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Stadio della Roma site acquired by Czech billionaire
The long-delayed project to deliver a new stadium for Italian Serie A football club AS Roma has taken a fresh twist after the company which owns the land on which it is proposed to be built was sold.
Italian financial services company UniCredit has approved the sale of the group of companies controlled by Italian businessman Luca Parnasi to CPI Property Group, a Luxembourg-headquartered commercial real estate firm owned by Czech billionaire Radovan Vitek.
The Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper said CPI will pay €250m (£225.3m/$294.2m) for Capital Dev, Parsitalia and Eurnova. The latter company owns the land in the Tor di Valle district of Rome, valued at around €50m, on which the Stadio della Roma and an associated business park is proposed to be built.
The news is said to make it easier for the Municipality of Rome to finally give the official green light to the project, but this may still be complicated by the plans of Roma's new American owners The Friedkin Group, who are said to be weighing up alternative sites.
US billionaire Dan Friedkin in August agreed a deal to purchase Roma. Friedkin, who serves as chairman and chief executive of The Friedkin Group, assumed ownership of the club from fellow American James Pallotta, who purchased Roma in 2012.
Roma currently shares the Stadio Olimpico with cross-city rival Lazio and Pallotta had a long-held vision for the club to move into the proposed 52,500-seat Stadio della Roma. Back in March 2019, Pallotta had expressed his hope that the project would be completed by 2023 but there has been little progress since then.
The project was first put forward in February 2012 but has been beset by delays at government level, as well as a high-profile corruption scandal. The project was given the green light by the city and the region's four main governing bodies in December 2017 but still required further approval before work could begin.
Image: Stadio della Roma
Fiorentina hits out as Franchi plans ended
Gibraltar FA given Victoria Stadium exemption, amid plans for new home
Sanfrecce outlines vision for Hiroshima Stadium Park
2020 In Review – May
Italian sports bodies in stadium plea to government
Spezia plays first Serie A match at Stadio Alberto Picco
Everton stadium verdict pushed back
Parma to draw up new Tardini proposal
Lausanne-Sport settles in to new home
LASK's Raiffeisen Arena to push forward with state funding


Clayton College of Natural Health will close. The Clayton College of Natural Health (CCNH), which has probably issued more health-related "degrees" than any other nonaccredited correspondence school, has announced that it will close. Most of the "degrees" it granted were in nutrition or naturopathy. In 2008, Alabama, which had been a haven for substandard schools, began implementing a new rule that private, degree granting, post-secondary educational institutions must be accredited by a recognized agency or be a candidate for accreditation. Clayton's license was due to expire on December 1, 2008, but it was able to remain licensed by becoming a candidate for accreditation by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) for a new program that would lead to a bachelor's degree in nutrition. However, its naturopathy program was outside of DETC's scope and was discontinued. Clayton officials attribute the school's demise to the economic recession, but difficulty in meeting accreditation requirements was probably a significant factor. Clayton's notable "graduates" include Hulda Clark, Robert O. Young, and Jillian McKeith. Quackwatch has a detailed report on its history and activities.
Nestlé subsidiary settles FTC charges for children's meal-replacement products. Nestlé HealthCare Nutrition, Inc. a subsidiary of Nestlé S.A (the world's largest food and nutrition company), has agreed to settle FTC charges that it marketed a children's drink with unsubstantiated claims. [Nestlé subsidiary to settle FTC false advertising charges; will drop deceptive health claims for BOOST Kid Essentials. FTC news release, July 14, 2010] The drink contains 25 vitamins and minerals and comes with a straw embedded with probiotic bacteria. The FTC charged that from fall 2008 to fall 2009, the marketers improperly claimed that the product would prevent upper respiratory tract infections in children, protect against colds and flu by strengthening the immune system, and reduce absences from daycare or school due to illness.
In one video ad (shown to the right), the straw jumped out of the drink box, formed a protective barrier around a girl as she encountered a sneezing boy, and then formed steps allowing her to reach a basketball hoop and shoot a ball into the net. Web sites marketing the product say that it is intended for children ages 2 to 13, is "nutritionally complete," and is suitable for use as a meal replacement.
This page was posted on July 16, 2010.


