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Grand Rapids Christian Schools is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and an equal opportunity employer.
Grand Rapids Christian Schools
1508 Alexander St SE, Grand Rapids MI, 49506
Grand Rapids Christian Schools' Transportation Department has immediate openings for bus drivers who enjoy driving and interacting with children and young adults. If you are interested or if you have questions about what being a Grand Rapids Christian Schools bus driver entails, please contact June DeGraaf, Director of Transportation, at 616.574.5710 or email@example.com. Applicants should love kids, be able to work a flexible schedule, have an excellent driving record, and have or be willing to be trained to receive A Class B Commercial Drivers License with S & P Endorsements WITH no air brake restriction.
Grand Rapids Christian High School
2300 Plymouth SE, Grand Rapids MI, 49506
Part-time position. Please send letter of interest, faith statement, state of Michigan credentials, transcripts, and letters of reference to: Eric Burgess, Principal, Grand Rapids Christian Middle School at firstname.lastname@example.com deadline: July 28, 2017
Grand Rapids Christian Elementary School – Evergreen Campus
1630 Griggs SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506
Part-time position. Please send letter of interest, faith statement, state of Michigan credentials, transcripts, and letters of reference to:Becky Breuker, Principal, Grand Rapids Christian Elementary School – Evergreen Campus at firstname.lastname@example.com
Grand Rapids Christian Elementary School – Iroquois Campus
1050 Iroquois Dr SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506
Rockford Christian School
6060 Belding Road, Rockford MI, 49341
Professional Staff Application
Support Staff Application
Click on the application link above, save to desk top, email completed form to address provided in posting.
Administrative Office2400 Plymouth Avenue SEGrand Rapids, MI 49506 616.574.6000 email@example.com/Middle SchoolLinda firstname.lastname@example.com SchoolJana email@example.com StudentsRachel email@example.com AidJim PrimusChief Financial firstname.lastname@example.com
© 2017 Grand Rapids Christian Schools


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1,500 Google Reviews
Contacted Customer Service through e-mail and got a quick response. Ordering was easy through website.
Side burner
3 1/2 inches in diameter
Brinkmann: 810-3660-0 810-3660-F 810-3660-S 810-3661-F
This part may fit other models. Please contact us if you require additional assistance.
Our warehouse is stocked full of parts for all kinds of appliances.
Questions? Just ask - No call centers!
We are a USA business based in Denver, Colorado and we stand fully behind our products and service

subset: commoncrawl


text: Biochemistry (Scholarly Publications) http://hdl.handle.net/2262/168 Biochemistry (Scholarly Publications) 2017-07-22T10:54:33Z Enrichment of inflammatory IL-17 and TNF-α secreting CD4+ T cells within colorectal tumours despite the presence of elevated CD39+ T regulatory cells and increased expression of the immune checkpoint molecule, PD-1. http://hdl.handle.net/2262/80226 Enrichment of inflammatory IL-17 and TNF-α secreting CD4+ T cells within colorectal tumours despite the presence of elevated CD39+ T regulatory cells and increased expression of the immune checkpoint molecule, PD-1. FLETCHER, JEAN T cell infiltration into colorectal tumors has been shown to correlate with improved patient outcomes. However, more detailed information on the makeup and relationships between the infiltrating T cell subsets is lacking. We therefore correlated the extent of immune infiltration into colorectal tumors with the frequencies of various T cell subsets. We prospectively recruited 22 patients at the time of surgical resection for colorectal cancer. The Klintrup–Mäkinen (KM) score was used to estimate the extent of immune infiltration into colorectal tumors. The frequencies of CD4 and CD8 T cells that produced cytokines or expressed the inhibitory molecule programed cell death 1 (PD-1) were determined by flow cytometry in colorectal tumor and matched uninvolved colonic tissue. In addition, the frequency of CD4 regulatory T cell (Treg) subsets was determined. An increased frequency of CD4 T cells producing IL-17 (Th17 cells) was observed in colorectal tumor tissue compared with adjacent uninvolved tissue. These Th17 cells mostly coproduced TNF-α, but not IFN-γ. IL-17 expression correlated positively with TNF-α and IL-10. Increased expression of the immune checkpoint molecule PD-1 was found in colorectal tumors compared with adjacent uninvolved tissue. There was a negative correlation between expression of PD-1 and IFN-γ, but not IL-17, for both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. CD4+CD25+CD127lo and CD4+CD25+CD127loFoxP3+CD39+ Treg cells were enriched in colorectal tumors. A positive correlation between KM score and percentage CD4+CD25+CD127lo Treg cells was observed in tumors, suggesting that increased immune infiltration is associated with an increased proportion of Treg cells. In addition, there was a negative correlation between the frequency of CD4+CD25+CD127lo Treg cells and the expression of IFN-γ and IL-2, but not IL-17, in tumors. Taken together, these data suggest that both PD-1 expressing T cells and Treg cells within the tumor may have a suppressive effect on T cells secreting IFN-γ, IL-2, or TNF-α, but not Th17 cells. PUBLISHED 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z Increased expression of Tbet in CD4+ T cells from clinically isolated syndrome patients at high risk of conversion to clinically definite MS. http://hdl.handle.net/2262/80225 Increased expression of Tbet in CD4+ T cells from clinically isolated syndrome patients at high risk of conversion to clinically definite MS. FLETCHER, JEAN Background: The ability to identify clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) patients at high risk of progression to clinically definite multiple sclerosis (CDMS) would be clinically beneficial. The initiation of T cell mediated autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) requires the initial inappropriate activation and differentiation of auto-reactive CD4 + T cells. The quiescence of naive T cells is actively maintained by molecules such as TOB1, which control the threshold of activation. Upon activation, CD4 + T cells can differentiate into various subsets depending on the milieu present. Th1 and Th17 cells are strongly implicated in MS, while regulatory T (Treg) cells constrain autoimmune inflammation and prevent autoimmunity. Findings: We therefore investigated the expression of TOB1, CD44 and Treg, Th1 and Th17 transcription factors in relation to CIS progression. The expression of TOB1 , CD44 , FOXP3 , TBX21 and RORC genes were measured in CD4 + T cells from 10 healthy controls, 20 CIS patients within 3 months of initial clinical presentation and 10 relapsing remit - ting MS patients sampled within 2 months of relapse. CIS patients were subsequently grouped into those who con- verted to CDMS within 1 year and those who remained CIS. No differences in the expression of TOB1 , CD44 , FOXP3 and RORC were observed. There was a significant increase in the expression of the Th1 transcription factor Tbet, encoded by TBX21 , in CIS patients that converted within 1 year compared with those who did not. Conclusion: This pilot data suggests a role for Th1 cells in CIS progression and warrants further evaluation in a larger cohort. PUBLISHED 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z Fc gamma receptors: Glycobiology and therapeutic prospects http://hdl.handle.net/2262/80202 Fc gamma receptors: Glycobiology and therapeutic prospects DAVEY, GAVIN PUBLISHED; Export Date: 27 January 2017 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z A Metabolic Roadblock in Inflammatory Macrophages http://hdl.handle.net/2262/80159 A Metabolic Roadblock in Inflammatory Macrophages O'NEILL, LUKE n this issue of Cell Reports, Van den Bossche et al. (2016) reveal that, once the M1 macrophage forms, the accompanying metabolic alterations in the mitochondria are irreversible, preventing differentiation into the more homeostatic M2 macrophage. PUBLISHED 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z


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Arizona General Hospital announced it's opening a boutique, full-service health care facility early next year in Laveen. The 39,000-square-foot hospital will have 16 inpatient rooms, two state-of-the-art operating rooms, an emergency room, a high-tech laboratory and a full radiology suite.
Arizona General Hospital will provide Phoenix area residents with 24/7 access to emergency medical care. The hospital will also bring 300 new jobs and plans to invest $75 million over the next three years. The American College of Emergency Physicians has identified a need in the United States, and specifically Arizona, for additional access to emergency medical care.
Arizona General Hospital, which will be located at 7171 S. 51st Ave., will be capable of inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures.
For more information about Arizona General Hospital, please visit www.azgeneral.com.


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Charming chalet in Ibiza style
Property in Cala Egos
In the coastal town of Cala d'Or, this charming chalet is in Ibiza style for sale. Immediately at the Cala Egos in second line can be enjoyed on the 750 m2 plot not only the beautiful garden with its 9 x 4 m pool, but also the proximity to the beach.
The house has 195 m2 of living space on two floors and about 160 m2 of terraces. Downstairs you have the spacious living area with lounge, dining room and kitchen and two bedrooms with one bathroom and a guest toilet.
The bedroom on the first floor, from which you can see the sea is independently accesible via an outside staircase. This includes an en suite bathroom, a large terrace and the roof terrace with even more beautiful sea views is accesible from there.
All bedrooms are equipped with wardrobes.
Cala d´Or is a small holiday place built in Ibiza style - with white houses and high-class ambience-. In Cala Llonga Bay there is one of the better equipped ports in Majorca. Its marina is really known and appreciated by water-sport lovers because its narrow offers a good protection of the sea in stormy weather days . Also you can get an aperitif in one of the luxury marina bars and afterwards you can go for a dinner in a fancy and prestigious restaurant.


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In April 2007 Recupyl opened its first lithium-ion battery treatment plant through a joint venture with Tes-Amm Singapore Pte Ltd, a specialist in electric and electronic waste recycling.
This joint venture, called Recupyl Tes-Amm Singapore Pte Ltd, serves industries ranging from computer manufacturing and assembly to battery manufacturing, mobile phone production, and local battery collection (by manufacturer associations, for example).
Its Singapore-based plant handles various types of batteries-mainly, but not exclusively, from Asia-including production scraps, manufacturer-recalled batteries, and end of life batteries.
Tes-Amm provides a support to the joint venture in Asia, Europe.


