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St. Gregory VII, original name Hildebrand, Italian Ildebrando, (born c. 1025, near Sovana, Papal States—died May 25, 1085, Salerno, Principality of Salerno; canonized 1606; feast day, May 25), one of the greatest popes of the medieval church, who lent his name to the 11th-century movement now known as the Gregorian Reform or Investiture Controversy. Gregory VII was the first pope to depose a crowned ruler, Emperor Henry IV (1056–1105/06). With this revolutionary act, Gregory translated his personal religious and mystical convictions regarding the role of the papacy into direct action in the world at large. He was canonized by Pope Paul V in 1606, but until 1728 his feast was limited to Sovana, his most likely place of birth, and Salerno, where the 900th anniversary of his death was celebrated in the presence of Pope John Paul II in 1985.
Early life
He was born Hildebrand in about 1025, probably in southern Tuscany, to an upper-middle-class family with possible connections to Rome. In one of the few personal recollections in his papal letters—preserved in the original register in the Archivio Segreto ("Secret Archives") of the Vatican—he recalled growing up in the Roman church under the special protection of St. Peter, "Prince of the Apostles." He attended the palace school at the Lateran with Roman nobles before continuing his education among the canons of San Giovanni a Porta Latina, a collegiate church next to the Lateran basilica and palace. One of his teachers there was Archbishop Lawrence (Laurentius) of Amalfi, who was famed for his knowledge of both Greek and Latin, and the head of the community was the archpriest John Gratian, the future Pope Gregory VI (1045–46). Hildebrand served as one of his chaplains (acolytes) and accompanied him into exile at Cologne (now in Germany) after the pope had been deposed for simony (paying money for ecclesiastical office) at the Council of Sutri in December 1046. (Gratian or, more likely, his supporters allegedly had used bribes to secure his election.) Hildebrand completed his studies at Cologne's famous cathedral school and among its canons (clergy and priests associated with an archbishop or bishop) before returning to Rome in early 1049 after the death of Gregory VI, in the company of Bruno of Toul, the future Pope Leo IX (1049–54).
Traditionally, historians have assumed that Hildebrand was a monk. The only question seemed to be whether he became a monk in Rome or later, during his exile on a possible visit to the famous abbey of Cluny in Burgundy (region of present-day France). The latter theory, based on the writings of a younger contemporary and enthusiastic supporter, Bonizo of Sutri, has been shown to be completely untenable, as has the notion that the young Hildebrand became a monk in Rome at the monastery of St. Mary on the Aventine, where an uncle was supposedly abbot. This theory also rests on a single source, the hagiographic vita by Paul of Bernried, a later admirer of Gregory. Writing in the 1120s, a generation after Gregory's death, Paul set out to edify his audience rather than to report facts, and the vita is riddled with very obvious errors. Gregory VII himself wrote that he was a canon at both the Lateran basilica and at Cologne. St. Mary's is never mentioned by him. It seems unlikely that Hildebrand was a monk, and the distinction between canon and monk is significant because the reform undertaken by the regular canons was in the vanguard of the ecclesiastical revival that sought to restore the glory and austerity of the early Christian church as pictured by churchmen in the 11th century. These ideas deeply influenced Gregory's worldview.
After Hildebrand's return to Rome in 1049, although he had not yet reached the age of 30 required for the priesthood, he became a collaborator of Pope Leo IX, who ordained him subdeacon and named him rector (administrator) of the Benedictine abbey of San Paolo Fuori le Mura in 1050. Hildebrand revered Leo like a father, and Leo later distinguished his protégé by awarding him the unusual title of cardinal subdeacon, signifying Hildebrand's closeness to the Holy See. Hildebrand served the papacy as legate in France (in 1054 at Tours and in 1056 at Chalon-sur-Saône), at the imperial court in Germany (1054/55 and 1057/58), and briefly in Italy at Milan (1057). Emperor Henry III held him in high esteem, and under Leo's successor, Pope Victor II (1055–57), Hildebrand served in the papal chancery, as his signatures under papal privileges (grants of special favour) show. During the pontificates of Stephen IX (1057–58), Nicholas II (1059–61), and Alexander II (1061–73), Hildebrand developed into a leading figure at the papal court.
In the fall of 1058, Hildebrand was made archdeacon of the Roman church and was characterized by Peter Damian as an "unmovable column [support] of the apostolic see." As archdeacon, he was a chief participant in the first papal coronation with a crown-mitre, which symbolized the papal claim to sovereignty over the church and the secular monarchies. The theory undergirding this aspect of the ceremony was that of the forged Donation of Constantine, an 8th-century document that figured prominently in the new canonical collections that were compiled at that time in Rome and elsewhere. The document claimed that Constantine granted to the pope spiritual authority over the church and temporal dominion over the Western Roman Empire. In his new position Hildebrand also actively furthered the papal alliance with the Normans of southern Italy and their principal leaders, including Robert Guiscard, who became a papal vassal. Hildebrand supported William the Conqueror's invasion of England in 1066, and, because his obligations as archdeacon also included judicial and financial duties, he began to build up armed groups of papal supporters known as the militia of St. Peter (Latin: milites Petri). At the same time, he was most sympathetic toward the reform efforts of the Patarines, as one of the factions among the citizens of Milan was known. This group fought against simony and clerical marriage, two vices that reformers believed occurred frequently among the higher clergy of the city of Milan. Because the higher clergy of the city were closely related to the leading noble families governing Milan, the Patarines' uprising took on social-revolutionary overtones as well. Hildebrand also took the side of the hermit-monks of Vallombrosa who had rioted against the bishop of Florence, whom they accused of simony.
Important information concerning Hildebrand's time as archdeacon is provided by a manuscript fragment that records, at least partially, some of the discussions in Rome at the time of the great Lateran Council of April/May 1059. Much of the text comprises an address to the assembly in which Hildebrand harshly criticized the Aachen Rule for Canons ratified under Emperor Louis the Pious (814–840) at the Aachen council of 816. He pointed out in particular that this rule permitted canons to own private property and was thus in conflict with the declarations of the ancient Church Fathers and popes. Hildebrand asserted that canons should lead strictly regulated lives in common, imitating Christ's Apostles (vita apostolica), and renounce all personal property when admitted to a community of regular canons. In short, the living arrangements of canons were to be scarcely distinguishable from those of monks. Contemporary manuscripts of the Aachen Rule, primarily from Rome and the vicinity, are evidence of Hildebrand's success at the council, for they omit the objectionable passages concerning private property and add texts from the Benedictine Rule for monks.
The pope and the church
A tumultuous crowd of Roman citizens and clergy raised Hildebrand to the papacy during the funeral solemnities for Pope Alexander II on April 22, 1073. He was enthroned immediately in the basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli even though he was not ordained a priest until June 29, the feast day of the apostles Peter and Paul, the patron saints of the Apostolic See and the city of Rome. Hildebrand's elevation by the combination of citizens and clergy was a hostile reaction to the reordering of the papal election ordo at the 1059 Lateran Council, which had given the cardinal-bishops the leading voice in papal elections. The Roman people and clergy had been disenfranchised by the ordo, which thus ended the domination of the papacy by various Roman factions. Hildebrand's election, however, followed the ancient rules that had been prominently upheld in the canonical collection of Deusdedit, cardinal-priest of San Pietro in Vincoli.
Hildebrand took the name Gregory in memory of Gregory I, whose writings greatly influenced him. Gregory VII interpreted his election as a special call by God to continue unhesitatingly the fight for what he described as iustitia ("justice"), meaning the restoration of the church to what Gregory and his collaborators saw as its proper place in the world order. Indeed, they intended to revive the church's ancient splendour and unquestioned leadership as instituted by Christ when he founded the church on the rock that was St. Peter (Matthew 16:18). Gregory was convinced that the pope was the living successor and representative of St. Peter. Because of this link, the pope, and he alone, would always remain a true Christian, never deviating from the faith and always cognizant of the will of God. Therefore, all Christians owed him absolute and unquestioned obedience. Disobedience was regarded as heresy, and obedience to God became obedience to the papacy.
Gregory linked the battle against simony and for clerical celibacy—chief characteristics of 11th-century ecclesiastical reform—with a marked emphasis on the papal primacy, a concept based on the primacy of the Roman church, which at the time of Leo IX in 1054 led to the break in diplomatic relations between Rome and Constantinople. Papal primacy included the subordination of all secular governments to papal authority as long as they were Christian, but it applied first of all to the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Gregory's chancery revived and strengthened an oath of obedience that was required of all archbishops and bishops. Outranking every local authority, his legates intervened freely in internal diocesan affairs throughout Latin Christendom. Bishops had traditionally governed their dioceses more or less independently, and the changes introduced and systematized by Gregory VII were most unwelcome among all ranks of the clergy, including the highborn bishops, especially in Germany. The lower clergy in France and Germany also rebelled, but in this case against draconian decrees designed to enforce priestly celibacy.
On the basis of decisions by Leo IX and the Lateran synod of 1059, Gregory did not hesitate to call for popular rebellions against disobedient bishops that flew in the face of ancient canon law prohibiting inferiors (especially laymen but also clergy of a lower rank) from judging or accusing their superiors. Gregory created havoc in the French church when he established a new dignity, the primacy of Lyons, subjecting the prominent archbishops of Sens, Rouen, and Tours to its authority. Only the archbishop of Tours, a close friend of Gregory VII, willingly recognized the new "primate," Hugh of Die. In general, Gregory insisted that canon law should be upheld, but he also ascribed to the pope alone the right to issue new laws if required by contemporary needs.
In the case of the primate of Lyons, Gregory was misled by a collection of canon law (Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals) that, unknown to him, had been forged in the 9th century. This forgery had introduced the concept of primate, with poorly defined functions designed to protect bishops from interference by their superiors, the archbishops. Gregory VII used it in an attempt to supervise the French bishops constantly and more closely, for the primate of Lyons also served as his standing legate. Not surprisingly, Gregory's regimen aroused opposition and hostility among bishops in northern Italy and Germany especially, but also in France. On the other hand, a large extent of the English church was left to the government of William I and Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury.
Fortunately, Gregory's pontificate can be evaluated not only on the basis of the often-polemical writings of his contemporaries but also in the light of a precious official source, his original register. It contains numerous letters and general notes as well as numerous excerpts from the councils that Gregory held regularly in Rome. In addition, there are charters for monasteries and bishoprics as well as his letters and conciliar decrees, which survived outside the register in the hands of their recipients or in canonical collections. Nonetheless, it is not easy to interpret this documentation because only a small percentage of his correspondence was included in the register and the selection criteria are unknown. Moreover, it was customary to supplement the most important points of a letter with oral messages.
The famous Dictatus papae ("Dictates of the Pope"), however, is part of the register. It consists of 27 brief and pointed declarations that extol papal primacy and even includes the radical claim that the pope had the right to depose emperors. Scholars agree that Gregory was the author of these assertions and that the Dictatus strikingly reveals his unflinching vision of papal primacy, even though the sources and purpose of the Dictatus are still in dispute.
Gregory VII had an astute grasp of political realities and was always willing to take them into account, provided they fit in with his own reform efforts. Papal territorial claims intensified markedly. He was the first pope to try to contact every ruler of his time, asserting the overlordship of the apostle Peter—that is, of the papacy—in several regions of Europe. The most successful example of the use of feudal arrangements by the papacy—Norman greed notwithstanding—was the alliance with the Norman leaders of southern Italy, concluded with Richard of Capua in 1073 and Robert Guiscard in 1059. Their obligations included fealty to the pope and his legitimate successors as well as military and financial aid. In return, the pope became their overlord and invested them with the imperial and Byzantine-Muslim territories that they had conquered or would conquer. In Spain, Croatia-Dalmatia, Denmark, Hungary, the kingdom of Kiev, Brittany, Poland, and Bohemia, as well as in England, Gregory tried to assert overlordship, mostly unsuccessfully. William I of England, whose invasion of 1066 Hildebrand had supported, refused outright the oath Gregory requested, although he resumed the Anglo-Saxon payment of Peter's Pence (annual contribution to the pope). Except in southern Italy, areas of northern Spain, and the islands of Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia, Gregory's attempts to expand the role of the papacy met with little success.
Direct papal intervention in the appointment of bishops created severe tensions in France and even more so in Germany, which, with Burgundy and much of Italy, constituted what would later be called the Holy Roman Empire (see Researcher's Note). As early as December 1073, Gregory called King Philip I of France (reigned 1059/60–1108) the worst of all princely tyrants oppressing the church because the king refused to invest a canonically elected bishop with the secular properties and rights of the bishopric. This controversy was inspired by Gregory's vision of proper canonical elections, which meant election by the clergy and populace of a diocese without any interference from secular rulers of any rank. Election was then a flexible term and should not be confused with the modern concept of democratic election. It was accepted as self-evident that the Holy Spirit should speak through the most influential members of a community, be it a diocese or abbey. This was a strong contrast to traditions that had prevailed for many centuries. Royal nominations to bishoprics and abbeys agreed to by representatives of the respective diocese had constituted an important part of royal authority at the time, and Gregory's insistence on the elimination of secular influence threatened the very existence of the kingdoms. This, at least, was the conviction of Emperor Henry IV. Philip of France also turned a deaf ear to papal commands, even when the pope threatened excommunication and interdict in December 1073 and a year later announced that he would do everything in his power to depose Philip. But the French bishops refused to make common cause with Gregory, and Philip's reign continued. His quarrels with the pope were smoothed over, and both parties were able to compromise without loss of face.
This was not the case with regard to Henry IV and the empire, even though there were no signs of the coming conflict at the outset of Gregory's pontificate. Gregory recognized that Henry IV would soon be emperor and always thought very highly of Henry's parents, Henry III and Agnes. The pope suggested in a letter of December 1074 that Henry protect Rome and the Roman church during a papal expedition to the Holy Land that he wished to lead in the company of Empress Agnes and Countess Matilda of Tuscany. He relied on Henry's cooperation as well when he tried to bend the German bishops to his wishes and asked the king to order them to appear at his Roman synods. By December 1075, however, Gregory's attitude had changed. By letter and messenger (who may have threatened excommunication orally), the pope harshly blamed Henry IV for not negotiating in good faith and for having made royal appointments to the Italian bishoprics of Milan, Fermo, and Spoleto in accordance with old customs, which Gregory abhorred and ordered abolished. He also reproached Henry for continued contact with five of his advisers who had been excommunicated earlier by the pope. Contact with excommunicated persons automatically entailed excommunication for the offender.
On January 24, 1076, at the imperial assembly of Worms, Henry IV and the vast majority of the German bishops replied in even harsher terms to Gregory's letter and oral message. The bishops renounced their obedience to "Frater Hildebrand," and the king called on Gregory to abdicate and on the Romans to elect a new pope. Northern Italian bishops immediately joined the action and renounced their support for Gregory. The letters reached Gregory during the customary Lenten synod (February 14–20, 1076), and the outraged pope reacted immediately, using a prayer to Peter to depose and excommunicate Henry. In the same prayer, Gregory also absolved all of Henry's subjects of their oath of fealty to the king. The effect of the excommunication was tremendous. Never before had a pope deposed a king, even though Gregory, according to a later letter, believed that he had historical precedents on his side, an assumption that even contemporaries considered untenable and a distortion of historical truth. Then as now, the deposition of Henry IV was the most hotly debated action taken by Gregory VII, who pursued to its logical conclusion his conviction that papal primacy pertained not only to the spiritual sphere but to the secular sphere as well. Church reform now became a contest for dominance between the priestly and the royal powers as they struggled to replace the Carolingian vision of mutual collaboration in which the church was entrusted to the monarchy for safekeeping.
In Germany Gregory's action strengthened princely as well as episcopal opposition to Henry in a civil war that raged intermittently throughout his reign. In order to save his crown, Henry IV submitted to the pope at the castle of Canossa on January 28, 1077. Countess Matilda of Tuscany and Abbot Hugh of Cluny, Henry's godfather, had interceded for him. Gregory acted as a pastor of souls when he reconciled the king with the church, but Henry's footfall nonetheless was an implicit recognition of papal claims. The encounter at Canossa had interrupted Gregory's journey to Augsburg (now in Germany), where he was to meet German princes who had planned to elect a new ruler in opposition to Henry IV. Despite Gregory's absolution of Henry and return to Rome, the princes proceeded with their plan. Their nominee, Rudolf of Rheinfelden, was elected (anti-)king on March 15, 1077.
The quarrel between Henry and Gregory intensified after the pope formally prohibited lay investiture at the council of November 1078. Investiture was the customary ceremony in which the emperor or king bestowed upon the bishops the ring and staff, the symbols of their office as well as of royal authority in and protection of the church. Nevertheless, Gregory at first tried to arbitrate between Henry and Rudolf, but he excommunicated Henry for a second time at the Lenten synod of 1080 and formally recognized Rudolf as king. However, after the absolution of Canossa, Henry had reasserted himself. The new excommunication had little effect, and the king was victorious in the civil war. Following the formal deposition of Gregory VII under the aegis of Henry IV by the synod of Brixen in June 1080 and the nomination of Archbishop Wibert of Ravenna as pope, Henry marched on Rome, supported by German and, especially, Italian troops. The Eternal City was finally captured in March 1084, when the Romans, including many cardinals and other clergy, opened the gates to Henry and his army. They had deserted the papal cause in response to Gregory's inflexibility. Wibert was enthroned as antipope Clement III, and Henry IV was crowned emperor. Gregory VII had at first sought refuge in the Castel Sant'Angelo but in July fled with his Norman liberators to Salerno, where he died on May 25, 1085. According to tradition, his last words were a paraphrase of a passage from Psalm 44, "I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore I die in exile."
It might appear that Gregory was less successful as pope than he had been as a papal adviser, for, in the course of his bitter conflict with Emperor Henry IV, he was defeated. Apart from the court of Matilda of Tuscany, where his legend lived on, Gregory was soon forgotten, and he was not canonized until 1606. The history of the papacy and of the church, however, was profoundly influenced by him. His staunch advocacy of clerical celibacy and repudiation of simony reshaped the church and helped establish the ideals of the reformers as the standard for the church. Moreover, papal primacy cannot be imagined without Gregory. In his lifetime he attempted to translate his own religious experience with its mystical core into historical reality. Concepts that he grasped intuitively were elaborated on legally and theoretically in the 12th and 13th centuries and resulted in what is known as the papal monarchy.
Learn More in these related Britannica articles:
Roman Catholicism: The reign of Gregory VIIHildebrand, who succeeded in 1073 as Gregory VII (reigned 1073–85), is perhaps best known for his struggle with Henry IV, but he had long served the church, and some scholars regard him as the main force behind papal reform. Indeed, the movement derives…
history of Europe: Reform and renewalas the Investiture Controversy, between Gregory VII and the emperor Henry IV (reigned 1056–1105/06). In this struggle the pope claimed extraordinary authority to correct the emperor; he twice declared the emperor deposed before Henry forced him to flee Rome to Salerno, where he died in exile. Despite Gregory's apparent defeat,…
United Kingdom: Church–state relationsWilliam and Lanfranc resisted Pope Gregory VII's claim to papal supremacy: the king decreed that without his consent no pope was to be recognized in England, no papal letter was to be received, no church council was to legislate, and no baron or royal official was to be excommunicated. During…
Christianity: The church and Western states…supporter of these reforms, Pope Gregory VII, ultimately banned the practice of the lay investiture of bishops and challenged the traditions of sacral kingship. Gregory's assertion of papal authority, however, was opposed by the German ruler Henry IV. Their conflict eventually burst into the great Investiture Controversy, which became a…
Christianity: Papacy and empire…the medieval papacy, the popes St. Gregory VII (reigned 1073–85) and Innocent III (reigned 1198–1216) should be called its master builders. Gregory VII reformed both the church and the papacy from within, establishing the canonical and moral authority of the papal office when it was threatened by corruption and attack,…
More About St. Gregory VII28 references found in Britannica articles
Assorted References
- expulsion of Benedict X
- In Benedict (X)
- meeting at Canossa
- In Canossa
association with
- Clement III
- Gregory the Great
- Henry IV
- Leo IX
- Matilda of Canossa
- Robert Guiscard
- Urban II
- In Urban II
- William of Hirsau


