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Did you know that bees have their own special superfood? It’s called bee bread, and it’s a nutritional powerhouse that plays a crucial role in the lives of these industrious insects. In this article, we will explore the fascinating world of bee bread, understanding what it is and why it’s so important to bees.
Understanding Bee Bread
Bee bread is a unique mixture that bees create using pollen, nectar, enzymes, and their own saliva. It’s not just regular pollen; it’s transformed into a magical substance through a fermentation process inside the hive. Bee bread serves as a vital source of nutrition for bees, providing them with essential nutrients to fuel their busy lives.
The Creation of Bee Bread
Bees are hardworking collectors. They venture out to flowers in search of pollen, which they carry back to the hive on their fuzzy legs. Once back in the hive, they mix the pollen with nectar, enzymes, and a touch of their special saliva. This special concoction is then carefully packed into cells within the hive, where the fermentation process takes place.
During fermentation, the mixture undergoes a transformation, breaking down complex components into simpler, more easily digestible forms. This process not only enhances the nutritional value of the bee bread but also creates a unique flavor and aroma.
As the bee bread ferments, it becomes more nutritious and easier for bees to digest. This transformation is key to unlocking the benefits of the pollen, making it a highly valuable food source for the entire colony.
Now that we have a basic understanding of what bee bread is and how it’s created, let’s delve deeper into its nutritional value and the benefits it provides to bees. Get ready to discover the secrets of this extraordinary substance that fuels the buzzing lives of bees.
Nutritional Value of Bee Bread
Bee bread is like a nutritional treasure trove for bees. It’s packed with essential nutrients that support their health and well-being. Let’s explore the incredible nutritional value of bee bread:
Inside bee bread, you’ll find a wealth of protein, vitamins, minerals, and beneficial enzymes. It’s a fantastic source of high-quality protein that provides bees with the energy they need for their demanding activities. Bee bread is also rich in essential amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins.
In addition to proteins, bee bread contains a variety of vitamins, including vitamin B complex, vitamin C, and vitamin E. These vitamins contribute to the overall vitality of bees and support their immune system.
Bee bread is not lacking in minerals either. It contains important minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, and iron, which play vital roles in the bee’s growth, metabolism, and overall health.
Benefits of Bee Bread
The benefits of bee bread extend beyond its nutritional value. This remarkable substance has several advantages for bees:
- Stimulates Brood Development: Bee bread plays a crucial role in nurturing the next generation of bees. The nutrients in bee bread support the growth and development of bee larvae, ensuring a healthy and robust colony.
- Enhances the Immune System: The nutrients and enzymes found in bee bread boost the immune system of bees, making them more resilient to diseases and infections. It’s like a natural defense mechanism that keeps the hive strong and thriving.
- Potential Antibacterial and Antifungal Properties: Bee bread may possess antibacterial and antifungal properties that help protect the hive from harmful microorganisms. This natural defense mechanism helps maintain the hive’s hygiene and overall health.
Culinary and Health Applications
Bee bread not only benefits bees but also holds potential health benefits for humans. Some people incorporate bee bread into their diet for its nutritional value and potential health-enhancing properties. It’s often consumed as a natural supplement to support the immune system, enhance vitality, and promote overall well-being.
In the culinary world, bee bread can be used as a unique and nutritious ingredient. Its distinct flavor and aroma add a special touch to various recipes, such as smoothies, baked goods, and energy bars. It’s a way to incorporate the nutritional power of bee bread into our own culinary creations.
As we explore further, we’ll discover more about the harvesting and conservation practices surrounding bee bread, ensuring that this valuable resource remains available for bees and continues to contribute to their well-being and the balance of our ecosystems.
Harvesting and Conservation
Harvesting bee bread requires careful consideration to ensure the well-being of the hive and its continued production. Here are some key points about harvesting and conservation:
- Responsible Harvesting: Beekeepers practice responsible harvesting techniques, taking only a portion of the bee bread while leaving enough for the bees to sustain themselves. This approach ensures that the hive remains healthy and able to produce more bee bread.
- Hive Health: Maintaining the overall health of the hive is crucial for the sustainable production of bee bread. Regular hive inspections, disease prevention measures, and proper nutrition for the bees are essential for their well-being.
- Supporting Bee Conservation: Conservation efforts that focus on preserving bee habitats, reducing pesticide use, and raising awareness about the importance of bees play a vital role in safeguarding their populations and their ability to produce bee bread.
Yes, bee bread can be consumed by humans. It is often used as a nutritional supplement and can be incorporated into various recipes for its unique flavor and potential health benefits.
Responsible harvesting techniques prioritize the well-being of the bees. Only a portion of the bee bread is harvested, leaving enough for the bees to sustain themselves.
Bee bread can be stored for relatively long periods. Its natural fermentation process contributes to its preservation. However, proper storage conditions, such as keeping it in a cool and dry place, are essential to maintain its quality.
Bee bread is a fascinating substance that holds immense nutritional value for bees. Its creation through a fermentation process unlocks the potential of pollen, providing bees with essential nutrients for their busy lives. Bee bread supports their growth, immune system, and overall well-being.
As we continue to learn about bee bread, it’s important to emphasize the significance of responsible harvesting practices and conservation efforts. By protecting bees and their habitats, we ensure the continued production of this valuable resource and the health of bee populations.


An Air Conditioner leak can be caused by many things. Water leaks from your air conditioner can cause significant damage to your floors, ceiling, furnishings, and more. Unchecked, it can lead to mold issues as well.
An Air Conditioner leak can be simple slow drips which accumulate or pouring water. Either are signs that your air conditioner leaks and needs attention.
The Google Guarantee Program was launched by Google in order to build customer confidence in merchants you find through their Google Ads listings.
The program involves a thorough prescreening process where Google will perform the following analysis on a business:
Background checks for personnel
A review of reviews and ratings
A business must meet these requirements in order to qualify as Google Guaranteed and becomes affixed with their badge.
Troubleshooting your air conditioner system begins with a few common sense checks. It seems that air conditioning problems show up when the weather becomes very hot. If your air conditioning does not seem to be working, there are several things to rule out before you have to contact a professional. Checking these things first can save you a lot of aggravation and possibly money as well.
There are many pests which can inhabit your home. They often hide and set up home in and around your HVAC equipment. Pests invade your home by gaining entrance through cracks, crevices and tiny holes which may be anywhere around your home from rooftop to basements, doorways and windows.
The North American Technician Excellence is the largest, non profit organization which tests and certifies HVAC technicians have the knowledge and skills required in this industry. This third party certification offers HVAC consumers confidence in knowing these certified technicians are properly trained and proficient with the equipment they service


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McLarens, the Atlanta-based insurance services provider, has entered into a strategic alliance with Saltex, a Polish claims management and loss adjusting firm with offices in Warsaw and Wroclaw. Operating as McLarens’ exclusive affiliate in Poland, the partnership with Saltex will further strengthen McLarens’ European footprint, offering domestic and international clients access to comprehensive claims coverage across Poland, and providing a platform for growth across Eastern Europe.
Saltex’s team of specialist adjusters, led by co-owners Malgorzata Altdorfer-Wasikowska and Mariusz Siminski, have served clients throughout the country and internationally since the business launched in 2005. In line with McLarens’ focus on complex, commercial and major loss, the firm specializes in the full spectrum of commercial insurance claims including property, liability, construction all risks (CAR), business interruption, and machinery breakdown.
Saltex’s adjusters deliver technical loss adjusting services across a range of sectors including energy, natural resources, infrastructure, construction & engineering, and property (commercial and residential).
“We welcome this important partnership with McLarens. It will allow Saltex to further expand its offering, building upon the comprehensive range of services that we have developed in relation to complex and commercial claims,” commented Malgorzata Altdorfer-Wasikowska, co-owner of Saltex.

domain: finance


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U.S. Code of Federal Regulations
Regulations most recently checked for updates: Sep 25, 2023
(a)(1) Each competing employee selected for release from a competitive level under this part is entitled to a specific written notice at least 60 full days before the effective date of release.
(2) At the same time an agency issues a notice to an employee, it must give a written notice to the exclusive representative(s), as defined in 5 U.S.C. 7103(a)(16), of each affected employee at the time of the notice. When a significant number of employees will be separated, an agency must also satisfy the notice requirements of §§ 351.803 (b) and (c).
(b) When a reduction in force is caused by circumstances not reasonably foreseeable, the Director of OPM, at the request of an agency head or designee, may approve a notice period of less than 60 days. The shortened notice period must cover at least 30 full days before the effective date of release. An agency request to OPM shall specify:
(1) The reduction in force to which the request pertains;
(2) The number of days by which the agency requests that the period be shortened;
(3) The reasons for the request; and
(4) Any other additional information that OPM may specify.
(c) The notice period begins the day after the employee receives the notice.
(d) When an agency retains an employee under § 351.607 or § 351.608, the notice to the employee shall cite the date on which the retention period ends as the effective date of the employee's release from the competitive level.

