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The book is an autobiography from the point of view of the titular horse, named black beauty the first part of the book deals with beauty's birth in a meadow, his. Black beauty essay - why worry about the dissertation receive the necessary help on the website expert writers, top-notch services, instant delivery and other. Black beauty 2 introducing the book the cover l hold up the cover read the book’s title to and with the class l talk about the picture ask what do you think.


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During the conference, four keynote speakers will address insightful and inspirational speeches about the overarching conference theme 'Eco-health and ecosystem services in Asia: Bottom-up aspects for planetary health'. Below an overview is given of the keynote speakers.
List of keynote speakers
Prof. dr. Junguo Liu, Chair Professor in the School of Environmental Science and Engineering at Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
Ecological restoration for planetary health, Wednesday 15 December
Dr. Tomoya Akimichi, Professor Emeritus of Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), Kyoto, and National Museum of Ethnology (NME), Osaka, Japan
Human Life and the Ecosystem in Transition -The Lower Mekong Basin in Monsoon Asia, Thursday 16 December
Ms Kaoru Kikuchi, Deputy Editor-in-chief of "NATURES" media, Japan
Communicating the importance of nature to human health: the business model of Nature Service, Friday 17 December
other speaker (s): Tetsuya Akahori (Nature Service Co-representative Director and Founder)
Dr. Beria Lemona, Senior Expert Landscape Governance and Investment
Integrated landscape finance and investment for ecosystem services and ecosystem health, Friday 17 December
Junguo Liu is a Chair Professor in the School of Environmental Science and Engineering at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in China. He is a member of Academia Europaea (The Academy of Europe). Prof. Liu has made a substantial contribution to river restoration in China. He created the theory of stepwise ecological restoration (STERE) that comprises three modes in different restoration stages: environmental remediation in the initial stage with serious degradation, ecological rehabilitation for moderately degraded ecosystems, and natural restoration for slightly degraded ecosystems. He established the first provincial-level ecological restoration-relevant society in China and was elected as the first and second President of the Society for Ecological Rehabilitation of Beijing (SERB). He is also the Chair of the Union of Societies for Ecological Restoration and Environmental Protection (USEREP).
He has extensive working experience in China, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, the U.K., and the U.S., among others. He is an expert consultant for many international organizations including UN-Water, UNEP, FAO, Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA), and the Water Footprint Network. He was selected as a Lead Author of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Sixth Assessment Report. He is a Vice-Chair of the Chinese National Commission for the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (CNC-IAHS), a target leader of the Decade Program 2013-2022 (Panta Rhei) of the International Association for Hydrological Sciences (IAHS), the Chair of the working group on Water Scarcity Assessment of the Panta Rhei program, and the vice-president of the Chinese Working Committee for the IAHS-Panta Rhei.
At present, the author is the director-general of Fujisan World Heritage Center, Yamanashi. The major academic concern is ecological anthropology, and ethnobiology, and has engaged in studies of maritime communities extensively in Oceania (Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea), Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia), and Ryukyu islands, Japan. Marine resource management, the common property regime, and ethnoecology are particular interests. Also, traditional navigation and indigenous knowledge systems in Satawal, Caroline Islands, Micronesia was studied in 1980.
Regarding the research in the Mekong Basin, the author organized RIHN’s research project “A trans-disciplinary study in tropical Monsoon Asia” in 2004-2008, and conducted research in Lao PDR, Yunnan, China, and Thailand. See T. Akimichi ed. 2009 An Illustrated Eco-History in Mekong River Basin. White Lotus. The author published more than 300 articles and essays and edited many books, journals, and newsletters.
Kaoru Kikuchi is the deputy editor-in-chief of owned media "NATURES". https://natures.natureservice.jp/
Since 2015, I have been offering information such as the healing power of nature not "somehow" but "evidence-based" mainly from overseas research. Currently, I am focusing on the operation of "NATURES." and trying to provide information that makes you feel closer to nature such as playing or working in nature, and relating to SDGs topics. Since I have made the first solo camp in my life this summer, I sometimes post about my camp skills as a super beginner.
The Japanese countryside is filled with beautiful nature that fascinates people.
While people living there can not find its value, people in urban areas face various challenges, especially mental health, because of not enough nature. We, Nature Service, operate the remote office facility for companies (Shinanomachi Nomad Work Center, in Nagano prefecture https://nwc.natureservice.jp/introduction) and campground (Yasuragi Forest auto campground, in Nagano prefecture https://yasuragi.natureservice.jp/ ) in a vast environment. By operating these facilities, we become a bridge between the countryside surrounded by a rich natural environment and people who seek healing from nature. Since companies, individuals, and the countryside have their own issues, we would like to introduce how we have been working to resolve them.
About Nature Service（ https://www.natureservice.jp/index.php ）
Established in Saitama prefecture in 2013 as a non-profit organization to work all over Japan. Despite the fact that about 70% of our lands are forests, people living in urban areas live surrounded by artificial objects. They lose creativity and lack concentration, and are having very stressful lives every day. On the other hand, the countryside with abundant nature does not know how to use it and can not find its value. We, Nature Service, have supported to solve these problems which individuals, companies and countryside have faced by using the healing powers of nature and knowledge we have cultivated so far. Our goal is to create a system that can utilize the rich natural environment, and develop a society where every person can go into nature more naturally.
Dr. Leimona has a PhD from Wageningen Agricultural University, Netherlands. She is a Senior Expert Landscape Governance and Investment of World Agroforestry (ICRAF) based in Indonesia and leading the Cluster of Activity Global Learning Landscape of CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry. Dr Leimona is coordinating and leading research programmes specializing in landscape governance and policy, innovative financing, community-based natural resource management, public-private-partnership, and sustainability standards and certifications for agricultural commodities. She is one of the resource persons for the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry for developing national guidelines and policy reviews. Dr Leimona is a member of the Executive Steering Committee of the Ecosystem Services Partnership Network, an Associate Editor – Ecosystem Services Journal of Elsevier, and a lead author for the Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
More biographies of keynpote speakers will be announced.
ESP Asia 2021Registration website for ESP Asia 2021
ESP Asia email@example.com
ESP Asia firstname.lastname@example.org://www.espconference.org/asia2021
ESP Asia 2021ESP Asia 20210.00EUROnlineOnly2019-01-01T00:00:00ZTo be announcedTo be announced

domain: geography


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The French Embassy in London sees a 40 percent rise in applications by British people to become French following the Brexit referendum.
With a day to go before UK prime minister Theresa May triggers Article 50 to start separation talks with the EU, the Bank of England is warning UK banks to prepare themselves in case of a disorderly Brexit. But, as Ivor Bennett reports, the eve of Brexit also attracts a vote of confidence from Qatar as its sovereign wealth fund pledges over $6 billion in investment in Britain. Continue reading
British PM May confirms Britain will trigger EU exit proceedings on March 29.
U.S. stocks extend their post-U.S. election rise with moderate gains that push the Dow above 19,000 and the three major indexes to record closing levels for a second straight day.
U.S. stocks rise sharply in a dramatic turnaround from deep overnight losses as Wall Street digested the upset presidential election victory of Republican Donald Trump.
Asian shares take a battering as mounting worries about the health of European banks further threatened a global economic outlook already under strain from falling oil prices and slowdowns in China and other emerging markets.
UK traders consider the consequences of a possible ‘Grexit’ on the European markets.

domain: finance


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The Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) provides every K-12 school in Georgia with 200 MBPS of internet connectivity utilizing Peachnet, the Board of Regents' university network. This capacity is provided at no cost to the districts, as the state pays for the service with a combination of 4.8MM in state funds and the remainder from Erate funds from the FCC.
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) funds
As the Covid-19 pandemic was beginning in Georgia and districts transitioned to virtual learning almost overnight, funding from the CARES Act was used to procure WIFI ranger devices that were placed on buses and parked in school parking lots so that students who did not have access to the internet at home could complete homework assignments after hours.
Statewide Data Plans
The GaDOE partnered with national telecom vendors and the Department of Administrative Services (DOAS) to develop low-cost data plans on master state contracts from which districts could procure.
Governors Emergency Education Relief (GEER)
In August 2020, Governor Brian P. Kemp announced the State of Georgia's first allocation of Governors Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funding, set aside by the CARES Act, to support initiatives across all levels of education in Georgia. Below is a summary of the three GEER projects:
- The Homework Gap
One of the most persistent challenges in K-12 education is ensuring that students have access to the internet when they are not on campus. This impacts many students but is most prevalent for our students in low-income housing. To address this challenge, the GaDOE is working with LEAs that have low-income housing units in their districts to provide internet access to public K-12 students residing there.
- Access to Internet in the Classroom
As Georgia's schools deal with the ongoing pandemic, we have shifted our learning models to increased digital online learning. This shift has put an increased demand on our existing bandwidth capacity, causing many of our districts' networks to exceed their capacity and in turn impact the students. To remedy this issue, Georgia is spending 9.3MM to double the bandwidth from 100MBPS to 200MBSP for every K-12 school in Georgia.
- Access to Internet on campus outside of Classroom
Given the impact Covid-19 has had on the K-12 learning environment, we have seen the need for expanded use of open-air classrooms and other on campus alternatives to traditional classrooms. To address this issue, Georgia is spending 9.9MM to procure and install external antennas to extend broadband signal at all of Georgia's 2,310 public school campuses.

