Monday, May 20, 2013

Nicki Minaj: Twerking, Straddling Lil Wayne at Billboard Music Awards!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/nicki-minaj-twerking-straddling-lil-wayne-at-billboard-music-awa/

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Now we know why old scizophrenia medicine works on antibiotics-resistant bacteria

May 18, 2013 ? In 2008 researchers from the University of Southern Denmark showed that the drug thioridazine, which has previously been used to treat schizophrenia, is also a powerful weapon against antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus).

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a huge problem all over the world: For example, 25 -- 50 per cent of the inhabitants in southern Europe are resistant to staphylococci. In the Scandinavian countries it is less than 5 per cent, but also here the risk of resistance is on the rise.

So any effective anti-inflammatory candidate is important to investigate -- even if the candidate is an antipsychotic that was originally developed to alleviate one of the hardest mental illnesses, schizophrenia.

Until now, scientists could only see that thioridazine works effectively and that it can kill staphylococcus bacteria in a flask in the laboratory, but now a new study reveals why and how thioridazine works. The research group, which includes professor Hans J?rn Kolmos, associate professor Birgitte H. Kallipolitis and other participants from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Southern Denmark, publishes their findings in the journal PLOS ONE on May 17 2013.

The research team tested thioridazine on staphylococcal bacteria and discovered that thioridazine works by weakening the bacterial cell wall.

"When we treat the bacteria with antibiotics alone, nothing happens -- the bacteria are not even affected. But when we add both thioridazine and antibiotics, something happens: thioridazine weakens the bacterial cell wall by removing glycine (an amino acid) from the cell wall. In the absence of glycine, the antibiotics can attack the weakened cell wall and kill staphylococcus bacteria," explains Janne Kudsk Klitgaard, visiting scholar at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark.

Thus, it is the interaction between thioridazine and antibiotic that works.

And now that researchers know that thioridazine works by weakening staphylococcal cell wall, they can concentrate on improving this ability.

"Now that we know how thioridazine works, we can develop drugs that target the resistant bacteria. And just as important: We can remove or inactivate the parts of thioridazine, which treats schizophrenia, so we end up with a brand new product that is no longer an antipsychotic, "explains Janne Kudsk Klitgaard.

According to her, we are now a little closer to a safe, non-psychopharmacological drug that can save people from potentially fatal infections that do not respond to antibiotics.

"This will no longer be an antipsychotic, when scientists are finished with this task," she says.

Together with her colleagues Klitgaard tested thioridazine on roundworms in the laboratory and have seen that they were cured of staphylococci in the gut. Next step will be testing on mice and pigs.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/KHZgMZHOdQs/130518153742.htm

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Who Said Search Engine Optimization Isn't Easy? Try These Tips ...

Who Said Search Engine Optimization Isn?t Easy? Try These Tips For The Best Results

All sites can benefit from the ascending traffic that SEO produces, but it?s important that you do not dehumanize consumers in an attempt for higher profits. This article has some great tips to help you better your site?s visibility by applying techniques that work for you and search engines.

Maine Coon

TIP! Keyword density is important when optimizing an internet page for various search engines. To avoid this, try to keep your total keyword content to under twenty percent of any given page.

To make your site more noticeable you should use a lot of keywords; even ones that are misspelled in the meta tag area. The larger the variety in your meta-tags the more likely it is that your website will be ranked high in a given search. For example, if you have a website about Maine Coon cats, then use ?Maine Coon? as well as ?Main Coon? and ?Mainecoon.?

To make the most out of search engine optimization efforts, write to match your goal. This means that keywords should be repeated as often as you can without making the flow of the writing stilted. When search engines can find and evaluate your keywords, you should see your rankings improve.

TIP! Consider pay-per-click arrangements as a means to lucrative affiliate marketing. Although this is the cheapest and easiest service affiliates can provide and the pay is modest, it can add up fast.

Boosting your site?s SEO takes time, so remember to be patient. Significant changes cannot happen over night. You may have to invest a few months into the process before you start to see big results. As in a business you would run on offline, your reputation will take time to build.

One of the first questions to ask is how many years of experience they have in SEO. Be sure you are aware of any risks, so that you are in a position to make a knowledgeable determination based on the facts.

TIP! Purchase a simple domain name that is pertinent to your niche and easy to remember. These are great for your viewers that locate your content through YouTube.

This is easily done through a robots. txt file and having it placed in the root directory. This makes certain files found on your website inaccessible to the search engine.