domain: law


Half billion people will use Google Android by 2015September 24th, 2010 - 5:44 pm ICT by IANS
London, Sep 24 (IANS) Half a billion people will be using the Google Android operating system by 2015, according to the analysts Informa.
“This growth will be driven by the ongoing competition between top tier manufacturers and challengers such as Google, RIM, Apple and Microsoft who are racing to create the best possible user experience at lower pricing points,” Informa said.
Nokia will lose out most from the trend, according to Informa principal analyst Malik Kamal-Saadi.
“Informa expects that the market share of Symbian, from total smartphone users, to drop significantly from 53 percent in 2009 to 32 percent in 2015.
“In terms of sales, smartphones powered by Android are expected to surpass these of Symbian as early as 2012,” he said, reports the Telegraph.
Kamal-Saadi said Nokia will come under increasing pressure to change their strategy if innovation does not materialise on the Symbian platform.
“If Nokia joins the Android party, the support of this eco-system by all key players could help the mobile smartphone industry to potentially commoditise its software business much like what Microsoft did in the PC world,” he said.
If Nokia continues in its current strategy, it would be addressing “niche markets,” Kamal-Saadi added.
- Google Android smart phones top as Nokia, BlackBerry sink - Jun 01, 2011
- Android overtakes Symbian as world's most popular smartphone OS - Feb 02, 2011
- Apple, Google, RIM neck-and-neck in smart phone market - Mar 04, 2011
- Android, iOS power 85 percent of smartphones shipped - Aug 09, 2012
- Nokia launches E6, X7 with Symbian Anna user interface - Jun 29, 2011
- Android taking over the smartphone market - Mar 08, 2012
- BlackBerry stock slips on India report - Feb 01, 2011
- Facebook is partnering with HTC for a Smartphone - Nov 22, 2011
- Reliance Communications to market Android devices in India - Apr 16, 2012
- Samsung unveils new Galaxy smartphone - May 04, 2012
- Apple topples Nokia to become top smart phone seller - Jul 22, 2011
- Will Microsoft buy BlackBerry to take on Apple? - May 06, 2011
- Google, RIM are now no match for Apple: Analysts - Oct 21, 2010
- Android to capture 49 percent of market by 2012 - Apr 08, 2011
- Mobile phones hackers' main target - Apr 06, 2012
Tags: android, apple, best possible user experience, challengers, eco system, google, innovation, kamal, market share, microsoft, niche markets, nokia, operating system, pc world, principal analyst, rim, saadi, software business, symbian platform, telegraph


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Customer loyalty is one of the key drivers of long-time retailer success. As a result, retailers have greatly expanded their loyalty programs to further incentivize repeat business, as the following chart shows.
Nonetheless, sustaining customer loyalty is not an easy feat. As reported by Facts, Figures & the Future: “Being on the key ring is no guarantee a retailer will develop a meaningful relationship with loyalty club cardholders. New data show how badly supermarkets and other businesses fail to offer the experiences and discounts different shopper segments want from their loyalty programs. Nearly half of card-carrying members (47%) have stopped participating in one or more programs this past year—they simply disengage rather than formally request to leave, notes the first annual Maritz Loyalty Report. ‘Given the high percentage of passive defection, it is paramount that loyalty marketers proactively identify the early warning signs of disengaged members,’ urges Scott Robinson, senior director of loyalty consulting for Maritz Loyalty Marketing.” We believe “these findings should compel retailers to make shopping all of these things — easier, more convenient, information-rich (how to eat healthier, how to save), and competitively priced — in order to keep cardholders coming back regularly.”
Click the image to read more.

domain: economics


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Looking for a membership travel club to get some special offers for your luxury travel bookings? The Westin Excelsior in Rome: Rome is a city with full of romance and elegance. No wonder sophisticated hotels can be found in Rome. Westin Excelsior has majestic rooms which will make you fall in love and don’t want to leave once you stay. Good thing some rooms are affordable to stay-in so even average people can manage to check-in. If you want a cheaper option, then Villa La Cupola suite is best for you. This two-story hotel has a perfect combination of indulgence and privacy. You can surely enjoy the blend of classical style with innovative technology gadgets when you’re in Rome.
Rosewood London: Steps from bustling Covent Garden in London’s Holborn neighborhood, Rosewood London makes a grand first impression. Beyond the colonnade facade, wrought-iron gates, and stone archway, guests step into a quiet Edwardian courtyard that marks the start of the Rosewood experience. Once inside, fruits of the extensive renovation of this heritage Belle-Epoque building are on display, from the Pavonazzo marble staircase that rises through all seven stories of the hotel to the imposing 166-foot cupola. All 262 guest rooms and 44 suites were styled by interior designer Tony Chi, mixing rich materials like lacquer furnishings, wood veneers, and, in the bathrooms, acres of marble and chrome. The sprawling Grand Manor House Wing Suite is the only hotel room in the world to have its own post code, a palatial space accessed via a private entrance and elevator.
A quiet alternative to San Francisco’s busy downtown hotels, the luxurious Inn Above Tide is within walking distance of the shops, restaurants, and ferry in quaint, ritzy Sausalito (the scenic ferry ride to the city takes about 30 minutes). The 31 sophisticated rooms here have sweeping bay views and most come with patios overlooking the water. While there’s a spa, free breakfast, and free wine and cheese receptions, its lack of a pool and an on-site restaurant may deter some visitors.
Enjoying the most magnificent location on the Cape Peninsula, the Twelve Apostles Hotel & Spa is a grand contemporary hotel in Camps Bay, just a short drive from the center of Cape Town. Nestled between the unspoiled natural beauty of the majestic Twelve Apostles mountain range in the Table Mountain National Park, and the Atlantic Ocean, the award-winning boutique hotel is part of the family-run Red Carnation Hotel Collection and member of the prestigious portfolio of Leading Hotels of the World. It offers 70 guest rooms, styled with light colors and dark-wood accents that give an eclectic touch through African and nautical twists. Other unique features include a holistic spa, private cinema, and breathtaking ocean views.
Privateupgrades has access to an exclusive, high-end network around the world. These connections mean that Privateupgrade Members are on the VIP List and are therefore treated as VIPs wherever they go, with special attention and personalized service. Your personal Travel Designer is your primary point of contact. We want to get to know you so that we can then recommend hotels that suit you best, depending on your preferences. You can always add your preferences to your profile. This information is automatically communicated to hotels which you booked via Privateupgrades. ll promotions are subject to availability at the time of booking. In case the promotion you are looking for isn’t available, it may mean that the promotion isn’t valid for the timeframe you entered (reservation date, dates of stay, length of stay). Please adjust your travel dates and try again. A “free night” promotion includes one or more free nights for a specified timeframe. If the free night is not reflected in the total price, you will receive an adapted booking confirmation with the new total price within 48 hours, applicable by the hotel. Read extra info at VIP membership in 2000 hotels worldwide.

domain: travel


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Dusting Efficiency of the Moses Holmium Laser: An Automated In Vitro Assessment.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
INTRODUCTION: Moses technology is a novel Holmium:YAG laser system designed to minimize stone retropulsion and improve stone ablation when the laser is not in direct contact with the stone. Our aim was to assess the efficiency of Moses technology relative to short- and long-pulse lithotripsy using an automated in vitro "dusting model" of stone comminution. METHODS: All tests were conducted using a Lumenis Pulse 120H Holmium:YAG laser with a 365 μm Moses D/F/L fiber. "Hard" (15:3) and "soft" (15:6) Begostones mimicking calcium oxalate monohydrate and uric acid stones, respectively, were used. To assess ablation efficiency and fiber tip degradation, a dusting model was employed: the laser was moved by a three-dimensional positioning system in a spiral motion across a flat Begostone surface submerged in water. Ablation efficiency was measured as stone mass loss after 4 kJ of energy delivery. Fiber tip degradation was measured at 1 kJ intervals. Comparative trials with short pulse, long pulse, Moses contact, and Moses distance settings were completed with the laser tip positioned at 0, 1, and 2 mm distances from the stone at energy settings of 0.4 J delivered at 70 Hz. RESULTS: In our dusting model, stone ablation was significantly greater the closer the laser was to the stone. On hard stones, pulse type did not have a significant impact on ablation at any distance. On soft stones at 0 mm, Moses contact produced the greatest ablation, significantly greater than long pulse (p < 0.05). At 1 mm, Moses distance produced significantly greater ablation than all other settings (p = 0.025) and was as effective as long or short pulse at 0 mm. At 2 mm distance, no pulse type demonstrated significantly different ablation. Fiber tip degradation was minimal and not significant between settings. CONCLUSIONS: Moses technology delivers greater ablation of soft stones when in contact and 1mm from the stone surface.
- Winship, B; Wollin, D; Carlos, E; Li, J; Peters, C; Simmons, WN; Preminger, GM; Lipkin, M
- December 2018
Volume / Issue
- 32 / 12
Start / End Page
- 1131 - 1135
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- United States

domain: literature


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If you’re a fan of anime, then you’re probably familiar with the Deku Smash move from the popular series My Hero Academia.
The latest season of the show brought a plethora of skins to Fortnite, including characters from the series, along with unique abilities such as the Deku Smash.
Similar to the Dragon Ball crossover, which allowed players to use the Kamehameha move, the Deku Smash was also introduced in Fortnite. The move was quickly embraced by the community, but unfortunately, it was removed from the game after only a few short weeks.
Netflix’s addition of the popular animé series ‘My Hero Academia‘ to their production has led to the inclusion of its characters in the popular game ‘Fortnite’. The game has previously featured characters from other well-known animé series such as ‘Dragon Ball’ and ‘Naruto’.
The ‘My Hero Academia’ set in Fortnite includes skins for the lead characters, including Izuku Midoriya (also known as Deku), All Might, and Katsuki Bakugo, along with cosmetic items.
A special power inspired by Deku’s signature move, the Smash attack movement, was also added to the game. However, the ability to use this move is no longer available.
The Smash attack is a powerful move that can take out an opponent in a single hit, leaving them with no health or shield. Moreover, there is no counter-move to defend against it.
We have disabled the Deku Smash ability due to an issue. pic.twitter.com/jVCjcYKAsl— Fortnite Status (@FortniteStatus) December 21, 2022
On December 21st, the official Twitter account of Fortnite Status posted that the move had been removed due to some issue.
Is Deku Smash Back in Fortnite?
Fortunately, Epic Games has decided to bring back the Deku Smash move in Fortnite, which means that players can now use it in battles.
If you’re looking to acquire the move, you can find it in All Might Supply Drops that randomly appear on the map, or from My Hero Academia Vending Machines.
I am here! 💪— Fortnite Status (@FortniteStatus) January 18, 2023
With today's 23.20 update, the Deku Smash mythic ability has been re-enabled. pic.twitter.com/ONhHD3AUmQ
Fortnite bring back the Deku Smash on Jan 19, 2023, so you can now able to use the Deku Smash.
This is all for this short guide for more relevant content do check our Fortnite guides section.