text:
BMC Infectious Diseases
December 2019 , 19:619 | Cite as
The association between tuberculin skin test result and active tuberculosis risk of college students in Beijing, China: a retrospective cohort study
Demin Cao
Zhiguo Zhang
Zhen Yang
Shubo Ma
Zhaogang Sun
Huijuan Duan
Baoli Zhu
Part of the following topical collections:
Tuberculosis and other mycobacterial diseases
About 10% latent tuberculosis infections (LTBI) would progress to active tuberculosis (TB), if left prophylactic therapy. Tuberculin skin test (TST) is the most widely used method for LTBI screening in the school of China. However, for college students, the association between TST reaction size and active TB risk was unclear.
We conducted a retrospective study to assess whether the TST reaction size would predict active TB during the next two years after TST screening for college students. Multivariable Cox regression was performed to identify the size of TST reaction and other factors associated with active TB risk.
A total of 67292 college students in Beijing, China were included in this study; 8021 (11.92%) individuals were TST positive (≥10 mm), and 3879 (5.76%) of them were strong TST positive (≥15 mm). During the two years of follow-up, 26 active TB cases were reported in 134575 person-years with an incidence rate of 19.32 (95% CI: 12.61–28.32) per 100000 person-years. The adjusted hazard ratios (HR) (95% CI) were 1.094 (0.247~4.846), 3.644 (1.188~11.179), 6.832 (2.436~19.163) and 9.768 (2.203~43.315) of cohorts with the TST reaction size intervals 5~9, 10~14, 15~20 and ≥ 20 mm, respectively, compared to cohort with interval 0~4 mm. Besides, the adjusted HR (95% CI) was 3.593 (1.354~9.537) of males compared to females.
This study indicated that the risk of active TB increased in college students when the TST reaction size was ≥10 mm, and males had a higher risk compared to females.
Tuberculosis risk Tuberculin skin test College students
Bacillus Calmette-Gue'rin
BCITPT
Beijing Changping institute for tuberculosis prevention and treatment
Incidence rate
LTBI
Latent tuberculosis infections
Purified protein derivative
Prevalence rate
Tuberculin skin test
Demin Cao and Zhiguo Zhang contributed equally to this work.
The online version of this article ( https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-019-4238-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Worldwide, it is estimated that one-third of the world's population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). In 2017, about 10 million people suffered from tuberculosis, and 12–14% of them died. Wherein China has the second largest number of TB patients (best estimate, 88.9 million; range, 76.1~10.30 million) in the world [1]. About 5–10% of people with LTBI would suffer from active TB. But approximately 60–90% such activation of TB would be prevented by early diagnosis and preventing treatment [2, 3].
School is a people-intensive place, in which students have been in prolonged face to face contact with each other. It is one of the most common places that reported for the community-based outbreak of TB in China [4, 5]. It is significant to implement early diagnosis and prophylactic therapy in the prevention of school tuberculosis. At present, tuberculin skin test, based on purified protein derivative (PPD) induced delayed-type hypersensitivity, is still the main means in Mtb infection screening in China, because of its handleability and inexpensive price.
Several studies have been performed among primary school students to estimate the risk of TB disease according to TST reaction size [6, 7]. However, very few studies focused on the association of TST reaction size and TB risk among college students, who were during or past-puberty with great changes of physiology and behavior. It was reported that the incidence of LTBI, as well as TB, for the people beyond the age of 15 years is higher than for them under that age [6, 8]. In this study, we aim to investigate the relationship between the risk of active TB and the intensity of the TST response of college students.
We performed a retrospective cohort study of the college freshmen TB infection investigation of 20 colleges, located in Changping district, Beijing, China. The baseline examination took place in 2013–2016. Follow-up for all individuals started at the time they received TST, mainly in mid-September each year. We ended follow-up for each individual with 2 years follow-up. The data were excluded if any of the following conditions exist: active TB diagnosis in freshmen TB screening, having active TB history or missing TST results.
Data collection and procedures
Beijing Changping institute for tuberculosis prevention and treatment (BCITPT) is the public health institution mainly responsible for TB prevention and control in Changping district. Raw records of colleges' freshmen TB screening of 2013–2016, which contained the age, sex, ethnicity, region, TST reaction size, and diagnosis result, were obtained from BCITPT. Data on reported TB cases of the colleges in Changping district were retrieved from national TB reporting system from 2013 to 2018. Besides, the incidence time of each TB case was collected for further analyses.
According to the medical records of BCITPT, TST was conducted with 2 units of tuberculin (TB-PPD, Beijing Sanroad biological products co., Ltd) on the left forearm using the intradermal technique for each college freshman. And results were measured and recorded after 72 h of TST. For students with the strong positive reaction of TST (induration size ≥15 mm or the presence of blister or necrosis), the subsequent medical diagnosis was performed using X-ray, Mtb culture of sputum and microscopy examination of sputum smears and so on. The individuals with TST reaction size ≥20 mm (886 ones in this study) were advised to receive preventive therapy. However, it was non-obligatory, a few students received preventive therapy, and because it needs three months of treatment, few ones successfully complete treatment. In this study, no one was excluded from the analysis due to receiving LTBI treatment. In the follow-up years, the student who was suspected to be TB case would be taken to BCITPT by the head teachers of classes of colleges in the first time, and all the suspected active TB cases in Changping district were confirmed and treated in BCITPT. They all accepted X-ray examination, microscopy examination of sputum smears and Mtb culture of sputum. The diagnosis and classification of TB were based on the national guidelines for diagnosis for pulmonary tuberculosis (WS 288—2008) and Classification of tuberculosis (WS 196—2001) [9, 10].
All analyses were performed using R 3.5.2 in this study. Pearson's Chi-square test or Fisher' exact test, where appropriate, was used to compare the frequency of categorical variables between the cohorts. The incidence rate (IR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for each cohort were calculated. A 2-tailed P value of less than 0.05 was used to identify the statistical significance for all tests. Separately, cumulative incidence curves for different categories of sex and TST reaction size levels were plotted by using the Kaplan-Meier method, and the log-rank test was used to compare the curves. Subsequently, to identify the potential factors related to TB incidence, regression analysis based on Cox's proportional hazards model was applied to estimate the unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratio (HR) and 95% CI. The univariates with P values less than 0.10 were then candidates included in multivariate Cox's regression analysis. Besides, HR analyses of subgroups of males and females were performed with the same methods. The absolute risk of active TB (1/100000) of different TST reaction sizes was calculated and plotted.
As shown in Table 1, a total of 68288 individuals were included in the enrollment TB screening project of college students during 2013–2016, and 67428 of them actually participated. There were no significant differences in age, sex, and region between those who agreed to participate and those who didn't. After excluding 88 individuals diagnosed as active TB and 48 ones who had active TB history, 67292 (98.54%) individuals were included in the final follow-up cohort. They came from 31 provincial divisions of China, including Beijing (16234, 24.12%), Hebei (3922, 5.83%), Shandong (3125, 4.64%), He'nan (2889, 4.30%), Xinjiang (2086, 3.10%) and so on. There were 36351 (54.02%) males and 30941 (45.98%) females. And the mean (standard deviation, SD) age of the students was 19.52 (1.26) years at baseline (Additional file 1: Table S1).
Baseline characteristics of students
Enrollment of freshmen
# of follow-up
Age (means ± SD)
TST positive(%)
Strong TST positive(%)
Male(%)
Female(%)
19.78 ± 1.53
TST positive: induration size ≥10 mm or the presence of blister or necrosis
Strong TST positive: induration size ≥15 mm or the presence of blister or necrosis
There were 8021 (11.92%) TST positive individuals (induration size ≥10 mm or the presence of blister or necrosis), and about half of them (3879, 5.76%) were strong TST positive (induration size ≥15 mm or presence of blister or necrosis) (Table 1). For TST negative individuals, reaction sizes of them were mainly distributed in 0~1 (51401, 76.39%), 4~5 (5278, 7.84%) and 8~9 (1328, 1.97%); for TST positive individuals, the reaction sizes of them were mainly distributed in 10~11 (2849, 4.23%), 12~13 (1279, 1.90%) and 14~15 (1925, 2.86%) (Additional file 1: Table S2). There were significant differences between the students with TST positive and TST negative in sex, ethnicity, and region (Additional file 1: Table S3). Specifically, males had a higher percentage of TST positive compared to females (12.18% vs. 11.61%); non-Han cohort had a higher percentage of TST positive compared to Han cohort (15.86% vs. 11.45%); the distribution trends of regions of TST positive was high in the west and low in the east (west: 14.22%, middle: 12.39%, east: 10.55%).
There were 26 active TB cases during the 2 years of follow-up. Three of them were diagnosed by microscopy examination of sputum smears; three of them were diagnosed by Mtb culture of sputum, and the others were diagnosed due to TB-related symptoms. During the one-year follow-up period, 9 cases of active TB were recorded in 67292 person-years with an incidence rate of 13.37 (95% CI: 6.11~25.40) per 100000 person-years. And for two-year follow up, 26 active TB cases were recorded in 134575 person-years with an incidence rate of 19.32 (95% CI: 12.61–28.32) per 100000 person-years. However, no significant difference in incidence rate was observed between the one-year and two-year follow up. Compared with the incidence rate of female (8.08 per 100000 person-years, 95% CI: 2.62~18.86), male individuals (28.89 per 100000 person-years, 95% CI: 17.88~44.17) had a higher incidence rate (P = 0.01). The comparison among subgroups who came from different regions of China indicated that those from western China had the highest incidence rate, which might be due to the higher rate of LTBI in those regions at baseline. But no significant difference in the incidence rate was observed among students from different regions of China, as well as Han and non-Han ethnicity (Table 2). According to the Chi-squared test for trend in proportions, it was observed that the incidence rate showed an increasing trend with increasing of TST reaction size (chi-squared = 24.037, P < 0.001).
Factors associated with active TB incidence in follow-up individuals
# of individuals
TB events/follow-up person-years
IRa(95% CI)
P for chi-square test
Univariate Cox regression
Multivariate Cox regression
HR (95% CI)
Adjusted HR(95% CI)
8.08 (2.62~18.86)
28.89 (17.88~44.17)
3.576 (1.348~9.483)
20.82 (4.29~60.85)
1.088 (0.3266~3.622)
TST response (induration size, mm)
< 0.001
47.44 (12.90~121.50)
3.794 (1.237~11.635)
≥ 20
112.87 (13.66~407.79)
IR Incidence rate, HR Hazard ratio, CI Confidence interval
a Per 100 000 person years
Factors that significantly related to active TB incidence were sex and TST response. As shown in Fig. 1, the cumulative incidence of active TB had a significant difference between males and females (Fig. 1a), as well as subgroups with different TST reaction size levels (Fig. 1b). The significant variables for the active TB were summarized in Table 2. After adjusted with other factors, the males were found to have a higher risk of TB development by comparing with the females, with an adjusted HR 3.359 (95% CI: 1.354~9.537). For the TST response intensity, there was no significant difference of active TB risk between individuals with mean diameter of TST induration 0~4 mm and 5~9 mm (adjusted HR: 1.094, [95% CI, 0.247~4.846], P = 0.91). However, when the induration size was greater than 10 mm (10~14, 15~19 and ≥ 20, respectively), the adjusted HR (95% CI) showed an upward trend (3.644 [1.188~11.179], 6.832 [2.436~19.163] and 9.768 [2.203~43.315], respectively) (Table 2). From 0~4 to ≥20, the absolute risk of active TB (1/100000) were 25.02, 27.38, 94.85, 171.35, and 225.73, respectively. As can be seen from Fig. 2, there was little difference in the absolute risk of active TB between TST reaction size 0~4 mm and 5~9 mm, but it was increased rapidly with TST reaction size greater than 10 mm. Moreover, subgroups analyses of males and females showed that HR of the cohort with TST reaction size ≥10 mm was 5.41 (95% CI: 2.28~12.84, P < 0.001) compared to those with reaction size < 10 mm for males, and 5.08 (95% CI: 0.85~30.37, P > 0.05) for females. This suggested that in males, the risk of active TB was higher in college students with the TST positive results, but the difference was not significant for females.
Open image in new window
Cumulative incidence curves of active TB estimated by Kaplan-Meier method. (a) Cumulative incidence curve analysis of different intervals of the mean diameter of TST induration (0~4, 5~9, 10~14, 15~19 and ≥ 20) (b) Cumulative incidence curve analysis of sex
The absolute risk of active TB of different TST reaction sizes
In this retrospective study, we found that TST reaction size ≥10 mm in college freshmen predicted an increased risk of active TB in the subsequent 2 years of TST, compared with those with a reaction size <10 mm. Specifically, the active TB risk increased about 3 times per 5 mm increasing of the interval of TST reaction size compared to reaction size ≤5 mm, up to 9.768 times with reaction size ≥20 mm. And the distribution of the absolute risk of active TB of different induration sizes had similar features. Some previous studies also indicated that a person with a TST reaction size ≥15 mm had a high risk of active TB [6, 11]. However, college students, who were experiencing or going through puberty with great changes of physiology and behavior, were not included. Our study provided some evidence that strong TST reaction in the age of 17–21 years old could be used to predict the subsequent development of TB in two years after TST.
As the most effective and economical means for prevention from Mtb infection, vaccine coverage rate for bacillus Calmette-Gue'rin (BCG) has been around 97% since 1999 in China [12]. However, prior BCG vaccination had a strong influence on TST results on account of cross-reactivity among young people [13], which may lead to false positive results. Even though some more specificity and sensitivity methods have been developed, such as QuantiFERON-TB Gold, T-SPOT.TB and so forth [8, 14, 15], they have not yet been widely accepted in less developed areas because of their higher costs and complexity. Prophylactic therapy, with efficacy ranging from 60 to 90%, was necessary for LTBI persons [2, 16, 17], but not all TST positive ones. It was operable that the college students of TST reaction size ≥10 mm, about 11.92% (8021/67292) of the whole, were regarded as a high-risk population and did further screening with QFT or T-SPOT.
Furthermore, the males of students predicted a higher risk of active TB compared to females, which was consistent with the results of previous studies [18, 19, 20]. Adolescence is a bifurcation point between males and females for the incidence of some infectious disease [21]. There are two reasons that may lead to the difference in active TB incidence. One is the physiological difference between them. Sex hormones play a significant role in immune responses; the female sex hormone estrogen tends to be immune-enhancing, while the male sex hormone testosterone is usually immune-suppressive [21, 22]. The other is the behavioral difference in male and female. Mtb is a person-to-person transmitted pathogen mainly according to the droplet, but behavior-related exposure is usually higher among males, especially after puberty [23]. Thus, the sex-bias of immune status and Mtb exposure may lead to the different risk levels of incidence of active TB.
There were a few limitations in this study. At first, the absence information of some other influencing factors, such as BMI, smoking and alcohol drinking history, close contact history, comorbidity and so forth, in the raw records might lead to ignoring some risk factors and influencing the accuracy of results. Secondly, because of the missing information of students received LTBI treatment, the risk of active TB for those with TST reaction size ≥20 mm might be underestimated in this study. Thirdly. follow up time was not long enough. It was reported that TB risk decreased rapidly with time after Mtb infection [15, 24]. Longtime follow-up might provide more information on the relationship of TST reaction intensity and active TB risk of this population. In addition, this study was only performed in Beijing. Therefore, additional research should be done in a wider area of China with longer follow-up time to estimate the association between TST result and active TB incidence in the youth population.
In summary, the intensity of TST reaction could reflect the active TB risk to some extent for college students. And males had a higher risk compared to females. This may allow us to do a better job in the prevention of pulmonary tuberculosis of college students in the future.
DMC and ZGZ contributed equally to this work. FZ, ZGZ, and BLZ conceived and designed this study. SBM, ZGS, HJD and ZY collected the data. DMC performed the analysis and wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final paper.
This study was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDB29020203) and the National Science and Technology Major Project of China (No. 2018ZX10103001). The funders had no role in study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation.
This work has been approved by the Ethics Committee of Beijing Changping institute for tuberculosis prevention and treatment. Existing TB Screening records and clinical data of college students were abstracted from the electronic medical records and anonymously used.
12879_2019_4238_MOESM1_ESM.docx (33 kb)
Additional file 1: Table S1. The age distribution of the follow-up cohort. Table S2. The TST reaction size distribution of follow-up cohort. Table S3. The characteristics of individuals with TST positive and TST negative. (DOCX 21 kb)
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1.CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and ImmunologyInstitute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
2.University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
3.Beijing Changping institute for tuberculosis prevention and treatmentBeijingChina
4.Beijing Tuberculosis and Thoracic Tumor Research InstituteBeijingChina
5.Clinical Trials and Research CenterNational Center for Geriatrics of Beijing HospitalBeijingChina
Cao, D., Zhang, Z., Yang, Z. et al. BMC Infect Dis (2019) 19: 619. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-019-4238-2
Publisher Name BioMed Central