Try to avoid using a lot of symbols like underscores in a URL. Certain language can confuse a search engine, which is why each URL should have a meaningful name, as well as pertinent keywords.

TIP! To hide something, create a robots. txt file and adding it to your root directory.

Using a product feed will give your business a more visible presence and help draw more potential customers to your website. Feeds like this detail your services and products with images, descriptions and prices. Present these to search engines as well as to websites that list comparison shopping. A feed reader allows customers to subscribe easily to your feed, too.

Site Map

TIP! Spiders do not recognize session id names or dynamic language, so make sure you?re aware of this as you create URL?s for your different web pages. Therefore, you should come up with a relevant name for each URL.

Adding a site map to your website is a highly important search engine optimization step. Site maps make it significantly easier for search engine crawlers and spiders to access every webpage on your website. The larger the site, the more maps it needs. There should be a maximum of 100 links at most on every site map.

Website owners often overlook the important task of proofreading. Make certain that your site is easy to read for both human visitors and search engines. If your content is poorly written and is full of spelling and grammatical errors, your website will not rank well by search engines, if at all.

TIP! Become an expert in your field. This is a great Internet tool.

The way you optimize your own business for your customers is the same logic you should use in optimizing it for search engines. This fact gets overlooked by more than a few companies.

Use plurals and longer forms of words for keywords to create more hits on a search engine. Keyword stemming is utilized by many search engines. For example, if you use ?accountant? as your keyword, then any searches for ?accountants? or ?accounting? may not have your site listed in the results. Use the keyword stemming technique by choosing longer form keywords; for example, using ?accounting? can also grab readers who were searching for ?accountant.?

TIP! While proofreading is often overlooked, it?s vital to the quality and respectability of all websites. Dedicate resources to making your site readable, both to search engines and to visitors.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of someone searching for your site, and then choose keywords based on which terms they would use. While you want to make those keywords present in your titles and in the content of your articles, you need to take caution. Using the same keyword too often can flag your site as spam, and that will really hurt your rankings.

Business Bureau

TIP! Generate a keyword-oriented site map for added SEO optimization. A site map basically shows all the areas available to viewers on your websites, and provides an easy access point to find what they are looking for.

To improve your search engine optimization efforts, think about becoming a member of the BBB (Better Business Bureau), as well as the Chamber of Commerce in your area. These sites typically will have a link to your website, and this can help if someone does a local search. You also get the added benefit of trust and legitimacy by maintaining a good rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Try basing your articles on keywords to help improve SEO of your articles. Coordinate your keywords with your article topics. This makes it easier for search engines to index your work. Good keywords help make your articles more visible. Be sure to include the keyword in the article?s title and summary. You should also use it a few times in the body of the article.

TIP! It is essential to regularly add new content and publish fresh articles. Set a goal of how many stories you will publish per day or per week, and commit to it.

Social media sites are a valuable tool in search engine optimization. You can interact directly with clients through Facebook and Twitter, while YouTube makes it easy to promote products through instructional videos.

If you are on a shared server, ensure that no banned sites are on your proxy. If not, you may appear as a spammer which can hurt your ratings and traffic.

TIP! Link to high-quality content on other sites to improve your search engine rankings. Choice linking is an extremely significant part of SEO.

Used domain names may already have a reputation you can trade on. If you have a domain name that has been around a while (at least for two years), it will be given more attention by the search engines. Look for domains that were dropped recently and determine if any of them is a fit for your site.

There are both good and bad techniques. These tips should have provided you with ways to boost your traffic and how to be able to avoid search engine blocks.

TIP! If you want to improve your search engine ranking, writing unique, interesting content should be your number one priority. To attract traffic, you need to provide information that is different from that on other sites and other Web pages.

Get your free website analysis (valued at $97) ? 1-888-513-5974 (tell us that you seen our ad on the website)

Source: http://4thgc.com/who-said-search-engine-optimization-isnt-easy-try-these-tips-for-the-best-results/

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Watch Ridley Scott's Aliens Animated in Just 60 Seconds

Who has time to watch a whole movie anymore? It's summer! So in the spirit of phoning in everything once the temperature rises above 70-ish, here's Ridley Scott's Aliens in 60 seconds of adorable animation. Brought to you, of course, by the fine folks who did Star Wars Episode IV, Back to the Future, and The Matrix. Not bad for a human. [YouTube]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/watch-ridley-scotts-aliens-animated-in-just-60-seconds-508528275

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Monday, May 13, 2013

AP IMPACT: Cars made in Brazil are deadly

SAO PAULO (AP) ? The cars roll endlessly off the local assembly lines of the industry's biggest automakers, more than 10,000 a day, into the eager hands of Brazil's new middle class. The shiny new Fords, Fiats, and Chevrolets tell the tale of an economy in full bloom that now boasts the fourth largest auto market in the world.

