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Mitf-Mdel, a novel melanocyte/melanoma-specific isoform of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor-M, as a candidate biomarker for melanoma
BMC Medicine volume 8, Article number: 14 (2010)
Melanoma incidence is on the rise and advanced melanoma carries an extremely poor prognosis. Treatment options, including chemotherapy and immunotherapy, are limited and offer low response rates and transient efficacy. Thus, identification of new melanocyte/melanoma antigens that serve as potential novel candidate biomarkers in melanoma is an important area for investigation.
Full length MITF-M and its splice variant cDNA were cloned from human melanoma cell line 624 mel by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Expression was investigated using regular and quantitative RT-PCR in three normal melanocytes (NHEM), 31 melanoma cell lines, 21 frozen melanoma tissue samples, 18 blood samples (pheripheral blood mononuclear cell; PBMC) from healthy donors and 12 non-melanoma cancer cell lines, including three breast, five glioma, one sarcoma, two kidney and one ovarian cancer cell lines.
A novel splice variant of MITF-M, which we named MITF-Mdel, was identified. The predicted MITF-Mdel protein contains two in frame deletions, 56- and 6- amino acid deletions in exon 2 (from V32 to E87) and exon 6 (from A187 to T192), respectively. MITF-Mdel was widely expressed in melanocytes, melanoma cell lines and tissues, but almost undetectable in non-melanoma cell lines or PBMC from healthy donors. Both isoforms were expressed significantly higher in melanoma tissues than in cell lines. Two of 31 melanoma cell lines expressed only one isoform or the other.
MITF-Mdel, a novel melanocyte/melanoma-specific isoform of MITF-M, may serve as a potential candidate biomarker for diagnostic and follow-up purposes in melanoma.
The microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) is a member of the basic helix-loop-helix leucine zipper transcription factor family, which plays a central role in the differentiation of neural crest-derived melanocytes, optic cup-derived retinal pigment epithelial cells, bone marrow-derived mast cells and osteoclasts and natural killer cells [1–5]. Mutations in MITF are associated with auditory-pigmentary syndromes such as Waardenburg syndrome  and Tietz syndrome [7, 8] and result in hearing loss and depigmentation of the hair and skin.
The MITF gene is expressed in different isoforms that are under the control of distinct promoters. At least eight isoforms of human MITF with different N-termini are known, MITF-A, MITF-B, MITF-C, MITF-D, MITF-E, MITF-H, MITF-J  and MITF-M, and are derived from alternative splicing of a unique first exon. They all share the common downstream exons from 2 to 9. All isoforms share important functional domains including the transactivation domain, basic domain, and helix-loop-helix and leucine-zipper domain (b-HLH-LZ). Distinct isoforms may possess cell-specific functions. For example, MITF-M is exclusively expressed in melanocyte/melanoma cells and serves as the master gene for melanocyte development, survival and differentiation.
Several studies provide evidence that MITF serves as an oncogene in human melanoma. MITF amplification was found in 15-20% of metastatic melanoma, and is associated with decreased 5-year survival . In addition, transformation of immortalized human melanocytes occurred through the cooperation of MITF and activated BRAF (V600E) .
The diagnosis of metastatic melanoma most often relies on S100 and HMB-45 melanoma biomarkers . However, S100 is highly sensitive but not very specific as it also stains other nonmelanoma cancers. In contrast, HMB-45 is highly specific for melanoma but not very sensitive as it may miss a significant of melanoma cases. Therefore, the combination of both S100 and HMB-45 is often used to improve their diagnostic utility . MITF has been shown to be superior to the S100 and HMB-45 combination in both sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of melanoma .
One of the most difficult decisions in the treatment of melanoma is whether a particular patient needs adjuvant therapy. Current approaches to adjuvant therapy in melanoma, including the use of high dose interferon-α, are associated with significant toxicity but with modest benefits. Therefore, it is important to have ways of identifying which patients are at higher risk of relapse and, therefore, may benefit from adjuvant therapy. One of the strategies that have been widely studied is the detection of circulating tumour cells, using a variety of molecular biomarkers. The most commonly used markers are the melanoma/melanocyte tissue-differentiation antigens, including tyrosinase and melanoma-associated antigen recognized by T cells (MART-1). However, the lower than expected frequency of detection of circulating tumor cells using these assays may limit their clinical utility . Unlike other biomarkers in melanoma, MITF is expressed at various levels in almost all melanoma specimens [18, 20]. This is most probably due to its essential function in the survival of the melanocyte linage [18, 20]. In addition, MITF detection after treatment was a significant independent prognostic factor for relapse-free and overall survival . Therefore, MITF or MITF isoforms have the potential of being an important biomarker for melanoma.
Here we report a novel splicing variant of MITF-M, which we named MITF-Mdel. This variant was cloned from the human melanoma cell line 624 mel. Compared with wild-type MITF-M, MITF-Mdel has two in-frame deletions. The 56-amino acid deletion from V32 to E87 in exon 2 has not been previously reported in human. The 6-amino acid deletion, ACIFPT, from A187 to T192 of MITF-M in exon 6 has been previously reported in MITF-A, -D and -H isoforms [1, 4, 5]. We found that MITF-Mdel was widely expressed in normal human melanocytes and melanoma cell lines as well as primary melanoma tissues, but was almost undetectable in non-melanoma cancer cell lines and pheriperal blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) from healthy donors. Our finding showed that MITF-Mdel expression is melanocyte/melanoma specific and thus potentially a valuable candidate biomarker for melanoma.
Cancer cell lines
All cell lines, including 31 melanoma, five glioma, four breast, two colon, one ovarian, one sarcoma, and one kidney cancer cell lines, in this study were grown in RPMI 1640 medium containing 10% heat-inactivated fetal calf serum and 100 units/ml penicillin-streptomycin Sigma-Aldrich (MO, USA). Normal human melanocytes (NHEM) were grown in Melanocyte Cell Basal Medium-4 with growth supplements (Clonetics MGM-4™ BulletKit (CC-3249), Cambrex, NJ, USA). The cells were harvested for RNA isolation when they were approximately 70-80% confluent and in healthy condition.
Blood and frozen melanoma tissue samples
PBMC from 20 healthy donors and frozen primary melanoma tissue samples were used in this study. PBMC was isolated from normal donors' buffy coats using a standard density gradient centrifugation method (Ficoll, Invitrogen, CA, USA). Blood samples and 21 frozen melanoma tissue samples were used for RNA isolation using an RNA extraction kit (RNeasy Total RNA, Qiagen, CA, USA), following the manufacture's instructions. Buffy coats from anonymous health donors were obtained from the regional American Red Cross blood bank. All melanoma tissue samples were cryopreserved within 10 min of surgical excision in liquid nitrogen and stored within the Tissue Procurement Laboratory of the Moffitt Cancer Center as described previously .
Cloning of Mitf-M isoforms
Total RNA was isolated from human melanoma cell line 624 mel and treated with RNase-free DNase I for 30 min. RT was performed simultaneously with oligo (dT) with first strand cDNA synthesis kit (Amersham Biosciences, NJ, USA). MITF-M primer design was based on published sequence of human MITF mRNA . The full-length human MITF-M cDNA, which was isolated using the forward primer 5'-gcagatctatgctggaaatgctagaatataat-3' and reverse primer 5'-gaattcacaagtgtgctccg-3', was cloned into pCDNA3.1/V5-his topo vector (Invitrogen, CA, USA). After restriction enzyme digestion screening, two types of human MITF-M constructs were identified based on agarose gel analysis.
Sequencing of the isolated human MITF-M clones was performed by the Biotechnological Laboratory Core Facility at Northwestern University. Searches for sequence homology were performed with the GeneBank database using the BLAST algorithm.
Expression analysis by RT-PCR and quantitative PCR (qPCR)
Total RNA was extracted from the three NHEMs, 31 melanoma cell lines, 21 frozen melanoma tissue samples (Frtu), 18 blood samples (PBMC) from healthy donors, and 12 non-melanoma cancer cell lines, including three breast, five glioma, one sarcoma, two kidney and one ovarian cancer cell lines using an RNA extraction kit (RNeasy Total RNA, Qiagen, CA, USA) according to the instructions. Total RNA was treated with DNase I (Promega, WI, USA) to avoid residual genomic DNA contamination. First-strand cDNA was synthesized using a First-Strand Synthesis system (ABgene, Epsom, UK) for regular RT-PCR reaction. Wild type MITF-M was amplified using primer pairs 5'-ttatagtaccttctctttgccagtcc-3' (human MITF-M specific forward primer) and 5'-cttataaaatccctctttttcacagttgga-3' (reverse). Deletion isoform, MITF-Mdel, was amplified using the same MITF-M specific forward primer and the MITF-Mdel specific reverse primer 5'-cttataaaatccctgccgttgg-3'. The cDNA for qPCR was obtained using high capacity cDNA archive kit (Applied Biosystems, CA, USA) according to the instructions. qRT-PCR was performed using the Bio-Rad iQ5 real time PCR machine coupled with SYBR Green chemistry (Applied Biosystems, CA, USA). The primers are listed in Table 1. All PCR reactions were in 25 μL of total volume containing 12.5 μL of SYBR green PCR master mix, 40 ng cDNA, 300 nM of each primer. All amplifications were done in triplicate for each sample and repeated once. The thermal cycling was 10 min at 95°C, followed by 40 cycles at 95°C for 15 s, at indicated annealing temperature for each gene in Table 1 for 20 s, and at 72°C for 30 s. The specificity of amplification was monitored using the dissociation curve of the amplified product. Relative expression of the target genes was calculated using delta Ct method, and 624 mel was used as a normalization control.
