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Home / Food & Drink / Sip Champagne and the subscription service aiming to bring artisan champagne to your table
Sip Champagne and the subscription service aiming to bring artisan champagne to your table
By Natasha Heard on 26th November 2020
If you think you know all there is to discover about the delectable drink that is Champagne, then a new dedicated Champagne subscription brand is challenging you to think again.
We know that the fizzy tipple is a sparkling wine produced from grapes grown solely in the Champagne region of France with the more involved production process (than other sparkling wines) giving the drink its renowned exclusive edge. Often brought out at special occasions, whether toasting the happy couple at a wedding or circulating among an elective crowd at an event reception, the notion of when Champagne can be sipped is somewhat limited.
The main reason for this is because a lot of the current offerings on the market are simply dry and fizzy, with not much extra attention being paid to the distinct differences between the style and blends. So, why is this?
Sip Champagnes founders Peter Crawford and Daniel Blatchford
Sip Champagnes, the company dedicated to shining a light on artisan producers in the north east region of France explains: "There are some 16,000 growers in the Champagne region, nearly 2,500 of whom make their own Champagne in small batches, (a similar number more make their own using cooperative methods). Yet, you'll probably only be familiar with a clutch of big brand names. This is because the vast bulk of the farmer's yield is sold off to a few big Maisons, where it is mixed into a common lot and bottled under a brand name."
Challenging those long-held preconceptions you may harbour that Champagne is an occasion-only tipple, Sip Champagnes wants you to rethink what you think you know and discover a whole new raft of artisan producers along the way.
A selection of Sip Champagnes' offerings
What many don't realise is that there are a wealth of differences to be discovered within these batches, hence the need to challenge any previously held ideas about the drink. What artisan champagne highlights is the individuality between each bottle that is often so valued in wine, but is, at times, overlooked when it comes to Champagne. Artisan Champagne is a world apart in that sense, providing distinctive characteristics of the terroir, exhibiting unique flavour profiles and significant differences between the various styles, blends and even individual villages.
Where, previously individual farmers couldn't compete with the big-name brands, Sip Champagnes has made it its mission to bring an array of artisan producers to the forefront of the UK market with their long list of contacts in the region garnered over 20 plus years.
So, who or what exactly is Sip Champagnes?
Sip Champagnes was founded earlier this year by friends Daniel Blatchford and Peter Crawford, who combined Peter's impressive list of contacts and their shared love of Champagne, along with the desire to introduce a selection of those artisan producers to the UK market for the very first time. This young, yet knowledgeable company provides subscription packages to their consumers in order to lead them on a journey of artisan Champagne discovery and aims to highlight the hard efforts of the farmers who work the soil and vines.
Virginie et Laurent from Champagne Caillez Lemaire
After many meetings and hundreds of bottles tasted, the pair settled on the first 28 producers and 55 bottles in early 2020 and Sip Champagnes was born. Now offering 71 bottles, ranging from £20 to £250 per bottle, customers can be sure of a wonderfully curated selection of drinks available on their website. A quick browse through the website will arm any interested party with enough knowledge to select their own box, but in order to fully understand and appreciate the world of Champagne, Peter and Daniel recommend opting for the Sip subscription packages. Hand-curated each month by resident expert, Peter, who owns 15,000 personal Champagne tasting notes, buyers can expect to receive some truly exceptional bottles with dedicated tasting notes and also benefit from live tasting sessions with the farmers themselves. It doesn't get more exclusive than that!
And when taking part in these sessions, you will soon appreciate that you are supporting a business that is sustainable from root to tip as Sip only works with those who are committed to undertaking the very best practices for the land, the soil and the vines. With 100% recycled and recyclable packaging, and carbon neutral shipping, you will be safe in the knowledge that while you're sipping on the finest of artisan Champagnes, you are also doing your bit for the environment, so to speak. What is more fulfilling than that? Head over to the website now and see what you think.
All images courtesy of Sip Champagnes.
Tags: artisan champagne artisan Champagne producers champagne subscription discover champagne Sip Champagne


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Bath and North East Somerset at risk of entering Tier 3, new app warns
Tier statuses will be reviewed next week
Emma Grimshaw
Bath and North East Somerset could be at risk of entering tougher Tier 3 restrictions next week, according to a new app.
Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset were thrown into the highest level last week when England's second lockdown concluded.
Over the past week, cases have been falling rapidly across Bristol and its neighbouring areas.
But data from the Covid Symptom Study app, run by experts at ZOE and King's College London, shows B&NES is one of only four areas in the country where active infections are rising.
It looks at Covid cases per 100,000 in the general population and for the over 60s.
Bristol coronavirus rate now below national average as cases hit two-month low
Hengrove Park: £20m boost to speed up south Bristol development
The figures show both groups have increased over the last seven days.
B&NES now has case rate of 418 per 100,000 and 116 per 100,000 for the over 60s.
Other areas where infections were rising include Buckinghamshire, Warrington and Cheshire and Suffolk.
Experts from Covid Symptom Study app send ministers their daily report.
All the data is based around one million weekly self-reporters and a proportion of newly symptomatic users who have positive swab tests.
England's tier system will be reviewed on next Wednesday (December 16) when ministers will be analysing Covid rates and hospital admissions.
To get breaking news like this straight to your inbox, click here
However, Public Health England's data shows cases are in fact falling in B&NES.
As of 4:17pm on Tuesday (December 8), a total of 16 new daily infections were confirmed.
This compares to 27 on Monday, 43 on Sunday and 42 on Saturday.
Daybreakers

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Before you know it, the holidays will be here and that means many will spend November and December sprucing up their homes for the season. One of the simplest and inexpensive ways to make a dramatic update to a room is through fabrics whether its new drapes or re-upholstering chairs or a couch. And, when it comes to shopping for designer fabrics for upholstery for more than half the price, The Loomcraft Textiles warehouse in Burlington doesn't advertise, but specializes in just that.
"We buy it by the truckload and we like to think we're one of, if not the largest, wholesaler of fabrics of seconds and closeouts in the United States," explained Brian Frankel. He is the head of retail operations for the four Loomcraft stores across the country, and his great-grandfather started the company.
"My great-grandfather started the business 65 years ago in the 50s," Frankel said. "He was a tailor and he started buying fabrics from mills in the U.S. and selling to small manufacturers and for export as well."
Frankel says the bulk of their business is wholesale, but their retail store is open to the public 7 days a week and outdoor fabric is very popular.
Shoppers can find fabrics from $5.99 a yard and up, but, nothing in the retail store is more than $19.99 a yard. There is also free bin for each shopper to take a yard or two of fabric for free and bulk donations are available for schools or non-profits.
Frankel points out for holiday decorating, fabric can also be used for table runners, tree skirts, and trim for mantles or banisters.
"We like to think by coming to us you're cutting your cost in half," he said.


The Doubletree Resort by Hilton in Paradise Valley – Luxury Travel Worldwide, Places, Hotels, things to do.
I used to go to Phoenix/Scottsdale a couple of times a year on business but that routine stopped when many of the events got diverted to Vegas and Austin. Truth be told, I have missed …..
The post The Doubletree Resort by Hilton in Paradise Valley appeared first on We Blog The World.


Rather then leave the gallery empty over the holiday season this year, Melanie Jayne Taylor and Helen Grogan were given the keys to Blindside and, starting from scratch, asked to have an exhibition ready in four and a half weeks, a duration far exceeding the usual two-day installation time. The public are invited to view the results that both highlight and fracture the boundaries between idea inception, exploration, creation and presentation.
Playing with the architectural features of the gallery, the photographs offer a series of partial views into the world that complement the window panels, its grid acting as a metaphor for how photography frames subjective experience. The plinths provide an additional mechanism for placing, ordering and viewing the pictorial content of the work, playing with notions of sculpture in relation to the room.
Melanie Jayne Taylor's installation invites us to recollect and reflect. Glancing out, across and over, we are drawn into a forest, a room, an abandoned observatory; we are presented with the residual fragments of images and events that inspire us to construct our own narratives. A story unfolds, quietly, out of time. A monumentality glimpsed fleetingly; a life within and beyond. Have we been there before? Perhaps. Now, but not of this time.
Melanie Jayne's installation echoes and resonates long after the act of viewing it, promoting an ongoing journey of possibilities and potentials.


