text:
RSS Feed

The Junaid Jamshed not many knew

Sitting here, writing a blog that is an obituary for Junaid Jamshed. This is surreal. It is unbelievable. And is an unpleasant and painful task, but one that I must carry out as someone who knew him well. Because he would have liked me to write this. For two reasons: Firstly, Junaid, or JJ, or Jay as close friends called him, was a people’s person. He did not mind the attention. He was used to it from a very early age. I remember asking him, during one of the three interviews of his I did spanning over two decades, whether he was so used to attention as a celebrity that even when he came towards religion, he enjoyed the adulation. He laughed and did not deny it. So he would be ok with this. But secondly, and more importantly, he would appreciate that the correct, and the factual, and the good is written about him. Junaid was not as guarded with the media as I initially thought…not guarded enough. His utterances often got him into trouble – he did not weigh words as one would expect from someone who had spent most of his life under the spotlight. So he ended up saying things that ruffled so many feathers at both ends of the spectrum. More than three years ago, after I met him and Shahi Hasan at Shahi’s studio for a feature story, he had later requested me to write about the other side of him. “People just see me as the person who stops women from driving cars and wants to deny women independence. I’m not like that! And there is more to me. Can you write something positive about me?” he had said. I had told him that journalism is something I do with honesty, and I will not write positive stuff unless I find positive stuff about him worth penning. He agreed. I did end up writing some positive stuff after all. That is what I am doing once again right now. He would have wanted this.

So there is stuff about Junaid we all know but then there is stuff that we all don’t know.

Like the fact that he was big on not just charity but in particular about mother and child health, and had raised money and set up many medical care centres for maternal health. “The year was 2003. I remember reading somewhere that a woman travelling from Jhang to Faisalabad on a tonga in full-term labour died because no maternal health facility was close by. That story shook me. Pakistan’s women should not have to go through this,” he had said in that interview. During the interview, I had shared with him about the good work being done at the Koohi Goth Fistula Hospital. He started working on gathering both funds and support for the cause, and then raised enough money to support and cover the cost of some major projects the hospital needed funds for. Those getting treatment don’t even know that the person who helped give them a new lease of life is Junaid. The many unnamed individuals and families he was helping through his charity work will be hard hit at the loss.

Like the fact that he always, always struggled with his inner self after having chosen the path that he chose. I recall another pointed question I had asked, jestingly. “So the beard is your choice. But why not trim it?” “Yeh mat bolo (Don’t say that). It’s not easy,” he replied, and I felt guilty I ever asked that. An excerpt of the interview went like this:

“Sitting in Shahi Hasan’s studio, his fingers, a couple of times, delicately traced the contours of the guitar strings. But an inner commitment is stronger than the temptation. He hummed a few lines, but stopped. The darling of the Pakistani masses is no longer a balladeer. The passion has been channelised towards a higher love. His songs formerly talked about how to woo a beloved… his nasheeds and naats still do. But the Beloved has changed. JJ has evolved.”

Trying to practice religion is an uphill task. There is always discrimination, and criticism, and of course he had to bear all that. Misogynist. Chauvinist. Mullah. The titles were many. So were the attacks on his selfies with female friends. Ironically, these were often hurled by the very people who supposedly believe that one should live and let live. The very people who will forever rely on his songs when they feel patriotic or heart-broken or in love or happy or sad.

For me, his voice has been with me through me own transitions. From a music buff to one who developed the heart and the taste for the naat and nasheed genre, his voice was a part and parcel of the journey. Even at the age of 52, his voice sounded young and untainted.

Junaid, like all of us, had his shortcomings. I strongly disagreed with so many of his stances, and agreed with others, like many of us. But he was a good soul, a loving son, husband and father. He made efforts to help others. He did help thousands, both through his charity and through his role in reviving the faith of so many. Like all of us, he may have fallen and gotten up many times on the path he chose. But he chose to stay on that path anyways. Not many take that path after a taste of such fame and adulation. Reminds one of his song:

Hum kyun chalain uss raah par jis raah par sub hee chalain

Kyun na chunain who raasta jis par naheen koi gaya…

He is just one story and this is just one obituary out of the 47 who lost their lives today. Each story unique. Each life unparalleled. Lives full of promise. Lives cut short.

Life is short. And unpredictable. If we take home one thing from Junaid’s passing, which I pray will be accepted by Allah as shahadat (martyrdom), it is to stop judging others.

Rest in peace JJ. And thank you for all the goodness you spread and the service you offered to humanity. May you be rewarded multi-fold in the Hereafter.

Published also at

About FarahnazZahidi

Journalist, writer, blogger & activist. Currently working for The Express Tribune. Focus on human rights, health, gender, peace & Islam. Idealist. Wannabe photographer. Chaai, traveling, reading, friends and motherhood.

11 responses »

  1. Why do good people have such a short life?

  2. Only Allah knows why good people have short life but we should always try to be like them.

    • A Man Has No Name

      Agreed, only Allah knows why. But if I had to guess, I’d say good people tend to be ‘moved’ to a better place, sooner.

  3. It was touching and heartfelt piece

  4. Please correct this, chaplain is supposed to be chalain.
    “Hum kyun chaplain uss raah par jis raah par sub hee chaplain”

  5. A very good article at just the right time. When all of a sudden one needs to know the whole picture, the tru picture, the complete pic of a personality who will be missed sorely,by all and sundry. The words of his songs in their popular times formed the basis of an emotional philosophy; which developed in the minds of the youth as they grew into scholars listening to his good lyrics!

  6. nice obituary Farah jee. seems like he was beloved to so many people, more than we ever realized in his lifetime….if only we cud cherish people as much while they are still alive

  7. Excellent writing Myra. Keep it up. Taya Abu is proud of you. I agree with you,stop judging others.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Logo

You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this:


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Truncated: length

WARC-Type: response

text:
Recent comments

(3) View all

Iwona commented on Celebrate the people who make the city work.....

Interesting how they first had to break/bridge perceptions before they could engage in the second phase of redesigning the city. Goes to show how important it is to get people to buy in before you undertake a large project.

Iwona commented on Attracting Start Ups

Hi Sarah,

I think your idea has a lot of potential. I think generating economic growth through start-ups is key to create some form of sustainable growth.

I wonder if you could partner with local non-profits interested in revitalizing the city as well as local business professionals to provide guidance and mentorship. I'd be great if you could provide business skill training to locals who would want to start-up their own businesses. I think they'd be a good target market to look at since they are personally + emotionally invested in the community. Often times when a company undergoes a big transformation (Ex: Xerox), it has a higher success rate if you hire a new CEO internally as opposed to externally. I think this can be applied to this case. You want to find local aspiring entrepreneurs as opposed to entrepreneurs who want to relocate.

On another note, I wonder what the tipping point would be for this kind of venture?

Best of luck!

Iwona commented on Attracting Start Ups

I think you girls are on to something. This reminds me of communities that are rallied around one industry. You see examples of this in Italy where you have a cluster of fashion companies or in China where you have towns all focused on manufacturing one good. I know large cities tend to be much more diverse, but this could be a starting point that could spark the revitalization of a city. You can have multiple businesses start-up all focusing on producing a specific good/service that intertwines with the other good/services others are producing. It'd be great if this were a self-sustaining, green industry.

warcinfo:
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2017-13
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for March 2017
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf


text:
Back to Profile: Taskerr

  • Dr. Peter Chen: Entity Relationship Model - Past, Present and Future

    Good overview of design principle and practice.

    ER design tools come with enterprise price tags which often means that SQL Server designs are implemented without such tools in place.

    Its easy for Microsoft to push SQL Server as a product but you are remiss in not providing cheaper tools similar to ERWIN or ER/Studio to maintain schemas and serve third party maintenance.

  • Tony Williams: Co-inventor of COM

    Tony, it’s a shame you’re a physicist. I say this because in your talk you never alluded to biology or such things. There are superb examples of componentisation in nature at the macro/micro level and from an architecture viewpoint something to be admired. This is not to say they don’t exist in quantum physics.

    For instance, some basics building blocks are common to all forms of life on earth such that a butterfly might become an albatross given time. As software’s existence is imperceptible in biological timescales it could just be that one of your legacies, or a colleagues, will have been to help create a software molecule that become fundamental to all future software.

    My favourite from all the years of  Word, Excel etc has got to be drag and drop.

  • Euan Garden - Who is SQL Server's customer?

    One thing I have noticed in my travels is that Managers within enterprises become very frustrated when the work they require gets placed onto a Client-Server job que in the back office.

    So frustrated are they, that they have gone looking for ways to get around the problem by reinventing what they require on desktop software. Not realistic at all but what do they do?

  • Mary Snapp: VP and Deputy General Counsel

    I wonder if Mary and her colleagues operate in the stratosphere of Microsoft or do they become involved with the vision of product evolution in a user legal sense at the developer or detail level?

    A users legal document integrity or fidelity in the Office product range still has a long way to go.  When I look at the evolution of the Office product I see its genesis as starting in the non-legal domain, a toy, in a paper bound world.  The product still lives there, is no toy, and has been taken up big time by global government agencies and industries like pharmaceuticals were there is an FDA or other legal requirement.

    Mary works in an undiscovered country and alludes to the difficulties of relating previous case law with new technology.  This seems especially so when the case law can come from many countries and change dynamically.

    What I would like to see, is discussion on how the fidelity of an electronic Office document cited in evidence would be set beyond repudiation.  Perhaps there should be a version of Office designed for this purpose and one used specifically when there was a legal requirement or obligation.

    Another issue is technology related.  If legal documents were stored electronically then their content would need technology to read them, technology that would not be available in the long term.  This contrasts with paper, which requires no technology to impart meaning and which has considerable longevity compared to a hard drive platter.

    Is this the push behind Office 12 going XML, I wonder?  It goes a long way in overcoming the technology issue but reduces the fidelity requirement.  Presumably, digital fingerprints for archived Office products will be built into Office 12?

    Reference: http://www.mass.gov/Aitd/docs/policies_standards/etrm3dot5/responses/microsoft.pdf

  • Brian Jones - New Office file formats announced

    This has to be a good move!  Outside of XML is this a philosophical return to Wordperfect/Wordstar?  These technologies had the equivalent of tags surrounding text.