domain: news


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Parenting by Experiment Can Do Harm to Babies
Parenting advice too often counters what helped our ancestors adapt.
Posted February 23, 2022 | Reviewed by Hara Estroff Marano
- Parents often seek childrearing advice in the results of experiments on babies.
- It's important to know how studies are done before accepting the information as valid.
- Assess how researchers are using the tools of science.
Our species evolved to need the components of our evolved nest to grow in healthy, resilient ways. This is especially true for babies, when brain development is rapid, occurring every second. And a birth, human infants are more immature than other primates, and with much more growing to do, require more extensive care.
We know now that early stress can be toxic to babies (e.g., Garner et al., 2021; Shonkoff & Garner, 2012; Shonkoff & Phillips, 2001). Most of the information on the specific effects (from dysregulation of biological systems to long-lasting epigenetic changes) of missing pieces of the evolved nest comes from studies done on animals kept in cages (e.g., Harlow, 1958) or whose brains can be cut up afterward (e.g., Meaney, 2001). Since we are mammals with similar brain structures, we can draw conclusions on the effects of experiences on brain development and function.
Research experiments often do not take our evolved baseline needs into account when designing and testing ways to treat babies. Experiments are conducted that violate babies’ basic needs (e.g., for touch, caregiver presence, responsiveness). Nevertheless, some parents look to experiments for deciding how to treat their baby.
Parents often consult contemporary research findings for child-rearing information The table below contrasts two general approaches to childraising, one that provides evolved-nest companionship and one that follows experimental findings, which I call Parenting by Experiment. Notice the deep history and broad science that comprises the first way and the recent, limited approach of the second way. The second way often ends up violating the first way because of its limited scope and poor methods used in research.
My research supports two pieces of advice for those looking for childrearing advice: (1) Understand the problem with experiments on babies, and (2) learn how to evaluate a research study based on the broad understanding of humanity and its needs.
1. You can’t really do experiments on babies.
- It is unethical. You should not randomly assign babies to treatments that may harm them.
- Every baby develops at her own rate and is a different baby every few minutes (the entanglement of nature and nurture), so you cannot generalize results in any specific way.
- You can create poorly constructed "experiments" (poor design, poor monitoring, not blinded, not controlled). For example, the “intent to treat” method (ITT) often used in medical research testing drugs, but also in sleep training research, is intended for drug trials but misused for baby studies. It ignores noncompliance, withdrawal, and anything that happens after randomization to a treatment group. In psychology, we know that fidelity of implementation is a key factor in judging whether a particular intervention worked as intended.
- What is missing in virtually every study that advocates unnested care for babies (e.g., sleeping alone) is a comparison with our species’ baseline for what is normal, what babies need—the practices and outcomes of the evolved nest over the long term.
2. Learn about how to evaluate a research study.
Science is a tool. It has many aspects. It’s important to have a broad understanding of science. Some sciences are more observational and descriptive (e.g., anthropology, biology), some are experimental (e.g., physics, chemistry) and others use a combination of methods (e.g., psychology). Each science attempts to have rigorous tools for assessing valid study designs and methods, as well as analyses and interpretations of findings.
In assessing what is good for a human being, you need to take into account multiple branches of science that study human outcomes: evolution, ethology, archeology, anthropology, neuroscience, clinical, developmental. “Evidence based” for deciding about meeting babies’ needs must mean including a broad sweep of information from across relevant sciences.
Understand that experimental studies of rapidly developing babies provide limited information. They isolate variables and test people in unusual ways, making it hard to apply findings to real life, where every individual is unique, every individuals is dependent on relationships, and everything about a person and relationships interact.
Importantly, assess how researchers are using the tools of science:
- Do the researchers “have skin in the game” (i.e., they depend on the study outcomes for their income, reputation, their group’s or their funder’s ideology)?
- Overall, do the conclusions fit with our species history, needs, development, and known clinical outcomes?
- Do the results examine the long-term outcomes across years into adolescence and adulthood in terms of multiple health outcomes?
- Do the results fit with your heart-of-heart instincts for what is best for your child? Parents have built-in instincts that evolved too!
Conclusion: Findings from a few “experiments” cannot compete with the millions-year-old ‘"experimenting" that evolution has conducted to find out what helps humans survive, thrive, and reproduce across generations. It is appropriate to question the findings of studies that conclude that violations of evolved nest practices are "safe."
Garner, A., Yogman, M., Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, Section on Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Council on Early Childhood. (2021). Preventing childhood toxic stress: Partnering with families and communities to promote relational health. Pediatrics, 148(2), e2021052582
Harlow, H. (1958). The nature of love. American Psychologist, 13, 673-685.
Meaney, M. J. (2001). Maternal care, gene expression, and the transmission of individual differences in stress reactivity across generations. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 24, 1161–1192.
Shonkoff, J. P., & Garner, A. S. (2012). The lifelong effects of early childhood adversity and toxic stress. Pediatrics, 129(1), e232-246. doi: 10.1542/peds.2011-2663
Shonkoff, J. P., & Phillips, D. A. (2000). From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood development. Washington DC: National Academy Press.

domain: psychology


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Thursday, November 1, 2012
Cooking and life in the 1800's
Cooking like they did in the 1800's was much different than it is today. If things go awry and we have to go back to basics do we all have the knowledge, recipes, and or equipment to accomplish what we will need to do to be self sufficient. We would have to eat differently, cook differently, obtain our food differently than we do in todays world. That is why I think that many people will have a hard time surviving any collapse of society. The ability to live without electricity alone would be totally catastrophic to most people. We have only been slightly inconvenienced by power outages in the U.S. in my lifetime. The longest I have had to go without power was 2 1/2 weeks. Many had to do without in the U.S. for much longer after some of the weather and seismic anomalies. Most of us haven't really had to do it on our own though. Fema came in and supplied water and ice and offered shelters in the local schools and other large buildings. We cannot count on the Government to come to our rescue when the whole country is having a problem. They just don't have the resources to take care of all of us. Let's take a look at how we would eat when we are without power and running water. Also when we don't have grocery stores to go to when we are out of something. We will have to make do or do without. I know that we will be eating much less meat even it we have food storage if we live in a city or suburb. We can only store so much meat in most situations. So we will be eating much more rice and beans, garden vegetables for those of us who will be gardening and will gradually use the items that we have put aside. Instant potatoes, dehydrated foods, commercially canned foods, home canned/bottled foods, etc. will have to be spread out to give some relief from food boredom. I personally plan to have meat as a flavoring in dishes instead of having it as a meat course. Beans will be much more pallatable with ham flavoring to give it a boost in flavor. Chicken will be a welcome addition to a rice casserole. But even that will have to be sparingly done or we will run out of meat very quickly. If you live in an area that will allow you to raise chickens and rabbits then by all means do so. The eggs from the chickens would give you a much more varied diet than having beans so often. I have started cooking dried beans much more often and I use them on their own for the first meal and then as refried beans in burritos, or in chili, or on salads. I also have been getting my family used to eating bean chili with only a some beef bouillon for flavoring in the chili. Next I will be adding lentil and breadcrumbs to my ground beef for cooking things like spaghetti, stroganoff, and soups made with ground beef. I am hoping that getting my family used to seeing and tasting the beans and legumes in their ordinary dishes will acclimate their digestive tract to them as well as help them to transition to meals with no meat in them. Homemade bread made from whole grains is another food we need to acclimate our digestive system to as well. I don't want to spend the first month I have to make everything from scratch on the toilet as I am sure would happen to us after the drastic change from processed white breads and cakes to the whole grain varieties. We will be eating more bread than we do now because it is filling and comforting. When a child is hungry a slice of toast with cinnamon sugar or jam is a good holdover for them. When kids are presented with foods that they don't like but you have to prepare such as beans and rice. A slice of bread and a bit of peanut butter my give them a reprieve once in awhile or should I say the rest of the family a reprieve from hearing the child argue and fuss. Learn a lot of things you can do to hide beans in to increase the family's protein intake. Mashed beans can be hidden even in brownies! It makes a good oil substitute and makes the brownies healthier and no one can tell. Most kids will eat refried beans in tacos or burritos and lentils you can hide in spaghetti sauces and casseroles. Most kids love vegetable or minestrone soup so make sure you have beans in these. My family is not big rice fans but they will eat it with gravy or as spanish rice or in a casserole so I will have to be creative. They also like fried rice with bits and pieces of leftovers in it. If you are going to grow rabbits to eat. Don't expect city raised children to eat it if they see you dispatching the animals. Do it when they are sleeping or busy elsewhere and then cook it in a way that they will think it is chicken, like soups, pot pies, or rabbit and dumplings. Let the children feed and take care of the chickens if you have them. They will collect the eggs and be proud that they are bringing protein to the table. Also let them help in the garden. Planting seeds, weeding with supervision, and harvesting will make them want to eat their greens and broccoli much better. After all everyone should praise them about how wonderful the food is and how it is due at least partially to their hard work. This is the way it was in the old days except back then the kids would watch the animals being butchered from birth and thought of it as a natural process. They will have to be adapted to it gradually in the new society of our future. They will adapt but I don't want them to starve because they are eating Peter or Brier Rabbit. You might let them have a Doe rabbit as a breeding pet and then let them know upfront that the babies for the most part will be raised for eating. And promise that every couple of years you will let them have another Doe for raising as a breeder when the other rabbit becomes too old to breed well anymore. Well, I will stop here for the time being and write more another time. Thanks for reading my ramblings.

