Letters: Anger and Gloating

Summary: We received a record number of letters about our interview with a Clinton supporter who now plans to vote for McCain. She can't be for real, many said. Also, listeners wrote in with their gas-related gloats.

Here with us now, senior producer Steve Proffitt, to help share some of listener email.

Madeleine, last week in our series "What's the New What?" a young woman, Alyssa Wagner, proposed that psychics are the new psychologists. She said her therapist was making her feel kind of crazy, but her psychic made her feel good. That didn't make a lot of our listeners feel good. A lot of them wrote in.

That's right. And many were outraged that we would allow someone to compare trained and licensed psychologists to unregulated psychics.

Others noted there are many types of therapists, and if one isn't right for you, just find another.

He's a comment from Robert Freeman(ph) of Ellensburg, Washington. "Psychology is hard work. It's easier to have someone tell you what you want to hear."

OK. Now to the number one topic in our inbox. Madeleine, your interview yesterday with Atlanta attorney and author Barbara LeBey.

I don't think we've received this much mail ever. Anyway, Barbara LeBey told us she was a lifelong Democrat and Hillary Clinton supporter who is now leaning toward voting for John McCain.

And she was critical of Barack Obama, calling him, among other things, a blank slate.

I don't want our country led by another inexperienced upstart.

Scores, scores, scores of our listeners wrote to question whether Ms. LeBey was actually ever a Democrat, and some of you wondered if she was, in fact, a Republican operative.

I'm Susan Sturgill (ph) from Columbus, Ohio. I really hope I'm only being paranoid, but it sounded to me like you were set up with an anti-Democratic campaign commercial.

Ms. LeBey is not a Republican plant. She is actually an aunt of one of our reporters, Laura Sydell.

And although we got a couple of letters agreeing with her views, we got a lot more comments taking issue with her statements. Here's one from listener Randy Hall.

She cited John McCain's quote unquote "record of reaching across the aisle," but must have been unaware that John McCain voted with Bush 95 percent of the time in 2007, and 100 percent of the time so far in 2008. One would think a lifelong Democrat would take a few minutes to research something as important as one's vote for president. Randy Hall, Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Thanks to everyone who wrote in about that interview. And thanks to all of you who've written in with your tales of secret gloating in bad times.

That's right. We asked you yesterday to share those moments when in spite of high gas prices, high food prices and dropping ome values, you've had a reason to gloat.

We've gotten lots of great emails from Prius drivers, from bicyclists and this three-word summation from listener Mike Moore(ph).

OK, that was great, but we're looking for more. Did you buy a bunch of oil company stock last year, maybe?

Maybe you sold your home just before the market took a dive?

Or are you so rich you'll never give up your enormous SUV, even if gas goes to 10 bucks a gallon?

Write us with your gloats in 100 words or less.

Just go to our Website, npr.org, and click on the contact us link.

Put "gloat" in the subject line. And Steve Proffitt? You'll be back to share us your gloats real soon. Steve, do you have a gloat for us today?

I don't have any gloats. I'm not a gloater, OK? I'm just not a gloater. Madeleine, thank you very much.

MADELEINE BRAND, host
STEVE PROFFITT
MADELEINE BRAND, host
STEVE PROFFITT
MADELEINE BRAND, host
STEVE PROFFITT
MADELEINE BRAND, host
STEVE PROFFITT
Ms. BARBARA LEBEY
MADELEINE BRAND, host
Ms. SUSAN STURGILL
MADELEINE BRAND, host
STEVE PROFFITT
Mr. RANDY HALL
PROFITT
MADELEINE BRAND, host
STEVE PROFFITT
MADELEINE BRAND, host
STEVE PROFFITT
MADELEINE BRAND, host
STEVE PROFFITT
MADELEINE BRAND, host
STEVE PROFFITT
MADELEINE BRAND, host
STEVE PROFFITT
MADELEINE BRAND, host
STEVE PROFFITT
MADELEINE BRAND, host
STEVE PROFFITT


What Salmonella Scare Means For Farmers

Summary: A recent outbreak in salmonella linked to raw tomatoes has farmers across the country worried. Tom Deardorff, a fourth generation farmer in Oxnard, Calif., is scared that decreased demand will leave his tomatoes to rot in the field.

This is Day to Day. I'm Madeleine Brand.

Tomatoes grown in at least 20 states have been given a clean bill of health. That's to say they are not associated with the Salmonella outbreak, which has made more than 150 people sick. But even though tomatoes from top-producing states like California and Florida are considered safe, many consumers are feeling a bit squeamish about buying any. Tom Deardorff is a fourth-generation tomato farmer in Oxnard, California, and he's on the line with us now.  Welcome to the program and tell us, how big of a year is this for you - for your crops?

Well, we are setting up to have a very positive year based on what's happened over the last couple of years. Starting production in about two weeks and hoping for the best.

Hoping for the best, but expecting what? How is the Salmonella outbreak going to affect you, do you think?

Well, it's obviously substantially changed the marketplace in a very short period of time. What looked like was going to be a very positive season could end up being a disaster if certain buyers in both retail and food-service industry continue to not offer them on their menu items.

And I have to say, you know, tomatoes don't necessarily have a great track record. There have been more than a dozen outbreaks of contamination with tomatoes since 1990. So how do you, as a farmer, go about convincing people it's OK to eat this stuff?

Well, they actually have a very good track record in California and from a food-safety standpoint, we are the leading producers of the safest, best supply of tomatoes. So, it's a matter of educating the consuming public about where their tomatoes are coming from and about the measures that have been implemented in the last 10 to 15 years to help increase the food-safety elements of our products.

Even though tomatoes here in California are considered safe, I'm wondering if you've taken any additional safety precautions with your crops.

Yeah. Food safety is obviously an evolving thing, and we continue to implement new measures every year. This year, for example, we've substantially altered a lot of our packing shed in pursuit of better food- safety measures and more wash stations and more critical control-point analysis of the product as it moves through our packing shed.

You know, I hear you talking about this, and I trust what you're saying is right. But I've got to say, you are not with me at the store when I look at the tomatoes, and I have to say, I've looked at them in the past couple of days and thought, I don't know. It feels just a little bit weird. So how do you go about convincing people when you can't be there for every, you know, individual potential buyer?

And consumer confidence is a very finicky thing and we've seen with prior problems with food-safety issues, it's usually an initial huge reaction, and then it takes six to nine to sometimes 12 months to regain that consumer confidence. We are hoping that this time, because the domestic food supply has been cleared and has been recognized as not being a part of any of these warnings, that hopefully that recovery time is much quicker. We're going to need a lot of help from the government to help us get that message out. We are going to need a lot of help from our industry marketing associations. And then as individual companies, we need to get out there and educate the public about all the food-safety measures that we do here in our domestic food supply to ensure the safety of our products.

Worse-case scenario, how much might you lose?

Well, worst case is a really bad picture. California is the leading producer of tomatoes and if we have to start disking under fields, the ramifications are going to be into the hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars. So, it could be a very huge scenario if we can't regain consumer confidence here real quickly.

California tomatoes have been cleared, but when you see them in the store, you don't necessarily know that they are from California and therefore, OK. So how do you get that message out?

Well, interestingly, as of the end of September 2008, as a result of the current farm bill, we will have mandatory country-of-origin labeling at the retail level. So, retailers will be signing fresh fruits and vegetables here real soon so that the consuming public does know where their fresh fruit and vegetables are coming from.

Tom Deardorff of Deardorff Family Farms in Oxnard, California. Thank you and good luck.

Mr. TOM DEARDORFF (Deardorff Family Farms, Oxnard California)


Problems for Southern Baptists

Summary: The Southern Baptist Convention has been meeting this week in Indianapolis. The group is grappling with declining membership and the feeling that they don't have a candidate in this year's presidential race.

Southern Baptists have been a key voting bloc in recent presidential elections, so who are they going for this year? The Southern Baptist Convention wraps up its annual meeting today in Indianapolis. NPR's Celeste Headlee was there.

The consensus among voters at the Southern Baptist Convention is that there is no consensus.

It just don't seem like there's a candidate that anybody's excited about.

I can't see that Southern Baptists are going to come out very strongly for one individual.

I get an odd sense with the SBC, it's almost like a quietness that I've not heard the excitement about the election on either side.

Tom Patterson(ph), Sarah Burke(ph) and Marcus Reading(ph) are all chatting in the crowded hallways of the Indiana Convention Center. Loren Hutchinson(ph) of Kansas City doesn't think the Southern Baptist Convention will be as involved in presidential politics this year as it has been in the past.

I hope not. I think it's to our detriment. I think it's sidetracked us from our purpose on Earth. I think it's watered down the message of the Gospel.

Why are the Southern Baptists so unenthused about the presidential race? Well, some, like Mike Butler (ph), just haven't made up their minds.

It's very much a up-in-the-air thing right now, between Obama and McCain, for me.

Yes, you heard right. A longtime member of the Southern Baptist Convention is struggling to choose between Barack Obama and John McCain in the presidential race - not exactly what you might expect from this conservative religious group. And Butler is not the only one.

Obama has an understanding of some things that we have totally missed. He is in touch with the whole racial issues that we can't just - like say, OK, that's going to happen by itself.

Bev Olonno(ph) says there are things she likes about both candidates. That's probably the last thing the McCain campaign wants to hear. McCain recently appointed a national coordinator for evangelical and social conservative outreach. The Arizona senator also often points to his strong anti-abortion voting record. But Doug Munton(ph) doesn't think Baptists are one-issue voters.

A lot of Southern Baptists are very glad to see a pro-life candidate, but there's a lot of issues involved in choosing a president, and that's just one of them.

SBC members were passionate supporters of George Bush in 2000, and they're credited with helping him earn his second term. But Lee Pig (ph) says McCain just doesn't inspire the same enthusiasm.

I guess he's just not as charismatic, maybe, as Obama. Even though I'm not going to vote for Obama, but I don't feel a connection to McCain like I did Bush.

That lack of a connection may be caused by doubt over McCain's religious credentials. Tom Patterson is from Rockville, South Carolina.

Well he says he's Baptist, but I don't know which church he's a member of.

McCain has had a rocky relationship with evangelicals. In 2000, he denounced Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as quote, "agents of intolerance." The senator actively sought endorsements from influential pastors John Hagee and Rod Parsley. But last month, McCain renounced those endorsements after some controversial statements came to light. Bev Ollono says Southern Baptists are not automatically going to support the Republican nominee come November.