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Enter keywords, ISBN, author, or book title
Home > Resources: Author Profiles > Author Profile
CARL HIAASEN was born and raised in Florida. He is the author of thirteen previous novels, including the best sellers Razor Girl, Bad Monkey, Star Island, Nature Girl, Skinny Dip, Sick Puppy, and Lucky You, and five best-selling children's books, Hoot, Flush, Scat, Chomp, and Skink. His most recent work of nonfiction is Dance of the Reptiles, a collection of his columns from The Miami Herald.
CARL HIAASEN is available for select readings and lectures. To inquire about a possible appearance, please contact Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau at firstname.lastname@example.com or visit www.prhspeakers.com.
Photo © 2013 Tim Chapman
A rollicking and hilarious novel from the bestselling author of Bad Monkey and Razor Girl.Jack Tagger's years in exile at the obituaries desk of a South Florida daily haven't dulled his investigative reporter's nose for a good story. When Jimmy Stoma, the infamous front man of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies...
The hysterical #1 New York Times bestseller from Newbery honoree Carl Hiaasen featuring gators, snakes, bats that bite, and reality show hosts gone wild! When Wahoo Cray's dad—a professional animal wrangler—takes a job with a reality TV show called Expedition Survival!, Wahoo figures he'll have to do a bit of wrangling himself to keep his father from... Read more
The hysterical #1 New York Times bestseller from Newbery honoree Carl Hiaasen featuring gators, snakes, bats that bite, and reality show hosts gone wild! When Wahoo Cray's dad—a professional animal wrangler—takes a job with a reality TV show called Expedition Survival!, Wahoo figures he'll have to do a bit of wrangling himself... Read more
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERIf you think the wildest, wackiest stories that Carl Hiaasen can tell have all made it into his hilarious, bestselling novels, think again. Dance of the Reptiles collects the best of Hiaasen's Miami Herald columns, which lay bare the stories--large and small--that demonstrate anew that truth is far stranger than... Read more
From Carl Hiaasen and the distinguished foreign correspondent Bill Montalbano comes a relentless novel of treachery and murder set in the clenched society of China, where even tomorrow's weather is a state secret. David Wang, a Chinese-American art historian, dies shortly after a visit to an ancient tomb housing priceless... Read more
Filled with harrowing divots, deadly doglegs, and excruciating sandtraps, The Downhill Lie is a hilarious chronicle of mis-adventure that will have you rolling with laughter.Bestselling author Carl Hiaasen wisely quit golfing in 1973. But some ambitions refuse to die, and as the years passed and the memories of slices and hooks...
Ever wonder how to retrieve a sunken golf cart from a snake-infested lake? Or which club in your bag is best suited for combat against a horde of rats? If these and other sporting questions are gnawing at you, The Downhill Lie, Carl Hiaasen's hilarious confessional about returning to the fairways... Read more
Take a romp in the swamp with this New York Times bestselling mystery adventure set in the Florida Keys from Newbery Honoree Carl Hiaasen! Noah's dad is sure that the owner of the Coral Queen casino boat is flushing raw sewage into the harbor—which has made taking a dip at the... Read more
This Newbery Honor-winning, hilarious Floridian adventure involves new kids, bullies, alligators, eco-warriors, pancakes, pint-sized owls, and more. A New York Times bestseller!Everybody loves Mother Paula's pancakes. Everybody, that is, except the colony of cute but endangered owls that live on the building site of the new restaurant. Can the awkward new... Read more
Architect Chris Meadows has the bad luck to see an old girlfriend get hit by a car full of drugland hitmen. He has the worse luck to see the face of her murderers. Because in a town as violent as Miami, a witness doesn't stand a chance--especially when the cops who... Read more
A lovable con woman and a disgraced detective team up to find a redneck reality TV star in this raucous and razor-sharp new novel from Carl Hiaasen, the bestselling author of Bad Monkey. Merry Mansfield, the eponymous Razor Girl, specializes in kidnapping for the mob. Her preferred method is rear-ending her targets and... Read more
The new full-tilt, unstoppably hilarious and entertaining novel from the best-selling author of Skinny Dip and Bad MonkeyWhen Lane Coolman's car is bashed from behind on the road to the Florida Keys, what appears to be an ordinary accident is anything but (this is Hiaasen!). Behind the wheel of the other car... Read more
From Newbery Honoree Carl Hiaasen comes this New York Times bestseller set in Florida's Everglades in which an eccentric eco-avenger, a stuffed rat named Chelsea, a wannabe Texas oilman, a singing substitute teacher, and a ticked-off panther can't stop two kids on a mission to find their missing teacher! Bunny... Read more
New York Times bestselling author Carl Hiaasen serves up a humorous helping of "taut, fast-paced action...crisp and hot" After dispatching a pistol-packing intruder from his home with the help of a stuffed Marlin head, Mick Stranahan can't deny that someone is out to get him. His now-deceased intruder... Read more
Carl Hiaasen serves up his unique brand of swamp justice in the New York Times bestseller Skink—No Surrender. A National Book Award Longlist Selection When your cousin goes missing under suspicious circumstances, who do you call? There's only one man for the job: a half-crazed, half-feral, one-eyed ex-governor named... Read more
Chaz Perrone may care more about Hummers than hammerheads, but he's done pretty well for himself as a marine biologist, doctoring water samples so that an agribusiness tycoon can continue dumping fertilizer into the Everglades. When Chaz suspects that his wife, Joey Perrone, has figured out his scam, he resolves to... Read more
Meet twenty-two-year-old Cherry Pye (née Cheryl Bunterman), a pop star since she was fourteen—and about to attempt a comeback from her latest drug-and-alcohol disaster. Now meet Cherry again: in the person of her "undercover stunt double," Ann DeLusia. Ann portrays Cherry whenever the singer is too "indisposed"—meaning wasted—to go out in... Read more
"Disney is so good at being good that it manifests an evil; so uniformly efficient and courteous, so dependably clean and conscientious, so unfailingly entertaining that it's unreal, and therefore is an agent of pure wickedness. . . . Disney isn't in the business of exploiting Nature so much as striving... Read more
Take a trip to exotic South Florida with this "dark, funny book"* that established Carl Hiaasen as one of the top mystery writers in the game.The first sign of trouble is a Shriner's fez washed up on a Miami beach. The next is a suitcase containing the almost-legless body of the... Read more
From the bestselling author of Bad Monkey and Razor Girl and Bill Montalbano comes this compelling thriller set in Key West on the southern most end of America.With its dozens of outlying islands and the native Conchs' historically low regard for the law, Key West is a smuggler's paradise. All that's... Read more
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The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has been filming and set photos reveal the first look at Jamie Foxx as Electro (aka Maxwell Dillon). The makeup makes Foxx look completely different and vicious. His skin is painted in a luminescent blue and contacts are freaky. The real magic happens when the LED lights on the interior of Foxx's hood are turned on. They make Electro glow.
Though it's quite different from the comic book versions I've seen of the character, I think it's a good change.
See some up close photos after the break.
(Daily Mail via Blastr)


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Farming Simulator 17 Game Download
This is a entertainment game so now you can download farming simulator 17 kickass link with installation video tutorial step by step. Player are drive the vehicle on his land and bows some fruits and vegetable then sell it and earn money so you can also get gta 5 here.
System Requirements
Graphics card 128 MB
Ram 1 GB
Processor core i3
Windows 7,8 and XP
Hard Disk Space 10 GB
How To Install
Just watch complete video in this click on the below tutorial you will get 100 percent working farming simulator 17 game for pc free full version here now it's installation tutorial.
Farming Simulator 17 Game Download


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At the taproom, fans of Bale Breaker beer can enjoy a pint while watching a game at the bar or soak up the beautiful Yakima sunshine at the picnic tables on our patio. Bring a picnic blanket or lawn chair to post up next to the hop field, or challenge your friends to a game of corn hole on the brewery lawn. For upcoming events, check out the calendar! Or check out our brewery tours, offered on the 4th Saturday of the month at 1pm.
Tuesday: 3-8 PM
Wednesday: 3-8 PM
Thursday: 3-8 PM
Friday: 12-9 PM
Saturday: 12-9 PM
Sunday: 12-5 PM
Monday: Closed
Field 41 Pale Ale
Topcutter IPA
Bottomcutter IIPA
Raging Ditch Dry-Hopped Blonde
Dormancy Breakfast Stout
Lazy L India Pale Lager
+ Rotating Pilot Beers
Yes, we fill growlers to-go. Field 41 Pale Ale and Topcutter IPA are $15 for a new growler and $10 for a refill. Seasonals and limited-release beers are typically $5 extra. (Please note that growlers are for off-premise consumption only.)
Topcutter IPA and Field 41 Pale Ale cans (12 oz) are available for purchase in our taproom ($10/six-pack). Bottomcutter cans are also available ($12/six-pack). (Please note that cans are not allowed to be consumed on-site at this time.)
Yep, we sell 1/2 bbl (15.5 gal) and 1/6 bbl (5.17 gal) kegs of Field 41 Pale Ale and Topcutter IPA from our taproom. (Seasonal beers are not available for keg purchase at this time.)
- 1/2 barrel keg = 15.5 gallons = ~120 16oz pints = $170 + tax
- 1/6 barrel keg = 5.17 gallons = ~40 16oz pints = $85 + tax
We collect a $100 keg deposit (cash only!) that is fully refundable when the empty keg is returned. Party taps are also available ($50 refundable deposit, cash only!) on a first come, first serve basis. We do not have the ability to fill empty kegs at this time.
Please order 48 hours in advance by calling the taproom during business hours (509) 424-4000 or emailing info (at) balebreaker.com
We can't prepare food onsite, but we encourage outside food to be brought in or pizza delivered to the taproom. (See below for a couple nearby favorites.)
Throughout the summer, local food vendors often come out to serve food for purchase on the brewery lawn. Check the Events Calendar on our home page for details on upcoming food vendors and events.
According to Washington state law, alcoholic beverages other than beer are not allowed to be consumed on our premises. That means we can't serve it and customers can't bring in their own. Sorry.
However, this July, state laws changed in order to allow us to start carrying a limited amount of cider. Not a huge beer person? Next time you visit, ask to try a local favorite - Tieton Cider Works' Rambling Route!
Credit/debit cards left unclaimed at the end of the day will be charged for the products ordered/consumed by the cardholder, including up to 20% gratuity.
Please visit us at your convenience during taproom hours to pick up your card and receipt. Any cards left unclaimed for one month will be destroyed by the brewery.
Bale Breaker merchandise is available for purchase in our taproom, and we also fulfill shipping orders via our web store!
We are not currently offering the brewery for private events; however, groups are very welcome to come in during normal taproom hours. While we don't reserve tables or a separate area, we have plenty of indoor and outdoor space for a fun, casual gathering.
For larger groups (20+), please send us a Contact Us message with some information on when you'll be coming in so we can be sure we're staffed appropriately. We will email you back to confirm and answer any questions you may have.
Unfortunately, we do not offer overnight RV parking at the brewery, but Yakima Sportsman State Park is nearby!
We don't discriminate, bring your kiddos and pooches. We'll allow the kids inside but ask that dogs stay on leashes in the outdoor area.
Learn more about our great city by following the links below:
©2017 Bale Breaker Brewing Company