domain: entertainment


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In just the past month, three companies have all exited the biosimilar space in one way or another, which has some questioning whether expectations for the biosimilars markets need to be adjusted.
The slide began early last month when Sandoz halted
its submission for biosimilar rituximab in the US after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requested additional information.
Stefan Hendriks, global head of biopharmaceuticals at Sandoz, said he believes the needs of the marketplace for rituximab “will be satisfied before we can generate the data required.” His comment came just before the approval
of Celltrion and Teva’s rituximab biosimilar. And Pfizer is expecting a decision on its rituximab biosimilar in the second quarter of 2019.
In addition to Sandoz, Boehringer Ingelheim, still locked in litigation with AbbVie over its already-approved Humira (adalimumab) biosimilar in the US, said it was abandoning all biosimilar development work outside the US. The company also said it will not commercialize its already-approved Humira biosimilar in the EU.
And Oncobiologics earlier this week announced
it was changing its name to Outlook Therapeutics and is no longer pursuing its bevacizumab and adalimumab biosimilars.
So, what do the three decisions amount to, especially considering they run the gamut from established (Sandoz) to niche (Oncobiologics) biosimilar developers? And should one expect to see more companies pulling away from biosimilars?
At least one expert believes
larger biopharma companies will exit the space rapidly once biosimilar prices come down. But biopharma companies have not said as much publicly, and others think the industry is in more of a watch-and-wait mode right now.
Gillian Woollett, senior vice president of Avalere Health, told Focus
: “I think we need to hear what the data is telling us—and US expectations for a sustainable and competitive market may need to be adjusted as a result.”
Indeed, just six of the 15 biosimilars approved in the US have reached the market, and some have only captured a small fraction of the share that competitors have cornered in Europe.
Nowhere is the difference between Europe and the US biosimilar markets more apparent than in the race to bring competition for AbbVie’s blockbuster Humira. Seven companies have now settled with AbbVie to wait until 2023 to launch their biosimilars in the US (Boehringer would be the eighth), while in the EU, four have already launched, bringing discounts as high as 80%
in some Nordic markets.
“The discounting is coming in 10 points higher than what we would’ve anticipated,” AbbVie CEO Rick Gonzalez said, noting the company is expecting to see about 25% of its Humira sales erode in Europe and internationally in 2019.
And outside of Humira, there are other markets where the EU has seen a rise in biosimilars while the US has not seen any competition.
For instance, biosimilars for Amgen’s Enbrel (etanercept) have nabbed 40% market share in the EU, while in the US, Sandoz’s Erelzi (etanercept-szzs) was approved in August 2016 but has yet to come to market. Similarly, Herceptin (trastuzumab) and Rituxan (rituximab) biosimilars have seen strong adoption across the EU and no adoption in the US.
But it isn’t all doom and gloom in the US. Adoption of Neupogen (filgrastim) biosimilars is progressing, reaching 60% of market share, and FDA has approved more biosimilars in 2018 than any year prior.

domain: geography


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Rhodium is a chemical element represented by the chemical symbol Rh and the atomic number 45. It is a hard silvery-white metal and is classified as a transition metal from the platinum group. It is a rare element that is only found in platinum ore or nickel ore, from which it is obtained commercially. It is extremely resistant to corrosion and this characteristic makes it viable for a number of different applications.
Uses of rhodium
The largest use of rhodium, about 80% of the world’s production, is as a catalyst in three-way catalytic converters. A catalytic converter is a device fitted to vehicle to convert toxic exhaust emissions into safer substances.
Rhodium is also used in the jewelry industry where it is often electroplated onto platinum or white gold to produce a reflective white surface in a process called rhodium flashing. It is also used as a coating for sterling silver to reduce the chance of tarnishing. Plated rhodium is sometimes used for optical instruments.
It is also used in some alloys containing platinum and palladium for hardening and to provide increased corrosion resistance.
A specialist device called a rhodium neutron detector is used to measure the neutron flux level in nuclear reactors.
It can also be used as an electrical contact material.
Did you know?
A rhodium-plated disc was given to singer-songwriter Paul McCartney by the Guinness Book of World Records to commemorate his achievement of becoming the all-time best-selling songwriter and recording artist.

domain: chemistry


Anonymous Phillies player says team needs Gabe Kapler to ‘get out of the way’
Gabe Kapler’s first week as Phillies manager has been less-than-ideal.
The team is 1-4 and that’s bad enough. Worse for Kapler, though, is that he has been the story far too often. His bullpen management has been a train wreck. He over-managed the team out of its Opening Day game against the Braves and, later in that series, he caused a stir when he tried to bring in a reliever he had neglected to ask to warm up. As I mentioned in the recaps this morning, yesterday he instituted an outfield shift that, while perhaps supported by the data, directly led to a two-run triple that cost the Phillies the ballgame.
Those are some new manager hiccups that, however annoying to fans and the local media, will likely be forgotten about if all else is equal and if the Phillies win some more games. What would make them problematic, however, is if the club starts to get annoyed at Kapler too.Welp:
The Phillies’ 1-4 start isn’t determinative, of course, as 97 percent of the season is yet to be played. But there are signs that some – even team members — are having their early doubts.
“We’ll be OK … We just need the manager to get out of the way,” one Phillies player asserted of their obviously improved team, and just as obviously unproven manager.
That comes from Jon Heyman’s latest FanRag column.
I fully suspect that, as soon as this afternoon, there will be pushback quotes on this from some Phillies players in outlets that are perhaps a bit more team-friendly, with everyone saying that Kapler is fine and all of that. Baseball teams and players are pretty good at putting out fires like this. They correctly believe that such stuff is always best handled in-house rather than through the media, so we’re unlikely to see too much more public chatter about it.
Still, not the sort of quote you want to see a week into your rookie season, is it?
UPDATE: Kapler was booed by the Philly Phaithful when he was introduced before today’s game.


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Contact us to forge your city in our Tough Chain!
Forging a "Tough Chain" of local communities across the United States.
Are you located in Buffalo, Miami, Atlanta, Denver, LA? Or any other TOUGH City?! Connect with us to link your city with Tough Chains!
Contact us today to forge your city in our Tough Chain!


ABOUT EDGE AUTOMATION SYSTEMS
Building automation systems have evolved into highly complex systems. Through acquiring knowledge of all areas of the industry, we've realized that the immense amount of data that systems deliver can often be too difficult to understand. This often leaves users questioning their systems’ level of performance and creates uncertainty regarding the appropriate course of action when needed. We often find that this confusion leads to incorrect steps being taken which results in undesired consequences such as increased energy consumption, shortened equipment life, and building comfort.
EDGE Automation was founded as a full-service systems integrator with a focus on making automated HVAC control systems easier to use for everyone - so you can effectively use yours with confidence.
Our core values revolve around delivering results for our client. This client-centric mentality combined with our team’s level of experience allows us to provide a superior level of service absent of the typical barriers that impact client satisfaction. This approach has enabled us to develop and maintain long lasting client relationships.


Release Jade 6.0: all the new features at ISE 2019
Voome Networks showcased Jade 6.0, the new release of its digital signage software, at ISE, Integrated Systems Europe, on 5-8 February 2019 at the RAI Amsterdam.
For helping marketers and communicators to plan the most immersive in-store experience, Jade Retail has been integrated with further improved functions, such as the Automatic Price and Product Lists connected to external databases (e-commerce, PIM Retail), Social Media Feeds immediately publishable from Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin (and more), Programmatic Advertising to reach proximity customers in a personalized way, Media Channels to generate long list of video and audio files, and Personal Shop Assistant to change the content interactively on screens simply pushing a single button on a tablet.
Also for the enterprise and corporate environments Jade will push its limits further by introducing many different kinds of real-time interactions: the On-Demand Remote Controller allows to manage and deliver applications in real-time, the emergency messaging tool with event triggering can be used in case of emergency even connected to fire and alarm systems. Voome has demonstrated how customers can use the Jade platform throughout their everyday business, from global headquarters to small offices, by displaying company data and meeting rooms schedules synchronized with MS Exchange or Google Calendars, showing KPIs in manufacturing and warehousing, visualizing Smart Messages from HR Department, managing directional signs for an effective automatic wayfinding, queue management, and more.
A new advanced graphical editor makes digital signage easier than ever, thanks to a wide set of ready-to-use templates, the ability of a full customization and a new true content preview that drives all users in every step of their way.


