates of periods, if delayed then do get a urine pregnancy test done to confirm. Hope you found the answer helpful. Wishing you good health.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Dear Madam,My names is GP, we have married past 3 yrs before, starting my marriage time i have irragular periods, after getting treatment it was resolved, but still now i could not able to get baby, my self and my husband was taken so may tests final results was found nagative, so please help and support me, am was there in near by chennai only madam, advance thanks for your reply output: Your and your husband reports are normal and still not conceiving is "unexplained infertility". I would advise doing try naturally, do intercourse in fertile period on alternate day. Try this for 4/5 cycle. Then consult gynecologist if don't get success, and there are options like GUI (intrauterine insemination), IVF invited fertilization. Hope I answered your question. Would be happy to help you further. Take care..

Misadventures in Blissville The resplendent exploits of cultural erudite David Lawler. BlissVille Fridays Monkees Vs. Macheen That Twilighty Show About That Zone Vintage Cable Box Tag: Victor Miller Vintage Cable Box: Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, 1984 Posted on October 24, 2016 by lawlerd “Die! Die! Die! Die!” Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, 1984 (Crispin Glover), Paramount Pictures As is the course for the Friday the 13th franchise, we start with a clip show. This is like watching Happy Days, Family Ties, Friends or any number of sitcoms where the actors’ contractual demands per episode outweighed any reason to shoot new episodes, so the producers would cobble together “flashback” episodes to complete production runs. We get a few minutes of the back-story. The dreamy camp coordinator from Part 2 sits his kids around a fire to regale them with the story of Jason. We go backwards to the old man and the “death curse”, forward to Pamela’s shrine, backward to Pamela’s beheading, and forward to our previous survivor, character (actress) putting an ax in Jason’s hockey mask. Like Part III (in 3-D!) before it, we pick up the action right where the previous movie left off. Cops in raincoats take all the bodies out of the crime scene (including Jason’s) and off we go to the local hospital. This time, we spend a good portion of the movie away from the camp, or any forest-like locale, which is refreshing. You think it’s going play like Halloween II (which took place in a hospital as well, which made it a little boring for me), but just as soon as Jason rises from the dead (the first traces of his super-human stature), and kills a couple of medical staffers (nice to know they’re horny too, Jason works much better as a form of birth control than an instrument of vengeance), we’re back at Crystal Lake, or at least within the vicinity. Playing as a slight variation from Part III (in 3-D!), we have another group of friends off to spend a weekend at idyllic Crystal Lake. Perhaps tragedy-plus-time equals comedy, so the locals aren’t so crazy-ass nervous about the whole thing, but what is it about Crystal Lake that seduces teenagers to drink of it’s pristine shores, or skinny dip, or engage in any other number of activities? The archetypes are almost identical to the previous movie; you have the popular guy, the pretend- popular guy, the hotties, the dweeb (memorable Crispin Glover), and the virgin (her name escapes me). We meet a friendly family: the Jarvises, a mother and her two kids, daughter Trish and little boy Tommy (Corey Feldman). Tommy makes halloween masks and enjoys makeup effects, much like expert makeup artist, Tom Savini (who returned to work on this movie specifically so he could kill Jason). He is a joy to watch in this movie, particularly when he’s checking out the girls undressing through his bedroom window. Meanwhile, there’s a pair of cute twins looking to make life interesting for Glover and his douche-bag friend. Tommy watches the gaggle of them swimming naked in the lake, and instantly becomes a man! What with all the characters running around, I almost forgot we were watching a Friday the 13th movie. Our favorite hockey player shows up right after Trish and Tommy meet tall, handsome hitchhiker, Rob (Erich Anderson), who bonds with Tommy after seeing his eclectic collection of monster movie paraphenalia. The screenplay briefly flirts with the idea of making Rob the killer, because of his similar build to that of Jason. The teens party on, and Crispin does a ridiculous dance (think Elaine and her “full-body dry-heave” from Seinfeld) that is forever etched in my mind. In addition, the ending is a better variation of the second movie’s ending that has Tommy shaving his head to resemble a young Jason in order to distract and then murder him. His story will continue in the next two movies. Long live Tommy Jarvis! This is the movie I most remember (other than Part VI: Jason Lives) from the franchise, because, as it happened, The Movie Channel ran a marathon of the first three movies to mark the premiere of this sequel. For some strange and spooky reason, I always watched this movie in quiet surroundings (at least until I watched it again for this review). The first time I saw the movie, I was living in cricket-infested Tennessee. Another time, I was upstate in Putnam County (with lots of freaking crickets). One snap of a fallen tree branch and I was hanging from the ceiling fan, even though Jason never truly frightened me. By the time this movie rolled around, he was almost a robot, an indestructible entity (regardless of what becomes of him at the end of this movie). In the formula of how these movies were made, we have story, gruesome death, story, gruesome death – rinse and repeat, so you can pretty much tell what’s going to happen next. The fun was figuring out how the kids were going to die. You can also sense the “cold war” of competing slasher movie enterprises. In looking over the comparative histories of these franchises, I found several similarities. Halloween was intended as an anthology series, as was Friday the 13th, until the producers changed their minds. Similar concepts were brought out, such as The Burning (one shot in The Final Chapter imitates the famous canoe scene) and the Sleepaway Camp cycle. Other concepts were direct parodies (though not marketed as such), like The Slumber Party Massacre and The Dorm That Dripped Blood. Wes Craven’s Scream franchise deconstructed the genre for a new audience, and in turn, caused a resurgence, resulting in self-referential films like Adam Green’s Hatchet series. I had a wonderful time catching up and reviewing the first four movies of this franchise. It seems Friday the 13th (like Jason) will go on forever and ever. The franchise was rebooted in 2009 (not a terrible movie, but lacking the D.I.Y. qualities and rough charm of the original movies) and produced by Michael Bay, who would also produce reboots of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Amityville Horror, and A Nightmare On Elm Street. It’s sad to think we’ve rendered a particular era of filmmaking obsolete; most movies released these days are not temporary distractions and fun diversions, but full-blown epics with philosophical and psychological underpinnings that the audience must digest and process in order to get a sense of entertainment, or else they completely miss the boat. Remember when movies were fun? Next time, we look at the superior rat movie, Of Unknown Origin, starring the great Peter Weller! Our first cable box was a non-descript metal contraption with a rotary dial and unlimited potential (with no brand name – weird). We flipped it on, and the first thing we noticed was that the reception was crystal-clear; no ghosting, no snow, no fuzzy images. We had the premium package: HBO, Cinemax, The Movie Channel, MTV, Nickelodeon, CNN, The Disney Channel, and the local network affiliates. About $25-$30 a month. Each week (and sometimes twice a week!), “Vintage Cable Box” explores the wonderful world of premium Cable TV of the early eighties. Posted in BlogTagged 1979 1980 1982 1984 Betsy Palmer Corey Feldman Crispin Glover Erich Anderson Friday the 13th Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter Halloween horror horror movies Jason Jason Voorhees Joseph Zito Kevin Bacon Pamela Voorhees. Sean S. Cunningham slasher film slasher movies Ted White Victor MillerLeave a comment Vintage Cable Box: Friday the 13th Part III, 1982 “Look upon this omen and go back from whence ye came! I have warned thee! I have warned thee.” Friday the 13th Part III, 1982 (Richard Brooker), Paramount Pictures We pick up right where we left off with the previous installment, and then I begin to suspect these opening scenes exist only to pad out the running time. Basically, we have Ginny (the survivor from Part 2, and, not coincidentally, a thoughtful and intelligent young woman) trying to pass herself as Pamela in order to confuse and delay Jason (now revealed to be the killer) so she can get away. There’s a subtle character bit here with Jason that I neglected to mention in the previous review. When Ginny admonishes him for disobeying her, he cocks his head in a quizzical manner, as though he were a puppy who just heard an unusual noise. So Ginny escapes, we go back to the grotesque shrine of Pamela, and we’re off to the races! This is Friday the 13th Part III (in 3-D, as evidenced by the credits, but for some reason we’re treated to a disco theme this time around). I’m assuming the credits are supposed to be smacking our faces if we’re wearing the 3-D glasses, but here they mercifully stop before messing up my monitor. Phew! Steve Miner directs an immediate follow-up to the first sequel with the discovery of all the dead teens from Part 2. Jason is somewhere still out there, clutching a machete, and it isn’t long before we get our first confirmed kill. This is the first sequel (in my worn-down memory, at least) to step up the action and get right down to business. We get the fake-out jolts, of course accompanied by Manfredini’s violin stings (his score emulates Bernard Hermann’s score for Psycho), but we also get a handful of enhanced shots for 3-D; snakes coming toward us, assorted weaponry, and a “clever” gag with a yo-yo. There’s a refreshing amount of quiet that escalates the tension, because at this point we’re waiting for Jason to strike. After vanquishing an argumentative couple with a fondness for pets, we’re introduced to the requisite teens with the van that’s a rockin’. These guys aren’t as likeable as the previous batch, but it is admittedly easier to watch them buy a one-way ticket to the bone orchard. I remember being somewhat upset and alarmed that Adrienne King was the first to go in the previous movie, but as I get to understand and appreciate the formula, I realize this is the only way to move forward in a franchise. We can’t have long-term heroes (or heroines) in slasher films. It gets boring after a while. This is evidenced by the on-again, off-again presence of Jamie Lee Curtis in the Halloween franchise. The formula of the franchise represents a deviation from the first two movies. These kids aren’t camp counselors, but a group of old friends (though they don’t act all that friendly with each other, the girls are somewhat bitchy to each other, and the guys are deliberately dense) spending a weekend together in a town that neighbors Crystal Lake. They are menaced by a strange ’80s version of a multicultural biker gang. So, in addition to weathering the storm of Jason’s vengeance, they have to deal with these idiots, who also swear vengeance. There’s a lot of vengeance in New Jersey, isn’t there? The biker idiots show up, attempting to rain on the kids’ parade, but they get knocked off by Jason, in increasingly inventive ways, and it’s interesting to note several of the killings are done off-screen. While continuing to use POV shots for Jason, this is the movie in which we get to see more than just a few shots of him. He dons the iconic hockey mask (as played by Richard Brooker) for the first time and shoots an arrow straight through a victim’s eye! Visually, the movie looks a lot better than most of the 3-D films being released at the time. Earlier today, I wrote up my review for Jaws 3-D (which didn’t look terrible, but it didn’t look that great, either) and I was reminded of the terrible photographic process shots of the Steve Guttenberg nudie classic, The Man Who Wasn’t There. Shot on a budget twice that of the previous film, Friday the 13th Part III did a little better at the box office, but not quite as groundbreaking as the first movie in the franchise, but by this time, slasher films took over a good portion of the market. Friday the 13th Part III is likely the last movie in the franchise to show Jason as a human being with physical vulnerabilities, unlike what he would eventually become: that of a super-human killing machine. Next time, I look at The Slumber Party Massacre from 1982, written by noted feminist Rita Mae Brown. Apparently, she wanted to show that women could make trashy, violent, exploitative movies as well as any damned man! Posted in BlogTagged 1979 1980 1982 3-D Adrienne King Amy Steel Betsy Palmer Friday the 13th Halloween horror horror movies Jason Jason Voorhees Jaws 3D Kevin Bacon Pamela Voorhees. photographic process Richard Brooker Sean S. Cunningham slasher film slasher movies Steve Miner The Man Who Wasn't There three dimensional Victor MillerLeave a comment Vintage Cable Box: Friday the 13th Part 2, 1981 “I told the others, they didn’t believe me. You’re all doomed. You’re all doomed.” Friday the 13th Part 2, 1981 (Adrienne King), Paramount Pictures Adrienne King is having nightmares. Specifically, nightmares about the carnage from a few months prior. Pamela shakes her, tells her Jason should have been watched. He wasn’t a very good swimmer, you see. Pamela targets poor Adrienne as the source of her anguish. Adrienne tries to flee, but dead bodies are in her path. She struggles with Pamela and grabs an ax. One lucky swing later and Pamela is liberated from her head. We then see the final image of the first movie, that of Adrienne lazily languishing in a canoe, until Jason emerges from his watery grave and pulls her under. She talks to authorities and wonders what happened to the boy. Adrienne wakes up. The phone rings. She argues with her mother, which is interesting considering that previous flashback. What we’re seeing here is a fragmented individual who, unfortunately, will not make it past the opening credits. She opens the refrigerator door to see Pamela’s decapitated head looking at her (the old Osterman Weekend gag!), and then she gets a ice-pick in her head (the old Basic Instinct gag!). At least the killer is kind enough to take the whistling kettle off the heat. We jump to five years later, and a fresh, healthy batch of good-looking camp counselors are en route to a training center just outside of the camp. Their no-nonsense (yet dreamy) coordinator set them to work making preparations, or something like that. The script doesn’t waste much time on character development. This would, unfortunately, become a trope of slasher movies as the years progressed. As they are want to do, they engage in fornication, smoking dope, telling scary stories or whatever the kids got up to back in those days. The crazy old man (“It’s got a death curse!”) shows up again to freak out the young people. That seems to be his primary job. Dreamy coordinator-guy sits everybody by the campfire and tells the story of Jason, for no other reason than to take up the creepy old man’s mantle (not before being killed himself, goodbye old man, we’ll miss you!) and scare the Hell out of these kids. Why? Camp Crystal Lake is off-limits! As with the first movie, there are a few fake-out jolts to be felt. What tends to happen is a one or two people trounce off the beaten path, walk through the woods, take a stroll around back, and then we go to a POV shot. Somebody’s following somebody, a couple of violin stings from Henry Manfredini’s once-again effective score. Sometimes we see a pair of legs following our hapless kids, and then we get the fake jolt, usually from a portly authority figure, who warns of danger, which is what I don’t understand. Sooner or later the person doing the warning gets garroted. You have all these townies warning of danger and yet they continue to live there. If there was bad ju-ju afoot, I’d book and I mean proper! Crazy, hemp-smokin’ kids don’t buy this adult plastic hassle, and they keep on keepin’ on. My favorite bit this time around is two kids doing the nasty and the killer impales their bodies together with the bed. Fun stuff! She could use a decent exfoliant! On a technical level, this second part in the franchise has better lighting and camerawork. Steve Miner makes use of slow-moving tracking shots and creeping shadows. Miner would go to direct the next sequel, House (a personal favorite of mine), and, inexplicably, Forever Young with Mel Gibson and Jamie Lee Curtis. It seems this movie has a little more psychology going for it, with fear of the dark and vulnerability (such as the kids’ propensity for going skinny-dipping at night) driving those in the audience to clutch their boyfriends and girlfriends in sheer terror. Several of these gags would be repeated in the third sequel. I recognize one of the counselors as being the crazy bell-hop from the X-Files episode, “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose.” Shot on a budget twice that of the first film, this sequel did not make as much money at the box office, but it was enough for Paramount (who purchased the worldwide rights) to justify another sequel. Next time, I put on my 3D glasses for the first of two movies made in that strange photographic process. Jaws 3-D, up next on Vintage Cable Box. It ain’t Avatar! Posted in BlogTagged 1979 1980 Adrienne King Amy Steel 1981 Betsy Palmer Friday the 13th Halloween horror horror movies Jason Jason Voorhees Kevin Bacon Pamela Voorhees. Sean S. Cunningham slasher film slasher movies Steve Miner Victor Miller2 Comments Vintage Cable Box: Friday the 13th, 1980 Posted on October 3, 2016 by lawlerd “It’s got a death curse!” Friday the 13th, 1980 (Betsy Palmer), Paramount Pictures The slasher film was by no means a new idea when Friday the 13th opened to theaters in 1980, nor even Halloween two years previous. A quick trip to the Wikipedia unearths unusual obscurities like Maurice Tourneur’s The Lunatics from 1912 (which I am stunned to remember watching at some point), which may have inspired the passing of the Hays Code (I would argue that, as the Hays Code was primarily an instrument of sexual censorship). Thirteen Women from 1932 is more likely the progenitor of the modern-day slasher flick, because of the revenge-obsessed narrative. The usual pattern of these stories involves an unpopular character, ridiculed, perhaps killed (or assumed dead) who has emerged to exact bloody vengeance on all those who wronged him or her. This is the impetus of the very popular Friday the 13th franchise. This is Camp Crystal Lake, a few years back. The moon is out, and crickets chirp in the woods. We have a couple of camp counselors getting sexy upstairs, and then we see that famous POV shot. Young Jason Voorhees (presumably) spies on them, and then murders them. Henry Manfredini’s iconic score borrows heavily from Bernard Hermann’s idea to use stinging strings to emphasize the acts of violence committed to film, as in Hitchcock’s Citizen Kane of slasher movies, Psycho. Counselors assemble to repopulate the once-abandoned Crystal Lake. There are some classic bits in here, as when one of the counselors goes into the town diner to ask for directions to the camp. Everybody in the place stares at her like they’re all about to tell the story of “Large Marge.” She hitches a ride to the camp, and the driver tells her about the two kids murdered in 1958, the drowning boy in 1957, and all the fires that have plagued Crystal Lake. The driver urges her to quit and leave, but she can’t. She’s shaping young minds, damnit! While her devotion to her work is admirable, her colleagues have other ideas: namely hanky-panky, and this is where we get more of the formula of this sub-genre. The innocent, or thoughtful characters, usually virginal girls, are spared, while the libidinous of the group die horribly. For the purposes of the first movie in the franchise, the identity of the killer is kept secret until the end, but we know ultimately that either Jason (or his restless and super-human spirit) are responsible for the subsequent killings. Adrienne King, the remaining victim, discovers that Jason’s mother, has been avenging herself upon this new batch of counselors in her dead son’s stead. It seems she was driven mad by his drowning death (as any mother would be) and took to killing as her primary source of communication. This explains why (from her point of view), she was able to easily dispatch so many unsuspecting and trusting idiots. As in Psycho (at least for this first entry) Jason exists only as a memory, like Norman’s mother. After she loses her head (literally!), we’re treated to a De Palma-style leap from a watery grave and King waking from a horrifying nightmare. Sean Cunningham (working from soap-opera scribe Victor Miller’s script) crafts a good old fashioned camp-fire story in very economical fashion. Primarily conceived as a “tax shelter production”, Friday the 13th was shot in 1979 on a budget of about a half a million dollars, and proceeded to make $60,000,000; an enormous box office hit for the time. While Halloween undoubtedly influenced this film, I believe Friday the 13th to be the most influential horror film of all time. In the 80s, theaters were blitzed with slasher movies and sex comedies. Movie theaters were like libraries; the descriptions of so many different kinds of movies were printed in newspapers, and movie lovers could see any type of film they wanted to see. This was the beginning of the golden age of slasher movies. Welcome to Vintage Cable Box’s Halloween 2016 Horror Movie Coverage! Next time, we look at 1982’s Deadly Eyes starring Sara Botsford and Scatman Crothers. Rats! Posted in BlogTagged 1979 1980 Betsy Palmer Friday the 13th Halloween horror horror movies Jason Jason Voorhees Kevin Bacon Pamela Voorhees. Sean S. Cunningham slasher film slasher movies Victor MillerLeave a comment

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: How does the presence of biliary strictures influence the management of cholangitis? output: The presence of biliary strictures significantly influences the management of cholangitis by necessitating specific interventions to relieve biliary obstruction and prevent recurrent infections. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is a primary modality used to manage cholangitis associated with biliary strictures. This procedure allows for biliary drainage, dilation of strictures, and stent placement, which are critical in alleviating obstruction and facilitating the resolution of cholangitis.[1-2] The American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) guidelines for Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) recommend endoscopic treatment of dominant strictures to reduce symptoms such as pruritus, jaundice, and cholangitis, and to improve cholestasis and stricture appearance on imaging. This approach is supported by evidence showing that endoscopic dilation, with or without stenting, can lead to significant clinical improvement.[1] In cases where endoscopic management is not feasible or fails, a percutaneous approach may be considered, although it is associated with higher morbidity. The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) also emphasizes the importance of excluding malignancy through brush cytology or biopsy before any therapeutic intervention.[2] For patients with malignant biliary strictures, the management includes endoscopic drainage followed by appropriate antibiotic therapy. The duration of antibiotic therapy can vary, but short courses (≤6 days) may be sufficient in selected patients without severe cholangitis.[3] In summary, the presence of biliary strictures in cholangitis necessitates prompt and effective biliary drainage, typically via ERCP, to relieve obstruction and prevent recurrent infections. This approach is supported by guidelines from the ACG and AASLD, which highlight the importance of endoscopic management and the need for careful evaluation to exclude malignancy.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Okay so my bf and I had sex for the first time today, with no condom we were caught up in the moment. If he pre-came in his pants and then we had sex and he pulled out could I be pregnant? Also my mom doesn t know so I can t get birth control or the morning after pill or anything. output: Hello dear, I understand your concern. In my opinion there might be rare chances of pregnancy in your case. There is scope for pregnancy when the semen is ejaculated inside or around the vagina during the fertile period. As nothing such happened you need not worry. The missed period is the first suspicion of pregnancy. If at all the period is delayed do a urine pregnancy test after a week of missed period. Avoid stress regarding pregnancy as stress might also delay period due to hormonal imbalance. So wait and check for the period. Best regards....

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Doctor, I've been having difficulty eating and also I recently missed my menstruation cycle, what could be the cause? output: Based on your symptoms, it is possible that you may have ovarian cancer. I recommend you see an oncologist for further testing.

Newsletter Archive > Fun with Pets > The Pet Economy Created in Newsletter Library, Newsletter Archive, Fun with Pets If there's still any doubt whether the pampering of pets is getting out of hand, the debate should be settled once and for all by Neuticles, a patented testicular implant that sells for up to $919 a pair. The idea, says inventor Gregg A. Miller, is to "let people restore their pets to anatomical preciseness" after neutering, thereby allowing them to retain their natural look and self-esteem. "People thought I was crazy when I started 13 years ago," says the Oak Grove (Mo.) entrepreneur. But he has since sold more than 240,000 pairs (a few of which went on prairie dogs, water buffalo, and monkeys). "Neutering is creepy. But with Neuticles, it's like nothing has changed." Nothing, except there's a fake body part where a real one used to be. Americans now spend $41 billion a year on their pets-more than the gross domestic product of all but 64 countries in the world. That's double the amount shelled out on pets a decade ago, with annual spending expected to hit $52 billion in the next two years, according to Packaged Facts, a consumer research company based in Rockville, Md. That puts the yearly cost of buying, feeding, and caring for pets in excess of what Americans spend on the movies ($10.8 billion), playing video games ($11.6 billion), and listening to recorded music ($10.6 billion) combined. "People are no longer satisfied to reward their pet in pet terms," argues Bob Vetere, president of the American Pet Products Manufacturers Assn. (APPMA). "They want to reward their pet in human terms." That means hotels instead of kennels, braces to fix crooked teeth, and frilly canine ball gowns. Pet owners are becoming increasingly demanding consumers who won't put up with substandard products, unstimulating environments, or shoddy service for their animals. But the escalating volume and cost of services, especially in the realm of animal medicine, raises ethical issues about how far all this loving should go. It wasn't so very long ago that the phrase "a dog's life" meant sleeping outside, enduring the elements, living with aches, and sitting by the dinner table, waiting for a few scraps to land on the floor. Today's dog has it much better. APPMA reports that 42% of dogs now sleep in the same bed as their owners, up from 34% in 1998. Their menu reflects every fad in human food-from locally sourced organic meat and vegan snacks to gourmet meals bolstered by, say, glucosamine to ward off stiff joints. Half of all dog owners say they consider their pet's comfort when buying a car, and almost a third buy gifts for their dogs' birthdays. Richard G. Wolford, chairman and CEO of Del Monte Foods Co. (DLM ), refuses even to use the word "owner." "Anyone who has a pet understands who owns whom," says Wolford, who is owned by two Jack Russell terriers. His company's pet business has gone from nothing to 40% of overall sales through acquisitions of brands such as Meow Mix and Milk-Bone in the past five years. The rising status of pets has started an unprecedented wave of entrepreneurship in an industry once epitomized by felt mice and rubber balls. There are now $430 indoor potties, $30-an-ounce perfume, and $225 trench coats aimed solely at four-footed consumers and their wallet-toting companions. Even those who shun animal couture are increasingly willing to spend thousands on drugs for depression or anxiety in pets, as well as psychotherapy, high-tech cancer surgery, cosmetic procedures, and end-of-life care. About 77% of dogs and 52% of cats have been medicated in the past year, according to APPMA, an increase of about 20 percentage points from 1996. Some spending can be spurred by vets who find such services more lucrative than giving shots or ending a pet's life when it contracts a painful or terminal disease. GRAVY TRAIN Once acquired as sidekicks for kids, animal companions are more popular now with empty-nesters, single professionals, and couples who delay having children. What unites these disparate demographic groups is a tendency to have time and resources to spare. With more people working from home or living away from their families, pets also play a bigger role in allaying the isolation of modern life. About 63% of U.S. households, or 71 million homes, now own at least one pet, up from 64 million just five years ago. And science is starting to validate all those warm feelings with research that documents the depth of the human-animal bond. It doesn't take a scientist to figure out that there's money to be made in this environment. Companies from Procter & Gamble (PG ) and Nestlé (NSRGY ) to fashion brands including Polo Ralph Lauren (RL ) and thousands of small entrepreneurs are sniffing around for new opportunities in the pet sector. After consumer electronics, pet care is the fastest-growing category in retail, expanding about 6% a year. More new pet products were launched in the first six months of last year than in all of 2005. And that doesn't account for the ways existing products are being recast to woo pet lovers. Del Monte has refocused staples to look more like human snacks-from Snausages breakfast treats shaped like bacon and eggs to Pup-Peroni rib snacks so appetizing that Wolford had to stop a TV anchor from popping one into his mouth on air. Even Meow Mix now comes in plastic cups rather than cans. The typical target of such products is a pet lover like Graham Gemoets, a caterer in Houston, who showers luxuries on his beloved "chi weenie" (Chihuahua/dachshund mix), Bradford. "He's my best friend and my best-accessorized friend," says Gemoets, whose splurges for Bradford include a $1,200 Hermès collar and leash, as well as $500 Chanel pearls for parties. "I know it's crazy, but I've had him for five years, and if you priced it out per month, it's like a phone bill." Thanks to passionate consumers like that, the quality gap between two-legged and four-legged mammals is rapidly disappearing in such industries as food, clothing, health care, and services. The race now is to provide animals with products and services more closely modeled after the ones sold to humans. Most of the pet business world's attention is directed at the country's 88 million cats and 75 million dogs. The reason is simple. As Philip L. Francis, CEO of PetSmart Inc. (PETM ), the world's largest pet specialty retailer, explains: "You can't train a fish or groom a snake." PetSmart, for one, has shifted its mission from being the top seller of pet food to helping consumers become better "pet parents." Along with making his 928 retail locations homier and hosting pet parties, Francis is rolling out blue-shingled "pet hotels" (kennels) in his stores. They feature private suites with raised platform beds and TVs airing shows from Animal Planet for $31 a night, as well as "bone booths," where pets can take calls from their owners, and porous pebble floors where dogs can pee. Cats get live fish tanks to watch in their rooms and separate air filtration systems so their scents dont drive the dogs crazy. The hotels, along with services such as grooming, training, and in-store hospitals, have helped PetSmart expand its service business from essentially nothing in 2000 to $450 million, or 10% of overall sales, this year. Pet owners are now less driven by price than "emotion and passion," says Francis, who shares a bed with his wife and their mutt, Bit o' Honey. Those are the same primal urges that drive the fashion world. Mario DiFante, who staged New York's first Pet Fashion Week last August, has an elevated view of the place of dogs and cats in the family hierarchy. As he puts it: "Many of us consider pets as the new babies." That means clothing furry little ones in an ever-expanding range of sweaters, raincoats, leather jackets, and dresses. For Lara Alameddine, co-founder of Little Lily, a better word might be "babes." Her four-year-old company clears $1 million a year selling products including doggie slippers, bikinis, and even canine versions of Oscar-night gowns. It's popular with celebrity dog owners such as Paris Hilton, who often dresses up her Chihuahua, Tinkerbell. "We're catering to the owner's sense of style," says Alameddine. "There are no bones on our clothes." Pet products now aim to make people feel they're being extra good to their little ones-much as toymakers have long encouraged parents to spoil kids. Along with doggie spas, there are mobile pet-grooming vans, pedicure services, professional dog walkers, and massage therapy for animals. Trainers like Cesar Millan-better known to millions as the Dog Whisperer-find that their expertise is suddenly in greater demand. Along with having the No. 1 series on the National Geographic Channel, Millan boasts best-selling books, DVDs, a line of products, and his famous Dog Psychology Center of Los Angeles that's a favorite with Hollywood clientele (see BusinessWeek.com, 7/27/07, "A Short Leash on Pet Luxuries?"). The growing willingness of owners to spare no expense for their animals has also made the outsourcing of the yucky aspects a burgeoning business. More than 350 service agencies with names such as Doody Duty, Scoopy-Poo, and Pooper Trooper have sprung up solely to relieve owners of the need even to pick up a pet's waste in their yard by doing it for them. With annual growth nearing 50%, "the pooper scooper industry is now experiencing a lot of consolidation," says Jacob D'Aniello of DoodyCalls, which has 20 locations nationwide. But few parts of the business have seen as much diversification and expansion as the pet food business. As with humans, there's a growing concern about the nutrition, taste, and even ethical standards of what goes into a pet's stomach. Owners increasingly mirror their own preferences-for vegetarian cuisine, kosher meals, and even locally sourced food-in feeding their pets. And when things go wrong, the reaction is as explosive as if the victims were children. Consumers were outraged by a massive recall of melamine-contaminated pet food that killed or sickened thousands of U.S. cats and dogs. Because pets are now such valued members of the family, says Duane Ekedahl, president of the Pet Food Institute, "it had a higher impact than maybe it would have had 10 years ago." As food becomes a more emotionally charged issue for people, owners are more inclined to get emotional about what's on their pets' menu. Witness the growth of what one industry executive calls the "Godiva-ization" of food, with a demand for meats fit for human consumption, visible vegetables, and nutritional supplements. It has become common to reach for a canine or cat equivalent of ketchup, such as Iams Co.'s (PG ) popular "savory sauce" for dogs that comes in Country Chicken, Savory Bacon, and Roasted Beef flavor-descriptions that are, needless to say, lost on the actual consumer. THOROUGHLY VETTED Fancy food products are easy targets for critics of indulgent pet owners. But a far more controversial issue is animal medicine, especially at a time of urgent national debate about human health care. Americans now spend $9.8 billion a year on vet services. That doesn't include the over-the-counter drugs and other supplies, which add $9.9 billion in costs. The annual compound growth rate for core veterinary services alone has been about 10% over the past decade, and the menu of services is becoming more elaborate by the month. Much of the inflation in pet care is due to medical advances that have people digging deep for everything from root canals for aging cats to cancer surgery for rabbits. "There has been an evolution of the entire profession," says Tom Carpenter, president of the American Animal Hospital Assn. "Pocket pets and animals who wouldn't even have been taken to vets now go for regular visits." Suzanne Kramer of Chicago spent close to $380 on vet visits and drugs to treat a tumor in her hamster, Biffy, before he died last year. "Some might say: Well, he's just a hamster,' but I loved him," says Kramer. Barbara Miers of Rochester, N.Y., also took her son's hamster, Henry, to a vet and bought antibiotics for a tumor, even though the animal was nearing the end of his life span and died shortly after the final treatment. For Miers, the issue had parallels to human health. As she puts it: "Do you not give old people health care because they're old?" No wonder "it's a good time to be in our profession," as Carpenter says. A vet's job has become more wide-ranging and thus more lucrative. There are even animal grief counselors to help families cope with the demise of beloved pets. Not only is state-of-the-art technology such as magnetic resonance imaging, with costs that range around $1,500 a scan, now available in small-town labs, but consumers' expectations of medical care have been transformed. They want the same best-in-class care for their pets that they want for themselves. That's creating a market for new products like Pfizer Inc.'s (PFE ) dog-obesity drug Slentrol, which will cost $1 to $2 a day. Reconcile, a new drug from Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY ) for "canine separation anxiety," is based on the active ingredients in Prozac. Lilly has not suggested a retail price for Reconcile, and vets have a lot of latitude in deciding how much to charge for it. Overall, sales of pet health products have grown at a compound annual growth rate of 8.8% in recent years, more than double the rate in the late 1990s. There's little doubt that human-quality care has helped to extend radically the life span of pets. Dogs routinely live 12 to 14 years now, a big jump from the average a few decades ago. John Payne, acting CEO of Banfield, the Pet Hospital, likes to boast that his cat, Gizmo, stayed perky until he died last November at the advanced age of 23 1/2.. More than 60% of new customers of his chain, which has more than 600 locations nationwide, enroll their pets in wellness plans. One reason is that standard pet insurance often doesn't cover preventive care. While pet insurance is still in its infancy, with 1% of owners having coverage, the number of clients is growing by double digits each year. Jamie Ward invested in a $25.77-a-month plan with Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI) for her American Staffordshire terrier, Loki, only to discover that it didn't cover any of the $2,000 in expenses for a kneecap injury. (VPI says it abided by the terms of the contract.) The ever-expanding roster of drugs and treatment can run into tens of thousands of dollars in expenses, creating a dilemma for owners. Steve Zane of Hoboken, N.J., choked slightly when a veterinarian presented him and his wife, Lily, an estimate of $3,700 to help cure liver failure in their cat, Koogle, over Christmas. "We looked at each other and said: Well, he's family,'" recalls Zane, a graphic designer who's still paying off the final bill for the recovered cat. "If it had been $15,000, I think we would almost have had to say no." The anthropomorphization of pets has also created the perception that they have human problems such as separation anxiety and depression. While a number of vets say such issues are real, especially just after the death of a dog's four-footed chum or the removal of puppies, others say it simply creates yet more opportunities for new products. Americans are expected to spend 52% more on medicines to treat their pets this year than they spent five years ago. Drugmakers love the category because, compared with human drugs, there's less risk of liability, less competition, and less pressure to switch to generics because so few consumers carry pet insurance. Even so, Dawn M. Boothe, a professor of clinical physiology and pharmacology in the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine, argues that "the recovery of costs" for drug companies may take a long time as people may scoff at pricey treatments for pets. Much of the attention is going to the growing problem of pet obesity. As many as 40% of dogs are estimated to be overweight or obese, with similarly high rates among cats, thanks to the indulgent habits of their owners. Being plied with carob bonbons all day while getting rolled around in an all-terrain stroller (retail price: about $210) is not an ideal lifestyle for any animal. People who overeat or don't get enough exercise tend to draw their pets into the same behavior, vets say, and the growing inclination to regale pets with treats has come at a cost to their waistline. Along with creating interest in new anti- obesity drugs, it's prompting interest in diet pet food. It has also created a market for procedures including pet liposuction, which is becoming more common in cities like Los Angeles where owners are used to getting nips and tucks for themselves. And for some pet lovers, no medical procedure is too extreme. Plastic surgeons offer rhinoplasty, eye lifts, and other cosmetic procedures to help tone down certain doggy features, from droopy eyes to puggish noses. Root canals, braces, and even crowns for chipped teeth are also becoming more popular. Some might question whether all this primping and pampering of pets has the makings of a bubble that could have owners telling Fido to get his own damn bone once the economy takes a turn. After all, Paola Freccero admits that when she grew up in Massachusetts, "Pets were pets. You didn't dress them, you didn't feed them special food, you didn't take them to play dates." But thanks to the advice of her vet and what she read on the Internet, she wouldn't serve up anything but the best for her puggle (pug/beagle mix), Lucy, including treats at $2 apiece. And from the moment Eric Olander paid $500 for a plane ticket to get a stray chow chow mix from Atlanta to his home in Los Angeles, the dog has been a focal point of his life. "I call him my 401(k) with paws," he says, "because that's where all my money goes."

