text:
- Methodology article
- Open Access
Method for inducing experimental pneumococcal meningitis in outbred mice
- Damiana Chiavolini†1, 2,
- Sergio Tripodi†3,
- Riccardo Parigi1,
- Marco R Oggioni1,
- Elisabetta Blasi4,
- Marcella Cintorino3,
- Gianni Pozzi1 and
- Susanna Ricci1Email author
© Chiavolini et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2004
- Received: 09 April 2004
- Accepted: 22 September 2004
- Published: 22 September 2004
Streptococcus pneumoniae is the leading cause of bacterial meningitis. Pneumococcal meningitis is associated with the highest mortality among bacterial meningitis and it may also lead to neurological sequelae despite the use of antibiotic therapy. Experimental animal models of pneumococcal meningitis are important to study the pathogenesis of meningitis, the host immune response induced after infection, and the efficacy of novel drugs and vaccines.
In the present work, we describe in detail a simple, reproducible and efficient method to induce pneumococcal meningitis in outbred mice by using the intracranial subarachnoidal route of infection. Bacteria were injected into the subarachnoid space through a soft point located 3.5 mm rostral from the bregma. The model was tested with several doses of pneumococci of three capsular serotypes (2, 3 and 4), and mice survival was recorded. Lethal doses killing 50 % of animals infected with type 2, 3 and 4 S. pneumoniae were 3.2 × 10, 2.9 × 10 and 1.9 × 102 colony forming units, respectively. Characterisation of the disease caused by the type 4 strain showed that in moribund mice systemic dissemination of pneumococci to blood and spleen occurred. Histological analysis of the brain of animals infected with type 4 S. pneumoniae proved the induction of meningitis closely resembling the disease in humans.
The proposed method for inducing pneumococcal meningitis in outbred mice is easy-to-perform, fast, cost-effective, and reproducible, irrespective of the serotype of pneumococci used.
- Meningitis
- Colony Form Unit
- Bacterial Meningitis
- Subarachnoid Space
- Soft Point
Bacterial meningitis is an important infection of the central nervous system (CNS), and the three major responsible bacteria are Neisseria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae [1]. Despite the use of antimicrobial therapy, pneumococcal meningitis (PM) has the highest case-fatality rate (up to 30 %) for bacterial meningitis, and in 27 % of cases, it leads to serious neurological sequelae, including cognitive impairment [2, 3]. Development of PM generally starts from pneumococcal colonisation of the nasopharynx, which is the natural reservoir of S. pneumoniae in humans and especially in children [4]. The pathogenic steps leading to PM include invasion of the bloodstream from the nasopharyngeal mucosa, survival in the blood, and subsequent entry into the CNS by crossing the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) [1, 2]. However, PM can also be caused by either contiguous spread of pneumococci infecting the sinuses or the middle ear, or accidental traumatic inoculation of bacteria into the CNS [2]. A recent paper showed that non-hematogenous invasion of the brain by S. pneumoniae in mice may also occur through retrograde axonal transport along olfactory neurons [5]. Once the pneumococcus starts replicating in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), severe inflammation occurs in cerebral vessels and subarachnoid space, and damage to the brain parenchyma is produced [1, 2].
Animal models of PM have been developed in order to: (i) characterise the pathogenesis of meningitis, (ii) analyse the role of pneumococcal virulence factors in the disease, (iii) understand the host immune response to S. pneumoniae infection, and (iv) test the efficacy of novel antibiotics and vaccine candidates. Both infant and adult rats [6–9], and also adult rabbits [10–13] have largely been employed as animal models to characterise PM induced by intracisternal inoculation of bacteria. Infant rats have also been used to study haematogenous meningitis following intraperitoneal infection with S. pneumoniae [14]. However, models of PM have also been developed in the mouse by using the following routes of infection: (i) intraperitoneal (i.p.) [15–17], (ii) intranasal (i.n.) [18, 19], or (iii) intracranial (i.c.) parenchymal [20, 21] or cisternal [22, 23]. Haematogenous murine meningitis models (both i.p. and i.n.) allow to study PM pathogenesis, and i.n. models are particularly useful as they mimic the natural infection route of S. pneumoniae in humans. However, those models present the disadvantage that PM is induced in about half of the animals, while the remaining mice may die of sepsis without developing meningitis. Models of meningitis induced by the i.p. route were employed to carry out therapeutic studies [16] and investigations on PM pathogenesis [15, 17]. The i.n. model by Zwijnenburg et al. [19] was employed in interleukin (IL)-10, IL-18, and IL-1 receptor deficient mice to investigate the role of different cytokines in PM [24–26]. Direct induction (i.c. route) of PM mimics meningitis caused by contiguous spread from the sinuses or traumatic entrance of pneumococci into the CNS and allows to study the host-parasite interaction in the brain. Besides an early model of i.c.-induced meningitis in mice [20] employed in therapeutic studies [6, 20], the model by Gerber et al. is an useful and reliable system for causing PM in the mouse [21]. Following infection of C57BL/6 inbred mice into the right lobe of the brain with type 3 pneumococci, bacterial enumeration in different organs, brain histology, behavioural tests, and clinical scores were performed [21]. A model of intracisternal infection was described by Koedel et al., who induced meningitis via inoculation of S. pneumoniae (type 3) into the cisterna magna of C57BL/6 mice and investigated the function of nitric oxide in the disease [23]. Both models, largely employed in studies on the roles of both pneumococcal [27] and host factors [28–32] in PM, rely on the use of inbred mouse strains and type 3 pneumococci.
In the present study, we describe an experimental model of PM in outbred mice based on the direct inoculation of bacteria into the subarachnoid space through a soft point located 3.5 mm rostral from the bregma. Both the technique employed for infection and the anatomical coordinates of the inoculation site are accurately described. The model was tested with pneumococcal strains of three different capsular serotypes and it was characterised in detail by using TIGR4 (type 4) as a model strain. The proposed method is precise, simple, cost-effective, fast and reproducible, and the disease induced closely resembles PM in humans.
Inoculation site and technique
These data allowed localisation of the anatomical coordinates of the inoculation site and proved the suitability of the i.c. subarachnoidal infection technique.
Meningitis induction by type 2, 3 and 4 S. pneumoniae
After characterisation of the inoculation site and technique, mice were infected with pneumococci, and the establishment of PM was evaluated and clearly evidenced by histological analysis (see below).
In order to test the model with different pneumococcal serotypes, dose-dependent survival studies were performed, and the lethal doses killing 50% of animals (LD50) were calculated. We chose three commonly used S. pneumoniae strains, such as D39, HB565, and TIGR4. The D39 strain (type 2) is the encapsulated parent of the rough type 2 R36A strain used by Avery [34–36]. The HB565 strain (type 3) is a streptomycin-resistant derivative of the A66 strain used by Avery [34, 36, 37]. The serotype 4 TIGR4 is the genome strain sequenced by the Institute for Genomic Research [38]. The survival patterns of mice inoculated with D39 and HB565 were almost identical, with LD50 of 3.2 × 10 and 2.9 × 10 colony forming units (CFU), respectively (data not shown). The TIGR4 strain was less virulent in the i.c. subarachnoidal infection model compared to D39 and HB565, as its LD50 was 1.9 × 102 CFU (data not shown).
Animal survival and bacterial titres after infection with the TIGR4 strain
To describe the features of PM in detail following i.c. subarachnoidal infection of mice, we chose to characterise PM induced by the TIGR4 genome strain. For this purpose, we performed time-dependent survival studies, bacterial counts in different organs/tissues, and histological analysis of brain and spleen (see below). In order to study animal survival, five groups of MF1 mice were infected with doses of TIGR4 increasing from 10 to 105 CFU per mouse. The percentage of animals surviving over time at each bacterial dose was analysed by a Kaplan-Meier curve (Fig. 2). After inoculating 10 CFU, only one mouse out of eight died 72 hours after infection (87.5 % survival). At the doses of 102 CFU and 103 CFU, 40 % of mice survived pneumococcal challenge, whereas the remaining 60 % died within 72 hours from infection. Survival further decreased from 20 % in mice infected with 104 CFU to 0 % following infection with 105 CFU, which induced severe symptoms and subsequent death of all mice within the first 48 hours after challenge (Fig. 2). The median time-to-death of the groups injected with 10, 102, 103, 104, and 105 CFU were 240, 70, 72, 72, and 40 hours, respectively. From these results, the median survival time of animals did not vary at intermediate doses (102, 103, 104 CFU), while it considerably decreased at the highest dose (105 CFU) leading to rapid death of all mice.
Histological characterisation of the PM model
In order to prove the establishment of PM and study the features of the disease, we performed histological analysis on the brain of moribund mice inoculated with several doses of the TIGR4 strain and sacrificed at various time-points after infection. Animals at the final stages of the disease showed typical signs of meningitis (i.e. hunchbacked, photophobic, lethargic), but they did not develop hemiparesis or plegia. Moribund mice that had received 102, 103, 104, and 105 CFU were humanely killed at 72, 72, 48, and 24 hours post-infection, respectively. Two animals for each pneumococcal dose and three additional control mice were sacrificed. Brains and spleens were excised and treated for both haematoxilin-eosin and Gram staining.
S. pneumoniae is one of the causative agents of bacterial meningitis responsible for death and sequelae worldwide. The mouse has largely proved to be a reliable animal model for studying two major pneumococcal diseases such as pneumonia [39–44] and sepsis [45–47]. In the case of PM, the rat [6–9, 14] and the rabbit [10–13] have often been preferred to the mouse. With the exception of an initial work describing an i.c. infection procedure for inducing PM in mice in outbred mice [20], only recently, models of PM based on i.c. inoculation were made available in inbred mice [21, 23].
In the present work, starting from an experimental method used to study meningitis caused by Cryptococcus neoformans [48], we developed a model of PM based on the inoculation of bacteria into the subarachnoid space of outbred mice. This infection route (i.c. subarachnoidal) mimics bacterial entrance into the CNS from the sinuses or the middle ear, or following a trauma. We chose to inoculate mice into the subarachnoid space through a soft point located on the skull 0 mm lateral, 3.5 mm rostral, and 2 mm ventral from the bregma. Such point easily allows inoculation of bacteria from the skull through the frontal lobes into the subarachnoid space, as shown by a preliminary experiment in which trypan blue was used to localise the injection site and trace the inoculum within the brain (Fig. 1). The finding that the inoculation technique did not cause any trauma to animals can be explained by the fact that frontal lobectomy is tolerated in both humans [49] and rats [50], as frontal lobes are mainly committed to behavioural and cognitive functions. We decided to use MF1 outbred mice because this strain is well-known for its susceptibility to both intranasal [40, 51, 52] and intravenous [47] challenge with S. pneumoniae, and because the use of outbred strains is cost-effective. Another research group had previously used CD-1 outbred mice in a study on the efficacy of clinafloxacin against PM; however, the authors did not provide a detailed description of the model [22].
Our i.c. subarachnoidal infection model was tested by using a range of bacterial doses of three different S. pneumoniae strains. The strains chosen are the serotypes routinely employed by researchers in the pneumococcal field, and have proved to be highly pathogenic in different mouse infection models [27, 40, 47, 52]. The use of several bacterial doses is also important, as it allows a more accurate evaluation of virulence for each strain, as well as establishing the most appropriate dose to be employed in different studies. The model proved to be suitable for use with pneumococci of different serotypes, as type 2 D39, type 3 HB565, and type 4 TIGR4 were all able to cause PM with LD50 ranging from 2.9 × 10 to 1.9 × 102 CFU. Then, PM was further characterised and standardised by using TIGR4 as a model strain. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis of animals inoculated with different doses of TIGR4 showed that 105 CFU was lethal for all mice within 48 hours from infection (Fig. 2), suggesting it as the appropriate dose inducing PM similar to hyperacute meningitis in humans. Moribund mice with acute meningitis after infection with 105 CFU were also septicaemic, as pneumococci could also be recovered from the blood and spleen. Bacterial titres were consistent in each organ/tissue of every mouse examined, underlining the reproducibility of data obtainable by using our model. Dissemination of pneumococci after infection with lethal doses is also in agreement with other i.c. murine models of PM [21, 22].
The actual induction and subsequent characterisation of PM caused by the TIGR4 strain was then carried out by histological analysis of the brain tissue from moribund animals. We chose not to analyse PM by viable counting of pneumococci in the CSF, due to the difficulty of sample collection [53] and to the necessity of using pooled CSF samples [21]. Histological examination of the brain showed both cases of mild meningeal inflammation and cases of severe granulocytic effusion in the subarachnoid and ventricular spaces (purulent ventriculitis) (Fig. 3). Cerebral abscesses were not observed, further confirming that the our i.c. subarachnoidal model is indeed a meningitis and not an encephalitis model of infection. Neither inflammatory changes nor death were observed following injection of saline into control mice. Inflammation and PMNs distribution in the brain of moribund mice closely mimicked the histopathology of meningitis in humans [54]. Post-mortem examination of brains from patients who rapidly (less than 24 hours) died due to hyperacute meningitis generally reveals the presence of mild lesions consisting of a sparse leptomeningeal exudate with vessel congestion and PMN margination, in contrast to patients who survived for two or more days, who often exhibit a severe inflammation with fibrin and PMNs in subarachnoid and ventricular spaces [54]. A detailed analysis of PM largely resembling human meningitis was also reported by Gerber et al., who injected C57BL/6 inbred mice into the right lobe of the brain [21]. In that model, the inoculation site was characterised by a large purulent infiltrate present in both meninges and ventricula, and necrosis was observed in all investigated brain regions [21]. In another model, proposed by Koedel et al., pneumococci were given by transcutaneous injection directly into the cisterna magna [23]. In that study, brain lesions occurred in all mice 24 hours after infection, and histopathological examination revealed intense granulocytic infiltrations in the subarachnoid and ventricular spaces, and absence of cortical necrosis [23]. This finding differs from the model by Gerber et al., who instead reported the presence of extensive cerebral necrotic processes [21]. In our model, we could not observe large areas of necrosis, but we found some signs of neuronal damage (i.e. neuronal shrinkage with picnotic nuclei) in the hippocampus of a few animals.
The present work proposes a method to induce experimental PM in outbred mice by using an i.c. subarachnoidal route of infection. The stereotaxic coordinates of the injection site are provided to allow easy recognition of the inoculation point in the mouse. The model is simple and fast, and the technique assures the development of meningitis, as demonstrated by histological analysis, survival data, and microbiological parameters. No significant differences were observed in the ability of the three pneumococcal strains used to cause disease, emphasising the value of the model. It is worth noting that the use of outbred mice still results in data reproducibility, as replicates in this model closely paralleled each other in terms of survival, CFU counts per organ, and histopathological features. In addition, experiments in outbred mice are cost-effective and can be performed in larger animal groups thereby improving statistical significance. This experimental PM model may be particularly useful for all researchers involved in studies that will investigate the host-pathogen interaction at the cerebral level, with emphasis on both pathogen-associated virulence factors and host-specific brain defences.
Pneumococcal strains, media and growth conditions
Survival studies were performed with the D39, HB565 and TIGR4 strains. TIGR4 was chosen as a model strain for histological characterisation of PM and CFU counts in organs. S. pneumoniae was cultured in Tryptic Soy Broth (TSB, Difco, Detroit, MI) at 37°C with 5 % CO2. Solid media were obtained by addition of 1.5 % agar and 3 % defibrinated horse blood (Biotec s.n.c., Grosseto, Italy) to TSB. When necessary, streptomycin was used at the final concentration of 500 μg/ml.
Outbred 9-weeks-old female MF1 mice weighing 25–30 grams were obtained from Harlan Nossan (Correzzana, Italy). Animals were allowed to settle in the new environment for one week before performing the experiments, they were caged and given food and water ad libitum. All animal experiments were approved by the Local Ethical Committee (document no. 754/03, 12.9.03, see Additional file 1) and were conducted according to institutional guidelines.
Preparation of the challenge dose
Mouse-passaged S. pneumoniae strains were prepared by using a modified version of a previously described method [40]. Briefly, bacteria were injected i.p. into mice and recovered 16 hours later from homogenising the spleens with a screen mesh in 2 ml of ice-cold sterile H2O. Passaged bacteria were grown to mid-exponential phase, centrifuged for 20 minutes at 1500 × g, resuspended in fresh TSB containing 10 % glycerol, and stored in aliquots at -70°C. Numbers of bacteria were determined by viable counting of serial dilutions in sterile phosphate-buffered saline, pH = 7.4 (PBS), and plating onto blood-agar plates. Before inoculation, bacteria were thawed at room temperature, harvested by centrifugation, and resuspended in sterile PBS at the appropriate dilutions.
Mouse model of meningitis
PM was induced in lightly anaesthetised mice (50 mg/kg ketamine and 3 mg/kg xylazine) by modifying a method previously used to establish meningitis by C. neoformans in mice [48, 55]. Animals were immobilised by hand and inoculated i.c. at a depth of about 2 mm through a soft point located 3.5 mm rostral from the bregma. A preliminary experiment was carried out by injecting 30 μl of trypan blue i.c. into three MF1 mice. After 30 minutes, animals were sacrificed and decapitated. Their skulls were fixed in 10 % buffered formalin for 24 hours and treated with Decal (Decal Corporation, Tallman, NY) for 24 hours. Coronal sections of about 3 mm were made, and diffusion of trypan blue was observed. Then, to localise the injection site within the brain, the above sections were embedded in paraffin and treated for histological analysis. Standard experiments were performed by injecting the bacterial inoculum in a total volume of 30 μl. Injections were performed by using glass micro-syringes (Hamilton, Bonaduz, Switzerland) with 26 gauge needles.
Survival studies
Different bacterial doses ranging from 10 to 104 CFU per mouse were used to infect mice (n= 4) with strains D39 and HB565. In the case of TIGR4, groups of 6 to 10 animals each were inoculated with doses ranging from 10 to 105 CFU per animal. Control mice were inoculated with PBS (30 μl). Mice were closely monitored twice a day for clinical symptoms (starry fur, hunched appearance, photophobia, lethargy, moribund). Mice were humanely killed before reaching the moribund state. Survival was recorded for 10 days (240 hours).
Microbiology and histology
Infected mice were sacrificed either for microbiological or histological analysis. Animals were humanely killed before being moribund, and various samples were collected. For CFU counts, blood was withdrawn by cardiac puncture before sacrifice and added to a tube containing 3.8 % of sodium citrate. Brains and spleens were excised and homogenised in 2 ml of sterile PBS. Bacterial counts in blood, brain and spleen were performed by plating 10-fold dilutions onto blood-agar plates. For histopathological analysis of tissues after infection with TIGR4, brains and spleens were immediately fixed in formalin for 24 hours and then embedded in paraffin according to standard procedures. The brains were entirely sectioned along a coronal plane. Sections were stained with both haematoxilin-eosin and Gram according to standard techniques. Morphological changes were assessed by using routine light microscopy. The presence and degree of inflammation were carefully evaluated.
Statistical analysis
Calculations of LD50 values were performed by using both the method by Reed and Muench [56] and Probit analysis with 95 % confidence interval [57]. Survival over time was analysed by the Kaplan-Meier curve.
The work was supported by the Commission of the European Union (contract QLK2-2000-01536) and MIUR (COFIN 2002). We would like to acknowledge Velia Braione for excellent technical assistance with experimental work.
Authors' Affiliations
- Leib SL, Tauber MG: Pathogenesis of bacterial meningitis. Infect Dis Clin North Am. 1999, 13: 527-548.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Koedel U, Scheld W, Pfister H-W: Pathogenesis and pathophysiology of pneumococcal meningitis. Lancet Infect Dis. 2002, 2: 721-736. 10.1016/S1473-3099(02)00450-4.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- van de Beek D, Schmand B, de Gans J, Weisfelt M, Vaessen H, Dankert J, Vermeulen M: Cognitive impairment in adults with good recovery after bacterial meningitis. J Infect Dis. 2002, 186: 1047-1052. 10.1086/344229.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Obaro S, Adegbola R: The pneumococcus: carriage, disease and conjugate vaccines. J Med Microbiol. 2002, 51: 98-104.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Van Ginkel FW, McGhee JR, Watt JM, Campos-Torres A, Parish LA, Briles DE: Pneumococcal carriage results in ganglioside-mediated olfactory tissue infection. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2003, 100: 14363-14367. 10.1073/pnas.2235844100.PubMed CentralView ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Tsai YH, Bies M, Leitner F, Kessler RE: Therapeutic studies of cefepime (BMY 28142) in murine meningitis and pharmacokinetics in neonatal rats. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1990, 34: 733-738.PubMed CentralView ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Pfister HW, Koedel U, Haberl RL, Dirnagl U, Feiden W, Ruckdeschel G, Einhaupl KM: Microvascular changes during the early phase of experimental bacterial meningitis. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 1990, 10: 914-922.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Leib SL, Leppert D, Clements J, Tauber MG: Matrix metalloproteinases contribute to brain damage in experimental pneumococcal meningitis. Infect Immun. 2000, 68: 615-620. 10.1128/IAI.68.2.615-620.2000.PubMed CentralView ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Hirst RA, Gosai B, Rutman A, Andrew PW, O'Callaghan C: Streptococcus pneumoniae damages the ciliated ependyma of the brain during meningitis. Infect Immun. 2003, 71: 6095-6100. 10.1128/IAI.71.10.6095-6100.2003.PubMed CentralView ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Dacey RG, Sande MA: Effect of probenecid on cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of penicillin and cephalosporin derivatives. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1974, 6: 437-441.PubMed CentralView ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Lindquist L, Lundbergh P, Hedstrom KG, Hansson LO, Hultman : Experimental bacterial meningitis in the rabbit: cerebrospinal fluid changes and its relation to leukocyte response. Scand J Infect Dis. 1987, 19: 263-270.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Bhatt S, Halpin C, Hsu W, Thedinger BA, Levine RA, Tuomanen E, Nadol JBJ: Hearing loss and pneumococcal meningitis: an animal model. Laryngoscope. 1991, 101: 1285-1292.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Nau R, Kaye K, Sachdeva M, Sande ER, Tauber MG: Rifampin for therapy of experimental pneumococcal meningitis in rabbits. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1994, 38: 1186-1189.PubMed CentralView ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Rodriguez AF, Kaplan SL, Hawkins EP, Mason EOJ: Hematogenous pneumococcal meningitis in the infant rat: description of a model. J Infect Dis. 1991, 164: 1207-1209.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Tan TQ, Wayne Smith C, Hawkins EP, Mason EOJ, Kaplan SL: Hematogenous bacterial meningitis in an intercellular adhesion molecule-1-deficient infant mouse model. J Infect Dis. 1995, 171: 342-349.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Iizawa Y, Hiroe K, Nakao M, Okonogi K: Therapeutic efficacy of cefozopran in a murine model of haematogenous pneumococcal meningitis. Chemotherapy. 1998, 44: 265-271. 10.1159/000007123.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Tsao N, Chang WW, Liu CC, Lei HY: Development of hematogenous pneumococcal meningitis in adult mice: the role of TNF-α. FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol. 2002, 32: 133-140. 10.1016/S0928-8244(01)00290-5.PubMedGoogle Scholar
- Marra A, Brigham D: Streptococcus pneumoniae causes experimental meningitis following intranasal and otitis media infections via a non hematogenous route. Infect Immun. 2001, 69: 7318-7325. 10.1128/IAI.69.12.7318-7325.2001.PubMed CentralView ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Zwijnenburg PJG, van der Poll T, Florquin S, van Deventer SJH, Roord JJ, van Furth AM: Experimental pneumococcal meningitis in mice: a model of intranasal infection. J Infect Dis. 2001, 183: 1143-1146. 10.1086/319271.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Tsai YH, Williams EB, Hirth RS, Price KE: Pneumococcal meningitis-therapeutic studies in mice. Chemotherapy. 1975, 21: 342-357.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Gerber J, Raivich G, Wellmer A, Noeske C, Kunst T, Werner A, Brück W, Nau R: A mouse model of Streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis mimicking several features of human disease. Acta Neuropathol. 2001, 101: 499-508.PubMedGoogle Scholar
- Shapiro MA, Donovan KD, Gage JW: Comparative efficacy of clinafloxacin in a pneumococcal meningitis mouse model. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2000, 45: 489-492. 10.1093/jac/45.4.489.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Koedel U, Paul R, Winkler F, Kastenbauer S, Huang PL, Pfister HW: Lack of endothelial nitric oxide synthase aggravates murine pneumococcal meningitis. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 2001, 60: 1041-1050.PubMedGoogle Scholar
- Zwijnenburg PJG, van der Poll T, Florquin S, Akira S, Takeda K, Roord JJ, van Furth AM: Interleukin-18 gene-deficient mice show enhanced defense and reduced inflammation during pneumococcal meningitis. J Neuroimmunol. 2003, 138: 31-37. 10.1016/S0165-5728(03)00088-2.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Zwijnenburg PJG, van der Poll T, Florquin S, Roord JJ, van Furth AM: Interleukin-10 negatively regulates local cytokine and chemokine production but does not influence antibacterial host defense during murine pneumococcal meningitis. Infect Immun. 2003, 71: 2276-2279. 10.1128/IAI.71.4.2276-2279.2003.PubMed CentralView ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Zwijnenburg PJG, van der Poll T, Florquin S, Roord JJ, van Furth AM: IL-1 receptor type 1 gene-deficient mice demonstrate an impaired host defense against pneumococcal meningitis. J Immunol. 2003, 170: 4724-4730.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Wellmer A, Zysk G, Gerber J, Kunst T, von Mering M, Bunkowski S, Eiffert H, Nau R: Decreased virulence of a pneumolysin-deficient strain of Streptococcus pneumoniae in murine meningitis. Infect Immun. 2002, 70: 6504-6508. 10.1128/IAI.70.11.6504-6508.2002.PubMed CentralView ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Böttcher T, Spreer A, Azeh I, Nau R, Gerber J: Matrix metalloproteinase-9 deficiency impairs host defense mechanisms against Streptococcus pneumoniae in a mouse model of bacterial meningitis. Neurosci Lett. 2003, 338: 201-204. 10.1016/S0304-3940(02)01406-4.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Koedel U, Winkler F, Angele B, Fontana A, Flavell RA, Pfister HW: Role of caspase-1 in experimental pneumococcal meningitis: evidence from pharmacologic caspase inhibition and caspase-1-deficient mice. Ann Neurol. 2002, 51: 319-329. 10.1002/ana.10103.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Schaper M, Leib SL, Meli DN, Brandes RP, Tauber MG, Christen S: Differential effect of p47phox and gp91phox deficiency on the course of pneumococcal meningitis. Infect Immun. 2003, 71: 4087-4092. 10.1128/IAI.71.7.4087-4092.2003.PubMed CentralView ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Wellmer A, Gerber J, Ragheb J, Zysk G, Kunst T, Smirnov A, Bruck W, Nau R: Effect of deficiency of tumor necrosis factor alpha or both of its receptors on Streptococcus pneumoniae central nervous system infection and peritonitis. Infect Immun. 2001, 69: 6881-6886. 10.1128/IAI.69.11.6881-6886.2001.PubMed CentralView ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Koedel U, Angele B, Rupprecht T, Wagner H, Roggenkamp A, Pfister H-W, Kirschning CJ: Toll-like receptor 2 participates in mediation of immune response in experimental pneumococcal meningitis. J Immunol. 2003, 170: 438-444.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Paxinos G, Franklin KBJ: The mouse brain in stereotaxic coordinates. 2001, Academic Press, Second DeluxeGoogle Scholar
- Avery OT, MacLeod CM, McCarty M: Studies on the chemical nature of the substance inducing transformation of pneumococcal types. Induction of tranformation by a desoxyribonucleic acid fraction isolated from Pneumococcus type III. J Exp Med. 1944, 79: 137-158. 10.1084/jem.79.2.137.PubMed CentralView ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Iannelli F, Pearce BJ, Pozzi G: The type 2 capsule locus of Streptococcus pneumoniae. J Bacteriol. 1999, 181: 2652-2654.PubMed CentralPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Pearce BJ, Iannelli F, Pozzi G: Construction of new unencapsulated (rough) strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Res Microbiol. 2002, 153: 243-247. 10.1016/S0923-2508(02)01312-8.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Bernheimer HP, Wermundsen IE: Unstable binary capsulated transformants in Pneumococcus. J Bacteriol. 1969, 98: 1073-1079.PubMed CentralPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Tettelin H, Nelson KE, Paulsen IT, Eisen JA, Read TD, Peterson S, Heidelberg J, DeBoy RT, Haft DH, Dodson RJ, Durkin AS, Gwinn M, Kolonay JF, Nelson WC, Peterson JD, Umajama LA, White O, Salzberg SL, Lewis MR, Radune D, Holtzapple E, Khouri H, Wolf AM, Utterback TR, Hansen CL, McDonald LA, Feldblyum TV, Angiuoli S, Dickinson T, Hickey EK, Holt IE, Loftus BJ, Yang F, Smith HO, Venter JC, Dougherty BA, Morrison DA, Hollingshead SK, Fraser CM: Complete genome sequence of a virulent isolate of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Science. 2001, 293: 498-506. 10.1126/science.1061217.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Azoulay-Dupuis E, Bedos JP, Vallee E, Hardy DJ, Swanson RN, Pocidalo JJ: Antipneumococcal activity of ciprofloxacin, oxofloxacin and temafloxacin in an experimental mouse pneumonia model at various stages of the disease. J Infect Dis. 1991, 163: 319-324.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Canvin JR, Marvin AP, Sivakumaran M, Paton JC, Boulnois GJ, Andrew PW, Mitchell TJ: The role of pneumolysin and autolysin in the pathology of pneumonia and septicemia in mice infected with a type 2 pneumococcus. J Infect Dis. 1995, 172: 119-123.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Tateda K, Takashima K, Miyazaki H, Matsumoto T, Hatori T, Yamaguchi K: Noncompromised penicillin-resistant pneumococcal pneumonia CBA/J mouse model and comparative efficacies of antibiotics in this model. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1996, 40: 1520-1525.PubMed CentralPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Iizawa Y, Kitamoto K, Hiroe K, Nakao M: Streptococcus pneumoniae in the nasal cavity of mice causes lower respiratory tract infection after airway obstruction. J Med Microbiol. 1996, 44: 490-495.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Ramisse F, Binder P, Szatanik M, Alonso JM: Passive and active immunotherapy for experimental pneumococcal pneumonia by polyvalent human immunoglobulin or F(ab')2 fragments administered intranasally. J Infect Dis. 1996, 173: 1123-1128.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Soriano F, Ponte C, Nieto E, Parra A: Correlation of in vitro activity and pharmacokinetics parameters with in vivo effect of amoxycillin, co-amoxiclav and cefotaxime in a murine model of pneumococcal pneumonia. J Antimicrob Chemother. 1996, 38: 227-236.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Briles DE, Nahm MH, Schroer K, Davie J, Baker P, Kearney J, Barletta R: Antiphosphocholine antibodies found in normal mouse serum are protective against intravenous infection with type 3 Streptococcus pneumoniae. J Exp Med. 1981, 153: 694-705. 10.1084/jem.153.3.694.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Wang E, Ouellet N, Simard M, Fillion I, Bergeron Y, Beauchamp D, Bergeron MG: Pulmonary and systemic host response to Streptococcus pneumoniae and Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteremia in normal and immunosuppressed mice. Infect Immun. 2001, 69: 5294-5304. 10.1128/IAI.69.9.5294-5304.2001.PubMed CentralView ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Iannelli F, Chiavolini D, Ricci S, Oggioni MR, Pozzi G: Pneumococcal surface protein C (PspC) contributes to sepsis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae. Infect Immun. 2004, 72: 3077-3080. 10.1128/IAI.72.5.3077-3080.2004.PubMed CentralView ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Blasi E, Barluzzi R, Bistoni F, Mosci P, Bistoni : Experimental model of intracerebral infection with Cryptococcus neoformans : roles of phagocytes and opsonization. Infect Immun. 1992, 60: 3682-3688.PubMed CentralPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Pillon B, Bazin B, Deweer B, Ehrle N, Baulac M, Dubois B: Specificity of memory deficits after right or left temporal lobectomy. Cortex. 1999, 35: 561-571.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Karganov M, Romanova G, Braslawsky W, Tarshitz D, Telegdy G: Neuromodulator role of VIP in recovery of rat behavior and brain neurotransmitters level after frontal lobectomy. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1998, 865: 519-522.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Gingles NA, Alexander JE, Kadioglu A, Andrew PW, Kerr A, Mitchell TJ, Hopes E, Denny P, Brown S, Jones HB, Little S, Booth GC, McPheat WL: Role of genetic resistance in invasive pneumococcal infection: identification and study of susceptibility and resistance in inbred mouse strains. Infect Immun. 2001, 69: 426-434. 10.1128/IAI.69.1.426-434.2001.PubMed CentralView ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Chiavolini D, Memmi G, Maggi T, Iannelli F, Pozzi G, Oggioni MR: The three extra-cellular zinc metalloproteinases of Streptococcus pneumoniae have a different impact on virulence in mice. BMC Microbiology. 2003, 3: 14-10.1186/1471-2180-3-14.PubMed CentralView ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Carp RI, Davidson AI, Merz PA: A method for obtaining cerebrospinal fluid from mice. Res Vet Sci. 1971, 12: 499-PubMedGoogle Scholar
- Greenfield JG, Lantos PL, Graham DI: Greenfield's Neuropathology. 2002, New York, 7Google Scholar
- Barluzzi R, Brozzetti A, Mariucci G, Tantucci M, Neglia RG, Bistoni F, Blasi E: Establishment of protective immunity against cerebral cryptococcosis by means of an avirulent, non melanogenic Cryptococcus neoformans strain. J Neuroimmunol. 2000, 109: 75-86. 10.1016/S0165-5728(00)00319-2.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Reed LJ, Muench H: A simple method of estimating fifty per cent endpoints. Am J Hyg. 1938, 27: 493-497.Google Scholar
- Finney DJ: Probit Analysis. 1971, London, UK: Cambridge University Press, 3rdGoogle Scholar
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


