Anisa: জুলাই 2012

মঙ্গলবার, ৩১ জুলাই, ২০১২

Panel recommends against ECG tests for heart disease

(Reuters) - Testing electrical activity of the heart using an electrocardiogram is unlikely to help doctors figure out who is at risk of coronary heart disease, according to recommendations from a U.S. government-backed panel.

The United States Preventive Services Task Force wrote on Monday that there's no good evidence the test, also known as an ECG, helps doctors predict heart risks any better than traditional considerations such as smoking, blood pressure and cholesterol levels in people with no symptoms.

"It could potentially be helpful if we had evidence that doing a test like an ECG or an exercise ECG would better classify the people who are at high risk" of heart disease, said Joy Melnikow, a member of the task force from the University of California, Davis.

"Then we could intervene more actively with the very high-risk group which has the highest potential to benefit."

The task force, which published a statement in the Annals of Internal Medicine, recommends against ECG screening of people considered at low risk for heart disease and says there's not enough information to rule one way or the other on those at intermediate or high risk.

On the other hand, there are both costs and possible harms associated with screening healthy adults, Melnikow said.

"The concern is that if people are already at low risk of heart disease and they have one of those tests, if they have an abnormality on the test it's more likely it will be a false-positive result," she added.

"But an abnormal result, whether a false positive or true positive, generally leads to additional testing, and it's the additional tests that could have some risk."

While ECGs themselves are inexpensive and non-invasive, the follow-up tests can involve passing a tube through the heart or other more intensive, costly procedures.

The new recommendations are an update of the USPSTF's 2004 guidelines, which also called for no screening in low-risk adults and said there was insufficient evidence to assess the risks and benefits for screening intermediate- and high-risk people.

Melnikow said that instead of asking for tests, people concerned about their heart health can discuss diet, lifestyle and family history risks with their doctor, who can then use a risk calculator to determine their chance of getting heart disease - and treat them appropriately.

"Everyone can benefit from being physically active," she said. "Everyone can benefit from not smoking, and people can discuss with their doctors whether they could benefit from taking medication to lower their blood pressure or lower their cholesterol."

(Reporting from New York by Genevra Pittman, editing by Elaine Lies and Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/panel-recommends-against-ecg-tests-heart-disease-003351734.html

front door alyssa bustamante protandim weightless ellen degeneres jcpenney yeardley love nba all star reserves

সোমবার, ৩০ জুলাই, ২০১২

Angola inmates care for terminally ill through hospice

By Barbara Chenevert

Staff Writer

Mike Dancer doesn?t have long to live.

Volunteer Randolph Matthieu feeds inmate Mick Dancer, who is under the care of the hospice program at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. About 36 offenders volunteer for the hospice program that takes care of the needs of dying inmates. Photos by Barbara Chenevert | The Catholic Commentator.

For the next few months, his home will be a single bed in a small room in the infirmary at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, where he will struggle to eat, write his name and even talk.

But when he draws his last breath, Dancer will not be alone. He will be surrounded by his ?inmate family,? a group of fellow offenders who have lovingly taken care of his needs to the end. They are volunteers with the Angola hospice care program.

?It?s a ministry of presence,? said inmate Randolph Matthieu, who is a Catholic peer minister and who has been a hospice volunteer since the program started in 1998.

The majority of inmates at Angola are serving life sentences. It is Louisiana?s only maximum-security prison and has an inmate population of more than 5,000 men.

For the inmates, when death approaches, many have outlived their families or have long since lost contact with them, Matthieu said.

Hospice volunteers step in to assist with the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of their fellow inmates who are terminally ill. They feed them, bathe them, change their diapers and bed linens, and then wash their bodies when they die in preparation for their burial. Sometimes the hospice volunteers also take care of burying the man who has died.

But most of all the hospice volunteers listen.

?You really become their ears. You have to take on what they are feeling ? guilt, pain. They trust us enough to release what they may have been holding in for many years,? said inmate Steve Garner, who has worked with the hospice program for 14 years.

?Hospice is just being there for that person, letting him vent. Letting him be comfortable with you so he can make decisions at the end of his life. It?s a caring community just to sit with people and help them enjoy every aspect? of the time they have left, said offender Vashon Kelly.

angola6 wk.tif

A hospice volunteer hugs a dying inmate. The volunteers not only take care of the physical needs of sick inmates, but also offer emotional and spiritual support. Photo provided by Louisiana State Penitentiary.

Sick inmates are moved into hospice care when doctors think they have only about six months to live. They are given extra privileges ? a television, videos, snacks, increased family visitation time and a hospice team of fellow inmates. Each patient is assigned six hospice volunteers who visit them regularly and care for their needs, Matthieu explained. When death draws near, the team will set up an around-the-clock vigil so that the offender who is dying is never alone.

?When we come into this world our mothers take care of us, bathing us, feeding us, etc. When you go out, it?s the same way. We take the place of the mother for the offender,? Matthieu said.

Matthieu, who is serving a life sentence, said he was drawn to the hospice program because of his experiences with death in prison. Once he went to visit a friend, who had died during the night, and no one knew it. There were 30 men around him, but they thought he was just sleeping. Another friend had lung cancer and was moved into a room by himself. The only people allowed to touch him were on the medical staff. He would die alone, Matthieu said.

Matthieu credits Warden Burl Cain with initiating the hospice program at Angola. The warden felt that life should end with dignity and inmates shouldn?t have to die alone. He had heard of a similar program in another institution and decided to start it here.

Matthieu has seen a lot of death. ?When you see some die rough ? fighting to the end ? you know they have no peace. Others die in serenity. It really makes you think about God.?

?It?s real spiritual for me. It brings me closer to God. With that last breath they are taking, you know they are making that transition. They are going to heaven or purgatory. The angels that come down to take the soul where it is going, I am in their presence. It gives me joy of life that some day I will be in that position.?

Kelly said he wants to do so much for the offenders who are ill, but ?I have to take myself out of the equation and become their hands, head and heart. That?s the most beautiful thing I?ve experienced.?

Kelly relayed the story of one inmate who didn?t have family. He wanted to be buried at the prison. ?To this day, I don?t know if his family even knows he died. It made me cling closer to him to fill the void. I wanted to give him the love and support he needed at that time.?

