No, it's not that simple. At first glance it seems like a boring straight forward card. But I think it offers more than it seems.
I make no claim that this article is complete, I just wanted to point out some observations that I made about this "seemingly innocent card".
Storeroom is more like an upgraded Secret Chamber (without its Reaction) than an upgraded Cellar.
The lack of +1 Action is what makes Cellar a decent addition to any engine, but in engines with strong terminals Storeroom hurts more than it may help.
It's also bad on boards with discarding attacks because - like all discarders - it needs big handsizes to be really useful.
So, what is it good for?
You discard two times in a row, so cards that profit from discarding combo really good with Storeroom.
That was the most obvious combo after the release of Storeroom. You only need 1 Tunnel in 8 cards if you discard your whole hand with the first discard option. That makes it one of the best Tunnel enablers. The +Buy also makes it possible to pick up 2 Tunnels soon after you got the first few Golds. With 2 Storerooms, a lot of Tunnels, you get a lot of Golds and can easily switch to Provinces afterwards. Also - because of the discard option - the high variance in your deck doesn't really hurt you at all.
That's not different to Secret Chamber or Vault. It's also better to find your second Tactician more easily when you discard 9 cards and draw 9 new cards. You can then discard 7 cards for $7, and play your second Tactician. This is not enough to buy a Province and it needs obviously support. With a non-terminal drawer (Laboratory, Stables, also Crossroads, ...) or cantrip money-generating card (Market, Peddler, Treasury, ...) you can buy a Province easily each turn. With support this is one of the most reliable Double-Tactician combos so far. You really don't need a third Tactician as backup. 2 Tacticians and ~4 Storerooms + support should be enough to guarantee a Province each turn.
Menagerie needs hands with different cards. Storeroom lets you discard all duplicates and gets even money for them. So you can even discard Coppers for $1 and don't lose anything. But you need villages to enable this combo, but Storeroom lets you find your villages more reliably and as soon as this gets rolling you also have the needed buy to buy multiple of this cheap engine components. Draw up to X cards like Watchtower and Library can even draw more than 3 cards, but you need more villages to set this up as they are terminal.
In games where you don't want to go for Provinces, Storeroom is a good supporting card. In games without discarding attacks you have $4 with every hand containing a Storeroom.
Secret Chamber isn't the best Gardens enabler, but Storeroom's +Buy makes it way better. You can even open Double-Storeroom and have a higher chance to have a Storeroom in turn 3 in hand. When those collided, discard all cards for +Cards and in turn 4 you already trigger the reshuffle and will see one Storeroom soon again. If they didn't collide, discard only for $4 and you probably see the other Storeroom in turn 4. So you can go for Gardens (with Copper buys) very soon and can later 3-pile Gardens, Storerooms and Estates - because each Storeroom also guarantees a Double Estate buy.
Alternative VP strategies will have many dead cards in your deck. Storeroom really helps here by discarding your dead cards and drawing e.g. Silver. The +Buy allows it to buy extra Coppers on the way. Storeroom isn't the best supporting card for alternative VPs other than Gardens, but in combination with Silk Road or Duke and few more Silver buys it's a reliable strategy.
The best use for Storeroom are the combinations with Potion cards. The problem with Potion is that you want to see it often early in the game but don't want to clog your deck with 2 Potions. Also your Potion(s) are dead cards later in the game. Stategies with Potion cost cards also need +Buy for cases when you hit $5P or better. Your supporting card also should cost less than $4 that you can open Potion+X. All this solves Storeroom. You always want to open Storeroom + Potion and discard all 4 cards when you don't have a Potion in hand. The probability is high to draw your Potion which guarantees you $3P which is enough for 8 out of 10 Potion cards. If you miss your Potion you should have at least $3 to buy a second Storeroom.
Like written above you should easily get a Scrying Pool each turn. In turns where you didn't get your Potion in hand pick up a cheap village or other cheap cantrips or non-terminal trashers. Your Scrying Pools should give you 6-7 cards hands very soon where you can pick up a Scrying Pool + X to pile up on action cards. Later when you draw your whole deck you can even discard your Action cards with Storeroom for money and draw them all again with Scrying Pool (if you played at least one village). You can then easily buy 2 Provinces. Storeroom + Scrying Pools isn't good on its own, but with a cheap village and/or non-terminal trashing, this is a really powerhouse.
Storeroom may be even better than Herbalist as a supporting card. Both have the much needed + Buy so you can pick up a lot of Storerooms and Coppers on the way and both have a mechanic to see the Potion often early in the game. But Storeroom can mostly discard 2-3 dead cards and Coppers which makes your Philosopher's Stone 0.5$ worth more on average! When you have your first Philosopher's Stone in hand, it should already be worth $3 and soon $4. That means: 2 Philosopher's Stones and you can already buy Provinces.
Like written above a Storeroom and a Potion guarantees you a $3P hand, exactly the amount you need for Familiar. The probability is therefore high you can buy a Familiar in turn 3 or 4 with this opening. Storeroom also triggers the reshuffle more often which you need to play your Familiar as often as you can early in the game. The problem is that you can't play a drawn Familiar because Storeroom is terminal, so take that into account.
Storeroom isn't a good enabler for University or Vineyard on its own. But on boards where University or Vineyard are an option, Storeroom is also a very good reason to go for them - for reasons written above. Apothecary has often the problem to leave the crap on top of your deck. If you play a Storeroom at the end of your turn you can discard exactly as many Coppers as you need for drawing your crap and discard them again for the same amount of money. This can setup a next good turn. With villages you can even build an engine fast. With 1 Apothecary and 1 Storeroom you can often buy another Apothecary and Storeroom (or village or another engine component) and you can then quickly cycle through your deck as the Apothecaries now leave good cards on your deck which you can draw with your Storeroom. On boards with good engine potential, where Golem is a good card, Storeroom lets you buy the Golem faster. When you play your Golem you'll find your Storeroom for the needed buy and deck filtering. This accelerates the engine and mitigates the problem of Potion cards being slow. Seeing your Potion often is especially important with Alchemist. Storeroom lets you buy them faster and can put them more reliably on top of your deck. Storeroom being terminal isn't a big problem here as you won't draw Alchemists dead often.
The are other cases where your key card is a treasure card other than Potion. So the drawback that Storeroom is terminal isn't a drawback anymore.
With a Storeroom/Silver opening you can quickly reach a level when you hit $5 nearly every turn. Just discard all cards other than Ill-Gotten-Gains and your opening Silver and you should be drawing at least one Ill-Gotten-Gains or Silver because you only need a 1 out of 8 probability. With 2-3 Storerooms you should be able to keep hitting $5 every turn and can then switch to Duchies.
Fool's Gold is cheap and you want as many as you can get. Therefore you need +Buy. Check. You also want collisions, you want to draw 3 Fool's Golds in the same hand. Therefore you either need draw or cycling. Check. Like written above, with a Storeroom in hand, you are guaranteed +4$ and 2 Buys, that's perfect for picking up 2 Fool's Golds. And with many Fool's Golds it's not that hard to have 3 of them in hand as you can either draw 4 when you didn't have one in hand, 3 when you did have one and even 2 cards when you already had 2 FGs.
Storeroom + Quarry is no strategy on its own. But in games where Quarry is strong, Storeroom + Quarry is a very good opener. With a Storeroom in hand you likely draw them together and then you have $4 and all Action cards cost $2 less. So, you basically have $8 and 2 buys. Perfect for picking up 2 $4 key cards or your $5 key card with a $3 supporting card.
All of the above combos and other engines where preparing the next turn by triggering or not triggering the reshuffle is important can benefit from Storeroom. Storeroom may be not the best X in Hunting Party + X because it often only gives you $1 instead of $2, but discarding exactly as many Coppers and Estates that you'll have an empty deck while still getting money out the discarded cards is nice. The probability of having a Hunting Party in the next hand will be much higher. Triggering reshuffles may also come in handy if you want to prepare a good turn with Inn. So let's say you're building a Goons engine. So the +Buy from Storeroom is important, the cycling may give you more Double-Goons turns and you can time an empty deck and then buy an Inn for a Mega Goons Turn.
Storeroom isn't a strong card on its own, but has its uses and can also shine in a few situations. Its strength is the heavy cycling to see the key Treasure cards (Potion, Philosopher's Stone, Ill-Gotten-Gains, Fool's Gold) more often, its support for Potion cards in general, its use for big hand sizes (Tactician, Scrying Pool, also Crossroads), the discarding option itself (Tunnel, also Grand Market) and as supporter where you don't want expensive cards (Fool's Gold, Alternative Victory cards, especially Gardens). It's not a great Big Money card, skippable in boards with strong terminals and especially weak against discarding attacks.
Tactician doesn't work like you describe.
If you discard 8 cards for cash, Tactician is the 9th card and you can't discard anything with Tactician so it doesn't activate.
He means during your 10 card post-Tactician hand, I believe.
It's why Vault is so much better than Secret Chamber for double Tactician. Vault is a guaranteed $9, Secret Chamber only guarantees $7. Of course, you can rather reliably hit $8 if you have a few Silvers. Or better still, pick up some Harems if those are available.
Oh man. You're right. I'm always making the same mistakes. I do keep forgetting this in solo plays too. I will update this article later.
Don't worry, I've tried to build a double Tac engine with Secret Chamber before.
1. Golem. You need silver/pot/and storeroom to line up to hit golem; with a non-terminal kicking around, you can use storeroom for both coin and to sift for more golems to play. Given that it also adds in a buy - which is phenomenally useful when building a golem engine.
2. Apothecary. Let's see, storeroom can convert those pesky apothecary stopping cards to coin, use the +buy for more copper buys, and apothecary let's you setup your draw so you take exactly what you need to leave a strong turn next time (e.g. leave two green on top, then two apoth, then discard 2 cards).
3. Most curse/ruins givers. Yeah, it is terminal sifting, but if you know your deck you can get back to your witch/hag sooner; additionally being able to turn curses into coin is very nice either to duchy rush or to get up to 6 coin for gold. For a something like cultist, being able to sift early on for your silver and cash out estates makes silver/storeroom a good way to win the ruins war.
4. Menage engines. You need a village, but being able to discard duplicates for coin is huge, also being able to cycle for menages works very well. Combining sifting, +buy, and payload in one card is very strong for engines.
5. Library/watchtower/jack engines. Like with menage engines, clearing out cards let's you draw big, getting the +buy and payload in one go is quite good. For instance, village/storeroom/Wt means that you will get to sort through 3 other cards (to find a second village), get 3 coin, and then be able to play the Wt for 6 cards. Once the engine hits, you can get some insane payout going (+6 coins per storeroom with libraries).
6. Lab/stables. Lab/stables & storeroom each provide exactly what the other one needs: lab/stables needs something to do with the big hands it can draw, storeroom needs big cards. Having the +buy allows for strong engine possibilities - buy two labs, buying gold & a stable and of course double province turns.
7. Hermit/Madman engines. Use the Hermit to trash estates & gain villages/silvers, buy villages (maybe some draw). Use the Hermits to gain storerooms, buy nothing & get a few madmen.Double hand sizes with madmen & cash out. Bonus - you can setup the next turn by discarding some key cards (e.g. village/madmen), discarding nothing for cash & then playing a second storeroom (- discard another village or whatever, draw one card, then discard for coin).
8. Poor House. Use the storerooms in an engine to: sift for poor houses, discard all your coin, and to use the +buy to gain more engine components.
9. Gov/storeroom/discard (particularly urchin) - Draw big, force opponents to discard, and discard for provinces.
1. Oh no, I drew all these cards but didn't draw a Potion! If only there was a way to draw more cards so I could get a Potion, and keep my Alchemists on the top of my deck!
2. Oh no, I drew all my Potions with my Alchemist chain! This means I may not draw any next turn, and the extra Potions are useless to me, since I only have one buy, and nothing costs two Potions. If only there was a way to draw out my deck, or turn the Potions into useful currency, or buy more than one card.
3. Oh no, the Alchemists allowed me to draw a ton of Treasure, but I only have one buy! What a waste of coin!
Storeroom helps with all of these.
Well, I once tried building a double-Tac engine with Secret Chamber, but realized I needed some card draw so I used.... Scout! Somehow it escaped me that I would have to draw at least two cards with Scout.
So, I finally did a little update regarding Double Tactician + Storeroom.
@jomini + Zaphod: I didn't want to list all Potion cards, for that I have the special Potion section that fit to all - or at least most - of the Potion cards. I just wanted to point out the strongest combos with Storeroom.
@jomini: I'm not sure about your points 4-7, those examples are to me some nice synergies, but not real combos,. The same can be done with Secret Chamber and Vault. I wanted to point out combos where Storeroom is even superior to Secret Chamber or Vault. This is often the +Buy or the reliability to draw the key Treasure Card. Also these combos all need Villages and I only included Scrying Pool because it even works without villages and the +Buy makes a real big difference. But thanks for those additions, maybe I add a special section later.
Thanks for all the up-votes, maybe I should write more articles in the upcoming weeks.
As your discard pile normally doesn't discern between cards you discard during your action and during your cleanup phase, Storeroom only helps if you discard Potion for cards and have to reshuffle for the redraw. Even then, if you're unlucky, you may redraw that pesky vial.
I'd argue that it is faster, stronger & easier to setup Apoth/Storeroom than Sp/Storeroom. The former just needs a few more coppers than normal and a very small number of villages. The latter really needs trashing to double use the storeroom - something which I believe is less common than villages at this point. Additionally, with even a very small number of non-action cards, Apoth draws more than Sp.
All of the combos I listed are better than Secret Chamber/Vault because: Storeroom comes with a +buy that allows you to pick up two or more components a go - a lot of Vault/Secham shenanigans are worthless because it takes too long to set them up and you can only nab a province. Additionally, Storeroom is vastly more reliable because you can optionally draw for cards & filter for useful stuff where Vault/Secham doesn't have that option. For instance, I play Village/Lib & draw to a 7 card hand. I now have a Village, a Lib, and a Storeroom/Vault/Secham. The first allows me to play the village and search a total of 7 cards for another village, the second allows me to search a total of 3 cards, and the latter only 1. This flexibility of Storeroom is phenomenally better in engines.
The improvement over Vault/Secham is vastly greater than with anything like say Tunnel, yeah Storeroom looks at 8 cards, but Young Witch hits 6 and gives a curse (potentially), cartographer searches 5 and is non-terminal, inn, embassy, etc. All that to say, the point of these articles is to show people how to play better with the cards. That means we SHOULD list combos even when there is another, better combo out there (e.g. Warehouse/Treasure map is insanely good, but Haven/Trmap is also good). If the combo is strong enough to play or be dominant, it really ought to be listed so when folks see it in game, they have been reminded it exists.
I added a few more Potion cards (Alchemist, Apothecary and Golem) and added Menagerie/Libary/Watchtower.
But jomini, I disagree with Lab/Stables. I really don't know how you would setup Double Province Turns. With or without villages this is way slower than with Menagerie as it will draw 3 cards and Lab/Stables only 2 cards. You won't get to 16 cards hands, so you need Silver and Gold. But getting lots of Labs and Silver and Gold is basically Big Money and Storeroom isn't a really good Big Money card. I'm sure that simple Lab + BM is faster than Lab + Storeroom getting to Double Provinces.
And I haven't tried out Hermit + Storeroom. So I have to test this out. Can anyone confirm this?
Also I added a section about "Triggering the reshuffles" with Storeroom. Feedback?