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Accumulating evidence suggests that glioma stem cells (GSCs) are important therapeutic targets in glioblastoma (GBM). In this study, we identified NIMA-related kinase 2 (NEK2) as a functional binding protein of enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) that plays a critical role in the posttranslational regulation of EZH2 protein in GSCs. NEK2 was among the most differentially expressed kinase-encoding genes in GSC-containing cultures (glioma spheres), and it was required for in vitro clonogenicity, in vivo tumor propagation, and radioresistance. Mechanistically, the formation of a protein complex comprising NEK2 and EZH2 in glioma spheres phosphorylated and then protected EZH2 from ubiquitination-dependent protein degradation in a NEK2 kinase activity–dependent manner. Clinically, NEK2 expression in patients with glioma was closely associated with EZH2 expression and correlated with a poor prognosis. NEK2 expression was also substantially elevated in recurrent tumors after therapeutic failure compared with primary untreated tumors in matched GBM patients. We designed a NEK2 kinase inhibitor, compound 3a (CMP3a), which efficiently attenuated GBM growth in a mouse model and exhibited a synergistic effect with radiotherapy. These data demonstrate a key role for NEK2 in maintaining GSCs in GBM by stabilizing the EZH2 protein and introduce the small-molecule inhibitor CMP3a as a potential therapeutic agent for GBM.
Jia Wang, Peng Cheng, Marat S. Pavlyukov, Hai Yu, Zhuo Zhang, Sung-Hak Kim, Mutsuko Minata, Ahmed Mohyeldin, Wanfu Xie, Dongquan Chen, Violaine Goidts, Brendan Frett, Wenhao Hu, Hongyu Li, Yong Jae Shin, Yeri Lee, Do-Hyun Nam, Harley I. Kornblum, Maode Wang, Ichiro Nakano
Lesions and neurologic disability in inflammatory CNS diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) result from the translocation of leukocytes and humoral factors from the vasculature, first across the endothelial blood-brain barrier (BBB) and then across the astrocytic glia limitans (GL). Factors secreted by reactive astrocytes open the BBB by disrupting endothelial tight junctions (TJs), but the mechanisms that control access across the GL are unknown. Here, we report that in inflammatory lesions, a second barrier composed of reactive astrocyte TJs of claudin 1 (CLDN1), CLDN4, and junctional adhesion molecule A (JAM-A) subunits is induced at the GL. In a human coculture model, CLDN4-deficient astrocytes were unable to control lymphocyte segregation. In models of CNS inflammation and MS, mice with astrocyte-specific Cldn4 deletion displayed exacerbated leukocyte and humoral infiltration, neuropathology, motor disability, and mortality. These findings identify a second inducible barrier to CNS entry at the GL. This barrier may be therapeutically targetable in inflammatory CNS disease.
Sam Horng, Anthony Therattil, Sarah Moyon, Alexandra Gordon, Karla Kim, Azeb Tadesse Argaw, Yuko Hara, John N. Mariani, Setsu Sawai, Per Flodby, Edward D. Crandall, Zea Borok, Michael V. Sofroniew, Candice Chapouly, Gareth R. John
Obesity promotes a chronic inflammatory and hypercoagulable state that drives cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, and several cancers. Elevated thrombin activity underlies obesity-linked thromboembolic events, but the mechanistic links between the thrombin/fibrin(ogen) axis and obesity-associated pathologies are incompletely understood. In this work, immunohistochemical studies identified extravascular fibrin deposits within white adipose tissue and liver as distinct features of mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) as well as obese patients. Fibγ390–396A mice carrying a mutant form of fibrinogen incapable of binding leukocyte αMβ2-integrin were protected from HFD-induced weight gain and elevated adiposity. Fibγ390–396A mice had markedly diminished systemic, adipose, and hepatic inflammation with reduced macrophage counts within white adipose tissue, as well as near-complete protection from development of fatty liver disease and glucose dysmetabolism. Homozygous thrombomodulin-mutant ThbdPro mice, which have elevated thrombin procoagulant function, gained more weight and developed exacerbated fatty liver disease when fed a HFD compared with WT mice. In contrast, treatment with dabigatran, a direct thrombin inhibitor, limited HFD-induced obesity development and suppressed progression of sequelae in mice with established obesity. Collectively, these data provide proof of concept that targeting thrombin or fibrin(ogen) may limit pathologies in obese patients.
Anna K. Kopec, Sara R. Abrahams, Sherry Thornton, Joseph S. Palumbo, Eric S. Mullins, Senad Divanovic, Hartmut Weiler, A. Phillip Owens III, Nigel Mackman, Ashley Goss, Joanne van Ryn, James P. Luyendyk, Matthew J. Flick
Proinflammatory leukotrienes (LTs) are produced by 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) aided by 5-LO–activating protein (FLAP). LT biosynthesis inhibitors are currently under clinical investigation as treatments for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Here, we have revealed a sex bias in the efficiency of clinically relevant LT biosynthesis inhibitors, showing that their effects are superior in females. We found that androgens cause these sex differences by impeding the LT-biosynthetic 5-LO/FLAP complex assembly. Lower doses of the FLAP inhibitor MK886 were required to reduce LTB4 levels in exudates of female versus male mice and rats. Following platelet-activating factor–induced shock, MK886 increased survival exclusively in female mice, and this effect was abolished by testosterone administration. FLAP inhibitors and the novel-type 5-LO inhibitors licofelone and sulindac sulfide exhibited higher potencies in human blood from females, and bioactive 5-LO/FLAP complexes were formed in female, but not male, human and murine leukocytes. Supplementation of female blood or leukocytes with 5α-dihydrotestosterone abolished the observed sex differences. Our data suggest that females may benefit from anti-LT therapy to a greater extent than males, prompting consideration of sex issues in LT modifier development.
Simona Pace, Carlo Pergola, Friederike Dehm, Antonietta Rossi, Jana Gerstmeier, Fabiana Troisi, Helmut Pein, Anja M. Schaible, Christina Weinigel, Silke Rummler, Hinnak Northoff, Stefan Laufer, Thorsten J. Maier, Olof Rådmark, Bengt Samuelsson, Andreas Koeberle, Lidia Sautebin, Oliver Werz
Adoptive transfer of T cells engineered to express a hepatitis B virus–specific (HBV-specific) T cell receptor (TCR) may supplement HBV-specific immune responses in chronic HBV patients and facilitate HBV control. However, the risk of triggering unrestrained proliferation of permanently engineered T cells raises safety concerns that have hampered testing of this approach in patients. The aim of the present study was to generate T cells that transiently express HBV-specific TCRs using mRNA electroporation and to assess their antiviral and pathogenetic activity in vitro and in HBV-infected human liver chimeric mice. We assessed virological and gene-expression changes using quantitative reverse-transcriptase PCR (qRT-PCR), immunofluorescence, and Luminex technology. HBV-specific T cells lysed HBV-producing hepatoma cells in vitro. In vivo, 3 injections of HBV-specific T cells caused progressive viremia reduction within 12 days of treatment in animals reconstituted with haplotype-matched hepatocytes, whereas viremia remained stable in mice receiving irrelevant T cells redirected toward hepatitis C virus–specific TCRs. Notably, increases in alanine aminotransferase levels, apoptotic markers, and human inflammatory cytokines returned to pretreatment levels within 9 days after the last injection. T cell transfer did not trigger inflammation in uninfected mice. These data support the feasibility of using mRNA electroporation to engineer HBV TCR–redirected T cells in patients with chronic HBV infection.
Janine Kah, Sarene Koh, Tassilo Volz, Erica Ceccarello, Lena Allweiss, Marc Lütgehetmann, Antonio Bertoletti, Maura Dandri
Defective protein quality control (PQC) systems are implicated in multiple diseases. Molecular chaperones and co-chaperones play a central role in functioning PQC. Constant mechanical and metabolic stress in cardiomyocytes places great demand on the PQC system. Mutation and downregulation of the co-chaperone protein BCL-2–associated athanogene 3 (BAG3) are associated with cardiac myopathy and heart failure, and a BAG3 E455K mutation leads to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). However, the role of BAG3 in the heart and the mechanisms by which the E455K mutation leads to DCM remain obscure. Here, we found that cardiac-specific Bag3-KO and E455K-knockin mice developed DCM. Comparable phenotypes in the 2 mutants demonstrated that the E455K mutation resulted in loss of function. Further experiments revealed that the E455K mutation disrupted the interaction between BAG3 and HSP70. In both mutants, decreased levels of small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) were observed, and a subset of proteins required for cardiomyocyte function was enriched in the insoluble fraction. Together, these observations suggest that interaction between BAG3 and HSP70 is essential for BAG3 to stabilize sHSPs and maintain cardiomyocyte protein homeostasis. Our results provide insight into heart failure caused by defects in BAG3 pathways and suggest that increasing BAG3 protein levels may be of therapeutic benefit in heart failure.
Xi Fang, Julius Bogomolovas, Tongbin Wu, Wei Zhang, Canzhao Liu, Jennifer Veevers, Matthew J. Stroud, Zhiyuan Zhang, Xiaolong Ma, Yongxin Mu, Dieu-Hung Lao, Nancy D. Dalton, Yusu Gu, Celine Wang, Michael Wang, Yan Liang, Stephan Lange, Kunfu Ouyang, Kirk L. Peterson, Sylvia M. Evans, Ju Chen
Leukotrienes are proinflammatory lipid mediators that have been shown to be upregulated in several diseases, including asthma, aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD), inflammatory bowel disease, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Leukotrienes have been explored as therapeutic targets for these diseases and others; however, leukotriene inhibitors have had limited success in the clinic. There are noted differences in the incidence of leukotriene-mediated diseases in males and females, but sex as a factor in the response to leukotriene inhibitors has not been fully explored. In this issue of the JCI, Pace and colleagues present evidence that there are sex-specific differences in the effectiveness of certain leukotriene inhibitors and link the differences in response to the presence of androgens. The results of this study indicate that sex needs to be taken into consideration in the future evaluation of leukotriene inhibitors to treat disease.
Lewis J. Smith
The blood brain barrier (BBB) and the glia limitans serve to prevent the migration of cells and other large molecules from the blood into the CNS. Neuroinflammatory diseases are characterized by disruption of the BBB and increased leukocyte infiltration into the CNS. In this issue of the JCI, Horng and colleagues demonstrate that astrocytes of the glia limitans induce tight junction formation in response to inflammatory cues, thereby tightening the border to limit the number of activated T cells infiltrating the CNS. Moreover, preventing the formation of this inducible barrier in mice increased disease severity in models of neuroinflammation. Together, the results of this study indicate that the inducible barrier of the glia limitans should be further explored as a therapeutic target.
Francisco J. Quintana
Proteinopathies are characterized by the accumulation of misfolded proteins, which ultimately interfere with normal cell function. While neurological diseases, such as Huntington disease and Alzheimer disease, are well-characterized proteinopathies, cardiac diseases have recently been associated with alterations in proteostasis. In this issue of the JCI, Fang and colleagues demonstrate that mice with cardiac-specific deficiency of the co-chaperone protein BCL2-associated athanogene 3 (BAG3) develop dilated cardiomyopathy that is associated with a destabilization of small HSPs as the result of a disrupted interaction between BAG3 and HSP70. Together, the results of this study suggest that strategies to upregulate BAG3 during cardiac dysfunction may be beneficial.
Wataru Mizushima, Junichi Sadoshima
Laura Laprell et al. characterize diethylamino-azo-diethylamino (DAD), a third-generation photoswitch that is capable of photosensitizing bipolar cells to restore visual function in blind mice. The cover shows the DAD photoswitch in light-activated cis configuration within an eye. Image credit: Laura Laprell.
JCI This Month is a digest of the research, reviews, and other features published each month.
Organ and tissue transplantation are frequently life-extending procedures for patients with end-stage organ disease or hematological malignancies; however, the success of transplantation of organs and tissues to a recipient from a genetically non-identical donor is limited by immune-mediated complications, including rejection, graft dysfunction, graft-versus-host disease, and the side effects of preventing rejection. Despite over 100 years of research in this area, we are just now beginning to develop an in-depth understanding of the immune mechanisms that determine the success of allotransplantation. A detailed understanding of transplantation immunology will allow for better selection of donor/recipient pairs, the development of novel therapeutic strategies, and, ultimately, better outcomes. Reviews in this series explore the role of cytokines in both acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease; the effects of sterile inflammation, danger signals, and the inflammasome in solid organ transplantation; the mechanisms of humoral and cellular rejection; cell-based therapies to combat rejection and transplantation-associated infections; and the effects of both host-intrinsic and -extrinsic factors in transplantation outcomes.