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Tyler Perry Offers Acting Gig to Job-Shamed Geoffrey Owens!
by Simon Delott at September 5, 2018 4:17 pm . Updated at September 5, 2018 9:08 pm .
Former Cosby Show actor Geoffrey Owens made a reluctant return to the spotlight this week in what we are calling a Reverse Alex-From-Target situation.
Inexplicably, the actor was shamed and ridiculed for working a normal job as a cashier in between acting gigs.
Now, Tyler Perry has reached out to Owens to offer him a job in television again.
Geoffrey Owens had to step away from his job as a cashier at Trader Joe's after becoming the center of national attention.
But Tyler Perry has reached out on Twitter to offer him a new job.
"#GeoffreyOwens I'm about to start shootings OWN's number one drama next week!" Perry tweeted.
"Come join us!!!" He offered.I have so much respect for people who hustle between gigs."
Perry makes it clear that he has respect for non-acting jobs, calling them "the measure of a true artist."
In case you've forgotten what this was about, Geoffrey Owens rose to national attention this week after he was recognized and photographed while working as a cashier at Trader Joe's.
He is most famous for having played Elvin Tibideaux on The Cosby Show from 1985 to 1992.
Many were surprised to see him working a normal job. Some people assume that once a person has had a major television role, they are set for life.
This led some people, including Fox News, to shame him for taking this job, assuming that he had carelessly spent a massive TV fortune.
(If we're picking on former Cosby stars, absolutely everyone can think of a man more deserving of ire)
Thankfully, those hateful messages were very effectively shut down.
There are two important things that everyone seeing this story should keep in mind.
One, Geoffrey is not some washed up former actor. He's still an actor.
Just last year, he was on Fox's Lucifer (which was famously saved earlier this year along with shows like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Expanse -- the next season will air on Netflix).
Two, it is totally normal for actors -- among other artists -- to have regular jobs between or during their art gigs.
Only a very small percentage of actors, writers, and others are able to coast along on the wealth gathered from just a few projects.
It's great that Perry reached out, especially since Geoffrey could no longer work as an anonymous cashier.
But the biggest takeaway that we should all have from this situation has nothing to do with the realities of the acting world.
Many believe that you have the right to photograph anything that you see in public. That may be so, but snapping a photo is not the same thing as sharing it.
Whether your cashier is attractive or looks like a famous actor or just has weird hair, you do not have the right to broadcast their image across the internet.
None of us ever know what photos of ours may go viral, so we should be extremely careful that we're not potentially dragging an innocent person into the spotlight.
Please have good manners. Please treat cashiers, and others, with the respect and dignity befitting fellow human beings.
Fox News Shames Cosby Show Star, Gets an Earful from... Everyone
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text:
'Extreme' lip fillers: Blindness, infection and allergic reaction among risks
Francesca Specter
·Yahoo Style UK deputy editor
10 June 2019, 11:41 am
Andrea Ivanova pictured before (left) and after she underwent a series of extreme lip fillers procedures. [Photo: CEN]
A Bulgarian woman has hit headlines for her extreme lip fillers, which garnered comparisons to "Daffy Duck" from social media users.
Andrea Ivanova, a 22-year-old student from Sofia, Bulgaria, has had "over 15" cosmetic procedures, including multiple lip augmentations, in order to increase the plumpness of her lips.
"Since I was little, I loved Barbie and dreamed about looking like her one day," Ivanova told CEN.
"I did maybe over 15 procedures since then [2018]. I didn't count them, maybe there are more."
A lip augmentation is a non-surgical procedure whereby a filler material – most commonly hyaluronic acid, which Ivanova attests to using – is injected into the lip area to change its appearance.
READ MORE: Lip fillers ad banned for telling parents to 'support' daughters
The "fillers" trend has grown exponentially in the UK in recent years. Demand has risen 156% from January 2017 to March 2019, according to data from local services website Bark.com.
Influencers such as Kylie Jenner and contestants on popular reality show 'Love Island' have been widely understood to fuel the craze.
Andrea Ivanova posing for a selfie. [Photo: CEN]
But is it is really safe to alter your lips, especially as drastically as Ivanova? We spoke to aesthetic doctor Dr Sophie Shotter to find out.
Are 'extreme' lip fillers safe?
"I feel really sad when I see stories like this," says Dr Shotter. "This is not what aesthetic procedures should be about - we are not trying to make people look like blow up dolls.
"Having this many procedures and such an extreme look can pose both mental and physical risks."
READ MORE: 6 questions to ask before getting lip fillers
According to Dr Shotter, the physical risks include:
Infection – "This happens when bacteria are introduced through the skin into the filler, usually through inadequate skin cleansing before treatment."
Allergic reactions – "Your body can be allergic to anything it comes into contact with, and filler is no different. There is a risk that if [a patient] has had different products injected they may interact with one another and cause a reaction."
Necrosis – When a patch of skin is starved of its blood supply and dies. While there is a small risk with every injection, "extreme" procedures carry an additional risk due to the sheer amount of filler causing compression of blood vessels, Dr Shotter explains.
Blindness – "Blindness happens again when filler is injected into an artery and travels to the back of the eye through the circulation. It's a very small risk, but one that is so serious people should understand it."
As for the psychological risks, Dr Shotter says patients with "extreme" cosmetic enhancements often suffer from a body image disturbance.
Andrea Ivanova pictured before her extreme transformation. [Photo: CEN]
"A lot of patients like this already suffer from body image disturbances, and those who continue to inject [fillers] pose a continued risk to the patients' mental health," she adds.
READ MORE: Plastic surgery trend to look like Melania and Ivanka Trump
Will fillers cause lasting damage?
While, as we've established, there are certain risks associated with fillers in the first place, there's also the question of what happens in the long-term – particularly if a patient gets a temporary fillers substance like hyaluronic acid injected, which dissolves over time.
Such extreme lip filler patients "will almost certainly still need some filler re-injected to have her lips look aesthetically pleasing and not stretched and deflated," says Dr. Shotter.
And what if such a patient were to get them dissolved, as Kylie Jenner famously opted to do in 2018?
"There's a significant risk [their lips] would look empty and deflated.
"If a patient is young, they will be able to produce some collagen and induce some skin tightening. The safest way to be treated would be with serial injections of hyaluronidase over a period of several weeks to gradually achieve a reduction in the lip size."
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About 3 weeks ago we decided to plant some winter vegetables. We are waiting to see if our onions grow well and today our bean plants had grown so tall over the weekend we have had to repot them. Meanwhile, in the poly tunnel, Primary 4 are preparing the soil for sowing seeds next spring. We have done this by covering the bed with sheets of polythene to kill off any lingering weeds.


