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Nelfinavir (Viracept)
Nelfinavir is a type of anti-HIV drug called a protease inhibitor. The most common side effect of nelfinavir is diarrhea. It is usually taken at a dose of 1,250 mg twice daily with food.
What is nelfinavir?
Nelfinavir, sold under the brand name Viracept, is a type of anti-HIV drug (antiretroviral) called a protease inhibitor (PI). Nelfinavir is used in combination with other anti-HIV drugs to treat (but not cure) HIV.
How does nelfinavir work?
To explain how nelfinavir works, we need to first tell you some information about HIV. When HIV infects a cell, it takes control of that cell. HIV then forces the cell to make many more copies of the virus. To make these copies, the cell uses proteins called enzymes. When the activity of these enzymes is reduced the production of HIV slows.
Nelfinavir belongs to a group or class of drugs called protease inhibitors. Nelfinavir interferes with an enzyme called protease, which is used by HIV-infected cells to make new viruses. Since nelfinavir inhibits, or reduces the activity of this enzyme, this drug causes HIV-infected cells to produce fewer viruses.
How do people with HIV use nelfinavir?
Treatment guidelines developed by the United States Department of Health and Human Services suggest that nelfinavir is not a preferred choice for the treatment of HIV infection. Clinical trials have shown that other protease inhibitors used such as the combination of lopinavir/ritonavir (in Kaletra) are superior to nelfinavir. All in all, nelfinavir is no longer commonly used in Canada and other high-income countries.
Nelfinavir is used in combination with several other anti-HIV drugs, usually nukes (nucleoside analogues), and sometimes including drugs from other classes such as non-nukes (non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors). Combinations such as this are called antiretroviral therapy, or ART. For more information on ART, see CATIE's Your Guide to HIV Treatment.
For many people with HIV, the use of ART has increased their CD4+ cell counts and decreased the amount of HIV in their blood (viral load). These beneficial effects help to reduce the risk of developing a life-threatening infection. Neither nelfinavir nor any other anti-HIV medication is a cure for HIV. It is therefore important that you do the following:
- see your doctor regularly so that he/she monitors your health
- continue to practise safer sex and take other precautions so as not to pass HIV on to other people
Side effects
1. General
Common side effects that have been reported by some nelfinavir users include abdominal pain, gas, nausea, rash, and unexpected tiredness. Always tell your doctor, nurse, and pharmacist about side effects that occur when you take nelfinavir or other medications.
2. Diarrhea
Nelfinavir is generally well tolerated. Its most common side effect is diarrhea. This may clear up after a few weeks of using the drug or it may last longer. Talk with your doctor and nurse about how to deal with this problem. Nelfinavir-related diarrhea may be controlled with the use of some common supplements, including the following:
- calcium (at least 500 mg twice daily)
- psyllium (Metamucil) or oat bran
- L-glutamine
If these do not work your doctor can prescribe drugs such as:
- loperamide (Imodium)
- diphenoxylate (Lomotil)
Research has found that nelfinavir does not cause your body to become more sensitive to milk or dairy products. For more tips on managing diarrhea and other drug side effects, see CATIE's A Practical Guide to HIV Drug Side Effects.
3. Bleeding
Women may experience heavier menstrual periods when using protease inhibitors. Hemophiliacs who use protease inhibitors may experience increased bleeding. If you are a hemophiliac who uses nelfinavir and has this problem, let your doctor know about it.
4. Blood sugar problems
In some people with HIV who use protease inhibitors, levels of sugar (glucose) in the blood become higher than normal. Prolonged bouts of higher-than-normal blood sugar levels may lead to diabetes, although for the average person, the risk of developing this complication is low. Regular monitoring of your blood to assess sugar levels and other measurements will help your doctor be aware of changes that might suggest problems with your blood sugar.
5. Lipodystrophy syndrome
The HIV lipodystrophy syndrome is the name given to a range of symptoms that can develop over time when people use ART. Some features of the lipodystrophy syndrome include:
- loss of fat just under the skin (subcutaneous fat) in the face, arms, and legs
- bulging veins in the arms and/or legs due to the loss of fat under the skin
- increased waist and belly size
- fat pads at the back of the neck ("buffalo hump") or at the base of the neck ("horse collar")
- small lumps of fat in the abdomen
- increased breast size (in women)
Together with these physical changes, lab tests of your blood may detect the following:
- increased levels of fatty substances called triglycerides
- increased levels of LDL-cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein), or "bad" cholesterol
- increased levels of sugar (glucose)
- increased levels of the hormone insulin
- decreased sensitivity to insulin (insulin resistance)
- decreased levels of HDL-cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein), or "good" cholesterol
The precise causes of the HIV lipodystrophy syndrome are not clear and are difficult to understand because in some people with HIV there may be one or more aspects of the syndrome taking place. For instance, some people may experience fat wasting, others fat gain, and others may experience both fat gain and wasting. What is becoming increasingly clear is that unfavourable changes in the lab readings of glucose, cholesterol, and triglycerides over a period of several years increase the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. So far, however, the many benefits of ART are much greater than the increased risk of cardiovascular disease or other side effects.
Maintaining a normal weight, eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and quitting smoking are all important in helping you to reduce your risk of diabetes, heart disease, and other complications. Regular visits to your doctor for checkups and blood tests are a vital part of staying healthy. If necessary, your doctor can prescribe lipid-lowering therapy.
Researchers are studying the lipodystrophy syndrome to try to discover ways of helping people with HIV avoid or reduce this problem. To find out more about options for managing aspects of the lipdystrophy syndrome, see CATIE's A Practical Guide to HIV Drug Side Effects.
Drug interactions
Always consult your doctor and pharmacist about taking any other prescription or non-prescription medication, including herbs, supplements, and street drugs.
Some drugs can interact with nelfinavir, increasing or decreasing its levels in your body. Increased drug levels can cause you to experience side effects or make pre-existing side effects worse. On the other hand, if drug levels become too low, HIV can develop resistance and your future treatment options may be reduced.
It may also be necessary to avoid drugs that do not affect nelfinavir drug levels, but cause similar side effects.
If you must take a drug that has the potential to interact with your existing medications, your doctor can do the following:
- adjust your dose of either your anti-HIV drugs or other medications
- prescribe different anti-HIV drugs for you
Drug interactions for nelfinavir
The following drugs interact or have the potential to interact with nelfinavir. These lists are not exhaustive.
The manufacturer recommends that the following drugs should not be taken by people using nelfinavir because this could lead to serious (or life-threatening) interactions:
- antibiotics / anti-tuberculosis drugs – rifampin (Rifadin, Rifater)
- anti-psychotic drugs – pimozide (Orap)
- gastrointestinal motility agents – cisapride (Prepulsid)
- heart drugs – amiodarone (Cordarone), quinidine (Biquin, Cardioquin)
- herbs – milk thistle, St. John's wort
- high blood pressure drugs (calcium channel blockers) – amlodipine, nifedipine, verapamil
- lipid-lowering drugs – lovastatin (Mevacor), simvastatin (Zocor), fluvastatin (Lescol). The manufacturer suggests considering the use of other lipid-lowering drugs such as pravastatin (Pravachol).
- migraine drugs (ergot derivatives) – dihydroergotamine (Migranal), ergotamine (Ergomar), ergonovine
- sedatives – midazolam (Versed), triazolam (Halcion)
The following drugs can increase levels of nelfinavir in your body:
- anti-HIV drugs – delavirdine (Rescriptor), indinavir (Crixivan), ritonavir (Norvir)
The following drugs can decrease levels of nelfinavir in the blood:
- antibiotics / anti-tuberculosis drugs – rifabutin (Mycobutin)
- anti-seizure drugs – carbamazepine (Tegretol)
Nelfinavir can increase levels of the following drugs:
- anti-HIV drugs – indinavir (Crixivan), saquinavir (Invirase)
- antibiotics – rifabutin (Mycobutin), azithromycin (Zithromax)
- erectile dysfunction drugs – sildenafil (Viagra), tadalafil (Cialis), vardenafil (Levitra). Taking nelfinavir with any of these drugs can lead to dangerous side effects and even death. Talk to your doctor if you have erectile dysfunction about how you might use these drugs safely.
- lipid-lowering drugs – atorvastatin (Lipitor), simvastatin (Zocor), fluvastatin (Lescol). The manufacturer suggests considerating other lipid-lowering agents such as pravastatin (Pravachol).
- transplant drugs – cyclosporine (Neoral), sirolimus (Rapamune), tacrolimus (Prograf)
Nelfinavir can decrease levels of the following drugs:
- anti-HIV drugs – delavirdine (Rescriptor)
- anti-seizure drugs – phenytoin (Dilantin)
- hormones – estrogen found in female contraceptive medications
- narcotics – methadone
If you are a woman who is pregnant or wants to become pregnant, let your doctor and nurse know about this. If you are pregnant and not currently taking ART, you should talk with your doctor about taking anti-HIV drugs to reduce the risk of passing on HIV to your baby. The use of nelfinavir by pregnant women has not resulted in a significant increase in birth defects. During pregnancy, levels of nelfinavir may become lower than normal. Talk to your doctor about how to manage this.
Resistance and cross-resistance
Over time, as new copies of HIV are made in the body, the virus changes its structure. These changes are called mutations and can cause HIV to resist the effects of anti-HIV drugs, which means those drugs will no longer work for you. Combining nelfinavir with at least two other anti-HIV drugs delays the development of drug resistance.
To reduce the risk of developing drug resistance, all anti-HIV drugs should be taken every day exactly as prescribed and directed. If doses are delayed, missed, or not taken as prescribed, levels of nelfinavir in the blood may fall too low. If this happens, resistant virus can develop. If you find you are having problems taking your medications as directed, speak to your doctor and nurse about this. They can find ways to help you.
When HIV becomes resistant to one drug in a class, it sometimes becomes resistant to other drugs in that class. This is called cross-resistance. Feel free to talk with your doctor about your current and future treatment options. To help you decide what these future therapies might be, at some point your doctor can have a small sample of your blood analysed using resistance testing. Should HIV in your body become resistant to nelfinavir, your doctor, with the help of resistance testing, can help put together a new treatment regimen for you.
Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM)
In some parts of Canada your doctor may have access to therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). This is a process whereby a sample of your blood is taken and the amount of nelfinavir in it is assessed. If your nelfinavir levels are too low or too high, your doctor may adjust your dose of nelfinavir. TDM can be a useful tool to ensure that nelfinavir or other protease inhibitor levels in your blood are appropriate, particularly if the following conditions are present:
- You are pregnant
- You are co-infected with hepatitis B or C
- You are taking a complex treatment regimen
Feel free to speak to your doctor about whether TDM is an option for you and if you will have to pay for it.
Dosage and formulations
Nelfinavir is available as 250 mg and 625 mg tablets. The usual standard adult dose of nelfinavir is 1,250 mg (taken as two 625 mg tablets, twice daily or 750 mg (taken as three 250 mg tablet, three times a day). Formulations can change, and dosages may need to be customized. All medications should always be taken as prescribed and directed.
Nelfinavir is licensed in Canada for the treatment of HIV infection in adults, in combination with other anti-HIV drugs. Your doctor can tell you more about the availability and coverage of nelfinavir in your region. CATIE's online module Federal, Provincial and Territorial Drug Access Programs also contains information about Canadian drug coverage.
Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines for Adults and Adolescents. Guidelines for the use of antiretroviral agents in HIV-1-infected adults and adolescents. Department of Health and Human Services. Available at http://aidsinfo.nih.gov/ContentFiles/AdultandAdolescentGL.pdf [Accessed February 28, 2014.]
Regazzi M, Maserati R, Villani P, et al. Clinical pharmacokinetics of nelfinavir and its metabolite M8 in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive and HIV-hepatitis C virus-coinfected subjects. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 2005;49(2):643-649.
van Heeswijk RP, Khaliq Y, Gallicano KD, et al. The pharmacokinetics of nelfinavir and M8 during pregnancy and post partum. Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics 2004;76(6):588-597.
Aarnoutse RE, Droste JA, van Oosterhout JJ, et al. Pharmacokinetics, food intake requirements and tolerability of once-daily combinations of nelfinavir and low-dose ritonavir in healthy volunteers. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 2003;55(2):115-125.
Bergshoeff AS, Wolfs TF, Geelen SP and Burger DM. Ritonavir-enhanced pharmacokinetics of nelfinavir/M8 during rifampin use. Annals of Pharmacotherapy 2003;37(4):521-525.
Bratt G and Stahle L. Sildenafil does not alter nelfinavir pharmacokinetics. Therapeutic Drug Monitoring 2003;(2):240-242.
Burger DM, Hugen PW, Aarnoutse RE, et al. Treatment failure of nelfinavir-containing triple therapy can largely be explained by low nelfinavir plasma concentrations. Therapeutic Drug Monitoring 2003;25(1):73-80.
Conner SD, Covington DL, Doi PA, et al. Risk of birth defects associated with nelfinavir exposure during pregnancy. 10th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, February 10-14 2003, Boston. Poster 782.
Justman JE, Benning L, Danoff A, et al. Protease inhibitor use and the incidence of diabetes mellitus in a large cohort of HIV-infected women. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes 2003;32:298-302.
Manfredi R, Calza L, and Chiodo F. Prospective comparison of first-line nelfinavir therapy versus nelfinavir introduction in rescue antiretroviral regimens. AIDS Patient Care and STDs 2003;17(3):105-114.
Roge BT, Katzenstein TL, Nielsen HL and Gerstoft J. Drug resistance mutations and outcome of second-line treatment in patients with first-line protease inhibitor failure on nelfinavir-containing HAART. HIV Medicine 2003;4(1):38-47.
Smith DE, Kaufmann GR, Kahn JO, et al. Greater Reversal of CD4(+) Cell Abnormalities and Viral Load Reduction after Initiation of Antiretroviral Therapy with Zidovudine, Lamivudine, and Nelfinavir before Complete HIV Type 1 Seroconversion. AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses 2003;19(3):189-199.
Hare CB, Vu MP, Grunfeld C, et al. Simvastatin-nelfinavir interaction implicated in rhabdomyolysis and death. Cinical Infectious Diseases 2002;35(10):e111-e112.
Jain AK, Venkataramanan R, Fridell JA, et al. Nelfinavir, a protease inhibitor, increases sirolimus levels in a liver transplantation patient: a case report. Liver Transplantation 2002;8(9):838-840.
Kosel BW, Aweeka FT, Benowitz NL, et al. The effects of cannabinoids on the pharmacokinetics of indinavir and nelfinavir. AIDS 2002;16(4):543-550.
Piscitelli SC, Formentini E, Burstein AH, et al. Effect of milk thistle on the pharmacokinetics of indinavir in healthy volunteers. Pharmacotherapy 2002;22(5):551-556.
Rossi DR, Rathbun RC, and Slater LN. Symptomatic orthostasis with extended-release nifedipine and protease inhibitors. Pharmacotherapy 2002;22(10):1312-1316.
Walmsley S, Bernstein B, King M, et al. Lopinavir-ritonavir versus nelfinavir for the initial treatment of HIV infection. New England Journal of Medicine 2002;346(26):2039-2046.
de Maat MMR, Hoetelmans RMW, Math tRA, et al. Drug interaction between St John's wort and nevirapine. AIDS 2001;15(3):420-421.
Schippers EF, Hugen PW, den Hartigh J, et al. No drug-interaction between nelfinavir or indinavir and mefloquine in HIV-1-infected patients. AIDS 2000;14(17):2794-2795.
Author(s): Hosein SR, Ziegler B
Published: 2014