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Common Myths about Drinking and Alcoholism
People can have a lot of misperceptions about alcohol, how drinking affects people and what alcoholism really means. These types of myths about alcohol can be dangerous because they can prevent people from seeing addiction in themselves or others.
Myths about alcohol serve to keep alcoholics in denial and it also creates a general confusion about drinking and what it means to have an addiction. People may not realize that their drinking is harmful to themselves and others when they don't fully understand the reality of alcohol addiction. It is important for people to educate themselves and learn the true facts about alcohol rather than believe damaging misconceptions.
These are some of the most common myths about alcohol and addiction.
Drinking Culture is Harmless
In the U.S. drinking and even binge drinking is considered a normal social activity. People may believe that it is harmless and even take an irreverent attitude toward heavy drinking. Their drunken escapades may seem funny in retrospect, but for certain individuals the culture of binge drinking can be dangerous.
For people that are more vulnerable to developing an addiction, drinking should not be taken lightly. Being a part of a drinking culture among friends or family can also make it harder for alcoholics to quit.
Alcoholics Fit a Certain Stereotype
Some people may have an idea of what it means to be an alcoholic and think that their lifestyle or social status mean that they don't have a problem. They may imagine an alcoholic to be broke or jobless or even someone on the street. They might think that an alcoholic drinks all the time and is physically or verbally abusive to people making a mess of their life all the time.
The truth is that people can become alcoholics from all walks of life. They might be rich people with powerful jobs who are functional in their addiction so that no one ever sees the impact of their drinking. Anyone can be a victim of addiction to alcohol so there is no one stereotype that matches an alcoholic.
People Can Quit or Moderate Drinking through Willpower
One of the most dangerous myths out there is that anyone can quit drinking simply through their own self-control and willpower. For people that have addictions, it is not something they can turn on or off at will.
They are usually at the mercy of their disease which takes over their life in more ways than they are aware. Trying to quit cold turkey without any help can lead either to relapse or picking up another addiction as a replacement.
People might also believe that they can simply moderate or cut down on their drinking through willpower even though they are addicted. An alcoholic is only playing with fire if they attempt to continue drinking because they will quickly fall back into old habits. In reality, people with addictions need to be completely sober to manage their problem effectively.
After Detoxing Everything Will be Easier
When people have unrealistic expectations of what recovery will be like they might end up being disillusioned and fall back into their drinking patterns. Although quitting alcohol and going through detox, people improve their physical health and make important progress but there is still a lot of hard work through the rest of the recovery process.
Even after completing detox, alcoholics experience a lot of ups and downs as all the emotions they tried to avoid through drinking come back in full force. Early sobriety is difficult and it can take a long time before things get easier and people are better able to manage their addiction.


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The Scott County Board of Supervisors considered the final reading of an ordinance to rezone land for future growth, the Urban Renewal Plan for the city of Eldridge and a public hearing on county office relocation and expansion at Tuesday's committee of the whole meeting.
The proposed ordinance rezones 7.5 acres from agriculture to commercial-light industrial on property north of Davenport and south of Eldridge. The Greater Davenport Redevelopment Corp. requested the zoning change to accommodate future Eastern Iowa Industrial Center growth.
"There's a lot of land out there ready for development," Planning and Development Director Tim Huey said. "We're hopeful announcements will be made yet this fall."
Huey also explained the plan to upgrade the sewer system in Eldridge, a $15.9 million project that will improve the city's current sewage treatment plant. Huey told supervisors the city plans to partially fund the project through an existing tax increment financing district. Huey said the TIF review committee has recommended approval of the plan that will be discussed at a public hearing during the Eldridge City Council's meeting at 7 p.m. Nov. 7.
Supervisors agreed to schedule a public hearing during their regular meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday on project plans to relocate Planning and Development offices to the administration building at 600 W. 4th St. and expand Juvenile Detention Center offices at the county's annex building at 500 W. 4th St. The relocation phase of the project is expected to begin by mid-November and be completed in April 2017. The expansion at the annex will begin next spring and be ready for staff occupancy by next September.
The project has been budgeted at $470,000. Wold Architects and Engineers was selected to complete the design process.


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Matthew grounds his virgin birth story as the fulfillment of a prophecy from the Old Testament book of Isaiah. Let's take a look at what that chapter is actually talking about to see if Matthew's claim holds up. [Read more…]
Christmas Time! Time to Investigate the Virgin Birth "Prophecy."
Who Would Die for a Lie? (1 of 2)
Apologists like to point to the deaths of the apostles and ask, "Who would die for a lie?" What doesn't get enough attention is the more fundamental question: "Why think that any of the apostles were martyred in the first place?" The evidence that they were is quite flimsy. [Read more…]
The Evolving Jesus Story
The gospel story grew with time, and the New Testament books themselves record this evolution. [Read more…]
Is Mark an Eyewitness Account?
How do we know that Mark wrote Mark? Why believe the claims that Mark documented eyewitness testimony? Or that any of the gospels do? There is evidence, but it's pretty flimsy. Here's how apologists justify those claims. [Read more…]
The Bible Shows Why Prayer Doesn't Work
I've figured out why prayer doesn't work! The clues are all within a single book of the Bible. [Read more…]


