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{Giveaway} BEAUTY'S DAUGHTER by Carolyn Meyer
Carolyn Meyer is giving Thanks for her readers!
BEAUTY'S DAUGHTER:
What is it like to be the daughter of the most beautiful woman in the world?
Hermione knows . . . her mother is Helen of Troy, the famed beauty of Greek myth. Helen is not only beautiful but also impulsive, and when she falls in love with charming Prince Paris, she runs off with him to Troy, abandoning her distraught daughter. Determined to reclaim their enchanting queen, the Greek army sails for Troy. Hermione stows away in one of the thousand ships in the fleet and witnesses the start of the legendary Trojan War. In the rough Greek encampment outside the walls of Troy, Hermione's life is far from that of a pampered princess. Meanwhile, her mother basks in luxury in the royal palace inside the city. Hermione desperately wishes for the gods and goddesses to intervene and end the brutal war—and to bring her love. Will she end up with the handsome archer Orestes, or the formidable Pyrrhus, leader of a tribe of fierce warriors? And will she ever forgive her mother for bringing such chaos to her life and the lives of so many others?
Carolyn Meyer is the author of more than fifty books for children and young adults, and has no intention of quitting any time soon. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Story of Hermione and Helen of Troy:
After years of writing about the young lives of fascinating women of power, from Cleopatra to Victoria, in BEAUTY'S DAUGHTER I've drawn on the myths of ancient Greece to tell the story of what it must have been like to be the daughter of the most beautiful woman in the world.
When Helen leaves her husband and daughter and runs off to Troy with handsome Paris, a thousand Greek ships sail for Troy to bring her back..and her daughter, Hermione, goes with them as a stowaway. Hermione's adventures on the Trojan beaches, her struggle for survival,, and her search for true love of her life drive this story.
www.readcarolyn.com
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/cmeyerbooks
Facebook: Carolyn Meyer Books
https://www.amazon.com/author/carolynmeyer
Victoria Rebels
Queen Victoria's personal journals inform this captivating first-person account of one of history's most prominent female leaders.
Queen Victoria most certainly left a legacy—under her rule as the longest reigning female monarch in history, the British Empire was greatly expanded and significant industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military changes occurred within the United Kingdom. To be a young woman in a time when few other females held positions of power was to lead in a remarkable age—and because Queen Victoria kept personal journals, this historical novel from award-winning author Carolyn Meyer shares authentic emotional insight along with accurate information, weaving a true story of intrigue and romance.
Cleopatra Confesses
It is the first century B.C. Cleopatra, the third of the pharaoh's six children, is the one that her father has chosen to be the next queen of Egypt. But when King Ptolemy is forced into exile, Cleopatra is left alone to fend for herself in a palace rife with intrigue and murder. Smart, courageous, ambitious and sensuously beautiful, she possesses the charm to cause two of history's most famous leaders to fall in love with her. But as her cruel sisters plot to steal the throne, Cleopatra realizes there is only one person on whom she can rely--herself.
In Cleopatra Confesses, award winning author Carolyn Meyer writes the story of the teenage girl who would become Egypt's most unforgettable queen, from her early years to her her ultimate destiny.
The Wild Queen
Mary Stuart was just five years old when she was sent to France to be raised alongside her future husband. But when the frail young king dies, eighteen-year-old Mary is stripped of her title as Queen of France and set adrift in the harsh world, alone. Determined to reign over what is rightfully hers, Mary returns to Scotland. Hopingthat a husband will help her secure the coveted English throne, she marries again, but the love and security she longs for elude her. Instead, the fiery young queen finds herself embroiled in a murder scandal that could cost her the crown. And her attempts to bargain with her formidable "sister queen," Elizabeth I of England, could cost her her very life.
Win the books above by entering below:
Cheryl Hart November 23, 2013 at 8:41 AM
These all sound great, but especially Beauty's Daughter!
There's so much to be thankful for this year -- the health and well-being of my family, and the love that we share with one another. There isn't much that can top that.
Christina / Book Addict November 23, 2013 at 8:47 AM
I am most thankful this year for my son as well as my family and friends. Happy Thanksgiving! I am dying to read The Wild Queen! Thanks for this great giveaway.
I couldn't find a follow or subscribe button on http://www.readcarolyn.com
I'm really thankful for my parents. They've helped me through out all of my struggles this year.
Em November 23, 2013 at 3:43 PM
I am thankful for amazing authors who write these books that allow us to escape into another world.
Kai November 23, 2013 at 6:54 PM
It's the Beauty's Daughter and the Wild Queen. I'm hooked on Reign, the TV series about Mary, Queen of Scot and I always have been fascinated with Helen of Troy.
Leanna November 23, 2013 at 8:33 PM
I'm might be most thankful for the teacher's I have this year. For the first time, I think they're ALL amazing. I'm looking forward to reading Beauty's Daughter the most. Thank you :)
Maegan Morin November 24, 2013 at 2:42 AM
I am most thankful for my husband and my children. I just wouldnt be me without them! I would most like to read beauty's daughter.
Danielle @ Ladybug Literature November 25, 2013 at 3:29 PM
I am most thankful for my family. We have had a lot of family trauma lately and I am so glad that most of the people I care most about made it through with me.
I would love to read Beauty's Daughter. :)
Jane November 26, 2013 at 4:23 PM
I am most thankful for my family and I want to read all of her books.
Anastacia Zittel November 27, 2013 at 9:08 AM
It's a cliche, but I'm grateful for my family & most especially my husband. All of her books look wonderful - I can't believe I've never heard of her before! But I'd start with the Wild Queen. I'm a big Tudor buff.
Allie L November 27, 2013 at 9:31 PM
I'm grateful for my family and health. I would love to win a copy of Beauty's daughter :D
Amber Hsu December 1, 2013 at 10:58 PM
I'm most thankful for my family... especially my sister, for always being there for me, whether I want her to or not.
I think of all the books she has published, I am most interested in Cleopatra Confesses~


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A question missing from the health-care debate: Will doctors make less money? | Catherine Rampell
A question missing from the health-care debate: Will doctors make less money?
Won't single-payer health care require higher taxes? (Yes, obviously.) And won't abolishing employer-sponsored insurance face opposition from some of the 160 million people happily on those plans now? (Almost certainly.)
At the debates, in post-debate spin rooms and on Sunday TV show interviews, the Democratic presidential candidates are asked these questions repeatedly as if they are "gotcha" questions. Then they duck and weave to avoid providing the honest but damning (affirmative) sound bite, instead offering some version of: I can convince voters they'd still come out ahead.
But in fact the real third rail of health-care reform — whether we're talking about single-payer, a public option or anything else — is the question no one seems to be asking: Will you require doctors to make less money?
The United States spends a lot more on health care than other rich countries, about twice as much per capita. We have little to show for it, given our worse outcomes on key measures such as life expectancy and infant mortality.
Medicare-for-all proponents promise that their plans will cause us to resemble these other rich countries at last — not only in coverage, but in cost, too. How? By eliminating wasteful spending, which has lately come to mean taking on greedy private insurance companies and even greedier Big Pharma.
We heard this claim from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; and others throughout the debates last week. And look, they're not entirely off base.
The time spent dealing with billing and insurance is the main reason that doctor and hospital administrative costs in the United States far exceed those of other nations. Prescriptions likewise tend to be far more expensive.
So yes, we should try to wring administrative paper-pushing out of the system; and we should try to lower ridiculously high drug costs, particularly for life-saving drugs long off patent, such as insulin.
But even if we could wave a magic wand and reduce both of those line items to what they are in other countries — which, to be clear, the single-payer proposals on the table may or may not actually accomplish — that alone still won't bring U.S. per-capita health spending down to what it is in, say, Canada. David Cutler, a Harvard economist who has done extensive work on both of these subjects, told me he estimated that even these (improbable) changes would close only about half of the U.S.-Canada gap in per-capita health spending.
So what accounts for the rest of the gap? It's mostly what we pay to providers. Or to quote the late, great health economist Uwe Reinhardt: It's the prices, stupid.
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Administrative costs aside, U.S. hospitals charge far more for MRIs, appendectomies and other common procedures than their counterparts abroad. U.S. primary care physicians and (especially) specialists also make way, way more. The average Canadian specialist, for instance, earns about $188,000, while the typical American specialist brings home $316,000, according to an article last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
And unlike insurers, whose profits are effectively capped under current law, there's no ceiling on how much doctors are legally allowed to make.
Of course, while insurers and Big Pharma are popular villains, providers are not. People like and respect their doctors, members of a noble profession who treated their cancer or delivered their babies.
Unsurprisingly, then, the two main Medicare-for-all proposals currently under discussion (authored by Sen. Kamala D. Harris, D-Calif., and Sanders) are both silent about what happens to provider prices. Different assumptions made on this issue help explain the extraordinarily wide range of estimates for how much Medicare-for-all would cost.
Maybe providers would all get paid what they're paid under the existing Medicare system. That's substantially less than they typically receive from private insurance — which means doctors would make less money than under the current system, and probably some hospitals would close. Or, maybe providers would receive something closer to private insurance reimbursement rates, which would keep their incomes higher.
There are arguments to be made for either approach. Either we can decide to pay U.S. physicians as physicians are paid in Canada, and dramatically reduce the cost of Medicare-for-all (and the taxes needed to pay for it); or we can decide that U.S. physicians are worth spending the extra money on (maybe because we're worried they'd otherwise go into even higher-paying careers, like finance), and the plan gets more expensive.
But either way, candidates have to make a choice about a question that is fundamental to understanding what their plans would do, and whether they add up. So far, they haven't.
Catherine Rampell's email address is crampell@washpost.com. Follow her on Twitter, @crampell.
© 2019 Washington Post Writers Group
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Concurrent polycythemia vera and chronic lymphocytic leukemia: treatment response to pegylated interferon alpha 2a.
Extreme lymphoplasmacytosis and hepatic failure associated with sulfasalazine hypersensitivity reaction and a concurrent EBV infection--case report and review of the literature.
CD5+ low-grade marginal zone B-cell lymphomas with localized presentation.
Plasma cell granuloma of the oral cavity: a report of two cases and review of the literature.
Fine-needle aspiration diagnosis of enterogenous cyst of the orbit: a case report.
Primary Follicular Lymphoma of the Gastrointestinal Tract: Case Report and Review.