text: 'Here and now, Libyan and Qatari blood is mixed for the sake of freedom. Our condolences go to the Qatari people and the Al Jazeera channel' read a banner held in Benghazi An Al Jazeera cameraman has been killed in what appears to have been an ambush near the rebel-held city of Benghazi in eastern Libya. Ali Hassan Al Jaber was returning to Benghazi from a nearby town after filing a report from an opposition protest when unknown fighters opened fire on a car he and his colleagues were travelling in. Two people including Al Jaber were shot. Al Jaber was rushed to hospital, but did not survive. Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, reporting from Benghazi, said Al Jaber was hit by three shots and was wounded through the heart. "This is an extension of the campaign against Al Jazeera, and Al Jazeera Arabic particularly - because everyone here watch Al Jazeera Arabic. Their work has been heroic, and it has been a great shock to lose a colleague." 'Cowardly crime' Wadah Khanfar, the director-general of Al Jazeera, said the network "will not remain silent" and will pursue those behind the ambush through legal channels. He said that the killing came after "an unprecedented campaign" against the network by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Wadah Khanfar said Al Jazeera will not remain silent in the wake of Al Jaber's killing "Al Jazeera condemns the cowardly crime, which comes as part of the Libyan regime's malicious campaign targeting Al Jazeera and its staff," the network said in a statement. "Al Jazeera reiterates the assault cannot dent its resolve to continue its mission, professionally enlightening the public of the unfolding events in Libya and elsewhere. "Al Jazeera stresses it will relentlessly prosecute and bring to justice all perpetrators and their accomplices." Al Jaber, a Qatari national, was born in 1955 and received his bachelor and master's degrees in cinematography from the Academy of Arts in Cairo. He was the director of CNBC Arabiya TV bureau in Qatar.He also served as a supervisor in the National Olympic Committee between 2002 and 2005 and held the office of Head of Filming Section in Qatar Television for more than 20 years. During his tenure, he produced a number of documentaries including one on Qatar and another on Kuwait entitled "Plight and Tribulation". His death marks the first report of a journalist killed in the current conflict in Libya. SOURCE: Al Jazeera Africa Libya

subset: commoncrawl


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bits and pieces
temporary dump space:
The most respected people at IDEO are part pack rat (because they have great private collections of stuff), part librarian (because they know who knows what), and part Good Samaritan (because they go out of their way to share what they know and to help others).
—Hargadon, A., & Sutton, R. I. (2000). Building an innovation factory. Harvard Business Review, 78(3), 157-166.


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Wow! Can you believe it's Secret Recipe Club time again? I have no idea where time is going but it's suddenly Spring and Easter is just around the corner.
This month, I was assigned Mangia!, the blog that the beautiful Chelsy calls home. Even though our cooking styles are different in many ways, she also believes that cooking=love. Because her younger sister has Celiac's, Chelsy herself cooks mostly gluten-free which is a huge testament, I think, to her love for her family.
Since yesterday was the first day of Spring, I made my big celebratory dinner last night (as opposed to on Easter). I found a sodium-nitrate free ham at Whole Foods and not just a little ham nugget! I brought home a 12lb bone-in picnic ham. Growing up, ham was always a favorite dinner of mine, so when I went away to college, Mom would always make a ham dinner for me when I'd come home to visit. When I discovered that sodium-nitrite was a migraine trigger for me, it made me REALLY sad because that meant no more ham.
I also knew I wanted to make something to go with my Spring meal that incorporated blueberries and I knew Chelsy would have something for me on her blog. I was right! These Petite Blueberry Oatmeal Scones were a perfect accompaniment.
The main different between mine and hers was the fact that I used all-purpose flour instead of almond flour. I had to use a little water to get the dough to stick together as well but that's probably the result of the flour switch. Mine also did not turn out a nice looking but I think I've proved time and time again that I'm good at ugly but delicious. 🙂
Since there are leftovers of these scones and since I have A LOT of ham leftover, I want to toast these and smear them with a bit a butter and honey before sandwiching some ham inside for breakfast.
- 2 c all-purpose flour
- 1 c rolled oats
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 large eggs
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1 c fresh blueberries (I used frozen that had been thawed)
- Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, oats, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and honey.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
- Fold in the blueberries.
- Using your hands, pat the dough into a large round ball. If it's too crumbly, stir in water, 1 Tbsp at a time until it comes together.
- Place the dough on the prepared baking sheet, place a piece of parchment paper over the dough, flatten the dough by pressing down on top of the dough with your hands. You want the dough to be about 1 1/2 inches thick.
- Use a pizza cutter or a large sharp knife to cut the dough into 8 triangle shaped pieces.
- Bake for 17-20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.