domain: food


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Global Health NOW is covering the April 7-9, 2017 Consortium of Universities for Global Health conference (#CUGH2017) with news bursts. Below are the key stories from the conference as covered by the GHN team.
Adnan Hyder’s 7 Challenges (Sunday, 4.9.17, 3.34 p.m.)
While noncommunicable diseases are under-recognized and underfunded in the global health agenda, injury and violence are still less appreciated—despite the fact that they account for more than 5 million deaths every year.
In a bid to frame the need for and the issues involved in injury and violence prevention, Adnan A. Hyder, director of the International Injury Research Unit at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, described 7 critical challenges in the field during a Sunday morning session at #CUGH2017. According to Hyder:
1: The zero-sum approach of using mortality estimates for different diseases and conditions to set global health priorities puts researchers in competition against each other and must end.
2: Prevention might not be the cheapest strategy but it is the right thing to do.
3: While researchers rejoice when government ministers acknowledge their issue is a problem, “We can’t be happy with acknowledgement alone. We have to go beyond that … into true investment, true dedication and programmatic follow up,” Hyder said.
4: “Pilot-itis” is a deplorable condition in which pilot programs are launched but never taken to scale when successful.
5: Advances in injury prevention are unevenly disseminated globally. Consider: Car seats were developed 55 years ago; smoke alarms 52 years ago; child resistant containers 40 years ago; bike helmets 42 years ago…
6: Many guidelines are not actually implemented or used, said Hyder, offering the example of the WHO’s guidance in trauma care. There is no evidence of implementation in 143 countries.
7: Interventions need to be targeted to the people who need them most, not to the general population.—BWS
Key Lessons in Protecting Women from Violence (Sunday, 4.9.17, 3.08 p.m.)
What can be done to stop violence against women? Actually, a lot. 4 global experts shared their findings and experience with interventions in a variety of global settings during a Sunday morning panel at #CUGH2017.
Lori Heise, Associate Professor, Social Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
9 community randomized controlled trials have successfully demonstrated reductions in violence against women, Heise said. An example from Uganda: The SASA! community mobilization approach demonstrated a 52% reduction in intimate partner violence (IPV) over 3 years. And in Kenya, the UJAMAA initiative that included self-determination and empowerment training among girls resulted in a 62% reduction in reported rapes, Heise said.
A very different project in Kenya called Give Directly that used unconditional cash transfers led to a 30%-50% reduction in IPV within marriages. Researchers believe that the cash transfers are effective in very poor settings where women “have to negotiate every day to buy food for the day and that is a real flashpoint in terms of conflict,” Heise said.
Heise also noted that applying the infectious disease model analogy to IPV doesn’t work. “It’s not as as simple as alcohol causes IPV,” Heise said. “It’s much like heart disease—it’s a probabilistic outcome where things interact in the social ecology.”
Crista Johnson-Agbakwu, director, Refugee Women’s Health Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona and research assistant professor, Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center, NIH
“What we see is a trauma of silence. We as health care workers must create a safe space for open dialogue,” said Johnson-Agbakwu of refugee women she serves in the Phoenix area.
With the arrival of 4,000 to 5,000 refugees in the state of Arizona every year, Johnson-Agbakwu saw a need to help women from Somalia, Iraq, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burma and other countries. She employs refugee women themselves as cultural liaisons and medical interpreters to help newer arrivals. “We are locally accessible and globally minded,” Johnson-Agbakwu said.
One standout initiative: To help a growing number of Congolese women who have survived sexual and gender-based violence, her team created a series of videos explaining the US health care system, pregnancy and childbirth.
Ana Baptista, Coordinator, Jhpiego, Mozambique
Baptista described the evolution of a program in Mozambique to help women who are victims of gender-based violence. An estimated 55% of women in the country are subjected to physical/sexual violence in their lifetimes, Baptista said.
Since the program launched, 6000 survivors of violence have been assisted; most were survivors of sexual violence. 91% were women and 9% were men, she said. Lay counselors do HIV testing and gender-based violence screening, she said. 40% of those who say they were a survivor of violence were HIV positive.
Carmen Alvarez, Assistant Professor, Community-Public Health, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, USA
Alvarez is investigating the use of an app called MyPlan to help Latina women avoid becoming victims of intimate partner violence. Her research began with a study of health care providers and their thoughts on the appropriateness of using the app with this population.
Most of the health care providers surveyed said IPV issues surface at least once per week with their Latina patients. However, it is rarely the presenting problem. Women will say they are feeling anxious or unable to sleep, and IPV comes up only when probed. The providers endorsed the use of the tool because it was nonjudgmental and its greatest benefit would be to help patients realize they are in violent or unhealthy relationships.
Up next for Alvarez: Evaluating the tool with the women themselves.—BWS
Data Update: Violence Against Women (Sunday, 4.9.17, 11.25 a.m.)
Social epidemiologist Lori Heise offered a quick survey of the data on violence against women in a Sunday morning plenary at #CUGH2017.
While it’s known that 1 in 3 women worldwide will be a victim of physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes, what’s less recognized is the great variation in rates within countries and even neighborhood to neighborhood, said Heise, an associate professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
While 40% to 50% of women in rural areas of Ethiopia, Peru, Bangladesh report being beaten in the last 12 months, rates in urban areas can be significantly lower, Heise said.
What accounts for the significant variations in rates? The answer is what you expect: The levels of violence are related to gender inequality indicators such as achieved status, gender norms, economic and political participation and rights, etc., she said.
“The bottom line is everything goes in the direction you would expect,” Heise said, adding that the level of authority of men over women’s behahvior is also highly correlated as is ownership rights, inheritance and family law (the ability for women to leave, divorce, etc.)
Interestingly, women in Africa who are employed or who work for cash are at higher risk of experiencing domestic violence. However women in countries with higher proportion of women in workforce experience lower levels of violence, Heise said.
Among other data Heise shared, women who experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) are:
- 2X as likely to experience depression
- Almost 2X as likely to experience alcohol use disorders
- 4.5X more likely to attempt suicide
- 16% more likely to have low birthweight babies
- 1.5X more likely to acquire HIV
—Brian W. Simpson
4 Takeaways from the NIH Global Health Research Panel (Saturday, 4.8.17, 3.45 p.m.)
4 NIH leaders connected the dots between the research their institutes support support and global health during a Saturday afternoon panel at #CUGH2017. Here’s the key takeaways from each speaker.
Anthony S. Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Established infectious diseases like diarrheal diseases, respiratory diseases, HIV/AIDS are mostly predictable. So, their morbidity and mortality numbers for next year can be reliably predicted. However, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases are the brand X in global epi forecasts.
In briefing Trump administration officials before the inauguration, Fauci said he warned of the possibility of an emerging infectious disease outbreak in another part of the world that could threaten the US. “Global health is integral to everything we do at [NIAID] and what we are looking forward to in the next 4, 8 and beyond years is a total commitment to address global health issues in a very serious manner,” Fauci said.
Pamela Y. Collins, Director, Office for Research on Disparities & Global Mental Health and Office of Rural Mental Health Research, NIH
Collins cited 3 reasons the mental health community needs to conduct global mental health research: “1) The burden of mental health issues is large and growing. 2) We need to understand etiologies of these disorders to have effective preventive intervention; and 3) We need evidence to improve access to treatment that’s available now and works.”
Douglas R. Lowy, Acting Director, National Cancer Institute
Foundational research connecting HPV to cervical cancer done in Costa Rica and research there into protection afforded by a single dose of the HPV vaccine are key examples of how cancer research in the developing world is key both for the US as well as the rest of the world, Lowy said.
Gary H. Gibbons, Director, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
The 20th century saw the transition from infectious diseases to noncommunicable diseases being being the dominant killers in the US by the midcentury. By understanding the etiology of heart disease, it became possible to reduce heart disease deaths by 70% since then. That kind of success needs to be taken globally, Gibbons said. “This is an opportunity to provide global leadership in translational research and implementation science [via] collaborative partnerships, capacity building and next generation of leaders,” he said.—BWS
Untold No More: The 2017 Untold Global Health Contest Winners (Saturday, 4.8.17, 3:02 p.m.)
We have the winners: Unintentional burns in Nepal, submitted by Emaline Laney, and deafness in developing countries, proposed by Christi Batamula and by Matthew Yau, are the Untold Global Health Stories of 2017.