text:
حرکت بر روی مرز علم
دانشگاه‌های دولتی
دانشگاه آزاد
دانشگاه‌های علوم پزشکی
پایگاههای علمی
انجمنها
کنفرانسها
پژوهشگاه‌ها
اخبار علمی جهان
دانشگاه های برتر دنیا
Researchers awarded £1m to trial quicker diagnostic tools for prostate cancer
folder_openعمومی
access_timeپنجشنبه 23 دی 1400 ساعت 19:2
linkImperial College London
Researchers have been awarded £1 million to trial new MRI scanning methods to diagnose prostate cancer.
The team, from Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, will explore whether a new type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan can detect signs of prostate cancer more quickly than current methods. They will also assess whether new imaging technology to help doctors carry out targeted prostate biopsies is better at detecting prostate cancer compared to traditional biopsies. If proved effective, the team hopes the new technology will be more accurate and faster at diagnosing prostate cancer, and they estimate it could save the NHS £15 million per year.
Funded by Cancer Research UK, the work is led by Professor Hashim Ahmed, from the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London, who is Consultant Urological Surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK with around 52,300 new cases diagnosed each year. It develops when cells in the prostate grow in an uncontrolled way. Prostate cancer develops slowly and symptoms such as the blood in the urine do not appear until the disease has developed. It usually affects men over 50 and often men with a family history of the disease. Black men are disproportionately impacted by the disease and deaths from prostate cancer have now overtaken those from breast cancer.
Diagnosing prostate cancer
One of the main methods to diagnose prostate cancer is a special type of magnetic resonance Imaging (MRI) scan called a multi-parametric MRI (mpMRI) scan, which helps doctors see if there is any cancer inside the prostate and how quickly the cancer is likely to grow.
The procedure involves an injection of a dye called gadolinium through a small plastic tube into a vein in of the arm. This helps to show up the body's organs more clearly. However, this method can have side effects such anaphylactic shock - a rare but severe allergic reaction – and the dye can get deposited into brain tissue. The scan also takes 40 minutes and costs £350-450. Administration of gadolinium requires further medical supervision due to the risk of anaphylactic shock. This puts extra pressure on staff resources and can lead to patients with suspected prostate cancer waiting longer to be seen.
One arm of the new trial will look at the effectiveness of using Bi-parametric MRI (bpMRI), a shorter type of MRI scan that uses the same device to image the prostate to detect signs of cancer. Instead of 40 minutes, it takes 15 minutes and does not involve a gadolinium injection and costs £200. Previous studies have indicated that bpMRI might be as accurate as mpMRI in detecting prostate cancer. However, these studies have involved a small number of patients.
New Methods
If proved effective this new method could save the NHS money and allow for more men to be scanned. Professor Hashim Ahmed Chair of Urology in the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London and Consultant Urological Surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
Professor Ahmed said: "Cases of prostate cancer are rising each year and it's predicted that 250,000 men will be diagnosed with this disease every year by 2030. MRI scans are one of the ways we detect prostate cancer but current scans are time-consuming and require a doctor to be present. About out one million MRI scans will need to eventually be carried out every year. Our trial will assess whether bpMRI, which is much quicker, can detect prostate cancer just as effectively as current scanning methods. If proved effective this new method could save the NHS money and allow for more men to be scanned."
Men who have a suspicious MRI are referred for a biopsy, which involves using thin needles to take small samples of tissue from the prostate. This is then looked at under a microscope to check for cancer. The current method relies on a doctor's judgement to guide where to place the biopsy needle. This could mean that cancers are missed as samples may be taken from an area that does not contain the cancer.
The second part of the trial will use image fusion technology, which merges MRI and ultrasound images of the prostate to help identify the target area for biopsy. The technology is able to guide the biopsy needle to within two-three millimetres accuracy. Experts think that this technology might be more accurate at detecting prostate cancer than traditional methods but no large studies have previously been carried out to confirm this.
Professor Ahmed added: "Current biopsies require doctors estimating where to deploy the biopsy needle in order to take tissue samples. This means a section of tissue may be taken that does not show the cancer and it might be missed. Therefore, we need to look at methods that can improve the accuracy of biopsies. We will also look at whether image fusion technology could lead to improved detection of prostate cancer. We need to be sure about the value of image fusion for the NHS, as it will cost a lot of money to buy the technology for every hospital.
"The funding for these trials will allow us to test these new methods and see whether they could help improve the ways in which we detect and diagnose this disease so we can help more men."
PACIFIC Trial
Professor Ahmed and his team will recruit up to 3,600 men to the Prostate Assessment using Comparative Interventions – Fast mri and Image-fusion for Cancer (PACIFIC) trial at Charing Cross Hospital, part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Up to 30 NHS hospital will also take part. The PACIFIC trial will assess whether bpMRI can be just as effective at detecting signs of prostate cancer as mpMRI. The team will randomise the men into two groups; one will receive a bpMRI and the other a mpMRI. The second part of the trial will focus on the men who have a suspicious MRI and require a biopsy. These men will be randomised into two groups; these men will receive a traditional biopsy or a biopsy using image-fusion technology. The team will then compare the results from the different groups.
For more information on the PACIFIC trial please visit Imperial Prostate .
لینک اصل محتوا در Imperial College London
language وب سایت Imperial College London
location_onآدرس :
event_noteتعداد مطالب : 2041
سایر اخبار Imperial College London
The National Student Survey 2022 launches at Imperial
Alice Gast: Universities must forge ahead with new frontiers
Three Imperial "rising stars" secure €4.5 million of ERC funding
New £10m centre to explore links between organisms and their microbiomes
Omicron – latest research and expert views as PCR test rules change
Innovation Design Engineering students tackle '1.5°C Cuisine' challenge
سایر اخبار عمومی
Seeing the natural world through a mathematical lens
Three with MIT ties win 2022 Churchill Scholarships
Synthesis too slow? Let this robot do it.
Overcoming a bottleneck in carbon dioxide conversion
A look at how countries go nuclear — and why some do not
درباره اخبار عملی
درخواست پویش خبر
رتبه بندی روابط عمومی
تبلیغات در اخبارعلمی
انتشارات بوم سازه (سیویلیکا)
سیویلیکا، ناشر تخصصی مقالات و گزارشهای علمی کشور است که پایگاه "اخبارعلمی" به عنوان یکی از زیر مجموعه های سیویلیکا در حال فعالیت می باشد.
"اخبار علمی" یک پایگاه تخصصی پویش اخبار علمی کشور است که به صورت ساخت یافته هر آنچه در اکوسیستم علمی ایران اتفاق می افتد را رصد، دسته بندی و در اختیار شما قرار می‌دهد
برچسب های پر استفاده
همایش دانشگاه آزاد کرونا منابع طبیعی گزارش تصویری نمایشگاه کارآفرینی روابط عمومی هفته پژوهش هفته سلامت وزارت بهداشت نشست علمی بورس تحصیلی انتخاب رشته دکتری
مقالات علمی رتبه بندی دانشگاه ها انجمن های علمی دیده بان علم ایران فراخوان های علمی افراد مهم علمی کشور مرجع صنعت کنفرانس اطلاع رسانی کنفرانس ها خبرگزاری کنفرانسها اخبار ساختمان پروژه ها و تحقیق دانشجویی کنفرانسهای پزشکی مرجع دانش جوشکاری اکوسیستم کارآفرینی جستجوی وکیل مجلات علمی ایران رتبه بندی بانکها رتبه بندی بیمه زلزله