text:
You are at:Home»Business»Inheritance tax faces a shake up, warns Old Mill
Inheritance tax faces a shake up, warns Old Mill
By John Swire on	 July 29, 2019 Business, Money Matters, News
Farmers face potentially significant changes to Inheritance Tax (IHT) after proposals released earlier this month from the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS), according to rural accountant Old Mill.
The OTS review could result in a number of revisions to IHT, with both positive and negative impacts for farms, says head of rural services Andrew Vickery. "There are two proposals in particular which could have quite an impact upon farms and rural businesses, should the Treasury decide to implement them."
The first proposal would be fairly positive as it involves possibly aligning the IHT treatment of furnished holiday lets with that of Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax (CGT).
"In recent years there has been uncertainty and less ability to claim IHT relief on furnished holiday lets as they weren't necessarily seen as trading activity," says Mr Vickery. "While genuine furnished holiday lets qualify for certain CGT and Income Tax reliefs, they were generally classified as investments for IHT.
"Now, in a bid to simplify the system, the OTS has recommended that holiday lets satisfying the qualifying criteria for Income Tax and CGT purposes should also qualify for Business Property Relief (BPR), which gives 100% relief from IHT. This will be a welcome change to diversified business owners, potentially saving £10,000s in tax."
Unfortunately, a less favourable proposal for farm businesses is to align the eligibility for IHT and CGT trading reliefs, says Mr Vickery. At present, to qualify for BPR a business's activities and assets must be 'wholly' or 'mainly' trading – so at least 50%.
The new proposals could see this trading threshold increase to 80%, to come in line with CGT requirements, he warns. "This would mean that those farming and estate businesses which have diversified into other non-trading enterprises such as property letting or some renewable energy activities could find their IHT exposure increasing very significantly."
Though these are simply recommendations for the Treasury to consider, there is likely to be a detailed consultation about the proposals, with any changes introduced in the Autumn Budget at the earliest, says Mr Vickery.
"Whether there is even an appetite to make big changes to the tax system in light of the Brexit uncertainty remains to be seen. However, it is worth farmers and estate owners familiarising themselves with the OTS proposals and speaking to their accountant, to see what the effects might be. This is especially relevant to mixed businesses with both trading and non-trading activities."
John Swire
John Swire - Deputy editor of Agronomist and Arable Farmer as well as responsibility for the Agronomist and Arable Farmer and Farm Business websites. After 17 years milking cows on the family farm John started writing about agriculture in 1998 and has since written for a variety of publications and has developed a wide circle of contacts within the industry. When not working John is a season ticket holder at Stoke City and also of late has become a fitness freak, listing cycling, swimming and walking as his exercises of choice.
Agriculture Bill is a monumental step, says CAAV
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These are no delicate flowers: They can hold up to 15 pounds of weight each.
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Keep your hair out of your face while sipping on piña coladas.
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It's all almost too cute to bear.


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In recent years, rosin has become popular among cannabis patients and enthusiasts alike. Featuring a sticky consistency, similar to sap, rosin is rich in terpenes and cannabinoids. When made properly, rosin rivals any cannabis extract on the market today. In fact, some say rosin is the future of cannabis concentrates.
Here are just a few of the many amazing benefits of rosin.
The precise origins of rosin are not known, but some facts have been established. The rosin technique is believed to have initially been posted to Instagram on a page called Soilgrown Solventless, in February 2015. However, it is possible that the technique had been known for some time prior. After this posting, the internet began accumulating reports of rosin extractions.
A huge benefit to this technique, is that rosin can be produced in the safety of your home; no more worrying about explosive hydrocarbons to make full-melt concentrates, no more half melts, no more poison soup and no more "melt struggles." Period. Now, with the ability to turn any bubble, sift, half-melt, scissor hash, sandy dry sift, water hash, flowers and even trim into pure solvent-free oil, we have witnessed a colossal and positive change in the hash game.
While rosin looks nearly identical to other cannabis concentrations like BHO, there is one huge difference. Rosin is completely solventless. Unlike BHO (butane hash oil), rosin does not require a solvent. Which means there's zero risk of residuals in the end product. The result is purer meds.
Butane is extremely harsh on the human body and the environment. Rosin produces a completely clean, potent product when extracted properly. In fact, rosin is comparable to BHO in potency. For patients who need pure and powerful meds – the choice is obvious.
Extreme precautions must be taken when producing butane extractions. Butane is highly flammable and susceptible to explosion. It is an extremely volatile substance. Unfortunately, a large number of accidents have occurred from people trying to produce extracts with solvents like butane. Granted, many of these accidents were caused by amateurs who did not follow safe extraction methods. Nevertheless, making concentrations from butane is risky business. Even when handled with the utmost care, butane still poses considerable dangers. Serious harm or even death can occur. Rosin completely avoids these risks.
Did you know that with the right equipment, you could make rosin in a few minutes? Rosin presses apply heat and pressure. This combo liquefies the terpene and cannabinoid content in flower into a sticky wax. The process of making rosin is incredibly efficient. In a single day you can make high-quality concentrates. For new labs or caregivers, this is a huge advantage of rosin in comparison to closed-loop systems, which can take months, or even years to get up and running.
Rosin is highly concentrated. Some reports indicate rosin can have 50 to 70 percent THC content. Flower, on the other hand, normally comes in around 25-30%. The effects of rosin are therefore much stronger. The rich cannabinoid and terpene content of rosin make it a popular choice among patients. Less product is needed for the same desired effects. Pure and potent, rosin is economical and practical. It is also a cleaner option when processed properly because there are no additives.
Need a fast but powerful dose of cannabis? Rosin is a great choice. Because it is a concentrated form of cannabis, rosin is loaded with cannabinoids like THC and CBD. One dab of rosin provides a large dose of cannabinoids quickly. You would need to smoke 3 to 4 times the amount to get the same quantity of cannabinoids as dabbing rosin. With rosin, a little bit goes a long way. The strong effects take hold swiftly so it's best to dose a small amount at a time. Rosin is beneficial for patients who need fast acting powerful doses of cannabis medicine.