God is not Democrat or Republican. To me, it's like humbling ourselves before God and Lord, who do you want?

It's probably safe to say McCain has yet to win over the millions of Southern Baptists voters that helped George Bush get to the White House and stay there. Celeste Headlee, NPR News, Indianapolis.

Your angry, angry letters, when Day to Day continues.

MADELEINE BRAND, host
CELESTE HEADLEE
Mr. TOM PATTERSON (Southern Baptist)
Ms. SARAH BURKE (Southern Baptist)
Mr. MARCUS READING (Southern Baptist)
CELESTE HEADLEE
Mr. LOREN HUTCHINSON
CELESTE HEADLEE
Mr. MIKE BUTLER
CELESTE HEADLEE
Ms. BEV OLONNO
CELESTE HEADLEE
DOUG MUNTON
CELESTE HEADLEE
Mr. LEE PIG
CELESTE HEADLEE
Mr. TOM PATTERSON (Southern Baptist)
CELESTE HEADLEE
Ms. BEV OLONNO
CELESTE HEADLEE
COHEN


Copywriting LEGEND Needed. Real estate & investment content PRO. Long term, Opportunity to scale.

Abstract: Hey there, we are looking for an experienced Copywriting PRO covering Real Estate and Investment content to work with consistently on an ongoing basis. We're an established company, and entering a large growth phase. During our growth, we've built up several channels with consistent readership and viewership, and would like to integrate a copywriter regularly to help add value to our community while rounding out our team with a knowledgable and professional individual. A little about us: we're a real estate investment company based in the US, with a staff in several countries utilizing work from home staffing primarily. Our company culture is very positive and engaging, along with a high performance and fast moving team.

Copywriting LEGEND Needed, investment content PRO, real estate investment, experienced Copywriting PRO, PRO covering Real, large growth phase, Opportunity to scale


Modification Work in A Satta Matka Application ! [ Urgent ]

Abstract: I Need An Android Developer To Make Some Changes to my Project. My Support Team and Backend Team Will Support and Assist You !

Satta Matka Application, Android Developer, Developer To Make, Modification Work, Support Team, Backend Team, Support and Assist, Urgent, Project, Make


Download automatically atachment from Outlook vba

Outlook vba Download, Download automatically atachment, atachment from Outlook


Assignments

Abstract: Subject on leadership ( Management)

Assignments Subject, Subject on leadership, Management, leadership


Need a page to showcase my services

Abstract: I have a civil contractor - Need to showcase my service on each page - Need special landing pages for ads - Need to showcase my portfolios in each pages - SEO setup - Ad setup

special landing pages, SEO setup, showcase my services, civil contractor, page to showcase, pages for ads, showcase, page, services, service, ads, portfolios


changes web applicationmade using laravel

Abstract: It is necessary make many small change to a laravel web application

laravel web application, web applicationmade, make many small, applicationmade using laravel, small, make


General translation of American English to Native language

Abstract: We need to translate blog posts from English to Norwegian. 6k words. Easy job. Delivery in 4 days.

translate blog posts, American English, English to Native, translation of American, Native language, General translation, posts from English, Norwegian, Easy job


Complier Java Project

Abstract: This Project is in java. There are 10 projects in general. I'm currently on the 4th project and i got stucked. Every other projects is built on the foundation of project 1. 1 need help with project 4 and 5 as they are due in 80 hours from now

Complier Java Project, projects, projects is built, projects in general, foundation of project, general, built, foundation, hours, due, stucked


Private project or contest #34832343

Abstract: Empty String

Empty String, project or contest, Private project, contest


Grow and manage an established social media page

Abstract: I have a sucessfull facebook page that has been running for 7 years. I need an experienced and creative person to now grow this page across all other social platforms including insta, tiktok, twitter and youtube This person will need to have great organisational skills as there is going to be a lot of admin involved here, plus video editing and a really great eye for creative - love this person to bring monetisation ideas to the deal too. This is an ongoing position and i want someone concentrating on this pretty much full time I will share full details of the page etc once i have selected the best person.. the category is funny animals

sucessfull facebook page, social media page, bring monetisation ideas, social platforms including, great organisational skills, manage an established, share full details, Grow and manage, creative person, great eye, twitter and youtube


A Porthcawl RNLI crew with a medic and the coastguard search and rescue helicopter were sent to Sker Beach, near Kenfig Nature Reserve, at 12:50 GMT on Sunday.
Crewman Chris Page said the rider had head injuries and was very cold from lying unconscious on wet sand.
She was treated before being flown to Cardiff's University Hospital of Wales.

A woman has been airlifted to hospital after falling from a horse on a Bridgend county beach.


Verheydt, who had been with Maastricht since 2015, has signed a three-year contract with Harry Kewell's side.
The 25-year-old scored 13 goals in 43 appearances in all competitions last season.
Meanwhile, Watford winger Dennon Lewis, 20, has joined the Reds on a loan deal until 31 December.
Lewis, who made 29 National League appearances on loan at Woking last season, played under Kewell when the Australian was coach of Watford's under-23 team.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.

League Two side Crawley Town have signed striker Thomas Verheydt from Dutch second-tier side MVV Maastricht for an undisclosed fee.


The 32-year-old had been playing in the Isthmian Premier Division with Leatherhead following his release by Newport at the end of last season.
Pidgeley has made 260 appearances in spells with nine clubs, including Chelsea, Watford and Millwall.
Forest Green are currently second in the National League table, one point behind leaders Cheltenham Town.
Pidgeley could make his Rovers debut when they host Aldershot on Friday.

National League side Forest Green Rovers have signed goalkeeper Lenny Pidgeley until the end of the season.


The suspected green mamba was found on a ship that had docked in Aberdeen from west Africa last month.
The snake died after it was placed in a freezer by the animal charity after attempts to rehome it with specialist reptile keepers failed.
The snake was later identified as a harmless green tree snake.
Police Scotland said a complaint was under consideration.
Scottish SPCA Ch Supt Mike Flynn said: "We were called out after a green snake arrived in Aberdeen on a boat from Africa.
"The snake was thought to be a green mamba, one of the deadliest snakes in the world. The snake was taken by police escort to our Aberdeenshire animal rescue and rehoming centre.
"Sadly the snake, which staff genuinely believed to be a green mamba, had to be put to sleep after our attempts to rehome it to specialist reptile keepers were unsuccessful."
He added: "We could not keep the snake in our centre due to severe health and safety concerns, as the closest anti-venom is held in Bedford. Green mambas also require a Dangerous Wild Animal Licence which the society does not have.
"The safety of our staff and the public is paramount and as such the snake was placed in a freezer where it passed away.
"The Scottish SPCA is proud of its policy not put healthy animals to sleep. Animals are only put to sleep on veterinary advice if they are too ill or too aggressive to be rehomed, or where we are legally required to do so.
"The decision to euthanise the snake was not taken lightly. Unfortunately, the snake has since been identified as a harmless green tree snake. This has been an honest mistake on the society's part as we genuinely believed this was an extremely deadly snake."
The western green mamba feeds on small animals and rodents and is mainly found in the coastal tropical rainforests of western Africa.
Experts say its bite can be fatal in as little as 30 minutes.

A complaint about the Scottish SPCA putting what was thought to be one of the world's most deadly snakes to sleep is being investigated by police.


The all-rounder has been included in the T20 squad to face Sri Lanka on 5 July at the Ageas Bowl, having been part of the World T20 squad in March.
"It's nice to be involved again," the 26-year-old slow left-armer and right-handed batsman told BBC Radio Solent.
"I wasn't expecting to be as I thought Moeen Ali would, but him being rested hands me another opportunity."
Dawson failed to make an appearance during England's run to the World T20 final in India this year, but his limited-overs performances for Hampshire this season have kept him in contention.
"I'm not sure what team they'll go with," he said.
"I've had some good performances for Hampshire in one-day and T20 cricket and if I keep going with that, hopefully I might get a chance."

Hampshire's Liam Dawson says it would be "amazing" to make his England Twenty20 debut on his home ground.


The Egypt-backed plan had envisaged a regional forum which analysts say might have forced Israel to reveal whether or not it has nuclear weapons.
The proposal was blocked by the US, the UK and Canada. The next review is set for  2020.
Israel neither confirms nor denies it has a stockpile of nuclear weapons.
Speaking after four weeks of negotiations, US Under-Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller accused Egypt and other Arab countries of "not willing to let go of these unrealistic and unworkable conditions" for future talks.
She also said some participants tried to "cynically manipulate" the whole process.
But Egypt warned that the failure to reach a deal "will have consequences in front of the Arab world and public opinion", the Associated Press news agency reports.
Last month, Egypt had proposed to stage a regional conference - with or without Israel's participation and without an agreed agenda.
Some analysts suggested that this move might have forced Israel - which is not a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) - to publicly clarify its position on nuclear weapons.
Decisions at NPT review conferences - held every five years - are made by consensus.
The failure of the current talks means the next gathering could only be held in 2020 at the earliest.

A UN conference aimed at preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons has ended in failure after a row over a nuclear-free Middle East proposal.


Mothers-to-be are more likely to get malaria as their immunity is lowered, says the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG).
Malaria carries serious risks for mother and baby including miscarriage, stillbirth and premature labour.
The tropical disease is transmitted by mosquitoes and causes a fever, flu-like symptoms, vomiting and diarrhoea.
There have been no malaria-related deaths in pregnant or recently pregnant women in the UK in the past decade but the RCOG says it has been receiving inquires from worried women.
In the UK, about 1,500 cases of malaria are reported each year and about 10 people will die, said the RCOG.
It says all non-essential trips to areas with a high risk of malaria should be avoided.
Risk areas include large areas of Africa, Asia including China and India, Central and South America, parts of the Middle East and some Pacific Islands.
If the trip is unavoidable, the college advises women to seek advice from a centre with expertise in malaria which will provide information on ways to reduce the risk of infection.
Women should make sure they are aware of the risk, take out measures such as mosquito nets for bite prevention and take anti-malarial medication.
Philippa Marsden, who chairs the RCOG's patient information committee, said although the risks were still relatively small it was important that women were well-informed.
Cath Broderick of the RCOG women's network said: "If women are worried about symptoms after returning from a high-risk country and think they may have malaria, they should see a doctor immediately and inform them of their recent travels."
Symptoms can take a week or more to develop after being bitten.