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Emma Barry is a novelist, full-time mama, recovering academic, and former political staffer. When she's not reading or writing, she loves her twins' hugs, her husband's cooking, her cat's whiskers, her dog's tail, and Earl Grey tea.
Emma's mission statement about her books is here and if you're wondering where to start with her backlist, check here. She's represented by Deidre Knight at The Knight Agency, and she'd love to hear from you via email at author.emma.barry (at) gmail.com. Though less individualized, you can subscribe to her newsletter here.


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List Order (Time Zone from Josh VonHauger on Vimeo.
The List Order feature allows for the configuration of outbound campaigns in the List Handling Options function. This feature uses call times controlled by the prospect's time zone. This process allows for truer sampling of leads in order to achieve better conversion rates by increasing the contact rate.


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A week or so ago I pestered you with an inordinate number of songs from a Futureman Records sampler. (If you're curious, the exact number was four. If you're not curious, then feel free to ignore the previous sentence.)
I'm about to pester you with another one from the sampler, but this time it's in aid of pointing out a fairly noticeable coincidence.
The song from the sampler, "You Or Michael Brown" by The What Gives, has a melody in it that would be rather recognisable to Squeeze fans:
The What Gives – "You Or Michael Brown" (2012) (excerpt)
Squeeze – "Is That Love" (1981) (excerpt)
Here are the full versions:
The What Gives – "You or Michael Brown" (2012)
Squeeze – "Is That Love"


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The sign-up period for prescription-drug coverage under Medicare Part D ended Sunday, and the Bush administration and observers of the program are eagerly waiting to see whether beneficiaries enrolled in plans best suited to their needs.
Encouraging elderly and disabled participants to reevaluate their 2006 plans, which changed in many cases, and compare them to other options on the market was the chief challenge during the second year of the program.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), lawmakers, members of the health-insurance industry, and beneficiaries' advocates widely predicted that most people enrolled in Part D would stick with the coverage they selected during the inaugural enrollment period, between November 2005 and May 2006.
Numerous opinion polls conducted in 2006 indicated that the majority of Part D beneficiaries were generally satisfied with their drug coverage, despite complaining that the program was too complicated.
But the private insurers that provide the drug coverage made numerous alterations to their plans for 2007, including changing premiums, deductibles, cost-sharing obligations and the drugs they cover.
Moreover, with the massive task of establishing a brand-new program completed, the administration scaled back its education and outreach programs for the 2007 enrollment period.
Nevertheless, the administration has expressed confidence that beneficiaries were smart shoppers during the six-week sign-up period.
In a conference call with reporters last week, acting CMS Deputy Administrator Herb Kuhn pointed to the high volume of calls to Medicare's toll-free telephone hotline and of visits to Medicare's website as signs that beneficiaries were not simply succumbing to inertia, even if most of them did not elect to change plans.
According to CMS, the "Plan Finder" website, which allows beneficiaries to compare Part D options, received 30 million page views between Oct. 15 and Dec. 27. Five million calls were made to the hotline.
At the close of 2005 and again when the sign-up period ended in May 2006, CMS experienced a spike in online and telephone inquiries and in enrollment. A CMS spokesman said yesterday that figures regarding how many beneficiaries looked for information or signed up for plans during the final days of this year's enrollment period were not yet available.
An AARP lobbyist who is the group's national coordinator for health issues, Kirsten Sloan, said, "I think you'll find that most Medicare beneficiaries did shop around."
AARP conducted its own multifaceted outreach program, which ranged from waging a national advertising campaign to hosting small educational events with beneficiaries. "There are a myriad of ways to get information," Sloan, who praised CMS's efforts, said.
The AARP famously endorsed the bill that created Part D, to the consternation of many Democratic lawmakers. AARP's affiliated business operation co-sponsors a Part D plan with United Healthcare.
One critic of the program remains concerned that many beneficiaries did not realize that their benefits had changed, although he acknowledged that a final assessment is impossible until CMS releases its enrollment data.
"What portion of the Medicare population was aware of these changes? … We simply don't know," said Ron Pollack, president of the liberal healthcare advocacy group Families USA.
"Most people seemed unable to bear a whole new examination this year," said Medicare Rights Center President Robert Hayes, who has been a fierce detractor of Part D. Hayes predicted that many beneficiaries will get unwelcome surprises as they learn about changes to their benefits later in the year, after it's too late to change plans.
In addition to defending the quality of the benefits themselves, CMS and the health plans have had to answer for problems beneficiaries encountered when signing up for the program and accessing their benefits during the early months of Part D's first year.
These problems generated intense criticism from congressional Democrats and some advocacy groups.
Hayes offered faint praise for CMS's performance during the enrollment period of 2007. "Administratively, CMS is treading water competently," he said. Hayes believes that the structure of Part D is too complex to administer and too difficult for beneficiaries to use.
Although the process appears to have gone substantially more smoothly for the 2007 coverage period, it has not been without problems.
CMS has acknowledged the some health plans, including United Healthcare, took too long to provide beneficiaries with information about alterations to their coverage. Approximately 250,000 people who did not receive an "annual notice of change" document by Oct. 31 will have until Feb. 15 to choose a plan, CMS said last week.
The availability of timely and accurate information on Part D plans, or the lack thereof, has been a recurrent theme in Democratic criticism of the program.
Incoming Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max BaucusMax Sieben BaucusBottom line The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Facebook - George Floyd's death sparks protests, National Guard activation Bottom line MORE (D-Mont.) was one of two Democrats who helped to write the bill that created Part D, but he frequently has expressed dissatisfaction with the administration's and the health plans' performance in disseminating information to beneficiaries.
The problems with the annual notices of change prompted strong words from Baucus. "It is unacceptable that a number of drug plans failed to uphold their fundamental responsibility to give this notice to Medicare beneficiaries," he said in a written statement provided by his spokeswoman.
"We need to make sure that folks are getting all of the information that they need to make decisions during the open enrollment period," Baucus said.
Baucus also reiterated his vow to pursue changes to Part D to make it "more consistent and simpler for seniors to use."


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Tech giant worried governments will ruin the Internet
November 21, 2012
Prince William RAF Photos Leak Sensitive Information
Prince William's RAF Photos show colleagues' passwords on screens
If PUE Is A Standard – What Does The Green Grid Do Next?
The Green Grid's PUE standard is on its way to ISO. Peter Judge wonders what that leaves for IT efficiency warriors to do
South American Governments Dispute Amazon Domain Application
Amazon domain disputed by South American governments… for obvious reasons
RIM Loses Another BlackBerry Government Contract Over Reliability
National Transport Safety Board switches to more 'reliable' iPhone 5
EE And Vodafone Agree Tube Wi-Fi Deal With Virgin Media
EE, T-Mobile, Orange and Vodafone customers can use tube Wi-Fi for free in 2013
Researchers Say EE 4G Covers Just 40 Percent of Manchester
Tests show that just 40 percent of Manchester has EE 4G coverage
Tech City: Let's Get Over Our Silicon Valley Obsession
London has a Silicon Valley obsession but it should get over it, says Benjamin Southworth, deputy CEO of the Tech City Investment Organisation
Mozilla Makes Firefox Social With New API
As a taster, Firefox 17 comes with complete Facebook Messenger integration
BDUK Gains EU Blessing For Superfast Broadband Rollout
The EU approves British plans to roll out superfast broadband to rural communities via the BDUK scheme