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"Merry Christmas, Baby" is the kind of secular Christmas song to which Dave Marsh and Steve Propes devoted an entire book of the same title. (The subtitle of the book is Holiday Music From Bing to Sting.) "Merry Christmas, Baby" is a smoldering blues love song with a Christmas theme. Great line: "I haven't had a drink this morning/But I'm all lit up like a Christmas tree."
The song was written written by Lou Baxter and Johnny Moore and released in 1947 by Johnny Moore's Three Trailblazers, with the late, great Charles Brown on the piano and the vocal. Brown returned to the song many, many times, perhaps most notably in a playful duet he recorded with Bonnie Raitt.
Neither Bing nor Sting covered the song, but a lot of artists in between have. Otis Redding, Chuck Berry, Lou Rawls, Aaron Neville, B.B. King, Sheryl Crow, and Bruce Springsteen have all recorded good versions. I'm not sure that's much of a distinction; I don't think there is a bad version of the song.
Elvis Presley recorded a memorable version of the song. I don't know where or when it was originally released, but I first heard it on an obscure RCA album compiling a selection of Elvis's recordings of blues numbers. The album was pressed on blue vinyl and called Elvis Blue. The album provided an insight into Elvis's deep love of the blues.
A recording of the song is now included on the five-disc RCA compilation Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential '70s Masters. Like Elvis Blue, the '70s compilation is something of a revelation.
In the video below, you can hear Elvis luxuriating in and goofing on the song, growling behind the backbeat and really getting into it, goaded on by the guitar work of James Burton. Elvis doesn't even get around to the last verse, but he's got the feeling.
Merry Christmas to all our readers celebrating the holiday today.