An investigation of PCT and EU patents on helmets to improve thermal comfort
Extreme Physiology & Medicine volume 4, Article number: A88 (2015)
To develop a product for people who are exposed to the particular environment or activity, their implicit need should be determined; their behaviour, activity, and task etc. can be investigated. A survey was conducted to investigate the implicit need of boating people . 32.1% of respondents thought that 'head' is the most vulnerable body part to get injured while boating and 11.7% of the respondents had been injured on the 'head' indicating boating people require safety equipment to provide a protection of their head. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the technology used for developing helmets through analysing the helmet patents of Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and EU.
The WIPSON database  was used in order to analyse the patents of PCT and EU and the search keyword was helmet. The total numbers of PCT and EU registered or publicised were 412 cases and 428 cases respectively from January, 1st, 2011 to December, 31st, 2014. The patents to improve thermal comfort for wearers were distinguished after considering abstract, exemplary claim, plans and International Patent Classification (IPC). IPC is made up of eight sections; A: 'Human necessities', B: 'Performing operations; transporting', C: 'Chemistry', D: 'Textiles', E: 'Fixed constructions', F: 'Mechanical engineering; lighting; heating; weapons; blasting', G: 'Physics', H: 'Electricity'. The section was subdivided into further four sublevels of 'class, subclass, group, and subgroup' . The IPC's descriptions on the levels of 'section and subgroup' were considered to investigate the technology used for developing helmet.
The common contents of both PCT's and EU's were about the technology related to respiratory, moulding & shaping, layered products composed of specific materials, safety technology adapted for vehicle, attaching technology, shock-absorbing technology, lighting, optical parts or element, signalling, and transmission/transducer technology. The number of PCT patents for improving thermal comfort was 14 cases and the number of EU patents was 13 cases. These patents were classified into at least one of eight sections in IPC. 12 cases of PCT patents and 11 cases of EU patents belonged in section A only. A patent of PCT and a patent of EU were affiliated to section B as well as section A. A patent of PCT belonged in both sections B and F. A patent of EU was affiliated with both section A and section F. Additionally, of the subgroups considered, the patents relating to improving thermal comfort were classified into six kinds of subgroups in maximum. PCT patents tended to belong to 'Parts, details of accessories of helmets', 'Ventilation arrangement', and 'Filtering process or with filter elements' but most of EU patents belonged to 'Ventilation arrangement'. However, there were few patents in which sensor system was used but the PCT patent and the EU patents belonged to 'Electric communication technique' and 'Parts, details or accessories of helmets'/'Cushioning device' respectively.
The characteristics of PCT patents were about supplying additional parts of a helmet such as a mask of helmet with filters, a cooling/ventilating fan, shutters for ventilation, an absorber for CO2, a compact air purifier, and a liner of breathable fabric etc. but the contents of EU patents tended to be about modifying the combination of shells or foam or transforming the original shape of shells or foam.
This study was funded by National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2013R1A1A2010112).
About this article
Cite this article
Kwon, J. An investigation of PCT and EU patents on helmets to improve thermal comfort. Extrem Physiol Med 4 (Suppl 1), A88 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/2046-7648-4-S1-A88
- Thermal Comfort
- Safety Technology
- Additional Part
- International Patent Classification
- Filter Element


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Handmade deluxe dolls bedding set, includes;
- 1 x Fitted sheet (mustard yellow and white stripe print on crinkle cotton)
- 1 x Pillow (mustard and white stripe print on crinkle cotton, polyester filling)
Fitted sheet has squared edges and is fitted with an elastic band so can be used on a variety of sizes. Can also be used on round/oval mattresses with the corners tucked in. Please be aware stripes on both the fitted sheet and pillow may appear horizontal or vertical (despite what is pictured) as I aim for the least amount of wastage possible.
Dolls sheet sizing is approx;
Fitted sheet 56cm x 36cm surface space with a drop of 10cm.
Pillow is approx 24cm x 19cm.
This large set was originally created for the Tiny Harlow Dolls large (original) bassinet.
This will also fit many other beds, please check mattress dimensions.
Fitted sheet 42cm x 27cm surface space with a drop of 10cm.
Pillow is approx 22cm x 15cm.
This standard set was originally created for the Tiny Harlow Dolls standard bassinet.
This will also fit many other beds, including some of the Target and Kmart range, however please measure your doll mattress to ensure it is compatible with the sizing BEFORE ordering. No refunds or exchange will be offered for incorrect size choice.
Items are made from high quality 100% cotton blends. Pillow is filled with Polyester insert. Please note these items are all individually cut, pieced and sewn together. They are lovingly handmade therefore they are not perfect, and each one will have unique characteristics.
* IMPORTANT Due to monitor differences, and filters used on social media, actual colors may vary slightly from what appears online.
// IMPORTANT //
Warm machine wash sheets and blankets. Wash dark colours separately. Do not bleach. Hang dry in shade. Do not dry clean. Pillow should be spot cleaned only. It can be hand washed and dried thoroughly in the shade.
Products are handmade, so please allow for measurement discrepancies.
Please refer to the safety card attached to decor items.
All other items styled in images are NOT INCLUDED (Ie doll bed, doll, doll clothing etc).

domain: hobby


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Loreta Garcia arrived in the United States with her husband, Arturo. Like the rest of the women in this series, Oregon was not the first stop in their journey. The common denominator in the lives of all these women, aside from landing in Umatilla County, was the work trail they followed. In several cases they were one degree removed from the original Bracero Program which originated in 1942 to carry the US through its labor force shortage through the end of the Second World War, and lasted in its first iteration through 1964.
Like Loreta, the other women in this series, Beatriz, Rosamaria, Maria Rosario, María, and Esperanza, all were beaconed by family or their families' employers to come work for farmers and ranchers in Oregon. In an era when "papers" were an enigma to most, some of these women knew little of what it took to work in the US. They simply followed the route on which their husbands embarked, like their fathers before them. Their husbands in some cases became managers, small business owners, or independent contractors, but their wives, these women, rarely managed to break the barriers that kept them in the lowest paying positions in their trade. Most did not complain, they considered themselves fortunate to have steady employment and the protection of their employers, though the disparity between their wage and the yielding of the growing agribusiness world in their surroundings is glaring.
This section paints each of their stories in their own words, or in the words of their surviving daughters. Each is a titan in her own fashion, and the arch behind their families' successes.

domain: history


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All of this.
BTS should have been the standard 5 was held up too.
Vassalage and Drafting are what i miss the most from civ4
The whole mechanic for puppeting cities is broken in my opinion, its essentially...
the SDI defense in civ4 was far too over powered, 75% chance of intercepting a ICBM but every nuke i ever fired at a city never made it through....
well it was only a mod to add some new citystates to the map
so i went back to the map without loading the mod, took away all the start locations...
Damn that sucks, while you are here J can u tell me if there is some problems with playing on anything bigger then a standard sized map? i think i...
Sorry, here is the mod and save game i am referring too, use the 3 horsemen near York to achieve the results i described
Also, it appears that...
Title pretty much sums this up.
I am playing as Russia on an earth map and the cheeky English have built a city deep in Sibera.
I have taken...
hi guys, just to let yous know i got this working fine now, im just wondering about adding more city states now
thats what im doing but its not working
and loading it in the game isnt working either, but then again, i wouldnt be able to see any changes to...
add existing item
added the citystates.xml from your mod
open world builder
do i need to add any sql statements in the properties?
hey smellymummy, i just downloaded you Standard earth (80x52) - 18 civs mod and im looking at the files you used to change the citystate names....
also ive tried to create an update file, as described on page 23 i think of kaels guide to modding but that hasnt worked either
so the only reason im opening it in WB first is to check if the name as changed there, instead of loading another new game
no, i start as a civ thats near a city state that should have a different name
Hi guys, im trying to create a personalised True Start Earth map with some renamed City States
ive loaded CIV5MinorCivilizations.xml and...
So I need one of you guys to make me up a decent large Earth map with all the correct starting locations for civs
i just tryed the instuctions here twice, both times i got the black terrian problem, the second time i tryed i ctrl-alt-del in task manager and...
; Allows some memory savings *** ALT-TAB WILL NO LONGER FUNCTION ***
MemSaver = 0
is this the line i need to edit? what should i enter?
I am stilling having problems after path Civ 4 1.52 with zooming out to a global view, the game seems to just lag forever and it ends up...
Separate names with a comma.