text:
using namespace std;

class AliESDEvent;

class AliMultSelectionCuts : public TNamed {
public:
    //Aliases for error codes
    typedef enum {
        kNoCalib                            = 199,
        kRejTrigger                         = 200,
        kRejINELgtZERO                      = 201,
        kRejVzCut                           = 202,
        kRejPileupInMultBins                = 203,
        kRejConsistencySPDandTrackVertices  = 204,
        kRejTrackletsVsClusters             = 205,
        kRejNonZeroNContribs                = 206,
        kRejAsymmetricInVZERO               = 207,
        kRejIncompleteDAQ                   = 208,
        kRejNotGoodVertex2016               = 209
    } CutType_t; // FIXEM Is an enum the best choice here? we return floats in the end...

    AliMultSelectionCuts();
    AliMultSelectionCuts(const char * name, const char * title = "Event selection cuts for multiplicity estimators");
    AliMultSelectionCuts(const AliMultSelectionCuts& o)
      : TNamed(o),
        fESD(0),
        fVzCut(o.fVzCut),
        fErrorCode(o.fErrorCode),
        fEvSel_Trig_kMB(o.fEvSel_Trig_kMB),
        fEvSel_INELgtZERO(o.fEvSel_INELgtZERO),
        fEvSel_TrackletsVsClusters(o.fEvSel_TrackletsVsClusters),
        fEvSel_RejectPileupInMultBins(o.fEvSel_RejectPileupInMultBins),
        fEvSel_CheckConsistencySPDandTrackVertices(o.fEvSel_CheckConsistencySPDandTrackVertices),
        fEvSel_NonZeroNContribs(o.fEvSel_NonZeroNContribs),
        fEvSel_IsNotAsymmetricInVZERO(o.fEvSel_IsNotAsymmetricInVZERO),
        fEvSel_IsNotIncompleteDAQ(o.fEvSel_IsNotIncompleteDAQ),
        fEvSel_HasGoodVertex2016(o.fEvSel_HasGoodVertex2016)
    {}
    AliMultSelectionCuts& operator=(const AliMultSelectionCuts& o);
    ~AliMultSelectionCuts();
    //Bool_t IsEventSelected(AliESDEvent * );

    void    Print(Option_t *option="") const;

    Float_t GetVzCut()                  { return fVzCut;      }
    void    SetVzCut (Float_t var)      { fVzCut = var;       }

    Bool_t GetTriggerCut()                      { return fEvSel_Trig_kMB;       }
    void   SetTriggerCut(Bool_t lSetting)       { fEvSel_Trig_kMB = lSetting;   }
    Bool_t GetINELgtZEROCut()                   { return fEvSel_INELgtZERO; }
    void   SetINELgtZEROCut(Bool_t lSetting)    { fEvSel_INELgtZERO = lSetting; }
    Bool_t GetTrackletsVsClustersCut()          { return fEvSel_TrackletsVsClusters; }
    void   SetTrackletsVsClustersCut(Bool_t lSetting)       { fEvSel_TrackletsVsClusters = lSetting; }
    Bool_t GetRejectPileupInMultBinsCut()                   { return fEvSel_RejectPileupInMultBins; }
    void   SetRejectPileupInMultBinsCut(Bool_t lSetting)    { fEvSel_RejectPileupInMultBins = lSetting; }
    Bool_t GetVertexConsistencyCut()                        { return fEvSel_CheckConsistencySPDandTrackVertices; }
    void   SetVertexConsistencyCut(Bool_t lSetting)         { fEvSel_CheckConsistencySPDandTrackVertices = lSetting; }
    Bool_t GetNonZeroNContribs()                        { return fEvSel_NonZeroNContribs; }
    void   SetNonZeroNContribs(Bool_t lSetting)         { fEvSel_NonZeroNContribs = lSetting; }
    Bool_t GetIsNotAsymmetricInVZERO()                        { return fEvSel_IsNotAsymmetricInVZERO; }
    void   SetIsNotAsymmetricInVZERO(Bool_t lSetting)         { fEvSel_IsNotAsymmetricInVZERO = lSetting; }
    Bool_t GetIsNotIncompleteDAQ()                        { return fEvSel_IsNotIncompleteDAQ; }
    void   SetIsNotIncompleteDAQ(Bool_t lSetting)         { fEvSel_IsNotIncompleteDAQ = lSetting; }
    Bool_t GetHasGoodVertex2016()                        { return fEvSel_HasGoodVertex2016; }
    void   SetHasGoodVertex2016(Bool_t lSetting)         { fEvSel_HasGoodVertex2016 = lSetting; }

    void SetErrorCode(Int_t lCode)   { fErrorCode = lCode; }
    Int_t GetErrorCode() const   { return fErrorCode; }

private:
    AliESDEvent * fESD ; //! Pointer to the ESD event, should be transient
    //Bool_t IsVzCutSelected();
    //Bool_t IsMinBias();
    //Bool_t IsINELgtZERO();
    //Bool_t HasNoInconsistentSPDandTrackVertices(AliESDEvent * lESD);
    Float_t fVzCut;     // Cut based on vertex Z position
    Int_t fErrorCode;   // Error Code used if the selection is not sucessful
                        // 0 if selected, something else if not