text:
File – Brandy Nichols, a single mother of four children who are 8 and younger, speaks to members of the Mississippi House and Senate Democratic Caucuses,…
File – Brandy Nichols, a single mother of four children who are 8 and younger, speaks to members of the Mississippi House and Senate Democratic Caucuses, about the difficulty of obtaining Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds in Mississippi, Oct. 18, 2022, in Jackson. Funds from the program designed to help low-income families with children achieve economic self-sufficiency, were misspent and lawmakers are seeking to gain a better understanding of the welfare scandal. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
Welfare scandal sharpens contrasts in long-poor Mississippi
by: EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS, Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — In Mississippi, where elected officials have a long history of praising self-sufficiency and condemning federal antipoverty programs, a welfare scandal has exposed how millions of dollars were diverted to the rich and powerful — including pro athletes — instead of helping some of the neediest people in the nation.
The misuse of welfare money rankles Nsombi Lambright-Haynes, executive director of One Voice, a nonprofit that works to help economically vulnerable communities in Mississippi.
"It's shameful and disgusting, especially when we've been a state where we hear discussion every year about poor people not needing resources and poor people being lazy and just needing to get up to work," she said.
The state has ranked among the poorest in the U.S. for decades, but only a fraction of its federal welfare money has been going toward direct aid to families. Instead, the Mississippi Department of Human Services allowed well-connected people to fritter away tens of millions of welfare dollars from 2016 to 2019, according to the state auditor and state and federal prosecutors.
Former Human Services Director John Davis has pleaded guilty to charges tied to welfare misspending in one of the state's largest public corruption cases.
The scandal has ensnared high-profile figures, including retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre, who is one of more than three dozen defendants in a civil lawsuit that the current Human Services director filed to try to recover some of the welfare money wasted while Davis was in charge.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families money helped fund pet projects of the wealthy, including $5 million for a volleyball arena that Favre supported at his alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi, Mississippi Auditor Shad White said. Favre's daughter played volleyball at the school starting in 2017.
Another $2.1 million of TANF money went toward an attempt to develop a concussion drug by a company in which Favre was an investor, White said. Favre has asked a judge to dismiss him from the lawsuit, with his attorney arguing that the Department of Human Services — not Favre — is responsible for "grossly improper and unlawful handling of welfare funds." Favre is not facing criminal charges.
Some of the money that was intended to help low-income families was spent on luxury travel for Davis and on people close to him, drug rehab for a former pro wrestler and boot camp-style gym classes for public officials.
In contrast, some welfare recipients say they found little relief but plenty of bureaucratic headaches from collecting modest monthly TANF payments.
"What may seem like an easy handout program is not," said Brandy Nichols, a single mother of four children age 8 and younger.
Mississippi requires TANF recipients to prove they are actively looking for employment and Nichols, of Jackson, said the job search is time-consuming.
"It's work, and sometimes work takes away my ability to find a true, stable job," she said.
TANF is for families that have at least one child younger than 18. To qualify in Mississippi, the household income must be at or below 185% of the federal poverty level. The current upper income limit for a family of three is $680 a month.
The Associated Press researched poverty statistics for 1982 through 2021, which show Mississippi was the poorest state for 19 of those 40 years and among the five poorest for 38 years. In 2021, the U.S. poverty rate was 11.6% and Mississippi's was the highest in the nation, 17.4%.
Federal statistics show a dramatic decrease in the number of Mississippi residents receiving individual TANF aid starting in 2012, the first year Republican Phil Bryant was governor, and continuing into the term of current Republican Gov. Tate Reeves. Bryant chose Davis to lead the Department of Human Services.
During the 2012 budget year, 24,180 Mississippians received TANF. By the 2021 budget year, that was down to 2,880 in a state with nearly 3 million residents.
Robert G. "Bob" Anderson, the current Mississippi Department of Human Services executive director, told Democratic state lawmakers in October that about 90% of people who apply for TANF in Mississippi don't receive it, either because their applications are denied or because they abandon their applications.
Those who do qualify get the lowest payments in the country, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
April Jackson, a single mother with children ranging in age from a few months to 13 years old, said she received about $190 a month in TANF when she was pregnant with her third child.
Eleven years ago, the monthly payment "bought diapers and stuff like that." But she said that after she started receiving child support from the father of her oldest son, Human Services ended her TANF benefits because she was suddenly over the income limit for the aid.
"It messed me up real bad," said Jackson, who lives on a tight budget. "I wasn't able to pay my part of the bills. I couldn't buy my kids clothes for school or the shoes they needed."
The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said that in 2020, New Hampshire had the highest TANF payment in the country, $862 a month for a single parent and one child. Mississippi's monthly payment for a family of two was $146.
In 2021, Mississippi increased its TANF payments by $90 per month, per family — the state's first increase since 1999 — at Anderson's recommendation. The increase cost $2.8 million, and Republican Sen. Joey Fillingane said during a Senate debate that it was all paid by federal money, not state money.
"We're not talking about a lot of money," Fillingane said. "These are the poorest of the poor in our state."
"Of course, those are all our dollars," replied Sen. Melanie Sojourner, one of 18 legislators — all Republicans — who voted against the increase.
The federal government sends Mississippi about $86.5 million a year for TANF and allows states wide leeway in spending. Records show Mississippi does not always spend its entire allotment, sometimes carrying millions of dollars from year to year.
During Mississippi's 2016 budget year, the Department of Human Services sent $17.3 million in direct aid to recipients, about half of the state's TANF spending. During the next three years under Davis, the department decreased the amount of TANF money going to individuals.
By the 2019 budget year, Human Services was spending $9.6 million on direct aid, 16% of the TANF money. About $27.6 million, 46% of the money, was going to the Mississippi Community Education Center. The organization — run by Nancy New and one of her sons, Zachary New, who have pleaded guilty to state charges in the welfare misspending case — said it was fighting poverty by working on parenting skills, school dropout prevention, job readiness and other programs.
For Nichols — who spoke to Democratic state lawmakers about her experience on TANF — maintaining steady employment has been difficult at times because some of her children have health problems and she has to care for them.
She has worked as a cashier, waitress, housekeeper and certified nurse assistant. But when she has been unable to find a job quickly, she has had to work volunteer hours in a state Department of Human Services office as a condition for keeping TANF payments.
"That's not career development," she said. "That's called being stuck in limbo."
Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus.
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text:
package aws_ebs

import (
	"os"
	"testing"

	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/api"
	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/types"
	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/util/mount"
	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/volume"
)

func TestCanSupport(t *testing.T) {
	plugMgr := volume.VolumePluginMgr{}
	plugMgr.InitPlugins(ProbeVolumePlugins(), volume.NewFakeVolumeHost("/tmp/fake", nil, nil))

	plug, err := plugMgr.FindPluginByName("kubernetes.io/aws-ebs")
	if err != nil {
		t.Errorf("Can't find the plugin by name")
	}
	if plug.Name() != "kubernetes.io/aws-ebs" {
		t.Errorf("Wrong name: %s", plug.Name())
	}
	if !plug.CanSupport(&volume.Spec{Name: "foo", VolumeSource: api.VolumeSource{AWSElasticBlockStore: &api.AWSElasticBlockStoreVolumeSource{}}}) {
		t.Errorf("Expected true")
	}
}

func TestGetAccessModes(t *testing.T) {
	plugMgr := volume.VolumePluginMgr{}
	plugMgr.InitPlugins(ProbeVolumePlugins(), volume.NewFakeVolumeHost("/tmp/fake", nil, nil))

	plug, err := plugMgr.FindPersistentPluginByName("kubernetes.io/aws-ebs")
	if err != nil {
		t.Errorf("Can't find the plugin by name")
	}
	if !contains(plug.GetAccessModes(), api.ReadWriteOnce) {
		t.Errorf("Expected to find AccessMode:  %s", api.ReadWriteOnce)
	}
	if len(plug.GetAccessModes()) != 1 {
		t.Errorf("Expected to find exactly one AccessMode")
	}
}

func contains(modes []api.AccessModeType, mode api.AccessModeType) bool {
	for _, m := range modes {
		if m == mode {
			return true
		}
	}
	return false
}

type fakePDManager struct{}

// TODO(jonesdl) To fully test this, we could create a loopback device
// and mount that instead.
func (fake *fakePDManager) AttachAndMountDisk(pd *awsElasticBlockStore, globalPDPath string) error {
	globalPath := makeGlobalPDPath(pd.plugin.host, pd.volumeID)
	err := os.MkdirAll(globalPath, 0750)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	return nil
}

func (fake *fakePDManager) DetachDisk(pd *awsElasticBlockStore) error {
	globalPath := makeGlobalPDPath(pd.plugin.host, pd.volumeID)
	err := os.RemoveAll(globalPath)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	return nil
}

func TestPlugin(t *testing.T) {
	plugMgr := volume.VolumePluginMgr{}
	plugMgr.InitPlugins(ProbeVolumePlugins(), volume.NewFakeVolumeHost("/tmp/fake", nil, nil))

	plug, err := plugMgr.FindPluginByName("kubernetes.io/aws-ebs")
	if err != nil {
		t.Errorf("Can't find the plugin by name")
	}
	spec := &api.Volume{
		Name: "vol1",
		VolumeSource: api.VolumeSource{
			AWSElasticBlockStore: &api.AWSElasticBlockStoreVolumeSource{
				VolumeID: "pd",
				FSType:   "ext4",
			},
		},
	}
	builder, err := plug.(*awsElasticBlockStorePlugin).newBuilderInternal(volume.NewSpecFromVolume(spec), types.UID("poduid"), &fakePDManager{}, &mount.FakeMounter{})
	if err != nil {
		t.Errorf("Failed to make a new Builder: %v", err)
	}
	if builder == nil {
		t.Errorf("Got a nil Builder")
	}

	path := builder.GetPath()
	if path != "/tmp/fake/pods/poduid/volumes/kubernetes.io~aws-ebs/vol1" {
		t.Errorf("Got unexpected path: %s", path)
	}

	if err := builder.SetUp(); err != nil {
		t.Errorf("Expected success, got: %v", err)
	}
	if _, err := os.Stat(path); err != nil {
		if os.IsNotExist(err) {
			t.Errorf("SetUp() failed, volume path not created: %s", path)
		} else {
			t.Errorf("SetUp() failed: %v", err)
		}
	}
	if _, err := os.Stat(path); err != nil {
		if os.IsNotExist(err) {
			t.Errorf("SetUp() failed, volume path not created: %s", path)
		} else {
			t.Errorf("SetUp() failed: %v", err)
		}
	}