subset: commoncrawl


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COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech women's soccer team is once again in the national spotlight for academic success, as it has been awarded the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Team Academic Award for the 2011-12 academic year. It marks the third consecutive year the Golden Eagles have received the honor.
In order to be eligible for the team academic award, a program must post a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher for the duration of one full academic calendar year. A total of 514 women's programs from Divisions I, II and III received the award.
The team has now won the award every season since head coach Daniel Brizard took over the helm of the soccer program. During the 2011-12 academic year, the soccer team combined for a composite 3.29 GPA.
"I think it's a testament to the academic standards we have here at Tennessee Tech, that we once again receive this award," Brizard remarked. "The academic standard we hold our girls to is high. Not only do we make the minimum GPA of 3.0 for the award, but we are typically in the 3.25-3.50 range. It's important that in sports that our athletes are doing the job in the classroom, as well. We are very proud of them, and it speaks volumes for our academic staff."
In charge of granting over 10,000 awards per year, the NSCAA "administers an outstanding awards and recognition program which includes Coach of the Year, All-America, long-term service and special recognition awards designed to recognize excellence in soccer, academics and service to the game."


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A federal judge in Denver on Monday ordered the consolidation of seven lawsuits brought against the Cinemark theater chain by survivors and relatives of those killed in a shooting rampage in which 12 moviegoers were slain as they watched a Batman film.
U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson also set May 5, 2014, as the earliest start date that any of the personal injury and wrongful death claims against Cinemark could proceed to trial.
Merging the cases and setting a tentative calendar for the litigation came during the first court hearing stemming from civil suits accusing Texas-based Cinemark USA Inc of lax theater security in connection with the July 20 massacre.
Twelve people were killed and 58 wounded when a gunman opened fire on Cinemark patrons in Aurora, during a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises."
The suspect, 24-year-old former neuroscience graduate student James Holmes, is charged with dozens of counts of murder and attempted murder. The criminal case against Holmes is in a preliminary stage with no trial date set. He has not yet entered a plea and defense lawyers have said in court that Holmes suffers from an unspecified mental illness.
In addition to four personal injury suits and three wrongful death complaints consolidated for pretrial proceedings in federal court by Jackson, a separate lawsuit has been filed in state court on behalf of a dozen victims and victims' families.
Christina Habas, an attorney representing three of the 13 individual plaintiffs in the federal cases, told Jackson she anticipates adding additional plaintiffs.
The idea behind consolidating numerous similar lawsuits is to streamline pretrial proceedings and avoid duplication of discovery motions and depositions.
The lawsuits stemming from the mass shooting in July accuse Cinemark of failing to take proper precautions to prevent such an outbreak of violence.
The plaintiffs claim, among other things, that the theater should have had more security in place because it was aware of previous crimes in or near the multiplex, including "assaults and robberies" and at least one gang shooting.
Cinemark has filed a motion seeking dismissal of the lawsuits, contending the company and its employees could not have anticipated having to deal with "a madman's mass murder" at the theater.
"It would be patently unfair, and legally unsound, to impose on Cinemark, a private business in the entertainment industry, the duty and burden to have foreseen and prevented the criminal equivalent of a meteor falling from the sky," the motion states.
U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Michael Hegarty, who is assisting Jackson with the cases, told lawyers for both sides he plans to rule in January on the motion to dismiss.
Cinemark attorney Kevin Taylor said he cannot fully prepare a defense until law enforcement authorities return surveillance video footage from at least 16 cameras that the company had at the theater complex and until he is allowed to see statements police took from hundreds of persons at the crime scene.
A state judge presiding over the murder case against Holmes has denied a request by lawyers for several survivors for a court order requiring prosecutors to turn over sealed evidence in the criminal investigation for review in the civil suits.