The families of many offenders who die in prison claim the bodies for burial outside of prison. Those who are buried on the grounds are laid in caskets built by inmates. A service is held in the Angola Chapel, often led by hospice volunteers. The deceased is then brought to Point Lookout, the cemetery on the 18,000-acre prison campus, in a horse-drawn hearse escorted by inmates who follow on foot or on a bus.

angola4wk.tif

Offenders Gerald Grabert, front, and David Bacon build caskets for inmates who die at the Angola prison.?

Kelly, who is also serving a life sentence, said his participation in the hospice program has made him humble. ?In prison I?ve lost a lot of liberties. When you grow in this place, you learn your position as a person and a man. Hospice gives back to me the ability to act in a caring community; to do a service for humanity.?

For Garner, hospice fulfills a purpose and a calling ? to help someone who can?t help himself.

Sometimes the terminally ill inmates placed in hospice have a lot of anger, Matthieu said. It?s best for them to let it out. All people don?t accept death the same way. The hospice volunteers often get the brunt of that anger, but they encourage the sick to release their anger.

The inmates said the hospice program has been responsible for reuniting some families, citing examples of inmates who have lost contact with a son or a daughter.??We do whatever it takes to arrange a visit,? Matthieu said.

Hospice volunteers don?t judge and don?t discriminate, the inmates said.

?Love don?t see any color. Love just sees a need,? Garner said. ?The guys know if you are sincere. It is a language that they can see. ?

Each hospice volunteer has a regular job in the prison ? Matthieu is a legal aid, Garner works in the library.

?Hospice is voluntary and is above and beyond our jobs. It?s something we do on our own time,? Matthieu said.

Volunteers are extensively screened and interviewed, and those who pass are put through an intensive training program.

angola5 wk.tif

Offender Steve Garner sews a quilt that will be sold to help defray expenses of the hospice care program.

Garner is also responsible for the quilting program, operated by the offenders to raise money for the hospice care. The quilts are sold at the annual Angola rodeo and funds are used to buy extra food and toiletries for the dying inmates. Sometimes the money may be used to help fund traveling expenses for the families of sick inmates who may not be able to afford to visit their loved ones.

?We just try to make them a little more comfortable, to give them the comforts of home and a few privileges,? Garner said.

Garner said the inmates have made a quilt, which they call the ?passage quilt? that is draped over the person when he dies as a way to add dignity to their death. Another quilt is draped over each inmate?s casket during the service in the chapel.

?Hospice care starts six months before (death) and continues until they are laid in the ground. We are there every step of the way,? Garner said.

Source: http://thecatholiccommentator.org/pages/?p=9053

harrison barnes brett ratner stevie nicks anchorman capybara duggars peter facinelli

CSRwire: $3M in grants to be awarded by CVS Caremark to community health centers in US http://t.co/oH01gw4k #CSR #Philanthropy #Health #Wellness

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://twitter.com/CSRwire/statuses/229622345122344960

norv turner jerry angelo work it amy chua iowa gop meteor shower tonight annie oakley

Cheney Criticizes Palin Pick; Romney Dances Around Isreal Comments

Dick Cheney came out and said what everyone else already knew. He said picking Sarah Palin for Vice President in 2008 "was a mistake." "That one I don?t think was well handled," Cheney said.?In an interview that aired on ABC's?This Week with George Stephanopolous, Romney talked about what it's like to go through a Vice President search. "I sort of think of it as there are two lists. There is the big list. And it?s got a lot of folks on it," he explained. But, ultimately, to get the call the person has to be ready to take office in an emergency. "And the test to get on the small list has to be is this person capable of being president of the United States, and that?s usually a very, very short list," he said. Cheney said the considerations that a VP could boost your chance of winning shouldn't factor into the decision making process. "I think that that was one of the problems that McCain had," Cheney said. "I like Gov. Palin. I met her. I know her. She is an attractive candidate, but based on her background ? she had only been governor for about two years ? I don?t think she passed that test of being ready to take over." The rest of the interview will air on Monday.

RELATED: Democrats Launch Offensive on Romney's Offshore Accounts

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

RELATED: Romney 'Looking At' a Woman VP After All

Mitt Romney appeared on CBS's?Face the Nation?to clear up his position on Isreal and Iran. One of his advisors made headlines yesterday when he said Romney would support Israel if they decided to attack Iran in an effort to harm their nuclear program. Romney was a bit cagier with his answers.?"I respect the right of Israel to defend itself, and we stand with Israel," Romney said. "We're a nation -- two nations -- that come together in peace and that want to see Iran be dissuaded from its nuclear folly. Let me use my own words in that regard." Romney said he was being careful with his answers because he realized he was on foreign soil, and didn't want to create any more controversy.?"Because I'm on foreign soil, I don't want to be creating new foreign policy for my country or in any way to distance myself from the foreign policy of our nation," he said. "But we respect the right of a nation to defend itself."?Romney said everything should be done to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, and only after every other venue's been tried should we consider attacking. "If all those options fail -- and they have not all been executed, they've not all failed entirely at this stage -- if all those options fail, then we do have other options, and we don't take those other options off the table. But that's as far as I'm willing to go in terms of discussing this matter while on foreign soil."

RELATED: Joe Biden Calls Romney 'Out of Touch'; Paul Ryan Admits He 'Misspoke'

Romney was also asked about the?new?Newsweek?cover?that calls him a wimp.?"If I worried about what the media said, I wouldn't get much sleep, and I've been able to sleep pretty well," he said.?"They tried that on George Herbert Walker Bush," Romney said Sunday. "He was a pretty great president and anything but."

RELATED: The Best Totally Wrong Predictions of the Republican Primary

RELATED: Palin's Crowds In on Romney's Spotlight

Antonin Scalia appeared on Fox News Sunday and continued to say the mandate of the Affordable Health Care Act isn't a tax. "You don?t interpret a penalty to be a pig. It can?t be a pig," Scalia said.?"And what my dissent said in the Affordable Care Act was simply there is no way to regard this penalty as a tax. It simply does not bear that meaning."?Scalia also dismissed the reports saying John Roberts changed his decision from "no" to "yes" on the Obamacare ruling. "You shouldn?t believe what you read about internal court proceedings, because the reporter who reports that is either a) lying, which can be done with impunity because as you know we don?t respond, or b) that reporter had the information from someone who was breaking the oath of confidentiality, which means that?s an unreliable person. So, either way, you should not put any stock in reports about what was going on in the secrecy of the court," he said.