    It will make the document's content technology proof given that Office has such a wide customer base.

    Long-term storage of documents/data is becoming a problem as they are tied to the version of an application.  The change from O97 to O2000 is a case in point. Documents may have to be kept for 30 years or more.

    A rule of thumb has always been to save the info in ASCII format.  However, given that the new docs will be compressed it seems that bit 8 is still alive.

    In this respect One assumes that the zip format in use is not propriety and will still be available in 30 years time.

    Who cares, I hear you say!

    Well, it could be information relating to your mortgage; the one that you pass down to your children.

  • Nar Ganapathy - Windows, the IO Manager and Driver Model , Part I

    I was doing some research into tradeoffs between hard drive SATA and SCSI technologies when I came across the fact that Server 2003 supported Raid 5 Striping something that is new I believe in the server product.

    I was also looking at Tag Command Queing (TCQ) and SATA related NCQ for hard drives.

    Does Server 2003 support TCQ or something akin to it during  management of Raid 5 or does the kernel leave all of this to disk controller hardware?

    I ask the question because a number of motherboards manufacturers Ausus for one have implemented Raid 5 but have ignored TCQ I guess because the intended market is workstation. However Abit have implemented NCQ without featuring raid on a server board.

    Should the kernel glue these two together somehow?

    Another reason for asking this is one of vision - perhaps in the future distributed computing may become an everyday occasion. In this scenario workstation hard drive access begins to mimic that of a server in that jobs may be running from many diverse sources giving TCQ a role to play.
  • Windows, Part II - Dave Probert

    What Dave brings out in this piece reminds me of something that has sadly disappeared from modern computing by way of evolution. It’s that in those early days of the 70’s and 80’s you were more than likely to be an Electronics Engineer as opposed to a programmer. Chicken and egg, which came first the hardware or the software.

    One can sense the potential of multi-core CPU’s but as Dave points out in many senses they have been around for some while at the machine level. The challenge for contemporary programmers is to exploit this new technology and its not going to be easy.

    Dave has a lot more control at the Kernel level than say a C# programmer has with a real time thread. So do we end up with an NT5 style programmers kernel sat atop the machine Kernel simply to control such threads?

    In my experience real time threads are of limited use outside of machine control and mechanical automation, e.g. CNC lathes. The OS systems that control these machines are very similar in philosophy to what is being done in NT5. The only real difference is that real time means literally that. A tooltip must arrive at its destination at the right time or crunch.

  • Kevin Schofield - Tour of Microsoft Research, Part III (SmartPhone, Search, and HIV research)

    Pet Subject:

    'Dogfooding it'

    Microsoft acronyms, jargon and onomatopoeia.

  • Brian Groth and Mark Berman -- Demo of SOA application

    Good Stuff!

    Is there an interface to MFG/PRO written in Progress that one could base a CRM system upon?
  • Neal Christiansen - Inside File System Filter, part II

    Good video, its a credit. Or is it?

    Now C9 are in the in the movie business and doing it so well its good manners to also name the camera-man, sound-man and the interviewer as well as the interviewee's in a fixed location piece like this one.

    It would also be nice to see a list of published material such as whitepapers, books etc. It could afterall supplement someones income.

    I must admit to feeling a little jealous of the kernel designers and maintainers in that, and I don't know for sure, but I guess the scope of what they do has remained manageable and somewhat stable over the years.
    Whilst for the rest of us in the application layer - well, change is the name of the game and the scope sometimes feels infinite and overwhelming.

    The application layer has seen an explosive growth in support technologies for application design. I just wish that the same was available for OS design. I'd love to see thousands of prospective OS being churned out, each one relevant to the moment and not constrained by commercial or backward compatibilty hangups. Maybe this is so and I'm just out of touch.

    Perhaps Neil [et al], given their collective experience, should write a book(s) along the lines of Donald Knuth and the MIX language but instead of a lanuage define a model OS from first principles.
  • John Pruitt - Development Cycle at Microsoft

    My perception of MS products is that versions seem to be coming thick and fast of late. Which is different to what used to happen. Is the Business guilty of moving the stock around the store to keep the buyer from becoming habitual?

    Given that we are all subject to to some degree of Pavlovian conditioning, the small changes that take place seem more of a nuisance than of real value.

    Instead of tinkering with a products look and feel should MS instead be investing in heuristic learning as the user interacts with the product?

    This is partly there in the Intellisense features.

  • Ken Levy - First look at Visual FoxPro 9

    Ken - your an unsung hero!

    Its been a long, long time since I worked with Foxpro or was it FoxBase+ back in 1988.

    At the time it was the fastest thing around with version 2.x coming on five 1.44Mb diskettes.

    We won't talk about the Rushmore heist!

    Given that type of foot print, have you considered re-issuing a cut-down version at a similar size as part of the Express range of products. It would be a cool way to introduce a new generation of programmer/hobbyist to an xbase legacy.

    I'd like to see some benchmarks that compare Foxpro with other MS database technologies - anybody up for the the challenge?


text:
ARCast.TV - Bob Pearson on The Business Benefits of Social Networking

Download this episode

Download Video

When you think of the phrase “Social Computing,” you probably think of teenagers sharing pictures with their BFFs or folks “micro-blogging” on Twitter, but if you think that’s all social computing is all about, you’re wrong. There can be tangible business benefits to embracing the principles of social computing. Providing community forums where your customers can talk about your products, provide service information to each other and provide direct, candid feedback about how you can make your products better is exactly what Denny Boynton talks to Bob Pearson, VP of Communities and Conversations at Dell Corporation, about in this episode.

Available formats for this video:

Actual format may change based on video formats available and browser capability.

    The Discussion

    Comments closed

    Comments have been closed since this content was published more than 30 days ago, but if you'd like to continue the conversation, please create a new thread in our Forums, or Contact Us and let us know.


text:
For the last day or so, my main focus has been on cleaning up artwork, fixing/replacing/adding sound effects, and generally making the game presentable. I’ve also fixed a couple of bugs and done some other little stuff here and there. Today I’m working to finish this process, and later I should have a demonstration level ready to go. I’ll try to post a video tonight showing off what’s currently in the game. After all this presentation stuff is dealt with, I plan on implementing traps :-)

A new player sprite, among other things

[Originally posted September 27th, 2010]

Despite the fact that it has been almost a week since my last dev journal, work has continued unabated. Last week I finished modifying the artwork to fit the new style, and created a new player sprite. I also filled in most of the missing player animations.

I finished up doors/triggers, and fixed up moving platform movement. I also fixed a bug with world map collision. There were a few little updates here and there, but on Friday I began working on getting VBOs (vertex buffer objects) implemented for the hardware renderer. In layman’s terms, I was hoping to greatly enhance rendering performance when using hardware rendering. After working on this for hours on Friday, as well as a little bit over the weekend, and hours more today, I finally got them working and optimized. Unfortunately, I found that VBOs actually caused a slight decrease in performance. I spent some more time playing around with them, but ultimately it looks like the rendering method I was using before will work better.

So, I spent the past hour or so reverting all of the necessary code. It should be mentioned that the VBO stuff was not a total loss, as I did come across a couple of nice optimizations I could do while working on it.

I just now rewrote the way the renderer accesses the dimensions of an image to be rendered, which cleaned up a lot of code nicely.

I’m calling it quits for now, although I will probably look at some other ways to optimize rendering tonight. Tomorrow, I will be resuming regular work.

Cross-platform, ho!

[Originally posted September 21st, 2010]

I finished fixing up the new hardware renderer code, and got the screenshot function working again. I also fixed a worldmap collision bug.

With the renderer finished, the game is now platform-independent, so I hope to eventually release the game on Windows, Linux and Mac.

I tested the game on several different OS’s, just to see how it performs. On an emulated Windows 98 SE (via VirtualBox), it ran pretty decently in software mode (hardware mode blows up). In Linux, I tested it in Wine, and found that it ran quite well, but only in hardware mode. Software mode performed horribly. Then, I moved on to the main event, and got the game to compile natively in Linux (Opensuse 11.3). It runs quite well natively, so I’m thinking a cross-platform release is a real possibility.

Tonight, I decided to work on some level tiles, and I decided to throw out the slanted look I had been planning on, as it was going to delay the game far too much. I’m currently the game’s sole artist, and art is not exactly my forte, so anything that reduces art requirements is a Good Thing.

Here’s a screenshot of the slanted look that I was working on.

For a good look at the current direction I’m going, check out this video.

Platformer lighting

[Originally posted September 21st, 2010]

So, originally I wanted to use a somewhat fancy (from a technical standpoint) lighting system in Hubert’s Island, in which each tile had its own lighting value. You can see a video demonstrating this here. Ultimately, this just doesn’t look good, however. It was actually Aneissa who convinced me to let it go, as it was fun to write the code for, and a shame to just cut. Ah well, it was an hour well spent anyway.

A simple sprite-based lighting system has replaced the tile-based lighting, and you can see that in action here.

What do you guys think?

First dev journal

[Originally posted September 18th, 2010]

So, this is the first development journal for Hubert’s Island (somewhat tentative title, but I’ll probably stick with it). In these journals, I will document the development progress of the game, talk about different coding stuff, and generally keep everyone informed on the status of the game. Without further ado, here’s the first little dev journal:

Today, I finished up doors, and made the AI aware of those.

I optimized AI detection of walls, and did a few other minor things.

I also wrote a new image loading function for the hardware renderer, so it no longer requires an additional external library. The benefit of this change should be complete platform independence of the game’s code and libraries, as the library I removed was compiled using VC++ and I couldn’t get it to compile myself (and I worked on it for HOURS!).

To test out this hypothesis, I tried running the game on an emulated Windows 98, where it previously crashed immediately upon running, with some Microsoft-y error. Today, the game loaded up and ran quite well, and that was really exciting to see! I’m using Virtual Box, and as far as I can tell, Win98 has full access to one core of my CPU, so that might explain the over-100 fps I was getting.

But regardless, the system requirements of the game should be lower than I originally thought they would be.