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: What is Hodgkin's lymphoma and which subtype of the disease has the highest number of Reed-Sternberg cells? output: Hodgkin's lymphoma is a type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system. It is characterized by the presence of abnormal cells called Reed-Sternberg cells, which are usually found in the lymph nodes. There are four subtypes of classical Hodgkin's lymphoma: nodular sclerosis, mixed cellularity, lymphocyte-rich, and lymphocyte-depleted. Among these subtypes, mixed cellularity Hodgkin's lymphoma is the one that typically has the highest number of Reed-Sternberg cells. This subtype accounts for about 20-25% of all cases of classical Hodgkin's lymphoma and is more common in older adults and in people with HIV/AIDS. Treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma depends on the type and stage of the disease, as well as the individual's overall health and other factors. It may include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and/or stem cell transplantation.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: What are the symptoms of Schizoid personality disorder? output: A person with schizoid personality disorder: Appears aloof and detached Avoids social activities that involve emotional intimacy with other people Does not want or enjoy close relationships, even with family members

Q: I can't get magnific-popup animations to work I've been through the excellent documentation for this and it's great. http://dimsemenov.com/plugins/magnific-popup/documentation.html I have the basic pop up working fine. My problem is with the animations. I just can't get them to work. Apologies if I've missed something very basic but I've spent too long on this now and hope someone can point out my mistake. It currently just appears no fade nothing. I've played with it on codepen and can recreate the issue by removing the CSS so perhaps this is not getting through correctly, although I know it is linking as it is styling the pop up just not the animations. Here is my html: <div id="Column1"><div id="aboutus" > <div id="pop" > <a href="/stalkseed/assets/Uploads/stalk-seed-about-us.jpg" data-effect="mfp-newspaper" title="" alt="" onmouseout="MM_swapImgRestore()" onmouseover="MM_swapImage('about-us','','/stalkseed/assets/Uploads/aboutus-ovr.jpg',1)"><img src="/stalkseed/assets/Uploads/aboutus.jpg" name="about-us" border="0" id="about-us"/></a> </div> My JavaScript from the same page: <script type="text/javascript">//<![CDATA[ $(document).ready(function() { $('#pop').magnificPopup({ delegate: 'a', type: 'image', removalDelay: 500, //delay removal by X to allow out-animation callbacks: { beforeOpen: function() { // just a hack that adds mfp-anim class to markup this.st.image.markup = this.st.image.markup.replace('mfp-figure', 'mfp-figure mfp-with-anim'); this.st.mainClass = this.st.el.attr('data-effect'); } }, closeOnContentClick: true, midClick: true // allow opening popup on middle mouse click. Always set it to true if you don't provide alternative source. });}); //]]> </script> My CSS @charset "UTF-8"; /* CSS Document */ /* Magnific Popup CSS */ .mfp-bg { top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; z-index: 502; overflow: hidden; position: fixed; background: #0b0b0b; opacity: 0.8; filter: alpha(opacity=80); } .mfp-wrap { top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; z-index: 503; position: fixed; outline: none !important; -webkit-backface-visibility: hidden; } .mfp-container { height: 100%; text-align: center; position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 100%; left: 0; top: 0; padding: 0 8px; -webkit-box-sizing: border-box; -moz-box-sizing: border-box; box-sizing: border-box; } .mfp-container:before { content: ''; display: inline-block; height: 100%; vertical-align: middle; } .mfp-align-top .mfp-container:before { display: none; } .mfp-content { position: relative; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; margin: 0 auto; text-align: left; z-index: 505; } .mfp-inline-holder .mfp-content, .mfp-ajax-holder .mfp-content { width: 100%; cursor: auto; } .mfp-ajax-cur { cursor: progress; } .mfp-zoom-out-cur, .mfp-zoom-out-cur .mfp-image-holder .mfp-close { cursor: -moz-zoom-out; cursor: -webkit-zoom-out; cursor: zoom-out; } .mfp-zoom { cursor: pointer; cursor: -webkit-zoom-in; cursor: -moz-zoom-in; cursor: zoom-in; } .mfp-auto-cursor .mfp-content { cursor: auto; } .mfp-close, .mfp-arrow, .mfp-preloader, .mfp-counter { -webkit-user-select: none; -moz-user-select: none; user-select: none; } .mfp-loading.mfp-figure { display: none; } .mfp-hide { display: none !important; } .mfp-preloader { color: #cccccc; position: absolute; top: 50%; width: auto; text-align: center; margin-top: -0.8em; left: 8px; right: 8px; z-index: 504; } .mfp-preloader a { color: #cccccc; } .mfp-preloader a:hover { color: white; } .mfp-s-ready .mfp-preloader { display: none; } .mfp-s-error .mfp-content { display: none; } button.mfp-close, button.mfp-arrow { overflow: visible; cursor: pointer; background: transparent; border: 0; -webkit-appearance: none; display: block; padding: 0; z-index: 506; } button::-moz-focus-inner { padding: 0; border: 0; } .mfp-close { width: 44px; height: 44px; line-height: 44px; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; text-decoration: none; text-align: center; opacity: 0.65; padding: 0 0 18px 10px; color: white; font-style: normal; font-size: 28px; font-family: Arial, Baskerville, monospace; } .mfp-close:hover, .mfp-close:focus { opacity: 1; } .mfp-close:active { top: 1px; } .mfp-close-btn-in .mfp-close { color: #333333; } .mfp-image-holder .mfp-close, .mfp-iframe-holder .mfp-close { color: white; right: -6px; text-align: right; padding-right: 6px; width: 100%; } .mfp-counter { position: absolute; top: 0; right: 0; color: #cccccc; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; } .mfp-arrow { position: absolute; top: 0; opacity: 0.65; margin: 0; top: 50%; margin-top: -55px; padding: 0; width: 90px; height: 110px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); } .mfp-arrow:active { margin-top: -54px; } .mfp-arrow:hover, .mfp-arrow:focus { opacity: 1; } .mfp-arrow:before, .mfp-arrow:after, .mfp-arrow .mfp-b, .mfp-arrow .mfp-a { content: ''; display: block; width: 0; height: 0; position: absolute; left: 0; top: 0; margin-top: 35px; margin-left: 35px; border: solid transparent; } .mfp-arrow:after, .mfp-arrow .mfp-a { opacity: 0.8; border-top-width: 12px; border-bottom-width: 12px; top: 8px; } .mfp-arrow:before, .mfp-arrow .mfp-b { border-top-width: 20px; border-bottom-width: 20px; } .mfp-arrow-left { left: 0; } .mfp-arrow-left:after, .mfp-arrow-left .mfp-a { border-right: 12px solid black; left: 5px; } .mfp-arrow-left:before, .mfp-arrow-left .mfp-b { border-right: 20px solid white; } .mfp-arrow-right { right: 0; } .mfp-arrow-right:after, .mfp-arrow-right .mfp-a { border-left: 12px solid black; left: 3px; } .mfp-arrow-right:before, .mfp-arrow-right .mfp-b { border-left: 20px solid white; } .mfp-iframe-holder { padding-top: 40px; padding-bottom: 40px; } .mfp-iframe-holder .mfp-content { line-height: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 900px; } .mfp-iframe-scaler { width: 100%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 56.25%; } .mfp-iframe-scaler iframe { position: absolute; display: block; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; box-shadow: 0 0 8px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); background: black; } .mfp-iframe-holder .mfp-close { top: -40px; } /* Main image in popup */ img.mfp-img { width: auto; max-width: 100%; height: auto; display: block; line-height: 0; -webkit-box-sizing: border-box; -moz-box-sizing: border-box; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 40px 0 40px; margin: 0 auto; } /* The shadow behind the image */ .mfp-figure:after { content: ''; position: absolute; left: 0; top: 40px; bottom: 40px; display: block; right: 0; width: auto; height: auto; z-index: -1; box-shadow: 0 0 8px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); } .mfp-figure { line-height: 0; } .mfp-bottom-bar { margin-top: -36px; position: absolute; top: 100%; left: 0; width: 100%; cursor: auto; } .mfp-title { text-align: left; line-height: 18px; color: #f3f3f3; word-break: break-word; padding-right: 36px; } .mfp-figure small { color: #bdbdbd; display: block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px; } .mfp-image-holder .mfp-content { max-width: 100%; } .mfp-gallery .mfp-image-holder .mfp-figure { cursor: pointer; } @media screen and (max-width: 800px) and (orientation: landscape), screen and (max-height: 300px) { /** * Remove all paddings around the image on small screen */ .mfp-img-mobile .mfp-image-holder { padding-left: 0; padding-right: 0; } .mfp-img-mobile img.mfp-img { padding: 0; } /* The shadow behind the image */ .mfp-img-mobile .mfp-figure:after { top: 0; bottom: 0; } .mfp-img-mobile .mfp-bottom-bar { background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); bottom: 0; margin: 0; top: auto; padding: 3px 5px; position: fixed; -webkit-box-sizing: border-box; -moz-box-sizing: border-box; box-sizing: border-box; } .mfp-img-mobile .mfp-bottom-bar:empty { padding: 0; } .mfp-img-mobile .mfp-counter { right: 5px; top: 3px; } .mfp-img-mobile .mfp-close { top: 0; right: 0; width: 35px; height: 35px; line-height: 35px; background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); position: fixed; text-align: center; padding: 0; } .mfp-img-mobile .mfp-figure small { display: inline; margin-left: 5px; } } @media all and (max-width: 800px) { .mfp-arrow { -webkit-transform: scale(0.75); transform: scale(0.75); } .mfp-arrow-left { -webkit-transform-origin: 0; transform-origin: 0; } .mfp-arrow-right { -webkit-transform-origin: 100%; transform-origin: 100%; } .mfp-container { padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; } } .mfp-ie7 .mfp-img { padding: 0; } .mfp-ie7 .mfp-bottom-bar { width: 600px; left: 50%; margin-left: -300px; margin-top: 5px; padding-bottom: 5px; } .mfp-ie7 .mfp-container { padding: 0; } .mfp-ie7 .mfp-content { padding-top: 44px; } .mfp-ie7 .mfp-close { top: 0; right: 0; padding-top: 0; } /*html,body {margin:0; padding:10px; -webkit-backface-visibility:hidden; background-color: #eee3da; }*/ /* text-based popup styling */ .white-popup { position: relative; background: #FFF; padding: 25px; width:auto; max-width: 400px; margin: 0 auto; } /* ====== Zoom effect ====== */ .mfp-zoom-in { /* start state */ .mfp-with-anim { opacity: 0; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out; transform: scale(0.8); } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0; transition: all 0.3s ease-out; } /* animate in */ &.mfp-ready { .mfp-with-anim { opacity: 1; transform: scale(1); } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0.8; } } /* animate out */ &.mfp-removing { .mfp-with-anim { transform: scale(0.8); opacity: 0; } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0; } } } /* ====== Newspaper effect ====== */ .mfp-newspaper { /* start state */ .mfp-with-anim { opacity: 0; -webkit-transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out; transition: all 0.5s; transform: scale(0) rotate(500deg); } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0; transition: all 0.5s; } /* animate in */ &.mfp-ready { .mfp-with-anim { opacity: 1; transform: scale(1) rotate(0deg); } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0.8; } } /* animate out */ &.mfp-removing { .mfp-with-anim { transform: scale(0) rotate(500deg); opacity: 0; } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0; } } } /* ====== Move-horizontal effect ====== */ .mfp-move-horizontal { /* start state */ .mfp-with-anim { opacity: 0; transition: all 0.3s; transform: translateX(-50px); } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0; transition: all 0.3s; } /* animate in */ &.mfp-ready { .mfp-with-anim { opacity: 1; transform: translateX(0); } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0.8; } } /* animate out */ &.mfp-removing { .mfp-with-anim { transform: translateX(50px); opacity: 0; } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0; } } } /* ====== Move-from-top effect ====== */ .mfp-move-from-top { .mfp-content { vertical-align:top; } /* start state */ .mfp-with-anim { opacity: 0; transition: all 0.2s; transform: translateY(-100px); } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0; transition: all 0.2s; } /* animate in */ &.mfp-ready { .mfp-with-anim { opacity: 1; transform: translateY(0); } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0.8; } } /* animate out */ &.mfp-removing { .mfp-with-anim { transform: translateY(-50px); opacity: 0; } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0; } } } /* ====== 3d unfold ====== */ .mfp-3d-unfold { .mfp-content { perspective: 2000px; } /* start state */ .mfp-with-anim { opacity: 0; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out; transform-style: preserve-3d; transform: rotateY(-60deg); } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0; transition: all 0.5s; } /* animate in */ &.mfp-ready { .mfp-with-anim { opacity: 1; transform: rotateY(0deg); } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0.8; } } /* animate out */ &.mfp-removing { .mfp-with-anim { transform: rotateY(60deg); opacity: 0; } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0; } } } /* ====== Zoom-out effect ====== */ .mfp-zoom-out { /* start state */ .mfp-with-anim { opacity: 0; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out; transform: scale(1.3); } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0; transition: all 0.3s ease-out; } /* animate in */ &.mfp-ready { .mfp-with-anim { opacity: 1; transform: scale(1); } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0.8; } } /* animate out */ &.mfp-removing { .mfp-with-anim { transform: scale(1.3); opacity: 0; } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0; } } } /* ====== "Hinge" close effect ====== */ @keyframes hinge { 0% { transform: rotate(0); transform-origin: top left; animation-timing-function: ease-in-out; } 20%, 60% { transform: rotate(80deg); transform-origin: top left; animation-timing-function: ease-in-out; } 40% { transform: rotate(60deg); transform-origin: top left; animation-timing-function: ease-in-out; } 80% { transform: rotate(60deg) translateY(0); opacity: 1; transform-origin: top left; animation-timing-function: ease-in-out; } 100% { transform: translateY(700px); opacity: 0; } } .hinge { animation-duration: 1s; animation-name: hinge; } .mfp-with-fade { // before-open state .mfp-content, &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0; transition: opacity .5s ease-out; } // open state &.mfp-ready { .mfp-content { opacity: 1; } &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0.8; // background opacity } } // closed state &.mfp-removing { &.mfp-bg { opacity: 0; } } } A: I ran into this same problem and after banging my head against all the hard surfaces in my office I discovered that I need to rename the css classes to match the fade example he provided here. So for example the mfp-zoom-out animation: .mfp-zoom-out .mfp-with-anim should be .mfp-zoom-out.mfp-bg .mfp-zoom-out.mfp-bg stays the same .mfp-zoom-out.mfp-ready .mfp-with-anim should be .mfp-zoom-out.mfp-ready .mfp-content .mfp-zoom-out.mfp-ready.mfp-bg should be .mfp-zoom-out.mfp-bg.mfp-ready .mfp-zoom-out.mfp-removing .mfp-with-anim should be .mfp-zoom-out.mfp-removing .mfp-content .mfp-zoom-out.mfp-removing.mfp-bg should be .mfp-zoom-out.mfp-bg.mfp-removing A: You can also make great use of animate.css (http://daneden.github.io/animate.css/). Once you initialize the popup make sure you add animate class along with the desired animation class from the library. For example animate fadeIn. A: Check i have code for Fade-zoom animation for first dialog and Fade-move animation for second dialog. You can get magnific-popup.css and magnific-popup.min.js files in the dist folder...Files can be downloaded from https://github.com/dimsemenov/Magnific-Popup <html lang="en"> <head> <title><!-- Insert your title here --></title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="magnific-popup.css"> <script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js"></script> <script src="jquery.magnific-popup.min.js"></script> </head> <body> <div class="example gc3"> <h3>Dialog with CSS animation</h3> <div class="html-code"> <a class="popup-with-zoom-anim" href="#small-dialog" >Open with fade-zoom animation</a><br/> <a class="popup-with-move-anim" href="#small-dialog" >Open with fade-slide animation</a> <!-- dialog itself, mfp-hide class is required to make dialog hidden --> <div id="small-dialog" class="zoom-anim-dialog mfp-hide"> <h1>Dialog example</h1> <p>This is dummy copy. It is not meant to be read. It has been placed here solely to demonstrate the look and feel of finished, typeset text. Only for show. He who searches for meaning here will be sorely disappointed.</p> </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> $(document).ready(function() { $('.popup-with-zoom-anim').magnificPopup({ type: 'inline', fixedContentPos: false, fixedBgPos: true, overflowY: 'auto', closeBtnInside: true, preloader: false, midClick: true, removalDelay: 300, mainClass: 'my-mfp-zoom-in' }); $('.popup-with-move-anim').magnificPopup({ type: 'inline', fixedContentPos: false, fixedBgPos: true, overflowY: 'auto', closeBtnInside: true, preloader: false, midClick: true, removalDelay: 300, mainClass: 'my-mfp-slide-bottom' }); }); </script> <style type="text/css"> /* Styles for dialog window */ #small-dialog { background: white; padding: 20px 30px; text-align: left; max-width: 400px; margin: 40px auto; position: relative; } /** * Fade-zoom animation for first dialog */ /* start state */ .my-mfp-zoom-in .zoom-anim-dialog { opacity: 0; -webkit-transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out; -moz-transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out; -o-transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out; -webkit-transform: scale(0.8); -moz-transform: scale(0.8); -ms-transform: scale(0.8); -o-transform: scale(0.8); transform: scale(0.8); } /* animate in */ .my-mfp-zoom-in.mfp-ready .zoom-anim-dialog { opacity: 1; -webkit-transform: scale(1); -moz-transform: scale(1); -ms-transform: scale(1); -o-transform: scale(1); transform: scale(1); } /* animate out */ .my-mfp-zoom-in.mfp-removing .zoom-anim-dialog { -webkit-transform: scale(0.8); -moz-transform: scale(0.8); -ms-transform: scale(0.8); -o-transform: scale(0.8); transform: scale(0.8); opacity: 0; } /* Dark overlay, start state */ .my-mfp-zoom-in.mfp-bg { opacity: 0.001; /* Chrome opacity transition bug */ -webkit-transition: opacity 0.3s ease-out; -moz-transition: opacity 0.3s ease-out; -o-transition: opacity 0.3s ease-out; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-out; } /* animate in */ .my-mfp-zoom-in.mfp-ready.mfp-bg { opacity: 0.8; } /* animate out */ .my-mfp-zoom-in.mfp-removing.mfp-bg { opacity: 0; } /** * Fade-move animation for second dialog */ /* at start */ .my-mfp-slide-bottom .zoom-anim-dialog { opacity: 0; -webkit-transition: all 0.2s ease-out; -moz-transition: all 0.2s ease-out; -o-transition: all 0.2s ease-out; transition: all 0.2s ease-out; -webkit-transform: translateY(-20px) perspective( 600px ) rotateX( 10deg ); -moz-transform: translateY(-20px) perspective( 600px ) rotateX( 10deg ); -ms-transform: translateY(-20px) perspective( 600px ) rotateX( 10deg ); -o-transform: translateY(-20px) perspective( 600px ) rotateX( 10deg ); transform: translateY(-20px) perspective( 600px ) rotateX( 10deg ); } /* animate in */ .my-mfp-slide-bottom.mfp-ready .zoom-anim-dialog { opacity: 1; -webkit-transform: translateY(0) perspective( 600px ) rotateX( 0 ); -moz-transform: translateY(0) perspective( 600px ) rotateX( 0 ); -ms-transform: translateY(0) perspective( 600px ) rotateX( 0 ); -o-transform: translateY(0) perspective( 600px ) rotateX( 0 ); transform: translateY(0) perspective( 600px ) rotateX( 0 ); } /* animate out */ .my-mfp-slide-bottom.mfp-removing .zoom-anim-dialog { opacity: 0; -webkit-transform: translateY(-10px) perspective( 600px ) rotateX( 10deg ); -moz-transform: translateY(-10px) perspective( 600px ) rotateX( 10deg ); -ms-transform: translateY(-10px) perspective( 600px ) rotateX( 10deg ); -o-transform: translateY(-10px) perspective( 600px ) rotateX( 10deg ); transform: translateY(-10px) perspective( 600px ) rotateX( 10deg ); } /* Dark overlay, start state */ .my-mfp-slide-bottom.mfp-bg { opacity: 0.01; -webkit-transition: opacity 0.3s ease-out; -moz-transition: opacity 0.3s ease-out; -o-transition: opacity 0.3s ease-out; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-out; } /* animate in */ .my-mfp-slide-bottom.mfp-ready.mfp-bg { opacity: 0.8; } /* animate out */ .my-mfp-slide-bottom.mfp-removing.mfp-bg { opacity: 0; } </style> </div> </body> </html> A: In case anyone interested in the .mfp-move-from-top animation below is the code: .mfp-move-from-top .mfp-content{ vertical-align:bottom; } .mfp-move-from-top .mfp-with-anim{ opacity: 0; transition: all 0.2s; transform: translateY(-100px); } .mfp-move-from-top.mfp-bg { opacity: 0; transition: all 0.2 } .mfp-move-from-top.mfp-ready .mfp-with-anim { opacity: 1; transform: translateY(0); } .mfp-move-from-top.mfp-bg.mfp-ready { opacity: 0.8; } .mfp-move-from-top.mfp-removing .mfp-with-anim { transform: translateY(-50px); opacity: 0; } .mfp-move-from-top.mfp-removing.mfp-bg { opacity: 0; } A: I had the same problem. found the solution here: just change beforeOpen: function() { this.st.mainClass = this.st.el.attr('data-effect'); } to this (adds a space and then the class, in case option is being used): into beforeOpen: function() { this.st.mainClass += ' ' + this.st.el.attr('data-effect'); }

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: When to seek urgent medical care when I have Hepatorenal syndrome ? output: This disorder most often is diagnosed in the hospital during treatment for a liver disorder.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: What are the common imaging modalities used to diagnose papilledema? output: The common imaging modalities used to diagnose papilledema include: 1. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI): MRI of the brain and orbits with venography sequences is the preferred neuroimaging modality. It helps identify indirect signs of increased intracranial pressure (ICP) and rule out non-idiopathic causes of papilledema.[1] 2. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT): OCT is useful for measuring the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, which is typically increased in papilledema. It can also help differentiate papilledema from pseudopapilledema by visualizing optic nerve head drusen.[2-3] 3. Fluorescein Angiography (FA): FA is highly accurate for classifying eyes as having papilledema or pseudopapilledema. It shows leakage of the optic nerve in papilledema, which is not present in pseudopapilledema.[4] 4. Ultrasonography (US): B-scan ultrasonography can measure the optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD), which is often enlarged in cases of increased ICP. It is a useful adjunct to MRI for detecting papilledema.[5] 5. Fundus Photography: Stereoscopic color fundus photographs can be used to assess optic disc elevation and other features of papilledema. Automated analysis of these images can provide quantitative measurements of optic disc volume.[6] These imaging modalities are essential for the accurate diagnosis and differentiation of papilledema from other conditions such as pseudopapilledema.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: I am a 74 year old female.....relatively active. stress with a 93 year old mother...I am the sole caretaker . however she is in assisted living and a wheelchair. I have some pain in hip and knee joints. I am overweight by about 30 lbs. I do eat well , but do indulge in ice cream and cookies. I feel I am gaining weight , but the scales don t show that. now I am having hot flashes. I see my primary care doctor at least every 6 months. my blood work is very good. the thyroid is borderline normal. gest treatment for knee and hip pain output: As per your explanation I suggest to have check on your calcium and via d. And start taking this since you need it as per your age. As well for pain initially you can use hot pack and use some pain relieving ointment after use of hot pack for 10to 15minuts.this should help you. Also visit once physio therapist to have idea on what all exercise you can do to strengthen the muscles so that it won't pain you back by supporting your joint. If needed you can also take few session of physiotherapy for early relief. I am sure every thing will be fine with all this but still if you have issue do visit your ortho doctor to discus it in detail. Hope this must be useful for you. Take care..

O.J. Simpson: Life After the Murder Trial In our December 1995 issue, the victory party was over. O.J. Simpson discovered his old world didn’t want him back—not at his Brentwood estate, not at ICM, and not at the Riviera golf club. Dominick Dunne O. J. Simpson back at his walled estate on the Rockingham after the verdict. To escape the media, he then moved into a series of houses lent to him by friends. From Sipa press. I never thought it would end like this for O. J. Simpson, winning and losing concurrently, with the loss somehow exceeding the win. I had always thought it would be a hung jury. My jaw dropped—in case anyone didn’t notice it on television—when the verdict was read. There were hosannas to my left; there were tears to my right. Simpson was a free man. When he arrived back at the gates of his Brentwood mansion to restart his life, a party was in preparation. His mother, Eunice, arrived in a Rolls-Royce. Limousines pulled up behind her. It was all on television. Women in pink pantsuits waved champagne toasts to the media. Everyone hugged. Al Cowlings was there. Don Ohlmeyer of NBC was there. Robert Kardashian was there. Larry Schiller, Simpson’s co-author, was there. Jubilation reigned. “After the verdict was handed down, the West L.A.P.D.—because Rockingham is in our jurisdiction—had to send police units over there to O.J.’s house for crowd control and to protect the estate while they were preparing for a party to celebrate the deaths of two people,” said Detective Paul Bishop when we met for breakfast at Dolores’s at Santa Monica Boulevard and Purdue, not far from the station house. His disgust for the assignment sounded in his voice and showed on his face. The police department, which he loves, while acknowledging that there are flaws in it, had been mocked and humiliated by Simpson’s legal team. “Forty crates of champagne were brought in. We sat there and did it. This is our job. We may not like it, but we did it.” Like his former colleague Detective Mark Fuhrman, Bishop has TV-star looks. He spoke about Fuhrman’s arrogance and his my-way-only kind of thinking. Bishop drinks tea, talks straight, and writes books. His second novel, Twice Dead, is about to be published by Avon. “Way back in the beginning, I said to Detective Ron Phillips, ‘Are we going to win this case?’ Ron said, ‘If we can’t convict this guy, we may as well turn in our badges and go home.’ After the verdict, I walked up to Ron and said, ‘You’re right. We may as well turn in our badges.’ The next two days you couldn’t get through on the phone lines to personnel, because there were so many police and detectives trying to get their paperwork and retire. The ripple effect is going to be unbelievable.” The elation of the Rockingham party didn’t last long. The participants having such a swell time began to get the idea that the city and the country weren’t cheering and partying along with them. Simpson’s much-heralded pay-per-view TV deal collapsed, and along with it the $20 million he had assumed he would make. ICM, the talent agency that had represented him for 20 years, and Jack Gilardi, his personal agent, dropped him as a client. Polls showed that more than half of the country was outraged by the verdict. Simpson brought new meaning to the phrase “There goes the neighborhood.” A sign went up on Sunset Boulevard at the entrance to Brentwood saying, WELCOME TO BRENTWOOD. HOME OF THE BRENTWOOD BUTCHER. Another read, MURDERER LOOSE IN BRENTWOOD. “Does he know?” I asked someone who did know, late one night. “That he is despised?” “Does he care?” “Very much.” Nicole was right. Everything happened just as she had predicted it would. What Nicole had not anticipated, however, was the rage of the white citizenry across the country over O.J.’s acquittal by a mostly black jury. “This is what a white riot is,” said the screenwriter and director James Brooks, meaning rage without violence. Several friends who stood by O.J. during his ordeal—and would have continued to stand by him had he been sent to prison—have distanced themselves from him since his victory party. —A source close to the Dream Team who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity. For a while, Simpson didn’t get it. He thought it was going to be like old times. One of his buddies told me that O.J. was livid that District Attorney Gil Garcetti had announced on television that he was closing the case and wasn’t going to pursue the “real killers.” I was also told that O.J. was looking into suing the National Organization for Women (now) on the grounds that it was depriving him of his right to earn a living. Simpson, not satisfied with a mere acquittal, wanted more from us. He wanted our adulation back. Adulation is what he craves. He is addicted to it. By now, however, he knows that he will never have it. When Robert Shapiro was booed at a Lakers game last spring, it was a foretaste of things to come. If Simpson’s golfing pals Craig Baumgarten and Don Ohlmeyer remain steadfast in their friendship, they’re going to have a hard time finding a golf club to tee off at. The Riviera Country Club, where Simpson is a member, doesn’t want him back. One member told me that the explanation it gives is that he is a security risk, which he is—a golf course being an ideal place for an assassin to pick someone off—but there is more. I have spoken with other members of that club who say they will resign in droves if he is allowed back. Many have speculated that Simpson will flee the country rather than give a deposition in the upcoming wrongful death suits being brought by the Brown and Goldman families. I questioned a friend of his on the possibility of suicide. There was a long pause. “He has no life other than an afterlife,” his friend replied. “It’s a tougher sentence than if he’d gone to prison.” I’m so sorry, kiddo. I did everything I could. —Marcia Clark, crying, to Kim Goldman after the verdict. It is hard for Kim Goldman to understand that the life Simpson faces will be painful. She remains unconsoled by the prospect that in many areas he will become a social leper, unwanted, uninvited, barred. “What does it matter to me if people walk out of a restaurant when he walks in? I won’t be there to see it,” she said to me a few nights after the verdict. We were having dinner at Drai’s with Cynthia McFadden of ABC and Shoreen Maghame of City News in Los Angeles. Kim hates Simpson with the same passion that her father hates him. “He’s free, and my brother’s dead.” She described Simpson in the courtroom seconds after the verdict. “He leaned over and looked at me and smiled. I said, ‘Murderer.’” Everyone must boycott his pay-per-view. —Mrs. Jerry Perenchio, wife of the TV entrepreneur, at dinner at Betsy Bloomingdale’s on the night of the verdict, before the pay-per-view deal fell through. Simpson had to move out of his walled estate on Rockingham. No privacy. Too much media. The day he wanted to see his children for the first time, a diversionary tactic had to be devised so that he could leave the grounds without being detected. As a ruse, a press conference was called. While it was being set up, Simpson sneaked out in a van, one of three cars in a caravan. Once he was gone, the press conference was canceled. The rendezvous with Sydney and Justin, who arrived with an au pair girl in a van reportedly driven by Al Cowlings from Lou and Juditha Brown’s home in Dana Point, 60 miles away, took place near Mulholland Drive. “Sydney was a little on edge at first,” I was told by a witness to the scene, “but Justin rushed to his father’s arms.” Later the same witness said that the children love the Browns, who have taken care of them since the murders, but that “within them they know they are Simpsons.” Finally Simpson moved into a secluded residence in a canyon near Malibu that had been lent to him. One night he was able to get out and see a film, without being seen. The film he picked was Showgirls. The whole point of security is that nobody knows you have it. It’s not to flash it around. —Robert Shapiro, with contempt in his voice, in private conversation with me in the courthouse, expressing his rage at Johnnie Cochran’s Nation of Islam guards. I wish you could have seen Bob Shapiro work the room at the Billy Crystal dinner last night. He never sat down. He kept shaking hands. —Rob Reiner, film director, at a dinner dance given by Lyn and Norman Lear for Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn to celebrate the publication of Bradlee’s autobiography. Where was the joy of the defense team at the announcement of the not-guilty verdict? Cochran smiled his cat-that-ate-the-canary smile, F. Lee Bailey wore the smirk of victory on his face, and Robert Shapiro, who had already distanced himself from the winning team, made a halfhearted gesture toward Simpson, but the others, particularly Robert Kardashian, looked momentarily dazed, as if the verdict were more than they had expected. The exhilaration that is part and parcel of an acquittal for a wrongly accused person was eerily missing. Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld had already returned to New York. At the lackluster press conference in the courtroom following the verdict, there was an absence of euphoria. When Jason Simpson read a message from his about-to-be-set-free father, in which the former defendant said that a priority of his life would be to find the real “killer or killers,” he sat awkwardly, almost hiding his face from us, as if he were ashamed of the message he was reading. In the opinion of many, the lawyers who fought so hard for Simpson’s acquittal have become diminished by their association with him. As someone close to the defense team said to me, it was a victory without honor. You’ve had a death threat from the L.A. Crips. —A temporary employee at the West Coast office of Vanity Fair, reading me my messages a few days after the acquittal. Ten days after the verdict, before returning to New York, I dropped by Dove Books in Beverly Hills to say good-bye to Michael Viner and Deborah Raffin. In their office, I ran into three of the Simpson jurors who are appearing in a television documentary on the case which Dove is producing. Two of them shook hands with me. One looked away. All of them had heard me say on television that they hadn’t done their jobs. To me, their verdict was a rush to judgment, just as much as Cochran had insisted throughout the trial that Simpson’s arrest had been a rush to judgment on the part of the L.A.P.D. A member of the sheriff’s department had confirmed that several jurors’ bags were packed before deliberations began. A person who works for the British tabloid News of the World played me a tape of the daughter of one of the jurors trying to make a deal for her mother and another juror. Three of the jurors left for Las Vegas after the verdict and checked into the Bally hotel, where they had established a line of credit. The lawyer for yet another member of the jury called me at my hotel and asked how much I would pay to interview his client. I said, “My magazine doesn’t pay.” He said in a shocked voice, “Vanity Fair doesn’t pay?” After having heard juror Brenda Moran say on television that domestic violence had nothing to do with the murders and should have been tried in another court, I was no longer interested in what the jurors had to say. This case was won the day the jury was seated, thanks to the defense’s jury consultant, Jo-Ellan Dimitrius. The verdict had very little to do with reason and a great deal to do with race. Months and months ago, I was told in a private conversation that after the jury had been picked O. J. Simpson said to Johnnie Cochran, “If this jury convicts me, maybe I did kill Nicole in a blackout.” Some people can’t stand the truth. —Johnnie Cochran, in his closing argument, looking toward the Goldman family. I and many other people covering the trial believe that if Francine Florio-Bunten had not been dismissed from the jury by Judge Ito there would have been a long deliberation and perhaps a hung jury instead of an acquittal arrived at in three hours. Francine Florio-Bunten was probably the smartest person on the jury, capable of understanding the DNA evidence and explaining it to the others. There was an eagerness on the part of the defense to remove her from the jury, and there is something very smelly about her dismissal. Judge Ito, who seemed to be in the thrall of Johnnie Cochran for much of the trial, received an anonymous letter from a young woman who described herself as a receptionist for a literary agency, paid Ito an unctuous compliment, and reported that Florio-Bunten was in negotiations for a book on the trial: After seeing you last night on the news telling the pain your family went through during the war and what my family in Germany endured, it touched my heart and I felt so grateful to live in a country with very strong civil rights and a strong constitution. I guess that’s why I feel so ashamed for the information I have. . . . I am in a moral dilemma that a 20-year-old receptionist should not be in. I can only identify the juror as female, once an alternate, her husband became ill, about 40 years old, a white woman. I was brought up to believe that anonymous letters should be flushed down the toilet, but such thinking did not prevail here. The anonymous letter was taken seriously. Florio-Bunten’s lawyer, Rex T. Reeves, has publicly stated, “That letter is as phony as a three-dollar bill.” Francine Florio-Bunten insists that the information in the letter was false; she had no book deal then, has none now, and does not intend to have one. The reason given for her dismissal at the time was that she had lied about receiving a note from another juror. Even if that were true, how mild a misdemeanor it seems for the punishment Judge Ito gave her. I know a couple of reporters who think they are onto whose handwriting it is in the anonymous letter. I never saw so many people in dark glasses and very short black dresses. —Margaret Weitzman, wife of Simpson’s first lawyer, Howard Weitzman, describing Nicole Brown Simpson’s funeral. Voices heard at parties in Los Angeles: “I think they should release the autopsy pictures—let everybody see what he did.” “This is what Nicole always said was going to happen.” “All Nicole’s photo albums were up-to-date.” “They ought to unseal those papers about what the jailhouse guard overheard O.J. say to Rosie Grier.” “Of course I would get up and walk out if he came into this restaurant.” “It was tacky of them to have a party after the verdict.” “If he married Paula Barbieri now, it would be like giving the finger to all the blacks who helped him.” “I bet he skips the country rather than give the deposition.” “How do we send money to the Goldmans?” “Ron Goldman and Nicole are the payment of the racial debt.” “Any girl he hits on now can make herself famous when she sells her story.” “He’s got to look in the mirror every day when he shaves.” You’re the first white person to give me money since the verdict. —Black panhandler to a friend of mine who dropped change in his cup. I wasn’t surprised when, at the last minute, Simpson’s NBC interview with Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric didn’t take place. I had heard the day before that Simpson’s friends and advisers were trying to talk him out of it. Then I heard that Johnnie Cochran had arrived at the house and was left alone with him. That did it. From the beginning, one of the most interesting characters in the many subplots of the Simpson saga has been Don Ohlmeyer, the West Coast president of NBC. A golfing buddy and old-time associate of Simpson’s who produced one of Simpson’s films, The Golden Moment: An Olympic Love Story, Ohlmeyer has been from the time of the murders an outspoken advocate for the innocence of his friend. He was a frequent visitor at the L.A. County Jail and one of the celebrants at the victory party at the Rockingham house following the verdict. After the pay-per-view deal collapsed, Simpson agreed to have Ohlmeyer set up the interview on NBC. Simpson has only his image to sell. Without it he’s nothing, and he knows it; an hour of prime time for him to give his side of the story to Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric was irresistible. It provoked the same urge that had made Simpson want to take the stand during the trial; he is a man who has talked his way out of jams for years, and he thought he could do it again. But along came Johnnie. You had only to look at Cochran’s face on the Larry King show the night O.J. phoned in unexpectedly to see just how nervous O.J. makes him when he speaks out extemporaneously. The last-minute cancellation caused embarrassment to Brokaw, Couric, and NBC. Then came Simpson’s subsequent call to Bill Carter, who covers television for The New York Times. According to a source, it was Ohlmeyer’s idea to call Carter. Ohlmeyer and Carter were known to each other professionally. In fact, it is being told around town that Ohlmeyer dialed the number for Simpson. David Margolick, who had covered the trial from the start for The New York Times, was the logical person to call, but he was passed over. “O.J.’s a coward,” said Loyola law professor and television commentator Laurie Levenson when we met up on a television show that day. “He only wants to speak in a controlled atmosphere—which he controls. He doesn’t want to be confronted.” In his nonconfrontational interview with Carter, Simpson said some curious things, which indicate how near to the surface of his psyche the particulars of the trial reside. In one instance, speaking about prosecutor Marcia Clark, he said that he’d “like to be able to knock that chip off Marcia’s shoulder”—a curious turn of phrase for an acknowledged wife beater. In another, speaking about the NBC interview he had backed out of, he said, “I heard accounts of things like Tom Brokaw was sharpening knives for the interview”—again, a curious turn of phrase for a man just acquitted of slashing the throats of two people with a sharp knife which has never been recovered. Simpson needed that $20 million he expected from the pay-per-view deal. The house on Rockingham had been used as collateral for a $3 million line of credit to cover legal fees for the murder trial, some of which have not been paid. There are also the costly civil suits that face him in the near future. Yet he asserted his solvency in The New York Times. “I still have my Ferrari,” he told Carter. “I still have my Bentley, I still have my home in Brentwood and my apartment in New York.” However, he had already put the apartment up for sale and taken out a $700,000 mortgage on it. Elaine Young, a Beverly Hills real-estate agent, has had an offer in excess of $4 million for the house on Rockingham, but Simpson doesn’t want to sell it, even though his neighbors don’t want him there anymore. “How much money is there?” I asked a source. “I figure he can live in the style in which he is living for another year.” Meanwhile, people from all over the country are calling in to the Goldman family to offer them money to hire the finest lawyer in the land for their civil suit against Simpson. The Goldmans have chosen Daniel Petrocelli, a partner in the distinguished Los Angeles firm of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp. O.J. is entitled to enjoy the fruits of his liberty the way the rest of us are. I think it’s unconscionable that people are trying to deny him that. —Dream Team member Peter Neufeld, quoted in the Los Angeles Times, October 13, 1995. The reaction to his return doesn’t seem very American. This is a country that traditionally takes people back who have fallen from grace. Richard Nixon left office in disgrace and was later welcomed at the White House. Spiro Agnew’s bust was put in the Capitol this year. There are a lot of other examples, including Michael Milken. I don’t look for sinister motives, but what is the difference between O.J. and the others? —Johnnie Cochran, quoted in the same article. I said to Robert Shapiro on the next-to-last day of the trial, “This experience is going to change us all.” He replied, “You don’t know how much.” Now it’s time to pack up and leave. What a fascinating and bewildering city Los Angeles is. Heidi Fleiss faces up to eight years in prison, and O. J. Simpson is reportedly cavorting in Beverly Hills with Frederick’s of Hollywood model Gretchen Stockdale and openly playing golf in Florida with Paula Barbieri beside him while his daughter Sydney celebrates her 10th birthday with the Brown family. Judge Ito’s stepson, Dennis York, 35, the son of Ito’s wife, Captain Margaret York, the highest-ranking woman in the L.A.P.D., was arrested on charges of grand theft and operating as a contractor without a license, and the sister-in-law of Johnnie Cochran, Robin Cochran, 39, was arrested in a crack den and is under investigation for child endangerment for leaving her six-year-old daughter in a car outside. When I stopped living here in 1979 and moved to New York, I left hating this city. I no longer do. L.A. is a part of me just as much as New York is. I reunited with old friends here and made many new ones, all of whom I shall miss. I leave with admiration and love for Marcia Clark and Chris Darden, for my friends in the media who have covered the trial every day, and for the Brown and Goldman families. I will never forget Nicole and Ron. The autopsy photographs of their slit throats and open eyes will haunt me forever.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: What causes Secondary hyperparathyroidism? output: The parathyroid glands help control calcium use and removal by the body. They do this by producing parathyroid hormone, or PTH. PTH helps control calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D levels within the blood and bone. When calcium levels are too low, the body responds by increasing production of parathyroid hormone. This increase in parathyroid hormone causes more calcium to be taken from the bone and more calcium to be reabsorbed by the intestines and kidney. Medical conditions that cause low blood calcium levels or interfere with the body's ability to break down and remove phosphate can lead to secondary hyperparathyroidism. Too much phosphate causes changes in calcium levels. Kidney failure is a common cause of secondary hyperparathyroidism. Kidney failure can interfere with the body's ability to remove phosphate. Other causes of secondary hyperparathyroidism may include: Calcium deficiency Not enough calcium in the diet Too much calcium loss in the urine Conditions that make it hard for the body to break down phosphate, including: Aluminum poisoning Certain types of cancer Kidney disease Malnutrition Malabsorption Vitamin D disorders (often seen in children with malnutrition and older adults who do not get enough sunlight): Problems absorbing vitamin D into the body (malabsorption) Problems breaking down vitamin D (due to the use of certain drugs) Rickets Too little vitamin D (deficiency)

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: hi i am a 32 recently married female and i have two children from a previous relationship and my husband also has two children. soon before we were married i quit my job to be a full time house wife. sometimes i do OK.. but most of the time i feel so over whelmed that i just don't want to deal with the day to day duties of being a stay at home mom. what can i do to feel motivated about my new life troy of quitting job to be homemaker. On and off feeling of disinterest to deal with household duties. Ways to self motivate? output: HelloIt was your decision to stay at home and to be a home maker. You have to quit your job for that. I want to tell you that home making is as important as doing a job. You should feel proud for that because for your family you have made a significant sacrifice. The feeling like you dont want to deal with day to day duties can be due to feeling that you have made wrong decision. I would like to tell you that you should not feel low because you have done a good job. Try to do relaxation exercises for motivation. Exercises like Breathing Exercises, Progressive Muscle Relaxation Exercises, Meditation etc help in improving confidence.Hope this helps you, thanks..