	cleaner, err := plug.(*awsElasticBlockStorePlugin).newCleanerInternal("vol1", types.UID("poduid"), &fakePDManager{}, &mount.FakeMounter{})
	if err != nil {
		t.Errorf("Failed to make a new Cleaner: %v", err)
	}
	if cleaner == nil {
		t.Errorf("Got a nil Cleaner")
	}

	if err := cleaner.TearDown(); err != nil {
		t.Errorf("Expected success, got: %v", err)
	}
	if _, err := os.Stat(path); err == nil {
		t.Errorf("TearDown() failed, volume path still exists: %s", path)
	} else if !os.IsNotExist(err) {
		t.Errorf("SetUp() failed: %v", err)
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Some of my earliest memories of beauty were about hands. I remember growing up in Arizona and noticing Barbra Streisand's nails on TV, the graceful way she moved her hands when she sang. I loved the way Bette Midler used her hands, too—so feminine, so exquisite. From the beginning, I always found people who were not considered beauties to be beautiful. I think I was always attracted to people's hearts. And hands were somehow an extension of that.
The next day he took me to have a full set of long artificial nails put on—and instantly, all of my shame went away. It transformed the way I performed and moved my body; it transformed the way I saw myself. I suddenly felt like a woman. It seems like such a small thing, but I realized that hands are in front of you or in your peripheral vision all day, and they're incredibly important to the way a person feels about themselves. Years later, I discovered something else that helped transform the way my hands looked,—Restylane® Lyft, the first and only FDA-approved hyaluronic acid filler for the hands. It was a game changer for me. And I know through my years of experience as a manicurist—and later as a brand founder who's been blessed to work with some of the most incredible hands in the world—that it's been a game changer for many.
Actual patient. Treated with 1 mL Restylane® Lyft per hand. 3 weeks after treatment. Individual results may vary.
Your hands are your greeters. You look at somebody in the eye, and then you reach out and look at their hand. It's such a telling thing about a person's overall grooming. And I have always noticed that anybody who didn't feel good about their hands would hide them. As you age, you start to notice the skin on the back of the hands thinning, the tendons and the veins becoming more visible. You're constantly reminded that your hands are starting to age you. So many people are embarrassed by them. They'll say, "Look at how crepey my skin is, look at my veins." This is something I hear from almost every woman I've ever met, at every salon I've worked in. And I used to feel the same way. Before Restylane Lyft, I would look at my hands and go, Oh my gosh, I don't feel old, but look at my hands—they're telling me I'm old.
When Restylane Lyft became FDA-approved for volume loss in aging hands all I could think was: Thank you, thank you, thank you! I admit I was a little nervous to try it myself. I've had great results with Restylane for my facial wrinkles, but the skin on the back of my hands is thinner, and I'm afraid of pain. But there was no pain—I didn't even know it was happening—and the results were instant, without any bruising. It looks so, so natural. It's incredible. The fact is, it doesn't look like you've "done something" and that was very important to me.
Discovering Restylane Lyft was a life-changing moment for me, in the same way as that first set of artificial nails I got was when I was playing Dolly Parton. Before, I had stopped wearing color on my nails because I didn't want to draw attention to my aging hands, and now I'm having fun with polish again, even with dark colors—I'm really into a classic short, dark nail right now, which I never thought I'd wear again! My hands are a source of pride. I feel better about myself. And that's empowering.
Tell your doctor if you have any history of scarring, particularly thick and stiff scars, or any pigmentation (skin color) disorders.These side effects can occur with hyaluronic acid fillers in general.
The most commonly observed side effects are swelling, redness, pain, bruising, headache, tenderness, lump formation, itching at the injection site, and impaired hand function. These are typically mild in severity and typically resolve in less than 7 days in nasolabial folds and less than 14 days in lips. Serious but rare side effects include delayed onset infections, recurrence of herpetic eruptions, and superficial necrosis at the injection site.
To report a side effect with any of the Restylane products, please call Galderma Laboratories, L.P. at 1-855-425-8722.
The Restylane family of products is available only through a licensed practitioner. Complete Instructions for Use are available at www.RestylaneUSA.com.