After all of the work on the game, I worked on the site a little more, and all of the associated Cheese and Bacon accounts (Twitter, YouTube, etc). Then, I completely broke the site while trying to add a mod linking WordPress and phpBB together. Whoops. Anyway, I just fixed that, so everything should be cool again.

Dev journals moved to blog

Until today, dev journals were being posted on the forums. However, today I decided to migrate dev journals to a blog format, so updates can now be posted directly on the Hubert’s Island page. This should also make following and sharing posts easier than before.

Website Launched

This is the official site for Cheese and Bacon Games, an up-and-coming indie game developer. Our current (and first) project is an as-yet-untitled platformer for the PC.

So, the site is online, and right now I’m working on getting everything up (forums, game page, etc). Stay tuned for more news shortly.


text:
Salento Wine

by Chikashi

Portrait by Ron Oliver

Luigi, our Pugliese friend, is a bit of a history buff and knows the story of just about every town, village and building in his native region.  I like interesting stories.  I enjoy them especially when it is told by a natural storyteller over a good meal.  Luigi loves to eat and drink.  So do I.  We brought back some wine from Puglia, including the four that Luigi said we must take with us.  One was a familiar name, Taurino Cosimo’s Patriglione, which I think is, quite frankly, addictive and was therefore already on my list, which also included Taurino Cosimo’s Notarpanaro and Cantine Due Palme’s Selvarossa Riserva Speciale.

Two of the remaining three on Luigi’s list are Cantele’s Amativo and Azienda Monaci’s Le Braci.

Luigi told me that the Cantele family is from the North.  They used to work for Taurino Cosimo many years ago but moved back up North after awhile.  Then, they returned to Puglia to start their own winery.  Puglia does that to you.  Rather than approximating Taurino Cosimo (albeit they are neighbours), they had the good sense to set up to be their own.

Amativo is a blend of Primitivo (60%) and Negroamaro (40%).  The first thing I noticed is its beautiful colour.  A rich appearance is always a good start.  I am not an expert on wine; I just enjoy them.  Therefore, my vocabulary is severely limited when describing the flavour, but there is a distinct spiciness and a hint of leather in Amativo.  The combination has a slightly bitter overall effect, which I think is the sort of thing that does not allow one to be equivocal about it.  The lingering charcoal at the end demands that care must be taken in matching it to the right sort of food.  We paired it with Harry’s Bar hamburger, but rather than complementing the food, Amativo seemed to overwhelm it.  I visited Cantele’s web site to read up on it a few days later and found that they recommend drinking it with a good cigar.  It is a shame that I had not read that recommendation, or thought of it myself (rather unlikely), before finishing the bottle because I can imagine that it would actually work quite well with something like Bolivar’s Royal Corona Special.  Perhaps next time.

In contrast, I think Le Braci (100% Negroamaro) is more versatile without being plain.  It is beautiful in appearance, which can be described as clear, purplish pigeon blood ruby.  It is full bodied but not chewy.  The caramel in the middle probably has something to do with its sweetness and tannin being complementary rather than competitive.  The language used in wine tasting notes can be a bit heavy on metaphors and sound faintly ridiculous, but ‘grand’ is the word that comes to mind.  May I have some more, please?

I have yet to open the fourth and last one from Luigi’s list, Agricole Vallone’s Graticciaia (2006).  I have high expectations for it…  I also look forward to seeing how Patriglione (2006) compares with the 2000 vintage.

All wines mentioned above were purchased from Nocco Giuseppe on via Palazzo di Conti dei Lecce in Lecce.  The shop is run by three generations of a very charming family, with nonno firmly in charge of the till.  The shop has the appearance of a wholesaler:  no fashionable furniture or fixtures, just excellence in assortment.  I recently had a quick browse in the Internet cupboard but was not able to find prices as competitive or an assortment as broad as theirs.  I would love to be able to claim that I discovered the unassuming but well stocked shop, but we were introduced to them by Agricole Vallone’s proprietor, who turned out to be an excellent source of information.  No surprises there, I suppose.


text:
Pre-order Voodoo Moon Today and Save $2!

voodooCheck out this hot new paranormal romance by June Stevens! The Paranorm World series is published by Clean Teen Publishing’s adult fiction imprint: Crimson Tree Publishing. In celebration of it’s upcoming release, we are offering a $2 discount on the e-book price when you pre-order your copy of Voodoo Moon today. You do not want to miss out on this exciting new series!

A sinister magic is sweeping across Nash City…

To Fiona Moon, it’s just another day at work. And some days, well, they’re a helluva lot worse than others. As a member of the elite Black Blade Guard, Fiona is tasked with hunting down the most-dangerous Paranorm criminals. To find out who is kidnapping mages and sucking the life energy from their bodies, she has to work with the one man that embodies everything she despises.

Master Necromancer Ian Barroes, a rich professor of Necromantic Studies, wants only one thing in this world… Fiona.

They each hold secrets that could destroy them, but ones that could also be the key to destroying the evil Voodoo priest, Bokor. They must learn to trust each other and track down Bokor before more innocent lives are lost. When Fiona becomes a target of the evil madman, she is lured into his trap. Now, she and Ian have to fight for survival… and their very souls.

Order today for only $2.99!

$25 Book Blast Giveaway ~ The Ultimate Treasure Quest I: The Jewel of Peru by Sharon Skretting

Adelita’s Secret by Christopher Cloud

AdelitasSecret_Ecover-187x300Title: Adelita’s Secret

Author: Christopher Cloud

Publisher: Create Space Independent Publishing Platform

Genre: young adult fantasy romance

Format: paperback copy, kindle

Lost in a superficial world of materialism and social status—and ashamed of her Latino heritage—seventeen-year-old Adelita Noé is loved by two men, two men separated by a hundred years and vastly different stations in life. One man owns little more than the shirt on his back. The other, a poet at heart, is heir to a vast fortune. Their love for Adelita serves as the backdrop for the Latino girl’s quest to better understand herself and her Mexican roots.

For More Information:

Title is available at Amazon kindle,  or paperback

Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble

// <![CDATA[
var a2a_config=a2a_config||{},wpa2a={done:false,html_done:false,script_ready:false,script_load:function(){var a=document.createElement(‘script’),s=document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0];a.type=’text/javascript’;a.async=true;a.src=’;;s.parentNode.insertBefore(a,s);wpa2a.script_load=function(){};},script_onready:function(){if(a2a.type==’page’){wpa2a.script_ready=true;if(wpa2a.html_done)wpa2a.init();}},init:function(){for(var i=0,el,target,targets=wpa2a.targets,length=targets.length;i// //

Award-winning author Christopher Cloud began writing fiction full time at the age of 66 after a long career in journalism and public relations. He writes middle-grade and young adult novels. Chris graduated from the University of Missouri in 1967 with a degree in journalism. He has worked as a reporter, editor, and columnist at newspapers in Texas, California, and Missouri. He was employed by a major oil company as a public relations executive, and later operated his own public relations agency. Chris lives in Joplin, Missouri, and enjoys golf and hiking.

Visit Christopher Cloud’s website

Visit Cloud’s blog

More books by Christopher Cloud

Holiday Adventure Books Blast

This Book Blast is brought to you courtesy of Adventure Quest Books. Answer the hero’s call to adventure and enjoy more tales, legends and myths from the ancient and medieval worlds for MG and YA readers.

Adventure Quest Books - banner

Holiday Adventure Books Collage

About the Books

The Search for the Stone of Excalibur by Fiona Ingram

The Search for the Stone of Excalibur - coverTitle: The Search for the Stone of Excalibur (The Chronicles of the Stone, Book 2) | Author: Fiona Ingram | Publication Date: October 6, 2014 | Publisher: The Educational Publisher / Biblio Publishing | Pages: 399 | Recommended Ages: 10+

Summary: Continuing the adventure that began in Egypt a few months prior in The Secret of the Sacred Scarab, cousins Adam and Justin Sinclair are hot on the trail of the second Stone of Power, one of seven ancient stones lost centuries ago. This stone might be embedded in the hilt of a newly discovered sword that archaeologists believe belonged to King Arthur: Excalibur. However, their long-standing enemy, Dr. Khalid, is following them as they travel to Scotland to investigate an old castle. Little do they know there is another deadly force, the Eaters of Poison, who have their own mission to complete. Can Justin and Adam find the second Stone of Power and survive? And why did Aunt Isabel send a girl with them? And how annoying for them that their tag-along companion, Kim, seems to have such good ideas when they are stumped.

Amazon Buy Button

Max’s Arabian Adventure by Wendy Leighton-Porter

Max's Arabian Adventure by Wendy Leighton-PorterTitle: Max’s Arabian Adventure | Author: Wendy Leighton-Porter | Publication Date: July 16, 2014 | Publisher: Mauve Square Publishing | Pages: 82 | Recommended Ages: 7+

Summary: In this spin-off adventure from the Shadows From The Past series, Max the talking Tonkinese cat goes on a solo mission without his usual time-travelling companions. Snatched from the house where he lives with eleven-year-old twins Joe and Jemima Lancelot, Max is dragged back into the past by an evil magician who has lined him up to perform a special task. Torn away from all he holds dear, the despondent cat fears he may never be able to return to the present and his beloved owner, Jemima. What will become of him? Will he make it back or will he be condemned to remain forever in a distant time and place, far from home?

Amazon Buy Button

Sons of the Sphinx by Cheryl Carpinello

Sons of the Sphinx by Cheryl CarpinelloTitle: Sons of the Sphinx | Author: Cheryl Carpinello | Publication Date: October 10, 2014 | Publisher: Independent | Pages: 182 | Recommended Ages: 10+

Summary: Armed with what she considers her grandmother’s curse, 15-year-old Rosa agrees to help the ghost of King Tut find his lost queen Hesena. Though Hesena’s ba inhabits part of Rosa, finding the whole spirit of Hesena so that she and Tut can be together for the first time in over 3300 years proves to be a harder task than Rosa first thinks. Thrust back into Ancient Egypt with Tut, Rosa discovers that finding Hesena is not all she must do. She must keep out of the reach of the living Horemheb—who crosses mortal boundaries using Seth’s evil magic—if she is to stay alive to make it back home.