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Sleep spindles are the hallmark of N2 sleep and are attributed a key role in cognition. Little is known about the impact of epilepsy on sleep oscillations underlying sleep-related functions. This study assessed changes in the global spindle rate in patients with epilepsy, analysed the distribution of spindles in relation to the epileptic focus, and performed correlations with neurocognitive function. Twenty-one patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy (12 females; mean age 32.6 ± 10.7 years [mean ± SD]) and 12 healthy controls (3 females; 24.5 ± 3.3 years) underwent combined whole-night high-density electroencephalography and polysomnography. Global spindle rates during N2 were lower in epilepsy patients compared to controls (mean = 5.78/min ± 0.72 vs. 6.49/min ± 0.71, p = 0.02, d = − 0.70). Within epilepsy patients, spindle rates were lower in the region of the epileptic focus compared to the contralateral region (median = 4.77/min [range 2.53–6.18] vs. 5.26/min [2.53–6.56], p = 0.02, rank biserial correlation RC = − 0.57). This decrease was driven by fast spindles (12–16 Hz) (1.50/min [0.62–4.08] vs. 1.65/min [0.51–4.28], p = 0.002, RC = − 0.76). The focal reduction in spindles was negatively correlated with two scales of attention (r = − 0.54, p = 0.01; r = − 0.51, p = 0.025). Patients with focal epilepsy show a reduction in global and local spindle rates dependent on the region of the epileptic focus. This may play a role in impaired cognitive functioning. Future work will show if the local reduction in spindles can be used as potential marker of the epileptic focus.
Sleep and epilepsy are linked in a bidirectional complex way1. On the one hand, disturbed sleep is known to worsen epilepsy, whereas, on the other hand, epilepsy has a negative impact on sleep2. Sleep macro- and micro-architecture were found to be disturbed in epilepsy patients, with non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep facilitating epileptic activity, and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep inhibiting epileptic activity3,4. Despite recent advances in the understanding of the relationship between epileptic activity and sleep microstructure5, neurophysiological quantitative studies pairing results with neurocognitive testing remain sparse.
Sleep spindles, characterized by a duration of > 0.5 s and a frequency of 10–16 Hz, are the hallmark of N2 NREM sleep and play an important role in memory and learning6. In particular, procedural and declarative memory, processing speed, and full-scale intelligence quotient have been positively correlated with spindle activity6,7. Fast spindles with a frequency of 12 to 16 Hz were specifically attributed to memory and processing speed in healthy individuals7,8. Several studies point to the fact that spindles might be altered in patients with epilepsy9,10,11. In children with primary generalized epilepsy, spindle reductions in N2 were reported on overnight recording with a lower frequency of fast spindles (12–16 Hz) at the end of the night compared to healthy controls10.
The extent of disturbances in spindle rates (number per minute) in individuals with focal epilepsy and patterns of fluctuation across the night remain poorly understood. Due to improved spatial coverage, high-density electroencephalogram (HD-EEG) allows for an excellent spatio-temporal resolution of cortical activity during sleep and epileptic activity. HD-EEG is therefore the ideal tool to explore the influence of the epileptic focus on spindles within the lobe of the focus and outside of the lobe of the focus. Until now, only one study has examined the relationship between spindles and neuropsychological performance. In this study, children with childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes had reduced spindle rates in the centrotemporal regions during a nap and lower spindle rates were correlated to lower cognitive functioning12. However, this report is from a very specific, self-limited epilepsy syndrome, and findings cannot be generalized to other focal epilepsies and to the adult population. A comprehensive study of spindles in the adult epileptic brain, irrespective of the type of focal epilepsy and across a whole-night recording, which capitalizes on improved whole-brain coverage using HD-EEG is lacking. This question is of high clinical relevance as the demonstration of a local and/or remote alteration of these oscillations may contribute to the understanding of disturbed sleep architecture and cognitive dysfunction frequently encountered in people with epilepsy13.
In the current study, we use combined polysomnography and HD-EEG full-night sleep recordings in order to assess changes in the global spindle activity in adult patients with focal epilepsy compared to healthy controls. We decided to focus on analysing the rate of spindles which was shown to be altered in patients with epilepsy10,12 and spindle duration which may be influenced by epileptic activity and seizures14. Further, we analyse the distribution of spindles in relation to the epileptic focus and perform correlations with neurocognitive functions. More specifically, we aimed to (i) explore the global and regional extent of the alterations in spindle rates (ii) assess if these alterations were under sleep homeostatic control, (iii) analyse if epileptic activity assessed by spike rate influenced spindle rates, and (iv) investigate if alterations in spindle rates correlated with neurocognitive functions.
Materials and methods
From a total of 25 patients with unilateral drug-resistant epilepsy who underwent HD-EEG at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital between January 2019 and May 2021, we selected 21 patients with focal epilepsy (12 females; mean age 32.6 ± 10.7 years [mean ± SD] (18–51 years)). Reasons for exclusion were previous brain surgery (n = 1), ≥ 10 electrodes with artifacts (n = 2), and interference of epileptic activity with sleep scoring (n = 1). Eleven of 21 patients (52.4%) had temporal lobe epilepsy; the remaining 10 patients had extratemporal lobe epilepsy. None of the patients had overall cognitive impairment (intelligence quotient below 70), including neurodevelopmental delay. The epileptic focus was defined based on presurgical evaluation consisting of long-term video-EEG monitoring, anatomical 3T magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography and neuropsychological evaluation and results of invasive intracranial EEG, if available. The epileptic focus was categorized into superficial, deep or intermediate depending on its depth15. Demographic characteristics of the patients are reported in Table 1. Twelve healthy controls (3 females; 24.5 ± 3.3 years (20–29 years)) were recruited through advertisements posted at the Centre for Neuroscience Studies at Queen’s University. Healthy controls had no sleep disorders and no neurological diseases. The study protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Board at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (2022-8115). All study participants provided written informed consent in agreement with the Research Ethics Board at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital and Queen’s University. All methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations.
HD-EEG overnight recordings
The HD-EEG data of epilepsy patients were obtained in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at the Montreal Neurological Hospital. Overnight recordings were performed with the Nihon Koden system (Tokyo, Japan) with 83 glued electrodes placed according to the 10–10 EEG system and a sampling rate of 1000 Hz. Patients were hospitalized for long-term EEG monitoring as part of their presurgical evaluation and HD-EEG was performed on average at day 3 of the hospitalization. Day 1 was chosen only if the patient had already had a previous admission to our unit to counteract a potential first night effect. No seizures occurred during the overnight recordings. HD-EEG data of healthy controls were recorded with a 256-channel EGI system (Electrical Geodesic Inc., EGI, now Magstim EGI, Eden Prairie, MN, USA) at a 1000 Hz sampling rate. The 10–10 system was approximated from the full montage as done in our previous work17. Electrodes were grouped into 11 regions: five regions per hemisphere (frontal, central, temporal, parietal, occipital) and midline (see workflow in Fig. 1) to allow a regional comparison of spindle rates.
Sleep scoring and spike marking
Sleep was manually scored (K.S. and B.F.) in the Stellate Reviewer software (Montreal, Canada) according to AASM criteria18 in 30-s epochs displaying EEG using a mastoid reference montage, electrooculography (EOG) and chin electromyography (EMG). We selected the first consecutive 40 30-s epochs of N2 sleep (early N2) and the last consecutive 40 30-s epochs of N2 sleep (late N2) to study the effect of sleep homeostasis on global (whole-brain) and focal (specific brain regions) spindle distribution. Arousals and artifacts were manually marked and excluded from the automatic detection of spindles. Spikes were marked at their peak across all channels by a board-certified neurophysiologist (B.F.) using a bipolar montage.
Automatic detection of sleep spindles
Spindles were automatically detected with a validated spindle detector19 in the combined mastoid reference montage in all 83 channels with the criteria of a frequency of 10–16 Hz and a duration of 0.5–3 s using a custom script written in MATLAB 2020b implemented in our lab. This detector is based on increases of power in the 10–16 Hz band and has been previously used in patients with epilepsy20. A smoothing moving window of 300 ms and 75th percentile thresholds was applied. For each participant, detections were visually cross-checked by a board-certified neurophysiologist (B.F.). Spindle rates were calculated per channel and averaged over all channels per region according to the electrode grouping in 11 regions. Further, spindles were categorized as fast spindles (12–16 Hz) or slow spindles (10–12 Hz).
Neuropsychological data were obtained from routine clinical investigations performed by certified neuropsychologists (J.C. and V.S.). We selected tests of memory and processing speed a priori, as we aimed to assess correlations with fast spindles specifically and both tests have been shown to be correlated with fast spindle rates in the literature7,8,12. The average time difference between clinical testing and HD-EEG overnight recording was 2.7 ± 3.3 months. In general, neuropsychological measurements are robust over time and are not expected to change over the course of a few months in patients with epilepsy21,22 and spindle rates have been shown to be consistent across different nights of a multi-night EEG recording23. Verbal memory was assessed with the Nicole Abstract Verbal Learning Test24. Subjects had to learn 15 abstract words presented in five learning trials, and an interference list presented once. Following an immediate recall of the interference list, patients were asked to recall the word list. The delayed recall of the word list was performed after 30 min. Results for the verbal memory task are reported as percentage of correctly acquired words in the delayed recall of the word list. Sustained visual attention was assessed with the Ruff 2 and 7 Selective Attention Test with subscales for automatic search and controlled search for speed and accuracy25. In this paper–pencil test that measures different components of attentional processing, subjects were asked to cross out the numbers 2 and 7 while ignoring distractors (a categorically different distractor in the “automatic detection” condition or a categorically similar distractor in the “controlled search” condition). Subsequently, speed performance (number of targets detected) and accuracy (percentage of detected targets relative to the total of targets detected and missed) were determined. Neuropsychological results for the attention task are reported in standardized T-values (mean 50 ± 10).
Data were tested for normal distribution with the Shapiro–Wilk test and reported as mean and standard deviation (SD) [mean ± SD] in case of normally distributed data or median and range (median [range]) otherwise. Spindle rates were compared between epilepsy patients and healthy controls on a global and regional level using a t-test and Cohen’s d for effect size. Within epilepsy patients, spindle rates in homologous regions were compared using a Wilcoxon-sum signed-rank test. The effect size was calculated using the matched-pairs rank biserial correlation (RC), a recommended estimate of the effect size for paired non-parametric tests such as the Wilcoxon-sum signed-rank test, and whose values range from − 1 to + 126. Correlations between the number of spikes, neuropsychological parameters (verbal memory, speed performance and accuracy) and spindle rates were assessed using the Spearman correlation coefficient. Due to the exploratory nature of the study, no adjustment for multiple comparisons was performed27. Statistical analyses were performed using MATLAB 2020a and R studio; a p-value < 0.05 was considered to indicate statistical significance.
Parameters of sleep macrostructure of patients with epilepsy and healthy controls are presented in Table 2. Further, we added a comparison to a larger healthy control group (n = 100) published in Mitterling et al.28.
Global spindle rates during N2 sleep were reduced in epilepsy patients compared to healthy controls (5.78/min ± 0.72 vs. 6.49/min ± 0.71, p = 0.02, d = − 0.70). Figure 2 shows that this reduction in spindles was present for 10/11 investigated regions (all p-values < 0.05) and was borderline significant for the midline (p = 0.05). Extratemporal lobe epilepsy patients showed a reduction of global spindle rates in N2 compared to controls (5.57/min ± 0.67 vs. 6.49/min ± 0.71, p = 0.004, d = − 0.93) whereas temporal lobe epilepsy patients were not significantly different than controls (5.99/min ± 0.78 vs. 6.49/min ± 0.71, p = 0.07, d = − 0.47). The maximum rates of slow spindles were over frontal regions, whereas the maximum of fast spindles was observed over central regions.
For patients with epilepsy, spindle rates did not differ significantly between the hemisphere with the epileptic focus and the contralateral hemisphere (5.48/min [4.53–7.03] vs. 5.62/min [4.46–6.94], p = 0.13). On a regional level, spindle rates were lower in the region with the epileptic focus compared to the homologous contralateral region (4.77/min [2.53–6.18] vs. 5.26/min [2.53–6.56], p = 0.02, RC = − 0.57). This reduction in spindles rates was driven by fast spindles (12–16 Hz) specifically (1.50/min [0.62–4.08] vs. 1.65/min [0.51–4.28], p = 0.002, RC = − 0.76). There was no difference in slow spindle rates between homologous regions (2.81/min [0.79–5.05] vs. 2.98/min [1.09–4.63], p = 0.52).
Sleep homeostatic properties of spindles: early versus late N2 sleep
Global spindle rates were significantly reduced in early N2 sleep in epilepsy patients compared to healthy controls (5.45/min ± 0.66 vs. 6.17/min ± 0.75, p = 0.01, d = − 0.72). These reductions were present in all regions evaluated, reaching statistical significance in seven out of 11 regions (each p < 0.05). In late N2 sleep, epilepsy patients showed no significant reduction in spindle rates compared to healthy controls (6.27/min ± 0.80 vs. 6.81/min ± 0.82, p = 0.06).
For epileptic patients, there was a significantly lower spindle rate on a regional level when comparing the region containing the epileptic focus to the homologous contralateral side in early and late N2 with a stronger effect in early N2 sleep (early N2: 4.60/min [1.92–6.15] vs. 5.24/min [1.52–6.77], p = 0.01, RC = − 0.61; late N2: 4.84/min [2.77–7.77] vs. 5.12/min [3.52–7.36], p = 0.04, RC = − 0.48). Fast spindles were the driver for this reduction, with a robust effect over both early and late N2 sleep (early N2: 1.46/min [0.45–3.98] vs. 1.56/min [0.35–3.99], p = 0.007, RC = − 0.66; late N2: 1.95/min [0.55–4.25] vs. 1.77/min [0.63–5.6], p = 0.007, RC = -0.66; see Fig. 3). There were no regional differences for slow spindles (early N2: 3.10/min [0.56–4.75] vs. 2.95/min [0.78–4.55], p = 0.47; late N2: 2.88/min [1.03–5.34] vs. 2.97/min [1.40–4.82], p = 0.68).
Temporal vs. extratemporal lobe epilepsy