text:
Celebrate the Chinese New Year with some of these creative ideas! This Chinese New Year starts on January 23rd and it marks the year of the Dragon. Dragon years are believed to be lucky so here's to a year of great luck in all of your endeavors.
This is a birthday party from Lorajean's Magazine that has some cute ideas that would work for a Chinese New Year Party.
Steamy Kitchen has a list of great recipes to try for the Chinese New Year.
Hoosier Homemade also shares some great recipes and tips for a great Chinese New Year's celebration.
Christine from Pure Joy Events styled this wonderful Chinese New Year party using printables from Bird's Party.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Izakaya Bincho's menu of yakitori, or Japanese chicken skewers, disappeared awhile ago, but now it's back, and it's truly wonderful, says heinous. Tomo-san, the man in charge, has the whole binchotan charcoal set-up up and running again, and he's turning out exceptional yakitori. "It's his true passion, and it really shows," heinous says.
"I had almost every skewer, and they are delightful," heinous says. "[H]e is back in top form. He himself has a new energy about him—you can really tell how proud he is to proclaim that he is a true yakitori master and to be able serve it again."
heinous recommends chicken thigh, gizzard, and tsukune (meatball) from the yakitori menu. Tomo-san is still serving other beloved izakaya dishes too, including spicy chicken wings, braised pork belly, and karaage (Japanese fried chicken). A must-order, says heinous, is the exemplary agedashi tofu.
Izakaya Bincho [South Bay]
112 N. International Boardwalk, Redondo Beach