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Location is very good right on the lake, with lakeside dining, -- weather permitting. It thinks it is much better than it really is ! For this class of hotel ( 4* ) it needs air conditioning and a decent lift! Room was fine, but had nowhere to put suitcases if you did not want to fully unpack. However the biggest problem was the noise from smokers congregating at the front door and laughing and shouting until 3 am. Everything was overpriced for what it was.
Excellent location at Berg. Very good breakfast and restaurant although a bit overpriced. Free wi-fi. Very clean rooms and the hotel staff were very helpful. A bit noisy at nights if your room is facing the road and not the lake. At our first night there was a wedding reception at the hotel's restaurant and we were told that we could not use the bar! Shame especially during the Oktoberfest period. Very small elevator for a 4 star hotel and 70 rooms.
Great location directly on Starnberger See - a beautiful spot. Located in Leoni which is, thankfully, away from Starnberg itself - a little quieter if you really want to enjoy the location, but only a 7 min drive if you need to go there. Beautiful surrounds and walks - perfect for wandering, relaxing, bike riding etc.
lakeside and good kitchen room 126 is a room over the staffentrance/delivery and very noisy, staff stands outside talkingboth late and early morning while smoking.not so nice! we had 2 rooms
Very nice breakfast, good accomodation, friendly hotel staff, very nice spa facilities and right on to the lake. Very little provision for families with small children. not recommended for families, but more for couples of a certain age category.
Staff friendly and effective. Rooms big and new. Restaurant excellent. Highly recommended. Great value for money.
Location on the Starnberger See was superb with a ferry pier next to the hotel, making it ideal for a long walk and a ferry back. Even though our room did not have a view of the lake it was comfortable and well equipped. The restaurant menu was original and varied and the food of high quality. The terrace on the lakeside is great both for summer meals or drinks. Free parking was a bonus.
Breakfast on the veranda was sublime. No air-conditioning, so got very warm at night (mid-July)
The biggest advantage of the hotel is the location itself. Quite, relaxing place, directly located at the lake with a stunning view to the Alps if the weather is nice. At the breakfast buffet there was not as much variety as you expect in a 4 star hotel.
The view 1-When I arrive to the hotel the give me a room without a lake viow and I asked them to give me a room with a lake viow same the Picture that I reserved in booking.com ,but the hotel told me I have to paid 20 euro extra for that...!! 2-The hotel staff never smiling ..!! 3- the breekfast was very bad.....4-hotel staff was unhelpful and they dont care for guests
Quite expensive hotel but we got what we paid for: a clean, comfortable room with a nicely designed bathroom and a balcony overlooking the Starnberger See. No airconditioning meant keeping the door to the balcony open and there were disturbances during the night from ongoing parties nearby.
Very friendly staff, excellent breakfast and comfortable room Beds were very hard
very good
Lovely setting on the lake & very convenient to Munich
Excellent Hotel, asked for lake side view and you could not have wished for a better view it was certainly what it said it was. It did not state lakeside view was in front hotel and balconies in a seperate building at the back. The only restaurant was in the front and if you had a balcony you had to walk down the hill to the front hotel.
room was clean and large, breakfast was good and staff was friendly and location near München is excellent dinner could be better
All Staff members spoke English. Good food, good location, friendly people.
Situated near the lake. Good atmosphere.
Beautiful setting on a lake. Excellent breakfast buffet.
Excellent service in the "Ludwigs Stube". 2 outstanding waiters. Food was also good. Not very varied, however. One particular lady at reception was really outstanding too. Waiters in the main restaurant, rather stuck up and unfriendly. Really need a car to get around. Quite noisy at front of hotel as faces road.
It's a lovely, comfortable, old-fashioned hotel, ideal for a golfing break - or as a convenient rural base from which to visit Munich or southern Bavaria. The dining room was a bit disappointing, but the Bierstube made up for it.
calm place, nice staff, good and large room, good breckfast until eleven no frigo bar
The staff were friendly, helpful and very professional as well as welcoming and attentive. Very relaxing atmosphere and comfortable stay in this historic hotel. There is nothing I did not like about the hotel or my stay here.
Nice Location Difficult to get there due to missing route informations
Food was excellent Resteraunt closed at 21:30
Very helpful staff, clean hotel and good size room and lovely big sunny balcony. I didn't get to try the pool, but it did look nice Decor was a bit 80's , shower was a bit temperamental, and entrance to hotel was via underground garage.
I don't like Hotel Seeblick at all!!! Very unfriendly personnel!
comfort space it was not seeblick that is lakeview was far awy that is was misconductive
Very clean, very quiet, the hotel stuff was OK.
good food, location, perfect staff
uaint and quiet. Enjoyable atmosphere. Friendly staff and town.
Great Hotel very cute room, hotel staff is wonderful. Great location from which to explore Bavaria if you don't mind a bit of driving. Very quite as long as you like church bells.
Beautiful small hotel. Sunny, clean, nicely furnished room with its own balcony. Charming sunny breakfast room/terrace. The proprietor came and picked us up from the train station and took me there on departure himself. No - very pleasant and well run, good value for money.
nice hotel, with character and in good location thought that the options for breakfast were limited. there was not enough hot breakfast option (eg no sausages)
The location, the very friendly and supportive Staff, Parking Facilities No Elevator, Dogs running in the loppy arround, no Mini Bar, price a little bit too high for the Hotel all in all.
The staff was wonderful. I will stay there again and recommend to friends.
Location next to the lake, nice building Very strict check in, we vere little late and it was impossible communicate with the hotel, after 20.00 they didn't even answer the phone.
Quiet hotel just 15 minutes walk from the Starnbergersee. All rooms have a balcony, most of them with a view on the garden
I enjoyed the suroundings and the placement of the hotel. The luck of a frigerator in the room and a cofee machine made this hotel not so demanding.
great place, great staff, good start for any bavarian holiday.
Reception and all staff welcomming. The wellness centre was superb in inclement weather Breakfast was a big choice with cerials fresh rolls and and different breads together with slices of cheeses and hams. Cooked eggs bacon sausages and lashings of fresh coffee. I forgot the fresh fruit and well it just went on and on.Reception booked a show in Munich for us and we spent the 10days swimming in the Lake and walking in the surrounding countryside.What a wonderfull way to get over a recent spine opporation. We did not use the Squash courts or the hi tech golf room or the resident Doctors but did relax in the sauna.Thanks for a super break Les & Trixie.
Comfortable and clean hotel The hotel was not located directly at the lake - We had no view on the lake. About that we were somewhat disappointed.
Nice location, and very quiet hotel. Internet access is too expensive comparied with other hotels.
the entrance to some of the rooms (which were on a separate pavillon), was where they kept the hotel garbage !!
The hotel has very nice swimmingpool and large fitness area. Dinner was wonderful. This hotel is more for bussiness men and conferences, than for vacation.
Almost everything TV selections not good. Missing Italian and general english channels. I find the fact that WLAN is not included in the price ridicoulous. Just increase the room rate a bit and make it included.
Location close to the lake and trains for Munich also was very quiet.
Nice room.Friendly Staff in restaurant.Nice swimming pool.Good location. Senior staff a little officious and lack hands on involvement.Staff need better training.A stopover for tour parties means private guests less well catered for.
Facilities, helpful and friendly staff
The Hotel has a nice view to the lake and the location is good. We booked three rooms. We didn't like our room. No view to anything, just a roof in front of us. The second room was very small and the third one was nice.
Very nice location and a very nice restaurant. We liked the spa as well. Nice and friendly staff, even though they don't speak so much english. Nice atmosphere. The room could need a refurbishment, but clean and nice view over the lake.
Nice location at a lake. Clean spacy rooms. Good food in the restaurant It was a but far from the München center (minor problem)
It was very relaxing stay. We enjoyed observing the wedding reception and dance that was also held there while we were there.
The location is great , very relaxing ,,,
The room was quite comfortable. The bathroom was large and modern and included outlets. The staff was very friendly and helpful for any requests we had. Internet access would be desirable.


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Villari Victor W Dvm practices at 24 Ironia Mendham Road, Chester, NJ 07930.
Veterinarians offer general and emergency pet care services. Some veterinarians offer 24 hour emergency services-call to confirm hours and availability.
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Video uploaded to YouTube shows the anxious dog placing a paw on its owner's hand as they drive together.
The golden coloured spaniel nervously pats his owner Adam Douglas' arm every time he has to use his hand to operate the steering wheel and gearstick.
Mr Douglas responded to comments on YouTube suggesting he was taking a risk by holding a camera phone while driving by saying that the phone is attached to a holder attached the car's door.
Video footage courtesy of YouTube / Adam Douglas


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Reviewing and revising your company's contract puts into writing what you've learned from your mistakes. More
Pam Fry shocked her colleagues last July when, on a 90-plus degree day, she walked into the offices of Mr. Rogers Windows covered with sweat and grime and wearing a Mr. Rogers shirt and khaki capris. They were astonished because Fry, the company's top salesperson, always dresses professionally, in suits and heels. More