To study the influence of the location of the focus, analyses were performed for temporal and extratemporal lobe epilepsy patients separately. For the 11 temporal lobe epilepsy patients, spindle rates in total N2 sleep were reduced in the region with the epileptic focus compared to the contralateral side (5.21/min [4.40–6.14] vs. 5.65/min [4.36–6.56], p = 0.003, RC = − 0.57). This decrease was also found for fast spindles (1.60/min [0.67–4.08] vs. 1.82/min [0.82–4.14], p = 0.03, RC = − 0.98). The effect of the reduction in the region with the epileptic focus compared to the contralateral side was stronger for spindles in early N2 compared to late N2 (early N2: 4.68/min [4.06–6.15] vs. 5.30/min [4.35–6.77], p = 0.002, RC = − 0.99; late N2: 5.71/min [4.63–6.21] vs. 5.98/min [4.35–6.89], p = 0.03, RC = − 0.74).
For the 10 extratemporal lobe epilepsy patients, there were no significant differences in spindle rates between the region with the epileptic focus and the homologous contralateral side in total N2 sleep (4.20/min [2.35–6.18] vs. 4.95/min [2.52–5.92], p = 0.24), early N2 sleep (4.59/min [1.92–5.87] vs. 4.47/min [1.53–5.76], p = 0.30), and late N2 sleep (4.35/min [2.77–7.77] vs. 4.47/min [3.52–7.36], p = 0.27). There was a significant reduction in fast spindle rates in the region with the epileptic zone compared to the contralateral homologous region in total N2 sleep (1.41/min [0.62–2.91] vs. 1.81/min [0.82–4.14], p = 0.01, RC = − 0.74).
Spike rates and correlation with spindle rates
Four of the 21 epilepsy patients (19%) had no spikes present in their scalp HD-EEG data. Spike rate was significantly higher in early compared to late N2 sleep (3.25/min [0–70.2/min] vs. 2.8/min [0–58.4/min], p = 0.03, RC = − 0.49). Spike rate was not significantly correlated with spindle rate across all N2 epochs (p = 0.77) nor in early (p = 0.53) and late (p = 0.30) N2 sleep. Eight of the 21 patients (38%) had a superficial epileptic focus where one would expect that spikes would be detected in the scalp EEG, an assumption which is not necessarily true for more deep-seated foci. Within these patients with superficial foci, spike rates were neither correlated with spindle rates in all N2 epochs (p = 0.11) nor with the percentage decrease in spindle rates between the region with the epileptic focus compared to the homologous contralateral side (p = 0.89).
Neuropsychological findings are reported in Table 3. Verbal memory scores were available for all 21 patients. Attention measures (speed and accuracy) were available for 15 patients. For selective attention, there was a negative correlation between both subscales of speed performance (automatic detection: r = − 0.54, p = 0.01 and controlled search: r = − 0.51, p = 0.025) and the percentage decrease in fast spindle rate between the lobe with the epileptic focus and the contralateral side in all N2 epochs (see Fig. 4). No correlations were found for the subscales of accuracy (automatic detection: p = 0.38, controlled search: p = 0.38). Group analysis revealed no significant correlation between verbal memory scores and decreased spindle rates (p = 0.23). Within the subgroup of patients with dominant temporal lobe epilepsy (n = 6), a significant negative correlation was found between memory performance and the percentage decrease in fast spindle rates in N2 sleep (r = − 0.93, p = 0.004).
This study provides insights into the global and local disturbances of spindles, the influence of sleep homeostasis, and the functional correlates of such disturbances in patients with various types of focal epilepsies. Using combined polysomnography and HD-EEG, we investigated global and local changes in rates of spindles in relation to the anatomical location of the epileptic focus and correlated these findings with neurocognitive performance. The most relevant findings of the current study are that (i) there is a reduction in spindle rates in epilepsy patients compared to healthy controls and a local decrease in spindle rates in the region with the epileptic focus compared to the contralateral side, (ii), there is a sleep homeostatic effect on spindle and spike rates across the night, and (iii) there is a negative correlation between a local reduction in spindles and neurocognitive performance measures.
Overall spindle rate and distribution are impaired in focal epilepsy
Our work is the first to show a reduction of spindles in patients with various types of drug-resistant focal epilepsy on a global and regional level compared to healthy controls and additionally at the site of the epileptic focus as compared to the contralateral homologous brain region. There are few studies in various epilepsy types using different methodology with only two studies having a healthy control group9,10,11,12,29. The evidence from these studies suggests that epilepsy impacts the presence of spindles, with most knowledge obtained in idiopathic generalized epilepsy and specific childhood epilepsy syndromes. A global reduction in spindle rates has been previously reported in a pediatric epilepsy population relative to a healthy control group10. Our work revealed a global reduction in spindle rates for adult patients with focal epilepsy compared to healthy controls over all N2 epochs with significant spindle reductions in both early and late N2 sleep. Although sleep macrostructure may have an influence on spindle distributions, this did not differ between epilepsy patients and controls. An exception to this was in the case of sleep latency, the amount of REM sleep in comparison to our healthy control group and the amount of N1, N3 and REM sleep in comparison to a larger healthy control population28. However, sleep latency was not reduced in epilepsy patients in comparison to the larger healthy control group of Mitterling et al.28 and the younger age of our study population in comparison to Mitterling et al.28 may explain the higher amount of N3 sleep. Overall, the spindle decrease is unlikely to be confounded by parameters of sleep macrostructure. Furthermore, it would not explain the focal reduction in spindles which was found at the site of the epileptic focus.
Within epilepsy patients, spindle rates were reduced in the region containing the epileptic focus. These findings, despite being generated in our heterogeneous group of focal epilepsy patients on variable medications, add new knowledge to the previous findings in children with childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes12. Further, the local reduction in spindle rates was particularly pronounced for fast spindles. Interestingly, fast spindles play an important role in cognition7 and are reduced in other neurocognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease30 and schizophrenia8. Although exploratory, our findings support growing evidence suggesting that local brain pathology, such as that which may be present in epilepsy, is not only associated with an increase in pathological markers of disease such as epileptic spikes or pathological slow waves, but also with a reduction of physiological activity such as spindles. This latter hypothesis is in keeping with an intracranial EEG study which showed that there is an inverse relationship between epileptic spikes and spindles in the ipsilateral hippocampi of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy31.
Fast spindle reduction is correlated with cognitive performance
Local reductions in fast spindles were correlated with lower cognitive performance such as speed performance. This is the first study in a group of heterogenous focal epilepsy patients showing a correlation between spindle decreases and neurocognitive function. Our results are consistent with a previously demonstrated relationship between fast spindle rates and neuropsychological performance7,8 and with findings of negative correlations between spindle rates in the area of the epileptic focus and intelligence quotient and executive functions in childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes12. In the current study, focal epilepsy patients with more pronounced spindle reductions showed greater decreases in speed performance, whereas there was no effect on accuracy. Patients showed this reduction in both subscales measuring speed (controlled search and automatic detection). This points to the fact that the spindle decrease might have a more general effect on psychomotor processing speed. Spindles have their maximum over the fronto-centro-parietal regions32 and around 50% of spindle events are symmetrically distributed over both hemispheres23. Given that fast spindles are associated with processing speed8, a reduction of spindles in the brain region with the epileptic focus may therefore have an impact on processing speed due to the imbalance of spindle distribution. On the verbal memory task, only the subgroup of patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy showed a negative correlation between spindle reductions and memory performance. The relationship between impairment of verbal memory in temporal lobe epilepsies is well known33. Nevertheless, the concurrent spindle reductions and decreased neuropsychological parameters found in our study does not allow the presumption of a causal link between those two factors.
Temporal and extratemporal lobe epilepsies have different spindle reduction profiles
Patients with extratemporal lobe epilepsy had significant decreases in all spindle and fast spindle rates in the region with the epileptic focus. Fronto-centro-parietal brain areas are known to have maximal rates of spindles compared to other brain regions32, thus it is possible that electrophysiological investigations in extratemporal epilepsies are better able to capture reductions in spindle rates. In contrast, patients with temporal lobe epilepsy showed only a decrease in fast spindle rates in the region with the epileptic focus.
Sleep homeostatic properties of spindles and spike rates
It is well known that homeostatic processes are implicated in sleep regulation34. In our study, there was a homeostatic spindle profile, with more regional reduction of spindles in early compared to late N2 sleep. Interestingly, the decrease in fast spindles in patients with epilepsy was sustained throughout the night. Due to the correlation of fast spindles with cognitive performance7, this reduction in spindles may underlie, at least in part, the cognitive comorbidities frequently encountered in patients with epilepsy35.
Spike rates were higher in the beginning of the night compared to the end of the night in patients with epilepsy. This points to the fact that spike rates are under the control of sleep homeostasis processes. In children with electrical status epilepticus in sleep, the overnight decrease in sleep slow waves is higher outside the epileptic focus compared to the decrease in the area of the epileptic focus36. Therefore, epileptic activity seems to influence the homeostasis of physiological sleep oscillations such as sleep slow waves depending on the location of the epileptic focus. Conversely, spikes are modulated by sleep slow waves, and we recently showed that spikes and high-frequency oscillations, used as novel markers of the epileptogenic zone, were strongly correlated with higher amplitude slow waves4. Given that slow wave power is higher in early compared to late sleep37, a higher spike rate in early sleep can be well explained. To the best of our knowledge, the only evidence pointing to an overnight decrease in spikes is from children with epilepsy showing lower centrotemporal spike rates towards the end of the night38. A potential explanation for the more pronounced decrease in regional spindles in early versus late N2 sleep could be a higher rate of spikes in the beginning of the night. This was, however, not confirmed in the present study, as we found no correlation between the spike rate and the regional reduction in spindles. This is potentially explained by the underlying neuropathology in our sample of patients with epilepsy39 which may have caused the disruption in spindle generation and cognitive function.
Reduction of sleep physiology as a potential marker of the epileptogenic zone
Until now, biomarkers used to define epileptogenicity are based on pathology such as the presence of epileptic spikes, high-frequency oscillations as novel biomarkers of the epileptogenic zone, or pathological slow waves40. Our work calls for a paradigm shift whereby clinicians should consider not only the presence of pathological markers but the absence of physiological markers to aid in the identification of the seizure focus in patients with epilepsy. Based on our findings, the local reduction of sleep spindles could be further explored not only as a marker of the epileptic focus but also as a follow-up marker after medical or surgical intervention, and postsurgical persistence of local reductions may be predictive of seizure relapse.
One main limitation of the study is that our study does not confirm whether spindles or an underlying third factor are the primary driver of cognitive dysfunction in patients with epilepsy. As known from intracranial EEG studies, not all spikes, particularly those from deep foci, can be recorded from the scalp15. Furthermore, while spindle rate is a stable intra-individual characteristic, variations in spike rate can occur from night to night41. This might also potentially be a reason for not finding a correlation between spike and spindle rates. Additionally, spindle analyses were performed solely in N2 sleep. This was decided based on the fact that spindles are more frequent in N2 sleep than in N3 sleep23. Further, the results were not corrected for multiple comparisons due to the exploratory nature of our study. The number of participants with available data for attention performance was low with no possibility to compare the neuropsychological performance to a healthy control group. Our findings shall be therefore strengthened in future studies with a larger sample size and neuropsychological testing in a control group. Finally, a previous study found that spindle rates were 0.16 times higher in women23. There was a higher percentage of male subjects in our control group (75%) compared to the epilepsy group (43%), so it is possible that differences in spindle rates between these groups may have been underestimated due to the gender characteristics of our study’s samples.
Spindle structure and function are impaired in patients with focal epilepsy at both the global level as well as the region of the epileptic focus with particularly reduced fast spindle rates. This decrease in spindle rates correlates with neurocognitive performance and might be one contributing factors to neurocognitive dysfunction which is frequently encountered in people with epilepsy. Future studies may seek to assess local spindle decreases in patients with epilepsy and use these reductions as a potential preoperative marker of the epileptic focus and postoperative marker (or lack thereof) for surgical success.
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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We wish to express our appreciation to the clinical and research EEG technicians of the EEG Department at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, in particular Lorraine Allard, Nicole Drouin, Chantal Lessard, and Erica Minato, as well as Mike Einspenner from the EEG Department of Kingston Health Sciences Centre. We further wish to thank Jean-Marc Lina for the help with the implementation of the automatic sleep spindle detector, and all members of the ANPHY Lab at McGill University especially Linda Horwood and Sana Hannan for valuable feedback on the manuscript. This work was funded by project grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (PJT-175056) and the Hewitt Foundation to B.F. K.S. is supported by an International Fellowship from the German Academic Exchange Service. T.A is supported by a PhD Fellowship from Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives (McGill University). B.F. is supported by a salary award (“Chercheur-boursier clinicien Senior”) from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec—Santé 2021–2025.
The authors declare no competing interests.
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Schiller, K., Avigdor, T., Abdallah, C. et al. Focal epilepsy disrupts spindle structure and function. Sci Rep 12, 11137 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15147-0