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Hi, my name is Susan. I've had chronic neck & back pain for 10 yrs now. I've tried everything from trigger pt. therapy, acupuncture, prolo injections, botox injections, massage therapy, chiropractic adjustments, and so on. I met a lady today and she told me that diclofenac (10 percent) cream helped her recover. Would I be able to use this product since I had an anaphalactic reaction to Advil 10 yrs. ago. after having dental work. Doctors have told me to avoid NSAIDS and aspirin. This seems like my last hope. I'm worried because I put my Visa infromation down and it went through as unlimited questions each month which I don't want to do. Will I be charged a fee? onic pain in neck and back. No help from any treatments. Had anaphalatic reaction to Advil. Can dicofenac cream be used for chronic pain? output: Hi, To pain you case may be due to problem with bones, vertebrae, joints, muscles, ligaments or deficiencies of calcium, Vitamin D. To find the basic cause should be first step towards healing. * A range of blood, urine investigations ray, CT Scan/MRI should be done by an orthopedic doctor's advice. He will suggest suitable medicines after examining you. *A slow start to reach optimum level of exercises under expert guidance should be learnt & followed regularly. This becomes a better choice many a times. * Calcium & vitamin D supplement helps. * Adapt new life style, especially movements to avoid spinal stress. * Fomentation. Application of muscle relaxant ointments, Reiki are some Parallel methods for relief. * Ayurvedic medications are reported well for chronic pains. I hope this helps you. Thank you...

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: hello, i have been trouble with itchy rashes starting first on upper abdomen, then arms, behind knees then thighs now armpits, no one knows what it is. also had a large swollen vein in armpit same time, but has passed now. nothing on mammogram or ultrasound of pit. output: Hi, The itchy rashes on arms, axillae, trunk and thighs may be lichen ultimatum or purity. There may be some cause. It may be some irritant, allergen,infection anywhere in body or some internal disease. You consult dermatologist. Have investigations to find out systemic cause. You may consult physician, if internal problem is suspected. If some irritant or alleged is found, it may be removed or prevented. You may take antihistamines like levocetirizine or desloratidine till itch is relieved. Systemic steroids may be taken in tampering doses, if needed. Mild steroid cream may be applied on the affected parts. You might feel better. I hope you got my answer. Thanks..

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: I was having back pain while sitting on my couch and also i was about to get a cramp in my leg. When i got up i all of a sudden got chills and was really cold. Around my knee it feels like a sting and is red all over and when i touch it it feels very hot. output: The symptoms you are describing points to different pathologies. Your low back pain with some stiffness can be attributed to lumbar spondylitis with some neuropathic pain called as lumbago. However, the swelling, pain, redness around your knee joint suggest some inflammatory either infective or non-infective pathology. Please mention duration of symptoms and associated systemic symptoms. I will suggest consulting a rheumatologist. Hope my answer will help you. Take care. Don't forget to rate me..

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: i had sex with my husband last night and he came inside me this is the first time he has done that since being of birth control i been off for 5 months now. could i be prego? all the cum came out i think? when can i take a test? my periods are every other month now and i had my last period Feb 26th 2011 and its March 27th 2011 can any one help me? output: Hi, How are you doing ? If you are having periods every 29 days or so, your ovulation is occurring on Day15 of the periods (first day of periods being the first day of bleeding)Life of egg is 24 hrs & that of sperm is 72 hrs. So having sex around 12-18th day of periods, any number of times, will have high chances of pregnancy.

package com.twitter.scrooge.backend import com.twitter.scrooge.ast._ import com.twitter.scrooge.mustache.Dictionary import com.twitter.scrooge.mustache.Dictionary._ import com.twitter.scrooge.frontend.ScroogeInternalException trait StructTemplate { self: TemplateGenerator => case class Binding[FT <: FieldType](name: String, fieldType: FT) val TypeTemplate = Dictionary( "isList" -> v(false), "isSet" -> v(false), "isMap" -> v(false), "isStruct" -> v(false), "isEnum" -> v(false), "isBase" -> v(false)) def genWireConstType(t: FunctionType): CodeFragment = t match { case _: EnumType => v("I32") case _ => genConstType(t) } def readWriteInfo[T <: FieldType](sid: SimpleID, t: FieldType): Dictionary = { t match { case t: ListType => val elt = sid.append("_element") TypeTemplate + Dictionary( "fieldType" -> genType(t), "isList" -> v(Dictionary( "name" -> genID(sid), "eltName" -> genID(elt), "eltConstType" -> genConstType(t.eltType), "eltWireConstType" -> genWireConstType(t.eltType), "eltType" -> genType(t.eltType), "eltReadWriteInfo" -> v(readWriteInfo(elt, t.eltType)) ))) case t: SetType => val elt = sid.append("_element") TypeTemplate + Dictionary( "fieldType" -> genType(t), "isSet" -> v(Dictionary( "name" -> genID(sid), "eltName" -> genID(elt), "eltConstType" -> genConstType(t.eltType), "eltWireConstType" -> genWireConstType(t.eltType), "eltType" -> genType(t.eltType), "isEnumSet" -> v(t.eltType.isInstanceOf[EnumType]), "eltReadWriteInfo" -> v(readWriteInfo(elt, t.eltType)) ))) case t: MapType => val key = sid.append("_key") val value = sid.append("_value") TypeTemplate + Dictionary( "fieldType" -> genType(t), "isMap" -> v(Dictionary( "name" -> genID(sid), "keyConstType" -> genConstType(t.keyType), "keyWireConstType" -> genWireConstType(t.keyType), "valueConstType" -> genConstType(t.valueType), "valueWireConstType" -> genWireConstType(t.valueType), "keyType" -> genType(t.keyType), "valueType" -> genType(t.valueType), "keyName" -> genID(key), "valueName" -> genID(value), "keyReadWriteInfo" -> v(readWriteInfo(key, t.keyType)), "valueReadWriteInfo" -> v(readWriteInfo(value, t.valueType)) ))) case t: StructType => TypeTemplate + Dictionary( "isNamedType" -> v(true), "isImported" -> v(t.scopePrefix.isDefined), "fieldType" -> genType(t), "isStruct" -> v(Dictionary( "name" -> genID(sid) ))) case t: EnumType => TypeTemplate + Dictionary( "isNamedType" -> v(true), "isImported" -> v(t.scopePrefix.isDefined), "fieldType" -> genType(t), "isEnum" -> v(Dictionary( "name" -> genID(sid) ))) case t: BaseType => TypeTemplate + Dictionary( "fieldType" -> genType(t), "isBase" -> v(Dictionary( "type" -> genType(t), "name" -> genID(sid), "protocolWriteMethod" -> genProtocolWriteMethod(t), "protocolReadMethod" -> genProtocolReadMethod(t) ))) case t: ReferenceType => throw new ScroogeInternalException("ReferenceType should have been resolved by now") } } def fieldsToDict( fields: Seq[Field], blacklist: Seq[String], namespace: Option[Identifier] = None ): Seq[Dictionary] = { fields.zipWithIndex map { case (field, index) => val valueVariableID = field.sid.append("_item") val fieldName = genID(field.sid) val camelCaseFieldName = if (fieldName.toString.indexOf('_') >= 0) genID(field.sid.toCamelCase) else NoValue Dictionary( "index" -> v(index.toString), "indexP1" -> v((index + 1).toString), "_fieldName" -> genID(field.sid.prepend("_")), // for Java only "unsetName" -> genID(field.sid.toTitleCase.prepend("unset")), "readName" -> genID(field.sid.toTitleCase.prepend("read")), "getBlobName" -> genID(field.sid.toTitleCase.prepend("get").append("Blob")), "readBlobName" -> genID(field.sid.toTitleCase.prepend("read").append("Blob")), "getName" -> genID(field.sid.toTitleCase.prepend("get")), // for Java only "isSetName" -> genID(field.sid.toTitleCase.prepend("isSet")), // for Java only "fieldName" -> fieldName, "fieldNameForWire" -> v(field.originalName), "fieldNameCamelCase" -> camelCaseFieldName, "newFieldName" -> genID(field.sid.toTitleCase.prepend("new")), "FieldName" -> genID(field.sid.toTitleCase), "FIELD_NAME" -> genID(field.sid.toUpperCase), "gotName" -> genID(field.sid.prepend("_got_")), "id" -> v(field.index.toString), "fieldConst" -> genID(field.sid.toTitleCase.append("Field")), "constType" -> genConstType(field.fieldType), "isPrimitive" -> v(isPrimitive(field.fieldType)), "isLazyReadEnabled" -> v(isLazyReadEnabled(field.fieldType, field.requiredness.isOptional)), "primitiveFieldType" -> genPrimitiveType(field.fieldType), "fieldType" -> genType(field.fieldType), "fieldKeyType" -> v(field.fieldType match { case MapType(keyType, _, _) => Some(genType(keyType)) case _ => None }), "fieldValueType" -> v(field.fieldType match { case MapType(_, valueType, _) => Some(genType(valueType)) case ListType(valueType, _) => Some(genType(valueType)) case SetType(valueType, _) => Some(genType(valueType)) case _ => None }), "fieldTypeAnnotations" -> StructTemplate.renderPairs(field.typeAnnotations), "fieldFieldAnnotations" -> StructTemplate.renderPairs(field.fieldAnnotations), "isImported" -> v(field.fieldType match { case n: NamedType => n.scopePrefix.isDefined case _ => false }), "isNamedType" -> v(field.fieldType.isInstanceOf[NamedType]), "passthroughFields" -> { val insides = buildPassthroughFields(field.fieldType, namespace) if (field.requiredness.isOptional) { v(Dictionary( "ptIter" -> insides )) } else { insides } }, "isEnum" -> v(field.fieldType.isInstanceOf[EnumType]), // "qualifiedFieldType" is used to generate qualified type name even if it's not // imported, in case other same-named entities are generated in the same file. "qualifiedFieldType" -> v(templates("qualifiedFieldType")), "hasDefaultValue" -> v(genDefaultFieldValue(field).isDefined), "defaultFieldValue" -> genDefaultFieldValue(field).getOrElse(NoValue), "defaultReadValue" -> genDefaultReadValue(field), "hasGetter" -> v(!blacklist.contains(field.sid.name)), "hasIsDefined" -> v(field.requiredness.isOptional || (!field.requiredness.isRequired && !isPrimitive(field.fieldType))), "required" -> v(field.requiredness.isRequired), "optional" -> v(field.requiredness.isOptional), "nullable" -> v(isNullableType(field.fieldType, field.requiredness.isOptional)), "collection" -> v { (field.fieldType match { case ListType(eltType, _) => List(genType(eltType)) case SetType(eltType, _) => List(genType(eltType)) case MapType(keyType, valueType, _) => List( v("(" + genType(keyType).toData + ", " + genType(valueType).toData + ")")) case _ => Nil }) map { t => Dictionary("elementType" -> t) } }, "readFieldValueName" -> genID(field.sid.toTitleCase.prepend("read").append("Value")), "writeFieldName" -> genID(field.sid.toTitleCase.prepend("write").append("Field")), "writeFieldValueName" -> genID(field.sid.toTitleCase.prepend("write").append("Value")), "readField" -> v(templates("readField")), "decodeProtocol" -> genDecodeProtocolMethod(field.fieldType), "offsetSkipProtocol" -> genOffsetSkipProtocolMethod(field.fieldType), "readUnionField" -> v(templates("readUnionField")), "readLazyField" -> v(templates("readLazyField")), "readValue" -> v(templates("readValue")), "writeField" -> v(templates("writeField")), "writeValue" -> v(templates("writeValue")), "writeList" -> v(templates("writeList")), "writeSet" -> v(templates("writeSet")), "writeMap" -> v(templates("writeMap")), "writeStruct" -> v(templates("writeStruct")), "writeEnum" -> v(templates("writeEnum")), "writeBase" -> v(templates("writeBase")), "readList" -> v(templates("readList")), "readSet" -> v(templates("readSet")), "readMap" -> v(templates("readMap")), "readStruct" -> v(templates("readStruct")), "readEnum" -> v(templates("readEnum")), "readBase" -> v(templates("readBase")), "optionalType" -> v(templates("optionalType")), "withoutPassthrough" -> v(templates("withoutPassthrough")), "readWriteInfo" -> v(readWriteInfo(valueVariableID, field.fieldType)), "valueVariableName" -> genID(valueVariableID) ) } } val basePassthrough = Dictionary( "ptStruct" -> v(false), "ptIter" -> v(false), "ptMap" -> v(false), "ptPrimitive" -> v(false) ) private def buildPassthroughFields(fieldType: FieldType, namespace: Option[Identifier]): Value = { val overrides = fieldType match { case _: StructType => Dictionary("ptStruct" -> v(Dictionary( "className" -> genType(fieldType, namespace) )) ) case t: SetType => Dictionary("ptIter" -> buildPassthroughFields(t.eltType, namespace) ) case t: ListType => Dictionary("ptIter" -> buildPassthroughFields(t.eltType, namespace) ) case t: MapType => Dictionary("ptMap" -> v(Dictionary( "ptKey" -> buildPassthroughFields(t.keyType, namespace), "ptValue" -> buildPassthroughFields(t.valueType, namespace) )) ) case _ => Dictionary("ptPrimitive" -> v(true)) } v(basePassthrough + overrides) } private def exceptionMsgFieldName(struct: StructLike): Option[SimpleID] = { val msgField: Option[Field] = struct.fields.find { field => // 1st choice: find a field called message field.sid.name == "message" }.orElse { // 2nd choice: the first string field struct.fields.find { field => field.fieldType == TString } } msgField.map { _.sid } } def getSuccessType(result: FunctionResult, namespace: Option[Identifier]): CodeFragment = result.success match { case Some(field) => genType(field.fieldType, namespace) case None => v("Unit") } def getSuccessValue(result: FunctionResult): CodeFragment = result.success match { case Some(field) => v("success") case None => v("Some(Unit)") } def getExceptionFields(result: FunctionResult): CodeFragment = { val exceptions = result.exceptions.map { field: Field => genID(field.sid).toData }.mkString(", ") v(s"Seq($exceptions)") } def structDict( struct: StructLike, namespace: Option[Identifier], includes: Seq[Include], serviceOptions: Set[ServiceOption], toplevel: Boolean = false // True if this struct is defined in its own file. False for internal structs. ): Dictionary = { val parentType = struct match { case e: Exception_ if (serviceOptions contains WithFinagle) => "ThriftException with com.twitter.finagle.SourcedException with ThriftStruct" case e: Exception_ => "ThriftException with ThriftStruct" case u: Union => "ThriftUnion with ThriftStruct" case result: FunctionResult => val resultType = getSuccessType(result, namespace) s"ThriftResponse[$resultType] with ThriftStruct" case _ => "ThriftStruct" } val arity = struct.fields.size val isStruct = struct.isInstanceOf[Struct] val isException = struct.isInstanceOf[Exception_] val isUnion = struct.isInstanceOf[Union] val isResponse = struct.isInstanceOf[FunctionResult] val exceptionMsgField: Option[SimpleID] = if (isException) exceptionMsgFieldName(struct) else None val fieldDictionaries = fieldsToDict( struct.fields, if (isException) Seq("message") else Nil, namespace ) val structName = if (toplevel) genID(struct.sid.toTitleCase) else genID(struct.sid) Dictionary( "public" -> v(toplevel), "package" -> namespace.map(genID).getOrElse(v("")), "docstring" -> v(struct.docstring.getOrElse("")), "parentType" -> v(parentType), "fields" -> v(fieldDictionaries), "defaultFields" -> v(fieldsToDict(struct.fields.filter(!_.requiredness.isOptional), Nil)), "alternativeConstructor" -> v( struct.fields.exists(_.requiredness.isOptional) && struct.fields.exists(_.requiredness.isDefault)), "StructNameForWire" -> v(struct.originalName), "StructName" -> structName, "InstanceClassName" -> (if (isStruct) v("Immutable") else structName), "underlyingStructName" -> genID(struct.sid.prepend("_underlying_")), "arity" -> v(arity.toString), "isException" -> v(isException), "isResponse" -> v(isResponse), "hasExceptionMessage" -> v(exceptionMsgField.isDefined), "exceptionMessageField" -> exceptionMsgField.map(genID).getOrElse { v("")}, "product" -> v(productN(struct.fields, namespace)), "arity0" -> v(arity == 0), "arity1" -> v((if (arity == 1) fieldDictionaries.take(1) else Nil)), "arityN" -> v(arity > 1 && arity <= 22), "withFieldGettersAndSetters" -> v(isStruct || isException), "withTrait" -> v(isStruct), "structAnnotations" -> StructTemplate.renderPairs(struct.annotations) ) } } object StructTemplate { /** * Renders a map as: * Dictionary("pairs" -> ListValue(Seq(Dictionary("key" -> ..., "value" -> ...))) */ private def renderPairs(pairs: Map[String, String]): Dictionary.Value = { if (pairs.isEmpty) { NoValue } else { val pairDicts: Seq[Dictionary] = pairs.map { case (key, value) => Dictionary("key" -> v(key), "value" -> v(value)) }.toSeq v(Dictionary("pairs" -> v(pairDicts))) } } }

14 PV trends for 2019 Having reflected on the year gone by, it is time to turn attention to the coming year. Many predictions may not fully, or even partially, bear the fruit they promise – and the unexpected is always lurking in the background – however they can be a useful indicator of certain pathways and growth areas. With this in mind, the pv magazine team has compiled a list of the top 14 solar PV and energy storage trends expected to characterize 2019. What do you think? Have we missed anything? December 31, 2018 Becky Beetz Read on to discover pv magazine's top PV predictions for 2019. To sum up, “The story of 2019 is likely to be – more auctions in countries which need more energy, more prices of $25-35/MWh, more utility-scale storage associated with PV. More mono. Probably some exits of current manufacturers,” Jenny Chase, head of solar analysis at BloombergNEF told pv magazine. For pv magazine’s top 14 trends (in no particular order) for 2019, read on: Can we have some more please? PV InfoLink predicts that module sales will be around 112 GW in 2019, due to China’s increased 2020 targets, and renewed market growth in India and the USA. It adds that 16 countries worldwide will achieve an increase of more than 1 GW in installed capacity next year. In Europe, this will include Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands and Ukraine. Overall, China is still expected to account for roughly half of the global market with installations reaching around 43 GW. IHS Markit is even more optimistic, predicting that a record 123 GW will be installed – up 80% on this year. It also sees a market shift away from China, with two thirds of capacity located elsewhere, including Argentina, Egypt, South Africa, Spain and Vietnam, which are set to account for 7% of the 2019 market, or 7 GW of new capacity. Credit Suisse is not quite so buoyant, expecting just 94 GW next year, up from a paltry 80 GW this. A European renaissance It may have lost its footing in recent years, however Europe’s once falling solar star is on the rise again thanks mainly to the growth of grid parity projects on the southern fringes of the continent; and calls for the setting of strong solar and energy storage industrial policy. Overall, association SolarPower Europe expects the EU market to grow 58% on the 5.91 GW installed in 2017. Mono PERC’s march In terms of technology, the predictions from across the industry are that 2019 will be the year of mono PERC (passivated emitter rear contact) products. PV InfoLink said they became a mainstream product this year, with the majority of production capacity expansions focusing on this technology. This led to a higher than expected total PERC capacity, rising from 33.6 GW at the end of last year, to 66.7 GW in late 2018. It is estimated that this capacity will expand by over 26 GW by the end of 2019, boosting it to more than 92 GW. Overall, it will account for a 46% share of the market next year. PV InfoLink predicted that if, as expected, mono PERC products reach 310 W – 35 W more than multicrystalline modules – in 2019, more global manufacturers will turn to the technology. Thinner wafers that reduce costs and increase cell efficiency will exacerbate the trend, while a new round of the Top Runner program in China could strengthen the attractiveness of p-type mono-products. It adds that PV manufacturers are expected to continue the trend seen this year of using larger wafers and modules, with 160 μm thickness mono wafers increasingly used. TOPCon breakthrough PV manufacturers in Asia are importing deposition reactors from the EU to test the latest word in silicon solar cell passivation: TOPCon: two thin buffer layers sandwiched between silicon wafers and metal contacts, which are increasing the efficiency of conventional solar cells and setting new records. Equipment suppliers expect the technology to spread through the industry and boost their bottom line. “A lot of people see this [TopCon] as the next big step in photovoltaic technology,” said Professor Andres Cuevas from the Australian National University. “TOPCon rose to fame as a photovoltaic technology thanks to European research institutes. It is now entering commercialization thanks to European equipment,” added Martijn Lenes, Business Director at Tempress, an equipment manufacturer based in Vaassen, the Netherlands. Tenders rule The move to tender-based support systems for the roll out of renewables will continue to gain momentum in 2019. According to German energy agency Dena, over 29 countries held such auctions in 2017, mostly for solar power, although wind and hydro featured too. It adds, “The number of countries using multi-criteria or pure price-based auctions is increasing rapidly … The European Commission demands auctions for RE support from its Member States and even in less developed countries the importance of auction as policy mechanism is increasing.” HJT hotting up Demand for heterojunction technology (HJT) is on the increase, as can be evidenced by the numerous announcements throughout 2018. Indeed, just this month, Meyer Burger’s largest single shareholder, Sentis Capital, requested the former change strategy. It urged the Swiss technology company’s board to raise sufficient capital for it to set up its own GW-sized production facility for its heterojunction and tandem cell PV technology. While Meyer Burger did not explicitly back the shareholder’s call, in a white paper published in the August edition of pv magazine, scientists at the company argued that high efficiency cell concepts, and in particular heterojunction, will be among the best technologies solar can bet on to achieve further innovation focused on cost reduction. In August, the EcoSolifer Group announced work is back on track at its planned 100 MWp HJT bifacial PV cell production line in Csorna, Hungary, after a two year pause. The first cells are set to come off the production line in Q1 or Q2 2019. Meanwhile, by proving inductively coupled plasma can be used for HJT-cell production, German solar tooling provider Singulus Technologies and the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore at the National University of Singapore said in May that they would now work on ways to find cost-effective production methods with the aim of making a GW scale roll out of HJT cells viable. In March, Japanese electronics giant, Sharp announced the achievement of a 25.09% conversion efficiency, from a cell utilizing both heterojunction (HJT) and back contact technology. And Enel subsidiary, 3SUN said in February that it was in the process of converting its amorphous silicon factory in Sicily to produce bifacial HJT modules. Russian module producer, Hevel made a similar move last year, and had planned to increase the capacity of its fab in Novocheboksarsk by the end of 2018. An unstoppable tide The number of floating solar announcements just keeps on increasing and has now become an unstoppable tide. As IHS Markit’s Josefin Berg wrote in the July edition of pv magazine, while the market has been around for more than a decade, until recently it has been limited to small and moderate size installations in a few countries. “In 2017, this changed, as 390 MW of new floating PV systems were installed worldwide, mainly as part of the Top Runner Program in China,” she wrote, adding, “In 2018, at IHS Markit we project that annual floating PV installations will surpass 1 GW, still mainly driven by China. After 2018, the lack of near-term pipeline in China will lead to some market adjustments, through which India, South Korea, Taiwan and a myriad of small markets fill a large portion of the demand gap left by China. In particular India is rising as a strong potential market on the back of a 10 GW target for floating PV. Over the next five years, we project 13 GW of new floating PV additions in the world.” Corporates for good They may be notorious in the realm of data protection and privacy, with few green credentials to their names, however the corporates are helping to take renewables mainstream through the use of private or corporate PPAs. In 2017, a total of 5.4 GW of clean energy contracts were signed by 43 corporations in 10 different countries, according to BloombergNEF, up from 4.3 GW in 2016 and a record 4.4 GW in 2015. While the figures for 2018 were not out at the time of writing this, bets are on that this figure will again increase. Indeed, in 2017, most of the PPAs – 2.8 GW – were signed in the United States. According to the Rocky Mountain Institute this month, this figure is set to surpass 5 GW in 2018. RE100, which brings together corporations pledging to source 100% of their electricity from renewables, also sees a growing trend in the market. Many manufacturers are busily converting large parts of their production capacities to half-cut cell technology. In addition to increased power output, HC modules boast improved performance thanks to better temperature coefficients, lower hot spot levels and lower operating temperatures, among other advantages. In 2018, half-cut cell modules appear to be making the transition common to many new technologies with PV manufacturing. And in echoes of other technologies such as PERC, once the transition begins, it can occur at pace across new production lines. Data collected by independent PV manufacturing analyst Corrine Lin has global module production capacity expanding from 104 GW in 2017 to 124 GW this year. Almost two thirds of that expansion, according to Lin’s information, will be in the form of half-cut cell production. Revamping and repowering The concept of revamping and repowering is one of the newest terms in the solar industry, and is definitely one to watch. Indeed, as the installed base of PV systems ages, upgrading and improving operating plants becomes increasingly relevant to both manufacturers and PV plant asset managers. According to IHS Markit’s ‘PV Installation Tracker’, more than 40 GW of PV systems in Europe above 100 kW are more than five years old, and could be subject to component changes in the coming year, including repairs, replacement, revamping, and repowering. Revamping opportunities are not only related to defunct components, but also to the number of module and inverter companies that have exited the market in recent years. Added to this is the dramatic decline of component costs in the last few years – and the equally impressive improvements in components’ technology, quality and performance – which has also stimulated growth in revamping. However, while interventions create opportunities to increase the performance of the existing PV generation fleet, each one must be analyzed on a plant-by-plant basis and must also consider the policy and technical aspects. Large-scale, big business As of the start of 2018, 420 MW of battery storage coupled with utility-scale solar had been installed globally, said IHS Markit. It added that 40% of the total energy storage pipeline is comprised of solar-plus-storage projects, while it expects between 20 and 26 GWh of energy storage co-located with utility-scale solar to be deployed between 2018 and 2025. There are clear growth opportunities in the United States, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and France, it added. With this growth, IHS’ Julian Jansen explained how new value is emerging for storage on the utility side of the meter, primarily from capacity requirements and the integration of utility-scale solar and island microgrids. This leads to greater growth in the longer duration energy storage segment, especially systems of two to four hours (and above) in duration, he said. In theory, energy storage can provide multiple use cases when paired with utility-scale solar: Time shifting generation; ramping; and distribution network support. In the growing world of datacenters, strong business cases are also emerging for solar and storage. This trend is definitely one which will continue to grow. Tracking the market The benefits of bifacial are already well known, with some saying it is the most promising advance in solar for a decade. Among the advantages are energy gains that can range from single-digit percentages to more than 20%, compared with monofacial modules, depending on a wide array of variables. As Scott Stephens, Director of Technology Development at Clearway Energy, formerly NRG Renew, in San Francisco noted in October, although bifacial technology may cost $0.05/W more to install than a monofacial PV system, a conservative 10% bifacial gain easily outweighs the risk. “Bifacial modules represent the largest step function improvement in project economics for minimal technology risk since the introduction of trackers,” said Jenya Meydbray, Vice President of Solar Technology at Cypress Creek Renewables, based in San Francisco. On the back of this, not only is the bifacial module market continuing its upward march, but the bifacial tracker market is now on the cusp of huge growth. “Next year there will be explosive growth in bifacial tracker installations,” predicted Guy Rong, CEO of Arctech Solar, based in Kunshan. Others also agree. “The bifacial tracker is one of most exciting untapped opportunities in the solar industry; there will be a huge drive toward this,” said Dan Shugar, Founder of NEXTracker. Overall, NREL estimates that the market share for bifacial tracker systems will expand from a near-zero base today to a projected 10% market share in 2019, and 30% by 2025, compared with monofacial panels. Michael Woodhouse, an economic analyst at NREL, calculated that this would make the technology a multi billion dollar industry by itself. “That would represent a $20 billion to $110 billion market for bifacial technology,” he said. Significantly more efficient From blockchain to drones, digitalization is transforming the energy industry. Indeed, not only can it help to bridge the shortcomings of the traditional grid, and enable regular consumers to trade energy with one another, but the digitalization of O&M in solar plants can make these management processes significantly more efficient – up to a factor of 10. Walk that talk Cradle-to-cradle is a trend that pv magazine hopes will bear fruit as soon as 2019 and is something that we will personally be pushing as a mantra for the solar and energy storage industries. Indeed, we are all part of an industry that promotes and/or sells the dream of clean green energy, yet how many of us are really walking the talk? How many can confidently claim that manufacturing or production practices, or products and services are designed with a cradle-to-cradle concept in mind? How many of these are actually benefitting the environment we are claiming to help save? Yes, solar PV and energy storage may well be the key to the energy transition we have to see happening, but we cannot allow these industries to run on processes that are still harmful to both the environment and people. WE have to lead the way to a truly 100% clean green future, and that means looking at every aspect of our personal and professional lives. Europe is calling for the (re)establishment of a solar PV and battery manufacturing landscape. There is an opportunity here to build this on a true cradle-to-cradle foundation. Let’s join together and take action to REALLY change things. For if not us, then who? Becky Beetz Becky has managed the online presence of pv magazine International since its inception in 2010. As Head of Content, she is currently responsible for content development across all platforms, including our global and regional platforms. More articles from Becky Beetz Jeff D. Brown says: Fantastic Article Becky! Only adder I would include in #14 Walk that Talk would be Recycling those End of Life Solar PV modules then re-purposing used ones. What an awaking it has been for me to research and now join the team at Recycle PV Solar. Guilty myself here but we are seeing some 90% of all EOL modules end up in landfills here in the US. It is time to step up and make that change happen. We don’t have the room for all of them as time goes on nor will we have the resources even within a decade a new study claims. Today it costs money to recycle them and ship thus the reason they end up in dumpsters. This is a black eye on our green industry and a behavior that has to change. Pingback: Going Green: Better returns from solar investments expected – The Edge Markets MY | Malay Today Rene Moerman says: The last big not mentioned thing is floating pv #7. An unstoppable tide is about floating solar. Kevin Swartz says: I have been surprised by the lack of life cycle analysis for renewable energy products. Solar has been mentioned, but I suspect batteries may have even larger issues. Regarding floating PV, I think that migratory bird concerns will stifle floating PV in the US. steve pivac says: Life cycle and EROEI would seem to be critical assessments needed before we plunge headlong into a direction that may still offer us a very sticky (Melted?) end. The economic and financial system that relies completely on constant growth (this is exponential to the uninitiated) in a finite environment is clearly impossible. Without addressing that and the associated need for reducing consumption dramatically we will fail to prevent ecological catastrophe. Otherwise in the words of Neil young’s Ambulance blues, we are just ‘pissing in the wind’…. Rachel Smith says: Great article! Retiring coal-fired power plants and increase in natural gas is definitely some of the positive developments so far. Rise in energy storage technologies is the prime reason that renewables can see a likely growth in the coming years.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: I have a lump in the inside of my right upper arm. Swelling and tenderness have been present for over two years. I ve been ultrasound for clots and etc, nothing. What do you think it could be? I also have a small cyst in my left breast. any connections output: Hi, dairy have gone through your question. I can understand your concern. You have cyst in breast. It can be some benign cyst or fibrotic disease. You should go for fine needle aspiration cytology or biopsy of breast cyst. If ultrasound suggest nothing in your arm then no need to worry. It can be some muscle mass. There is no relation in between your breast cyst and arm swelling. Hope I have answered your question, if you have doubt then I will be happy to answer..

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: What is the recommended management approach for patients with asthma whose symptoms are not well controlled on an albuterol inhaler alone (step 1 therapy)? output: For patients with asthma whose symptoms are not well controlled on an albuterol inhaler alone (step 1 therapy), the recommended management approach is to add low-dose inhaled corticosteroids (ICS). This can help to reduce inflammation in the airways and improve overall asthma control. It is important to adjust treatment based on the patient's individual needs and response to therapy.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Hi, for a long time now have said to people that juice makes me ill. I dont drink fizzy drinks much but when I do drink them I just feel terrible. It starts off with slight pain in the stomach area them overactive bowel movements, itching all over and even more everytime I pass urine. And also just the colour of my complection changes to very pale. I am also prone to ear infections, coughing fits. I used to think it was a caffine intolrance but I am now thinking it has something to do with sweeteners? output: Hi. Thanks for your query and an elucidated history. The first treatment of such problems is to stop taking / consuming any food or a beverage that causes such problems. Why should you try to consume, as it can cause severe allergic problems. Now is just an intolerance. As this is giving you paleness with such a severe problem, I would suggest you to undergo angiography of the abdomen just in case to rule out any vascular problems to the blood supply of the intestines and the stomach..

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: What are some of the symptoms and diagnostic findings associated with pancreatic fistula, a complication of pancreatic surgery? output: Pancreatic fistula is a potential complication of pancreatic surgery that can lead to a range of symptoms and diagnostic findings. One common symptom is normal anion gap metabolic acidosis, which occurs when there is an excess of acid in the blood that is not caused by an increase in acid production or a decrease in bicarbonate levels. In addition, high levels of amylase may be present in the drain fluid, which is a clear indicator of pancreatic leakage. Other symptoms of pancreatic fistula may include fever, abdominal pain, and wound drainage. Treatment for pancreatic fistula typically involves close monitoring of the patient's condition and, in severe cases, surgical intervention to repair the fistula and prevent further complications.