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BrexitPast EventsBrexit Past EventsEconomics Past Events
Brexit and the UK Economy
IIEA13th September 20171min
In his address to the Institute, Professor Portes discussed the economic and political implications of Brexit for the UK. He assessed the short-term economic impacts of various scenarios for the current negotiations between the UK and the European Union, ranging from "chaotic Brexit" to a "velvet divorce". He also examined the longer-term economic impacts on the UK, with a particular focus on immigration and labour mobility.
Podcast: Download the keynote audio podcast from this event here.
Download the podcast from the Q&A session here.
Powerpoint: Download the presentation slides used during this event in .PDF format here.
About the Speech:
Jonathan Portes is Professor of Economics and Public Policy and King's College London and Senior Fellow at The UK in a Changing Europe (http://ukandeu.ac.uk/). He was formerly Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, prior to which he was Chief Economist at the Cabinet Office. His current research concentrates on issues related to immigration and labour mobility, both within the EU and outside; and the economic implications of Brexit. His other research interests include labour markets, fiscal policy, social security and welfare, and the use of evaluation and evidence in public policy.
Image © ITV News
BrexitHome Featured AnalysisBrexit BlogBlog
13th January 2021 Mark Dempsey
Brexit: What's in the deal?
Past EventsEU Affairs Past EventsGlobal Europe Past Events EU
13th January 2021 IIEA
Priorities of the Portuguese EU Presidency
Past EventsGeopolitics Past Events
The Biden Administration – Ireland, UK and Transatlantic Relations
Past EventsGlobal Europe Past Events EU
Towards LGBTIQ Equality in the EU: A Legal and Policy Perspective


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Environmental Impact of Manipulation of Traffic Controller Algorithms
The objective: My goal is to reduce the total number of stopped/idling vehicles at intersections, which should significantly reduce emissions. I propose that factoring in the ratio of the number of vehicles on an arterial street to the number of vehicles on secondary streets in existing traffic controller algorithm will reduce total number of idling vehicles at an intersection and therefore reduce emissions.
Methods/Materials
This project describes the design procedures of a real life application of a smart Traffic Light Controller. The changes that this design proposes allow the maximum usage of the existing controllers being used in the Tri-Valley with minimum capital investment. Numbers of primary and secondary cars per traffic-light change were counted at different intersections. Fuel consumption at intersection was computed using modified formula. Emissions of the CO, NOx, Voc for primary and secondary cars were calculated (Excel). Ratios of Primary/Secondary cars were calculated and graphed and threshold for optimal P/S ratio was computed. Hypothetical benefits of using the threshold were computed. Several scenarios were simulated using Visual Basic Programming. Threshold was applied in simulation.
Real-life traffic measurements, and calculations using these measurements, show in this study that CO emissions per signal light change at suitable arterial-versus-side intersection in the Tri-Valley area is approximately 5.55 grams. Simulation of the implementation of my traffic algorithm reduced the ratio of P/S cars at suitable intersection from 6.05 to 1.4. This also reduced the CO emissions per signal light change at suitable intersections in the Tri-Valley area to approximately 1.51 grams.
Conclusions/Discussion
I conclude from these results that there is a potential of reducing up to 7% of CO emissions caused by idling of cars at all suitable intersections in the State of California by implementing my proposed algorithm. Implementation of my proposed Traffic Light Controller could have a significant economic and environmental impact on the Tri-Valley area.
Factoring in the ratio of number of vehicles on an arterial street to number of vehicles on secondary streets in existing traffic controller algorithm reduced total number of idling vehicles at suitable intersections, reducing emissions.
Science Fair Project done By Rohan Chakicherla
Related Projects : Parallax, Adaptive Interference Rejection in Wireless Networking, Statistical Comparison of Radial and Transect Sampling, Centripetally Accelerating Pi, Software and Hardware Implementation of Rubik's Cube Solving Algorithms, Mathematical Model for the Optimal Arrangement of Cell Phone Towers, Complete Mathematical and Physical Relativistic Soliton Universe, Effect of Quantum Computing on Hash Functions, Radical Obsession, Finding Hidden Sequences In Nature, Do Odds-Makers Make Accurate Predictions, Goldbach's Conjecture: True or False?, Debruijn Sequence Taken to Higher Powers, Symmetries and Transformations of n-Cubes and the Nimber-Simplex Graph, Shape to the Max
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lemme know if you get one cooking on yahoo.
i set up a yahoo league...earliest draft slot.
can you move it up an hour to 9pm cst?
im going to hit the gym...this is open to invite others and we need leaguesafe..
How much it gonna be?
I created a new post for us..