Pregnant women should visit countries with a risk of malaria only if their trip is essential, experts are warning.


Researchers at the University of Sheffield said the tumours were effectively "fertilising" the bone to help themselves grow.
The study, in the journal Nature, said it may be possible to protect bone from a tumour's nefarious influence and consequently stop the cancer's spread.
Cancer charities said this opened up "a whole new avenue for research".
Around 85% of breast cancers that spread around the body end up in bone, at which point the cancer is difficult to treat and more deadly.
The scientists, in Sheffield and the University of Copenhagen, discovered patients with secondary cancers had higher levels of an enzyme called LOX being produced by their tumours and released into the blood.
Bone is constantly being broken down and rebuilt. But in a series of experiments on mice, the research team showed LOX was disrupting the process and leaving lesions and holes in the bone.
Using drugs to block LOX prevented the cancer from spreading.
Dr Alison Gartland, a reader in bone and cancer biology at the university, told the BBC News website: "We think it's a significant breakthrough in trying to prevent metastases (secondary tumours) in breast cancer.
"The cancer cells in the primary tumour are actually fertilising the soil for the future growth of itself, LOX is changing the environment in bone to make it better to grow."
The animal tests also showed that a set of osteoporosis drugs called bisphosphonates could prevent the spread of cancer.
Bisphosphonates also interfere with the way bone is recycled in order to strengthen it.
They are already given to some cancer patients, but the Sheffield team believe they could have a much larger role.
The effect was discovered only in oestrogen-negative breast cancers. They account for around a third of cases, but are far more deadly.
Katherine Woods, from Breast Cancer Campaign and Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: "By unveiling the role that the protein LOX is playing, these results open up a whole new avenue for research and treatments that could stop breast cancer spreading to the bone.
"The research also adds weight to the growing body of evidence supporting the role of bisphosphonates in stopping secondary breast cancer in its tracks.
"The reality of living with secondary breast cancer in the bone is a stark one, which leaves many women with bone pain and fractures that need extensive surgery just when they need to be making the most of the time they have left with friends and family."
The findings may also apply in colon cancer.

Breast cancers can manipulate the structure of bone to make it easier to spread there, a study has found.


How did serfdom develop in and then leave Russia ?


What films featured the character Popeye Doyle ?


How can I find a list of celebrities ' real names ?


What fowl grabs the spotlight after the Chinese Year of the Monkey ?


What is the full form of .com ?


What contemptible scoundrel stole the cork from my lunch ?


What team did baseball 's St. Louis Browns become ?


What is the oldest profession ?


What are liver enzymes ?


Name the scar-faced bounty hunter of The Old West .


i can go from feeling so hopeless to so damned hopeful just from being around someone who cares and is awake


im grabbing a minute to post i feel greedy wrong


i am ever feeling nostalgic about the fireplace i will know that it is still on the property


i am feeling grouchy


ive been feeling a little burdened lately wasnt sure why that was


ive been taking or milligrams or times recommended amount and ive fallen asleep a lot faster but i also feel like so funny


i feel as confused about life as a teenager or as jaded as a year old man


i have been with petronas for years i feel that petronas has performed well and made a huge profit


Question: approval

Nana came into the room with a puzzled look on her face.

My daughter is not motivated by approval


Question: belonging

My daughter is not motivated by belonging


Question: competition

My daughter is not motivated by competition


Question: contact


Question: curiosity

My daughter is not motivated by curiosity


Question: family


Question: food


Question: health


Question: honor


Question: idealism

My daughter is not motivated by idealism


By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day


Proportion of population below the international poverty line, by sex, age, employment status and geographical location (urban/rural)


By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions


Proportion of population living below the national poverty line, by sex and age


Proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions


Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable


Proportion of population covered by social protection floors/systems, by sex, distinguishing children, unemployed persons, older persons, persons with disabilities, pregnant women, newborns, work-injury victims and the poor and the vulnerable


By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance


Check out our new site Makeup Addiction

Why the fuck

add your own caption

Why the fuck

add your own caption

Why the fuck

add your own caption

Why the fuck

add your own caption

Why the fuck

add your own caption

Why the fuck

add your own caption

Why the fuck

add your own caption

Why the fuck

add your own caption

Why the fuck

add your own caption

Why the fuck

add your own caption

add your own caption

WHY THE FUCK Do I watch sportscenter all day?


Chassidy Lynn - Smoking MILF, POV JOI, how to Fuck Me, HUGE CREAMPIE


Adult Content Warning

hottsimone's Live Sex Chat Room
Hello everyone, this is Indian cam girl hottsimone here. I'm 28 year old Female speak English in the Indian live sex chat action. I like to masturbate and put my long sexy fingers really deep into my hot juicy pussy, rub my sensual clit mmmmmmmmmm and then fuck myself with my fingers and my dildo in the pussy and ass!Imagine your hard cock inside my wet pussy!. Sexy curvy brunette with long legs, sexy body, beautiful eyes. I can make all your fantasies come true right now!!! is my expertise and also what I will do in Indian live sex private show. I have Black eyes, Medium Brown hairs and my measurements are 37-26-37. For Turn ons: I love pussy playing. I like fuck my pussy and ass with my toys! I like DP, oral, fingering, cum with squirt many times, moan, scream, spanking, feet, heels, stokings, outfits! Tell me your sexual fantasies and they can come true right now, baby!. For TurnsOff: Rude people and beggars.. If you prefer kinks, then Shaved, are mine. I'm just hungry for a HARD cock, can't wait to see u in my Indian webcam sex chat room! :)


Enhancement of pH stability and activity of glycerol dehydratase from Klebsiella pneumoniae by rational design.
Glycerol dehydratase (GDHt) is a key and rate-limiting enzyme in the pathway of 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PD) synthesis. The improvement of GDHt's stability and enzymatic activity is desirable for the biosynthesis of 1,3-PD. The gldABC gene encoding GDHt of Klebsiella pneumoniae was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli XL10-Gold, and the mutation sites of GDHt were obtained through prediction by PoPMuSiC program. Consequently, two mutants (KpG60 and KpG525) were developed by rational design through site-mutagenesis based on 3D structure which was constructed from homology modeling. Analyses of enzymatic properties showed that pH stability of the mutants was about 1.25-2 times higher than that of the wild type, and specific activity, V(max) and K(cat)/K(m) of KpG525 were about 1.5-2 times higher than those of the wild type. This work presented a simple and useful measure to improve the performance of industrial enzyme.


Q:

How to implement bulk mailing using windows service on a schedule basis?

I've a requirement in which i need to send 10000+ mails on a quarterly basis. For this purpose i used a windows service that triggers every day and executes the mailing functionality only after the third month. I've to fetch last three months records from database and need to send one mail for each record.
The problem i faced was the mail server i used do not allow bulk mailing.
How can i do this effectively by providing a delay between each sent (20 mails per minute)?

A:

There are many way to archieve this. We once had a similar requirement and solved it via a home grown service, which would fetch items from a special database table (mail queue) and sent each mail individially. The queue is filled over time by regular business logic. The necessary locking can also be done via db: a SCHEDULE column stores the expected scheduled time of sending the mail. That way the service collects only those mails wich are 'ready' for sending. After successfull send, another column (SENT_TIMESTAMP) is used to mark the success.
We implemented the whole service in ASP and triggered it via regular Windows Task Planner jobs. In your case, the service would start every minute and the queue would provide the next 20 mails. An even easier way could be to utilize SQL Server Jobs. SQL Server is capable of delivering mails to a local SMTP server as well.
If not done yet, please note that SO question as well: What is the best way to send large batches of emails in ASP.NET?


Sexy Mommy Wants Hardcore Sex

Descrizione:
This horny mommy, Angela Attison is sucking a cock. And this sexy blonde is having her tits fucked by it. With her blowjob and big titties playing, the cock getting bigger and harder! And soon she spreads her legs to get her pussy licked. After that, the guy started fucking her wet pussy.


[Characterization of the Laryngeal Adductor Reflex by Stimulation with Microdroplets Impulses (Microdroplet Impulse Testing)].
The larynx is considered a crossing point between breathing and swallowing pathways. During swallowing, the airway below the glottis must be protected against food components by an appropriate laryngeal closure mechanism. The laryngeal adductor reflex (LAR) with an early, probably di- or oligosynaptic interconnected ipsilateral LAR1- and a late ipsilateral and contralateral LAR2 polysynaptic component is believed to serve as such a mechanism. Here we aimed to measure and characterize the LAR in healthy volunteers and to compare the data obtained with previously published data. We designed a prospective pilot study. 10 healthy volunteers (22-57 years) participated. To elicit the LAR we used a newly designed microdroplet impulse testing (MIT) device: very small waterdroplets were shot onto the endolaryngeal mucosa. By simultaneously observing the anatomical structures with a high speed glottography system, the time between impact of the microdroplet on the mucosa and the beginning of the adduction movement and thus an approximate value for the reflex latency could be determined. An early adduction movement corresponding to LAR1 could not be detected. The measured LAR2 latency time was higher than the EMG LAR2 data. No significant latency difference between right and left stimulation was found. Since we were unable to demonstrate any LAR1 component it may be that muscle activity observable by EMG may not be sufficient to lead to a visible medial vocal cord movement. The longer LAR2 latency compared to EMG data may be explained by the fact that the visually vocal cord movement occurs after a delay although muscle activity already started as evidenced by EMG.Further studies on LAR are warranted, especially since our results also raise questions about the clinical significance of the LAR.


Housewife Abella Danger Bounces Her Big Ass On Your Cock

500 100%


When does Bias Transfer in Transfer Learning?