Dick Durbin doesn't think Congress can solve the debt problem in time for the November election. Remember last summer when everyone was terrified the U.S. was going to default on its loans and there was a huge battle to raise the debt ceiling? Yep, we're doing that again as soon as the election is over.?"Let me be honest with you ... in the next 100 days before the election, the political environment is not one for compromise and negotiation," Durbin said on CNN's State of the Union.?"If we are prepared, the day after the election to move forward with a plan that restores confidence in the economy and the ability of congress to react to it, it's going to be a positive thing for us. I think we can do it," he said. "With the president's leadership, we can come together. There's a bipartisan answer here that'll reduce the deficit and still create an environment for economic growth."

Sen. Kelly Ayotte hates that the President is planning on cutting defense spending. She said on State of the Union that she's appalled the President would use them as a bargaining chip in the debt negotiations.?"It makes me sick that some in Washington -- particularly some of the Senate Democrats -- want to play, and even our president, unfortunately, want to use our military as a bargaining chip," Ayotte said.?

Obama advisor Robert Gibbs used Mitt Romney's comments about the London Olympics to question whether or not he's ready to President on This Week. Gibbs said that Romney's comments about the London Olympics preparations being "disconcerting" were enough to "make you wonder whether or not he?s ready to be commander in chief."?

"Mitt Romney wondered aloud whether London was ready for the Olympics, and I think it?s clear that voters in this country wonder aloud whether Mitt Romney is ready for the world, and I think the world is not yet ready for Mitt Romney," Gibbs said.

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

In case you were wondering how much is going to be spent on advertising in this election, someone who analyses media spending is putting the ballpark figure at $3 billion.?Ken Goldstein, President of Kantar Media/CMAG made the prediction on State of the Union.?"We?ll have over $3 billion spent on just spot, local television ? that?s in all races from dog catcher to president," Goldstein said. "When you add in cable buys and national cable buys, that number is going to be more like $3.6 or $3.7 billion."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cheney-criticizes-palin-pick-romney-dances-around-isreal-180053577.html

megamillions ncaa basketball tournament 2012 megamillions winning numbers lotto winner michael oher jerry lee lewis cesar chavez

শুক্রবার, ২৭ জুলাই, ২০১২

Microsoft Sets Date for Its Developer Conference

Microsoft announced a date for its next developer's conference. It could be the venue the company chooses to formally introduce new products as well.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/7v4OaMFvJ1Y/

william shatner seattle weather skier sarah burke gingrich wife cheryl burke sarah burke mega upload

বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৬ জুলাই, ২০১২

Borussia M?nchengladbach vs TSV 1860 Munich live stream online ...

This site may contain advice, opinions and statements of various information providers. Scam.com does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement or other information provided by any information provider, any User of this Site or any other person or entity. Reliance upon any such advice, opinion, statement, or other information shall also be at the User?s own risk. Neither Scam.com nor its affiliates, nor any of their respective agents, employees, information providers or content providers, shall be liable to any User or anyone else for any inaccuracy, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, alteration of or use of any content herein, or for its timeliness or completeness, nor shall they be liable for any failure of performance, computer virus or communication line failure, regardless of cause, or for any damages resulting therefrom. Just because a business, person, or entity is listed on scam.com does not necessarily constitute they are scammers. This is a free open forum where people can debate the merits from the consumer's or business owner's perspective. Registration and participation is always FREE.

Source: http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=165381

whale shark duke university platypus platypus overboard east of eden weather radio

মঙ্গলবার, ২৪ জুলাই, ২০১২

Texas Instruments 2Q Results Miss Expectations

Texas Instruments (TXN) said second-quarter results were below expectations, and warned that apprehension about a global economic slowdown weighed down customer demand.

The company forecast third-quarter earnings in the range of 34 to 42 cents a share, on revenue between $3.21 billion and $3.47 billion, below the Street?s expectation for earnings of 50 cents a share on revenue of $3.54 billion.

"Although we believe customers and distributors have low inventory levels, the global economic environment is causing both to become increasingly cautious in placing new orders,? said Rich Templeton, chairman, president and CEO of TI in a statement. ?Our backlog grew last quarter but orders slowed in the month of June and our backlog coverage for September is lower than normal.?

Templeton went on to warn that third-quarter revenue would be even with last quarter and below the average growth rate for the quarter, and mentioned that the company has a strong inventory and available manufacturing capacity and short product lead times which will allow TI to respond should customer demand ramp up mid-quarter.

The semiconductor giant saw second-quarter profit fall to $446 million, or 38 cents a share, down from last year?s profit $672 million, or 45 cents a share, as revenue slipped to $3.34 billion, down from year-ago sales of $3.46 billion

The results missed expectations on both the top and bottom line; analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had predicted earnings of 41 cents a share on revenue of $3.35 billion.

Shares of Texas Instruments are down nearly 8% so far this year.? The stock fell 1.6% during the regular session Monday, and was down 1% in after-hours trading.

Source: http://feeds.foxbusiness.com/~r/foxbusiness/allnews/~3/m_hjkB8yIhM/

katy perry and russell brand katy perry divorce brock lesnar retires new years wake forest wake forest old dominion

Weston's Regis College will give an iPad to every incoming freshman

Business Journal photo by W. Marc Bernsau

Regis College is giving an iPad to every incoming Freshman, not to mention faculty and administrators.?

See correction at end of article.

Regis College announced Monday that, starting this fall, it would distribute iPads to all incoming full-time students as well as to full-time and half-time faculty.

The tablet computers, made by Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) will come preloaded with apps tailored to Regis' classes, Regis said in a news release.

Regis has about 1,600 undergraduate and graduate students, according to a current college handbook. Tuition and fees for the coming academic year are nearly $47,000 in total, according to the university's website.

Related: The 5 most expensive colleges in Mass. (slide show)

The college will buy 1,230 iPads, a spokeswoman said. At a cost of $380 per device, the university will spend nearly half a million dollars to equip everyone on campus with a stylish tablet computer.

In preparation, faculty members have been using iPads since the spring to include digital teaching into their curriculum, according to the news release.

Incoming freshmen have been in iPad training sessions, the news release said, and leadership at the Weston, Mass. private college has been using the device in its strategic planning.

Correction

An earlier version of this story included a headline that mischaracterized Regis College's iPad program. The college is giving an iPad to every incoming students, including new freshmen and returning students.

Non-Profits, Philanthropy, Higher Education

Follow your favorites with My News

My News is a way to create a customized news feed based on companies and industries that matter to you.