Quantitative PCR data were expressed as median. The Student t-test was used in the analysis. Frequency rate was analysed by chi square test. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Identification of a novel isoform of MITF-M, MITF-Mdel
The MITF-M cDNA fragment was obtained by RT-PCR of the mRNA from human melanoma cell line 624 mel and cloned into the pCDNA3.1/V5-his topo vector. After digestion by EcoRI and BglII, two distinctly different patterns were identified on agarose gel. DNA sequencing revealed that one was wild type MITF-M, and the other was a novel isoform of MITF-M, which we named MITF-Mdel. Compared with wild type MITF-M, MITF-Mdel contained two in-frame deletions (Figure 1). One deletion was in exon 2, with 168 bp (from 94G to 261G in the coding region of MITF-M) at mRNA level or 56- amino acid (from V32 to E87) at protein level, which had not been previously reported in human. The other deletion, with 18 bp (from 560C to 577G in the coding region of MITF-M) at mRNA level or 6-amino acid (from A187 to T192) at protein level, was located in exon 6, upstream from the basic region, and had previously been described [1, 4, 5]. However, the MITF-Mdel isoform still contained an entire basic helix-loop-helix leucine zipper domain, an important functional domain in MITF proteins (Figure 2a and 2b). MITF-Mdel sequence was deposited in GenBank (Accession No. GU355676).
Expression profiles of MITF-M and MITF-Mdel
The expression profiles of the two MITF-M isoforms in various tumor cell lines, normal human melanocytes, frozen fresh melanoma tissue samples and normal PBMC samples were analysed by RT-PCR and quantitative RT-PCR. As seen in Table 2, three of four melanocyte samples (75%), 29 of 31 melanoma cell lines (93.5%) and 21 of 21 frozen fresh melanoma tissue samples (100%) were positive for MITF-Mdel. Similar results were also obtained for wild type MITF-M. In addition, 30 of 31 melanoma cell lines (96.8%) were positive for either isoform. MITF-M and MITF-Mdel had similar patterns of expression. In this RT-PCR assay, they were found to be expressed only in normal human melanocytes, melanoma cell lines, and fresh melanoma tissues. Most expressed both MITF-M isoforms, while 2 of 31 melanoma cell lines expressed one or the other. Neither normal PBMC samples nor non-melanoma cancer cell lines analysed, including five glioma (LN229, A172, U138, U87 and U373), three breast (MDA-MB-231, SKBR3 and MCF-7), one ovarian (ES2), one sarcoma (6647), one kidney and two colon (Colo320 and T84) cancer cell lines were found to express either isoform of MITF-M (Figure 3).
RT-qPCR showed similar results as regular RT-PCR (Figure 4a and 4b). 624 mel cell line was used as a reference to normalize measurements from real-time PCR. The mRNA expression level of MITF-M and MITF-Mdel in 624 mel was referenced as 100%. Based on the variation of mRNA status among samples, relative mRNA expression level of MITF-M and MITF-Mdel were used to assess the cutoff point. The cutoff point was above the mean relative MITF-M or MITF-Mdel plus 5 × SD of normal PBMCs. We set the cutoff for MITF-M and MITF-Mdel positivity at 10% of the mRNA expression level of those in 624 mel cell line.
The cutoff line for MITF-M was above the MITF-M levels of all normal PBMCs and all but one of the non-melanoma cell lines, but above the MITF-M levels of 25 of 30 (83.3%) melanoma cell lines, and 19 of 21 (90.5%) frozen melanoma tissue samples. While the cutoff line for MITF-Mdel was above MITF-Mdel levels of all normal PBMCs and all of the non-melanoma cell lines, but above the MITF-Mdel levels of 22 of 30 (73.3%) melanoma cell lines, and 18 of 21 (85.7%) frozen melanoma tissue samples. Specimens with higher relative MITF-M or MITF-Mdel expression level than the cutoff point were considered as positive for MITF-M or MITF-Mdel. Both MITF-Mdel and MITF-M levels of expression in frozen melanoma tissue samples were significantly higher than those in melanoma cell lines (P = 0.0001), PBMCs from normal donors (P < 0.0001) and all of the non-melanoma cell lines (P < 0.0001).
In this report, MITF-Mdel, a novel melanocyte/melanoma-specific isoform of MITF-M, was cloned from the human melanoma cell line 624 mel. The predicted MITF-Mdel protein contains two in frame deletions, 56- and 6- amino acid deletions in exon 2 (from V32 to E87) and exon 6 (from A187 to T192), respectively. The former deletion had not been previously reported. MITF-Mdel was widely expressed in melanocytes, melanoma cell lines and tissues, but almost undetectable in non-melanoma cell lines or PBMC from healthy donors. Both isoforms were expressed significantly higher in melanoma tissues than in cell lines. Two of 31 melanoma cell lines expressed only one isoform or the other. As seen in Figure 4, the medians of relative expression of MITF-M and MITF-Mdel by qRT-PCR are comparable. Therefore, MITF-Mdel seems to be a common isoform in melanoma. At this time, we do not know if there are differences in the relative amounts of each isoform in melanocytes versus primary melanoma versus metastatic melanoma. By correlating the differential expression of these MITF-M isoforms in primary and metastatic melanoma tissues with progression free survival and overall survival in future studies, we may be able to validate the utility of MITF-Mdel as a biomarker.
We analyzed the sequence of MITF-Mdel and the 168-bp deletion in exon 2 and found a cryptic splice donor site 'GTAAA'  at the beginning of the 168-bp deletion. The last nucleotide of the 168-bp deletion is at the exon-intron boundary and can be considered as the acceptor site. This may provide a mechanistic explanation for the generation of MITF-Mdel splice variant. In addition, human MITF-M mRNA with an 18-bp deletion has been shown to result from alternative splicing using two acceptor sites located at the 5'end of exon 6 .
Similar to MITF-M, MITF-Mdel is driven by the M promoter and contains the transcriptional activation domain, the b-HLH-LZ domain and the serine-rich region. Whether the 168-bp deletion in exon 2 of MITF-Mdel has any phenotypic or functional consequence is not known at this time. Since serine 73 (Ser73), which is phosphorylated by mitogen activated protein kinase cascade, is located in exon 2B of the MITF gene, the newly discovered deletion from V32 to E87 effectively removes this phosphorylation site in MITF. Phosphorylation does not seem to affect accumulation of MITF in the nucleus . However, mutation at Ser73 has been shown to reduce MITF's transcriptional activity on the tyrosinase promoter [25, 26]. Other recent studies did not support the essential role of Ser73 or of exon 2 in the function of MITF. The serine to alanine mutation (Ser73Ala) did not alter the phenotype of the mutant mice . In addition, deletion of exon 2 did not affect the function of MITF .
Melanoma cell line 1973 carries only the MITF-Mdel isoform and not the wild-type MITF; whereas melanoma cell line 624 carries both isoforms (Figure 3). From our previous study, it seems that MITF is still functional in 1973 mel. Downstream target genes for MITF, including tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein (TRP)-2, gp100, and MART-1, were expressed at comparable levels as those expressed in 624 mel .
Since adjuvant treatments for melanoma may have limited benefits but much potential toxicity, the ability to identify patients at high risk for recurrence is essential in the development of an effective adjuvant therapy. A highly sensitive RT-PCR and real-time quantitative RT-PCR offer a platform for monitoring circulating melanoma cells to potentially predict melanoma prognosis and identify high-risk patients for further treatment.
Tyrosinase, MART-1, and gp100 are melanocyte/melanoma-differentiation antigens that are frequently expressed in melanoma cells and not in non-melanoma tumours. In one study, circulating tyrosinase and MART-1 mRNA was detected in only 77% and 54%, respectively in these patients . MITF-M is another melanocyte/melanoma-specific marker that has been used to detect circulating tumour cells. In a recent study, MITF expression by quantitative RT-PCR was almost undetectable in PBMC of healthy blood donors, as in our study. However, it was detected in 86% of melanoma tissue samples. The rate of circulating MITF detection was higher with increasing melanoma stages. MITF detection after treatment was a significant independent prognostic factor for relapse-free and overall survival .
The novel isoform MITF-MDel was widely expressed in melanocytes, melanoma cell lines and tissues, but almost undetectable in non-melanoma cell lines or PBMC from healthy donors, and may serve as a potential candidate biomarker for diagnostic and follow-up purposes in melanoma.
helix-loop-helix and leucine-zipper
melanoma-associated antigen recognized by T cells
microphthalmia-associated transcription factor
normal human melanocytes
pheripheral blood mononuclear cell
reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.
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The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here:http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/8/14/prepub
We would like to thank Professor Tianjian Chen and Dr Yueying Wang for real-time PCR technical assistance.
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
YW cloned the MITF-Mdel gene, investigated its expression profiling via RT-PCR and qPCR and drafted the manuscript. SR isolated PMBC from healthy donors' blood. SL carried out the RNA extraction. AR contributed melanoma tissue samples. HK participated in the design of the study and interpretation of the data, and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Wang, Y., Radfar, S., Liu, S. et al. Mitf-Mdel, a novel melanocyte/melanoma-specific isoform of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor-M, as a candidate biomarker for melanoma. BMC Med 8, 14 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1186/1741-7015-8-14