What happens once those vehicles hit the streets, however, is shaping up as a national tragedy, experts say, with thousands of Brazilians dying every year in auto accidents that in many cases shouldn't have proven fatal.

The culprits are the cars themselves, produced with weaker welds, scant safety features and inferior materials compared to similar models manufactured for U.S. and European consumers, say experts and engineers inside the industry. Four of Brazil's five bestselling cars failed their independent crash tests.

Unsafe cars, coupled with the South American nation's often dangerous driving conditions, have resulted in a Brazilian death rate from passenger car accidents that is nearly four times that of the United States, according to an Associated Press analysis of Brazilian Health Ministry data on deaths compared to the size of each country's car fleet. In fact, the two countries are moving in opposite directions on survival rates ? the U.S. recorded 40 percent fewer fatalities from car wrecks in 2010 compared with a decade before. In Brazil, the number killed rose 72 percent, according to the latest available data.

Dr. Dirceu Alves, of Abramet, a Brazilian association of doctors that specializes in treating traffic accident victims, said poorly built cars take an unnecessary toll.

"The gravity of the injuries arriving at the hospitals is just ugly," he said, "injuries that should not be occurring."

Automakers in Brazil point out that their cars meet the nation's safety laws. Some said they build even tougher cars for the country because of its poorly maintained roadways and rejected any notion that cost-cutting in production leads to fatalities.

But the country's few safety activists perceive a deadly double standard, with automakers earning more money from selling cars that offer drivers fewer safeguards ? a worrisome gap for new middle-class households, whose surging spending power has outpaced consumer protections taken for granted in more developed countries. The problem extends beyond Brazil, with economic forecasts showing the majority of global growth in auto sales taking place in emerging-market nations as the world's auto fleet doubles to 1.5 billion by 2020.

"Entry-level cars in Brazil are incredibly dangerous, it can't be denied. The death rate from accidents is far too high," said Maria Ines Dolci, coordinator of the Rio de Janeiro-based consumer defense group Proteste. "The manufacturers do this because the cars are a little cheaper to make and the demands of the Brazilian consumers are less; their knowledge of safety issues is lower than in Europe or the U.S."

Manufacturers earn a 10 percent profit on Brazilian-made cars, compared with 3 percent in the U.S. and a global average of 5 percent, according to IHS Automotive, an industry consulting firm.

Only next year will laws require frontal air bags and antilock braking systems on all cars, safety features that have been standard in industrial countries for years. The country will also have new impact regulations on paper, at least; Brazilian regulators don't have their own crash-test facility to verify automakers' claims about vehicle performance, nor are there independent labs in the country.

Experts say those requirements alone are not sufficient to meet basic safety standards. Some models sold in Brazil, like the Chinese-made JAC J3, scored only one star in a recent crash test despite having air bags and antilock brakes.

An independent pilot effort known as the Latin New Car Assessment Program has run initial tests of Brazil's most popular car models, and the results are bleak.

The cheapest models of four of the five top-selling cars, made by General Motors, Volkswagen and Fiat, received a one-star rating, out of five stars, while other top sellers also scored poorly. Such a rating means cars provide little protection in serious head-on wrecks, compared to four- or five-star rated cars, which are virtually the minimum that consumers in the U.S. and Europe buy.

"The difference is you're talking about somebody dead in the vehicle or dying very quickly, or somebody being able to get out of the vehicle themselves," said David Ward, director general of the London-based FIA Foundation for auto safety, which supports the Euro and Latin NCAP programs. "It's definitely a difference between life and death."

The squat Ford Ka hatchback sold in Europe scored four stars when it was tested by Euro NCAP in 2008; its Latin American version scored one star.

Ford acknowledged that particular Ka is built on an outdated platform, and said it cannot be compared with the European version of the same name ? it's that different. The company said it aims to have all its cars produced in Brazil built on updated, global platforms by 2015.

