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E-Cigs picking up steam right across Canada and abroad
Paul W. Fitzgerald
Aug 22, 2013 in
The new craze these days is tobacco harm reduction. Smokers are turning to electronic cigarettes as an aid to quit smoking.
So, how do you vape? That's the question companies who offer electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) are asking consumers these days.
It seems that the tobacco harm reduction movement is in full swing and droves of companies are cashing in on the new trend. Picking an e-cigarette over a real cigarette appears to be the lesser of the two evils.
Mark Bradshaw, who lives in Toronto, ON, had his first cigarette when he was in his early teens.
Since he started smoking he quickly became a pack to a pack-and-a-half a day user.
He totally regrets starting the bad habit.
However, the 44 year-old got a stern warning from his doctor only a few months ago.
"My doc told me I had some scar tissue on my left lung which could lead to a hole in the lung," he says during an interview. "He told me if I kept on smoking I would soon die. That was one of the scariest moments of my life. I knew I had to quit right away."
On his way home from the doctor, he stopped in at a local Shoppers Drug Mart to pick up the nicotine patch and some chewing gum to begin his smoke-free journey.
He then came across a display of e-cigs (nicotine free) and decided to buy one and try it out.
"I had nothing to lose," he says. "Something told me to give the e-cig thing a shot, and it's the best thing I ever did."
Since using e-cigs over the last 12 weeks, he hasn't touched a cigarette.
"I will be honest e-cigs in Canada don't have any nicotine, so my body was missing it for the first month. It was tough – I had some miserable cravings but I got through them. I actually chewed on some nicotine gum while using the e-cigs and it worked. The new products out there really help with the actual hand to mouth habit of smoking."
Just about every place across the nation - convenience stores, gas stations, malls, and drug stores – is now selling e-cigs. The 'vape' experience is in hardcore; much like smoking was years ago.
The e-cig business is expected to be a $14-billion industry within three years' time, according to Wells Fargo.
At drug stores, like Shoppers Drug Mart and Rexall, e-cigs are normally sold in the Nicotine Replacement Therapy Sections.
There are a wide variety of brands out there that people are using and notable include Dune, GetVapes, and Nano by Jasper & Jasper.
Steve Muzaic, Vice President for Nano E-Cigs by Jasper & Jasper, says his company is seeing its sales grow each month.
"The numbers of e-cig users keeps on climbing," he says. "Tobacco harm reduction is the new trend and people are turning to e-cigs as a safer alternative to smoking."
He adds, "Cigarettes are known to contain hundreds of chemicals, which are carcinogenic. Products like Nano allows users to feel like they are smoking, but they're not taking in any of the harmful chemicals."
Products being offered start from about $10 and the ones that required replacement cartridges are between $75 and $120.
Each e-cig lasts for about two to three days for an average smoker, which about is two packs.
Health professionals in Canada are keeping a close eye on the e-cig movement.
John Chenery, Manager of Communications for the Lung Association in Ontario, indicates that they want more "research into the potential health effects of electronic cigarettes."
Jennifer Miller, vice-president of health promotion with the Lung Association states, "I think we owe it to millions of Canadians who are addicted to tobacco products. If there's a product out there that may have some merit to bring down those numbers, we have to look at it."
"Nano by Jasper & Jasper can't claim that e-cigs actually get people off of tobacco," says Muzaic. "But we can safely say that people are using them and trying them out as they feel they are safer than smoking real cigarettes."
The federal government of Canada has collected nearly $25-billion over the last two years from the sale of tobacco.
Around the world the e-cig fad is taking off big time.
According to the UK government nearly 1.3 million smokers have quit cigarettes when using c-cigs. In the US, that number is nearly 4 million. No data on this matter is available yet in Canada.
Health Canada at present is not supporting the sale and use of e-cigs, but they too still want to research and look in the products offered more closely.
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The discussion about protein started around World War II when commercial dog foods became more available and they began to replace the traditional meat and meat by-product diet. At first, the cheaper forms of leftover meat were put into the food with little regard for flavor or fashion. But with the interest in health as related to diet, a whole new generation of pet foods have entered the market. These quality foods challenge the earlier foods by promoting a product that is better than ever for our pets. At the center of debate for the newer products is protein, its source, digestibility, and quantity. Hopefully this article will answer some of the questions concerning protein in your pet's diet.
Amino acids
Why do cats and dogs need protein? Proteins are necessary for all aspects of growth and development and are very important in structural make up and the immune system. In addition, they are burned as calories and can be converted to and stored as fat.
In reality, our pets do not need the protein but they need the building blocks that make up the protein, amino acids. There are 22 amino acids that animals need. Animals can synthesize 12 of them. The remaining ones must be consumed. The ones that the animals cannot synthesize are called essential amino acids. They are arginine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, valine, and in cats, taurine. Dogs can synthesize taurine, and therefore, it is not supplemented in their food. This is why there is the old adage that dogs can eat cat food but cats cannot eat dog food. A deficiency in any of the amino acids can cause health-related problems.
Protein quality
Every protein source contains different levels of amino acids and each protein is different in its ability to be broken down into amino acids. So not all proteins are created equal. Some are better for pets than others. The ability of a protein to be used by the body and its amount of usable amino acids is summarized as protein quality (biological value). Egg has the highest biological value and sets the standard for which other proteins are judged. Egg has a biological value of 100. Fish meal and milk are close behind with a value of 92. Beef is around 78 and soybean meal is 67. "Meat and bone meal" and wheat are around 50 and corn is 45. Things like hair and feathers would be very high in protein but would be down at the bottom of the list for biological value. The actual composition of individual proteins as well as the utilization of amino acids is very detailed and beyond the scope of this article, but in summary, we see that all proteins are not created equal.
Protein requirements
Protein requirements vary from species to species and can vary greatly during the rapid growth stages and for elderly animals with compromised kidneys. I will explain some of the special circumstances that require altered levels of protein but as a rule the following levels apply.
Pregnant and lactating cats may need to be fed kitten food to give them the necessary protein. Sick, weak, and debilitated animals also need extra protein. Animals with kidney disease may need to be on a protein-restricted, but high biological value diet to lessen the effects of the kidney disease.
Can I feed too much protein?
The answer to this is yes and no. In theory, if a healthy animal eats too much protein, some gets excreted in the urine and the rest just gets used as calories or is converted to fat and does not cause any harm. Protein is the most expensive ingredient in the food and why pay for more than you need. Most pet food companies strike a happy medium and meet the minimum recommended requirements and add a little extra to be safe.
