text:
Issue 1, Volume 9, January 2012
Title of the Paper: Determination of Amoxicillin in Human Plasma by LC-MS/MS and its Application to a Bioequivalence Study
Authors: Satish G. Pingale, Madhukar A. Badgujar, Kiran V. Mangaonkar, Nikos E. Mastorakis
Abstract: An analytical method based on solid phase extraction has been developed and validated for analysis of amoxicillin in human plasma using gemifloxacin as an internal standard. A COSMOSIL 5C18-PAQ column provided chromatographic separation of analytes followed by detection with mass spectrometry. The method involves simple isocratic chromatographic conditions and mass spectrometric detection in the positive ionization mode using an API-3000 system. The proposed method has been validated with linear range of 100–15000 ng/mL for amoxicillin. The intra-run and inter-run precision values are within 3.53% and 5.63% respectively for amoxicillin at the LOQ level. Total elution time was as low as 2 min. This validated method was used successfully for analysis of plasma samples from a bioequivalence study.
Keywords: Amoxicillin, Antibiotic, Automated solid phase extraction, Tandem mass spectrometry, Human plasma, Bioequivalence study
Title of the Paper: A Plausible Route to a Prebiotic Synthesis of L-Histidine
Authors: N. Aylward
Abstract: Possible reactions in a mildly reducing prebiotic atmosphere of ammonia and hydrogen cyanide produce cyanamide, its isomer carbodiimide, and formamidine. Alkynes such as diacetylene may form very weak van der Waals complexes with metal derivatives of porphin that acts as a potent photochemical catalyst. The reactants carbodiimide and the diacetylene adduct with magnesium porphin may react spontaneously to form an iminazole structure. Subsequent reaction with ammonia leads to an aziridine derivative. Prototropic shifts lead to an opening of the ring and finally an imine bound to the catalyst. Carbon monoxide gas may also bind to porphin with either the metal ion or in the form of an aziridine-2one complex. If this has been determined by the magnetic field of the exciting ultraviolet radiation to have a particular orientation and is present as a high energy compound, photochemical excitation may easily lead to the migration of the carbon monoxide from the surface of the porphin ring to the imine group of the iminazole adduct. Subsequent hydrolysis gives the L-histidine which forms the zwitterion.
The reactions have been shown to be feasible from the overall enthalpy changes in the ZKE approximation at the HF and MP2 /6-31G* level, and with acceptable activation energies.
Keywords: L-histidine, diacetylene, carbodiimide, formamidine, cyanamide
Title of the Paper: Patient Variables Determining Treatment Protocol and Related Economical Impact in Occupational Rotator Cuff Tears
Authors: Amaryllis Audenaert, Els De Mey, Genserik Reniers
Abstract: Rotator cuff tears occur in almost three percent of all industrial accidents in Belgium. There are two treatment options for this type of injury: the non-surgical or 'conservative' option and the considerably more expensive surgical option. As the total cost associated with the treatment of rotator cuff tears has, over the past ten years, risen considerably in Belgium, we tried to identify variables that are related to an increased risk for need of such surgical treatment.
The objective of this study is to evaluate the use of different treatment options and their economic impact following rotator cuff tearing resulting from an occupational accident in the Belgian context.
Patient age and rupture size were interrelated and both significantly associated with need for surgical treatment and prolonged temporarily and even permanent disability with increasing social and medical costs. Occupation type, although itself a risk factor for the development of rotator cuff tears, was not significantly associated with increased need for surgical treatment.
Keywords: Rotator cuff rupture, economic evaluation, conservative treatment, surgical treatment, cost modelling of medical treatments
Issue 2, Volume 9, April 2012
Title of the Paper: An Improved MICA Approach with Applications to Batch Process Monitoring
Authors: Hongguang Li, Hui Guo
Abstract: On-line monitoring of batch processes using multi-way independent component analysis has attracted much attention in both academia and industry. This paper focuses on two knotty issues concerning selecting dominant independent components without a standard criterion and determining the control limits of monitoring statistics in the presence of non-Gaussian distribution. To optimize the number of key independent components, we introduce a novel concept of system deviation which is able to evaluate the reconstructed observations with different independent components. Additionally, the monitored statistics are transformed to Gaussian distribution data by means of Box-Cox transformation, which helps readily determine the control limits. Finally, the proposed method is applied to on-line monitoring of a fed-batch penicillin fermentation simulator, giving rise to satisfied results.