The winning stories of the 2017 Untold Global Health Stories contest, sponsored by CUGH, NPR’s Goats and Soda blog, and Global Health NOW of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, will be covered in-depth by journalists. NPR’s Goats and Soda will cover deafness in developing countries, while Global Health NOW will send a journalist to Nepal to cover the story or unintentional burns.
Read the full entries by Emaline Laney, Christi Batamula, and Matthew Yau here. The contest, designed to give a platform to important but underreported global health stories, drew over 200 submissions this year. Stay tuned for more: We’ll announce winners of honorable mentions for the 2017 Untold Global Health Stories within the next week.—DKM
So You Want Money from the Gates Foundation? (Saturday, 4.8.17, 12.07 p.m.)
If you’d like to have support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, it might help to know how it works.
Rob Nabors, director of Policy and Government for the Gates Foundation, pulled back the veil on the Foundation’s work for #CUGH2017 attendees during a Saturday morning session.
The Gates Foundation, which allocates about $5 billion per year, has a strategy to invest in research and interventions that, if proven successful, can scaled up by nation-states, Nabors said.
“Part of the reason why we are so focused on evidence is we want to invest in things that work. We want to go to other investors [with] things that clearly have an impact,” he said.
The Foundation “fiercely targets very specific, solvable problems,” Nabors added. The polio vaccination campaign efforts to eliminate the virus is one example. “We view malaria, HIV, and TB through those types of lenses, where can we start to solve problems,” he said.
The annual funding process at the Foundation begins each November when staff brings proposals for funding to the Bill and Melinda Gates. Staffers make the case for funding proposals as part of a strategic planning process, presenting the technologies that can be deployed against the problem as well as evidence of the return on investment. Proposals that get a thumbs up will result in grants.—BWS
A First: Brazilian Wins the Gairdner Award (Saturday, 4.8.17, 10:35 a.m.)
The first Brazilian—and the first scientist who spent his whole life working in the South—won the 2017 John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award.
Cesar Victora, emeritus professor of the Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil received the honor "for outstanding contributions to maternal and child health and nutrition in low and middle income countries, with particular focus on the impact of exclusive breastfeeding on infant mortality and on the long-term impact of early-life nutrition,” according to Canada’s Gairdner Foundation.
Victora helped set up the 1982 Pelotas Birth Cohort, one of the longest running birth cohort studies in the world, following 6,000 individuals and helping to establish the influence of the first 1,000 days of life on lifelong outcomes, including chronic diseases and human capital. He gave the public health world the first study showing the importance of exclusive breastfeeding for preventing infant mortality, which led to UNICEF and WHO recommendations for mothers to breastfeed their infants exclusively for the first 6 months of life. In his acceptance speech, he highlighted the philosophy underpinning the recent Lancet initiative on breastfeeding, noting that “Breastfeeding is not the sole imperative of women .... and promotion of breastfeeding is a societal imperative.
The award, announced at a CUGH session by Janet Rossant, the Gairdner Foundation’s president and scientific director, recognizes top scientists who have made “seminal discoveries or major scientific advances in any one of four areas of basic science, clinical science, population health or environmental health.” Recipients receive a $100,000 honorarium. If you know someone who has made major scientific advances deserving of this award, Rossant urges you to reach out and nominate them through the Canadian foundation’s “spiffy new website.”
Victora ended his talk with an interesting challenge: Noting that 4 of his Brazilian students left for the North last year, he asked the community to think about ways to halt brain drain from the South. He noted that Northern institutes benefit from the training students receive in Brazil—where advanced education is free, all the way through doctoral level programs.—DKM
Climate Scientist: Think Differently (Saturday, 4.8.17, 10.32 a.m.)
Public health researchers need to be actively collaborating with climate scientists and others in the life sciences to make use of lifesaving data, Juli Trtanj, a NOAA climate and health research leader, told #CUGH2017 attendees at a planetary health session on Saturday morning.
After citing familiar data documenting climate change in the Arctic, global temperature and sea level rise, Trtanj offered specific examples of the interplay of climate and health—and opportunities for public health research collaborations.
An extensive network of global sensors can predict weather cycles like El Niño, which have significant global effects on health. Based on El Niño forecasts, Rift Valley Fever outbreaks can be predicted in Africa based on rainfall and vegetation changes. This should allow health officials time to alert local health departments and preposition response efforts.
Similarly rising sea surface temperatures have led to cholera vibrio bacteria being detected in shellfish in Alaska and causing wound infections among fishermen and others.
Extreme heat has also caused harmful algal blooms in the US Great Lakes and along the US coastlines in the last 5 years, she said.
Trtanj exhorted university public health faculty to think differently about their research and especially to encourage students to make broader connections. Talk to the oceanographer or the biologist in other buildings on campus and undertake joint research, she said.
“We can chart this path together. We can show our children that we may not have saved the world but we were working differently,” Trtanj said. “There are lots of opportunities for collaboration. I hope we started a new path here today.” —BWS
Richard Horton: “We Have 1 Generation to Get This Right” (Saturday, April 8, 2017. 10.05 a.m.)
Every civilization must understand the existential predicaments that threaten them. The ones who don’t succeed end up in museums, Lancet editor-in-chief Richard Horton #CUGH2017 told attendees at a Saturday morning plenary on planetary health.
Our civilization’s existential threats—climate change and gross social and economic inequities—demand the interdisciplinary response of planetary health, Horton argued.
Defined as the “health of human civilizations and the natural systems on which they depend,” planetary health emerged as a key theme for #CUGH17. Key evidence: The open-access Lancet Planetary Health http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/issue/current
launched its inaugural issue during the CUGH conference.
Somberly yet roguishly attired in black leather jacket and black shirt and pants, Horton emphasized climate change and the urgency of responding to it. “What climate change is about is the fate of civilization. It’s understanding the scale of the change in the way we live our lives,” Horton told an audience of more than 600. “We have 1 generation—20 years—to get this right. If we miss this opportunity over next 20 years, we are in seriously bad trouble, irreversibly bad trouble.”
A cascade of global changes framed by the Paris Climate Agreement is essential, beginning with achieving a peak in carbon emission by 2020, the immediate elimination of carbon fuel subsidies, working actively to the elimination of coal energy production by 2030 and oil’s replacement by renewable energy by 2040. If these goals are reached, the globe will be carbon neutral by 2050, he said.
“It’s no good saving children’s lives in the short term if we kill our planet, not even in the long term but in the mid term,” Horton said.
He characterized the second greatest challenge as economic and social inequity. “Inequity in the United States is going to be the toxic issue that accelerates impact of environmental change,” he said, adding that people in low- and middle-income countries will suffer the effects of climate change and biodiversity loss.
“We do know what we need to do but we have no idea if we will be able to do it,” Horton said. “We have to change way we look ourselves and change the way we work with one another and we have to create unprecedented collaborations.” —BWS
“We’ve Mortgaged Our Future” (Saturday, 4.8.17, 9:45 a.m.)
Planetary health, defined as the health of human civilization and the state of the systems on which we depend, Montira Pongsiri, Science Policy Adviser, Planetary Health Alliance, USA, called for science-based change.
“We’ve mortgaged our future to obtain economic development,” said Pongsiri. “…Unless we dramatically change the way that we currently live and prosper, we risk the health of human civilization.”
Pongsiri described how multiple environmental changes are interacting together to affect health—and said the potential for negative synergistic actions is climbing alongside climate change.
Some effects are direct; the higher temperatures the follow climate change triggers heat stress and related illnesses. Other effects are ecosystem-mediated (effects on crops that undermine our nutritional security, or a rise in the risk of vector-borne diseases, like Lyme Disease).
She emphasized that environmental change can increase inequities, also, putting poor populations whose natural systems are degraded are increasingly at risk. Noting that by 2030 most people will live in cities, she highlighted the use of science-based strategies to address environmental sustainability and human health in context of cities in particular.
That means redesigning (or designing) cities with people in mind to improve unhealthy conditions—such as upping green space to promote physical activity and social interaction, and making urban spaces pedestrian-friendly (which promotes healthy exercise and reduces car crashes).
In a world where resources are limited, she concluded, it makes sense to look for solutions with both environmental and health benefits.—DKM
10 Way to Promote Female Global Health Leaders (Friday, 4.7.17, 4.00 p.m.)
Just in case you’re skeptical that women are under-represented in the ranks of global health leaders, consider that among WHO members states, only 28% of top health officials are female. Only about 15% of medical school deans are female. An all-female panel of leaders at CUGH discussed how to retain and promote female leaders, offering some key suggestions (with great input from the audience!). Here are 10 takeaways:
- Racial and cultural diversity is important too; there is a lack people of color not just in leadership posts but in the pipeline
- Women who become leaders: Don’t pull the ladder up behind you
- Rising women: Shut down the “Imposter Syndrome” that creeps in … say it confidently, not in a question tone
- Mentors (female and male—remember men can be great mentors, too!): Empower rising leaders with strong titles, facilitating respect, redirecting questions their way, etc.
- Consider setting requirements: One dean, searching for international students for training opportunities, specifically said “Give me 50% men and 50% women”
- Women and men: Nominate women for recognition, awards; make sure nominating committees are not male-only
- Conference and panel organizers: Ensure equal representation on panels, or pull the panel (same goes for keynote speakers, medals named for men only, etc.)
- For women leading teams overseas: Be firm, respectful and politely persuasive; demanding equity doesn’t really work
- People hiring women: If they turn down an offer, figure out what the barrier is to a woman accepting a position – help them troubleshoot the logistics
- All of us: Embody a collaborative, rather than competitive, spirit—DKM
Join the conversation on Twitter, too: @womenGHresearch
Why is Mark Dybul Optimistic in This Challenging Moment? (Friday, 4.7.17, 3.55 p.m.)
There are obvious downsides for global health in today’s turbulent economic, social, technological and political times. To survive, the global health community has to do a better job on multiple levels, starting with communications, said Mark Dybul, executive director of the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria during Friday’s Megatrends session at #CUGH2017.
“We don’t position data in ways that policymakers want to look at,” Dybul said at the Friday morning Megatrends session at #CUGH2017. “Problems are all over the place. They want solutions.”
Policymakers find their way into to government because they want to do something important but they don’t often get the chance to do that, he said. “What they are looking for is solutions like how can you end HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria. That’s pretty exciting to them,” Dybul said.
Dybul recalled Vice President Mike Pence’s recent defense of PEPFAR. Pence cited PEPFAR’s ability to save literally millions of lives and shunted budget cuts away from the popular program.
Also key to moving policymakers is tying global health to national security and economic growth, Dybul said. Global health advocates need to tell policymakers, “If you want to be safe and prosperous, we need health and education,” he said.
The global health case can be made more strongly by bringing in others. He pointed to US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis as “an excellent advocate for global health development.” Similarly when a CEO meets with heads of state in Africa and elsewhere and emphasizes health, leaders will listen, Dybul said.
“I’m actually more than cautiously optimistic. I think we are in a positon where if we are careful, smart and strategic, we can have tremendous opportunities in this moment of challenge.” —BWS
Meat: Move Over or Make Over (Friday, 4.7.17, 12:30 p.m.)
To feed 9.7 billion by 2050—sustainably—we need to produce food that competes with the most popular foods on taste, price, and convenience, said Bruce Friedrich, executive director of The Good Food Institute.
One way: replace more meat consumption with plant-based proteins. But despite efforts by many companies to offer and advocate for less energy-hogging plant-based protein alternatives to meat, animal product consumption continues to rise. Maybe, Friedrich posited to the CUGH crowd, the solution is to create products that are environmentally more sustainable and appealing to consumers.
He described some innovators in that field, like “clean meat” producers. That’s GFI’s name for lab-grown meat; Friedrich explained they thought that sounded better (good call!); after all, we don’t talk about lab-grown Cheerios or Budweiser, he noted.
Some of benefits of ‘clean meat,” according to Friedrich:
- 99% less land
- 99% less water
- 95% less climate change
- Bypass problems of antibiotics & many food safety concerns
On the merits of tech-based solutions, Friedrich pointed out that back in 1984, when horses on New York City streets dropped 50,000 tons of excrement monthly—leaving the streets drowning in manure, plagued by flies, congestion, carcasses, traffic accident. The world’s first urban planning conference in 1889 broke down over the issue, which they thought was not solvable. Then Henry Ford introduced the Model T, relegating the horse-drawn carriages to tourist attractions.
Friedrich is convinced that technology will ultimately solve the inefficiencies of the meat industry, too. “…We will get to a time in the not-too-distant future, predicted by Eric Schmidt, Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, and others where the idea of growing crops to feed them to animals so that we can eat animals will make about as much sense as any of us walking out of this conference, hopping into a horse-drawn carriage, and heading back to New York City, or San Francisco, or wherever we came from,” he concluded.—Dayna Kerecman Myers
4 Big Global Health Challenges, 4 Solutions (Friday, 4.7.17, 12.06 p.m.)
It was small request. With more than 700 people in the audience and a dozen seconds to prepare, CUGH director Keith Martin asked 4 global health experts to each give 1 big challenge in health and 1 big solution for it. Here’s how they responded:
Victor Dzau, President, National Academy of Medicine
Antimicrobial resistance is a critical issue right now that’s unresolved in part because of a failure of the market to come up with solutions.
Dzau pointed to the successful creation of market incentives for vaccines as a possible model. The joint vision of industry, governments, NGOs, civil society, academia has resulted in the distribution of vaccines against 3 pathogens.
“One can imagine same argument for all different sectors to create a market incentive [in antimicrobial resistance] and different ways to bring sectors together to find market solutions,” Dzau said.
Hester Klopper, Vice Rector, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
“Workforce. The more we want to work together, the less it seems to happen,” said Klopper, who cited as an example, the divisions globally in the nursing profession as well as its isolation form other health care professions.
The solution for nursing, which can serve as a model for other workforces, was the creation of a global advisory panel on its future that included different professions and was tasked with finding solutions and responding with a “unified voice and message.”
Patricia Davidson, Dean, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing
Davidson cited the many complex issues that global health faces and argued that education is a key solution. “I can see this through my work. If you invest in education, you contribute to economic productivity. We know education for women increases their health and wellbeing,” Davidson said. “At this challenging time … it calls us to action to make sure universities are safe and welcoming environment and keep doors open to international students and advocate for those students for visas that are hard to get.”
Mark Dybul, Executive Director, Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Migration is roiling politics across the globe, Dybul said. The word itself instills fear in many so changing the term is one solution. Dybul suggests calling it “economic mobility.” For a more tangible solution, he pointed to the Maldives and Thailand which have understood how important economic mobility is important and how important health care is to the equation. Both countries have expanded national health insurance to include documented workers (and in Thailand’s case, even undocumented workers). —BWS
Richard Horton’s Hardball Questions (Friday, 4.7.17, 10.45 a.m.)
Lancet editor Richard Horton set fire to the Friday morning Megatrends in Global Health session at #CUGH2017 during the Q&A with 2 hardball questions for 2 global health leaders.
He challenged Global Fund executive director Mark Dybul’s earlier comments during the session that seemed to say evidence of effective work would mean support for agencies like NIH and EPA. Horton asked that if the proposed cuts by the Trump administration meant the agencies were doing such a poor job they deserved them.
Dybul responded by saying the proposed cuts are “nowhere near being enacted” because of the agencies’ effective work is recognized by Congress. The global health community needs to be better at explaining what will be lost in cutting the budget he said. “I don’t think we communicate these things very well,” Dybul said.
Horton also called out National Academy of Medicine President Victor Dzau, quoting from a March 29 public letter from Dzau, that said the Academies should not engage in advocacy. If you’re not standing up for science, what are you here for? Horton asked.
“What we were trying to say is that we are advisors to the nation and the government. And the government has to find us as advisors and not adversaries,” Dzau responded. “We can’t take public positons on things that are not science-based. When it comes to science-based and evidence-based issues, we will definitely speak up.”—BWS
Our first pin of #CUGH2017: South Africa! (Friday, 4.7.17 at 9.35 a.m.)
#CUGH2017 Launches (Friday, 4.7.17 at 9.15 a.m.)
In a brief opening plenary session, leaders from the Consortium of Universities for Global Health 2017 conference exhorted 1,700 attendees to redouble their efforts as proposed funding cuts loom over the US global health budget.
“I encourage you to engage more actively than ever before in the ideals and aspirations of global health,” said Nelson Sewankambo, of Makerere University in Uganda and conference co-chair.
The stakes couldn’t be higher, according to Keith Martin, CUGH executive director. “What we are seeing today is biggest threat to the global health enterprise in our lifetime,” Martin said in a stark assessment of the budget cuts and how they could affect NIH, the Fogarty International Center, EPA, USAID, NOAA and other US government agencies.
Martin implored attendees and others in the global health community to act. “In my view, we stand up and fight and we don’t stop until we change this,” he said. He urged people in the US to call their Congressional representatives.
“Calls count. So call not once not twice but call to power of infinity until this changes. Call every week. Ask your networks to call,” Martin said. —BWS