The Mexico-produced Nissan March compact sold in Latin America received a two-star rating from Latin NCAP, while the version sold for about the same price in Europe, called the Micra, scored four stars. The crash tests found the Latin American model had a weak, unstable body structure that offered occupants little protection in even non-serious wrecks.

In an emailed statement, Nissan said the March sold in Brazil is "practically the same model" offered in Europe. "The difference in the results achieved in Europe and Latin America is due to variations in the NCAP tests applied in different parts of the world."

Not so, said Alejandro Furas, technical director for the Global NCAP crash test programs.

"We perform the frontal crash test exactly in the same way as the Euro NCAP," he said. "The March and Micra were tested in the same lab, with the same type of crash test dummies, under the same conditions with the same people running the laboratory."

The Euro NCAP tests are more complete. They include side-impact and other tests, while the Latin American version only records front-impacts. Each type of impact test is individually scored on a 16-point scale.

The March sold in Brazil obtained a 7.62 rating in its frontal-impact test. The Micra fared much better, 12.7 points.

Italian automaker Fiat said in an emailed statement that "in general, Brazilian projects receive more reinforcements" within the cars' bodies to fortify them against the nation's "harsher roads and terrain."

However, NCAP tests found that Fiat's best-selling car in Brazil, called the Novo Uno, had an unstable body structure and scored it just one star.

Crash-test footage shows the front of the car folding up like an accordion, giving it a 2.0 point rating, the second lowest of the 28 cars NCAP has examined. Consumers purchased nearly 256,000 Novo Uno's last year ? the second-most popular car in the country.

Renault's safety standards also vary. The French company builds its Sandero in Brazil, selling 98,400 cars last year. That car scored one star on the Latin NCAP test, but the model sold in Europe, made by Renault's Romanian subsidiary Dacia, scored three stars.

Renault said the safety record of the Sandero and its other cars were on par with autos of the same class in Brazil.

One of those is the VW Gol, Brazil's best-selling car for the last decade.

Volkswagen said it strives to maintain a global standard for body strength, putting the same number of welds on the same models regardless of where they're produced, and using high-strength steel in Brazilian cars. It added that since 1998 it's given Brazilian consumers the option of buying a car with air bags ? its Gol Trend model with two frontal air bags scored three stars, while the same model without air bags scored one star.

The company didn't respond to requests for figures on how many consumers requested air bags.

"Structural integrity during a crash is a global standard for Volkswagen," the company said in an emailed statement. "The passenger compartment for the Gol remained stable and thus guarantees survival space for occupants."

Latin NCAP has tested three VW models. The Gol and the Polo had stable bodies. The Bora sedan, however, was rated as unstable, though other factors helped it score three stars.

And then there are the cars the companies do not market outside Latin America, such as the Celta by GM. Celta is Brazil's No. 5 car in terms of sales, with 137,615 sold last year. It received one star after its door unhinged and the passenger cabin roof bent into an inverted V shape during its crash test.

General Motors had no comment other than to say that its cars in Brazil are legal.

An engineer for a major U.S. automaker, speaking only on condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job, said he has watched for years as his company failed to implement more advanced safety features in Brazil, simply because the law did not require them.

"''The automakers are pleased to make more profitable cars for countries where the demands, whatever they may be, are less rigorous," he said. "It happens everywhere ? India, China and Russia, for example."

___

About 40 million Brazilians moved into the middle class during the past decade with more income than ever to buy their first car. The growth potential is enormous: One out of every seven Brazilians owns a car, while the U.S. vehicle fleet covers nearly every American.

But as auto sales boom in Brazil, so have the number of accidents and deaths.

An analysis of Health Ministry data shows that 9,059 car occupants died in vehicle crashes in Brazil in 2010, according to the most recent statistics available. That same year, 12,435 people in the U.S. were killed in car crashes, though the U.S. passenger car fleet is five times larger than Brazil's. The result: Brazilian automobile crash victims died at four times the rate as those in the U.S.

The dangers come down to basics, engineers said: the lack of body reinforcements, lower-quality steel in car bodies, weaker or fewer weld spots to hold the vehicles together and car platforms designed decades before modern safety advances.

"The electricity used in building a car is about 20 percent of the cost of the structure," said Marcilio Alves, an engineering professor at Brazil's premier University of Sao Paulo and one of the few independent researchers in the nation looking at car safety.

"If you save on electricity, you save on cost. One way to save electricity is either reducing the number of spot welds or using less energy for each spot weld made. This affects structural performance in the event of a crash."