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Found in 8 Collections and/or Records:
Scope and Contents Series 1, “Life and career,” documents Carr’s birth and early farming career in Lamar County, Missouri, his military service in World War I, and his work at the Shelby County Penal Farm. Documentation of Carr’s work at the Penal Farm includes correspondence (1931-1932) to his wife, registers, and publications. Clippings and stationery document the continuation of Carr’s career after he was hired as the Northeast Mississippi Livestock Association Director in Tupelo, Lee County, Mississippi....
Dates: 1871 - 1996
Scope and Contents The Cully A. Cobb papers consist of correspondence, reports, and other documents concerning the career and family of Cully A. Cobb. Series 1, Secretary of Agriculture Candidacy, consists of materials documenting Cobb’s candidacy for Secretary of Agriculture in 1932. It includes letters from, and copies of letters to, extension workers, experiment station personnel, college and university officials, agricultural associations and organizations, commercial manufacturers, and editors and...
Dates: 1846 - 1973; Majority of material found within 1932 - 1970
Scope and Contents The collection documents the life and career of Lois Pauline Dowdle (1889-1987), the wife of agricultural leader and publisher Cully A. Cobb.Series 1, Personal, 1915-1987, includes documents, many photocopies, related to Mrs. Cobb’s travel, interest in ‘The Parsonage’ families and their careers, social events, and church involvement (including a religious poem written and autographed by General William Brougher), along with biographical and memorial materials. Among the...
Dates: 1904 - 1987
Scope and Contents The James Knox diary, which begins in March 1848 and ends in February 1851, records the daily operations of his plantation in Pickens County, Alabama, including sowing, plowing, harvesting, and selling. He refers to several slaves by name, most often Patrick and Alvin. Knox’s regular attendance at church and presbytery meetings is recorded in the diary, along with information about the pastors and their sermon texts. Ministers James Somerville, J. L. Kirkpatrick, Thomas Morrow, and A. P....
Dates: 1848 - 1851
Identifier: B2 F23
Scope and Contents Account book No. 199 of the Midway Grange 1881-1884; later used for farm records, 1887-1890. Farm ledger of W.G. Stone, 1888-1894. See also University Archives: William I. Stone Collection.
Dates: 1881 - 1894