Source: http://feeds.bizjournals.com/~r/vertical_40/~3/kcn5AV_sGyE/regis-to-distribute-ipads-campus-wide.html

k cups best buy we bought a zoo we bought a zoo ipad accessories port charlotte florida kit homes

Google Now: There?s A Fine Line Between Cool And Creepy

There's something very cool about Google Now, which the company announced at its I/O developer conference a few weeks ago. At the same time, though, Now also has the potential to become Google's creepiest service yet. Here is what it does (assuming you opt in to the service and have a phone or tablet that runs Jelly Bean): Google Now learns from your search behavior and shows you cards with information you regularly search for (think game scores of your favorite teams, flight schedules) or that could be relevant to you because of your current location, including weather, nearby restaurants, schedules for the next bus station, how long it's going to take you to drive home and currency information if it finds you are in a different country. It also uses a whimsical theme to highlight the time of day and where you are. All of this could easily scream "invasion of privacy." After all, this is one of the few Google services that really reveal how much the company really knows about you. The reason why it doesn't quite feel like that yet is because of the limitations of the service. There is so much more Google could do with this service, but it almost feels as if Google deliberately kept some features back for the time being to ensure that users can get used to how it works before adding more features.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/uaKD_YH4rlI/

Savages Home Run Derby 2012 San Diego fireworks steve nash july 4th higgs boson Malware Monday

মঙ্গলবার, ১৭ জুলাই, ২০১২

Punflaykids: 20 iPad Apps for Science Teacher... http://t.co/T4VW2OP7 ? #edapp #edtech #scichat

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://twitter.com/Punflaykids/statuses/224413134549561344

mets shades of grey pittsburgh penguins record store day jennie garth space needle nashville predators

রবিবার, ১৫ জুলাই, ২০১২

US role in post-Mubarak Egypt still unclear

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton holds a press conference in Cairo Saturday, July 14, 2012. Clinton arrived in Cairo for talks with new Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, amid a power struggle between the Islamist leader and the generals who ruled Egypt after Hosni Mubarak was ousted. (AP Photo/Brendan Smialowski, Pool)

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr, right, holds a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Cairo Saturday, July 14, 2012. Clinton arrived in Cairo for talks with new Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, amid a power struggle between the Islamist leader and the generals who ruled Egypt after Hosni Mubarak was ousted. (AP Photo/Brendan Smialowski, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, meets with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, right, at the presidential palace in Cairo on July 14, 2012. Clinton hoped to use her first meeting with Egypt's new Islamist president on Saturday to steer Mohammed Morsi toward opening a dialogue with the military that could end the country's political crisis. (AP Photo/Brendan Smialowski, Pool)

CAIRO (AP) ? Having pressed the new Egyptian president, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday will seek to mobilize what influence the United States still has with the army chief whose key role in post-Hosni Mubarak Egypt is splitting the country between those who see the military as a threat to democracy and those clinging to it as a guarantor of stability.

The United States sees it as a bit of both.

Clinton's demand to the military will be simple: Work with Egypt's new Islamist leaders on a full transition to civilian rule.

But with the U.S. having already approved yet another massive delivery of military aid, it is unclear what leverage the Obama administration has as it seeks to stabilize Egypt and build a new relationship with America's once ironclad Arab ally.

The meeting with Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi in Cairo comes with Egypt's transformation from dictatorship to democracy in peril.

Tantawi's council of generals is locked in a tense political standoff with the Muslim Brotherhood after curtailing the powers of its victorious President Mohamed Morsi on the eve of his inauguration last month and enforcing a court decision dissolving the Islamist-dominated parliament. Together the actions have created an atmosphere where no one is quite sure who is in control and where Egypt is headed.

Seventeen months after the street demonstrations that ousted Mubarak, the United States is left without a friend and with little influence among a host of old and new political actors who can't seem to chart a mutual path forward. Calling for compromise and consensus on Saturday after her first ever meeting with Morsi, Clinton staked out a middle ground in the dispute. Yet the immediate effect of her exhortations was nothing.

For the Obama administration, the old prism supporting Egypt's military leaders as bedrock allies shattered with Mubarak's demise. It wants to safeguard U.S. interests in the region, from counterterrorism cooperation to Arab-Israeli peace efforts, but its agenda remains on hold while the Arab world's most populous nation remains mired in turmoil. The lack of clarity over who is going to prevail from Egypt's political maneuvering is only adding to the paralysis.

Clinton, who earlier this year certified sufficient Egyptian action toward democracy for $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid to go through, will likely carry the same message to Tantawi as Morsi. Without taking a position in disputes over parliament or how to draft a new constitution, Clinton will urge the long-time military chief to return the armed forces to a "purely national security role," as she termed it Saturday.

Her criticism was muted, however. Clinton commended the military for defending lives during the February 2011 revolution against the former president and for the progress Egypt made under its interim leadership, which included free and fair elections. And she contrasted the approach with how Syria's military is "murdering their own people," while recognizing that the Egyptian military authorities still needed to do more.

It's unclear if she will adopt a tougher tone with Tantawi behind closed doors or what that might even yield from the generals, whose distrust of America is now almost as strong as that of the Brotherhood.

The United States is in a difficult spot, eager to be seen as a champion of democracy and human rights after three decades of close cooperation with Mubarak despite his abysmal record in advancing either. This has involved some uncomfortable changes, including occasionally harsh criticism of America's once faithful partners in the Egyptian military and words of support for Islamist parties far more skeptical of U.S. motivations for Egypt and the region.

Appearing alongside Clinton at a news conference Saturday, Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr said Morsi stressed in his meeting with the American secretary that he would respect all treaties Egypt has entered into, which includes the landmark 1979 peace accord with Israel.

According to Amr, the president spoke in favor of a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace deal along the 1967 borders and with east Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestine ? a moderate Arab vision for a two-country solution that his party members have been often vague on in the past.

Clinton and Morsi also spoke about Egypt's distressing economic outlook. Clinton promised that the U.S. would make good on well over $1 billion dollars in debt relief, private investment capital and job creation funds that Washington has previously outlined.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-07-15-US-Egypt/id-4f64a8c8f8584ec1812032e3b3ec09a0

katharine mcphee cold mountain valentines day ideas the villages florida egoraptor gisele bundchen turbotax

Lucas Oil Off Road Racing - Round 4 - July 30, 2012 at 3:00 PM

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.lucasoil.com/events1-2383/LucasOilOffRoadRacingRound4July302012at300PM

embers shannon brown mike rowe shld 2012 sec football schedule medifast sinead oconnor

শনিবার, ১৪ জুলাই, ২০১২

AHHerald: AHH Calendar - 18 Jul 2012 19:30 : AH Historical Society - Energy Savings in Older Homes: Our next lecture is on... http://t.co/Zt9qaBrO

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://twitter.com/AHHerald/statuses/224148251710996480

joseph kennedy iii ghost hunters lightsquared david lee honduras prison fire do not call list sports illustrated

Tight security, queues, moans: A very British Olympics

Luke Macgregor / Reuters

Soldiers man a security checkpoint at an entrance to the London 2012 Olympic Park at Stratford in London on July 12, 2012.