Amazon Buy Button

About the Authors

Fiona Ingram

Fiona Ingram, Author

I love ancient history, mystery, legends, and travel. Join my young heroes Justin and Adam in an exciting quest as they search for the Seven Stones of Power. Each book is a new adventure, so be part of it!

Wendy Leighton-Porter

Wendy Leighton-PorterI spent 20 years as a teacher of French, Latin and Classical studies, but now write books for children instead of teaching them. I take young readers on a magical mystery tour through the past and hope that my love of history, myth and legend will rub off on them.

Cheryl Carpinello

Cheryl Carpinello AuthorI’m a retired high school English teacher. My hope is to reach reluctant readers with my Arthurian Tales and soon a series of stories from ancient lands and legends that will take readers on adventurous quests throughout history.

* $100 Book Blast Giveaway *

Amazon 100 gift card

Prize: One winner will receive a $100 Amazon gift card or $100 PayPal cash prize, winner’s choice

Contest closes: December 9, 11:59 pm, 2014

Open to: Internationally

How to enter: Please enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.

Terms and Conditions: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. A winner will be randomly drawn through the Rafflecopter widget and will be contacted by email within 48 hours after the giveaway ends. The winner will then have 72 hours to respond. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, a new draw will take place for a new winner. Odds of winning will vary depending on the number of eligible entries received. This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. This giveaway is sponsored by Fiona Ingram, Cheryl Carpinello, and Wendy Leighton-Porter and is hosted and managed by Renee from Mother Daughter Book Reviews. If you have any additional questions – feel free to send and email to Renee(at)MotherDaughterBookReviews(dot)com.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

MDBR Book Promotion Services

It’s This Monkey’s Business by Debra Máres

It's This Monkey's Business 2Cabana is a young spider monkey who leaves in search of a new family when the fighting between her parents gets too much to handle. When tragedy strikes, Cabana’s parents learn they must put her best interest at heart.

This rhyming story is geared toward youngsters ages 4 to 8. Author Debra Máres, a veteran county prosecutor, turns her passion for helping families into a sweet story of triumph. I applaud the author’s desire to help children impacted by violence and abuse. It’s This Monkey’s Business teaches the important lesson of how some parents are better living apart and that single parent families can thrive when the home environment is safe.

The vibrant colors of Taylor Christensen’s illustrations bring the rainforest to life alongside the unfolding of Cabana’s story. I found the rhyming stilted in spots, but overall it worked. The one thing I missed in this book design is a back cover blurb. I was also a bit bothered by how tight the binding is, but in one reading it came lose enough that the binding tape became visible, making it stand out glaringly against the vibrant green of the inside covers. Those things aside, I’m thrilled to see books for children tackling subjects that matter to them.

Rating: 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Justicia House; 1st edition (October 29, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0985089385
ISBN-13: 978-0985089382

I received a copy from the author. This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.

For Independent Author Debra Máres, violence against women is not only a topic in today’s news, it’s a topic in her crime novels, cases she handled as a county prosecutor, and now it will be the topic in her first children’s book It’s This Monkey’s Business.  Debra is a veteran county prosecutor in Riverside currently specializing in community prosecution, juvenile delinquency and truancy.  Her office has one of the highest conviction rates in California and is the fifteenth largest in the country. You name it – she’s prosecuted it – homicides, gang murders, domestic violence, sex cases, political corruption, major fraud and parole hearings for convicted murderers. She is a two-time recipient of the County Prosecutor of the Year Award and 2012 recipient of the Community Hero Award.

Debra is the granddaughter of a Mexican migrant farm worker and factory seamstress, was born and raised in Los Angeles, was the first to graduate college in my family, and grew up dancing Ballet Folklorico and Salsa. Her own family story includes struggles with immigration, domestic violence, mental health, substance abuse and teen pregnancy, which she addresses in her novels. She followed a calling at 11 years old to be an attorney and voice for women, and appreciates international travel and culture. Her life’s mission is to break the cycle of victimization and domestic violence.

Debra is also the co-founding Executive Director of Women Wonder Writers, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization implementing creative intervention and mentoring programs for at-risk youth.  In 2012, Debra self-published Volume 1 of her debut legal thriller series, The Mamacita Murders featuring Gaby Ruiz, a sex crimes prosecutor haunted by her mother’s death at the hands of an abusive boyfriend. In 2013, Debra released her second crime novel, The Suburban Seduccion, featuring “The White Picket Fence” killer Lloyd Gil, who unleashes his neonatal domestic violence-related trauma on young women around his neighborhood.

To bring to life “Cabana,” Debra partnered with 16-year-old Creative Director Olivia Garcia and Los Angeles based professional illustrator Taylor Christensen.

16-year-old Creative Director Olivia Garcia attends high school in Panorama City, California, is the Los Angeles youth delegate for the Anti-Defamation League’s National Youth Leadership Mission in Washington D.C., an ASB member and AP student and enjoys reading, crafting and knitting.

Taylor Christensen is a Los Angeles-based illustrator holding a BFA from Otis College of Art & Design, focuses on fantastical creatures and surreal imagery, and produces artwork for illustration, character and concept design.

For More Information

It's This Monkey's Business banner 2

In My TBR Pile: My Friend Merlin by Joanne Lécuyer

There is a great legend that has been passed down through generations about two young boys who would change history. One was destined to become a great king. The other was a druid, and his guide, mentor and friend. This is the tale of the meeting of Arthur and Merlin and how they changed the fate of magic.

Paperback: 121 pages
Publisher: Topsy Books; 1ST edition (2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1927353440
ISBN-13: 978-1927353448

Joanne Lécuyer is a Canadian indie author who loves writing positive fantasy/ fiction books for kids – chapter books for ages 7-10. Her catalogue of books includes: The Witch, the Cat and the Egg (2010), Kaptain Vamp (2011), The Tales of Anex and Bit (2012), La sorcière, le chat et l’oeuf (2012), Kapitaine Vampire (2014), The Witch, the Cat and the Water Dragon (2014) and My Friend Merlin (2014).

Joanne Lécuyer is lives in a small rural community near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She has a BA in Communications and Visual Arts from the University of Ottawa, a Diploma in Public Administration from the University of Quebec, and a Professional and Personal Coach Certification from Concordia University. She is also a Reiki Master.

Purchase here!


text:
Tag Archives: andy’s frozen custard

News and Nerves

29 Jan

It looks like none of you decided to/had time to blog this week but I have a little down time today so I will anyway.

This week has been very interesting. Being a student again and all. I finally got to go to Andy’s frozen custard on Friday night, thankfully. I needed it after four whole days of school. And I also needed Hurts Donuts on Sunday. By the way, I just realized this is my first five-day school week since about the first week of May. Yikes.

The past few days have had me kind of on-edge about various things. First of all, I had been trying to go back to where I was working last spring, and the manager had seemed like I could come back, no problem. Then he kind of told me that he wasn’t sure I’d get many hours because he’s hiring new people soon to replace everyone who’s leaving in May and they will get priority, so do I still want to come back? That kind of sucked but I said yes. So I went yesterday to fill out the paperwork to start working again. I was kind of nervous about that because I didn’t know if he would be mean or anything (he wasn’t). And he even wrote “15hr/week” on my paper. I’m starting again in a week and a half.

Then I had to go take a drug test. That made me a little nervous because I’m always afraid that a) I’ll make a mistake/do something wrong so it will mess up the results, b) that I’ll have “shy bladder”, or c) that for some reason it will say I’m on drugs when there’s absolutely no way it could be possible. I think it went okay though.

And while I was waiting for that, I got a message from my friend Jacy that our paper about Sandy Hook got accepted for the conference in Minneapolis that we sent it to, and we get to go! The thing that made me nervous about that, though, was that we took Kevin’s name off it even when our professor told us we shouldn’t (she didn’t reply to our email in time). So today I was nervous because we decided to go talk to her and ask what we should do and if she was mad at us for taking it off.

She wasn’t mad and she laughed instead and said she had a feeling we’d done that. But then she told us we have to face The Wrath Of Kevin on our own, which basically meant me because I have two classes with him where I sit right next to him. Shit. And I know that our two professors will probably announce to the class about our paper. Plus there will probably be a press release, a Comm department facebook post, and a story in the campus newspaper which Kevin writes for. So I don’t know, would it be better if I tell him before class one day before he has to hear it for the first time? Now I’m nervous about that. He can get defensive sometimes.

Well, on the bright side, Minneapolis!?

UPDATE 7:20pm: I talked to him in the Commons, and I told him that Jacy and I had continued working on the paper and we took his name off… he didn’t even seem upset! He even said “I knew I wouldn’t be able to put any more work into it” so it all worked out 🙂 I think I need a drink now though lols

I just want free ice cream

17 Apr

Hey, it’s Wednesday. I kept thinking/hoping yesterday was Wednesday. I guess that’s what happens when last week we only had four days of class.

I realized this was the first weekend I’ve been in Springfield since the beginning of March. I volunteered early on Saturday, from 8:00-10:00, so I celebrated having the whole day ahead of me by taking a nap for two hours. Then I got to work on an assignment which was basically a visual representation of a resume, created to look like an advertisement. That was for my Principles of Advertising and Public Relations class.

I had a plan and I went to the Mac Lab to try and use Photoshop. I’ve used Photoshop before but not in a while. After it took me one hour to draw a single square onscreen, I called it quits.  Also, using Mac computers seriously make me feel like Helen Keller.

This week is our “Spring Fling” week so I just got a cute free t-shirt. Tonight they are sponsoring an event at Andy’s Frozen Custard – free ice cream to the first 400 Drury students. So I probably can’t pass that up.

Tomorrow is “Theme Day” which is the culmination of our convocation series for the year. This year’s was called “Voices Unbound” which means that every Thursday we had a speaker come to campus and present, and these guests had to do with journalism or communication through media. Some of the guests included: Andy Carvin, senior strategist at NPR; Brian Stelter, New York Times journalist; and Ondi Timoner, a film producer whose work has won Sundance Film Festival awards.

