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Geographical and ethnic variation of the 677C>T allele of 5,10 methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR): findings from over 7000 newborns from 16 areas world wide
CORRECTION - May 01, 2004
Letters to JMG
B Wilcken1,
F Bamforth2,
Z Li3,
H Zhu3,
A Ritvanen4,
M Redlund5,
C Stoll6,
Y Alembik6,
B Dott6,
A E Czeizel7,
Z Gelman-Kohan8,
G Scarano9,
S Bianca10,
G Ettore10,
R Tenconi11,
S Bellato12,
I Scala13,
O M Mutchinick14,
M A López14,
H de Walle15,
R Hofstra15,
L Joutchenko16,
L Kavteladze16,
E Bermejo17,
M L Martínez-Frías18,
M Gallagher19,*,
J D Erickson20,*,
S E Vollset21,*,
P Mastroiacovo22,*,
G Andria13,*,
L D Botto20,*
1Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, Australia
2University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
3National Centre for Maternal and Infant Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
4The National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, STAKES, Finland
5Department of Paediatrics, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland
6University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
7Foundation for the Community Control of Hereditary Diseases, Budapest, Hungary
8Kaplan Medical Centre, Rehovot, Israel
9Division of Medical Genetics, AO "G Rummo", Benevento, and Birth Defects Registry of Campania, Italy
10Sicily Congenital Malformation Registry, Sicily, Italy
11Department of Paediatrics, University of Padova, Veneto, Italy
12Paediatrics Unit, Arzignano Hospital, Vicenza, Veneto, Italy
13University Federico II, Naples, Italy
14Departamento de Genética, RYVEMCE, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, México, DF
15University of Groningen, The Netherlands
16Moscow Birth Defects Registry, Moscow, Russia
17ECEMC and Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
18ECEMC, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, and Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain
19National Center on Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
20National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
21University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
22International Centre on Birth Defects, Rome, Italy
Correspondence to:
Dr L D Botto, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Mailstop F-45, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway NE, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA; LBotto{at}cdc.gov
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jmg.40.8.619
neural tube defects
677C>T
Since its biochemical characterisation in 19911 and its genetic identification in 1995,2 677C>T allele (T allele) of the 5,10 methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene has been a focus of increasing interest from researchers world wide. The expanding spectrum of common conditions linked with the 677C>T allele now includes certain adverse birth outcomes (including birth defects), pregnancy complications, cancers, adult cardiovascular diseases, and psychiatric disorders.3–8 Although several of these associations remain unconfirmed or controversial,4 their scope is such that it becomes of interest to explore the geographical and ethnic distribution of the allele and associated genotypes.9 Accurate information on such distribution can contribute to studies of gene-disease associations (by providing reference population data) and population genetics (by highlighting geographical and ethnic variations suggestive of evolutionary pressures),10 as well as help to evaluate health impact (by allowing estimates of population attributable fraction).
Current population data, however, show gaps and even for some ethnic groups or large geographical areas (for example, China) few data are available.3 Our aim was to supplement the available data by collecting a large and diverse sample of newborns from different geographical areas and ethnic groups, and to examine international variations in the distribution of the 677C>T allele. We present findings relating to more than 7000 newborns from 16 areas around the world.
The study was conducted under the auspices of the International Clearinghouse for Birth Defect Monitoring Systems (ICBDMS) and was coordinated through its head office, the International Center on Birth Defects (ICBD).
Participating programmes, in consultation with the coordinating group, identified a population sampling approach that would be simple yet minimise sampling bias with respect to the MTHFR genotype. We made an explicit attempt to sample systematically the newborn population. Details of each programme's approach are listed below, and further information is available on request.
Generally, programmes chose one of two approaches. The first approach used regional newborn screening programmes as the source of samples. Typically, such an approach used a geographically defined birth population. In Atlanta, for example, researchers visited the Georgia newborn screening programme on different days over several weeks and selected a 1 day collection of blood spots received by the laboratory from children whose mothers resided in one of five counties in Atlanta. Discussions with the director of the newborn screening programme indicated that day to day variability in the flow of specimens from birth hospitals to the state laboratory was negligible. The second approach relied on systematic sampling directly from birth hospitals that were part of an established network. In Spain, for example, staff collected specimens from 15 consecutive newborns at each hospital participating in the ECEMC monitoring programme, which includes birth hospitals from across Spain. Details for specific areas are summarised below.
Our objectives were to characterise the geographical and ethnic distribution of the 677C>T allele (T allele) of the MTHFR gene and its associated genotypes among newborns around the world, using newborn screening programs and birth hospitals. The participants were 7130 newborns of different ethnicities from 16 areas in Europe, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Australia.
The distribution of the allele showed marked ethnic and geographical variation The homozygous TT genotype was particularly common in northern China (20%), southern Italy (26%), and Mexico (32%). There was also some evidence for geographical gradients in Europe (north to south increase) and China (north to south decrease). The TT genotype frequency was low among newborns of African ancestry, intermediate among newborns of European origin, and high among newborns of American Hispanic ancestry. Areas at the extremes of the frequency distribution showed deviations from Hardy-Weinberg expectations (Helsinki, Finland, southern Italy, and southern China).
This study, the largest to date, suggests the presence of selective pressures leading to marked geographical and ethnic variation in the frequency of the 677C>T allele. Geneticists can benefit from these reference data when examining links between the 677C>T allele and health outcomes in diverse populations.
Australia, New South Wales
Specimens were obtained from the New South Wales newborn screening programme, by selecting 100 consecutive newborn screening cards on each of five consecutive days, excluding repeat specimens, for a total of 500 specimens. All maternity units in the state of New South Wales send their specimens to the programme. Specimens consisted of blood remaining after routine newborn screening tests had been completed.
Canada, Alberta
Specimens were taken from consecutive newborns from the provincial newborn screening programme in Alberta. Specimens consisted of the remaining blood spots used by the newborn screening programme. The first 100 specimens of the month were collected each month for four months.
China, northern and southern
Umbilical cord blood samples were collected from newborns from major hospitals in 12 cities in China from March to November 1998. One hundred consecutive samples were requested from each hospital. The hospitals were in cities from southern China (Wuhan, Nanjing, Guangzhou, and Chengdu) and northern China (Yanbian, Urumchi, Changchun, Jinan, Xi'an, Shenyang, Beijing, and Jilin). For homogeneity, only newborns of Han ethnicity were included in the study.
Finland, Helsinki
Specimens originated from newborns in the major maternity hospital in Finland, at the Helsinki University Hospital. Sampling was restricted to babies whose parents were both Finns. Specimens consisted of the remainder of umbilical blood specimens for hypothyroidism screening. The latter are collected for every newborn in Finland.
France, Strasbourg
Specimens were taken from consecutive newborns from newborn screening centres in Département du Bas-Rhin, whose births are also covered by the Strasbourg Birth Defects Registry. Specimens consisted of the remainder of blood spots used by the newborn screening programme.
Specimens were taken from consecutive newborns. Specimens were collected from the remainder of the blood spots from the two newborn screening centres that operate in Hungary. For twin pairs, only one of the pair, selected at random, was included.
Israel, Tel Aviv
Specimens were taken from consecutive newborns from one major university hospital in Tel Aviv and consisted of blood spots.
Italy, Campania
Specimens were taken from consecutive newborns at three hospitals in Campania (two in Avellino, one in Benevento). Specimens consisted of the remainder of blood spots used by the newborn screening programme.
Italy, Sicily
Specimens were taken from consecutive newborns from the newborn screening programme in south east Sicily. Specimens consisted of the remainder of blood spots used by the newborn screening programme.
Specimens were taken from consecutive newborns at one hospital outside the town of Vicenza. The hospital was chosen because it is an area hospital with 1200 births per year that has good obstetric care but does not select for high risk pregnancies. Specimens consisted of the remainder of blood spots used by the newborn screening programme.
Specimens were randomly selected from blood spots from newborns born in hospitals that are part of the RYVEMCE birth defect monitoring network in Mexico. Samples were obtained from the remainder of the blood spot specimens collected for hypothyroidism screening. Selection was stratified to include equal numbers of males and females in the final sample.
The Netherlands, northern region
Specimens were randomly chosen from newborns whose mothers resided in the northern Netherlands. Specimens consisted of the remainder of blood spots used by the newborn screening programme.
Specimens were taken from consecutive newborns in 67 hospitals of the National Health Service throughout Spain. Essentially all babies in Spain are born in such hospitals. These hospitals are part of ECEMC (Spanish Collaborative Study of Congenital Malformations), which monitors one quarter of all births in Spain. Each hospital contributed specimens for 15 consecutive newborn infants during three selected months. Specimens were collected at the same time as the blood spots for the newborn screening programme.
Specimens were selected from the neonatal screening programme that collects and banks specimens from 54 maternity hospitals in the Moscow area. All selected babies were apparently free from congenital anomalies.
USA, Atlanta (Georgia)
Specimens were chosen from newborns whose mothers resided in one of the five counties in metropolitan Atlanta, as ascertained from information on the newborn screening card. Staff visited the newborn screening programme four times over two months. At each visit researchers selected at random the specimens collected during one day and collected specimens from the blood spots left over from newborn screening.
Sample determination and data collection
We determined that a sample size of approximately 400 to 500 specimens per area would provide a reasonably precise estimate (plus or minus 3%) for a genotype with 10% frequency. Such a frequency is within the range reported for the homozygous 677C>T (TT) genotype in many European countries and among North Americans of European descent, and is intermediate between the lower frequencies reported in some populations of African descent, and the higher frequencies reported in specimens from Mexico, Italy, and Hispanics in the USA.3 Although 400 to 500 was the targeted number of specimens per area, smaller sample sizes were accepted, recognising that such samples would provide less precise estimates. For each sample, researchers collected information on sex and race/ethnicity. Ethnicity was determined from the blood spot card (for example, in Atlanta), from maternal interview (for example, Italy, Veneto, Spain), or from the last name or birth place of the parent (for example, Australia). Not all programmes collected all variables.
Human subject protection
Local review boards approved the study. In most cases specimens were anonymised before testing. In all cases, personal identifiers were removed before data were provided to ICBD for epidemiological analysis.
Genomic DNA was isolated from blood spots collected on filter paper. The presence of the C>T change within the MTHFR gene creates a HinfI restriction site that can be detected by restriction enzyme digestion followed by electrophoresis. Amplification of the MTHFR gene by the polymerase chain reaction and detection of the T allele was performed using protocols based on the method of Frosst et al.2
Five programmes (USA, China, Israel, Mexico, The Netherlands) tested their own specimens. All other specimens were tested at a single laboratory (Naples, Italy). The laboratories participated in proficiency testing to ensure inter-laboratory consistency. The proficiency testing consisted of the preparation of punches from 12 blood spots in one laboratory (CDC) with a mix of genotypes (CC, CT, and TT). These genotypes were confirmed by sequencing. Punches from these blood spots were then sent to the other laboratories, which performed DNA extraction followed by genotype assay. The laboratories were blinded to the genotype of these specimens as well as to the relative proportion of the genotypes. Results from each laboratory were sent back to CDC for evaluation. With the exception of one sample, which could not be amplified by four of the six laboratories, results showed complete agreement across laboratories.
We computed the confidence intervals for proportions using the Wilson score method without continuity correction.11,12 Deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was tested by chi-square analysis. In addition to allele frequencies, we present genotype frequencies for the homozygous TT genotype (two 677C>T alleles), the heterozygous CT genotype (one 677C>T allele), and the homozygous CC genotype (no 677C>T alleles).
We present data on 7130 newborns from 16 areas in the Americas, Europe, Russia, China, and Australia. Amplification rates for blood spots by geographical source were the following: Italy, Sicily 89%, Italy, Campania 76%, Italy, Veneto 73%, Spain 69%, France, Strasbourg 78%, Finland, Helsinki 95%, Hungary 95%; Russia, Moscow 95%, Australia, New South Wales 79%, Canada, Alberta 77%, USA, Atlanta 96%. By comparison, a large Irish population based study using newborn blood spots successfully genotyped 85% of collected samples.13
Prevalence by geographical area and ethnicity
The allele and genotype distribution, by area and ethnicity, is presented in table 1. The prevalence of the homozygous TT genotype (two 677C>T alleles) is visually summarised in fig 1 for those groups with at least 50 subjects tested.
Allele and genotype frequency of the 677C>T allele of the MTHFR gene by area and ethnic origin
Prevalence of homozygous TT genotype (two 677C>T alleles) among newborns by area and ethnic background, ICBDMS 2003.
The distribution of the 677C>T allele showed regional and ethnic variations. For example, the prevalence of the homozygous TT genotype was 10–12% in several areas in Europe (for example, Spain, France, and Hungary). However, the prevalence appeared to be lower (4% and 6%, respectively) in Finland, Helsinki and the northern Netherlands, whereas in some areas in southern Europe it was much higher (26% and 20% in Campania and Sicily, respectively). In the Americas, the frequency of the homozygous TT genotype was higher in Mexico (32%), intermediate in Atlanta (11% among whites), and somewhat lower in Alberta (6%). In Australia, TT prevalence was 7.5% among whites.
Genotype varied by ethnicity as well as by geographical location. For example, TT homozygosity was more common among newborns from Mexico or those born in Atlanta of Hispanic origin, intermediate among newborns of European ancestry (for example, in Europe and North America), and lower among newborns of African ancestry (for example, in Atlanta and Veneto, Italy). However, a range of genotype frequencies was evident even within broad ethnic groups. For example, TT homozygosity among whites ranged from as low as 6% in Alberta (Canada), to 7.5% in New South Wales (Australia), to 11% in Atlanta (USA), to the high values already noted for Italy. For other ethnic and racial groups, such estimates are more unstable because of the smaller number of specimens, but it is worth noting an apparently low frequency of TT homozygosity among newborns of Asian origin from Australia and Atlanta.
Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
The observed distribution of the three genotypes (CC, CT, TT) in most areas was similar to that expected under Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (table 2). This was true also among males and females separately (data not shown). We found a relative excess of TT homozygotes in Campania, Italy, and an excess of heterozygotes in Helsinki, Finland and southern China (p<0.05).
Distribution of MTHFR genotypes, Hardy-Weinberg expectations, and p value
We documented distinctive geographical and racial/ethnic variation in the prevalence of the 677C>T allele of the MTHFR gene among a large international sample of newborns. The several fold variation in the prevalence of the TT homozygous genotype across the study areas (fig 1) was also consistent, in some areas, with the presence of geographical gradients. In Europe, for example, the prevalence of the TT genotype increased in a roughly southerly direction, from low values in the north (4–7% in Finland, Helsinki, northern Netherlands, and Russia), to intermediate values (8–10%) in France and Hungary, to higher values in southern Europe (12–15% in Spain and northern Italy), peaking in southern Italy (20–26% in Campania and Sicily). In North America, the frequency of TT homozygotes increased from western Canada (Alberta) to south eastern United States (Atlanta) and peaked in Mexico.
Ethnic variation was apparent among and within geographical areas. In metropolitan Atlanta, for example, TT homozygosity was common among newborns of Hispanic origin (15%), intermediate among those of European origin (11%), and low among African-American newborns (3%). These data are consistent with the high prevalence of TT homozygosity among newborns from Mexico in this study and with published data from the population based sample of babies of Mexican ancestry from California.14 The low prevalence among US blacks is similar to that reported in pooled estimates of five studies on US blacks and three studies from sub-Saharan Africa3 as well as in later studies from South Africa and Zimbabwe.15,16 The intermediate prevalence among whites in Atlanta is consistent with similar rates observed in several European areas in this and several other studies.3 However, more detailed comparisons are difficult because of the misclassification and imprecision of such ethnic labels.
Of note is the finding in Australia of a lower prevalence of the TT genotype among whites (7.5%) compared to previous reports.17 Also, we noted a relatively low prevalence of the TT genotype (5.8%) among the random sample of white newborns in Alberta (Canada), compared to the frequency (11%) reported in a previous study from Quebec (Canada).18 The latter study differed from ours in that newborns were enrolled from a single university hospital in Montreal and were selected, by design, so that their birth weights were at or above the 10th centile.18
The high frequency of TT homozygotes observed in this study among newborns from Mexico, northern China, and southern Italy was notable. These findings confirm and extend those previously reported from Mexico19 and southern Italy.20 Why such high rates of TT homozygosity occur in these regions is unclear, given the apparently limited ethnic, genetic, or environmental commonalities among such areas. Researchers have suggested the possibility of heterozygote advantage with respect to the risk for neural tube defects.21 However, such a hypothesis remains unconfirmed. Nevertheless, further exploration of gene-gene and gene-environment interaction might help to identify the evolutionary pressures favouring a high prevalence of this gene variant in certain areas and ethnic groups.
The impact of such geographical and ethnic variation on the distribution of disease in the population is unclear. For example, one would predict high rates of neural tube defects, whose risk appears to be increased nearly two-fold in the presence of 677C>T homozygosity3 in those geographical areas or ethnic groups with a high frequency of this genotype. The evidence supporting such relations is mixed. For example, the data are consistent for Mexico and northern China, which not only have a very high frequency of the TT genotype but also high rates of neural tube defect.22,23 Furthermore, within China, rates of neural tube defect are higher in the north (where the TT homozygous genotype is more common) than in the south.23 In the United States, the rates of neural tube defects historically have been higher among Hispanics, intermediate among non-Hispanic whites, and lower among African-Americans, a trend that follows the relative frequency of the TT homozygous genotype.
There are, however, notable exceptions. In southern Italy, for example, the TT genotype is common, but the rate of neural tube defects is not particularly high.22 Nevertheless, such exceptions are not entirely unexpected, because environmental and nutritional factors are likely to modulate considerably the genetic risk for neural tube defects. In fact, these exceptions might prove particularly valuable when investigating the aetiological heterogeneity and the role of interactions in the occurrence of neural tube defects.
Similar analyses are possible with respect to other outcomes. For example, recent meta-analyses showed associations of the TT genotype with ischaemic heart disease, deep venous thrombosis, and perhaps stroke.24 Like neural tube defects, these health outcomes are subject to interacting risk factors and therefore the relation between genotype and outcome at a group level is likely to be complex. Nevertheless, researchers seeking to understand such relations might find data such as these on the geographical and ethnic variation of the 677C>T allele helpful.
On a population level, the genotype distribution associated with the T allele was generally consistent with Hardy-Weinberg expectations. However, a few significant deviations did occur, mostly at the ends of the frequency spectrum. An excess of TT homozygotes was observed in southern Italy (Campania), where the allele was common, whereas the reverse was observed in Finland (Helsinki) where the allele was uncommon. Though these two deviations from Hardy-Weinberg expectations could be the result of chance and multiple statistical testing, they might also suggest the presence of local selective pressures.
In interpreting the findings of this study, one should consider its strengths and limitations. Although we attempted to draw unbiased, systematic samples of newborns from defined populations, sampling strategies varied across areas, and one cannot be certain that the efforts were always entirely successful. We provide details on sampling procedures as guidance to readers who wish to use part or all of these data. Dealing with race and ethnicity was also a difficult but inescapable challenge. Classifications based on self report and particularly on the birth place of the parent or last name are unsatisfactory to varying degrees. Thus, we present our data (table 1) either stratified in two groups (the main ethnic group and all other groups combined), or present data only for the major ethnic group (for example, Han Chinese). While this approach does not solve the difficulties entirely, it decreases the misclassification inherent in defining the many smaller ethnic groups that coexist in many areas. Other limitations of this study include the lack of coverage from many areas of the world, including most of Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and the Indian subcontinent.25
Another challenge of this study was addressing measurement error in genotyping. One might speculate, for example, that deviations in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium may be the result of genotyping errors. However, inter-laboratory consistency and quality control measures showed remarkable agreement among laboratories. In addition, the same laboratory that assayed samples from areas showing deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium also assayed the samples from many areas not showing such deviations, suggesting no systematic laboratory error.
A strength of the study was the ability to assemble systematically relatively large samples from newborns using explicit sampling protocols. Measures were also taken to ensure the reliability and comparability of genotypic data across laboratories, including quality control protocols that involved blind retesting of results and exchange of specimens.
Data from studies such as these can serve several purposes. Geneticists could find them useful when evaluating the distribution of genetic variation in human populations and its role in genetic susceptibility to disease. For example, population data might help geneticists reassess controversial associations such as that between MTHFR genotypes and risk for Down syndrome,26–29 for which the evidence favouring the association was largely derived from comparisons with convenient samples of controls. As discussed previously, these genetic data can help to interpret prevalence gradients of disease, such as the well known geographical gradients of neural tube defect occurrence. Similarly, huge amounts of data on other outcomes, such as other birth defects, pregnancy complications, certain cancers, adult cardiovascular disease, and certain psychiatric disorders,3–8 could be called upon to interpret the prevalence gradients noted in this and other studies. Our data are offered as a contribution to such investigation.
Population data on the 677C>T variant might also help population and public health geneticists assess the potential impact of preventive measures based on environmental modifications. For example, some adverse biochemical effects of the thermolabile enzyme coded by the T allele, such as the increase in total plasma homocysteine, appear to be reversible by increasing the consumption of the B vitamin folic acid.30 If the effect of folic acid varies by genotype, then the overall impact in the population of fortification or supplementation programmes might vary predictably once the genotype distribution is known.
Finally, a practical outcome of this collaborative study was to show the feasibility of conducting such genetic surveys using existing networks of hospitals, birth defect registries, and research institutions. Other research groups have carefully selected and examined large and representative samples of newborns from single states or countries (for example, California14 and Ireland13) and generated genotype prevalence data. We tried to expand such efforts to an international scale, and suggest that, with appropriate planning, such international networks can use their access and experience in community based studies to provide core data on the population distribution of common gene variants. These data in turn can serve as the foundation for studies of genetic variation and its role in increasing or decreasing disease risk.
The study was supported in part by grant U50/CCU207141 from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The work by Generoso Andria (Napoli) was partially supported by grants No 97.03983, 98.02936, and 99.2368 from CNR Rome. We also gratefully acknowledge the contribution of the following researchers: Australia: Paul Lancaster; Canada (Alberta): Brian Lowry; China: Wanyin Shen, Youjun Gao, Fei Deng, Chunna He, Shuqin Zhang, Yabin Liu, Guangfeng Ju, Hua Dong, Zhongyue Yuan, Dongping Ye, Ping Bai, Yuqin Zhang, Li Jin, Qian Gao; Hungary: László Tímár (National Centre of Health Promotion, Budapest); Israel: Paul Merlob (Beilinson Medical Center, Petah Tikva); Italy (Campania): Roberta Arsieri and Carmela Cafasso (Birth Defects Register of Campania); Italy (Napoli): Roberto Brancaccio and Anna Buoninconti (Department of Paediatrics, Federico II University, Napoli); Italy (Veneto): Luciano Marcazzo' (Paediatrics Unit, Arzignano Hospital, Vicenza); Mexico: Marcela Vela (Reproductive Health Agency of Ministry of Health); Russia (Moscow): Swetlana Kalinenkova (Neonatal screening programme); Spain: P Aparicio, F Ariza, I Arroyo, A Ayala, F Barranco, M Blanco, J M Bofarull, M J Calvo, R Calvo, A Cárdenes, S Castro, C Contessotto, M T Cortés, F Cucalón, J Egüés, M J Espinosa, V Felix, E Fernández, A Foguet, J M Gairi, E Galán, A García, M J García, M M García, J L Gomar, H Gómez, F Gómez, J Gómez-Ullate, J González de Dios, P Gutiérrez, F Hernández, H Huertas, N Jiménez-Muñoz, M M Lertxundi, A Lara, J A López, E Mancebo, J J Marco, A Martínez, N Martínez, G Martínez, S Martínez, V Marugán, C Meipp, A Moral, M C Morales, A Moussallem, I Mújica, M J Oliván, L Paisán, M Pardo, A Peñas, J L Pérez, I Puig, I Riaño, C Ribes, M J Ripalda, J Rosal, L Rota, J Rubio, A Sanchis, M Silveira, M E Suárez, J M de Tapia, M C Tauler, L Valdivia, M S Vázquez; USA (Atlanta, Georgia): Jennifer Rapier and Vicki Brown (CDC), Muthukrishnan Ramachandran (Georgia Public Health Laboratory, Atlanta).
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Hobbs CA, Sherman SL, Yi P, Hopkins SE, Torfs CP, Hine RJ, Pogribna M, Rozen R, James SJ. Polymorphisms in genes involved in folate metabolism as maternal risk factors for Down syndrome. Am J Hum Genet2000;67:623–30.
O'Leary VB, Parle-McDermott A, Molloy AM, Kirke PN, Johnson Z, Conley M, Scott JM, Mills JL. MTRR and MTHFR polymorphism: link to Down syndrome? Am J Med Genet2002;107:151–5.
James SJ, Pogribna M, Pogribny IP, Melnyk S, Hine RJ, Gibson JB, Yi P, Tafoya DL, Swenson DH, Wilson VL, Gaylor DW. Abnormal folate metabolism and mutation in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene may be maternal risk factors for Down syndrome. Am J Clin Nutr1999;70:495–501.
Hassold TJ, Burrage LC, Chan ER, Judis LM, Schwartz S, James SJ, Jacobs PA, Thomas NS. Maternal folate polymorphisms and the etiology of human nondisjunction. Am J Hum Genet2001;69:434–9.
Rozen R. Genetic predisposition to hyperhomocysteinemia: deficiency of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR). Thromb Haemost1997;78:523–6.
Publisher Correction
Please note that there is an error in the author list, the name of Dr Renlund is spelt incorrectly. The correct author list is shown here:
B Wilcken, F Bamforth, Z Li, H Zhu, A Ritvanen, M Renlund, C Stoll, Y Alembik, B Dott, A E Czeizel, Z Gelman-Kohan, G Scarano, S Bianca, G Ettore, R Tenconi, S Bellato, I Scala, O M Mutchinick, M A Lopez, H de Walle, R Hofstra, L Joutchenko, L Kavteladze, E Bermejo, M L Martinez-Frias, M Gallagher, J D Erickson, S E Vollset, P Mastroiacovo, G Andria, and L D Botto
Authors are listed by alphabetical order of country with coordinating group and corresponding author last.
↵* Coordinating group.
Copyright 2003 Journal of Medical Genetics
BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
Journal of Medical Genetics 2004; 41 400-400 Published Online First: 30 Apr 2004. doi: 10.1136/jmg.2003.006247corr1