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Follow us on Twitter: @ERC_Rights and join us on FB: edu.rights@facebook.com
OAU PRO (Abiodun Olarewaju) SLAPS STUDENT DURING CANDLELIGHT PROCESSION OF LATE COLLEAGUE; UNDIGNIFIED AND SLAVISH TREATMENT OF OAU STUDENTS MUST STOP!
- WE DEMAND IMMEDIATE REMOVAL OF MR. OLAREWAJU FROM THE POST OF UNIVERSITY'S PRO
- STUDENTS MUST DEMAND AND ORGANISE AN INDEPENDENT UNION TO END FURTHER ATTACKS, AND ABUSES OF THEIR PERSONS
The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) condemns in the strongest terms the assault by Mr. Abiodun Olarewaju, the university's PRO, against a student during the candle light procession of late Akorede Omolola.
It should be recalled that the late Akorede Omolola, in the first place, died an avoidable death, fast-tracked by the poorly equipped university health centre. Despite the effort of the university to spin the event as a case of natural death, the lack of capacity to administer oxygen to the deceased student shows that every effort was not employed to save the life of this brilliant and promising star. The ERC mourns Mr. Akorede Omolola, and we place the blame for his death at the doorstep of the OAU authorities.
It is particularly distasteful that it was during the candlelight procession of Mr. Akorede Omolola that an agent of the university management, the school's PRO, Mr Abiodun Olarewaju, would choose to showcase another brazenness. Mr. Olarewaju slapped a student, who was having a civilised engagement with him. This action reflect some level of emotional deficiency, for another student to be assaulted at the burial programme of a colleague who has been hastened to his grave by the incompetence of one of the university's agencies. No action of disapprobation would serve than for the management to immediately disengage Mr. Olarewaju, and therefore prove that such inhumane treatment of students is not a university policy. The ERC defends the clauses of fundamental human rights in the Nigerian Constitution that confer dignified treatment on every Nigerian citizen; clauses the university has to abide by.
The attacks on students, from both university staff and non-university actors, have increased ever since the so-called suspension of union activities. Just as the ERC had warned, the absence of a students' union has rendered students defenseless in the face of unprecedented attacks on and off campus. The management's objective for suspending the Union was to browbeat students to submission, and stifle complaints about the waning welfare conditions on campus. Mr. Olarewaju's unwholesome conduct was therefore only an unconscious progression (a form of Freudian slip) from the university's central policy – to dehumanise students to such a degree they become incapable of protest or complaint. The ERC condemns this turn of event because it is not only morally unacceptable, it tramples on the fundamental rights of students as citizen of this country deserving of dignity, self respect, freedom of association and speech.
Mr. Olarewaju is just one out of the forbearers of recurring assaults on students' rights and sensibilities. This same university was forced to discipline Professor Akinyemi, after public outcry over his sexual abuse of a female student. As long as the union remains proscribed, and students lack the platform to defend their humanity, there is bound to emerge similar cases in future. Even now, some victims of sexual abuse are afraid to come forward with allegations because of the absence of a union to protect their anonymity. More reason Great Ife students must obey the clarion call to place demand on their management to immediately and unconditionally restore the union as a first step towards safeguarding their dignity and self respect.
The ERC, as it is traditional with us, is committed to be at the forefront of the campaign for restoration of the Students' Union, and protection of the radical values that make us Great Ife. We call on courageous students who understand the historical importance of the moment to join the campaign for restoration of the Students' Union by joining the Education Rights' Campaign. We can be contacted by students willing to report similar cases of abuse of their persons or rights through the following mobile numbers: 0903 443 1719; 081-370-51249
Dunnex
Ag. Coordinator
Posted by Education Rights Campaign (ERC) at 10:16 2 comments:
LASU STUDENTS' UNION ELECTION: MANAGEMENT'S ACTIONS THREATEN THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE STUDENTS UNION
The national leadership of the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) is concerned about the unfortunate turn of events at the Lagos State University (LASU) over the conduct of the students' union elections. The actions of the LASU management via the Division of Student Affairs during and particularly after the February 27, 2019 elections can only be interpreted as brazen encroachment on the independence of the Students Union.
We are particularly surprised by a letter of invitation to a "Swearing-in Ceremony of the newly Elected Lagos State University Students Union Executives and its Functionaries" emanating from the DSA. This letter not only usurps the role of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), it is equally insensitive and provocative considering that key presidential candidates who felt aggrieved at the conduct of the February 27 elections are still at the election petition tribunal to try to prove their case for conduct of supplementary elections. Also, this invitation is in violation of an order of the election petition committee which directed the LASUSU-IEC to maintain status quo on all activities pending the determination of the substantive suit.
Ordinarily, Students Union elections are meant to be the sole business/responsibility of only matriculated students who are union members. However, if the management must play any role at all, we would have expected that such a role would be to ensure unity and cohesion and not to sow division and enmity. Unfortunately, the role the management has played so far is to sow division, cause enmity and fan the embers of disunity in the ranks of LASUSU. This situation is unacceptable and we therefore unreservedly pitch out tent with the LASUites who are currently challenging the outcome of the February 27 elections at the election petition committee. We urge the management to allow this legal challenge to take its course and to respect and obey the outcome.
One of the presidential candidates is Comrade Nurudeen Alowonle (a.k.a. Omomeewa) who is a leading member of the ERC and the Lagos State Coordinator of the organization. He polled about 553 votes just coming a little behind the declared candidate, Ola Delz who polled 612. However as at the time these votes were collated, a number of faculties were unable to vote because of a glitch in the electronic voting system. It is instructive to note that out of over 15, 000 eligible voters, only 2,131 students were able to vote. This glitch which was reported to the appropriate authorities compelled the IEC to agree to conclude the elections the next day in order to allow these other voters to exercise their franchise. But this was not to be. The IEC dilly-dallied for weeks until March 13 when it announced winners in an election it previously declared "inconclusive" and "in progress". All of these show that pressure must have been mounted on the IEC by powerful forces in the management. For instance, at a meeting with aggrieved presidential candidates to discuss the supplementary elections, the IEC alleged lack of cooperation from the Division of Student Affairs in terms of finance and logistics to organize the supplementary elections.
As things stand now, the decision to go on to inaugurate the Students Union executive can only be interpreted as an insensitive and provocative step by the management to force its way through. This is condemnable and shows that the management has more than a passing interest in the affairs of the union. Their conduct so far shows they clearly have a preferred candidate that has to be desperately installed in violation of democratic standards . Obviously, the candidate is not Omomeewa, the first runner up. This is not surprising given the role of Omomeewa in struggle both within and outside LASU. The LASU management clearly does not want a radical at the head of LASUSU who could fight energetically for the interests of students against the anti-poor and anti—students policies including increment of charges and fees, the undemocratic dressing code, poor studying and living conditions and the nefarious activities of the campus marshals.
However, if the electoral petition committee is bold, courageous and true to its responsibility, its judgment has the power to reverse any illegality. However this will not be enough. Students must also be prepared to struggle with public meetings, mobilizations and peaceful mass protests to ensure the petition committee's judgment is obeyed. This situation offers an opportunity to begin to reclaim the independence of LASUSU. We call on all students to be steadfast and committed to ensure that this encroachment of the union's independence is resisted.
We also call on Staff Unions not to be indifferent. As the saying goes " when the grim reaper cuts down members of one's age group, the unambiguous message is for the survivors to prepare for their own time". An injury to one is an injury to all. We challenge ASUU-LASU, SSANU-LASU, NASU-LASU AND NAAT-LASU to all rise up and condemn the actions of the management. By this public statement, we notify all staff unions as well as pro-labour organizations and trade unions of the undemocratic actions of the LASU management and call for their solidarity and intervention.
Hassan Taiwo Soweto Wole Olubanji
National coordinator National Mobilization Officer
LASU: ELECTORAL COMMISSION CONNIVES WITH MANAGEMENT TO RIG OUT ERC MEMBER AND OTHER CANDIDATES IN STUDENTS' UNION ELECTION
By ERC Reporter
The Students' Union of Lagos State University held elections into elective positions in the students' union on 27th February, 2019. The electronic voting system adopted for the conduct of the election malfunctioned particularly in certain faculties during the process of voting. Then the electoral commission during the late evening of the Election Day announced that the election would continue the following day, in order not to subject students to uncertain security situation if the election had continued through the night.
A member of the Education Rights Campaign (ERC), Alowonle Nurudeen (Omomewa), contested for the office of the President of the LASU Students' Union in the election. As a leading member of the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) in LASU, he has played active roles in the struggles in defence of the democratic rights of students as well as decent learning conditions. In some of these roles, he has had to confront uncompromisingly the management on certain unwholesome policies– especially over a sexist policy of the school that subjects female students to molestation in the hands of university guards in the name of policing so-called indecent dressing. It should be noted that members of the ERC in LASU have warned in advance of the ploy of the management to disqualify Omomewa at the earliest stage of this electioneering process.
However this ploy became manifest in another dimension, and through the Electoral Commission that made itself a willing tool of manipulation in the hands of the LASU's management. On 28th February, when the election was to continue based on the promise of the commission a day earlier, the electoral body failed to go ahead with the election. At a meeting with aspirants on that same day, the commission cited lack of cooperation from the management, in terms of logistical support, for the failure to go ahead with the election as earlier announced. The commission equally reiterated to all the aspirants that the election was inconclusive, and promised that a new date for supplementary elections woukd be communicated soon. What the commission eventually communicated to the studentry was a rambling opinion that painted its previous declaration of inconclusive election as an erroneous judgment based on a mistaken belief.