My media writing professor is the one who organized it this year and tomorrow we are having a woman named Roxana Saberi come talk. She is an American journalist who got arrested in Iran a few years ago. Anyway, my professor invited me and two other students from his classes to a lunch with her! I didn’t know anything about it but I was happy that he asked me.

I don’t have any classes tomorrow because usually I have two Spanish classes but my professor is going out of town for a conference. Friday my two afternoon classes are canceled but I don’t remember why. I am going to St. Louis with Caitlin for the weekend so I can see her house so that will be fun.

That’s all!

Patriotic Procrastination

10 Oct

Hello friends.

Overall this week has been better than last week, which I’m not too surprised since last week sucked so bad.

Friday night I had my first “Ambassadors” shindig which was kind of lame because I didn’t even have anything to do. It was about 12 degrees outside and someone told me to ask all the alumni’s that came in if I could take their coat, but guess what? They all said no because they were still cold. So then I just stood around. Helpful right?

Saturday morning, my mom and Becky and Carrie came to visit for family day. Mom and Carrie went to Rolla to visit Becky on Friday night and then came here Saturday. My dad didn’t come because he had his 30 year high school reunion. We had fun, my mom sewed me some curtains for my room and we played DVD Bingo which I WON THE VERY FIRST ROUND! And my mom won too. #redemption

We went to a Chinese place for dinner, went to the hotel, and then went to Andy’s Frozen Custard because I love that place and I love any excuse to eat ice cream or custard or whatever. Oh and did I mention I started feeling crappy that afternoon because of certain “woman troubles”? Well they caused me to not want to get out of bed on Sunday morning so we checked out of the hotel at about 11 which was like the latest time you could possibly leave. We went to a flea market and I got a coffee pot for $5, then we went to Braum’s for lunch and then everyone left.

Monday I went to the doctor (mom’s idea) to talk to them about anxiety. We get free visits to the doctor here because we pay a health fee that covers it. They did a blood test and I didn’t even cry, but the bad news is that I wasn’t as flawless with my peeing in a cup as I was last time :/ Then I had a meeting with all the new employees for my new job. It was just filling out tax forms and paperwork, ew.

Yesterday my Adapting to Climate Change teacher decided we aren’t going to have any tests this semester (the first one was supposed to be next week). Also, here’s an embarrassing story that happened to me when I registered to vote yesterday (which I believe was the last possible day you could even register if you want to vote in November).

Me: (parallel park like a boss between two cars in front of the county courthouse)

Awkward man in his mid-thirties: (about to walk by my car)

Me: (get out of my car and walk towards the stairs)

Awkward man in his mid-thirties: (walks by my car)

Me: (attempt to push “lock” button on my keychain and push PANIC instead and my car starts panicking louder than I’ve ever heard it before)

Awkward man in his mid-thirties: (jumps about 30 feet into the air)

Me: (can’t figure out how to turn “panic” off for about 5 seconds or more)

Me: “This is so embarrassing. I’m so sorry.”

Awkward man in his mid-thirties: “That’s okay. Do you know where to go to register to vote?”

And thus a great 5-minute friendship was born as we walked into the courthouse, side-by-side, boldly searching out the acclaimed voter registration room 114.

And so I registered and that was that.

Nothing else is very noteworthy, except that I just got a free t-shirt, my lunch this afternoon consisted of one lunch item and three desserts, and later I have 4-hour CPR training. Oh joy.

%d bloggers like this:


text:
– – The Chris Spyrou Show – –

Masters Snooker Semi-Finals – Wembley Arena

leave a comment »

Saturday 16th January 2010

I played snooker throughout the whole of my teens and was a keen follower of the sport at the time. But I’d lost track of the game in the last 20 years.

I’d studied in Sheffield and lived in London, but for some reason, even though I loved Snooker in the 1980s, I never considered going to watch a match live at either the Crucible or the Conference Centre. Football aside, Darts was my main sport now. So the fact Barry Hearn had now taken the reigns at Snooker’s HQ, it was time to book tickets for the Masters at Wembley Arena. While I’m at it, it made sense to book a whole day covering both Semi-Finals.

Unfortunately, we arrived minutes after the first match had begun. Having to wait outside the hall, we followed the game on a small TV. We were then allowed in just before the break for the third frame. Unlike the atmosphere at the Darts, you could hear a pin drop and it was so difficult to keep quiet whilst looking for our seats. Armed with our earphones, we were able to follow the commentary from Dennis Taylor and Ken Doherty.

The opening Semi-Final was between Ronnie O’Sullivan (No. 1) and Mark Williams (No. 15). Both players were superb throughout the match, going at it blow for blow. Just when you had thought, Williams had done enough, Ronnie would force his way back into the match. It was fitting in the end, that it would go to the last frame. The Rocket eventually coming out on top 6-5 and through to tomorrow’s final.

It would have been great if the matches were reversed. Having two super quick players up first meant that even though it went to the maximum 11 frames, it finished in no time at all and we had over 3 hours to kill before the second Semi-Final. So after a bite to eat, a drink, one mate going home and even more waiting, the next match was about to begin.

Up next was a match up between Stephen McGuire (No. 3) and Mark Selby (No. 6). A slow start to the game made me think that the decision by one of my mates to go home early made some sense. The other mate just moved around the arena. I think I counted 5 different areas he sat in throughout the day. The main thing that kept the game entertaining was the commentary, but that was also proving a problem too. The ex-pro’s kept cracking jokes and thus making the audience laugh. Even though the referee called silence a number of times, it was like we were being told off for something outside our control. Eventually, the match recovered and got going after the interval, with Mark Selby going through to the final after a 6-3 win.

Not sure what impact Barry Hearn will make on the Sport, but it definitely needs a push in the right direction. At Boxing you hear “Let’s get ready to rumble” and at Darts you hear “It’s time to meet the players” before they are introduced with loud music blaring into the arena. For the first time, Snooker introduced its own “Let’s get the boys on the baize” with a musical introduction. However, unlike Boxing where a punch is thrown immediately, or in Darts where a 180 is possible, what you get with Snooker is a safety shot off the break. So the excitement of the intros is lost.

All in all though it was a fantastic day out. I loved it and may make it a yearly obsession!

Written by chrisspyrou

April 2, 2010 at 1:38 am

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Logo

You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this:


text:
IBM launches Smarter Cities Challenge

IBM has officially launched its Smarter Cities Challenge, a competitive grant program that will award $50 million in technology and services to 100 municipalities worldwide. IBM experts will also provide city leaders with recommendations on smart growth and streamlined service delivery. The program represents the company’s largest philanthropic investment to date.

According to the company, winning cities will receive top IBM experts that will use the next three years to, “immerse themselves in local issues,” before they provide their recommendations on how to improve municipal service delivery. The municipal consultants will base their recommendations on data collected during their time in the field, their area of expertise and existing data accumulated from the ongoing Corporate Service Corps grant program. The Corporate Service Corps grant program works with local governments to find new ways of integrating technology, business and society.

The company has already conducted Smarter Cities pilots in Baltimore, Maryland; Austin, Texas; and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (Greater Charlotte) designed to influence how the program is coordinated going forward.

The approximate value of each Smarter Cities Challenge grant will be equivalent to US$400,000.

“Cities are vitally important to society and the economy,” said Stanley S. Litow, IBM vice president of Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs, and President of IBM’s Foundation. “But they have enormous challenges and need the innovation, creativity and technical know-how to tackle longstanding, tough issues and plan for the future. We’re excited at the prospect of helping city leaders address the most demanding challenges of our time and make their cities even more liveable.”

Municipalities will be selected competitively based on a number of criteria, including the ability to clearly articulate between two and four strategic issues that can potentially and reasonably be acted upon. Also considered will be the city’s track record of innovative problem solving, commitment to the use of technology and open data, and demonstrated willingness to provide access and time with city leaders and public engagement.

Applications are open on an ongoing basis. The company also notes that while all municipalities are eligible, those with at least 100k people are likely to reap the most benefit from the program.


text:
Item of the Week: Photographing Gill

As a part of her job as Eric Gill Artwork Project Archivist at the Clark, Jennifer Bastian has been photographing and describing each piece in our somewhat unwieldy collection.  When she’s done, her hard work will form the basis for a new online finding aid linked to the digital images, which will be enormously helpful to us here at the library, and hopefully to researchers around the world.

While some pieces are easily photographed with the equipment we have here at the library, there are some artworks that are just too large for Jennifer to try photographing here onsite.  Thankfully, our friends in the UCLA Library Conservation Lab had a solution for us, in the form of the floor in their documentation studio, some lovely lights, and a giant library ladder.  When our big items are on the floor and Jennifer stands on the 6-feet-plus ladder, photographing these beauties is now possible!

This is a two person job, so those are Jennifer’s feet you see above, while Manuscripts & Archives Librarian Becky Fenning is on the ground with the artwork.

The works in these two images are posters from the workshop of Eric Gill and Rene Hague, who later became one of Gill’s sons-in-law.

2 Responses to “Item of the Week: Photographing Gill”

  1. Patrick Says:

    This will be an invaluable resource when you are finished. Gill was such an important artist. Much appreciated!

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this:


text:
Try our beta test site

Compare Efficacy of Gastric Acid Suppression by Oral and Intravenous Administration of Esomeprazole in Patients With Peptic Ulcer (NPH)

The recruitment status of this study is unknown. The completion date has passed and the status has not been verified in more than two years.
Verified May 2007 by Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital.
Recruitment status was:  Recruiting
Information provided by:
Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital Identifier:
First received: May 8, 2007
Last updated: NA
Last verified: May 2007
History: No changes posted
The purpose of this study is to compare the gastric acid suppression profile among different regimen (Oral Vs Intravenous)of administration of proton pump inhibitor - Esomeprazole by 24hours intragastric pH monitoring.