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1978, corned beef and dirty wars: World Cup memories (4)
June 3, 2010 by Colin Randall
Where to next? Don't cry, it's Argentina that Pete Sixsmith recalls for the fourth chapter of his World Cup book of memories. Another England-free tournament, more crushed Scottish hopes and a final that tore up the romantic script …
No England yet again as Don Revie's flops failed to make it to Argentina. But Scotland did go and were, in the eyes of many of their fans, and their manager, Ally McCleod, outside bets to bring the trophy back to Glasgow.
They had an embarrassing Departure Day at Hampden, where they waved at the assembled multitude and then each squad member drove off in a Hillman Avenger, presented to them by Rootes, who had a plant at nearby Linwood No More (See The Proclaimers Letter From America). Optimism flowed as quickly as the Tennents Lager in its cans with pictures of women on the side.
They were drawn in what looked like a reasonable group, Holland, Peru and Iran being their opponents. They travelled in numbers and there were stories of one group heading for Cordoba by submarine, which was interesting as Cordoba is in the foothills of the Andes. If they did make it, I am sure they would have preferred that they had been depth charged rather than having to sit through the pain that followed.
Argentina was an exotic location and I remember looking for the cities involved in a school atlas. Buenos Aires was easy to find and I had heard of Rosario. But Cordoba, Mendoza and Mar del Plata were complete unknowns to me and it made me realise what a huge country Argentina was. All that corned beef!!!
In addition, Argentina was not a democracy. There had been a military coup in 1976 and the Junta that ran the country was made up of hard line, right wing army officers, who believed that torture and oppression were the best way to "get the country back on track" – this involved killing any opponents of the regime, quite often by throwing them, still alive, out of helicopters as they hovered over the River Plate.
So, a controversial choice and we saw football being used as a panacea for the problems in Argentine society. The crowds turned out in their thousands and introduced us to the confetti celebration. Argentina embraced the beautiful game and, not for the first time, the beautiful game ignored the political realities of the host nation.
I watched this one in Shildon, having moved back to my parents' house for 18 months or so. The colour TV was bigger than 1970, the games kicked off at a reasonable time and without my perennial favourites of Yugoslavia and the USSR, my support went to Peru because of their strip.
It was a white shirt with a red diagonal stripe across it, the nearest I could find to red and white stripes. In addition, they had some cracking players. Teofilio Cubillas was an outstanding striker who scored five goals and would have been a wow in the English game now. And they had a superb attacking centre half called Hector Chumpitaz who had a huge barrel chest so opposing forwards just bounced off him.
They romped through the group stages, beating Scotland and Iran and drawing with Holland, thus setting up another episode in the Scottish Football Book Of Gallant Failures.
The final group game was between Scotland and Holland, which McCleod's team had to win by two clear goals in order to progress to the next group stage. Ally had been shown to be completely out of his depth as Scotland stuttered to a draw against Iran; he was caught on camera with a manic look on his face as his team huffed and puffed and failed to blow the Persian house down. But he had one more chance against the Dutch and they almost did it.
Cruyff had not travelled to Argentina and the Dutch were not as good as they had been four years previously. Neeskens was still there as was Johnny Rep (great name for film noir), but the far more limited van der Kerkhoef twins and Dirk Naninga, (an earlier version of Thomas Hauser), meant that power and strength replaced subtlety.
It was a cracking game, which saw Scotland take a 3-1 lead thanks to a wonderful goal from Balding Archie Gemmell, which had Bobby Charlton going bananas in the commentary box. Had they held on, they would have gone through on goal difference, but, like Sunderland, they blew it and Rep got one back to take the Dutch through. McCleod, having left a hero came home a clown and lost his job soon afterwards.
One of the disadvantages of watching it at my parents was the fact that they were receiving pictures from the newly built Bilsdale transmitter. It had a nasty habit of going off and it did just before a potentially fascinating game between the hosts and a newly resurgent France.
This led to much cursing from yours truly which continued as I went into the garden to wave my fist and hurl obscenities in the general direction of Teesside. This brought Mrs Neal from next door out and she told me that they were still on Pontop Pike and the game was on in their house – and then went back in without asking if I wanted to watch it. Bile was transferred from Bilsdale to the occupants of 7 Drybourne Park, Shildon which brought Chief Inspector Neal out to advise me to calm down or else. I went into the garage and threw coal at the wall for 10 minutes and then dragged the sleeping dog out for an unwanted walk. It wasn't a bad game either.
Peru caved in spectacularly to allow Argentina to go through from the second group stage to the final, and Mario Kempes and Leopold Luque, prompted by Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricky Villa, saw the host nation to victory over Holland. It was tight as Naninga levelled near the end, but Kempes and Bertoni sealed it in extra time.
Memeries: Ally's face as Scotland failed to beat Iran; the infuriating theme tune that Radio 2 used for its World Cup programmes; members of the Argentinian Junta looking uncomfortable when exposed to their population at games; BAG's goal against Holland and my mum thinking he looked like Roy Kinnear; confetti;
Next: how dozens of flies hatched out because of the 1982 World Cup and how I came to dislike Kevin Keegan.
Categories Content Tags Holland, Scotland
England, Heskey and Bent: measuring failure and success
World Cup: Paraguay daft
4 thoughts on "1978, corned beef and dirty wars: World Cup memories (4)"
It's not an ignorant comment, Diego. I have read about the situation in Argentina and it is common knowledge that a right wing junta persecuted those of the left and murdered many of them. Even now, the Mothers of the Lost assemble in Buenos Aires to remember their children who were killed. You are quite at liberty to disagree with my interpretation of Argentine history, but not to tell me to restrict my comments to football.
Diego: since we – you? – believe in freedom of expression, you are completely welcome to write a piece for Salut! Sunderland, preferably with reference to football but by all means seeking to justify or explain the events in Argentina at that time.
You are also welcome to suggest that perfectly intelligent, rational contributors to one of football's most literate websites should write about football and nothing else. But in doing so, of course, you are intellectually wrong.
Limit your comments to football and stop repeating ignorant comments about a country you dont know. You have no idea about what was going on in Argentina at the time that leaded to that military coup.
sobs
I remember Cubillas scoring with the outsier of his foot from a free kick and the TV experts going bananas as if it was the first time it had ever happened