IFComp 2013 announced The IFComp 2013 has been officially announced! This is the biggest text adventure competition there is – now in its 18th year. Entries can be written for any interactive fiction platform, and it usually gets some good coverage out there in the wider world. Many authors wait for the competition to release the game that they’ve been working on all year. This year, I’m planning to be one of those authors myself, with my first work of interactive fiction – eeek! There are prizes to be won too. As it’s only just been announced, no prizes have been donated yet, but you can get an idea of the kind of thing by looking at last year’s prizes. If you’re planning to enter, take a good look through the rules. Note that all entries must be previously unreleased – this means if you’re working on a game now that you want to enter into the competition, make sure you don’t release the game publicly beforehand. This doesn’t stop you from having a few beta testers though – and in fact, getting your game tested by a few people is something I’d strongly encourage! You have until 1 September to declare your intent to enter and until 28 September to upload your game. Games are made available a couple of days later, and the results are out on 15 November. This entry was posted in Text Adventures and tagged competitions, ifcomp on June 25, 2013 by textadventurescouk. QuestComp 2013 – the entries are in! The entries for QuestComp 2013 are now in! They are: Worship the Pig by Heal Butcher Pest by Jonathan Estis Over to organiser, Evan Williams: Score as 1 – 10, mark any discussion threads in the forum appropriately so people aren’t led into spoilers accidentally, and I encourage you to post reviews on the game’s page. Since things are already off-kilter, we’ll judge until we’re done judging, but no more than a month from now. If anyone else pops in and says, “hey, I got my game finished!” I’ll leave it up to the judges whether they want to review the late entries. Here are the rules for judges: Judges are encouraged to play each game as long as they want and try to finish each one. However, they are not required to finish before voting (especially if the game takes more than about 1-1/2 to 2 hours). There is no minimum time length that must be spent on each game. There is currently no minimum number of games which must be played to qualify the judges’ votes. Anyone may judge. Games should be scored on a 1 to 10 scale, 10 being best. Judges may discuss the games during the judging period, but should clearly mark posts/topics, for the benefit of those who want to avoid spoilers. Beta-testers are allowed to vote on the entries they beta-tested. So, please play the games and submit your votes by emailing Evan Williams at triangle_gamesmaster@yahoo.com This entry was posted in Quest on June 16, 2013 by textadventurescouk. Now accepting all kinds of web-based text adventure games We’re now accepting a bigger range of submissions at textadventures.co.uk. What does this mean? It means that all web-based text adventure games are now accepted! Why do this? We want to make it easy for people to discover and play text adventure games without having to download any software. And for game authors, we want to make it easy for you to find an audience for your work. So what can you now upload? In addition to games developed with our Quest platform, you can also now upload: self-contained .html game files – like those created by Twine ZIP files containing a folder of .html, .css, .js, etc – like those created by Inform when you use the “Release along with an interpreter” option. (We even extract and display cover art!) any other kind of text-based game that runs in a browser. Just upload a single .html file, or a zipped folder. All uploads get checked by a moderator – so anything this is not a text-based game will be deleted. Categories work the same as before – you can select a category when uploading, but your game will not appear in that category until it has been checked. Work-in-progress, incomplete, test, tutorial exercise games etc. will be put in the Sandpit category. We hope you enjoy the new flexibility. This feature has just gone live (you can submit games via this link), so please let me know if you encounter any problems uploading – you can email me at alex@textadventures.co.uk. This entry was posted in textadventures.co.uk Website on June 11, 2013 by textadventurescouk. The future of digital stories – thoughts from the Futurebook Innovation Workshop 2013 Last Thursday I attended the Futurebook Innovation Workshop, programmed by The Literary Platform – a very interesting afternoon of presentations and workshops on what I will call “digital storytelling” (although one of the recurring themes was that nobody has yet got a clear idea of what to call this, er, stuff). Setting the scene – a changing landscape Nick Perrett set the scene. He was in the games industry and has only recently moved into publishing, becoming group strategy and digital director for HarperCollins. He thinks that publishing over the next 6 years will change in the same way the games industry has changed over the last 6 years – moving from packaged games towards live services, with big changes in how users are acquired and products monetised. The ebook is a “dead end”, a “closed island” as it doesn’t connect to anything else – so publishers should be looking to create more innovative digital products. There will be a new focus not on pricing but on daily active readers and ARPU (average revenue per user). He also asked, with lowering barriers to entry for creating digital content, how do we shine a light on the good stuff? A question I’m all too familiar with – running textadventures.co.uk, which allows anybody to submit interactive stories, means I deal with submissions which vary hugely in quality. (My current approach to the problem is fairly simple – leave it to users to post reviews so that good games float to the top – but some games never get any reviews, so that’s something I’m planning to address soon) Success and failure – creation vs consumption Two of the afternoon’s presentations were revealing in their contrasts. Cate Cannon, head of marketing and digital content at Canongate, talked about the Wildwood Story Map, and it was interesting to compare this to the talk given by Sara O’Connor, editorial director of print and digital at Hot Key Books, about Fleur Hitchcock’s Story Adventure. I really enjoyed both of these presentations and how open both were with their figures. We can learn a lot from success and failure, and there is much more value in these kinds of presentations than in the kind where people just talk about what they did and how marvellous it all was. Wildwood Story Map is a free iPad app created to promote a trilogy of books – The Wildwood Chronicles by Colin Meloy, targeted at 8 to 12-year olds. The word “disaster” was used to describe how well the app promoted the first book in the trilogy – as it didn’t actually launch, due to wrangling with various rights holders who all demanded final approval before it could go live. For the second of the trilogy, the app was launched and marketed alongside the book – the idea being that the app would engage the audience more with the book, even though this effectively meant it had failed its original stated purpose as way of promoting the book itself. Cate said that “hundreds” of people had downloaded the app. Taking a look at the stats on App Annie, it seems to have achieved similar App Store rankings to my own recent free iPad book app, Filbert and the Broccoli Escape – so a download figure in the low to mid hundreds sounds likely. My app was created for a far tinier budget, and suffers from my own limited marketing skills – so it was interesting to hear that others, even with teams of people working to making them look great, and with established publishers behind them, can suffer from the same problems with finding an audience. Being beautiful and free sadly isn’t enough. Contrasting with Canongate’s experience, Sara O’Connor’s presentation on Fleur Hitchcock’s Story Adventure shows how much can be achieved with a very limited budget. For this project, Hot Key Books used the NING platform to set up community resources – blogs and forums. “It’s not beautiful, but it’s all about the content”. Author Fleur Hitchcock started the story, and children aged between 9 and 12 contributed the details to move it along. Behind the scenes, the project was simply driven by a large spreadsheet. The total spend was £2200 – this project was low-tech, low-risk and low-cost, yet resulted in high engagement. It got children excited about literacy, and gave a confidence boost to those whose ideas were included. Children are amazingly creative, as I have found when running my own Quest workshops – as Sara said, unlike grown-up authors who can struggle for inspiration, “children are used to having their creativity scheduled”. This regular schedule of weekly updates and challenges meant that children kept coming back, as it became part of their routine. This shows how much can be achieved with very little, and especially how engaged and excited kids are when you get them to create instead of simply consume. And it’s so much cheaper to do it this way, as you don’t have to create all the content yourself either. Win-win! Could Canongate have saved themselves a lot of money and got kids more excited about the story, simply by getting them to contribute to the content of the app? Jodie Mullish, senior marketing manager of Pan Macmillan talked about a project to promote Ken Follett‘s book Winter of the World. A map-based app on Facebook allowed fans to post their stories about World War II. To promote the paperback, they released these stories as an ebook, donating revenues to The Soldier’s Charity in exchange for the charity promoting the ebook. This meant that Pan Macmillan paid for neither content nor coverage – so it was more about saving marketing budget than monetising the project itself. Over 3 months they got 50,000 words submitted, from 180 participants in 32 countries, and it resulted in a big increase in the rate of new Facebook fans. This shows how digital projects can be done successfully without spending lots of money. Similar to Fleur Hitchcock’s Story Adventure, this shows how engaging and successful a low-cost project can be by getting people to submit content. Publishers getting into Interactive Fiction Dan Franklin, digital director at Random House, presented the just-released Black Crown alongside Failbetter‘s Alexis Kennedy (whose StoryNexus platform powers it) and author Rob Sherman. There are various kinds of interactive fiction (IF) which people may be familiar with. There’s straightforward branching narrative – “Choose Your Own Adventure” (CYOA) or gamebook-style games. Then there’s parser-based text adventures, where you type in commands like “go north” and “open box”. Black Crown, like other StoryNexus games, works a bit differently to these. It’s kind of hard to explain, so I hope I’m getting this right, but it involves story sections (called “storylets”) which are accessed by choosing from a set of cards. The cards that are available to you throughout the game will change based on what you’ve done before. So, it’s sort of like a multiple-choice CYOA, but you can also come back and explore other strands. Unlike many more game-like works of IF, there is no concept of failure in Black Crown, and there aren’t multiple endings to choose from. I think “no failure” is important for any type of IF that hopes to be mainstream – even if you don’t quite understand the plot, you can always get to the end of a film or book, so why should it be different for interactive content? Another way Black Crown differs from other kinds of interactive fiction is that it is monetised. Income comes from “premium” story strands, which are locked away until you pay up. There are also so-called “living stories” – story strands where normally you might have to wait a week before seeing where they lead. If you’re impatient, you can pay to expedite these, to see what happens sooner. Random House see three markets for Black Crown. Sci-fi fans, gamers and so-called “progressives” (which we take to mean “Guardian-reading Twittery types”). This seems a sensible audience for a publisher’s first forays into this area, but it makes me wonder how we can reach beyond these people, to create digital interactive stories which appeal to other audiences? Publishers reinventing the wheel but the nature of the people driving the change shapes content that appeals only to their group #FIW13 — Maggie Alderson (@MaggieA) May 30, 2013 Good point from @MaggieA in that RT, how do we make this digital publishing stuff appeal to non-Guardian reading Twitterati? #fiw13 — Alex Warren (@alexwarren) May 30, 2013 @alexwarren or even non-gaming women… I feel publishers are panicking into changing too much. #FIW13 The other interesting thing about Black Crown is how it stands alone. Whereas many people are embarking on digital story projects which either piggy-back off existing IP, or exist solely to promote something else, Black Crown is simply a product in itself. It has to be promoted entirely on its own merits, and it will only make money if people pay for it. This seems a bold and risky experiment. It will be actively developed over at least the next four months – can it find enough of an audience to pay its own way? Multiple platforms Simon Meek, founder of The Story Mechanics, talked about a digital adaptation of The Thirty-Nine Steps. Using the Unity engine allowed them to bring the game to pretty much every platform you can think of – although this presented its own challenges as they had to handle multiple screen sizes and input types, it also brings the game to the widest possible audience. They have even made the game available as a packaged item via retail channels such as Amazon, Morrisons and WHSmith. The player can explore the environment, and interact with the world around them – for example by reading newspapers. The world is “infused” with the story – you can experience it but not change it. They got the game on Steam without having to through the “Greenlight” hurdle – showing that Steam know that interactive entertainment is bigger than just games. Some interesting figures were shared (via pie charts, so these percentages are approximate). Combined iOS and Mac App Store accounted for 50% of sales, of which two thirds was iOS. Steam accounted for 20% and physical retail was 30%. For revenue, Steam and the App Store provide about 40% each, and physical provides hardly anything due to overheads. They have had somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 sales over the last month or so. These figures show the importance of multi-platform – if they’d gone for making an iPad-only app, they would only have made half as many sales. But if you want to target multiple platforms, you need to design for that from the outset. Alyson Fielding demonstrated a project to modify physical books with electronics such as Arduinos. By embedding motion sensors into an old hardback, it can wirelessly transmit data to an iPhone which can then play speech, post to Twitter and so on. Alyson plans for this kind of thing not to be just a one-off, but to be able to provide the means to mass produce these “enchanted” books. I like the project as a piece of art, but I struggle to make sense of it as a product in itself – who is this for? Lucy Heywood, co-artistic director of Stand and Stare showed Turning the Page, which is an installation that brings a used tourist guidebook to life. Sitting at a desk, participants don headphones and as they browse the book, image recognition software hidden in a lamp triggers sound and projections. Tim Wright talked about The Haunter, a box of “haunted” electronics that is carried around by audience members. It knows where it is, so media can be triggered at particular locations. It connects to the web and also unlocks in one specific place to reveal its contents. Why not just use a phone or tablet for this? Well, Tim says it changes the experience – it’s a theatrical prop that’s “not yours”, it makes conversation between users, and frees up their phones for other stuff. He also doesn’t like the idea of people walking around holding tablets up – I wonder if this is so much worse than people walking around with weird boxes though, and apparently this will all be turned into an app at some point anyway. It also has the idea of co-creation – participants can leave a layer of audio or memories for subsequent participants. This is an idea I’ve been mulling over for text-based games too – it seems like the kind of thing that could be added to the server side of Quest relatively easily, and could be a very interesting experiment, so do get in touch if you have any ideas for this kind of thing and let’s see what we can build. The Most Important Thing Bobette Buster did great workshop on storytelling, and there was a copy of her new book “Do Story” in the goodie bag, which I look forward to reading this week (I’m currently hiding away in rural Buckinghamshire, working on my own first piece of interactive fiction). Right at the end of the workshop, a key message: #FIW13 @bobettebuster: Audience entranced by technological wonder at first & then they get bored – storytelling is what is indispensable. — Lois Bray (@LoisBray) May 30, 2013 For all of us working to do interesting things with technology in games, this should be repeated over and over again. Maybe we should chant this three times before breakfast or something. It’s all about the story. It’s all about the story. It’s all about the story. If the technology or digital project that we’re working on is just a gimmick, there is no long term future – audiences will get bored. Books and films have stuck around because they’re great mediums for telling stories. We need to keep experimenting, but we should never lose sight of the fact that it’s the story underneath that’s important, and if the technology doesn’t enhance that, we are probably just wasting our time. Thoughts about where we’re headed My head was absolutely buzzing after a very interesting afternoon of talks with much food for thought – followed by a few more ideas which occurred to me as I chatted with various people over some beers afterwards. I’ve just about calmed down enough now to note down a few key thoughts, questions and conclusions. Terminology: We’re not sure what we call this “stuff” for now, maybe “digital storytelling” is sufficient, but ultimately it doesn’t seem like such an important question. Especially as we haven’t really worked out what we’re doing yet. Audience: How are we going to make this stuff relevant to most people – not just the hipsters with their lattes? Creation: It seems much more effective, and better value for money, to engage the audience by getting them to create content, not just consume it. Money: For digital storytelling to work, there needs to be a way to produce it quickly and cheaply. We’re still developing the tools. Plug alert! I have my own – Quest (it’s free and open source). New audiences: Do these projects actually add to the audience for stories, or are these projects just cannibalising existing book and game audiences? I think it depends – I know from teacher feedback that introducing interactive fiction to a class of children can unlock reading and writing to kids who are otherwise disengaged, so I believe the potential is there to broaden audiences rather than simply giving existing readers/players a new toy. Experimentation: It’s a time of great experimentation – will we see more experimentation over the coming years, or will things settle down? Lots of people are trying lots of different things – some things work, some don’t, some reach and connect to audiences, some things wither and die. This can mean there is a high risk and low ROI for these kinds of projects. Is it worth it simply for the art? Story story story: It’s all about the story. Don’t get sidetracked by whizzy technology. Looking at some of the artier stuff, I wonder if they really need all that technology in the first place. A lot of things can be done manually – Lucy Heywood talked about previous iterations of their projects which worked simply with people hidden behind a curtain pulling strings – so a seriously low-tech approach may be the easiest and cheapest way to experiment. So many things to think about here – it would be great to hear your views in the comments below. Finally, if you’re interested in an easy and low-cost way to build cross-platform interactive stories, or want to do something more strange and experimental, then check out my Quest platform – if you want to stretch it to do something which it doesn’t currently do, I’m available! Email me at alex@textadventures.co.uk or find me on Twitter @alexwarren. This entry was posted in Text Adventures on June 3, 2013 by textadventurescouk.

Tag: Handshake Opinion: Odinga goes into conspiracy theories to defend his loss… “What we had was a coup d’etat. You even saw the chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission run to announce the results as some of his commissioners denounced the outcome, yet he was celebrated as a hero. They cannot allow that to happen anywhere else in Africa” (…) “The international community could not condemn Mr Chebukati’s actions because they knew what had happened. The African right-wing has always been in conspiracy with the international monopoly capital since independence and Kenyans must be prepared to further sacrifice to win this struggle” – Raila Odinga (07.10.2022). This time around the Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya Alliance Presidential Candidate Raila Odinga is going overboard in defending his loss in the 2022 elections. We know the Azimio didn’t prepare or even collect workable evidence to sustain in the Supreme Court. The Odinga Secretariat and Azimio was running on vibes and not directly considering the professional work of the Kenya Kwanza Alliance. It is really interesting that a month has passed since the Supreme Court confirmed William Ruto’s win. Now after the fact his coming with pseudo-intellectualism and conspiracies to why he lost. Odinga should be better than this, but he needs to grasps straws, instead of reflecting on the reasons for his loss. There was internal issues within the Azimio, which has been revealed after the August election and it has never been addressed. The Azimio team could have investigated and looked into how it operated. However, it wants to vilify someone else and continue to target Chebukati. Chebukati is the epic boogeyman now. His the villain and the grand culprit of a scheme to overturn the August election. That’s what Odinga is saying… while his not reflecting on the reasoning, the evidence or the work of Azimio in general. It is like saying Ruto and KKA has no agency of their own. Only Odinga has agency and ability to work on his own. The rest is either part of a grand conspiracy or working for colonial powers. Alas, how can you put these things together now? Couldn’t the same arguments and reasoning be used against him, if he would have won and become the next President? If he had become Baba the 5th couldn’t the cartels and the dynasties be seen as a part of the “deep state”. So, in this regard his making a lot of smoke, but there is no initial fire. In this manner, Odinga is actually undermining the authorities and the entities involved in the election. His disregarding the KKA and their allegiance to the Republic. They have now overlords, which they are following and directing them. If it is so, wouldn’t the same most likely have happened to him too? Since Odinga would inherit the same structures, institutions and international obligations, which the Kenya government have to uphold. It isn’t like he would operate in a vacuum or on a lonely island without any pre-conditions what-so-ever. If that sound preposterous or outrageous, well, it is and this is why Odinga needs a pushback. I have defended and wished Odinga victory in the past. Seeing the plights and the pleas from him in the 2013 and in 2017. However, the 2022 election was different for me. Both the way the IEBC operated and how it could defend it’s role. It’s like Odinga never moved on from the technical and mechanisms the IEBC has made over the years. That’s why Chebukati is getting such wording his way. What I would prefer, if any of these things was true. Would be a deep dive from the Raila Odinga Presidential Secretariat or the Azimio team. Where Odinga and his associate could prove the involvement and the conspiracy itself. Until then, it’s just hearsay and alleged allegations that cannot be proven. Therefore, it’s just conspiracy theories. Yes, there will be multi-national organization connected to the Kenyan government. That being the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and diplomatic relations with several of other nations. It is not like that would change under Odinga, who himself has been a part of the African Union as an Envoy. He should know the gist of this… and that’s why his conspiracies are of no good. Especially, when his own petition and evidence didn’t hold up in Court. Odinga either have to deliver a comprehensive report with valid evidence or just accept the loss. Because, his team couldn’t even get a victory like they did in the Supreme Court in 2017. So, he should know the gist of it. However, this is politicking, but not the good kind. Peace. Author nilspeacePosted on October 7, 2022 October 7, 2022 Categories Africa, Development, Election, Governance, Government, Law, Leadership, PoliticsTags Abdi Noor Omar Farah, Agano Party, Alfred Mutua, Ali Roba, Amani National Congress, Amason Kingi, ANC, Azimio la Umoja, Charity Kaluki Ngilu, DAP-Kenya, David Mwaure Waihiga, Democratic Action Party – Kenya, DP Ruto, FORD-K, Forum for Reform and Democracy, Gideon Moi, GoK, Government of Kenya, Handshake, Hassan Ali Joho, Jubilee, Jubilee Party, Junet Mohamed, Justin Muturi, KANU, Kenya, Maendeleo Chap Chap Party, Marta Karua, Martha Wangare Karua, MCC, Musalia Mudavadi, Naomi Shaban, ODM, OKA, One Kenya Alliance, Orange Democratic Movement, President Kenyatta, Prof. George Wajackoyah, Raila Odinga, Raphael Tuju, Rigathi Gachagua, Sabina Chege, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, UDA, UDM, Uhuru Kenyatta, United Democratic Alliance, United Democratic Movement, Wafula Wamunyinyi, WDM, William Ruto, Wiper Democratic MovementLeave a comment on Opinion: Odinga goes into conspiracy theories to defend his loss… Kenya: Farmers Party – Farmers Party Condemns Azimio Plan to Derail the Government (30.09.2022) Author nilspeacePosted on September 30, 2022 September 30, 2022 Format ImageCategories Africa, Development, Election, Governance, Government, Law, Leadership, PoliticsTags Abdi Noor Omar Farah, Agano Party, Alfred Mutua, Ali Roba, Amani National Congress, Amason Kingi, ANC, Azimio la Umoja, Charity Kaluki Ngilu, DAP-Kenya, David Mwaure Waihiga, Democratic Action Party – Kenya, DP Ruto, FORD-K, Forum for Reform and Democracy, Gideon Moi, GoK, Government of Kenya, Handshake, Hassan Ali Joho, Jubilee, Jubilee Party, Junet Mohamed, Justin Muturi, KANU, Kenya, Maendeleo Chap Chap Party, Marta Karua, Martha Wangare Karua, MCC, Musalia Mudavadi, Naomi Shaban, ODM, OKA, One Kenya Alliance, Orange Democratic Movement, President Kenyatta, Prof. George Wajackoyah, Raila Odinga, Raphael Tuju, Rigathi Gachagua, Sabina Chege, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, UDA, UDM, Uhuru Kenyatta, United Democratic Alliance, United Democratic Movement, Wafula Wamunyinyi, WDM, William Ruto, Wiper Democratic MovementLeave a comment on Kenya: Farmers Party – Farmers Party Condemns Azimio Plan to Derail the Government (30.09.2022) Opinion: Is Odinga going back to the streets or what? “Whenever judges resort to insults on advocates, it is as a result of disturbed conscience. Supreme Court is now in politics. Koome said that ruling was inspired by God, I believe it was inspired by the devil” – Raila Odinga (16.09.2022). This here speech today… just a day after returning from vacation with family on Zanzibar. The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and Azimio la Umoja and One Kenya Alliance Presidential Candidate Raila Odinga is speaking his mind the recently ended elections. However, he seems far from finished with it and certainly he will go back to old ways. Odinga seems to be back on the campaign trail again. He wants to run and be announced winner. That was anticipated ahead of the August 9th 2022 election. Nevertheless, the results told otherwise. He lost both the declaration and the Supreme Court petition. That’s why the election is exhausted this time around. However, we know that Baba isn’t the man to work in silence or be giving up. That’s why I have a feeling of a new drive like the OKOA demonstrations and the “reforms” of the electoral law again. A man who tried to change the laws and constitution with the Building Bridges Initiative after the 2017 elections. So, it seems like a power thing now and not an honest effort anymore. Just read these quotes after everything went down and Baba is certainly playing the cards of which we have seen before. Dismissing the state and the authorities, the government bodies who is in charge or had a say. Especially when they are not having a verdict or an announcement fitting his path. “If you do not unite, you are going to be ruled throughout the life of this Parliament and yet we have the numbers and strength to be able to be the rulers in the House” (Odinga, 16.09.2022). “We have three urgent tasks that we must not fail in; save the Judiciary and Legislature from state capture, transform and reform IEBC and make capable of conducting credible elections” (Odinga, 16.09.2022). “We have had the worst election since the return of multiparty politics” (Odinga, 16.09.2022). Just by reading these quotes and not listening in to the whole address by Odinga today. It is surely seeing a pattern of first attacking the IEBC and now the Judiciary. Because, none of these gave the results he wanted. Odinga was the next in line and he cannot accept that someone else gotten elected. Neither can he accept that the Petition to the Supreme Court wasn’t good enough and the re-use of the 2017 petition didn’t help the case either. Odinga is now going back to seemingly revive OKOA stances and wanting similar reforms. Just because he lost yet another election. That’s how it seems to me. Now, he will use the Azimio and coalition to target the entities that blocked his entry into office. That’s why it’s the worst election in history, because he was on a strong ticket and had the incumbent aligned on his team. Alas, that was the fault line and he didn’t consider the total campaign. Neither has the Azimio Secretariat listened to wisdom of others or possibly mistakes, which could have ensured victory. Instead of looking into the wrongs internally. Odinga is striking at the state and the entities who blocked his entry into office. He cannot phantom that it wasn’t enough popularity to get him into office. Neither, that Ruto was able to play the nation smarter and gain just enough support from his strongholds. That should hurt Odinga, but he surely doesn’t seem to be able to grasp this idea. He rather go back to renegade and go to the streets again. Where we see the actions in similar fashion of the CORD and what it did in consideration towards OKOA. If he pushes a One Million March. Then we are back to 2014-15 sort of actions. That’s how it’s looking and everyone should be aware. At this point it seems like revenge and avenge his own losses. Instead of asking what went wrong internally in the Azimio Secretariat. He rather vent his anger against the IEBC and the Judiciary. Peace. Author nilspeacePosted on September 16, 2022 September 16, 2022 Categories Africa, Development, Election, Governance, Government, Law, Leadership, PoliticsTags Abdi Noor Omar Farah, Agano Party, Alfred Mutua, Ali Roba, Amani National Congress, Amason Kingi, ANC, Azimio la Umoja, Charity Kaluki Ngilu, DAP-Kenya, David Mwaure Waihiga, Democratic Action Party – Kenya, DP Ruto, FORD-K, Forum for Reform and Democracy, Gideon Moi, GoK, Government of Kenya, Handshake, Hassan Ali Joho, Jubilee, Jubilee Party, Junet Mohamed, Justin Muturi, KANU, Kenya, Maendeleo Chap Chap Party, Marta Karua, Martha Wangare Karua, MCC, Musalia Mudavadi, Naomi Shaban, ODM, OKA, One Kenya Alliance, Orange Democratic Movement, President Kenyatta, Prof. George Wajackoyah, Raila Odinga, Raphael Tuju, Rigathi Gachagua, Sabina Chege, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, UDA, UDM, Uhuru Kenyatta, United Democratic Alliance, United Democratic Movement, Wafula Wamunyinyi, WDM, William Ruto, Wiper Democratic MovementLeave a comment on Opinion: Is Odinga going back to the streets or what? Kenya: Raila Odinga Presidential Secretariat – Re: Invitation to H.E. William Ruto’s Inauguration (12.09.2022) Author nilspeacePosted on September 12, 2022 September 12, 2022 Format ImageCategories Africa, Development, Election, Governance, Government, Law, Leadership, PoliticsTags Abdi Noor Omar Farah, Agano Party, Alfred Mutua, Ali Roba, Amani National Congress, Amason Kingi, ANC, Azimio la Umoja, Charity Kaluki Ngilu, DAP-Kenya, David Mwaure Waihiga, Democratic Action Party – Kenya, DP Ruto, FORD-K, Forum for Reform and Democracy, Gideon Moi, GoK, Government of Kenya, Handshake, Hassan Ali Joho, Jubilee, Jubilee Party, Junet Mohamed, Justin Muturi, KANU, Kenya, Maendeleo Chap Chap Party, Marta Karua, Martha Wangare Karua, MCC, Musalia Mudavadi, Naomi Shaban, ODM, OKA, One Kenya Alliance, Orange Democratic Movement, President Kenyatta, Prof. George Wajackoyah, Raila Odinga, Raphael Tuju, Rigathi Gachagua, Sabina Chege, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, UDA, UDM, Uhuru Kenyatta, United Democratic Alliance, United Democratic Movement, Wafula Wamunyinyi, WDM, William Ruto, Wiper Democratic MovementLeave a comment on Kenya: Raila Odinga Presidential Secretariat – Re: Invitation to H.E. William Ruto’s Inauguration (12.09.2022) Kenya: The Judiciary – Sponsored Sustained Attack on the Supreme Court on Social Media (12.09.2022) Author nilspeacePosted on September 12, 2022 September 12, 2022 Format ImageCategories Africa, Development, Election, Governance, Government, Law, Leadership, PoliticsTags Abdi Noor Omar Farah, Agano Party, Alfred Mutua, Ali Roba, Amani National Congress, Amason Kingi, ANC, Azimio la Umoja, Charity Kaluki Ngilu, DAP-Kenya, David Mwaure Waihiga, Democratic Action Party – Kenya, DP Ruto, FORD-K, Forum for Reform and Democracy, Gideon Moi, GoK, Government of Kenya, Handshake, Hassan Ali Joho, Jubilee, Jubilee Party, Junet Mohamed, Justin Muturi, KANU, Kenya, Maendeleo Chap Chap Party, Marta Karua, Martha Wangare Karua, MCC, Musalia Mudavadi, Naomi Shaban, ODM, OKA, One Kenya Alliance, Orange Democratic Movement, President Kenyatta, Prof. George Wajackoyah, Raila Odinga, Raphael Tuju, Rigathi Gachagua, Sabina Chege, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, UDA, UDM, Uhuru Kenyatta, United Democratic Alliance, United Democratic Movement, Wafula Wamunyinyi, WDM, William Ruto, Wiper Democratic MovementLeave a comment on Kenya: The Judiciary – Sponsored Sustained Attack on the Supreme Court on Social Media (12.09.2022) Kenya: Raila Odinga Presidential Secretariat – Press Statement (11.09.2022) Author nilspeacePosted on September 11, 2022 September 11, 2022 Format ImageCategories Africa, Development, Governance, Government, Law, Leadership, PoliticsTags Abdi Noor Omar Farah, Agano Party, Alfred Mutua, Ali Roba, Amani National Congress, Amason Kingi, ANC, Azimio la Umoja, Charity Kaluki Ngilu, DAP-Kenya, David Mwaure Waihiga, Democratic Action Party – Kenya, DP Ruto, FORD-K, Forum for Reform and Democracy, Gideon Moi, GoK, Government of Kenya, Handshake, Hassan Ali Joho, Jubilee, Jubilee Party, Junet Mohamed, Justin Muturi, KANU, Kenya, Maendeleo Chap Chap Party, Marta Karua, Martha Wangare Karua, MCC, Musalia Mudavadi, Naomi Shaban, ODM, OKA, One Kenya Alliance, Orange Democratic Movement, President Kenyatta, Prof. George Wajackoyah, Raila Odinga, Raphael Tuju, Rigathi Gachagua, Sabina Chege, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, UDA, UDM, Uhuru Kenyatta, United Democratic Alliance, United Democratic Movement, Wafula Wamunyinyi, WDM, William Ruto, Wiper Democratic MovementLeave a comment on Kenya: Raila Odinga Presidential Secretariat – Press Statement (11.09.2022) Kenya: County Government of Kisumu – Office of the Governor – Message from the Governor to all MCAs in the Kisumu County Assembly (07.09.2022) Author nilspeacePosted on September 7, 2022 September 7, 2022 Format ImageCategories Africa, Development, Election, Governance, Government, Law, Leadership, PoliticsTags Abdi Noor Omar Farah, Agano Party, Alfred Mutua, Ali Roba, Amani National Congress, Amason Kingi, ANC, Azimio la Umoja, Charity Kaluki Ngilu, DAP-Kenya, David Mwaure Waihiga, Democratic Action Party – Kenya, DP Ruto, FORD-K, Forum for Reform and Democracy, Gideon Moi, GoK, Government of Kenya, Handshake, Hassan Ali Joho, Jubilee, Jubilee Party, Junet Mohamed, Justin Muturi, KANU, Kenya, Maendeleo Chap Chap Party, Marta Karua, Martha Wangare Karua, MCC, Musalia Mudavadi, Naomi Shaban, ODM, OKA, One Kenya Alliance, Orange Democratic Movement, President Kenyatta, Prof. George Wajackoyah, Raila Odinga, Raphael Tuju, Rigathi Gachagua, Sabina Chege, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, UDA, UDM, Uhuru Kenyatta, United Democratic Alliance, United Democratic Movement, Wafula Wamunyinyi, WDM, William Ruto, Wiper Democratic MovementLeave a comment on Kenya: County Government of Kisumu – Office of the Governor – Message from the Governor to all MCAs in the Kisumu County Assembly (07.09.2022) Kenya: Elections Observation Group (ELOG) – Press Release (06.09.2022) Author nilspeacePosted on September 6, 2022 September 6, 2022 Categories Africa, Development, Election, Governance, Government, Law, Leadership, PoliticsTags Abdi Noor Omar Farah, Agano Party, Alfred Mutua, Ali Roba, Amani National Congress, Amason Kingi, ANC, Azimio la Umoja, Charity Kaluki Ngilu, DAP-Kenya, David Mwaure Waihiga, Democratic Action Party – Kenya, DP Ruto, FORD-K, Forum for Reform and Democracy, Gideon Moi, GoK, Government of Kenya, Handshake, Hassan Ali Joho, Jubilee, Jubilee Party, Junet Mohamed, Justin Muturi, KANU, Kenya, Maendeleo Chap Chap Party, Marta Karua, Martha Wangare Karua, MCC, Musalia Mudavadi, Naomi Shaban, ODM, OKA, One Kenya Alliance, Orange Democratic Movement, President Kenyatta, Prof. George Wajackoyah, Raila Odinga, Raphael Tuju, Rigathi Gachagua, Sabina Chege, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, UDA, UDM, Uhuru Kenyatta, United Democratic Alliance, United Democratic Movement, Wafula Wamunyinyi, WDM, William Ruto, Wiper Democratic MovementLeave a comment on Kenya: Elections Observation Group (ELOG) – Press Release (06.09.2022) Kenya Christian Professionals Forum (KCPF) – Press Statement on the 2022 General Elections and the Outcome of the Election Petition at the Supreme Court of Kenya (06.09.2022) Author nilspeacePosted on September 6, 2022 September 6, 2022 Categories Africa, Development, Election, Governance, Government, Law, Leadership, PoliticsTags Abdi Noor Omar Farah, Agano Party, Alfred Mutua, Ali Roba, Amani National Congress, Amason Kingi, ANC, Azimio la Umoja, Charity Kaluki Ngilu, DAP-Kenya, David Mwaure Waihiga, Democratic Action Party – Kenya, DP Ruto, FORD-K, Forum for Reform and Democracy, Gideon Moi, GoK, Government of Kenya, Handshake, Hassan Ali Joho, Jubilee, Jubilee Party, Junet Mohamed, Justin Muturi, KANU, Kenya, Maendeleo Chap Chap Party, Marta Karua, Martha Wangare Karua, MCC, Musalia Mudavadi, Naomi Shaban, ODM, OKA, One Kenya Alliance, Orange Democratic Movement, President Kenyatta, Prof. George Wajackoyah, Raila Odinga, Raphael Tuju, Rigathi Gachagua, Sabina Chege, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, UDA, UDM, Uhuru Kenyatta, United Democratic Alliance, United Democratic Movement, Wafula Wamunyinyi, WDM, William Ruto, Wiper Democratic MovementLeave a comment on Kenya Christian Professionals Forum (KCPF) – Press Statement on the 2022 General Elections and the Outcome of the Election Petition at the Supreme Court of Kenya (06.09.2022) Opinion: Kenyatta has disrespected the Courts before… The ones who was hearing the speech of outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta shouldn’t be surprised that he doesn’t care much for the Supreme Court. The same man called it a Coup d’Etat when it did overturn or rule in favour of Raila Odinga in 2017 Presidential Election Petition. That’s why the state held a second Presidential Election that year before he was sworn into a second term. Therefore, we know he despise the Courts. Kenyatta is a man who has defied Court Orders. He hasn’t favoured the Judiciary or cared much for it. The independence of the Judiciary has blocked his legislation or important parts of his governing. The Courts has really created trouble for him and that’s because Kenyatta haven’t cared to follow protocol or do it after the 2010 Constitution. So, when I heard he questioned the Supreme Court ruling today. It follows a pattern. Just like Miguna Miguna is still in Canada. Even after he won the rights to return back to Kenya in the Courts. That’s the sort of rule Kenyatta has aspired too and how he cares about the Courts. What was most striking in his 7 minutes address was this: “For this is the civic duty of every single Kenyan. In particular, this civic duty requires every citizen to constantly put the truth presented by our constitutional institutions to test. And they must test them for coherence but also for correspondence. They must constantly scrutinize the coherence of the truth given by these institutions and to ask themselves whether the truth has been coherent from one election to another. Has there been a consistent pattern that is acceptable toward democratic ethos? We must ask ourselves is it about numbers or is it about process? Which of these two is it? And can our institutions rule one way in one election and another way in another election without scrutiny? I do invite you Kenyans to keep vigil and, indeed, hold all institutions to account. The second thing we must place under scrutiny is whether the truth given by institutions has correspondence – that is, do the truths given by our institutions correspond with what is observable by the citizens. True beliefs and true judgments must correspond to the actual state of affairs. But do our constitutional institutions meet this threshold? While we must appreciate these institutions, we must also hold them to account at every juncture and their truth has to be consistent and coherent. This is the only way we will build our democracy” (Uhuru Kenyatta, 05.09.2022). No one should be shocked or in awe by this. Neither should anyone be worried that Kenyatta didn’t congratulate President-Elect William Ruto. Well, Kenyatta wanted his heir to win and that wasn’t happening. Neither did the Azimio prove that there was rigging going on or had evidence or proof, which proved that there. Therefore, Kenyatta has is now questioning the Supreme Court in 2022. No one should be concerned by this. Especially when Kenyatta dismissed the Supreme Court for their judgment in 2017. We all know he did that back-then and no again the same Court gave an unfavourable ruling, yet again. Kenyatta is showing his disdain and throws the insinuation of doubts. Because it didn’t go in his favour. We know Kenyatta is sad that the BBI was dismissed and other rulings has gone against him. That’s why we know the man isn’t the sort of fellow who loves or praises the Courts. He prefers getting it his way and the Supreme Court isn’t the place for that. This is why he speaks like this. That he dismiss and is disgruntled over the Supreme Court judgment isn’t anything new. If he was himself on the ballot. He would have called this a putsch or a coup d’etat. Uhuru Kenyatta is just himself and it’s far from revolutionary… but more reactionary, which is what his know for. Peace. Author nilspeacePosted on September 5, 2022 September 5, 2022 Categories Africa, Development, Election, Governance, Government, Law, Leadership, PoliticsTags Abdi Noor Omar Farah, Agano Party, Alfred Mutua, Ali Roba, Amani National Congress, Amason Kingi, ANC, Azimio la Umoja, Charity Kaluki Ngilu, DAP-Kenya, David Mwaure Waihiga, Democratic Action Party – Kenya, DP Ruto, FORD-K, Forum for Reform and Democracy, Gideon Moi, GoK, Government of Kenya, Handshake, Hassan Ali Joho, Jubilee, Jubilee Party, Junet Mohamed, Justin Muturi, KANU, Kenya, Maendeleo Chap Chap Party, Marta Karua, Martha Wangare Karua, MCC, Musalia Mudavadi, Naomi Shaban, ODM, OKA, One Kenya Alliance, Orange Democratic Movement, President Kenyatta, Prof. George Wajackoyah, Raila Odinga, Raphael Tuju, Rigathi Gachagua, Sabina Chege, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, UDA, UDM, Uhuru Kenyatta, United Democratic Alliance, United Democratic Movement, Wafula Wamunyinyi, WDM, William Ruto, Wiper Democratic MovementLeave a comment on Opinion: Kenyatta has disrespected the Courts before…

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: Doctor, I have noticed that my ankles, feet, and legs have started swelling up. Do you know what could be causing this? output: Yes, peripheral edema or swelling in the legs, can be a symptom of pemphigus. Pemphigus is an autoimmune disease that causes blistering of the skin and mucous membranes. It can also affect organs like the lungs and kidneys. I will need to do some tests to confirm the diagnosis.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: How does chronic hypokalemia impact renal function over time? output: Chronic hypokalemia can have significant long-term impacts on renal function. Hypokalemia is associated with an increased risk of progression to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and a rapid decline in renal function, particularly in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).[1-3] Mechanisms of Renal Damage: 1. Tubulointerstitial Injury: Chronic potassium deficiency can lead to renal hypertrophy, interstitial disease, and tubulointerstitial injury. This includes tubular cell proliferation, macrophage infiltration, and early fibrosis, which are critical factors in the development of hypokalemic nephropathy.[4] 2. Cellular Effects: Prolonged potassium deficiency increases intracellular ATP, induces cell cycle arrest, and promotes cell death in renal tubular cells. These cellular changes contribute to the structural and functional deterioration of the kidneys.[5] 3. Renin-Angiotensin System (RAS) Activation: Hypokalemia is associated with increased RAS activity, which can exacerbate renal damage and contribute to hypertension, further impairing renal function.[4] Clinical Outcomes: • Increased Risk of ESRD: Hypokalemia is significantly associated with an increased risk of ESRD. For instance, patients with serum potassium levels <3.5 mEq/L have a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.82 for developing ESRD compared to those with levels between 4.5-5 mEq/L.[1] • Rapid Decline in eGFR: Hypokalemia is linked to a rapid decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), indicating accelerated kidney function loss.[1] Management Considerations: • Monitoring and Correction: Regular monitoring of serum potassium levels and appropriate correction of hypokalemia are crucial in patients with CKD to mitigate the risk of renal function decline and progression to ESRD. • Addressing Underlying Causes: Identifying and managing contributing factors such as diuretic use, malnutrition, and decreased use of RAS inhibitors are essential in preventing hypokalemia and its renal consequences.[1] In summary, chronic hypokalemia can lead to significant renal damage and accelerate the progression to ESRD, necessitating vigilant monitoring and management in affected patients.