Interpreting the pet food label
This is where the hard part comes in. You now have two choices. The first is to buy a reputable quality brand of cat food for the activity level of your cat and hope that its needs are being met. This is what most owners do and the average cat does just fine. But if you have a cat with special protein needs or want to search out the best possible food for the money then you must dive into the label and try to interpret it.
If you have been reading so far, you know that not all proteins are created equal. The listing of protein level on the bag or can is not a listing of the percent of digestible protein, just a listing of percent protein. So we need to know how to interpret the pet food label. We know that in quality foods digestibility is between 70 and 80%. In lesser quality foods the digestibility could drop to 60% or less. The way to determine the digestibility is not very scientific but is the best we have until the pet food industry begins to list digestibility. By reading the ingredients and noting the order that they appear we can roughly determine the digestibility. The ingredients are listed in order of weight. If the first ingredient is chicken or lamb or other meat, we can assume it is a good quality protein source. Meat meals such as lamb meal also provide quality protein. "Meat and bone meal" is an ingredient that is less desirable. If grains are listed, they are not as digestible sources of protein and contribute heavily toward the carbohydrate load. Some companies will list a meat source and then three different forms of corn, hiding the fact that the main ingredient is corn but just divided into three different products.
Protein is a very critical part of your cat's diet. The majority of premium foods do a good job of providing adequate protein sources for the different life cycles of your pet. There are different protein needs for different life cycles so feed the correct one. Read the labels carefully and make sure you are getting what you pay for.
Coffman. Comparative Reference Guide to Premium Dog Food. Pig Dog Press. Nashua, NH; 1994.
Lewis, L; Morris, M. Small Animal Clinical Nutrition. Mark Morris Associates. Topeka, KS; 1984.
Palika, L. The Consumers Guide to Dog Food. Macmillan. New York, NY; 1996.
Ralston Purina Company. Nutrition and Management of Dogs and Cats. St. Louis, MO; 1987.
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Story last updated at 5/28/2014 - 2:04 pm
For decades, the LeConte Survey Program has convinced a select group of Petersburg High School students to give up their lunch break, learn surveying, and practice trigonometry.
The reward? A chance to see and document LeConte, the southernmost tidewater glacier in the northern hemisphere, from a perspective no one else is permitted to. The data the students collect is scientifically valid, has been used in academic papers, and in 1993 attracted a lot of attention from scientists, said science teacher and program leader Vic Trautman.
Petersburg High School geology teacher Paul Bowen started the program in 1983. Trautman took over in the late 1990s, when Bowen retired.
For several students who participated this year, the program is a family affair. Cynthia Benitz' brother and father both participated in the program. Her father traps near the glacier, so she grew up going there.
"I just thought it would be cool to get a different angle - a different perspective of the glacier," she said.
Diane Murph's parents are surveyors, and both of her older sisters participated in the program.
"They said it was an amazing experience, and it helped them a lot," she said.
Kyle Hagerman got interested in the program while taking one of Trautman's classes. He liked the idea of doing something that had to do both with science and the LeConte Glacier, he said.
Students apply to the program, and surveyors rank their applications according to relevant criteria. Most students are in the program for two years; the first is used for training, and the second is the year they get to go to the glacier.
Every Wednesday - with a few exceptions - students head outside during lunch breaks to practice surveying. They learn how to use theodolites (instruments used for measuring angles.) They learn about the history of the program and its study of the glacier.
On the day of the survey, students land at two sites, one to the north, on a 1,000-foot ledge, and one to the south, on a 250-foot ledge. Three students and one supervisor visit each spot.
They measure as many points on the glacier as possible. Usually, Trautman said, that's around 15 to 20.
Then, the TEMSCO helicopter picks them up, and each group measures the other groups' points.
After that, they have a "math night" - an intensive evening of trigonometry, checking and double-checking their results.
In 1993, the glacier receded a half mile in only six months.
"That was significant retreating," Trautman said. "That was way before we had any of the other, quote, unquote, huge recessions of glaciers."
Trautman said University of Alaska Southeast Professor Emeritus Roman Motyka, who has helped with the program, suggested the glacier may have been sitting on an earlier terminal moraine. When it receded, it lacked support, and it calved until it found another terminal moraine - an accumulation of rocks and debris at the maximum extent of a glacier.
Tidewater glaciers function differently than valley glaciers like the Mendenhall glacier in Juneau, Trautman said. Valley glaciers tend to melt. Tidewater glaciers calve, dropping icebergs, especially when the ocean floor drops and part of the glacier begins to float.
"In the bottom of the ocean, you get a rise," Trautman said. "If it starts to go over the top of that high spot, now it's floating and it calves off."
They've only started measuring the terminus' height recently, Trautman said.
They used to record it as 250 or 270 feet above water level. Now, it's only 190 feet above water level, he said. "There seems to be a thinning trend," he said.
This year, they found the glacier's terminus has continued to remain mostly stable. The south side advanced a little - about 60 feet, Hagerman said - while the north receded about 60 feet. Overall, though, it's remained basically in the same spot.
"The face falls off continuously, but we have a map and we plot each point, so every year we get a new line," Trautman said. "We can compare this year's line to last year's line, all the way back."
Trautman said as far as he knows, the program is unique - especially for a high school.
"I'm not familiar with a high school program anyplace in the world that has spent 31 years studying the terminus of a tidewater glacier," he said. "There are professors studying various glaciers all over the world, but not too many high schoolers doing it, especially on their lunch hour."


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New Workshops – Fall 2014
Quest for Meaning and Third Half of Life9 Sunday Evenings6:00 to 8:30 PM – Beginning September 28
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If you have asked yourself questions like:
– you will find On Being Human valuable in your personal quest, for it takes a broad, holistic view – exploring how psychology, art, science, religion, relationships, culture, mythology, philosophy, and the world¹s wisdom traditions are all involved in coming to terms with the full range of human emotions and possibilities. Including all, it leads toward their integration in living a fulfilled human life.
When you read On Being Human you acquire a wise new friend who respects and cares for your well-being and is devoted to increasing your understanding of yourself and how to overcome life's complexities. To clarify how we can make the best decisions for living, David combines the rational, emotional and spiritual dimensions in considering what makes life worthwhile. In reading this book you will gain much insight and feel dignified by what you have come to know.
We get thrown into life, and end up in the most frustrating places! Why don't they give us a road map for how to be a human being?" In my psychotherapy practice, this question arises often. In On Being Human: An Operator's Manual David White tackles this very problem. He takes the big questions about what it is to be a human being and renders them into a language for today. Questions about how to live a fully expressed, moral, and rational life have been the domain of philosophers, theologians, poets and psychologist since the beginning of time. Gently, with humor, intelligence, and understanding, he takes the big questions down from the "Ivory Towers" of the wisdom traditions and translates them into this useful and very readable book.