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Sunday, 30 September 2007
With Jaws, there was plenty of excitement compared to just a small ratio of nervousness (e.g. tickets might sell out; the projector might break down; should I get a drink?). As it happened, something actually did turn out to be wrong with the print, and the film kept skipping important moments – like when Roy Scheider went from splattering a scoopful of chum into the sea to suddenly jumping back in terror for what seemed to be an unspecified reason. I mean, I knew he’d seen the shark but what about the Jaws virgins in the audience? Perhaps they thought he was just scared of getting a bit of chum on his pants. I know I would be. Anyway, the point is: the slight amount of nervousness was justified... Jaws wasn’t quite the Jaws I knew and loved.
Halloween-wise, the nervousness was also justified. Not because there was anything wrong with the print, nor did I go thirsty during the screening... it was just that Zombie’s new vision of the classic slasher, well, didn’t really feel anything like the classic slasher. It felt more like a remake of the remake of Black Christmas.
Don’t get me wrong, I actually thought 2006’s Black Christmas was an enjoyably dizzy blur of blood and bitching, but I wouldn’t want to base another film on it. In Halloween 2007, everything from Michael Myers’ white-trash nightmare of an upbringing, through his violent escape from the asylum, to his stalking of various interchangeable teenagers and climactic chase through the cavity walls of a big old house, all I could think of was Black Christmas 2006 (as well as how you have to specify particular versions of horror films these days).
Halloween is, of course, reminiscent of its 1978 progenitor, and by reminiscent I mean it has all the same characters doing all the same things and getting killed in mostly the same ways. But dammit if I didn’t care who died or how – and that apathy extends to Scout Taylor-Compton as nominal main character and final girl, Laurie Strode. Taylor-Compton is likeable, and her appearance around halfway through is a welcome relief from the unsympathetic greaseballs who populate the move until then, but there’s little to distinguish her from her friends, and her giggling innuendoes quickly wear thin. The only death scene that genuinely perturbed me was the one reserved for the always lovely Dee Wallace, nicely cast here as Laurie’s mom. In the approximately four minutes Wallace is onscreen in Halloween, she exudes more warmth and personality than any other character. Which seems to be all the more reason to shove her face through a glass coffee table in crunchy close-up.
Moving away from John Carpenter’s original, the coloured-in backstory of Michael’s childhood offered by Zombie’s version is surprisingly successful, at least in terms of delivering the gory thrills. Creating a believably gruesome family background for him is another matter entirely, however, and the stripper-mom/abusive-dad clichés offered up are trite and broadly comic. Considering Zombie’s apparent urge to explain explain explain, it’s perplexing how much seems to go unaccounted for – such as how Michael finds out about his one surviving relative when he escapes from captivity, what he wants to do exactly when he catches up with her, and why he wants to kill a bunch of other folk. This sort of stuff didn’t matter in the original, where Michael was simply a “shape”, a “boogeyman” and a faceless bringer of death, but the remake seems to set itself up to fail in this respect by lingering on some points but glossing over others.
In all, I might’ve enjoyed this more as a killer-psycho movie without the Halloween banner. I certainly couldn’t rate it higher than any of the Myers-related Halloween sequels, and that includes the lazy-but-stylish Part 5 and muddled-but-exciting Part 6. As for Mr Zombie... Rob, when you're looking for your next movie to remake, keep your hands off Black Christmas 2006!
Friday, 28 September 2007
Demons 3: The Ogre
“It’s not every day that one goes on vacation and finds the basement of one’s childhood fantasies,” remarks American horror novelist Charel Bates-Mancuso (Virginia Bryant), referring to the fact that the cellar of the Italian castle she’s rented with her family looks just like the one she dreamed about as a little girl growing up in Oregon. “Then you add to that a lost teddy bear and another person obsessed by the same nightmare—” Oops! Steady on, Charel, let’s not give too much away!
It seems that, as a child, Charel was plagued with Simon Boswell-scored nightmares in which she would tiptoe down into an enormous, creepy – and enormously creepy – basement on a dark and stormy night. Once there, she would discover a pulsating cocoon hanging from the ceiling, and witness the “hatching” of an ogre-like creature that not only chased her around the cellar, but also stole a flower from behind her teddy bear’s ear. No wonder she grew up to be a horror writer!
Now, twenty years later, Charel is married with a badly-dubbed child of her own, and is
torturing touring the Italian countryside in a prominently featured Cherokee Chief (that raised suspension may well come in handy for backing over troublesome ogres later on). Having stopped off at a cafe for directions, the Bates-Mancuso family find that the locals go ominously quiet at the mention of the remote castle they’re heading for but, as Dad explains, “People are strange in small towns,” and soon they’re settling in at the vast country estate.
It’s not long, however, before things start to get a little, well, spooky… The castle’s basement looks strangely familiar to Charel – and, not only that, but she finds a teddy bear down there that looks just like the one she lost as a child. She also discovers collection of teeth inside an old desk, which inspire her to start a new book entitled A Drawer Full of Teeth: Fantastic Novel by Charel Bates-Mancuso (well, they do say you should write what you know). Then there's the ogre-shaped handprints she keeps finding everywhere... Could her long-ago dreams finally be coming true? And, if so, will Charel be able to escape the clutches of... [Demons 3] The Ogre?!
Despite coming from the same director, this mixture of gothic horror and haunted house story bears no relation to Demons and Demons 2 (the latter of which – confusingly enough – also starred Virginia Bryant). In fact, it’s one of four TV movies Lamberto Bava made in 1988, and was originally titled La Casa Dell'orco (The House of the Ogre) before being renamed for international audiences. While the Demons movies weren’t high art, they were fast-paced and very entertaining, something that unfortunately can’t be said for this film. For, while there’s an interesting story in place, it would have required considerable padding to stretch it out to the one hour-mark, never mind the 90 minutes of varying tedium on offer here. If you’re looking for another Demons film, you’d be better off with 1989’s The Church (itself also known as Demons 3 in some quarters!).
That said, it’s not a complete waste of time if you can get past the slow pace. The dream sequences, with their skeletal, slime-covered demon, are pretty effective, and the whole scenario is just off-the-wall enough to hold the interest. There’s also an interesting sequence in which Bava essentially recreates the famous underwater scene from Dario Argento’s Inferno – a set piece often mistakenly attributed to Mario Bava (Lamberto’s father). As such, the idea works on several levels, not least of which being the fact that it’s one of the more exciting sections of this film.
Anyway, here are a few things I learned about ogres from this movie:
- Ogres “mate with women who smell of orchids”.
- Ogres prefer medieval dress, incorporating a light, sleeveless tunic and ruffled collar.
- Fully-grown ogres hatch from a glowing green egg sac, often found suspended from ceilings in abandoned basements.
- For the ultimate scare, ogres may burst out from inside wine barrels.
- Ogres leave distinctive handprints in flour, which disappear when you try to show them to anyone.
- Ogres may or may not collect teeth and leave them in drawers (who the hell knows?!).
Ultimately, nothing in Demons 3 makes any real sense – which wouldn’t be a problem if it had the shock-logic of City of the Living Dead or the whirling intensity of Suspiria. Instead, everything remains unexplained in favour of a frustrating gag ending. With a little more belief in itself, this might have achieved a real sense of creepiness; as it is, it’s the silly moments you’re more likely to remember.
Thursday, 27 September 2007
In Perfect Stranger, this fear is essentially played out over the course of an entire movie, as journalist Rowena Price (Halle Berry) goes undercover as a conspicuously glamorous temp at the ad agency of Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis). Hill is a millionaire who may or may not have murdered her twitchy childhood friend (Nicki Aycox), with whom he may or may not have been having an affair, conducted largely via Instant Messaging. Naturally, this leads to lots of scenes of not-particularly-cinematic online chat, in which Rowena pretends to be someone else in order to ensnare the boss, and the participants read out whatever they're typing for the benefit of the viewer. And there’s also the aforementioned frequent suspense sequences where Rowena must hide what’s on her computer screen from Mr Hill, or explain what she’s doing poking around his office.
The film marks Halle Berry’s third foray into woman-in-peril territory (following The Rich Man’s Wife and Gothika) and she basically gives the same performance again here. This wouldn’t be a problem, since the role requires her to do little more than look scared in a low-cut blouse anyway, were it not for that fact that – oh the horror – Perfect Stranger turns out not to be a proper woman-in-peril movie after all. That’s right; despite what sounds like a perfectly workable suspense set-up, the film wallows in the once-shocking, now lame tradition of The Sixth Sense (eight years ago, dammit!) of preferring to have a twist instead of a climax. So what you get is three-quarters of a decent thriller followed by one quarter of senseless what-the-fuckage, which more-or-less throws the story right out the window of Rowena’s implausibly fabulous apartment.
Anyway, I did say “three-quarters of a decent thriller” and Perfect Stranger is watchable on that level. It’s refreshing to see an A-list thriller these days that doesn’t thrust every plot point down your throat. You actually have to pay attention to keep up with this one, with much of the early exposition coming from the gossipy tongue of Clea Lewis, the ever-perky Audrey of TV’s Ellen, and a delight here as one of Rowena’s co-workers. But, oh, it’s not that I demand a rigid formula from my women-in-peril thrillers, just that I’d rather see a story go from A to B and make sense, than go from A to Z then back again, miss out F, M and R, and leap to “£” just for the sake of a shocking final twist.
Wednesday, 26 September 2007
Someone’s Watching Me!
Let me tell you: the moment is there, it’s a doozy, and it doesn’t take long to get to it. Someone’s Watching Me! establishes its stalker theme right off the bat, as the camera glides the length of a telescope before disappearing right into its darkened lens (a truly evocative shot that seems to implicate the viewer as – lordy – both voyeur and victim). Speaking of victim, it’s attractive, endearingly gappy-toothed Leigh Michaels (Lauren Hutton) that the telescope of terror will soon be trained upon when, after taking up residence in an L.A. apartment, she finds herself at the mercy of an obsessed observer who tracks her every move and telephones her at all hours with whispered threats.
We first meet Leigh as she’s shown around the ultra-modern Arkham Tower building by a realtor who explains how every apartment is controlled by a computer that does things like sense the strength of the setting sun and adjust the room temperature accordingly. (Not bad for 1978, huh? My computer still won’t do that.) I found this idea creepy enough even without the added bonus of a leering psychopath, but Leigh’s a busy woman-in-peril TV director and probably hasn’t had chance to see Demon Seed yet. In any case, she’s pleased as punch with the place, and is soon all moved in.
As satisfied as she is with the evening climate control (a good thing, since she never closes the curtains) Leigh’s housewarming is soon marred by a string of vaguely threatening phone calls and mysterious gifts – first a mysterious telescope, then a mysterious orange bikini. Her new gay buddy Sophie (Adrienne Barbeau) tells her not to worry and takes her out for a meal but, even at the restaurant, it seems that Someone’s Watching Her, when a bottle of wine arrives compliments of a swiftly exiting stranger at the bar. As the mystery man’s attentions increase, Leigh becomes increasingly worried for her own safety, and Arkham Tower comes to seem less like an intelligently air-conditioned playground and more like a glass-walled prison of doom!
Someone’s Watching Me! is a wonderful blend of Hitchcockian stylings, 70s TV-movie terror and, thanks to the presence of a young John Carpenter in the director’s chair, early slasher movie technique. Carpenter is clearly intent on giving things a Hitchcock flavour: we open with a bombastic Bernard Herrman-esque score played over some ersatz Saul Bass credits (all parallel lines and sliding names), plus there’s the Rear Window-ish plotting, an overhead shot straight out of Psycho, and at least one reverse dolly zoom; it’s so stylishly slavish to the Master, I want to call it De Palmaian but can’t really spell it. This being only months prior to Carpenter’s cinematic breakthrough, everything also reeks of Halloween, including the strong female leads, occasional steadycam use, and faceless killer. Even the heroine’s name – Leigh (as in Jamie?) and surname Michaels (Myers?) – had me thinking of the slasher classic.
Leigh isn’t your average woman-in-peril, just as Someone’s Watching Me! isn’t your average woman-in-peril TV movie. She’s confident, independent and refuses to allow anyone to control her life, characteristics that Carpenter (who scripted as well as directed) establishes early on in a barroom scene where, after rebuffing the advances of several male admirers, Leigh calmly approaches a single man with the pickup line, “Hello! I’m Leigh Michaels!”. Later on, when things get even hairier, she’s not afraid to follow her stalker into a deserted basement, break into his apartment or, in a particularly ballsy move during the trapped-in-the-dark climax, demand that he come out of the shadows and show himself. As she rants to Sophie at one point, “How dare he invade my life!”.
While we’re on the subject of Sophie, what a refreshing character she is: not gay-for-a-few-wisecracks nor even seemingly attracted to gorgeous Leigh; she’s just a great best friend who also happens to be a lesbian. The fact is simply noted and they move on. In fact, of all the characters Leigh comes into contact with (I doubt she could pick her nose without someone coming on to her), Sophie is the least predatory and most positive. This may be a comment on the late-seventies theme of all men as potential rapists – here used to ominous effect when a male co-worker blindly ignores Leigh’s rebuttals by repeatedly asking her for a date – but also shines as one of the least showy, most affirmative portrayals of a gay character from the era. (William Friedkin simply wouldn’t have had a film if he’d represented gay men as matter-of-factly as this in Cruising two years later.)
In fact, there’s precious little to complain about in Someone’s Watching Me! I would’ve liked to see more of Leigh at work; she seems to spend less time there than talking to herself while alone (or is she?!) at her apartment but, since her job doesn’t have direct bearing on the plot, it’s justifiable. After all, she’s not technically a genuine Anchorwoman In Peril – being instead employed behind the scenes as the person who says “Fade in on camera three” during the news – but there’s more than enough woman, peril and indeed TV stuff here to justify the moniker. I’d even go so far as to say the film is absolute canon as the Anchorwoman In Peril genre goes... It’s certainly scary, thrilling and, er, glamorously seventies enough. Someone’s Watching Me, I’ll be watching you in future!
Sunday, 2 September 2007
Reviews Index: A-Z
All the Colors of the Dark (1972)
April Fool's Day (2008)
Bad Inclination (2003)
The Bat (1959)
Bates Motel (1987)
Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984)
The Brave One (2007)
Calendar Girl Murders (1984)
A Cat in the Brain (1990)
Cheerleader Massacre (2003)
The Corpse Grinders (1972)
Crooked House (2008)
Cruising (1980) Review at Retro Slashers
Dead of Winter (1987)
Demons 3: The Ogre (1988)
Dial: Help (1988)
Diary of the Dead (2008)
Don't Answer the Phone! (1980)
Door Into Darkness: The Doll (1973)
Door Into Darkness: Eyewitness (1973)
Eye for an Eye (1996)
Eyes of a Stranger (1981)
Fear of Clowns (2004)
Friday the 13th (2009)
The Hollywood Beach Murders (1992)
Horror 101 (2000)
Horror 102: Endgame (2004)
The House Sitter (2007)
I Know Who Killed Me (2007)
I'm the Girl He Wants to Kill (1974)
In the Spider's Web (2007)
Intimate Stranger (1992)
Jack's Back (1988)
The Killer Next Door (2001)
Knock Knock (2007)
The Last House on the Left (2009)
The Majorettes (1986)
The Manitou (1978)
Mirror Images (1992)
Mirror, Mirror 2: Raven Dance (1994)
Mum & Dad (2008)
My Bloody Valentine (2009)
My Dear Killer (1972)
New Year's Evil (1980)
Night of the Living Dead 3D (2006)
The Night Stalker (1972)
Perfect Blue (1998)
Perfect Stranger (2007)
Perversion Story (1969)
Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge (1989)
The Psychic (1977)
Red Mist (2008)
Rehearsal for Murder (1982)
Run... If You Can! (1987)
Scream Bloody Murder (1973)
Scream Bloody Murder (2000)
Seconds Apart (2011)
The Sect (1991)
The Seduction (1982)
Shark in Venice (2008)
Shark Kill (1976)
Shark Swarm (2008)
Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
Slaughter High (1986)
Someone's Watching Me! (1978)
The Stalker (1998)
The Stepfather Trilogy (1987-1992) Review at Retro Slashers
The Strangers (2008)
Sweet Sixteen (1983)
Switch Killer (2005)
Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo (1977)
Terror Stalks the Class Reunion (1992)
The Thing (1982)
The Thing (2011)
Through the Eyes of a Killer (1992)
Too Scared to Scream (1985)
The Torturer (2005)
Trilogy of Murder (2004)
Twisted Nerve (1968)
The Unborn (2009)
Undercover Angel (1993)
View of Terror (2003)
Wet Gold (1984)
While She Was Out (2008)