Démarrage rapide Ressources disponibles dans l’API REST Autres méthodes d’authentification Description d’OpenAPI Utilisation de l’API Principes de base de l’authentification Livraison de déploiements Rendu des données sous forme de graphes Utilisation des commentaires Création d’un serveur CI Groupes d’exécuteurs auto-hébergés Exécuteurs auto-hébergés Travaux de workflow Workflow runs Attribution d’étoiles Visionnage Applications GitHub À propos des installations GitHub App List repositories accessible to the app installation Revoke an installation access token List app installations accessible to the user access token List repositories accessible to the user access token Add a repository to an app installation Remove a repository from an app installation applications OAuth Branches protégées Exécutions de vérifications Suites de vérifications Analyse du code Commentaires de commit États de validation Clés de déploiement Déploiements États des déploiements Stratégies de branche de déploiement Administration d’entreprise Statistiques d’administration Journal d’audit Webhooks globaux Crochets de préréception d’une organisation Environnements de pré-réception Hooks de pré-réception Crochets de préréception d’un dépôt Base de données Git Objets blob Étapes majeures OAuth authorizations Rôles de dépôts personnalisés Collaborateurs externes Commentaires d’évaluation Passer en revue les demandes Limite du taux Ressources de mise en production Analyse de secrets Clés GPG Clés SSH Git Webhooks de dépôt Configuration du webhook d’un dépôt Livraisons de webhooks d’un dépôt API REST/ Applications/ installations d’application GitHub Utilisez l'API REST pour obtenir des informations sur les installations GitHub App et effectuer des actions dans ces installations. Une installation GitHub App fait référence à tout compte d’utilisateur ou d’organisation ayant installé l’application. Pour plus d’informations sur la manière d’authentifier en tant qu’installation, et de limiter l’accès à des dépôts spécifiques, consultez « Authentification en tant qu’installation ». Pour répertorier toutes les installations d’application GitHub pour une organisation, consultez « Répertorier les installations d’application pour une organisation ». Works with GitHub Apps List repositories that an app installation can access. You must use an installation access token to access this endpoint. Nom, Type, Description acceptstring Setting to application/vnd.github+json is recommended. per_pageinteger The number of results per page (max 100). pageinteger Page number of the results to fetch. HTTP response status codes Status code Not modified Requires authentication get/installation/repositories cURLJavaScriptGitHub CLI curl \ -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \ http(s)://HOSTNAME/api/v3/installation/repositories Example responseResponse schema Status: 200 { "total_count": 1, "repositories": [ { "id": 1296269, "node_id": "MDEwOlJlcG9zaXRvcnkxMjk2MjY5", "name": "Hello-World", "full_name": "octocat/Hello-World", "owner": { "login": "octocat", "id": 1, "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=", "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif", "gravatar_id": "", "url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat", "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat", "followers_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/followers", "following_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/following{/other_user}", "gists_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/gists{/gist_id}", "starred_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/starred{/owner}{/repo}", "subscriptions_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/subscriptions", "organizations_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/orgs", "repos_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/repos", "events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/events{/privacy}", "received_events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/received_events", "type": "User", "site_admin": false }, "private": false, "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat/Hello-World", "description": "This your first repo!", "fork": false, "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World", "archive_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/{archive_format}{/ref}", "assignees_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/assignees{/user}", "blobs_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/blobs{/sha}", "branches_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/branches{/branch}", "collaborators_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/collaborators{/collaborator}", "comments_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/comments{/number}", "commits_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/commits{/sha}", "compare_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/compare/{base}...{head}", "contents_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/contents/{+path}", "contributors_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/contributors", "deployments_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/deployments", "downloads_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/downloads", "events_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/events", "forks_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/forks", "git_commits_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/commits{/sha}", "git_refs_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/refs{/sha}", "git_tags_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/tags{/sha}", "git_url": "git:github.com/octocat/Hello-World.git", "issue_comment_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/issues/comments{/number}", "issue_events_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/issues/events{/number}", "issues_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/issues{/number}", "keys_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/keys{/key_id}", "labels_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/labels{/name}", "languages_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/languages", "merges_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/merges", "milestones_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/milestones{/number}", "notifications_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/notifications{?since,all,participating}", "pulls_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/pulls{/number}", "releases_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/releases{/id}", "ssh_url": "git@github.com:octocat/Hello-World.git", "stargazers_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/stargazers", "statuses_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/statuses/{sha}", "subscribers_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/subscribers", "subscription_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/subscription", "tags_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/tags", "teams_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/teams", "trees_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/trees{/sha}", "clone_url": "https://github.com/octocat/Hello-World.git", "mirror_url": "git:git.example.com/octocat/Hello-World", "hooks_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/hooks", "svn_url": "https://svn.github.com/octocat/Hello-World", "homepage": "https://github.com", "language": null, "forks_count": 9, "stargazers_count": 80, "watchers_count": 80, "size": 108, "default_branch": "master", "open_issues_count": 0, "is_template": true, "topics": [ "octocat", "atom", "electron", "api" ], "has_issues": true, "has_projects": true, "has_wiki": true, "has_pages": false, "has_downloads": true, "archived": false, "disabled": false, "visibility": "public", "pushed_at": "2011-01-26T19:06:43Z", "created_at": "2011-01-26T19:01:12Z", "updated_at": "2011-01-26T19:14:43Z", "allow_rebase_merge": true, "template_repository": null, "temp_clone_token": "ABTLWHOULUVAXGTRYU7OC2876QJ2O", "allow_squash_merge": true, "allow_auto_merge": false, "delete_branch_on_merge": true, "allow_merge_commit": true, "subscribers_count": 42, "network_count": 0, "license": { "key": "mit", "name": "MIT License", "url": "https://api.github.com/licenses/mit", "spdx_id": "MIT", "node_id": "MDc6TGljZW5zZW1pdA==", "html_url": "https://github.com/licenses/mit" }, "forks": 1, "open_issues": 1, "watchers": 1 } ] } Revokes the installation token you're using to authenticate as an installation and access this endpoint. Once an installation token is revoked, the token is invalidated and cannot be used. Other endpoints that require the revoked installation token must have a new installation token to work. You can create a new token using the "Create an installation access token for an app" endpoint. delete/installation/token curl \ -X DELETE \ -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \ http(s)://HOSTNAME/api/v3/installation/token Lists installations of your GitHub App that the authenticated user has explicit permission (:read, :write, or :admin) to access. You must use a user-to-server OAuth access token, created for a user who has authorized your GitHub App, to access this endpoint. The authenticated user has explicit permission to access repositories they own, repositories where they are a collaborator, and repositories that they can access through an organization membership. You can find the permissions for the installation under the permissions key. get/user/installations curl \ -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \ http(s)://HOSTNAME/api/v3/user/installations { "total_count": 2, "installations": [ { "id": 1, "account": { "login": "octocat", "id": 1, "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=", "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif", "gravatar_id": "", "url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat", "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat", "followers_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/followers", "following_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/following{/other_user}", "gists_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/gists{/gist_id}", "starred_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/starred{/owner}{/repo}", "subscriptions_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/subscriptions", "organizations_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/orgs", "repos_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/repos", "events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/events{/privacy}", "received_events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/received_events", "type": "User", "site_admin": false }, "access_tokens_url": "https://api.github.com/installations/1/access_tokens", "repositories_url": "https://api.github.com/installation/repositories", "html_url": "https://github.com/organizations/github/settings/installations/1", "app_id": 1, "target_id": 1, "target_type": "Organization", "permissions": { "checks": "write", "metadata": "read", "contents": "read" }, "events": [ "push", "pull_request" ], "single_file_name": "config.yaml", "has_multiple_single_files": true, "single_file_paths": [ "config.yml", ".github/issue_TEMPLATE.md" ], "repository_selection": "all", "created_at": "2017-07-08T16:18:44-04:00", "updated_at": "2017-07-08T16:18:44-04:00", "app_slug": "github-actions", "suspended_at": null, "suspended_by": null }, { "id": 3, "account": { "login": "octocat", "id": 2, "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=", "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif", "gravatar_id": "", "url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat", "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat", "followers_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/followers", "following_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/following{/other_user}", "gists_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/gists{/gist_id}", "starred_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/starred{/owner}{/repo}", "subscriptions_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/subscriptions", "organizations_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/orgs", "repos_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/repos", "events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/events{/privacy}", "received_events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/received_events", "type": "User", "site_admin": false }, "access_tokens_url": "https://api.github.com/installations/1/access_tokens", "repositories_url": "https://api.github.com/installation/repositories", "html_url": "https://github.com/organizations/github/settings/installations/1", "app_id": 1, "target_id": 1, "target_type": "Organization", "permissions": { "checks": "write", "metadata": "read", "contents": "read" }, "events": [ "push", "pull_request" ], "single_file_name": "config.yaml", "has_multiple_single_files": true, "single_file_paths": [ "config.yml", ".github/issue_TEMPLATE.md" ], "repository_selection": "all", "created_at": "2017-07-08T16:18:44-04:00", "updated_at": "2017-07-08T16:18:44-04:00", "app_slug": "github-actions", "suspended_at": null, "suspended_by": null } ] } List repositories that the authenticated user has explicit permission (:read, :write, or :admin) to access for an installation. The access the user has to each repository is included in the hash under the permissions key. installation_idintegerRequired The unique identifier of the installation. Resource not found get/user/installations/{installation_id}/repositories curl \ -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \ http(s)://HOSTNAME/api/v3/user/installations/1/repositories { "total_count": 1, "repositories": [ { "id": 1296269, "node_id": "MDEwOlJlcG9zaXRvcnkxMjk2MjY5", "name": "Hello-World", "full_name": "octocat/Hello-World", "owner": { "login": "octocat", "id": 1, "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=", "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif", "gravatar_id": "", "url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat", "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat", "followers_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/followers", "following_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/following{/other_user}", "gists_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/gists{/gist_id}", "starred_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/starred{/owner}{/repo}", "subscriptions_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/subscriptions", "organizations_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/orgs", "repos_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/repos", "events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/events{/privacy}", "received_events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/received_events", "type": "User", "site_admin": false }, "private": false, "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat/Hello-World", "description": "This your first repo!", "fork": false, "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World", "archive_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/{archive_format}{/ref}", "assignees_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/assignees{/user}", "blobs_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/blobs{/sha}", "branches_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/branches{/branch}", "collaborators_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/collaborators{/collaborator}", "comments_url": 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uu.seUppsala universitets publikasjoner vente ... Avansert søk - ForskningspublikasjonerAvansert søk - StudentoppgaverStatistikk Kun dokumenter med fulltekst i DiVA Begrens søket RefereraExporteraLink til resultatlisten http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/resultList.jsf?query=&language=no&searchType=SIMPLE&noOfRows=50&sortOrder=author_sort_asc&sortOrder2=title_sort_asc&onlyFullText=false&sf=all&aq=%5B%5B%7B%22personId%22%3A%22authority-person%3A12001%22%7D%5D%5D&aqe=%5B%5D&aq2=%5B%5B%5D%5D&af=%5B%5D Referera Referensformat apaieeemodern-language-associationvancouverAnnet format Annet format Fler format de-DEen-GBen-USfi-FInn-NOnn-NBsv-SEAnnet språk Annet språk Fler språk Utmatningsformat Treff pr side Standard (Relevans)Forfatter A-ØForfatter Ø-ATittel A-ØTittel Ø-AType publikasjon A-ØType publikasjon Ø-AEldste førstNyeste førstSkapad (Eldste først)Skapad (Nyeste først)Senast uppdaterad (Eldste først)Senast uppdaterad (Nyeste først)Disputationsdatum (tidligste først) Disputationsdatum (siste først) Standard (Relevans) Forfatter A-Ø Forfatter Ø-A Tittel A-Ø Tittel Ø-A Type publikasjon A-Ø Type publikasjon Ø-A Eldste først Skapad (Eldste først) Skapad (Nyeste først) Senast uppdaterad (Eldste først) Senast uppdaterad (Nyeste først) Disputationsdatum (tidligste først) Disputationsdatum (siste først) alle i siden 250 framåt Rydd valg Maxantalet träffar du kan exportera från sökgränssnittet är 250. Vid större uttag använd dig av utsökningar. Bandara, Sandya Hospital Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Nyqvist, Kerstin Hedberg Uppsala universitet, Medicinska och farmaceutiska vetenskapsområdet, Medicinska fakulteten, Institutionen för kvinnors och barns hälsa, Pediatrik. Musmar, Samar M J Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Palestine. Procaccini, Diane B Lactation Services, Capital Health Hospital, New Jersey, USA. Wang, Shu-Fang Buddhist Tzu-Chi General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan. RoundTable discussion: Use of alternative feeding methods in the hospital2012Inngår i: Journal of Human Lactation, ISSN 0890-3344, E-ISSN 1552-5732, Vol. 28, nr 2, s. 122-124Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Forlagets fulltekst Baylis, Rebecca Uppsala universitet, Medicinska och farmaceutiska vetenskapsområdet, Medicinska fakulteten, Institutionen för kvinnors och barns hälsa, Obstetrik & gynekologi. Ewald, Uwe Gradin, Maria Hedberg Nyqvist, Kerstin Rubertsson, Christine Thernström Blomqvist, Ylva First-time events between parents and preterm infants are affected by the designs and routines of neonatal intensive care units2014Inngår i: Acta Paediatrica, ISSN 0803-5253, E-ISSN 1651-2227, Vol. 103, nr 10, s. 1045-1052Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Early parental bonding with preterm babies is particularly important, and the aim of our study was to explore when parents experienced what they regarded as important events for the first time while their infant was in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The study was part of a longitudinal project on Kangaroo Mother Care at two Swedish university hospitals. The parents of 81 infants completed questionnaires during their infants' hospital stay. Most parents saw and touched their infants immediately after birth, but only a few could hold them skin to skin or swaddle them. Other important events identified by parents included the first time they performed care giving activities and did so independently, interaction and closeness with the infant, signs of the infant's recovery and integration into the family. The timing of the events depended on the physical design of the NICU, whether parents' could stay with their infant round-the-clock and when they were allowed to provide care under supervision and on their own. The design and routines of the NICU dictated when parents first interacted with their infants. Clinical guidelines that facilitate early contact with preterm babies can help parents to make the transition to their parental role. Blomqvist, Ylva Thernström Örebro Medical Centre Hospital, Örebro, Sweden. Initiation and extent of skin-to-skin care at two Swedish neonatal intensive care units2013Inngår i: Acta Paediatrica, ISSN 0803-5253, E-ISSN 1651-2227, Vol. 102, nr 1, s. 22-28Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) To describe initiation and extent of parents' application of skin-to-skin care (SSC) with their preterm infants at two Swedish neonatal intensive care units. The duration of SSC was recorded in 104 infants' medical charts during their hospital stay, and the parents answered a questionnaire. Both parents were involved in the practice of SSC. Three infants experienced SSC directly after birth, 34 within 1 h, 85 within 24 h and the remaining 19 at 24-78 h postbirth. SSC commenced earlier (median age of 50 min) in infants whose first SSC was with their father instead of with their mother (median age of 649 min: p < 0.001). The earlier the SSC was initiated, the longer the infant was cared for skin-to-skin per day during his/her hospital stay (p < 0.001). The median daily duration of SSC was 403 min. Early initiation of SSC had positive impact on the extent of parents' application of SSC. Even though the infants in this study were cared for skin-to-skin to a high extent, there is a potential for extended use of SSC in this type of hospital setting for reducing separation between infants and parents. Funkquist, Eva-Lotta Parents need support to find ways to optimise their own sleep without seeing their preterm infant's sleeping patterns as a problem2017Inngår i: Acta Paediatrica, ISSN 0803-5253, E-ISSN 1651-2227, Vol. 106, nr 2, s. 223-228Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) AIM: This study described how parents perceived their own sleep, and their infants', during neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission and after discharge. It also explored the infants' sleeping location at home. METHODS: The study was conducted in the NICUs of two Swedish university hospitals. The parents of 86 infants - 86 mothers and 84 fathers - answered questionnaires during their infants' hospital stay, at discharge and at the infants' corrected ages of two, six and 12 months. The parents' own sleep was explored with the Insomnia Severity Index. RESULTS: Mothers reported more severe insomnia than fathers during their infants' hospitalisation, and these higher insomnia severity scores were associated with more severe infant sleep problems at discharge (p = 0.027) and at two months (p = 0.006) and 12 months (p = 0.002) of corrected age. During the study period, 4%-10% of the parents reported severe or very severe infant sleeping problems. The bed-sharing rate was 75% after discharge and about 60% at the corrected age of 12 months. CONCLUSION: Maternal insomnia during an infant's hospital stay was associated with later perceptions of sleep problems in their children. Parents need support to find solutions for optimal sleep without seeing their child's sleeping patterns as a problem. Swedish mothers' experience of continuous Kangaroo Mother Care2011Inngår i: Journal of Clinical Nursing, ISSN 0962-1067, E-ISSN 1365-2702, Vol. 20, nr 9-10, s. 1472-1480Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Aims. To characterise the first infants receiving continuous Kangaroo Mother Care from birth to discharge in a Swedish neonatal intensive care unit and to investigate their mothers' experiences of this model of care. Background. Admission of a newborn infant to a neonatal intensive care unit commonly implies separation of the new mother from her infant. Kangaroo Mother Care is a model of neonatal care which supports the parental role as primary care-giver and contributes to minimising the separation between the infant and parents. Design. A retrospective survey design. Method. A purposive sample consisting of 23 mother-infant pairs. Relevant infant data were obtained from their medical records. A questionnaire with questions about the infant's care and regarding Kangaroo Mother Care was designed for this study. Results. The infants were born at a gestational age of 31-41 weeks, birth weight ranging from 1715-3700 g. The mothers of these moderately preterm and ill newborn infants showed good acceptance of the idea of providing their infants with continuous Kangaroo Mother Care during their stay at the neonatal intensive care unit. The mothers' evaluations of this method were predominantly positive. Negative comments concerned lack of information about practical application of the method, and some mothers perceived their infants' care during the night as exhausting. No mother would have preferred not to perform continuous Kangaroo Mother Care or to terminate Kangaroo Mother Care earlier than they did. Conclusions. These mothers accepted this model of care very well, provided that they received the help and support they required. Relevance to clinical practice. Mothers whose infants are admitted to an neonatal intensive care units in settings similar to the study setting should be offered opportunities to be present and provide Kangaroo Mother Care for their infants, to the extent that they are able and willing to do so and as permitted by the infant's medical condition and care. Parent-infant skin-to-skin contact: how do parent records compare to nurse records?2011Inngår i: Acta Paediatrica, ISSN 0803-5253, E-ISSN 1651-2227, Vol. 100, nr 5, s. 773-775Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Blomqvist, YlvaThernström Kylberg, Elisabeth Jöreskog, Karin Uppsala universitet, Medicinska och farmaceutiska vetenskapsområdet, Medicinska fakulteten, Institutionen för folkhälso- och vårdvetenskap. Uppsala universitet, Medicinska och farmaceutiska vetenskapsområdet, Medicinska och farmaceutiska vetenskapsområdet, centrumbildningar mm, Centrum för forskning om funktionshinder. Kangaroo Mother Care helps fathers of preterm infants gain confidence in the paternal role2012Inngår i: Journal of Advanced Nursing, ISSN 0309-2402, E-ISSN 1365-2648, Vol. 68, nr 9, s. 1988-1996Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Aim. This article is a report on a descriptive study of fathers’ experiences of providing their preterm infants with Kangaroo Mother Care. During neonatal intensive care, fathers describe the incubator as a barrier and the separation from their infant as stressful. Fathers consider it important to be close to the infant, and performing Kangaroo Mother Care makes them feel an important participant in their infants’ care. Individual interviews conducted in 2009 with seven fathers who performed Kangaroo Mother Care were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The fathers’ opportunity for being close to their infants facilitated attainment of their paternal role in the neonatal intensive care unit. Kangaroo Mother Care allowed them to feel in control and that they were doing something good for their infant, although the infant’s care could be demanding and stressful. As active agents in their infant’s care, some fathers stayed with the infant during the whole hospital stay, others were at the neonatal intensive care unit all day long. Despite the un-wished-for situation, they adapted to their predicament and spent as much time as possible with their infants. Fathers’ opportunities for Kangaroo Mother Care helped them to attain their paternal role and to cope with the unexpected situation. The physical environment and conflicting staff statements influenced their opportunity for, and experience of, caring for their preterm infants. Funkquist, Eva Lotta Uppsala universitet, Medicinska och farmaceutiska vetenskapsområdet, Medicinska fakulteten, Institutionen för kvinnors och barns hälsa. Tuvemo, Torsten Jonsson, Björn Serenius, Fredrik Nyqvist, Kerstin H. Milk for small infants2007Inngår i: Acta Paediatrica, ISSN 0803-5253, E-ISSN 1651-2227, Vol. 96, nr 4, s. 596-599Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) This study investigated weight patterns of infants born SGA, in relation to two different feeding regimens during hospital stay. We compared 21 SGA infants prescribed 200 mL/kg milk on day 2, with 21 infants, prescribed 170 mL/kg on day 9. The infants fed according to the proactive nutrition policy tolerated large volumes of milk and showed lower weight loss. Conclusion: A proactive nutrition policy demonstrably reduces weight loss in SGA infants. Uppsala universitet, Medicinska vetenskapsområdet, Medicinska fakulteten, Institutionen för kvinnors och barns hälsa. Carlsson, Marianne Institutionen för folkhälso- och vårdvetenskap. Consulting on feeding and sleeping problems in child health care: what is at the bottom of advice to parents?2005Inngår i: Journal of Child Health Care, Vol. 9, nr 2, s. 137-152Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Department of Clinical Sciences, Umeå University, Sweden. Preterm appropriate for gestational age infants: size at birth explains subsequent growth2010Inngår i: Acta Paediatrica, ISSN 0803-5253, E-ISSN 1651-2227, Vol. 99, nr 12, s. 1828-1833Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Aim: The aim was to evaluate growth and breastfeeding up to 18 months corrected age (CA) among preterm appropriate for gestational age (AGA) infants whose mothers initiated breastfeeding during the infants' hospital stay. Methods: One hundred and twenty-seven preterm AGA infants with a median birth weight of 2320 (769-3250) g and gestational age 34.29 (25.00-35.86) weeks were evaluated up to a CA of 18 months. A retrospective, descriptive and comparative design was used. Data were obtained by chart review of hospital medical records and a questionnaire completed by the mothers. Results: The changes in standard deviation scores (SDS) during the infants' hospital stay were -0.9 for weight, -0.3 for length and -0.5 for head circumference (HC). Infants with higher SDS at birth showed more negative changes from birth to discharge. Median increments in SDS from discharge to a CA of 2 months were as high as, or higher than, the loss from birth to discharge. Conclusion: Preterm AGA infants with higher SDS for weight, length and HC at birth are at higher risk of inadequate growth during their hospital stay. Influence of test weighing before/after nursing on breastfeeding in preterm infants2010Inngår i: Advances in Neonatal Care, ISSN 1536-0903, E-ISSN 1536-0911, Vol. 10, nr 1, s. 33-39Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) PURPOSE: Swedish hospitals apply various regimens for preterm infants' nutrition in connection with their mothers' establishment of breastfeeding. Milk intake is assessed either by test weighing before and after breastfeeding or by observing the infant's suckling behavior (ie, clinical indices). These differing policies may lead to differences in infants' feeding progress. The purpose of this study was to compare effects on breastfeeding and weight gain of preterm infants, depending on whether the volume of breast milk intake when suckled in the hospital was estimated by "clinical indices" or determined by test weighing. SUBJECTS: Sixty-four infants treated at a unit applying test weighing were compared with 59 infants treated at a unit assessing milk intake by "clinical indices." DESIGN AND METHODS: A retrospective, descriptive, and comparative design was used to explore the consequences of different nutrition regimens. Data were obtained from a review of hospital medical records. PRINCIPAL RESULTS: The infants treated at the hospital where test weighing was practiced attained exclusive breastfeeding at an earlier postmenstrual age (PMA) and were also discharged at an earlier PMA. However, the 2 study units were alike regarding the proportion of infants attaining exclusive breastfeeding, the postnatal age when this occurred, and the weight pattern in hospital. CONCLUSION: To establish breastfeeding in preterm infants, test weighing before and after breastfeeding and gradual reduction of supplementation are both applicable regimens. Mothers can be encouraged to choose either of them, although test weighing may help infants attain exclusive breastfeeding at an earlier PMA. Gerhardsson, Emma Pediatric Specialist Outpatient Department, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden. Mattsson, Elisabet Volgsten, Helena Hildingsson, Ingegerd The Swedish Version of the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form: Reliability and Validity Assessment2014Inngår i: Journal of Human Lactation, ISSN 0890-3344, E-ISSN 1552-5732, Vol. 30, nr 3, s. 340-345Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Among Swedish mothers, breastfeeding duration has been declining in recent years. An instrument for early identification of women at risk for shorter breastfeeding duration may be useful in reversing this trend. The aims of this study were to translate and psychometrically test the Swedish version of the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form (BSES-SF), examine the relationship between breastfeeding self-efficacy and demographic variables, and evaluate associations with breastfeeding continuation plans in Swedish mothers. The BSES-SF was translated into Swedish using forward and back translation. The sample consisted of 120 mothers who, during the first week postpartum, came for a routine follow-up visit at the postnatal unit in a university hospital. The mothers were compared based on demographic data and their future breastfeeding plans. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for internal consistency for the BSES-SF was 0.91 and the majority of correlation coefficients exceeded 0.3. A 1-factor solution was found that explained 46% of the total variance. There was no difference in confidence in breastfeeding between mothers with early hospital discharge and mothers who received postnatal care at the hospital. Primiparas who stayed longer at the hospital were less confident in breastfeeding than primiparas who had a shorter hospital stay. Breastfeeding mothers who planned to partially breastfeed in the near future had lower BSES-SF scores, compared to those who planned to continue exclusive breastfeeding. The Swedish version of the BSES-SF has good reliability, validity, and agreement with mothers' plans regarding breastfeeding continuation and exclusivity. How can kangaroo mother care and high technology care be compatible?2004Annet (Annet (populærvitenskap, debatt, mm)) Anderson, G C Bergman, N Cattaneo, A Charpak, N Davanzo, R Ludington-Hoe, S Mendoza, S Pallás-Allonso, C Peláez, J G Sizun, J Wiström, A M Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. State of the art and recommendations. Kangaroo mother care: application in a high-tech environment2010Inngår i: Breastfeeding review : professional publication of the Nursing Mothers' Association of Australia, ISSN 0729-2759, Vol. 18, nr 3, s. 21-28Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Since Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) was developed in Colombia in the 1970s, two trends in clinical application emerged. In low-income settings, the original KMC modelis implemented. This consists of continuous (24 h/day; 7 days/week) and prolonged mother/parent-infant skin-to-skin contact; early discharge with the infant in the kangaroo position; (ideally) exclusive breastfeeding and, adequate follow up. In affluent settings, intermittent KMC with sessions of one or a few hours skin-to-skin contact for a limited period is common. As a result of the increasing evidence of the benefits of KMC for both infants and families in all intensive care settings, KMC in a high-tech environment was chosen as the topic for the first European Conference on KMC, and the clinical implementation of the KMC modelin all types of settings was discussed at the 7th International Workshop on KMC Kangaroo Mother Care protocols in high-tech Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) should specify criteria for initiation, kangaroo position, transfer to/from KMC, transport in kangaroo position, kangaroo nutrition, parents'role, modification of the NICU environment, performance of care in KMC, and KMCin case of infant instability. CONCLUSION: Implementation of the original KMC method, with continuous skin-to-skin contact whenever possible, is recommended for application in high-tech environments, although scientific evaluation should continue. Surface electromyography of facial muscles during natural and artificial feeding of infants: identification of differences between breast-, cup- and bottle-feeding.2006Inngår i: J Pediatr (Rio J), ISSN 0021-7557, Vol. 82, nr 2, s. 85-6Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Haggkvist, Anna-Pia Hansen, Mette Ness Frandsen, Annemi Lyng Maastrup, Ragnhild Ezeonodo, Aino Hannula, Leena Koskinen, Katja Haiek, Laura N. Expansion of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding into Neonatal Intensive Care: Expert Group Recommendations for Three Guiding Principles2012Inngår i: Journal of Human Lactation, ISSN 0890-3344, E-ISSN 1552-5732, Vol. 28, nr 3, s. 289-296Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) The World Health Organization/United Nations Children's Fund Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative: Revised, Updated, and Expanded for Integrated Care (2009) identifies the need for expanding the guidelines originally developed for maternity units to include neonatal intensive care. For this purpose, an expert group from the Nordic countries and Quebec, Canada, prepared a draft proposal, which was discussed at an international workshop in Uppsala, Sweden, in September 2011. The expert group suggests the addition of 3 "Guiding Principles" to the Ten Steps to support this vulnerable population of mothers and infants: 1. The staff attitude to the mother must focus on the individual mother and her situation. 2. The facility must provide family-centered care, supported by the environment. 3. The health care system must ensure continuity of care, that is, continuity of pre-, peri-, and postnatal care and post-discharge care. The goal of the expert group is to create a final document, the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative for Neonatal Units, including standards and criteria for each of the 3 Guiding Principles, Ten Steps, and the Code; to develop tools for self-appraisal and monitoring compliance with the guidelines; and for external assessment to decide whether neonatal intensive/intermediate care units meet the conditions required to be designated as Baby-Friendly. The documents will be finalized after consultation with the World Health Organization/United Nations Children's Fund, and the goal is to offer these documents to international health care, professional, and other nongovernmental organizations involved in lactation and breastfeeding support for mothers of infants who require special neonatal care. Application of the baby friendly hospital initiative to neonatal care: suggestions by Swedish mothers of very preterm infants2008Inngår i: Journal of Human Lactation, ISSN 0890-3344, E-ISSN 1552-5732, Vol. 24, nr 3, s. 252-262Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) The aim of this study was to obtain suggestions from mothers of very preterm infants regarding modification of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) 10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. Thirteen mothers were interviewed 2 to 6 months after their infants' discharge from the hospital. The interviews generated 13 steps, which partly agree with the BFHI steps. The new steps address respect for mothers' individual decisions about breastfeeding, education of staff in specific knowledge and skills, antenatal information about lactation in the event of preterm birth, skin-to-skin (kangaroo mother) care, breast milk expression, early introduction of breastfeeding, facilitation of mothers' 24-hour presence in the hospital, preference for mother's own milk, semi-demand feeding before transition to demand breastfeeding, special benefits of pacifier sucking, alternative strategies for reduction of supplementation, use of bottle-feeding when indicated, a family-centered and supportive physical environment, support of the father's presence, and early transfer of infants' care to parents. Rosenblad, Andreas Uppsala universitet, Medicinska och farmaceutiska vetenskapsområdet, Medicinska och farmaceutiska vetenskapsområdet, centrumbildningar mm, Centrum för klinisk forskning, Västerås. Uppsala universitet, Medicinska och farmaceutiska vetenskapsområdet, Medicinska fakulteten, Institutionen för medicinska vetenskaper, Arbets- och miljömedicin. Uppsala universitet, Medicinska och farmaceutiska vetenskapsområdet, Medicinska fakulteten, Institutionen för folkhälso- och vårdvetenskap. Uppsala universitet, Medicinska och farmaceutiska vetenskapsområdet, Medicinska fakulteten, Institutionen för kvinnors och barns hälsa, Forskargrupper (Inst. för kvinnor och barns hälsa), Klinisk psykologi i hälso- och sjukvård. Early skin-to-skin contact between healthy late preterm infants and their parents: an observational cohort study2017Inngår i: PeerJ, ISSN 2167-8359, E-ISSN 2167-8359, Vol. 5, artikkel-id e3949 Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Skin-to-skin contact (SSC) is an important factor to consider in the care of late preterm infants (born between 34 0/7 and 36 6/7 completed weeks of gestation). The literature suggests that SSC between preterm infants and their mothers facilitates breastfeeding. However, more studies are needed to explore potential dose-response effects between SSC and breastfeeding as well as studies that explicitly investigate SSC by fathers among late preterm infants. The aim was to investigate the duration of healthy late preterm infants’ SSC with the mother and father, respectively, during the first 48 h after birth and the associations with breastfeeding (exclusive/partial at discharged), clinical and demographic variables. This was an observational cohort study in which parents to healthy late preterm infants, born between 34 5/7 and 36 6/7 completed weeks of gestation, recorded duration of SSC provided by mother and father, respectively. Demographic and clinical variables were retrieved from the medical records and were used as predictors. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to assess the association between the predictors and the outcome, SSC (hours), separately for mothers and fathers. The mean (standard deviation [SD]) time per day spent with SSC with mothers (n = 64) and fathers (n = 64), was 14.7 (5.6) and 4.4 (3.3) hours during the first day (24 h) after birth and 9.2 (7.1) and 3.1 (3.3) hours during the second day (24 h), respectively. Regarding SSC with mothers, no variable was significantly associated with SSC during the first day, while the mean (95% confidence interval [CI]) time of SSC during the second day was 6.9 (1.4–12.4) hours shorter for each additional kg of birthweight (p = 0.014). Concerning SSC with fathers, the mean (95% CI) time of SSC during the first day was 2.1 (0.4–3.7) hours longer for infants born at night (p = 0.015), 1.7 (0.1–3.2) hours longer for boys (p = 0.033), 3.2 (1.2–5.2) hours longer for infants born by caesarean section (p = 0.003), and 1.6 (0.1–3.1) hours longer for infants exclusively breastfed at discharge (p = 0.040). During the second day, the mean (95% CI) time of SSC with fathers was 3.0 (0.6–5.4) hours shorter for each additional kg of birthweight (p = 0.014), 2.0 (0.5–3.6) hours longer for infants born during night-time (p = 0.011), 2.9 (1.4–4.4) hours longer if the mother was primipara (p < 0.001), and 1.9 (0.3–3.5) hours shorter if supplementary artificial milk feeds were given. None of the other predictors, i.e., mother’s age, gestational age, or induction of labor were significantly associated with infants’ SSC with mothers or fathers during any of the first two days after birth. Future studies are warranted that investigate duration of SSC between late preterm infants and their parents separately and the associations with breastfeeding and other variables of clinical importance. Sorell, Annette Litmus tests for verification of feeding tube location in infants: evaluation of their clinical use.2005Inngår i: J Clin Nurs, ISSN 0962-1067, Vol. 14, nr 4, s. 486-95Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) 20. Heinemann, Ann-Britt Hellström-Westas, Lena Factors affecting parents' presence with their extremely preterm infants in a neonatal intensive care room2013Inngår i: Acta Paediatrica, ISSN 0803-5253, E-ISSN 1651-2227, Vol. 102, nr 7, s. 695-702Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Aim To describe parents' experiences of factors that influenced their stay with their extremely preterm infants in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Methods This study has a qualitative descriptive design based on semistructured interviews conducted with seven mothers and six fathers. Results Opportunities to stay overnight together with their infant facilitated parental presence, and opportunities for taking over their infant's care empowered the parents in their parental role and increased their motivation to stay. Kangaroo mother care helped them to feel in control and feel needed, which increased their presence. High levels of illumination and noise rendered it difficult for parents to sleep and stay overnight with the infant. Low staffing levels limited their use of kangaroo mother care when they had to wait for assistance to transfer the infant from the incubator. Several participants perceived the performance of painful procedures on their child as stressful and as an obstacle to their presence. Conclusion Kangaroo mother care and active involvement in the infant's care gave parents a sense of control and strengthened their motivation to be with their infant. High levels of noise and illumination and a dismissive staff attitude were obstacles to parents' presence. Karlsson, Victoria Uppsala universitet, Medicinska och farmaceutiska vetenskapsområdet, Medicinska fakulteten, Institutionen för kirurgiska vetenskaper, Anestesiologi och intensivvård. Uppsala universitet, Medicinska och farmaceutiska vetenskapsområdet, Medicinska fakulteten, Institutionen för kvinnors och barns hälsa. Heinemann, Ann-Britt Sjörs, Gunnar Ågren, Johan Early Skin-to-Skin Care in Extremely Preterm Infants: Thermal Balance and Care Environment2012Inngår i: Journal of Pediatrics, ISSN 0022-3476, E-ISSN 1097-6833, Vol. 161, nr 3, s. 422-426Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) To evaluate infant thermal balance and the physical environment in extremely preterm infants during skin-to-skin care (SSC). Measurements were performed in 26 extremely preterm infants (gestational age 22-26 weeks; postnatal age, 2-9 days) during pretest (in incubator), test (during SSC), and posttest (in incubator) periods. Infants' skin temperature and body temperature, ambient temperature, and relative humidity were measured. Evaporimetry was used to determine transepidermal water loss, and insensible water loss through the skin was calculated. The infants maintained a normal body temperature during SSC. Transfer to and from SSC was associated with a drop in skin temperature, which increased during SSC. Ambient humidity and temperature were lower during SSC than during incubator care. Insensible water loss through the skin was higher during SSC. SSC can be safely used in extremely preterminfants. SSC can be initiated during the first week of life and is feasible in infants requiring neonatal intensive care, including ventilator treatment. During SSC, the conduction of heat from parent to infant is sufficiently high to compensate for the increase in evaporative and convective heat loss. The increased water loss through the skin during SSC is small and should not affect the infant's fluid balance. Uppsala universitet, Medicinska och farmaceutiska vetenskapsområdet, Medicinska fakulteten, Institutionen för kvinnors och barns hälsa, Pediatrik. Uppsala universitet, Medicinska och farmaceutiska vetenskapsområdet, Medicinska fakulteten, Institutionen för folkhälso- och vårdvetenskap, Klinisk psykologi i hälso- och sjukvård. Wickström, Maria Healthy late preterm infants and supplementary artificial milk feeds: Effects on breast feeding and associated clinical parameters2015Inngår i: Midwifery, ISSN 0266-6138, E-ISSN 1532-3099, Vol. 31, nr 4, s. 426-431Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) OBJECTIVES: to compare the influence of supplementary artificial milk feeds on breast feeding and certain clinical parameters among healthy late preterm infants given regular supplementary artificial milk feeds versus being exclusively breast fed from birth. DESIGN: a comparative study using quantitative methods. Data were collected via a parental diary and medical records. METHODS: parents of 77 late preterm infants (34 5/7-36 6/7 weeks), whose mothers intended to breast feed, completed a diary during the infants׳ hospital stay. FINDINGS: infants who received regular supplementary artificial milk feeds experienced a longer delay before initiation of breast feeding, were breast fed less frequently and had longer hospital stays than infants exclusively breast fed from birth. Exclusively breast-fed infants had a greater weight loss than infants with regular artificial milk supplementation. A majority of the mothers (65%) with an infant prescribed artificial milk never expressed their milk and among the mothers who used a breast-pump, milk expression commenced late (10-84 hours after birth). At discharge, all infants were breast fed to some extent, 43% were exclusively breast fed. KEY CONCLUSIONS: clinical practice and routines influence the initiation of breast feeding among late preterm infants and may act as barriers to the mothers׳ establishment of exclusive breast feeding. 23. Mode, R. Ignell Mard, E. Fathers' perception of information received during their infants' stay at a neonatal intensive care unit2014Inngår i: Sexual & Reproductive HealthCare, ISSN 1877-5756, E-ISSN 1877-5764, Vol. 5, nr 3, s. 131-136Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Objective: To explore fathers' perception of information received during their infants' care at a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Methods: An inductive, qualitative and descriptive study. Eight fathers in two units were interviewed. The infants' gestational age at birth ranged between 23 and 36 weeks. Data were collected through semi-structured, individual interviews and were analyzed by qualitative content analysis. Results: Three categories were identified: perception of information, perception of the source of information, and circumstances influencing the perception of information. Information had an important impact; comprehensible and adequate information increased the fathers' knowledge, which generated a sense of control. Early information about the infant's care was particularly important and positively affected father and infant bonding. Conclusion and practical implications: Ensuring a high quality of information is an important task for NICU staff. Fathers' perception of the quality of information depended on the contents of the information and how it was conveyed. Comprehensible information at the onset of the infant's hospital stay increased the fathers' sense of security, and made them feel in control. It is important that the staff strive to identify what information the father requires, and prevent situations when fathers feel uncertainty about what the staff expect from them. Namnabati, Mahboobeh Isfahan Univ Med Sci, Fac Nursing & Midwifery, Nursing & Midwifery Care Res Ctr, Esfahan, Iran.. Zamanzadeh, Vahid Tabriz Univ Med Sci, Tabriz, Iran.. Valizadeh, Leila Tazakori, Zahra Ardabil Univ Med Sci, Fac Nursing & Midwifery, Ardebil, Iran.. Theory of Infants' Transition Management from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to Home: A Qualitative Study2017Inngår i: International Journal Of Pediatrics-Mashhad, ISSN 2345-5047, Vol. 5, nr 1, s. 4151-4162Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Background: Infant's transition is a challenge for parents and the health system that requires ongoing assessment and management to improve each newborn's growth and development. The purpose of this study was to explore the management of infant' transition from neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to home. Materials and Methods: We used a grounded theory study to explore and describe the management of infants' transition from the NICU to the home. Interviews were conducted with 31 professionals and 20 family members, and participant observations were made in hospitals, clinics, and one physician office. MAXQDA was utilized for coding and categorizing data. Results: The theory illustrated six phenomena: An unexpected separation; A crisis situation; Mother-infant rebonding; Protection of the infant's health; Promotion of growth and development; and Inadequate management causing disability. Together, these formed a three-phase process consisting of: A threat to the infant's life, Efforts to save the infant's life, and Continuation of life. Conclusion: Development of the theory of infants transition provides a three phases process (A threat to the infant's life, Efforts to save the infant's life, and Continuation of life), that can yield guidelines to manage the infant' transition in prevent mother-infant separation, support parents in their role as primary caregivers, and follow up with individual home visits by nurses. Noren, Josefine Univ Hosp, Neonatal Intens Care Unit, Uppsala, Sweden. Uppsala universitet, Medicinska och farmaceutiska vetenskapsområdet, Medicinska fakulteten, Institutionen för kvinnors och barns hälsa, Forskargrupper (Inst. för kvinnor och barns hälsa), Pediatrisk inflammationsforskning. Uppsala universitet, Medicinska och farmaceutiska vetenskapsområdet, Medicinska fakulteten, Institutionen för kvinnors och barns hälsa, Forskargrupper (Inst. för kvinnor och barns hälsa), Obstetrisk och reproduktiv hälsoforskning. Lund Univ, Dept Hlth Sci, Lund, Sweden. Uppsala universitet, Medicinska och farmaceutiska vetenskapsområdet, Medicinska fakulteten, Institutionen för kvinnors och barns hälsa, Forskargrupper (Inst. för kvinnor och barns hälsa), Perinatal, neonatal och barnkardiologisk forskning. Univ Hosp, Neonatal Intens Care Unit, Uppsala, Sweden. Becoming a mother: Mothers' experience of Kangaroo Mother Care2018Inngår i: Sexual & Reproductive HealthCare, ISSN 1877-5756, E-ISSN 1877-5764, Vol. 16, s. 181-185Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Objective: To describe mothers' experiences of providing their preterm infants with Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC). Study design: A qualitative descriptive design. Setting: Two level III neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in Sweden. Participants: Thirteen mothers of preterm infants. Methods: The mothers were interviewed when their infant had reached a corrected age of 4 months +/- 2 weeks. The interviews were recorded and transcribed and data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: The mothers described the skin-to-skin contact with, and closeness to, the preterm infant as something they valued, and involuntary physical separation as something they had to accept and adapt to. Providing the infant with breast milk by expressing and tube feeding was experienced as time-consuming and as impinging on the skin-to-skin contact. Conclusion: Mothers want to stay close to their preterm infant. The NICU environment and staff can facilitate KMC by providing a private space for parents and infants, and enable mothers to breastfeed and express breast milk by giving them support based on science and proven experience. Nyqvist, K H Early attainment of breastfeeding competence in very preterm infants2008Inngår i: Acta Paediatrica, ISSN 0803-5253, E-ISSN 1651-2227, Vol. 97, nr 6, s. 776-781Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Aim: To explore the development of breastfeeding capacity in very preterm infants, as an immature sucking behaviour is often mentioned as a barrier in the establishment of breastfeeding in these infants. Subjects and methods: A prospective descriptive design study in which mothers of 15 infants, born at gestational ages between 26 and 31 weeks, used the Preterm Infant Breastfeeding Behaviour Scale for daily assessments of their infants' oral motor behaviour in hospital. Semi-demand feeding with prescription of a total daily volume of milk was practiced during the transition from scheduled to demand feeding. Results: Breastfeeding was initiated from a postmenstrual age (PMA) of 29 weeks. Obvious rooting, efficient areolar grasp, and repeated short sucking bursts were noted from 29 weeks, and occasional long sucking bursts and repeated swallowing from 31 weeks. The maximum number of consecutive sucks was limited to between 5 and 24 sucks, with a median of 17. Full breastfeeding was attained at a median of 35 weeks, between 32 and 38 weeks. The infants' weight gain when fully breastfed was adequate. Conclusion: Very preterm infants have the capacity for early development of oral motor competence that it sufficient for establishment of full breastfeeding at a low postmenstrual age. Nyqvist, Kerstin Heberg Lack of Knowledge Persists about Early Breastfeeding Competence in Preterm Infants2013Inngår i: Journal of Human Lactation, ISSN 0890-3344, E-ISSN 1552-5732, Vol. 29, nr 3, s. 296-299Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Given the benefits of Kangaroo mother care, why has its routine uptake been so slow?2016Inngår i: Acta Paediatrica, ISSN 0803-5253, E-ISSN 1651-2227, Vol. 105, nr 4, s. 341-342Artikkel i tidsskrift (Annet vitenskapelig) Anderson, G. C. Bergman, N. Cattaneo, A. Charpak, N. Davanzo, R. Ewald, U. Ibe, O. Ludington-Hoe, S. Mendoza, S. Pallas-Allonso, C. Ruiz Pelaez, J. G. Sizun, J. Widstrom, A-M Towards universal Kangaroo Mother Care: recommendations and report from the First European conference and Seventh International Workshop on Kangaroo Mother Care2010Inngår i: Acta Paediatrica, ISSN 0803-5253, E-ISSN 1651-2227, Vol. 99, nr 6, s. 820-826Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) The hallmark of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is the kangaroo position: the infant is cared for skin-to-skin vertically between the mother's breasts and below her clothes, 24 h/day, with father/substitute(s) participating as KMC providers. Intermittent KMC (for short periods once or a few times per day, for a variable number of days) is commonly employed in high-tech neonatal intensive care units. These two modalities should be regarded as a progressive adaptation of the mother-infant dyad, ideally towards continuous KMC, starting gradually and progressively with intermittent KMC. The other components in KMC are exclusive breastfeeding (ideally) and early discharge in kangaroo position with strict follow-up. Current evidence allows the following general statements about KMC in affluent and low-income settings: KMC enhances bonding and attachment; reduces maternal postpartum depression symptoms; enhances infant physiologic stability and reduces pain, increases parental sensitivity to infant cues; contributes to the establishment and longer duration of breastfeeding and has positive effects on infant development and infant/parent interaction. Therefore, intrapartum and postnatal care in all types of settings should adhere to a paradigm of nonseparation of infants and their mothers/families. Preterm/low-birth-weight infants should be regarded as extero-gestational foetuses needing skin-to-skin contact to promote maturation. Conclusion: Kangaroo Mother Care should begin as soon as possible after birth, be applied as continuous skin-to-skin contact to the extent that this is possible and appropriate and continue for as long as appropriate. Pelaez, J. G. Widström, A.-M. State of the art and recommendations. Kangaroo mother care: application in a high-tech environment2010Inngår i: Acta Paediatrica, ISSN 0803-5253, E-ISSN 1651-2227, Vol. 99, nr 6, s. 812-819Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Since Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) was developed in Colombia in the 1970s, two trends in clinical application emerged. In low income settings, the original KMC model is implemented. This consists of continuous (24 h/day, 7 days/week) and prolonged mother/parent-infant skin-to-skin contact; early discharge with the infant in the kangaroo position; (ideally) exclusive breastfeeding; and, adequate follow-up. In affluent settings, intermittent KMC with sessions of one or a few hours skin-to-skin contact for a limited period is common. As a result of the increasing evidence of the benefits of KMC for both infants and families in all intensive care settings, KMC in a high-tech environment was chosen as the topic for the first European Conference on KMC, and the clinical implementation of the KMC model in all types of settings was discussed at the 7th International Workshop on KMC. Kangaroo Mother Care protocols in high-tech Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) should specify criteria for initiation, kangaroo position, transfer to/from KMC, transport in kangaroo position, kangaroo nutrition, parents' role, modification of the NICU environment, performance of care in KMC, and KMC in case of infant instability. Conclusion: Implementation of the original KMC method, with continuous skin-to-skin contact whenever possible, is recommended for application in high-tech environments, although scientific evaluation should continue. Hansen, Mette N. Frandsen, Annemi L. Expansion of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding into Neonatal Intensive Care: Expert Group Recommendations2013Inngår i: Journal of Human Lactation, ISSN 0890-3344, E-ISSN 1552-5732, Vol. 29, nr 3, s. 300-309Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) In the World Health Organization/United Nations Children's Fund document Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative: Revised, Updated and Expanded for Integrated Care, neonatal care is mentioned as 1 area that would benefit from expansion of the original Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. The different situations faced by preterm and sick infants and their mothers, compared to healthy infants and their mothers, necessitate a specific breastfeeding policy for neonatal intensive care and require that health care professionals have knowledge and skills in lactation and breastfeeding support, including provision of antenatal information, that are specific to neonatal care. Facilitation of early, continuous, and prolonged skin-to-skin contact (kangaroo mother care), early initiation of breastfeeding, and mothers' access to breastfeeding support during the infants' whole hospital stay are important. Mother's own milk or donor milk (when available) is the optimal nutrition. Efforts should be made to minimize parent-infant separation and facilitate parents' unrestricted presence with their infants. The initiation and continuation of breastfeeding should be guided only by infant competence and stability, using a semi-demand feeding regimen during the transition to exclusive breastfeeding. Pacifiers are appropriate during tube-feeding, for pain relief, and for calming infants. Nipple shields can be used for facilitating establishment of breastfeeding, but only after qualified support and attempts at the breast. Alternatives to bottles should be used until breastfeeding is well established. The discharge program should include adequate preparation of parents, information about access to lactation and breastfeeding support, both professional and peer support, and a plan for continued follow-up. Häggkvist, Anna-Pia Norwegian Resource Center for Breastfeeding, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway. Hansen, Mette N Norwegian Resource Center for Breastfeeding, Oslo University Hospital, Norway. Department of Neonatology, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit K7, Children's Hospital, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland . Faculty of Health Care and Nursing, Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Finland. Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark. Haiek, Laura N Direction Générale de Santé Publique, Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux in Ministére de la Santé et des Services sociaux, Quebec. What is the Purpose of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative for Neonatal Wards?: Commentary to a Letter by Adik Levin in Birth, 40:2, June 2013.2013Inngår i: Birth, ISSN 0730-7659, E-ISSN 1523-536X, Vol. 40, nr 4, s. 315-316Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Oras, Paola Breastfeeding Patterns in Preterm Infants Born at 28-33 Gestational Weeks2015Inngår i: Journal of Human Lactation, ISSN 0890-3344, E-ISSN 1552-5732, Vol. 31, nr 3, s. 377-385Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Studies of breastfeeding patterns during preterm infants' first year of life are scarce but are important for providing breastfeeding mothers of preterm infants with optimal support. This study aimed to describe breastfeeding patterns in preterm infants up to 1 year of corrected age. As part of a larger study on kangaroo mother care in Sweden, a 24-hour breastfeeding diary was sent home after discharge from hospital, and at 2, 6, and 12 months of the infant's corrected age. Eighty-three mothers responded to the follow-up questionnaires, and the number of respondents to the breastfeeding diary was 48 at discharge, 43 at 2 months, 22 at 6 months, and 8 at 12 months. Infants were born at a median (range) gestational age of 32 (28-33) weeks. Breastfeeding patterns were analyzed according to durations, frequencies per 24 hours, and intervals between sessions. In exclusively breastfed infants, the median (range) breastfeeding session frequency was 14 (8-26) times per 24 hours including 4 (1-9) times per night after discharge (n = 24) and 10 (6-25) times per 24 hours including 2 (0-5) times per night at 2 months (n = 23). In partially breastfed infants, the median (range) frequency was 5 (1-14) times per 24 hours including 2 (0-4) times per night at 6 months (n = 20) and 5.5 (1-12) times per 24 hours including 2 (0-3) times per night at 12 months (n = 8). Mothers reported large variations in breastfeeding patterns, with higher median breastfeeding session frequencies than previously described in term infants in affluent settings. Skin-to-skin contact is associated with earlier breastfeeding attainment in preterm infants2016Inngår i: Acta Paediatrica, ISSN 0803-5253, E-ISSN 1651-2227, Vol. 105, nr 7, s. 783-789Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) This study investigated the effects of skin-to-skin contact on breastfeeding attainment, duration and infant growth in preterm infants, as this has not been sufficiently explored. A prospective longitudinal study on Kangaroo mother care was carried out, comprising 104 infants with a gestational age of 28+0 to 33+6 and followed up to one year of corrected age. Parents and staff recorded the duration of skin-to skin contact during the stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Medical data were collected through patient records and follow-up questionnaires were filled in by parents. The 53 infants who attained full breastfeeding in the NICU did so at a median (range) of 35+0 (32+1 to 37+5) weeks of postmenstrual age and skin-to-skin contact was the only factor that influenced earlier attainment in the regression analysis (R(2) 0.215 p<0.001). The daily duration of skin-to-skin contact during the stay in the NICU did not affect the duration of breastfeeding or infant growth after discharge. Furthermore, infant growth was not affected by the feeding strategy of exclusive, partial breastfeeding or no breastfeeding. A longer daily duration of skin-to-skin contact in the NICU was associated with earlier attainment of exclusive breastfeeding. 35. Strand, H Gradin, M Kangaroo mother care in the neonatal intensive care unit: staff attitudes and beliefs and opportunities for parents2014Inngår i: Acta Paediatrica, ISSN 0803-5253, E-ISSN 1651-2227, Vol. 103, nr 4, s. 373-378Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) AIM: To compare attitudes towards Kangaroo mother care (KMC) among staff in two high-tech neonatal intensive care units, which provided parents with different opportunities to get involved in their infants' care. METHOD: Questionnaires were completed by healthcare staff in Unit A, which provided parents with unrestricted access so that they could provide continuous KMC, and Unit B, where parents could only practice KMC intermittently. RESULTS: Unit A staff were more positive about the benefits and use of KMC, including its use in unstable infants, and rated their knowledge and practical skills more highly than staff in the other unit. Unit B staff also appreciated the method, but expressed more hesitation in using it with unstable infants. In particular, they stressed the need to adapt the physical environment of the NICU to enable parents to stay with their infants and practice the method. CONCLUSION: Staff working in the NICU that gave parents unrestricted access were more positive about KMC than staff in the NICU that offered limited opportunities for parents to stay with their children. This finding suggests that it is important to eliminate unjustifiable obstacles to the presence of parents in the NICU, so that they can provide KMC. Frölund, Lovisa Provision of Kangaroo Mother Care: supportive factors and barriers perceived by parents2013Inngår i: Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, ISSN 0283-9318, E-ISSN 1471-6712, Vol. 27, nr 2, s. 345-353Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Kangaroo Mother Care supports parents’ role at the neonatal intensive care unit. To enhance parents’ provision of Kangaroo Mother Care, it is essential to obtain knowledge of what parents perceive as supportive factors and barriers regarding their opportunities to perform Kangaroo Mother Care. To identify factors that parents of preterm infants perceived as supportive factors or barriers for their performance of Kangaroo Mother Care and to explore the timing of and reasons for parents’ discontinuation of Kangaroo Mother Care. A descriptive study performed at two neonatal intensive care units in Sweden with 76 mothers and 74 fathers of preterm infants born at gestational ages ranging from 28 to 33 weeks. Data on infant characteristics were obtained from the infants’ medical records. A questionnaire, based on scientific literature and the researchers’ clinical experience, was completed by the mothers and the fathers separately, shortly after the infant’s discharge from the hospital. The data was analyzed with qualitative content analysis and descriptive statistic. Four categories were identified in parents’ responses regarding support and barriers for their performance of KMC: Parent related factors, Time, Infants related factors and The NICU and home environment. The hospital staff and environment were described by the parents as both supportive and barriers for their application of Kangaroo Mother Care. Some mothers described the infants’ feeding process as an obstacle to Kangaroo Mother Care. Sleeping with the infant skin-to-skin in the same position throughout the night could be difficult, as an uncomfortable sleeping position caused insufficient sleep. A majority of both mothers and fathers continued providing their infant with Kangaroo Mother Care to some extent after discharge. Uppsala universitetsbibliotek DiVA Logg in Søk og lenke i DiVA (svensk)