In a car with no air bags and an unstable body structure, a driver's biggest danger is the steering wheel.

A weak body structure and fragile steering column make it easier for the wheel to slam into the driver's chest and abdomen in frontal crashes, the deadliest and most common, causing serious damage to vital organs.

Ward talks of steering wheels that break off and "float" during wrecks in poorly made cars ? moving around the cabin in the driver's area. That means that even if an air bag is deployed, the steering wheel may go around or under it and directly hit the driver.

Many Brazilian car bodies also don't contain crumple zones, areas that absorb energy during wrecks. The omission endangers occupants' lower limbs, as foot wells rip off and expose feet and legs to car parts slamming into them from the front.

"If a car's body cannot absorb the energy of a crash, it will logically result in more damage, more injuries to passengers," said Alves, the doctor who specializes in traffic accident victims.

One auto engineer described the situation by sketching two car body designs with identical perimeters, but one depicted internal gaps ? missing body reinforcements.

He worked three decades for Volkswagen and spent the last 10 years as an independent engineering consultant for big automakers. He asked that his name not be published for fear of losing contracts and benefits.

"The secret of a car's body being able to withstand the crash test are the weld spots," he said.

"Let's say this is a German car," he pointed to the gapless sketch. "It's really sophisticated. Nothing is missing."

Then he pointed at the car made in Brazil, full of incomplete ink strokes.

"The Brazilian version looks the same from the outside, but it's missing pieces," he said. "In one version they include the reinforcement, in the other they don't. What's of interest is the final shape. What's inside, nobody can see."

___

In 2008, Carlos Alberto Lopes, then a 23-year-old waiter, was riding in a one-star car traveling about 50 mph on a rainy highway in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais when the road curved smoothly left. The car hydroplaned, skidded into an embankment and rolled several times down a long incline. Of the four occupants, Lopes was the only one with serious injuries, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

Lopes says the three-point seatbelt he was wearing didn't lock his body in place, allowing him to repeatedly hit the collapsing roof as the car rolled. He suffered a crushed vertebra.

"If the seatbelt had locked when the car rolled I wouldn't have hit my back. None of this would have happened," Lopes said.

A study by a chain of Brazilian rehabilitation centers where Lopes is being treated found that in 2011, 40 percent of the patients it worked with in Sao Paulo with serious spinal injuries were hurt in traffic accidents.

Lopes never considered a lawsuit. In fact, in more than a dozen interviews with accident victims left paralyzed after crashes, not one considered taking legal action against vehicle manufacturers.

That's in part a reflection of the lack of police investigations into car accidents, the majority of which, like Lopes', only result in simple "occurrence bulletins" that include minimal information.

But it's also indicative of the deference Brazil's new middle class consumers show to automakers and most other industries.

"We're 20 years behind the U.S. and Europe in terms of consumer awareness," said Dolci, coordinator of the Proteste consumer defense group. "The new, emerging middle class entering the market has little information on car safety. They think little of automobile security. It's this very class of consumer the automakers are targeting and to whom they're selling a mountain of cars."

Accidents like Lopes' involve more than a poorly built car.

Drivers fail to obey traffic laws, which many of the region's governments notoriously don't enforce. Cars must navigate crumbling roads and poorly designed highway systems that all but make gridlock and accidents unavoidable. And many drivers simply value perks such as alloy wheels and sound systems over unseen crumple zones.

In 1965, there were 47,089 motor vehicle fatalities in the U.S. That same year, consumer activist Ralph Nader's famous indictment of the auto industry was published, Unsafe at Any Speed. The book ignited a national discussion on auto safety and ultimately led to reforms that dramatically refashioned the industry's standards, helping lead to a 32 percent drop in deaths by 2011.

Nader said halting the growing number of auto deaths in Brazil would take "a public uproar, product liability lawsuits, selective boycotts by motorists or by mandatory Brazilian law equalizing safety standards with the safest engineering required in other countries."

"These responses in the past have worked in other countries confronted by auto industry double standards for protecting lives on the highway. Such actions are long overdue but now Brazilians know the truth in more detail," he said.

The Brazilian government says its new laws mandating frontal air bags and anti-lock brakes will dramatically improve safety, as will new impact standards. But because there are no independent crash-test centers in Brazil, companies will not face the same scrutiny as elsewhere. They will run the impact tests themselves and present the results to the government for approval. Because there is no "conformity of production" clause in the Brazilian legislation, cars won't be spot-checked to ensure they meet safety laws.