    Bool_t fEvSel_Trig_kMB; // Select kMB
    Bool_t fEvSel_INELgtZERO; // Select Inelastic greater than zero with tracklets
    Bool_t fEvSel_TrackletsVsClusters; // Apply standard Tracklets Vs Clusters cut
    Bool_t fEvSel_RejectPileupInMultBins; // Reject IsPileupFromSPDInMultBins()
    Bool_t fEvSel_CheckConsistencySPDandTrackVertices; //Check consistency
    Bool_t fEvSel_NonZeroNContribs; //at least one contributor to PV
    Bool_t fEvSel_IsNotAsymmetricInVZERO; //asymmetic in vzero
    Bool_t fEvSel_IsNotIncompleteDAQ; //incomplete DAQ
    Bool_t fEvSel_HasGoodVertex2016; //incomplete DAQ

    ClassDef(AliMultSelectionCuts, 4)
    //1 - original implementation
    //2 - added NonZeroNContribs
    //3 - added IsNotAsymmetricInVZERO, IsNotIncompleteDAQ
    //4 - added HasGoodVertex2016
};
#endif

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


z/OS provides more measurement data than any other operating system, which is one of the great strengths of this platform over others. These measurements allow you to tune the system, debug problems, chargeback for resources, provide management reports to show resource usage and help a capacity planner adequately forecast the future needs. The majority of this wonderful information is written to a data repository by the System Management Facilities (SMF) component. This component is used as a common receptacle of data from other components of z/OS, such as CICS and DB2.
This article provides an introduction to this most important component. A follow-up article will describe the life of an address space, how exits can be used, when type 30 records are created and how they can be used. Additional articles will include more detail on SMF, its parameters, recommendations on SMF file creation and usage, and details about the most important record types.
SMF is a base component of z/OS and has been available for more than 40 years. It provides a set of macros applications can use to pass records to SMF for recording to a data repository. The beginning of all records must conform to a standard format, and each record is identified by a one-character record type (hex value '00' to 'FF') between 0 and 255. IBM has exclusive use of record types 0 through 127, and subsystems and applications may use 128 to 255. Applications aren't forced to use SMF for recording and some don't (e.g., IMS relies on its logs instead of SMF). Several of the record types also have subtypes, such as the type 30 record, which has subtypes 1 through 6 to identify unique types of records.
The basics and use of SMF are documented in the z/OS System Management Facilities (SMF) manual (see the "Resources" section at the end of this article).
Macros. Applications use several macros to pass information to SMF and to interrogate parameters. The most common of these are the SMFWTM and SMFEWTM macros, which are used to pass records to SMF. These are documented in the SMF manual.
Parameters. Parameters are used to control how SMF is run and which record types are recorded. The parameters reside in member SMFPRMxx of the system parmlib. They're documented in the z/OS MVS Initialization & Tuning Reference, although some additional material is also found in the SMF manual. A future article will provide more detail about each SMFPRMxx parameter and give our recommendations.
Exits. User-written exits are available to interrogate, change or delete records as they're passed to SMF. These are preferably defined in the PROGxx parmlib member and are documented in the SMF manual. These will be covered in our next article.
MVS Commands. The default is for SMF to automatically be started following an IPL. If you specify NOACTIVE (meaning SMF shouldn't be automatically started), you can subsequently start it using the SET SMF command. Additionally, the SETSMF and SET SMF commands can be used to dynamically modify the SMF parameters. The DISPLAY SMF command can display the parameters and output data sets.
IBM software license charges, including sub-capacity and usage charges.
Type 70-79 records are created by the IBM Resource Measurement Facility (RMF) or the BMC Software CMF Monitor and are used to provide performance statistics for z/OS. The type 70 contains CPU and LPAR usage, the type 74 provides (among other things) DASD activity and response times, and the type 72 provides resource usage and response time by service class periods. These three record types and the type 30 records are the most frequently used records in most data centers.
- Subtype 1 is written at the beginning of a job.
- Subtype 2 is written at the end of all but the last interval (if the INTERVAL keyword of the SMFPRMxx parmlib member is turned on).
- Subtype 3 is written at the end of the last interval of a step (if the INTERVAL keyword of the SMFPRMxx parmlib member is turned on).
- Subtype 4 is written at the end of a step.
- Subtype 5 is written at the end of a job.
- Subtype 6 is written at the end of an interval for a system task.
Type 14-15 records are written when non-VSAM data sets are closed and contain information about the usage of each data set. You can do a lot of performance tuning by analyzing buffer sizes and data set activity with these records.
Type 42 records are written by the DFSMS component for SMS and non-SMS-managed data sets and controllers.
Type 60-69 records contain information about VSAM data sets and catalogs, and can be used to tune VSAM files.
Type 100-102 records are written by DB2 and contain accounting, trace data and performance data.
Type 110-111 records are written by CICS and provide accounting and performance data.
Type 113 records are written by Hardware Instrumentation Services (HIS) and provide invaluable hardware data that includes information on the type of workloads you're running.
Type 115-116 records are written by WebSphere MQ and provide statistics and accounting data.
Type 120 records are written by the WebSphere Application Server (WAS) to provide performance data.
If these are on the tip of your tongue, you will be considered an expert!


"Glee" alum Lea Michele and boyfriend Zandy Reich are engaged.
The 31-year-old actor announced her engagement on Instagram by posting a photo of herself with her ring-bearing hand on her face. "Yes," she wrote in the caption, including a diamond ring emoji.
After over a year of dating, Reich, proposed to Michele with a four-carat elongated radiant cut ring that he designed with Leor Yerushalmi and The Jewelers of Las Vegas, reported People magazine.
"The couple couldn't be happier," a source said.
The duo was first romantically linked in July 2017.


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We start with a discussion to identify your target objectives, what has been working for you, and what you hope to achieve. Our clients have the flexibility to be involved as much or as little as possible throughout the process. We may know the best way to get to the destination of advertising success, but we never forget that you're in the drivers seat. We have mastered the art of backseat driving.
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text:
Volleyball Falls to Jays 3-2
10 years ago The Blue & Gray Press
In their regular season finale, the Mary Washington volleyball team lost a 3-2 decision to host Johns Hopkins University (18-25, 25-22, 20-25, 25-23, 4-15). The loss dropped the Eagles to 18-8 overall, but since it was an out of conference match, their CAC mark remained at 6-2. The win improved Johns Hopkins to 18-11 on the season.
"We didn't execute as well as we could have or should have, particularly on defense," Head Coach Dee Conway said.
The Eagles fell down two sets to one, but rebounded to win the fourth 25-23 to force a fifth and final set. However, UMW couldn't finish the comeback, as the Blue Jays held on to win the deciding set 15-4.
Coach Conway didn't believe her team ran out of gas, but thought they just let the game get away from them.
"Volleyball is a funny game and the momentum changes really fast," Conway said. "They gained momentum at that critical part of the game that unfortunately we couldn't stop."
Junior Katlyn Shiflett recorded all 31 assists for the Eagles in the match, and has just under 81 percent of UMW assists for the season. Shiflett echoed her coach's word about the final set.
"In the fifth game we just let Johns Hopkins get on long runs, and [we] couldn't recover from such a point deficit," Shiflett said. "The fifth game is only 15 points, so there is no time to be timid."
Sophomore Laura Gomez led the team in kills with 10, giving her 199 kills on the year, which is second most on the team. Meanwhile, freshman Kaitlynn Wickersham continued her dominance of digs, as she tallied an additional 23 in the loss to increase her team-high total to 306.
Shiflett wasn't discouraged from the recent loss, but instead says she thinks it actually has had a positive effect on the team going forward.
"The loss doesn't leave a bad taste in my mouth," Shiflett said. "If anything, I believe it helped us out, because we've had intense practices this week."
The volleyball team will now shift their focus to the CAC Tournament, with their first match at home tonight, Nov. 4, against Salisbury University at 7 p.m. The Eagles defeated the Sea Gulls in their only regular season meeting, 3-1, back on Sep. 28.
"Defeating a team gives you a little added confidence, but the regular season is over, and a new season has begun," Conway said. "They're a different team now and so are we. I think we stack up quite well against them, but that doesn't necessarily mean we'll win. We have to work hard, and we're ready to do that work."
The regular season victory over Salisbury was also a home match for the Eagles, and both coach and player hope that home court advantage can help boost them to victory once again.
"[Salisbury] is trying to take something away from us, and we have to be ready to defend our home court," Shiflett said.
"I'm hoping home court gives us an added boost, but we must be consistent," Conway said. "No matter how big the game is, the process of executing stays the same."
Previous UMW Swim Teams Crush Competition
Next Men's Soccer Defeats Seahawks 1-0
Gym anxiety has increasingly become an issue for college students
2 months ago Blue and Gray Press Sports
UMW cross country runners join COVID-era league
Departure of Brittanie Naff leaves Campus Recreation with no replacement of an assistant director

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


How do I go about terminating the dailly topic list on my email. I do not need that feature at this time but would like to continue being a forum member.
That email is actually sent from a third party. At the very bottom of the email, there is an unsubscribe option (see screenshot snippet below).


text:
Q: Google App Dr Edit not opening file I have tried everything to get Google's example Dr Edit(https://developers.google.com/drive/web/examples/java) to work but to no avail. I'm using the Java version of the app. If you hit my app URL, you can install the app and create a new document in your drive.
https://indigo-cirrus-700.appspot.com
Now try to open a new file. You get an error saying Invalid credentials (missing or invalid oAuth token)
Also if you go to your google drive itself, the app called Dr Edit, does not show up as an option to create a document. Nor does clicking the the txt document that you created via Dr Edit in the previous step start dr edit, just shows the preview.
Finally if you click on manage apps, set as default doesn't show up next to the app.
Its almost like the app isn't installed correctly or the oAuth isn't working correctly Does anyone have any ideas? I ran out
As a side note, I also tried the python example app. Ended up working exactly the same as the java app. You can create a new app via dr edit but thats all.
thanks

A: As explained in this documentation, you will need to enable the Picker API for your project. This should solve the "open" issue.