Tag Archives: Author Events February 2018 News, Reviews, and Events The 2018 Patrick D. Hanan Book Prize for Translation (China and Inner Asia) will be awarded to Steven Durrant, Wai-yee Li, and David Schaberg as co-translators of Zuo Tradition / Zuozhuan. The 2018 Awards Ceremony will take place at the AAS conference in Washington, DC on Friday, March 23. The biennial prize was first awarded in 2016 – Xiaofei Tian won the inaugural Hanan Prize for Translation for The World of a Tiny Insect by Zhang Daye – so UW Press authors have won all prize rounds to date. Congratulations to the translators, series editors, UW Press executive editor Lorri Hagman, and all involved! Please join us in welcoming a couple of new hires to the Press. Michael O. Campbell, most recently US sales manager at Lone Pine Publishing, is our new sales and marketing director. Neal Swain has joined us as contracts and intellectual property manager. She comes to us from Wales Literary Agency, where she will continue as assistant agent. Monthly Giveaways The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner selects The Tao of Raven by Ernestine Hayes as one of their best Alaska books of 2017: “The Tao of Raven is likely the most thoughtful book you’ll read all year, memoir or otherwise.”—Addley Fannin VICE interviews High author Ingrid Walker about drug policy and use. UW News features a Q&A with American Sabor authors Marisol Berríos-Miranda, Shannon Dudley, and Michelle Habell-Pallán. Northwest Asian Weekly features The Hope of Another Spring by Barbara Johns: “Her work puts us in Fujii’s time and place, a gift to those who lived through that time, and to those who have only a sketchy idea of the reality of the Issei experience as told through Fujii’s words and art.”—Laura Rehrmann The Washington Post / Made By History publishes an op-ed by Emilie Raymond on the history of celebrity civil rights activism. Stars for Freedom, out in paperback this spring, gets a byline mention. Reading Religion reviews The Jewish Bible by David Stern: “This is a fascinating, engaging, and instructive volume. The breadth of topics and traditions covered is vast, and Stern’s knowledge of and research on these issues is remarkable. Beyond the content, the volume is beautifully illustrated, with over 80 color images illuminating the various topics. A study on the materiality of the Jewish scriptures needed to be written, and we can all be thankful that it was Stern who took up the task.”—Bradford A. Anderson KUOW interviews Kevin Craft about Vagrants & Accidentals. Poetry correspondent Elizabeth Austen and Bill Radke discuss “Matinee” and Craft reads “For the Climbers” and “Borders without Doctors.” 3rd Act Magazine reviews Walking Washington’s History by Judy Bentley (Winter 2018): “Even if you don’t leave your comfy chair, you’ll learn much more about Washington in this interesting book.”—Julie Fanselow The Conversation features an article by Amy Bhatt, author of the forthcoming High-Tech Housewives, and UMBC colleague Dillon Mahmoudi about the likely effects of Amazon’s HQ2 on local diversity, equity, and quality of life. Somatosphere publishes a book forum on Tracing Autism by Des Fitzgerald. American Sabor: Latinos and Latinas in US Popular Music / Latinos y latinas en la musica popular estadounidense By Marisol Berríos-Miranda, Shannon Dudley, and Michelle Habell-Pallán Translated by Angie Berríos Miranda With side-by-side Spanish and English text, this book traces the substantial musical contributions of Latinas and Latinos in American popular music between World War II and the present in five vibrant centers of Latin@ musical production: New York, Los Angeles, San Antonio, San Francisco, and Miami. Ancient Ink: The Archaeology of Tattooing Edited by Lars Krutak and Aaron Deter-Wolf This first book dedicated to the archaeological study of tattooing, presents new research from across the globe examining tattooed human remains, tattoo tools, and ancient art. Ancient Ink connects ancient body art traditions to modern culture through Indigenous communities and the work of contemporary tattoo artists. The Art of Resistance: Painting by Candlelight in Mao’s China By Shelley Drake Hawks Drawing on interviews with the artists and their families, this art history surveys the lives of seven fiercely independent painters during China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), a time when they were considered counterrevolutionary and were forbidden to paint. Slapping the Table in Amazement: A Ming Dynasty Story Collection By Ling Mengchu Translated by Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang Introduction by Robert E. Hegel The unabridged English translation of the famous story collection Pai’an jingqi by Ling Mengchu (1580-1644), originally published in 1628. Many Faces of Mulian: The Precious Scrolls of Late Imperial China By Rostislav Berezkin The story of Mulian rescuing his mother’s soul from hell has evolved as a narrative over several centuries in China, especially in the baojuan (precious scrolls) genre. This exploration of the story’s evolution illuminates changes in the literary and religious characteristics of the genre. Forming the Early Chinese Court: Rituals, Spaces, Roles By Luke Habberstad This pioneering study of early Chinese court culture shows that a large, but not necessarily cohesive, body of courtiers drove the consolidation, distribution, and representation of power in court institutions. Down with Traitors: Justice and Nationalism in Wartime China By Yun Xia Built on previously unexamined documents, this history reveals how the hanjian (“traitors to the Han Chinese”) were punished in both legal and extralegal ways and how the anti-hanjian campaigns captured the national crisis, political struggle, roaring nationalism, and social tension of China’s eventful decades from the 1930s through the 1950s. Christian Krohg’s Naturalism By Oystein Sjastad The definitive account of Norwegian painter, novelist, and social critic Christian Krohg (1825-1925) and his art. Sjastad examines the theories of Krohg and his fellow naturalists and their reception in Scandinavian intellectual circles, viewing Krohg from an international perspective and demonstrating how Krohg’s art made a striking contribution to European naturalism. Sacred to the Touch: Nordic and Baltic Religious Wood Carving By Thomas A. DuBois This beautifully illustrated study of six twentieth- and twenty-first-century artists reveals the interplay of tradition with personal and communal identity that characterize modern religious carving in Northern Europe. Gender before Birth: Sex Selection in a Transnational Context By Rajani Bhatia Based on extensive fieldwork, this book looks at how sex selective assisted reproduction technologies in the West and non-West are divergently named and framed. Bhatia’s resulting analysis extends both feminist theory on reproduction and feminist science and technology studies. Seattle on the Spot: The Photographs of Al Smith By Quin’Nita Cobbins, Paul de Barros, Howard Giske, Jacqueline E. A. Lawson, and Al “Butch” Smith, Jr. Distributed for The Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) Exhibition on view through June 17, 2018 Al Smith’s photography chronicled the jazz clubs, family gatherings, neighborhood events, and individuals who made up Seattle’s African American community in the mid-twentieth century. This companion book to the exhibition at MOHAI features highlights from Smith’s legacy along with reflections from historians, scholars, friends, and family members. February 8 at 7 p.m., Shelley Drake Hawks, The Art of Resistance, Three Stones Gallery, Concord, MA (Snow date: February 9 at 7 p.m.) February 8 at 7:30 p.m., Thomas Crow, No Idols (dist. Power Publications), Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA February 9 at 2 p.m., Heidi R. M. Pauwels, Mobilizing Krishna’s World, UW South Asia Center, Thomson 317, Seattle, WA February 11 at 2 p.m., Frederica Bowcutt, The Tanoak Tree, Grace Hudson Museum and the Sanhedrin Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, Ukiah, CA February 15 at 7 p.m., Nasty Women Poets edited by Grace Bauer and Julie Kane (dist. Lost Horse Press), SoulFood Poetry Night, Redmond, WA February 18 at 3 p.m., Shelley Drake Hawks, The Art of Resistance, DIESEL, A Bookstore, Santa Monica, CA February 23 at 7 p.m., Nasty Women Poets edited by Grace Bauer and Julie Kane (dist. Lost Horse Press), Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA February 24 at 9 a.m., Ernestine Hayes, The Tao of Raven, 2018 Search for Meaning Festival, Seattle University with Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA February 24 at 2;45 p.m., Lorraine K. Bannai, Enduring Conviction, 2018 Search for Meaning Festival, Seattle University with Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA February 24 at 3:30 p.m., Eileen A. Bjorkman, The Propeller under the Bed, Northwest Aviation Conference, Puyallup, WA February 25 at 3 p.m., David Berger, Razor Clams, Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau, Fairwood Library, Renton, WA February 27 at 4 p.m., Amanda Thérèse Snellinger, Making New Nepal, UW South Asia Center, Seattle, WA February 27 at 7 p.m., Paul de Barros, Jackson Street After Hours, The Black and Tan: Reimagining Seattle’s Legendary Jazz Club, Museum of History and Industry in partnership with the Black and Tan Hall, Seattle, WA ($5 for MOHAI members / $10 general public) February 28 at 12:30 p.m., Ingrid Walker, High, Publish and Flourish, Sponsored by UW Office of Research, University Book Store Tacoma, and UW Tacoma Library, Tioga Library, Tacoma, WA This entry was posted in African American Studies, Anthropology, Art and Art History, Asian Art, Asian Studies, China, Events, Giveaway, History, Jewish Studies, Latino/a Studies, Literature, Memoir, Native American and Indigenous Studies, News, Pacific Northwest, Performing Arts, Poetry, Reviews, Scandinavian Studies, Science and Technology Studies, Sexuality Studies, UW Press News, Visual Studies, Women's Studies and tagged Author Events, News, Pacific Northwest, Reviews on February 8, 2018 by uwpressblog. November 2017 News, Reviews, and Events University Press Week is November 6-11 (next week!) and we can’t wait to celebrate the value of our books and expertise of our authors with this year’s theme, #LookItUP: Knowledge Matters. Find a run-down of online and offline events on the UP Week site and join in with the #ReadUP and #LookItUP hashtags on social media. In huge literary news, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated Seattle as a City of Literature in the Creative Cities Network. Please join us in heartily congratulating all involved in the bid, with a special mention to UW Press staffer and Seattle City of Literature cofounder Rebecca Brinbury! Find more from UNESCO, Seattle City of Literature, and the Seattle Review of Books. Read and write on, Seattle! The Atlantic interviews Pumpkin author Cindy Ott in an article about what counts as a pumpkin. WDEL also interviews the author about the connection between pumpkins and fall. Tell Me Something I Don’t Know with Stephen J. Dubner features Smell Detectives author Melanie Kiechle in a recent podcast episode all about the senses. High Country News reviews The Tao of Raven by Ernestine Hayes: “As with Blonde Indian, Hayes blurs the boundaries of genre in The Tao of Raven, which braids sharp grandmotherly meditations and gripping personal history into the fictional storyline of another troubled, typical family. . . . Her prose is as insistent as it is lyrical.”—Rob Rich Inquirer.net USA reviews A Time to Rise edited by Rene Ciria Cruz, Cindy Domingo, and Bruce Occena: “A Time to Rise comes out at an opportune time as another fascist regime emerges in the Philippines. As in the past, former KDP activists have responded to the call to fight back.”—Boying Pimentel International Examiner also reviews: “This nearly 20-year project is a remarkable documentation of one of the leading revolutionary Asian American Movement organizations. . . . A Time to Rise provides much greater complexity to teaching and learning about both Filipino American and Asian American movement history. . . . More than lessons of the past, A Time to Rise illuminates the way forward to complete unfinished revolutions.”—Tracy Lai KING 5 Evening features Razor Clams author David Berger in a new series on Wild Food. Langdon Cook (James Beard Award-winning writer and author of books including Upstream and The Mushroom Hunters) reviews the book on his blog: “For the uninitiated, David Berger’s Razor Clams is just the ticket to understanding what all the fuss is about. Berger is a lively guide to Siliqua patula‘s ecology, culinary lore, and historical importance in the region. . . . Readers looking for such nourishment will find much to savor in this account of a beloved bivalve.” CASSIUS publishes an article by author David J. Leonard about the Las Vegas shooting, white male terrorism, and how race shapes our reaction to gun violence. Playing While White gets a byline mention. The Undefeated also publishes an adaption from the book. The Seattle Times publishes an opinion piece by the author on WSU football coach Mike Leach using his platform to thwart conversation on racial equity rather than advance it, where the book gets a byline mention. The Seattle Times reviews “Witness to Wartime” and prominently mentions The Hope of Another Spring: “The book and exhibition, together, shed a powerful new light on a troubling chapter in U.S. history. . . . Compelling as both artwork and history.”—Michael Upchurch The Everett Herald reviews Territorial Hues by David F. Martin (dist. Cascadia Art Museum): “If you love the Northwest and Northwest regional art, be sure to check out Territorial Hues.”—Gale Fiege Asia Pacific Forum interviews Queering Contemporary Asian American Art editors Laura Kina and Jan Christian Bernabe. Publishers Weekly interviews author Ingrid Walker in an article about the recent Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association fall tradeshow. High gets a mention. The Eureka Times-Standard features Defending Giants by Darren F. Speece in an article about the 40th anniversary of the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC). Truthout reviews the book: “Eloquent, inspiring, eminently readable nonfiction with precious lessons for those fighting the ever-greater environmental destruction wrought by corporate greed. . . . A tale fully relevant to here and now.”—Robert James Parsons Seismic City: An Environmental History of San Francisco’s 1906 Earthquake By Joanna L. Dyl Foreword by Paul S. Sutter Combining urban environmental history and disaster studies, this close study of San Francisco’s calamitous earthquake and aftermath demonstrates how the crisis and subsequent rebuilding reflect the dynamic interplay of natural and human influences that have shaped San Francisco. Chinook Resilience: Heritage and Cultural Revitalization on the Lower Columbia River By Jon D. Daehnke Foreword by Tony A. Johnson A collaborative ethnography of how the Chinook Indian Nation, whose land and heritage are under assault, continues to move forward and remain culturally strong and resilient. Chinook Resilience offers a tribally relevant, forward-looking, and decolonized approach for the cultural resilience and survival of the Chinook Indian Nation, even in the face of federal nonrecognition. Queer Feminist Science Studies: A Reader Edited by Cyd Cipolla, Kristina Gupta, David A. Rubin, and Angela Willey The foundational essays and new writings collected here take a transnational, trans-species, and intersectional approach to this cutting-edge area of inquiry between women’s, gender, and sexuality studies and science and technology studies (STS), and demonstrate the ingenuity and dynamism of queer feminist scholarship. Living Sharia: Law and Practice in Malaysia By Timothy P. Daniels What role does sharia play today in Malaysia? Drawing on ethnographic research, this book traces the contested implementation of Islamic family and criminal laws and sharia economics to provide cultural frameworks for understanding sharia among Muslims and non-Muslims in Southeast Asia and beyond. Mobilizing Krishna’s World: The Writings of Prince Savant Singh of Kishangarh By Heidi R. M. Pauwels Through an examination of the life and works of Savant Singh (1697-1764), this remarkable study explores the circulation of ideas and culture in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries in north India, revealing how the Rajput prince mobilized soldiers but also used myths, songs, and stories about saints in order to cope with his personal and political crisis. The Rebirth of Bodh Gaya: Buddhism and the Making of a World Heritage Site By David Geary This multilayered historical ethnography of Bodh Gaya—the place of Buddha’s enlightenment in the north Indian state of Bihar—explores the spatial politics surrounding the transformation of the Mahabodhi Temple Complex into a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2002. The Jewish Bible: A Material History By David Stern Drawing on the most recent scholarship on the history of the book, this beautifully illustrated material history shows how the Bible has been not only a medium for transmitting its text—the word of God—but a physical object with a meaning of its own. November 1 at 6:30 p.m., Linda Carlson, Company Towns of the Pacific Northwest, Dungeness Valley Lutheran Church, Sequim, WA November 2 at 6 p.m., Paula Becker, Looking for Betty MacDonald, Washington Athletic Club, Seattle, WA November 2 at 7 p.m., David B. Williams, Jennifer Ott, and staff of HistoryLink, Waterway, King County Library System – Mercer Island, Mercer Island, WA November 4 at 1 p.m., David Berger, Razor Clams, Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau, Seward Park Audubon Center, Seattle, WA November 9 at 6 p.m., Zoltán Grossman, Unlikely Alliances, Orca Books, Olympia, WA November 9 at 12:30 p.m., David Biggs, Quagmire / War in the Land (forthcoming 2018), University of Washington, Southeast Asia Center, Thomson Room 317, Seattle, WA November 9 at 7 p.m., Ingrid Walker, High, King’s Books, Tacoma, WA November 10 at 7 p.m., James Longhurst, Bike Battles, BikePGH and Healthy Ride, Pittsburgh, PA November 10 – 13, Emily T. Yeh, Mapping Shangrila, 2017 Machik Weekend, New York, NY November 11 at 10 a.m., David Biggs, Quagmire / War in the Land (forthcoming 2018), Seattle Asian Art Museum, Saturday University, History Flows from the Mekong Mud, Seattle Art Museum, Plestcheeff Auditorium (SAM), Seattle, WA (Get tickets) November 12 at 4 p.m., David B. Williams, Jennifer Ott, and staff of HistoryLink, Waterway, Eastside Heritage Center, Bellevue, WA November 14, Geeta Patel, Risky Bodies and Techno-Intimacy, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA November 16 at 7 p.m., Melanie A. Kiechle, Smell Detectives, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, MA November 16 at 6 p.m., Zhi LIN (dist. for Tacoma Art Museum), Tacoma Art Museum, Artist Talk: Conversation with Zhi LIN and Chief Curator Rock Hushka, Tacoma, WA November 17 at 10 a.m., David E. Wilkins and Shelly Hulse Wilkins, Dismembered, Symposium on Tribal Citizenship, San Diego State University, Scripps Cottage, San Diego, CA November 18 at 3 p.m., Seattle7Writers Holiday Bookfest with Kathleen Alcalá (The Deepest Roots) and David B. Williams (Seattle Walks), Seattle, WA November 19 at 2 p.m., Linda Carlson, Company Towns of the Pacific Northwest, Snoqualmie Valley History Society, King County Library System – North Bend, North Bend, WA November 22 at 7 p.m., Cindy Domingo, A Time to Rise, with Vincente Rafael (Motherless Tongues), Duterte’s War: The Current Crisis in the Philippines and Beyond, Third Place Books – Seward Park, Seattle, WA December 2 at 11 a.m., Zoltán Grossman, Unlikely Alliances, Hoquiam Timberland Library, Hoquiam, WA December 10 at noon, Shelley Drake Hawks, The Art of Resistance, Full Circle Bookstore, Oklahoma City, OK December 14 at 7 p.m., Shelley Drake Hawks, The Art of Resistance, Concord Free Public Library, Concord, MA This entry was posted in African American Studies, Anthropology, Art and Art History, Asian American Studies, Asian Studies, Environmental History, Events, Fiction, Gender Studies, Giveaway, History, Jewish Studies, Literature, Native American and Indigenous Studies, Nature, News, Pacific Northwest, Reviews, Science and Technology Studies, Sexuality Studies, South Asia, Southeast Asia, US History, Visual Studies, Western History, Women's Studies and tagged Author Events, News, Pacific Northwest, Reviews on November 1, 2017 by uwpressblog. Join UW Press and UW Alumni Association for Reading the Pacific Northwest Paula Becker, LOOKING FOR BETTY MACDONALD (2016) Jourdan Keith, new book forthcoming (2018) Lynda V. Mapes, BREAKING GROUND (2015) David B. Williams, TOO HIGH AND TOO STEEP (2015), SEATTLE WALKS (2017) Florangela Davila, Managing Editor, CROSSCUT On Thursday, October 5, UW Press and the UW Alumni Association will present “Reading the Pacific Northwest: An Evening with UW Press Authors.” UW Press authors Paula Becker, Jourdan Keith, Lynda V. Mapes, and David B. Williams will be in conversation with Crosscut’s Florangela Davila about how books and writing can help us understand—and change—our region and our world. How does place affect the writing process? How do local stories inform the larger world’s understanding of the Pacific Northwest? Whose stories get to be told (and why do some go untold for far too long)? We’ll dive into those questions and more. The event is free, and appetizers and refreshments will be served. A book signing and conversation with the presenters will follow the program. We hope you will join us for this special evening! Read more on the blog: Behind the Covers: Looking for Betty MacDonald and Three New Editions Photo Essay: Hidden Treasures and Surprising Views from Seattle Walks Q&A with Too High and Too Steep Author David B. Williams Bertha Blues in a Sinking City: A Brief History of Seattle’s Shifting Landscapes Other UW Press titles of interest: This entry was posted in Events, News, Pacific Northwest, UW Press News and tagged Author Events, Pacific Northwest, Reading the Pacific Northwest, UW Alumni Association, UW Press on September 26, 2017 by uwpressblog. August 2017 News, Reviews, and Events UW Press publishes two (out of three) titles on the shortlist for the European Association for Southeast Asian Studies (EuroSEAS) Social Science Book Prize 2017 (Humanizing the Sacred by Azza Basarudin and Forests Are Gold by Pamela D. McElwee). Winners will be announced at the organization’s annual meeting in England from August 16-18, 2017. Congratulations to and fingers crossed for the finalists, editors, and all involved! The Seattle Times features Waterway by David B. Williams, Jennifer Ott, and staff of HistoryLink (dist. for HistoryLink) and mentions Native Seattle by Coll Thrush in an article about the 100th anniversary celebrations for the Locks on July 4. The Wedgewood in Seattle History blog also features Waterway. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette features an op-ed by Bike Battles author James Longhurst. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reviews The Tao of Raven by Ernestine Hayes: “Artistic and honest and moving in a way few memoirs ever dare to match. . . . A seminal work in the making, and one that all Alaskans should make a point not to miss.”—Addley Fannin General Aviation News reviews The Propeller under the Bed by Eileen A. Bjorkman: “Any aviation enthusiast will appreciate all 200 pages of this work, but those of us who find our fathers and mothers staring up at a cloudless sky when the sound of a propeller breaks the silence will recognize both its timeless appeal and historic significance.”—Mark Jones Jr. The Seattle Times features The Hope of Another Spring by Barbara Johns in the Lit Life column: “A powerful new book. . . . The book is a beautiful display of Fujii’s work, and it’s proof of the power of art and artists to witness events many would rather leave in the dark.”—Mary Ann Gwinn 8Asians also reviews: “The gem of the book is the reproduction of Fujii’s diary. . . . The Hope of Another Spring offers an Issei artist’s perspective to our understanding of Japanese American’s wartime incarceration, while also bringing a valuable study of Fujii and his artistic journey and long career.”—Lily Wong The Pacific Northwest Inlander features A Year Right Here by Jess Thomson: “The book is filled with evocative food descriptions and enviable trips, but also encompasses the uncontrollable stuff of everyday life and explores the limits of physical ability. . . . Thomson’s book encourages readers to be curious about their natural habitats in a new way. . . . An invitation to adventure anyone can embrace.”—Cara Strickland Greg in San Diego blog reviews Birds of the Pacific Northwest by Tom Aversa, Richard Cannings, and Hal Opperman: “I believe this is the most useful regional field guide to the birds in the northwest corner of the contiguous United States.”—Greg Gillson Western Birds, the journal of Western Field Ornithologists, also reviews the birding guide: “For the majority of serious birders in the West who tend to limit their explorations to one or another state or province, this guide should expand their horizons and encourage more cross-border birding. . . . This guide is an essential reference for birders west of the continental divide, particularly for intermediate and advanced observers.”—Eugene Hunn TrailBlazerGirl.com reviews Seattle Walks by David B. Williams: “Not your typical tourist guide book. . . . Seattle Walks is an excellent guide to help you experience Seattle in a new way.” KCTS 9 Borders & Heritage mentions Signs of Home by Barbara Johns in a segment and article about the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9066. UW Today features news from the College of Arts & Sciences that the family of video art pioneer Doris Chase have donated 59 of her works to the Henry. We published a book about the artist, Doris Chase, Artist in Motion by Patricia Failing, in 1992. TrailblazerGirl.com reviews Hiking Washington’s History and Walking Washington’s History by Judy Bentley: “Enhance your exploration of the Evergreen State with Judy Bentley’s books.” Plant Science Bulletin reviews Timber Trees of Suriname by Chequita R. Bhikhi (dist. for LM Publishers): “Timber Trees of Suriname will be very useful for foresters and, as a first introduction to the rich tree flora of Suriname, for all botanists, ecologists, and amateurs interested in flora of the Guiana Shield.”—Marcel Rejmánek The HOME — So Different, So Appealing exhibit is on view at LACMA through October 15, 2017. We will distribute the accompanying catalogue—edited by curators Chon A. Noriega, Mari Carmen Ramirez, and Pilar Tompkins Rivas—for UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press. The exhibit gets mentions at ARTnews and Cuban Art News, and a review in the New Yorker: “’Home – So Different, So Appealing’ is a big, keen show. . . . It tells many stories and is a story in itself.”—Peter Schjeldahl The exhibit also gets a review in the Los Angeles Times: “If ‘Home’ is a harbinger of what to expect for the rest of the series, it has set the bar high.”—Carolina A. Miranda KEXP’s KEXPlorer posts an audio recording of an April 2017 panel discussion at the Wing Luke Museum on “Feminism and war in the Asia Pacific” program with Cindy Domingo (coeditor of A Time to Rise; October 2017). KEXP’s Mind Over Matters Sustainability Segment interviews Unlikely Alliances author Zoltán Grossman. WORT’s A Public Affair (Madison, WI) will also interview the author live on August 11, 2017. Greg Robinson of Nichi Bei mentions No-No Boy by John Okada in his latest weekly column. The Now & Then column of Pacific NW Magazine features Frederick L. Brown and The City Is More Than Human. Paul Dorpat’s blog features an expanded version of the column. TrailblazerGirl.com reviews Haida Gwaii by Dennis Horwood:”For a comprehensive guide to one of National Geographic’s 20 Best Trips, check out Haida Gwaii.” DCist features Carlos Bulosan and America Is in the Heart in an article about this weekend’s Smithsonian Asian American Literature Festival, as well as their weekend events round-up. The Festival features a two-day reading of Bulosan’s book and Troubling Borders editor Isabelle Thuy Pelaud will also be participating. The Science magazine podcast features an interview with Smell Detectives author Melanie Kiechle. The American Scholar’s Smarty Pants podcast also interviews the author. Not Another Sports Show podcast (#NASSRadio) interviews Playing While White author David J. Leonard. Razor Clams: Buried Treasure of the Pacific Northwest By David Berger In this lively history and celebration of the Pacific razor clam, David Berger shares with us his love affair with the glossy, gold-colored Siliqua patula and gets into the nitty-gritty of how to dig, clean, and cook them using his favorite recipes. In the course of his investigation, Berger brings to light the long history of razor clamming as a subsistence, commercial, and recreational activity, and shows the ways it has helped shape both the identity and the psyche of the Pacific Northwest. Waterway: The Story of Seattle’s Locks and Ship Canal By David B. Williams, Jennifer Ott, and Staff of HistoryLink Distributed for HistoryLink Why does a city surrounded by water need another waterway? Find out what drove Seattle’s civic leaders to pursue the dream of a Lake Washington Ship Canal for more than sixty years and what role it has played in the region’s development over the past century. Historians Jennifer Ott and David B. Williams, author of Too High and Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle’s Topography, explore how industry, transportation, and the very character of the city and surrounding region developed in response to the economic and environmental changes brought by Seattle’s canal and locks. Picturing India: People, Places, and the World of the East India Company By John McAleer Published with British Library Few historians have considered the visual sources that survive from the British engagement with India and what they tell us about the link between images and empire, pictures and power. This book draws on the unrivaled riches of the British Library — both visual and textual — to tell that history. It weaves together the story of individual images, their creators, and the people and events they depict. And, in doing so, it presents a detailed picture of the Company and its complex relationship with India, its people and cultures. August 4 at 7 p.m., Ernestine Hayes, The Tao of Raven, Alaska State Library, Summer Lecture Series at the APK, Juneau, AK August 5 at 11 a.m., Jess Thomson, A Year Right Here, Bear Pond Books, Stowe, VT August 7 at 7 p.m., David B. Williams, Seattle Walks, King County Library Services – Renton Highlands, Renton, WA August 11 at 7 p.m., Zoltán Grossman, Unlikely Alliances, A Room of One’s Own, Madison, WI August 15 at 7 p.m., Judy Bentley, Walking Washington’s History, King County Library System – Lake Forest Park, Lake Forest Park, WA August 15 at 7 p.m., David B. Williams, Seattle Walks, Co-presented with Capitol Hill Historical Society and Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA August 30 at 7 p.m., Kathleen Alcalá, The Deepest Roots, Third Place Book Club hosted by Seattle7Writers (Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff), Seattle, WA August 31 at 7 p.m., David B. Williams, Seattle Walks, with Kevin O’Brien, Third Place Books, Seward Park, Seattle, WA September 7 at 7 p.m., David Berger, Razor Clams, University Book Store, Seattle, WA September 7 at 7:30 p.m., David Leonard, Playing While White, BookPeople, Moscow, ID September 9 from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. (Multi-author signing from 1 – 2 p.m.), Readerfest with Kathleen Alcalá, The Deepest Roots, The Brig & Ampitheater at Magnuson Park, Seattle, WA September 12 at 6 p.m., Paula Becker, Looking for Betty MacDonald, Sno-Isle Libraries, Mountlake Terrace Library, Mountlake Terrace, WA September 13 at 7 p.m., Barbara Johns, The Hope of Another Spring, in conversation with Tom Ikeda, Seattle Public Library – Central Library with Elliott Bay Book Company and Denshō, Seattle, WA September 13 at 7:30 p.m., David Berger, Razor Clams, Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau, Olympia Timberland Library, Olympia, WA September 16 at 2 p.m., Paula Becker, Looking for Betty MacDonald, Humanities Washington, Sno-Isle Libraries, Stanwood Library, Stanwood, WA September 16 at 2 p.m., William Wei, Asians in Colorado, Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, Colorado Springs, CO September 19 at 7 p.m., David Berger, Razor Clams, Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau, Wheelock Library, Tacoma, WA September 20 at 6:30 p.m., David B. Williams, Jennifer Ott, and staff of HistoryLink, Waterway, MOHAI, History Café, Seattle, WA September 20 at 7 p.m., Barbara Johns, The Hope of Another Spring, Friends of Mukai at the Vashon Land Trust building, Vashon Island, WA September 21 at 7 p.m., David Berger, Razor Clams, Eagle Harbor Books, Bainbridge Island, WA September 23 at 11 a.m., David B. Williams, Jennifer Ott, and staff of HistoryLink, Waterway, King County Library System – Newcastle, Newcastle, WA September 23 at 11 a.m., David Berger, Razor Clams, Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau, Aberdeen Timberland Library, Aberdeen, WA September 23 at 2 p.m., David Berger, Razor Clams, Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau, Westport Timberland Library, Westport, WA September 23 at 7 p.m., David Leonard, Playing While White, Auntie’s Bookstore, Spokane, WA September 29 at 7 p.m., David Leonard, Playing While White, Elliott Bay Books, Seattle, WA September 30 at 2 p.m., Judy Bentley, Walking Washington’s History, Timberland Regional Library – Olympia, Olympia, WA September 30 at 2 p.m., David Berger, Razor Clams, Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau, Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum, Ilwaco, WA This entry was posted in Anthropology, Art and Art History, Asian American Studies, Asian Studies, Environmental History, Events, Exhibitions on View, History, Memoir, Native American and Indigenous Studies, Nature, News, Pacific Northwest, Performing Arts, Politics, Reviews, Southeast Asia, US History, UW Press News, Western History and tagged Author Events, Pacific Northwest on August 3, 2017 by uwpressblog. July 2017 News, Reviews, and Events Next Thursday evening, Seattle Theatre Group will present a screening of the film Promised Land, a documentary about the Duwamish and Chinook fight for treaty recognition influenced by several UW Press books. The Neptune Theatre screening is free and open to the public and will include preshow songs and drumming with the Chinook Indian Nation and Duwamish Tribe, and a postshow discussion with representatives from the tribes and the filmmakers. There’s still time to RSVP, and we hope you can join us! The Scholarly Kitchen features the Mellon University Press Diversity Fellowship program and interviews editor in chief Larin McLaughlin: “The [Mellon] University Press Diversity Fellowship program is not a lament at how the pipeline is limited but rather a recognition that university presses can take responsibility for expanding their own recruiting pool directly.”—Roger C. Schonfeld Senior acquisitions editor Catherine Cocks moderated a live panel discussion on the how, when, and why of developmental editing for the monthly Association of American University Presses (AAUP) Art of Acquisitions Panelists included Ann Regan (editor in chief, Minnesota Historical Society Press) and Matt Bokovoy (senior editor, University of Nebraska Press). You can watch the recorded Hangout video on YouTube, and catch up on public Art of Acquisitions Hangouts on the AAUP site and follow the series on Twitter at #artofACQ. Book of the Month Giveaways Enter to win one of this month’s picks! (Open to US residents only.) Playing While White by David J. Leonard (Entry form) The Portland Black Panthers by Lucas N. N. Burke and Judson L. Jeffries (Entry form) The giveaways will close on Friday, July 14, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. PT. Winners will be notified by Monday, July 17, 2017. No-No Boy by John Okada gets a mention in an advice essay at Inside Higher Ed. Anthropology News features an article by Sanctuary and Asylum author Linda Rabben. New Books in Genocide Studies / New Books network (NBn) interviews editor John Roth about Losing Trust in the World: “A compelling body of essays. . . . Readable and challenging. In the end, I’m not sure I know exactly how to ‘confront’ torture. But I am better equipped to try.”—Kelly McFall Penn State News interviews author Madhuri Desai about Banaras Reconstructed. UW Today features a May 2017 Perspectives newsletter article about UW art professor Zhi Lin and his eponymous exhibit. The Zhi LIN exhibit is view at Tacoma Art Museum (TAM) from June 27, 2017 – February 18, 2018, and we will distribute the accompanying book, Zhi Lin, for TAM. The Rumpus reviews Vagrants & Accidentals by Kevin Craft: “A pleasure to hold and behold. . . . Through the conflation of music, birds, personal lives, and a shaky natural world, Craft troubles the reader with the impossible question: How are we to live when loss—personal, environmental, and political—is heaped upon loss?”—Cate Hodorowicz artnet News features Queering Contemporary Asian American Art and coeditors Laura Kina and Jan Christian Bernabe: “Via its challenging and diverse reflections, Queering Contemporary Asian American Art shows how the specific questions of Asian American art history make the stakes of resisting a homonormative queer community (i.e. one that models itself after standards of success defined by white privilege and capitalism) even more vivid.”—Terence Trouillot In conjunction with the book’s release and Pride month, the Center for Art and Thought is hosting a virtual exhibition called “Queer Horizons,” featuring artists showcased in the book, and curated by the coeditors. Inquirer.net mentions A Time to Rise edited by Rene Ciria Cruz, Cindy Domingo, and Bruce Occena (forthcoming October 2017) in an article about the retirement of community organizer-leader Lillian Galedo. Library Journal Xpress Reviews includes a short review of The Hope of Another Spring by Barbara Johns: “Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in Asian American studies, art, art history, and U.S. history; in particular, those wanting to read more about Japanese American history.”—Tina Chan Bronxnet features video from a lecture by City of Virtues author Chuck Wooldridge, taped at Lehman College’s Leonard Leif Library this past April. Waterway by David B. Williams, Jennifer Ott, and staff of HistoryLink (dist. for HistoryLink) gets some nice coverage ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, including features at Shelf Talk, Pacific NW Magazine, and Seattle Magazine. Smell Detectives: An Olfactory History of Nineteenth-Century Urban America By Melanie A. Kiechle What did nineteenth-century cities smell like? And how did odors matter in the formation of a modern environmental consciousness? Smell Detectives follows the nineteenth-century Americans who used their noses to make sense of the sanitary challenges caused by rapid urban and industrial growth. Melanie Kiechle examines nuisance complaints, medical writings, domestic advice, and myriad discussions of what constituted fresh air, and argues that nineteenth-century city dwellers, anxious about the air they breathed, attempted to create healthier cities by detecting and then mitigating the most menacing odors. The Portland Black Panthers: Empowering Albina and Remaking a City By Lucas N. N. Burke and Judson L. Jeffries “Readers will gain a valuable new understanding of what the Black Panther Party meant to a city far away from the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City, and activists will get priceless lessons in the dos and don’ts of local organizing.”—H. Bruce Franklin, author of Vietnam and America Classical Seattle: Maestros, Impresarios, Virtuosi, and Other Music Makers By Melinda Bargreen “Bargreen offers compelling personal insights into her subjects’ lives as performers and residents of our region. No other book provides such a well-informed and well-written perspective focusing exclusively on Seattle’s classical community.”—Dave Beck, KING FM Reclaimers By Ana Maria Spagna “Spagna’s enthusiasm for their dedication and causes is irresistible. Such struggles are the real deal, after all, and what reader wouldn’t cheer on these tenacious underdogs trying to remedy past damage? We’re blessed with opportunities to make a difference, the writing shows. . . . The lessons of her journeys. . . are ‘Do what you can. Hope without hope. Expect the unexpected.”—Irene Wanner, Seattle Times Bike Battles: A History of Sharing the American Road By James Longhurst “Bike Battles is masterly in its treatment of public policy toward the ‘roads as commons,’ and has given new depth to our understanding of cycling in America. I envy the light and easy style of the author.“—Glen Norcliffe, author of Ride to Modernity The Tanoak Tree: An Environmental History of a Pacific Coast Hardwood By Frederica Bowcutt “Bowcutt examines the history of the tanoak tree, bringing to life a rich story about how humans are connected to this beautiful yet unassuming tree. . . . [T]his valuable book will be important for a broad audience.“—Choice July 6 at 8 p.m. (Doors at 7 p.m.) STG & Tall Firs Cinema present Promised Land documentary screening at the Neptune Theater, Nights at the Neptune, with University Book Store, Seattle, WA (Press books will be on display; authors featured in documentary) July 7-9, Eileen Bjorkman, The Propeller under the Bed, Arlington Fly-In, Arlington, WA July 8 at 2 p.m., David B. Williams, Seattle Walks, King County Library System – Burien, Burien, WA (SOLD OUT) July 10 at 6 p.m., Paula Becker, Looking for Betty MacDonald, Historic Seattle and the Shoreline Historical Museum, Firland Sanatorium | CRISTA Ministries, Seattle, WA July 11 at 7 p.m., Paula Becker, Looking for Betty MacDonald, Humanities Washington, Asotin County Library, Basalt Cellars Winery, Clarkston, WA July 12 at 7 p.m., David B. Williams, Jennifer Ott, and staff of HistoryLink, Waterway, MOHAI, Seattle, WA ($15 general public / $10 members; RSVP) July 12 at 7 p.m., David Berger, Razor Clams, Humanities Washington, Guemes Island Community Center, Anacortes, WA July 13 at 7 p.m., Judy Bentley, Walking Washington’s History, King County Library System – Auburn, Auburn, WA July 22 from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Judy Bentley, Walking Washington’s History, Pacific Northwest Historians Guild, Guided hike of Coal Creek Trail, Newcastle, WA (RSVP; $10-25) July 23 at 2 p.m., Kathleen Alcalá, The Deepest Roots, Pierce County Library System – Sumner Library (flyer), Sumner, WA July 23 at 3 p.m., David B. Williams, Jennifer Ott, and staff of HistoryLink, Waterway, Seattle Public Library – Central Library, Seattle, WA July 24-30, Eileen Bjorkman, The Propeller under the Bed, EAA AirVenture Fly-In, “Author’s Corner,” Oshkosh, WI July 27 at 5:30 p.m., Judy Bentley, Walking Washington’s History, Timberland Regional Library – Vernetta Smith Chehalis Timberland Library, Chehalis, WA July 27 at 6:30 p.m., Jennifer Ott, Waterway, Mukilteo Yacht Club, MYC General Meeting, Everett, WA July 28 at 7 p.m., Linda Rabben, Sanctuary and Asylum, Iowa Yearly Meeting of Friends (Conservative) annual session (Program), Scattergood Friends School, West Branch, IA July 30 at 2 p.m., David Berger, Razor Clams, Humanities Washington, Mason County Historical Museum, Shelton, WA August 7, David B. Williams, Seattle Walks, King County Library Services – Renton Highlands, Renton, WA August 15, Judy Bentley, Walking Washington’s History, King County Library System – Lake Forest Park, Lake Forest Park, WA August 31, David B. Williams, Seattle Walks, with Kevin O’Brien, Third Place Books, Seward Park, Seattle, WA This entry was posted in AAUP, Art and Art History, Asian American Studies, Biography, Events, Gender Studies, Giveaway, History, Memoir, News, Pacific Northwest, Poetry, Politics, Reviews, US History, UW Press News, Visual Studies, Western History and tagged AAUP, academic publishing, Association of American University Presses, Author Events, diversity, Native American and Indigenous Studies, Pacific Northwest, University Press Diversity Fellowship on June 30, 2017 by uwpressblog. June 2017 News, Reviews, and Events We were thrilled to announce our 2017-2018 Mellon University Press Diversity Fellowship recipients earlier this month. Please join us and the MIT Press, Duke University Press, the University of Georgia Press, and the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) in welcoming the 2017-2018 fellows and in congratulating the 2016-2017 fellows on their accomplishments, including securing full-time positions within scholarly publishing! Read the full press release. We are delighted that Western Washington University’s Western Reads committee has chosen Tulalip, From My Heart: An Autobiographical Account of a Reservation Community by Harriette Shelton Dover, as their common book for the 2017–18 school year. The Western Reads common book selection is just one example of how communities and readers engage with the work we publish. Read more from the desk of the director. Congratulations to American Sabor coauthor Michelle Habell-Pallán, awarded the 2017 Barclay Simpson Prize for Scholarship in Public! Building the Golden Gate Bridge by Harvey Schwartz is 2017 San Francisco Book Festival runner-up in History. The book is also a 2017 Nautilus Silver Award Winner in Young Adult Non-Fiction. Congratulations to the author and all involved! Enter to win one a book bundle or the new Western Reads book! (Open to US residents only.) Native American and Indigenous studies summer reading bundle (Entry form) Native Seattle by Coll Thrush Dismembered by David E. Wilkins and Shelly Hulse Wilkins Unlikely Alliances by Zoltán Grossman Network Sovereignty by Marisa Elena Duarte The Gift of Knowledge by Virginia R. Beavert, edited by Janne R. Underriner Tulalip, From My Heart by Harriette Shelton Dover (Entry form) The giveaways will close on Friday, June 16, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. PT. Winners will be notified by Monday, June 19, 2017. High Country News reviews and features photographs from Once and Future River by Tom Reese and essay by Eric Wagner (May 2017 print issue): “From the recovering chinook salmon to the manufacturing plants that turned the Duwamish into a Superfund site, the images in this book portray a dynamic river carrying its complex legacy into a difficult recovery.”—Rebecca Worby Critical Inquiry reviews Zuo Tradition / Zuozhuan translated by Stephen Durrant, Wai-yee Li, and David Schaberg (5/1/17): “It is impossible to do justice to this monumental publication in a brief review; let me merely emphasize that these renowned translators, working as a trio, amount to even more than the sum of their parts because their strengths are complementary. No single human being could have handled so many aspects of this text . . . which is compact but rooted in three lifetimes of learning and reflection.”—Paul R. Goldin The New Statesman reviews Ice Bear by Michael Engelhard (with Yoko Tawada’s Memoirs of a Polar Bear): “Beautifully illustrated.”—Tim Flannery National Observer also reviews the book: “Lets compelling images and snips of history tell the tale of human projection onto the bear’s white furry screen.”—Carrie Saxifrage TheKitchn features an article by A Year Right Here author Jess Thomson, as well as an adapted excerpt from the book. ParentMap features the book in a round-up of parenting books to read this summer: “While readers have front row seats to razor clamming on the Washington coast, truffle hunting in Oregon and a winery tour in British Columbia, it’s the way Thomson’s preparations are thwarted that make this book an interesting read.”—Nancy Schatz Alton New Hampshire Public Radio’s “Word of Mouth” interviews Bike Battles author James Longhurst. La Crosse Tribune also features the book and author. Humanities Washington blog features Nisei Daughter by Monica Sone in a round-up of prominent Washington literary books (5/11/17): “With perspective, humor, and understanding, Monica Sone describes growing up in Seattle in the 1930s, then being deported with thousands of other Japanese Americans during World War II. Her descriptions of the roundup, the move to the Puyallup fairgrounds, and life in the camps opened the hearts and eyes of her readers, and the book continues to urge Americans to be more decent to all its people.”—Dan Lamberton Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown publishes an online excerpt of Mother’s Beloved by Outhine Bounyavong. Seattle Times reviews Woodland by John Bierlein and staff of HistoryLink (dist. for HistoryLink / Woodland Park Zoo) in a round-up of new summer books (print edition): “An intriguing history and exploration of the challenges, innovations, lore and controversies surrounding Seattle’s zoo that will enrich your next zoo visits, this summer and beyond. . . . Full of superb photography.”—Brian J. Cantwell New Books in History interviews The Social Life of Inkstones author Dorothy Ko (5/18/17): “Dorothy Ko’s new book is a must-read. . . . It is a masterful study that is equally sensitive to objects and texts as historical documents.”—Carla Nappi Playing While White: Privilege and Power on and off the Field By David J. Leonard Whiteness matters in sports culture, both on and off the field. Offering critical analysis of athletic stars such as Johnny Manziel, Marshall Henderson, Jordan Spieth, Lance Armstrong, Josh Hamilton, as well as the predominantly white cultures of NASCAR and extreme sports, David Leonard identifies how whiteness is central to the commodification of athletes and the sports they play. The Gift of Knowledge / Ttnuwit Atawish Nch’inch’imamí: Reflections on the Sahaptin Ways By Virginia R. Beavert Edited by Janne L. Underriner The Gift of Knowledge / Ttnuwit Atawish Nch’inch’imamí is a treasure trove of material for those interested in Native American culture. Linguist and educator Beavert narrates highlights from her own life and presents cultural teachings, oral history, and stories (many in bilingual Ishishkíin-English format) about family life, religion, ceremonies, food gathering, and other aspects of traditional culture. Dismembered: Tribal Disenrollment and the Battle for Human Rights By David E. Wilkins and Shelly Hulse Wilkins Since the 1990s, Native governments have been banishing, denying, or disenrolling citizens at an unprecedented rate. Nearly eighty nations, in at least twenty states, have terminated the rights of indigenous citizens. This first comprehensive examination of the origins of this disturbing trend looks at hundreds of tribal constitutions and interviews with disenrolled members and tribal officials to show the damage this practice is having across Indian Country and ways to address the problem. Network Sovereignty: Building the Internet across Indian Country By Marisa Elena Duarte Given the significance of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to social and political life, many U.S. tribes and Native organizations have created their own projects, from streaming radio to building networks to telecommunications advocacy. Duarte examines these ICT projects to explore the significance of information flows and information systems to Native sovereignty, and toward self-governance, self-determination, and decolonization. Unlikely Alliances: Native Nations and White Communities Join to Defend Rural Lands By Zoltán Grossman Foreword by Winona LaDuke Unlikely Alliances explores the evolution from conflict to cooperation through place-based case studies in the Pacific Northwest, Northern Plains, Great Basin, and Great Lakes, from the 1970s to the 2010s. They suggest how a deep love of place can overcome the most bitter divides between Native and non-Native neighbors. In these times of polarized politics and globalized economies, many of these stories offer inspiration and hope. Banaras Reconstructed: Architecture and Sacred Space in a Hindu Holy City By Madhuri Desai Between the late sixteenth and early twentieth centuries, Banaras, the iconic Hindu center in northern India that is often described as the oldest living city in the world, was reconstructed materially as well as imaginatively, and embellished with temples, monasteries, mansions, and ghats (riverfront fortress-palaces). Desai examines the confluences, as well as the tensions, that have shaped this complex and remarkable city. Displaying Time: The Many Temporalities of the Festival of India By Rebecca M. Brown The U.S. Festival of India was conceived at a meeting between Indira Gandhi and Ronald Reagan to strengthen relations between the two countries at a time of late Cold War tensions and global economic change, when America’s image of India was as a place of desperate poverty and spectacular fantasy. Using extensive archival research and interviews with artists, curators, diplomats, and visitors, Rebecca Brown analyzes a selection of museum shows that were part of the Festival of India to unfurl new exhibitionary modes: the time of transformation, of interruption, of potential and the future, as well as the contemporary and the now. June 10 at 7 p.m., John Bierlein, Woodland, Barnes and Noble, Federal Way, WA June 10 at 5:30 p.m., Kathleen Alcalá, The Deepest Roots, Time Enough Books, Ilwaco, WA June 11 at 3 p.m., Kathleen Alcalá, The Deepest Roots, with Iris Graville and Vicki Robin, Eagle Harbor Books, Bainbridge Island, WA June 12 at 7 p.m., Judy Bentley, Walking Washington’s History, King County Library System – Issaquah, Issaquah, WA June 15 at 6:30 p.m., James Longhurst, Bike Battles, Whitefish Bay Public Library, Milwaukee, WI June 17 at 10 a.m., David B. Williams, Too High and Too Steep, Pacific Northwest Historians Guild, Guided walk of the Denny regrade, Seattle, WA (RSVP; $10-25) June 20 at 5:30 p.m., Jennifer Ott, Waterway, Structural Engineers Association of Washington, SEAW Annual Spring Social & Awards, Seattle, WA (RSVP; $50) June 21 at 12:30 p.m., Frederick L. Brown, The City Is More Than Human, Eagle Harbor Books, Bainbridge Island, WA June 22 at 5:30 p.m., James Longhurst, Bike Battles, Bike/Walk Alliance for Missoula (BWAM), Bike History with BWAM at Imagine Nation Brewing, Missoula, MT June 24 at 12:30 p.m., Jennifer Ott, Waterway, Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society, Ivar’s on Northlake, Seattle, WA June 24 at 2 p.m., Judy Bentley, Walking Washington’s History, King County Library System – Enumclaw, Enumclaw, WA June 24 at 2 p.m., David Berger, Razor Clams, Humanities Washington, Monroe Library, Monroe, WA July 10 at 4 p.m., Paula Becker, Looking for Betty MacDonald, Historic Seattle and the Shoreline Historical Museum, Firland Sanatorium | CRISTA Ministries, Seattle, WA (RSVP) This entry was posted in Architecture, Asian American Studies, Asian Art, Asian Studies, Biography, Current Events, Environmental History, Events, Giveaway, History, Literature, Memoir, Native American and Indigenous Studies, Nature, News, Nonfiction, Pacific Northwest, Politics, Reviews, South Asia, US History, UW Press News, Visual Studies, Western History and tagged AAUP, academic publishing, Association of American University Presses, Author Events, diversity, Global South Asia, Indigenous Confluences, Pacific Northwest, University Press Diversity Fellowship on June 9, 2017 by uwpressblog. May 2017 News, Reviews, and Events Nearly 500 bookstores across the country will be participating in the national literary party that is Independent Bookstore Day tomorrow, April 29! Twenty-three stores will take part in Seattle Independent Bookstore Day (Facebook | Twitter). The Seattle Review of Books, Seattle Times, Stranger, and many others have excellent guides to tomorrow’s special events, limited edition goods, giveaways, and much more. (P.S. Don’t miss the 11 a.m. Book Larder signing with A Year Right Here author Jess Thomson!) California through Native Eyes by William J. Bauer, Jr. has been awarded Honorable Mention for the 9th Annual Labriola Center American Indian Book Award. “The book made a profound and thought-provoking impact on the judging committee,” wrote chair Dr. David Martinez. Congratulations to the author and all involved! Asians in Colorado by William Wei is a finalist for the 2017 Colorado Authors’ League Writing Award in General Nonfiction. The winners will be announced at an awards banquet on May 5, 2017 in Arvada, Colorado. Good luck to our author and all finalists! We remember Eugene N. “Koz” Kozloff (1920 – 2017), who passed away on March 4th in Anacortes, WA. He was the author of books including Plants and Animals of the Pacific Northwest (1976), Seashore Life of the Northern Pacific Coast (1983), and Marine Invertebrates of the Pacific Northwest (1987). Read obituaries in the Anacortes American / Skagit Valley Herald and the San Juan Islander. The Hope of Another Spring by Barbara Johns (Entry form) Behind the Curve by Joshua P. Howe (Entry form) The giveaways will close on Friday, May 5, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. PT. Winners will be notified by Monday, May 8, 2017. Various coverage for A Year Right Here by Jess Thomson: A review at the New York Times Book Review : “We all know what happens to the list you make at the start of the year. But if everything had gone according to plan, Thomson’s book would be as straightforward as her original list. The twists and turns are what makes it — that and a solid recipe for fried chicken.”—Max Watman An interview on KING5 “New Day Northwest” An excerpt at SeattleMag.com (from the April 2017 print edition) An interview on KATU “AM Northwest” An interview on KGW “Portland Today” A review at Foreword Reviews (5/5 Hearts): “Reads like a five-course meal for the mind. . . . A Year Right Here is a genuine pleasure to read, as refreshing in its localism and eclecticism as it is in its universal soul-searching and earnest attempt to redefine one’s relationship with home.”—Scott Neuffer Various coverage for Seattle Walks and Too High and Too Steep by David B. Williams: A Facebook Live broadcast by The Nature Conservancy in Washington. A review in Seattle Review of Books / Seattle Weekly: “Williams encourages readers to slow down and look at the city through a pedestrian’s eyes. It’s a worthy cause. . . . Williams actually gets you out onto the streets, where the history happened, and that makes everything seem closer and more relevant. . . . Seattle Walks is all about that feeling, of seeing familiar streets through new eyes. All it takes is a good guide, a slowing-down of your pace, and a willingness to stop and look up every once in a while.”—Paul Constant A review on the Mercer Island Books / NW Book Lovers blogs A Q&A at Blog 4Culture A trio of reviews for I ce Bear by Michael Engelhard: A review in LSE Review of Books: “The visuals set this book apart from most. Rather than simply offering one author’s work, it is more akin to a polar bear museum. Each image tells a powerful story – some of them familiar, others outlandish, but all portraying a real animal of mythical proportions. . . . Limiting yourself to the captions would mean that you fail to embark on Engelhard’s literary and thrillingly human adventure. . . . At the end of this whirlwind tour of the cultural history of the polar bear, I now have a newfound fascination for the species but also for the people, who live with, depict and study them. Michael Engelhard writes confidently of the physical and metaphysical realms as well as our projections of human fears, fantasies and ambitions onto this quintessential Other.”—Lauriane Suyin Chalmin-Pui A review in International Bear News: “What has been missing to date has been a thorough review of the cultural associations between humans and polar bears. That gap has now been filled by Michael Engelhard’s detailed treatment of the connection between humans and polar bears in Ice Bear. . . . This book should be in the library of all who share this interest and want to know more about this Arctic icon.”—Marty Obbard A short review in the Idaho Press-Tribune: “Ice Bear isn’t just for lovers of polar bears. No, ecologists will enjoy it, too, as will environmentally-minded readers, animal lovers, culture mavens, and watchers of the Arctic. Bonus: lots of pictures!”—Terri Schlichenmeyer (The Bookworm Sez) The New Yorker interviews Smell Detectives author Melanie Kiechle in an online story about smells and cities. Process (blog of the Organization of American Historians) features a commentary piece by Making Climate Change History editor and Behind the Curve author Joshua P. Howe on the March for Science as a moment in the public face of American science. The Hope of Another Spring: Takuichi Fujii, Artist and Wartime Witness By Barbara Johns Foreword by Rogers Daniel Introduction to the Diary by Sandy Kita This richly illustrated book reveals the life story and work of Issei artist Takuichi Fujii (1891-1964) and gives a telling alternative view of the wartime ordeal of West Coast Japanese Americans. The centerpiece of Fujii’s large and heretofore unknown collection is his illustrated diary, which historian Roger Daniels calls “the most remarkable document created by a Japanese American prisoner during the wartime incarceration.” The Hope of Another Spring is a significant contribution to Asian American studies, American and regional history, and art history. Woodland: The Story of the Animals and People of Woodland Park Zoo By John Bierlein and Staff of HistoryLink Distributed for HistoryLink / Woodland Park Zoo Follow the history of Woodland Park Zoo from its nineteenth-century beginnings as a park originally carved from the wilderness north of downtown Seattle to promote a nearby real estate development. As Seattle grew, its zoo engendered civic pride and the animals in its growing collection became local personalities. By the 1970s, the zoo emerged as an international pioneer in zoo design. Lavishly illustrated, Woodland provides a narrative of changing ideas about the relationship between humans and animals, and a fond look at the zoo’s animals and the people who care for them. Making Climate Change History: Documents from Global Warming’s Past Edited by Joshua P. Howe This collection pulls together key documents from the scientific and political history of climate change, including congressional testimony, scientific papers, newspaper editorials, court cases, and international declarations. Far more than just a compendium of source materials, the book uses these documents as a way to think about history, while at the same time using history as a way to approach the politics of climate change from a new perspective. Queering Contemporary Asian American Art Edited by Laura Kina and Jan Christian Bernabe Foreword by Susette Min Afterword by Kyoo Lee Taken together, these nine original artist interviews, cutting-edge visual artworks, and seven critical essays explore contemporary currents and experiences within Asian American art, including the multiple axes of race and identity; queer bodies and forms; kinship and affect; and digital identities and performances. April 29 from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Burke Museum, Kathleen Alcalá, The Deepest Roots, with Lynda Mapes and Stokley Towles, Environmental Writing: Inspire, Observe, Inhabit, Seattle, WA ($90 for Burke Members, $100 for general public) April 29 at 11 a.m., Jess Thomson, A Year Right Here, Book Larder, signing for Independent Bookstore Day, Seattle, WA April 29 at 2 p.m., William Wei, Asians in Colorado, Colorado Authors’ League Awards Finalists Panel & Booksigning in Adult Nonfiction and Poetry, Tattered Cover, Denver, CO April 30 at 4 p.m., David B. Williams, Seattle Walks, Eagle Harbor Books, Bainbridge Island, WA May 2 at 7:30 p.m., Carolyne Wright, Kathya Alexander, Laura Da’, Jana Harris, and Holly J. Hughes, Raising Lilly Ledbetter (Lost Horse Press), Town Hall Seattle, Seattle, WA (Tickets $5) May 3, 2017 at 6 p.m., 12th Annual Literary Voices, Kathleen Alcalá, The Deepest Roots; Paula Becker, Looking for Betty MacDonald; Eileen Bjorkman, The Propeller under the Bed; Moon-ho Jung, The Rising Tide of Color; Tom Reese & Eric Wagner, Once and Future River; Jess Thomson, A Year Right Here; Thaisa Way, The Landscape Architecture of Richard Haag; Margaret Willson, Seawomen of Iceland; North Ballroom at the HUB. Tickets: $150 per person; $1,500 per table, register online May 4 at 7 p.m., Paula Becker, Looking for Betty MacDonald, Walla Walla University, Walla Walla, WA May 5 at 6 p.m., William Wei, Asians in Colorado, 2017 Colorado Authors’ League Annual Awards Banquet, Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Arvada, CA, RSVP required (Tickets $50) May 5 – 6, Kathleen Alcalá, The Deepest Roots, with Dani Cornejo and Nicole Yanes on Opata language and culture revival, “The Living Breath of wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ“ Indigenous Foods and Ecological Knowledge Symposium, University of Washington, Seattle, WA May 6 at 11 a.m., Eileen Bjorkman, The Propeller under the Bed, Book signing and fly-in at Harvey Field, Snohomish, WA May 7 at 7 p.m., Kathleen Alcalá, The Deepest Roots, Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA May 8 at 6:30 p.m., Jess Thomson, A Year Right Here, Book Larder, Seattle, WA May 9 at 7 p.m., David Berger, Razor Clams, Humanities Washington, Toledo Community Library, Toledo, WA May 11 at 6 p.m., Paula Becker, Looking for Betty MacDonald, Darvill’s Bookstore, Orcas Island, WA May 12 – 13, Zuo Tradition / Zuozhuan, translated by Stephen Durrant, Wai-Yee Li, and David Schaberg, UCLA International Institute Asia Pacific Center, Taiwan Studies Lectureship Annual Conference, Los Angeles, CA May 13 from 9:30 a.m. – 3 p.m., John Bierlein and staff of HistoryLink, Woodland, Woodland Park Zoo (Mom & Me; ZooStore booth signing from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.), Seattle, WA May 13 at 1 p.m., Samuel Ligon, Wonderland (Lost Horse Press), Pie & Whiskey & Mothers, Sandpoint Library, Rude Girls Room, Spokane, WA May 19 at 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., James Longhurst, Bike Battles, Midwest Active Transportation Conference (welcome keynote), UW La Crosse, La Crosse, WI May 20, Kathleen Alcalá, The Deepest Roots, BARN Writers, Bainbridge Island, WA May 21 at 4 p.m., David B. Williams, Seattle Walks, Village Books, Bellingham, WA May 23 at 7 p.m., Lorraine McConaghy and Judy Bentley, Free Boy, Newport High School orchestra showcase, featuring works by composer Tim Huling, based on Free Boy, Bellevue, WA May 24 at 7 p.m., John Bierlein, Woodland, Phinney Books, Seattle, WA May 25 at 7:30 p.m., Paula Becker, Looking for Betty MacDonald, Seattle Pacific University, Ames Library, Pacific Northwest Historians Guild meeting, Seattle, WA June 1 at 3:30 – 6 p.m., Rural China on the Eve of Revolution, Edited by Stevan Harrell and William Lavely (Published with University of Washington Libraries), Lecture, reception, book signing, and Allen Library exhibit viewing, University of Washington, Allen Library, Petersen Room, Seattle, WA June 1, David Giblin, Flora of the Pacific Northwest, Washington Native Plant Society, Central Puget Sound Chapter (CPS), (pre-publication event; Mountaineers Program Center, Cascade Room), Seattle, WA June 3 at 10 a.m., William J. Bauer, Jr., California through Native Eyes, Bay Area Book Festival, “Witness and Testimony: The Past and Present of Native America,” Berkeley, CA June 4 from 10 – 2 p.m., Kathleen Alcalá, The Deepest Roots, Liberty Bay Books, Local Author Sunday, Poulsbo, WA June 7 at 7 p.m., John Bierlein, Woodland, University Book Store, Seattle, WA This entry was posted in Art and Art History, Asian American Studies, Biography, Current Events, Environmental History, Events, Giveaway, History, Literature, Memoir, Nature, News, Nonfiction, Pacific Northwest, Politics, Reviews, Sexuality Studies, US History, UW Press News, Visual Studies, Western History, Women's Studies and tagged Author Events, News, Reviews on April 28, 2017 by uwpressblog. April 2017 News, Reviews, and Events Seattle Magazine features director Nicole Mitchell and the University of Washington Press in a Spotlight piece: “The University of Washington Press is making a big noise in publishing circles. . . . Whether you’re an academic looking to wow undergrads with a reading list or a general reader aiming to wow yourself, the century-old press has a must-read book for you and an undeniable dynamism.”—Florangela Davila Indian Blood by Andrew J. Jolivette is a finalist for the 2017 Lambda Literary Award (“Lammy”) in LGBTQ Studies. The winners will be announced at a gala ceremony on June 12, 2017 in New York City. Congratulations to the author and all involved! KOMO Radio “Midday News” interviews David B. Williams about Seattle Walks. The National Association of Science Writers (NASW) news and features includes an interview with the author. Alaska Dispatch News/We Alaskans reviews Menadelook edited by Eileen Norbert: “The story of Menadelook’s life is fascinating and well told and would be a worthy book even without the photographs, but to have the pictures as well makes this volume a treasure. . . . Much like the Menadelook we meet in these pages, this book is modest on the surface, but its contribution to Alaska is profound. It presents a world that would be completely vanished but for the presence of one man and his camera.”—David A. James NBC Asian America picks Troubling Borders edited by Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, Lan Duong, Miriam B. Lam, and Kathy L. Nguyen as one of its “Six Asian-American Memoirs to Read for Women’s History Month”: “The wide variety of stories told dispel stereotypes and take on the complex challenges of colonialism, militarization, love, resistance, family, migration, and more. They reveal the intersectional and multilayered experiences of Southeast Asian women in the diaspora.” Seattle Weekly/Seattle Review of Books reviews Kevin Craft’s Vagrants & Accidentals: “The University of Washington Press’ Pacific Northwest Poetry Series has shepherded a gorgeous new collection of Craft’s poetry into being: Vagrants & Accidentals, which feels like a book that’s been bottled up for a decade, just waiting to be introduced to an unsuspecting world. The poetry in Vagrants is eager and obsessed with big ideas like evolution and the act of becoming. . . . Craft argues that without the eyes to see and the lips to speak and the fingers to write, the world may as well not have existed at all. On that same wavelength, a Seattle without Craft’s poetry in it would be a forgettable dot on a map. He breathes life into our world, as an editor, a publisher, and most definitely as a poet.”—Paul Constant NPR.org’s The Salt blog interviews Puer Tea author Jinghong Zhang in a post about the sought-after fermented tea. Pacific NW Magazine features an excerpt from Ice Bear by Michael Engelhard. Outdoor Research’s Verticulture blog features Reclaimers by Ana Maria Spagna in a round-up of OR’s favorite women’s adventure books: “The most influential book I’ve read recently. . . . It’s not a typical story of adventure, but I found it absolutely motivating to get out and learn about our wild places, cherish them, and listen to the stories of people who call them home. It also makes very clear that adventure is not just found high up on a rock face or in a deep snowy couloir – the world is full of places to take risks and dive deep into, to be curious and ambitious and wild and bold.”—Jenny Abegg “Interfaith Voices” interviews Sanctuary and Asylum author Linda Rabben in an episode about “Welcoming the Stranger.” KEXP’s “Mind Over Matters Sustainability Segment” interviews Native Seattle author Coll Thrush. A KUOW interview with Dismembered coauthor David E. Wilkins about the NookSack Tribe aired on “All Things Considered.” Anchorage Press reviews The Tao of Raven by Ernestine Hayes: “In a lyrically intoxicating style, Ernestine Hayes crafts a . . . mesmerizing story-telling, an alternative world, that reveals as much, if not more, about how our society works, or does not work, for today’s Alaskan Native citizen. . . . Her bold study marries the tragedies of her life with the greater horrors perpetrated upon Alaskan Natives. . . . Hayes manages to wrangle a promising, optimistic tinged message as she closes out her autopsy of what has gone awry. In her inimitable, metaphorical style she voices cause for hope – a prayer that all is not forsaken.”—David Fox KUOW’s “Speakers Forum” aired a talk by Looking for Betty MacDonald author Paula Becker in celebration of Betty MacDonald’s 110th birthday on March 26. A Year Right Here: Adventures with Food and Family in the Great Nearby By Jess Thomson Armed with “The Here List” and a Type-A personality, Seattle-based writer and cookbook author Jess Thomson sets out to spend a year exploring the food of the Pacific Northwest with her family. Planning to revel in the culinary riches of the region and hoping to break her son, Graham, of his childhood pickiness, the adventures into the great nearby include building a backyard chicken coop, truffle hunting in Oregon, and razor clamming on the Washington coast. With touching, funny, sometimes devastating stories that we all can relate to, Jess pulls the reader in as she abandons “The Here List” and learns that letting go can be just as important as holding on. Join us for these author events: March 30 at 7 p.m., University Book Store, Seattle, WA April 17 at 7 p.m., Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, WA April 20 at 7 p.m., Village Books, Bellingham, WA April 22 at 7 p.m., Phinney Books, Seattle, WA April 23 at 7 p.m., Powell’s City of Books in conversation with Diane Morgan, Portland, OR May 8 at 6:30 p.m., Book Larder, Seattle, WA The Propeller under the Bed: A Personal History of Homebuilt Aircraft By Eileen A. Bjorkman On July 25, 2010, Arnold Ebneter (82) flew across the country in a plane he designed and built himself, setting an aviation world record for aircraft of its class. Pilot and aeronautical engineer Bjorkman frames her father’s journey from teen plane enthusiast to Air Force pilot and Boeing engineer in the context of the rise, near extermination, and ongoing interest in homebuilt aircraft in the United States, and gives us a glimpse into life growing up in a “flying family.” Idle Talk under the Bean Arbor: A Seventeenth-Century Chinese Story Collection By Aina the Layman With Ziran the Eccentric Wanderer Edited by Robert E. Hegel This landmark collection of twelve short stories from the early Qing (Doupeng xianhua) uses the seemingly innocuous setting of neighbors swapping yarns on hot summer days to create a series of stories that embody deep disillusionment with traditional values. The tales, ostensibly told by different narrators, parody heroic legends and explore issues that contributed to the fall of the Ming dynasty a couple of decades before. These stories speak to all troubled times, demanding that readers confront the pretense that may lurk behind moralistic stances. This collection presents all twelve stories in English translation along with notes from the original commentator, as well as a helpful introduction and analysis of individual stories. The Nature of Whiteness: Race, Animals, and Nation in Zimbabwe By Yuka Suzuki This vivid ethnography explores the intertwining of race and nature in postindependence Zimbabwe. Nature and environment have played prominent roles in white Zimbabwean identity, and when the political tide turned against white farmers after independence, nature was the most powerful resource they had at their disposal. Suzuki provides a balanced study of whiteness, the conservation of nature, and contested belonging in twenty-first century southern Africa. The Nature of Whiteness is a fascinating account of human-animal relations and the interplay among categories of race and nature in this embattled landscape. A Year Right Here by Jess Thomson (Entry form) Birds of the Pacific Northwest by Tom Aversa, Richard Cannings, and Hal Opperman (Entry form) The giveaways will close on on Friday, April 7, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. PT. The giveaway winners will be notified by Monday, April 10, 2017. April 5 at 6:30 p.m., Jess Thomson, A Year Right Here, Omnivore Books, San Francisco, CA April 5 at 7 p.m., David B. Williams, Seattle Walks, Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, WA April 6 at 6 p.m., Lorraine McConaghy and Judy Bentley, Free Boy, Performance of Free Boy, the musical, MOHAI Free First Thursday, Free performance of Free Boy, the musical, by 5th Avenue Theatre’s Adventure Musical Theater Touring Company, Seattle, WA April 6 at 7 p.m., Deborah Elizabeth Whaley, Black Women in Sequence, African American Museum of Iowa, Cedar Rapids, IA April 7 at 5 p.m., Judy Bentley, Hiking Washington’s History, Words, Writers, and West Seattle, Westwood Village Barnes & Noble, Seattle, WA April 8 at 11 a.m., Jess Thomson, A Year Right Here, Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA April 15 at 2 p.m., Paula Becker, Looking for Betty MacDonald, Neverending Bookshop, Bothell, WA April 17 at 7 p.m., Jess Thomson, A Year Right Here, Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, WA April 22 at 6:30 p.m., Paula Becker, Looking for Betty MacDonald, Island Books, Mercer Island, WA April 20 at 7 p.m., Jess Thomson, A Year Right Here, Village Books, Bellingham, WA April 22-23, 2017, Darren Speece, Defending Giants, Nonfiction: Nature & Politics, Conversation 1095, Los Angeles Times Festival of Books (University of Southern California), Los Angeles, CA April 22 at 10:30 a.m., Paula Becker, Looking for Betty MacDonald, Tacoma Public Library, Kobetich branch, with King’s Books April 22 at 2 p.m., Paula Becker, Looking for Betty MacDonald, Tacoma Public Library, Wheelock branch, with King’s Books April 22 at 7 p.m., Jess Thomson, A Year Right Here, Phinney Books, Seattle, WA April 23 at 2 p.m., Judy Bentley, Walking Washington’s History, Everett Public Library, Everett, WA April 23 at 7 p.m., Jess Thomson, A Year Right Here, Powell’s City of Books, Portland, OR; in conversation with Diane Morgan April 27 at 7 p.m., Linda Rabben, Sanctuary and Asylum, Annapolis Bookstore, Annapolis, MD (Monthly Book Club selection) This entry was posted in Asian American Studies, Asian Studies, Biography, China, Current Events, Events, Fiction, History, Literature, Memoir, Native American and Indigenous Studies, News, Nonfiction, Pacific Northwest, Poetry, Reviews, US History, UW Press News and tagged Author Events, News, Reviews on March 30, 2017 by uwpressblog. March 2017 News, Reviews, and Events Our job posting for the 2017-2018 Mellon Diversity Fellow is now live and we are accepting applications through March 15. If you know of excellent candidates, please send them our way! The New Yorker’s Page-Turner blog features No-No Boy by John Okada: “Reading No-No Boy, this week, it no longer seemed bound to its past; it felt like a prophecy, a cosmic tragedy, a message in a bottle that arrives a half century later.”—Hua Hsu A collaborative piece with PRI’s Global Nation Education and Densho mentions Miné Okubo’s Citizen 13660 in an article about activists working to keep the story of Executive Order 9066 alive today. Bustle also features the book in a round-up of “10 Graphic Novels Written by Activists That You Need to Read Now More Than Ever”: “Heartbreaking, candid. . . . Okubo recounts her experience with poignancy and a surprising amount of humor.”—Charlotte Ahlin This entry was posted in AAUP, African American Studies, Anthropology, Art and Art History, Asian American Studies, Asian Studies, Biography, China, Current Events, Environmental History, Events, Fiction, Gender Studies, History, Literature, Nature, News, Nonfiction, Pacific Northwest, Poetry, Politics, Reviews, Sexuality Studies, Southeast Asia, US History, UW Press News, Visual Studies, Western History, Women's Studies and tagged AAUP, Author Events, Lost Horse Press, News, Reviews on March 2, 2017 by uwpressblog. We are pleased to announce that Catherine Cocks is joining our acquisitions team as Senior Acquisition Editor, starting February 15. She started her career in academic publishing at SAR Press, the publishing arm of the School for Advanced Research, where she established the cutting-edge series in Global Indigenous Politics, among other accomplishments. She worked most recently at the University of Iowa Press, where she is currently Editorial Director. Please join us in welcoming Catherine to the press! “The Afterlife of Sai Baba” by Karline McLain (Designer: Dustin Kilgore) “Rural Origins, City Lives” by Roberta Zavoretti (Designer: Dustin Kilgore) The University of Washington Press has five selected entries in the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) 2017 Book, Jacket, and Journal Show. Congratulations to the designers, our Editorial, Design, and Production department, and all involved! “The Deepest Roots” by Kathleen Alcalá. Photo by Joel Sackett. “Looking for Betty MacDonald” by Paula Becker. Photo by David Ryder. “The Propeller under the Bed” by Eileen A. Bjorkman “The Rising Tide of Color” edited by Moon-Ho Jung “Once and Future River,” photographs by Tom Reese, essay by Eric Wagner “A Year Right Here” by Jess Thomson. Photo by Clare Barboza. “The Landscape Architecture of Richard Haag” by Thaisa Way. “Seawomen of Iceland” by Margaret Willson. Photo by Raul Campoverde. Nine University of Washington Press authors will be participating in the 12th Annual Literary Voices event on May 3, 2017. Annie Proulx is this year’s keynote speaker. The Times Literary Supplement reviews Ice Bear by Michael Engelhard: “Engelhard has an apt and unusual background for a book such as this. . . . Among the strengths of Ice Bear is its grasp of the rituals by which humans have always aspired to draw the strength of the polar bear into themselves.”—Mark Abley The Spectator also reviews the book: “[A] beautifully illustrated, hugely engaging book. . . . For all its nightmare-haunting power, however, the aspect of the polar bear that really makes it an icon of the age is its vulnerability . . . . Another merit of the book is the author’s willingness to track these themes to their origins.”—Mark Cocker This entry was posted in AAUP, Art and Art History, Asian Studies, China, Current Events, Environmental History, Events, Fiction, Gender Studies, History, Literature, Native American and Indigenous Studies, Nature, News, Pacific Northwest, Politics, Reviews, US History, UW Press News, Western History and tagged AAUP, Author Events, News, Reviews on February 3, 2017 by uwpressblog.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: I have been spitting up blood. Occasionally. It s been about 5 times in the last 3 weeks. Last night I fell asleep sitting up and got up at 4am and I spit up more than just a speck of blood. It was long streaks of red. My doctors are doing blood work. I m worried this can be something bad. I never was a smoker but fear it could be lung cancer. What can be causing this? output: My advice will be not to get panic. There are many causes for blood in sputum like just severe pharyngitis, Rhinitis, or an episode of epistaxis, or some trivial trauma to oropharynx. There and many other benign conditions can cause blood in sputum. Other causes like chest infection, Bronchiectasis etc. which are non-malignant causes of blood in sputum. Right thing to do at this stage is to investigations, study of your symptoms like whether you had some nose or throat infection (Complete ENT check up), a chest X-ray or CT Scan of Nasal sinuses and chest...and if required bronchoscopy. I think your physician will properly guide you after studying your case to go through the appropriate logarithm of investigation, to reach a definite diagnosis. Best thing to do right now is not to be panic, anxious but to go through proper medical check up and act on your physicians' advice.... All the best !.