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DALLAS — The mementoes are everywhere, preserved from a day five decades ago by people who wish they could forget:
DALLAS — The mementoes are everywhere, preserved from a day five decades ago by people who wish they could forget:
Letters of grief and thanks, in a widow's hand. Yellowing news reports. An unwanted wedding band. A rose stained with blood.
Those who were closest to events on the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated still talk about what they witnessed as if it happened yesterday. And they frequently mention a keepsake, some small but often heavy burden they've carried since Nov. 22, 1963. For some, this tangible thing helps make real what remains hard to believe. For others, it may be a touchstone to happier memories or just an artifact proving history brushed their lives.
Some can't even explain the items they keep from those awful, convulsing, world-changing 24 hours.
Dawn was approaching — it was past 6 a.m. on that Friday.
In a bungalow in the Dallas suburb of Irving, the only one up was Lee Harvey Oswald. He made coffee, dressed for work, then paused before leaving his wife, Marina, and two young daughters. He drew most of the cash from his pocket, removed his wedding ring and left both behind. Gathering up a parcel he'd retrieved from the garage, he crept out.
"Lee left a coffee cup in the sink," recalls Ruth Paine, whose house Marina and the girls were staying in. Oswald had come the previous evening to try — unsuccessfully — to reconcile with his estranged wife.
When he departed, leaving the ring, Paine says, "My guess is that he did not expect to live."
She would later retrieve the ring for investigators, and it would find its way into a lawyer's file for decades. Only recently was it returned to Oswald's widow, who put the bitter memento up for auction. In a letter, she explained that "symbolically I want to let go of my past" and what she has called "the worst day of my life." The ring sold last month for $108,000.
Walking from Paine's house, Oswald reached the home where Buell Frazier, his co-worker, lived with his sister. He put his parcel in Frazier's black Chevrolet for the ride to work.
"I'm just about through eating my breakfast," Frazier said from the back door.
They'd be driving to the Texas School Book Depository, where both had $1.25 an hour jobs filling orders. Oswald had just started working there — and not by coincidence. Frazier's sister had mentioned to her neighbor, Ruth Paine, that there might be an opening for the out-of-work Oswald.
Much was unusual about that morning. Normally, Oswald would wait to be picked up; normally, he would have carried a sack lunch. Unlike most Fridays, he told Frazier he would not need a ride home that night. And then there was the long, paper-wrapped package in the backseat. When Frazier asked, Oswald said it contained curtain rods.
As they drove off, a misting rain had Frazier flicking the windshield wipers on and off. "I wish it would just rain or something," he complained, but nothing of substance was said before they arrived at work.
By then, it was about 7:55 a.m.
At that same time, 25 miles away, at the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth, Secret Service agent Clint Hill was walking down a hallway toward Room 850, where Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline were staying in a suite that locals had specially decorated. They had lent art treasures — 16 originals by Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet and others — and hung them on the walls in welcome. Today, these artworks themselves have become mementoes of that day, reassembled in an anniversary museum exhibit.
Emerging from the suite, Kennedy called out, "Good morning," to Hill, whom he knew well as the agent who'd been protecting the first lady for three years.
And it did feel like a good morning, Hill said in an interview. He recalled how just then, "I heard the noise outside" of a large, friendly crowd gathering, despite the drizzle, for a speech — Kennedy's first event of a packed day. Next was a breakfast speech inside the hotel, where another crowd erupted when the first lady entered.
"Everybody was just stunned by her. And of course everybody in the world would later see the pink outfit she was wearing," recalls Associated Press writer Mike Cochran, who stayed with the couple as they headed to the Fort Worth airport for the hop to Dallas and a motorcade to a planned luncheon speech. It was part of a trip to help mend a rift among Texas Democrats and try to secure the state for Kennedy in the 1964 election.
The misty skies had cleared by the time Air Force One touched down at Dallas' Love Field, which allowed the bubble top to be removed from the dark blue Lincoln that would carry the president through downtown.
As the limousine cruised out of the airport, 11-year-old Stephanie Landregan snapped pictures with her Brownie camera. Watching with her grandparents and four siblings, the schoolgirl felt a "giddy" thrill. Her mother was at the Trade Mart, where Kennedy was headed for lunch. The only family member who'd miss the rare presidential visit, it seemed, was her father. He had to be at work — at Parkland Memorial Hospital.
It was a few minutes before noon.
Hill and other agents riding in the Secret Service vehicle just behind the president scanned the jubilant throngs, which thickened as the motorcade neared downtown. At one point, the cars slowed, then halted for a group of students.
"There was a banner: 'Mr. President, please stop and shake our hands,'" Hill says. "Whenever that happened, we knew pretty well he was going to stop."
As Kennedy leaned from the car, Nancy White reached out from the crowd. "He shook my hand," she says, amazement still in her voice.
The motorcade moved on, growing ranks of spectators bulging into the traffic lanes. At times, Hill ran from his vehicle to a foothold on the moving Lincoln's rear bumper.
Up ahead was Dealey Plaza and a corridor of buildings including the book depository, where Buell Frazier stood on the front steps, taking a break with co-workers — though not Lee Oswald.
Happy pandemonium greeted the presidential Lincoln, and suddenly Frazier could see Jackie Kennedy.
"She's as pretty as the pictures," he remembers calling out to a woman nearby.
And that quickly the motorcade glided by, enveloped by more cheers ahead. But then came another sound that Frazier first thought was a police motorcycle backfiring.
Then another pop. And another. Frazier recognized the sound of gunfire.
Instantly, all was mayhem. "People were running and screaming and hollering," Frazier says. "Somebody came running by as we were standing there on the steps and she says, 'They've shot the president.'"
In the agents' car, Hill heard the first shot, sprinted to the Lincoln and scrambled aboard. As he strained to hold on, he saw Mrs. Kennedy climbing onto the rear of the car, now speeding toward a freeway to the hospital.
"She's going to go flying off the back," he thought, and pushed her back to her seat.
In the motorcade and amid the crowd now, reporters struggled to grasp the events, then get the news out.
In the Dallas AP office, the phone rang and bureau chief Bob Johnson grabbed it. On the line was staff photographer James W. "Ike" Altgens, breathing hard. He'd recorded the Dealey Plaza chaos — including images of Kennedy grasping his throat and of Hill reaching for the first lady across the limo's trunk.
"Bob, the president's been shot," he shouted from a pay phone.
"Ike, how do you know?" Johnson demanded.
"I was shooting pictures then and I saw it."
"Ike, you saw that?"
"Yes, there was blood on his face."
Johnson typed furiously, folding in Altgens' details:
It timed off at 12:40 p.m. Central time. Instantly, in newsrooms everywhere, bells clanged on wire teletype machines as they churned out the unimaginable, line by line, and broadcasters tore the copy and relayed the unthinkable.
Fifty years on, that first bulletin — its type spilling down the page from being pulled by some forgotten editor as it printed out — is an artifact of the moment, preserved in the news service's corporate archives.
The Lincoln, meanwhile, with agent Hill spread-eagled over the wounded president, raced to Parkland Hospital.
Because it was lunchtime, many on the Parkland staff were in the cafeteria when calls suddenly blared over the public address system, summoning specialists — "stat."
Dr. Ronald Jones called the operator to learn why.
"Dr. Jones, the president's been shot ...," she said. "They need physicians." The cafeteria cleared.
Through the open door of the trauma room, Jones saw a stoic Jackie Kennedy, moving from a folding chair placed for her outside the room to standing quietly inside as doctors assessed her husband.
"His eyes were open, they were not moving," Jones says.
He scissored through Kennedy's coat and shirt to find a vein to insert an IV. Other physicians worked frantically, trying to think of this as any trauma case, any patient.
Dr. Malcolm Perry, who'd been at lunch with Jones, was examining the wound in the president's neck. Perry asked Dr. Robert McClelland to stand at the head of the gurney and hold the retractor in the incision they were making to explore the wound.
"As soon as I got into that position," McClelland recalled recently, "I was shocked ... I said to Dr. Perry, 'My God, have you seen the back of his head?' I said, 'It's gone.'"
Dr. Kemp Clark, professor of neurosurgery, was standing by a heart monitor at one point, McClelland recalls. Kennedy's heartbeat had flatlined.
"Dr. Clark said to Dr. Perry — and I remember the exact words — 'He said, 'Mac, you can stop now because he's gone,'" McClelland says.
The trauma room door opened moments later, admitting the Rev. Oscar Huber, who anointed the president's head with oil and administered the Roman Catholic last rites. (The hospital official who phoned for Huber at his church, learning he was already on his way, and who later called a funeral home for a casket was Steve Landregan, whose daughter had taken airport snapshots of the first couple.)
When the end came, eyes turned to Jackie Kennedy at her husband's side. McClelland recalls a kiss. Dr. Kenneth Salyer, who had done external cardiac massage, says, "She sort of laid on his chest ... in a sort of compassionate motion."
Afterward, in the empty trauma room two young residents noticed the first lady's roses, discarded and bloodstained. Each picked up one, and would preserve the flowers in Lucite. "You can't really tell what it is," says Dr. Michael Ellsasser, "but I still have it anyhow."
McClelland was changing clothes later when he remembered once seeing in a museum a piece of clothing stained with Abraham Lincoln's blood after he was shot. Struck by the sense of history in his own simple white shirt — soaked in blood from where he leaned over the gurney — he decided it should be preserved. He has it still.
The shooting of the president was now a homicide case, and investigators fanned out everywhere.
Buell Frazier, who had innocently driven Oswald to work, was rounded up for hours of fierce questioning.
Across town, after a rare lunch break at home, Dallas Police Officer J.D. Tippit hurried back to patrol. He soon spotted a man matching the description of the suspected assassin that had just been circulated; he pulled up alongside him and got out of his patrol car. In a flash, the man shot Tippit dead, then fled, shaking spent cartridges from his revolver as he ran.
As radio news reported an officer's shooting near the shoe store where John Brewer was manager, he noticed a man suspiciously engrossed in a window display instead of the police cars streaming past. When the man darted into a movie theater, Brewer followed and raised the alarm.
The suspect pulled a handgun when confronted by a police officer, who wrestled it from him. "Cops were coming over the backs of the chairs.... In just a little while they had the cuffs on Oswald," says Brewer, whose keepsakes of that day include a poster from "War Is Hell," the movie he fatefully interrupted.
Today, Officer Tippit's wife Marie speaks of the blessing of his brief return home for lunch that day and of their years together. She is a great-grandmother now, but as a young widow treasured a letter she received from another, Jacqueline Kennedy. "She said that she had lit a flame for Jack and she was going to consider that it would burn for my husband, too, that it would burn forever."
She keeps her husband's badge in a bank vault.
That afternoon, police arrived with a sharp knock on Ruth Paine's door in Irving as she and Marina Oswald sat transfixed by the television news.
"We have Lee Oswald in custody, for shooting an officer," Paine remembers them declaring. They began questioning the women.
"And then one of the policemen asked Marina (whose native language was Russian), 'Did Oswald have a gun?'
"And I said, 'No,' but translated to Marina, who said, 'Yes, he did.'"
Paine continues: "She led us to the garage and pointed to a blanket roll." That, she said, was where Oswald kept his rifle.
The rifle was gone.
"That was my worst moment," says Paine, who late the night before had switched off the garage light, which had been left on.
She keeps few mementoes of the time — just some old newsmagazines, to be donated to an archive. What she does carry still, she says, is "a sense of grief and loss."
And regret. "If only I had known that Lee Oswald had hidden a rifle in my garage."
Around 2:30 p.m. at Dallas' Love Field, Clint Hill watched as Lyndon Johnson, flanked by his wife and Jackie Kennedy, was sworn in as president aboard Air Force One. The plane, with Kennedy's casket secured inside, quickly took off for Washington.
It landed at Andrews Air Force Base at 5:58 p.m.
At attention stood a military team assigned a solemn duty: They'd attend the former commander in chief from here through his funeral on Monday — as pallbearers. "We were proud to do it," says Coast Guardsman George A. "Bud" Barnum. "We wanted to do it right."
The capital was still. Stunned Kennedy aides steered through dark, silent streets to the White House to keep vigil. Richard Goodwin, a speechwriter and adviser, was one of them.
"Jackie Kennedy sent word that she wanted the East Room, where the president would lie in state, to look as it did when Lincoln's body lay there," Goodwin remembers.
He and others went to work. Someone was sent to the Library of Congress for a sketch and a newspaper description from Lincoln's time; artists and upholsterers were called in, and black crepe was carefully hung. "In the midst of all these activities we would alternately break down in tears," Goodwin says.
It was now well past midnight.
Agent Hill had stayed at Jackie Kennedy's side — as an autopsy was conducted on the body, and then as it was taken to the White House, arriving at 4:24 a.m.
A waiting U.S. Marine honor guard marched before the ambulance to the North Portico entrance.
Goodwin, watching the scene from inside the White House, described the transfer of the casket to the now-ready East Room. He, Hill and others stood back as Jackie Kennedy and family members entered, spent some moments in silent thought and prayer, then left.
With Mrs. Kennedy retired for the night, Hill recalls, "I went down to my office on the ground floor. I made some notes for myself as to what had transpired that day."
Then and long afterward, guilt consumed the agent; he believed he could have protected Kennedy from the fatal bullet by reaching the limousine more quickly. There would be bouts of depression and of heavy drinking. He says he's doing well now, but there was a process to reach this point.
For years, he talked little about that day and turned aside suggestions that he write about it. Eventually he agreed to speak for another agent's book and then wrote his own memoir, "Mrs. Kennedy and Me." (He has another book, "Five Days in November," coming out this month.)
All of this helped, he says. And the notes he wrote were a factor. But they're not mementoes.
"I had them for a long time," Hill says. "In 2008 or so, I burned them."
Partly, that was "an attempt to bury it. But that just hasn't happened. You can't get rid of it."
He does keep letters from Jackie Kennedy.
In his last act on that awful day, Hill closed his notebook, left the White House and walked to his car.
It was past 6 a.m. Saturday, and dawn was approaching.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Sullivan reported from New York. AP writers Hillel Italie in New York and Calvin Woodward in Washington, D.C., and news researcher Monika Mathur contributed to this report. The writers can be reached at email@example.com.