Keywords: Batch process monitoring, MICA, System deviation, Box-Cox transformation, Contribution plots, Fed-batch fermentation
Title of the Paper: Identification of DNA Signatures via Suffix Tree Construction on a Hybrid Computing System
Authors: Lin Feng, Angela Jean, Chong Poh Leng, Lai Danbo
Abstract: Identification of DNA signatures has been empowered by the increasing availability of thousands of bacterial and viral genomes through the next-generation sequencing technologies. In exploration for the computational solution, the suffix tree has been proposed as a data structure well suited to analyzing genomic sequences because it enables the storage of long strings in a logical, indexed manner for fast retrieval. We propose a new algorithm for identification of DNA signatures, based on exploitation of the endogenous features of a genomic sequence. These features are revealed in a construction of suffix array. Furthermore, to greatly speed up the time-consuming process, the core algorithm is mapped and routed on to a Field-Programable Gate Array (FPGA) for parallel implementation. In this paper, we will focus primarily on the relationship of the data structure and the features associated. We will then describe the deployment of the hybrid computing system on a HyperTransport compliant architecture. Illustrations are always given to clarify the technical details, and experimental results are presented to verify the correctness of the algorithm.
Keywords: DNA signature, endogenous feature, suffix tree, Field-Programable Gate Array, hybrid computing
Title of the Paper: The MELD Score: Limitations and Consequences
Authors: Christopher M. Moore, Magdalena George, Omar Lateef, David H. Van Thiel
Abstract: The success of liver transplantation has created unexpected challenges for physicians and surgeons caring for patients with chronic liver disease or acute liver failure. Specifically, with all of these legitimate candidates for liver transplantation, how does one prioritize them given the unfortunate issue of limited donor availability? The answer to that problem has undergone several iterations which have ultimately resulted in the Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) score allocation system. The MELD score, which yields a numeric value based upon serum creatinine, bilirubin and INR has been successful in prognosticating 90 day mortality for these patients, and has proven to be a just method of liver allocation. However, a careful look at the parameters of the MELD score reveals the limitations and resultant caution that should be given to ostensibly objective data. Creatinine and INR are labile especially in the setting of patients with advanced liver disease that are prone to alteration not only by the inherent disease state but also iatrogenic interventions. The implications of these interventions have significant medical and moral consequences as they not only determine immediate treatment but also which patients are allocated the precious life-extending resource of organ transplant. In this review the principles and parameters of the MELD score will be discussed, as well as their ultimate consequences upon both liver and simultaneous liver-kidney transplantation.
Keywords: liver transplant, liver-kidney transplant, MELD score, transplant priority
Issue 3, Volume 9, July 2012
Title of the Paper: Decision Support during Biological Incident Management: the Employment of Multi-Agent Simulations
Authors: Tereza Otčenášková, Vladimír Bureš, Pavel Čech
Abstract: Decision making processes during biological incident management represent challenging and demanding as well as complex and important task. Various principles such as partial differential equations or Markov chains have been already utilized for the model development. Nevertheless, the multi-agent technologies can be also effectively employed. As an example, this paper presents model utilizable for the management of biological incidents created in the multi-agent NetLogo environment. The main contribution to the scientific field includes the characterization of specifics related to discussed type of decision-making process. Moreover, within the paper the description of the simulation model is provided, parameterization is explained, and areas for further research are outlined.
Keywords: Biological incident, Decision support, Epidemiology, Multi-agent technologies, NetLogo, Simulation
Title of the Paper: Drying Kinetics of Malaysian Canarium Odontophyllum (Dabai) Fruit
Authors: Dayang Fredalina Basri, Ahmad Fudholi, Mohd Hafidz Ruslan, Mohamad Ahmed Alghoul
Abstract: Drying method using a hot-air chamber was tested on samples of dabai (Canarium odontophyllum) fruit. The drying experiments were performed at three different relative humidity of 10%, 20% and 30% and a constant air velocity of 1 m/s. Drying kinetics of C. odontophyllum fruit were investigated and obtained. A non-linear regression procedure was used to fit three different one-term exponential models of thin layer drying models. The models were compared with experimental data of C. odontophyllum fruit drying at air temperature of 55oC. The fit quality of the models was evaluated using the coefficient of determination (R2), Mean Bias Error (MBE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). The highest value of R2 (0.9348), the lowest of MBE (0.0018) and RMSE (0.0420) indicated that the Page model is the best mathematical model to describe the drying behavior of C. odontophyllum fruit.