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The Phoenix Companies, Inc (NYSE:PNX)
Q3 2010 Earnings Call
November 2, 2010 11:00 a.m. ET
Naomi Kleinman – Head, IR
Jim Wehr – President and CEO
Peter Hofmann – Senior EVP and CFO
Chris Wilkos – EVP and Chief Investment Officer
Phil Polkinghorn – Senior Executive Vice President for Business Development
Mike Hanrahan, – Chief Accounting Officer.
Bob Glasspiegel – Langen McAlenney
Steven Schwartz – Raymond James & Associates
Andrew Kligerman - UBS
Eric Berg – Barclays Capital
Good morning, and welcome to the Phoenix third quarter 2010 earnings conference call. Thank you for standing by. All participants will be in a listen-only mode until the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions)
I will now turn the call over to the Head of Phoenix Investor Relations, Naomi Kleinman. You may begin, thank you.
Naomi Kleinman
Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. I am going to start with the required disclosures and then turn it over to Jim Wehr, our President and CEO, for an overview of the quarter.
With us today are Peter Hofmann, Chief Financial Officer; Chris Wilkos, Chief Investment Officer; Phil Polkinghorn, Senior Executive Vice President for Business Development; and Mike Hanrahan, Chief Accounting Officer.
Our third quarter earnings release, our quarterly financial supplement and the third quarter earnings review presentation are available on our website at PhoenixWM.com. Slide two of the presentation contains the important disclosures.
We may make forward-looking statements on this call that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties are discussed in detail in our third quarter earnings release and our latest SEC filings. Our actual results may differ materially from such forward-looking statements. In addition to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, we use non-GAAP financial measures to evaluate our financial results. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the applicable GAAP measures are included in our press release and financial supplement.
Now, I'll turn the call over to Jim.
Jim Wehr
Thanks, Naomi. And thanks to everyone for joining our third quarter call. As we've done on previous calls, I'll provide an overview of the business. Peter Hofmann, will review our financial results in detail, and Chris Wilkos will bring you up to date on our investment portfolio.
Let me start with my perspective on this quarter's results and what they say about Phoenix. First, there is fundamental profitability in our business. Second, we have a strong balance sheet that continues to improve. And third, we are making measured progress in our efforts to generate profitable growth.
These facts about our business are the direct results of our focus on four strategic goals; balance sheet strength, policyholder security, expense management, and profitable growth. In short, we have good straightforward results to report to you today, with a type of progress we anticipated.
Let's start with fundamental profitability.
I stated that we're profitable even though we reported a GAAP net loss and an operating loss, and that's because our core operations did, in fact, make money. The DAC charges that swung operating earnings into negative territory was a result of our comprehensive annual review.
As part of this annual review, we made a number of assumption changes based on market conditions and our experience; two are of particular note. The first relates to the impact of the low interest rate on margins and we are certainly not unique in this respect. The second relates to the increase lapses and lower renewal premiums we are experiencing in portions of our Universal Life book of business, specifically the Phoenix Accumulator Universal Life or PAUL product.
I mentioned this emerging trend on our call last quarter and we have been monitoring and managing this block carefully. As it has seasoned, we have more experience that helped us refine our assumptions. As a result of our annual assessment, we adjusted our assumptions about these policies.
Excluding the unlocking and a tax benefit, our operating income was about $18 million or $0.15 per share. So what is the source of our core profitability? The answer is our business fundamentals, which are sound and improving. Mortality was favorable this quarter. We have excellent experience in the open block, particularly Universal Life and Closed Lock experience was in line with our expectations.
Year to date, mortality is also in line with expectations. In short, we have solid business that produced additional profit this quarter.
Persistency is another fundamental, and one you've heard me talk about a lot since it is a key measure of our policyholder securities strategic pillar. Overall, we've achieved a good trend line in life insurance, and significant improvement from 2009 levels.
While annuity persistency has been inconsistent, it is generally moving in the right direction, and also much improved. Expense management is another strategic priority, and ongoing discipline. The benefits we expected from our actions in 2009 have driven expenses down sequentially all year. As with the third quarter, year-to-date core operating expenses are down 15% from last year. So there's been progress across the enterprise that is producing stronger fundamentals.
Next, let me address the balance sheet. As I said earlier, we have a strong balance sheet that continues to improve. Statutory capital has grown every quarter this year and increased 29% from $574 million at yearend to 738 million at the end of this quarter.
RBC now stands at an estimated 297%, up from 223% at the end of last year. The annual
DAC review, I covered earlier, reflects our best estimate of where we are today and our assumptions on how our business will perform. This exercise has given us confidence that the DAC asset on our balance sheet is sound.
Of course, the health of the balance sheet depends largely on how well we manage our investments, and we have good results to report, once again, this quarter. The value of the portfolio improved further as unrealized gains grew in the third quarter of $461 million. This represents an almost $800 million swing from yearend when we had 325 million in net unrealized losses. And the level of below-investment grade bonds in the portfolio dropped modestly to 9%. Other balance sheet metrics remain strong, specifically debt to capital remains relatively low at 24.8%.
My final point about the quarter is that it contained tangible evidence that our growth initiatives are gaining traction and our prospects are improving. Annuity product development and sales are the first area where we are seeing our middle-market strategy take hold. We continue to build a good trend line in annuity deposits, which are increasing at a measured pace at just under 40 million for the quarter, they were 44% higher than in the second quarter, and more than tripled at $12 million from a year ago.
The sales growth so far has been concentrated independent marketing organizations, and this is a market segment we have focused on intentionally over the last year. We recently announced an alliance with the AltiSure Group. With them, we've developed an innovative annuity product to be marketed exclusively through their IMO network. We're excited about both this new relationship and the new product.
Our distribution company, Saybrus Partners, continues to build momentum in third-party insurance sales in addition to the distribution support they provide for Phoenix's products. Saybrus added a third client this past quarter, and is on track to break even by first quarter 2011.
In summary, we continue to focus on things we can control. By doing so, we strengthen the company and provide installation from things we can't control. We're putting the building blocks in place to execute in our growth strategy as we head into 2011. This quarter demonstrates the fundamental profitability in our business, the strength of our balance sheet, and that our growth initiatives are gaining traction and our prospects are improving.
We appreciate you joining this quarter's call, and look forward to keeping you updated on the company. I'm going to turn it over now to Peter and Chris, and we'll take your questions after their presentations, Peter?
Peter Hofmann
Thanks, Jim. The financial themes this quarter, which build on what Jim said, are shown on Slide 4 of the presentation. We had a net loss of 25 million due to the unlocking charge, but core earnings were solid at 17.9 million or $0.15 per share. We continue to generate statutory capital as reflected in surplus growth this quarter.
Expenses were lower reflecting the actions taken last year. The investment portfolio continues to appreciate and credit impairments moderate it further. We had an adverse impact in the quarter from two factors, which drove the unlocking charge. One is the effect of higher lapses and lower renewal premiums related to the policy areas, Universal Life block; the second is the effect of low interest rates, primarily on our annuity business.
Slide 5 highlights the trends and GAAP operating income and book value. We have spiked out discrete items that affect operating income in comparisons, there are two this quarter; the unlocking charge of 36.3 million and an $11.3 million tax benefit.
As we indicated in prior calls, our operating earnings comparisons, we have a zero effective tax rate this year. Deviations from this tax rate have largely been due to the GAAP intra-period tax allocation rules.
Backing out these two items results in adjusted earnings of $0.15 per share. Book value per share improved by $0.45 to $11.72. The increase was driven by higher investment evaluations.
Slide 6 shows income statement detail, excluding the closed block. Revenues remained flat compared with last quarter and are modestly down from a year ago. As already mentioned, mortality experience was very good this quarter. This, along with the reserve reduction due to the unlocking, account for the significantly lower benefits versus last quarter and a year ago.
Expenses were 60.4 million, meaningful below the prior year and last quarter. The regulatory closed block contribution of 14.4 million is in line with the past two quarters and consistent with guide path of the block. We had realized investment losses of 18 million, credit impairments were 11.9 million, and showed both year-over-year and sequential improvement.
Our variable annuity-hedging program performed well, generating a modest $1.2 million economic loss in the quarter. In addition, there was a $5.9 million loss from the non-performance risk factor that represents the change in the GAAP liability due to Phoenix's credit. This reflects spread widening for a double D credits.
Accumulatively, for the year, the program is down by 1.2 million before any adjustments for Phoenix's credit.
Turning to the fundamentals, on Slide 7 shows mortality cost ratios for the open and closed blocks. You can see the positive open block experience this quarter reflected in the low ratio of 53.4%. Experience in the closed block was typical and within expectations. As a reminder, because of the policyholder dividend obligation, closed block mortality experience has not directly affected GAAP earnings.
Slide 8 shows annualized aggregate surrender rates based on contract value surrender. Annualized life surrenders were at 8%, about level with last quarter. Annuity surrenders were 11.8% compared with 13.4% last quarter. Note that these ratios do not include lapses in which policies expire with no value.
One of our critical initiatives continues to be controlling expenses. Slide 9 shows consolidate statutory expenses and GAAP expenses adjusted for non-core items. The reductions we have taken over the last seven quarters are clearly visible, driven primarily by lower employee-related cost.
Year-to-date statutory expenses are down 23% and before deferrals, GAAP expenses are down 15%.
Let me spend a moment on the unlocking charge. As we mentioned, this quarter we conducted our annual comprehensive review of actuarial assumptions, use to support DAC as well as certain reserves. The overall net impact was a charge of 36.3 million.
Slide 10 shows a breakout of these adjustments by income statement line. While a number of assumptions were changed, the charge was primarily driven by higher assumed lapses and lower renewal premiums in the PAUL UL block. In addition, the impact of the low interest rate environment was reflected, particularly in annuities.
The UL unlocking accounted for roughly 25 million of the total charge. To put that in context, on Slide 11 I've shown the accumulative referrals and amortization related to UL since yearend 2004. This represents the period of most significant growth in UL sales.
As you can see, we deferred over 1 billion of commissions and expenses during this period, but we also amortized over 650 million. Of the 646 million balance at September 30, approximately 400 million relates to the PAUL block. As you can see from the pace of annual amortization, this asset is expected to amortize rapidly into earnings over the next two to three years. Tax adjusted, 400 million of that translates into about $2.25 of book value per share.