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The Chevy Impala, first introduced in 1958, is Chevrolet's full-sized car. The Impala name was taken from a medium-sized African antelope. The Impala was Chevrolet's highest priced passenger car from 1958 all the way through the 1965 model year. This was the era when full-sized cars led the American automobile market, and the Chevy Impala was the number one seller during this era, beating out the Plymouth Fury and the Ford Galaxie 500. Chevrolet's primary engineer, Ed Cole, described the Chevy Impala as a "prestige car within the reach of the average American citizen."
The Chevy Impala was discontinued in 1985 and the Caprice became the full-sized Chevrolet base model. Chevrolet reintroduced the Impala in 1994 as the Chevy Impala SS. The Impala was once again discontinued in 1996, along with the Caprice as well as the Buick Roadmaster. General Motors was devoting more and more assembly lines to sport utility vehicles. Chevrolet resurrected the Impala name once again in 2000, this time to replace the failure known as the Chevy Lumina.
The 1959 Chevy Impala was a relatively dramatic change from the previous year's model. The new body shell was shared with Pontiacs, Buicks, and Oldsmobiles. This was a move by General Motors to save money, and it was moves like this that led in part to the decline of the US automobile industry.
The wheel base for the 1959 Chevy Impala was 1.5 inches longer than the 1958 model. The chassis for the 1959 Impala was built on an updated X-frame chassis. The body of the car was two inches wider than on the 1958 model, and the roof was three inches lower. Unlike other cars of the time, the fins on the '59 Chevy Impala didn't protrude upward. Instead they protroded outward. Along with the large teardrop-shaped taillights, this gave the car a very distinctive appearance. Due to the look of the rear of the car and the taillights specifically, the 1959 Impala was called by some the "Eyebrow Chevy." Other nicknames for parts of the car were "cat's eye taillights" and "bat wing fins" The car also had a very long decklid, long enough, according to some, to land a small airplane.
The 1959 Impala became a separate series of cars. The following body styles were available in the series:
- Four-door sedan (distinguished by the B-pillar)
- Four-door hardtop (distinguished by the absence of a B-pillar)
- Convertible
- Two-door Sport Coupe
The two-door Sport Coupe was distinguished by a wrap-around rear window and a reduced roof line. The rear window provided a better, almost unlimited rear view. The front of the car featured a compound windshield that also provided a better view out of the front. The four-door hardtop, also called the Sport Sedan, had a pillar-free rear window that was enormous, and an overhanging "flying wing" roof line.
The base engine for the 1959 Impala was a conservative 235 cubic inch inline six cylinder that produced 145 horsepower. With the six cylinder engine, the sticker price for the car was $2849. Chevrolet provided plenty of other engine options including the following:
- 283 cubic inch carbureted small block V8 producing 170 horsepower
- 283 cubic inch carbureted small block V8 producing 185 horsepower
- 283 cubic inch carbureted small block V8 producing 230 horsepower
- 283 cubic inch fuel injected small block V8 producing 250 horsepower
- 283 cubic inch fuel injected small block V8 producing 290 horsepower
- 348 cubic inch carbureted big block V8 producing 320 horsepower
- 348 cubic inch carbureted big block V8 producing 335 horsepower
The interior of the 1959 Impala was high-class, featuring the following luxuries:
- Dual sliding sun visors
- Electric clock
- Crank-operated front wing windows
- Front and rear arm rests
- Six-way power seat
The interior also featured deep-set gauges in a contoured instrument panel. The gauges were hooded to prevent glare, making them visible even on the sunniest mornings and evenings. Also included was a gadget called the "Speedminder." The operator could set a needle to a specific maximum speed and a warning buzzer would sound if the speed was exceeded.
My favorite things about the 1959 Chevy Impala are the fins, the curves, the lines, and the chrome, and I also have to mention those tear drop taillights. The fins are unique in that they are horizontal while all other fins were vertical. The lines and curves of the 1959 Impala are most impressive around fin and deck lid area. I really like the way that the deck lid curves in toward the middle, and is accented by the strip of chrome all the way down the middle of the deck lid. The chrome comes to apoint at the rear of the deck lid, meeting the chrome trim along the rear edge. At the point where they meet is the badge with stars and the Chevrolet chevron in the center, just above the key insert. The front and rear glass, the overhanging flying wing roof line… there are a lot of unique lines and curves on this car, particularly on the rear.
While the Chevy Impala is still made today, it now looks very similar to every other car made by every other automobile manufacturer. It's disappointing that the Amercian automobile industry has fallen to this after making some of the highest quality and most impressive looking machines during the post-war era.


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Apple Confirms Sept. 9 iPod Event
Apple is indeed hosting a music-related event on Wednesday, Sept. 9, as first reported by Digital Daily.
This morning, Apple (AAPL) broadcast invitations to a product launch gathering to be held that day at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. The invite features another variation of the iconic iPod silhouette and the tagline, "It's only rock and roll, but we like it," so presumably the event will focus on music, as expected.
Beatles fans will no doubt note that Sept. 9 is also the day the group's Rock Band videogame will arrive at market. Coincidence, or could Wednesday be the day the Beatles catalog finally comes to iTunes? We'll find out next Wednesday.


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Hungry Stripers and Plenty of Largemouth Bass
Lake Powell -- Striped bass will be hungry in Lake Powell this year. And largemouth bass and crappie fishing at the lake could be phenomenal.
Wayne Gustaveson, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources� lead fisheries biologist at Lake Powell, says 2011 could be the �Year of the Angler� at the lake.
�Normally, hungry fish are easier to catch,� he says.
Gustaveson provides the following tips to help you catch fish at one of Utah�s best and most popular fishing waters:
Striped bass
Gustaveson says threadfin shad -- the main food source for stripers in the lake -- are low in number this year.
In the past, low numbers of threadfin shad meant fast action for anglers as hungry striped bass aggressively went after their baits and lures. But the appearance of gizzard shad -- which have established themselves across the lake -- has changed that scenario a bit.
�We have a lot of large gizzard shad in the lake right now,� Gustaveson says. �They�ll produce more young as the water warms in the spring.�
Gustaveson says some areas of the lake will have good numbers of shad. In other spots, the shad will be scarce and the stripers hungry.
Areas that have good shad populations are keeping some striper schools near the backs of the canyons where the shad are. This is slowing the wholesale movement of stripers to the main channel.
In areas that have fewer shad, the stripers are hanging out along canyon walls. Bait fishing should be good for these hungry fish:
- If you want to fish for stripers that are feeding on shad, troll in the backs of canyons.
- Hungry schools that aren�t feeding on shad are found in the area where each canyon intersects with the main channel. In these areas, using anchovy bait can be a very effective way to catch lots of stripers.
As spring progresses, stripers will leave the canyons and congregate in large schools in the main channel. These schools should respond readily to bait and chumming.
�Hot spots will become apparent as schools leave the backs of the canyons and move towards the main channel,� he says.
- In the past, main channel areas near the dam, the power plant intake and Navajo Canyon have provided great fishing for bait anglers in April and May.
- In the Bullfrog area, Moki Wall, Halls Creek and Lake Canyon should be fishing hotspots this year.
- In the upper lake, Gustaveson recommends Red Canyon and Good Hope Bay as good places to start your Lake Powell fishing adventure in 2011.
Gustaveson says adult stripers have a tough time when there isn�t much food to eat. �Younger, faster, stronger juvenile stripers are better at seeking out the limited number of shad that are available,� he says.
�Young stripers should grow quickly while old adults will be widely harvested in the spring,� he says. �By the time spring is over, adult stripers will have faded out of the picture for this year.�
Largemouth bass and crappie
If you enjoy fishing for largemouth bass or crappie, 2011 is the year to fish at Lake Powell. Gustaveson says the lake level has been fluctuating within a narrow zone that has good, brushy habitat. That habitat has increased largemouth bass and crappie populations to numbers not seen since the �good old days.�
�It appears that the lake level in 2011 will again allow bass and crappie to share submerged brush habitat zones with the shad and the sunfish that the bass and crappie prey on,� he says.
To find largemouth bass or crappie, look for brush-ringed shallows at the back and along the shallow edges of many of the canyons.
Gustaveson says good numbers of crappie are found in thick brush at remote locations near Hite, the upper San Juan River arm and the Escalante.
To catch crappie, pull your boat into the brushy thickets. Then fish crappie jigs straight up and down in the brush.
Gustaveson says largemouth bass will have one more banner year at the lake before the brush gets old and decays. �This may be the last great year for largemouth bass at Lake Powell,� he says. �Make sure you visit the reservoir and take advantage of the opportunity.�
Smallmouth bass and walleye
If you�re after smallmouth bass or walleye, fish in rocky areas that don�t have much brush. Gustaveson says you can find smallmouth along most of the rocky shoreline at the lake. �But the average size of a smallmouth bass will be smaller this year because most of the forage in the lake is hiding in the brush zone,� he says. �That�s an area smallmouth bass don�t utilize.�
Gustaveson says walleye are larger in size and more numerous in the lake upstream from Bullfrog to Hite. Walleye are easiest to catch in May, after they�ve completed their spawn and the warming water temperature increases their metabolism.
�When those things happen,� he says, �walleye in the lake will be active all day long.�
Channel catfish
Channel catfish are abundant and are readily caught all summer long.
Techniques for various areas
A variety of fish will be available this year along most of the lake�s shoreline:
- If you�re fishing in brushy water, use weedless baits that can bounce off tree limbs without snagging.
- On open, rocky structure that doesn�t have brush, use bottom-bouncing plastic jigs and spoons for best results.
- Gustaveson says trolling works when your lure runs just deep enough to tick submerged tree tops where walleye, bass and stripers are searching for food.
- Gustaveson also reminds you that Lake Powell is a deep lake. �Deeper trolling techniques, like down riggers and leaded line, allow lures to be presented down deep where stripers hold and rest,� he says.
- In early summer, the shad grow large enough to get the adult game fish excited. �When that happens, top-water lures are best,� he says.
Learn more
Gustaveson says 2011 will be remembered for the wide variety of fish caught at myriad places on Lake Powell, using a broad array of tackle and techniques.
For that reason, it�s more important than ever to stay updated on what�s happening at the lake. You can do that by reading the updated Lake Powell fishing reports at www.wayneswords.com.
�Weekly fishing reports and daily angler reports are posted here so newly arriving anglers can catch fish in the same spots successful anglers just left,� Gustaveson says.


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When we think of Valentines Day, for most of us our thoughts go almost immediately to romantic love. St Valentine himself is often associated with romantic gestures, marrying couples in secret and sending love letters.
But love isn't all about romance. Do you know that the ancient Greeks had six different words for love? They did!
Here they are:
Eros for sexual passion and desire
Phlia for deep friendship and comradeship
Ludus for the playful love of children and flirting
Agape for the selfless love of all people on the earth, empathy
Pragma for the mature love of long-married couples
Philautia for self love (both negative narcissism, and positive self-compassion)
So wherever you are in the world, I wish you Phila if you are a fellow writer in the trenches, and Agape to all!
Happy Valentines!