text:
MTHFR is gaining awareness – as it should be.
If you want to be at the forefront of the movement, now is the time.
Let Dr Lynch help you get MTHFR at the forefront.
Few physicians understand MTHFR as thoroughly as Dr Lynch.
"Dr. Ben Lynch is doing the real research on how to crack our now readily available genetic information and actually make it clinically relevant. Through his work, he has offered physicians fantastic clinical pearls. I am looking forward to learning more from Dr. Lynch."
– Dietrich Klinghardt, MD, PhD
Then add on his additional understanding of how genetic defects affect:
- neurotransmitters
- hormones
- detoxification
- methylation
- folate metabolism
- B12 metabolism
- mitochondria
- cell membranes
Dr Lynch is available in the following ways to increase awareness of MTHFR:
- Writing: for your journal, newspaper or magazine.
- Speaking: in front of any audience; be it physicians, children, pregnant women, seniors, psychiatrists and so on.
- Webinars: In a different country, far away from Seattle, Washington? Webinars are a highly effective medium to get MTHFR into distant places.
- Radio: Some say he has a great radio voice. He will empower your audience.
- TV: The most powerful medium for getting the word out. Dr Lynch is confident and handles himself well in front of a camera or audience.
- Conference: Educating physicians and other health professionals on the nuances of MTHFR mutations is critical and needed. Dr Lynch brings research, case histories, success stories and an interactive talk on MTHFR. He is far from your typical Powerpoint presenter.
To see if Dr Lynch is available for your event:
- Call Jatone at (800) 547-9812 if in the USA.
- If international, call (360) 306-8749