The key variables affecting the pace of amortization are lapse rates, premium persistency, and mortality. As already mentioned, the unlocking was driven by the first two of these; lapses and premiums. Let me emphasize that the unlocking was not related to mortality. Mortality on this block to date has been in line with expectations.
On the statutory side, there's of course no DAC associated with the Universal Life business, and it has been an important contributor to the capital generation that you can see on Slide 12. We have year-to-date statutory net income of 45.7 million, and a statutory net gain from operations of 46.1 million.
Statutory surplus for Phoenix Life has increased by 29% versus year-end 2009. The increase was driven by core earnings, gains in the alternative asset portfolio, and increase admitted to deferred tax assets.
The increase in the estimated RBC ratio from year-end 2009 was due to improved surplus and the reduced balance sheet risk, driven by a reduction in the percentage of below-investment grade bonds and lower variable annuity capital charges.
With that, I'll turn it over to Chris, for a discussion of the investment portfolio.
Chris Wilkos
Thanks, Peter. Jim talked about the strength of our balance sheet and the investment portfolio has certainly contributed to that strength. In the third quarter, the Phoenix portfolio produced solid results in key areas, including a sharp appreciation in portfolio values, reduced bond impairments, and stronger credit quality. Before we talk about the balance sheet, let's start with net investment income on Slide 13.
Sequential net investment income decreased by 22 ½ million, primarily as a result of lower venture capital and partnership returns; 17 million of this decline occurred in a closed block, whose investments results do not directly impact top rating earnings.
As you recall, our second quarter venture capital and partnership returns were particularly strong, and we had expected a reduction in these returns for Q3, specifically the one quarter lag in partnership accounting reflects the weak equity market returns of the second quarter in our current results.
Given the strong stock market of the third quarter, we expect improvement in alternative returns for the fourth quarter. Income from long-term debt security, decreased as the effect of the low interest rate environment continues to depress shields on new fixed income investments. We also have a slightly smaller asset base.
On Slide 14, credit impairments declined for a third consecutive quarter, falling to 11.9 million in Q3. Impairments were spread among several different sectors. We only had minor impairments in our corporate bond segment, which comprises the largest percentage of our overall portfolio. Notably; our private placement bond holdings suffered no impairments, reflecting the quality and covalence, inherent in those investments.
We also saw a reduction in the impairments from our non-agency mortgage-backed security holding, which includes prime [inaudible] and subprime. Our impairment experience reflects both declining overall market default rates and our ongoing efforts to manage our credit exposure. Lower impairments year-to-date have helped us strengthen our balance sheet and on a statutory basis, improve our surplus and RBC levels.
Please, also recall that since we have virtually no commercial mortgage home loans, we have no impairments in that asset class.
Slide 15, illustrates the continued improvement in the market value of the Phoenix fixed income portfolio, with the sharp drop in treasury rates during the third quarter, the portfolio's value has appreciated to an unrealized gain position of 461 million, an improvement of over 780 million since yearend. All segments, corporate bonds, mortgage backed security, and asset back securities, saw improvement in market values.
Spreads tightening from their highs in the fall of 2008, to more normal levels have also contributed to portfolio depreciation. This improvement, along with reduced credit impairments, reflects the strength and resiliency of the investment portfolio.
The improvement portfolio evaluations has been a significant factor in strengthening our balance sheet and enhancing surplus. As shown on Slide 16, we have significantly improved the credit quality of portfolio over the last year. Reducing the below-investment rate ratio from a peak of 11.4% of bonds to 9% at the end of the third quarter. We have been able to achieve this reduction in our high-yield position over the last several quarters, with virtually no losses on sales and dispositions.
Our investment policy specifies a high-yield bond range of 6 to 10% of total bonds. Operating within this range, we will continue to look for opportunities to reduce low-investment grade holdings, but will carefully balance that against the need for the yield these assets produce.
As a reminder, we continue to produce a quarterly investment portfolio supplement, which is available on our website, and provides much more granularity on our investment portfolio. With that, I'll turn the call back over to Jim.
Jim Wehr
Thanks, Chris. Lori, let's open things up for questions.
Thank you, Sir. At this time we are ready to being the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Bob Glasspiegel with Langen McAlenney. You may ask your question, sir.
Bob Glasspiegel – Langen McAlenney
Good morning, everyone. Two questions on the unlocking charge if I may. You sited increased lapses in UL and surrender rates in DUL, but it looks like on the chart, you're lapse rates have improved, your persistency is improved in your life product. Is it that the improvement was less than you were looking for or am I looking at the wrong set of number?
And the second question regards interest rates, lower investment spreads and annuities. Did you sort of assume that the current low rate environment continues for ever or are there potential further hits if rates stay low down the road?
Jim Wehr
Bob, I'm going to ask Peter to take a swing at both of those.
Bob Glasspiegel – Langen McAlenney
Thank you.
Peter Hoffmann
Yeah, Bob. Let me start with the lapse question. The distinction that I tried to make, but obviously didn't come through, was the surrender ratios represent policies that are surrendered for value to us. Lapses in the UL block basically represents policies that expire because there's not sufficient fund values, not sufficient renewal premiums collected to keep them in force.
And our surrender ratios do not include the lapses on the UL block, or any block where there's a lapsation without value. And it's really the lapses that are driving the unlocking because in essence the policies are not on the books to glamorize the assets.
Bob Glasspiegel – Langen McAlenney
Is it because of underlying asset value declines, or people not putting money in?
Peter Hoffmann
It's really not putting money in.
Bob Glasspiegel – Langen McAlenney
Peter Hoffmann
Not paying for renewal premiums, which is related directly to the renewal premium assumption. So they are related if you think about it.
Bob Glasspiegel – Langen McAlenney
Okay. I think you may have to follow up on that off line. What about interest rates?
Peter Hoffmann
On the interest rate side, this is large in the annuity block, there are two pieces to that. The total was about 12 million or so, roughly half of that or so is related to some older fixed annuities that are close to their maturity, so there really isn't enough – there aren't enough earnings left in those to support that and we essentially wrote off the remaining DAC associated with that particular block.
The other piece of it represents the investment, the very short-term investments that are in the guaranteed interest account of the variable annuity business where we have to keep the assets quite short and there's a statutory minimum credit rate generally of 3% that we need to credit. So there's, you know, there's been some fairly meaningful spread compression on that block of business. That's roughly a $500 million balance that you can see in the supplement on the annuity page.
Bob Glasspiegel – Langen McAlenney
If lower rates stay where they are – if rates stay low where they are, is there – are there more DAC charges coming, or is it just low spreads that we just have to deal with?
Peter Hofmann
On the fixed annuity block, like I said, we've essentially written on the DAC, so that one is pretty much done. No the bearable annuity side, you know, short-term rates go – and I don't know how much lower they can actually go from here, but if they – if they remain sustained, there's, you know, there's some exposure there. I would say that we've built in pretty low rate assumptions at this point. And a lot of our Life business is much longer term in nature and has adjustable costs so whether that's crediting rates, or dividend scale on a disclosed block, that allows us both time because the portfolio rolls over more gradually and we can invest longer. And at the same time, we can adjust price. So less exposure there, I would say.
Bob Glasspiegel – Langen McAlenney
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Steven Schwartz with Raymond James.
Steven Schwartz – Raymond James & Associates
Hey, good morning everybody.
Jim Wehr
Good morning.
Steven Schwartz – Raymond James & Associates
I have a few. I was just wondering, you mentioned a couple of times the favorably mortality in the open block. It came in, I think you said it was 53 1/2%. My notes would suggest that that's actually not that – it's slightly favorable. So I'm probably off here. What do you consider a more normal number for the mortality benefit ratio?
Jim Wehr
Again, I'm going to turn to Peter to talk about mortality and maybe Phil might chime in as well.
Steven Schwartz – Raymond James & Associates
Jim Wehr
Peter Hofmann
Hi, Steve. The mortality ratio has probably become a little less useful as an exact predictor of mortality. And the reason for that is that we have seen declines in the level of COI fees, so the ratio in and of itself is not quite as reliable and you can't interpolate last accurate as you could maybe a couple of quarters ago. So we're actually looking at whether there's a better metric to share.
Our estimate of the favorable mortality in the quarter is around 7 million or so pre-tax across the business.
Steven Schwartz – Raymond James & Associates
Peter Hofmann
And again, you can't get there directly from adjusting the ratio because of the CLI trend.
Steven Schwartz – Raymond James & Associates
Okay. Peter, you said that's pre-tax pre-DAC?
Peter Hofmann
Yes. No, after DAC.
Steven Schwartz – Raymond James & Associates
After DAC. Pre-tax, after DAC. Okay, great. I appreciate that. And then I wasn't sure if I was interpreting a statement that you made correctly. You were talking about the DAC amount that is filled there from the PAUL product, and expected it to come off. I think you said in about three years or so. Does that mean if we were to normalize the adjustments that you made this quarter, does that mean we'll see the DAC amortization amount move higher all else equal, or just all else equal, just kind of be at the same rate?
Peter Hofmann
My point was, all else equal, amortization would be slightly less because there's less of an asset to amortize. But my point was that if you look at the chart, at the level of amortization, remember this is 25 million or so on the base of a billion dollars originally deferred.
Steven Schwartz – Raymond James & Associates
Peter Hofmann
If you look at the pace of amortization on that slide on the right, you can see that at that pace you get through 400 million of that pretty quickly. It's indicative of the cash flows that are coming off of that UL block amortized, that balance.
What we wanted to do really is give you a – sort of put it in context and size the block from a GAAP perspective and give you some sense of what's involved.
Jim Wehr
So just to be clear, so as it goes through that rapid amortization and the balance is diminished, the potential for future DAC adjustments is also diminished.
Steven Schwartz – Raymond James & Associates
Okay. So that was the point of it. Okay, great. And then one more if I may. In the second quarter, I have in my notes that you had a benefit on I guess in your benefits line due to – well actually – I'm sorry, it was a cost due to the negative markets on your unhedged GMDBs and some other embedded derivatives. Did you have a gain in this quarter from the market moving up?
Peter Hofmann
Yes. And it's not – it's the guarantee limb death benefit and guarantee minimum income benefit, which we don't hedge. Yes there was a gain.
Steven Schwartz – Raymond James & Associates
Right. Okay. Peter, do you know how much that is so I can stick that in my model?
Peter Hofmann
I don't have that piece isolated. Naomi can get that for you. Overall when we look across the business, our estimate of the favorably impact of the market is around 5 million.