I have followed David White's work for more than a decade, and have attended many of his lectures and participated in several discussion groups he has organized. What makes this book unique is that it presents a cohesive, wonderfully-crafted summary of more than thirty years of reading, introspection, and inner work. The book will be invaluable to those who are either beginning, or have already embarked on, a journey of self-discovery.
David shares here his vast, comprehensive knowledge of wisdom traditions along with his own thoughts and humor, making An Operator's Manual both a rich resource for living a meaningful life as well as a delight to read. When life throws you the hard, fast curve that makes you question why you are here and disrupts your game, On Being Human is the place to find a fix.
If you've ever paused to ponder the meaning of your own life, this book is for you. From a rocking chair on his front porch, David White guides us on a romp across vast expanses of culture—philosophy, psychology, science, and the best that the wisdom traditions, both eastern and western, have to offer—always bringing it back home to this time…this place…this individual life.


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Last spring, I took the opportunity to attend a class in the Medford, Oregon area called "Sip and Paint." A dear friend of mine, Mary, and I made our reservations in advance and dove head first into this cool class. All the painting supplies and a canvas are provided. You get to sit down, enjoy a nice glass of wine, listen to awesome music and the instructors tell you what and … [Read More...]
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Photo: by Michelle Fain. Fun, whimsical hand-crafted Frog Box created by Gerry and Marlene Ludlow of Mt. Shasta City, California. You know that feeling you get … [Read More...]


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Charlie McCreevy in the money at Sligo with Flic Flac
FORMER Minister for Finance Charlie McCreevy last night made a rewarding trip to Sligo, where he saw Flic Flac land the fillies handicap in the colours of his wife Noeleen.
A well-supported 3/1 second favourite, the Dermot Weld-trained mare got the better of outsider Jesmond Lodge at the furlong pole, before staying on well for Pat Smullen to beat Almosthaditall by three-parts of a length.
Weld and Smullen were expected to complete a double with Truthwillsetufree in the conditions race, but the 8/13 favourite had no answer to Queen Of Alba. Thomas Cleary's charge sailed past the front-running Smoker approaching the home turn and Queen Of Alba was always finding plenty for Ronan Whelan, who was riding his first winner since riding out his claim.
Willie McCreery's string have been in great form of late and the Kildare handler was again on the mark with Ohh Lala in the opening juvenile maiden. The 5/2 favourite had run well on her previous outing at Fairyhouse and Leigh Roche's mount maintained her improvement by getting the better of Spirit Of Wedza inside the final furlong.
Pat Downey's Three Bells benefited from a decline in its handicap mark to run out a convincing winner of the extended six furlong handicap.
Pat Flynn's Waydownsouth was the highest-rated horse in the card's claiming contest and punters duly took notice, backing him into 4/7 favourite.
The seven-year-old had to be rousted along early on by Danny Grant, but responded generously before galloping two and a half lengths clear of Burnt Sienna at the finish.
The Audi Sligo Apprentice saw another success for youngster Katherine O'Brien, who guided Joanna Morgan's Calle Aneto to a neck victory from Dancingwithangels.
Irish Independent


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Auf www.shoepassion.fr sind Bestellungen ausschließlich für Frankreich, die französischen Überseegebiete und die Schweiz möglich. Um eine Bestellung für Deutschland aufzugeben, wechseln Sie bitte auf www.shoepassion.de.
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Designed in 1830 by Queen Victoria's royal shoemaker, the Chelsea boot is a flat ankle boot that achieved global popularity when it was worn by the Beatles. Since their heyday, this classic shoe has become a firm staple of both men's and women's footwear, prized for its clean and elegant form. Handcrafted and Goodyear-welted, No. 212 is a dark brown women's Chelsea boot. This full-leather shoe is extremely breathable, flexible, and long-lasting.
No. 212's upper is made of soft velours that has been fully-dyed dark brown. In keeping with tradition, this Chelsea boot features elastic side inserts and a pull tab stitched on at the heel, and does without decorative elements. The only feature that breaks up this ankle boot's upper is a delicate double seam running beneath the elastic inserts. This seam extends to the bottom of the shoe, and emphasizes the clean lines of the overall design. Because this shoe boasts a high proportion of leather, Goodyear-welted construction, and a Rendenbach leather outsole, it is breathable, easy to repair (if and when necessary), and runs true to size.
This women's Chelsea boot in dark brown is made of soft and supple velours, and has a casual, nonchalant look. While this shoe is poorly-suited for formal business affairs, its youthful charm makes it a strong choice for relatively informal workplaces. A tip: this model's simple design looks best with slim-fitting trousers.
Boots with a short shaft that only extends three to five centimetres above the ankle. These boots are sturdier than classic flat shoes and provide greater protection for your feet during inclement weather.
Subtly narrows at the front of the shoe. Features an elegantly rounded toe and a slightly elevated instep arch. The marked rise of the toe from the ground and the average-width middle portion of the shoe ensure wearing comfort. Ideal for average and high insteps.
Processed velours is an extremely fine, fully-dyed type of rough leather that is taken from the flesh side of the hide. Velours is extremely soft and resistant to soiling. It is easy to care for; regular brushing with a suede brush suffices to keep your velours shoes in good shape.
For the past 140 years, Rendenbach has used oak bark tanning to produce leather soles—the process can take up to nine months. These soles are renowned for their extreme durability and natural water repellency. Women's shoes with Rendenbach soles are a real novelty.
The gold standard when it comes to shoe manufacturing. Goodyear welting is a painstaking process that involves stitching the shaft and outsole to a thin strip of leather. Shoes made this way are extremely stable, durable, breathable, and easy to repair.
Mass-produced shoes are glued together on assembly lines. All of our premium, full-leather shoes, on the other hand, are handcrafted to the finest standards of quality. You can see and feel the difference.
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This shoe boasts a high proportion of leather, and has been assembled without the use of adhesive bonding—both of these factors ensure proper air circulation and prevent moisture from penetrating the surface. Dry, well-ventilated feet are healthy feet.
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SHOEPASSION.com was founded by a pair of shoe lovers, and each and every employee focuses on satisfying our shoe-loving customers. Whether it's graphic design, sales, marketing, editorial, or customer service, we handle all aspects of our business internally, ensuring our total control over all processes. We're also owner-managed.
Your opinion is important to us; that's how we define our business. If you'd like to express your satisfaction with our products and services, let us know. You can read reviews from other customers as well as experts in the shoe industry on the SHOEPASSION.com site. Your satisfaction is our top priority!