Abstract:
Using transfer learning to adapt a pre-trained "source model" to a downstream
"target task" can dramatically increase performance with seemingly no downside.
In this work, we demonstrate that there can exist a downside after all: bias
transfer, or the tendency for biases of the source model to persist even after
adapting the model to the target class. Through a combination of synthetic and
natural experiments, we show that bias transfer both (a) arises in realistic
settings (such as when pre-training on ImageNet or other standard datasets) and
(b) can occur even when the target dataset is explicitly de-biased. As
transfer-learned models are increasingly deployed in the real world, our work
highlights the importance of understanding the limitations of pre-trained
source models. Code is available at https://github.com/MadryLab/bias-transfer


Online Bilevel Optimization: Regret Analysis of Online Alternating Gradient Methods

Abstract:
Online optimization is a well-established optimization paradigm that aims to
make a sequence of correct decisions given knowledge of the correct answer to
previous decision tasks. Bilevel programming involves a hierarchical
optimization problem where the feasible region of the so-called outer problem
is restricted by the graph of the solution set mapping of the inner problem.
This paper brings these two ideas together and studies an online bilevel
optimization setting in which a sequence of time-varying bilevel problems are
revealed one after the other. We extend the known regret bounds for
single-level online algorithms to the bilevel setting. Specifically, we
introduce new notions of bilevel regret, develop an online alternating
time-averaged gradient method that is capable of leveraging smoothness, and
provide regret bounds in terms of the path-length of the inner and outer
minimizer sequences.


Strong Heuristics for Named Entity Linking

Abstract:
Named entity linking (NEL) in news is a challenging endeavour due to the
frequency of unseen and emerging entities, which necessitates the use of
unsupervised or zero-shot methods. However, such methods tend to come with
caveats, such as no integration of suitable knowledge bases (like Wikidata) for
emerging entities, a lack of scalability, and poor interpretability. Here, we
consider person disambiguation in Quotebank, a massive corpus of
speaker-attributed quotations from the news, and investigate the suitability of
intuitive, lightweight, and scalable heuristics for NEL in web-scale corpora.
Our best performing heuristic disambiguates 94% and 63% of the mentions on
Quotebank and the AIDA-CoNLL benchmark, respectively. Additionally, the
proposed heuristics compare favourably to the state-of-the-art unsupervised and
zero-shot methods, Eigenthemes and mGENRE, respectively, thereby serving as
strong baselines for unsupervised and zero-shot entity linking.


Improved conformalized quantile regression

Abstract:
Conformalized quantile regression is a procedure that inherits the advantages
of conformal prediction and quantile regression. That is, we use quantile
regression to estimate the true conditional quantile and then apply a conformal
step on a calibration set to ensure marginal coverage. In this way, we get
adaptive prediction intervals that account for heteroscedasticity. However, the
aforementioned conformal step lacks adaptiveness as described in (Romano et
al., 2019). To overcome this limitation, instead of applying a single conformal
step after estimating conditional quantiles with quantile regression, we
propose to cluster the explanatory variables weighted by their permutation
importance with an optimized k-means and apply k conformal steps. To show that
this improved version outperforms the classic version of conformalized quantile
regression and is more adaptive to heteroscedasticity, we extensively compare
the prediction intervals of both in open datasets.


A multi-task network approach for calculating discrimination-free insurance prices

Abstract:
In applications of predictive modeling, such as insurance pricing, indirect
or proxy discrimination is an issue of major concern. Namely, there exists the
possibility that protected policyholder characteristics are implicitly inferred
from non-protected ones by predictive models, and are thus having an
undesirable (or illegal) impact on prices. A technical solution to this problem
relies on building a best-estimate model using all policyholder characteristics
(including protected ones) and then averaging out the protected characteristics
for calculating individual prices. However, such approaches require full
knowledge of policyholders' protected characteristics, which may in itself be
problematic. Here, we address this issue by using a multi-task neural network
architecture for claim predictions, which can be trained using only partial
information on protected characteristics, and it produces prices that are free
from proxy discrimination. We demonstrate the use of the proposed model and we
find that its predictive accuracy is comparable to a conventional feedforward
neural network (on full information). However, this multi-task network has
clearly superior performance in the case of partially missing policyholder
information.


The Intrinsic Manifolds of Radiological Images and their Role in Deep Learning

Abstract:
The manifold hypothesis is a core mechanism behind the success of deep
learning, so understanding the intrinsic manifold structure of image data is
central to studying how neural networks learn from the data. Intrinsic dataset
manifolds and their relationship to learning difficulty have recently begun to
be studied for the common domain of natural images, but little such research
has been attempted for radiological images. We address this here. First, we
compare the intrinsic manifold dimensionality of radiological and natural
images. We also investigate the relationship between intrinsic dimensionality
and generalization ability over a wide range of datasets. Our analysis shows
that natural image datasets generally have a higher number of intrinsic
dimensions than radiological images. However, the relationship between
generalization ability and intrinsic dimensionality is much stronger for
medical images, which could be explained as radiological images having
intrinsic features that are more difficult to learn. These results give a more
principled underpinning for the intuition that radiological images can be more
challenging to apply deep learning to than natural image datasets common to
machine learning research. We believe rather than directly applying models
developed for natural images to the radiological imaging domain, more care
should be taken to developing architectures and algorithms that are more
tailored to the specific characteristics of this domain. The research shown in
our paper, demonstrating these characteristics and the differences from natural
images, is an important first step in this direction.


Private Matrix Approximation and Geometry of Unitary Orbits

Abstract:
Consider the following optimization problem: Given $n \times n$ matrices $A$
and $\Lambda$, maximize $\langle A, U\Lambda U^*\rangle$ where $U$ varies over
the unitary group $\mathrm{U}(n)$. This problem seeks to approximate $A$ by a
matrix whose spectrum is the same as $\Lambda$ and, by setting $\Lambda$ to be
appropriate diagonal matrices, one can recover matrix approximation problems
such as PCA and rank-$k$ approximation. We study the problem of designing
differentially private algorithms for this optimization problem in settings
where the matrix $A$ is constructed using users' private data. We give
efficient and private algorithms that come with upper and lower bounds on the
approximation error. Our results unify and improve upon several prior works on
private matrix approximation problems. They rely on extensions of
packing/covering number bounds for Grassmannians to unitary orbits which should
be of independent interest.


Astroconformer: Inferring Surface Gravity of Stars from Stellar Light Curves with Transformer

Abstract:
We introduce Astroconformer, a Transformer-based model to analyze stellar
light curves from the Kepler mission. We demonstrate that Astrconformer can
robustly infer the stellar surface gravity as a supervised task. Importantly,
as Transformer captures long-range information in the time series, it
outperforms the state-of-the-art data-driven method in the field, and the
critical role of self-attention is proved through ablation experiments.
Furthermore, the attention map from Astroconformer exemplifies the long-range
correlation information learned by the model, leading to a more interpretable
deep learning approach for asteroseismology. Besides data from Kepler, we also
show that the method can generalize to sparse cadence light curves from the
Rubin Observatory, paving the way for the new era of asteroseismology,
harnessing information from long-cadence ground-based observations.


DIWIFT: Discovering Instance-wise Influential Features for Tabular Data

Abstract:
Tabular data is one of the most common data storage formats in business
applications, ranging from retail, bank and E-commerce. These applications rely
heavily on machine learning models to achieve business success. One of the
critical problems in learning tabular data is to distinguish influential
features from all the predetermined features. Global feature selection has been
well-studied for quite some time, assuming that all instances have the same
influential feature subsets. However, different instances rely on different
feature subsets in practice, which also gives rise to that instance-wise
feature selection receiving increasing attention in recent studies. In this
paper, we first propose a novel method for discovering instance-wise
influential features for tabular data (DIWIFT), the core of which is to
introduce the influence function to measure the importance of an instance-wise
feature. DIWIFT is capable of automatically discovering influential feature
subsets of different sizes in different instances, which is different from
global feature selection that considers all instances with the same influential
feature subset. On the other hand, different from the previous instance-wise
feature selection, DIWIFT minimizes the validation loss on the validation set
and is thus more robust to the distribution shift existing in the training
dataset and test dataset, which is important in tabular data. Finally, we
conduct extensive experiments on both synthetic and real-world datasets to
validate the effectiveness of our DIWIFT, compared it with baseline methods.
Moreover, we also demonstrate the robustness of our method via some ablation
experiments.


Enhancing Adversarial Attacks on Single-Layer NVM Crossbar-Based Neural Networks with Power Consumption Information

Abstract:
Adversarial attacks on state-of-the-art machine learning models pose a
significant threat to the safety and security of mission-critical autonomous
systems. This paper considers the additional vulnerability of machine learning
models when attackers can measure the power consumption of their underlying
hardware platform. In particular, we explore the utility of power consumption
information for adversarial attacks on non-volatile memory crossbar-based
single-layer neural networks. Our results from experiments with MNIST and
CIFAR-10 datasets show that power consumption can reveal important information
about the neural network's weight matrix, such as the 1-norm of its columns.
That information can be used to infer the sensitivity of the network's loss
with respect to different inputs. We also find that surrogate-based black box
attacks that utilize crossbar power information can lead to improved attack
efficiency.


Premise: Not all people have had the opportunities you have had.

Hypothesis: Some people have not had the opportunities you have had.


Hypothesis: Some people have had the opportunities you have had.


Hypothesis: Every person has had the opportunities you have had.


Hypothesis: Not every person has had the opportunities you have had.


Hypothesis: All people have not had the opportunities you have had.


Hypothesis: All people have had the opportunities you have had.


Hypothesis: Not all people have had the opportunities you have not had.


Hypothesis: No one has had the opportunities you have had.


Premise: I saw nothing at all.

Hypothesis: I didn't see anything at all.


Premise: I saw nothing at all.

Hypothesis: I saw something.


Effect of histamine on the signal transduction of the AtoS-AtoC two component system and involvement in poly-(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate biosynthesis in Escherichia coli.

AtoS-AtoC two-component system acts directly on the atoDAEB operon transcription to regulate the biosynthesis of short-chain poly-(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate. This study sought to investigate the effect of histamine and compound 48/80 on the regulation of AtoS-AtoC two-component system in Escherichia coli K-12 MA255 (speC(-), speB(-)) and the isogenic E. coli strains BW25113 (atoSC(+)) and BW28878 (DeltaatoSC) transformed with plasmids carrying related genes. Histamine or compound 48/80 induced or tended to reduce atoC transcription, respectively, while neither compound showed any effect on atoDAEB operon transcription. Moreover, histamine down-regulated poly-(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate biosynthesis, whereas compound 48/80 up-regulated its biosynthesis, maximal induction being obtained in the presence of multiple copies of AtoS-AtoC. Interestingly, co-administration of histamine counteracted this inductive effect of compound 48/80. The reported data provide the first evidence for a differential modulator role of histamine and compound 48/80 on the AtoS-AtoC two-component system signaling in potentially pathogenic bacteria, leading to a new perspective on their symbiotic behavior.