By Alastair Jamieson, msnbc.com

LONDON ? The military has been drafted?to plug a security gap, the road surface along a key arrival route is cracking up and London Heathrow International Airport is expecting long lines. Only 14 days before the Olympics, are the wheels coming off London's Games planning or are Britons just finding excuses to grumble?

It has not been an encouraging week for organizers, or for London's 7.5 million residents. A crowd control rehearsal at main stations during Tuesday's morning commute caused frayed tempers?and led to predictions that the city's creaking transport infrastructure may not be able to cope.

@Shoutsatcows on Twitter

A sign in the London Olympic Park, posted to Twitter, explaining that French fries cannot be served -- except to those ordering traditional British fish and chips together.

Then NBC News broke the news on Wednesday that Britain's military will have to come up with 3,500 bodies to fill a shortfall in security personnel because private contractor G4S admitted it might not meet its agreed targets to supply workers.

Competing athletes, due to arrive from all corners of the world on Monday, were warned on Thursday that the M4 motorway link that was supposed to whisk them from Heathrow to their hotels and training bases may still be closed after cracks were discovered in a concrete viaduct. Meanwhile, delays at airport immigration recently were so bad that passengers began slow-clapping in protest.

And anyone at the Olympic site trying to cheer themselves up with a snack might also be disappointed. Under the multi-million dollar?International Olympic Committee sponsorship deals, chips ? as fries are known in the U.K. ? are banned at the site unless they come from McDonald's, or if they are served as part of a traditional British fish and chips meal. A sign in the workers' cafeteria, posted on Twitter, struck a note of disappointment.

The military, currently undergoing a painful round of layoffs and cost-cutting, is far from pleased at mopping up the failings of a private contractor. Retired Colonel Richard Kemp, a former UK commander in Afghanistan, told the BBC on Thursday:

?Many of the soldiers that are coming ? this extra 3,500 ? I understand are soldiers who have just returned from Afghanistan. As always when you give any part of the armed forces a task they will do it extremely well, extremely professionally and with a smile on their face? but we shouldn't forget also that many of these soldiers are people who have been told in the last few days that they are going to be made redundant, that their regiments are being scrapped and they are under great pressure already. The wider morale in the armed forces now is very fragile and this will simply add to that fragility.?

Britain's Home Secretary, Theresa May, has offered free Olympic tickets to the extra soldiers to compensate them for having their leave canceled.?

Summoned to parliament on Thursday to explain the security shortfall, May?denied claims by opposition lawmakers that Games preparations were "a shambles." She also dismissed concerns that the presence of up to 11,000 soldiers at Games venues ? more than the 9,500 troops Britain currently has deployed in Afghanistan ? would make visitors feel uncomfortable.

London is on high military alert as the Olympics approaches, with the Navy's largest ship poised to defend the capital, helicopters, marine commandos and even surface-to-air missiles placed in six areas around the city. NBC's Tazeen Ahmad reports.

London Mayor Boris Johnson went a step farther, saying the military presence "adds to the tone of the occasion."

But the tone of the Games is precisely what is raising concern in some quarters. Early evidence from the main Olympic Park suggests the often-officious character of British event organization could be a serious irritant: Identity passes and access credentials are zealously scrutinized at every turn by guards brandishing official buttons and lanyards, but maps or signs have yet to be installed at the vast site.

Brits revel in gloom ahead of London Olympics, but don't believe the gripe

The Spectator

The cover of the July 14 issue of weekly conservative magazine, The Spectator.

Many local parks, stations and access roads have already been shut down two weeks before the Games, effectively extending the inconveniences associated with airports to the entire city. Conservative commentator Charles Moore, writing in a special issue of The Spectator magazine, took particular exception to the mantra of officialdom, 'for security reasons,' calling it "the great tyrant's excuse of our times."

Strict enforcement of Olympic branding rules and sponsorship clauses has also come under criticism. Pierre Williams, spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses, castigated LOCOG (the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games) for "petty officiousness" and for having been "absurdly over-protective" of its corporate sponsors, according to a report in the Financial Times.?"In its almost paranoid attempts to protect the Olympic brand and its corporate sponsors, it has largely destroyed the goodwill that was there for the taking from businesses supplying the games," he said.

Onlookers taking pictures at the 'O2' music arena have reported being hassled by security staff because the site will shortly become an Olympic venue for basketball and thus off-limits for photography. (It can't be called the 'O2' either, because it is named after a non-Olympic commercial sponsor: It will be known during the games as 'North Greenwich Arena 1'.)

However, these alone are not indications that the Olympics will be a disaster. It seems unlikely that a city that has learned to live with crush-loaded Tube trains and has spent decades under the threat of terror ? first from the IRA, which used explosives and bomb warnings to disrupt London's public transport for a generation, and then from Islamic militants ? could not cope with two weeks of similar inconvenience.

Just two weeks away from the Olympic Opening Ceremony, the British government has announced thousands of additional soldiers will be sent to provide security at Game venues.

Complaints are to be expected, especially in a country where moaning might be regarded as an Olympic event in its own right.

"I hope, and expect, it will be a success," said author and transport expert Christian Wolmar. "I am optimistic that the transport system will cope just fine. If anything goes wrong at the Olympics it will be overzealous and dumb security, not public transport."

There has been one small victory for the common man: McDonald's on Thursday said it had relaxed its position on French fries in a deal with LOCOG that allows workers to be served individual portions of fries at other restaurants on the main Games site.

But perhaps the most encouraging sign came on Thursday afternoon, when transit authority Transport for London asked for volunteers to rehearse waiting in line and "simulate the unloading of a crush Central line car" to test crowd control measures.?"How much fun does that sound like to you?" asked David Hill of The Guardian.?

You may think the last thing the British needed to practice was waiting in line or putting up with crowded trains, but it seems no detail is being left to chance at the 2012 Olympics. There was no shortage of unpaid volunteers, and the event was reportedly a success.?Maybe things will run just fine after all.