domain: artistic


text:
George Osborne, who for the past three years must have been tempted to shout “I’m the Chancellor, get me out of here”, has, without the help of Ant and Dec, seemingly clawed Britain out of its financial jungle and clearly felt able to be upbeat in his Autumn Statement with forecasts about the health of the economy much improved since the Budget in March this year. Our own experience is that there is some truth in that too.
The growth forecast issued by the Office for Budget Responsibility was 0.6% in March, for the current year. This has now been increased to 1.4%. Meanwhile, the percentage of debt to Gross Domestic Product has dropped from 7.5% in March, to 6.8%. This is down from 11% when the current Government came into power.
Spending cuts will continue and there is no intention to significantly increase public spending any time soon. There was, however, a positive announcement that all infant school children will be entitled to free school meals from September 2014.
But what about tax announcements? In our Legal Team, we were all waiting for the final chapter in the guidance on changes to both the inter-action of partnership and companies, and also the present automatic self-employment of LLP members. There was very limited on both counts, and a promise of another instalment on Tuesday 10 December, which is timely as that is the first of our two Legal Team seminar days – do come along if you want to hear the very latest news – see click here for more details.
We were initially troubled by the seemingly immediate legislative change to the present flexibility to allocate profits from partnerships to corporate partners, but on closer reading of the limited detail that has been released by HMRC, this change seems only to relate to using such arrangements to create losses, a la some Film Schemes etc, so has no application to our legal practice client base.
There also appears to be a possibility that HMRC are trying to take out the possibility of operating a human partner’s ownership and profit share through an individual limited company, but this is not clear as of today.
Elsewhere in tax, changes were few and, perhaps unsurprisingly, not all positive. As we are used to now, some of them do not come into force for a number of years yet.
On the positive side, business rates relief for small businesses, which was due to end in April 2014, has been extended by one year. Also any rate increases from April 2015 will be capped at 2% per annum. Further help for all business comes in the form of an exemption from April 2015 for employer national insurance contributions on all employees under the age of 21 who are earning less than £813 a week.
For individuals, the personal allowance was confirmed as rising to £10,000 in April 2014. In addition a new, transferrable, married couples allowance of £1,000 (wow!), will be introduced for basic rate taxpayers in April 2015. This will automatically rise in line with any personal allowance increases.
Fuel duty is to be frozen next year, meaning that the price of a litre of fuel will be 20p cheaper than if the previous Government’s fuel escalator had continued to apply.
As has become a regular announcement, more anti avoidance legislation is to be introduced. This will target individuals using companies to avoid an employer/employee relationship being created as well as insist that up front tax payments be made where a particular avoidance scheme has failed in the courts. The detail will need to be reviewed as to how, in particular, the former of these two measures is going to impact on individuals and businesses alike.
The biggest hits on the taxpayer came in respect of capital gains tax. Firstly, as was widely expected, non residents will be required to pay capital gains tax on any property held by them in the UK. This will apply from April 2015. There was more of a shock in respect of private residence exemption, which has remained untouched for years. Under current legislation, if the property has been your private residence at some point, the last three years of ownership is automatically exempt, regardless of whether it was your private residence at the time of sale. This is to be halved to eighteen months from April 2014, a measure that is expected to raise an additional £360m for the Treasury by April 2019.
With just 18 months before the next election, the Chancellor is presumably quite happy with the message he has delivered, although, as he pointed out, there is still got quite a way to go.

domain: politics


text:
It's an understatement to say that Vic Mackey has been through a lot, but this fall it will all be coming to an end when FX debuts the final season of The Shield. To celebrate this incredible show, the cast of The Shield are gathering on April 1st for an exclusive round table discussion, and IGN TV is looking for fans to join them at the event.
Are you hoping Vic gets away at the end or do you want to see him go to jail? Do you wonder if Dutch is safe to keep around your household pets of if Claudette's health problems will worsen? We're looking for genuine Shield super fans to take part in this very special gathering and to learn what it was like for the cast to work on this unique series.
If you'd like to join us for this event, we ask one thing: Don't be shy! Almost no one stays quiet the whole time they're in the Barn, and we don't want simple observers here either. The cast will be taking questions from the audience, and if you've got something you're itching to know about the creation and evolution of The Shield over its seven seasons, this is your opportunity to ask. Of course, we have to ask that you wait your turn to speak, or the Strike Team will have to teach you a harsh lesson.
If you're chosen to participate in the roundtable Q&A for The Shield, keep in mind you must be 18 or older, free on the day of Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 and be able to provide your own transportation to the event, which will be located in Los Angeles, California – Those given tickets will be given the specific time and location. Keep in mind that you may be filmed for this event and those in attendance will need to sign a filming release before participating.
You may bring up to three guests to this event (a total of four people, including yourself), provided they meet the above criteria. Make sure you list both the full name of yourself and your guests (if you are bringing any) in your email.
So Shield fans, if you'd like to attend, shoot us an email here.
We only have a limited amount of tickets available to this event, so contact us right away or you'll be as out of luck as Kavanaugh was when he thought he could take down Mackey.

domain: entertainment


text:
- ScreenPro Security (SCRN) launches Rapid Antigen Testing with a mobile passport to get Canadians back to work
- This new antigen rapid test kit was approved by Health Canada on March 19
- The addition of the rapid antigen test kit assists in ScreenPro achieving its goal to re-open businesses
- ScreenPro provides turnkey coronavirus screening solutions to the private sector
- ScreenPro, AKA, Compel Capital, (SCRN), is down 4 per cent and is trading at C$0.12 at close
Compel Security Inc. (SCRN) has added a Health Canada-approved antigen rapid test kit to its product offering.
Health Canada approved this new antigen rapid test kit on March 19.
Coupled with its current PCR testing services and the proposed acquisition of GoStop Inc.’s digital COVID passport announced on March 11, it provides ScreenPro with a complete suite of testing and screening tools and services for its clients.
The addition of the rapid antigen test kit assists in ScreenPro achieving its goal to re-open businesses and get all Canadians back to work and normal life.
John McMullen, CEO of ScreenPro, states, “I am pleased to report that our company has initiated the roll-out for rapid antigen and are processing tests now in both Ontario and Vancouver and will continue to expand our offering throughout our client base.”
“If a person were to test positive, ScreenPro can then offer a second line of testing with its current PCR platform with 100% accuracy. If the patient requires a consultation, our medical team is also available to advise and consult with the client,” added McMullen.
ScreenPro provides turnkey coronavirus screening solutions to the private sector. ScreenPro’s unique access to multiple manufacturers of high-quality South Korean test kits and its strategic partnership with Canvas Labs in Vancouver and Integrated Explorations in Ontario.
This platform allows ScreenPro to be a nationwide provider of full-service testing solutions across Canada.
ScreenPro has its own pool of certified nursing and medical professionals, PPE and all ancillary products to ensure that its clients are protected in all aspects of their testing needs.
ScreenPro, AKA, Compel Capital, (SCRN) is down 4 per cent and is trading at C$0.12 at close.

domain: news


text:
KOWA American Corp welcomes custom sourcing inquiries.
KOWA American Corporation
We are custom sourcing specialists for specialty chemicals produced in Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. We offer hundreds of chemicals including monomers, isocyanates, acrylates, methacrylates, acrylamides, amines and a variety of fine chemical intermediates.
We are also major suppliers of specialty ingredients to the cosmetic, food and nutritional supplement industries. Our chemical group is primarily responsible for marketing a wide variety of chemical products into North America and parts of South America.

domain: chemistry


text:
We are a renowned orthodontic practice dedicated to delivering comprehensive orthodontic treatment to individuals of all ages, including children, teenagers, and adults. Our team of highly skilled orthodontists, along with cutting-edge technologies, allows us to offer personalized and successful orthodontic care to patients in the Leesburg area. We provide a warm and inviting environment at our Ashburn location that ensures your comfort and confidence throughout your treatment journey, ultimately leading to a vibrant and radiant smile.
What To Expect With NVO Ashburn
Located near Leesburg, VA, Northern Virginia Orthodontics stands as a prominent orthodontic practice in Northern Virginia, providing a comprehensive array of orthodontic treatments for individuals of all ages, including children, teenagers, and adults. Our team comprises seasoned and proficient orthodontists who deliver state-of-the-art orthodontic care utilizing cutting-edge techniques and technologies. We prioritize individualized care by offering a diverse range of treatment options, allowing us to create personalized treatment plans that address the unique needs of each patient. Speak with your NVO doctor to explore the available options, which include:
- traditional braces
At our practice, patients can anticipate a nurturing, amiable, and inclusive atmosphere where their comfort and contentment are of utmost importance. We are unwavering in our commitment to deliver outstanding orthodontic care, and our primary focus is assisting you in attaining the stunning and self-assured smile you rightfully deserve.

domain: health


text:
Helping You Navigate the Aging Journey
Since 1995, seniors have opened their doors to Right at Home to be their guide and keep them safe at home. Our mission is to improve the quality of life for those we serve, and we fulfill that mission through the 'right' people caring for your loved one, providing the 'right' services, and 'right' approach to ensure peace of mind. With Right at Home, seniors can age in the comfort of their homes. After all, home is the best place to be.
Caring For People Is What We Do Best
As a person begins to age, family members often feel the need to help with everyday tasks their loved one now finds challenging. It can be hard to tell when aging is affecting a family member, because small things can add up to a larger challenge incredibly fast. If this sounds like something your family is experiencing, you're not alone. Today, more than 34 million adults are providing care to a loved one over the age of 50.
Get Local In Home Care
Learn more about your local Right at Home office.Your Local Office
Our Senior Care Services
Services to help seniors age in place comfortably.Home Care Services
Now Hiring Caregivers
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Don't Compromise With the Care of a Loved One
We know you are busy raising your family, caring for an aging mother or father and balancing your career. Caregiving for a loved one can take its toll and change family dynamics. We know providing care for a loved one can become highly stressful – whether your loved one lives down the street or thousands of miles away.
The Right Care from Right at Home Midlothian
We understand your concerns when it comes to making decisions regarding your family. For many people, our in-home senior care is the best solution for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and loving relationships. Whether a family member needs a little extra help around the house, assistance recovering from a hospital stay or someone to check in on them throughout the week, Right at Home Midlothian can be the perfect solution. We customize our care services, so your loved one always gets the special care they need based on their individual needs. Discover how our many services can help improve your family's quality of life.
Top Rated Home Care for 2021
We are so honored to receive the Caring Super Star recognition from Caring.com this year. 'Super Stars' are offices that have been recognized for 3 years or more, our case 4 in a row. This recognition is indicative of the culture here at Right at Home Midlothian. It shows that we really are providing the RightCare to clients – we are the right people, doing the right things, the right way, for the right reasons. Our care team as well as our office staff are continuously working to maintain the RightCare standard in both our client experience and our employee experience.
To qualify we had to have 10 or more reviews and an overall average rating of 4.5 or higher on a 5 point scale, receive 3 or more reviews during the qualifying year with at least one 5 star rating, and respond to every negative review ever received.
Right at Home Midlothian is one of only 130 home care agencies nationwide that received the Leader in Excellence Award, which ranks the agency among to top 10% of all private-duty home care providers in the United States.
Earning the Employer of Choice and Leader in Excellence Awards for four years in a row, and Provider of Choice for five years in a row, is indicative of the extraordinary experiences that Right at Home Midlothian provides – both for our clients and our employees. We are proud to be recognized among this elite group of home care providers and will continue to strive to improve the quality of life for those we serve – inside of our office and within our community. Learn more about these awards.
Providing Home Care and Senior Care Services In:
Midlothian, Grand Prairie, Cedar Hill, Desoto, Ennis, Ferris, Lancaster, Palmer, Red Oak, Glenn Heights, Oak Leaf, Ovilla, Waxahachie, Forreston, Maypearl, Venus, Italy, and Milford.