On 13th March, after students had waited fourteen days since the 17th of February's election for a new date for a supplementary election, the commission informed students that it would instead announce the leading candidates from the botched election as winners for the various contested positions. It further justified this U-turn in judgment on the realisation of the commission that the union constitution did not make provision for a supplementary election(!). Shamefully, the commission had reversed itself on two different occasions, and with their justification growing weaker and desperate still.
It should be noted that the botched election of 27th February was fraught with a suspicious glitch, because the technical problems with the electronic voting system was more pronounced at the Faculty of education – where Omomewa is a student as well as some members and supporters of the ERC. The comrades had from the beginning of the election noted this anomaly as containing indications of a concerted effort of the management and the electoral commission to frustrate Omomewa's share of the votes in his faculty. Every member of this commission has betrayed the trust that their colleagues reposed in them to have nominated them to serve on the commission. They have proved to be renegers and astute manipulators of popular will – history will not absolve them well.
The results from the botched election of 27th February showed an election that was being keenly contested, and unpredictable at that. Especially because hundreds of willing voters were yet to exercise their franchise as eligible members of the students' union. Until the commission halted the process, the leading candidate was emerging over the first runner-up (omomewa) with only 59 votes, while the first runner-up was leading the second runner-up by only 59 votes, and the second runner-up was also leading the third runner-up by 57 votes only. If the members of the commission had been conscientious, the nature of this close race would have endeared them to remaining steadfast with the need for a supplementary election. Unfortunately, they yielded to the pressure of the university management.
We have on our hand another odious instance of management's encroachment on independent unionism. The LASU management has a high stake in this election, because of its visible movement lately in the direction of fee increment, which has already taken as victim fresh intakes into the university. The comrades of the ERC in LASU have warned students of the systematic dimension of the policy, which is bound to affect both fresh and returning students soon enough. The university therefore has no doubt about it, as much as the ERC too, that a students' union under the leadership of Omomewa would resist such attempt at increment at a time the nation's elites are resisting the clamour by workers for a new minimum wage.
The comrades have reiterated their intention to seek the impartial intervention of the Election Petition Committee in the matter, and prayed in their petition for the conduct of a supplementary election. It should be noted that the electoral commission had already made a statement before the petition committee that the election was still in progress (inconclusive), when some candidates had challenged the botched election in the first week of March. However, this would depend too on the capacity of the electoral commission to be courageous and independent in its deliberation. It would also depend on the pressure that could be mounted on the LASU management for it to desist from its unwholesome tinkering with the students' union election and activities in general. This development should start a discussion on the financial independence of the students' union in LASU, which would prevent such logistical nightmares in the future – the type of which the commission has complained of.
The LASU management is notorious for its suppressive actions against both staff and students' unions. Recently, the same LASU management suspended the payment of check-up dues to the union of academic staff (ASUU) of the institution. This action must have been taken to break the struggle of ASUU for payment of certain statutory allowances that the university management is owing the staff as well as for reinstatement of their sacked leaders. It is easy to see, behind the action of the electoral commission, the hand of the management at work against the interest of LASU students. Students must maintain a principled position in the defense of their demoractic rights to freedom of association and independent unionism. The ASUU and other staff unions in LASU must see the grain of a struggle for independent unionism in this present circumstance. Transparent management of schools can only be realised when unions are independent and vibrant. The ERC calls on all staff unions in LASU to reject this management's interference in the electoral affairs of the LASU Students' Union.
Posted by Education Rights Campaign (ERC) at 16:37 No comments:
Saturday, 5 January 2019
ERC REITERATES PRINCIPLED SUPPORT FOR ASUU, ASUP STRIKES
Condemns NANS for opposing a nationwide strike against Education Underfunding
The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) wishes to reiterate her principled support for the ongoing strike of ASUU and ASUP. We believe this strike which is about compelling government to fulfill its social responsibility in terms of funding public education and improving the conditions of education workers deserve the principled support of students, parents and the labour movement as a whole.
To this extent, we condemn the position taken by the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) towards the strike which consists of issuing ultimatum to ASUU to call off the strike without any regard for the crucial issues of education funding which the strike was called to address. Now with the recent visit of NANS to President Buhari at which a big birthday card was presented by NANS to president Buhari, it is clear that all of NANS recriminations about this strike has nothing to do with protecting the interests of Nigerian students who are suffering at home due to the strike but actually dictated by the interests of the hungry locusts in the leadership of NANS to get close to the corridors of power in exchange for money.
As we in the ERC have labored to explain, the best way to protect the interest of students and ensure this strike comes to an end as soon as possible is for the students' movement to rally behind the strike in order to mount pressure on the Federal government to meet the demands of ASUU and ASUP. Any other method is opportunistic and a tongue-in-cheek endorsement of the anti-education and anti-student policies of underfunding and fee hike being implemented by the President Buhari APC government.
ERC members have campaigned over the last decade for adequate funding of the education sector, on the basis that quality education is crucial to economic growth and national security. Regrettably, this dogged issue of funding has remained the bane of strike actions in tertiary institutions since 2009.
The agreements the federal government willingly entered with the unions were foregrounded by a NEEDS assessment report, a report that was conducted, sanctioned and adopted by the federal government. The pictures from the NEEDS assessment report, of the overcrowded lecture rooms and unequipped laboratories, have worsened today. Instructions, in the sciences and medical sciences, ought to be demonstrated; but today, science and medical courses are largely taught abstractly. The ERC therefore believes that the material conditions that justified the several agreements with the unions are not only existing, but have worsened.
We are witnesses to the fee hikes that rocked tertiary institutions in the first half of 2018. Fee hikes are convenient for school authorities to augment inadequate funding, and grossly unfair to parents and guardians that a recession had pushed closer to poverty. Underfunding of education hold students and parents as victims as much as education workers. We therefore find the position of NANS on the present strike unfortunate and self-annihilating, because NANS's position failed to recognise the interest of students for comfortable hostels and quality education in the struggle of the education workers.
When students were protesting fee increment in UNIBEN and UI last year, NANS lost her voice and only just discovered her voice of scurrilities over ASUU and ASUP struggles. That smacks of opportunism! The ERC holds the opinion that NANS is existing in the firmament, and cut off from the realities obtainable on campuses, and therefore incapable of leading advocacy in the interests of Nigerian students. Just to prove this point further: at the press conference where NANS cast aspersion on the demands of ASUU and ASUP, it also seized the moment to endorse President Muhammadu Buhari, despite the intangible contribution of the latter to the education sector.
Meanwhile, the Buhari-led federal government keeps drawing the same conclusions independently as the striking unions about the crisis in the education sector. But it keeps stopping short of funding the sector, even when it agrees that the conditions creating demand for funding are there. We note the revelations of ASUU concerning the Wale Babalakin committee, which was set up by the government to renegotiate the terms of the agreements that previous governments had entered with ASUU. ASUU is demanding for the removal of Wale Babalakin as the chairman of the committee, because he is fixated on fee hike and education loans, according to the ASUU leadership. The ERC believes that the federal government has demonstrated obvious insincerity on the central question of education funding that created the perennial strikes, and evades that question through nebulous means.
We believe that the government has the wherewithal to fund education, even beyond the current demands of the education sector unions for a one-off funding intervention in the sector. Less than 11, 800 political appointees are fleecing this country, through their outrageous remuneration and inflated cost of contracts or outsourcing of government's projects. The same government rushes to bail out a bank that was plundered by her chief executive, to save the money of a few stinkingly rich people who own more than 50% of the deposits in Nigerian banks.
The ERC holds that the capitalist system that this country runs is responsible for most of government's misplaced priorities that deflect from funding sectors important to vast majority of the people, in order to save funds for looting. This is why the struggle against education underfunding and improvement in workers welfare can only win permanent victory when linked with the general struggle of the working class to put an end to capitalism and enthrone a workers and poor people's government armed with socialist policies.
National Coordinator. National Mobilization Officer
Socialist Party of Nigeria
Committee for a Workers International
Democratic Socialist Movement
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JOIN THE ERC TODAY
Education Rights Campaign (ERC)
Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
Education Rights Campaign (ERC) was formed by the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) in 2004 to campaign for provision of a free, functional and democratically-managed education. We campaign against fee hike, poor studying and living conditions. We are against victimization of student activists, ban of unions and other attacks on democratic rights. We stand for adequate funding of education. We also argue for the nationalization of the commanding heights of the economy under workers' control and management. We support education workers in their demands on pay and conditions. We campaign for students to build their unions as a democratic and mass-based fighting organ with a bold leadership that is accountable to students. We campaign for students to reclaim NANS as their own platform under their control unlike its current status as the youth wing of anti-poor political parties. Our method of campaigning includes lobbying, petitioning, media campaign, rallies, protests, boycotts and demonstrations. You can join us and also assist our work by donating to the campaign. For membership and donation, contact: edurightsforall@yahoo.co.uk. Tel-07033697259,08059399178
Education Rights Campaign (ERC). Awesome Inc. theme. Powered by Blogger.