More London 2012 coverage:

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/13/12704778-troops-everywhere-long-lines-and-moans-a-very-british-olympic-games?lite

west virginia football black friday violence black friday violence il postino il postino online black friday deals college football scores

বুধবার, ১১ জুলাই, ২০১২

Outdoor Activities To Increase Your Fitness Levels - Health and ...

To many people, fitness can seem like an unreachable goal, and you may feel just like them. Creating and sticking to a routine is difficult is you don?t know where to start. You need information and guidance. The below article provides you with both these things so you can begin to get yourself in top shape immediately.

Pre-pay your trainer. By doing this, you give yourself a powerful motivational tool: You?ll want to keep your commitments to avoid wasting the money you?ve already spent on the trainer?s services. After all, you won?t want to see your good money go to waste. For this reason, you will be far more compelled to follow through with each session.

Bend your wrists when you are exercising your biceps. Accomplish this task by bending your wrists backwards a bit before you do your bicep exercises. Yes, it may be a bit uncomfortable, but you will adjust and it?s a great way to increase your fitness.

Always wear appropriate gear on your feet when you work out. You stand a much higher likelihood of injuring yourself at the feet or ankles if you aren?t wearing specific shoes for the activities of your routine. Not only that, but your feet will probably feel strained and uncomfortable post-workout, which can prevent you from wanting to continue your routine.

Count backwards. Start with the number of repetitions you wish to complete, and count towards zero from there. It makes your workout seem easier. When you only have a certain number left, it is more motivating.

This exercise will help you improve the agility of your feet. Raise up your left foot, then reach down and make contact with the right hand, then drop your foot to the floor. Pick up your right foot and tap it with your other hand. Then touch your left foot behind you with your right hand, then your right foot behind you with your left hand. Go for 20 seconds at a time, moving as fast as you can, and repeat for a total of three to five sets.

Follow the advice contained in this article to develop a healthy lifestyle. There will certainly be a transition period when you will have a hard time, but the results will eventually make themselves apparent if you stick with it. By getting into shape, you are ensuring your vitality and spirituality for a long time.

If you are having a hard time to get started on your diet plan, there are specific actions that you can take to turn it into a habit! You can learn how to get fit and be happier.

Tagged as: foot behind

Source: http://healthandfitnesslabs.com/health-and-fitness/outdoor-activities-to-increase-your-fitness-levels/

dr seuss birthday jennifer garner jennifer garner romney michigan derrick williams railgun jk rowling new book

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Baby Shower

Saturday, I hosted a "snips and snails and puppy dog tails" baby shower for my dear friend Nancy and sweet baby James. You may know Nancy as the mommy of Kate's BFF Becca, in which case you might wonder "why a shower for a second baby?" Since Becca was a super-mini-micro-premie, Nancy didn't get a "normal" baby shower for Becca (i.e. one while the baby was still in the belly!) and so we were all excited to celebrate this perfectly normal and healthy baby boy, growing right on schedule in mama's tummy.

You know how I go nuts with a theme, so once Nancy mentioned that Baby James' nursery would be puppy-dog themed, we were off and running!

I ordered the invites from Zazzle, and added a puppy paw print to the envelopes (using a balled-up piece of Play-Doh, since I didn't have a stamp that worked).

Like many people, Nancy and I initially wondered "what is a snip?" The consensus on ye olde internet was that the "snips" in the classic rhyme refer to the random little things boys might bring home in their pockets?twigs, leaves, etc.?so I used greenery clipped from a tree in our backyard in the decor as my "snips."
I decorated cupcakes frosted with snips, snails, and puppy dog paw prints. My platters were already being used for veggies and cheeses, so I dressed up a cookie sheet with a ruffle cut from one of the napkins and affixed with hot glue. (It peeled right off when I was done. Isn't hot glue great?)

A little snail made from a string cheese and strip of red pepper hid in the corner of the cheese tray.

I'm more into the thematic decor than cooking, so I just made my basic party fare?veggies, cheese, fruit, and spinach-artichoke dip with crackers, but added puppy chow to the mix, yes, just because it went with the puppy dog theme.
The mantle garland had paper paw prints and a snail, plus greenery snips like in the table arrangements.

We played a couple games and opened presents, of course. It was a lovely time celebrating this wonderful mama and her sweet baby boy!

I know a couple people were aware of my efforts to sculpt a puppy cake-topper out of fondant and are eagerly awaiting seeing the little guy! This was my first time working with fondant and I just couldn't seem to get it smooth, so he looked a little dry and crackly. He was so ashamed that he gradually lowered his head, once held high, down onto his paws to rest :0) I figured cupcakes work better than a cake you have to cut during the party anyway, so puppy stayed hidden away in his tupperware in the pantry.

Source: http://www.theparsonagefamily.com/2012/07/snips-and-snails-and-puppy-dog-tails.html

2012 ncaa bracket john carlson greg smith catamount mike dantoni bulls heat goldman sachs

Former NFL RB Albert Young To Become Colorado Ast. Coach

XM Radio host and NFL writer Adam Caplan is reporting the Colorado Buffaloes football program will add former Minnesota Vikings backup RB Albert Young to their coaching staff:

And he seems excited by the opportunity:

At the same time, the hiring presents the interesting paradigm of NFL career paths. Many might look at Young's career and say the 27-year-old was a failure. He rushed for 3173 yards with the Iowa Hawkeyes, yes, but he never got a national championship -- never got so much as a No. 5 ranking with Iowa. And in all but his Sophomore year, Young was splitting carries with RB Damian Sims (undrafted).

Star-divide

And then we look at his NFL career -- 10 games where he logged stats. He rushed for 25 attempts and averaged 3.3 yards and never got a touchdown. At age 25, he was a free agent -- unwanted in Minnesota -- and bounced around to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Pittsburgh Steelers before leaving the pro game for good.

But to call his career a failure is to poorly define success. Young spent three years of his life at the highest level of his profession. To be merely a practice squad player in the NFL is to already be the cream of the collegiate crop.

And now that he has entered the coaching ranks -- and at a respected school, no less -- it would be foolish to describe him as much other than a success. He has flourished when given opportunities, and he has blazed new trails when there were none.

So congrats, Albert, on the new gig. We hope you do well.