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The Man Who Has Everything: Mark Fisher on Drake's Nothing Was the Same
Mark Fisher—the noted blogger known as K-Punk and the author of Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?—picks up where his essay on James Blake left off, this time deconstructing the Drake dilemma.
So here we are again: life at rainbow's end. Everything that can be bought, available practically immediately, 24/7: women, food, cars, you name it, you click on it. Every hotel suite can be prepared to your specifications. The only things that are different are the shower controls. It's all top quality, although naturally you can get down and dirty with the fast food options if you want to, and often (why not?) you do.
Got everything, I got everything… I cannot complain, I cannot
(You sure about that, Drake?)
I don't even know how much I really made, I forgot, it's a lot…
Fuck that, never mind what I got
OK, then, let's get the obvious question out of the way first. if you've got everything, why are you so sad?
Surely it can't be as simple and sentimental as that hoary old chestnut: money can't buy you love? Come on, is this really where rap was destined to end up: with the rapper as some romcom character, all the braggadocio and super-conspicuous consumption just so much bluster to conceal the boy-lack that the redeemer-woman will make good in the final reel? That old story, again? "Next time we fuck, I don't want to fuck, I want to make love… I want to trust." Drake can't quite believe this routine, can't quite make us believe it. He knows perfectly well that this sensitive stuff can play as one more pick-up-artist's ruse… He's spent so long deceiving and then revealing his deceptions that he's no longer sure when he's trying to play us or speak openly, or what the difference is. Crying real tears with one eye, while winking over the latest conquest's shoulder to the camera with the other. He'd convinced us he was different, but that was a trick, and one that others have caught on to. There's nothing very brave or unique about talking about your feelings now that "niggas talk more than bitches do." Is this more honesty, or just an acknowledgement that he needs a new USP?
I got 99 problems, getting rich ain't one
Listening to Nothing Was the Same, I'm reminded of Judd Apatow's Funny People. Apatow's film is defined by a series of hesitations and avoidances. First of all, it seems as if it is going to be a film about a jaded but rich and successful comedian, George Simmons (Adam Sandler), who learns the value of life when he's diagnosed with a serious illness; then it seems to be about a man who accepts the value of love and family. Yet each time the film seems to move towards these standard generic resolutions, Apatow pulls back. Simmons' hedonic nihilism re-asserts himself; the threat of death can't break the bad habits of a lifetime; the love he lost long ago was actually better off lost. He's not happy being himself but he doesn't want to be anyone else. Far from relieving this existential dilemma, fabulous wealth means that he has nowhere at all to hide from it.
Nothing Was the Same is characterized by the same ambivalence—a longing to be a new person who can love and trust (with a woman, naturally, charged as the agent of this transformation) together with a recognition that he will never change, that he'll always be drinking, smoking, fucking, that he's far from perfect, but neither is anyone else, right? He never really took off the gangsta-minstrel drag for good; instead, he keeps casting it aside, inspecting it, distancing himself from it, before wearing it again. He can't help himself (or so he keeps telling us). But this oscillation is valuable for what it tells us about rap's embattled masculinity in general. Drake confirms that the street-strutting bad boy "just looking for head in a comfortable bed," is the other face of the desperately alone little boy lost crying to his mommy substitute. The boasting brute is always on the run from the helpless infant inside, but, for that very reason, the emotionally broken-down male isn't an alternative to all the ego-armor posturing, so much as it is its enabling condition. Women are to be publicly disdained, treated as currency in a homosocial bragging economy; in private they are asked to make these wounded men whole again. Is there a track that has exposed the real nature of the male-to-female love song better than Take Care's "Marvin's Room"? The conceit—a drunk Drake leaving a phone message to a long lost love he treated badly but now thinks he wants back—leaves us in no doubt that he was speaking to himself via a fantasized female Other.
Gangsta's hyperbolically-staged fantasies of omnipotence were always nouveau-riche giveaways, which, like the bling, sang out that these working-class black Americans had not yet achieved the easy way in the world, the casual confidence that are the birthrights of those born to wealth and power. The (gold) chains have always clanked as loudly as Jacob Marley's that the struggle to escape servitude has run aground, and that untold riches for a very few were the compensation for the many languishing in inertia, poverty, incarceration. Is "Started from the Bottom"—which we all laughed at: no you didn't, Drake!—Drake's commentary on all this? Hear it as an act of imagination, Drake putting himself in the sneakers of those who had to struggle from the depths like he never had to, rather than as some forged autobiography, and it makes more sense. But listen to the sheer weariness that weighs down the track: the heavy tristesse that starts the moment after you've reached the top of the tower, as the realization sinks in that there's no replacing the thrill of the chase. Drake was always expected to be a success, so he was deprived even of that brief moment of satisfaction before the ennui and the paranoia set in. Reaching the top was standard, the least he could expect.
Nothing Was the Same is tangled up in all the confusions of a generation of men faced with contradictory imperatives—the post-feminist awareness that treating women like shit isn't cool, together with the Burroughsian bombardment of always-available pornography. There's no point moralizing here, either for Drake or us. Drake's at his weakest when he half-heartedly attempts some kitschy Hallmark card affirmation of lurve; he's at his most painfully revelatory when he admits that these impasses, these binds, are just too much for him. He can't escape these knots because the knots are what he is. His bewilderment about what a man is supposed to be now is the very hallmark of a contemporary heterosexual masculinity that realizes that the patriarchal game is up, but which is too hooked on the pleasures and privileges to relinquish them yet (just one more click on the porn, then I'll be Mr. Sensitive forever).
On Nothing Was the Same, Drake often sounds like Tony Montana in Scarface: fucking, eating, snorting, is that all there is? But the tone here couldn't be more different from Pacino's eighties cocaine histrionics. A glacial fatalism runs beneath everything here, and Drake matters because he makes contact—maybe better than anyone else—with the sense of hopelessness that quietly subsists beneath all the twerking and tweeting, all the twitter and the chatter of 21st century culture. Hear this in the gorgeous electro-downer haze that saturates the album and establishes its tone much more than any of the beats. Yet there's something beyond the fatalism, too. You can hear it in Drake's signature move—the transition from rap to singing, the slipping down from ego-assertion into a sensual purring, the relaxing into a lasciviousness that has nothing to do with the localized libido and dumb automatisms of phallic sexuality. Down here, there is a glorious release from the pressures of identity. Rave-like, pitched-up vocals are suspended on placid currents of synth. Voices stop being human, become avatars from a space where subjectivity has been left behind like a bad dream. On the opener, "Tuscan Leather", Whitney Houston's ghost is summoned from the hotel bathroom, mutated into some butterfly-fragile chirruping creature singing inside a specimen jar. I'm frequently reminded of nothing so much as the refracted architectures and water sprites of Balam Acab's Wander/Wonder. When you dive into these electro-oceanic depths, Nothing Was the Same ceases to be a fascinating symptom of all the blockages of the present, and becomes a longing for something new, something strange and lovely. ~
Drake's Nothing Was the Same is out now on Cash Money/Universal. Mark Fisher's new book Ghosts of My Life is published later this December via Zer0 Books.
Published on September 24, 2013 14:53 Berlin Time
"We have to attack with HD": An interview with Katapulto
Wojtek Rusin is one of those cosmopolitan artists who pursues his dreams as an émigrée, reaping artistic inspiration from the transient nature of such an existence. Originally from Poland, he currently resides in Bristol, UK after stints in Barcelona and Germany. Under his moniker Katapulto, Wojtek has produced a diverse array of music ranging from conceptual pieces to camp, experimental endeavors reminiscent of Felix Kubin, only to arrive at catchy synth-based songs. After a brilliant conceptual tape for Sangoplasmo where he used recordings in several languages about animals, Rusin returns with his latest album Bad Tourist—named so because "it could be a title of a theatre play"—out now on AMDISCS. We caught up with him to talk about subversion, angry markets and the power of high-definition.
Bad Tourist brings to mind some of those good, hit-loaded synthpop albums from the eighties in the vein of Depeche Mode, etc.
I was definitely looking for something like this. Sometimes you have these albums where three four songs are really good and with the rest couldn't work on their own and are just there to fill up the product. I didn't want that. I love the early Depeche Mode albums, where every song is a song in its own right. My record somehow refers to the eighties because of the synth sounds, but I guess the production has a modern twist. I didn't want to go for lo-fi aesthetics. There are also these two songs—"Stories from Beyond the Sun"—where the computer talks about melodramatic stories taken from the tabloids. I also used some nineties loops found on some obscure blogs about obsolete music technology. It's sometimes inspiring to work with found lyrics and sound.
How did the album come about?
The whole album is a selection of songs that I recorded over the last two years. I had been living in Barcelona, Poland and Bristol during that time. It's a bit like a diary; impressions of different places and situations. I was definitely going for diversity rather than consistency throughout the whole thing. Every track posed a different challenge.
Have the geographical differences left a mark on the songs?
For example I went to this exhibition about television at the MACBA in Barcelona, and there was this BBC TV series from the seventies called Ways of Seeing. I included some things from it into my lyrics. Right now I'm doing a course on teaching children music and had to go through these online tests. I ended up making a song inspired by this called "Children Protection". The album is more free form and not as concept-heavy as the Animalia cassette, that had this pseudo-educational vibe and was sonically more about the sound design and creating some kind of fake folk music. On the other hand, on the new record every song has this single, independent character. It tells a story by itself.
Do you approach your music from a conceptual standpoint?
In those two tracks mentioned before I really enjoyed the tension between the found lyrics and muzak-like elevator sounds. The rest are songs with hopefully nice melodies and well-programmed drums. Animalia was a conceptual album, and so is the music I make for theater. The last play involved me amplifying various domestic objects with contact mics and improvising around the lines of the actors. I did quite strange music years ago, the first albums are perhaps unlistenable but I think they're quite interesting. It's a way of finding a balance between an intriguing, original sound and putting it in a frame of a pop song. I think the record is quite contemporary with songs, conceptual pieces… It's a bit eighties and nineties feeling but not in a retro-nostalgic way. It's natural to quote and refer to the past. What is the contemporary sound anyway? There is this very contemporary sounding artist called Shackleton who is so futuristic that it somehow escapes the past, it's truly music from another planet. I saw him at a festival recently and was amazed. James Ferraro on the other hand refers to muzak, ringtones, midi kitsch, sound design. Everything is happening at the same time, the references are all there because of the internet—it's hard to escape. Hype Williams are an interesting example of filtering the last 20 years of electronic, hedonistic rave music through their lo-fi aesthetic.
The aesthetic criteria have changed too…
The lo-fi post punk aesthetic doesn't work for me anymore. The methods that were relevant in the past with the lo-fi, rough sound have been worn out. Some musicians are going for cleaner, more futuristic sounds in order to make subversive music. It's also a more natural method for me since I've always used computers rather than synths but there are still labels out there which are fascinated and a bit nostalgic about dirty synthesizers and drum machines. I can imagine that by using this stuff you can have a very consistent sound throughout the whole record which is sometimes quite tempting but it's actually more fascinating and challenging to use the new technologies. Then you are using the same weapons as the mainstream. I'm fascinated by HD, After Effects and sound design. I did a song with a 22-year-old and she thinks the dirty punk thing is very retro. The subversive language has changed and we have to attack with HD rather than some sort of nostalgic noise and feedback.
You work with digital technologies?
Almost everything is computer VSTs. Recently I had a chance to play with a fantastic modular synth that my friend built and it was great, magical, but I didn't have a clue what do to with it! Somehow I managed to slip into self-referential retro. But some people can use these machines in a very creative way.
What constitutes futurism in music for you nowadays?
We are getting into a phase where the differences are very subtle and the old methods of analysis have changed. You listen to something and have to spend more time to detect some radical novelty. When I was younger and listened to a new record, it was a totally new world, you didn't recognize the references. In a gig environment I like it when I get lost and don't know the references, it feels like being 18 again and listening to a tape by Squarepusher and wondering what the hell that is. Thing is, you can't expect such massive shift in sound like fifteen years ago. I guess everyone is referring somehow to the musical past, it's about filtering, an art of intelligent quoting, or maybe I'm totally wrong and we'll be blown away in a few years with some sort of a totally new thing that doesn't sound like anything else. Is this still possible?
Talking about subversion, you did a video for your song Angry Markets, deconstructing sterile stock images. You worked at a design agency so you have personal experience with the world of commercial imagery, right?