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SYDNEY--Australia's Origin Energy Ltd. (ORG.AU) said it had agreed to sell a portion of its future oil production for US$300 million, helping bolster its balance sheet and easing pressure on the company to raise equity following a recent earnings downgrade.
Origin said it had agreed to sell a portion of its oil and condensate production from its Australian east coast and New Zealand assets from 2015. Condensate is a form of light oil that is often a by-product of natural gas production.
The company agreed "to sell a portion of its future oil and condensate production at a price linked to the current oil forward pricing curve," Origin said in its statement on Friday.
The Australian energy company is currently in a capital-intensive phase of its growth that includes funding construction of a US$20 billion liquefied-natural-gas, or LNG, project with partners ConnocoPhillips and China Petrochemcial Corp.
It recently announced a profit downgrade linked to weak domestic Australian electricity markets.
Origin is attempting to sell down a portion of the LNG project to help fund its construction .
Analysts say this will be challenging, partly because it has already sold all of the LNG from the project's foundation stage and won't be able to offer any output with a stake sale.
LNG projects in Queensland state are also facing mounting cost pressures from a tight labor market and strong Australian dollar.
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text: Sustained Antiretroviral Effect of Raltegravir After 96 Weeks of Combination Therapy in Treatment-Naive Patients With HIV-1 InfectionMarkowitz, Martin MD*; Nguyen, Bach-Yen MD†; Gotuzzo, Eduardo MD‡; Mendo, Fernando MD§; Ratanasuwan, Winai MD‖; Kovacs, Colin MD¶; Prada, Guillermo MD#; Morales-Ramirez, Javier O MD**; Crumpacker, Clyde S MD††; Isaacs, Robin D MD†; Campbell, Havilland BS†; Strohmaier, Kim M BS†; Wan, Hong MS†; Danovich, Robert M PhD†; Teppler, Hedy MD†for the Protocol 004 Part II Study TeamJAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes: November 2009 - Volume 52 - Issue 3 - p 350-356 doi: 10.1097/QAI.0b013e3181b064b0 Clinical Science Abstract Author Information Article Outline Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of raltegravir vs efavirenz-based antiretroviral therapy after 96 weeks in treatment-naive patients with HIV-1 infection. Methods: Multicenter, double-blind, randomized study of raltegravir (100, 200, 400, or 600 mg twice a day) vs efavirenz (600 mg every day), both with tenofovir/lamivudine (TDF/3TC), for 48 weeks, after which raltegravir arms were combined and all dosed at 400 mg twice a day. Eligible patients had HIV-1 RNA ≥5000 copies per milliliter and CD4+ T cells ≥100 cells per microliter. Results: One hundred ninety-eight patients were randomized and treated; 160 received raltegravir and 38 received efavirenz. At week 96, 84% of patients in both groups achieved HIV-1 RNA <400 copies per milliliter; 83% in the raltegravir group and 84% in the efavirenz group achieved <50 copies per milliliter (noncompleter = failure). Both groups showed similar increases in CD4+ T cells (221 vs 232 cells/uL, respectively). An additional 2 patients (1 in each group) met the protocol definition of virologic failure between weeks 48 and 96; no known resistance mutations were observed in the raltegravir recipient; the efavirenz recipient had nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor and nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor resistance mutations. Investigator reported drug-related clinical adverse events (AEs) were less frequent with raltegravir (51%) than efavirenz (74%). Drug-related AEs occurring in >10% of patients in either group were nausea in both groups and dizziness and headache in the efavirenz group. Laboratory AEs remained infrequent. Raltegravir had no adverse effect on total or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol or on triglycerides. Neuropsychiatric AEs remained less frequent with raltegravir (34%) than efavirenz (58%). There were no drug-related serious AEs in patients receiving raltegravir. Conclusions: In antiretroviral therapy-naive patients, raltegravir with TDF/3TC had potent antiretroviral activity, which was similar to efavirenz/TDF/3TC and was sustained to week 96. Raltegravir was generally well tolerated; drug-related AEs were less frequent in patients treated with raltegravir compared with efavirenz. From the *Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, New York, NY; †Merck Research Laboratories, West Point, PA; ‡Hospital Nacionale Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru; §Hospital Nacionale Edgardo Rebagliati, Lima, Peru; ∥Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand; ¶Canadian Immunodeficiency Research Collaborative, Toronto, Canada; #Fundación Santafe de Bogota University Hospital, Bogotá, Colombia; **Clinical Research Puerto Rico, Inc, San Juan, PR; and ††Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA. Received for publication December 9, 2008; accepted January 26, 2009. All funding for this study was provided by Merck & Co, Inc. The list of all authors in the 004 Study Team are incuded in the Appendix section. Correspondence to: Hedy Teppler, MD, Merck Research Laboratories, PO Box 1000, North Wales, PA 19454-1099 (e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com). Abstract INTRODUCTION METHODS Study Design Statistical Analysis Antiretroviral Activity Safety Role of the Funding Source RESULTS Patient Characteristics Efficacy Safety DISCUSSION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS REFERENCES APPENDIX 1: Protocol 004 Study Team Back to Top | Article Outline INTRODUCTION Raltegravir (formerly known as MK-0518) is a strand-transfer inhibitor of HIV-1 integrase1 that was recently approved for use in combination with other antiretroviral agents in treatment-experienced patients with virologic failure and multidrug-resistant HIV-1 based on potent efficacy and favorable safety data from treatment-experienced patients in Protocol 0052 and BENCHMRK-1 and -2.3,4 Potent and durable efficacy of raltegravir sustained to week 48 was also reported in treatment-naive patients enrolled in Protocol 004, a phase II dose-ranging study using raltegravir at 100, 200, 400, or 600 mg twice daily compared with efavirenz, both combined with tenofovir and lamivudine.5,6 Upon completing week 48 of the dose-ranging phase of the study, patients in Protocol 004 had the option to continue in a double-blind extension phase in which all patients in the raltegravir group received 400 mg twice a day, the dose chosen for further study in the Phase III program and currently the approved dose of raltegravir. This report presents the efficacy and safety data from patients completing at least 96 weeks of therapy in this continuing study of raltegravir 400 mg twice a day in treatment-naive patients with HIV-1 infection. Back to Top | Article Outline METHODS Study Design Protocol 004 is a double-blind, randomized, dose-ranging study in treatment-naive HIV-1-infected patients with plasma HIV-1 RNA levels ≥5000 copies per milliliter and CD4+ T-cell counts ≥100 cells per cubic millimeter at screening. Part I consisted of 10 days of raltegravir monotherapy in 35 patients.6 Part II examined the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of raltegravir dosed 100, 200, 400, or 600 mg twice daily vs efavirenz 600 mg per day, each with tenofovir 300 mg per day and lamivudine 300 mg per day, for up to 48 