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As a precautionary action, it is smart to habitually take care of your automotive in regular basis between drives. Decreased level of driving quality and general functionality, higher petrol consumption, or threat of component malfunction are merely several negative aspects of driving a car with a defective auto component. Purchase Bosch OE Replacement Remanufactured Starter to repair your electrical system to the best possible shape.
Once it is time to change your starter, Denso has the best original equipment (OE) quality replacement auto component for you to bring back your electrical system into perfect condition. It installs without need for modifications and works exactly as your original unit as it has been mainly manufactured to satisfy or even exceed OEM parts standards.


Contact: Claus Habfast
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
Caption: This image shows the experimental set-up of the experiment at ESRF beamline ID27 where the diffraction maps were recorded. The diamond anvil cell is inside the brass cylinder in the center. The image pictures Guillaume Morard, one of the co-authors of the publication, wearing laser safety goggles.
Credit: ESRF/Blascha Faust
Usage Restrictions: None
Related news release: The Earth's center is 1,000 degrees hotter than previously thought


DDOT shall manage and implement transportation improvement plans and projects; manage and construct capital projects; conduct studies, review, and approve construction materials utilization and ensure that the transportation system is maintained to the highest standards; and administer the full range of processing required to execute construction contracts for transportation. (DDOT Establishment Act, D.C. Code § 50-921.04).
DDOT shall review and approve public space permit requests for work within public rights-of-way, including private use and utility work public space requests. (DDOT Establishment Act, D.C. Code § 50-921.04
Procedures & Services
Construction and Traffic Control (Work Zones)DDOT shall commit to reducing congestion in and around work zones without compromising the safety of workers and the public. Traffic control plans submitted with construction permits must replicate the existing pedestrian pathways as practically as possible, in order to ensure that the routing of pedestrians, bicyclists, and other vehicles around a work zone is safe.
There are various approaches for DDOT to deliver projects in the District. The Design-Build Manual describes the Department’s procedures for evaluating and selecting a project delivery method. The manual also provides guidance for administering a competitive sealed proposals procurement using alternative value added delivery methods.
Energy Savings Initiatives
Transportation Plans & Studies


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The study found that pick-up trucks dominate the list, with 10 of the 23 longest-lasting vehicles made up by them, and Toyota makes plenty of reliable cars, with 8 models in the top 23 list.
In that same list, only three SUVs make it: the Toyota Land Cruiser, Toyota Sequoia, and the Honda Pilot. If you'd like a passenger car to do the same, then look towards the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, or the Toyota Avalon.
It said that the Top-23 of vehicles are the most likely vehicles to last 400,000 km or more, and the best ones have a 40+ percent chance of reaching that milestone – the average vehicle has only an 11.8 per cent chance of lasting that mileage.
Here's the list in its entirety:
Cars Most Likely to Last 250,000+ Miles – iSeeCars.com Study
“The cost of new and used cars has never been higher, which means a long vehicle lifespan has never been more appealing to buyers on a budget,” said iSeeCars.com Executive Analyst Karl Brauer. If you're inclined to agree and want to find a car that may as well outlive plenty of us, click their links above to see units for sale on CARSOME and Carlist.
With humble beginnings collecting diecast models and spending hours virtually tuning dream cars on the computer, his love of cars has delightfully transformed into a career. Sanjay enjoys how the same passion for cars transcends boundaries and brings people together.


Vol 3 of the Djaytiger mashup #illmaticSoul ft Nas and Pete Rock
Except track 5 ‘Street Dreams’ which was mixed by #DjRhude
DONATE TO FULLBLASTRADIO – http://bit.ly/DonateFBR
DONORS WHO DONATE $5.00 & ABOVE WILL RECEIVE A FREE FULLBLASTRADIO OLD SCHOOL MIX VIA DIGITAL DOWNLOAD
Download the FullblastRadio phone app to stay updated with the latest mixes, live streaming and live video feed with live djs mixing!
Fullblast Radio streams 24-7 Classics, 80s and 90s Hip Hop, Neosoul, classic club, old school r&b and today”s Underground Hip Hop music.
***DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE LICENSE FOR THE MUSIC USED IN THIS VIDEO. IT IS STRICTLY FOR ENTERTAINMENT.


We're stuck at home. Musicians are stuck at home. We're looking for entertainment. Musicians are looking to entertain. So City Paper is working with Pittsburgh artists and bands to bring you Quarantunes, a series of at-home performances to bring a little enjoyment to your day.
Markila "Kiki" Sherman (vocals), Ernie Francestine (guitar), Matt Mittleman (drums), Damien "Doodle" DeTroia (bass), and Dave Filonuk (keys). So for today's Quarantunes, the funk/soul/rock group used the power of video-editing to piece together a performance of “I Know You Better,” a track from the first volume of their newest album, There It Is.
The video features the disembodied heads of three Shermans, singing the main and backup vocals, and close-up shots of the rest of the band members playing their respective instruments as they bounce around the screen.
There It Is is set to be released in three separate volumes over the course of 2020. The first, which dropped Jan. 10, is available on most major streaming platforms. Nearly all of the other two volumes are recorded, The Buckle Downs are waiting for the world to unpause to finish the rest.
Check out the video and find out a little bit more about The Buckle Downs, below.
What's been your favorite thing to do while home?
Matt: I like cooking for the fam and working on music while locked up.
Ernie: Record folk-prog music that will never see the light of day
Name a song that you feel encapsulates our current state.
Matt: "Everybody Hides" by Wilco. Ernie: Feeling '80s music by '70s rock gods (David Gilmour, Van Morrison, Peter Gabriel, Joni Mitchell). "Dweller on the Threshold" by Van Morrison is a great example.
If you could go one place right now, where would it be? Matt:If I could be anywhere, it would have to involve thousands of calories, a lot of drinks with a lot of people, and very loud live music. Ernie: A concert!
Want to participate in CP's Quarantune series? Reach out to Jordan at jsnowden[at]pghcitypaper.com.


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The 50 or so S&P 500 companies that have increased dividends every year for a quarter century have been dubbed "dividend aristocrats."
Believe it or not, about a quarter of this group -- 13 to be exact -- hasn't increased payouts this year, at least not as of late last week, S&P index analyst Howard Silverblatt noted last Thursday. Among the group: Becton Dickinson (BDX), Hormel Foods (HRL), Aflac (AFL) and AT&T (T).
This turns out to be somewhat normal -- lots of yield-friendly companies wait til the holiday season to deliver the goods. The bulk of the aristocrats yet to make the call this year happen to be the same ones that chose to do so during October, November or December of previous years, according to Silverblatt. So there's just about every assurance short of certainty that they can/should/would/want to do it again over the next two and a half months.
SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (SDY), a portfolio of more than 80 stocks that have increased dividends for at least 20 years (there's lots of overlap between this group, called the S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats, and the 25-year group), has all 13 of those yet-to-increase stocks, note S&P Capital IQ's analysts this week.
This fund has already turned in a rich YTD performance -- up nearly 21% -- and it rarely makes sense to base a purchase on the timing of dividends, since they're generally already priced into the stock.
But if current income is all you care about, it's worth noting the ETF's record date for the quarter falls in late December and the payout is in early January, so you'd have a good shot of capturing any as-of-yet unannounced dividend increases (assuming they actually happen).

domain: economics


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- This event has passed.
Nutmeg Book Club Homeschool Edition (Homeschool Children Ages 8-12)
September 19, 2023 @ 2:00 pm - 2:45 pm
The Nutmeg Book Club Homeschool Edition is a book club for homeschool children ages 8-12. We will aim to read and discuss as many of the 2024 Nutmeg Book Award Intermediate Nominees as we can, before voting ends. The Nutmeg Book Award winners are chosen by the youth of Connecticut. Students have until April of 2024 to read the nominees and then vote on their favorite.
During book club we will, eat snacks, discuss what we read, and complete fun activities! We will be reading Leonard (My Life as a Cat) by Carlie Sorosiak this month. Registration is required at https://forms.gle/VieH5wnwxmBxbEuP6.
About the book: Leonard is an alien visiting earth…as a cat. Taken in by animal lover, Olive, he has 30 days to travel 2,000 miles to his rendezvous point, or he’ll be stuck on Earth forever…as a cat. But after he grows close to Olive, is home with her or with his species?