text:
Kamen Rider Brave
Official Images: S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Brave Fantasy Gamer Level 50
Premium Bandai has updated with an official pre-order page for S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Brave Fantasy Gamer Level 50. For those who aren't aware, Hiiro Kagami, aka Kamen Rider Brave, was able to become this form with the help of the Gashat Gear Dual β. The Gashat debuted on the show in Episode 19 of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, however it was not fully utilized until episode 20. The figure will include: Exchangeable Wrists (Left X4, Right X4) Gashacon Sword Gashacon Sword Blade Pre-orders for the figure will open on September 7 at 4 P.M. JST and the item will be released in FebruaryRead More
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Another Ending November Scans *Spoilers
Recently new scans have surfaced online that reveals some new information regarding the Kamen Rider EX-Aid Another Ending V-Cinemas. *Keep in mind this article contains spoilers so read at your own discreet. Although there isn't a whole lot of new information regarding the films it has been revealed that Dan Kuroto wants to launch Zombie Chronicle, the successor to Kamen Rider Chronicle. The film will feature some new forms, which include Gemn God Maximum Gamer Lv. Billion and a new form for Kamen Rider Lazer. Currently no name has been named for this particular form, however it has been revealedRead More
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Another Ending Part 1: Kamen Rider Brave & Kamen Rider Snipe Trailer Streamed
Toei has updated their official Youtube channel with a new trailer for Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Another Ending Part 1: Kamen Rider Brave & Kamen Rider Snipe. For those who are unaware the film is the first part of the V-Cinema releases that take place after the end of the series. The film will feature the return of several of the lost civilians during the events of Kamen Rider Chronicle along with some other familiar faces. Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Another Ending Part 1: Kamen Rider Brave & Kamen Rider Snipe will be released on March 28, 2018.
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Hyper Battle Video & V-Cinema Trilogy Announced
Over the weekend Toei announced details for a new Hyper Battle Video and a V-Cinema Trilogy for Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. The Hyper Battle Video will be released in the November issue of the TV-Kun magazine and will feature Emu & Parado in a new game called Nazo Toki Labyrinth (the Mysterious Labyrinth of Time). In the Hyper Battle Video, Emu will use a new Gashat called Knock-Out Fighter 2, which will give him a new form. The set of films will be known as ", Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: Another Ending." The release dates for the V-Cinema are: Part 1: Kamen Rider Brave & Kamen Rider Snipe – March 28, 2018 PartRead More
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Summer Movie Toy Catalog Scan
Recently a new scan that features the summer movie toys for Kamen Rider Ex-Aid has surfaced online. The first Gashat toy reveal is the Taddle Legacy Gashat. This Gashat will allow Kamen Rider Brave to henshin into Kamen Rider Brave Lvl 100. The Taddle Legacy Gashat will be released in July priced at 1,800 Yen. The next Gashat is the Mighty Creator VRX Gashat. This Gashat will allow Emu to henshin into Creator Gamer. The Mighty Creator VRX Gashat will be released in August priced at 1,500 Yen. The final Gashat revealed is the Hurricane Ninja Gashat. This Gashat will be used by the movieRead More
Official Images: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid DX Night of Safari Gashat
Premium Bandai has updated with an official preorder page for the DX Night of Safari Gashat. The Gashat is based on the device used by Kamen Rider Brave in the Kamen Rider Brave: Let's Survive! Revival of the Beast Rider Squad! special. Preorders for the item will open later tonight at 11 PM JPST and will close on April 3 at 11 PM JPST. The Gashat will be released in June priced at a reasonable price of 1,620 Yen. Those who are interested should contact their preferred middleman for more details.
Official Images: Full Action SAGA Ex-Aid Riders
Yesterday, Premium Bandai listed up the order pages for Full Action SAGA figure sets. Following the set for Kamen Rider Kuuga, we found out one was being made for Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. Now, the set is not directly for Ex-Aid, but for the other Riders, Brave and Snipe. Like the Kuuga set each figure will stand at 120mm tall, feature several points of articulation, additional hands/ accessories, and feature premium paint schemes. In addition, the set will include more parts for Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Lv. 2; these parts are for its hand,Read More
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid February Scans *Spoilers
New February scans for Kamen Rider Ex-Aid have surfaced online that features some of the events that will be featured on the show in February. *Keep in mind these scans feature spoilers so read at your own discreet. First, the main riders in the show will be receiving some new forms. Starting with Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, he will be able to transform into Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Burger Action Gamer Lvl. 4 with the power of the Ju Ju Burger Gashat. Kamen Rider Brave will also receive a new form. He will be able to transform into Kamen Rider BraveRead More
Kamen Rider Brave Spin-Off Announced – Kamen Rider Ouja Returns
Following the announcement of the Kamen Rider Snipe spin-off, another spin-off soon followed for Kamen Rider Brave titled "Kamen Rider Brave: You Must Survive! The Resurrected Beast Rider Squad!". The Brave spin-off is an original creation being produced by the Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club, and will feature the return of Takashi Hagino reprising his role as Takeshi Asakura, Kamen Rider Ouja. The last time Takashi portrayed the character was during Kamen Rider Decade briefly voicing Ouja, whereas it has been 15 years since being seen on scene as the character.Read More
Kamen Rider EX-Aid Lvl 99 & More Revealed
Recently a new scan for Kamen Rider EX-Aid has surfaced online, which reveals a new form for Kamen Rider EX-Aid. With the power of the Maximum Mighty X Gashat, Kamen Rider EX-Aid will be able henshin into his most powerful form so far called Lvl 99 Maximum Gamer. The suit looks to be a larger scale version of his Lvl 1 mode and will also need the power of a currently unknown secondary Gashat. The scan also revealed that Kamen Rider Brave and Kamen Rider Snipe will also be getting stronger forms. By using the Gashat Gear Dual Beta, they will beRead More
Official Images: S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Brave Level 2 Single Release
Bandai Tamashii has recently updated with official photos for the single release of S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Brave LVL 2. The figure will be released next April priced at 5,184 Yen and will be a retail release. The figure will include: Replacement Wrists (Left and Right X4) Gashacon Sword
December Kamen Rider EX-Aid Scans Spoilers*
Recently the December scans for Kamen Rider EX-Aid have surfaced online, which features the events that will happen in the series next month. *Keep in mind these scans feature spoilers so read at your own discreet.
S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider EX-Aid Riders Single Releases Announced
Recently new scans of the latest Figure-oh magazine have surfaced online which reveal that the Kamen Rider EX-Aid riders will also be released singly. The figures were already set to be released in a three pack, however with this reveal fans who just want one or two of the riders will be able to get them much easier. All three figures will be released next April as retail releases. The pricing details include: S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Ex-Aid LVL2 Price: 4860 Yen S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Brave LVL2 Price: 4860 Yen S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Snipe LVL2 Price:Read More
Official Images: S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Mighty Action X Beginning Set
Last night, we featured an article that announced Tamashii Nations will be releasing S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Mighty Action X Beginning Set. Now, we have the official images for the set, and information that it is a limited retail release. The Mighty Action X Beginning Set will feature all three main Kamen Riders from the show: Ex-Aid, Brave, and Snipe in their Lv. 2 forms. It will also feature a limited edition Tamashii Effect display set. The set is scheduled for March 2017, and will be sold for 15,768. Source: Tamashii
S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider EX-Aid, Brave & Snipe 3 Pack Announced
Recently a magazine scan has surfaced online which revealed a brand new S.H.Figuarts 3 Pack, which includes Kamen Rider EX-Aid, Brave, and Snipe. The set will be released next March priced at 15,768 yen. No other details are confirmed at this time so stay tuned for updates.