Alexandre Cordeiro, the top government minister overseeing auto safety laws, acknowledged that the government doesn't have its own crash-test center ? but said Brazil will monitor crash tests conducted outside the country.

"Regarding front- and rear-end crash tests, our cars are as secure as European or American cars," Cordeiro said.

However, when asked about the stark differences in performance that the NCAP tests document between Brazilian and European cars, Cordeiro acknowledged improvements need to be made, saying "we need to evolve and we're working on it."

Over the years Ward said he has watched the same battles play out over auto safety ? the only thing that changes is the location.

"The sad thing is, this has been the experience in the 1960s in the U.S., in the 1990s in Europe and now in Latin America," Ward said. "The industry does the least it can get away with until they're forced to do something different. It's maddening."

___

Online:

http://www.latinncap.com/en/

http://www.euroncap.com/home.aspx

___

Bradley Brooks on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bradleybrooks

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-impact-cars-made-brazil-deadly-180411170.html

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Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Live and learn

Live and learn [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 7-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Diane Swanbrow
swanbrow@umich.edu
734-647-9069
University of Michigan

Most GenXers continue their education

ANN ARBOR---More than one in every 10 members of Generation X are enrolled in classes to continue their formal educations, according to a new University of Michigan study released today. In addition, 48 percent of GenXers take continuing education courses, in-service training, and workshops required for professional licenses and certifications.

"This is an impressive level of engagement in lifelong learning," says Jon D. Miller, author of the latest issue of The Generation X Report. "It reflects the changing realities of a global economy, driven by science and technology.

Projected to the 80 million young adults in Generation X, Miller says the findings suggest that 1.8 million young adults are studying to earn associate degrees, 1.7 million are seeking baccalaureates, and nearly 2 million are taking courses to earn advanced degrees at the masters, doctoral, or professional level.

Miller directs the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY) at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR). The study has been funded by the National Science Foundation since 1986, and the current report includes responses from approximately 3,900 study participants who are in their late 30s.

According to Miller, slightly more than 40 percent of GenXers have earned a baccalaureate or higher degree, with those living in cities or suburbs more likely to have a degree than those living in small towns or rural areas.

The study also found that GenXers have earned graduate and professional degrees at a higher rate than any previous generation. By 2011, two decades after finishing high school, 22 percent of those surveyed had completed at least one advanced degree, and 10 percent had completed a doctorate or professional degree.

The report also examined informal sources of learning among Generation X, analyzing how they acquired information about three important contemporary events: influenza, the Fukushima nuclear reactor accident, and climate change.

"We found that Generation X adults use a mix of information sources, including traditional print and electronic media, as well as the internet and social media," says Miller.

"But for all three issues we examined, we found that talking with friends and family was cited as a source of information more frequently than traditional news media.

"While a high proportion of young adults are continuing their formal education, reflecting the changing demands of a global economy, many are also using the full resources of their personal networks and the electronic era to keep up with information on emerging issues."

###

Established in 1949, the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR) is the world's largest academic social science survey and research organization, and a world leader in developing and applying social science methodology, and educating researchers and students from around the world. For more information, visit the ISR Web site at http://home.isr.umich.edu


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Live and learn [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 7-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Diane Swanbrow
swanbrow@umich.edu
734-647-9069
University of Michigan

Most GenXers continue their education

ANN ARBOR---More than one in every 10 members of Generation X are enrolled in classes to continue their formal educations, according to a new University of Michigan study released today. In addition, 48 percent of GenXers take continuing education courses, in-service training, and workshops required for professional licenses and certifications.

"This is an impressive level of engagement in lifelong learning," says Jon D. Miller, author of the latest issue of The Generation X Report. "It reflects the changing realities of a global economy, driven by science and technology.

Projected to the 80 million young adults in Generation X, Miller says the findings suggest that 1.8 million young adults are studying to earn associate degrees, 1.7 million are seeking baccalaureates, and nearly 2 million are taking courses to earn advanced degrees at the masters, doctoral, or professional level.

Miller directs the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY) at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR). The study has been funded by the National Science Foundation since 1986, and the current report includes responses from approximately 3,900 study participants who are in their late 30s.

According to Miller, slightly more than 40 percent of GenXers have earned a baccalaureate or higher degree, with those living in cities or suburbs more likely to have a degree than those living in small towns or rural areas.