The massive $2.85 billion expansion of the North Terminal at Miami International Airport lacked clear plans and direction when Miami-Dade County took over construction from American Airlines in early 2005.
But that's all changing since county Aviation Director Jose Abreu took control of the project after being named head of the department in July 2005, county commissioners say.
The project includes 48 international and domestic gates, two regional gates, 242 ticket counters, an automated people mover with four stations, a baggage claim system with conveyors totaling 9.5 miles that can handle 45,000 bags a day, security checkpoints and concessions.
"This is huge," said Mr. Abreu about the terminal, which is a mile long. "It's the largest airport terminal under construction in the world today."
A big terminal, and a big headache for Mr. Abreu, who with his staff had to decipher and sift 90 construction and professional services contracts for the expansion that American Airlines left in the county's lap.
The contracts were missing county contractual language, were prepared under Texas law and "had to conform to Florida law," said Ana Sotorrio, the department's associate director of governmental affairs. "For us, everything is a very bureaucratic process."
After an extensive review of the 90 contracts, the department has gone ahead with 30 of them, and there are plans to add 16 more, Mr. Abreu said, adding that American provided $105 million to settle contract claims. The value of the remaining contracts is about $700 million.
"We're still on catch up from the old American Airlines agreements, assumed claims, liabilities and jobs," said Commissioner Sally A. Heyman. "I'm pleased with the job Jose is doing. I'm so sad he was saddled with so many problems he didn't have any control over."
Ms. Heyman added that Mr. Abreu's "administration is cleaning up the mess."
But activating contracts has been a piecemeal, painstaking process. The department must get preliminary approval for each contract from the county commission's Airport & Tourism Committee, followed by the 13-member commission. Each appearance by Mr. Abreu and his staff, whether at a committee or commission meeting, is usually a day-long affair.
"We have an awesome challenge," Mr. Abreu said. "I'm having to go back and explain these contracts one at a time. But explaining this thing is not easy. I give them the good news and the bad news upfront."
The commission hopes to end the lengthy process in June when commissioners will gather for a workshop on the remaining terminal contracts.
At the workshop, the aviation department plans to outline individual contracts, the costs of each, those completed and contracts that were not activated.
"If we're successful in the workshop, the worst for the North Terminal will be over," Mr. Abreu said. "Then we can pace ourselves."
The project was begun by American Airlines, which the county commission authorized to administer the expansion, in the late-1990s and should have been completed in 2004, Mr. Abreu said. That date has been pushed back to March 2011.
"We got the program at various stages of construction," he said. "Each year in a transitional manner we'll be gaining gates. We'll be opening the terminal as sections are completed."
Mr. Abreu said the last piece of the expansion is the 400,000-square-foot federal inspection services area.
But progress continues. Two gates in the North Terminal were opened this month, three more will open later this year, and two more in 2009, said Greg Chin, media relations manager for the department.
There have been no new problems, Ms. Heyman said. "That is not happening. I'm excited and delighted."


The East of England has some of the worst ambulance response times in the country, especially in rural areas like large parts of Suffolk Coastal.
I have been leading the campaign to improve response times and get a better deal for patients. After much hard work the service has undergone a lot of positive change over the last few years and long ambulance delays are becoming increasingly rare. I will continue to press the case to make sure the service continues to improve.
Therese hosted another meeting in Parliament this week for the Chief Executive of the East of England Ambulance Trust to update MPs on the Independent Service Review – to continue to improve ambulance response times - and the Serious Incidents review.
Therese said; "It was good to have Dr Ed Garrett, who negotiates the contract on behalf of all CCGs there, which recently announced plans to increase the funding for the ambulance service from £213.5m in 2017/18 to £225m in 2018/19 rising again to £240m in 2019/20. Dr Brown from NHS Improvement also attended."
"It was confirmed at the meeting that the biggest increase in paramedic numbers as a result of this investment would be in Suffolk and Norfolk, which is very welcome news. There was further good news on staff retention – which is now much, much better."
Therese added: "The Chief Executive also gave assurances that they are continuing to reduce the number of rapid response vehicles that stop the clock on response times but that are then unable to transport patients to hospital – and instead invest in 160 double staffed ambulances."
"This was one of the most positive meetings on the subject I have attended – and it seems that everything is coming together to continue to improve the service."