Samsung always surprises us with its tech industry in the past decades. Now they are all set for the launch of two brand new laptop models by Samsung, which are Galaxy Book Pro and Galaxy Book Pro 360. The images were spotted on the SafetyKorea certification website. But to be precise, NT950XDB and NT950QDB were two model numbers of Samsung laptops that were seen. Earlier, these two were spotted on the Bluetooth SIG certification from where the names were known from us.
Specifications Of Galaxy Book Pro and Galaxy Book Pro 360:
The two laptops will have two full-sized keyboards. The Galaxy Book Pro 360 can be rotated 360° as the name suggests, more flexibly than the Book Pro one. As of now, only White and Silver are the two color variants for the laptops. Maybe some other colors might be available in the upcoming days.
As regards the display of the Galaxy Book Pro and Galaxy Book Pro 360, 13.3-inch and 15.6-inch will be the two variants. They will likely have an OLED display panel. For the processors, they will be packed with Intel 11th-gen i3/i5/i7 processors, which will addons the speed and focus for these laptops. The RAM type is LPDDR4x, and the storage type: SSD, also quite possible that there would be slots to add extra ram addition. In the connectivity department, the Galaxy Book Pro offers both Wi-Fi and LTE variants, while the Galaxy Book Pro 360 has Wi-Fi only or 5G variants.
Apart from these, The Galaxy Book Pro (15.6-inch variant) might be packed with a dedicated Nvidia MX 450 GPU. Some additional features which might be expected out of the two models are- S-Pen support, Thunderbolt 4 port, Live wallpapers, and Samsung Notes, Smart Switch, SmartThings, Samsung DeX, Second Screen will make this laptops gem for users. Till then, stay tuned to MediaScrolls for more such exciting news.


Today, a year ago the first post of this blog was published. To celebrate this milestone (it could be seem easy to share at least a song a day, but some days it has been really hard) I have been thinking about the song to play today; in fact I have a short list that includes a few birthday songs such as Birthday (The Beatles), Birthday (Blur), Unhappy Birthday (The Smiths), Happy Birthday (The Birthday Party), etc. Finally, since yesterday we were talking about a great band from my hometown, I have decided another song from this list by Los Planetas. Enjoy!
I have planned to create a complete playlist with most of the songs shared during this year, and to publish it to conmemorate this first anniversary. However I haven’t been able to complete the playlist; even that I decide to share it with its about 140 songs. It would be growing little by little (I hope!). Please have a look here.


i picked up a box of 20 western 308 winchester match,197gr o.p.e. boattail hand loaded cartridges.winchester-western division,olin mathieson chemical corp,east alton ill.they are in a plain white box with the above printed on the front.the dealer i purchased them from has them wrapped in plastic so i cant get too the shells themselves.when were these made?are they worth keeping as collectable?were these a military loading?any help is apprec thanks
Unfortunately, you do not geive the headstamp. We stress often on the Forum that an inquiry should include all available information, to get the best and most informative reply.
Winchester-Western did load some 308 match cartridges for the military using WCC headstamped cases, since they were military match loads. I am not sure if they did any in commercial cases or not. I am out of my field again with this reply. Some were loaded to a very long overall cartridge length, but as I recall, the boxes of those are marked for “single loading only” or words to that effect. They will not fit in either the magazine well of a bolt action rifle, nor the magazine of the M14. If you intend to shoot any of these (probably not a good idea since I assume their cash value is somewhat higher than other military match ammunition), be careful. Some of these are among the only corrosive-primed U.S.-manufactured .308 ammo ever made.
Going by your description, I’d guess that the cartridges are most likely from the late 1950s or early 1960s. They will probably have a headstamp date so if it’s possible to unwrap the shrink, and if the box isn’t sealed, you can determine the year. The most likely year is 1958 or 1959.
The cartridges were probably loaded for use by the USAMU (U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit). The 197 grain bullets were hand made by AMU shop personnel. Cartridges were also loaded for AMU use using Western made 200 grain bullets. Once out of the box it is difficult to tell the two apart. As the AMU gained experience with handloads, other bullets were also used including commercial ones such as the 168 and 180 grain Sierra HPBT.
John is correct that the primers are probably corrosive, and even mercuric, since they were shown to be the most accurate. But, you are not going to shoot them anyway, are you??? I wouldn’t. They have collector value, especially in the original box. Individual rounds can be found for $1 to $2 each so a full box would be worth at least 20 times that.
I used the word “probably” several times because without more information that the writing on the box it is impossible to tell exactly what you have. I’ll bet both John and I are close, however.
i opened the box and the headstamp is wcc 60.there is 1 shell missing.they are a hollow point bullet,the lot number on the inside flap is 47rd7 bph if that helps.thanks don
According to my sources, all 7.62 Nato ammunition manufactured in the US is noncorrosive - except International Match ammunition manufactured at Frankford Arsenal in 1956.
Therefore, since your ammunition was not manufactured at the Frankford Arsenal and was not manufactured in 1956 it should be noncorrosive.
Ray and Dave,
I stand corrected! Thank you for correcting my error.
I respectfully disagree. AMU ammunition is neither NATO nor military spec. It was all handloaded with selected components. The corrosive, mecuric primer gave better accuracy and that is what was used in the early years of USAMU. It was never intended that the cases would be reloaded and shooters and armourers were well versed in cleaning the rifles to avoid troubles from the corrosive primers. Winchester even furnished it’s own Bore Solvent.
I have two boxes of Western 308 Winchester Match ammo - one is 200gr FMC and the other is 180gr FMC. Each box clearly states that the the cartridges use “special mecuric corrosive primers” and the “Rifle should be cleaned, immediately after firing with Winchester Bore Solvents”. Cartridges from each box have a WCC 58 headstamp.


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Depending on experience
3 months ago
Customer Quality Manager | Fresh Produce | Cambs
Depending on Experience
Exciting times are ahead, how would you like to be part of this growing business?
As Customer Facing Quality Manager you will work very closely with your retail partner, ensuring all products are packed to the correct specifications, you will manage their expectations and work closely with the growers ensuring all audits are done as required. You will provide your customer with quality updates and you will work closely with the internal teams to ensure shelf life, fruit storage, trials, etc are all optimised.
The ideal candidate will ideally be Spanish speaking. You will have a wide range of fresh produce knowledge and experience and have been working in a customer facing position with a leading retailer. You will also have a working knowledge of BRC, experience of auditing and working closely with the growers.
For further information on this fantastic opportunity please contact Luan Harrison on 01780 480530 or email firstname.lastname@example.org

domain: agronomy


Advancing Healthcare through Robotics and Machine Learning
One of the biggest dangers for trauma patients during the ambulance ride is undiagnosed, internal hemorrhagic bleeding. It’s currently undetectable with methods available on the ambulance ride. You can’t see it … but a robot can.
Axel Krieger—an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering who specializes in medical robotics and computer vision—says that estimates suggest one-third of trauma fatalities likely would have survived if they had access to hospital-level of care sooner. He aims to help make that level of care standard on the way to the hospital by equipping ambulances with a medical robot enhanced by machine learning.
Watch the video above to learn more.
Dr. Krieger is a member of the Maryland Robotics Center.
Are you are a member of the media interested in connecting with a robotics engineer at the University of Maryland? Please email: email@example.com
Machine Learning's Translational Medicine
New affiliate faculty Mark Fuge is expert in machine learning and artificial intelligence
Do Good Robotics Symposium to explore technologies that benefit society and the planet
Study validates face recognition experts, but shows humans perform best with an AI partner
Innovative Groups Pitch, Win Share of $5,000 at Inaugural Do Good Robotics Start-up Competition
Hyperdimensional computer theory featured in Voice of America video
Derek Paley named Maryland Robotics Center director
Do Good Robotics Start-Up Competition coming this fall
Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Bio-Inspired Robotics
Helping robots remember
September 17, 2019


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The Barron Knights's Live in Trouble cover of Brotherhood of Man's Angelo
Bob Rivers's Holidaze (S'cuze Me, I Got Gifts to Buy) cover of Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze
The Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band's Pimp cover of 50 Cent's P.I.M.P.
Bob Rivers's I Am Santa Claus cover of Black Sabbath's Iron Man
Jeff Beck's Nadia cover of Nitin Sawhney's Nadia
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Interior Ministry takes legal action against 9,574 for not wearing masks
Friday، 24 September 2021 - 05:43 PM
The Interior Ministry on Friday announced that it has taken legal measures against 9,574 persons for not wearing face masks in security campaigns conducted in a span of 24 hours.
As many as 720 violations of shop closure decisions were also detected, said the ministry in a statement.
The move falls within the framework of the Cabinet's decision on taking all needed preventive measures to curb the spread of coronavirus, the statement added.


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Forty-four patients with catheter-related infection admitted to Hokusho Central Hospital between 1985 and 1991 were studied retrospectively. The rate of catheter-related fungemia or bacteremia to all corresponding cases of fungemia and bacteremia increased from 7.7% in 1985 to 28.8% in 1991. The isolated pathogens were Candida parapsilosis (8 strains), Candida tropicalis (6 strains), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (6 strains), methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) (5 strains) and Streptococcus epidermidis (3 strains). Bacteremia occurred after catheterization of the femoral vein for a mean duration of 37 days. The period was significantly shorter than that after catheterization of the subclavian vein (56 days). The major isolates from the subclavian vein were Candida spp. (14/17, 82.4%), followed by MRSA (1/17, 5.9%) and MSSA (1/17, 5.9%), while isolates from the femoral vein were Candida spp. (6/16, 37.5%), MRSA (5/16, 31.3%) and MSSA (3/16, 20.8%). Catheter removal alone did not improve the clinical condition, particularly in MRSA bacteremia; the combination of antimicrobial therapy and removal of the catheter was necessary for a better prognosis.
ASJC Scopus subject areas

domain: medical


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Seagreen Bike Posters
Seagreen Bike Posters is immoderately famous and makes a awesome wall decoration, this dimension is 18 x 15 inch and the price is $59.99. If you're trying to search top recommended Seagreen Bike Posters with sixpenny price, it is the great deals for you.
Type: Framed Art Print
Dimension: 18 x 15 inch
Seagreen Bike Posters is a transcendent poster by Avalisa , which looks exactly as advertised, the photo is crisp and clean. This product is sparkling and beauteous with lush colors. The paper was a faithful earmark poster paper with a shining finish. The quality of this one is fabulous, it uses a paper that is excellent to the touch and the color saturation is deep and this item brings the feeling of a living image. Avalisahas drawn some of the most memorable movie posters in modern times. The quality of Seagreen Bike Posters is awesome because is thick and doesn't pierce radically easily. The colors are ablaze, and the picture is crisp, this has impressive quality generally and the unit looks good in a reasonable plain black poster frame. There are a great number of parallel strands to this item that seem to work well together, the ends coming together broad. The colors are extremely exciting, and Seagreen Bike Posters will be a noticeable eye catcher wherever you decide to display the produce.