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Are you travelling to a country that puts you at risk of contracting yellow fever?
I recently attended an update for my Yellow Fever training and felt it appropriate to write a little something about travelling and Yellow Fever, its distribution around the world and to provide some links to ongoing outbreaks.
Yellow Fever is a tropical disease spread by mosquitoes and is found in sub-Saharan Africa and South and Central America. It is not found in Asia and I will touch on this again shortly.
The disease has its origins in monkeys. The disease passes to humans via mosquitoes usually after we have entered their environment. Yellow Fever can be transmitted by several species of mosquito and so Yellow Fever can sustain outbreaks in jungle, savannah and urban areas.
How Can You Treat Yellow Fever?
There is no specific treatment for individuals who are infected by Yellow Fever, and any treatment given is purely supportive. Symptoms of Yellow Fever include "flu like symptoms" which may then progress to bleeding, jaundice and multi-organ failure. The death rate from wild Yellow Fever is relatively high, of the 15% of patients who develop a serious form of the disease 20-50% of these may die (figures from CDC).
How Can I Stay Protected Against Yellow Fever?
Thankfully there is a very effective vaccine available to prevent Yellow Fever. After only one dose of vaccine most patients will gain lifelong immunity against Yellow Fever. The vaccine has been in existence for a very long time and has a good safety profile but care must be exercised when administering the vaccination as some groups of patients are more prone to adverse events. These include (but are not exhaustive) those of 60 years and patients who are immunocompromised. Please speak with your Yellow Fever centre or contact us at TravelPharm if you have any questions.
Earlier I mentioned there not being Yellow Fever in Asia. I often get requests for vaccination for travel to Asia and is usually because patients have misunderstood the guidelines that various sources publish. In Asia they do not have Yellow Fever but they do have the mosquito that can transmit Yellow Fever. Most countries subscribe to International Health Regulations and each country produces its own stance on Yellow Fever certification.
Most countries of Asia will require travellers who have arrived from yellow fever transmission regions to present a certificate at the border. The UK is not a transmission region and so travel directly to Asia from the UK does not require vaccination or certification.
I hope that you have found this little post interesting. Yellow Fever is a very serious disease, one that can be easily transmitted and is, therefore, one of only a few diseases which are governed by international health regulations. Yellow fever can get very complicated and vaccination is always based on individual risk assessments. Before you go travelling it is vital to ensure you done your research to ensure a safe journey.
Our partner centres at Manor Pharmacy can advise more specifically on an individual basis.
This blog post was written by Travelpharm head pharmacist Andrew Walton.
It's great to see people promoting awareness about this disease as it can be quite dangerous.
Seeing these statistics, it's quite alarming to know that 15% of patients may develop a serious form of Yellow Fever.
I'll be sure to share this article with other travellers.