Condition Intervention Phase
Peptic Ulcer
Drug: esomeprazole
Phase 4

Study Type: Interventional
Study Design: Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Open Label
Primary Purpose: Treatment
Official Title: Compare Gastric Acid Suppression of Esomeprazole by Oral or Intravenous Administration - A Randomized Trial

Resource links provided by NLM:

Further study details as provided by Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital:

Primary Outcome Measures:
  • percentage of time intragstric pH > 6 and > 4 [ Time Frame: 24hours after endoscopy ]

Secondary Outcome Measures:
  • Median intragastric pH [ Time Frame: 24hours after endoscopy ]
  • time to attain intragastric pH 4 & 6 [ Time Frame: 24hours after endoscopy ]

Estimated Enrollment: 20
Study Start Date: September 2005
Estimated Study Completion Date: September 2007
Detailed Description:

Peptic ulcer bleeding is a common medical emergency. Although primary hemostasis can be achieved by endoscopic hemostasis in more than 90% of cases, rebleeding during the first 72 hours is still common. The use of secretory inhibitors in ulcer bleeding had theoretical benefit in preventing rebleeding. In vitro, platelet aggregation and disaggregation, coagulation and fibrinolysis are strongly dependent on intra-gastric pH. When pH falls below 6.0, platelet disaggregation takes place and below 4.0, fibrin clots dissolved. Pharmacological studies have clearly shown that primed proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) infusion is superior to H2-receptor blocler (H2B) injection or infusion in maintaining high intra-gastric pH. Randomized trials had demonstrated the advantage of adjuvant use of intravenous or oral PPI in reducing rebleeding as compared to placebo. However, as Asian subjects generally have lower body weight and acid output than Caucasians, the dosage of PPI required for prevent rebleeding may be different. Lin et al had demonstrated that in an Asian population study, in order to show a significant clinical effect in prevent peptic ulcer rebleeding after endoscopic hemostasis, at least a 30% difference in duration in maintaining an intragastric pH >6 must be achieved. As there is substantial cost implication of routine use of high dose intravenous PPI infusion (80mg bolus + 8mg/hour for 72 hours, cost ~HKD$1100) against high dose oral esomeprazole (40mg BD for 3 days, cost ~HKD$60), the optimal doses and routes of administration of PPI in achieving effective acid suppression is needed to be clearly defined.

Patients presented with bleeding peptic ulcers (melena, hememtesis) will undergo endoscopy. If clean base peptic ulcer which dos not require endoscopic treatment is diagnosed, consented patients will randomly allocated into 2 groups using sealed envelopes containing a therapeutic option derived from a randomized table.

  1. Esomeprazole infusion (80mg bolus then 8mg/hour) (192mg/d)
  2. Esomeprazole Tablet oral 40mg 12 hourly (80mg/d)

A pH electrode with internal reference (Synetic) was inserted transnasally and positioned 10cm below the cardia. It was calibrated before and after the pH recording with standard buffer solutions of pH 7.00 and pH 1.00. The electrode was connected to a data logger (Mircodigitrapper, Synetic). At the end of 24hours recording, the data were transfer to a personal computer for analysis. Medication will be given after insertion of intra-gastric pH monitor probe.

Outcome measures Primary Outcome: total % Time pH > 6 & 4 Secondary outcome: Median intragastric pH & Time to reach pH 4 and 6

Ages Eligible for Study:   18 Years to 90 Years   (Adult, Senior)
Sexes Eligible for Study:   All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:   No

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients with non-bleeding peptic ulcer which do not require endoscopic therapy.
  2. Chinese, Age ³18 and <90
  3. Provision of an informed written consent signed by the patient.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Treatment of antisecretory drugs during the preceding 4 weeks
  2. The present inter-current ulcer complication (gastric outlet obstruction or ulcer perforation)
  3. Presence of esophageal / gastric varices
  4. aspirin or NSAID user
  5. Pregnancy
  6. Age <18 or >90
  7. Moribund patients, patients with severe liver or renal disease
  8. Known sensitivity to proton pump inhibitors
  9. Previous gastric surgery (except simple patch repair)
  10. Patient unable to give written consent
  11. Special population, e.g. prisoner, mentally disabled, investigators’ student or employees
  Contacts and Locations
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below. For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.

Please refer to this study by its identifier: NCT00471029

Contact: Simon K.H. Wong, MBChB, FRCSEd, FHKAM 852-25956416

Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital Recruiting
Hong Kong, China
Contact: Simon KH Wong, MBChB
Principal Investigator: Simon KH Wong, MBChB
Sub-Investigator: Michael KW Li, MD
Sub-Investigator: Geroge PC Yang, MBBS
Sponsors and Collaborators
Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital
Principal Investigator: Simon K.H. Wong, MBChB, FRCSEd, FHKAM Pamela Youde Nethersole Hospital - Surgery
Study Chair: Michael K.W. Li, MD PYNEH
  More Information Identifier: NCT00471029     History of Changes
Other Study ID Numbers: HKEC-2005-110
Study First Received: May 8, 2007
Last Updated: May 8, 2007

Keywords provided by Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital:
pH study, peptic ulcer, proton pump inhibitor

Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Peptic Ulcer
Pathologic Processes
Duodenal Diseases
Intestinal Diseases
Gastrointestinal Diseases
Digestive System Diseases
Stomach Diseases
Anti-Ulcer Agents
Gastrointestinal Agents
Proton Pump Inhibitors
Enzyme Inhibitors
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action processed this record on March 24, 2017


text:
Try our beta test site

Bioequivalence of Eye Drops and Spray Administration of Vigamox

This study has been completed.
Information provided by:
Advanced Ophthalmic Pharma Identifier:
First received: April 22, 2008
Last updated: January 18, 2012
Last verified: August 2009
The study compares the amounts of Vigamox absorbed when administered as eye drops or in a spray form. Both administrations will be prior to patients undergoing elective cataract surgery and the aqueous samples will be analyzed by a laboratory in a masked fashion. The hypothesis is that there will be no difference between the 2 modes of administration.

Condition Intervention
Drug: Vigamox - administration in spray form
Drug: Vigamox eye drops

Study Type: Interventional
Study Design: Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single Blind (Outcomes Assessor)
Official Title: Laboratory-masked, Randomized Parallel, Comparative, Pilot Study on the Bioavailability of Vigamox in the Aqueous Humor When Administered Either as Commercially Available Eye Drops or in a Spray Form

Resource links provided by NLM:

Further study details as provided by Advanced Ophthalmic Pharma:

Primary Outcome Measures:
  • Bioequivalency between the 2 ways of administration [ Time Frame: 4 months ]

Estimated Enrollment: 16
Study Start Date: February 2009
Study Completion Date: May 2009
Primary Completion Date: April 2009 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
Arms Assigned Interventions
Experimental: A
Vigamox delivered as spray
Drug: Vigamox - administration in spray form
Vigamox will be administered in a spray form
Active Comparator: B
Patients will receive the commercially available Vigamox drops
Drug: Vigamox eye drops
Vigamox eye drops

Ages Eligible for Study:   21 Years and older   (Adult, Senior)
Sexes Eligible for Study:   All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:   No

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients scheduled for elective cataract surgery

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Allergy to Vigamox
  Contacts and Locations
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below. For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.

Please refer to this study by its identifier: NCT00666042

Dept. of Ophthalmology, TAMC
Tel Aviv, Israel, 69089
Sponsors and Collaborators
Advanced Ophthalmic Pharma
Principal Investigator: Adi Michaeli, MD TAMC, Tel Aviv, Israel
  More Information

Responsible Party: Dr. Adi Michaeli/Principal Investigator, Tel Aviv Medical Center Identifier: NCT00666042     History of Changes
Other Study ID Numbers: Eye drops vs. spray
different administrations
Study First Received: April 22, 2008
Last Updated: January 18, 2012

Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Lens Diseases
Eye Diseases
Ophthalmic Solutions
Norgestimate, ethinyl estradiol drug combination
Pharmaceutical Solutions
Autonomic Agents
Peripheral Nervous System Agents
Physiological Effects of Drugs
Nasal Decongestants
Vasoconstrictor Agents
Respiratory System Agents
Contraceptives, Oral, Combined
Contraceptives, Oral
Contraceptive Agents, Female
Contraceptive Agents
Reproductive Control Agents
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Anti-Infective Agents
Topoisomerase II Inhibitors
Topoisomerase Inhibitors
Enzyme Inhibitors
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action
Antineoplastic Agents
Nucleic Acid Synthesis Inhibitors processed this record on March 24, 2017


text:
Try our beta test site

[Trial of device that is not approved or cleared by the U.S. FDA]

This trial has been identified as being associated with a clinical device that has not been approved or cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration. Under the terms of US Public Law 110-85, Title VIII, Section 801, the details of this study are not available to the public.
Information provided by:
[Redacted] Identifier:
First received: July 19, 2010
Last updated: November 30, 2014
Last verified: NA

Responsible Party: [Redacted] Identifier: NCT01166607     History of Changes
Other Study ID Numbers: DC78371
Study First Received: July 19, 2010
Last Updated: November 30, 2014 processed this record on March 24, 2017

To Top


text:
Try our beta test site

Analysis of Toxins in Follicle Fluid

This study is currently recruiting participants. (see Contacts and Locations)
Verified January 2017 by Infertility Treatment Center Dortmund
TU Dortmund University
Ferring Pharmaceuticals
Information provided by (Responsible Party):
Infertility Treatment Center Dortmund Identifier:
First received: June 29, 2011
Last updated: January 6, 2017
Last verified: January 2017

Environmental pollutants might be jointly responsible for increase of infertility among women. Especially endocrin active substances seem to be of particular importance. These substances are chemicals which interfere with the physiological system of humans and animals. They have a negative impact on the endocrine system and disturb the functions of organs whose hormones regulate the male and female reproductive system.

It is known that exposition to these chemicals lead to subfertility, infertility, raised abortions, birth defects and ovarian malfunction.

Additionally it was shown that human embryos have a decreased cleavage rate after IVF when developing from oocytes with elevated concentrations of environmental pollutants.

In this study the main focus concentrates on Nonylphenols (NP). Follicular fluids of women with subfertility will be analyzed by a newly developed principle including HPLC and NMR-Spectroscopy. This enables quantitative and qualitative analysis of enantiomers of NP.

The results will allow risk estimations for several endocrine active substances, especially NP.

Additionally conclusions concerning the correlation between thes substances and subfertility can be drawn.