Everyone Wins (and Loses): The Supreme Court’s Immigration Ruling by Christine A. Scheller | Jun 26, 2012 | Family, Feature, Headline News | The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a key component of Arizona’s controversial immigration law Monday, allowing local police to request documentation from people they suspect to be in the country illegally. It struck down “two provisions that made it a crime for an illegal immigrant to seek work or fail to register with the federal government,” NPR reported. It also ruled against “a portion of the law that allowed state and local law enforcement officers to arrest anyone based solely on the suspicion that the individual was in the country illegally.” Governor Jan Brewer declared the ruling a victory, according to Politico. “Today is the day when the key components of our efforts to protect the citizens of Arizona, to take up the fight against illegal immigration in a balanced and constitutional way, has unanimously been vindicated by the highest court in the land,” she said. “Arizona’s and every other state’s inherent authority to protect and defend its people has been upheld.” But the ruling “reignited concerns that the law could lead to widespread racial profiling and civil-rights violations by overzealous police targeting Hispanics, including U.S. citizens or those who are here legally,” The Arizona Republic reported. Writing at The Grio, Judith Browne Dianis said the decision is also “a mixed bag and a cautionary note for black folks” because anti-immigration laws “intrinsically include us in their broad sweep, as civil rights violations always do. ” “I am pleased that the Supreme Court has struck down key provisions of Arizona’s immigration law,” President Obama said in a statement. “What this decision makes unmistakably clear is that Congress must act on comprehensive immigration reform. A patchwork of state laws is not a solution to our broken immigration system – it’s part of the problem.” His administration went further. “Just hours after the Supreme Court issued its decision on SB1070, federal officials said they would immediately rescind a controversial federal-state partnership that uses local cops in Arizona to detain immigrants,” Colorlines reported. Rival Mitt Romney took the opposite approach, according to The Washington Post. “I would have preferred to see the Supreme Court give more latitude to states, not less. And the states, now under this decision, have less authority, less latitude, to enforce immigration law,” he reportedly said at a fundraiser in Scottsdale. The ruling could be a “boon” to the president, but Romney loses no matter what, said Howard Fineman at The Huffington Post. “Praise the court and [Romney] offends Latinos; fault it and he offends social conservatives who have made a crackdown on the undocumented a key Tea Party plank. … Since possession of a valid driver’s license is, under the Arizona law, sufficient proof of citizenship, the ruling will force legal residents and citizens to get them if they don’t have them. There’s no better place to run a registration drive than at or near a DMV. Most of those voters are likely to be Democrats, or at least Obama supporters,” Fineman wrote. Either way, “Many politicians – and Americans in general – don’t understand the complex contours of Hispanic voters in America,” The Christian Science Monitor reported. The problem begins with the term Hispanic, which was reportedly “manufactured by Congress in 1976 to be an umbrella term that applies to all Americans of Spanish descent.” Speaking of Hispanics, the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference issued a statement stating, in part, that the Court “initiated the process of establishing a legal firewall against draconian measures as it pertains to immigration” and conveyed “a clear message that 21st century jurisprudence will not tolerate measures that polarize and segregate our communities.” Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform also issued a statement, from Jim Wallis, that said, in part, “The decision to strike down key provisions of this legislation is a victory for everyone in the faith community who seeks to follow the Bible’s call for concern for the vulnerable and ‘stranger’ among us. Arizona’s immoral legislation threatened families, harmed children, and made it difficult for law enforcement to safeguard the communities they swore to protect; it remains important to ensure that any remaining parts of the legislation are never used to justify racial profiling by local police.” The American Civil Liberties Union will devote $8.7 million to fight expansion of “show me your papers” laws in other states, its Executive Director Anthony D. Romero announced Monday. The ACLU will “aggressively battle any state’s attempts to enact copycat legislation while also fighting the ‘corrosive effects’ of existing anti-immigrant laws in Arizona and five other states,” its statement said. It may be an uphill battle. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 55% of likely voters wanted SB1070 upheld, while only 26% wanted it overturned. Nineteen percent were undecided about the law. Did the U.S. Supreme Court make the right decision? Arizona Immigration Law Has Its Day in Court by Christine A. Scheller | Apr 26, 2012 | Family, Feature, Headline News | Mixed Review from Justices After hearing arguments Wednesday about SB 1070, Arizona’s controversial immigration law, the United States Supreme Court justices seemed inclined to uphold some parts of the law and block others, the Chicago Tribune reported. The justices said they “saw no problem with requiring police officers to check the immigration status of people who are stopped,” the Tribunereported, but “were troubled by parts of the Arizona law that made it a state crime for illegal immigrants to not carry documents or seek work.” S.B. 1070 is ‘Ethically Bankrupt’ and ‘Immoral’ “This legislation is not just ethically bankrupt but undermines basic Christian values and American ideals. The court will decide whether it is legal, but it is already clear it isn’t moral,” wrote Jim Wallis and the Rev. Max Rodus at The Huffington Post. It’s Really About Fear, Power, and Freedom At CNN.com, Ruben Navarrette Jr. said the law is primarily about fear, power, and freedom: Fear because “the realization that whites would soon become a statistical minority in Arizona just as they are in California, Texas and New Mexico” was the fuel that fed SB 1070, “or as local activists have dubbed it: ‘The Mexican Removal Act.'”; power because the law “essentially deputizes local and state police”and “gives them the power to act as surrogates for Immigration and Customs Enforcement”; and, freedom because “U.S.-born Latinos should be free from harassment. They shouldn’t have to prove they belong in their own country.” Latinos Are Fleeing the State “Whatever the outcome,” “much damage will already have been done,” writes J.D. Tuccille at Reason. His wife is a pediatrician in Northern Arizona and he says some of her Latino patients won’t make the trip to Phoenix or Tuscon to see specialists when she refers them because they “have chosen to forego that particular gauntlet of crewcut peril and either put off treatment or seek it out of state.” Tuccille says 100,000 Hispanics have left the state since the passage of S.B. 1070. Damaged Reputation or Inspiration? Likewise, the Los Angeles Times reported that the law has damaged Arizona’s reputation. It cites a study by the Center for American Progress that found conventions cancelations after passage of SB 1070 “cost the state more than $23 million in lost tax revenue and at least $350 million in direct spending by conventions’ would-be attendees.” But, the American Civil Liberties Union reportsthat “after the law passed in 2010, two dozen copycat bills were introduced in state legislatures across the country; five passed in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah.” Lawsuits have been filed in all six states by the ACLU and other civil rights organizations, it says. Legal Issues ‘Deliberately Misread’ National Review went meta with an editorial in support of the law that said the legal issues surrounding S.B. 1070 are being deliberately misread. “The Justice Department’s case rests instead on a willful misreading of federal statute, and it reinterprets the requirement that states not preempt federal immigration laws as a requirement that states harmonize their own laws with federal immigration enforcement practices — or in this case, with the lack thereof,” the editorial said. A Moot Point in Face of Immigration Decline? Meanwhile, the number of Mexican immigrants has “dropped significantly for the first time in decades,” the Associated Press reported, because many haven’t been able to find work in the U.S. and have returned to Mexico. Sixty percent of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. are from Mexico, the article said. “Roughly 6.1 million unauthorized Mexican immigrants were living in the U.S. last year, down from a peak of nearly 7 million in 2007, according to the Pew Hispanic Center study released Monday,” AP reported. Should the U.S. Supreme Court uphold or overturn S.B. 1070? Delegation Says HB 56 Is Racist by Christine A. Scheller | Nov 16, 2011 | Family, Feature, Headline News | 5 comments A delegation of prominent evangelical leaders traveled to Alabama this week to oppose the state’s new immigration law, HB 56. The group spent a day at a Birmingham church, where they talked to educators, students, health care providers, pastors, and families impacted by the law, they told reporters on a conference call yesterday. Where Are White Evangelicals Now? Rev. Samuel Rodriguez Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, described HB 56 as an “anti-American,” “anti-Christian,” “anti-family” “violation of basic civil rights.” He said it is instilling fear, not only in undocumented immigrants, but in those who are in the United States legally. I asked Rodriguez if there is more or less white evangelical support for comprehensive immigration reform now than there was when I interviewed him about the issue for Christianity Today in 2006. “We have more white evangelicals supportive than in 2006 for sure, both in its leadership and from people in the pews, but I cannot come to the considered conclusion that we have overwhelming or even majority support in the evangelical community for a comprehensive solution,” said Rodriguez. “We do not have enough support to push back the Alabama law.” Rodriguez described Alabama as a strongly evangelical state in the heart of the Bible belt and said that if Christians had put their faith before their American citizenship, the law would never have passed. “It was Christian apathy in Alabama—that’s the best case scenario—if not Christian endorsement of the Alabama law that has resulted in our current malaise,” said Rodriguez. Does Rodriguez Regret African American Comparison? In light of UrbanFaith reader criticism of Rodriguez’s statement to CNN comparing the plight of Hispanics and undocumented immigrants to that of African Americans, I asked if the comparison diminished the long history of African American oppression in this country. “No, as a matter of fact, I stand by my comments one hundred percent,” said Rodriguez. “I can tell you that the vast majority of African Americans understand that what’s taking place here is a lot more than just illegal immigration. …The things that we’re seeing in Alabama and Arizona, these manifestations, they’re not addressing the elephant in the room. They’re trying to go around it, and that is the Latinization of America. The 21st century is an immigrant civil rights issue, a Latino civil rights issue because the vast majority of immigrants are Latino. This has to do with pressing one for English and pressing two for Spanish. Let’s not be naive. This is not just about illegal immigration,” Rodriguez explained. Earlier on the call, Rodriguez had said his organization is launching a campaign to encourage Hispanic leaders and pastors move to Alabama in order to test whether or not the intention of the law is to “purge” Alabama of “any ethnicity group that does not reflect the majority composition of the state.” Perhaps this is what he had in mind when he told me “initiatives, campaigns, billboards, conference calls” won’t succeed. “We need a movement that will accomplish comprehensive immigration reform,” Rodriguez concluded. Is the Moral Obligation Greater? Dr. Carlos Campo, president of Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, also weighed in on the Civil Rights movement comparison. “This movement is not about a people that are protected, at least in language, by the laws of the United States as fully, clearly as African Americans were, at least in the letter of the law,” said Campo. “That’s one of the reasons there’s an even greater obligation in terms of a moral response here, is these are the least and the last in our community. These are the very ones to whom we believe our God would call us to because they don’t have equal protection under the law.” Campo doesn’t believe Alabamans fully understood the implications of the law, he said. “I think there were certain leaders who did understand, but I believe there are a number of people in the Alabama faith community, as they see the implementation of this law, are appalled by what has been passed. And I think it is time for folks in the church not to remain silent any longer and to speak up on behalf of those who cannot or are too fearful to do so,” said Campo. Is HB 56 Racial Profiling at Its Worst? Also on the call was Rev. Daniel DeLeon, Senior Pastor of Templo Calvario in Santa Ana, California, and chairman of the National Hispanic Pentacostal Congress. DeLeon was motivated to go to Alabama after he heard politicians say the law is accomplishing what they wanted it to accomplish. This represents “racial profiling at its worst,” he said. It bothered him too, as an American citizen, to see that “human rights have gone out the window,” he said. Rev. Jim Tolle, senior pastor of Church on the Way in Los Angeles, California, described himself as a Republican evangelical, and said he believes “subconscious racism” was at play in the passage of HB56. He called attention to the fact that all Americans other than “first nations people” have immigrant histories. “Everybody arrived without permission,” said Tolle. Both Tolle and DeLeon talked about the immigration struggles of longtime members of their Calfiornia churches. Tolle said a 27 year member had been deported “overnight” and DeLeon said a leader in his church had been trying unsuccessfully for years to legalize his immigration status. Both of these men have children who were born in the United States, the pastors said. Do the Players Matter? Robert Gittelson, co-founder of Conservatives for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, said nothing that undocumented immigrants face in California compares to what they are facing in Alabama and Arizona. He noted that Arizona senators John McCain and Jon Kyl were key proponents of the failed Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 and a key “obstructionist” was Alabama senator Jeff Sessions. Sessions is still a leading opponent of comprehensive immigration reform, he said. Is Rev. Rodriguez’s response to reader criticism of his African American / undocumented immigrant comparison adequate? Why Did Police Kill Jose Guerena? by Catherine Newhouse | Jun 6, 2011 | Feature, Headline News | 1 comment SWIFT INJUSTICE?: Former U.S. Marine Jose Guerena was shot down in his own home by police. The morning of May 5 must have been a nightmare for the Guerena family. After a SWAT team shot 71 bullets at 26-year-old Jose Guerena in his home, his wife Vanessa Guerena dialed 911, begging for an ambulance. It was about 9:30 a.m. in Tucson, Ariz., and Jose Guerena, a former U.S. Marine and Iraq War veteran, had just confronted the SWAT team with a rifle. Paramedics arrived at the scene and waited an hour and 14 minutes for the clear to go in, but deputies never allowed them to treat or examine Guerena. At 10:59 a.m., Jose Guerena was pronounced dead. Of the 71 bullets, 22 had hit and killed him. Vanessa Guerena later told the media that she and her husband thought the raid was a home invasion. She had seen a man with a gun through a window and had awoken Jose Guerena, who had been sleeping after working a night shift, according to news reports. Vanessa Guerena said her husband told her and their 4-year-old son Joel to hide in the closet and then went to face the intruders. Moments later, the SWAT team opened fire on Jose Guerena. Some police officers later explained they thought they saw a muzzle flash, but they later learned that Jose Guerena hadn’t even taken his gun off safety. As Jose Guerena bled to death, the 911 operator asked Vanessa Guerena questions to determine if she was calling from one of the houses a SWAT team had been sent to. The recording of the phone conversation has been released and can be heard on the Arizona Daily Star website. “Please send me an ambulance and you can ask more questions later, please!” Vanessa Guerena said over the phone. The video of the shooting taken from an officer’s helmet camera has been released and published by KGUN 9 news. (Note: The video is not graphic. You can see and hear the SWAT team shooting, but Jose Guerena’s body is not visible.) Facing pressure to come clean with the details, the sheriff said last week that the raid was part of a 20-month drug and homicide investigation. But in the end, police didn’t find any drugs in the Guerena home. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has reluctantly been releasing more information over the past month, including the above video, a transcript of their interrogation of Vanessa Guerena (part one and part two), and the transcript of the debriefing after the shooting. On Thursday, the Sheriff’s Department finally released the search warrant, along with affidavits and property sheets. The new information gives us an idea why they suspected Jose Guerena of being connected to their drug and homicide investigation, but lacks any evidence that would have warranted an arrest. But now, not even the most condemning evidence could diminish the tragedy that occurred. Perhaps one of the reasons this particular tragedy strikes deeply is because history carries many such stories of police aggression against minorities—revealing a prejudice that hasn’t disappeared. In the instant an officer’s finger rests on the trigger, the shade of the suspect’s skin can influence their decision to fire. University of Chicago assistant professor Joshua Correll and other researchers ran a study in which police officers had to decide whether or not to shoot a suspect in a video simulation. The study found that officers made the decision to shoot armed black suspects more quickly than armed white suspects, according to “Race as a Trigger” in The Chicago Reporter. When such a racial bias exists, the death of Jose Guerena is yet another incident that is widening the rift between law enforcement and minority communities. Even if the SWAT team was convinced Jose Guerena was ready to shoot them, was it necessary to fire 71 bullets at him, and then leave him to bleed to death? And even if Jose Guerena was a criminal (and there’s no proof that he was), does that mean he deserved to die? Without a trial, and under the gaze of his wife and son, no less? In this instance, one can’t help but think authorities treated the Guerena family worse than criminals, rather than treating them like people—a dying father, a wife mourning the loss of her husband, and a son traumatized by his own father’s death. Which should make you think: where’s the line between righteously enforcing the law to protect society and enforcing it so aggressively that you forget your suspects are fellow human beings? How are we as Christians called to respond when that line is crossed? Should we demand justice for Jose Guerena’s death, extend forgiveness to the officers who perhaps realize now that they made a terrible mistake, or both? And how can we heal the rift that’s grown between law enforcement and minority communities? In the end, it’s kids who ask the toughest questions. Reyna Ortiz, a relative looking after Vanessa Guerena and her children, told ABC News that Jose Guerena’s 4-year-old son Joel is asking, “Why did the police kill my daddy?” Clinging to Infinite Hope by Johnathan Smith | Feb 9, 2011 | Headline News | Though MLK’s “Dream” continues to inspire us, for millions of Americans it’s still a dream deferred. Nevertheless, we hang on to its truth. In his “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Black History Month is one of the times of year that we, as Americans, ask ourselves how close are we to achieving this ideal espoused by Dr. King. How are we doing? Do we live in a country that has transcended the brutally ugly — and often violent — racism that has in many ways defined our country during much of its history? It is tempting to answer “yes,” and to highlight, as evidence, many of the achievements and gains over the last several decades, including the election of that “skinny kid with a funny name” to the White House. Yet the sad reality remains that even more than 45 years after Dr. King’s speech, far too many people living in this country are still defined not by their character or abilities, but by their racial and ethnic background. A few recent statistics tell the story: • A 2009 study found that 32 percent of Latinos said that they, a family member, or a close friend was discriminated against in the past five years because of their racial or ethnic background. With the passage of Arizona’s new immigration law, SB 1070, and similar measures, that number has likely increased in recent months. • A 2005 Gallup poll revealed that 31 percent of Asian Americans and 26 percent of blacks reported experiencing an incident of discrimination while at work during the previous 12 months. • One national survey reported that a majority of Latinos do not have confidence that they will be treated fairly by police officers. That same survey found that nearly two-thirds of blacks (as opposed to approximately one-quarter of whites) do not believe that local police officers treat blacks and whites equally. • Recent unemployment rates strongly indicate that the color of people’s skin still plays a role in the job market. In the fall of 2010, when the unemployment rate was 8.7 percent for whites, it was 12.4 percent for Latinos, and 16.1 percent for blacks. A recent study found that nearly 40 percent of previously employed black New Yorkers were unemployed for more than a year during the recession. That same number is 24 percent for whites. These discomforting statistics should not cause us to lose faith in the ideal that Dr. King espoused on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial decades ago. Rather, they should serve as a reminder that despite the progress that has been made, Dr. King’s dream has not yet been realized for millions of Americans. They also should serve as a challenge: that we use events like Black History Month and last month’s MLK Day not merely to reflect on the achievements of a race of people and their slain hero, but that we also take them as an opportunity to address the inequalities and discriminations that still permeate our society. And that is a challenge that people of faith are particularly capable of meeting. After all, it was Dr. King’s faith that gave him the courage to stand in the face of deeply entrenched racism and demand justice. It was faith that allowed individuals like Fannie Lou Hamer to persevere when all outward signs probably told them to stop. It was faith that allowed King, Hamer, and others to understand the essential truth that while “we must accept finite disappointment,” we must “never lose infinite hope.” This article originally appeared at the God’s Politics blog of Sojourners.