Source: http://denver.sbnation.com/colorado-buffaloes/2012/7/9/3147563/former-nfl-rb-albert-young-to-become-colorado-ast-coach

packers stock sale jason mayhem miller margarito margarito horton hears a who horton hears a who cotto margarito

মঙ্গলবার, ১০ জুলাই, ২০১২

Marketingcrossing.com: Marketing Jobs @ SEOValidator.Net

marketing jobs, jobs in marketing, marketing careers, marketing employment, marketing job, marketing manager jobs, sales marketing jobs, marketing director jobs, advertising marketing jobs, brand jobs, pr & marketing jobs, communications, business coordinator, assistant, director, brand manager, product marketing, entry level, public relations, event, online, sports, vp, communications, specialist, market research, direct marketing, executive, internet, product, senior, media marketing, international, associate, consultant, internship, web, field, part time, business, fashion coordinator, retail, brand ambassador, search, digital, music, finance, brand management, branding, technical marketing, in nj, az, london, uk, USA entry level, intern, internship, jobs, careers, employment, job search, job openings, opportunities, positions, MarketingCrossing.com

Keyword(s) count: 65??Keyword(s) length: 864 characters

Source: http://seovalidator.net/marketingcrossing.com

nicki minaj beez in the trap video food network good friday f/a 18 f 18 crash virginia tenebrae the lake house

সোমবার, ৯ জুলাই, ২০১২

Syrian military holds exercises in show of force

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? In a show of force, Syria began large-scale military exercises Sunday to simulate defending the country against outside "aggression." Damascus' staunch ally Iran warned of a "catastrophe" in the region if no political solution to the 16-month-old Syrian conflict is found.

Tehran is Syria's closest ally, and has stood by President Bashar Assad's regime throughout the revolt against his rule despite a growing chorus of international condemnation. The relentless bloodshed has accelerated diplomatic efforts to find a solution to the crisis, and spurred some in the Syrian opposition to urge the West to intervene militarily to stop a conflict that activists say has left more than 14,000 people dead.

Iran's deputy foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, dismissed talk of foreign intervention, saying "nobody can imagine a military attack against Syria. We believe it will not happen. If it happens, Syria will defend itself and will not need help from Iran."

U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan, who is the architect of an international plan to end the crisis, acknowledged in an interview published Saturday that the international community's efforts to find a political solution to the escalating violence in Syria have failed. Annan arrived in the Syrian capital Sunday for talks with Assad, his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said.

The West is reluctant to intervene in Syria in part because unlike the military intervention that helped bring down Moammar Gadhafi in Libya, the Syrian conflict has the potential to quickly escalate. Damascus has a web of allegiances to powerful forces including Shiite powerhouse Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah and there are concerns that a military campaign could pull them into a wider conflagration.

"Some tried to portray the Syrian president as just another aggressor. Some tried to impose a no-fly zone. We must say that Syria is different from Libya," Abdollahian said. He declined to elaborate, but added: "there will be a catastrophe in the region, if there's no political solution there."

Any outside intervention would also likely face strong opposition from Syrian ally Russia, as well as China, who have already shielded Damascus from diplomatic efforts to pressure the regime.

Speaking to reporters in Amman, Jordan, Abdollahian dismissed questions about whether Iran would host Assad if he were to leave Syria, saying the issue of Assad fleeing his country and seeking refuge elsewhere is "a joke."

"He is following up on the situation in Syria. The Syrian people will decide their fate until another president is elected in 2014," he said.

Assad said in comments published Sunday that he will not step down "in the face of national challenges." He spoke in a television interview with German public broadcaster ARD, which released his comments translated into German on Sunday ahead of the full interview's broadcasting.

Assad he also accused the United States of fueling the revolt against him by partnering with "terrorists ... with weapons, money or public and political support at the United Nations."

The regime frequently uses the term "terrorists" to refer to Syrians seeking to topple Assad.

The Syrian military maneuvers began Saturday with naval forces in a scenario where they repelled an attack from the sea, and will include air and ground forces over the next few days, the state-run SANA news agency said. State TV broadcast footage of missiles being fired from launch vehicles and warships ? an apparent warning to other countries not to intervene in the country's crisis.

Syrian Defense Minister Dawood Rajiha attended the maneuvers and praised the "exceptional performance" of the naval forces which showed "a high level of combat training and ability to defend Syria's shores against any possible aggression."

"The navy carried out the training successfully, repelling the hypothetical attack and striking at given targets with high precision," the report said.

The maneuvers are the second to be carried out by the Syrian military since the uprising began 16 months ago.

Annan said Saturday that the international community's efforts to find a political solution to the escalating violence in Syria have failed.

"The evidence shows that we have not succeeded," he told the French daily Le Monde.

Annan, the special envoy for the United Nations and the Arab League, is the architect of the most prominent international plan to end the crisis in Syria.

His six-point plan was to begin with a cease-fire in mid-April between government forces and rebels seeking to topple Assad. But the truce never took hold, and now the almost 300 U.N. observers sent to monitor the cease-fire are confined to their hotels because of the escalating violence.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday that time is running out on Syrian peace hopes and warned that the Syrian state could collapse.

Speaking in Japan, Clinton said Annan's acknowledgement that his peace plan is failing "should be a wake-up call for everyone."

She said last month was the deadliest for the Syrian people since the revolt began in March 2011, but added that the opposition "is getting more effective in defense of themselves and going on the offensive against the Syrian military."

___

Karam reported from Beirut. AP writer Jamal Halaby contributed from Amman, Jordan.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-military-holds-exercises-show-force-174812275.html

mothers day gifts clippers lisa lampanelli lisa lampanelli bronx zoo memphis grizzlies celebrity apprentice

S&P lowers Tata Power outlook to 'negative'

[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

[ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/p-lowers-tata-power-outlook-negative-102053242--finance.html

pawn stars restrepo nba news nba news florida gators hope solo hope solo

Cambodian Deaths Tied to Common Illness

A deadly form of a common childhood illness has been linked to the mysterious child deaths in Cambodia that sparked alarm after a cause could not immediately be determined, health officials said Monday.

Lab tests have confirmed that a virulent strain of hand, foot and mouth disease known as EV-71 is to blame for some of the 59 cases reviewed since April, including 52 deaths, according to a joint statement from the World Health Organization and Cambodian Health Ministry. The numbers were lowered from the initial report of 62 cases.

EV-71 is a virus that can result in paralysis, brain swelling and death. Most of the Cambodian cases involved children younger than 3 who experienced fever, respiratory problems that led to rapid shutdown and sometimes neurological symptoms.