The study also found that GenXers have earned graduate and professional degrees at a higher rate than any previous generation. By 2011, two decades after finishing high school, 22 percent of those surveyed had completed at least one advanced degree, and 10 percent had completed a doctorate or professional degree.

The report also examined informal sources of learning among Generation X, analyzing how they acquired information about three important contemporary events: influenza, the Fukushima nuclear reactor accident, and climate change.

"We found that Generation X adults use a mix of information sources, including traditional print and electronic media, as well as the internet and social media," says Miller.

"But for all three issues we examined, we found that talking with friends and family was cited as a source of information more frequently than traditional news media.

"While a high proportion of young adults are continuing their formal education, reflecting the changing demands of a global economy, many are also using the full resources of their personal networks and the electronic era to keep up with information on emerging issues."

###

Established in 1949, the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR) is the world's largest academic social science survey and research organization, and a world leader in developing and applying social science methodology, and educating researchers and students from around the world. For more information, visit the ISR Web site at http://home.isr.umich.edu


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/uom-lal050213.php

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PFT: Abraham not retiring, despite tweets

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As former West Virginia/current Jets quarterback Geno Smith embarks on his NFL career, he?s getting advice from a couple of former West Virginia players who went to the NFL before him.

Former NFL defensive tackle John Thornton and former NFL cornerback Charles Fisher, both of whom played college football in Morgantown, have been advising Smith as he transitions to the NFL.? Thornton, whom we?ve known for several years, confirmed in a telephone interview that he and Fisher are indeed working with Smith.

Currently, that entails organizing the upcoming process of interviewing agents, which will occur on Tuesday and Wednesday.? In addition to Rick Smith of Priority Sports, David Dunn and Joby Branion of Athletes First, and Joel Segal, Eugene Parker also is expected to make a presentation.? The fledgling CAA/Roc Nation joint venture could be part of the process, but we?ve gotten mixed information on that point.? (It?s possible that Roc Nation will be involved, without CAA.)

Thornton also addressed persistent rumors that he and Fisher will be steering Smith to Priority Sports.

?I know people think we?re sending him to Priority, but that?s not the case,? Thornton said.? He explained that the decision of another one of his clients, Chiefs receiver Jon Baldwin, to hire Priority Sports has fueled speculation that Smith will, too.? Thornton pointed out that other players he is advising, including former Marshall receiver Aaron Dobson, a second-round pick of the Patriots, did not hire Priority Sports.

Thornton said he?s in the process of becoming certified by the NFLPA, so that he can become a full-service agent for the players he assists.? And he?s sensitive to the perceptions and the realities of the business.

?I?m trying to protect these kids,? Thornton said.? ?At the end of the day, everybody says they?re trying to help these guys and they?re not.?

With plenty of negative information piling up regarding Geno Smith and no one (including the Jets) working the media to push the other side of it, the sooner Smith hires an agent who can not only stop but also reverse the feeding frenzy, the better.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/05/05/report-john-abraham-isnt-retiring-despite-tweets-to-that-effect/related/

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Monday, May 6, 2013

Serious health issues - EliteFitness.com

Hello,

I write this post since im in desperate need of help and because i know there is a lot of very knowledgeable and intelligent people around here.

I've been expriencing severe health issues for the last 3 years and i really feel like i now have hit the wall and really don't know how to cope with it anymore.
Dont get me wrong, I love my life and there is nothing I want more than to live. I got a job, a girlfriend, family and friends that i all love so im not suicidal in any way, it's just that this condition is tearing my apart slowly.

For the last 3 years i've been living in a constant 'hell' with headaches that can last for weeks, chestpains, heavy nausea and dizziness. And the doctors really cant't figure out what is wrong with me.

First a little background info avout how this all started.
Four years ago i was a 22 year old totally healthy dude. I was lifting weights 4-5 times a week (which i had been doing since the age of 15) and i was doing quite some cardiovascular training in between. This was what i loved to do and i constantly kept pushing my self and my boundaries with great progression and results. At the time i was around weighting 211lbs (5 feet 10) with little body fat.

This all changed one day at the gym.
I was using some supplements to get the extra kick/energy to improve my physique and get in the perfect shape before the summer. This was a product called ripped caps which consisted of mainly synephrine (which is an ephedrine-like substance). Totally legal stuff that many people use.

In addition to this i was using a creatine supplement which also included relatively big amount of caffeine.