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: I am 73 years old, 4 feet 11 inches tall, 112 weights. I had 3 surgeries. Histerectomy, appendectomy, gold bllader removed. I have severe pain and spasm in my lower abdominal area. My Dr. told me I have a sticky bowel. Is there any solution to my pain? gest treatment for lower abdominal pain output: Hi.Thanks for your query and an elucidate history.The sticky bowel means there is intestinal obstruction causing the pain. In such a situation I advise my patient firsts to undergo a diagnostic procedure called Enteroclysis. In this a small nasogastric tube is passed into the small bowel and barium is given. Multiple X-rays are taken. These X-rays will give us few ideas :: Whether the obstruction is mild , moderate or severe. .The site of obstruction. And also gives the idea whether the surgery is needed and whether it will help you to become asymptomatic. Treatment:::First of all keep yourself only on liquid diet for about one week. If needed you can be admitted and given the intra-venous fluids . BY doing this the bowel/ intestines are given rest and the swelling of the strictured area is reduced. If this helps you may remain on liquid diet and be alright. IF there is no benefit , you need to undergo surgery to remove the obstruction. and you will be fine...

instruction: You are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patient's description. input: What is the CAMP test and what is the result when Group B Strep (S. agalactiae) is tested using this method? output: The CAMP test is a biochemical test used in microbiology to identify certain species of bacteria, including Group B Strep (S. agalactiae). When Group B Strep is tested using the CAMP test, it produces a positive result, meaning it enhances the zone of hemolysis when plated with S. aureus. This occurs because Group B Strep produces a protein called CAMP factor, which interacts with a protein produced by S. aureus to enhance the zone of hemolysis. The CAMP test is a simple and reliable method for identifying Group B Strep in clinical samples, such as blood or cerebrospinal fluid, and is often used in conjunction with other tests to confirm the presence of the bacteria.