text:
If the CSI crowd delves into Bible stories, I bet there's a knowing gleam in their eyes when they cross the yellow crime scene tape that hangs in the middle of Genesis 4. The murder case is pretty much a no-brainer. The victim is one of a total human population of four. That certainly narrows down the suspect list. He was last seen heading out into the field with his older brother. And we know there's been bad blood between them. It's an open-and-shut case. What I think would pique the interest of the CSI folks is the interrogation of the perp.
God: "Where is Abel, your brother?" Cain: "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" God: "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground."
If there's a verse in all of Scripture that could be chiseled in stone above the offices and labs of Crime Scene Investigation units, this is it: "The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground." Our blood has loose lips. It's no good at keeping secrets. By analyzing the pattern of blood stains at a crime scene, investigators can recreate the events that led up to the murder. And the blood itself tells our inner story, everything from our DNA to our diseases. Our veins conceal secrets of which we ourselves are not even consciously aware. If Abel's blood is spilled all over the ground or if a mere speck had been lodged in the fabric of Cain's shirt, that blood cries out. It has a voice and it will speak to whomever is willing to listen.
The Lord certainly listens. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. And the spilled blood of his saints is a language to which God is all ears. The martyrs of ISIS may be led to the slaughter as silent as lambs, but the lips of their severed veins utter words that pierce heaven's veil. He hears them as he hears babies slaughtered in utero, teens with slit wrists, and soldiers whose homecomings are never to be.
But not only does the Lord hear bleeding bodies; he hears the bleeding hearts of children who feel rejected and unloved, lonely women whose hearts have been fissured by the infidelity of men, men whom the world has wadded up and thrown into the garbage heap. The voice of the blood from their broken hearts cries out from alleys and empty beds and dead-end lives. And that voice travels upward, to the Lord who is all ears, all heart, all the time.
The author of Hebrews says that the blood of Jesus speaks a "better word than the blood of Abel," (12:22). The well-known Lenten hymn would have us sing,
Abel's blood for vengeance, Pleaded to the skies, But the blood of Jesus, For our pardon cries.
But I think the poet may be mistaken. What if Abel's blood not for vengeance but for pardon pleaded to the skies? Cain's little brother is a model of fidelity, whose faith was manifest on earth and witnessed from heaven at the altar. Like the crucified messiah, Abel the martyr pleaded for heaven to forgive Cain, for he knew not what he did. And since the life is in the blood, that blood continued to cry out to God, even as Abel's body lay lifeless in the dust. It sought not vindication but mercy, forgiveness for the crime of which he was the victim. The blood of Jesus speaks a "better word than the blood of Abel," for it speaks in a superior way. It grants in full that which Abel's blood only gave in part. For the blood of Jesus finished the prayer for mercy that the blood of Abel began.
The blood of Jesus refuses to be silent. It speaks on your behalf. It is your voice, your advocate before the Father's throne. The blood of Christ says that you are his brother. He has adopted you into the family so that you are a child of our Father in heaven. So do not think, even for a moment, that your wounds are unknown to the Lord. If even the hairs on your head are numbered, then certainly so are your scars. The voice of your blood, your hurts, your losses, cries out to God, for your voice merges with the voice that once cried out, "Father, may these children be with me wherever I am…sanctify them in the truth…forgive them…it is finished…." Your blood mixes with Christ's blood, your hurts with his pains, your losses with his death, your all with his all, so that in one mass crimson choir the voice of Jesus and all who are his rises unified to the Father and reverberates in his throne room. He hears; how could he not hear those who are his very heart? He acts; how could he who is love not act in love for his saints?
The Lord who is near to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. He is near you, he will save you, for you are in Christ, whose blood cries out for mercy, at all times, for you.


text:
My first impressions were: Nice mother daughter (elderly mom/older daughter) combo plus one (fucking asshole) husband (of the daughter.). Don't know about wine...apparently believe they know something about wine...whoops! We've got a grumpy boy!
Man (quivering with passive aggressive anger): The wine's a little warm, could you chill it please?"
Me (grinning with glee): Of course I can! In fact, nothing would make me happier than to get the wine to the right temperature for you!!!!!!!!!!
At this point things could have gone either way. I figured that it was going to be a completely forgettable first table, and returned with the now chilled wine. I filled every one's glass, like you do, while the man glares at me and says to mother-in-law, "I am so sorry you had to wait for the wine to chill. That's really acceptable, I am so sorry." I'm pretty sure I was supposed to get down on my knees at this point and massage his toes whilst apologising for the 5 degree problem, so I instead took their order, oddly thrilled at the sheer douche-baggery that I was witnessing.
What happens next was my favorite part of my favorite night of the week:
Shane approached the table, lifted the bottle of wine to refill our favorite grumpy boy's glass. Grumpy boy scrunched his face up in his best Grinch impression and slammed his pointer finger down on the copper table top. "Put. The. Wine Bottle. RIGHT HERE." Shane, totally blindsided by this confusing rage, walked away and congratulated me on table 12. "You've got a winner!"
Poor Jack. He didn't get the memo either. While I was bringing them their plates, Jack also attempted to fill the still-empty wine glass, because we are servers and our only fucking job is to make sure peoples glasses are full.
"I can fill my own god damned wine glass!" He shrieked.
"Oh, my god! I'm sorry..."Jack backed away, also stun-gunned. The man balled his hands into fists and cursed down at his plate, 100% furious.
My smile widened to a freakish grin. "Well sir! Is something... the matter?"
"I can poor my own god damned wine!"
"Goodness! Well this is a restaurant that you're eating in, and the staff is here to provide you with service!"
"Well it's a service I don't want!"
"That's great news! I'll tell you what- I'm just going to go around and tell the whole staff!!!! about your little preference here, and no one will bother/speak to you ever again!"
And I will tell you what- we didn't. That was the end of "service" and "verbal communication". Shane went ahead and gave me permission not to say thank you at the end of the meal, and so none of us did. But you know what- I'm ready. I'm ready, and I want to say it here.
Thank you so much for setting the bar so low- right there at 5 pm. The rest of my night was a dream, by comparison.


text:
The transition to an efficient and clean global energy future cannot happen without leadership from both China and the United States. Together, our two nations account for about 38 percent of global energy use and 43 percent of global energy-related CO2 emissions.
Today, China is experiencing staggering growth in energy production and consumption, recently surpassing the U.S. to become the world's largest gross energy consumer and CO2 emitter (although the U.S. still leads those categories in per-capita calculations). The country is also now the world's largest energy consumer, burning 4.05 billion tons of coal in 2012—more than the rest of the world combined.
Read an article by Amory Lovins and Jon Creyts in China Policy Review detailing how Reinventing Fire: China will help the country overcome energy insecurity, carbon, and pollution traps to innovate new energy solutions and retool China's economy for leadership in the 21st century.
Download an English-language PDF
Visit our RMI China Division Website
RMI and its partners plan to deliver an analysis of the four energy-producing and -consuming sectors of China's economy (buildings, industry, transportation, and electricity) to spotlight the economic, social, and environmental benefits of rapidly deploying renewables and energy efficiency technologies in China. While previous energy studies have provided key insights to the country's energy opportunities and challenges, no model currently exists that integrates all four sectors while also examining technical feasibility and economic impact.
Reinventing Fire: China is developing insights that will lead to actions—policies, technology development, and adoption approaches—and is designed to build an enduring resource that can be applied by Chinese leaders to continually advance the country's global clean energy efforts.
Learn more about the Beijing launch.
To complete this work, RMI is partnering with the following organizations:
The two-year project has several planned deliverables, including an executive report disseminated to key Chinese government, business, and thought leaders; policy briefing and recommendations authored by ERI; and an online database documenting analytic approaches, assumptions, and calculations. An advisory panel consisting of key Chinese energy stakeholders—including leaders responsible for writing China's 13th Five Year Plan, the country's social and economic development initiatives—will guide the effort.
In 2011, RMI released Reinventing Fire, a robust, transparent analysis for running a 158%-bigger U.S. economy in 2050 using efficiency and renewables rather than fossil fuels. Built on Rocky Mountain Institute's 30 years of research and work in the field, this independent synthesis offers practical and actionable solutions to solve energy problems while growing the U.S. economy.
Now, RMI is taking this same approach to China's most pressing energy issues, with a goal to build an enduring resource that can be applied by Chinese leaders to continually advance the country's global clean energy efforts.
RMI is excited to announce the award of a generous grant from Svenska Postkod Lotteriet, the Swedish Postcode Lottery, for our current work in China. The Foundation's SEK 3M (US$450,000) grant will support Reinventing Fire: China, RMI's ambitious program to create a roadmap to transition China away from fossil fuels. China is the world's second largest economy and largest emitter of carbon dioxide, with more and more cities facing challenges of air pollution-related CO2 emissions. RMI and the Swedish Postcode Lottery are partnering on the belief that sustaining a clean environment and healthy climate for the entire world requires immediate, bold action from China.
RMI, along with partners at China's Energy Research Institute, Energy Foundation China, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's China Energy Group, are designing an efficient and renewable energy plan for China that sustains economic growth, improves environmental quality, and supports energy security. Chinese leaders have positively received Reinventing Fire: China already. According to Xu Kuangdi, Former Vice Chairman of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Former Mayor of Shanghai, "It is an imperative for us to Reinvent Fire, pursuing energy efficiency and clean energy to support blue skies and fresh air for the future of China."
The generous grant from the Swedish Postcode Lottery will allow RMI to engage policymakers in China and ensure that the roadmap is in a strong position to be adopted into the nation's 13th Five-Year Plan, which begins in 2016. The grant is administered by the Swedish Postcode Foundation—and its General Manager, Josefin Carlring, says: "We are so pleased to be partnering with Rocky Mountain Institute on Reinventing Fire: China. One of our goals is to fund work that focuses on transforming our global energy future and we think RMI's approach using energy efficiency and renewables, and its work with the second largest economy in the world, will help lead the transformation." As a global nonprofit organization, RMI relies on the generous support of donors such as the Swedish Postcode Lottery to achieve our goal of creating a clean, prosperous, and secure energy future.