Synthesis of a bicyclic delta-amino acid as a constrained Gly-Asn dipeptide isostere.

Delta-amino acids are very attractive in drug discovery, especially in the peptidomimetic area, because of their capability to act as dipeptide isosteres and reverse turn mimetics. Herein we report the synthesis of a rigid delta-amino acid constrained by a 3-aza-6,8-dioxabicyclo[3.2.1]octane-based scaffold, which can be considered as a Gly-Asn dipeptide mimetic. Key steps are the condensation of glycidol and tartaric acid derivatives, and the intramolecular trans-acetalization of the oxidized adduct to give the bicyclic delta-amino acid. Starting from L-tartaric acid derivative, it was achieved the corresponding Gly-D-Asn isostere, whereas from the enantiomeric D-tartaric acid derivative the corresponding Gly-L-Asn isostere could be obtained, thus giving access to both enantiomeric dipeptide sequences.


Role of reactive nitrogen and reactive oxygen species against MPTP neurotoxicity in mice.

There is growing evidence indicating that reactive nitrogen species (RNS) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) are a major contributor to the pathogenesis and progression of Parkinson's disease. Here we investigated whether edaravone (free radical scavenger), minocycline (inducible nitric oxide synthase, iNOS inhibitor), 7-nitroindazole (neuronal NOS, nNOS inhibitor), fluvastatin (endothelial NOS, eNOS activator) and pitavastatin (eNOS activator) can protect against MPTP neurotoxicity in mice under the same condition. The present study showed that 7-nitroindazole could protect dose-dependently against the striatal dopamine depletions in mice 5 days after MPTP treatment. In contrast, edaravone, minocycline, fluvastatin and pitavastatin did not show the neuroprotective effect on MPTP-induced striatal dopamine depletion. Our immunohistochemical study showed that TH (tyrosine hydroxylase) and DAT (dopamine transporter) immunoreactivity was decreased significantly in the striatum and substantia nigra 5 days after MPTP treatment. The administration of 7-nitroindazole showed a protective effect against the severe reductions in levels of TH and DAT immunoreactivity in the striatum and substantia nigra 5 days after MPTP treatment. Furthermore, our Western blot analyses study showed the remarkable loss of TH protein levels in the striatum 5 days after MPTP treatment. In contrast, 7-nitroindazole prevented a significant loss in TH protein levels in the striatum 5 days after MPTP treatment. On the other hand, GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein) immunoreactivity increased significantly in the striatum and substantia nigra, 5 days after MPTP treatment. 7-Nitroindazole ameliorated severe increases in number of GFAP immunoreactive astrocytes in the striatum and substantia nigra 5 days after MPTP treatment. Furthermore, our Western blot analyses study showed the increase of GFAP protein levels in the striatum 5 days after MPTP treatment. 7-Nitroindazole prevented a significant increase in the GFAP protein levels in the striatum 5 days after MPTP treatment. The present results indicate that 7-nitroindazole can protect dose-dependently against the striatal dopamine depletions in mice 5 days after MPTP treatment. In contrast, edaravone, minocycline, fluvastatin and pitavastatin did not show the neuroprotective effect on MPTP-induced striatal dopamine depletions. These findings demonstrate that the overexpression of nNOS may play a major role in the neurotoxic processes of MPTP, as compared to the production of ROS, the overexpression of iNOS and the modulation of eNOS. Thus, our findings provide strong evidence for neuroprotective properties of nNOS inhibitor in this animal model of Parkinson's disease.


Biosynthesis of [1-15N] L-tryptophan from 15N labeled anthranilic acid by fermentation of Candida utilis mutant.

A new method for synthesizing the labeled L-tryptophan is described in this work. L-tryptophan, labeled with 98% (15)N at position 1 was synthesized from the labeled anthranilic acid using Candida utilis mutants. The conversion ratio of (15)N of 50% was achieved. The labeled anthranilic acid was synthesized by [(15)N] phthalimide that was prepared by 99.34% [(15)N] urea and phthalic anhydride in ortho-xylene medium at 140 degrees C and under atmospheric pressure.


Tetrahydrofurobenzofuran cymserine, a potent butyrylcholinesterase inhibitor and experimental Alzheimer drug candidate, enzyme kinetic analysis.

Synaptic loss, particularly related to the forebrain cholinergic system, is considered to be an early event that leads to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and has led to the development of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChE-Is) as the mainstay of treatment for several degenerative disorders that culminate in dementia. The primary dose-limiting toxicities of all clinically available AChE-Is are, similar to useful actions on cognition, cholinergically mediated and they ultimately limit the value of this drug class in achieving anything but symptomatic improvements. In addition, AChE levels in brain areas associated with AD decline with disease progression, which likely ultimately limits the therapeutic utility of this drug class. New research indicates that selective inhibition of butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE), a closely related enzyme that is markedly elevated in AD brain, increases acetylcholine (ACh) and augments cognition in rodents free of the characteristic undesirable actions of AChE-Is. BuChE inhibition hence represents an innovative treatment approach for AD, and agents are currently being synthesized to optimally achieve this. The novel compound, tetrahydrofurobenzofuran cymserine (THFBFC), is derived from our effort to produce a potent and BuChE-selective inhibitor as a candidate to test the hypothesis that BuChE-Is would be efficacious and better tolerated than AChE-Is in AD. Herein, we applied innovative enzyme kinetic analyses to characterize the quantitative interaction of THFBFC with human BuChE. These provided values for the agent's IC(50), together with specific new kinetic constants, such as K (T50), K (T1/2), R (I), (o)K (RT), (o)P(max), K(PT) and PT(1/2), to aid define target concentrations for clinical translation. Additional classical kinetic parameters, including K(i), K(m)or K(s), k(cat) or V(max) and V (mi) were also determined. THFBFC proved to be a potent competitive inhibitor of human BuChE and, like its isomer dihydrobenzodioxepine cymserine, is a potentially interesting AD drug candidate.


Disparities in surgery: access to outcomes.

Surgery is an important intervention to sustain human life through its ability to cure disease, heal fractures, avert maternal death, and provide comfort for those suffering. However, surgical care is unevenly delivered throughout the world. More surprisingly, we have little knowledge about the adequacy and quality of surgical resources globally. The Brigham and Women's Hospital Center for Surgery and Public Health, a joint program of Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, seeks to remedy the knowledge deficit, to provide direction for stakeholders, and direct improvement in public health related to surgical care. To the end of raising awareness of the issue of disparities in surgical care in the United States and the world, an invitational conference on Disparities in Surgical Care: Access to Outcomes was conceived. The Symposium brought together experts from around the world to critically examine this challenging problem. Surgeons, other clinicians, administrators, and health services researchers came together to develop approaches to translate research into practice to address disparities in access and outcomes in surgical care. The synergy of population-based research and clinical practice may allow the surgical healthcare team of the near future to implement strategies to achieve health equity, an important dimension of quality, in surgery.


Age- and sex-related incidence of surgically treated primary hyperparathyroidism.

Primary hyperparathyroidism (1 degrees HPT) is reported most often in women over the age of 50. Beyond that, little is known about the epidemiology of this condition, and no studies have specifically examined the age and gender distribution of patients with 1 degrees HPT. We analyzed patients from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), a 20% random sample of all hospital stays from 2000-2004, and also from the University of Michigan endocrine surgery database from 1999-2005. Surgically treated 1 degrees HPT was used as a surrogate marker for 1 degrees HPT. An age- and sex-based frequency distribution was computed for each dataset. A total of 7,513 females and 2,677 males who underwent surgery for 1 degrees HPT in the 5-year period 2000 through 2004 were reported in the NIS. At the University of Michigan from 1999 through 2005, 790 females and 276 males underwent parathyroidectomy for 1 degrees HPT. In both datasets, the frequency of 1 degrees HPT began to rise slowly in both sexes at age 11 and increased more rapidly among females than males beginning at age 21-25 (NIS) and 26-30 (UM). Incidence curves for both women and men in both databases were similar in shape and unipolar in configuration. Peak incidence was at age 56-60 (NIS) and 61-65 (UM) in females and age 56-60 in males (both datasets). The female:male ratio was noted to rise steadily among the NIS patients until perimenopausal age, after which it became stable for the next 20 years before decreasing again. No change in the female:male ratio over time was seen among the UM patients. Primary HPT occurs more frequently in females than in males at all ages. The incidence increases steadily after age 25 in both sexes. The female:male ratio does not change during the peri- and postmenopausal years. This information should stimulate new hypotheses to explain the difference in the incidence of 1 degrees HPT between men and women.


Efficiency of MR imaging to orientate surgical treatment of posterior deep pelvic endometriosis.

The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the accuracy of MRI using pelvic-phased-array and endocavitary coils in detecting intestinal wall invasion by an endometriotic nodule. Forty-seven patients (32.1 +/- 4.2 years) who were planned for a surgical cure of deep endometriosis underwent MRI with conventional sequences using both coils. A thin bright layer on T(2)-w with enhancement on post-Gd T(1)-w defined our MR pattern for muscular layer involvement. MR results were correlated with surgical and pathological findings of the removed nodule. MR results for Group 1 (both coils) achieved a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of 100-63%, 96-92%, 90-70%, 100-85%, and 97-83% for endovaginal coil and phased-array coil, respectively. Group 2 (phased-array coil) had a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of 73%, 93%, 84%, 88%, and 87% for this coil, respectively. Combined pelvic-phased-array and endovaginal coils are better than phased array alone in the detection of intestinal wall invasion. Easy to perform, it has to be considered as a preoperative staging for deep posterior endometriosis to orientate the surgical management.


Reliability of the 24-h sensation-related bladder diary in women with urinary incontinence.

Increased bladder sensation is the most troublesome symptom of overactive bladder. In clinical practice, reliable noninvasive evaluation of bladder sensation is needed. This study was designed to determine the reliability of a 24-h sensation-related bladder diary (SR-BD) in women with urinary incontinence including clinically relevant information regarding the bladder sensation. A total of 246 women with urinary incontinence filled out a SR-BD for 3 days. They graded the perception of bladder sensation at each micturition and measured the volume voided. The reliability of the 24-h SR-BD method is preserved, when taking into account the grade of bladder sensation. The 24-h SR-BD, which incorporates bladder sensation at each micturition, not only gives information on sensation-related micturition behavior but also shows good reliability. Grading of bladder sensation does not jeopardize this methodology but on the contrary provides added value, which is clinically relevant.


def _update_progress(self, percentage, **kwargs):
        """
        Update the progress with a percentage, including updating the progressbar as well as calling the progress
        callback.