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Physiological data in its different dimensions, either bioelectrical, biomechanical, biochemical or biophysical, and collected through specialized biomedical devices, video and image capture or other sources, is opening new boundaries in the field of human-computer interaction into what can be defined as Physiological Computing. PhyCS is the annual meeting of the physiological interaction and computing community, and serves as the main international forum for engineers, computer scientists and health professionals, interested in outstanding research and development that bridges the gap between physiological data handling and human-computer interaction.PhyCS brings together people interested in creating novel interaction devices, adaptable interfaces, algorithms and tools, through the study, planning, and design of interfaces between people and computers that are supported by multimodal biosignals. We seek contributions that relate synergetic disciplines such as biomedical engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, affective computing, accessibility, usability, computer graphics, arts, etc. Researchers attending PhyCS seek to extend the state-of-the-art by harnessing the power of physiological data to refine the symbiosis between humans and computers in such way that the resulting interactive experiences lead to richer and improved outcomes. This may involve the design of new wearable devices that make physiological data acquisition more pervasive, the design of user interfaces capable of recognizing and adapting to changes in the physiological state of the user, and / or the creation of algorithms to enable robust and seamless control of computational resources using physiological data sources as input.We call for original submissions that describe novel technologies and applications in this field, and greatly encourage authors to complement their oral and poster communications with demonstrations showing novel physiological computing and interaction concepts or systems.
Each of these topic areas is expanded below but the sub-topics list is not exhaustive. Papers may address one or more of the listed sub-topics, although authors should not feel limited by them. Unlisted but related sub-topics are also acceptable, provided they fit in one of the following main topic areas:
Authors should submit a paper in English, carefully checked for correct grammar and spelling, addressing one or several of the conference areas or topics.
Each paper should clearly indicate the nature of its technical/scientific contribution, and the problems, domains or environments to which it is applicable.
To facilitate the double-blind paper evaluation method, authors are kindly requested to produce and provide the paper WITHOUT any reference to any of the authors,
including the authors' personal details, the acknowledgments section of the paper and any other reference that may disclose the authors' identity.
Only original papers should be submitted. Authors are advised to read INSTICC's ethical
norms regarding plagiarism and self-plagiarism thoroughly before
submitting and must make sure that their submissions do not substantially overlap work which has been published elsewhere or simultaneously submitted to a
journal or another conference with proceedings. Papers that contain any form of plagiarism will be rejected without reviews.
Authors can submit their work in the form of a Regular Paper, representing completed and validated research, or as a Position Paper, portraying a short
report of work in progress or an arguable opinion about an issue discussing ideas, facts, situations, methods, procedures or results of scientific research
focused on one of the conference topic areas. All papers must be submitted through the online submission
platform PRIMORIS and should follow the instructions and
templates that can be found under Guidelines and Templates.
After the paper submission has been successfully completed, authors will receive an automatic confirmation e-mail.
All accepted papers will be published in the conference
proceedings, under an ISBN reference, on paper and on digital support.
SCITEPRESS is a member of CrossRef (http://www.crossref.org/) and every paper on our digital library is given a DOI (Digital Object Identifier).
A short list of presented papers will be selected so that revised and extended versions of these papers will be published by Springer-Verlag in a LNCS Series book .
A special issue of the ACM Transactions on Computer Human Interaction (ToCHI) on "Physiological Computing for Human-Computer Interaction" has been planned.
A short list of papers presented at the PhyCS conference will be selected for publication of extended and revised versions in a special issue of the Springer Journal on Multimedia Tools and Applications .
All papers presented at the conference venue will be available at the SCITEPRESS Digital Library.
The proceedings will be submitted for indexation by Thomson Reuters Conference Proceedings Citation Index (CPCI/ISI), DBLP, EI (Elsevier Engineering Village Index), Scopus, Semantic Scholar and Google Scholar.
PhyCS Secretariat
Address: Av. D. Manuel I, 27A, 2º esq.
2910-595 Setúbal - Setubal Portugal
Tel.: +351 265 520 184
Fax: +44 203 014 8813
e-mail: email@example.com
Web: http://www.phycs.org
Hugo Plácido Silva, IT- Institute of Telecommunications, Portugal
Andreas Holzinger, Medical University Graz, AustriaStephen Fairclough, Liverpool John Moores University, United KingdomDennis Majoe, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Julio Abascal,
University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Uniberstitatea, Spain
Jean-Marie Aerts,
M3-BIORES, Katholieke Universitëit Leuven, Belgium
Jesús B. Alonso,
Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Philip Azariadis,
University of the Aegean, Greece
Panagiotis Bamidis,
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece & Leeds Institute of Medical Education, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
Bert-Jan van Beijnum,
University of Twente, Netherlands
Juan-Manuel Belda-Lois,
Instituto de Biomecánica de Valência, Spain
Sergi Bermudez i Badia,
Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute, Universidade da Madeira, Portugal
Bir Bhanu,
University of California Riverside, United States
Dinesh Bhatia,
North Eastern Hill University, India
Luciano Boquete,
Alcala University, Spain
Danny Bos,
University of Twente, Netherlands
Jovan Brankov,
Illinois Institute of Technology, United States
Ahmet Çakir,
ERGONOMIC Institute, Germany
Mónica Cameirão,
Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute, Portugal
Tolga Can,
Middle East Technical University, Turkey
M. Emre Celebi,
University of Central Arkansas, United States
Guillaume Chanel,
University of Geneva, Switzerland
Wei Cheng,
Garena Online Pte. Ltd., Singapore
Pietro Cipresso,
IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Italy
Miguel Coimbra,
IT, University of Porto, Portugal
Diane Cook,
Washington State University, United States
David Cornforth,
University of Newcastle, Australia
Paulo Correia,
Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
Fernando Cruz,
College of Technology of Setubal/Polytechnic Institute of Setubal, Portugal
Antoine Danchin,
Institut Cochin INSERM U1016 - CNRS UMR8104 - Université Paris Descartes, France
Thomas Dandekar,
University of Würzburg, Germany
Farzin Deravi,
University of Kent, United Kingdom
Sérgio Deusdado,
Instituto Politecnico de Bragança, Portugal
Gintautas Dzemyda,
Vilnius University, Lithuania
George Eleftherakis,
CITY College, International Faculty of the University of Sheffield, Greece
Mireya Fernández Chimeno,
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain
Leonardo Franco,
Universidad de Málaga, Spain
Claude Frasson,
University of Montreal, Canada
Christoph Friedrich,
University of Applied Sciences and Arts Dortmund, Germany
André Gagalowicz,
Inria, France
John Gan,
University of Essex, United Kingdom
Juan Carlos Garcia,
University of Alcala, Spain
Max Garzon,
The University of Memphis, United States
Kiel Gilleade,
, United States
Daniel Gonçalves,
INESC-ID, Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
David Greenhalgh,
University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom
Tiago Guerreiro,
University of Lisbon, Portugal
Leontios Hadjileontiadis,
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Andras Hajdu,
Univerity of Debrecen, Hungary
Andrew Hamilton-Wright,
University of Guelph, Canada
Thomas Hinze,
Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
Eivind Hovig,
The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Norway
Hailiang Huang,
Massachusetts General Hospital, United States
Joris Janssen,
Philips Research, Netherlands
Bo Jin,
MilliporeSigma, Merck KGaA, United States
Sergi Jorda,
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
Joaquim Jorge,
INESC-id, Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
Ricardo Jota,
University of Toronto, Canada
Anastasia Kastania,
Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece
Jonghwa Kim,
University of Science & Technology, Korea, Republic of
Stefanos Kollias,
National Technical University of Athens, Greece
Shin'ichi Konomi,
The University of Tokyo, Japan
Dimitri Konstantas,
University of Geneva, Switzerland
Georgios Kontaxakis,
Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain
Iolanda Leite,
INESC-id, Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
Hongen Liao,
Tsinghua University, China
Chun-Cheng Lin,
National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, Republic of China
Huei-Yung Lin,
National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan, Republic of China
Giuseppe Liotta,
University of Perugia, Italy
Martin Lopez-Nores,
University of Vigo, Spain
Mai Mabrouk,
Misr University for Science and Technology, Egypt
Jarmo Malinen,
Aalto University, Finland
Dan Mandru,
Technical University of Cluj Napoca, Romania
Francesco Marcelloni,
University of Pisa, Italy
Elena Marchiori,
Radboud University, Netherlands
Jan Mares,
University of Chemistry and Technology, Czech Republic
Jorge Martins,
Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
Alice Maynard,
Future Inclusion, United Kingdom
Gianluigi Me,
Luiss University, Italy
Gerrit Meixner,
Heilbronn University, Germany
Nuno Mendes,
Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica, Portugal
Silvano Mignanti,
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Ji Ming,
Queen's University Belfast, United Kingdom
Yehya Mohamad,
Fraunhofer FIT, Germany
Pedro Monteiro,
INESC-ID / IST - Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
Umberto Morbiducci,
Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Mihaela Morega,
University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania
Alexandru Morega,
University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania
Hammadi Nait-Charif,
Bournemouth University, United Kingdom
Nicoletta Nicolaou,
Imperial College London, United Kingdom
Domen Novak,
University of Wyoming, United States
Ian Oakley,
Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Korea, Republic of
Rui Pedro Paiva,
University of Coimbra, Portugal
Gonzalo Pajares,
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Richard Pak,
Clemson University, United States
Krzysztof Pancerz,
University of Rzeszow, Poland
Chaoyi Pang,
The Australian e-Health Research Centre, CSIRO, Australia
George Panoutsos,
The University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
Joao Papa,
UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista, Brazil
José Pazos-Arias,
University of Vigo, Spain
Evan Peck,
Tufts University, United States
Ernesto Pereda,
University La Laguna, Spain
Vitor Pires,
Escola Superior de Tecnologia de Setúbal - Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal, Portugal
Ales Prochazka,
University of Chemistry and Technology, Czech Republic
José Joaquín Rieta,
Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain
Luís Rocha,
University of Minho, Portugal
Carsten Röcker,
Ostfestfalen-Lippe UAS and Fraunhofer IOSB-INA, Germany
Marcos Rodrigues,
Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom
Maytham Safar,
Kuwait University, Kuwait
George Sakellaropoulos,
University of Patras, Greece
J. Salgado,
University of Chile, Chile
Ovidio Salvetti,
National Research Council of Italy - CNR, Italy
João Sanches,
Institute for Systems and Robotics, Portugal
Andres Santos,
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
Nilanjan Sarkar,
Vanderbilt University, United States
Akio Sashima,
AIST, Japan
Reinhold Scherer,
University of Essex, United Kingdom
Tapio Seppänen,
University of Oulu, Finland
Christine Sinoquet,
University of Nantes, France
Ferdous Sohel,
Murdoch University, Australia
Jordi Solé-Casals,
University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia, Spain
Irena Spasic,
University of Cardiff, United Kingdom
Mu-Chun Su,
National Central University, Taiwan, Republic of China
Hiroki Takada,
University of Fukui, Japan
Wallapak Tavanapong,
Iowa State University, United States
Miguel Tavares da Silva,
Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
António Teixeira,
University of Aveiro, Portugal
Li Teng,
The University of Iowa, United States
Carlos Travieso-González,
Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
George Tsihrintzis,
University of Piraeus, Greece
Alexander Tsouknidas,
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Alexey Tsymbal,
Siemens AG, Germany
Norimichi Ukita,
Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Japan
Pepijn Van de Ven,
University of Limerick, Ireland
Egon L. van den Broek,
Utrecht University, Netherlands
Marjolein van der Zwaag,
Philips Research Europe, Netherlands
Bart Vanrumste,
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven campus Group T, Belgium
Michal Vavrecka,
Czech Technical University, Czech Republic
Ricardo Vigário,
University Nova of Lisbon, Portugal
Shigeo Wada,
Osaka University, Japan
Eric Wade,
University of Tennessee, United States
Justin Wan,
University of Waterloo, Canada
Yuanyuan Wang,
Fudan University, China
Junzo Watada,
Universiti Technologi PETRONAS, Malaysia
Quan Wen,
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, China
Joyce Westerink,
Philips Research, Netherlands
Nicholas Wickstrom,
Halmstad University, Sweden
Pew-Thian Yap,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States
Erliang Zeng,
University of Iowa, United States
Huiru Zheng,
University of Ulster, United Kingdom
Leming Zhou,
University of Pittsburgh, United States
Li Zhuo,
Beijing University of Technology, China
André Zúquete,
IEETA, IT, Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal


text:
"High standards of professional work." (IFLR1000, 2017)
"High standards of professional work." (IFLR1000, 2017)
September issue of magazine "Investuok" published the first part of article series "Opportunities and risks of purchasing or selling debts", in which Robert Juodka, managing partner at Primus Lithuania, gives key points on how to prepare for debt purchase process, what is the algorithm of actions as well as indicates risks and opportunities of debts sale or purchase process.
The article can be found in September issue of magazine "Investuok".
Derling Primus OÜ
Registy code: 14024560
VAT no: EE101866347
Liivalaia 45, 10145 Tallinn
Kaluri 2, 51004 Tartu


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It never got too hot this year and so the transition was not as noticeable as it has been in the past but today was the first full day of my favorite season. The weather is getting cooler (comfortable for me) and the leaves are slowly catching fire as the air becomes lighter and crisper as the pages of the calendar float into the past. It is a time of year when people seem to try and embrace the last semblance of warmth before shutting out the world hibernating in the warmth of their homes.
There is an openness to the fall that is more welcoming than the other seasons of the year when we tend to embrace the opportunities to be out and spend time with the people close to us. One would think that this is a characteristic of spring or summer but during those times we tend to want to get away leaving behind our homes and apartments. Those are the seasons of exploration, fall is the season to embrace what we have and enjoy the place where we live.
I have always enjoyed the fall as a time to begin a new year. I guess it was from all the years spent in school when I was able to start things all over again. Of course, as I have gotten older this seems to be right around the time of year when I would start a new job… at east all the ones where I have spent a reasonable amount of time. Now, it is time when the lull of summer comes to an end and the PR programs ramp up again in the final quarter of the year. Work is not the only place where the activity picks up as we are also back to our usual routine at the lodge as we work toward completing another successful year.
So, while some may look at spring in the same way, I see autumn as a time for new beginnings. At the same time, it is the season when we are all brought back together. It is a time of great comfort and a lot of activity. It is a busy season but also one that allows me to relax in the fact that I am never without something to do, somewhere to go, and people to be with. Fall is, by far, my favorite time of year for precisely those reasons.


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The four pillars of health include life quality, nutrition, sleep, and exercise. Before you roll your eyes and say, "Oh, I know that, it's nothing new," you may want to continue reading. Most of what you've heard about the four health pillars has come from mainstream media, fed by commercial interests, and it's likely that you have a skewed perspective and probably believe some common myths.
The 4 Pillars of Health:
You can think of life quality, nutrition, sleep, and exercise as pillars. But sometimes it helps to think of them as legs of a table, where the tabletop represents your health. If any one of the table legs is shaky then the tabletop, your health, is in jeopardy. Here's the catch, all of the table legs are interconnected, each leg impacts the other legs. For example, if you don't sleep well or aren't getting adequate sleep you can affect all of the other health pillars. It's known that inadequate sleep leads to overeating and unhealthy food choices, increases irritability and lowers stress resilience, and impacts how much and how often you exercise. You can mix and match here; poor nutrition can leave you tired and lethargic, decreasing the amount of exercise you get, increasing stress and decreasing your sense of well being, and can disrupt sleep patterns. Got the picture?
The four health pillars are ALL equally important! Focusing on one or two pillars while allowing the others to go unchecked is a HUGE mistake. From the examples above you can see how interconnected the health pillars really are. So don't make the mistake of thinking that focusing all of your attention on what you eat or how much you exercise will keep you healthy. Each health pillar needs your attention and work to keep it supporting your health.
Life Quality
This is a broad category but one key player guilty of undermining our health is chronic stress. It is essential that you develop strategies for managing your stress. The good news is that you don't have to avoid stress! Let's face it, life is going to throw us some stressful situations no matter how hard we try to avoid them. What is important? How you perceive stressful events and how you process the external stimuli, the stress causer. If you start telling yourself stories, making the situation into something more than it is, and constantly worrying over it, then your health will likely suffer. Depending on the source of your stress, certain strategies can help you manage it. These include proven modalities like mindfulness based stress reduction and cognitive based therapy.
Other members that belong to the "Life Quality" health pillar are purpose, social connectedness, and happiness. While these mind-body associations were once laughed at by the scientific community, data in recent years has them singing a new tune. Clear evidence supports a mind-body connection. What we think does influences our health. Having a purpose in life, no matter how big or small, is essential to staying healthy, especially as we age. Want to prevent illnesses and heal faster when you do get sick? Then give your friends a call. Studies have shown that people who have strong social networks, people they can talk with, get sick less frequently and heal faster when they do get sick. Happiness, while a bit of an elusive term, plays a role in our general well being and maintaining our health.
Eating healthy is actually simple, we've just made it really complicated and difficult. I love Michael Pollan's quote on eating because he absolutely nails it…"Eat whole foods. Mostly plants. Not too much." Yep, that's how simple it is. And yes, it is hard to do despite its simplicity. So if you struggle, you're not alone! Why is it so hard for so many of us despite it being so simple? We are surrounded by and inundated with high calorie food choices designed to make us want more. Once you start eating these foods, it takes a tremendous amount of willpower to stop. Your body is going to fight you every step of the way. Certain foods, particularly those found in processed foods like sugar, fat, and salt, override our normal biology making us want more.
There's no simple answer to breaking the bad eating habits most of us have. What is clear…eating a diet high in plant-based foods like whole grains, vegetables, fresh fruit, legumes, and nuts, contributes to a healthy body and helps prevent disease. In addition, being aware of the foods that you're allergic to and intolerant of will help you avoid the foods that could be causing inflammation and undermining your health. Having the mind-set and intention to eat for health rather than weight loss can be of benefit. In addition, simply adding some healthy foods like green veggies into your diet rather than eliminating foods can be a way to ease into a healthier eating pattern.
I really can't overemphasize the value of sleep to our health. Our bodies follow a night/day cycle called our Circadian rhythm. This is a biological clock that keeps time for the processes of the body. It helps our body know when certain functions should be carried out. When we sleep at night a tremendous amount to repair gets done in our bodies. Our immune systems are more active and the mechanisms that rid our bodies of potential disease causing factors is increased at night. When we disrupt the normal body clock we inhibit the repair and disease prevention mechanisms.
If you suffer from insomnia, sleep apnea or other sleep disruptions, including shift work, you may need to intervene to get your health on track and to prevent disease in the future. It's been well established that shift workers have higher rates of cardiovascular disease as a result of their disrupted sleep. Many people don't realize that they have sleep apnea. If you feel tired during the day on a regular basis, speak with your doctor about the possibility of sleep disruption due to sleep apnea.
The human body is meant to move and to move often. Our modern lives have us sitting way too much and it's killing us! If you live a sedentary life, studies show that the #1 lifestyle choice you can make to improve your health and decrease your disease risk is to get moving. And if you're already active, staying active will be one of your best allies in staying healthy as you age. Regular exercise can reduce your risks for cardiovascular diseases like heart attack and stroke, diabetes and other metabolic diseases. It can help us improve our memory and maintain it as we age and it can help prevent dementias and Alzheimer's disease. And these only represent the tip of the iceberg!
I know what you're thinking…how much exercise? The recommendations vary from 30-45 minutes several times a week to everyday. A new study even suggested that 10 minutes of the correct type of exercise can be as good for your health as 45 minutes of standard cardio exercise. What is clear is that to maximize exercise benefits you need to do both cardio and strength exercises. In addition, after your workouts, it's not ok to just sit around. A daily workout won't cancel the detrimental effects of sitting all day. The good news is that all exercise counts; gardening, housecleaning, dancing, walking the dog, playing with the kids or grandkids, etc. The idea is to just get moving.
Until next time, stay well!
Dr. Tobi Schmidt