weeks in 30 patients from part I (cohort I) plus 171 patients randomized into part II (cohort II).5 Patients who reached week 48 of the original study were given the option to continue in a double-blind extension. Patients who received any dose of raltegravir in the original study received raltegravir 400 mg twice a day in the extension phase. Patients who received efavirenz in the original study continued on efavirenz in the extension. Both open-label drugs, tenofovir and lamivudine, continued unchanged in the extension. This portion of the study (week 48 through week 96) was conducted at 29 sites in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Thailand, and Australia from May 18, 2006 through September 04, 2007. Patients returned to the study sites for physical examinations, laboratory tests, and assessment of virologic and immunologic responses at study weeks 60, 72, 84, and 96. Patients with lack of response (confirmed plasma HIV-1 RNA >400 copies/mL) or virologic relapse despite compliance with study therapy could be discontinued from study at the discretion of the investigator. Virologic relapse was defined as 2 consecutive measurements (at least 1 week apart) of (1) plasma HIV-1 RNA >400 copies per milliliter after initial response with plasma HIV-1 RNA <400 copies per milliliter or (2) >1.0 log10 increase in plasma HIV-1 RNA above the nadir level. In patients displaying virologic failure (HIV-1 RNA >400 copies/mL at week 24 or early discontinuation or virologic relapse), genotypic and phenotypic resistance assays (Monogram Biosciences, San Francisco, CA) were used to evaluate resistance to tenofovir, lamivudine, and efavirenz at the time of failure as compared with baseline. The emergence of resistance to raltegravir was evaluated by genotyping the integrase coding sequence using methods previously reported.4 Back to Top | Article Outline Statistical Analysis Antiretroviral Activity Efficacy analyses were based upon a modified intent-to-treat approach, which included all randomized patients who received at least 1 dose of study medication, regardless of adherence to entry criteria or deviations from the protocol. It was previously reported that all doses of raltegravir showed generally similar efficacy and safety at week 48 in this study5; after week 48, all patients on raltegravir received 400 mg twice a day. Therefore, the efficacy data beyond week 48 are displayed in this current analysis as a single raltegravir group that combines all original raltegravir dose groups. The primary efficacy measurement was the proportion of patients achieving plasma HIV-1 RNA <400 copies per milliliter on the AMPLICOR HIV-1 Monitor Standard assay. Secondary measurements included the proportion of patients achieving plasma HIV-1 RNA <50 copies per milliliter on the UltraSensitive assay, the change from baseline in HIV-1 RNA (log10 copies/mL), and the change from baseline in CD4+ T-cell count. This was an estimation study only and was not powered for formal efficacy comparisons between raltegravir and efavirenz. For the proportion of patients achieving HIV-1 RNA levels <400 copies per milliliter and <50 copies per milliliter, the noncompleter = failure (NC = F) approach was used; all missing values due to premature discontinuations were considered failures, regardless of the reason for discontinuation and the success/failure status at the time of discontinuation. The difference in proportions between raltegravir and efavirenz groups at 48 and 96 weeks was estimated, and the associated 2-sided confidence interval was derived using Miettinen and Nurminen method.7 For change from baseline in CD4+ T-cell count and HIV RNA, the observed failure approach was used; baseline value was carried forward for patients who discontinued assigned therapy due to lack of efficacy. Back to Top | Article Outline Safety The safety analysis included all data available through the visit cutoff date of September 04, 2007, including data beyond week 96 in some patients. All patients who took study medication were included in the analysis, which included all adverse events that occurred during study therapy or within 14 days after discontinuation. Laboratory values were examined according to the 1992 Division of AIDS toxicity guidelines for adults (http://rcc.tech-res-intl.com/tox_tables.htm). The differences in proportions of patients with drug-related adverse events (defined as those considered by investigators as possibly, probably, or definitely related to any component of the antiretroviral regimen) were compared using 2-tailed Fisher exact test. To further establish whether raltegravir provides a favorable ratio of benefit to risk in treatment-naive patients, post hoc explorations were performed for neuropsychiatric symptoms and changes in lipid profiles. Since the publication of the week 48 data,5 it was recognized that 4 terms associated with efavirenz-related central nervous system (CNS) adverse events (dizziness, insomnia, somnolence, and impaired concentration), as noted in the product labeling for efavirenz,8 were omitted from the original week 48 analysis. For completeness, results described in this article use the expanded list of CNS-related adverse event terms. Back to Top | Article Outline Role of the Funding Source This study was designed by the sponsor (Merck & Co, Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ) in collaboration with external consultants. The data were collected by the clinical site investigators. The sponsor collated the data, monitored the conduct of the study, performed the statistical analyses, and coordinated the writing of the article with all authors. Data were unblinded for statistical analyses after the databases were locked. Back to Top | Article Outline RESULTS Patient Characteristics A total of 198 patients received study therapy in the original protocol. Baseline characteristics were balanced across treatment groups, as previously described.5 At baseline, plasma HIV-1 RNA levels were >50,000 copies per milliliter and >100,000 copies per milliliter in 57% and 34% of patients, respectively. The mean HIV-1 RNA level at baseline ranged from 4.6 to 4.8 log10 copies per milliliter. Mean CD4+ T-cell count at baseline ranged from 271 to 338 cells per cubic millimeter. A total of 183 patients entered the extension phase after completing 48 weeks of study therapy. As of September 04, 2007, 169 patients (84%) remained in the study (Fig. 1). FIGURE 1 Back to Top | Article Outline Efficacy The potent antiretroviral and immunological effect observed in raltegravir-treated patients at week 48 was sustained to week 96 (Table 1). By week 48, all 4 original raltegravir dose groups demonstrated similar efficacy, and these were combined into 1 group for analyses of time points beyond week 48. At week 96, 84% of raltegravir-treated patients and 84% of efavirenz recipients had HIV-1 RNA levels below 400 copies per milliliter (Fig. 2A), with 83% and 84%, respectively, below 50 copies per milliliter (Fig. 2B). The mean change in CD4+ T-cell count from baseline to week 96 was +221 cells per cubic millimeter for raltegravir and +232 cells per cubic millimeter for efavirenz (Fig. 2C). Efficacy endpoints were comparable in patients with baseline HIV-1 RNA levels >100,000 copies per milliliter and ≤100,000 copies per milliliter (Table 2). TABLE 1 TABLE 2 FIGURE 2 Virologic failure occurred in 6 of 160 patients (4%) in the raltegravir group and in 2 of 38 patients (5%) in the efavirenz group by week 96. Most cases of virologic failure occurred before