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US > New York > Features > Lil Wayne Makes a Cameo at Jay-Z Concert
Lil Wayne Makes a Cameo at Jay-Z Concert
Lil Wayne should've been in jail last night. He should've been caged up in Riker's Island after pleading guilty to illegal weapon possession. Instead, he rocked the stage at Madison Square Garden during Jay-Z's sold-out concert. How exactly does that happen? Because last time we checked, being the self-professed "Greatest Rapper Alive" doesn't give you a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card.
Due to a random (albeit lucky) courthouse fire, Lil Wayne's jail sentence was postponed. So, to celebrate his last night of freedom, Lil Wayne joined Jay-Z at the greatest arena on Earth. It was a huge surprise to the audience, but unfortunately, the two rappers did not duet on a song together; Lil Wayne only rapped alongside Young Jeezy and Drake on their track, "I'm Going In." Their performance was (not surprisingly) epic, but it would've been interesting and exciting for Hov and Weezy to do a song together, especially on the eve of Lil Wayne's jail sentence. The concert at MSG was still unreal, with Jay-Z killing it on "Hard Knock Life," "Encore" and the rest of his set list.
Lil Wayne and Jay-Z may have been teasing New York City last night with the hopes of a duel performance, but here's hoping that when Lil Wayne is out in a year, he will appear on stage with Jay-Z and (fingers crossed) possibly go on tour with him.
*Main image courtesy of MTV News.
appearance cameo concert drake encore guest hardknocklife i'mgoingin jay-z jayz lilwayne madisonsquaregarden msg newyork newyorkcity ny nyc surprise youngjeezy


After working on films like Gangster and Life In A Metro, Kangana Ranaut and Anurag Basu are all set to reunite for another interesting project. It was twelve years ago when Kangana was launched by Anurag Basu in the Hindi film industry with romantic-crime drama Gangster. After so many years, the actor-director duo will be coming together for a love saga titled, Imali. It has been confirmed that Kangana will be playing the female lead in the film while the male lead is yet not finalised. According to reports, Kangana will begin shooting for the film by the end of this year.
Kangana is currently working on Ekta Kapoor's film Mental Hai Kya with Rajkummar Rao. Other than that, she has another film, Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, where she will be seen essaying the role of Rani Laxmi Bai. Kangana has also signed Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari's film which stars her as a Kabaddi player.