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My entry for the last Painting Competition.
Figs from RedBox.
I thought I had a chance.
But I was not prepared of the fantastic
entries of my hobby friends.
Many thanks to all who voted for me.
I usually only do a simple base.
This time I have invested more work in the base.
But it did not help...


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Once-a-Day HIV Treatment: Ready for Prime Time?
HIV Treatment Series: Part One of Four
Also see parts two, three and four.
Everywhere you look these days there are sound bites for the treatment of HIV: "... Simplify your HIV regimen" and "Now, one tablet, once daily for simpler HIV combination therapy." Some pharmaceutical companies have been deploying ads, implementing educational programs and other concentrated marketing efforts to promote QD therapy (QD, meaning once daily). The once-a-day push is attracting the attention of people with HIV who are weary of popping fists full of pills two or three times a day, and some companies have also responded to these concerns with treatment options that reduce pill burden. Researchers, who are either employees or agents of pharmaceutical companies, are reformulating existing drugs and designing new drugs.
At the recent International AIDS conference in Barcelona, a lot of buzz was generated about the pros and cons of QD dosing. Doctors are already prescribing the QD drugs to their patients. Clearly, there is a need for simplified HIV regimens, be that fewer pills or once-a-day dosing. And for some people this is important, however it should not be the only factor when considering meds. Few QD drugs have been studied in randomized clinical trials in combinations -- the way HIV drugs must be taken to be effective at slowing virus replication. Without these trials the following questions can't really be addressed. What is the long-term effectiveness of QD drugs against HIV? Do they minimize resistance? Are they tolerable in HIV positive individuals?
Is once-a-day really ready for prime time? Are the QD regimens currently available proven to be better or equal to BID (twice a day) or TID (three times a day) in randomized clinical trials? Will once-a-day be an option for everyone with HIV? Is QD another pharmaceutical ploy to sell drugs? Will the QD drugs cost more? There are a lot of unanswered questions. It is clear that people not sacrifice efficacy for dosing simplicity.
Standard of Care
The Health and Human Services (HHS) guidelines strongly recommend a combination of antiviral medications from two drug classes as the standard for HIV treatment. This may involve taking a combination of several drugs, two or three times a day. HIV treatment combinations require sometimes as much as 30 pills a day. Swallowing that many pills can create many problems for appropriate adherence. Progress has been made to reduce the numbers of pills, and there are now regimens that don't require as many pills. However, not all QD drugs are reformulated to reduce pill burden. The reality is that even though a drug may be approved for QD, it may mean swallowing the same number of pills at once rather than splitting up the amount in two or three doses. Therefore, pill burden remains an issue, even with QD dosing.
HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy) has been shown to reduce sickness and death, making HIV a chronic condition for many people. As a result, the emphasis of treating HIV has been shifted to improving quality of life. Since HAART has to be taken indefinitely -- not necessarily a rosy prospect for individuals living with HIV -- this means better efficacy with less side effects, fewer pills and less dosing. This is not an easy task as the virus can mutate easily to resist the drugs. HIV meds have to be taken 95% of the time in order to be the most effective. And yet some drugs are adhered to 95% of the time and still resistance to them develops. On the one hand, you need a regimen that will continue to work long-term. On the other hand, you need a regimen that you can continue taking long-term.
The longer one has to "adhere" the more chances forgetfulness will occur. We are, after all, only human. So, the idea of simplified regimens, fewer pills, lower dosing and less toxicity can ultimately help to achieve the goals of HIV therapy and the needs of HIV-positive individuals: keeping people healthy by keeping the amount of HIV in the body below detectable and CD4 T-cells as high as possible. Therefore in terms of having a regimen that works and is tolerable, is QD all that better than BID?
How Drugs Are Broken Down in the Body
According to research on adherence, the biggest improvement in adherence is noted when there is no middle of the day dose. There is only a slight difference in adherence between once a day and twice a day. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations require approved drugs to maintain blood levels in the body long enough to keep working. But that's assuming you don't miss a dose. What happens if you miss a QD dose? Will resistance set in faster if you miss a QD dose compared to a BID dose? Some drugs, like Sustiva, remain active in the body for much longer than 24 hours. If people remember to take their dose shortly after they miss it -- at least not 24 hours later -- the blood levels will remain at a safe level. As long as drug levels remain high enough to control virus replication, drug resistance is less likely to happen.
One important piece of information to remember is that what is "high enough" varies, from person to person and from drug to drug. HIV does not operate the same from one person to the next. For example, in some people, the virus is more difficult to treat in resistant form. In this form, drug levels may need to be consistently higher to keep the virus from developing additional mutations. With all of the buzz on increasing rates of resistant HIV, this is an important consideration for everyone, not just HIV-positive individuals who have been on therapy for awhile.
Another factor to consider is the drugs themselves. Some drugs are known for maintaining higher levels in the body, whereas others have lower levels. How long after a missed dose before drug levels are dangerously low depends on, in part, two things. First, how high the drug levels were in the first place. And secondly, how long it takes the drug levels to drop.
In order to evaluate how once or twice dosing works one needs to understand how drugs are "metabolized" in the body. Drugs are swallowed, then broken down by saliva, stomach acid and liver or kidney enzymes so that the active chemical can get into the blood stream to do its work. Over time the amount of chemical is used up, then excreted. Then, more drug needs to be taken to keep up the level of the drug in the blood. In HIV it is critical to keep drug levels constant and well above the amount needed to control the virus. If the rate of HIV production can't be slowed down enough then the virus can change and go on multiplying, spreading a mutant virus. This is HIV's strategy for survival -- clever yet dangerous, even more reason to adhere to drugs and more corroboration for QD therapies.
There is speculation by some physicians that the effectiveness of a once-a-day dose schedule may depend on how each person metabolizes the drug individually, and that different cellular levels absorbed in a QD regimen may be quite different than in a twice a day regimen, therefore raising concerns regarding toxicity. In a new move to monitor this phenomenon, therapeutic drug monitoring assays are being developed to look at how each individual processes different drugs, but the science is clearly lagging behind the realities of treatment.
The bottom line is that many QD meds are not as forgiving as certain BID meds, when a dose is missed. Therefore, taking a dose at or near the appropriate time is still the optimal choice and efforts should always be made to teach physicians and patients to adhere to a regular dosing schedule.
QD HIV Drugs
There are currently five drugs available in once-a-day formulations today: Sustiva (efavirenz), Videx EC (didanosine enteric coated), Viread (tenofovir), boosted Agenerase (amprenavir), and Epivir (3TC). (See Newsbriefs in this issue.) New QD agents such as Reyataz (atazanavir), Emtriva (emtricitabine), and T-1249, a fusion inhibitor, may be available soon. New formulations of existing antivirals such as Viramune (nevirapine), Ziagen (abacavir) and Zerit XR (extended release stavudine) are in development. And Kaletra (lopinavir/ritonavir) is being studied as a QD option. One can see the interest and results of simplified drug development in our market-driven society.
Will drug companies pursue a price increase for the new QD therapies? Their contention is that in order to develop the drugs they need to pay for the research. According to past history, new drugs, especially new classes, have always resulted in an increase in price. Any price increases in new therapies will place ADAPs (AIDS Drug Assistance Programs), already teetering on the verge of collapse, in jeopardy. Pricing is a complex issue. When a drug is reformulated to reduce pill burden or dosing in half, it does not mean that manufacturing costs associated with the drug are also cut in half. It will be up to the community to hold the companies accountable as far as pricing is concerned.
What HAART Regimens Are Effective in QD?
Up to this point only individual drugs have been discussed for once-daily dosing, however, remember that HIV meds must be used in combination. Drug companies are promoting QD drugs individually, but they have not necessarily been studied together. Several different companies may produce the drugs within any one given combination, but the question remains: Is QD a viable option available to those who need therapy?
The QD regimen with the most data demonstrating effectiveness is Videx, Epivir and Sustiva. An open label prospective study (people knew what they were taking and were followed from the time they were put on treatment) looked at the feasibility of using this QD regimen. Though the study was not compared with other drugs, everyone ended with a lower viral load and higher CD4 T-cells at the end of 48 weeks, showing the combination was effective. Another study looking at a new drug, Emtriva, in combination with Videx and Sustiva in treatment naive patients (patients initiating therapy for the first time) has been reported. This combination has demonstrated an ability to suppress viral load for up to two years, showing another potential effective QD regimen. However, Emtriva has not yet been approved.
Doctors are prescribing combinations besides Videx EC, Epivir and Sustiva. Viramune is being looked at in combination with Videx and Epivir. Crixivan is being studied in combination with the same QD background. The studies are not complete. And therein lies the problem of combining drugs that have not been studied together in controlled clinical settings. Unknown cross reactions have been reported, as was found with Viread and Videx EC after the drugs were being combined in community practice. People using the new Videx EC capsule must not take it with any food, and Epivir and Sustiva should be taken with food, so the regimen is not a QD regimen as is thought.
From a Consumer's Perspective
How does switching to a QD regimen affect people in the real world? Paul Dalton, a PWA (person with AIDS) from San Francisco, switched to a once-daily regimen of Epivir, Viread and Viramune. Previously, he was on the same drugs, but used Viramune twice a day until studies showed that it was effective once daily. So, he made a relatively safe change based on what we know about these drugs. The outcome has been good in terms of viral control. However, he did have a 50% reduction in CD4 T-cells, but feels that the "disconnect" between his success in switching and his CD4 count was more related to stress in his life than to the therapy having failed (does this constitute a failure?). Paul said he has been 100% adherent with the new QD regimen and believes it can be beneficial for others if they stick to the simpler strategy. "QD can make sense if people can construct a viable regimen based on their history." Still, the disconnect in Paul's case (viral load decline, T-cell decline) should be carefully monitored by a physician. Adherence is not the lone factor in determining whether or not a regimen is effective.
Jeff Gustavson, also from San Francisco, had trouble with his regimen, which was Viread (QD) in combination with twice daily drugs. He mistakenly took the Viread twice daily with his other drugs, doubling the dosage, which is one of Cafaro's concerns. This anecdote highlights the fact that QD dosing is individual and must be geared for each person. It remains a treatment model in transition until all the bugs can be worked out.
A Matter of Choice ... How to Decide?
Many factors, including lifestyle, emotional readiness and ability to adhere, come into play when you decide to initiate HIV therapy. However, other factors that are just as important are drug efficacy, tolerability and minimizing resistance. Someone who has never taken HIV treatment may have more treatment options than the more treatment experienced individuals. Individuals who have taken antivirals in the past may have fewer therapeutic options. However, as previously stated, HIV therapy must be individualized. A treatment naive patient may have acquired a resistant strain of HIV, and therefore have more drug resistance than a treatment experienced patient. So the question becomes, are pharmaceuticals doing what is really in the best interest of the patient? Should they develop more resistance minimizing meds, as well as those that are more tolerable and convenient? Or are they merely responding to market opportunities when promoting drugs as QD?
A hospital cohort study presented in Barcelona looked at 1,313 patients and their consecutive regimens. The rate of treatment change was high in the study due to adverse events. So, after five consecutive regimens, most patients had been exposed to almost every available antiretroviral drug. Therefore, in this heavily treated group, QD would likely be impossible.
For people who have previously used anti-HIV drugs, it is critical that resistance tests be performed and medical histories looked at before switching or constructing any regimen. The tests can help determine which drugs are still viable options for each individual. Individuality must be considered in deciding upon any regimen.
Howard Grossman, a physician from New York City, has been prescribing once-daily regimens for years. According to Grossman's cohort data presented in Barcelona, his patients are benefiting from once-daily dosing. Whereas many physicians would not offer QD to patients who can't adhere due to the risk of resistance, Grossman offers patients with the worst adherence problems once-a-day regimens and looks at toxicity issues and effectiveness. His cohort was a retrospective analysis looking at 40 people from his clinic who either started on a QD regimen or switched from one QD regimen to another, or from BID to QD. At the completion of the study, viral load values were stable at less that 4,000 in all groups, not undetectable by any clinical standard. However, he states that those who began on a QD regimen did the best. But again research demonstrates that individuals have the best results on their initial regimen.
Virginia Cafaro, a long-term HIV doctor in San Francisco, presents an opposing point of view, "A lot of my patients are on BID and think it's fine, they have the rhythm and figure 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.' They have been stable for years." Some motivated people are satisfied if they are doing well with their regimen. However, people who are having adherence problems, or who are dealing with pill fatigue, who can afford to switch may want to consider QD. But they should talk over their options with a doctor. According to Cafaro, a major concern is that people with HIV simply want to switch, whether QD is geared for them or not. Cafaro muses, "I think it's [QD] a lot of hype and marketing from drug companies all saying their drugs are, or will be able to go QD. Is QD really all meds at one time? We have to worry about drug interactions [such as] with tenofovir and ddI-EC. Patients hear 'once-a-day' and may drop half of their present regimen or pile them all up into one dose."
Grossman believes that many progressive doctors are reluctant to switch their patients to QD. He states, "there are so many treatment options and they want to wait until more proof is in. No one wants to do harm [to the patient]." However, it begs the question, how are less experienced doctors who have fewer HIV-positive patients going to react to the new QD paradigm? In the land of HIV treatment and care, treatment trends always take time to take hold.
Experienced doctors such as Cafaro and Grossman, who understand the complexities, drug interactions and other restrictions of HIV treatments, are more in tune to their patient's needs, but care needs to be taken with those prescribing without a specialist's knowledge.
We are upon an era of a major treatment shift in HIV disease, where efficacy, tolerability, avoiding resistance and dosing convenience are all key factors. Adherence to mega-dosing of the older drugs has been a systematic and complex problem for people with HIV and their providers. However, progress has been made in this area. Treating a virus that is capable of a multitude of changes still has to be sorted out, so we must not put the cart before the horse in pushing ahead with simpler regimens that might fail for multiple reasons.