A: David was right on pointing me the direction of looking into Google picker. Dr edit is an incomplete example. You still need to enable Google Picker and edit controllers.js adding in .setOAuthToken() to the picker. That was missing thereby always giving me missing or invalid oAuth token. To get the oauthtoken onto the page for the call you have to add it to a new scope or just add it to the User scope. Which is what i did.
For python version of dr edit.
    in main.py User Handler.get() add
creds = self.GetSessionCredentials()
if creds:
    result['access_token'] = creds.access_token

then in controllers.js MenuCntrl for $scope.open
var appElement = document.querySelector('[ng-controller=UserCtrl]');
var accessToken = angular.element(appElement).scope().user['access_token']
var view = new google.picker.View(google.picker.ViewId.DOCS);
view.setMimeTypes('text/plain');
var picker = new google.picker.PickerBuilder()
        .setAppId(appId)
        .addView(view)
        .setOAuthToken(accessToken)
        .setCallback(angular.bind(this, onFilePicked))
        .build();
    picker.setVisible(true);

So the app works well now. Its just the google drive interface not seeing my app as installed and able to open things. Any ideas of what I'm missing?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Although it is recognised that metal working fluids play a critical role in optimising machining processes…there is a tendency amongst some component manufacturers to treat fluid management as a 'poor cousin' in comparison to work-holding, tooling etc.
Even the most enlightened manufacturing companies fall someway short of having robust and systematic fluid management protocols and processes in place.
This situation will change…and is changing. The emphasis on creating safer working environments for staff…on ensuring easier component traceability…and on using real time data to monitor, capture, record…and, as a consequence, improve manufacturing processes (as enshrined in Industry 4.0 principles), are elevating the importance of metal working fluid management.
• removing unwanted tramp oil or foreign matter.
This might sound simple enough, but in practice requires significant time and resources to be spent in order to ensure H & S compliancy and to achieve a fail safe process.
This is where Oracle™ can…and does play a vital role.


text:
Q: What is the DAX formula to achieve this type of summation in my PowerPivot table? I have a PowerPivot table running in Excel 2013 and it gathers its contents from an SQL Query. A simplified extract of the table is shown below (Actual table has more that 150,000 rows):
 ID     Revenue    Quarter
 145     23,000    Qr2 2014
 469    151,000    Qr1 2014
 478     40,000    Qr2 2014
 587     30,000    Qr3 2014
 643     15,000    Qr3 2014
 698     20,000    Qr1 2014
 812     60,000    Qr2 2014

I need a DAX formula next to the "Quarter" column that will give me the following output:
  ID     Revenue    Quarter   SUMQ
 145     23,000    Qr2 2014   123,000
 469    151,000    Qr1 2014   171,000
 478     40,000    Qr2 2014   123,000
 587     30,000    Qr3 2014    45,000
 643     15,000    Qr3 2014    45,000
 698     20,000    Qr1 2014   171,000
 812     60,000    Qr2 2014   123,000

Basically, the SUMQ column will be a calculated column and it will need to SUM the respective Quarters from all the rows of the table and report that SUM. When new data will added to the table, the SUMQ column will be updated automatically.
My research pointed me to the SUMX formula in DAX but I'm having a hard time trying to implement it in my model.

A: You can create a calculated column with the following:
=
CALCULATE (
    SUM ( [Revenue] ),
    ALL ( MyTable ),
    MyTable[Quarter] = EARLIER ( MyTable[Quarter] )
)

Here you are calculating the sum of Revenue across the entire table (ALL) where the Quarter value is what it was in the inital row context (EARLIER).
This type of pattern is often used for abc analysis. See http://www.daxpatterns.com/abc-classification/

A: I don't have enough reputation to comment on the post above, but I'd like to note that ALLEXCEPT() is a cleaner way to implement this logic:
SUMQ=
CALCULATE(
    SUM(MyTable[Revenue])
    ,ALLEXCEPT(MyTable, MyTable[Quarter])
)

ALLEXCEPT() clears the context from every column of the table passed as its first argument, except for those named as arguments 2,n.


New methodologies are needed to quantify and analyse the problem of corruption across the world, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde has said.
Work to fight corruption "begins with initiatives to increase transparency and accountability", Lagarde said in her opening remarks at an event yesterday convened to consider progress on transparency, anti-corruption and sustainable development.
"This work goes hand in hand with our efforts on regulatory reform and strengthening legal institutions," she said.
The annual cost of bribery, one subset of corruption, is estimated to be between $1.5-$2 trillion and Lagarde urged IMF members to look at private sector actors who work across borders and can influence public officials.
"Consider just one example – a bribe in the extractive industries. Yes, a local official may demand a bribe, or a government ministry may turn a blind eye, but what about the company who proffers the money? Surely, it participates in the illicit transaction," Lagarde said.
Reforms suggest by the IMF, including a comprehensive review of national corruption and increased transparency on all major public investments, are only the first step and new policies can take years to become effective, the managing director said.
"Some governments are reluctant to even engage on the issue because they see corruption as a political, and not an economic problem," Lagarde added.
The event was co-hosted by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation, the Partnership for Transparency's Anti-Corruption Forum, and the Brookings Institution think-tank.