Dirk Alan Fulton is a winery in Calistoga, California. Some wineries or vineyards offer wine discounts on large orders of wine. Contact Dirk Alan Fulton for more information on their wine discounts and wine promotions.


Words do mean something, and when ideas are put into words in such a way that they lead to or reinforce fallacious notions, it is appropriate to challenge the use of those words.
I hunger for the truths in it that displace the lies (or at least misconceptions) we take for granted. I love how it digs down deep to the bare bone truths about God. About grace. About church. About us. I marked enough notes from it to be a stand-alone book itself.
Also because it has short chapters (I'm growing to appreciate those more and more); it's written clearly; it's full of scriptures; its author is humble; it's packed with freedom and love and Jesus.
Now to give you some quotes . . .
Salvation is giving your life to Christ.
Grace revolves around what He has given us, not what we give to Him! You receive eternal life not because you gave Christ your life. You receive eternal life because He gave you His Life. The distinction might seem subtle, but it's important.
Your greatest need is to love God more.
People often feel that they ought to love God more already. So why don't they? They can't. So what is the answer? It's right there in 1 John 4:19: "We love, because He first loved us." It isn't possible to love Him as we want to until we understand how much He loves us. Then, and only then, we will find love for God swelling up within our hearts.
The key to loving God more, then, is to focus on how much He loves us, not on how much we love Him at any given moment in life.
You can go too far with grace.
Grace is personified in Jesus. So to say that you can go too far with grace is like saying that you can go too far with Jesus. It simply isn't possible.
Some people are afraid that if you teach the pure grace of God, people might be encouraged to go out and sin. That kind of fear shows a lack of clear understanding about what grace does in a person's life. When God's grace really takes hold of us, it does the exact opposite of encouraging sin. It causes us to draw near in love and faith to God, which is where we find a greater desire to walk in a manner pleasing to Him.
Go too far with grace? There's no way. Most people haven't gone far enough in their understanding of it.
You should live by the teachings of the Bible.
So we aren't to live by the teachings of the Bible. We are to live by the life of the Christ who indwells us! The Bible teaches us more about Him and what it means that we live in union with Him. Our actions flow out of that knowledge, not out of some moral code we wrongly try to draw from Scripture.
There are Christians today who talk more about the Bible than they do Jesus. That should be a red flag. The Bible is not an end unto itself. …The Bible is a grace book that points us to Jesus Christ. He is the end that we pursue. If we are not led to the person of Christ and to faith in Him, like the Pharisees, we are missing the whole point of the Bible.
We absolutely love our Bibles, but we live by the life of Jesus Christ.
You should make Jesus Lord of your life.
We must make Jesus Lord? Do you see the underlying pride in that perspective? We must make Jesus be something? Who do we think that we are that we can make Jesus be anything?
The straight truth of the Bible is this: Jesus Christ is Lord.
We don't have to make Him Lord. We simply remember and rest in His Lordship.
You shouldn't do anything that might offend somebody.
Even Jesus didn't always choose His actions on the basis of who might be offended by them. Jesus often offended people, especially self-righteous ones. If never offending anyone is the mark of living up to what God expects, then even Jesus wouldn't qualify.
So we relate to people from a heart of love, but we don't allow ourselves to be controlled by public opinion. You are free in Christ. Be willing to limit your freedom for the sake of a weaker brother or to promote unity, but never give an inch to a Pharisee, the legalist who wants to make rules for other people to obey.
And there is more, so much more. Words and The Word. I'm ready to go read it again.
Have you ever held a belief that you had to replace with a more accurate truth?


FARGO, N.D. — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and National Guard leaders honored soldiers from the Upper Midwest who spent about a year serving in Afghanistan.
A special ceremony was held Sunday afternoon at the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Fargo for about 30 members of the North Dakota Army National Guard's 191st Military Police Company. The soldiers are from 20 communities in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota.
Burgum said it was also important to recognize and thank the families of the soldiers who spent so much time away. Sgt. First Class Tyson Mattson said his wife held the family together while he was serving.
The unit which provided protective service detail and secure transportation while assigned to NATO returned in December.


Houston misses deadline but nothing is finalized.
With the status of the 2019 Houston Open still undecided, Minnesota will have to wait a little longer to find out whether a PGA Tour event will be coming to the state next summer.
According to a Monday report in the Houston Chronicle, organizers of the Houston Open did not meet last Friday's deadline to secure a sponsor for next year's tournament. But the Chronicle added that Houston Astros owner Jim Crane has lined up investors to back the Open in 2019 under a proposal that would move it to October.
Hollis Cavner, who is trying to bring the PGA Tour to Minnesota, said last month that 3M would sponsor a new event next June at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine if the Houston Open is dropped. Even if the Texas tournament survives, Cavner said TPC Twin Cities could host a PGA Tour event June 6-9—a week before the 2019 U.S. Open — if the Houston Open is moved to a vacant date in the fall.
Cavner said Monday it "could be a few weeks'' before the 2019 schedule is finalized. The longtime tournament director for the 3M Championship, a Champions Tour event at the Blaine course, Cavner said he is not allowed to comment further until agreements have been completed.
The Houston Open lost its sponsor, Shell Oil Co., in 2017. The tournament, established in 1946, lost its venue last month when the Golf Club of Houston announced it would no longer host after this year.
The Houston Chronicle's report said Crane has assembled a group of 10 to 12 people willing to finance the tournament. Crane's proposal to the PGA Tour would keep the Open at the Golf Club of Houston and move it from its usual date, the week before the Masters, to October. The Valero Texas Open already has been awarded the pre-Masters date as part of a reshuffled schedule.
Should the Twin Cities get a tournament in 2019, it would be the first regular PGA Tour event in Minnesota since 1969.


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Opioid misuse is getting worse in California and across the country. Get a few quick facts about the drug problem below.
IN CALIFORNIA, THERE WERE:
2,196 opioid overdose deaths in 2017 [1]
4,281 opioid (excluding heroin) overdose emergency department visits in 2017 [1]
HEROIN ABUSE:
The vast majority of teens do not use heroin. In a 2017 national survey, only 0.4% of 12th graders used heroin in the past year.[2]
96.4% of 12th graders disapprove of taking heroin occasionally.[2]
In 2016, over 600,000 people (12 or older) reported having a heroin use disorder.[3]
PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE:
Prescription opioid analgesics, specifically those containing oxycodone and hydrocodone, are the most common types of prescription drugs that are diverted for misuse and abused.
Each day in the United States, over 192 people die as a result of a drug overdose.[4]
In 2016, an estimated 3.2 million people (aged 12 or older) reported past month misuse of opioid pain relievers.[3]
53% of nonmedical users (12 years or older) reported receiving the prescription drugs they most recently used "from a friend or relative for free."[5]
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 80-100 times stronger than morphine.
The death rate of synthetic opioids other than methadone, jumped by 72.2% from 2014 to 2015.[6]
During 2016 alone there were almost 29,000 reports of fentanyl (up from 1,041 reports in 2013).[7]
Learn More About the Science of Addiction
Explore common misconceptions about opioids through the voices of teens. Go to Operation Prevention.
1 Source: California Opioid Overdose Surveillance Dashboard, California Department of Public Health. View source here.
2 Source: University of Michigan, 2018 Monitoring the Future Study. View source here.
3 Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, September 2018. View source here.
4 Source: Drug and Opioid-Involved Overdose Deaths — United States, 2013–2017. View source here.
5 Source: Prescription Drug Use and Misuse in the United States: Results from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, September 2016. View source here.
6 Source: Rudd RA, Seth P, David F, Scholl L. Increases in Drug and Opioid-Involved Overdose Deaths — United States, 2010–2015. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. ePub: 16 December 2016. View source here.
7 Source: "Fentanyl: The Next Wave of the Opioid Crisis." Statement from Louis J. Milione Assistant Administrator, Drug Enforcement Administration. March 21, 2017.


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Q: Linq: let statement as a constant? I am working on a Linq query expression statement, and want to use a let statement to set a constant value as part of the query to reduce potential errors.
In my example... (this is total mock up). the let statement "validateCount" is the question.
    from referenceRow in context.SomeTable
    // We want 8 in the Take and the results to still be 8 after the where.
    // instead of typing in the value twice (in this example), i wanted to use a constant value here
    let validateCount = 8

    // sub query expression in my example
    let subQuery = from sub in context.SomeTable
               where sub.SomeColumn == rowReference.SomeColumn
               orderby sub.SomeColumn descending
               select sub

// use the sub query, take X amount, apply filter, check to see if Count() is the same as Take()
where subQuery.Take(validateCount) // this is where we fail. if we put in the constant 8, we are ok.
              .Where(x => x.SomeOtherColumn == "Some value")
              .Count() == validateCount // this is fine
select referenceRow

Unfortunately it seems that the let expression "validateCount" which has a single value of 8 in this example, can only work in the comparison part of .Count() but cannot be passed into the .Take() without throwing an exception.
Limit must be a DbConstantExpression or a DbParameterReferenceExpression.
Parameter name: count
Looking for a solution to use some user-defined constant in a single code location that can be used in the rest of the query expression, both in the .Take() and .Count() without having to be updated several spots in the code.
our application allows users to supply their own linq query expression to build their queries. I can't define anything outside the scope of this query, and must be within, using something like a 'let' statement.