text:
Last night a storm blown up the last cherry blossoms petals that were on the trees. The sakura season is over. Already. Everything happened so fast. I'd like to be able to see these flowers all year but in an other another hand, its quick bloom makes its charms.
Welcome to a pink and white world.
|Under Fukuoka's sakura|
Walking under the trees richly topped with pale pink flowers, walking in a petals storm or conversely on a pink fallen petals carpet, what happiness. It's so magical, poetic and above all so beautiful. I wanted to get up at dawn to enjoy the flowers without anybody near me, I wanted to wear pink and white clothes, eating cherry blossom products or listen to songs about these spring flowers such as the cheerful Sakura Night Feverwhich inspired me the title of this article.
Can't wait to be next year.
girls and boys are excited"
|Cherry blossom under the rain|
|The perfect colors : pink flowers, greenery and grey stones|
|The view at the top of Fukuoka castle ruins|
|Prediction and flowers|
|When you look up|
|Above my head|
|A flower bowl|
Setsubun , Valentine and girls festival
and then our (cherry blossom) season finally arrives "
|Near the water|
|Pink on pink|
|My sakura natural ring|
|Petal storm has started|

domain: artistic


text:
Tomato growing set
Do you dream of your own garden, but you don’t have a garden to make this dream come true? We come to help you. Our tomato growing set is miniature and will allow you to enjoy the substitute of garden, even if you have only a low-key window sill.
Nowadays, there’re many things that we cannot influence. Fortunately, we can decide what we eat and where the products are from. And you know that nothing tastes as good as your own tomatoes, grown from seeds.
You don’t need to have much space or special skills to enjoy your own cultivation. A set for tomato growing only needs to be regularly watered. Simple, right?
You get it yourself and enjoy your own vegetables. If you prepare delicious dishes with fragrant and delicious tomatoes in the lead role, your family and friends will love you. It’s not known from today, that the shortest way to heart is through the stomach.
The tomato growing set will please all gardening fans, who, however, cannot afford their own garden; or cooking enthusiasts, who above all value fresh products from a reliable source. So give it to your parents or grandparents on their holiday. Or maybe just without a reason? Such a gift will be the proof that you care about their health.
Our set will be great as an advertising gadget. Do you have a doubt? A flowerpot with a logo and a binding with any graphics will allow you to associate this ecological gift with you. Thus, whom will you give it to?
The tomato growing set is complete and contains all the elements necessary to enjoy your own organic vegetables without artificial fertilizers.
Forms of login:
- one color logo on the pot or full color sticker,
- binding with individual full color graphics.
Elements of the set:
- flower pot with substrate,
- tomato seeds,
- a label with individual graphics,


text:
WARNING: A trip to Costa Rica may give you a better outlook on life. Feelings of joy and excitement likely.
Costa Rica is lined with beautiful beaches, tranquil rivers, incredible mountains, and exquisite cultural attractions. Although Costa Rica is not a large country, there are endless worthwhile sites to see and things to do here. While exploring this country, it’s best to utilize your time wisely so you can experience a great deal of the adventure and relaxation that the country has to offer. Costa Rica has something new for the nature enthusiast, adventurist, and anyone who wishes to have a truly unique experience. Below are three tips to help you ensure that you have an extraordinary trip within Costa Rica!
1. Remain Open
Travel plans may and often will change while traveling in Costa Rica. To truly experience the magic that the country has to offer, I suggest having a general plan of travel but remain open to being wisped away in a direction that may uncover an unexpected site or experience.
Rental cars can run a steep price in the country but there are other very effective modes of transportation. Many tourist buses and local transit are available to individuals who wish to freely explore the country. The buses are good quality, typically on-time, and are a very cost effective option for travelers! Following a hunch or taking a detour could certainly lead to a private beach, hidden waterfall, or a chance to see some exotic plants and animals that may not be along the main route of travel!
2. Master some Basic Travel Spanish
Taking the time to brush up on the Spanish language will be highly beneficial while traveling around Costa Rica. There are areas of Costa Rica where English is spoken and one could essentially get around with a simple “Hola.” However, in order to make your travels run more smoothly and truly open yourself to an authentic Costa Rican experience, I suggest taking the time to learn the basics.
[quote_box_right]Need help? Check out: How to Learn a New Language, Pronto![/quote_box_right]Having some basic phrases handy opens up the doors of communication with the locals who truly make this country a special place. A large amount of valuable information is transmitted through word of mouth in Costa Rica. Basic Spanish language skills could largely impact the quality of your travel around the country and your confidence as a traveler!
3. Have Patience
Costa Rica can be a great tester and teacher of patience if you allow it to be. Always bring a good book with you on your travel around this country. Embracing the slower pace of life here allows for one to take the time to be present with their surroundings and gain many valuable experiences that could otherwise be missed! Use lulls between travel times to explore a new corner, slow down and relax, or dive into a new cultural interaction. The country is filled with breathtaking scenery for all of the senses to take in. Allow time to unfold as it should here and stay present so you don’t miss anything!
For more travel info Click Here!


Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a long overdue apology Tuesday, for the past policy of Residential schools, a historic speech made in the House of Commons and delivered across the nation at numerous gatherings from coast to coast.
In his address, Harper recounted the painful era of resettlement of First Nation children, taken from their families by force and sent far from their home communities. Over the years, reports of abuses while attending those schools and the long lasting effects of those policies have haunted the nation over the decades and have never been formally addressed until this week.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister apologized formally for the actions of the government of the day and for the long path the survivors have had to travel, in order to reach this day of recognition of a horrific wrong that was never addressed by successive governments…
( from the blog a town called podunk, click on the link below to see the entire article atowncalledpodunk.blogspot.com/2 … 6647479409 )-


text: Chemotherapeutic treatment regimens often take advantage of synergistic effects of drug combinations. Anticipating that synergistic effects on the cell biological level likely manifest on the proteome level, the analysis of proteome modulations represents an appropriate strategy to study drug combinations on a molecular level. More specifically, the detection of single proteins exhibiting synergistic abundance changes could be helpful to shed light on key molecules, which contribute in mechanisms facilitating the synergistic interaction and therefore represent potential targets for specific therapeutic approaches. In the reported study we aimed to provide evidence for this assumption and investigated the drug combination of cisplatin and the neddylation inhibitor MLN4924 in HCT-116 cells via cell biological analyses and mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomics. From 1789 proteins quantified with two unique peptides, activated RNA polymerase II transcriptional coactivator p15 (SUB1) was highlighted as the most synergistically regulated protein using a synergistic scoring approach. Western blotting and analyses of cellular processes associated with this protein (DNA damage, oxidative stress and apoptosis) revealed supporting evidence for the synergistic regulation. Whereas the distinct role of SUB1 in the investigated drug combination needs to be elucidated in future studies, the presented results demonstrated the benefit and feasibility of synergistic scoring of proteome alterations to highlight proteins that likely contribute to the underlying molecular mechanisms of synergistic effects. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD009185.

domain: medical


Four of the confirmed cases are among drivers that were picked from different points of entry while seven cases were picked from communities in Tororo and Koboko
The number of COVID-19 cases reported in the country has risen to 870, after 11 samples tested positive for the disease.
Four of the confirmed cases are among drivers that were picked from different points of entry, while seven cases were picked from communities in Tororo and Koboko.
The rise in cases comes as the number of complaints the health ministry is getting concerning the state of quarantine and isolation centers at designated places is also increasing.
The recent complaint was made over the weekend by a patient at Masaka Regional Referral Hospital. In a video that is circulating on social media sites, the patient says that the living conditions at the female treatment ward are intolerable. She says they lack running water, the bathrooms are in a poor state and they sleep on a ward with children.
Previous complaints made about quarantine centers were similar to the Masaka complaint.
Dr Richard Mugahi, the head of COVID-19 quarantine centers in the country says that the centers are not hotels that can offer residents a comfortable experience.
"These are classrooms that have been turned into rooms. They have the bare minimum. We cannot offer a four course meal like some hotels do. That is beyond our ability. We give what we can afford," said Dr Mugahi.


text:
Yep, we are of down to Bristol to play the wonderful FLEECE on the 26th.
£5 in for this one but it will be worth it, i promise!
Here you can post your Gig reviews, announce concerts and stuff, all that kind of stuff basically
Moderator: The Alternate Consultant
1 post • Page 1 of 1

domain: hobby


text:
Former NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers has missed the past three games after suffering a broken collarbone during a Week 6 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. While Rodgers is on injured reserve and there’s no way to tell whether he’ll be back this season, head coach Mike McCarthy seems optimistic.
“Making really good progress,” McCarthy said about his quarterback, via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. “I know the training staff and the strength and conditioning staff are very pleased with where he is. He’s moving right along.”
Rodgers was seen working on the side in practice on Wednesday, which is a very good early indication that he might very well be able to return when first eligible. That would come Week 15 against the Carolina Panthers.
Outside of Rodgers’ rehab, the Packers’ willingness to bring him back this season is dependent on the team actually being in contention when he’s eligible to come off IR.
With a 5-4 record, Green Bay is two games behind Minnesota in the NFC North and one game out of the final wildcard spot in the conference.
With three games against losing teams in the next four weeks, that is a distinct possibility. Though, it would also require Brett Hundley to perform like we saw in last week’s win over Chicago.