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Party season is here! At the salon we call it the glamorous season and to help everyone look party perfect this week, we teach you how to recreate the Millie Mackintosh's red carpet look.
This look takes about 45 minutes to recreate and you will need a curling tong or wand, some hair pins and a firm hold hairspray.
- To create the perfect up do this party season it is really best to have hair that isn't freshly washed as it will hold better.
- Start by sectioning the hair from the nape of the neck and using a curling tong or wand start curling the hair into soft waves; to get the perfect curl wrap the hair around the tong being sure to keep the end on the wand. For the hair higher up the head only take the curl up to the middle of the hair as the top section needs to remain straight for this look. Continue until all your hair is in loose curls.
- Once all your hair is curled, tip the head forward and brush all your hair. Next throw your hair backwards to create lots of volume!
- Next take inch thick sections and backcomb from the root to about 2inches down starting with hairline going towards the nape of the neck this creates more volume for the up do and gives your hair more grip when you put it up
- Pull your hair back from the face leaving some loose strands at the front to frame the face. Start to pin the hair on the left hand side, using long grips, next pull the hair across from the right hand side and secure with a hair pin.
- Continue to pin the hair, to create there perfect look, wrap the hair around your finger as you pin it. You can make this as neat or messy as you like, to create the Millie Mackintosh look we have kept it loose and soft around the nape of the neck.
- Once you have pinned all your hair, take your curling tongs again and softly re-curl the hair that you have left out of the up-do. The hair at the front should be curled backwards away from the face to frame the face.
- Once you have finished spray with hairspray to keep in place.
- To complete the look we recommend a superstar boyfriend like Professor Green but just in case you can't find one we also recommend smokey eyes and soft peach coloured lips!
Enjoy your Christmas parties; until next week! La Durbin x
Tags: Beauty, Christmas Parties, Curls, Glamour, Hair, Hair Secrets, Hair Up, How To Guide, La Durbin, Made In Chelsea, Mille Mackintosh, Party, Professor Green, SW6


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Helpful Dog Goes Grocery Shopping for His Owner [VIDEO]
A dog in China has been trained by his owner to go to local stores with a shopping list and then bring groceries home. When he does get back, the pup is justly rewarded with tasty treats like sausages and ice cream. A dog who is cute and runs errands? Where do we get one of those? All ours does is sleep and watch Animal Planet.
Check out a pooch who earns his keep below.
[via Viral Viral Video]


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Message Board
Ellis Weiner Message Board
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Weiner has written!
Author Weiner's Book Reviews
Drop Dead, My Lovely
NAL, March 2004, 23.95, 288 pp. ISBN 0451211170 When he wakes up in the hospital, Pete Ingalls thinks he's a private investigator and talks like a gumshoe out of a forties film. He has no memory of being a mild mannered hermetic bookstore clerk who had an accident when a pile of books fell on his head. His friend thinks he is putting him on but when he leaves the hospital, he opens up a PI office, places an ad in the newspaper, prints some bus...