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Here at Showbox TV App, we share the latest tricks on Showbox APK app. And here today, we'd take a look at how to Install Showbox for Mac. Mac device users can run Showbox on their device successfully just like Windows users can also download and install the Showbox app on their computer.
Showbox is a streaming media app officially for Android, iOS, PS4, Kodi, Firesticks, Smart TV, and many others to download, watch, favorite, share, and follow trending movies with the help of Showbox. If you have not downloaded Showbox for at least one of your gadgets, it's time to take the bold move to download Showbox for Mac device.
Officially, you need a third-party software to install Showmax on Mac once you have successfully downloaded the app for your device. However, it's no different from the way you download and install Showmax on Windows with the help of Windows emulator such as Bluestacks.
For this reason, here, we've swung into action to bring to you everything you need to start using Showbox on your Mac OS.
Features of Showbox for Mac
Showbox has a lot of features. When you download the app on Mac, you just have to know that you are carrying a whole movies house in your pocket. Not talking about the feature first, it's obvious that you would download a lot of movies for free.
- Showbox is developed for users to download unlimited movies on all devices
- There is no registration required for users to start using Showbox app on any device. The last thing you will need to use Showbox is email
- Showbox is 100% ads free. There are neither popup nor popunder ads to disturb your use of Showbox on either your smartphone or on your Mac
- Follow your favorite movies and actors/actress on your Showbox
- You can follow seasonal movies on Showbox without a subscription. All you have to do is add the movies to your favorite folder and you will be notified when a new episode is available to watch or download.
- Showbox TV app uses your device media player to stream movies online. This implies that there is no need to download the Showbox media player app to stream media online. With media players like VLC and others, you can start streaming movies on your Mac.
Download Showbox for Mac
There are various ways to achieve this. Like I said, you can download and install Showbox on Mac PC using a Mac emulator. Also, you can as well install Showbox on Mac PC with the help of a browser's extension.
Download Showbox for Max using Emulator
There are various emulators to run smartphone apps on Mac computer smoothly. With the help of these emulators, you can run apps like Showbox and start streaming movies online.
If you plan on streaming movies with Free Movies App we recommend using a VPN. Using a VPN will anonymize your online activities and protect you from ISPs, and also allow you to access geo-blocked and contents.
We have used various VPN service providers. However, We personally recommed ExpressVPN Ivacy, and PureVPN.
You can sign up Express VPN or Ivacy VPN or PureVPN.
They are all trusted VPN. You can read detail PureVPN Review
- Download and install GenyMotion software on your Mac computer. GenyMotion is a tool to transform your Mac computer into a smartphone for the time being. This implies that you can you GenyMotion to install Android apps on your Mac computer.
- After you have successfully installed the GenyMotion software on your Mac. Just double tap the GenyMotion icon on your computer.
- You will see a popup window with an option to add. Tap on the "Add" option. Now, you need to add your mobile device to GenyMotion. Once you have clicked on Add a list of available mobile devices will appear. Just select your mobile and it'll be shown as selected mobile you want to use as your temporary mobile on your Mac with the help of GenyMotion.
- Download Showbox APK to your Mac computer. If you have not done that, kindly visit this page to download Showbox APK.
- Now, copy the downloaded Showbox APK to your desktop and drag it to the GenyMotion software you launched and the app will automatically installed on your Mac computer.
- Once GenyMotion has confirmed to you that the Showbox APK you dragged to the software has installed successfully. Then, launch the installed Showbox on your Mac with the help of GenyMotion and start to watch, download, favorite, and following trending movies on your Mac all for free.
Using Showbox on Mac with the help of Arc-Welder Chrome Extention
This procedure does not require users to install smartphone emulator to use Showbox on Mac. All you need to start using Showbox on your computer is a Chrome browser and Arc-Welder extension.
Note: Make sure you have Chrome browser installed on your Mac computer to use this approach. Otherwise, download and install Google Chrome on your Mac.
- Launch your Chrome browser and visit Google Chrome extension page and search for Arc-Welder or you can download it directly from this page.
- Tap on add to Chrome to download the extension and add it to your list of Chrome extensions
- The extension will be added to the top right of your Chrome browser. Now, open a new tab and click on the Arc-Welder extension
- Now, when the Arc-Welder has opened, then tap on Add APK app and select Showbox APK from your computer folder. Now, Showbox APK will be added to your Chrome browser with the help of Arc-Welder.
- To start watching movies on Showbox using Arc Welder, just launch it and select Showbox. From the start, you might be prompted to choose screen form, you can choose either Windows form or full screen and once selected you can then start streaming Showbox on Mac.
Congratulations you can now start using Showbox on your Mac computer. There are other emulators to download Showbox and install it on Mac. You can use Bluestacks. The procedure is the same with GenyMotion to install Showbox for Mac computer.


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Hope Race Series, Round 4
Lee Quarry, nr. Bacup
31st May 2009
An extended course gave riders several chances to attack the final singletrack of the red loop as well as the quarry's heights, but to widespread dismay this also meant the full horror of the Tramway climb had to be endured on each and every lap. Still, with the scorching sunshine offset by a fresh breeze, the field managed to keep their cool and lap times in the Racer category were still well under twenty minutes despite the longer course length, making good entertainment for the crowd of spectators out to enjoy the day.
Whilst series standings were up for grabs elsewhere, the dominant Racer Niall Frost (Milton Keynes) made it three in a row, having sat out Round 3 to take his turn in the marshal's vest. He walked away with the coveted overall prize of a Pro 3 wheelset from series sponsors, Hope. Behind him, Tom Bell (LUCC/Stif) and Patrick Goodwin played a spirited game of cat and mouse until the tiring Bell slipped to third leaving Goodwin to take second, a finish that was transposed to round out the series podium.
With lady Racer Julie Betts away tackling a round of the national series at Margam Park and Amy Barron-Hall sidelined due to illness, it was left to the Weekend Warriors to uphold female honours and the duo of Julia Shrubb and Jacqui Simcock (Team Simmy) did so in style, cheerfully tackling four laps apiece to take first and second respectively.
On the men's side, Craig Holden (Pendle Forest CC) made it a clean sweep, taking home his fourth first place trophy and a pair of Hope's finest stoppers for his trouble. Mark Horsely-Frost (White Nancy Boys) steamed through the singletrack like a man possessed but couldn't summon up the juice to catch Holden on the climbs; he took second in this round ahead of Danny Drake (Munt Racing) and also in the series ahead of Andy Westwell (Blazing Saddles), who finished back in seventh place on the day. Paul Kelsall made easy work of the course's challenging climbs to be first singlespeeder home, winning the usual quirky medallion from category sponsor Charlie the Bikemonger.
First-time racer Odile Riordan thoroughly enjoyed her outing in the Have A Go Heroes field and was pleased to score a win on her first attempt at XC racing. With the men's category closely contended, all eyes were on the front runners to see who would win out; in the end the trio of Robert Ormrod, Peter Branson and Mike Hemingway (Psyclosport Harrogate) were first over the line but couldn't trouble the overall points table. Craig Scott (Team Matrix) took the series win, with a Hope Vision light to see him through the winter to come, whilst Ian Hargreaves and Chris Makin rounded out the podium of a very successful category that's making XC racing accessible to total beginners once more.
The Hope Race Series has made great inroads into returning the glory days of grassroots racing to the north-west. With the Singletrack Classic Weekender (www.singletrackworld.com) offering the ultimate challenge for true all-rounders in July and a second XC race series from organisers Brownbacks on the horizon too (see www.brownbacksracing.co.uk for dates) you'd be mad to miss out, so get yourself along to Lee Quarry, check out the trails on offer and get yourself an entry to one of the upcoming events, too.
Mandatory crowbarred-in plug for the Singletrack Classic Weekender at Lee Quarry, July 4th-5th 🙂
Comments (7)
Thanks again to everyone who raced, marshalled, sponsored and spectated at the race series. Your support is most appreciated.
I still have loads of photos of riders from race 4 that I'm willing to give away (to the riders). My email address is somewhere on this site!
ditto the thank you thing, we have been blessed with great support from peole willing to marshal and to race!
lets hope our series 2 is as sucsessful!
Neil (Brownbacks)
Good fun! can we have an uplift in series 2 please? 😉
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Paul Foot
- Sam Healy
- 9 August 2007
This article is from 2007
Innovative set for connoisseurs
Dapper, diminutive Paul Foot may not bestride his narrow stage like a Colossus, but he is on superb comedic form this year. With sharp, singular observational material and a newfound confidence in his stagecraft, the potential he showed in the past has been roundly realised. Comedy for Connoisseurs is about things that annoy him, and the paroxysms of enervation struggling to break through his fey, soft-spoken mien provide the first laughs of the night. The rest come from some inspired deconstructionist mime, a robustly surreal excursion into the micro-ecology of cakes and a surprisingly innovative (and hilarious) take on homophobia.
Foot's delivery (a sort of gentle, delirious pedagogy), is a perfect fit for the show's subject matter. It gives room for the audience to tumble to the more slow-burning gags, most of which are excellent. If there are a few slow spells during the hour, they are more than compensated for by frequent cerebral pay-offs. Suffused also with a subtle subtext of formidable bleakness, greatly enriching what is superficially a buoyant performance, Paul Foot's 2007 offering is his best to date. He might be a giant yet.
Underbelly, 0870 745 3083, until 26 Aug (not 14), 6.35pm, £9.50 –£10.50 (£8.50–£9.50).