Walk-in tubs – that is, tubs with a step-through door located in the side-wall and an integrated seat inside – are being aggressively marketed to seniors and persons with disabilities.
There is often a stark contrast, however, between the dream of owning a walk-in tub and the reality of doing so.
You might find yourself longing to regain the lost luxury of soothing your aching muscles and joints by immersing yourself into a tub of steaming hot water.
And then, there arrives the latest issue of the local Yellow Pages at your doorstep, with a walk-in tub advertisement on the front page promising exactly what you were looking for: "Pleasure, safety, and independence, at an affordable price!" So you ask yourself after a life of hard work: Why not splurge a little? You might even have the thought that buying a Walk-in Tub is a wise investment that will enhance your ability to remain safe and independent at home.
Now, the Walk-in Tub seller who has captured your ear is likely to say but, but, but…our tub has ways to overcome "some" of the problems. Keep your ears open! Just because the model they offer has features that overcome one or more of a Walk-in Tub's problems — does not mean it is suddenly perfect in all respects.
For example, a vendor may inform you that the model they offer provides the lowest door threshold available on the market or a larger drain to make the water exit faster. Yes. These features can fix a few drawbacks classic-style walk-in tubs commonly have, but two more critical problems will still remain: Firstly, that this type of tub is not the future-proof bathing solution most people believe it to be. Visit "Buying a Walk-in Tub — Your Biggest Mistake?" to learn more. And, secondly that it is possible to get trapped inside. To learn more about what can "go wrong" when using a walk-in tub, keep reading below.
What do Walk-in Tub owners say? Let's look at some actual user experiences. The following is an excerpt from an email homeability.com received from one of our readers in August of 2015. In it, the reader describes an experience encountered by her husband while using their walk-in bathtub. She informed us her husband is of average height and weight and that he had some weakness in his legs which in turn affected his balance.
He slipped and this time he really wedged himself in the bottom of the tub. Everything we tried only got him in tighter. After 3 more hours, he 'let' me call the rescue squad and it took them a half hour to get him out.
the door is way too narrow. My father is only 148 pounds, and cannot get in/out of the tub without going sideways and stepping down. This is quite difficult, given the weakness in his legs from M.S.
the door opens IN, which makes it extremely hard for the elderly person to get out because they have to negotiate not only the narrow opening, but also a door in their way.
To quickly recap, from what we have learned about walk-in tubs from these different users, there is a very real potential for the hopes and dreams of owning a walk-in tub to end up in utter disappointment. Most people pay somewhere between $5,000 to $20,000 to have a walk-in tub installed. Many people have reported to us, as well as reported publicly online, that they have not used their tub beyond a handful of times after having it installed.
So one wonders, how could it be that a surprising number of seniors are still lured into buying these tubs? It is easy to understand the consumers' side – namely, the psychology of expectations in regaining a treasured experience. But why don't more prospective buyers know about all the drawbacks and risks of owning this kind of tub? To better understand this, we researched into the other side of the equation: the manufacturers and retailers. In particular, their marketing and sales strategies for selling walk-in tubs. Our findings are outlined below.
The hope to regain bathing safety, convenience, and pleasure is bound to make some of us open up to a degree of gullibility – a willingness to believe aggressive marketing messages about the benefits of walk-in tubs, along with a preparedness to shell out thousands of dollars in the process. This hope for improvement to the quality of life is being exploited by sellers in the walk-in tub industry in a number of ways – from borderline shady practices all the way to outright scams in order to make enormous profit off members of the most vulnerable layer in our society. Here are some examples for such business practices.
The purpose of this opaqueness allows exploitation of an old-school mindset many seniors exhibit – that of feeling guilty when a person comes into your house and you send them packing without awarding business based on the visit. Along with this sales strategy, aggressive rhetoric is often used to play to the safety fears of seniors and their families, while neglecting to provide a full picture of the potential problems we outlined above. Sellers can therefore cajole people into making a purchase that would have been inconceivable and squashed in its tracks if a quote had been given on the phone.
Furthermore, every experienced walk-in tub salesperson knows (and even newbie sellers should know if they received proper training) that there is a high likelihood customers will have to replace their water heater due to the increased water demands of a walk-in tub. It can be expensive to replace a water heater – adding up to an extra $1,000-$2,000 beyond the price of the installed tub. Salespeople have been known to conveniently withhold this relevant detail until after the tub itself is installed, for fear the additional expense will dissuade the customer from moving forward with their purchase.
Some Walk-in Tub purchasers have reported the Installer already had the water heater in the truck ready for purchase as an additional item the same day the tub was installed, but nary a mention had been made about needing a water heater until after the tub was in place. To learn about more potential hidden costs, click here.
Finally, some sellers use deceptive labeling practices to try to trick unsuspecting buyers into believing a tub was "Made in the USA" that was not. This tactic is used to try to cheat additional funds out of Americans who are willing to pay more for a product made in the USA. While a few tubs ARE MADE in the U.S., others are actually imported from overseas and just "assembled" in the U.S. Or, in some cases, they have simply had a small, possibly meaningless, feature or two added once they arrive in the States.
Catch phrases like "Assembled in the USA", "Built in the USA", or "Designed in the USA" usually indicate that the entire tub was not made in the USA. Likewise, be careful when you see "We manufacture tubs made in the USA." A company can say this if they manufacture just one or two of the different models they offer in the USA, while most of the models they offer may actually be manufactured overseas. To see a list of manufacturers who offer walk-in tubs manufactured in the USA, click here.
Another scam used to deliberately diffuse the negative perception of walk-in tubs and, to that end, adding confusion to the industry, is the excessive use of fake review websites.
These websites all appear to be posing as if they are a place where consumers can find unbiased reviews, but our research suggests otherwise.
No "About Us" Page: None of the websites listed above had a page describing who authored the website when we first reviewed the website – except one. Walkintubreviews.com technically has a page called "About Us," but it didn't identify who "Us" is. If they aren't open about who they are then steer clear.
Broken Page Links: A combination of no "About Us" page in addition to a slew of strangely broken page links on each of the websites further leads us to believe these sites are not legitimate. For example, every time we clicked on the name/logo on http://myseniorsource.com/walk-in-tub we got the following message: "Oops! Website currently not available". Similarly when we visited http://walkintubreviewer.com/ and clicked the link "Need Help? Click to Chat!" we got the following message "Unauthorized Access".
Missing Authorship: There's often no indication of who authored the reviews. Did someone create a website and make up good ratings and reviews for their own tubs and bad ratings and reviews about their competitors tubs? Our team believes this may be the case because based on our own knowledge of the features of the different walk-in tub models being discussed some statements we read in reviews were clearly bogus.
… Many consumers use a simple internet search to see how a product ranks against the competition and performs. With such transparency, there has been a new trend of businesses posing as review websites to sway consumer research about their product and the competition. The majority of these websites say they are a legitimate product review website and purposely write about the competitor's product in a negative light, while revering the features and benefits on their own product.
… The walk in tub industry is bombarded by these "review" websites and most of these are constructed by competitors that have never even seen or touched the product [that they bad-mouth to make their own product appear in a better light].
The presence of these fake review sites, inherently unethical, and possibly even illegal in some instances, makes it very hard to identify legitimate reviews to learn the truth about walk-in tubs.
Another aspect that destroys transparency and effectively hides the realities outlined in earlier sections of this article, is the use of excessive rebranding.
Re-branding refers to the practice of offering the exact same product (here: walk-in tubs) under many different names. You might be reading the reviews for one tub and get a very favorable impression of this model, and then you read the reviews for another tub and think it sounds like a terrible design, when in actuality the two tubs you are reading about might very well be the exact same model offered under different names.
Here are screenshots of a Spa World Tub that sellers have posted online under different names.
Would you have recognized that the three tubs featured above are the same tub? Probably not, and certainly not with a high degree of certainty.
Spa World is one example of a manufacturer that allows their tubs to be rebranded. The following are 20 (!) of the brand names under which Spa World's tubs have been listed over the years. Some of these are still being used, some have ceased to exist, and there may be more we don't know about.
While the use of re-branding is technically legal, how can you even begin to track a product's history and make an informed decision if there is a dizzying diversity of names for the same product? Re-branding not only makes it extremely difficult to research a product due to the sheer number of different names, but it also renders the reviews essentially meaningless because a product that has received many bad consumer reviews can simply be sold under a new name and advertised as a new model – and you would never be the wiser.
Homeability.com is opposed to the use of re-branding practices for products, such as specialized bathtubs, that a vulnerable layer in our society: the elderly and persons with disabilities, rely on on a daily basis for their safety, comfort, and independence. Many products that are specially designed for seniors and persons with disabilities aren't showcased in local stores, so people are forced to rely solely on online reviews to determine if a product is good or not.
We believe it is safe to assume that the person, or persons, who created the first walk-in tub set off to create this product for ALL the right reasons and they should be commended for that. Some people do find benefit from a walk-in tub in the short term when the first signs of balance problems emerge. Unfortunately, it is oftentimes the case that a solution that fixes one problem can inadvertently cause others, which is case with these types of tubs. To learn more about the problems with walk-in tubs, visit: Buying a Walk-in Tub – Your Biggest Mistake?
Do not buy a walk-in tub!
We hope this article helps to open your eyes and prevent you – or one of your friends or family members – from being caught by some of the "not-so-kosher" practices that are going on in this industry. Walk-in tubs cost a large amount of money for what is often experienced as a useless, highly problematic, and even unsafe product. We do understand and recognize that some of you will want to get a walk-in tub no matter what. If you are one of those, and in spite of all the disadvantages, glaring safety issues and scams, you are still determined to purchase a walk-in tub, you may be left wondering how to navigate the jungle of deliberate misinformation about walk-in tubs to figure out which walk-in tub brands and retailers are reputable and which are not. Our last bit of advice for you is the following: Click here.
Clearly, this article is not a bearer of good news if you are someone who is anxiously seeking a solution that will make it possible for you to enjoy a hot soaking bath again. Truth be told, solutions that make it easier to take a soaking bath for persons who experience difficulty getting up and down from the bottom of a standard bathtub are few and far between, but there are other options available depending on your physical skills and the space you have available. We have summarized two of these options below.
Do still have reasonably decent balance skills, but simply lack the ability to get up and down from the floor of the tub? If so, one option to consider is a portable bath chair lift. It is designed to lower a person down to the bottom of the tub and to lift them back up when they've finished bathing. To learn more about the pros, cons, and types of bath lifts, visit: Bath Chair Lift Guide: The Basics..
A Slide-in Tub, like a walk-in tub, has a door located in the tub's sidewall. The critical difference is that when a Slide-in Tub's door is opened one side of the bath seat is exposed, making it possible for you to sit down on the seat first and then lift your legs into the tub (no stepping in required) or to slide sideways from a wheelchair seat to the tub seat. The Slide-in Tub models equipped with a door that swings outwards can be opened anytime (at the expense of flooding the bathroom), thereby reducing the risk of being trapped inside. Visit the Slide-in Tub Bathtub Buying Guide to learn more about the pros, cons, and types of Slide-in Tubs.
MORE solutions to make getting into and out of the bathtub easier can be found in our article: Getting In & Out of the Bathtub: Benches, Lifts, and Transfer Chairs.
Is your primary goal to maintain safety and independence with bathing and not specifically to take a soaking bath? If so, then we highly recommend to consider having a curbless shower installed. To learn more, visit: Curbless Showers – A Great Age-Proof Bathing Solution!.
Note: The information in this article is all true to the best of our knowledge, the results of our research, and the interpretation of our findings. This article was originally published October of 2015. In 2018, we revisited the websites listed in the section above titled "Suspicious Walk-in Tub Websites" and see that a few have fixed some of the problems we identified in 2015. We urge you to use caution when relying on the reviews found on those websites. You will ultimately need to be the judge of whether you believe the reviews posted on them are true or not. If upon reading this article you feel that something is incorrect or you have other comments or suggestions, please let us know via our Contact Page. To learn more about homeability.com's mission, visit Welcome to Homeability! and About Us.