text: I am excited to return once again to the Caramoor Center for the Arts for two holiday concerts on December 4th and 5th alongside the incredible pianist, Dan Kurland. A mix of holiday classics to help put you in the Holiday spirit. For more information visit the official website HERE.


text: Marcelo M. Garcia wrote: > I understand the eagerness to lower the "noise" ratio, I've read and re-read my original email, and not one place can I find something that would lead so many people to believe that the whole aim of the new list was to reduce the noise ratio alone. Maybe I just didnt word my original email too well. Or perhaps there really is much resistance to talking about stuff along more generic lines here in this community. - KB


text:
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has released the official photos of its crossover mule which will be used to develop the drivetrain of the brand's upcoming SUV.
Rolls-Royce said that the crossover mule is based on a shortened Phantom Series II body and it has been built to begin the development of an all-wheel drive suspension system which will deliver an "effortless" ride.
The luxury automaker adds that the photographed mule hints at the size of their upcoming "high-sided, all-terrain motor car."
The mule will begin testing this week and Rolls-Royce stated that the company will test the model's new suspension across all types of "international road surface specification at test facilities, as well as on public roads."


text:
JMKL Design
2014 – Now
Creative – Art Director
After many years working in advertising as creative I decided to found JMKL Design. A small multidisciplinary study based on the union of my two passions, design and sport.
In this way, I can unite all my experience in the sports sector already known as a cyclist, triathlete and motorcyclist, to my knowledge as a professional in the advertising and design industry, in order to offer the best results to our customers.
When there is something you are passionate about, you can offer insight based on experience. So we can get ideas, concepts and more effective response to the needs expressed.
It is a perfect combination for both parties; on the one hand, the customer feels rewarded by implication, the degree of knowledge of the sector and the results obtained. On the other hand, as a creative, because projects become almost a paid hobby.
At the end of the day, this is the philosophy of JMKL desing; professionalism and to enjoy all projects, providing a personal part of me and enjoy it all very much.
Joan Miquel Orga Barcelona – Madrid
Joan Miquel Orga
Barcelona – Madrid
2014 – 2012 – Madrid
Creative Supervisor
I have been responsible to analyze, conceptualise and create art direction and creativity of the accounts that were in my charge. I organized the team of people working to solve the needs of our customers by developing the most appropriate strategy for each customer, either for TV campaigns, internet or radio.
Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Nivea Men, Sanitas Open Bank, Marca, Tuenti, Yoigo, Cash Converters, Tristana, Healthia.
Tuenti Móvil
"Tu vida se mide en gigas"
– Club de Creativos 2014.
JMKL Handmade
2012 – 2011 – Copenhagen
Art Director Freelance
During This Year I have worked as an Art Director for different projects, coordinating, conceptualizing and creating the graphical guidelines for each respective department to be reliable to send all needed for end ITS production.
I started working for the motor industry and sport, designing alongside the various workshops, reflecting the ideas they had for their next projects. Moreover, it increased my experience in the sports industry, creating brand identities of companies in the cycling sector.
Compe GPS, Wrenchmonkees MC, Naturaltur, Helsinki 203 Digital, Tomas Domingo Cycles, El Solitario MC, XBikes, La Corona MC.
2011 – 2009 – Madrid
Art Director at the Department of New Business
My job was to analyze the briefing of the customer, conceptualize the ideas and develop the strategy of the campaign more adequate to the customer by offering comprehensive / specific ideas.
Brand Image, Social Media, Web Sites, Banners, Street, TV, Radio. Always with the objective of getting the client. After that, I was responsible to coordinate a team to maintain the customer
I ended up by coordinating five teams.
Customers Winned:
Alfa Romeo, Shiseido, Seguros Pelayo, Multiópticas, Buckler, Opel, Ferrovial, Orange, Yoigo, Martué, Paco Roncero, Peixerot, Ikea, Match.com.
Opel Meriva "Nanny de Serie"
– PR Sabre Awards 2011.
2009 – 2006 – Madrid
Art Director
Conceptualizing and designing the graphic style of the online projects (Web Site, Banners and Rich Media, Social Media Actions) as well as coordinating the team.
Collaborating in the development of Adidas campaign "Impossible is Notthink" Which was Awarded with a Gold Cannes Lion in 2008.
Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Mini, Adidas, Disney, Ayuda en Acción, From, Nintendo, Chivas, Linea Directa, BMW Motorcycles.
Adidas / Diesel.
"83 original ways to successfully waste you time"
– Anuncios Awards Year 2008.
– Bronze Ojo Iberoamerica '08.
Ayuda en Acción "Ángeles"
– Casa America Awards 2009.
2006 – Madrid
Senior Web Designer
Online conceptualization and design of projects.
Designing the website, the banners and the Rich Media and Social Media actions.
Also, I adapted to Online format all projects that were first realized in Offline.
Telefónica, Movistar, Rumbo, Andalucia, Iberia, Ford.
2006 – 2000 – Madrid
Junior Web Designer
Designing all internal content required for Terra; the first information portal in Spanish.
Making designs webs of sections, the banner of self-promotion and online campaigns for customers who want to advertise on the portal.
2000 – 1998 – Barcelona
Web Designer
Designing the pages of all sections of the search engine and their corresponding banners.
Higher education:
ESDI Escola Superior de Disseny
Bachelor in graphic design.
1998 – Barcelona
ESDI Escola Superior de Disseny
I like:
Leather craft.


text:
On behalf of the Graham Group, Gracorp oversaw the sale of an office/shop/service facility in the Acheson industrial area just west of Edmonton, Alberta to Forbes Bros. Ltd. The site is strategically located at the junction of major roadways: Highway 16 (the Yellowhead), which also provides access to the busy Peace River Country via Highway 43, and Highway 60. The land is zoned medium industrial.
The 32,956 square foot, modern office/warehouse/shop facility sits on a 30.4-acre site. The turnkey premises include a secure yard that has been improved to support heavy loads. The custom-built premises are nearly new and in excellent condition.
The building was purpose-built as a heavy equipment service facility and features a 21,000 square foot shop with 49' clear height at the exterior wall and 57' near the centre of the building. The shop is furnished with two 25-ton cranes with auxiliary 5-ton cranes attached to each, resulting in a clear under-hook height of 38'. The shop also offers a reinforced and chemically treated 12" concrete floor slab with in-floor heating, in-floor vehicle exhaust and air exchange units.
The balance of the building consists of 12,000 square feet of well-designed offices, warehousing, attractive staff areas and amenities. In addition, 3,000 square feet of space are provided on the third floor for the mechanical room and future development.
Other building features include:
- Shop offices overlook the entire shop floor;
- Six 24' x 29' oversized overhead doors located in the shop structure as well as one smaller overhead door (12' x 12');
- 12 compressed air stations;
- Six service bays with dedicated lube stations and wash bay-style hot water supply from a centralized unit;
- Two, two-stage compartment sumps into tanks;
- Showroom with drive-through and two 12' x 12' grade doors;
- Two lube stations in centre of warehouse;
- Full air conditioning;
- In-slab radiant heating system with additional heating in offices provided by wall-mounted radiant panels;
- Heavy power within the building;
- T5 lighting;
- A wireless, high-performance camera security system and swipe card access;
- Lunch room with 60+ person capacity; and
- Men's and women's locker rooms.
The building sits on a fenced, secure (swipe-card accessed), and fully lit yard. Extensive site improvements ensure the yard can handle heavy loads and equipment. Two-hundred amp, three-phase electrical service is provided at the southwest corner of the site and west of the building. Additional 40 amp services are provided throughout the yard.
Further information on the facility can be found here
Take a video tour of the facility:
Press Releases
August 2016 Acheson Industrial Facility Sale Announcement


text:
Local Authority guidance on Conservation Area management
Aimed at local planning authorities, this guidance sets out best practice for managing Conservation Areas. This document also includes the results of the first ever national survey on the condition of Conservation Areas in England.
If you require an alternative, accessible version of this document (for instance in audio, Braille or large print) please contact us:
Customer Service Department
Telephone: 0370 333 0607
Fax: 01793 414926
Textphone: 0800 015 0516
Email: custo[email protected]
Was this page helpful?
Also of interest...
The Planning System
This page sets out how the planning system works to protect historic places.
Find out more
Our Planning Services
Find out about the services we offer to support people involved in managing change to the historic environment.
Find out more
Heritage at Risk
Find out which of England's historic sites are currently at risk.
Find out more


text:
Oops! An error occurred. Please check the form below
Mondays8.30am - 5pm
Tuesdays10.00am - 6.00pm
Thursdays8.30am - 5pm
Tara's office is on the northbound side of Pacific Hwy on the corner of Moree Ave. The office is directly above Season Thai Restaurant and access to the office is via a door way marked 'Gordon Chambers' to the left hand side of the restaurant. Tara does not have street signage at present.
There is a set of stairs leading to Tara's office and unfortunately there is no disabled access.
There is parking in a small council car park behind Season Thai restaurant off Moree Ave or in Gordon Centre Carpark also off Moree Ave.
There is also parking in the large council car park in Wade Lane access via St Johns Ave on the opposite side of the highway.
If you are catching the train - exit on the highway/commercial side of the station and walk up St Johns Ave, cross the highway and walk the short block in a northbound direction.