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Back in the awesome days
Dedicated to all those who grew up 'back in the day' ...in other words, back in the AWESOME era of the 80's
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A brief look back at the World Trade Center - Where were you?
14 years ago, the whole world stood still and watched as two relatively young (just under 30 years old) towering office buildings were destroyed. To this day, I think it's pretty safe to assume that every one of you can remember exactly where you were - and what you were doing when it happened.
Tuesday, 9/11/2001 - 8:46 a.m.
First, let me tell you where I was...
I was living in Cleveland at the time - and ironically, I was packing for a flight to Chicago the following day (Wednesday) for a trade show. My boss was to arrive in Chicago that Tuesday, and I later found out that he was actually IN THE AIR when the first plane struck. Of course, all flights were cancelled for a number of days. I ended up driving the 6 hours to Chicago. The Trade Show was being held at the Merchandise Mart, and security at the building was tight. The Twin Towers, The Pentagon, the foiled attempt at the White House, etc. - The Merchandise Mart was (is) an iconic building in Chicago. When it opened in 1930, it was the largest building in the world, with 4 million square feet of floor space. At that time, no one had any idea of how many attacks had been planned - nor how the terrorists chose the targets. Speculation at the time was that the Merchandise Mart may have have been one (in a very long list) of potential targets. It was (needless to say) a very dismal trade show. But I'm getting off track here, sorry.
That day certainly changed the world. Yesterday, I asked my [12-year-old] daughter what she knew about the [14-year-old] event. She quickly rattled off a number of facts about 9/11 and then it hit me. They're teaching it in History classes now. How's that for surreal?
Anyway, I've been meaning to put this together for a while now (for many years, in fact) - sort of a memorial or tribute. Not like one of those 2-hour TV specials (who has the time), but just something short, thought provoking, interesting and possibly different than everything else you might be seeing in your social newsfeed today. So here goes.
Here's some history and other interesting facts that I've gathered* (that you may or may not already know about The World Trade Center)
The idea for establishing a World Trade Center in New York was first proposed in 1943, but plans were put on hold until 1949.
The final location (then known as Radio Row) had not been decided upon until 1961.
Business owners on Radio Row were each given $3,000 for displacement, regardless of how long they had been there - or how profitable their business was.
The Port Authority spent nearly a year acquiring the property for the project.
Demolition of 13 square blocks of existing buildings took a little more than 4 months.
Groundbreaking for the twin towers was in the Summer of 1966. It took over a year-and-a-half just to prepare the foundation, before actual construction could begin on the first tower, two years later in August of 1968 - and then another 5 months later for the second tower.
The first (North) tower was completed in 1972, and the second (South) tower in 1973.
Tenants started moving into both towers more than a full year prior to their respective completion.
World Trade Center was not rented out at full capacity until after 1979.
The project was originally estimated to cost $350 million. Late in 1966, The Port Authority announced that it would be closer to $575 million. Critics at the time (including The New York Times) argued that these figures were still way too low, and claimed that $750 million was a more realistic estimate. Once completed, total costs to The Port Authority had reached $900 million.
The architect's original plan only called for 80 floors, but it was changed to 110 floors to meet The Port Authorities minimum requirement of 10 million square feet of office space.
The narrow windows were due in part to the architect's own fear of heights, as well as to make occupants feel more secure.
Both buildings were designed to support a tall rooftop communication antenna. But only the North Tower ended of getting an antenna fitted (and that wasn't until 1978).
The World Trade Center had a total of 95 elevators
In 1974, Philippe Petit walked between the towers on a tightrope (the steel cable between the towers was set with a bow and arrow). He actually did it a total of eight times.
The complete complex (including building 7, which was added in the 80's) occupied 16 acres of land.
That's all I have for now - thanks for joining me. I may come back and edit this post at a later date (although it might not be until next September). Feel free to page-mark it, post it, tweet it, or whatever it is you do with random and interesting stuff (which for me, usually means just being able to know where I can go back and find it again at a later date if I want to).
Here's a brochure/advertisement that I found
(printed sometime in the early 80's)
*Wikipedia
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Our Council's "behind-the-grill" work helped ensure the success of St. Cecilia's summer tradition of the backyard BBQ's. Special thanks to Pete Kirk for leading the effort.
Sir Knight Robert Loera joins his new Fourth Degree brothers Fr. Bao Thai, Pete Kirk, Dave Mello, and Albert Tesillo.
Several of our members visited our council brothers at St. Thomas Syro Malabar parish in Santa Ana in February 2016.
Fr. Bao received his honorary membership card at our March 2016 business meeting.
Looking sharp at the 2016 Day of Sharing.
The council honored Brother Michael Churchill and his wife Hiroe with a breakfast at the Elks Lodge on the eve of their departure for a new life in Japan.
Georges Gharios joined our council at the First Degree held in April 2016.
The daughter of one of our newest brothers, Mike Matthews, was awarded a scholarship by our council at the 2016 8th grade graduation. Congratulations!
Brothers Gary and Tim congratulate the 2016 Essay Contest award winner along with her mother.
Fr. Bao paid us a visit at the 2016 Chili Cook-Off.
Brothers Tom Bui, Billy Lesher, and Mike Matthews joined our council in June 2016.
Brother Amir Ghali joined our council at the final Admissions Degree of the 2015/2016 Columbian Year.
Brother Robert Loera's winning score (black pucks) in a shuffle board match at the 2016 Family Picnic hosted by Brother Pete Kirk.
SK Phil Sallaway sporting his color corps regalia at the Fourth Degree Exemplification held in October 2016 at the Irvine Marriott.
Brothers Zenaido Silva Jr, Jim Italiane, John Nguyen, and Addae Boachie (not pictured) joined the Fourth Degree in October 2016.
Brothers Zenaido, Jim, and Tim following Requiem Mass at Our Lady Queen of the Angels in Los Angeles on January 21st, 2017.
Brothers Stephen Miranda, John Monroy, and Dale Stagner joined our council at the Admissions Degree held in February 2017.
Brothers John Monroy, George Gharios, and Dale Stagner completed their 2nd Degree at St. Mary's By the Sea in Huntington Beach on March 9, 2017.
Our Council was well represented at the May 7, 2017 Knighthood Degree held at St. Angela Merici Church.
Bishop Kevin Vann and Pastor Thomas Paul K. Naval congratulate PGK and Chef Robert Loera for a job well done at the Clergy Night Dinner held on January 26, 2019 at Santiago De Compestella Church.
Let us work together to bring new brothers into our order for their sake and ours.
Remember always that every member is a recruiter.


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Dear Gywneth Paltrow: An open letter, from average mom to average mom
KATRINA ONSTAD
Dear Gwyneth,
OMG, how do you do it? I saw the photos in your new cookbook, and you're all fresh-faced and piano-toothed, dreamy in a wheat field and floppy straw hat like a sun-kissed 17-year-old tennis instructor. But in fact, you're a busy 40-year-old actressmothersingerlifestylebrand who still makes time to while away an afternoon cooking chicken and turkey sausage paella over a campfire! Inspire me, much?
BTW, I think it's totally excellent that you called your cookbook It's All Good, even though this is one of the "Expressions Banned For Meaninglessness & Irritation" that Dave put up on the family memo board, right above: "It is what it is," "Wasssupppp?" and "Sorry, we just don't have any positions open right now." You probably don't care what other people think anyway, and more power to you! You're Gwyneth! You will not be stopped!
You use your life to help us better our own, and this is my thank you letter for that, Everywoman. Still, as you embark on your book tour, I wanted to offer a tiny bit of advice, average mom to average mom. First, if I might, there's something about that title – and maybe the hat – that could come off as a little... oblivious. I'm not saying that if I were Anne Hathaway, with the mob closing in, I'd find high ground and point in the distance: "Look! Over in the kale patch! It's Gwyneth Paltrow! THAT WAY!" Okay, maybe I am saying that.
I tell you this because I know that in your friendships with Beyoncé and Cameron, you demand honesty and compassion, and tight abs. In that spirit (except for the abs – work in progress!), I want to remind you, gently, that Jezebel once called you a "tone deaf Marie Antoinette." Sometimes you come off as a little too fortunate: too blonde, too tall, too born into a celebrity family, too married to a rock star. Okay, so you wanted to sing and write cookbooks, but did you have to open a hair salon in L.A., too? Leave something for the rest of us, Gwynnie! :)
I would never say this, because it brings way too much negativity into the world, but the word among the moms is that you've gone from being a fine actor to a yoga-panted huckster. Ouch! But I admit that even I – a true self-helper and Oprah-misser – am a little ambivalent about the promises you're selling. (Dave just said: "Change 'promises' to 'lies.' " Unemployed shoulder reader!)
I know that you've always been about becoming the best you possible. Vegan. Macrobiotic. Kabbalah. Cupping. Daily three-hour workouts. Thank you! And thanks for your BFF-website GOOP, where I recently gobbled down the spring fashion makeover for women with "busy lives," especially hearting the Jimmy Choo heels and crop top. Did you see that funny blogger who added up all your suggestions and found out that wardrobe would total $450,000? Tee hee! Laughter's good for the soul – and the complexion. But probably not as good as the cleanse you sell for $425. BTW, Dave was just looking at GOOP and said: "This is parody, right?" Guys!
Still, Dave has a point, which is to say: Maybe don't wear the $570 Acne booties when you're on your book tour, shaking hands at the last remaining Barnes & Noble.
I don't at all mean to diminish your growth. I was genuinely sad to read in the intro to It's All Good that a year ago your arm started to shake while serving lunch to friends and family in your butterfly-dotted London garden. So relieved it turned out to be only an anxiety attack. So glad you had all those tests to find out your Vitamin D was low and other "physical manifestations of stress." What working woman doesn't get run down? I told my boss I'd like the afternoon off when I had that juicy case of pink eye, but he just told me to turn my chair toward the wall (cubicle mate = angry). Oh well – an opportunity not to be such a perfectionist.
Anyway, I'm so sorry to hear that Apple, Moses and Chris have also been diagnosed as gluten, dairy and egg intolerant. Thank God for the "elimination diet" your army of doctors assembled. It's never too early to project onto children the kinds of restrictive eating and lifestyle habits demanded of Hollywood actresses. Fingers crossed that the quinoa and chia-seed recipes will help our Jaden with his MS.
Because you're such a lover of reading (though Crime & Punishment suggestion = long), I wanted to recommend a book; something to read in the Hamptons? It's called Self-Help Inc., and this professor named Micki McKee writes that self-improvement is the only "reliable insurance against economic insecurity." You know how it is these days: At any moment, you could get laid off; shrinking social safety net; everything's so uncertain. It's like: I better be ready to put my best self forward at any moment, gluten-free, mentally balanced and buff. McKee writes about "expressive" self-improvement, and it sounds like what you give me/us: something slightly spiritual, comforting, New Agey – a kind of fantasy sanctuary to stave off the harsh realities of life.
So – thank you. You've taught me that it doesn't matter what advantages a person might have had before the now. And forget what I said: Call your book whatever you want. You've earned it. And who cares if the foreclosure means I can't afford the bee- venom therapy you swear by? A life like yours is possible for anyone! It really is all good!
Follow us on Twitter: @globeandmailOpens in a new window
How Gwyneth Paltrow's restrictive diet leaves her children hungry
The cry of moms everywhere in 2012: 'I need help!'
Beyoncé rebranded: Why calling herself Mrs. Carter is her most daring persona yet


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L'assassin rôde toujours (titre original : ) est un film américain de Robert D. Webb sorti en 1945.

Synopsis
Un détective privé est poursuivi à la fois par la police et par un mystérieux tueur.