Our Ops Producer, Josh, has been out with the teams in Mozambique, capturing the work they're doing, for the past 11 days. He's been based predominantly in South Buzi and now Matarara. He sent us through his initial impressions after seven days on the the ground. He will be out there for another 2 weeks.
As I sit in a queue of traffic, in Beira, waiting to enter the upcoming damaged section of road, writing this on my phone, I realise I've now been in Mozambique for a week.
Maputo, where I first flew in, seems a world away from the disaster zone – because it is. Mozambique, like all of Africa, is vast. It was a two hour flight from Maputo, where we'd enjoyed the luxury of a donated tiled floor to sleep on and (semi) working shower, to Beira, the coastal city at the start of Cyclone Idai's path of destruction. It was in Beira that Team Rubicon UK's life-saving work would truly begin.
The sense of urgency as we landed in Beira was palpable. Helicopters buzzed overhead carrying underslung loads, cargo equipment dragged material to and from an eclectic assortment of military and civilian aircraft. The human presence, clad in all the rainbow colours of the world's top aid agencies, snaked across the tarmac. People busily directing and lifting and moving and loading and marshalling and driving. They continued on unabashed by, or perhaps unaware of, the presence of yet more arrivals.
A very short stop to grab our kit bags and we were through into a frenetic arrivals corridor. Within 30 seconds, I had brushed past representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross, Samaritans Purse, various branches of the UN, the International Organisation of Migration, Map Action and several of the regions militaries, not to mention the ever present US Air Force.
We were in the epicentre of aid distribution and the single-minded determination of those around us was clear. Those affected by Cyclone Idai were in desperate need of water, food and shelter. Our Strike Teams were raring to go.
Our Team Rubicon UK uniform got us nods and glances of recognition as well as instant entry to the Emergency Operations Centre – testament to the outstanding work of our advance team who been leading the Water Sanitation and Health Cluster (WASH) under the UN's cluster system.
We already had one of our teams out on the ground, the other was here with me, preparing their kit for three weeks out in the heart of the disaster zone where they would be directing aid distribution. Whilst much of the news back home had focussed on Beira as an area in dire need of help, hearing the assessments coming in from the inland areas around Buzi made the extent of the damage clear and drove home the sheer devastation suffered by so many hundreds of thousands of people.
Our specialised team is highly trained for this but it was certainly not going to be easy. They were each carrying upwards of 20kg, moving on foot across this vast, destroyed landscape, crossing rivers and being dropped into remote locations by helicopter.
Their task was to conduct needs assessments of stricken villages, set up Forward Operating Bases to forward load aid, identify landing and drop zones and calling in aid to be delivered from the world's top NGOs. Team Rubicon UK is at the absolute tip of the spear in the Mozambique disaster response. They are truly going where others are not to bring aid to those most in need.
And so now, as our column of traffic gets its turn to move up this damaged, and now one lane, section of the N6 highway, I find myself apprehensive. Not for any personal reason, like the conditions I might face or emotional challenges of seeing people in such need, though those feeling are there too. Instead I'm apprehensive about doing my part for this small team packing its almost comically outsized punch. I worry about capturing their efforts, living up to their standards and adequately telling the true story of the awesome impact they are having here. Standing on the shoulders of giants is easy. Standing alongside them is not.


2017-18: Big South All-Freshman Team...Has appeared in 28 games starting 18...Scored career high 19 points in first ever Big South game against Liberty (1/2)...Grabbed career high eight rebounds vs UNCG (12/21) and tied it with eight vs Charleston So. (1/30), tallied career high four assists vs Furman (12/30)...Has scored in double figure in back to back games vs Charleston Southern and at Liberty... Named Big South Freshman of the Week (1/29)...Grabbed a career high four thefts vs UNC Asheville (2/27).
High School: Attended the German School of Lisbon and played club basketball at Benfica and Sport Alges Dafundo...She played on Portugal's U18 team that competed in the European Championships in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2016. Through seven games, she averaged 1.3 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 1.4 steals.


Ford isn't attending this year's Auto Expo and because of this, the American car maker will showcase the Freestyle hatchback-based crossover in a separate event on the 31st of January, 2018, in Delhi. The car is essentially the Ka Cross (Figo Cross) internationally, but will get changes specific to the Indian market. It will preview the various design changes that will also be effected onto other Ford cars such as the Figo hatchback and the Aspire compact sedans later this year.
Ford Ka Cross used as an illustration. The Freestyle will be very similar.
The Ford Freestyle will benefit from a new petrol engine. The 1.2 liter-3 cylinder petrol engine belongs to the Dragon line-up of petrol engines – first introduced in the facelifted EcoSport. This engine will produce 95 Bhp of peak power and 115 Nm of peak torque, making it a class-leader in terms of outputs.
This engine will also get a new 5 speed manual gearbox from Getrag. The Ford Freestyle is also expected with a diesel engine – with the 1.5 liter TDCI unit being deployed. The diesel engine will also get a 5 speed manual gearbox as standard. An automatic transmission option on the petrol engine, though unconfirmed for now, is likely.
Apart from the exterior changes that include restyled headlamps, grille, front bumper, bonnet, rear bumper, roof rails and additional cladding on the sides, the Ford Freestyle will also ride on wider 185/60 R15 tyres. Ground clearance will go up by 15 mm (from that on the Figo hatchback) to 185 mm.
The interiors will gain a new touchscreen infotainment system with Ford's SYNC3 interface. Smartphone connectivity, voice assist and emergency assist are three major features of the SYNC3. The Ford Freestyle will compete with the Hyundai i20 Active and the Toyota Etios Cross. In terms of pricing, it is expected to start from under Rs. 5.5 lakhs.


No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Oatmeal Bars are a quick and easy breakfast or snack idea! Loaded up with peanut butter, honey, and of course some chocolate!
Hey y'all! What are your favorite things? One of my absolute favorite things that I look forward to daily is sitting in peace and quiet in the early morning, before the kids are awake, and enjoying a cup of coffee. And usually a small breakfast as well, like these no bake peanut butter chocolate oatmeal bars.
Now to be honest, lately, the little ones are taking this moment away from me. They've currently decided that 5 am is a perfectly acceptable time to start their day. And there is no way I am getting up before that to claim a moment of peace. Meaning I drink my coffee and eat my breakfast on the go. So it needs to be easy.
And can I just say… that cup!!! It says it all right?
To be honest, I am not a coffee connoisseur. I hear people talk about their coffee sometimes like how I hear people talk about wine. Honestly, I don't have room in my brain for details like that. At least not at the moment. I know I like my coffee strong. And I know I like my creamer. For the last few months the hubs and I have been enjoying this Silk Almond creamer. And you guys! It's so good. Dairy free, which is why we started using it. The hubs has cut out dairy. I personally am not a dairy free person. I have no issues stomach wise when I have dairy. But I LOVE this creamer. It's not overly sweet like some coffee creamers can be.
I've tried the Caramel, Vanilla, and Hazelnut flavors and I love all of them.
What's even better is I can get this from Target. Because let's face it, I love Target. And my kids love Target. And sometimes we go there just to get out of the house. Anyone else?? The three year old considers the toy aisle her personal toy box and loves playing there. We always have to stop and say hi to "Elsa baby".
So next time you're in Target roaming the aisles keep in mind that there are NEW Simply Pure creamers and NEW Horizon Flavored Half and Half Pints at Target.
What's even better is you can use Cartwheel and the 20% off Cartwheel offer on International Delight Simply Pure, Horizon, Silk and So Delicious creamers from 9/25/2016 – 10/22/2016. If you don't know Cartwheel, it's an app. You can scan any item in Target and see if there's extra discounts, then the cashier just scans your phone and you get the money off! Score. Even I can handle that when little miss is having her tantrum about leaving and bubba man is grabbing anything nearby to chew and slobber on.
Now about these bars. They're kind of amazing. Very easy to make and they definitely hit the spot for a little early morning pick me up. I have a thing for oatmeal, if you haven't noticed. Love it. Plus chocolate. Because I mean..c'mon! And yes! There are dairy free chocolate chips in the markets these days, and you know what? They taste like regular chocolate chips. Score!
These bars are pretty much as easy as melting peanut butter. Yep. That's kind of the majority of the steps involved here. Mix up the oats and a pinch of salt. Melt some peanut butter, pour it over the oats, add some honey. Stir to mix it all up. Sprinkle of chocolate chips. Press it down into a baking dish. And bam!
They do need to chill though, so it's easiest to make them the night before so that they can chill overnight.
The chocolate drizzle over the top is unnecessary and indulgent and completely required.
Need some more breakfast inspiration?
Prepare a 9×9 baking dish by lining it with parchment paper.
Pour the oats and salt into a medium size mixing bowl.
Spoon the peanut butter into a microwaveable bowl. Heat in microwave in 15 second increments until peanut butter is melted and smooth.
Pour over the oats. Add the honey. Stir until oats are completely coated in the peanut butter, honey mixture. Allow to sit for a couple minutes to cool before stirring in the chocolate chips.
Spoon the mixture into the lined baking pan. Press down with the back of a spoon, compress it as much as you can, this will help it stay together.
Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Store in the refrigerator.
Prior to serving melt additional chocolate chips in the microwave by heating for 15 second increments. Drizzle over the bars. serve and enjoy!
THIS CONVERSATION IS SPONSORED BY WHITEWAVE FOODS AND SILK. The opinions and text are all mine.
I really enjoyed making these! They're super delicious and I can't resist anything with oats! Was a great little side dish with my coffee!


The professional football career of Richie Incognito is probably over and he faces a life of being known as the white player who harassed black teammate Jonathan Martin with threatening and racist texts and voice messages.
Could he, however, soon be trading in his orange and turquoise Miami Dolphins' uniform for an orange prison jumpsuit?
If Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. had his way, he just might.
for violent speech with the often-quoted "shouting fire in a theatre" analogy. "Schenck" was the first high court ruling to carve out an exception to the once-absolute Freedom of Speech protection in the Bill of Rights.
Over the years, those exceptions have been crystalized into a three-part test of protected violent speech: Is there intent to commit a violent act, is that action imminent, and is there a strong likelihood the act will be carried out? All three of these tests appear to have been met in the Incognito affair, which opens up the player to criminal charges of terroristic threats.
Fiction Writers' Workshops: Helpful or Harmful?
Among many tools available to fiction writers while working on a project is a writer's workshop. Workshops are available in many different genres, including poetry workshop, fiction workshop and creative non-fiction workshop, just to name a few. As a graduate student, pursuing my MA in Writing, I've taken a number of workshops and in my own experience they've been useful to some degree but there were times when they've led to nothing but frustration due to battles among workshop peers as to what should or shouldn't be in the piece I was currently working on. This led me to ask the question, are workshops helpful or harmful?
The writer's workshop is a community of writers willing to share their work with others in order to provide and receive useful feedback on their current pieces. However, when we say "useful feedback," how much is truly useful? What can the writer really use from the feedback given? Two sources that touch upon this topic are the online resource, 12 Writing, and William H. Coles from Editor Opinions Blog, a Companion to Story in Literary Fiction. Both of these sources discuss how to learn from a workshop and avoid an unnecessary sense of failure. Some workshops never instruct a writer on what they are doing right, leaving the writer to delete even the best parts of their work. I've experienced this first hand in one of the very first classes that I had in my master's program: the poetry workshop. Since I was a child, writing poetry has always given me a sense of security and pride, until my first workshop, when my pieces were completely ripped apart by some while praised by others. Those who ripped apart my pieces never once gave a bit of good feedback, which caused me to feel like, no matter what I did, those people would not be happy and I tore myself apart in continuing to try.