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Israel News - Stay Informed, Pray Informed
Israel's mainstream media on Monday viewed US President Barack Obama's recent interview with Bloomberg as a direct threat that the Jewish state had better accept America's Middle East peace proposal, or else.
In the interview, held in the Oval Office last Thursday, Obama appeared to lay all the blame for the lack of a peace deal with the Palestinians squarely on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's shoulders.
"If not now, when? And if not you, Mr. Prime Minister, then who?" Obama asked, insisting that if Netanyahu "does not believe that a peace deal with the Palestinians is the right thing to do for Israel, then he needs to articulate an alternative approach."
Bloomberg correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg called Obama's remarks "striking" and "blunter about Israel's future than I've ever heard him."
Obama went on to stress that if an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord is not reached, it is Israel that will pay the price in terms of isolation and international boycotts, and, apparently, Obama's America won't be there to defend its ally.
That harsh interview was published less than a day before Netanyahu was scheduled to arrive in Washington to meet with Obama, a sit-down that the Israeli leader probably thought would be less tense than his previous encounters with the president.
In truth, Netanyahu has not really been all that resistant to the American peace proposal drafted by Secretary of State John Kerry, as it meets most of Israel's conditions for a final status agreement, or at least for negotiations working toward that goal.
As became obvious last week in Paris, the real obstacle is Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who nearly walked out of a meeting with Kerry after labeling his proposal as "madness" for calling on the Palestinians to recognize the "Jewish state" and give up their claims to half of Jerusalem.
Upon landing in Washington on Monday, Netanyahu told reporters that Israel remains ready to move toward a peace deal, but that the Palestinians need to actually show up and accept the agreement.
"The tango in the Middle East needs at least three. For years there have been two -- Israel and the US," said Netanyahu. "Now it needs to be seen if the Palestinians are also present."
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3 October 2012 at 3.14pm | 1 Comment
As part of the Autumn Season, The Royal Ballet are to perform for the first time choreographer and Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon's Fool's Paradise.
Staged alongside Wayne McGregor's Infra and Liam Scarlett's Viscera, the work is an abstract ballet to a score by Joby Talbot, with whom Christopher worked on the acclaimed Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland. Fool's Paradise contains a moving pas de deux, rehearsed in this clip by Principals Sarah Lamb and Federico Bonelli, which builds to a glittering arrangement for the whole ensemble as gold petals shower down onto the stage.
Last season we filmed a rehearsal of Christopher's ballet Polyphonia as part of Royal Ballet Live. Watch footage of Christopher rehearsing Polyphonia.
As well as Fool's Paradise and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a brand new work by Christopher will also be staged during the 2012/13 season, opening on 22 February 2013 alongside a new work from Alexei Ratmansky and George Balanchine's Apollo.
Fool's Paradise runs from 3 - 14 November as part of a mixed programme.


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Scenic Hotel Group is New Zealand's largest independently-owned and operated hotel group and pride ourselves on offering true Kiwi hospitality at each of our hotels.Located in many popular regions in New Zealand as well as the South Pacific country of Niue, Scenic Hotel Group welcomes business and corporate travellers, families, groups and individuals.
Offering a variety of accommodation (rooms, suites and self-catering apartments) at Heartland Hotels, Scenic Hotels, Suites & Resorts, and Te Waonui Forest Retreat, as well as excellent event services such as conference and meeting facilities, and wedding venues.
Scenic Hotel Group pride ourselves on offering excellent facilities in fantastic locations with true New Zealand hospitality and service. We're proud of New Zealand and of the level of accommodation and service we provide to travellers around Aotearoa. Our commitment is to offer you quality with a genuine sense of Kiwi hospitality.
We're your national hotel group, spread around the best of New Zealand and the South Pacific, working to international standards with a touch of local flair. Enjoy great value, and genuine comfort with a stay in our friendly 100% NZ owned hotels.
Special Offers
Come discover the latest hotel accommodation offers available in New Zealand and the South Pacific... Read more
Special Niue Wedding Offer
Book your Niuean wedding and we will pay for your return flights* and 7 nights' accommodation.... Read more
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Enquiries 0800 NZ OWNED (69 69 63)
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Soft toys, books and company! What could be better?
A safe place for young children to play and socialise as well as a time for new and experienced parents to chat and make friends.
Excellent for younger children to use the library and get ready to stay for our Story Time that starts directly after.
Great for children who may want to stay for a few stories but may not be quite ready for the full session.
On Tuesday every week from 9:30am to 10:30am, but only during school term time
This event is free, no ticket required.
For more information, please contact us


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Mercury Interactive: Aiming at Bigger PictureBy Mel Duvall | Posted 2002-11-01 Print
Dossier: Pigeonholed as a provider of testing and measurement software, Mercury holds an estimated 50% of its market.
For years Mercury Interactive has been pigeonholed as a provider of testing and measurement software, winning an estimated 50% of the market.
Now, the company wants to expand beyond that category and move to offer tools to help companies improve the overall operation of their technology infrastructure. On Oct. 3, Mercury launched its Business Technology Optimization (BTO) initiative built around a suite of products it calls Optane. It draws upon the management philosophy and techniques of W. Edwards Deming. His teachings about how to improve quality in manufacturing were the foundation of Japan's industrial rehabilitation after World War II, and can best be summed up by the directive, "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it."
Mercury customers appreciate the grander goal of fine-tuning technology infrastructure, but that's not why many buy Mercury products. For now, many customers turn to Mercury to solve a specific problembe it in testing, measurement, or monitoring servers.
"They may be ahead of some of their customers, but they're headed in the right direction," says Bill Banze, senior manager of enterprise performance management for Infinis, a Columbus, Ohio-based consulting firm. He has installed Mercury products for clients such as Nationwide Insurance.
Avoiding surprises is the goal at National City, a regional bank headquartered in Cleveland. It's been using Mercury's LoadRunner product for about six years to stress-test its online banking and other applications. "We want to find the bottlenecks before our customers do," says Christopher Ulicky, manager of testing services.
Even as it broadens its customer base, Mercury must continue to satisfy customers with very specific needs like Vital Images, a company that provides systems that let radiologists see 3-D views of a patient's anatomy.
"Business optimization isn't my need," says Mike Swanson, director of software verification and testing. "My need is testing my applications, plain and simple."
He credits Mercury's testing application with reducing the number of people needed to test an application from five down to one.
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Inez's In-Law Apartment Bedroom
Like this entry? Favorite it below!
- Name:
- Inez
- Location:
- Baltimore, MD
- Division:
- United States
- What do you love about your bedroom?:
- Seven years ago, my husband and I moved into the 1950âs suburban basement of my aging parentâs home. The area that would become our bedroom had block walls and housed the HVAC system. We also encountered low ceilings of different heights and small prison-like windows with inadequate light and a dismal view of our neighborâs brick wall. My husband and I have always been intrigued by the idea of an In-law apartment, a home within a home where families can be supportive and loving under one roof. We also realized that multi-generational homes require private spaces to maintain household harmony and personal sanity. Our âGarden Styleâ apartment is the perfect fit. We adore our bedroom. Itâs a perfectly carved respite for our little piece of nirvana, blending beloved family heirlooms, treasured artwork, little bits of IKEA, and flawless functionality. But most important, I have been just a staircase away for quality care-giving which is a huge piece of mind and heart.
- What are your tips for creating a beautiful, healthy and organized bedroom?:
- To conceal the change in ceiling elevation and add architectural detail we installed columns at the transition zone. The furnace closet was quieted with sound proof walls and a quality door. Tiny windows were lengthened to let in more light. Unpleasant views were frosted with film. A space saving frosted glass pocket door was installed to grab light from the hallway. We used accent lights to give drama and warmth to the area. Less functional items went to a local Womenâs Shelter. In the little furnace area, next to our bed, we shortened and installed an IKEA bookshelf, squeezing it under a duct for storing our shoes and luggage. To provide storage for magazines, glasses, hand lotion and that all-important clicker, I made fabric pockets for our bedsides that attach under the mattress. We believe the esthetics of a space are defined by all senses and just outside our bedroom window, we planted a Viburnum âErieâ which lulls us to sleep with the most intoxicating scent of spring.
- In modern homes, bedrooms have become more than just a place to sleep; they can be a retreat, a home office, a library, a relaxation zone. What are some ways you make the most of your bedroom?:
- During the day, our bedroom doubles as a very quiet home office for my honey. Wall mounted cabinets and under cabinet lighting, keeps it well-organized and inviting. Itâs from our bedroom that he also likes to play his guitar. Our relaxation area is a great spot to have a cup of tea, read the paper or catch the evening news. Our bedroomâs sofa zone provides that little extra space to make the tiny flat highly functional. Our small bedroom with east facing morning light is the perfect place for me to drop a mat and do my Pilates and Yoga. This space also houses some of our most cherished books located within easy reach of our camel-back sofa to curl up and dream away.


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Bureau 205 is a graphic design office based in Lyon
It was created by Damien Gautier,
in January 2010.
Damien Gautier. Trained at the Atelier de création typographique in École Estienne (Paris), he founded Bureau 205 after having co-managed Trafik for 13 years.
Artistic director, graphic designer in charge of projects of visual identity, communication, publishing or scenography, he teaches and coordinates the graphic design DNA of École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Lyon.
He is also the author of two books on graphic design and typography, both published by Pyramyd (Paris).
Thomas Leblond. Trained in editorial design, he graduated from the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Lyon in 2010. Graphic and editorial designer, he became a partner of Bureau 205 after 6 years of experience.
He teaches graphic design at the École européenne supérieure de l'image (Angoulême-Poitiers).
Florence Roller. Trained in graphic design, she graduated from the École supérieure des arts décoratifs in Strasbourg in 2005. Graphic designer in charge of visual identity, communication and publishing projects, she became a partner of Bureau 205 after 11 years of experience.
Sandrine Picherit. Trained in space design, she graduated from the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Lyon in 2002. As a space designer and artistic director in the cultural sector, she joined Bureau 205 in 2016 after 13 years of experience. She is in charge of developing partnerships, communication and administrative follow-up.
Thomas Hanus. Trained in graphic design, he graduated from the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Lyon in 2016. He is responsible for visual identity projects, communication and publishing within Bureau 205.
Thomas Baudouin
Rémy Bender
Julien Boschiero
Tiphaine Brelay
Louis Brousseaud
Laurence Duplan
Armelle Exposito
Éliott Grunewald
Nicolas Guy
Thomas Hanus
Princia Itoua
Céline Jobard
Mathilde Lambert
Victor Lambey
Thomas Leblond
Marion Martin
Hugo Marucco
Corentin Noyer
Léa Pradine
Florent Ribeyron
Laurane Richard
Delphine Sigonney
Thibaud Vandebuerie
Adeline Vieira
Office 205 asserts an comprehensive approach by the specificity of knowledge-making that it proposes. Typography and type design in particular (micro-typography), composition and layout (macro-typography) are major assets of the team which make it possible to approach with requirement and acuity of commands of different nature:
- Logotypes and trademarks;
- Program of corporate identities;
- Development of corporate typefaces;
– Editorial design (design of books, magazines, newspapers…);
- Packaging (design of labels);
– Programs of signage systems...
Bureau 205 is regularly called for the art director and the piloting of projects by external structures (global design agencies, communication agencies, etc.) It joins also with teams within the framework of answers to contests with designers, signaleticians, architects.
Bureau 205 collaborates in a regular way with the agency In medias res for strategic aspects and editorial contents.
Bureau 205 asserts an approach of design mixing conceptual and theoretical aspects, aesthetic and graphic with necessary practical, technics and financial matters.
Bureau 205 likes to propose a resolutely pragmatic approach of the projects which are subjected and develops a contemporary writing which can nevertheless take support on true knowledge-making.
a total approach
Beyond of a particular know-how in the fields of typography and edition and from the specific interest in architecture, the team also develops competences in scenography and of expography, most of the time for projects for which Bureau 205 conceives the identity and communication tools (print and multi-media).
Bureau 205 has also a real experiment in interactive design:
– Websites;
– Intranet;
– User interfaces...
For important and specific projects, Bureau 205 proposes the interventions of experimented developers.