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Conner Teahan didn’t need a stack of box scores to give an evaluation of his recent three-point shooting stats.
“They’re not good,” the senior guard said following KU’s 64-54 victory over Texas A&M; on Monday. “You know what? I don’t even know what the numbers are, but when was the last time I made more than two threes in a game? I can’t remember.”
It’s actually been four games since Teahan put in a pair of treys, as he went 2-for-6 from three in KU’s 81-46 victory over Texas Tech on Jan. 11.
Against Texas A&M;, the Leawood native made one of five threes to drop his season average to 36 percent (32 of 88).
“It is frustrating, because you know that’s what you’re supposed to do. That’s what you bring to the team,” Teahan said. “I’m a three-point shooter. It’s not that I don’t do too much else, but that’s my key cornerstone I need to bring to the team. When I’m not knocking it down, I’m frustrated with myself, and I know my teammates have to get frustrated.”
In his last six games, Teahan has made five of 23 three-pointers (22 percent). That’s after making 42 percent of his threes (27 of 65) in his first 14 games.
Recently, Teahan has been getting to the gym early to put up extra three-pointers with KU assistant coach Joe Dooley.
“I’ll tell you, I feel like I’m going to start really making a lot of shots,” Teahan said. “I was talking to my dad (Mark) the other night. I was like, ‘Man, I can’t buy a bucket.’ He was like, ‘Well, you’re shooting straight up and down. It looks good. You’re holding your release and everything. And I think you’re going to start making them.’”
Though it’s not well known, Teahan actually retooled his shot over the summer to try to become more consistent.
During that time, he worked out at Prairie Life Fitness in Overland Park with Dustin Lewis —a longtime basketball instructor and former high school coach in Palm Desert, Calif.
“He was like, ‘Hey, you have a good shot, but you’re kind of a streaky shooter,’ which was kind of the truth,” Teahan said. “I would go through times where I’d make a bunch in a row, then there’d be times I’d miss four or five in a row. Which, as a good shooter, you shouldn’t miss that many in a row when you’re just shooting (in a gym).”
Lewis had noticed that Teahan was shooting mostly in front of his face. When that happens, Teahan says the tendency is for a right-handed shooter’s follow-through arm to go out to the right, which results in different release points and can cause a shot to miss short, long, left or right.
Teahan altered his approach, starting his hands over to the right a bit more so that his release is straight up and down. The hope is that it will create a more consistent release point, meaning he might miss threes short or long, but he shouldn’t miss them left or right.
Teahan, who said he can recall every shot he takes after a game, said only two of his five shots against A&M; felt like they might be short coming off his hand.
“I’m telling you, when I’ve been shooting the ball, they’ve been feeling good,” Teahan said. “I’ll be sitting there shooting it, and I’ll just be like, ‘It’s going in.’ When I let it go, I feel good. Most of them felt great (Monday night).
“But, you know what, I’ve got to start making them. It’s the bottom line.”

domain: sports


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Germany is traditionally known as one of the world’s largest industry locations. Besides that, it’s also one of the most automated ones: With 301 industrial robots per 10,000 employees, Germany ranks fourth worldwide after South Korea, Singapore and Japan in terms of robot density, exceeding average more than six-fold.
One reason for this impressive ranking is the strong small- and medium-sized business sector in the country, the backbone of the German economy where automation has become a crucial competitive factor. The positive attitude towards automation in general across all industries makes Germany a big market for collaborative robot manufacturers.
“Germany is the most important market in Europe,” explains Helmut Schmid, General Manager Western Europe at Universal Robots. “We aim to manage it close to the market which is why we founded the German subsidiary Universal Robots GmbH in the fall of 2016.” In the spring of 2017, the next logical step was opening the new brick and mortar version of the Western Europe office. On this occasion, Helmut and his team invited all distributors from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Benelux to Munich for an exchange on vision, strategy, and technical questions.
CUSTOMER SUPPORT AT ALL LEVELS
The new premises in Munich have more to offer than just space for offices and events: Also included is a highly functional training center. “With the training center we can provide opportunities that up to now have only been possible at our Danish headquarters,” says Helmut. “The integration of our robots is thereby going to be even faster and easier since the training center is open for both partners and customers.” In the near future, Universal Robots will expand its offerings in Germany even more: A service center will be established in order to meet the increasing demand for support from customers at all levels.
This proximity to market and customers is necessary since the German market has its own characteristics: “By international comparison, customers in Germany have stringent requirements on technical solutions as well as demanding standards regarding safety. This high understanding of technology is generally positive for our business but lowers the implementation speed. Our new offerings compensate this which ultimately serves all involved parties,” says Helmut.


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EPIC Retirement Plan Services
Hochheiser Deutsch & Co, Inc.
Nicholas Pension Consultants
Farmer & Betts, Inc.
Kentucky Trust Company
Loren D. Stark Company
Plumbers Local Union No. 1 Benefit Funds
Retirement Plan Consultants
Pension Rights Center
RTD Financial Advisors
Retirement Industry Trust Association (RITA)
ERISA Services, Inc.
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|Proposed Cash Balance and Hybrid Pension Legislation— Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back|
Coalition to Preserve the Defined Benefit System
Feb. 17, 2004
Excerpt: The Treasury Department's legislative recommendations regarding hybrid pension plans contain some positive news ... If adopted, they would provide that cash balance and other hybrid pension plans are generally not age discriminatory. In addition, Treasury has addressed the counterintuitive and anti-employee 'whipsaw' issue so that cash balance plan sponsors would no longer be penalized for providing employees with interest credits that exceed Treasury bond rates.
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Marlon Moraes hasn't lost a fight over the past two years, and has stayed active, competing on four of the first six World Series of Fighting (WSOF) cards. With each passing bout, Moraes has come one step closer to earning a shot at WSOF's forthcoming Bantamweight title.
Following victories over former World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) champion Miguel Torres, Tyson Nam, Brandon Hempleman and his most recent 32-second knockout victory of Carson Beebe at WSOF 6 (watch it here), his accolades have become too much for WSOF President Ray Sefo and company to ignore.
I recently spoke with the six-time Muay Thai World champion-turned CEO and he confirmed what most considered the inevitable:
"Marlon Moraes is one of the brightest stars in all of mixed martial arts, and we're proud to have him call WSOF his home. His exciting fighting style is captivating MMA fans and will keep you on the edge of your seat. Marlon will be competing for the inaugural WSOF bantamweight title in his next fight. We have our sights set on March of next year, but an official date and opponent have not been decided on."
There you have it, straight from the horses mouth. Moraes (12-4) will in fact fight for the title next.
Let the speculation begin about who his opponent will be and where the title fight will take place. One thing is for certain, Moraes will bring the heat, whether it comes via head kick or devastating punching power is the real question.
In the meantime, keep tabs on all things WSOF in our comprehensive archive right here.


Home Solar in San Diego California
From having pristine boardwalks and beaches to some of the best weather and sun this country has to offer; San Diego is a treasure for beach bums, foodies, and homeowners alike. Wrap all that goodness in amazing weather and plentiful sunshine and there’s no wonder you own a home here. Which is a shame when you consider the rising costs of utility-provided power in California. With utilities trading in unpredictable energy markets, homeowners like you are forced to foot the bill.
But it doesn’t have to stay that way. With home solar panels, you can break the cycle and enjoy savings year round in San Diego. The great part is, getting solar for your home is easier than you think. Work with Sunrun and you’ll save 20%* on your electric bill over the lifetime of your system.
That’s 20 years of clean, renewable energy at your fingertips. To top it off, you won’t be alone — San Diego already sports more solar homes than any other city in California*. So what’re you waiting for? Make the switch to Sunrun today and join your neighbors in embracing a brighter future!
Going solar in San Diego is affordable & easy
As the largest dedicated home solar company in the country, we know a thing or two about the sun, just like you. In fact, we think that our love for savings is what helps set us apart.
Pair it with our expert knowledge, our simple processes, and professional partnerships, and you’ve got a really passionate team ready to show you just how great solar in San Diego can be.
You don’t have to believe us either. Just talk to one of our solar consultants and learn more about the perks of going solar with Sunrun, including:
- Saving 20%* on your electric bill.
- Multiple, flexible options for financing.
- A custom-designed home solar system.
- Protection from rate increases for the lifetime of your system.
- Solar installation by trusted and certified Sunrun partners.
- The best warranties in the industry.
- 24/7 live monitoring of your home solar system.
With all these great benefits choosing Sunrun couldn’t be easier. So what’re you waiting for? Call us at 1-619-618-1816 or sign up for a free quote today and get a headstart on cleaner energy and better savings in no time.