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Masaryk University Technology Transfer Office
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Survey 2020
Read the stories of technologies and knowledge of experts from Masaryk University that have been successfully put into practice. Our examples involve various fields and areas and show what paths can an invention or a solution take on its way from the university into practice.
CasinventPharma, a new spin-off
A new spin-off company, CasInvent Pharma, a.s., has been established by Masaryk University (MU) in cooperation with its investment partner, i&i Prague, s.r.o. (Ltd), in order to facilitate further development of new compounds that could be used to treat certain types of leukaemia, lymphoma and solid tumours. The company will test the compounds that inhibit the enzyme Casein Kinase 1 (CK1) which is responsible, among other things, for the migration of leukaemia cells into lymphoid organs.
Biomechanical Footwear: Healing Collaboration
Walking is the most natural movement. Unfortunately, nowadays most people walk in a wrong way, which can cause serious health problems. The solution comes the Boty J HANÁK R, Ltd. Company and the team of Assoc. Prof. Martin Zvonař from the Faculty of Sport Studies of MU.
New Detection Cell for Flow Analysis
A team of scientists from the Faculty of Science of MU, created in cooperation with the Brno University of Technology a device for even distribution of liquid flow into several channels for flow analysis. The solution has great potential for application, a fact that is proved by selling the license to the company of Ing. Milan Jílek.
Diagnostic Kits
The diagnostic kit based on the patent of the scientists from the Faculty of Medicine, allows physicians to diagnose pulmonary diseases caused by the Aspergillus fungus on time. The testing kit has been launched onto the market by the Generi Biotech Company, which bought the right to use the patent from MU.
Plasma Technologies Conquer Industry
The Department of Physical Electronics at the Faculty of Science of MU has more than a 50-year tradition of applied research in plasma physics. The work of its scientific teams has already led to several successful industrial innovations. Since 2010, the support of applied research has risen dramatically thanks to the project of R&D Centre CEPLANT.
Interactive Educational Applications
The Corinth Company specializes in developing interactive educational applications with a touch user interface. In 2013 they created the Corinth Classroom Application aimed at human tissue structures. The app´s visual content was created in collaboration with the Department of Biology at the Faculty of Education of MU.
Zoo Visitor App
Students of computer linguistics at the Faculty of Arts of MU developed an application for smart phones and tablets for Brno Zoo visitors. The visitors get the app for free. They'll be able to find the animal that interests them in the list, or by scanning a QR code next to the enclosure. The project was supported by the TTO MU.
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Frasers Property is one of Australia's leading diversified property groups. In Western Australia, Frasers Property is focused on creating strong, sustainable residential communities in some of the fastest growing metropolitan areas. Current key projects include the rapidly developing Jindowie estate in Yanchep and its flagship Port Coogee Residential Estate and Marina.
In 2006, Frasers Property engaged PPR to support its corporate positioning and brand awareness in Western Australia.
With a detailed understanding of WA's property marketing and extensive media networks and relationships, PPR has utilised its strong credentials in creative concept development and event management to maximise publicity of Frasers Property's projects and events in Western Australia.
PPR's expertise including sponsorship leverage and social media has ensured Frasers Property's brand is complemented by its leadership positioning activities and events to develop strong links between local communities and key Frasers Property projects.
Our ongoing strategic communications management advice has delivered exceptional results for Frasers Property, including three awards in the 2011 Urban Development Institute of Australia WA Awards for Excellence program: the Environmental Excellence award, the Residential Development Over 250 Lots Award and the overall President's Award.


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Challenger Resources
GSL Catalyst
Welcome to the GSL
On this page are some examples of Pledge, Publish and Power Challenges from previous GSL Catalysts.
We hope these will help to inspire you when creating your own challenges!
For Pledge, we challenge you to raise funds for a charity or organisation of your choice. Below are some examples of how other Global Social Leaders have fundraised.
Charity/Organisation: The Hope Orphanage
How much was raised? € 2,273
How did they fundraise?
As the head student at her school, the British School of St. Petersburg in Spain, Alba encouraged the student council to hold a charity week to raise awareness of children who haven't had the priviledge of parents supporting them.
The charity week included a movie afternoon, bake sale, teacher vs student spot competition and an art and craft morning. It cost € 6 to participate.
Charity/Organisation: Afghanistan Crisis Support
How much was raised? € 522
Carolina, with the support of her friend Carlo, supported the Afghanistan Crisis by raising money for UNICEF. They organised a non-uniform day at their school, where each student was asked to donate € 2 and wear a white shirt to symbolise their desire for peace.
Charity/Organisation: Make A Wish Foundation
Michaela raised money for Make A Wish Foundation by selling paper stars which her peers could use to write a wish on, and hang on a tree at their school. Each star cost €2, and were sent back to the foundation at the end.
Charity/Organisation: 5Help Foundation
How much was raised? $10,000
Drew focused on developing his nonprofit organisation, 5Help Foundation, that he co-founded at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic with his 14 year old sister. 5Help supports small businesses, the elderly, front line heroes, veterans, children and families in need, the homeless, and those with disabilities… all '$5 at a time.' Using the skills and knowledge Drew acquired on the GSL Catalyst programme, in just 30-days he…
Raised $5,000 to help a veteran who was burned in a fire
Inspired teen volunteers who helped raise funds to make over 1,000 snack bags for the homeless
Ran a coat drive where he collected over 2,700 coats & winter accessories
Inspired teens to help raise funds and make 333 baskets for kids in need
Raised almost $2,000 for his $5 Buys 15 Meals for Hungry Kids $5 Challenge in 2 weeks
HARSHITA
Charity/Organisation: Ningbo Stray Coalition
How much was raised? £48
Harshita is passionate about protecting stray animals from harm. As part of his independent challenge, he raised money for a local charity – Ningbo Stray Coalition – which works to save and support stray animals in the area.
Spirit Week is an annual event in Harshita's school calendar where students pay to wear non-school uniform every day. He decided to encourage his peers to pay ¥10 to dress up on Wildlife Wednesday, coming as their favourite animal or wearing animal print.
Charity/Organisation: Albrighton Community Centre
How much was raised? £0 – Abbie raised awareness of the need for food donations
Due to COVID-19, people in Abbie's local community were struggling and poverty had increased drastically. At the beginning of the pandemic donations to her local community centre were high, however, as time went on they started to drop in numbers despite it still being a very prevalent issue.
Abbie decided to raise awareness by making people aware of the need for donations, and also the great work that Albrighton Community Centre do on social media and on email chains with members of the community. She also encouraged people to volunteer their time to work at the foodbank.
Her efforts resulted in an increase in donations, and also new people stepping up to volunteer!
Charity/Organisation: WWF
How much was raised? £710
William chose to support the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) – a leading organisation in environmental conservation. He set himself a 100-day running challenge – his aim was to run 5km every day for 100 days. He started his challenge in August and will complete it on the 24th of November. He set up a Just Giving page for donations, where he has been posting his running routes everyday!
Charity/Organisation: The Bridge at Leigh
Abigail chose to support The Bridge at Leigh – a charity that aims to reduce food waste, food poverty and social isolation. Recently, the Bridge at Leigh was broken into. Abigail wanted to support them to repair the damage, as they had supported her family with food deliveries during lockdown. Abigail made posters that she put up in her local area and shared on social media. After completing her walk, The Bridge at Leigh were so grateful that they gave her an award for her fundraising!
Charity/Organisation: The Wallich
Angelica chose to support The Wallich – a charity that supports and helps the homeless and is a local organisation to Angelica. She made 140 keyrings/magnets and sold them for £1 each on her drive way to raise money. She also created a poster to raise awareness about homelessness and the work of the Wallich.
Charity/Organisation: CALM
What was done?
Alexander chose to support Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) – a leading charity in Suicide prevention. He raised money by completing a 75km bike ride from York to Easingwold and back. He completed the bike ride in 3 hours and 36 minutes! Alexander set up a Just Giving page for donations to CALM and explains there why he chose to support CALM for his challenge.
Janani
Charity/Organisation: Heart to Heart
Janani decided to raise money for the charity Heart to Heart that supports Children to receive Heart Surgery and organised a Bake sale at her school. She received support from the Charity Committee and other student volunteers to run her bake sale. Janani created posters to advertise her bake sale and arranged for different people to make and sell their cakes.
Federico & Jonny
Charity/Organisation: Greenpeace
Federico and Jonny created a JustGiving to raise money for Greenpeace through donations. They also organised a Zoom meeting, with some close friends and family to tell them about the problems in the Amazon Rainforest and the work that Greenpeace are doing to try and save the rainforest.
Publish challenges you to create a poster, a blog, a short report, or a 3-minute digital submission, to raise awareness about a cause or an organisation and the work they do. Here are some examples of the types of things you could do for your publish challenge.
Poster examples
Blog & Report Examples
Click on the buttons below to see some examples of blogs and reports written and published by other Global Social Leaders.
AMAYA - SOCIAL ACTION
KARLA - RECYCLING
AIMEE - ADOPT A STREET
CHLOE - GIRL'S EDUCATION
HAMZA - MIND & MENTAL HEALTH
ROHAN - HOMELESSNESS
LILA - BUSH HILL PARK
MEDHA - BEING VEGETARIAN
THELMA - MENTAL HEALTH
EMMA - CORAL BLEACHING
ANIKET - FOOD WASTE
Video Examples
Videos are a great way to visually communicate your message! Take a look at those that have been created below as part of previous independent challenges.
Podcast Examples
Podcasts from previous GSL Catalysts have been released on our podcast channel. Click on the button below to be directed to our Spotify and have a listen!
GLOBAL SOCIAL LEADERS PODCAST
For Power, we challenge you to create your own project or campaign. Or, you could select an organisation or charity that you would like to support and come up with a way to raise awareness and build more support for their work.
Julia organised donations for a local orphanage through a school club. Donations consisted of clean clothes, shoes and toys to give to those in need.
Mattia raised awareness for plans made by an Anglo-Australian mining company called Rio Tinto, to dig out lithium mines in Western Serbia. This mine would be the biggest in Europe, but it would be extremely harmful to the environment, due to the amount of water it would use.
He promoted this issue through his blog and social media, to an audience of roughly 300 people in 3 languages (English, Serbian, Italian).
Paula organised a beach clean up initiative for her independent challenge. She recruited a small team of people to support her with her mission, and bought garbage bags, thick gloves and identity badges.
In pairs, they covered the whole length of the coastal area targeted, and made a great difference.
Paula sent a write up of the initiative to a local digital newspaper, and received an environmental volunteering certificate as a recognition from her city council for her efforts.
Kyeong-Min
Kyeong-Min wrote a children's book to educate younger generations on menstruation, and started the Period Poverty Pixel Project.
For the first part of her challenge, she planned, wrote and began illustrating a children's book (for ages 6-9) about what menstruation is. This would help educate them from a young age – learning what will happen in their bodies, and that periods are not 'scary or gross.' The second project is called "The Period Poverty Pixel Project", also known as PPPP. The aim of this project is to get 528 people to take action against period poverty and start a ripple effect that will grow into a global movement.
Kyeong-Min also wrote a blog for the GSL website to inform more people about what she is doing, and by this she has also spread awareness on what period poverty is and what other issues surround menstruation, such as myths, stigmas, secrecy and more. Read her blog below!
Period Poverty Pixel Project
As part of his independent challenge, Michael launched 'Teaching Entrepreneurship.' He committed to one week of active research and two weeks of active teaching (volunteering) at a local primary school in his neighbourhood, where he delivered a workshop focused on equipping children born in disadvantaged communities with an entrepreneurial mindset.
The entrepreneurial mindset workshop helped the children to think more creatively, handle setbacks more effectively and be more curious about the world around them.
In addition, Michael put together a short film (featured above) titled 'Entrepreneurship as a Tool to End Poverty,' and also wrote the below article about his experience. Click on the button to read it!
Kudakwashe
Kudakwashe began a social action project which aimed to reduce environmental and water pollution in his community.
The main focus of the project was to collect recyclable litter from the outskirts of his residential area and surrounding water bodies. In addition, Kudakwashe educated local children and adults on the awareness of the dangers associated with not managing litter well, encouraged them to separate their waste for recycling, and promoted cooperation among the community members.
"From the project I learnt to look at my community as someone who wants to make a positive change but not as a critic."
Rosa supported the charity Children First for her Independent Challenge. She set up her own website and launched a fundraising campaign! She spread the word through posts and videos on social media, and asked her friends and family for their support and donations. She raised a total of £680!
Rosa also decided to write blogs and share them on her website. She challenged herself to write a blog everyday for 10 days, to raise awareness for the charity and their work. In each of her blogs she tells the story of a child that they have supported and her thoughts on their story.
Click on the button below to take a look at her website and read her blogs!
Rosa for Children First
ISOBEL
Isobel supported WWF for her independent Challenge. She decided to raise money by cycling 10km every day for 30 days and set up a Just Giving page where she has raised £510.
She used social media to share her fundraising and created her own website called Well & Fair. On the website she has written blogs about endangered animals and the impacts of climate change, as well as about going Vegetarian for her 30 day challenge. On top of all this, Isobel created a Well & Fair t-shirt as you can see below.
Click on the button below to be taken to Isobel's website and to read all of her blogs!
Well & Fair
Kitty supported SafeWise – a local Road Safety charity. Kitty was involved in a road accident before lockdown and was struggling with PTSD as a result. In order to help her regain some confidence on the roads, Kitty and her Mum thought it best to keep trying everyday to walk and face the challenge of the roads. This led to her making this part of her challenge and decided to walk or run a Marathon distance every week for 4 weeks. She gained sponsorship from her family and completed over 4 marathons in 4 weeks! Kitty contacted SafeWise to tell them about her challenge. They were very supportive and plan to use the money raised to promote their safety messaging.
In addition, Kitty gained the confidence to provide the Police with a Victim Statement for the upcoming prosecution of the driver that caused the accident.
"It was really hard to do but without this project I don't think I could have done it. I have made the little changes myself by facing something that really scared me (and still does), and I have been able to talk to friends and family about the importance of road safety. I hope to continue this in the future."