domain: sports


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- Additional information
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text:
Dissertations & Theses
The world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses.
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS
You are viewing titles for THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS in the Literature available through the UMI Dissertations & Thesis Gradwoorks site
Translation theory and translation studies in China
Copyright © 2013 ProQuest. All rights reserved.
Terms and Conditions

domain: literature


text:
Sensory changes in pediatric patients with spinal muscular atrophy: an electrophysiologic study
Egyptian Rheumatology and Rehabilitation volume 43, pages 1–6 (2016)
Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is well known to be a pure motor neuron disease. However, it was reported that sensory neuron degeneration can also occur in pediatric SMA.
Aim of the work
The aim of the present study was to assess peripheral and central sensory abnormalities in pediatric SMA patients.
Materials and methods
The present study included 29 type I and 11 type II SMA patients diagnosed on the basis of clinical history and typical electromyographic patterns, and 25 age-matched and sex-matched healthy pediatric participants, who comprised the control group. Sensory and motor conduction studies were carried out for both groups. Sensory conduction studies of sural and median nerves assessed peak latency, sensory nerve action potential (SNAP) amplitude, and sensory nerve conduction velocity. Mixed posterior tibial somatosensory evoked potential latency and amplitude were also assessed for both groups.
SMA I patients had lower sural and median SNAP amplitudes, as well as lower peroneal and femoral compound muscle action potential amplitudes, slower tibial motor conduction velocity (MCV), and prolonged femoral and peroneal distal latency compared with the control group. SMA II patients had lower sural SNAP amplitude, slower sural sensory nerve conduction velocity, lower tibial somatosensory evoked potential amplitude, and lower tibial peroneal and femoral compound muscle action potential amplitudes, as well as slower tibial motor conduction velocity and prolonged peroneal distal latency, compared with the control group.
Sensory neuron and/or axonal affection have been demonstrated in the studied series of pediatric SMA patients suggesting that the pathological changes in SMA may also involve the sensory system.
Yonekawa T, Komaki H, Saito Y, Sugai K, Sasaki M. Peripheral nerve abnormalities in pediatric patients with spinal muscular atrophy. Brain Dev 2013; 35:165–171.
Farrar MA, Vucic S, Johnston HM, du Sart D, Kiernan MC. Pathophysiological insights derived by natural history and motor function of spinal muscular atrophy. J Pediatr 2013; 162:155-159.
Burghes AH, Beattie CE. Spinal muscular atrophy: why do low levels of survival motor neuron protein make motor neurons sick? Nat Rev Neurosci 2009; 10:597–609.
Markowitz JA, Singh P, Darras BT. Spinal muscular atrophy: a clinical and research update. Pediatr Neurol 2012; 46:1–12.
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Sultan, H.E., El-Emary, W.S. Sensory changes in pediatric patients with spinal muscular atrophy: an electrophysiologic study. Egypt Rheumatol Rehabil 43, 1–6 (2016). https://doi.org/10.4103/1110-161X.177419


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Demonstrates Sustained Delivery, Acceptable Skin Tolerability, and Pharmacokinetic Profile to Support the Feasibility of Once-Weekly Dosing
Webcast and Conference Call Today at 5:00 p.m. ET (2:00 p.m. PT)
MENLO PARK, Calif., Feb. 03, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Corium International, Inc. (Nasdaq:CORI), a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development, manufacture and commercialization of specialty transdermal products, today announced positive topline interim results from a Phase 1 clinical study designed to evaluate the pharmacokinetics (PK), safety and tolerability of the Corplex™ Donepezil transdermal delivery system for the treatment of mild, moderate and severe dementia of the Alzheimer’s type. Donepezil (the active ingredient in Aricept®) is the leading acetylcholinesterase inhibitor approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for daily use in oral tablets and disintegrating tablets for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Corium’s product candidate is designed for sustained and controlled delivery of the drug in a convenient, once-weekly dosage form, and incorporates its Corplex technology, which Corium developed to enable sustained transdermal delivery of a wide range of drugs.
The purpose of the Phase 1 study was to evaluate the pharmacokinetics, safety and tolerability of once-weekly, single-dose Corplex Donepezil in healthy volunteers aged 50-80, compared to Eisai’s Aricept once-daily oral tablet taken for seven consecutive days.
Key Topline Results from the Phase 1 Study:
- After a single application of the once-weekly Corplex Donepezil patch, plasma concentrations approached steady state at day 7. The average plasma concentration on day 7 with Corplex Donepezil was higher than the comparator, 5 mg oral Aricept, and was approximately 70% of the expected plasma concentration of 10 mg oral Aricept.
- PK and statistical projections for subsequent weeks of therapy at steady state predict a highly similar exposure between once-weekly Corplex Donepezil and continued daily oral administration of Aricept.
- Sustained and controlled delivery of donepezil was demonstrated in the plasma concentrations of all subjects treated with once-weekly Corplex Donepezil, supporting the feasibility of a convenient once-weekly dosing regimen, as compared to daily oral administration.
- Active metabolite formation was minimal and similar for both the transdermal and oral routes of administration, indicating that there were no changes in metabolite concentration in plasma associated with drug absorption through the skin.
- Subjects treated with once-weekly Corplex Donepezil experienced acceptable skin tolerability and no systemic adverse events unique to transdermal delivery.
- Results support advancing Corplex Donepezil into further clinical development, which will include optimizing the patch for a once-weekly administration delivering 10 mg/day.
“We are very pleased with the Phase 1 pharmacokinetic results, which provide a solid basis for advancing Corplex Donepezil into further clinical development,” said Parminder "Bobby" Singh, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer and Vice President, Research and Development at Corium. "The clinical data demonstrate the potential for a once-weekly donepezil patch that reliably delivers sustained and controlled pharmacokinetics comparable to the daily oral administration of Aricept. These results further validate the ability of Corium’s Corplex platform to administer difficult to deliver drugs across the skin, and to advance the breadth of our transdermal pipeline.”
The study was performed at a single trial site in Australia in healthy volunteers aged 50 to 80 (average age 69 years).
Early in the study, subjects starting on a 10 mg oral dose experienced adverse events consistent with the oral product labeling. The intensity of these events led to discontinuation of the 10 mg oral dosing, and the 5 mg oral dose was used as the sole comparator.
The study was subsequently conducted as a single-dose, two-period crossover study of nine subjects, with each subject receiving two treatments: a once-weekly Corplex patch targeted to deliver 5 mg/day of donepezil; and a once-daily Aricept 5 mg tablet administered consecutively for seven days. The primary objective was to assess the pharmacokinetics of single-dose once-weekly Corplex Donepezil compared to daily oral Aricept. The secondary objectives were assessment of safety and skin tolerability.
Corium plans to submit the full results of this Phase 1 clinical study for presentation at a future scientific meeting.
Conference Call and Webcast Details
Corium will host a live webcast and conference call to discuss topline results from the Phase 1 PK clinical study of Corplex Donepezil on Wednesday, February 3, 2016 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time (2:00 p.m. Pacific time).
Investors and analysts can access the conference call toll-free by dialing (844) 831-3024 (United States) or +1 (315) 625-6887 (international). The conference ID # is 45051957. The live webcast with slides can be accessed under “Events and Presentations” on the Investors section of Corium’s website at http://ir.coriumgroup.com/events.cfm. Please access the website 10 minutes prior to the start of the call to ensure adequate time for any software downloads that may be necessary. A replay of the conference call and webcast will be available for two weeks and may be accessed by dialing toll-free (855) 859-2056 (United States) or +1 (404) 537-3406 (international) and entering the conference ID # 45051957, or by visiting Corium’s website.
Corium's Corplex system is a novel commercial-stage platform technology designed to broadly enable the transdermal delivery of small molecules, many of which have not previously been amenable to transdermal delivery. Corplex advanced transdermal and transmucosal systems are broadly adaptable for use in multiple drug categories and indications, and have the potential to reduce quantities of active ingredient utilized in transdermal products. Additionally, Corplex transdermal patches can enable efficient drug delivery, and adhere to either wet or dry surfaces for an extended period of time. Corium's Corplex technology has been successfully commercialized in Procter & Gamble's Crest® Whitestrips products, and is being utilized in several proprietary therapeutic products under development.
About Alzheimer's Disease and Donepezil
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive brain disorder in which the brain cells degenerate and die, causing a steady decline in memory and mental function. An estimated 5.1 million1 Americans suffered from Alzheimer's disease in 2015, with symptoms typically first appearing in people age 65 and older. By 2025, the number of Americans age 65 and older with Alzheimer's disease is estimated to reach 7.1 million.2 Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia among older adults. Dementia ranges in severity from mild, when it is just beginning to affect a person's functioning, to moderate, and severe, when the person must depend on others for the basic activities of day-to-day life.
Donepezil (the active ingredient in Aricept) is the most widely prescribed medication in a class of Alzheimer's drugs known as cholinesterase inhibitors, and is approved for the treatment of mild, moderate and severe disease. Donepezil is currently only available as a once-daily tablet, presenting compliance challenges for family members and caregivers who cannot rely on patients to consistently take their daily tablets, and is known to cause gastrointestinal side effects, including nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite.
Corium International, Inc. is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development, manufacture and commercialization of specialty pharmaceutical products that leverage the company's broad experience with advanced transdermal and transmucosal delivery systems. Corium has developed and is the sole commercial manufacturer of seven prescription drug and consumer products with partners Teva Pharmaceuticals, Par Pharmaceutical and Procter & Gamble. The company has two proprietary transdermal platforms: Corplex™ for small molecules and MicroCor®, a biodegradable microstructure technology for small molecules and biologics, including vaccines, peptides and proteins. The company's late-stage pipeline includes a contraceptive patch co-developed with Agile Therapeutics that is currently in Phase 3 trials, and additional transdermal products that are being developed with other partners. Corium has multiple proprietary programs in preclinical and clinical development for the treatment of osteoporosis, and neurodegenerative and neurological disorders. For further information, please visit www.coriumgroup.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding our business strategy, clinical trial timing and plans, the achievement of clinical and commercial milestones, and the advancement of our technologies and our proprietary, co-developed and partnered products and product candidates. Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and projections and are subject to risks and uncertainties, which may cause Corium’s actual results to differ materially from the statements contained herein. Further information on potential risk factors that could affect Corium’s business and its results are detailed in Corium's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2015, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 16, 2015, and other reports as filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements, especially guidance on future financial or operating performance, which speaks only as of the date they are made. Corium undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date they were made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
1,22015 ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE FACTS AND FIGURES, Alzheimer's Association
Corplex™ and MicroCor® are registered trademarks of Corium International, Inc.
Aricept® is a registered trademark of Eisai R&D Management Co., Ltd.
Crest® Whitestrips is a registered trademark of The Procter & Gamble Company.
Source:Corium International, Inc.