Environmental Exposure to Harmful Algae and Toxins
Female Subfertility

Study Type: Observational
Official Title: Analysis of Toxins in Follicle Fluid From Women With Unfulfilled Pregnancy

Resource links provided by NLM:

Further study details as provided by Infertility Treatment Center Dortmund:

Primary Outcome Measures:
  • Pregnancy [ Time Frame: 14 days after ICSI treatment ]

Biospecimen Retention:   Samples Without DNA
follicular fluid

Estimated Enrollment: 250
Study Start Date: August 2015
Estimated Study Completion Date: May 2017
Estimated Primary Completion Date: March 2017 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
female patients
ICSI treatment because of male subfertility

Detailed Description:

Exposure to environmental toxins may be responsible for female infertility. In particular substances known as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) may play a crucial role. These environmental toxins are either synthetic chemicals used in industry, agriculture or pharmacy, or natural chemicals found in food. Thus, exposure to EDCs can occur at different ways, e.g. drinking of contaminated water, breathing of contaminated air, or simple food intake. Despite most EDCs exhibit a long half-life, continuous accumulation of endocrine active substances will occur globally. In addition, low water-solubility and extremely high lipid-solubility promoted the accumulation within the human organism.

Consequently, EDCs may harm human health. It is known that EDCs lead to the disruption of the physiological system and that endocrine active substances interfere with the endocrine homeostasis. Moreover, EDCs alter organs that regulate male and female hormonal regulation crucial for reproduction fitness. Sterility and infertility, dysfunctional ovaries and an increased risk of abortions are discussed as critical consequences of EDC exposure.

It was shown that some endocrine active substances are present in the follicle fluid of women with unfilled pregnancy. Oocytes from follicles with an increased concentration of environmental toxins exhibit a reduced developmental potential. Additionally, women with an increased level of the EDC Bisphenol A tend to exhibit an increased risk of aborts.

Nonylphenol (NP) belongs to the class of endocrine active substances and are of special importance due to their high longevity and toxic characteristics. Nonylphenol is a multi-compound mixture that becomes generated as a by-product after degeneration of nonylphenol-ethoxylates (NPE) due to biological wastewater treatment. NPE are components of several cleaning agents, emulsifiers, dispersing agents and pesticides. NP is a mixture that consists mainly of para-substituted mono-alkylphenols with different isomeric nonyl-groups. Despite their high persistence and toxicity, exposure to NP induces alterations of the endocrine homeostasis in water organism, bird and mammals. NP can potentially bind to different hormone receptors (e.g. estrogen receptors, progesteron receptors and androgen receptors) and induce or modulate hormone-dependent downstream pathways. The influence regarding the reproductive fitness is much higher in females compared to males.

In the planned study, the follicle fluid will be analyzed in particular for the appearance of NP. Analysis will be done at the Institute of environmental research (Dortmund) in the group of Prof. Spiteller. Basis of this analysis is a chiral gas chromatography - mass spectroscopy that is optimized for the qualitative and quantitative assessment of NP isomers. For further details, see trial design and research setting.

Until now, two preliminary test series were done with at all 34 test persons. Within the first series of measurement, four patients exhibited an increased NP concentration in the follicle fluid (13.7 to 20.9 ng/g compared to 2.1 to 9 ng/g). In the second test series, the NP concentration was less prominent in all analyzed patients (average about 1 ng/ml), but detection of NP was still possible. Thus, NP was detected in all of the analyzed follicle fluid samples. However, the different NP concentration among all tested patients claims certainly the question, whether and how different concentration induce biological effects. The analysis of a large proband cohort regarding the appearance of NP within the follicle fluid facilitates the possibility to estimate a risk appraisal in patients with an unfilled pregnancy. Several parameters will be included for the evaluation: number of MII oocytes, fertilization rate, embryo quality, pregnancy rate, implantation rate and rate of abortions. Despite the duration of infertility and the number of previous IVF cycles will be considered, it is feasible to determine a correlation between the appearance of NP within the follicle fluid and the unfilled desire to have children.

Ages Eligible for Study:   18 Years to 39 Years   (Adult)
Sexes Eligible for Study:   Female
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:   Yes
Sampling Method:   Non-Probability Sample
Study Population
female patients seeking ICSI treatment because of male subfertiliy

Inclusion Criteria:

  • healthy females without sterility factors

Exclusion Criteria:

  • job-related exposition to pollutants
  • low responder
  Contacts and Locations
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below. For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.

Please refer to this study by its identifier: NCT01385605

Contact: Stefan Dieterle 00492315575450

Infertility treatment center Dortmund Recruiting
Dortmund, NRW, Germany, 44135
Contact: Stefan Dieterle    00492315575450
Principal Investigator: Stefan Dieterle
Sponsors and Collaborators
Infertility Treatment Center Dortmund
TU Dortmund University
Ferring Pharmaceuticals
Principal Investigator: Stefan Dieterle Infertility Treatment Center Dortmund
  More Information

Responsible Party: Infertility Treatment Center Dortmund Identifier: NCT01385605     History of Changes
Other Study ID Numbers: Toxins FF 2015
Study First Received: June 29, 2011
Last Updated: January 6, 2017
Individual Participant Data
Plan to Share IPD: No

Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Infertility, Female
Genital Diseases, Male
Genital Diseases, Female processed this record on March 24, 2017


text:
Try our beta test site

Evaluation of the Hypnotic Properties of Zolpidem-MR 12.5 mg and Zolpidem 10 mg Marketed Product Compared to Placebo in Patients With Primary Insomnia

This study has been completed.
Information provided by:
Sanofi Identifier:
First received: February 26, 2008
Last updated: May 15, 2009
Last verified: May 2009
No Study Results Posted on for this Study
  Study Status: This study has been completed.
  Study Completion Date: February 2004
  Primary Completion Date: February 2004 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)


text:
Try our beta test site
1 study found for:    12461113 [PUBMED-IDS]
Show Display Options
Rank Status Study
1 Completed Whitehall II - Social and Occupational Influences On Health and Illness
Conditions: Cardiovascular Diseases;   Heart Diseases;   Coronary Disease;   Myocardial Ischemia;   Hypertension

Study has passed its completion date and status has not been verified in more than two years.


text:
Try our beta test site

Efficacy of Simplified Two Drug Kaletra Regimen vs. Kaletra Triple Drug Standard of Care Regimen in Treatment naïve HIV Infected Patients (KALEAD)

This study has been completed.
Information provided by:
Abbott Identifier:
First received: September 13, 2005
Last updated: July 9, 2008
Last verified: July 2008
The purpose of this study is to obtain a preliminary assessment of the antiviral activity and tolerability of simplified Kaletra dual agent therapy as initial treatment for HIV infection, relative to a Kaletra three drug standard of care reference arm.

Condition Intervention Phase
HIV Infection
Drug: Tenofovir DF
Drug: lopinavir/ritonavir with 2 Nucleoside RTIs
Phase 3

Study Type: Interventional
Study Design: Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Open Label
Primary Purpose: Treatment
Official Title: A Phase III, Open Label, Randomized, Comparative Study of the Antiviral Efficacy of ARV Therapy With Lopinavir/Ritonavir (LPV/r-Kaletra) in Combination With Tenofovir (TDF) Versus Standard of Care (Kaletra in Combination With 2 Nucleoside RTIs) in naïve-HIV-1 Positive Patients

Resource links provided by NLM:

Further study details as provided by Abbott:

Primary Outcome Measures:
  • Antiviral efficacy by HIV RNA [ Time Frame: 72 wks ]
  • Incidence of adverse events [ Time Frame: 72 wks ]

Secondary Outcome Measures:
  • Adherence and quality of life [ Time Frame: 72 wks ]

Enrollment: 152
Study Start Date: January 2005
Study Completion Date: June 2008
Primary Completion Date: June 2007 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
Arms Assigned Interventions
Experimental: A
2 drug arm
Drug: Tenofovir DF
TDF 300mg QD for 72 wks
Drug: lopinavir/ritonavir with 2 Nucleoside RTIs
LPV/rSGC 400/100mg BID + 2 nucleoside RTIs as prescribed by the Investigator for 72 wks
Other Names:
  • ABT-378
  • Kaletra
  • lopinavir/ritonavir
Active Comparator: B
3 drug arm, SOC
Drug: lopinavir/ritonavir with 2 Nucleoside RTIs
LPV/rSGC 400/100mg BID + 2 nucleoside RTIs as prescribed by the Investigator for 72 wks
Other Names:
  • ABT-378
  • Kaletra
  • lopinavir/ritonavir

Ages Eligible for Study:   18 Years and older   (Adult, Senior)
Sexes Eligible for Study:   All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:   No

Inclusion Criteria:

  • HIV positive
  • >18 years of age
  • HIV RNA> 400 copies/mL
  • Any CD 4 cell count
  • Antiretroviral naïve
  • No acute illness

Exclusion Criteria:

  Contacts and Locations
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below. For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.

Please refer to this study by its identifier: NCT00234910

United States, Illinois
Global Medical Information-Abbott
Abbott Park, Illinois, United States, 60064
Sponsors and Collaborators
Study Director: Umberto di Luzio Paparatti, MD Abbott
  More Information

Responsible Party: Dr. Umberto di Luzio Paparatti, Medical Director Abbott Italy, Abbott Identifier: NCT00234910     History of Changes
Other Study ID Numbers: ITAL-04-002
EUDRACT 2004-000786-35
Study First Received: September 13, 2005
Last Updated: July 9, 2008

Keywords provided by Abbott:
HIV infection
Treatment Naive

Additional relevant MeSH terms:
HIV Infections
Lentivirus Infections
Retroviridae Infections
RNA Virus Infections
Virus Diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes
Immune System Diseases
HIV Protease Inhibitors
Protease Inhibitors
Enzyme Inhibitors
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action
Anti-HIV Agents
Anti-Retroviral Agents
Antiviral Agents
Anti-Infective Agents
Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A Inhibitors
Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme Inhibitors
Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors
Nucleic Acid Synthesis Inhibitors processed this record on March 24, 2017


text:
Try our beta test site

Collection of Tissue Specimens in Mali, West Africa, for HIV and Tuberculosis Research

This study has been terminated.
Information provided by:
National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC) Identifier:
First received: June 19, 2006
Last updated: January 24, 2017
Last verified: May 1, 2013

This study, conducted in Bamako, Mali (West Africa), will collect blood and sputum samples to establish normal values for laboratory test results among Malians. Researchers are starting a new initiative to study HIV and tuberculosis in Africa, using Mali as a model country. In order to perform these studies, the scientists need to know what constitutes normal laboratory values among the population. People in developing countries may have dramatically different laboratory values from those who live in developed countries, and there is currently little information available to distinguish normal from abnormal results in Malians. This study will establish normal ranges that will provide a basis for future HIV and tuberculosis research in Mali. Additionally it will provide blood and sputum samples to researchers to study different scientific questions related to HIV and Tuberculosis infection.