This is an aesthetic used in a corporate world. You have groups of photographs arranged under keywords like happy people, where everyone is very young with blue stripy shirts, happy and smiling. This represents a certain economic and political direction, and it's quite interesting to use this aesthetic in a music video. The lyrics "Angry markets, profit warnings" came from the BBC's financial news and I found this ultra-capitalist language of the angry markets rather scary. In a way it is a political song. It's also about truth. When you look at these photographs, are these happy people? Do we believe their smiles? I don't know who believes in this anymore. They are monsters fabricated by ideology.
But you are also influenced by other media outside of music?
I'm a big fan of Ryan Trecartin who makes these flamboyant films with pitch-shifted voices and stories about internet characters. It's very futuristic and the sound design is brilliant because he mixes everything in such a nonchalant way. I'm very inspired by visual art. I also love the art of Joe Evans who made a large sculpture for the cover of the album. I want to make more videos, to add different dimensions to my music.
You have lived both in the east and the west of Europe. What is your view of the east/west divide, especially in terms of music?
I moved to Britain in 2004 but I was brought up in Poland and lived in Germany for a bit. With the UK, I certainly moved into a country of a very diverse culture and very advanced capitalism. I'm a bit trapped in a channel of Anglo-American music here. It's a natural process but you have to be aware of it. When I was living in Poland I was listening to a lot of German music because Germany is Poland's neighbor with a very strong tradition of electronic music. When I came to England, I realized they haven't heard about certain things which were well known to me, like the Scape label, Pole, etc. I did a mixtape for a US blog recently, and I looked at my itunes and realized that most of the tracks are featured on every cool blog and how could I surprise anybody with that. I had to dig deeper into my library and find, for instance, German new wave hero Holger Hiller. I'm certainly aware that there are interesting things happening in Central and Eastern Europe and hopefully they will become louder.
Stream Katapulto's album Bad Tourist in full:
"It's a big word": Dan Deacon on America
Dan Deacon has been an underground agitator since the early '00s, when he first broke out of the local music scene in Baltimore. His academic background – he studied at the State University New York's music conservatory – has endowed his bit-crunched and brash compositions with a sense of purpose and poise. In other words, he's experimental without being a dick about it.
His eighth album America, aside from being one of his most most sonically naked records he's ever made, is also a deeply political record which sees Deacon tackling the sort of issues that begin to take hold when you step away from the internet or look up from your phone. He's even gone so far as to print the lyrics with the record for the first time. It's an interesting development, and we tracked him down on a flying visit to Berlin to find out what's behind it. Photo: Shawn Brackbill
Listening to this record, my first response was how beautiful and expansive it is— particularly compared to your earlier records, which felt much more processed.
Most of the music is geography-based. I feel like that's one of the things that I get the most inspiration from. I've done endless road trips in the United States, you go from these city centers that are largely crumbling – many cities in the States are crumbling, old post-industrial, especially on the East Coast where I live. Then you drive out of the cities and you're instantly in these beautiful wonderlands of earth. I really like that. I don't drive myself, so when I do travel I look out the window. It's these two juxtaposed influences: one being the music which is influenced by geography and the other being the lyrics, which are influenced by the other side of things…mainly my role in what I perceive to be a system that I don't want to be a part of. But there's no way not to be a part of it.
What do you mean exactly?
Most of technology comes out of comfort and ease; it's trying to make our lives easier and easier. I think of it like a scale: that the more comfortable I am actually means I am making someone else more uncomfortable. Especially when you see those photos of piles and piles of old computers.
Like the "Intolerable Beauty" series of photographs by Chris Jordan which forces you to confront the amount of electronic waste we create. It's profoundly distressing.
I can't complain about fracking and the use of natural gas if I still want my house to be the perfect temperature. I feel like there's a dialogue between the music and the lyrics. I wanted to retain an optimism. I used to be quite nihilistic and almost wanted humanity to fade into the ether and disappear off the earth.
Do you think the gradual shift from nihilism to hope could also be a product of maturity?
It could be. Probably. A lot of people are nihilists in their twenties…you start to become aware of your role in the system. You want the system to collapse, especially if you're counter-culture, and most musicians tend to be, well, at least hoping that they're counterculture. Maybe not. Maybe musicians now want to be the mainstream.
It's strange how music is apolitical now. It's reflected within the music press, once a platform for angry left-wing politics. A lot of music press is trying to have the next new thing and essentially that's quite hollow. If there's no substance in that then you're just like the people who write "first!" in the comments.
That's the nature of capitalism: new, new, new, new. Or Greatest Hits. The music press is conservative: look at their advertising base. People are advertising in those magazines for very specific reasons: because of the demographics that they reach.
You recently brought out a phone app. How does this square with your worldview? Your place in the system?
It doesn't. I think it fits in with my general aesthetic, though maybe aesthetic is the wrong word. I think the basis of my work tries to revolve around changing contexts, and when I play live I try recontextualize the space as much as possible. I utilize the audience as if they're another instrument, or another element of the performance so that they're not just there to watch but to actively participate. However, if you put too much emphasis on the audience, it's no longer an entertainment they signed up for because they internalize it differently. I like to think people realize they are both an individual and a member of a group: there's no real division of those things in how we live our lives. We live our lives as individuals but also as members of a society, and that society has common rules and boundaries and codes and conducts. Even counter-culture has those rules. Do you remember when you used to be bored and you used to be able to think? Now you play a game or send an email.
You've called the record America – aside from the topographical reasons, you don't call an album that without betraying a bald sense of ambition.
It's a big word. I wanted a title that would serve many different emotions. Nobody internalizes that word in the same way. It's a mixture of love, hate, pride and shame, especially within America. I can only imagine what this word means to Europeans, in the UK or Asia. But you'd be hard pressed to find someone who hasn't heard the word. A lot of Americans are obsessed with trying to not associate with being American, and that in itself is American. When Americans think of a stereotypical American they think of someone who is not them. "Oh it's these Republicans from the South", "oh it's these New England liberals" etc. Especially within youth culture. A lot of politicians and corporations are like "this is what America's about" and most of the time I'm like "no it's not." I wanted to contribute to that dialogue: America is also this. But it's not a patriotic record.
…because Patriotism has certain connotations?
There's no need for countries. It's another way of dividing and defining people, creating these differences. Cultures obviously exist; there's a difference between British culture and German culture. I could move to Paris and live there for 40 years and when I'm 70 I'll still be an American who lives in Paris.
In the same way you can strive to construct an identity, but that doesn't always translate to how people process you.
I think identity is a big theme on the record. More like me questioning my role and coming to terms what I'm to do if I'm to better the world. And the only way to better the world is to better myself, Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" sort of style!
Again, that's quite a grand statement.
I'm not trying to contribute to some sort of dialogue when all you're doing is creating candy. Candy is nice. I ate a piece a moment ago and it was great. At the same time, I can't thrive on it. There's so much sugar and insincerity within the indie scene and pop music. I wanted to create something that had an additional element. I want it to be successful in the sense that a group of friends can get together and take bong rips and chill but they can also really listen to it. And maybe it would cause them to ask some questions in their head. I think that's the most important thing someone can do: get someone to think and to start asking questions.
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Interview: Mostly Robot
Mostly Robot isn't just a band or a so-called supergroup. It's not that Jeremy Ellis, Jamie Lidell, Tim Exile, Mr Jimmy and DJ Shiftee came together by accident. There's a sense that this is a whole new method of band making. Native Intruments are the 'curators' who brought the musicians together, famous of course for their hard- and software: designed and produced for making state-of-the-art music and helmed by former Viva2 anchorman Mate Galic. We teamed up backstage with the Mostly Robot crew to get the background on this most unusual, self proclaimed 'boyband from the future'.
EB: How did the relationship with Native come together?
Mostly Robot: Each one of us was approached by Native in different ways. It grew pretty organically – the original idea that we might do something grew from a Native anniversary party that Jeremy Ellis, Tim Exile and DJ Shiftee played in the LA. At the same time Sónar wanted to work together with Native again on a creative level. It wasn't really a strategic move to cast a band, but as it developed, we wanted to create something unique.
Does this mean that the days of musicians looking for a label or distribution are over? Normally there's a line between artists who are creating and companies who want to make money.
We would consider this as a kind of curatorship, of unifying talents which couldn't be unified otherwise. You always have that in art, this idea of the curator, a person who brings different artists together. So we wouldn't see that in such a harsh light; it's the show and the end result which have to catch people emotionally.
Of course, the Guggenheim in Berlin is funded by Deutsche Bank, a body very much into making money while, in 2012, many labels are struggling.
The difference between Deutsche Bank giving money to an artist and Native is that Native makes synthesizers and other musical gear. They make a whole lot of things that we can use and we're proud to have the Native affiliation because we're all nerdy in our respective fields and Native are at the cutting edge of technology. It's not a big corporate thing because we're with the people pushing what we all want to do. We use the gear because we want to and the fact that we can come together like this is a happy bonus.
Looking fifty years into the future, how do you think the music industry will develop? Will there still be big labels supporting musicians? Or will it be corporations trying to support musicians, bringing them together to play festivals and releasing albums because all the oldschool labels fell behind because they didn't understand the internet.
'Yes' is the answer to that. In the past, patronage used to be powerful families: the Medici, say, or else think of all the artists who used to create for their nation's royal families. Now we're in a capitalist society, the representation of that power has moved to corporations and that's normal. What's more, there's a sense of creating relationships with people: we're humans, we want to make connections, and, likewise, companies want to make connections. As individuals we want to look the way we want to look and be received in the way we want to be received, and companies want to do that too. Of course, big companies always want a bite of the subculture.
But what is subculture in 2012?
All I mean is that if you show people on the high street names like the bands playing at this festival (Modeselektor, Junior Boys, Nicolas Jaar or Mostly Robot) and if they don't know who they are then it's a subculture we're dealing with. Red Bull is a great example; people don't know who professional surfers or skateboarders are, it's a niche thing, but they're sponsoring 75 different sports. And they're supporting a lot of freaking cool shit.
Returning to Mostly Robot, it's hard to find any tracks on the internet. Is there an album release scheduled and how will that work?
We don't know is the answer. Ultimately, it's a pleasure project. There's a lot of cameras at our gigs, the Native team are putting together videos, however while we're together it's about fun. When we all go back to our separate corners and get back on email we'll talk about serious things. In the meantime we joke a lot, have fun and play the music. There's no masterplan. We did CDR in Berlin the other night, we played a lot and encouraged people. That's one thing we're definitely are: we're an experiment band.
What can we expect from the live show?
It's five people onstage and three people running the visuals. Visuals wise, we're a live band and it was our concept to show that. Every position gets a visual object so you see what you hear. We gave each member a different form or shape that rebuilds his instruments like his pad or his keyboard and these get triggered by the midi notes. We then mix this up with animations that we've done in advance because if we just translated the music mathematically it wouldn't work; music is emotional and a show needs peaks.
How many gigs have you played now?
Sonar, Berlin Festival and this one. CDR wasn't really a show. We're jamming, we don't know what's going to happen, if it was all click-synced it would be boring for us and the crowd, it needs to have the spirit of the live band. That was the idea, for everyone to jam live and not have a grid where everybody presses play. It's about getting back to the instruments.
There's no masterplan, but what about the immediate future? Surely it's not all spontaneous. You're playing EB festival, what's the next step?
As we said, it's a pleasure project. We will get together when there's time and talk about it and a plan could emerge, we don't have a plan not to make a plan. As we do stuff it creates opportunities to do more, one step at a time. We do have some recorded jams … However, that's the other thing about recording: the one thing about us and recording that's different is the severe lack of overdubs – that's the whole point. If we were actually going to go into a studio then we would go into Abbey Road. We would use the pre-amps, plug in and then play it down like it's 1962. As if we were on a Roy Orbison record. We're a live band. We exist in real time.
Photos: Attila Masa & Bartalan Soos
© Capitalism Archives – Telekom Electronic Beats