text:
Draining the Holy Grail
The true history of the Holy Grail, the most precious of all artifacts.
Filed under Conspiracy Theories, History & Pseudohistory, Religion
Regardless of whether they come in the person of Indiana Jones or Monty Python, fictional characters have been pursuing the Holy Grail for centuries. It is, according to tradition, the cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper, and that held his blood as he died on the cross; and, consequently, would be the most valuable and extraordinary artifact in the history of Christendom. Does it exist today in the vaults of some great cathedral? Was it used by its first century owners until it crumbled away? What do the scriptures tell us about who had it last, where it was, and where it might be now? Today we're going to see what's actually known about the Holy Grail, and — if we're very lucky — we may conclude where it might be.
The first thing we have to do when looking into the Holy Grail is to stop talking about The Da Vinci Code. Dan Brown's 2003 thriller novel was set in a world in which some popular alternative histories of Christianity were all true, and among these was a claim that the Holy Grail referred not to a cup, but to the womb of Mary Magdalene, who bore Jesus' children. These ideas were central to the plot of the book, and controversial as they were, central to its commercial success as well. Brown has always insisted that virtually all of these alternative histories are true; however, as he is its author and very much a partner in his publisher's pursuit of profitable returns, we have little reason to suspect that Brown truly believes much of this. It's marketing for a fiction novel. As has been noted by pretty much everyone who has previously written on this subject, the bulk of The Da Vinci Code's historical background is lifted from the 1982 book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, written by three British conspiracy theorists and dismissed by virtually all legitimate historians, and which we'll talk more about later. The bottom line is that nothing in The Da Vinci Code has any role to play in a serious examination of the historicity of the Holy Grail.
As the Holy Grail's story is that it plays a key role in the final days of Jesus, we might be inclined to turn first to the Bible to learn whatever we can about it. And this is where we hit our first stumbling block, and you either already know this — or if you don't, will likely be very surprised to learn it — the Grail does not appear anywhere in the Bible at all. Nowhere. Not the slightest reference. Some people have tried to shoehorn random Biblical mentions of cups and claim those must have been it, but such efforts are all painfully weak. The fact is that whatever the Grail's origin is, it was unknown at the time the books of the Bible were written. Surely an important plot point like Jesus' blood being collected while he was on the cross would not have been omitted by the authors. The most likely explanation for why it's not in there is because that part of the story did not yet exist. So this answers one of our initial questions, which is where the Grail might have ended up at the conclusion of the Bible stories. That is "nowhere".
But the Bible is not the only ancient text that omits any mention of the Holy Grail. In fact, it is not present in any ancient texts from the entire first millennium CE. This tells us that the story of the Holy Grail does not come from Christendom.
In 1136, the Welsh cleric Geoffrey of Monmouth published a series of volumes in Latin titled Historia Regum Britanniae ("History of the Kings of Britain"). In it, he introduced a king known only from short snippets of various Celtic and Welsh poems, a king by the name of Arthur. Geoffrey's Arthur was an heroic character with golden armor, whose sword and lance were both named, and who was undefeatable in battle. Geoffrey introduced the characters of Merlin, Guinevere, Uther Pendragon, and Mordred. Geoffrey's Historia was so influential that it became the bed from which all later Arthurian legends germinated.
Historia was notably translated into French in 1160 by Robert Wace, who added a few new elements of his own, including the Round Table and a new name for Arthur's sword: Excalibur. And it was this translation into French that yielded the richest parts of the legend we know today. French poets seized upon the story and wrote what we might describe today as "fan fiction," new stories set in the Arthurian world.
And so it was in this context — a literary era in which French poets cranked out Arthurian stories like they were comic books — that one of the most influential appeared. In 1190, the poet Chrétien de Troyes conceived the heroic character of a young knight named Perceval, in his poem Le Conte du Graal ("The Story of the Grail"), which he left incomplete, as he died literally mid-sentence. Perceval's tale was the epic of a quest given to Arthur's Knights of the Round Table: to find a lost talisman, the Holy Grail, which might restore the chivalry and honor of Arthur's court. What was it? In De Troyes' work, exactly what the Grail was wasn't clear, but perhaps a bowl of precious jewels. In other authors' works that soon followed, the Grail may have been a magical stone, a platter, even a book. Exactly what it was didn't really matter; as a literary device, it was simply the object of a quest.
But the reason you know about King Arthur today has less to do with 12th century French pulp fiction and more to do with the 1485 publication of Le Morte d'Arthur ("The Death of Arthur"), an English language compilation and expansion of all the stories that had come before. Nearly all of these had been in French, so this book was really the first large-scale introduction of King Arthur to English-speaking audiences. It was written by a Sir Thomas Malory, but a number of men bore that name at that time and it's not known for sure which Sir Thomas Malory was the author. This book is the source material for virtually any movie or TV show you might watch today about King Arthur.
Most significantly, Le Morte d'Arthur was the first time that crucial elements were added to the Grail part of the story. Malory defined the Grail unambiguously as a golden chalice, and introduced the story elements of it having been the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, and also used to collect his blood as he died on the cross.
Within literary studies is a field called textual criticism, which is the study of variations of a given story or manuscript over time. And within textual criticism is a specialty called stemmatics, a quantitative approach that plots variations of a story on a sort of family tree, which can be used to illustrate the descent of certain storylines, and such things as the appearance or disappearance of certain characters or other story elements within a canon. Through stemmatics, we can get a reliable sense of when certain story elements (such as a Holy Grail, for example) were first added to an existing canon (such as Arthurian legend). Together with the actual texts themselves, this is what constitutes the empirical evidence that there was no Holy Grail in the days of Jesus, indeed not until nearly 1200 years later; therefore it was never the "Cup of Christ" and never held his blood as he died on the cross, or anyone else's blood anywhere. It was a fictional plot element in Arthurian legend. It was the central talisman of Perceval's quest; no more, and no less.
Over the next 800 years, awareness of the Grail story gradually intertwined with Christian beliefs, and the general public came to believe it was an actual Christian relic. By 1543, theologian John Calvin described several of the at least twenty actual vessels throughout Europe, each of which was claimed by its stewards to be the actual Holy Grail of legend.
So we can forgive the casual reader of the twentieth century for defaulting to the same assumption. The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail was published in 1982 by a trio of conspiracy theorists: Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln (later editions were republished as Holy Blood, Holy Grail). The book was a followup to three episodes of the BBC documentary series Chronicle which were written and presented by Lincoln. The authors were inspired by a well-known coincidence in the spelling of two terms in Old French, first pointed out in the 15th century: san-gréal (Holy Dish) and sang real (royal blood). It was a classic case of hyperactive pattern spotting that characterizes so many conspiratorial beliefs. This pattern-matching permeated their claims. For example, if the Grail really referred to a royal bloodline, the Grail's cup-like shape could be a metaphor for woman's womb, perhaps in the shape of the letter V. Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln then pointed out V-like shapes everywhere they could find them, a few of which are dramatized in the book and movie The Da Vinci Code, wherein one of the characters highlights the shape of a V in the center of Da Vinci's painting The Last Supper.
Was Da Vinci trying to tell us something? To draw that conclusion, we'd have to start with the assumption that any time two lines meet at an angle in a painting, the artist was conveying a hidden message containing a specific historical account of something; moreover, an important alternate history, the details of which he expected people to simply divine. Do all angles in all paintings mean this same thing? Do all angles in all artworks secretly represent different alternate histories? Or, is another explanation that the pattern-matching of these three conspiracy theorist authors was simply stuck in overdrive?
This tendency is called apophenia, the abnormal perception of patterns and meaning where none exists. From the field of logical reasoning errors (discussed in detail in Skeptoid #297), apophenia is a Type I error: a false positive. Much more informally, such false perceptions are sometimes referred to as blobsquatches. The term blobsquatch comes from the world of Bigfoot hunters, some of whom are notorious for presenting an unremarkable photo of a forest scene with numerous circles and arrows drawn on it, each supposedly representing where a Bigfoot is hiding. Virtually the entire book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail consists of apophenic blobsquatches; instances where these three authors were fooled by the many historical false positives piled onto this narrative over the centuries since the poet De Troyes first conceived of the romantic tale of young Perceval, Knight of the Round Table.
And so, while it may seem a disappointing loss to find that it is an historical fact that the Holy Grail never existed, it's important to look beyond this inherently negative part of the process and focus on the positive part. It is interesting and informative to understand how the Arthurian legend was built over the centuries, and how parts of it (like the Grail) bled into the popular culture of the day and were reformed into history that people took for fact. It is equally interesting and informative to trace the process backwards and reveal how we know that the Grail never existed beyond the plot of a romantic 12th-century tale. But, perhaps coolest of all, is that today we have joined the ranks of our favorite adventurers, and pursued this greatest of all historical quarries. And arguably, our success was more complete; because while we may not have found a golden chalice, we have found something infinitely more divine: the truth behind it.
Dunning, B. "Draining the Holy Grail."	Skeptoid Podcast. Skeptoid Media, 14 Apr 2020.	Web. 18 Jan 2021.	<https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4723>
De Troyes, C. Perceval: The Story of the Grail. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999.
Leonardi, L. "Stemmatics and the Old French Prose Arthurian Romance Editions." Journal of the International Arthurian Society. 24 Nov. 2017, Volume 5, Issue 1: 42-58.
Loomis, R. The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol. New York: Columbia University Press, 1963.
Maas, P. Textual Criticism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958.
Malory, T. Le Morte d'Arthur. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Nickell, J. "In Search of the Emerald Grail." Skeptical Inquirer. 1 Sep. 2011, Volume 35, Issue 5: 24-26.
Nickell, J. Relics of the Christ. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2007.
Nutt, A. Studies on the Legend of the Holy Grail; with Especial Reference to the Hypothesis of Its Celtic Origin. New York: Cooper Square Publishers, 1965.
Peron, G. "L'influence des Metamorphoses d'Ovide sur la visite de Perceval au chateau du Roi Pecheur." Journal of the International Arthurian Society. 18 Oct. 2016, Volume 4, Issue 1: 113-134.
Roberts, B. "Geoffrey of Monmouth and Welsh Historical Tradition." Nottingham Medieval Studies. 1 Jan. 1976, Number 20: 29-40.


text:
Fly from as little as £152
7 nights in Algiers, departing London Heathrow on 17 / Apr / 2021 with Lufthansa (price found 37 hours ago)
Algiers Flights
Common routes to Algiers from the UK
different points of departure in the UK
London to Algiers
Manchester to Algiers
Edinburgh to Algiers
Birmingham to Algiers
Glasgow to Algiers
Beautiful Algiers is a Mediterranean seaside metropolis nicknamed 'Alger la blanche' (Algiers the White). With incredible architecture, ranging from French colonial boulevards to ancient Islamic roots and Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman ruins, this captivating capital has enough attractions to satisfy those hungry for a cultural feast. To discover this hidden treasure trove, find cheap flights to Algiers in 2018 with Netflights.
Algiers flight facts
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If you see a flight for even less than this, get booking – you've found a bargain.
If you want cheap flights to Algiers, this is the best time to book.
These airlines usually offer the cheapest flights to Algiers.
What airlines fly direct to Algiers?
Fly from the UK direct to Algiers with these airlines.
Flying indirectly to Algiers can save you money.
This is the most expensive time to fly to Algiers. If you want to go during this popular month, try to book in advance or grab a last-minute deal.
Flights to Algiers are generally cheaper at this time of year. Or, you can try to get a last-minute deal.
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This is the average flight time from the UK to Algiers.
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You can fly from any of these UK airports.
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How to land a low priced flight to Algiers
booking advice, visa information and airports and airlines tips
When is the Cheapest Time to Fly to Algiers?
The peak time for tourism in Algiers is during the European summer holiday (July and August) and again over Christmas and New Year's. March to May sees Algiers in bloom; in addition to October and November, these months are good times thanks to moderate temperatures and fewer crowds. Compare direct flights, return flights and last-minute flights with Netflights and benefit from our great deals from top airlines.
When is the Best Time to Book your Flight to Algiers?
October coincides with the date harvest, which can be a great time to visit. The best time to find cheap flights to Algiers for a Saharan safari is in March and April or October and November. May can also be a good time to pick up budget return flights. Book your Algiers flights around eight weeks before travel to benefit from the biggest selection of rates, airlines and routes.
Flying to Houari Boumediene Airport (ALG)
Named after a former president of Algeria, Houari Boumediene Airport (ALG), also known as Algiers Airport and Algiers International Airport, is located 17 kilometres south-east of Algiers. There are direct flights to Algiers from London Gatwick via British Airways. Additionally, several top airlines provide one-stop flights to Algiers. Use Netflights to compare return flights, direct flights and last-minute flights from Air Algérie, Air France (stopover in France), Alitalia (stopover in Italy), Iberia (stopover in Spain), Lufthansa (stopover in Germany), Turkish Airlines (stopover in Turkey) and Vueling (stopover in Spain). Check-in for Algiers flights from London Heathrow, London Gatwick and London City as well at airports across the United Kingdom with Aer Lingus and Flybe connecting Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh to London-Algiers flights.
On Arrival and Getting Around the Airport
Houari Boumediene Airport (ALG) is comprised of three terminals. The International Terminal (Terminal 1) was renovated in 2006, which the Domestic Terminal (Terminal 2) was renovated in 2007. The older Terminal 3 is now used for pilgrimages and charter flights. The two main terminals are only a five-minute walk away each other, although a free shuttle bus also connects the two. A cafeteria, tea room, prayer room, pharmacy, perfumery, hairdresser, watch retailers, luggage shops, games and toys as well as a tobacco and newspaper shop are all on site.
Getting to the City from Houari Boumediene Airport ALG
Regular public buses from ALG to central Algiers depart approximately every 30 minutes during the day with a journey time of 30 minutes. Tickets can be bought on the bus. Taxis can be picked up outside Hall 2. Since they are not metered, it's best to negotiate a fare before starting your journey. There are no rail services that connect directly to the airport, but the closest station is Dar El Baida. There is also a selection of car hire offices in the airport for those who would like their own wheels.
Why Visit Algiers?
Algiers's ancient heart – and a must see for all visitors – is its ancient casbah. Whitewashed houses interconnected by labyrinthine winding streets and stairs conceal ornate Ottoman mansion houses, a ruined citadel and a number of impressive mosques, such as Djemaa Ketchoua. Once welcoming Emperor Napoleon III, the eighteenth-century Dar Hassan Pacha contains detailed tile work and mosaics. Comprising three palaces and six houses, the waterfront Palais des Raïs is another example of Algiers's Ottoman architecture; now it's home to the Centre of Arts and Culture. Finally, the National Museum of Antiquities has earned its place as one of the best museums in the country.
When travellers have had their fill of cultural activities, they can always take a stroll around the exotic botanical gardens of Jardin d'Essai. For those looking to sample a taste of Algeria's cultural legacy before heading to a beach holiday or Saharan safari or for those looking for a unique city-break destination, Algiers is the place to be.
Don't Forget Before you Fly
British passport holders need a visa to travel to Algeria, which can be obtained from the Algerian Consulate in London. These can take four weeks to process, so it's essential that you plan ahead. A single-entry tourist visa is valid for 30 days. Passports need to be valid for at least six months past your date of entry. Visitors may be required to show a return or onward ticket to be entry to the country. The Algerian dinar is the currency of the country. It's available from ATMs and currency exchange desks in the airport.
Key facts about Algiers know before you go
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cheap flights to Fez
cheap flights to Rabat
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cheap flights to Douala
cheap flights to Kinshasa
Context Id: dc4792e8-3a56-4dfa-91b2-9fe29e337fe4