week 48 and have been previously described.5 One patient in each treatment group developed virologic failure between weeks 48 and 96, and a lack of treatment adherence was suspected based on information collected in medication diaries. Over 96 weeks, treatment-emergent amino acid substitutions in either reverse transcriptase, integrase, or both were identified in 6 of 8 patients with protocol-defined virologic failure. Both patients in whom efavirenz-based therapy failed had mutations conferring resistance to both nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor and nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor elements of their regimen. Of the 6 patients with virologic failure during raltegravir-based therapy, 3 had resistance-associated mutations in both the integrase and reverse transcriptase coding regions. The integrase mutations were N155H; L74L/M, V151I, N155H; and Y143C, S230R in the 3 patients. One additional patient who failed raltegravir developed a mutation only in the reverse transcriptase region. Two patients had no resistance-associated mutations in either the integrase or reverse transcriptase coding regions (Table 3). TABLE 3 Back to Top | Article Outline Safety Incidence rates for any adverse event, serious adverse events, and discontinuations due to adverse events were similar in patients receiving raltegravir and those receiving efavirenz (Table 4). Drug-related clinical adverse events were reported by fewer patients in the raltegravir group (51%) than in the efavirenz group (74%). Drug-related adverse events with >10% incidence in either treatment group included nausea in patients receiving raltegravir and dizziness, headache, abnormal dreams, nausea, diarrhea, insomnia, and nightmares in patients receiving efavirenz. Neuropsychiatric adverse events (abnormal dreams, depression, nightmares, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, dizziness, somnolence, adjustment disorder with depressed mood, depressed mood, and insomnia) were less common in the raltegravir group (54 of 160, 34%) than in the efavirenz group (22 of 38, 58%) [95% confidence interval for treatment difference, (−40.3 to −6.7)], primarily due to differences in reports of dizziness (11% vs 34%) and abnormal dreams (7% vs 21%). More than 50% of the neuropsychiatric adverse events were evident by week 8 (data not shown). TABLE 4 In general, few grade 3 or grade 4 laboratory abnormalities were observed through week 96 (Table 5). Creatine phosphokinase (CPK) elevations meeting Division of AIDS grade 3 or grade 4 criteria were observed in 6.3% (10 patients) and 2.6% (1 patient) in the raltegravir and efavirenz groups, respectively, over the 96-week study. Of the 10 cases in the raltegravir group, 3 occurred after week 48, and overall, 6 of the 10 were considered related to strenuous exercise. No cases were associated with clinical adverse experiences such as myopathy, myositis, or rhabdomyolysis, and none required permanent discontinuation of study therapy. Raltegravir was temporarily interrupted due to a grade 4 CPK elevation in 1 patient and did not recur with rechallenge. In all cases, grade 3 or grade 4 CPK elevations were brief in duration and resolved. TABLE 5 Detailed analyses of serum lipid profiles were performed at baseline and at intervals including at week 96 (Table 6). No clinically relevant elevation of triglycerides, total cholesterol, or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was observed in the raltegravir group compared with the efavirenz group. At week 96, the mean change in the ratio of total to HDL cholesterol was −0.74 (from 4.58 at baseline) in the raltegravir group and −0.66 (from 4.57 at baseline) in the efavirenz group. In this study population, a prior diagnosis of hyperlipidemias (such as dyslipidemia, hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipidemia, or hypertriglyceridemia) was uncommon, occurring in 4.4% of the raltegravir group and 5.3% of the efavirenz group. Similarly, the initiation of treatment with any lipid-lowering agents (including prescription medications and nutritional supplements such as omega 3 fatty acids), while the patient was on study therapy, was relatively infrequent and similar in both groups (4.4% in the raltegravir group and 7.9% in the efavirenz group). Similarly, the initiation of lipid-lowering prescription medications (defined as statins, fibrates, ezetimibe, and cholestyramine) occurred in 2.5% and 5.3% of the raltegravir and efavirenz groups, respectively. Reports of hyperlipidemias occurring as adverse events were also infrequent; increased blood triglycerides occurred in 1.3% and 5.3% of the raltegravir and efavirenz treatment groups, respectively, and increased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol occurred in 1 patient in the raltegravir group (0.6%) and in no patients in the efavirenz group. TABLE 6 Back to Top | Article Outline DISCUSSION The treatment paradigm for HIV-1 infection continues to evolve. Currently, the use of antiretroviral agent combinations can achieve sustained control of viral replication and improved immune function in the majority of treatment-naive and treatment-experienced patients. Among the newest agents, raltegravir, a strand-transfer inhibitor of the HIV-1 integrase enzyme, dosed at 400 mg twice daily without regard to food, has been approved for use in treatment-experienced patients who have evidence of ongoing viral replication and multidrug resistance. This approval is based largely on the results of the BENCHMRK trials,3,4 where raltegravir proved superior to placebo when added to an optimized background regimen. After 48 weeks of treatment in Protocol 004, potent efficacy and favorable tolerability and safety of raltegravir in treatment-naive patients were also reported.5 This report confirms that a continued and durable suppression of viral replication, comparable to that obtained with an efavirenz-based regimen, is achieved with raltegravir-based therapy at the 400 mg twice a day dose, both with 2 nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, through 96 weeks, after the initial 48 weeks of raltegravir dosed at 100-600 mg twice daily. In addition, the raltegravir regimen maintained a favorable adverse event profile in treatment-naive HIV-1-infected patients. These results are consistent with the results of a large Phase III study of raltegravir compared with efavirenz in combination with a fixed-dose combination of tenofovir and emtricitabine in treatment-naive patients demonstrating noninferiority of the raltegravir-containing regimen.9 The durability of the antiretroviral response of raltegravir for at least 96 weeks observed in this study is noteworthy. That 83% of 160 treated patients maintained plasma HIV-1 levels below the 50-copy detection limit suggests that the raltegravir-based combination therapy is comparable in activity and durability to an efavirenz-based combination regimen.10,11 This will be confirmed in the larger, ongoing Phase III study noted above. Interestingly, in the current study, only 1 patient in each treatment group had virologic failure beyond week 48. Both of these patients had a suspected lack of treatment compliance, and the patient in the raltegravir group had no evidence of any integrase-associated resistance mutations. The 96-week safety and tolerability results continue to demonstrate the lipid neutrality of raltegravir-based therapy. Furthermore, there seems to be a distinction between the 2 treatment arms regarding neuropsychiatric adverse events, which