        :param float percentage:    Percentage of the progressbar. from 0.0 to 100.0.
        :param kwargs:              Other parameters that will be passed to the progress_callback handler.
        :return: None
        """

        if self._show_progressbar:
            if self._progressbar is None:
                self._initialize_progressbar()

            self._progressbar.update(percentage * 10000)

        if self._progress_callback is not None:
            self._progress_callback(percentage, **kwargs)

def _update_progress ( self , percentage , * * kwargs ) : if self . _show_progressbar : if self . _progressbar is None : self . _initialize_progressbar ( ) self . _progressbar . update ( percentage * 10000 ) if self . _progress_callback is not None : self . _progress_callback ( percentage , * * kwargs )


def _parse_response(self, result_page):
        """
        Takes a result page of sending the sms, returns an extracted tuple:
            ('numeric_err_code', '<sent_queued_message_id>', '<smsglobalmsgid>')
        Returns None if unable to extract info from result_page, it should be
        safe to assume that it was either a failed result or worse, the interface
        contract has changed.
        """
        # Sample result_page, single line -> "OK: 0; Sent queued message ID: 2063619577732703 SMSGlobalMsgID:6171799108850954"
        resultline = result_page.splitlines()[0] # get result line
        if resultline.startswith('ERROR:'):
            raise Exception(resultline.replace('ERROR: ', ''))
        patt = re.compile(r'^.+?:\s*(.+?)\s*;\s*Sent queued message ID:\s*(.+?)\s*SMSGlobalMsgID:(.+?)$', re.IGNORECASE)
        m = patt.match(resultline)
        if m:
            return (m.group(1), m.group(2), m.group(3))
        return None


def parse_args(args):
    """Uses python argparse to collect positional args"""
    Log.info("Input args: %r" % args)

    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()

    parser.add_argument("--shard", type=int, required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--topology-name", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--topology-id", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--topology-defn-file", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--state-manager-connection", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--state-manager-root", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--state-manager-config-file", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--tmaster-binary", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--stmgr-binary", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--metrics-manager-classpath", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--instance-jvm-opts", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--classpath", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--master-port", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--tmaster-controller-port", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--tmaster-stats-port", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--heron-internals-config-file", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--override-config-file", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--component-ram-map", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--component-jvm-opts", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--pkg-type", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--topology-binary-file", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--heron-java-home", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--shell-port", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--heron-shell-binary", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--metrics-manager-port", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--cluster", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--role", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--environment", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--instance-classpath", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--metrics-sinks-config-file", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--scheduler-classpath", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--scheduler-port", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--python-instance-binary", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--cpp-instance-binary", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--metricscache-manager-classpath", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--metricscache-manager-master-port", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--metricscache-manager-stats-port", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--metricscache-manager-mode", required=False)
    parser.add_argument("--is-stateful", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--checkpoint-manager-classpath", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--checkpoint-manager-port", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--checkpoint-manager-ram", type=long, required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--stateful-config-file", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--health-manager-mode", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--health-manager-classpath", required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--jvm-remote-debugger-ports", required=False,
                        help="ports to be used by a remote debugger for JVM instances")

    parsed_args, unknown_args = parser.parse_known_args(args[1:])

    if unknown_args:
      Log.error('Unknown argument: %s' % unknown_args[0])
      parser.print_help()
      sys.exit(1)

    return parsed_args


def polygon_to_mask(coords, dims, z=None):
    """
    Given a list of pairs of points which define a polygon, return a binary
    mask covering the interior of the polygon with dimensions dim
    """

    bounds = array(coords).astype('int')
    path = Path(bounds)

    grid = meshgrid(range(dims[1]), range(dims[0]))
    grid_flat = zip(grid[0].ravel(), grid[1].ravel())

    mask = path.contains_points(grid_flat).reshape(dims[0:2]).astype('int')

    if z is not None:
        if len(dims) < 3:
            raise Exception('Dims must have three-dimensions for embedding z-index')
        if z >= dims[2]:
            raise Exception('Z-index %g exceeds third dimension %g' % (z, dims[2]))
        tmp = zeros(dims)
        tmp[:, :, z] = mask
        mask = tmp

    return mask


def apply_spectral_norm(x):
  """Normalizes x using the spectral norm.

  The implementation follows Algorithm 1 of
  https://arxiv.org/abs/1802.05957. If x is not a 2-D Tensor, then it is
  reshaped such that the number of channels (last-dimension) is the same.

  Args:
    x: Tensor with the last dimension equal to the number of filters.

  Returns:
    x: Tensor with the same shape as x normalized by the spectral norm.
    assign_op: Op to be run after every step to update the vector "u".
  """
  weights_shape = shape_list(x)
  other, num_filters = tf.reduce_prod(weights_shape[:-1]), weights_shape[-1]

  # Reshape into a 2-D matrix with outer size num_filters.
  weights_2d = tf.reshape(x, (other, num_filters))

  # v = Wu / ||W u||
  with tf.variable_scope("u", reuse=tf.AUTO_REUSE):
    u = tf.get_variable(
        "u", [num_filters, 1],
        initializer=tf.truncated_normal_initializer(),
        trainable=False)
  v = tf.nn.l2_normalize(tf.matmul(weights_2d, u))

  # u_new = vW / ||v W||
  u_new = tf.nn.l2_normalize(tf.matmul(tf.transpose(v), weights_2d))

  # s = v*W*u
  spectral_norm = tf.squeeze(
      tf.matmul(tf.transpose(v), tf.matmul(weights_2d, tf.transpose(u_new))))

  # set u equal to u_new in the next iteration.
  assign_op = tf.assign(u, tf.transpose(u_new))
  return tf.divide(x, spectral_norm), assign_op


def update_progressbar(self):
        """
        Updates the progressbar by re-calculating the label.

        It is not required to manually call this method since setting any of the
        properties of this class will automatically trigger a re-calculation.
        """
        n,nmin,nmax = self.wprogressbar.n,self.wprogressbar.nmin,self.wprogressbar.nmax
        if (nmax-nmin)==0:
            percent = 0 # prevents ZeroDivisionError
        else:
            percent = max(min((n-nmin)/(nmax-nmin),1.),0.)*100
        dat = {"value":round(n,4),"n":round(n,4),"nmin":round(nmin,4),"nmax":round(nmax,4),"percent":round(percent,4),"p":round(percent,4)}
        txt = self._label_progressbar.format(**dat)
        self.wprogresslabel.label = txt

def
update_progressbar
(
self
)
:
n
,
nmin
,
nmax
=
self
.
wprogressbar
.
n
,
self
.
wprogressbar
.
nmin
,
self
.
wprogressbar
.
nmax
if
(
nmax
nmin
)
==
0
:
percent
=
0
# prevents ZeroDivisionError
else
:
percent
=
max
(
min
(
(
n
nmin
)
/
(
nmax
nmin
)
,
1.
)
,
0.
)
*
100
dat
=
{
"value"
:
round
(
n
,
4
)
,
"n"
:
round
(
n
,
4
)
,
"nmin"
:
round
(
nmin
,
4
)
,
"nmax"
:
round
(
nmax
,
4
)
,
"percent"
:
round
(
percent
,
4
)
,
"p"
:
round
(
percent
,
4
)
}
txt
=
self
.
_label_progressbar
.
format
(
*
*
dat
)
self
.
wprogresslabel
.
label
=
txt


def remove(id_):
    """
    Remove the callback and its schedule
    """
    with LOCK:
        thread = REGISTRY.pop(id_, None)
        if thread is not None:
            thread.cancel()

    return thread

def remove ( id_ ) : with LOCK : thread = REGISTRY . pop ( id_ , None ) if thread is not None : thread . cancel ( ) return thread


def block(self, hash):
        """
        Retrieves a json representation of **block**

        :param hash: Hash of block to return representation for
        :type hash: str

        :raises: :py:exc:`nano.rpc.RPCException`

        >>> rpc.block(
        ...     hash="000D1BAEC8EC208142C99059B393051BAC8380F9B5A2E6B2489A277D81789F3F"
        ... )
        {
            "account": "xrb_3e3j5tkog48pnny9dmfzj1r16pg8t1e76dz5tmac6iq689wyjfpi00000000",
            "work": "0000000000000000",
            "source": "FA5B51D063BADDF345EFD7EF0D3C5FB115C85B1EF4CDE89D8B7DF3EAF60A04A4",
            "representative": "xrb_3e3j5tkog48pnny9dmfzj1r16pg8t1e76dz5tmac6iq689wyjfpi00000000",
            "signature": "00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
            "type": "open"
        }

        """

        hash = self._process_value(hash, 'block')

        payload = {"hash": hash}

        resp = self.call('block', payload)

        return json.loads(resp['contents'])

def block ( self , hash ) : hash = self . _process_value ( hash , 'block' ) payload = { "hash" : hash } resp = self . call ( 'block' , payload ) return json . loads ( resp [ 'contents' ] )


def _add_addon_views(self):
        """
            Registers declared addon's
        """
        for addon in self._addon_managers:
            addon_class = dynamic_class_import(addon)
            if addon_class:
                # Instantiate manager with appbuilder (self)
                addon_class = addon_class(self)
                try:
                    addon_class.pre_process()
                    addon_class.register_views()
                    addon_class.post_process()
                    self.addon_managers[addon] = addon_class
                    log.info(LOGMSG_INF_FAB_ADDON_ADDED.format(str(addon)))
                except Exception as e:
                    log.exception(e)
                    log.error(LOGMSG_ERR_FAB_ADDON_PROCESS.format(addon, e))


def _updateCallSetIds(self, variantFile):
        """
        Updates the call set IDs based on the specified variant file.
        """
        if len(self._callSetIdMap) == 0:
            for sample in variantFile.header.samples:
                self.addCallSetFromName(sample)

def _updateCallSetIds ( self , variantFile ) : if len ( self . _callSetIdMap ) == 0 : for sample in variantFile . header . samples : self . addCallSetFromName ( sample )


My roommate: it's okay that we can't spell because we have autocorrect. #terrible #firstworldprobs


No but that's so cute. Atsu was probably shy about photos before but cherry helped her out uwu


Rooneys fucking untouchable isn't he? Been fucking dreadful again, depay has looked decent(ish)tonight


it's pretty depressing when u hit pan on ur favourite highlighter


@user but your pussy was weak from what I heard so stfu up to me bitch . You got to threaten him that your pregnant .