text:
Design comes out fighting in a show full of promise
Cutbacks notwithstanding, the London Design Festival brought a buzz to the capital last week with a sense of optimism that was palpable. All credit is due to the LDF team, which made it happen against the odds.
By September 30, 2009 12:00 am January 29, 2015 5:14 pm
There was a discernible shift in focus this year from the twin strongholds of 100% Design and Tent London towards newer attractions. Highlights included interaction conference i-Design, now in its third year; the collaboration between writers' groups 26 and International Pen with Pentagram partner Harry Pearce and digital group All of Us to create dialogue through design; and the Typographica retrospective at the Kemistry Gallery, reminding us to look around for evidence that typography is far from dead. Meanwhile, Tom Dixon's new base, the Dock in west London, has the makings of a new hub for design.
A theme running throughout was design's entrepreneurial nature. This was writ large in the British Council's 'young design entrepreneur' contests. Rami Farook, winner of the international prize, was described as 'frightening' in his talent by one of the judges, while the five contenders for the UK title display a breadth of interests which bodes well for the future (25 September, www.designweek.co.uk).
But entrepreneurialism wasn't only evident at the British Council. It was all around, making light of BBC Two's lacklustre TV series Design for Life, fronted by Philippe Starck.
Design is still strongly represented by the object at the LDF, rather than seen in a broader context, but not always. Take the Greengaged series at the Design Council, raising sustainability issues, and Swiss designer Yves Behar, who spoke about his holistic deals with start-ups in California's Silicon Valley that put ground-breaking design in a bigger framework.
Behar and others are exerting an influence on design's future that is often obscured by traditional 'show and tell' events. Let's hope they get even stronger representation at next year's LDF – and in the media in the meantime.
01 October 2009 Insight
iPhone is coolest brand in UK
Delete London works on online takeaway brand
Profile – Dominic Harris
Talking signs by FW Design give Islington park visitors a wind-up
Sheridan & Co designs a cupcake bar for Lola's
The Cauldron earns credits with Debt Counsel revamp


My gmail inbox is kept quite busy with the sheer quantity of emails that come in. And I like it that way. I appreciate receiving notifications from Facebook, from 1-Day, Trade Me, my favorite bands, Woolworths or Dominos Pizza. It keeps me in touch with the latest news, best and interesting deals.
But it is tedious to delete all these notifications from my inbox individually. (Emails like these accounted for 56 of the 61 emails I received yesterday.) So what is my solution?
Unfortunately Gmail filters only operate at the moment that an email is received. There s no way to say "filter emails from this domain that I have read after 24 hours". It is however possible to autotag emails from addresses with a common tag. In my case it is "The Regulars". To clean up my inbox I only need to view all my "The Regulars" emails, select all and delete.
My inbox is now clean.


text:
Posted on August 24, 2018 by Jane Lynch
The introduction of immunoregulatory networks is vital that you prevent disease.
The introduction of immunoregulatory networks is vital that you prevent disease. of parasites that trigger diseases such as for example malaria, toxoplasmosis, and leishmaniasis, persistent contamination may also maintain concomitant immunity, which might be especially essential in avoiding new attacks with pathogenic parasite strains in disease-endemic areas Sclareolide (Sacks, 2014). An improved knowledge of how immunoregulatory systems develop and so are managed following infection is necessary if they're to become manipulated for restorative advantage or even to improve vaccine effectiveness. Malaria remains a substantial global medical condition, with an increase of than 250 million instances and 500,000 fatalities yearly (WHO, 2014). is in charge of the majority of this morbidity and mortality, with small children becoming most affected (WHO, 2014). Outcomes using the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine display that despite having around 50% vaccine effectiveness in healthful volunteers taking part in managed human malaria contamination (CHMI) research (Kester et al., 2009; Ockenhouse et al., 2015), effectiveness fell when examined in healthful adults surviving in a higher malaria transmission area (Polhemus et al., 2009) and offered similar, relatively moderate protection in kids surviving in malaria-endemic areas (Rts, 2015). The reason behind this difference isn't obvious, but this trend in addition has been noticed with additional vaccines, such as for example those developed to safeguard against tuberculosis (Pitt et al., 2013; Skeiky and Sadoff, 2006), respiratory syncytial computer virus (RSV) (Christiaansen et al., 2014), and HIV (Boussiotis et al., 2000; Migueles and Connors, 2015; Rodrguez-Garca et al., 2011). One feasible explanation is usually that early contact with pathogens promotes the introduction of immunoregulatory systems that impede the era of effective vaccine-induced immunity. Several regulatory substances and cell populations have already been recognized in pre-clinical types EGFR of malaria, aswell Sclareolide as with malaria individuals. Included in these are cytokines such as for example interleukin (IL) 10 (Couper et al., 2008; Plebanski et Sclareolide al., 1999) and transforming development element (TGF-) (Omer and Riley, 1998; Walther et al., 2005), aswell as immune system checkpoint molecules such as for example CTLA-4 (Jacobs et al., 2002; Sclareolide Schlotmann et al., 2000), LAG-3 (Butler et al., 2011; Illingworth et al., 2013), PD-1 (Butler et al., 2011; Hafalla et al., 2012), and TIM-3 (Costa et al., 2015; Huang et al., 2013). Specialized sub-populations of Compact disc4+ T cells possess emerged as main regulators of swelling during parasitic illnesses (Belkaid and Rouse, 2005; Engwerda et al., 2014). These regulatory T (Treg) cells could be broadly split into two types. Initial, organic Treg cells are stated in the thymus and communicate the transcription element FoxP3 that's crucial for their suppressive features (Sakaguchi et al., 2013). Treg cells with an increase of suppressive function have already been reported in adults with malaria (Minigo et al., 2009; Walther et al., 2005). Nevertheless, research in African kids demonstrated that neither Treg Sclareolide cellular number nor Treg cell function differs between individuals with easy malaria and the ones with serious malaria (Walther et al., 2009). A report of Ugandan kids from regions of different malaria publicity indicated that burden of disease may possess an important effect on amount and function of Treg cells (Boyle et al., 2015). Furthermore, a report in malaria sufferers in the Peruvian Amazon demonstrated that neither Treg cell regularity nor Treg cellular number was from the threat of malaria-related symptoms (Torres et al., 2014), recommending that alternative systems of immune legislation may be very important to controlling inflammation and therefore preventing disease. Another kind of Treg cell includes inducible Treg cells, which emerge in the thymus as typical Compact disc4+ T cells but develop regulatory features in the periphery pursuing exposure to suitable inflammatory stimulation. Included in these are IL-10-making T helper 1 (Th1) or type I regulatory (Tr1) cells (OGarra et al., 2004). Tr1 cells, however, not Treg cells, had been been shown to be more frequent in Gambian kids with easy malaria in comparison to those with serious.
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