text:
I think that the ability to create well-thought-out questions with varying degrees of complexity that allow pupils to access content and explore and develop ideas further is fundamental to good teaching. I would like to say I always think out these questions in advance, but I often find that I need to create a line of questioning on the spot as I adapt to the needs of students during a lesson. Is there a simple way to do this?
One simple method is to extend or alter a given problem in various ways. In his book Learning and Doing Mathematics, John Mason talks about creating new problems from old ones by stressing various words in a statement or problem and considering what would happen should those words change. He gives the following example:
Three points determine a circle.
Now, read this statement aloud emphasising a different word each time. Now ask yourself - what would two or four points determine? What if we changed the word points to lines? What do we mean by determine? Do three points only determine one circle - how many points would be needed to determine n circles? Change the word circle: what would determine other shapes (e.g. a square)?
This is a lovely idea. Try it for yourself with a statement or formula of your choice, such as:
The circumference of a circle is pi x diameter.
What if we change the word circumference? What else can we work out about a circle? How about changing circle to a different shape, like a square? Does the formula still hold? We don't have circumference for non-circles, but is there a similar formula for perimeter? If there is, what is the equivalent of pi for a square? What is pi anyway? Where does it come from? Do we have to use pi, or can we use something else? Can we express the circle circumference formula in other ways, maybe in terms of the area?
This idea of extending a problem to create new and interesting areas for investigation is something I have been developing when creating these problem sets. Here are some examples of this method in practice, from Problem Set 4.2 which is about probability .
Here is a nice problem (or an exercise for some!) that involves uniform distributions (though not formally) and multiplying negatives:
Here's another nice problem from the same problem set, that encourages pupils to consider inequality regions and probability as area:
Here's a third problem from the same problem set that is rich in possibilities for extension:
As you can see, this is a simple, powerful method to create questions that will challenge pupils by encouraging them to think more deeply and develop their ideas.
I have only included examples here of extending problems. If you look at the problem sets, you will see that in general for the first step for each problem I have used these ideas to simplify the problem in order to make it more accessible, with each subsequent step increasing in complexity to allow pupils to solve the original problem and perhaps go further to solve an even harder one, as shown above.
In each of these cases we could go further still and ask students to generalize their findings, as in example 3(d).
Try this method out for yourself. If you have any thoughts on this, or know other good methods for creating problems, please let me know via twitter @dannytybrown.


text:
Adobe Provides Most Advanced Web Authoring Solution with GoLive 6.0
Tuesday, January 08, 2002
Press release from the issuing companySAN JOSE, Calif.--Jan. 6, 2002--Adobe has introduced Adobe GoLive 6.0 and Adobe Web Workgroup Server, in one package. Adobe GoLive 6.0 software offers powerful site management and collaboration capabilities, wireless authoring, and unparalleled support for incorporating print and video content in the Web design cycle. This new version delivers features that vastly improve team collaboration and help creative professionals to develop content and deliver assets to different outlets in less time with greater efficiency. Mostasa, a design firm well known for its high concept entertainment Web sites such as those developed for Jamesbond.com and Majesticmovie.com, praised the new developments in GoLive 6.0 "With the introduction of GoLive 6.0, GoLive has increased our productivity and expanded our studio capabilities,'' said Melvin Rivera, founder of Mostasa New Media Design. "With features like Workgroup Server, Wireless and Dynamic Content Authoring and an editor for QuickTime, GoLive 6.0 offers an exceptional value as an authoring solution and is taking a leap above any other authoring tool. GoLive has always been our web design tool of choice. It gives us great control and allows us to have creative freedom.'' The Web Workgroup Server in GoLive 6.0 is a site management and collaboration tool that is easy to install and set up. It allows multiple users to easily track changes, and share and manage files. It also provides version control and side-by-side comparison capabilities, including the ability to rollback to previous versions. The Web Workgroup Server supports any WebDAV-enabled application such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Macromedia Dreamweaver, accelerating Web project development without forcing designers to change their existing process. Web professionals can rapidly develop for mobile devices with the new wireless authoring capabilities in GoLive, including support for XHTML, CHTML and WML. In the Windows environment, GoLive includes built-in emulators for Nokia WAP and XHTML phones and NTT DoCoMo i-mode phones, enabling designers to visually design and adapt content for wireless devices. "By working with companies like Adobe, we are delivering solutions that will quickly accelerate the development of content for wireless devices around the world,'' said Lee Wright, director of Nokia's developer program. "Adobe's new version of GoLive, already a familiar development environment for thousands of Internet developers, will provide comprehensive and easy-to-use tools to extend their Web sites and dynamic e-business applications into wireless devices.'' GoLive 6.0 integrates tightly with Adobe's family of professional design products, including Adobe InDesign, LiveMotion, Photoshop and Illustrator. Working in conjunction with InDesign 2.0 (expected to ship in the first quarter 2002), GoLive enables customers to easily adapt print content to the Web using intuitive XML tags. Other powerful new Web development features include a full QuickTime 5.0 editing environment with streaming conversion and optimization capabilities. GoLive provides a visual authoring environment utilizing video, audio, SWF, SVG and support for W3C standards like SMIL, which are supported by RealNetworks' RealOne player. This new version also includes the ability to deliver database-driven content and native support for common dynamic scripting languages, including PHP, ASP, and JSP. These extensive server-side scripting capabilities enable developers to link front-end Web designs with back-end systems for e-commerce solutions. For a complete list of features in Adobe GoLive 6.0, please visit http://www.adobe.com/golive.
Industry News
Copyright © 2019 WhatTheyThink. All Rights Reserved


text:
- Home
- Articles Posted by Coach Allen
2018 – 2019 Wrestling Season
We are looking forward to a great season. Purchase: *USA Wrestling Card for your child at www.themat.com -> Membership, -> Purchase Membership. Registration is open. We are using a sports management page TeamSnap you will be able to access when[...]read more
Welcome DCH Wrestling
School has started and we are looking forward to a great 2018-2019 wrestling season. Olympian Wrestling is excited to welcome many new wrestlers and coaches from DCH Wrestling Club this coming season. We are excited about our growing club and[...]read more
Pre-Season Team Builder – Paintball
Come play Paintball this Saturday 10/21 at 10:00 AM: Dad, Mom, wrestlers, brothers, and sisters are welcome. (If anyone shoots coach Jim no Burpees for the season) Date: Saturday, 10/21/2017 Time: 10:00AM – 2:00PM (arrive early) Cost: $40/player for 4[...]read more
USA Wrestling Membership
It is that time of the year to renew your USA Wrestling Membership, or if you are new to wrestling purchase for the first time. Go to https://www.usawmembership.com to renew or purchase. USA Wrestling Membership is required before the first[...]read more
2017-2018 Registration Now Open
The 2017-2018 Olympian Wrestling season registration is now open. We are using TeamSnap again this year for communications and registration. During the registration process, you will create an account with TeamSnap (if you didn't last year). This account will be used to login to[...]read more
HowTo: Saturday Tournaments Registration
Olympian Wrestling Club participates in the Peak2Peak wrestling league. Nearly every Saturday your wrestler has the opportunity to participate in a Peak2Peak wrestling event. The format of each Peak2Peak season tournament is round-robin in a group of 4-6 wrestlers of the[...]read more
Time to think about singlets! We are putting together a singlet order, please have your wrestler try on last year's singlet today. If your wrestler needs a new one, please send an email to Shareen (firstname.lastname@example.com) by Sunday, October 30th. Don't delay! Be[...]read more
New Website!
Welcome to the new Olympian Wrestling website. We have been working hard to get a new look and feel and are also integrating TeamSnap into our new site. Please explore the new site and TeamSnap as well. We will be[...]read more


text:
SLIM FIT TROUSERSCharcoal
Delivery Methods
- Standard £5
- Next Day £7
- Same Day £15
- Collect In Store Free
- Saturday £7
We also offer Free returns on all UK orders.
For next working day delivery please order before 7:00pm
For same day delivery within London please order before 1:00pm
For Saturday delivery please order before 3:00pm on Friday
All orders will be delivered by courier and will need to be signed for.
The Soloman trousers in charcoal have been crafted from a cotton-stretch blend for optimum comfort and cut slim for a contemporary wear. Wear with a merino-wool jumper, casual jacket and sports luxe sneakers to nail off-duty dressing.
- Cotton-stretch fabrication
- Garment-dyed finish
- Twill weave
- Branded hardware
- Five-pocket styling
- Zip fly
- Slim fit
The model is wearing a size 32
Composition - 98% Cotton 2% Elastane
Washcare - Machine wash


text:
Welcome to GRID'2012!
The 5th International Conference "Distributed Computing and Grid-technologies in Science and Education" will be held at the Laboratory of Information Technologies (LIT) of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) on 16-21 July, 2012 in Dubna.
Important deadlines:
Conference Venue
The Laboratory of Information Technologies, JINR
Accommodation of participants
It is planned that the Conference participants will stay at Dubna hotels that are walking distance from the Laboratory of Information Technologies. The hotel accommodation will be provided from 15 July 2012 according to the list of conference attendees prepared by the Organizing Committee.


text:
Trump targets Cruz
Republican presidential candidate Trump has harsh words about rival Sen. Ted Cruz, telling supporters in Nevada that Cruz ''will lie about anything.'' Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) STORY: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has harsh words about his rival Sen. Ted Cruz, telling supporters in Nevada that Cruz "will lie about anything." "Cruz has gone down a lot in the last few days," Trump said. "You know, when you hold up a Bible, and nobody loves the Bible more than I do, when you wold up a Bible, you don't then go and put it down and then go around lying and doing a lot of things that are wrong," he said. "What he has been doing is terrible," Trump said. In a campaign shake up late Monday, Cruz announced that he asked for the resignation of his spokesman, Rick Tyler. The issue at hand was a campaign ad that falsely showed rival Marco Rubio dismissing the Bible. Tyler apologized on Sunday for posting an an "inaccurate story," But Cruz fired him the next day. "This guy Ted Cruz is the single biggest liar that I have ever dealt with in my life," Trump said. "He will lie about anything," he added. "I have met much tougher people than Ted Cruz, he is like a baby compared with some of the people I have to deal with, he is like a little baby, soft weak little baby by comparison, but for lying he is the best I have ever seen," Trump said. Trump said he was watching a TV news show and the analysts were saying that the other candidates were afraid to attack because they were all afraid of him "Isn't that the kind of guy we want for President," Trump asked the audience. Trump's remarks come hours ahead of the Nevada caucus where Trump, a blunt-spoken political outsider, is commanding a double-digit lead in a handful of Nevada opinion polls. A recent CNN/ORC poll put Trump ahead by 26 percentage points in Nevada at 45 percent, followed by Rubio, from Florida, at 19 percent and Cruz, from Texas, at 17 percent.