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Using a Raspberry Pi to create a Groupme Bot
I recently had a good friend who is in a group chat forget to tell us something. So to remind him. I created a groupme bot that sends him the same message every hour, on the hour. Here's a breakdown of what I did....Read More


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Photography Classes in Hughes Springs TX
Looking for photography classes in Hughes Springs TX? No matter if you are a professional, beginner, or hobbyist, the best approach to improving your photography abilities is through hands-on training with professional instructors.
There are many recognized and accredited photography schools in Texas. Photography classes cover topics such as digital capture, lighting techniques, exposure, composition, outdoor photography, and many other basic and advanced camera techniques. Maturing into an experienced photographer can result in a successful professional career or lifelong hobby.
There are many Photography Classes in Hughes Springs TX:
- Hughes Springs Studio Photography Classes
- Hughes Springs Photography 101
- Hughes Springs Digital Photography Classes
- Hughes Springs Nature Photography Classes
- Hughes Springs Editorial Photography Classes
Hughes Springs TX Photography Classes
Kilgore College
1100 Broadway
Kilgore, Texas 75662-3299
Phone: (903) 984-8531
42.75 miles away


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Enhance Wealth energy by creating easily accessible magazine storage anywhere along the far left wall of your home.
Monthly Archives: May 2014
Bored? No Problem! You've Got MAGIC!
Want a great way to brighten up your day after work? A quick trip to the drug store can make an afternoon in the sun into pure Magic! Want more? Check it out at http://www.tomorrowskey.com/web-content/MagicOfYou.html
Feng Shui Fun On The Run
Happy Customers Come Back & Bring Friends
You can magically have more customers and keep them longer if you remember this one rule above all else: DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO MAKE THEM HAPPY. Whether it's an extra goodie, a double bag, or going above and beyond – your customers will love it. In this day of nickel and dime everyone to death, added value and customer service makes you the Wizard at work. This kind of determination changes everything at work…just like magic! Want more? http://www.tomorrowskey.com/web-content/MagicOfYou.html
Feng Shui Fun On The Run
Swimming in Stuff on Your Desk?
Feeling a bit overwhelmed? Have you forgotten how powerful you really are? Practice a bit of your personal magic by clearing one square foot of your workspace. Just one. Stop and appreciate what you made happen. Consider what else you can do today to take the Magic of YOU to work! Want some great free ideas? http://www.tomorrowskey.com/web-content/MagicOfYou.html
Feng Shui Fun On The Run
You Will Wonder Why You Didn't Do This Sooner
Tired of wishing things would change? Ready to make the changes you've always dreamed of? How about a team of supporters to help you with that? And a guide who has walked the path – repeatedly – who can keep you out of those bottomless potholes? Join us tonight, online, 7:30-9pm for The Art of Living Your Life. The bad news and the good news is that the only one holding you back, my friend, is Y O U! Ready to rumble? Go here: http://www.tomorrowskey.com/web-content/ArtOfLivingYourLife.html
Be Sure to Eliminate Technology for This One
What if someone you care about brought you to this place and time? Their time and effort would tell you a great deal about their feelings for you. Whenever you choose to create an event, you magically transform everything – just with your mind and what you do. And the cool part is, you can share this magic! Want more? Go here: http://www.tomorrowskey.com/web-content/MagicOfYou.html


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We here at Gold Millennial are book lovers. We hold a monthly book club and all 3 of our core team members have English degrees. We enjoy reading, whether that means learning about the world around us through a non-fiction book, enjoying the beauty of language in poetry, or escaping the world around us by reading a fiction story.
How wonderful is it that our current times provide us with more reading opportunities than ever before? Not only can we buy new and used books, but we can also purchase e-books and audiobooks at any time of the day or night. Libraries allow us to borrow both physical and digital books, as well as audiobooks. Plus, we have new services like Kindle Unlimited that help us read a variety of authors on a Netflix-like subscription model. With the advent of e-books, it has become simpler for authors to self-publish and reach audiences, or share poetry, short stories, and other works on a digital platform.
There is something special about each way of reading a book. Today, however, we'll be focusing on one specific type of book: a used book.
I was an adult when I discovered used bookstores. Throughout my childhood and teenage years, most of my books were sourced from the library, with occasional trips to Walden Books, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, or a local book store to purchase new copies. Books can be expensive, though, and college required a lot of them. Most of the required readings for my classes were bought as used books from the university bookstore, where they would allow me to pre-purchase my required textbooks and class supplies on a financial aid IOU. However, when some books were out of stock, I would venture out to the local bookstore.
After college, I had more time on my hands to read for pleasure. However, the world was still recovering from the Great Recession, and like many millennials, my funds were limited. I spent many a Saturday perusing the racks at Goodwill. Thrift stores are fun. They are filled with clothing from prior decades, unique home décor, and interesting surprises. The Goodwills in the town I lived in at the time also had sections devoted to books.
There were several Goodwill stores in town and I was familiar with most of them, visiting every few weeks to see what new finds were in stock in each location. The Goodwill organization in that area eventually opened up a store devoted to just used books, which was a real treasure. You never know what books you're going to find at a used bookstore, especially one that runs on charity donations like Goodwill. Dollar store inspirational titles mixed with works of classic fiction. Exam prep manuals mixed with books of poetry. The latest titles mixed with obscure independent works.
It was always exciting to find one of the latest titles in the used book stacks. The books that everyone was talking about – the ones that were most assuredly full price at a new book retailer and probably had a long wait list at the library. Searching through the stacks and finding a copy for $2.50 or $5 at Goodwill always felt like an accomplishment.
Finding a specific title in the Goodwill stacks took skill and patience. At the regular Goodwill stores, the books were rarely organized. Associates often tried to place them in alphabetical order by either author's name or title, but frequently the stacks were in disarray due to customers browsing through them. At the dedicated used book store, the books were more organized – in specific sections by genre and then alphabetical order. However, each time you walked into any of the stores, you could never be completely sure what you were going to find. There was no guarantee that the latest book would be there. Perhaps no one donated the book. Perhaps others already bought the books that had been donated. Or perhaps you would be the lucky one to find that much-searched-for title.
Even more special than finding the latest titles, however, were the joyous surprises of relatively unknown books that would sometimes greet a reader. Stacks of biographies of historical figures, aging copies of first-edition fiction books, random other works that spoke to the souls of the people perusing the stacks.
How serendipitous that 2 unknown people in the same town would both be interested in such works. That is the magic of used bookstores. They bring strangers together to connect over stories. These strangers may never meet, but they will have shared that experience. Those strangers are unknowingly connected, having spent hours pouring over the pages of the same book.
What lives had these books before we bought them? Were they cherished? Read in coffee shops, on buses, in spacious living rooms, in cramped apartments? What beauty of their covers, a myriad of colors, names, and sizes sitting on the bookshelf? A delightful menagerie of stories, words, connections.
"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies … The man who never reads lives only one." – George R.R. Martin


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Whitepapers and Tech Notes:
SLT: The Duality of SLT in Glaucoma Management
This whitepaper explores the diagnostic and treatment roles of selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) in glaucoma management. Whilst many studies have reviewed the evidence for SLT as a primary or adjunct therapy, the benefit derived from SLT as a diagnostic aid when used as first-line therapy is something that is only now beginning to be explored. One of the biggest challenges in managing glaucoma is accurately determining the location of blockages within the outflow system.
SLT works by applying selective photothermolysis to the pigmented trabecular meshwork cells, releasing proteins and cytokines which improve the circulation of aqueous humor through the trabecular meshwork and the inner wall of the Schlemm's canal. This mechanism of action allows physicians to estimate the location of the pathology based on the outcome of SLT: if SLT is effective, the physician can deduce that the primary region of obstruction lies within the trabecular meshwork. In contrast, if SLT proves ineffective, then the primary obstruction may reside outside the trabecular meshwork. Not only is this helpful in understanding the patient's pathology, but it can also provide key information regarding the potential efficacy of future treatments.
SLT: A Comprehensive Treatment Solution for Glaucoma
In this whitepaper, Savak Teymoorian, MD, MBA, Harvard Eye Associateds, discusses the role of SLT across the glaucoma treatment algorithm. According to Dr. Teymoorian, the use of SLT as a primary therapy has slowly taken hold since its US introduction in 2001. Today, an increasing number of glaucoma specialists and general ophthalmologists view SLT as a viable alternative to medications in patients with newly diagnosed glaucoma. He also believes that an increasing number of general ophthalolmogists will come to perform SLT, owing to the growing burden of glaucoma: "A general ophthalmologist can easily learn how to do SLT. If a surgeon can do a capsulotomy, then they can do SLT. Actually, SLT is easier because it doesn't involve any cutting," says Dr Teymoorian. "All general ophthalmology practices should have an SLT laser."
Primary Treatment
In most POAG patients, SLT reduces IOP significantly for a few years without any major or permanent side effects or complications. Consequently, the idea of potentially gaining some drug-free years for a newly diagnosed patient by using SLT as the initial therapy is appealing.
Non-thermal, SLT does not cause any collateral damage or burn to surrounding tissues and the trabecular meshwork structure. This unique clinical effect allows SLT to be repeated.
Angle Closure Glaucoma
Primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG) occurs when the outer part of the iris bulges forward and touches the back of the cornea, inhibiting the outflow of fluid. With PACG immediate treatment is required in order to save the optic nerve, and consists of creating a hole in the iris periphery to allow the outflow of fluid.
Normal Tension Glaucoma
The Normal Tension Glaucoma (NTG) Study Group reported that a 30 percent reduction in IOP can be attained in most NTG eyes with a combination of drugs and ALT. It can therefore be assumed that SLT will achieve similar IOP lowering results in NTG, with the added benefit of repeatability, and without the side effects associated with ALT.
Pigment Dispersion Glaucoma and Eyes with Highly-Pigmented Trabeculum
One of the main theories on the mode of action in SLT is that the laser energy is absorbed in melanin granules in the trabeculum, which triggers a biological response that effectively reduces IOP. If this is indeed the case, the results of SLT treatment should vary according to the degree of pigmentation of the trabecular meshwork.
Treatment Guidelines
The Ellex SLT Treatment Guidelines have been prepared by Ellex's SLT Clinical Advisory Network and provide guidance for physicians who are new to the SLT technique; however, it is the operating physician's responsibility to familiarize themselves with the latest recommended techniques.
SLT E-Book: Bringing Together SLT Expertise from Across the Globe
Bringing together respected SLT experts from across the globe to share their knowledge of and their vast experience with SLT, the SLT E-Book from Ellex is a rich resource for physicians eager to learn more about SLT.
To access an interactive online bibliography of more than 200 SLT clinical references, click here to visit the SLT website www.glaucoma-SLT.com.