Awarded ADDY® Best in Show 2nd runner up (campaign), Gold ADDY® (campaign), Silver ADDY® (logo), District 7 Silver ADDY® (campaign), 2013, winner of 48 Hour Launch 2013 (website).
For too long, women have considered whiskey a man's drink, somehow off-limits for them. The Whiskey Women was formed to bring women together to socialize, learn about, and drink whiskey. The founders wanted to show that women are independent, empowered, down-to-earth, and can put aside the cultural belief that whiskey is a man's drink.
Taking inspiration from vintage typography, the main letterforms have a firm, but rough edge to them, that are paired with a more delicate typeface. The color scheme follows the same cues, and maintains a femininity, without becoming saccharine. Imagery of women simply being themselves, whomever that might be, is the focus. There is a beauty in every woman, no matter what kind of woman she may be. For a little fun, a list of rules was developed. However, this list of rules is for the woman who should follow no rules.
The website was built as part of this year's 48 Hour Launch, and went from concept to coding within that time frame (more like 37 hours – we saved a little time for sleep and drinking whiskey), taking home the main prize. I worked with an amazing team consisting of strategists, copywriters, and a developer.
Photography courtesy of John Somerville.
© 2017 Melinda Taylor. All Rights Reserved.


The weather has already started to get colder (and here in Minnesota, we've already had the first snow!), but the dropping temperatures don't need to dampen your spirits. In fact, with the return of the 2018 Holiday Sale, it's the perfect time to pick up some gifts for that special gamer in your life, whether it's a family member, a friend, or yourself!
Starting at 10:00 A.M. Central Time, October 25, and running through November 5, the 2018 Holiday Sale is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the holidays by picking out the perfect gifts. Whether you're a gamer yourself or shopping for someone else, you can find the perfect gift among the dozens of games on the Holiday Sale. Just be sure to take a look today—many of our hottest items will sell out quickly!
There's lots to discover and enjoy at the Holiday Sale, and among the dozens of games, books, and supplies from Fantasy Flight Games, you'll also find some brand-new deals.
New Angeles pulls you into the Android universe, putting you at the head of a megacorporation struggling to fulfill your agendas in the tumultuous city of New Angeles. As the chief executive of Jinteki, Haas-Bioroid, NBN, the Weyland Consortium, or another corp, you must negotiate to achieve victory, while preventing New Angeles from falling into chaos and keeping the U.S. government out of your hair. Only the shrewdest and canniest executives can turn a profit in the cutthroat environment of New Angeles.
Alternatively, you could journey to the vibrant fantasy realm of Terrinoth with Runebound or Runewars Miniatures Game! You may embody a hero in Runebound, embarking on countless adventures and building your skills until you're ready to show your power and battle a nemesis that threatens Terrinoth. Or, you could take command of a massive army in Runewars Miniatures Game, a rank-and-file miniatures game of high-stakes fantasy warfare. You can take up arms with the noble Daqan Lords, raise the dead with Waiqar the Undying, protect the Aymhelin forests with the Latari Elves, or ride out of the wastes with the Uthuk Y'llan. No matter which faction you embrace, picking up the Runewars Miniatures Game Core Set on the Holiday Sale is the perfect place to start playing a miniatures game.
But there's much more for you to explore among the FFG games on the Holiday Sale. With the help of conversion kits, you could pick up some first edition X-Wing™ expansions and start playing in tournaments today! Or, you could expand your collection for one of our Living Card Games, picking up an assortment of packs for Star Wars™: The Card Game, A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, or Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game. You might even venture into dank dungeons with Drakon or Cave Troll, or get a start on winter reading with Android novels and novellas!
No matter how you like to spend your gaming time, and no matter who you're buying for, there's something for you to enjoy at the Holiday Sale. The sale is open now, and runs through November 5, but remember, the hottest deals will go fast, so take a look at what we have to offer today!
Retailers: You can also participate in the Holiday Sale while supplies last! Don't place your orders through the webstore, though. U.S. retailers that are interested in participating can email [email protected] for more information on ordering. For non-U.S. retailers, please contact your distributor for Holiday Sale product availability.
Find great gifts for all of the gamers in your life at the 2018 Holiday Sale, featuring dozens of great games from Fantasy Flight Games and other studios.


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Richard Sherman: 'Racism is alive and active' in NFL and America
Outspoken corner for Seattle Seahawks talks about LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling's comments and persistent racism
Richard Sherman with coach Pete Carroll. Photograph: Elaine Thompson/AP Photograph: Elaine Thompson/AP
Martin Pengelly in New York
@MartinPengelly
Thu 8 May 2014 15.06 EDT Last modified on Fri 14 Jul 2017 18.20 EDT
Richard Sherman, the Seattle Seahawks cornerback whose post-game comments caused controversy earlier this year, has said that Donald Sterling – the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers who was last week banned for life by the NBA for making racist comments – would not have been so harshly disciplined had he owned an NFL team.
Speaking to Time magazine, Sherman also said people should not have been surprised by Sterling's opinions, because there was "a lot of racism still alive and still active" in the US.
It was reported on Wednesday that Sherman has agreed a $57.4m, four-year contract extension with the Seahawks which will make him the highest-paid player in his position. Sterling is set to be forced to sell the Clippers franchise.
Asked by Time if he thought NFL commissioner Roger Goodell would have taken the same hardline stance as the NBA commissioner Adam Silver, whose response has been widely praised, Sherman said:"No, I don't."
He elaborated: "Because we have an NFL team called the Redskins, I don't think the NFL really is as concerned as they show. The NFL is more of a bottom-line league. If it doesn't affect their bottom line, they're not as concerned."
The Washington Redskins' name has for some time caused protests from native American groups, although the team's owner, Dan Snyder, has repeatedly said he will not change it. Like the Sterling case, controversy over the Redskins name has attracted comment from President Barack Obama.
Of the media frenzy whipped up by Sterling's comments – made in conversation with his girlfriend, V Stiviano, and reported by TMZ and Deadspin – Sherman said: "I wasn't really shocked or anything because of what I saw after the incident after the NFC Championship Game."
After Seattle's victory over the San Francisco 49ers in that game, in January, Sherman told a television interviewer, Erin Andrews: "I'm the best corner in the game! When you try me with a sorry receiver like [Michael] Crabtree, that's the result you're going to get. Don't you ever talk about me."
Asked who was talking about him, Sherman replied: "Crabtree. Don't you open your mouth about the best or I'm'a shut it for you real quick."
Sherman's comments stoked controversy, largely concerning the use of racial stereotypes on social media, that affected the build-up to the Seahawks' victory over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl LXVIII two weeks later.
He subsequently said he regretted his comments, saying: "People think I'm just a loudmouth, angry guy … there's more to me than that rant."
Speaking about his own experience, he said: "You've got a lot of racial backlash, and a lot of racist comments that were uncalled for – I can never see a time where racism is called for. So [Sterling's comments] didn't shock me as much as it would have had I not experienced that personally, had I not seen those things."
He added: "It showed me that America still had some progress to make … it just seems like a lot of people gave [Sterling] a lot of flak, well deserved, but you know – I feel like a lot more people were surprised than they should have been."
"That's why a lot of people shy away from the conversation that I forced on us in January. People want to it to be done, they want that uncomfortable truth to be over with, they want the racism to be done, they want to believe everything is great and hunky-dory. And it's not."
"There's a lot of racism still alive and still active. And it just forced America to rethink it once again, and to really, really understand that racism isn't gone. We have to actively push it out. And snuff it out."
LA Clippers owner Sterling appeals for forgiveness but critics say he must sell
NBA names Dick Parsons interim CEO for Los Angeles Clippers
NAACP head in Los Angeles resigns over links to Donald Sterling
Magic Johnson among possible Clippers bidders as NBA seeks to shed Sterling
Magic Johnson, Shaq and other NBA stars react to Donald Sterling ban
NBA bans LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life over racist comments
The real tragedy of Donald Sterling's racism: it took this long for us to notice


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Q: using readline() and then using it in write() with a message behind it will save to next line When you readline() from a file and try to write it to another txt file with text behind it the text behind it always goes to the next line, is there any way to not let it go to the next line and just put it behind it?
example code:
file = open('directory/whatever/file.txt', 'r')
file2 = open('directory/whatever/file2.txt', 'a')
line = file.readline()
file2.write(line + 'Thiswillprintonthenextline')

the message behind it will print on the next line
that's what I want to prevent

A: That is because the readline() function creates a string with the newline character at the end.
If you want to print it without changing the lines, simply strip the last character:
file2.write(line.rstrip("\n") + 'Thiswillprintonthenextline')

You could also strip it immediately when reading, so you don't have to do it every time you want to print it...
Just replace the line
line = file.readline()

with the line
line = file.readline().rstrip("\n")

and you're done. ;)
(Thanks to bruno desthuilliers for suggesting rstrip.)