domain: health


You must have been told a porky: 'Micro' pig grows to 25 stone and takes over its owners' home
- Supposedly pint-sized porker has run of couple's three-bed terrace
A couple who bought a trendy micro pig as a pet have been left stunned after the supposedly pint-sized porker grew to a whopping 25 stone and took over their terraced home.
Just 19 months ago 'Babe' was irresistibly cute and so small all four of her tiny trotters would fit in a tea cup.
Colin Webb took one look at the nine ounce pink bundle he’d found for sale on the internet and cheerfully handed over £250 to buy her as a gift for his wife Susie.
Pork flop: Babe the 'micro' pig has grown to a whopping 25 stone and has taken over the home of owners Colin and Susie Webb
But while the miniature pigs owned by the likes of Paris Hilton and Victoria Beckham grew to around four and a half stone and 14 inches tall - then stopped - the Webbs’ pet had other ideas.
Babe's already a three foot, 25 stone monster and is getting bigger every week on a diet of pig pellets, bananas, strawberries and a daily dose of cod liver oil to keep her joints supple.
She is now so large she cannot even fit into the kitchen in the Webbs’ three-bedroom terraced home. She used to snooze at the bottom of their bed each night, but can no longer make it up the stairs.
So now she sleeps in the living room on their sofa - which Colin has had to have specially re-enforced with chipboard to take her weight.
Feet up: Colin Webb thought a micro pig would make an ideal household pet and bought Babe on the internet for £250 as a gift for his wife Susie
Bacon sandwich: Babe's owner's Colin and Susie Webb are slowly being muscled out of their own home by the giant porker
Table manners: Babe, a cross between a miniature Pot Bellied pig and a Gloucester Old Spot, was only supposed to grow to around four and a half stone
And any hope the Webbs once had of getting Babe to trim down a touch with a bit of exercise have long gone.
'She just won’t leave the house any longer,' said Colin.
'I used to take her for walks on a lead, I got a special licence from Defra to do that, but she’s not having that anymore. She flatly refuses to put a trotter past the front step.
'There’s nothing I can do. You can’t pull a 25 stone pig somewhere it doesn’t want to go. She spends all day in the living room now in front of the telly. I used to be able to hold her in the palm of my hand.'
But bizarrely, the Webbs are delighted to share their small home with their ever larger pet pig.
'She’s easier to look after than any man,' said Susie, 53, from Scarborough, North Yorkshire.
'She never makes a mess when she goes to the toilet, she never complains about her food and she doesn’t snore when she’s asleep.'
Former maintenance engineer Colin, 57, added: 'When she started growing I got in touch with the farmer down in Lincolnshire I bought her off. I thought maybe there had been a mistake and ‘Babe’ wasn’t a micro pig.
'But I’ve contacted other people who got pigs from the same litter and they all stayed small.
'I don’t know what’s happened with ours, maybe we overfed her a bit, but she’s one heck of a size now.
Pint-sized: Susie with Babe shortly after they got her before her incredible growth spurt
Part of the family: Despite her size, the Webbs say they are delighted to share their home with Babe
'She’s a cross between a Miniature Pot Bellied pig and a Gloucester Old Spot. There might be a bit of Kune Kune in there too.
'People have said I should get her to a slaughter house and live on bacon for a year, but I could never do that, Babe is one of the family now. I’ve got a grown up son and daughter, but they don’t live with us.
'Babe’s no bother to have around really. She grunts when she needs the toilet and uses a potty.
'My wife is hard of hearing and Babe comes into her own whenever there’s a knock on the front door, she starts sort of barking to let Susie know someone’s there.
'The only time she’s done any damage, like tear a hole in the carpet or bite a bit of stuffing out of an armchair is if we’ve had to leave her alone for a few hours.
'She’s very intelligent and she absolutely loves getting her belly tickled. She’d never bite anyone, she’s as daft as a brush.'
The Webbs now face many more years sharing their home with Babe. Micro pigs typically live for up to 18 years.
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An important figure in Thailand’s Progressive Movement says the anti-government rally this weekend is a victory for Thais pushing for democracy in the Kingdom. Yesterday’s rally, the largest yet in the anti-government demonstrations that started in July, attracted up to 30,000 people although Thai security officials put the number around 18,000. Either figure makes the protest the biggest so far and punctuates the government’s headache about how to work around or respond the demands.
Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, a fierce opponent of the military, and past leader of the now disbanded Future Forward Party (which attracted the third highest vote of any party in last year’s elections) reacted by saying the protesters have succeeded in making Sanam Luang, the site of the current rally, the “people’s ground.” The ceremonial site is a large area adjacent to the Grand Palace and the name means “royal ground.” It’s historical significance is one of traditionally being used for royal activities, but Thanathorn says that its meaning has changed as it is now being considered a public place thanks to the recent protests. He called for those to “walk together” to petition for democracy.
“The past 14 years have been a failure for Thailand.”
The 2006 Thai coup d’état took place on September 19, 2006, when the Royal Thai Army staged a coup against the elected caretaker government of then-PM Thaksin Shinawatra.
Thanathorn’s MP title was taken away last year after continually placing blame on the 2006 military coup, saying the nation’s problems were largely due to the coup and has pushed for the constitution to be reformed. He was the leader of the Future Forward Party which was disbanded by the Constitution Court earlier this year, which has been a contributing factor to the widespread anti-government protests in Bangkok.
The student led rally started yesterday and was held at Thammasat University’s Tha Prachan campus despite not receiving permission from university officials to hold the rally. Protesters broke open the gate to the field and flooded the area, making it the largest anti-government rally to be held since the last military coup in May 2014.
SOURCE: Thai PBS World
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Porcelain and Leatherette Bracelet, Hand-Formed Copper Wire Links
This handcrafted bracelet was made with porcelain beads strung on black leatherette cord with silver beads in between each porcelain bead. One end has a handcrafted wire wrapped loop the other end has my handmade copper messy wire wrapped bead that holds the porcelain and silver beads together to one side of the leatherette cord, which is connected to another handmade copper wire loop which the hand-formed hook clasp is attached to.
The copper wire, loops, clasp, and messy wrapped bead have all been oxidized and tumbled to harden and polish.
I take special care not to mar the metal when working, but imperfections do happen, that just adds to the character of each piece.
My goal is to provide you with unique quality, and affordable jewelry. Jewelry for everyday wear. Handmade in a smoke free environment in the USA.
Bracelet measures approximately 8 ½ inches in length.
Item will be shipped from United States
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Accepted payment methods
MixedKreations accepts the following forms of payment:


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Antwerp, Belgium, September 26-27, 2020
We hope to welcome a lot of our international snipe friends, that we haven’t been able to see as much as we’d liked to this year.
So come and enjoy close racing, serious fun and the best beer in the world.
All information can be found on the Facebook event page. You’ll also find a poster with the program in attachment of this e-mail.
If you are in need of a boat, a place to stay, a helm or a crew : let us know so we can find a solution for you. Boats are limited, first come, first serve?
I count on you for sharing this information with your fellow snipe friends.
Have a great summer and see you soon