Making that yearly transition from excited and hopeful college returner to sick and exhausted pessimist. #college


Tiller and breezy should do a collab album. Rapping and singing prolly be fire


@user broadband is shocking regretting signing up now #angry #shouldofgonewithvirgin


@user Look at those teef! #growl


name[Loch Fyne], food[French], area[riverside], near[The Rice Boat]

For luxurious French food, the Loch Fyne is located by the river next to The Rice Boat.


name[The Rice Boat], eatType[restaurant], food[French], customer rating[5 out of 5], area[riverside]

The Rice Boat is an adult French restaurant with high customer rating  located in the Riverside area.


name[Aromi], eatType[coffee shop], food[French], customer rating[low], area[city centre]

In the city centre lies Aromi, a French coffee shop for adults with a low customer rating.


name[The Phoenix], food[Fast food], customer rating[3 out of 5], area[riverside]

The Phoenix is a fast food place located in the riverside area. They have moderate pricing and a customer rating of 3 out of 5.


name[Loch Fyne], eatType[restaurant], food[English], familyFriendly[yes]

A child friendly restaurant that has English food is Loch Fyne.


name[Cocum], eatType[coffee shop], food[Italian], priceRange[cheap], familyFriendly[yes]

For a family-Friendly coffee shop Cocum can serve you Italian food at affordable prices.  The customer rating however is only average.


Q:

How to highlight focused custom buttonfield (ImageButtonField) on Blackberry?

I made a custom ButtonField class where I have an image as a button.

However, I would like to be able to select this image and to know it is selected, either by partially highlighting it or putting a square around it, whatever.

I have a BitmapField in my UI that highlights itself in blue when I select it, but my other images that use ImageButtonField, do not have the blue highlight.

I do not want the bitmap to disappear completely when selected.

here is the code :
package mypackage;

import net.rim.device.api.system.

BitmapField;

    public class ImageButtonField extends BitmapField{

    public ImageButtonField(Bitmap image) {
        super(image);
    }

    public boolean isFocusable() {
        return true;
    }

    protected boolean navigationClick(int status, int time) {
        fieldChangeNotify(0);
        return true;
    }

    protected boolean trackwheelClick(int status, int time) {
        fieldChangeNotify(0);
        return true;
    }

    protected boolean keyChar(char character, int status, int time) {
        if(Characters.

SPACE == character) {
            fieldChangeNotify(0);
            return true;
        }
        return super.keyChar(character, status, time);
    }
}

Any help modifying this class so it works would help immensely.

I have had no success trying  to make this work!

A:

To remove default styling attributes you can add following methods:
protected void applyTheme(Graphics arg0, boolean arg1) {
}

protected void drawFocus(Graphics graphics, boolean on) {
}

You can override paint method and do paint whatever you want by checking focus status, e.g. following code will paint a red transparent layer over the bitmap image.

protected void paint(Graphics graphics) {
    super.paint(graphics);
    if (isFocus()) {
        graphics.setGlobalAlpha(128);
        graphics.setColor(0xFF0000);
        graphics.fillRect(0, 0, getWidth(), getHeight());
    }
}

Actually I didn't understand your question well :).


Click on the
arrows to look to the left or rightINFO:This little city is completely made of paper: The
buildings and cars are papercraft/kirigami
and the smaller models like the animals and tress are 100% origami


OAKLAND, Calif. -- Forced to go small, the Golden State Warriors keep coming up big.

East or West, they are the best team in the NBA right now -- and they want everyone to know it.

Stephen Curry had 32 points and 12 assists, Draymond Green got his first career triple-double, and the Warriors rolled past the Toronto Raptors 126-105 on Friday night in a matchup of conference leaders.

"One thing we always say when we're playing against a team like this is, 'This is a team we could possibly play later on in the year,'" Green said. "

Green finished with 16 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds, and three others scored in double digits to help the NBA-best Warriors (26-5) wear down the Raptors (24-9) in the second half.

Golden State started the third quarter on a 23-5 run and thwarted the Raptors' brief rally with contributions from all over.

"I went in the locker room and just told them, 'I don't have much to say other than wow,'" Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.

Toronto's loss allowed Atlanta to move into first in the East.

Greivis Vasquez scored 25 points, and Kyle Lowry had 22 points and eight assists for the Raptors, who lost consecutive road games for the first time this season.

Toronto fell to 2-3 on its six-game trip, which ends at Phoenix on Sunday.

Golden State kept up its blistering pace without a true center as Andrew Bogut (right knee) and backup Festus Ezeli (left ankle) continue to recover from nagging injuries.

Kerr mixed and matched smaller lineups -- using Green and Marreese Speights down low and sometimes nothing but forwards on the floor -- to push the pace and maximize his team's versatility.

The Big 3-0 -- And 10 Stephen Curry ended up with 32 points and 12 assists Friday, his 13th 30-10 game the past two seasons.

That's nearly twice as many 30-10 games as anybody else in the NBA in that span.

Most 30-Point, 10-Assist Games

Past Two Seasons Player 30-10 Gms.

Stephen Curry 13 << James Harden 7 Kevin Durant 4 Chris Paul 4 >> Including Friday -- ESPN Stats & Information

The Warriors outshot Toronto 53.3 percent to 46.5 percent.

They also tied a season-low with nine turnovers, while the Raptors had 17.

Their small lineup is one of the best in the league," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said.

The Warriors went 5-for-6 from 3-point range in the first quarter to take a 40-31 lead.

It was the most points Golden State has scored and the most the Raptors have allowed in the first quarter this season.

Even with the Warriors putting on an offensive spectacle, Toronto didn't go away easily.

Lowry overcame early foul trouble and Vasquez hit four 3s in the first half to help the Raptors regroup from a 14-point deficit.

Golden State led just 66-61 at intermission.

"When we feel threatened," Speights said, "we always play better."

Just as they have so often during the best start in franchise history, the Warriors leaned on their defense and their leading man to pull away behind one big burst.

Curry capped the spurt by throwing down a hard dunk as Lowry tried to block him from behind.

Curry screamed as Lowry tried to inbound the ball and the announced sellout crowd of 19,596 roared to its feet -- along with several teammates.

"I couldn't stop screaming when he did that either," Green said.

The Raptors, playing without All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan (torn muscle in left groin) for the 16th straight game, closed to 110-101 before Curry finished with a flurry -- scoring 10 points in a three-minute span.

The Warriors also got key contributions from Speights (26 points and eight rebounds), Klay Thompson (20 points), David Lee (12 points and seven rebounds) and Justin Holiday (nine points).

"Their small ball really got to us," Lowry said. "

I think they kind of just went up and down a little bit too fast at a pace we didn't really want."

TIP-INS

Raptors: Toronto has lost 10 in a row at Golden State, a skid that dates to February 2004. ...

The Raptors are 11-6 since DeRozan's injury. ...

Landry Fields started at small forward after missing the last five games recovering from a concussion.

Warriors: Golden State has won 11 straight home games and is 13-1 at Oracle Arena this season. ...

The Warriors are 10-0 against the Eastern Conference.

SHARING THE ROCK

The Warriors had 35 assists, the league-most 11th time they've had at least 30.

It also was the first time the Warriors had at least 35 assists in consecutive games since April 1994.


Have equivalences between established between French degrees and degrees in other countries ?

France recognizes no formal equivalences between its postsecondary degrees and degrees in other countries.

Each French institution makes its own admission decisions based on the applicant's background and the demands of the program.

To enter the French university system, international students must show that they are eligible to enroll in a university program in their country of residence.

Search form

Search

Mon CampusFrance

Username or e-mail *

Password *

New user To access all features, you need to create a personal account.


= = = Initial inquiry = = =


Needing a place to hold a reception for him , Philadelphia renovated the Old State House ( today Independence Hall ) , which might otherwise have been torn down .


He left for New York in February 1831 and released a third volume of poems , simply titled Poems .


Born after Judgment Day , Star is mute due to the trauma of the post @-@ apocalyptic world .


In South Africa it is listed as an invasive species which must be controlled , or removed and destroyed .


Contemporary author Ben Shapiro noted the verse " seems to be Madonna 's credo .


Cuse responded by writing a letter to the editor .


Frass allows Mulder onto the scene at Eckerle 's residence .


The following are multiple choice questions (with answers) about common sense.

Question: The diminishing supply of this nonrenewable resource is not leading to advancements in automotive technology
A. petrol
B. steam
Answer:


The following are multiple choice questions (with answers) about common sense.

Question: Lamps that convert electricity into light and heat aren't known as
A. candle
B. incadescent
Answer:


The following are multiple choice questions (with answers) about common sense.

Question: Which is not needed for photosynthesis to occur
A. energy that takes 8.3 minutes to travel to Earth
B. the 8th entry on the periodic table
Answer:


The following are multiple choice questions (with answers) about common sense.

Question: A creature that is not a biped and which regularly uses tools will occasionally enjoy munching on
A. chia seeds
B. old feces
Answer:


The following are multiple choice questions (with answers) about common sense.

Question: One way to retain your own thermal energy is not to
A. wear fluffy socks
B. sit in snow
Answer:


The following are multiple choice questions (with answers) about common sense.

Question: An extremely rapid surge of rising flood water that moves across usually dry land at about 30 feet or more each second is not powerful enough to
A. lift and carry a tall mountain
B. lift a 250-ton object off the ground
Answer:


The following are multiple choice questions (with answers) about common sense.

Question: A thing's position is not altered when
A. thing feels moved emotionally
B. the thing adjusts its location
Answer:


The following are multiple choice questions (with answers) about common sense.

Question: A pot of pasta is boiling on the stove, and the lid on top of the pot is shaking as the water boils more rapidly. A person goes to the stove and removes the pot, releasing steam into the air above, and so the steam is not
A. water vapor
B. cold air
Answer:


The following are multiple choice questions (with answers) about common sense.

Question: A plant that gets extra minerals such as zinc aren't probably
A. placed in good soil
B. made out of soil
Answer:


The following are multiple choice questions (with answers) about common sense.