A: file2.write(line.rstrip('\n') + 'Thiswillprintonthenextline')

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


If you think about all the important things you do to ensure your child's healthy development, does reading ever make it on to your list? It should. While many of us know that our children's healthy development depends a great deal on good nutrition, plenty of sleep, and exercise to name a few, there's less awareness about how literacy can play a role in a child's healthy development.
The word 'literacy' means a person's ability to read and write—but its implications mean so much more. People need reading and writing skills in virtually every aspect of their lives. Without these skills, a person can face serious problems that can affect their health as well as their social and economic outcomes.
Parents and caregivers therefore play a crucial role in shaping a child's early reading experiences, ones that lay the foundation for the skills needed later in life. What's more, early exposure to language—whether through books, words, or songs— can foster warm and nurturing interactions between children and their parents or caregivers.
Setting aside a bit of time every day to read or participate in a learning activity with children is crucial to their development. If your family members are not in the habit of reading, anytime is a great time to start. Even just 15 minutes a day can improve a child's literacy skills dramatically, and can help a parent improve their skills as well.
An estimated 55% of working age adults in Canada have less than adequate health literacy skills – that is, the ability to read and understand information about their own health.
It is estimated that 5% to 15% of Canadian schoolchildren have reading delays.
Most children who have not mastered reading by the end of grade 3 will not catch up, which often leads to failing grades and early school leaving.
Make time to read, sing, talk and cuddle every day.
Change your voice as you read and have fun with the words.
Talk about the pictures in the book and tell your own stories.
Have books all over your home - on bookshelves, in baskets, in toy boxes.
Visit your local library to find different books and ask about baby reading programs.
Read with your children. Children who are learning to read need to practice. If your child is doing well, regular reading at home is a chance for them to show you what they've learned. If your child is having trouble, it provides a safe place to practice with someone they trust.
Be a role model. Your children should see you enjoying reading. If they see you and other family members reading books, newspapers, and magazines, they'll learn that reading is important, fun and valuable.
Consider creating a special reading place in your home that is quiet and cozy. Keep books in or near this area.
If your child has trouble reading, choose stories that they can relate to. Look for stories they know or that offer experiences they understand or illustrations they recognize.
Limit screen time. Create time for reading by limiting the amount of time your child spends watching television or playing computer and video games.
Opportunities to read are everywhere. Encourage your child to read street signs, the sports pages of the daily newspaper, or even the back of the cereal box! Your child might also enjoy reading non-fiction or comic books.
Public Health Agency of Canada. How does literacy affect the health of Canadians?
Adult Literacy Survey of Statistics Canada. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 1995.


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Is the legalization of marijuana inevitable?…
Is the legalization of marijuana inevitable? RedBlue America
By Ben Boychuk | boychuk@city-journal.org and Joel Mathis | joelmmathis@gmail.com |
PUBLISHED: March 21, 2014 at 7:01 p.m. | UPDATED: August 28, 2017 at 7:50 a.m.
First, 20 states and the District of Columbia passed laws legalizing marijuana for medical use. Then in 2012, voters in Washington state and Colorado approved measures legalizing the sale and possession of marijuana for nonmedical use, with state oversight. Now at least a half-dozen states from Alaska to Maine are considering following suit.
Can full legalization be far behind?
Unforeseen conflicts
The University of Colorado system reports a 30 percent increase in applications this year. University officials credit their new and improved application, along with better high school outreach.
But High Times magazine, a sort of Cigar Aficionado for stoners, has a different explanation: It's the legal pot.
Can that really be true? A CU spokesman told the magazine he has "hard time believing that someone is going to make that kind of significant decision about investing in their education based on whether they can smoke marijuana in the state" — which only suggests he hasn't visited his Boulder campus recently, or knows very much about the law of unintended consequences.
More kids looking for a cheap and legal high are one such consequence. Here's another: If you smoke pot and want to buy a gun in the Mile High State, odds are you will be turned down. Sure, marijuana use is legal under state law, but the federal government still considers it a crime, and no federally licensed firearms dealer would risk his business to make a point about states' rights.
Fact is, Congress isn't about to legalize pot, and Eric Holder won't be attorney general forever. More states venturing down the path of legalization invites conflicts with the feds that nobody can foresee.
But the better argument against legalization is cultural, and it comes from an unlikely source: California Gov. Jerry Brown.
A Democrat with a reputation for wild ideas, Brown shared his skepticism about legalization on "Meet the Press" this month. "If there's advertising and legitimacy, how many people can get stoned and still have a great state or a great nation? The world's pretty dangerous, very competitive. I think we need to stay alert, if not 24 hours a day, more than some of the potheads might be able to put together."
Brown is right. It may be the case that public opinion has shifted too far in favor of legalization. If so, then freedom must come with responsibility. Tax marijuana, certainly, but also let employers decide whether they want stoners on their payrolls, lay heavy penalties on sales to minors — and hope the unintended consequences aren't too dire.
— Ben Boychuk
Mainstream marijuana
Consider the following facts, courtesy of the American Civil Liberties Union:
"Every 0.01 hours someone in the United States is arrested for having marijuana; Black people are 3.73 times more likely to be arrested than white people. The United States spent $3,610,000,000 enforcing marijuana laws in 2010."
Worth it? Almost certainly not.
Why? Marijuana may be illegal, but it's also pretty mainstream: A 2013 Gallup poll suggests that 38 percent of Americans have tried marijuana, a number that has little changed since the "Just Say No" reefer madness of the 1980s. And while Ronald Reagan had to withdraw a Supreme Court appointee who admitted smoking pot more than a decade earlier, these days there's hardly anybody at the forefront of public life who won't admit having dabbled with doobies in their youth. The republic survives.
There are concerns that legalized pot would somehow rob America of its vigor: "How many people can get stoned and still have a great state or a great nation?" California Gov. Jerry Brown asks. Brown's rationale is almost exactly the same as was used for the failed prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s. We never learn.
"I remember in 1977 when Gov. Brown was first in office, we went from indeterminate sentencing to determinate sentencing — we had 20,000 people in our prisons. In 2007, we had 173,000 people in our prisons," California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom pointed out recently. "You start looking at the war on drugs, you look at the corollaries as it relates to mandatory minimums and our aggressive efforts … to incarcerate our way to solving this problem, it's failed. A trillion dollars wasted."
Criminalizing weed makes hypocrites out of otherwise law-abiding Americans, reduces respect for the law, and saddles our nation with the expense of prosecution and prison for folks who pose very little threat to society. Thank goodness for the legalization movement.
— Joel Mathis
Ben Boychuk is associate editor of the Manhattan Institute's City Journal. Joel Mathis is a contributing editor to Philadelphia Magazine. bboychuk@city-journal.org, joelmmathis@gmail.com
Ben Boychuk
Joel Mathis
LA restaurant tops Yelp's Top 100 Places to Eat, along with 5 more in the county


"I have an unquenchable bloodlust," Margot Robbie tells Simon Pegg in the first trailer for Terminal. The Oscar-nominated actress plays "Annie," a femme fatale with the red lipstick (and marvelous merlot coat) to prove it in the upcoming neo-noir. Robbie's character has a sadistic streak and a mysterious, deadly plan involving Pegg, Max Irons, Mike Myers, and Dexter Fletcher who all seem to have nefarious intentions of their own. The movie hits theaters May 11.


Recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) has become one of the most extensively researched biologic agents that are commercially available. With more than a decade of approved market use, Infuse Bone Graft is safe and effective in fusing bone for indicated use in an open tibia fracture.
Review information on the three human clinical trials that determined the effective dosing volume of rhBMP-2, found reduced secondary interventions, reduced rate of nonunion, decreased rate of infection in severe fractures and the healing results associated with Infuse Bone Graft.
See examples of the healing capacity of Infuse Bone Graft for tibial fractures by comparing before and after radiographs from the case studies.
Before clinical studies were conducted, the effects of rhBMP-2 were studied in animals. These studies tested different types of bones, and also evaluated how nicotine and steroids affect bone formation facilitated by rhBMP-2.
In the Summary of Safety and Effectiveness Data, you can find complete information about the Indications of Use, Contraindications, Warnings and Precautions, Device Description, Adverse Events, Summary of Preclinical Testing and Summary of Clinical Testing.
Human clinical studies of Infuse Bone Graft have evaluated the effectiveness of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) in healing open tibial fractures. The studies determined the effective dose of rhBMP-2 to be applied to the absorbable collagen sponge (ACS), its success rate in reducing the number of fracture nonunions, and it's healing effect on surrounding soft tissues.
Three dose-ranging clinical studies have been conducted to identify the effective therapeutic concentration of rhBMP-2/ACS for tibial fractures. This is measured as quantity of rhBMP-2 per unit volume of ACS.
Both the concentration of rhBMP-2 and the length of time that rhBMP-2 is present at the implant site are positively correlated with the rate of bone formation, the amount of bone formed, and the density of the resulting bone. From these studies the 1.50 mg/ml rhBMP-2/ACS concentration (Infuse Bone Graft) was found to be clinically effective.
Study provided important safety data on rhBMP-2/ACS in trauma and information for the design of larger clinical studies.
There was a trend toward fewer secondary interventions for delayed union in the rhBMP-2/ACS treatment groups; this trend was not statistically significant.
Study established clinical safety and efficacy of rhBMP-2/ACS at 1.50 mg/ml in open tibia fractures. which resulted in FDA approval of Infuse Bone Graft (See results graphs).
Treatment included irrigation and debridement, wound management, and IM nail fixation.
Infuse Bone Graft significantly reduced secondary interventions.
Infuse Bone Graft significantly reduced nonunion.
Successful union is measured by fracture union and the absence of secondary intervention.
Infuse Bone Graft significantly decreased the rate of infection in severe fractures.
More patients were considered healed (fracture consolidation) at every time point measured in this study when they received Infuse Bone Graft as compared to the control. The difference was significant (p<0.01) from the 14- to 52-week time points.
Infuse Bone Graft healed soft tissue at 6 weeks in more patients compared to the control.
Soft tissue wound healing at 6 weeks was 22% higher (p=0.0010) in the Infuse Bone Graft group compared to the control.
These case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of Infuse Bone Graft on healing open tibial fractures. These patients received Infuse Bone Graft in the pivotal trial that was conducted to achieve the trauma approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Before and after radiographs of study patients illustrate the healing capacity of Infuse Bone Graft.
Animal studies have demonstrated that rhBMP-2 application on an ACS can accelerate healing in rabbit and goat long bone fracture models.
Radiographic, biomechanical, and histologic evaluation of the impacted bone indicates that it is appropriate for the anatomic site where it forms, and functions biologically and biomechanically as native bone.
In addition, the rhBMP-2/ACS-impacted bone can repair itself following fracture, in a manner indistinguishable from native bone.
The calluses in rhBMP-2-treated ulnae were 20 – 60% larger than controls. Biomechanical properties were restored more quickly in rabbits treated with rhBMP-2. By 4 weeks, biomechanical properties were equivalent to intact ulnae, whereas controls only achieved 45% of the biomechanical strength of intact controls.
rhBMP-2/ACS used as an onlay resulted in increased callus size and maturity, as assessed radiographically and histologically. Fractures wrapped with rhBMP-2/ACS had increased torsional toughness.
Histologically there was no treatment effect on morphology of the growth plates.
Osteotomy repair of bone that had been induced by rhBMP-2/ACS. Defects in bone induced by rhBMP-2/ACS healed by a process similar to that seen in normal native bone.
The induced bone biologically and structurally integrates with the pre-existing bone, and remodels physiologically, i.e., consistent with the biomechanical forces placed on it.
rhBMP-2 dose-response-related healing of critical-sized defects measured by radiographic and histologic criteria.
No defects implanted with only the ACS achieved union. High dose rhBMP-2/ACS healed 100% of the defects. Histology demonstrated bone formation with abundant normal-appearing osteoid.
Control groups had significantly less new bone than rhBMP-2/ACS. rhBMP-2/ACS had radiopaque bridging by 8 weeks.
No deleterious effects on radiocarpal joint observed when rhBMP-2/ACS placed in a distal radius defect connected to joint cavity.
Augmentation of the allograft-host bone junctions with rhBMP-2/ACS resulted in a stronger and more complete union than with autograft.
Defects treated with rhBMP-2/ACS healed at 12 weeks. Biomechanical strength of limbs treated with rhBMP-2 was greater than or equal to autograft-treated defects.
rhBMP-2/ACS induced bone by 4 weeks. Compression of ACS limited the amount of bone induction observed within the defect.
An independent animal study was conducted comparing Infuse Bone Graft to OP-1® Implant (rhBMP-7). The study evaluated the concentrations of the two commercially available products in a canine ulnar segmental defect model as compared to autologous bone graft. Samples were observed using radiographic methods and at 12 weeks they were examined for histologic healing and mechanical strength. Results from this animal study suggest that Infuse Bone Graft outperformed both OP-1 Implant and autologous bone graft in a canine.
In animal studies, rhBMP-2/ACS induced bone and fracture repair in the presence of several agents that compromise bone metabolism (e.g., nicotine and corticosteroids).
In a rabbit ulnar fracture model, rhBMP-2/ACS induced bone formation despite systemic administration of nicotine. Nicotine did not influence the rate of fracture repair.
The rhBMP-2/ACS enhanced the biomechanical properties and callus formation in all groups. These images show medullary canal remodeling in rhBMP-2/ACS treated osteotomy in a nicotine-treated rabbit. Oc = Osteoclast.
Histologic analysis showed that treatment with rhBMP-2/ACS enhanced the healing of osteotomies. At both 6 and 8 weeks, the osteotomies treated with rhBMP-2/ACS were fully bridged, suggesting that rhBMP-2/ACS overcomes the bone inhibiting effects of steroids.
In the rat ectopic model, rhBMP-2/ACS demonstrated the ability to form bone in the presence of nicotine.
Results show that prednisolone can inhibit bone formation, but rats treated with rhBMP-2/ACS exhibited similar bone formation in saline and prednisolone groups. This demonstrates that rhBMP-2/ACS can overcome prednisolone inhibition in rat models.
Animal studies are not necessarily indicative of human clinical outcome.
Riedel GE, Valentin-Opran A. Clinical evaluation of rhBMP-2/ACS in orthopedic trauma: a progress report. Orthopedics. 1999;22(7):663-5.
Bucholz et al. A dose finding study of rhBMP-2/ACS in open tibia shaft fractures requiring surgical management. Genetics Institute Protocol C9612-11. IDE G940150. Final Study Report August 2, 1999. Data on file.
Govender S, Csimma C, Genant HK, Valentin-Opran A (BESTT study group). Recombinant human Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2 for treatment of open tibial fractures: A prospective, controlled, randomized study of four hundred and fifty patients. J Bone Joint Surg. 2002;84-A(12):2123-34.
Summary of Safety and Effectiveness (SS&E) Data, INFUSE® Bone Graft, PMA p000054, April 30, 2004, http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf/P000054b.pdf; data on file.
Deckers MM, van Bezooijen RL, van der Horst G, Hoogendam J, van Der Bent C, Papapoulos SE, Lowik CW. Bone morphogenetic proteins stimulate angiogenesis through osteoblast-derived vascular endothelial growth factor A. Endocrinology. 2002 Apr; 143(4): 1545-53.
Bouxsein ML, Turek TJ, Blake CA, D'Augusta D, Li X, Stevens M, Seeherman HJ, Wozney JM. Recombinant human Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2 accelerates healing in a rabbit ulnar osteotomy model. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2001;83-A(8):1219-30.
Welch RD, Jones AL, Bucholz RW, Reinert CM, Tjia JS, Pierce WA, Wozney JM, Li XJ. Effect of recombinant human Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2 on fracture healing in a goat tibial fracture model. J Bone Miner Res. 1998;13(9):1483-90.
Yasko AW, Lane JM, Fellinger EJ, Rosen V, Wozney JM, Wang EA. The healing of segmental bone defects, induced by recombinant human Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2 (rhBMP-2). A radiographic, histological, and biomechanical study in rats. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1992;74(5):659-670.
Bostrom M, Lane JM, Tomin E, Browne M, Berberian W, Turek T, Smith J, Wozney J, Schildhauer T. Use of Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2 in the rabbit ulnar nonunion model. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1996;327:272-282.
Hollinger JO, Schmitt JM, Buck DC, Shannon R, Joh SP, Zegzula HD, Wozney J. Recombinant human Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2 and collagen for bone regeneration. J Biomed Mater Res. 1998;43:356-364.
Zabka AG, Pluhar GE, Edwards RB 3rd, Manley PA, Hayashi K, Heiner JP, Kalscheur VL, Seeherman HJ, Markel. Histomorphometric description of allograft bone remodeling and union in a canine segmental femoral defect model: a comparison of rhBMP-2, cancellous bone graft, and absorbable collagen sponge. J Orthop Res. 2001;19(2):318-27.
Sciadini MF, Johnson KD. Evaluation of recombinant human Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2 as a bone-graft substitute in a canine segmental defect model. J Orthop Res. 2000;18(2):289-302.
Cook SD, Salkeld SL, Patron LP, Christakis P. "In-Vivo Comparison of BMP-2 (Infuse) and BMP-7 (OP-1 Implant)" Paper No. 351, 72nd Annual Meeting of American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Feb 2005.
Ammirati KM, Blake CA, Luppen CA, Seeherman HJ, Wozney JM, Bouxsein M. Effect of rhBMP-2 on fracture healing in nicotine treated rabbits. Trans Orthop Res Soc. 2000;1053.
Luppen CA, Blake CA, Ammirati KM, Stevens ML, Seeherman HJ, Wozney JM, Bouxsein ML. Recombinant human Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2 enhances osteotomy healing in glucocorticoid-treated rabbits. J Bone Miner Res. 2002;17(2):301-10.
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Looking to take a road trip down south? Check out this list of southern road trip destinations for all the sweet tea and biscuits you can handle, y'all!
Road trips are one of the most underrated kinds of vacations out there. They're way more fun than flying to one place and give you a lot more freedom than a cruise itinerary.
Not to mention, there's something special to appreciate about being on the open road and stumbling across unique stopping points as you go from place to place. The hardest part of road tripping, though, is deciding where to go!
There are all kinds of amazing destinations in the United States that are worth visiting by car. Unless you're moving cross-country, it's best to take on one region of the U.S. at a time.
As far as a southern road trip goes, here are seven of the must-see stops you need to put on your list of southern road trip destinations.
Charleston is one of the most eclectic Southern destinations a person can visit. Its uniqueness is right up there with New Orleans, and it has a history as rich as anywhere in the US.
You can find a little bit of anything here. There's all the classic Southern food your heart can desire, lots of local art to enjoy, and plenty of natural beauty to discover around every corner.
The ocean is nearby too if you're interested in taking a long stop on your road trip and spending a few nights by the sea.
Not too far from Charleston is a city called Savannah, Georgia that you've probably heard of.
Savannah is a gem of a city. It has a buzzing yet laidback nightlife, history to learn about, and beautiful parks all over town.
You can spend an entire day exploring downtown or getting to know the small towns that border Savannah. Make sure you stop at the old-style candy shop by the river and go to a speakeasy bar. The riverboat cruises are worth taking and the unique shops are sure to have the perfect road trip souvenir to bring home with you!
Up next on the list is Montgomery, Alabama. This is a non-negotiable stop on a southern road trip if you want to learn about the history of the deep south.
Montgomery has a handful of museums on the Civil Rights movement and it recently opened a memorial to recognize the victims of lynching – the National Memorial to Peace and Justice.
Any exhibit or monument you go to is sure to move you. It's worth learning about these points in our nation's history to understand how far we've come and to open our eyes to the work that we still have ahead.
If you're looking for a destination that's a little more lighthearted, head to Nashville, Tennessee. This is the Hollywood of country music; it's a city where you won't have to go far to find live music, and where you may even stumble upon the next big country artist.
But, Nashville has much more to offer than good music, great food, and fun bars. There's a charm to this city that's unlike anywhere else in the world. It has a welcoming atmosphere and a small town feel to it, despite it being Tennessee's state capital.
While you're headed into the city, try to stop in the Smokey Mountains for a night or two. You won't regret this detour when you wake up to see fog over the trees or watch a sunset sink over the horizon.
Pigeon Forge, Tennessee isn't too far, either. This city is home to Dollywood, the Hollywood Wax Museum, and a few other unique road trip attractions that this website can tell you about.
Another southern capital city you should plan to visit is Jackson, Mississippi.
Jackson is well known for lots of live music, good food, and an all-around fun time. But, there are plenty of attractions worth visiting during the day if you have the chance. Jackson is home to many Civil War battle sites and museums.
As far as nighttime entertainment goes, try to do something a little different while you're here and go to a blues bar. Blues is to Jackson what country music is to Nashville; it's a part of the city and it's hard to go wrong with one of the acts who perform it.
It wouldn't be a complete southern road trip without visiting New Orleans!
This is the Las Vegas of the south, but better. In New Orleans, the good times keep on rollin'.
Make sure you stop at Cafe Du Monde for their world-famous beignets and bite into some crawfish, too. Take a walk through the city's parks and check out the history this town has to offer in addition to all the art and entertainment.
Last but not least, Houston, Texas.
Plan to spend a few days here so you can enjoy the aquarium, the zoo, space center, and catch a baseball game. Take a drive through downtown to see what you find and take a moment to check out the outskirts of Houston as well. You'll have fun wherever you go.
How to Make Your Southern Road Trip the Best Vacation Ever!
It's one thing to know which southern road trip destinations you need to visit and another to know how to get from place to place the right way. After all, half the fun of a road trip is actually having fun on the road!
You need to make sure you're comfortable while in the car and that you have all your accommodations figured out before you reach your next destination. This will have a significant impact on how much you actually enjoy all the stops the road takes you to.
Click here for packing and planning tips to make your trip a total breeze.