if confirmed in larger studies, may be important in future treatment decisions for treatment-naive patients. The imbalance in the incidence of grade 3 or grade 4 CPK elevations between the treatment groups confirms previously reported data from the BENCHMRK studies3 that raltegravir therapy may be associated with asymptomatic elevation in CPK levels. In postmarketing reports, rhabdomyolysis has been reported in patients receiving raltegravir and concomitant therapy with statins12 and should therefore be used with care in patients predisposed to rhabdomyolysis, that is, patients on concomitant therapy with statins. In summary, in this Phase II study, raltegravir 400 mg twice daily in combination with 2 nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors has demonstrated potent durable efficacy similar to that of an efavirenz-based regimen and has been generally well tolerated. Results of an ongoing Phase III study of raltegravir in treatment-naive subjects are expected to provide more information on the potential role of a raltegravir-based treatment regimen for the HIV-1-infected, treatment-naive patient. Back to Top | Article Outline ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors would like to thank the patients for their participation in this study and the other members of the Protocol 004 Study Team for their contributions. They would also like to thank Neal Azrolan and Karyn Davis (Medical Communications, Merck Research Laboratories, North Wales, PA) for their assistance with the article.Back to Top | Article Outline REFERENCES1. Hazuda DJ, Felock P, Witmer M, et al. Inhibitors of strand transfer that prevent integration and inhibit HIV-1 replication in cells. Science. 2000;287:646-650. Cited Here... 2. Grinsztejn B, Nguyen B-Y, Katlama C, et al. Safety and efficacy of the HIV-1 integrase inhibitor raltegravir (MK-0518) in treatment-experienced patients with multidrug-resistant virus: a phase II randomized controlled trial. Lancet. 2007;369:1261-1269. Cited Here... 3. Steigbigel RT, Cooper, DA, Kumar PN, et al. Raltegravir with optimized background therapy for resistant HIV-1 infection. N Eng J Med. 2008;359:339-354. Cited Here... 4. Cooper D, Steigbigel RT, Gatell JM, et al. Subgroup and resistance analyses of raltegravir for resistant HIV-1 infection. N Eng J Med. 2008;359:355-365. Cited Here... 5. Markowitz M, Nguyen B-Y, Gotuzzo E, et al. Rapid and durable antiretroviral effect of the HIV-1 integrase inhibitor raltegravir as part of combination therapy in treatment-naive patients with HIV-1 infection: results of a 48-week controlled study. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2007;46:125-133. Cited Here... 6. Markowitz M, Morales-Ramirez JO, Nguyen BY, et al. Antiretroviral activity, pharmacokinetics, and tolerability of MK-0518, a novel inhibitor of HIV-1 integrase, dosed as monotherapy for 10 days in treatment-naive HIV-1-infected individuals. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2006;43:509-515. Cited Here... 7. Miettinen O, Nurminen M. Comparative analysis of two rates. Stat Med. 1985;4:213-226. Cited Here... 8. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Princeton, NJ. Prescribing information for SUSTIVA® (efavirenz) capsules and tablets [package insert]. January 2007. Cited Here... 9. Lennox J, DeJesus E, Lazzarin A, et al. STARTMRK, a phase III study of the safety & efficacy of raltegravir (RAL)-based vs efavirenz (EFV)-based combination therapy in treatment-naive HIV-infected patients. Presented at: 48th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy; 2008; Washington, DC. Abstract #H-896a. Cited Here... 10. Gallant JE, Staszewski S, Posniak A, et al. Efficacy and safety of tenofovir DF vs stavudine in combination therapy in antiretroviral-naive patients: a 3-year randomized trial. JAMA. 2004;292:191-201. Cited Here... 11. Pozniak AL, Gallant JE, DeJesus E, et al. Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, emtricitabine, and efavirenz versus fixed-dose zidovudine/lamivudine and efavirenz in antiretroviral-naive patients: virologic, immunologic, and morphologic changes-a 96-week analysis. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2006;43:535-540. Cited Here... 12. Merck & Co, Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ. Prescribing information for ISENTRESS (raltegravir) tablets [package insert]. October 2007. Cited Here... Back to Top | Article Outline APPENDIX 1: Protocol 004 Study Team Australia: D. Baker, M. Bloch, N. Bodsworth, D. Cooper, and C. Workman; Canada: C.K. and C. Tsoukas; Chile: A. Afani and J. Perez; Colombia: J. Cortes and G. P; Peru: E.G. and F. Mendo; Thailand: W. Ratanasuwan and S. Thitivichianlert; United States: S. Brown, C.S.C., J. Galpin, C. Hicks, P. Kumar, K. Lichtenstein, S. Little, R. Liporace, M.M., J.O.M., J. Santana-Bagur, R. Schwartz, R. Steigbigel, and K. Tashima.Keywords:antiretroviral therapy; HIV-1; integrase inhibitor; MK-0518; raltegravir © 2009 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.


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* Takes 30 mln stg one-off charge in marine unit
* Says excluding currency, on track for flat FY profits
* Says currency headwinds could impact by 40 mln stg
* Shares down 1.8 pct (Recasts with comments on energy unit sale, updates share price)
By Sarah Young
LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - Britain's Rolls-Royce is hopeful of concluding an estimated 1 billion euro ($1.4 billion) disposal, talks on which it announced earlier this week as it looks to exit an energy-related business it sees as too small to effectively compete globally.
Rolls, the world's second-largest maker of aircraft engines behind General Electric, had on Tuesday announced talks on the possible sale to Germany's Siemens of its unit which makes equipment for the oil and gas industry, as well as power-generation gear for utilities.
Questioned on the deal after Rolls had warned that a one-off charge in its marine unit would impact its first-half results, Chief Executive John Rishton said he was reasonably optimistic of concluding the sale.
"It's a subscale business and in that business you need scale," Rishton told reporters on the sidelines of the company's annual shareholders' meeting on Thursday, adding that the unit had been under review for some time. "Hopefully we will conclude it."
He declined to comment on the value or timeline of any deal, but said Rolls was otherwise happy with the shape of the business and did not envisage any further selloffs.
"I think that we have addressed what I would call the disposal element as we looked at the portfolio (so) we can focus on the areas that we are really strong at," Rishton said, noting that the planned buy-out of Daimler's stake in jointly owned engine maker Tognum remained "the most important thing on our agenda at the moment."
Rishton told investors at the meeting that by the end of the next decade he expected Rolls to return to making engines for medium-sized aircraft. Its focus in recent years had been on engines for large aircraft.
"We are committed to finding a way back into that very important market," he said, adding that there was no rush and the company would likely seek a partner to do so.
Earlier the group had said in a statement a 30 million pound charge in its marine unit to rectify a product quality issue meant profits in 2014 would be weighted to the second half of the year, though for the full year it remained on track to meet previous guidance of flat profits if currency headwinds were excluded.