A: let statement generates intermediate anonymous type projection (Select call) in the query expression tree. EF query provider (as indicated by the exception message) requires Skip and Take arguments to be resolved to constant or variable values (i.e. to be able to be evaluated locally), hence the let cannot be used for that purpose.
Instead, the constants/variables used in Skip / Take expressions should be defined outside of the query and used inside.
To define a constant value you would use:
const int validateCount = 8;
var query = (from .... Take(validateCount) ...);

To define a variable value (SQL query parameter):
int validateCount = 8;
var query = (from .... Take(validateCount) ...);

Here the C# compiler will turn validateCount into closure and EF query provider will be happy to bind a parameter (with that value).

our application allows users to supply their own linq query expression to build their queries. I can't define anything outside the scope of this query, and must be within, using something like a 'let' statement.

When supplying their own queries, the users should follow the same Skip / Take argument rules as above, i.e. define their constants and variables outside of their queries.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Ten months passed between conceiving the idea and the beginning of experiments with minimalist harmonic overtones made with acoustic guitar in the beginning of 2004 and the end of work on True Delusion album in late 2004. The first six of them were the months of thinking and contemplation, traveling and trial recording of instruments in habitable rooms and kitchens, recording and auditing of rural nature sounds by night and by day. The very idea was simple at first. I meant to play the guitar experimenting with minimalist harmonic overtones. Meanwhile I tried to take deep rhythmic breaths timed with guitar sounds. The result was almost meditative, as the guitar buzzing sound was slowly fading out and the body felt close to hyperventilated. However, in view of my desire to further progress with composition, I decided to go beyond repetition and minimalism. Later the album progressed in terms of the similar use of the piano. It was not exactly harmonic overtones, but the sound was slow, melodic and minimalist, so the album can be conventionally divided into two parts.


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Richard P. Gunnell (born January 12, 1987) is a former American football wide receiver. He was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2010. He played college football at Boston College. He is currently the wide receivers coach and pass game coordinator at the College of the Holy Cross.

Early years
Gunnell is from East Windsor Township, New Jersey and was a standout at Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. In high school, he made 115 receptions for 2,200 yards and 38 touchdowns. He also returned three kickoffs and two punts for touchdowns. He played for head coach Chappy Moore, and was on the school's basketball and track teams.

College career
Gunnell set the career receiving yard record at Boston College, surpassing Pete Mitchell's. Gunnell broke the record on a 61-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter of his final game against USC in the 2009 Emerald Bowl. He finished with 2,459 receiving yards in his career surpassing Mitchell's 2,388 yards. In his final collegiate game Gunnell he had 130 receiving yards and one touchdown on six catches.  He was also the active leader in catches, receiving yards, and punt return touchdowns in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Gunnell was voted the Eagles Most Valuable Player by his teammates, the first time a wide receiver captain received the honor since 1990. His "dream" is to play professionally and is awaiting an invitation to the NFL Combine. Gunnell was a senior team captain along with center Matt Tennant and middle linebacker Mike McLaughlin. Gunnell played under three head coaches start including Tom O'Brien and Frank Spaziani

Gunnell played with quarterbacks Matt Ryan, Dominique Davis,  and Dave Shinskie. His best season statistically was as a sophomore with Ryan as quarterback when he had 64 receptions for 931 yards and 7 receiving touchdowns. His senior year with 25-year-old freshman Shinskie he caught 54 passes for 750 yards, and 6 touchdown, plus another 5 catches for 117 yards and a touchdown against USC in the Emerald Bowl.

Professional career
On April 25, 2010, it was announced that Gunnell had signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. However, just prior to the start of the 2010 season on September 3, the Chiefs released Gunnell along with 6 other players vying for roster spots. Gunnell was the final cut for the Chiefs and was placed on the practice squad.

Coaching career
Gunnell was a graduate assistant at Boston College, his alma mater.
He coached at Marian High School in Framingham, Massachusetts, in 2014. Gunnell became the wide receivers coach for Boston College in the 2016 season. Gunnell was named interim head coach following the firing of Steve Addazio at the conclusion of the 2019 regular season. For the 2022 season, Gunnell joined the Holy Cross football coaching staff as the Wide receivers coach and Pass game coordinator.

Head coaching record

References

External links
 Holy Cross profile
 Boston College profile

1987 births
Living people
American football wide receivers
Boston College Eagles football coaches
Boston College Eagles football players
Holy Cross Crusaders football coaches
Kansas City Chiefs players
Tufts Jumbos football coaches
High school football coaches in Massachusetts
Notre Dame High School (New Jersey) alumni
People from East Windsor, New Jersey
Sportspeople from Mercer County, New Jersey
Coaches of American football from New Jersey
Players of American football from New Jersey
African-American coaches of American football
African-American players of American football
21st-century African-American sportspeople

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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LCF x H&M – Designing for Sustainability 2016
Last night, we kicked off London Fashion Week with a celebration of sustainability in fashion. For the second year running, the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at LCF collaborated with H&M, in a project involving LCF students exploring the concept of circularity.
LCFxH&M on the Strand
Thirty three teams of students from BA (Hons) Fashion Design & Technology Womenswear and BA (Hons) Fashion Jewellery were challenged with designing capsule womenswear collections, using garments and materials provided through H&M's in-store garment collecting scheme.
The eight winning collections were selected by an expert panel of judges including; Dilys Williams – Director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at LCF, Orsola de Castro – designer & campaigner, Shee Fun Chan – Course Leader, London College of Fashion & Catarina Midby – H&M UK & IE Sustainability Manager, and are on display in H&M stores across London.
LCFxH&M Flagship Store lounge
The launch event, which took place at the H&M flagship store on Oxford Street, saw fashion students and press come together to celebrate the collections. Speaking at the event, Dean of the School of Design and Technology Professor Jose Teunissen talked about LCF's focus on sustainability in fashion, while Catarina Midby, H&M UK & IE Sustainability Manager said:
As leaders in sustainability, it is hugely important for us to continue working to promote the importance of garment recycling to our customers. Garment recycling is the first step towards achieving our goal of 100% circularity.
LCFxH&M at Long Acre
Renee Cuoco from the Centre for Sustainable Fashion told us:
It has been exciting to explore sustainability with LCF students at the beginning of their journey. In response to a challenging design brief, they have shown us new possibilities for fashion and this is what the industry now needs from our future graduates.
H&M are currently the only fashion brand that offers a garment collecting service in all stores worldwide. The scheme offers customers the chance to donate unwanted clothes, by any brand, in any condition, to any H&M store.
The collections can be viewed across five London H&M stores for the duration of London Fashion Week from 16th – 20th September 2016.
Find out more about the Centre for Sustainable Fashion
Find out more about BA (Hons) Fashion Design Technology Womenswear
Find out more about BA (Hons) Fashion Jewellery


text:
Q: How to restart X server? First of all I should say that I have very limited computer knowledge so go easy on me. I have Ubuntu 15.10 installed on my laptop and I was trying to to install the driver for the Nvidia video card but an error kept popping up saying that the x  server was on so the installation cannot be completed, so I disabled lightdm and went into the tty terminal and installed the driver (which was a .run file btw) from there, after I was done I started it again but the computer seemed to freeze so I rebooted it now I'm stuck in the login screen and whenever I type my password it just sends me back to the same screen.
I tried going back into the tty and typing
sudo start lightdm
But it said that it failed to connect to socket /com/ubuntu/upstart.
Btw sorry I'm using my phone so I can really format stuff properly.
Update: typing
lspci -k | grep -EA2 'VGA|3D'

Yields this output

Again I apologize for taking a picture of the screen but I can't really do much from my laptop right now.

A: You can install Nvidia driver for your adapter by running:
sudo apt-get install nvidia-352

A: You probably have some broken packages pending while you tried to install the Nvidia drivers. Try
sudo dpkg --configure -a

Then try to sudo service restart lightdm again.


text:
package black.door.intertalk;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import com.github.kag0.oauth2.TokenResponse;
import com.github.kag0.oauth2.TokenType;
import com.github.kag0.oauth2.password.ImmutablePasswordTokenRequest;
import com.mashape.unirest.http.HttpResponse;
import com.mashape.unirest.http.Unirest;
import org.flywaydb.core.Flyway;
import org.junit.After;
import org.junit.Before;
import org.junit.Test;

import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
import static spark.Spark.stop;

/**
 * Created by nfischer on 9/10/16.
 */
public class UserControllerTest {

	@Before
	public void setUp(){
		Flyway f = new Flyway();

		Main.main(new String[0]);
		f.setDataSource(Main.hikari);
		f.clean();
		f.migrate();
	}

	@Test
	public void test() throws Exception {
		// create user
		HttpResponse<String> createResponse = Unirest.post("http://localhost:4567/users")
				.body("{\n" +
						"  \"username\": \"jim\",\n" +
						"  \"password\": \"pass\"\n" +
						"}")
				.asString();
		assertEquals(201, createResponse.getStatus());

		// login
		HttpResponse<String> loginResponse = Unirest.post("http://localhost:4567/token")
				.body(ImmutablePasswordTokenRequest.builder().password("pass").username("jim").build().toFormEncoded())
				.asString();

		TokenResponse tokenResponse = TokenResponse.fromJson(new ObjectMapper().readTree(loginResponse.getBody()));
		assertEquals(TokenType.StdTokenType.Bearer, tokenResponse.tokenType());
	}

	@After
	public void cleanUp(){
		stop();
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


by his wife Jennifer and children, Nicholas, 9, and Alyssa, 6, of Sunrise, Florida.
the Eastbound side of I-595 so traffic wouldn't interfere with the procession of cars.
of Weston, Florida where Timothy S's funeral service will be held.
her husband. The man to the left is Timothy S. long time friend & co-worker Phil K.
while Fire Rescue Chaplin Rick B. (Right) lends his support.
The Broward County Fire Rescues' Honor Guard load the casket of fellow veteran Timothy S.
onto the fire truck he used to work from which will carry him to his final resting place.
for Timothy S. who was one of their instructors at the fire academy.
friend and co-worker Phil K. She is clutching a large framed photo of her late husband.