text:
«Pest Management» (Rat-Info) № 1-2 (97-98)/2016
THE PROBLEMS OF APPLIED ZOOLOGY
Application of Earth Remote Probing for the Assessment of Potential Epidemiological Threat of HFRS Foci on the Territory of Ufa
Mochalkin P. A., Mochalkin A. P. (1), Stepanov E. G., Farvazova L. A. (2), Popov N. V. (3)
1 - State Municipal Health Institution «Republican Center for Disinfection», Ufa
2 - Rospotrebnadzor Administration in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Ufa
3 - Federal Government Health Institution «Russian Research Anti-Plague Institute «Microbe», Saratov
The purpose of the study. Research objective is to perform differentiation between enzootic as regards HFRS territories in Ufa, depending upon the level of potential epidemic threat, applying photogrammetric processing of satellite images. Materials and methods. The data on ecological-epidemiological monitoring over HFRS foci, collected at the premises of the Republican Center for disinfection over the period of 2008-2014, has served as the tool for evaluation of epidemiological significance of various urban landscape elements discerned in the satellite imagery. Among them are residential areas, forest-parklands, and natural objects. Research findings. Specified are the basic indicating decrypting properties of the territories characterized by different level of potential epidemic hazard, in particular: high, medium, and low. It is demonstrated that the determining factor of high potential epidemic threat, attributed to the focal territories of Ufa, as regards HFRS is the size of the areas of adjoined residential, forest-parkland, and natural landscapes. Conclusions: Application of the earth remote probing for epidemiological zoning of enzootic as regards HFRS territories of Ufa opens the prospect for early planning of the preventive measures in the regions marked by the high risk of exposure to the infection.
Keywords: HFRS foci on the territory of Ufa; epidemiological hazard level of the territory; methods of the earth remote probing; ecological-epidemiological indicators; urban residential, forest-parkland, and natural landscapes; morbidity rate; anti-epidemic measures.
The dynamics of the community of small mammals at the confluence of the Ob and Irtysh rivers (at the depression phase of the water vole numbers)
Starikov V. P., Borodin A. V., Bernikov K. A.
Surgut State University, 628412, Surgut, Lenin str., 1
The results of observations of the state of small mammals populations in 2013–2015 are considered. The special role of water voles as the main host and the mass source of tularemia infection at the confluence of Ob and Irtysh rivers in 2013 and restructuring zoocenosis in subsequent years are noted.
Keywords: Khanty-Mansiyskiy Avtonomnyy Okrug – Yugra, small mammals, tularemia.
Synanthropic rodents and the forms of Synanthropism
V. V. Kucheruk (Translation of the first part of the article: Kucheruk V.V. Synanthropic Rodents and their Significance in the Transmission of Infections // Theoretical questions of natural foci of diseases / Proceedings of a Symposium held in Prague November 26-29, 1963. Prague 1965. P. 353-366. – with amendments. From the archives V. V. Kucheruk)
Animals, classified as synanthropic, are the species that regularly inhabit the territory of the settlements or human constructions (various buildings, residential buildings, shops, places of storage of food, and so on. P.), forming there permanent or periodically appearing independent or semidependent populations. In order of decreasing the connection level with human it's proposed to distinguish 6 forms of synanthropism. The highest form – the obligate synanthropism is absent in rodents. With increasing the level of urbanization the share of true sinantrops (house mice, brown and less frequently black rats) is increasing. They have settled with the man far beyond their original areas. Rodents, which is inherent in geographic and environmental limited synanthropism are closely related to man, but only in some regions. Many species inhabit within the boundaries of settlements mainly in undeveloped areas, entering the buildings (environmental limited synanthropism) or basically without entering them (outside buildings synanthropism). Finally, some rodents can not exist without relation to natural habitats (false synanthropism).
Modern preventative measures protecting museum collections from insect pests
Smolyanitskaya O. L. Ph.D. (Biol.), Kalinina I. A., Matievskaya L. V. The State Hermitage Museum, 190000, St. Petersburg, Dvortsovaya naberezhnaya, 34, email: smolyanitskaya@hermitage.ru
It has been reviewed some modern preventive measures aimed at protecting museum collections from damage by insects and also summarized practical experience in applying of repellents, pheromone and adhesive traps under storages and expositions conditions.
Keywords: museum, preventive measures, pheromone traps, adhesive traps, repellents
Isoxazolines and spinosyns: prospects for their use in medical disinsection
Eremina O.Yu., Ibragimkhalilova I.V.
Scientific Research Disinfectology Institute of Federal Service in Supervision of Protection of Rights of Consumers and Prosperity of a Man: 18 Nauchniy proyezd, Moscow, 117246, Russian Federation.
The insecticide baits against cockroaches based on isoxazoline group (fluralaner and afoxolaner) and spinosyn group (spinosad) were tested. It was found that isoxazolines baits were highly toxic to cockroaches. The effective dose of afoxolaner is 0.21 and 1.20, fluralaner – 1.40 and 5.90, spinosad – 26 and 180 mg a.i./ individual (male and female SNIID strain, respectively). German cockroaches from RM1-strain respond to bait based on isoxazolines or spinosyn with slowing symptoms of poisoning and reduction in deaths compared with SNIID. Tolerance to these compounds ranged from 2,2× to 4,7. It is expected that the increased level of monooxygenases in resistant cockroaches can affect their tolerance to the isoxazolines and spinosad.
The new means to ants control
Kostina M. N., Doctor of Biology, Bidovkina M. V., Ph.D. (Med.) Vinogradova A. I.
Scientific Research Institute of Disinfectology of Rospotrebnadzor RF, Nauchny pr., 18, Moscow, 117246
To control the pharaoh's and common black (garden) ants it was offered a new domestic means on the basis of chlorpyrifos (0.5%) in the form of loose granules of different bright (blue, brown, orange or purple) colors, odorless, soluble in water. The presence of more than 50% of food attractants (honey, glucose syrup, peanut oil, and others.) caused an interest in insects to the granules, which further leads to their death.
Keywords: common black (garden) and pharaoh's ants, insecticide, toxicity, granules, natural anthills
PERSONELITIES
100th anniversary of Valent Viktorinovich Kucheruk
Khlyap L. A.
The 2nd Euroasian pest management conference (EAMPC-2016) took place in September 05-07, 2016, in Moscow. Information letter #3