The group had disappointed the market in February when it said U.S. and European spending cuts would result in flat profits in 2014, bringing a decade of profit growth to an end. It reiterated on Thursday it expected growth to resume next year.
In the short term, however, currency headwinds could bite into profits. At current rates, it estimated foreign exchange translation effects could lower profits this year by 40 million pounds ($67.5 million).
The latest consensus among analysts is for Rolls to report a pretax profit of 1.8 billion pounds, Thomson Reuters data showed.
Some analysts said the foreign exchange impact and the marine provision amounted to a reduction in guidance.
"I'm slightly surprised at the size of the potential hit because they do have hedging ... the 40 million seemed a bit on the high side," Societe General analyst Zafar Khan said.
Shares in the company were down 1.8 percent at 1,031 pence by 1251 GMT.
Sterling has risen about 4 percent against the dollar over the past six months and a raft of companies have warned of the impact, including luxury goods brand Burberry and engineering company GKN.
Other analysts said the currency headwinds were expected and shrugged off the one-off provision.
"We have a rather grubby first half and then we have a rather excellent second half. Is the second half the best pointer to the future? Because if it is, this company looks to be in very fine shape," analyst Sandy Morris at brokerage Jefferies said.
Rolls said its second half would benefit from cost savings as well as improved trading, as it begins deliveries of the Trent XWB engine to be used on Airbus's new A350 airliner.
Analysts said proceeds from the potential energy disposal could be used to fund the company's planned Tognum acquisition. Rolls said on Thursday the purchase, announced in March, would cost 2.43 billion euros. ($1 = 0.7212 Euros) (Editing by Jason Neely and David Holmes)


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The Battle of Marne Effects Thank you The allies won a stratigic victory. Results The battle took place on the Marne River near Paris, France.
It lasted for 7 days from September 5-12 1914 The people who fought in the war were the British and France against Germany. subject 1 Subject 2 Comanders Subjec This is a picture of the germans France Joseph Joffre
France Michel Maunoury
France Joseph Gallieni
United Kingdom Sir John French
France Franchet d'Esperey
France Ferdinand Foch
France Fernand de Langle
German Empire Helmuth von Moltke
German Empire Karl von Bülow
German Empire Alexander von Kluck
German Empire Duke of Württemberg The French had 39 divisions
The British had 6 divisions Number of people that fought The Germans had 27 divisions The weapons used in this battle were bolt action rifles and machine guns.
The germans used used Maouser Gewehr 98.
They did not use poision gas or tanks in the battle. Weapons used Acts of bravery
French commander General Franchet d'Esperey and his Fifth Army launched a surprise attack against the German Second Army, serving to further widen the gap between the German First and Second Armies. the german armies were winning lots of victortories and forced the Fench and British to fall back to the Marne River. Weather The weather was rainy and bad
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Battle of Marne
this is about the battle of Marne
Bryson Barnetton 27 August 2012
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Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic.
These have been the staples of formal education and skills that most modern societies value. And for good reason. At the beginning of literacy as we know it in Western society, monastic scribes and clerics recorded and perpetuated "the word" to their congregations and followers. Then the 15th Century invention of the printing press accelerated the reproduction of information of many kinds so that wider non-sectarian audiences could share it. And those of us who learned to read (usually in school) benefited from the "age of the printed book".
Most scholarship and research has been converted to printed material with control over the editing of the information delegated to editors, publishers, and organizations who had the means to pay for its production and dissemination to users. That control pipeline assured users (readers) that the information would be relevant (to its intended audience), was grammatically readable, fair, true, honest, and of value.
And now the Internet. With both the creation and dissemination of information in the hands of most individuals via digital media, the former production pipeline has been supplanted by the Internet. For the first time in literate history, the same kinds of information we once could trust and depend upon from renowned authors, publishing houses, magazines, editors, commentators, and organizations, now bombards us daily on millions of Internet homepages, tens of millions of blogs, and a relatively small number of refereed journals or respected Internet sources. And the information is provided in the midst of visual clutter and other distractions. But either way we're not getting the same quality of information. Yes, that IS a huge value judgment!
Please don't forget that scholarly motives brought us literacy in the first place. So evaluating information for its quality – in general – continues to be one measure of its value. But how to do that with Internet information? Consider the source. Anyone anywhere at any time can drop an opinion on you, in a blog, email, text message, or even as an article on a safe, respected web site. At present we define a site's respectability by whether it enables or prevents nefarious activity. We have become accustomed to permit such free speech and not to limit contributions to the "conversation". And also, who do we trust these days, the NSA?
Fortunately (to many) the approved public school instructional materials in most states of the US are still written by content scholars, edited by groups of their peers, bought from respected publishers in print or digital format, and reviewed by some 3rd party authority for their relevance, quality, truthfulness and grade-level readability.
The Tyranny of the Internet is that too quickly we have lost the silent, background gate-keeping of our information that we had come to enjoy. The Washington Post, New York Times, and Life Magazine have changed radically as their editorial focus has diffused into broadcast television, cable news, Facebook, Twitter, and other kinds of immediate, instant information that we now use. The good news is that we now have eBooks from the likes of Kindle and other kinds of more "respectable" media outlets that we can trust.
The best news is that there is now so much scattered information in so many sources and locations that no single human could either read or find most of it in a single day. So focus and selection is up to the user, you and me. And the sources themselves are also ours to choose or reject. After all, most are free of charge.
Here are six suggestions on how to begin (or continue as the case may be).
1. Consider the source. If the website itself looks cheap or ugly (to you) then . . . Anyone can put up a web site or post a bog.
2. Scholarship demands transparency. Look for qualified sources of information who list their names, titles, roles.
3. Look for an obvious track record – copyright, other recent posts, Twitter follows and followers, LinkedIn connections, Facebook timeline. They key here is that the author/writer/poster is serious about sharing information and has a record to prove it. New contributors will prove that over time.
4. Value the message. Topic, relevance, and balance where sides are important.
5. Silently demand clarity – spelling, grammar, and punctuation count (to me at least).
6. Embrace other cultures and languages. (use Google Translate or a similar translation tool)
And if you've read this far and think me a bit old-fashioned, I apologize if only for my pre-Internet upbringing and experience with such things.
Thanks to The Cloud is Huge


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Sarah-Louise - posted on 08/27/2010 ( 3 moms have responded )
Im thinking of getting my son christened after his 1st birthday and i would like to budget on the price but i dont want to go overboard. It will be a close family occasion so there wont be alot of people there.
I also want to know what actually happens and any ideas for afterwards.
Im from England, UK.