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I've been using Playmaker for a loong time now, mostly on interactive art installations and several small university projects. But, I want to do this now on a larger scale and create (and hopefully publish) my first videogame on steam.
How do you achieve this? Lets say I have 3 unlockable levels - after one level is completed, the next one gets unlocked at the level select screen. If I turn off the game and restart, it saved my state and I can continue at level 2.
Say I have V1 of my Game published and want to add some new levels into my game - do I simply work on that unity project, export a new file and upload it to the steam servers? How can I be sure that the player-progress will keep the same like before the update? (somehow related to savegame I assume).
Re: Creating core elements like saving and updating for a videogame?
- For very small project with not much to save, I just use PlayerPrefs.


text:
Posted on June 24, 2022 June 24, 2022 by Nicole van Groningen
Welcome to the 159th FOAMed Quiz.
Source image: www.alodokter.com
For some reason, Ramsay Hunt syndrome is all over the news these days.
As we all know by now, this is a peripheral facial paralysis. But how does it compare to the (formerly) more famous Bell's Palsy?
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A: Ramsay Hunt syndrome has a worse prognosis than Bell's Palsy
B: Dizziness is a more common complaint in Ramsay Hunt syndrome than in Bell's Palsy
C: Both in Ramsay Hunt syndrome and Bell's Palsy, an erythematous vesicular auricular skin rash is often seen preceding paralysis
D: Antiviral therapy is a cornerstone in treating Ramsay Hunt syndrome, but has no evidence based benefit in Bell's Palsy
The correct answer is C.
This week, Ramsay Hunt syndrome was discussed by Pediatric EM Morsels.
Ramsay Hunt syndrome is caused by reactivation of Varicella Zoster Virus. This leads to an auricular skin rash, which is not typically seen in Bell's Palsy. Ramsay Hunt syndrome is described as more painful. Both Ramsay Hunt syndrome and Bell's Palsy affect CN VII, but the first can also affect CN VIII, leading to vestibular symptoms, not typically seen in Bell's Palsy.
Pediatric Ramsay Hunt Syndrome
Source image: www.rebelem.com
While COVID-19 causes yet another surge in Europe, we hope to avoid the next overload of our critical care system.
The benefit of awake proning of our ill COVID patients has been uncertain and it was surely not general practice in our hospital.
Last month the COVI-PRONE trial was published. 400 patients (of which 97% had confirmed COVID-19) were randomised to either awake prone positioning (targeted for 8 hours daily) and usual care without prone positioning. These patients were not intubated and required oxygen (≥40%) or noninvasive ventilation.
The primary outcome was endotracheal intubation within 30 days of randomisation.
What did the authors find?
A: Patients in the awake proning group had statistically significant lower rates of intubation
B: Patients in the standard group had statistically significant lower rates of intubation
C: There was no difference in intubation rate between the two groups
RebelEM covered the paper last week.
The achieved medial duration of prone positioning of the patient was 4.8 hours per day.
There was no statistically significant difference in intubation rate between the two groups. However, the rate of intubation was 34.1% in the awake proning group compared to 40.5% in the usual care group. This is a rather big difference, and the study just might be underpowered to detect a statistically significant difference.
REBEL Cast Ep110: The COVI-PRONE Trial – Awake Prone Positioning and COVID-19
Source image: www.pixabay.com
Which of the following bacteria causes about 1/3th of cases of Lemierre's syndrome?
A: Staphylococcus aureus
B: Fusobacterium necrophorum
C: Streptococcus pyogenes
D: Pseudomonas aeruginosa
EMDocs covered Lemierre's syndrome last week.
Lemierre's syndrome is one of the ENT emergencies we should always consider in a patient with severe pharyngitis.
Lemierre's syndrome is a suppurative thrombophlebitis of the internal jugular vein
Fusobacterium necrophorum accounts for about 33 percent of cases of Lemierre's syndrome.
Source image: www.lompocvmc.com
The foramen of Monro connects which two cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) containing structures?
A: The two lateral ventricles only
B: The lateral ventricles and the third ventricle
C: The third ventricle and the fourth ventricle
D: The fourth ventricle and the cisterna magna
Geeky Medics covered anatomy of the cerebrospinal fluid filled structures last week.
The interventricular foramina (or foramina of Monro) connect the lateral ventricles to the third ventricle.
CSF exits the fourth ventricle via three foramina (Magendie and Luschka) into the cisterna magna.
The Ventricular System
This quiz was written by Sophie Nieuwendijk, Denise van Vossen, Gijs de Zeeuw, Maartje van Iwaarden and Nicole van Groningen
Reviewed and edited by Rick Thissen
Previous PostPrevious Quiz 158, June 17th, 2022
Next PostNext Quiz 160, July 1, 2022


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Brief post today. I just wanted to let you all in on something that's bugging me. I use Firefox, which has a rich ecosystem of plugins and themes. I've got the Old Factory theme, which is nice and bleak and industrial. I use most of the standard plugins, like AdBlock Plus, and so forth. But I also like some of the less popular informational ones, like FareCompare and, the subject of today's little gripe, 1-Click Weather. Not that there is anything wrong with 1-Click Weather. It does what it's supposed to do: deliver current conditions and forecasts to your status bar. It lets me know when there is a severe weather alert as well. It's all hooked in to Weather.com, so it's legit. And better than Weather.com's home-rolled nightmares that I've never heard anything good about.


text:
Lakewood Man Sentenced to 28 Years Prison Child Abuse Resulting in Death of Infant
Apr 11, 2018 by Staffin Latest
Josiah Lamarr Jones, DOB: 9-7-95, appeared in Jefferson County District Court on April 10 where he was sentenced to prison for 28 years for the death of his three-month-old daughter, Naomi Jones. Josiah Jones pled guilty to a class two felony, Child Abuse Resulting in Death on March 6, less than a week before his trial was set to begin.
On March 3, 2016 Lakewood police were called to 5353 W. 16th where they found Naomi Jones unresponsive. She was transported to Denver Health Medical Center and then transferred to Childrens' Hospital Colorado. She died on March 6.
The infant suffered severe injuries including skull fracture, intracranial hemorrhage, bilateral subdural hematoma, and traumatic brain injury.
Josiah Jones had custody of Naomi and was her sole caregiver. He was in a difficult relationship with the child's mother, Nicole Jones, and had been served with a restraining order early in January, 2016. He had continued to contact Nicole through texting and social media.
Jones was on probation for felony menacing when this crime was committed.
"It is unconscionable that anyone would inflict such horrific injuries upon a three-month-old infant," said DA Pete Weir, "Mr. Jones deserves every day of his 28-year sentence."


The bastions of Mdina seem to be the setting for a battle scene once again. The dissent, this time round, concerns the rehabilitation of the ditch gardens, now being converted into a recreation park, which has left environmentalists very unimpressed.
Until recently, the Mdina ditch was an underutilised ground that was inaccessible to the public, which the Rural Affairs Ministry has tried to change. However, the plan has failed to convince some people.
"This is the work of architects with no background in environmental management. This is vandalism," said Alfred E. Baldacchino, former assistant director at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority's environment directorate.
The work includes the uprooting of more than 270 citrus trees lining the bastion walls. About 150 will be replanted a couple of metres across the ditch and the remaining trees will be relocated to Buskett.
"This is not the right time for uprooting. We are in spring, blossoming time. It is a trauma for the trees. There is no guarantee they will survive," said Mr Baldacchino.
Similarly, environmentalist Antonio Anastasi said on Facebook that if the uprooting had to happen, it should have been done without removing all the trees' foliage.
Mr Baldacchino questioned the reason for moving them only by a couple of metres, calling it a "sheer waste of money". The estimated value of the project – to be completed this year – is €1,200,000.
On site, a crane was uprooting the trees to loud pumping music.
"Look at that, all the roots of these citrus trees are sawn off with a chainsaw so that they fit in the new hole. They should at least make the hole bigger," he said.
The Rural Resources Ministry said any protected species "will be left in place" and the design of the paving will work around them.
A spokesman explained the trees being transplanted to the other side of the counterscarp were being moved to "expose the scale and majesty of the bastions".
noted that, before being uprooted, the trees were being pruned hastily.
The project proposes to collect the greater part of the rainwater run-off in shallow reservoirs that have been creatively designed by taking advantage of the difference in the levels of the grounds.
A Mepa spokesman said all permits were in hand and continuous archaeological monitoring was being carried out during the works.
In the meantime, a petition against the pruning of trees – Save Malta's Trees – sponsored by columnist Pamela Hansen is doing the rounds online and has already garnered more than 200signatures.
An old legally protected Olive Tree heavily pruned on the 16th May 2012. A few days later it was uprooted and disappeared.
All the old legally protected Oive Trees in the ditch were heavily pruned and a few days later they were uprooted and all disappeared.
Buskett is small woodland with forest remnants of Holm Oak and Aleppo Pine. It has been declared an EU Natura 2000 site following submission by Government. Despite this the Ministry of Resources and Rural Affairs has been consistently claiming that Buskett is a garden. Buskett is crying for the strengthening of the population of wild trees which once graced this woodland, and which today are on the verge of extinction. Indigenous rare trees which should be planted at Buskett are the Ash, the Bay Tree, Elm, Hawthorn, Mastic Tree, Buckthorn, Poplar, Holm Oak and others. Yet the Minster responsible for landscaping has chosen to plant the uprooted citrus trees from Mdina Ditch at Buskett.
The dozen or so old established protected Olive trees were first heavily pruned. Then one by one, by the 20th May 2012, they were all uprooted and carried away from the site.
The remains of the grove of citrus trees after a substantial number were uprooted to mke way for a 'garden'. Part of the ditch opposite the bastions is covered by a beautiful cover of Ivy, providing much needed adequate habitat for local fauna. All the greenery is probably waiting for the chain saw to clear it to make way for a 'garden'. No details as to the future of such natural habitat are availed.
The out of the way sign showing the financial help received room the European Union with regards to the Mdina project.
This entry was posted on Friday, May 25th, 2012 at 11:05 pm and is filed under Ash Tree, Buckthorn, Buskett Woodland, Elm Tree, EU, European Union, Hawthorn, Holm Oak, Mdina ditch, MEPA, Minister for Resources and Rural Affairs, MRRA, Natura 2000, Official vandalism, Olive trees, Pamel Hansen, Pamela Hansen, Poplar tree, Save the Trees group, Tree, Tree petition, turf, water.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
At this rate Malta will soon have no trees left!
The Minister will be happy because he will ask his private contractor to buy some from overseas.