Healthy volunteers and people infected with HIV or tuberculosis, or both, who are 18 years of age or older and who live in Bamako, Mali, may be eligible for this study. Candidates are screened with a medical history, physical examination, and blood test.

Participants provide a blood or sputum sample, or both, for laboratory analysis. Blood is collected through a needle inserted into an arm vein, and sputum is collected by having the participant cough deeply and spit in a cup. Participants may agree to provide samples one time only or on a returning visit basis. Returning visits may be scheduled daily or weekly. Subjects may continue to participate for the duration of the 4-year study, provided their medical history and physical examination are updated once a year.

Study Type: Observational
Official Title: Establishment of Normal Parameters for Blood and Sputum With Samples Obtained From Volunteers in Bamako

Resource links provided by NLM:

Further study details as provided by National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC):

Estimated Enrollment: 480
Study Start Date: January 4, 2005
Estimated Study Completion Date: May 1, 2013
Detailed Description:

HIV and tuberculosis are major health issues in the developing world - HIV and tuberculosis affect several million people worldwide. Individually and together these two diseases kill more people than any other infections, with the worst suffering occurring on the African continent. Mali is a West African state awakening to the reality of these issues. While tuberculosis has always been a major problem in Mali, more recently HIV incidence has begun to increase.

We are commencing a new research initiative to study HIV and tuberculosis in Africa, using Mali as a model country. However, there is little baseline epidemiological, hematological, immunological or microbiological data to help distinguish normal from abnormal results; establishing normal population baseline values is necessary to facilitate future research. We will collect whole blood and sputum samples to establish baseline values, for the purpose of facilitating ongoing or future HIV and tuberculosis research. Specifically, samples will be used to determine normal hematological, immunological and other parameters for Malian people. In addition, we will use samples to optimize routine and specialized research assays. Sputum samples will be used in bacteriological and genetic studies intended to optimize studies relating to tuberculosis.

Ages Eligible for Study:   18 Years and older   (Adult, Senior)
Sexes Eligible for Study:   All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:   Yes

Age 18 yrs or older.

Adequate venous access.

Willingness to allow blood samples to be stored and used for future studies of HIV infection and pathogenesis.

Ability to sign informed consent and willingness to comply with study requirements and procedures.

Anemia (Hg less than10 g/dl) (for patients donating blood only).

Underlying heart disease or bleeding disorder which in the judgment of the PI could increase the risk to the volunteer.

Fever of 101 degrees F or evidence of an acute infection. (for patients donating blood only)

  Contacts and Locations
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below. For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.

Please refer to this study by its identifier: NCT00341042

Universite of Bamako
Bamako, Mali
Sponsors and Collaborators
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Principal Investigator: Sophia B Siddiqui, M.D. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
  More Information Identifier: NCT00341042     History of Changes
Other Study ID Numbers: 999905028
Study First Received: June 19, 2006
Last Updated: January 24, 2017

Keywords provided by National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC):
Normal Values
Complete Blood Count
Flow Cytometry

Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Mycobacterium Infections
Actinomycetales Infections
Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections
Bacterial Infections processed this record on March 24, 2017


text:
Try our beta test site

Brief HIV Prevention Counseling for STI Patients in South Africa

This study has been completed.
Human Sciences Research Council
Information provided by:
University of Connecticut Identifier:
First received: November 15, 2010
Last updated: November 16, 2010
Last verified: November 2010
This is a Phase IIB randomized trial to test a brief single session risk reduction counseling intervention on HIV and STI behavioral outcomes in Cape Town South Africa.

Condition Intervention Phase
Sexually Transmitted Infections
Behavioral: 60 Minute HIV/STI risk reduction counseling
Behavioral: 20-Min education session
Phase 2

Study Type: Interventional
Study Design: Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double Blind (Subject, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary Purpose: Prevention
Official Title: Randomized Trial of a Brief HIV Risk Reduction Counseling Intervention for Sexually Transmitted Infections Clinic Patients in Cape Town, South Africa

Resource links provided by NLM:

Further study details as provided by University of Connecticut:

Primary Outcome Measures:
  • Chart abstracted sexually transmitted infections [ Time Frame: 12 month aggregate ]
    STI clinic chart abstracted diagnoses over 12 month observation period.

Secondary Outcome Measures:
  • Sexual behavior change [ Time Frame: 3-month intervals ]
    Computer assisted interview behavioral assessments of sexual risk and risk reduction.

Enrollment: 617
Study Start Date: August 2005
Study Completion Date: August 2010
Primary Completion Date: August 2010 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
Arms Assigned Interventions
Experimental: 60 Min. Risk Reduction Counseling
Single 60 min theory-based counseling session delivered in STI clinic setting in Cape Town South Africa.
Behavioral: 60 Minute HIV/STI risk reduction counseling
Single session risk reduction counseling delivered in STI clinic settings in South Africa.
Active Comparator: 20-min single session education
Single brief HIV/STI education only session for men and women receiving sexually transmitted infection clinic services in South Africa.
Behavioral: 20-Min education session
Patients receive a single 20 min education session for STI/HIV information.

Detailed Description:
This 5 year study will conduct a randomized clinical trial of a gender and culturally tailored theory-based behavioral risk reduction intervention for men and women who are receiving sexually transmitted infection (STI) diagnostic and treatment services from STI treatment providers in South Africa. As many as one in five South Africans is HIV positive and there are an estimated 1,500 new HIV infections in South Africa each day. The experimental intervention in this study was developed by South African and US investigators and pilot tested in South Africa. The intervention is grounded in the experience of South African health service provider, empirical research on AIDS-related stigmas, and elements of a social cognitive theory of health behavior change. The intervention consists of a single 60-minute risk reduction counseling session delivered within the context of STI services. Participants will be STI clinic patients over age 18 that have been treated for a previous STI. Participants will be baseline assessed and randomized to receive either (a) the 60 min theory-based and culturally tailored risk reduction intervention or (b) a time and contact matched standard of care HIV and health education session. Participants will be followed for 12 months post intervention. Assessments will be conducted using computer assisted interviews (ACASI). The randomized trial will determine the efficacy of the risk reduction intervention for South African men and women receiving STI clinic services. Outcome analyses will include differences between conditions on new STI diagnoses over 12 months. We will also test the mediating effects of attitudes and beliefs on intervention outcomes. Results of this research will therefore test a clinic-based HIV prevention intervention model that is urgently needed in South Africa.

Ages Eligible for Study:   18 Years and older   (Adult, Senior)
Sexes Eligible for Study:   All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:   No

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 18 years and older
  • STI clinic patient diagnosed with an STI at current visit

Exclusion Criteria:

  Contacts and Locations
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below. For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.

Please refer to this study by its identifier: NCT01242501

United States, Connecticut
University of Connecticut
Storrs, Connecticut, United States, 06269
Sponsors and Collaborators
University of Connecticut
Human Sciences Research Council
Principal Investigator: Seth Kalichman, Ph.D. University of Connecticut
  More Information

Responsible Party: Seth Kalichman, University of Connecticut Identifier: NCT01242501     History of Changes
Other Study ID Numbers: H05-113
Study First Received: November 15, 2010
Last Updated: November 16, 2010

Keywords provided by University of Connecticut:
Behavioral interventions
HIV risk reduction

Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Virus Diseases
Genital Diseases, Male
Genital Diseases, Female processed this record on March 24, 2017


text:
BanzaiTokyo BanzaiTokyo - 5 months ago 43
Linux Question

SWT DateTime doesn't take into account the locale

Is it possible to change to change the format in which DataTime widget diplays date? The matter is that even though I set the locale to one that uses European format (dd/mm/yyyy) I still have DateTime widget in mm/dd/yyyy format.

Edit: There have been similat questions on SO along the lines "How to change the format of DateTime" and they were answered by something like "change the locale and DateTime will adapt". My question is about the situation when changing the locale doesn't have any effect on DateTime widget. What might be wrong? Is there any other solution to force format change?

Baz Baz

After running some tests on Linux, I can confirm that the DateTime widget does not appear to be using the OS's locale. This seems to be a bug and you should report it.

What you can do in the meantime is use Nebula's CDateTime which supports Java Locales:

public static void main(String[] args)
    Display display = new Display();
    final Shell shell = new Shell(display);
    shell.setLayout(new FillLayout());

    CDateTime cdt = new CDateTime(shell, CDT.DATE_SHORT);
    cdt.setSelection(new Date());

    cdt = new CDateTime(shell, CDT.DATE_SHORT);
    cdt.setSelection(new Date());

    while (!shell.isDisposed())
        if (!display.readAndDispatch())


text:
Chuck Le Butt Chuck Le Butt - 4 months ago 21
HTML Question

How widely supported is the iframe attribute "allowfullscreen"?

I can't seem to find any websites detailing the support for the iframe attribute "allowfullscreen". doesn't seem to have a listing for it, for example.

Does anyone have the support information for Chrome, Safari, IE and Firefox?

I've started discovering some of my own answers:

FireFox: Added support in v18 (January 8, 2013) - Source
Chrome: Added support in v27 (May 22, 2013) - Source
Safari: Added support in v7 (October 22, 2013) - Source
Internet Explorer: Added support in v11
Microsoft Edge: Supported

It seems to be difficult to find detailed release notes for the other three, unfortunately.