Phil Redmond is best known for creating three of Britain's longest-running drama series Grange Hill, Brookside and Hollyoaks. Redmond came up with the concept for Grange Hill in 1978 and has written extensively for TV, radio and stage, running independent company Mersey Television for 20 years until 2005. A fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and made a CBE in 2004, Redmond was appointed Deputy Chair and Creative Director of Liverpool's time as European Capital of Culture in 2008. Since then he has worked pro bono in the public sector, being influential in getting David Cameron to launch the ill-fated Big Society in Liverpool.


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Back HCV Treatment A Small Proportion of Hepatitis C Patients Develop Liver Cancer despite Sustained Response to Interferon-based Therapy
A Small Proportion of Hepatitis C Patients Develop Liver Cancer despite Sustained Response to Interferon-based Therapy
Category: HCV Treatment
Published on Tuesday, 14 April 2009 14:01
Over years or decades, chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection can lead to advanced liver disease, including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Sustained response to interferon-based therapy dramatically reduces the risk of liver disease progression, but does not eliminate it completely, according to 2 recently published studies.
5-year Outcomes
Sustained virological response (SVR), defined as continued undetectable HCV RNA 6 months after completion of therapy, is the usual endpoint of clinical trials for hepatitis C treatment, but longer-term outcomes have been less extensively studied.
As described in the March 2009 issue of Hepatology, Sarah George from St. Louis University and colleagues enrolled 150 patients who achieved SVR after interferon-based therapy in a long-term follow-up study conducted between June 1997 and April 2002. About half the participants were men, almost all (98%) were white, and the average age at enrollment was 49 years old.
Most patients (87%) had been treated with conventional interferon plus ribavirin (the study period began before pegylated interferon was widely used). A majority of participants (65%) were treated for 12 months, while the remainder were treated for 6 months.
Participants underwent long-term follow-up to assess liver-related clinical outcomes and evidence of biochemical (liver enzyme elevation) or virological relapse. Of the initial enrollees, 128 patients (85%) were followed through their fourth year after achieving SVR, with 108 patients (72%) followed for 5 or more years.
Participants with a pre-treatment liver biopsy showing stage 2 (moderate) or higher fibrosis were offered a follow-up biopsy after 4 years; 60 patients underwent a second biopsy, and 49 patients had their paired pre-treatment and long-term follow-up biopsies blindly rescored.
Among patients with paired biopsies, 40 (82%) showed a decrease in fibrosis score.
45 patients (92%) had a decrease in combined inflammation score.
10 participants (20%) had normal or nearly normal liver histology on the follow-up biopsy.
2 patients with pre-treatment liver cirrhosis developed HCC, and 1 died.
All the other patients with pre-treatment advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis had improved fibrosis scores on the long-term follow-up biopsy.
None of the participants had conclusive evidence of HCV virological relapse.
3 patients had persistently elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, 2 of whom had new liver disease.
"In a cohort of 150 patients with SVR followed for 5 years, the majority of patients had good outcomes," the study investigators stated.
"Serum virologic relapse was not seen, but 2 patients with pretreatment cirrhosis developed HCC, and one died," they continued. "In a blind rescoring of 49 paired pretreatment and long-term follow-up biopsies, 82% improved fibrosis scores and 92% improved at least 1 component of inflammation."
"A minority of patients had normal or nearly normal liver tissue on long-term follow-up biopsy," they concluded. "Patients with cirrhosis pretreatment are at a low but real risk of HCC after SVR."
HCC despite SVR
In a related report published in the February 2009 European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Justin Sewell from the University of California at San Francisco and colleagues described 5 chronic hepatitis C patients without cirrhosis at baseline who developed HCC despite achieving SVR.
Multiple cases of non-cirrhotic patients developing liver cancer despite sustained response to hepatitis C treatment have been reported in Japan, but this has only rarely been documented outside of Asia, the study authors noted as background.
At the time of HCC diagnosis, 2 of the 5 patients were still non-cirrhotic, 1 had clearly progressed to cirrhosis, and 2 did not have repeat liver histology data.
"Physicians often base screening and treatment decisions on an initial liver biopsy performed years earlier," the researchers wrote. "As fibrosis may advance, and because SVR and lack of cirrhosis do not fully protect against HCC, future study should further evaluate the risk of HCC among hepatitis C patients after sustained virologic response."
SL George, BR Bacon, EM Brunt, and others. Clinical, virologic, histologic, and biochemical outcomes after successful HCV therapy: A 5-year follow-up of 150 patients. Hepatology 49(3): 729-738. March 2009. (Abstract).
JL Sewell, KM Stick, and A Monto. Hepatocellular carcinoma after sustained virologic response in hepatitis C patients without cirrhosis on a pretreatment liver biopsy. European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 21(2): 225-229. February 2009. (Abstract).