This absolutely had the desired effect on my energy levels and i could push me the little extra at the gym. But i also could feel my heart racing and that my BP went high. I sometimes felt like almost fainting. But stupid as i was i continued taking this stuff because i thought this was standard non-dangerous side effects.
God i wish i had known what i know now at that time.

After about a week using this stuff i was at the gym doing some heavy lifting when i suddenly started feeling weird. I felt like i couldn't breathe, my heart was racing and i started sweating and almost fainting. My friend drove me home where i tried to lay down and relax, but after it hadn't got better after 30 minutes we drove down to the E.R. They listened to my heart and took an ECG but couldn't find anything, so I went home and figured this was probably not anything dangerous afterall.

Since this episode i've never had one day feeling fine. Im experiencing all these symptoms i mentioned earlier in various degrees.
If i do some training like heavy weightlifting or running im getting REALLY sick and i can stay sick for many days afterwards.
Coffee / caffeine also worsens the condition alot.

I've been through quite some tests without any findings. The ones i can remember is ECG, CT angiography, MR of head, X-Ray of lungs and chest and blood tests.
It's so extremely frustrating that they don't find anything when im obviously not fine at all.

Life really has been and is a struggle to get through when you have to live with these stuff. I've also had to give up what i love to do which is weightlifting, this is now reduced to a minimal of lightweight training periodically. But have by no means let this break me. Im still working 100%, but i can really feel that it gets harder to get through each day and I really need to find out whats wrong with me so i can get better and hopefully back to normal.

By telling my story i hope that i can find someone who either have experienced similary symptoms or anyone who might have an idea of what this could be or could point me in any direction who could lead me to an answer.

Help, anyone please ?

Sorry for my (probably) bad english vocabulary, but english isn't my native language.

Best regards,
Fredrik

Source: http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/health-medicine/serious-health-issues-1206303.html

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Sunday, May 5, 2013

Study adds to evidence that cigarettes are gateway to marijuana

May 5, 2013 ? een smokers who rationalize their use of cigarettes by saying, "At least, I'm not doing drugs," may not always be able to use that line.

New research to be presented Sunday, May 5, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC, supports the theory that cigarettes are a gateway drug to marijuana.

"Contrary to what we would expect, we also found that students who smoked both tobacco and marijuana were more likely to smoke more tobacco than those who smoked only tobacco," said study author Megan Moreno, MD, MSEd, MPH, FAAP, an investigator at Seattle Children's Research Institute and associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington.

Dr. Moreno and her colleagues randomly selected incoming college students from two universities -- one in the Northwest and one in the Midwest -- to participate in the longitudinal study. Students were interviewed prior to entering college and again at the end of their freshman year regarding their attitudes, intentions and experiences with substances.

Specifically, students were asked if they had used tobacco or marijuana ever in their lives and in the past 28 days. Researchers also assessed the quantity and frequency of marijuana and tobacco use in the past 28 days.

Results showed that prior to entering college, 33 percent of the 315 participants reported lifetime tobacco use, and 43 percent of lifetime users were current users. In addition, tobacco users were more likely to have used marijuana than those who did not use tobacco.

By the end of their freshman year, 66 percent of participants who reported tobacco use prior to entering college remained current users with an average of 34 tobacco episodes per month. Of these, 53 percent reported concurrent marijuana use. Overall, users of both substances averaged significantly more tobacco episodes per month than current users of tobacco only (42 vs. 24).

"These findings are significant because in the past year we have seen legislation passed that legalizes marijuana in two states," Dr. Moreno said. "While the impact of these laws on marijuana use is a critical issue, our findings suggest that we should also consider whether increased marijuana use will impact tobacco use among older adolescents."

Future work should involve designing educational campaigns highlighting the increased risks of using these substances together, Dr. Moreno concluded.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Academy of Pediatrics, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/6zOfyzPin34/130505073742.htm

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Wednesday, May 1, 2013

The World's First Tablet Projector Promises a 100-Inch Display

A built-in projector isn't quite at the top of anyone's wish list for tablet improvements. But that didn't stop Promate from putting one into its new LumiTab and declaring it the world's first tablet projector. The average consumer might not be interested yet, but corporate honchos who live and die by PowerPoint presentations are surely smiling from ear-to-ear now.

Read more...

    


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/v5NtsPhD7dA/the-worlds-first-tablet-projector-promises-a-100-inch-485998259

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