domain: medical


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Denton is set to become the second city in Texas to use 100 percent renewable energy.
Denton’s City Council voted 6-1 on Feb. 6 to approve an amendment to the Renewable Denton Plan which institutes the new goal with a target year of 2020. The plan’s original goal was to use 70 percent renewable energy by then.
The city’s utility company, Denton Municipal Electric, has determined that solar power is the city's best option for renewable energy, followed by coastal wind and then other wind energy. The city currently purchases 44 percent renewable energy.
Mayor Pro Tem Sara Bagheri cast the single opposing vote. Bagheri said she was opposed to the plan because of its inclusion of the Denton Energy Center, a natural-gas power plant near the Denton Enterprise Airport.
Bagheri said the DEC would worsen Denton's already polluted air, which state environmental agencies ranked as the worst in the state for the 2014-16 period.
The energy center is intended to function as a fail-safe in the event that the city requires additional energy aside from what is produced from renewable sources.
George Morrow, general manager of the city's utility, said the DEC would protect the city against electric-market price spikes and potentially earn the city revenue by selling power to the grid.
Morrow said that now is the best possible time to institute a renewable goal.
“Renewable resources are as cheap as I’ve ever seen them,” he said at the council meeting. “I don’t see that [the cost] could ever get any lower.”
The only other city in Texas to use 100 percent renewable energy is Georgetown, about 30 miles north of Austin, which made the move in 2015.
Denton announced the Renewable Denton Plan in late 2015 and decided to make changes after a re-evaluation from Enterprise Risk Consulting, the company that helped Georgetown reach 100 percent renewable use.