Fiche technique
 Réalisation : Robert D. Webb
 Scénario : Lowell Brentano, Irving Cummings Jr., Jo Eisinger
 Date de sortie :  ()
 Durée : 63 minutes
 Producteur : Ben Silvey
 Musique : David Buttolph

Distribution
 Richard Conte : Chris Conlon
 Faye Marlowe : Delilah 'Lila' Neilsen, alias Judith Smith
 Kurt Kreuger : Ernest, alias Le Grand Garonne
 John Harvey : Burns
 Martin Kosleck : Mihail Barak
 Mantan Moreland : Henry
 Walter Sande : Détective-lieutenant Walter Castle
 Cara Williams : Wanda Vann
 Charles Tannen : Détective Tonti
 Margaret Brayton : Jean
 Ann Savage : Florence Cain
 Harry Seymour : Ed, le barman
 Jean Del Val : Henri Dutrelle
 Odette Vigne :  Dutrelle
 James Flavin : Officier Johnny Tracy
 Roy Gordon : Pickett, le dramaturge et compagnon de beuverie
 Lane Chandler, Eddie Hart : Officiers de police en voiture
 Ruth Clifford :  Gillespie, locataire
 George Beranger : Gérant d'immeuble

Liens externes

  The Spider sur Turner Classic Movies

Film américain sorti en 1945
Film noir américain
Film américain en noir et blanc

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Category Television
Category Radio
Eve Arden
Mill Valley,
Eve Arden was an American actress. Her almost 60-year career crossed most media frontiers with supporting and leading roles, but she is perhaps best remembered for playing the sardonic but engaging high school teacher in the classic Our Miss Brooks, and as the Rydell High School principal in the films Grease and Grease 2.
Arden was born Eunice M. Quedens in Mill Valley, California, to Lucille and Charles Peter Quedens. Her parents divorced when she was a child. She was raised Catholic. Arden said she was an insecure child, declaring later in life that she needed therapy because her mother was so much more beautiful than she.
At 16, Arden left Tamalpais High School and joined a stock theater company. She made her film debut, under her real name, in the backstage musical Song of Love. She played a wisecracking showgirl who becomes a rival to the film's star, singer Belle Baker. The film was one of Columbia Pictures' earliest successes.
Eve Arden's Broadway debut came in 1934, when she was cast in that year's Ziegfeld Follies revue.


Today on the Culture Creature podcast: an interview with Mix Master Mike. Mike rocked the globe with the Beastie Boys for many years and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with the band in 2012. He was recently announced as one of the opening performers on the US leg of Metallica's 2017 'WorldWired' tour. Listen to the complete Mix Master Mike interview via the player above or in your podcast provider of choice.


I started this on a whim. It took entirely too long and I'm almost certain I've repeated a couple questions. My brain is too exhausted to go through it again. Read on for random insights into my life!
2. What was your favorite subject in high school? I loved any class that involved some sort of creative writing. AP Literature with Ms. Gannon was the class that made me a better writer. In high school and college, the most fascinating classes for me were all the film classes I took.
3. Alcoholic beverage of choice? Red wine [cabernet or zinfandel, yum!] though I love a good bourbon drink. Old Fashioneds are my cocktail of choice.
5. What is your favorite food? Indian food. Or seaweed salad. Bizarre, but I crave it. Love salty things!
5. What is the last thing you bought? Vintage globe and some art prints for a house I'm styling this week.
6. What is your favorite book of all time? Pride and Prejudice. Ever the romantic.
8. Do you have any pets? SO many. Dogs: Kona [lab mix] and Watson [beagle mix and the baby] Cats: Maggie and Jake [scottish folds]. I have the cutest brood you'll ever meet. It's the truth.
11. Have you ever been out of the country, if so, how many times? Yes. Too many times to count...I'd say at least 25-30?
12. Do you speak any other language? I understand Tagalog [Philippines] and Spanish. I can't speak Tagalog, but could get back my Spanish if I tried!
13. Favorite Restaurant? This might be an impossible question. Atlanta has SO many great food options!
15. Favorite Blog? Style by Emily Henderson. She's more of my interior design hero, though I do like her writing style. Her personality really comes through. I love that.
16. Favorite Movie? Another impossible question. I'd need to go genre by genre. But we're probably talking Pride and Prejudice again. I'm too predictable.
17. Favorite TV show? I was a MASSIVE Lost fan, despite the controversial ending. Gilmore Girls though. Such a formative show for me.
18. PC or Mac? I've used Macs since the early 90s. I'm a die hard.
21. Can you cook? Yes- I love cooking for friends and family!
23. Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of a bees? Well that sounds awful. But definitely bear. My Girl scarred me for life from bee attacks :( And if Leo could survive a bear attack, so can I, no?
26. What is your biggest pet peeve? People who don't follow through on what they say they'll do. And drivers who don't pay attention to the road. They're the worst.
27. Do you ever dance even if there's no music playing? Yes.
28. Do you chew your pens and pencils? Never.
32. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper? Last week.
33. Favorite kind of sandwich? Grilled cheese. But like a REALLY good one. I'm talking Gruyere people. And always with tomato soup. Always.
34. Best thing to eat for breakfast? I don't eat much in the morning, so a smoothie or a juice, unless it's Sunday, then pancakes and bacon. Most days though breakfast is Vanilla Almond Special K with skim milk and a cup of tea. Or a Nespresso [treat yo self.].
35. What is your usual bedtime? Varies. Usually 11:30, but sometimes 1:30am. Tonight is a 1:30am night for sure.
36. When you were a kid, what did you dress up as for Halloween? So many things, but Belle from Beauty and the Beast was my most memorable. I had to wear a white turtleneck underneath my dress because it was so cold out. Only made it even more AWESOME.
37. What is your Chinese astrological sign? Tiger.
39. Are you afraid of heights? Nope, I LOVE them! They give me such an andrenaline high. If I'm visiting a new place, my first instinct is to get to the highest vantage point and look down.
40. Do you sing in the car? Always.
44. Is Christmas stressful? No! It's wonderful.
45. Ever eat a pierogi? Oh yes.
47. Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid? Novelist, Songwriter, Doctor and a brief interest in Egyptology. I remember getting a hyrogliphics kit from either the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Brooklyn Museum [can't remember which], and I was hooked for at least a few months on everything Egypt. I still will go see any Ancient Egyptian exhibit when I can.
48. Ever have a Deja-vu feeling? All the time.
50. What do you wear to bed? T-shirt + underwear.
52. Wal-Mart, Target or Kmart? Target obviously.
53. Nike or Adidas? Nike.
54. Cheetos Or Fritos? Fritos.
55. Peanuts or Sunflower seeds? Almonds. Ok fine, peanuts.
56. Ever took dance lessons? Yes for years.
57. Can you curl your tongue? Yes.
60. Ever been in love? Yes.
63. Ever broken someone's heart? Yes.
64. Ever had your heart broken? Yes.
65. Sugar or snickerdoodles? Snickerdoodles. This is a recent change in my cookie preferences. My tastes are ever evolving.
66. Can you swim well? Yes.
67. Can you hold your breath without holding your nose? Yes.
70. Tea or coffee? Tea. I drink it everyday. I take it with milk and sugar [or usually stevia since I try and steer clear of refined sugar]. Coffee only sometimes.
71. Which are better black or green olives? Neither. Olives are weird.
73. Do you want to get married? Yes.
74. Who was your High School crush? Brian. Don't tell Brian.
75. Do you want kids? Yes.
76. Do you miss anyone right now? Yes.
77. What's your favorite season? Spring and Fall. I love them equally and for similar reasons.
79. What was the last person you texted? My friends Danielle and Colin about potential karaoke plans.
80. Before you started this survey, what were you doing? I made a big cup of tea and listened to music in bed. Still partaking in both whilst I fill this out.
81. What is the last thing you watched on TV? The Wonder List with Bill Weir, the Namibia episode.
82. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear? Snoring dogs. I lead an alluring, exotic life.
83. Do you tan or burn? Tan. I turn a drastically different shade if left in the sun for long periods of time.
85. When did you last laugh? A couple hours ago.
86. Do you remember why / at what? I laughed at my cat, Jake. An explanation could be given, but it would just make me sound even more ridiculous.
87. Have you ever been to Canada? Yes, but I'd like to visit Vancouver and the beautiful spots I've seen photos of in British Columbia.
88. Shoes, socks, or bare feet? Currently? Bare feet. [I'm in bed] Most of the time when I'm home? Bare feet. I'm suppose I'm a hobbit.
90. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live? That's a tough question... I'd like to live wherever the person I love is. Jury's still out on this one...Though to add onto this, I would never want to have a long commute if I could help it!
91. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy? First class plane tickets to somewhere I've never been. Most of my spending would involve travel and feeding my sense of wanderlust and love for food, but I'm also a fairly level headed person, so I'd get some practical things as well.
92. What's your favorite band? Growing up [and forever]: Brand New and Jimmy Eat World Currently: Of Monsters and Men, Arctic Monkeys, and I like too many to choose just one!
94. What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer? Soundtrack from We Are Your Friends. Not my usual taste in music, but it's fantastic for working out.
96. Type of music you dislike most? It used to be country but my feelings have changed there...I really appreciate so many forms of music it's really hard to say!
97. Are you listening to music right now? Yes. I'm almost always listening to music. Really though.
98. Sun or Rain? I love when the sun comes out just after a thunder storm. I love the smell and the feeling and everything about it. Hawaii is in a constant state of this. I think that's why I love it so much.
101. What's your hair color? Naturally brunette. Right now it's a mix of a deep blonde and brunette. Bronde? It's a thing.
102. What quote do you live by? "Wherever you are, be all there" I recently had this quote on my mind, and I'd say it's a good one to live by.
103. What color are your eyes? Brown.
104. Do you wear any kind of jewelry 24/7? At least a couple rings and my standard small hoop earrings.
105. Do you turn the water off when you brush your teeth? Yes.
106. Do you have any phobias? I acquired a fear of being the passenger in a car after I was in an accident a couple years ago. I can still manage well enough, but I'm pretty anxious the whole time. I'm perfectly fine to be the driver though. It's a control thing.
108. Can you solve a Rubik's cube? Haven't yet. But now I really want one so I can try. I love puzzles. Someone bring me a cube!
110. Do you wear the hood on hoodies? Only when I'm really cold or in a bit of a mood.
111. What's the farthest-away place you've been? Longest flight was to New Zealand. It took DAYS.
112. What's your favorite radio station? I don't really listen to the radio. I loathe commercials. When my car had free XM radio I loved AltNation. Great channel for discovering new bands. Now I'm all about making my own playlists on my iPhone.
113. Are you allergic to anything? In recent years I've developed an allergy to pollen [Atlanta gets covered in a blanket of pollen for a few weeks every spring]. Usually I'm fine, but it can be brutal at times. I used to get an itchy tongue when I ate pineapples and peppers, but I think I've just about grew out of both. Still don't love peppers though. Pineapples are my jam.
115. Do you wear glasses/contacts? Not usually, but I really should be wearing my glasses when I'm on the computer or reading. I'm awful at remembering to!
117. What's your least favorite school subject? Math was the subject I typically did the poorest in, but I actually really enjoyed it.
119. Do you wear jeans or sweatpants more? Yoga pants baby. But if it was between the two given options, jeans.
120. Where in the world would you like to travel? Africa and South America. I've yet to go to either continent.
121. Are you traveling anywhere soon? No summer plans booked yet, but hoping to get over to Southern California soon!
122. Have you ever built an igloo? I have! Blizzard of '96 in New York. It was EPIC.
123. Best thing at starbucks? I rarely go, but a flat white or a skinny vanilla latte. Tastes like a marshmallow!
125. What were you doing at midnight last night? Trying to sleep, but ended up writing/listening to music instead. Story of my life.
126. What's under your bed? Probably one of my cats, Maggie.
127. How do you really feel about what you are doing right now at this exact moment? I feel like a much younger Jo who used to LOVE these quizzes. Except older Jo is much more wordy, therefore she takes twice as long to answer. My own fault.
129. Are you sarcastic? I try to downplay it, but I'm super sarcastic.
130. What time do you get up? 8-8:30 usually.
131. What was the name of your first pet? Princess, my beloved white Persian fluff ball of a cat.
132. What color are your sheets? A kind of pinky-coral pattern. They're from Target and they're organic, so you know, healthy sheets.
133. How are you feeling right now? Slightly sleepy, but wishing someone would bring me more tea.
136. Can you drive a stick shift? No, but I'd like to learn.
139. Do you sing in the shower? Always!
140. Can you close your eyes and raise your eyebrows? I had to try that one out first, but yes!
142. Do you make wishes at 11:11? Sometimes, but I'm more of a 12:34 girl.
144. What are you reading now? All the Light We Cannot See - I was meant to read this for my book club AGES ago and never finished!
145. Can you touch your nose with your tongue? Nope.
146. Can you walk in heels? Depends on the heels, but I'm getting pretty good at it. Practice!
150. What Inspires you? Music, certain people in my life, being out in nature.