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Howie B was a popular London-based DJ and nascent studio hand prior to his move into full-time recording and production in the early '90s. Born in Glasgow, Howard Bernstein's association with Bristol club faves like Soul II Soul and Massive Attack helped fuel his fusion of soul, hip-hop, house, jazz, and funk, which he first hazarded on early collaborative projects like Dobie and Nomad Soul. He launched his own label, Pussyfoot, in 1994, already having released tracks under his own name and Olde Scottish through the noted outbound hip-hop imprints 2Kool and Mo'Wax. He'd also issued a small (but steady) stream of material that moved hip-hop instrumentals one step beyond the experimental, thus joining Howie B with beat junkies like DJ Shadow, U.N.K.L.E, Portishead, and Coldcut at the forefront of a U.K. breakbeat renaissance.
Although his genre-spanning work with Skylab on 1994's #1 brought his talents for organized chaos to a wider audience, it was ultimately his role in the production chair (on albums by Tricky, Björk, and eventually U2) that landed Howie B. a multi-album recording deal with Polydor Records. This deal yielded LPs including 1996's Music for Babies, 1997's Turn the Dark Off, and 1999's Snatch. He continued fielding production offers in the early 2000s and eventually partnered with Casino Royale, an eclectic Italian band that — like Howie himself — had worked with U2 during the previous decade. The group requested his help in producing their comeback album, Reale, and the resulting record hit Italian shores in 2006. Howie B wished to continue working with the material, however, and secured the band's permission to mold the footage into something new. Reale: Not in the Face arrived in 2008, featuring his own reworked versions of Casino Royale's master recordings. In 2013 he founded HB Recordings and released his album Down with the Dawn on the label a year later. ~ Sean Cooper & Andrew Leahey


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OK3AIR opened its new FBO facilities in Heber City, Utah, last month.
The 6,500-square-foot expansion at Heber Valley Municipal Airport includes amenities for charter, line services, maintenance, sales and flight training. The company, which also operates FBOs in Salt Lake City and Ogden, also added a CJ1 to its aircraft management fleet, which also includes a King Air 200 and a Hawker 700A.


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Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen – Message Board
PlayStation 3
Having a hard time killing Ur Dragon during Grace Period? Check this thread about stacking periapts!!
Conserving Consumables:
Save your game after entering the Chamber of Lament, then proceed to fight the Ur Dragon. When the 8-minute round is over, wait for the "accessing server" message, so the damage you dealt to Ur will be uploaded to the server. When it is done, use Godsbane and reload your last save. This will allow you to fight Ur without using any consumables (MF is an exception).
Contribution rewards are dependent on your save file after you fight the Ur Dragon. If you did not save after fighting him, your contribution rewards (in case you miss killing him during Grace Period) will be forfeit. If you go a round with Ur, Godsbane, and then save, the damage you dealt should count towards contribution rewards.
Strategies in fighting the Ur Dragon using different Vocations:
Assassin/Strider/Ranger should attack with 100/1000 Kisses and 5/10 Fold with Blast Arrows. Sorcerer/Mage should use Holy Focused Bolt. MK mostly employs Great Cannon. Fighter/Warrior are not recommended due to lack of ranged attacks.
* Ur Dragon is healing??
Capcom confirmed that HE DOES NOT HEAL. There is a generally accepted theory that there are at least 4 versions/instances of the Ur Dragon, each with their own health points, thus the varying amounts of HP when you enter the Chamber of Lament. When one of these versions dies, all versions will sync and we will have Grace Period. There are instances when there is a big difference between the health points of different versions, so as to prevent the players from concentrating on the Ur with the lowest HP, the server will redistribute Ur's health.
* I'm not doing any damage!!
You are doing damage. It's just that Online Ur has a tremendous amount of HP and it takes a lot of players around the world to bring his HP down to zero, thus activating Grace Period. Also be sure to observe the blood that is coming out of Ur when you attack him. Purple Blood = damage, Brown Blood = no damage. Hit the glowing spots (hearts) in order to draw purple blood, and do damage. If you can't destroy his hearts during GP, then you aren't doing enough damage.
* How to discourage Ur from roosting:
Going to the West side of the chamber will help discourage Ur from roosting above the tower; while going onto the ledges on the East side of the chamber will often encourage roosting. Ur should be less likely to roost once all 4 wing hearts are destroyed.
* How to properly use the Maker's Finger:
The Maker's Finger is a special arrow that will instantly kill almost every enemy in the game. As for Ur, it will not kill him instantly, but it will destroy one local heart and deal massive damage to his local HP (not global HP). You can only damage him if you hit a glowing spot or an intact heart - if you hit him on a dead heart, this will not do any damage. Maker's Finger does not count against the damage cap for a round, and the game will auto-save after use. Tail & wing hearts should be prioritized pre-Grace as well as other hard-to-reach hearts.
You can only hold 1 Maker's Finger at a time. After you use it, Fournival will automatically restock another. Don't forge it - a forgery will never work.
DD:DA | Arisen: Nieva | Pawn: Mocha (Mage)


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Dear Friends in NaNo,
As NaNo draws to a close, I'd like to simply say this. I will not be a NaNo winner. How does it feel to say those words out loud? It feels okay, actually.
My first novel writing experience went this way.
- I mapped out my novel, outlined the plot, described my characters, et cetera, et cetera. An iPad app called 'A Novel Idea' came in really handy. It's the best tool I saw out there that could help a newbie like myself.
- I did my research. I loved this part. I was just short of taking a trip to where my novel is set. I get a rush just thinking about it.
- I even narrated the novel to a very willing and seemingly entertained listener, from start to close to end. I was that psyched about it all.
- Then I wrote. Ideas, scenes, more ideas more scenes. Fed them all into my A Novel Idea app, while updating my word count in another app called typepad. I was writing, finally. Yay!
But then I seemed to have a bit of an issue. Continue reading


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Sentara Martha Jefferson now offers ORBERA™
Sentara Martha Jefferson Bariatric Care Center is excited to share that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved ORBERA™ to assist adult patients suffering from obesity in losing and maintaining weight.
ORBERA™ is a safe and effective weight loss solution with 20 years of global experience and real world results.
With more than 220,000 ORBERA™ balloons distributed worldwide in over 80 countries Sentara Martha Jefferson Bariatric Care Center is one of the first in the country to offer this new tool in helping people achieve their weight loss goals.
The first Orbera procedure was performed in June 2016. The Orbera Managed Weight Loss System is a non-surgical comprehensive two-part program for patients with a BMI of 30-40 kg/m2.
It is used in conjunction with a long-term supervised diet and behavior modification program and intended for adults who have attempted more conservative weight reduction alternatives and were unable to lose weight and keep it off.
A soft silicone balloon is placed temporarily in the stomach for six months to encourage portion control.
"Once the balloon is placed, patients receive a customized plan and coaching from a support team of experts," said Gina Mitchell, bafriatric program coordinator. "With Orbera, people lost an average 3.1 times the weight patients lost with diet and exercise alone. The hope is that the program will help patients create healthy lifestyle habits which will help them to maintain their weight loss over time."
Sentara Martha Jefferson Bariatric Care Center recognizes that obesity is a chronic disease and we are pleased to be able to offer new, minimally invasive solutions, like ORBERA™, to help transform the lives of patients before their disease progresses and requires more invasive treatment.
Individuals interested in this weight loss solution can register for a free monthly informational seminars to learn about the treatment options offered at Sentara Martha Jefferson. The seminar covers the surgical treatment options as well as Orbera.


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Geophysics Prof Named Chair of IRIS Committee, Jan. 10, 2002
SOCORRO, N.M., January 10, 2002 -- Richard C. Aster, professor of geophysics and research geophysicist at New Mexico Tech, recently was appointed chairman of the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Education & Outreach Standing Committee, one of four standing committees within the IRIS consortium that oversee the organization's core programs.
The IRIS Education & Outreach program is charged with developing and implementing IRIS programs designed to enhance seismology and Earth science education in K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and with the general public.
In collaboration with the seismological and educational communities, IRIS Education & Outreach is committed to fostering an appreciation for and understanding of seismology and related studies of the Earth.
Aster, who has been a New Mexico Tech researcher and faculty member since 1991, is also the principal investigator for another of IRIS's core programs -- the Program for Array Seismic Studies of the Continental Lithosphere (PASSCAL) Instrument Center, a National Science Foundation facility located on the Tech campus that supports seismological research throughout the world with a pool of more than 1,000 portable seismic instruments.
IRIS is a research consortium of about 90 universities and other institutions involved in exploring the Earth's interior through the collection and distribution of seismographic data.