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Growing up, my grandfather loved Laurel and Hardy. He watched their shorts and movies all the time and even had a framed letter written by Stan Laurel. And Grandpa Bud would make us watch Laurel and Hardy with him most visits, so while I’m no expert, I do know about the comedy duo. And with that knowledge I can say that my grandfather would probably hate this.
This was the least funny “comedy” movie I have ever seen. I never laughed once, and that wasn’t out of stubborn determination. I mean, fuck, even The Emoji Movie got at least two laughs out of me (the bit with the cactus, and I forget the other). This was just a slog to sit through and an unpleasant experience all around.
You know what comedy duo is known for mixing it up with classic monsters? Not these two! At first I assumed this was a period piece since Laurel and Hardy were big in the late 20’s and early 30’s, but we open with Hardy using a photocopier. Okay, so it’s the duo in the present day (of 1999)? Not really! Hardy at one point refers to his “great uncle Oliver Hardy.” So it’s the… do they count as descendants if they’re technically nephews? Whatever, this movie wants to be an homage and ends up a soulless reboot.
I actually have a list of things that annoyed me the most, so let’s go through that. The duo are members of the Brotherhood of the Nile, a sort of Shriners-like fraternal organization. Which struck me as weird because the REAL Laurel and Hardy had a movie called Sons of the Desert featuring a fraternal organization of the same name. Did the filmmakers here not use it because the “fan club” has adopted the name? Was it a copyright thing? Or were they just lazy? Moving on, the mummy smells of farts. Hilarious. The words “fart” or “flatulence” are never spoken, because oh no, that would be too lowbrow for this slapstick film! And finally, if I want to watch a movie where a largely pointless side character stalks the main characters menacingly on a bicycle, I’d watch Better Off Dead.
Should you watch this movie? Absolutely not. Would your grandfather enjoy it? Doubtful. Am I glad that this was the only movie done in what clearly was an aborted franchise? 100% yes.
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Cadillac has said it plans to publish their new product the ATS-V 2014 Cadillac that will compete for a finely tuned machine like the BMW 3 Series, Audi A4, and Mercedes Benz C-Class. This car is a new hope for Cadillac to get high marketing ynag will be contested later. The New ATS comes with fire-breath V with 6.2-liter pushrod V8 engine that can send dna 470 horsepower 438 pound-feet of torque through a six-speed automatic or manual gearbox.
Moving down a notch will reportedly get you the same 3.6-liter direct injected V6 engine that powers the bulk of Caddy’s CTS models; 330 horses and 280 lb-ft will be routed through an eight-speed automatic transmission. According to the supposed spec sheet, that combo should net 20 miles per gallon in the city and 30 on the highway using regular-grade gas.
Finally, the rumormill swirls with talk that a turbocharged four cylinder displacing 2.0 liters and putting out 270 horsepower and 250 lb-ft will serve as the base engine for the ATS, mated up to an eight-speed automatic. Naturally, that combo will serve as the fuel mileage leader, managing an estimated 22 city/32 highway rating, though it’s likely to require premium gas.
Certainly, all of this information is to be taken with a suitably sized grain of salt (mayhaps the whole shaker?), but it is in line with what we’ve been hearing for the last year or so. In any case, we ought to find out all the details in due time – Cadillac’s ATS is expected to hit the market no later than the latter half of 2013 as a 2014 model.
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Bring a new sense of creative capability to your overlocking and coverstitch with the Baby Lock Accolade. Combine chain and overlock stitches to form stitches with up to eight threads. ExtraordinAir® threading takes your thread through all three loopers at once, instantly, with a gust of air. Plus, Accolade’s presser foot features a 6mm height that makes sewing on thicker fabrics a breeze!
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Pack of 6 Accessory Feet

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Halcyon Presents: The Summer Ball Fri 8th July at Proud2 (matter) (The O2, Peninsula Square, London, SE10 ODX) 10pm to 7am *VERY LIMITED £8 TICKETS ON SALE NOW* Halcyon Returns to Proud2 for its 2nd event of 2011 with a very special unique selection of artists moving through tech and progressive into full on psy – trance. As is expected from Halcyon we lead from the front and we present to you a handpicked selection of some of the biggest and most influential artists in the world of psy – trance from across the globe! Son Kite Live _____________ Behind the successful production of Son Kite are Sebastian Mullaert and Marcus Henriksson from Sweden. Son Kite have over years established themselves as one of the most interesting and in demand live artists in the trance scene today, always developing the music and always searching for new ways to push boundaries. Headline appearances across the globe at all the major festivals include Ozoora, Boom, Brazil, Tokyo, Mexico, Australia, South Africa, UK and anywhere else you can think off! If this does not keep them busy enough then their other project Minilogue is awaiting the release of its first album on Cocoon Records. Ticon Live __________ Ticon are Filip Mardberg and Fredrik Gilenholt. The story of their musical involvement dates back to 1991 when they found mutual interest for underground dance music. After releasing on almost every now classic trance label they earned a spot in the growing group of respected trance producers. Released in April 2001 on Digital Structures, their first full length album 'Rewind' received fantastic reviews and is today a milestone in progressive music. It's been a great journey from the first releases, and with landmark albums like 'Aero' and 'Zero Six After' and '2:AM', they have earned a top spot position in the trance and club scene. D-Nox & Beckers Live _____________________ D-Nox & Beckers was introduced to the electronic-community with tracks such as Jetlag Slave (Baroque, UK), Seven Hours (Electribe) and Memory Cell (in cooperation with David Amo & Julio Naves from Spain) and they where all incredibly successful 12inches, all reaching the number one spot on Beatport. 2007 marked the year of the LP Left Behind, which was released on the label Electribe. Shanghigh was another enormous breakthrough track for the dynamic duo. Aside from their own productions, D-Nox & Beckers are highly sought-after remixers. Minilogue, Tocadisco and many well-known artists are among the musicians they have worked with. ___________________________ Main Room: ____________ Son Kite Live Ticon Live D-Nox & Beckers Live Lish Dj Set Dejavoo / Libra 9 Matt Lorraine b2b Andy Leppard Andy Force Room 2 hosted by Liquid Records _________________________________ Tron Live BeatNik Liquid Ross Chameleon Ipcress DJ Moon ___________________________ Advanced Tickets: Limited Early Birds only £8 / £10 / £15 / £17.50 Halcyon Ticket Outlet: https://halcyon.ticketabc.com/promoter/halcyon/ Other Outlets: http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/ / http://www.accessallareas.org/ / http://www.viewtickets.co.uk/ More Information Paul@Proactive-records.co.uk / 07814179946 / http://www.proud2.com/ Return buses from 1am to Liverpool St, Victoria, Waterloo, £2 a ticket.


Arsenals back line have been a thing of worry for several years now and in the summer Arsenal splashed £8m on David Luiz to at least weld the defense before a long term solution in the form of William Saliba arrived.
Mustafi on the other hand has been at the Emirates for a couple of years now and quite frankly he has been terrible to say the least, but since Arteta took over at the helm at Emirates Mustafi have seem reborn.
The Gunner's needed to win against a very dominant Manchester City side to keep their European dreams alive and Arteta choose both men to shore mount the fragile backline alongside Kieran Tierney who by the way has been Wonderful.
After the gunners went up through Aubameyang, City piled pressure on the Arsenal defense but a compact defense remained solid, Mustafi won everything on the air and David Luiz made incredible blocks after blocks.
Then Arsenal went up 2:0 courtesy of a well worked team goal rounded up by Aubameyang, then came a flurry of Manchester City attack but the duo of David Luiz and Mustafi were as solid as prime Pablo Maldini and Baresi.
Baresi and Maldini are Ac Milan legends who played an impressive 196 matches together as a defensive duo and conceded a measly 23 goals
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I have to thank Ry Cooder for giving me such pleasure over many hours. I remember seeing Buena Vista Social Club in a really old-fashioned cinema in Holmfirth many years ago. You sat in big chairs and could take a pint of beer and/or big mug of coffee to your seat. I have listened to Cuban Music on and off for years - I don't want to understand what he is saying - I am just transported by this..
I just wish I could dance merengue - mind you with such a partner I'd probably make an effort. I came across a salsa convention in San Sebastian a few years ago - marvellous.
I admire Shakira for her politics, vibrancy, youth and yes - it may be a guilty pleasure but I like the music!
... anyway back to men and flamenco guitar
... this one almost sounds Spanish - this is from a glorious album. I'd love to see these two live.
This Week's Interesting Music Releases - April 21, 2017 - The Black Angels' Death Song, Charly Bliss's Guppy, Ron Sexsmith's The Last Rider, Tara Jane O'Neil's Tara Jane O'Neil, and Woods' Love Is Love are all alb...
2 days ago


NHTSA adopts sound requirement safety standard for electric powered vehicles [ USA ]
On November 14, the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that it is adding a sound requirement for all newly manufactured hybrid and ...
<Nov 15, 2016>
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Oral Cancer Screening
Having cancer is disheartening, but finding out too late that you have it is even worse. We at our Missouri City Dentistry are the first line of defense against oral cancer. We can detect cancer and refer patients to appropriate specialists for diagnosis and treatment. Furthermore, the screening only takes a few minutes and is part of our regular check-up exam.