text:
Home Business NewsBusinessAviation News Rolls-Royce and easyJet conduct the world's first aircraft engine hydrogen test which is a 'major step' for aviation
Rolls-Royce/easyJet
Aviation NewsBusiness NewsEnergy NewsPolitics News
Rolls-Royce and easyJet conduct the world's first aircraft engine hydrogen test which is a 'major step' for aviation
by LLB staff reporter November 28, 2022
written by LLB staff reporter 28th Nov 22 1:06 pm
Rolls-Royce and easyJet have conducted the world's first aircraft engine hydrogen test and they have claimed that this is a "major step" to providing zero-carbon aviation fuel.
The two companies performed the concept aircraft engine test at the Ministry of Defence's Boscombe Down site in Amesbury, Wiltshire.
Both companies are proving that hydrogen can safely and efficiently deliver power for civil aero engines, Rolls-Royce and easyJet and are already planning a second set of tests, with a longer-term ambition to carry out flight tests.
In July the companies formed a partnership to demonstrate that hydrogen can be used in a wide-range of aircraft with the intention to possibly use hydrogen in aeroplanes by the mid 2030s.
First Hydrogen selects Quebec for first Green Hydrogen eco-system
Is hydrogen the silver bullet answer to emissions reduction?
Government to 'unlock £4bn' of hydrogen investment by 2030 which will be 'invaluable' for the 'UK's industry and healthcare'
Join the revolution: H2OPE offer hydrogen generators using 'little electricity combined with waste water'
EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren described the hydrogen test as "a real success for our partnership team".
He added, "We are committed to continuing to support this ground-breaking research because hydrogen offers great possibilities for a range of aircraft, including easyJet-sized aircraft.
"That will be a huge step forward in meeting the challenge of net zero by 2050."
The only waste product from using hydrogen as a fuel is water.
Rolls-Royce chief technology officer Grazia Vittadini said, "The success of this hydrogen test is an exciting milestone.
"We only announced our partnership with easyJet in July and we are already off to an incredible start with this landmark achievement.
"We are pushing the boundaries to discover the zero carbon possibilities of hydrogen, which could help reshape the future of flight."
A spokesperson for H2OPE Group told LondonLovesBusiness.com, "We welcome this news from Rolls-Royce and it is yet further proof that hydrogen will become the fuel of the future.
"Clean, sustainable and more power per kg than traditional aviation fuel, hydrogen is proving itself in ever more applications, and the UK is a leading force in its development.
"The remaining question is when and not if, hydrogen will become as ubiquitous in every day use as the carbon fuels it replaces."
Business Secretary Grant Shapps said, "The UK is leading the global shift to guilt-free flying and today's test by Rolls-Royce and easyJet is an exciting demonstration of how business innovation can transform the way we live our lives.
"This is a true British success story, with the hydrogen being used to power the jet engine today produced using tidal and wind energy from the Orkney Islands of Scotland – and is a prime example of how we can work together to make aviation cleaner while driving jobs across the country."
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text:
Sequential Linezolid-Resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis Isolates with G2576T Mutation
Tao Hong, Xiangyang Li, Jie Wang, Cynthia Sloan, Cristina Cicogna
Tao Hong
1Clinical Microbiology, Department of Pathology
For correspondence: thong@humed.com
Xiangyang Li
Jie Wang
Cynthia Sloan
Cristina Cicogna
2Division of Infectious Diseases, Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, New Jersey
We report on an analysis of sequential isolates of Staphylococcus epidermidis from cultures of blood obtained from a patient with acute myeloid leukemia while the patient was receiving linezolid treatment. All 12 isolates had a linezolid MIC of 32 μg/ml. A 420-bp domain V region of the 23S rRNA gene from all isolates was amplified, and their nucleotide sequences were determined. A G2576T mutation was identified in all isolates. It was estimated that 67% of the 23S rRNA genes carried this mutation. This is the first report of the failure of linezolid treatment for Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteremia associated with a G2576T mutation in an immunocompromised patient.
Linezolid is an important antibacterial agent with extended activity against gram-positive organisms, including resistant organisms, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), vancomycin-resistant enterococci, and multidrug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae. The mechanism of action is the inhibition of protein synthesis through binding to the domain V region of the 23S rRNA. Since its introduction in 2000, resistance to linezolid has been reported in isolates of vancomycin-resistant enterococci, methicillin-resistant staphylococci, and CoNS. Linezolid resistance has been associated with mutations in the central loop of the domain V region of the 23S rRNA gene, with the G2576T mutation (the substitution of thymine for guanine at position 2576) most frequently reported in Enterococcus faecium, Enterococcus faecalis, and Staphylococcus aureus isolates (4, 6, 8).
Linezolid resistance has been reported to occur in Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates, and recently, the specific gene mutation G2576T was also reported to be associated with linezolid resistance in S. epidermidis (14). Here we report on an analysis of sequential linezolid-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates from blood cultures in a case of apparent linezolid treatment failure, with identification of the G2576T mutation in 67% of the domain V regions of the 23S rRNA genes.
A 66-year-old man with acute myeloid leukemia in second relapse was admitted with neutropenic fever. He became afebrile while he was receiving empirical piperacillin-tazobactam and underwent placement of a subclavian Hickman catheter for salvage chemotherapy. Six days later he developed a Hickman catheter-associated tunnel infection, with cultures of blood being positive for viridans group streptococcus and Staphylococcus epidermidis. Because of a history of intolerance to vancomycin, he was started on linezolid at 600 mg intravenously every 12 h, and the catheter was removed. Blood cultures remained positive for Staphylococcus epidermidis for another 7 days. All isolates were found to be resistant to linezolid, with MICs of 32 μg/ml for all isolates by E-test. The patient became afebrile with negative blood cultures 5 days after the treatment was changed to daptomycin. The possibility of endocarditis was raised. A transthoracic echocardiogram was negative. The patient had never had a documented infection with any CoNS isolate, nor had he ever received linezolid.
Bacterial isolates.Twelve sequential Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates were obtained from blood cultures (standard aerobic and anaerobic media; BacT/ALERT 3D; bioMerieux, Inc., Durham, NC) from the source patient. Clonal relationships were determined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis with SmaI-macrorestricted genomic DNA.
Antimicrobial susceptibility testing.Susceptibility testing was performed by using a Vitek GNS card and E-test (AB Biodisk, Solna, Sweden). Broth macrodilution was performed as recommended by the CLSI (1a).
16S rRNA gene sequencing.Primers 0008F (5′-AGAGTTTGATCCTGGCTCAG-3′) and 0532R (5′-TACCGCGGCTGCTGGCAC-3′) (4) were used to amplify the first 500 bp of the 16S rRNA gene. The PCR mixture, which was made up to 50 μl with sterile water (Sigma), contained 1× GeneAmp PCR buffer, MgCl2 (2.5 mM), 200 μM each deoxynucleoside triphosphate, 500 nM each primer, 5 U of AmpliTaq Gold DNA polymerase (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA), and 10 μl purified sample DNA (range, 50 to 250 ng). PCR conditions were 94°C 12 min and 40 cycles of 94°C for 60 s, 59°C for 20 s, and 72°C for 20 s, with a final extension at 72°C for 5 min. The mixture was then held at 4°C. The success of amplification was determined by electrophoresis of the PCR products in a 1% agarose gel and staining with ethidium bromide. Amplicons of between 500 and 550 bp were excised from the agarose gels (1% agarose gel in Tris-borate EDTA) and purified with a QIAquick gel extraction kit (QIAGEN Inc., Valencia, CA).
PCR amplification of the domain V region and DNA sequence.The domain V region spanning 2,280 to 2,699 bp (Escherichia coli numbering) was amplified. The primers used were 5′-GCGGTCGCCTCCTAAAAG-3′ (upper primer, corresponding to bases 2280 to 2297 of the S. aureus 23S rRNA gene; GenBank accession no. X68425) and 5′-ATCCCGGTCCTCTCGTACTA-3′ (lower primer, consisting of the strand complementary to the upper primer and corresponding to bases 2680 to 2699 of the S. aureus 23S rRNA gene; GenBank accession no. X68425) (6). PCR conditions were 5 min of lysis and denaturation at 94°C; 32 cycles of denaturation, annealing, and extension at 94°C (30 s), 55°C (30 s), and 72°C (1 min), respectively; and a final 10-min extension at 72°C. The products were 420 bp and were separated by agarose (1%) gel electrophoresis. The PCR products were gel extracted and purified (QIAGEN). They were then sequenced by use of the BigDye (version 3.1) sequencing kit and an Applied Biosystems 310 genetic analyzer.
Restriction enzyme digestion.The 420-bp domain V fragment was digested with the NheI restriction enzyme (Invitrogen) by using the conditions recommended by the manufacturer. After digestion, the DNA fragments were separated on a 3% agarose gel and stained with ethidium bromide.
Cloning.The PCR-amplified 420-bp domain V fragments from the S. epidermidis strain (including the wild type and the G2576T mutant) were cloned into the pGEM-T Easy vector, according to the manufacturer's instructions (Promega Corp., Madison, WI). The 420-bp domain V fragment was then reisolated from a single transformed bacterial colony. The fragment was analyzed by NheI restriction enzyme digestion and nucleotide sequencing.
Twelve CoNS blood culture isolates from the patient were identified as Staphylococcus epidermidis with the Vitek GPI card, and their identities were confirmed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The MICs of linezolid for all isolates were 32 μg/ml (resistant) by E-test, and these were confirmed by the CLSI macrodilution method. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis indicated that all isolates belonged to a single strain (data not shown).
The nucleotide sequence available from GenBank indicates that the domain V region of the 23S rRNA gene nucleotide sequence from both Staphylococcus aureus (GenBank accession no. NC_007795) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (GenBank accession no. NC_004461) are identical. A 420-bp fragment (Fig. 1A) was amplified from the domain V region of the 23S rRNA genes of all isolates by using the primer set originally designed for Staphylococcus aureus (6). The mutations associated with linezolid resistance reported from most other organisms were associated with this domain. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the amplified domain V region identified a G-to-T point mutation at position 2576 (E. coli numbering) from all 12 isolates.
NheI restriction enzyme digestion of domain V of 23S rRNA gene. (A) Lanes 1 to 12, serial isolates from the patient subjected to PCR amplification of a 420-bp fragment of domain V region of 23S rRNA gene; lane Mw, molecular size marker. The gel was stained with ethidium bromide. (B) Same as panel A, plus NheI restriction enzyme digestion. 420 bp, NheI-resistant fragment; 322 bp and 98 bp, NheI-digested fragments.
The G-to-T point mutation introduces an NheI site into the mutant domain V region. NheI restriction enzyme digestion of the PCR-amplified domain V region generates a 322-bp fragment and a 98-bp fragment. The result shown in Fig. 1 indicated incomplete digestion, even after prolonged incubation (overnight) with NheI. This result suggested that the PCR-amplified fragments were a mixture of fragments with both G2576T mutant and wild-type sequences. On the basis of visual observation on an ethidium bromide-stained agarose gel, we estimated that approximately 50% or a little more of the fragment was digested by the NheI restriction enzyme (Fig. 1B).
To confirm our estimation that 50% or a little more of the domain V fragment carries the G2576T mutation, we cloned the PCR-amplified fragments (a mixture of G2576T mutant and wild-type sequences) into the pGEM-T Easy Vector and transformed E. coli cells. Thirty-six transformed bacterial colonies were analyzed by purifying the plasmid, reisolating the 420-bp fragment, and identifying the G2576T mutation by NheI restriction enzyme digestion and nucleotide sequencing. The result indicated that 67% (24/36) of the clones carried the G2576T mutation. This result correlates well with our estimation of partial restriction enzyme digestion.
All the isolates were resistant to oxacillin and susceptible to vancomycin, quinupristin-dalfopristin, and daptomycin.
Staphylococcus epidermidis has been documented as a pathogen in many cases of bacteremia; native and prosthetic valve endocarditis; surgical wounds; ophthalmologic infections; and prosthetic joint-, ventricular shunt-, peritoneal dialysis-, and intravascular catheter-related infections. Linezolid is an important alternative agent for the treatment of severe infections caused by S. epidermidis. Our report describes the first case of clinical failure of linezolid treatment due to linezolid-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis in an immunocompromised patient.
Among a number of domain V mutations associated with linezolid resistance (9, 10, 12), the G2576T mutation is the only one reported from clinical isolates of Enterococcus faecium (9), Staphylococcus aureus (6, 7), and Staphylococcus epidermidis (14). Our report confirms that this mutation is associated with linezolid resistance in Staphylococcus epidermidis. The domain V regions of the 23S rRNA genes of both S. aureus and S. epidermidis are identical, and we speculate that homologous recombination between the wild-type and mutant genes could be the mechanisms by which this mutation is spreading among genetically similar organisms. Alternatively, S. epidermidis may also become resistant to linezolid when it generates its own G2576T mutation in one of the five to six alleles of the domain V region of the 23S rRNA gene and then homologous recombination occurs within the same cell.
Most organisms carry multiple copies of rRNA genes. According to GenBank data (accession nos. NC_002976 and NC_004461) (2, 13), Staphylococcus epidermidis carries five or six copies of the 23S rRNA gene. Not all genes from our isolates carried the G2576T mutation. It was estimated, on the basis of the NheI digestion and cloning data, that approximately 67% of the genes carried this mutation (Fig. 1B); therefore, three of the five gene copies or four of the six gene copies may carry this mutation. This is different from the case for the linezolid-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates characterized by Pillai et al. (7), who reported that all five 23S rRNA genes carried the G2576T mutation. The MICs for all of our isolates were 32 μg/ml, which is not as high as that reported by Potoski et al. (MIC > 256 μg/ml) (8). We believe that there might be a correlation between the number of genes carrying the G2576T mutation and the MIC of linezolid for S. epidermidis, as has been described for enterococci (5) and S. aureus (11). It would be interesting to determine whether most or all of the 23S rRNA genes in isolates with much higher linezolid MICs (>256 μg/ml) carry the mutation. The important message is that our strain with a linezolid MIC of 32 μg/ml was capable of causing the clinical failure of linezolid therapy in an immunocompromised patient.
Linezolid was added to our hospital formulary in January 2001, with usage requiring prior approval by an infectious disease physician. Despite a significant increase in the rate of consumption since its introduction, with the numbers of defined daily doses of linezolid rising from 0.31 per 100 patient-days in 2001 to 0.82 per 100 patient-days in 2005, this was our first case of a microbiologically documented treatment failure related to linezolid resistance. We have been performing routine linezolid susceptibility testing of all gram-positive isolates in our microbiology laboratory since 2004. We detected linezolid resistance in only 1 other CoNS isolate of 1,771 isolates tested through August 2006, resulting in a resistance rate of <0.1%. This is in keeping with the low rates from the 2002 and 2003 surveillance programs (1).
The previous administration of linezolid has been reported to be an independent predictor of linezolid resistance in CoNS (8). This was not the case in our patient, who had never received linezolid prior to becoming infected with the resistant strain of Staphylococcus epidermidis. Cases of patients developing infections with linezolid-resistant CoNS in the absence of prior exposure to linezolid have also been reported (8). The source of the resistant strain remains undetermined, but the clonal spread of CoNS has been reported to occur within hospitals (8), and therefore, the possibility of nosocomial transmission from patients colonized with linezolid-resistant CoNS following linezolid exposure needs to be entertained.
We thank Edward J. Bottone for critical comments on the manuscript.
Received 4 October 2006.
Accepted 20 July 2007.
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1a.↵
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Journal of Clinical Microbiology Oct 2007, 45 (10) 3277-3280; DOI: 10.1128/JCM.02048-06
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