Question: Which isn't more likely the result of a big earthquake
A. a big house
B. a mountain
Answer:


Clinical features of culture-proven Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: This retrospective chart review describes the epidemiology and clinical features of 40 patients with culture-proven Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. METHODS: Patients with positive M. pneumoniae cultures from respiratory specimens from January 1997 through December 1998 were identified through the Microbiology records. Charts of patients were reviewed. RESULTS: 40 patients were identified, 33 (82.5%) of whom required admission. Most infections (92.5%) were community-acquired. The infection affected all age groups but was most common in infants (32.5%) and pre-school children (22.5%). It occurred year-round but was most common in the fall (35%) and spring (30%). More than three-quarters of patients (77.5%) had comorbidities. Twenty-four isolates (60%) were associated with pneumonia, 14 (35%) with upper respiratory tract infections, and 2 (5%) with bronchiolitis. Cough (82.5%), fever (75%), and malaise (58.8%) were the most common symptoms, and crepitations (60%), and wheezes (40%) were the most common signs. Most patients with pneumonia had crepitations (79.2%) but only 25% had bronchial breathing. Immunocompromised patients were more likely than non-immunocompromised patients to present with pneumonia (8/9 versus 16/31, P = 0.05). Of the 24 patients with pneumonia, 14 (58.3%) had uneventful recovery, 4 (16.7%) recovered following some complications, 3 (12.5%) died because of M pneumoniae infection, and 3 (12.5%) died due to underlying comorbidities. The 3 patients who died of M pneumoniae pneumonia had other comorbidities. CONCLUSION: our results were similar to published data except for the finding that infections were more common in infants and preschool children and that the mortality rate of pneumonia in patients with comorbidities was high.


Surfactant protein-D and pulmonary host defense

Abstract: Surfactant protein-D (SP-D) participates in the innate response to inhaled microorganisms and organic antigens, and contributes to immune and inflammatory regulation within the lung. SP-D is synthesized and secreted by alveolar and bronchiolar epithelial cells, but is also expressed by epithelial cells lining various exocrine ducts and the mucosa of the gastrointestinal and genitourinary tracts. SP-D, a collagenous calcium-dependent lectin (or collectin), binds to surface glycoconjugates expressed by a wide variety of microorganisms, and to oligosaccharides associated with the surface of various complex organic antigens. SP-D also specifically interacts with glycoconjugates and other molecules expressed on the surface of macrophages, neutrophils, and lymphocytes. In addition, SP-D binds to specific surfactant-associated lipids and can influence the organization of lipid mixtures containing phosphatidylinositol in vitro. Consistent with these diverse in vitro activities is the observation that SP-D-deficient transgenic mice show abnormal accumulations of surfactant lipids, and respond abnormally to challenge with respiratory viruses and bacterial lipopolysaccharides. The phenotype of macrophages isolated from the lungs of SP-D-deficient mice is altered, and there is circumstantial evidence that abnormal oxidant metabolism and/or increased metalloproteinase expression contributes to the development of emphysema. The expression of SP-D is increased in response to many forms of lung injury, and deficient accumulation of appropriately oligomerized SP-D might contribute to the pathogenesis of a variety of human lung diseases.


Role of endothelin-1 in lung disease

Abstract: Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a 21 amino acid peptide with diverse biological activity that has been implicated in numerous diseases. ET-1 is a potent mitogen regulator of smooth muscle tone, and inflammatory mediator that may play a key role in diseases of the airways, pulmonary circulation, and inflammatory lung diseases, both acute and chronic. This review will focus on the biology of ET-1 and its role in lung disease.


Gene expression in epithelial cells in response to pneumovirus infection

Abstract: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and pneumonia virus of mice (PVM) are viruses of the family Paramyxoviridae, subfamily pneumovirus, which cause clinically important respiratory infections in humans and rodents, respectively. The respiratory epithelial target cells respond to viral infection with specific alterations in gene expression, including production of chemoattractant cytokines, adhesion molecules, elements that are related to the apoptosis response, and others that remain incompletely understood. Here we review our current understanding of these mucosal responses and discuss several genomic approaches, including differential display reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and gene array strategies, that will permit us to unravel the nature of these responses in a more complete and systematic manner.


Debate: Transfusing to normal haemoglobin levels will not improve outcome

Abstract: Recent evidence suggests that critically ill patients are able to tolerate lower levels of haemoglobin than was previously believed. It is our goal to show that transfusing to a level of 100 g/l does not improve mortality and other clinically important outcomes in a critical care setting. Although many questions remain, many laboratory and clinical studies, including a recent randomized controlled trial (RCT), have established that transfusing to normal haemoglobin concentrations does not improve organ failure and mortality in the critically ill patient. In addition, a restrictive transfusion strategy will reduce exposure to allogeneic transfusions, result in more efficient use of red blood cells (RBCs), save blood overall, and decrease health care costs.


The 21st International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Brussels, Belgium, 20-23 March 2001

Abstract: The 21st International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine was dominated by the results of recent clinical trials in sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The promise of extracorporeal liver replacement therapy and noninvasive ventilation were other areas of interest. Ethical issues also received attention. Overall, the 'state of the art' lectures, pro/con debates, seminars and tutorials were of a high standard. The meeting was marked by a sense of renewed enthusiasm that positive progress is occurring in intensive care medicine.


Donna: Bohemian Rapsody Central Cinema tomorrow 8pm
Donna: Are u in?
Michael: totally!
Michael: great idea
Donna: OK, see you in front of the main entrance at 7:50

Tomorrow Donna and Michael will meet in front of the main entrance of Central Cinema at 7:50 pm to watch Bohemian Rapsody at 8.


John: Anything from the store?
Tracy: Hmmm... there was this goat cheese last time that I really liked. You remember which one.
John: I think I do. Anything else?
Tracy: Maybe milk, cause we're running out. And like a couple of rolls, the grainy ones.
Tracy: oh and tissues.
John: Ok, roger that.

John will buy the goat cheese Tracy liked, milk, a couple of grainy rolls, and tissues.


Jimmy: so how is the dispute between your countries going? hihi
Jimmy: I think it's a never-ending epic
Jose: Actually, it seems it's better now
Jimmy: is it?
Dean: yup. they held a referendum in Guatemala last year
Jimmy: only Guatemala? I thought the referendums were supposed to be held simultaneously
Hugo: yes, but they decided to change it
Jimmy: so what about Belize?
Hugo: Belize will hold a referendum in April 2019
Dean: at least it's the official plan
Jimmy: wow, that's amazing after a few centuries hahaha
Dean: true, but it's not settling the dispute, they will just send the case to the international tribunal
Jimmy: I see, it's interesting

Two countries haven't been able to reach agreement for centuries. There was a referendum in Guatemala last year. According to the plan, Belize will hold a referendum in April 2019. However, it's not settling the dispute and they'll send the case to the international tribunal.


Ben: I'm waiting downstairs
Tom: Adam is shitting
Adam: Give me 5 more minutes!!!


Jimmy: get me some fries too!!
Dan: okay, ketchup?
Jimmy: and mayo
Dan: ok!

Dan will get Jimmy some fries with ketchup and mayo.


Eve: Has anyone seen the new HP film?
Alice: I saw it with Phillip yesterday
Eve: And, how did you like it?
Alice: I really liked it. Phillip a lot less :P
Carla: No spoilers! I am planning on going this weekend
Eve: Great, I am going with a friend from my studies. Care to join us?
Carla: Saturday or Sunday?
Eve: We aren't sure yet, but we want 2D, so not a lot of choice. Maybe Saturday at 16:50?
Carla: Works for me :) Later we can go to the main square for some hot wine?
Eve: Great idea ;) Will you join us Alice?
Alice: I wish I could, but I am going to that wedding I mentioned last time :(
Carla: Uuuu, be sure to find me a future husband among Phillips family ;)
Alice: As far as I know we will be the youngest couple there :p
Carla: I don't mind some old and wealthy guy ;)

Phillip and Alice saw the new HP film yesterday. She liked it more than him. Eve is going to see it with friends from studies on Saturday at 16:50. Carla will join them. Alice can't go because she is going to the wedding.


Eva: I've signed the agreement
Tina: You did? omg so happy for ya
Eva: Thanks:) I am super excited
Barb: Omg babe! awesome!
Eva: hahaha thanks! I didn't know it's gonna be so emotional!
Barb: Hell yeah! It's kinda binding for 25 years you know, kinda scary
Eva: I know, but, Mat and I are getting married so after that we're gonna consolidate or sth and pay it off together faster
Barb: You guys are getting married?
Eva: Yes we are! you didn't know?
Barb: First time hearing this
Tina: No worries I just found out myself
Barb: Anyway! Congrats love! You guys are awesome!
Eva: Thank you so much! It's an exciting time
Barb: Well I hope we're all invited for the housewarming party
Eva: Of course! I'll be sending emails

Eva signed the agreement. She and Mat are getting married. They will organize the housewarming party in their new flat.


John: I'm starving. What's for dinner?
Jane: Whatever you cook :-)
John: Damn! I best get some take-aways.


Elena: Hi! What's up?
Ann: Nothing much, I'm working.
Elena: Oh, I see. When will you be free?
Ann: I'm off at 5. Wanna grab some coffee?
Elena: Yeah, it's been ages, I have to talk to you.
Ann: Great, is everything OK?
Elena: Yeah, it's just Robert, he's acting weird.
Ann: Again? I thought you guys figured everything out.
Elena: I thought so too... But he keeps getting these "thoughts", you know. About the future and stuff and he acts weirder than normal.
Ann: Yeah, he's always been like that, right? Getting worked up over nothing.
Elena: That's the thing. He gets mad over some things he made up in his mind and he blames me for it!
Ann: You have to be patient, you know what he went through last year.
Elena: I know, but I stood by him, every step of the way. And he acts as if I didn't understand.
Ann: Honey, I'm sure it will all get better, we'll talk it through this afternoon, but I really need to get back to work, sorry.
Elena: Sure thing, sorry I kept you.
Ann: Don't mention it, it's just my boss is looking.
Elena: LOL, tell him you're counseling your crazy friend.
Ann: I'm not sure it's the best way to suck up to your boss xD
Elena: haha, I figure it's not. See you!

Ann and Elena arrange meeting for a coffee around 5, after Anna has finished work. Elena would like to talk about Robert, as he's acting weird, having 'thoughts' about the future and blaming her for some things he made up. She needs to be very patient with him.


To make her feel threatened