text: We bought new equipment last week and now you can watch the first video recorded with it! A huge thank you goes out to all of our crowdfunding campaign supporters. Without their belief in our mission, we wouldn't be preparing for our first event next month. Please keep spreading the word about ParaSportsLive. THANK YOU!


text:
Mobisol & Aeris To Providing Energy To Millions In Off-grid Communities Via IoT
Mobisol, a global player in decentralized solar electrification, has partnered with Aeris, a IoT solutions and platform provider, to further improve its hardware and software offering to for customers and business partners.
Mobisol aims to provide reliable and affordable energy solutions to 20 million people living in off-grid and rural communities by 2023. Its range of systems are designed to provide electricity that can be used to light homes, power radios, TVs, and fridges, and charge mobile phones. Mobisol has developed solar powered hair clippers and is trialling a solar powered welding tool. These systems are designed to be modular, which allows Mobisol to match the system for different requirements and budgets.
The Aeris partnership will ensure that Mobisol's devices can be monitored and maintained remotely, adapt to growing demands for its technology worldwide and can be agile in its device deployment thanks to Aeris' future proven solutions. It will further assist Mobisol with its recently launched Paygee Software Suite, which is designed to become the go-to solution for any business in need of a completely integrated PAYG (Pay-As-You-Go) platform. It provides a central point of information for system performance, payment schedules and customer related information.
Mobisol will leverage Aeris IoT Connectivity Services' expertise and its non-steered multi-network roaming Subscriber Identify Module (SIM) to ensure reliable IoT connectivity, allowing Mobisol to remotely monitor its solutions even in off-grid locations. By having the ability to remotely monitor its devices, Mobisol can use real-time data to optimise its firmware and undertake remote diagnostics.
This leads to an operational cost saving as it reduces the need to send out engineers to rural and hard to reach locations, while improving the performance, reliability and longevity of its products, which in turn will increase customer satisfaction.
The real-time data also ensures that Mobisol can monitor whether its customers are keeping up with their payment plan and take quick action if any payment problems occur. It enables Mobisol to optimise costs by suspending devices that are no longer generating revenue, or suspend communication if the payment plan on the device has been finished. Devices can also be reactivated to re-allow remote diagnostics.
Aeris enables Mobisol to incorporate its SIMs at the point of manufacture, test the final product on the production line and ship the final product across the world to its reseller and distributors without incurring any additional data communication costs. Mobisol will only pay for the services when its devices are installed and generating revenue.
By utilising AerPort, Aeris' management portal, and its powerful and robust set of application programming interfaces (APIs), Mobisol is able to have real-time access to data usage, alert and device management over the SIM life cycle, regardless of location. It also enables Mobisol to better manage delivery of services to their customers via faster diagnoses of device activity and performance via Aeris Aerport.
Mobisol's aims to license the use of its technology to companies operating in areas such as Latin and South America "" areas which fall out of Mobisol's principal markets. The partnership with Aeris enables it to offer these potential licensees ease of deployment and reliable device connectivity anywhere in the world.


text:
|6-10 Day 500mb height anomalies from European (left) and American (right) model guidance.
Negative West Pacific Oscillation index will be provoked in either scenario with strong high pressure in the Bering Sea. The tendency of high pressure in the Bering Sea allows a pattern more supported by the European model, with lower pressure placed in a portion of Canada and not elongated throughout the entire region. Additionally, high pressure instigated by the negative WPO in the Southwest US is more enhanced by the European model, and it is this solution I favor for the next little while. Regardless of which model guidance prediction is correct, a weakly amplified pattern appears to be in store for the United States, and this should allow for a more stagnant pattern- not many sudden temperature swings due to a wild jet stream.


text:
Brothers, Sisters, Can't You See? The Future's Owned by R.J. Reynolds
Throwing a fit when one doesn't get a front row seat at a fashion show is the kind of behavior that we commonly associate with royalty, celebrities, socialites, and Lenny Kravitz. But in a world where an English Prince is actually trying to fight in Iraq and Sean fucking Penn is apparently the most charismatic anti-war spokesperson that the left can drag in front of a television screen, it probably makes sense that Geordon Nicol, one of the founding members of New York's (in)famous DJ trio Misshapes, demanded the best seats in the house at a recent G Star fashion show and threatened to leave if he didn't get his way. After all, in the eyes of Madison Avenue, Nicol is one of the hippest people on the planet, and he seems to be well aware of it.
And really, why shouldn't he have a little attitude? Think about it: if you'd read a Village Voice article that compared your presence in the downtown New York scene to those of Larry Levan, Fab 5 Freddy and Andy Warhol among others, you would probably feel entitled to take full advantage of your 15 minutes too. Its undeniable that the Misshapes have had a noticeable impact on what we'll call "hipster culture" (for lack of a better term) over the past couple of years, and if comparing them to Larry Levan seems more than a bit ridiculous to you, you might want to consider the number of 18-24 year olds around the country that know who Misshapes are and compare that to the total number of people that knew who Larry Levan was during his first two years at Paradise Garage. This has everything to do with media technology and nothing to do with musical innovation to be sure, and the long term cultural significance of emo hair and Depeche Mode revivals is questionable at best, but the result is unchanged: Misshapes have built a gigantic and loyal following in one of the world's most exciting cities, and not just any hipster dumbasses can pull something like that off.
Just look at what they're up to these days if you don't believe me. After packing houses for several years with their regular DJ nights in New York, curating the music at just about every major party during New York's fashion week, and sharing decks with Madonna and a slew of other high powered celebrities over the past few months, Misshapes are cashing in on downtown cool as they embark on their first ever national tour, bringing the Lower East Side to us Red State folks just as Gawker's anti-Misshapes coup d'etat has started to drive the trio's stock price down with the Brooklyn/Houston- Ludlow hipsters that put them on the map in the first place. Of course, it would be far too easy to completely dismiss Misshapes and those that emulate them as clueless hipsters, and it would be incorrect to say that their sets aren't exciting and highly entertaining at times. But with all their lucrative corporate tie-ins and friends in high places, it also must be noted that the trio has been able to milk the current incarnation of 00's hipster cool more effectively and notoriously than almost anyone else on the face of the planet (other than Vice).
Take their upcoming set this Saturday at the Lizard Lounge in Dallas as an example. Normally, a well known DJ can pull in quite a nice cover at a large established dance venue like the Lizard Lounge, but Misshapes didn't come all the way to Dallas to take your money. No, they're just here to chill out and throw a huge free party with their ultra hip friends over at R.J. Reynolds, and if you want to go, all you have to do is get an account and RSVP (aka "track down your local rep") over at Camel's website. But wait a minute. Since when are the old southern white men that run R.J. Reynolds "ultra-hip," you ask? Well, it might surprise you to learn that they practically invented the term, at least in the parlance of our times (get it?).
Not to get all "truth.com" on your ass, but a 1994 internal document produced by Camel's marketing department has been cited by Naomi Klein and others as the first document of its kind to make use of the contemporary idea of a "hipster" to describe a marketing demographic that the brand was having trouble reaching. In this rather humorous report, the marketers describe scenes of urban young adults scoring smokes at cool bars as they talk all cool and do various other cool things. Here's an example of one of the scenarios the document lays out:
Saturday night. Smoke filled night club. 1am. Nirvana blares through the sound system. The cigarette machine is broken. Lisa's looking to bum a smoke. She saunters up to the bar in her ripped Levi's and vintage motorcycle jacket and looks at the bartender. "Manny, got an extra cigarette?" Manny reaches into the chest pocket of his black tee shirt and pulls out a Camel.
You get the idea. And if you think it sounds like they were way off on what was hip in 1994, all you have to do is go rent a copy of Clerks in order to see that RJR was pretty much right on the money with this one. As the document goes on to state, Camel started an aggressive campaign 13 years ago to get to these cool kids and link the Camel brand image to whatever happens to be hip at any given time. One look at their Website (or a quick flashback of the Camel sponsored Ladytron show at Hailey's a couple months ago) reveals that they've been pretty successful at doing just that. They currently sponsor all kinds of events all over the country that deliver consumable hipster culture to people in all kinds of famously unhip locations with little or no direct sales pitch involved, other than a friendly reminder that Joe Camel is the motherfucker that told you about all this cool stuff in the first place, dipshit.
What does this all mean? Who knows. The ideas behind branding and its effects on target markets are certainly debatable and mostly immeasurable, and we're certainly not going to sit here and lecture you about corporations and society and why its so wrong to dance. After all, the Misshapes party will probably be pretty fun, and we might even show up to it ourselves (I've already contacted MY Camel rep, have you?) It just seems funny that Misshapes, who have become a perfect example of savvy hipster self-marketers, are teaming up with Camel, the people that just might have invented the modern hipster marketing demographic in the first place. If nothing else, this connection might pop into your mind five years from now, during the middle of the inevitable grunge revival, when you're sitting at a bar in your ripped Levi's and motorcycle jacket, laughing about the bad clothes in that old issue of Fader and desperately searching your pockets for that one last delicious cigarette. That damn Manny might have moved on to another job at that point, but rest assured, your local Camel rep might just be sitting at the other end of the bar doing something cool. And you know he'll probably hook you up.
Misshapes play this Saturday at Lizard Lounge with our friend Justin V (formerly of High Society) opening.
Labels: drama


text:
EDUCATION Secretary Justine Greening has been given a message by Queen's Manor parents: "Please don't rob Peter to pay Paul."
Concerned parents wrote to local MPs Greg Hands and Andy Slaughter just before the election to protest at the Government's proposed Fairer Funding Formula for schools.
Dozens of parents signed campaign letters asking the Government to rethink the proposals which it is estimated would result in QM losing around £28,000 a year.
Hammersmith MP Mr Slaughter made clear his opposition to the proposals while Mr Hands initially backed the Government's proposal.
However after receiving "several hundreds letters of concern from local parents and schools", Mr Hands, MP for Chelsea and Fulham, asked the Education Secretary to take parents' concerns into consideration when carrying out a consultation on school funding.
In a letter to Ms Greening (pictured), he quoted the Queen's Manor campaign letter which stated: "I strongly support the idea that all schools should receive fair funding and that previously under-funded schools should see increases, but not at the expense of children in schools like ours. I do not believe we should rob Peter to pay Paul."
An announcement is expected soon on the final details of the new funding formula.