Epidemiologists are still trying to piece together information about the cases by interviewing parents because some details may have been omitted or missing from medical charts and specimens were not taken from most children before they died, said Dr. Nima Asgari, who is leading the WHO investigation. Of 24 samples tested, 15 came back positive for EV-71.

"As far as I'm aware, EV-71 was not identified as a virus in Cambodia before," Asgari said, adding that based on the information now available it's likely that the majority of untested patients were infected with it.

Mean Thida, 4, affected with mystery disease, sleeps at her home near a dump site at Sambour village, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, July 9, 2012. A deadly form of a common childhood illness has been linked to many of the mysterious child deaths in Cambodia that caused alarm after a cause could not immediately be determined, health officials said Monday. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith) Close

"We are a bit more confident. We are hoping that we can come up with something a bit more conclusive in the next day or so," he said.

Hand, foot and mouth disease has been raging across Asia and usually causes a telltale rash. Blistering was only reported in some of the Cambodian cases, and it's possible that steroids administered by doctors could have masked the symptom or it may not have been recorded, he said.

The lab results also identified other diseases in some cases, including mosquito-borne dengue fever and Streptococcus suis, a germ commonly seen in pigs that sometimes infects people, often causing meningitis and hearing loss.

Hand, foot and mouth disease is spread by sneezing, coughing and contact with fluid from blisters or infected feces. It is caused by enteroviruses in the same family as polio. No vaccine or specific treatment exists, but illness is typically mild and most children recover quickly without problems.

The virus gets its name from the symptoms it causes, including rash, mouth sores and blisters covering the hands and feet. Many infected children don't get sick but can spread it to others.

Neighboring Vietnam has been battling a surging number of hand, foot and mouth disease cases for the past few years, with EV-71 also wreaking havoc there. Last year, the disease sickened more than 110,000 people and killed 166, mostly children whose immune systems were not strong enough to fend off the infection.

China is also experiencing an outbreak, and more than 240 people have died of the disease there this year, according to China's Health Ministry.

The Cambodia investigation is continuing, but the H5N1 bird flu virus, SARS and Nipah ? a deadly virus usually spread by fruit bats or pigs ? have all been ruled out.

????

AP Medical Writer Margie Mason contributed to this report from Hanoi, Vietnam.

Source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=02ba27f5666e0caca190da5382aa55a6

bagpipes aspirin aspirin 21 jump street amelia earhart illinois primary results acapulco mexico

রবিবার, ৮ জুলাই, ২০১২

More states freed from No Child Left Behind law

SEATTLE (AP) ? Although more than half the states are now exempt from the toughest requirements of the federal "No Child Left Behind" education law, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Friday his goal remains to help Congress fix the law, not to sidestep the stalled overhaul effort.

The Obama administration's announcement Friday that Washington and Wisconsin have been granted waivers from the education law brought to 26 the number of states now free from many of its requirements.

Allowing waivers has brought a level of creativity to education reform that was unexpected when Duncan and President Barack Obama opened the waiver process nearly a year ago.

Congress could come up with a great plan for reauthorizing the federal law by adopting the best ideas from the states' waiver applications, Duncan said at a news conference Friday.

Lawmakers remain at a stalemate over the long overdue rewrite of the widely criticized law, which was a signature accomplishment of the George W. Bush administration. Obama sent Congress an overhaul proposal two years ago.

Making the law formally known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act irrelevant is not the Obama administration's goal, Duncan said.

"Our Plan A is to reauthorize. We stand ready to reauthorization if it's on Monday or next week or six months from now," he said.

The Education Department began granting waivers in February in exchange for promises from states to improve how they prepare and evaluate students and their teachers. The executive action by Obama is part of an ongoing effort to act on his own when Congress is rebuffing him.

"A strong, bipartisan reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act remains the best path forward in education reform, but as 26 states have now demonstrated, our kids can't wait any longer for Congress to act," Duncan said in a statement released Friday.

The 10-year-old law requires all students to achieve proficient math and reading scores by 2014, a goal that many educators say is impossible.

Members of both parties say No Child Left Behind is broken, but they have been unable to agree on how to fix it. While the law has been praised for focusing on the performance of minorities, low-income students, English language learners and special education students, it has also labeled thousands of schools as "failing" because of the stringent ways it measures success.

Critics also say the law has had the unintended effect of encouraging schools to focus too much on testing, leading them to narrow their curricula.

Washington state schools chief Randy Dorn said the waiver will lift the requirement that all students pass the state reading and math tests by 2014. It will also give Washington school districts more flexibility about how they spend some federal dollars.

In return, Washington will need to show improvement in test scores for subgroups of students who have historically had lower scores than average, such as those who qualify for free- or reduced-price meals.

Wisconsin's plan includes an innovative "red flag" system that is triggered when groups of students are failing in a variety of ways beyond test scores, including daily attendance and drop-outs. This system can be activated throughout the school year, to help kids when they need it most, not once a year like the testing requirements of No Child Left Behind.

The federal government also recognized Wisconsin for raising its math and science credit requirements and for shrinking the number of students in each testing subgroup so that the system does a better job of recognizing when disabled students or those in a minority group need extra help.

Other waiver applications are still pending in 10 states and the District of Columbia. Waivers were approved last month in Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, South Dakota, Utah and Virginia.

In order to get a waiver, each state had to promise to show in other ways that its students and schools are improving, and they were required to more closely link teacher evaluations to student test scores, among other requirements.

Washington's waiver application emphasized its embrace of new national education standards, the state's new teacher and principal evaluations, and its efforts to take a broader look at student achievement beyond reading and math by also testing for writing and science.

The waiver agreement requires that by 2018, Washington cut in half achievement gaps between various ethnic and economic groups, when compared with 100 percent passage rates. For example, if one group had 74 percent passing reading in 2011, that group would need to have 87 percent passing by 2018.

The agreement adds another requirement for Title I schools, which are high-poverty public schools that get extra money from the federal government to help students who are behind academically or at risk of falling behind.

It requires the state education office to annually identify priority schools, which are the 5 percent lowest-achieving of Title I schools; focus schools, which are the lowest 10 percent of Title I schools; and reward schools, the highest performing Title I schools or those making the most progress in a given year.

___

Contact Donna Blankinship through Twitter at https://twitter.com/dgblankinship .

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-07-06-No%20Child%20Left%20Behind-Waivers/id-508721aba7fa4b3ba29dac072585dceb

kourtney kardashian kourtney kardashian lipitor lipitor kourtney kardashian pregnant again kourtney kardashian pregnant again apple juice