Steven Schwartz – Raymond James & Associates
Okay. So this would be part of that 5 million?
Peter Hofmann
That would be, but only a piece of it.
Steven Schwartz – Raymond James & Associates
Okay. All right, yeah, I'll talk to Naomi later. Thank you guys.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Andrew Kligerman with UBS.
Andrew Kligerman - UBS
Hey, good morning.
Jim Wehr
Good morning, Andrew.
Andrew Kligerman - UBS
I have a question on Saybrus; how much did the third-party product sales – how much did the – what kind of traction did you get? If you could give us some numbers by product, maybe who might be a big – whose products you might be selling big as well?
Jim Wehr
Let me kind of break that into the components. The largest at this point, Andrew, is clearly Edward Jones. That was the first partner we announced just about a year ago. I think it was on our last year's November earnings call. So that is off to the strongest start simply because it has the – has been in place the longest time. We're seeing new volumes in their system in line with expectations. They actually ramped up the volumes – the volumes have ramped up quite nicely in the third quarter, but there is a bit of a lag between the new business applications and the realization of revenue, which comes after they go through the underwriting process and get funded.
So we're seeing the – we're seeing the application volume, but the revenue is lagging a bit there. But the application volume is in line with expectations and ramping up nicely.
Wells Fargo, which is the second in line, is really just getting started and we'll have to go through that same ramp up application translating into revenue. But in spite of those two moving along at what we characterize at a measured pace, we are still forecasting breakeven for Saybrus in the first quarter of next year.
Andrew Kligerman - UBS
And Jim, maybe just some revenue numbers that you tallied up to date that you could give us?
Jim Wehr
You know, Andrew, we have intentionally been vague beyond the break even commitment or expectation we have shared. I think as we get more experience in that business and start to feel more comfortable with the run rate, we'll be in a better position to provide that kind of granularity. We know you guys are interested in sizing this bread box if you will, but the size and shape and the components are changing as you would expect with the various startups.
So as we – as we feel more comfortable with what we're seeing, we'll provide that information.
Andrew Kligerman - UBS
Okay. That's fair. How about on the RBC rates? You've got a 7-point sequential move, you're at 297. Any plans to sharply increase that, any initiatives that you might have or any way to really ramp that up to 350 or 400?
Jim Wehr
We have considered alternatives along those lines, Andrew, over the last year plus. As you can see, we really haven't implemented anything. And I would say while 350 is clearly better than 297, the incremental value to us of that 50 points of RBC improvement is not as compelling as it was a year or so ago. So we will continue to evaluate those types of things, but I think that's probably the best answer I can give you.
Andrew Kligerman - UBS
Okay. Thanks a lot.
Jim Wehr
Thank you. (Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Eric Berg with Barclays Capital
Eric Berg – Barclays Capital
Thanks very much. So Peter, returning to the DAC unlocking, I have a question regarding taxes and one regarding DAC unlocking.
Just to be – just so that I can sharpen my understanding, are you essentially say that 2/3s of this was Life related, 1/3 annuity?
And then with respect to the Life, the great majority of it related to this distinction that you're making to lapses rather than – change lapse assumptions rather than surrender assumptions, is my rough math correct, or would you like to correct it?
Peter Hofmann
Your rough math is correct, Eric. I would add in, it's not just lapses, but the renewal premium assumptions that as I indicated, are interconnected to some degree with lapses, but are a separate assumption.
Eric Berg – Barclays Capital
Sure. And the I just wanted to clarify, with respect to the tax issue, you had an operating loss in the quarter and you explained to us repeated that because of your tax situation you would have a – effectively you would have a zero effective GAAP – zero GAAP-effective tax rate, yet you recorded a tax benefit in the quarter. Help me understand, is the presence of that benefit because you had a loss and the idea that you would have a zero tax would apply only in the context of earnings? Is that the point that this zero effective tax rate applies only in the context of earnings and not on the context of the loss? Thank you.
Peter Hofmann
I'll try to take that, Eric. And you'll, I think feel sorry you asked the question. But it's not – that's not the case.
Eric Berg – Barclays Capital
Okay, okay. This might be better offline. So why don't you give me the shorthand version.
Peter Hofmann
I'll give you the short answer. The benefit as related to what we refer to as GAAP intra-period accounting rules, which by even our – by all standards, I think would be considered complex [inaudible] intuitive.
What they require us to do is regardless of whether we have an expense or benefit, to allocate that expense and benefit among different income statement categories. So continuing operations, discontinued operations and other comprehensive income, so the OCI.
In the case we're in, where there's a full valuation allowance recorded against our ordinary DTA, we would typically expect a zero percent tax rate under the rules, under the Intra-period accounting rules.
However, there is an exception to those rules. If there is a loss from continuing operations and positive income from discontinued operations and OCI, this exception applies. And what the exception basically requires us to do is to run the utilization of a tax benefit through continuing operations even if the income that utilized that benefit is in OCI or discontinued operations.
So it's a geography issue and it's a classification among discontinued operations, OCI, which is off the sort of traditional net income statement all together, and continuing operations. And how exactly the allocation ends up is pretty unpredictable and not always intuitive.
Eric Berg – Barclays Capital
Now, just one final last one. Is the tax benefit therefore that you – when you talk about the discrete items including a tax benefit and the DAC-related event leading to what's called your normalized earnings or your adjusted earnings, is the tax adjustment that you're making there essentially taking you down to a zero GAAP effective tax rate, or is that yet another matter, is that a tax benefit that you're calling a discrete item yet another matter still?
Peter Hofmann
No, that's exactly what we're doing. We're saying that because we have a valuation allowance against fairly significant net operating loss carried forward, we, you know, any income tax expense theoretically can be absorbed by those net operating losses; because there's a valuation allowance that would immediately offset the utilization of the NOL so there's a zero net impact on income versus of course, if we have loss, we put up an additional DTA or net operating loss and also put an additional valuation allowance with other [inaudible] effective impact.
That's sort of how we expect things to occur other than for this exception that I just mentioned.
Eric Berg – Barclays Capital
Okay. That was a very helpful start, it really was, and I'll circle back with Naomi to go over it in a little bit more detail. Thank you very much.
Peter Hofmann
All right.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Bob Glasspiegel with Langen McAlenney.
Bob Glasspiegel – Langen McAlenney
Good job on that. The annuity sales – she showed persistence to get through that. The annuity sales, maybe give us a little bit more color about the types of products that seem to be getting traction. And is this a line that we can build from in the future for Glide Pep?
Jim Wehr
Bob, I'm going to ask Phil to give us some color on the annuity sales.
Phil Polkinghorn
The majority of those are fixed-index annuities and while they have slightly different benefits, they have similar chassis, ten-year surrender period, ten-year market value adjustment. But different interesting-earning methods. And we've been at this a while, growing sales [inaudible] organization channel and they've continued to grow. Jim mentioned the new relationship with the [inaudible] group. It's off to a very good start and is contributing to our overall sales already. So you know, without forecasting sales, I would expect to see that trend continue.
Bob Glasspiegel – Langen McAlenney
A little bit more, I'm curious what are the rates and the caps and stuff?
Phil Polkinghorn
Sure. The products all contain a one-year point-to-point with a cap and the most recent cap was, you know, around 5%. It's going down in early November to the mid 4s. But each product also have a number of other crediting methods that we can give you some information on each of them. But they're priced roughly equivalently and they also all have a guaranteed interest account that is down in the twos. And interestingly enough, a non-trivial portion of the money is allocated to that guaranteed interest account.
Bob Glasspiegel – Langen McAlenney
Okay. That sounds interesting . Thanks.
Jim Wehr
Bob, should we have somebody from Saybrus give you a call?
Bob Glasspiegel – Langen McAlenney
Try to sell me some product? I'd like to look at it, in all seriousness. Thanks.
Jim Wehr
We'll do that, Bob.
Thank you. At this time I'm showing no further questions. I would now like to turn the call over to Ms. Kleinman.
Jim Wehr
Well, I'm going to wrap things up and just, once again, thank everyone for their time, attention and interest today. I look forward to talking to you in the future. Take care.
Thank you. That does conclude today's conference call. Thank you all for joining. You may disconnect at this time.
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text:
2005 WRX 4eat. Hybrid. 280whp/390wtq.
View Single Post
Scooby Specialist
Join Date:
Jun 2012
2014 Diesel Cruze
Yamaha R6
Originally Posted by
Dave D.
I see your point, but many here think that track numbers are the final word in measuring engine output. Would you say that efficiency is then improved by a good track TC? That lower ET has to come from somewhere, and is clearly not an illusion.
The graph at least indicates that.
A good torque converter will improve ET by getting you immediately to your powerband.
The power isn't changed. The time it took to get there did. There's the ET improvement.
Now, a GOOD TC can (CAN NOT does) also net a few mph due to its efficiency and lighter rotating mass. But this is usually minimal if at all.
A proper stalled auto will trounce a manual of equal modification in a drag race. Not due to power being more, but optimizing the amount of time spent at or around peak power.
Gearing is significant as well. Take two identical cars, gear one to run out of rpm at the 8th mile. It will destroy the other. Now run them down the quarter mile and watch the "faster" get obliterated. It didn't make more power, it just uses it better. It won't dyno any higher, but you can feel it too. Same thing going on.
ET is far from the total picture. Traps are far from the total picture. Dynos are far from the total picture.
There's way more to racing than numbers. And a dyno graph is the last thing I'd bench race with.
Random info:
My previous car at one point dynod a pitiful 325rwhp. It had a small 3200 stall and 3.42 gears (which were no longer right for the car) It ran
[email protected]
I know this because I had it dynod and used the dyno for what it is. A tuning TOOL. I knew exactly where my shifts needed to be, I knew exactly where I needed to stall up to. Peak power was at 5950rpm. No reason to shift any higher than 6700 rpm in 2nd gear. It's only slower to go to any closer redline with where third gear started at wot. 4.33 gears would have topped me out of third gear at the 1/4 with 26" tires. I knew 28" tires would have gotten me about 10 mph more before I needed 4.10s.
That car would have run mid-low 11s this year had I not sold it. And mostly just in optimizing power already made. (And adding some for fun.)
Registered users
of the site do not see these ads.
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|Home > Jobey
♀ Jobey
What does Jobey mean?
Jobey [jobey] as a name for girls is of Hebrew derivation, and the name Jobey means "persecuted". Jobey is an alternate form of Joby (Hebrew): feminine of Job.
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(female) Juabey, Jubey, ..
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Jobey Cattleya (J.C.), ..
How popular is Jobey?
Jobey is an uncommonly occurring first name for women. Jobey is an equally uncommon surname for both adults and children. (2000 U.S. DEMOGRAPHICS)
Jobey has yet to be recorded in the Top 2000 thus far. (2015 U.S. SSA RECORDS)
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