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text:
Rogue economics in the vineyard: Video
Is it a financially viable option to rogue infected vines?
May 1st 2019 Issue
Shannon Dininny // May 2, 2019
One of the best management strategies wine grape growers have to manage vines infected with grapevine leafroll disease is to rogue them out of the vineyard, but growers face an unknown question: What is the economic cost to this strategy over the long term?
Trent Ball, agriculture department chair at Yakima Valley College, aimed to answer that question by examining the on-farm costs of vine removal, factoring in the rate of spread, compared with a do-nothing approach, and the resulting impacts to grape and wine yield and quality.
Then, Ball compared these costs over time. "It's not just what it would cost me next year. This roguing strategy is something you would do over time, that's perpetual," he said at the Washington Winegrowers conference in February. For that reason, Ball said, the study examined the cost on an annual basis over a period of 20 years.
The questions
If one of the best management strategies is to rogue infected vines, is it financially viable over the long term?
Recent research by Washington State University plant pathologist Naidu Rayapati, director of WSU's Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center, has shown grapevine leafroll disease can spread very quickly, infecting more than 50 percent of a Washington vineyard in just a couple of years, or slowly over time. Management practices vary depending on the rate of spread at a specific site.
Yields also fall on average by about 20 percent for leafroll-infected vines. However, grapes also could see a Brix reduction. "The quality implications can be significant as well," Ball said. "Based on your contract with your buyer, you may have a Brix minimum — 23.5 on red is typical — and there can be a penalty for any Brix below that."
Generally, growers should be scouting for disease in the fall, identifying those vines that look infected and testing and removing those infected vines in the winter.
For Ball's analysis, roguing costs ranged from $10 to $16 per vine. Included in those figures were the costs for scouting and testing for disease, vine removal, replanting followed by vine training in year two, and special irrigation that might be required to accommodate a young, new vine in an older vineyard (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Economic benefit of roguing, compared to nonintervention strategy. (Source: Trent Ball/Yakima Valley College. Graphic: Jared Johnson/Good Fruit Grower)
Ball also looked at those costs, $10 or $16 per acre, at low, medium and high rates of spread. (A low rate assumed a grower removed six vines per year, with nine vines per year at a medium rate of spread and an aggressive 40 vines per year at a high rate of spread.)
Overall, growers see an economic benefit to vine removal regardless of the rate of spread and regardless of whether the vine removal cost was estimated at $10 or $16 per vine. The economic savings were highest at the lower $10 per vine removal cost, increasing with the rate of infection (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: Costs to rogue vines. (Source: Trent Ball/Yakima Valley College. Graphic: Jared Johnson/Good Fruit Grower)
"As you would expect, if it costs more to rogue, it's more impactful and hurts your bottom line a little bit, but it's more beneficial than not doing anything," he said. "Not doing anything is going to cost you more from an economic perspective."
And if a winery imposes a 1 percent price reduction for low Brix?
The addition of a Brix penalty really doesn't factor into the equation until a grower has a high rate of infection. At that point, a grower could save $13,000 per acre compared to the do-nothing approach to the disease, at the $10 per vine cost to remove vines.
So, at what point is the cost of roguing higher than the benefit a grower would see from reducing the virus impact?
At just a 20 percent yield reduction from a low spread rate, with a roguing cost of $20 per vine, roguing was not cost beneficial. "Over 20, 25 years, if you're only going to end up with a rate of 20 percent infection, then it wasn't economically viable to spend $20 per vine to rogue and replace," Ball said.
However, at the 15 percent yield reduction level — and some varieties don't show as much of a yield impact from the disease — then within the $10 to $14 per vine cost range, growers can view roguing as a viable option to handle the costs and still maintain an economic advantage.
At around $30 per vine for roguing, "it's almost not viable at all," he said.
One other thing: If your operation is infected, at what point is roguing no longer an effective strategy?
At the 40 percent infection level, growers should just replant, Ball said. "Keep the bulk of the trellis system, pull vines, replant with certified material, use grow tubes," he said. "At the 40 percent threshold, the roguing strategy becomes too expensive and you can't justify the additional cost."
Ball's take-home messages:
—Grapevine leafroll disease can occur in a vineyard regardless of whether a grower does everything right — but growers can reduce their risk by using certified material and employing good management practices, controlling for insects and roguing where necessary.
—Addressing grapevine leafroll disease at an early stage provides the highest economic benefit through roguing.
—Vineyard replacement should be exercised when infection levels top 40 percent.
In addition, "the higher your fruit value, the more effective it is for roguing," Ball said. "When the fruit value is lower, it's not always as effective."
Ultimately, the decision will depend on the rate of infection spread, the value of the fruit and a grower's risk tolerance. •
—by Shannon Dininny
This research was funded by a Washington State Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant, in cooperation with research by WSU's Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center.
Shannon Dininny2019-05-29T14:20:49-07:00May 2nd, 2019|Diseases, Grapes, May 1st 2019 Issue, New Developments, Pest Management, Production, Research, Shannon Dininny, Videos|
About the Author: Shannon Dininny
Shannon Dininny is the managing editor of Good Fruit Grower. She writes articles for the print magazine and website and plans and prepares editorial content. -- Follow the author: Office (509) 853-3522 Cell: (509) 834-5321 -- email


text:
v-Booths
AviaPOS
AviaPOS Blog
U.S. airlines prepare employee recalls as relief nears; United calls them 'temporary'
CHICAGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -American Airlines and United Airlines said on Monday they were preparing to recall tens of thousands of furloughed employees as they awaited lawmakers' approval of a fresh $15 billion in payroll support under a broader COVID-19 relief package.
But in a staff memo, United executives warned that it expects the recall will be "temporary" as travel demand remains depressed. The relief would cover employee payroll costs until March 31, 2021.
"The truth is, we just don't see anything in the data that shows a huge difference in bookings over the next few months," CEO Scott Kirby and President Brett Hart said in the memo, released by United.
Wrestling with a sharp downturn in travel demand amid the pandemic, American and United together furloughed more than 32,000 workers in October, when an initial $25 billion to cover six months of airline workers' salaries expired.
The House of Representatives and Senate were aiming to pass a bipartisan $900 billion coronavirus aid package before the end of the day.
The $15 billion earmarked for airlines requires all furloughed workers to be recalled and receive their full salaries from Dec. 1 through March 31, 2021.
"We are already starting to work through the details of how we will bring back team members, but we're not over the finish line yet," American CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom said in a memo, adding that they hoped employees would receive paychecks by Dec. 24.
The terms of the new assistance program mirror the initial package passed by Congress in March, which required larger airlines to repay 30% of the payroll grants over time and offer the government warrants.
It also requires airlines to resume flying to some routes stopped after the first package expires, and gives the Transportation secretary authority until March 1, 2022 to require flights to small and remote communities that airlines served before the pandemic.
S: Reuters
American Airlines introduces health passport scheme
Unresponsive Private Jet Prompted Sonic Boom Over England
'All women pilots did it': Air India's longest direct flight lands in Bengaluru
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Now in its second revision, Peak eBikes is a successful bike specialist based in the Peak District.
Peak eBike is part of a wider operation which includes Hassop Station Cafe and Monsal Trail Cycle Hire. We were initially bought in before Peak eBikes launched to create the website and advise in other areas with our duties expanding at the end of 2017 to include the Hassop & Monsal websites.
As well as the websites we also assist with social media.


text:
Q: Windows File Server 2019 backup to Azure with NTFS permissions We are running a windows server 2019 with File and storage services. We only use this as a file server with NTFS permissions. My backup program doesn't allow dynamic disks to be backed up and all of our file partitions are dynamic disks. So I need to find a solution to backup all of our data, delete the partitions, and recreate partitions using basic disk. Then copy the data back to the local server.
Is Azure backup the best way to do this? Will it keep all NTFS permissions intact?