Keywords: Drying kinetics, Canarium odontophyllum, dabai fruit, hot-air chamber, mathematical modelling
Title of the Paper: Tiger Milk Mushroom Cultivation By Using Submerged Culture Technique
Authors: N. A.Rahman, F. Daud, M. S.Kalil, S.Ahmad
Abstract: The aim of this project is to study the growth of tiger milk mushroom or Lignosus rhinocerus by using submerged culture technique. The strains used in this study are L. rhinocerus AOI and L. rhinocerus 7-19 but for growth kinetic only strain of L. rhinocerus 7-19 is studied by using Monod model. Based on the Monod model, parameters such as specific growth rate, ì and Monod coefficient, Ks can be determined. Value for ìmax is 0.54 hr-1 and value for Ks is 0.29 g/L. Doubling time, td is 22 minutes and 25 seconds, and biomass yield coefficient, Y X/S is 0.25. The optimum growth conditions for L. rhinocerus 7-19 are studied by using 6 types of carbon sources and 6 types of nitrogen sources. The data show that the highest growth is obtained by using lactose, followed by xylose, maltose, glucose, sucrose and fructose. Lactose shows the highest growth rate because of high percentage of carbon content. Besides, the biomass growth also high for xylose, due to xilose is a type of wood sugar and factor of mushroom habitat. The study of nitrogen sources show that the usage of ammonium salts such as NH4Cl, NH4NO3 and (NH4)2HPO4 can hinder the growth of biomass. The usage of other nitrogen sources such as meat peptone, yeast extract and peptone can increase the growth of biomass. Thus, the presence of carbon source and nitrogen source are crucial to biomass growth for both strains.
Keywords: Biomass, â-glucan, Lignosus rhinocerus; Monod Model; Nitrogen Sources
Issue 4, Volume 9, October 2012
Title of the Paper: Generalization of the Concept for Biological Control in the Chemostat
Authors: Neli S. Dimitrova, Mikhail I. Krastanov
Abstract: The present paper is devoted to the concept of the so called biological control of the chemostat, recently proposed by A. Rappaport and J. Harmand (2008). This concept is based on the competitive exclusion principle for a dynamic model describing competition between species with general (nonmonotone) response functions and distinct removal rates. Here we present a generalization of this concept, aimed to extend the applicability of the biological control. This is demonstrated numerically on particular examples.
Keywords: Chemostat model, competitive exclusion principle, global stability, biological control
Title of the Paper: Daubechies Wavelet Neural Network Classifier for the Diagnosis of Epilepsy
Authors: Pravin A. Kharat, Sanjay V. Dudul
Abstract: Epilepsy is one of the major fields of application of EEG. Now a days, identification of epilepsy is accomplished manually by skilled neurologist. Those are very small in number. In this work, we propose a methodology for automatic detection of normal, interictal and ictal conditions from recorded of EEG signals. We used the wavelet transform for the feature extraction and obtained statistical parameters from the decomposed wavelet coefficients. The Generalized Feed Forward Neural Network (GFFNN), Multilayer Perceptron (MLP), Elman Neural Network (ENN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) are used for the classification. The performance of the proposed system was evaluated in terms of classification accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and overall accuracy.
Keywords: Artificial Neural Network, Classification Accuracy, Daubechies, EEG, Wavelet, and Entropy
Title of the Paper: Multimedia Surgical Sessions in a Web Environment
Authors: Grimón Francisca, Castañeda Antonio, Escobar Javier, Monguet Josep, Escovar Paúl
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop the Remote Surgery System that allows integrated multimedia sessions in either synchronous or asynchronous training, editing, evaluation and second opinion backed up by the patient's medical charts in a web environment. Method: The application was developed by a multidisciplinary team with members from the fields of health, IT, design and communications. This study can be classified as constructive research to test feasibility. The agile software development process was guided by the Extreme Programming method, using Unified Modelling Language. The features of the Remote Surgery System were generated based on surveys and interviews with users and direct observation of processes. Technical assessments of the Remote Surgery System were carried out on the Integrated Digital Backbone of the University of Carabobo between the Urology Teaching Institute facilities where the operating room and University Campus are located. Result: The performance of the application was assessed and found to be good under suitable interconnection of the network conditions. The images presented in good quality settings were adequate, with good definition of the contours and colors even when this meant a high demand on link bandwidth. Conclusion: This development provides new opportunities for interaction in telemedicine, particularly in the areas of training and obtaining a second surgical opinion in a Web environment. The system is technically feasible with high potential for medical staff training which will result in better patient care requiring surgery.
Keywords: Telemedicine, Health, Training, Medical Staff, Multimedia, Internet


text:
Prison officer hit by car, killed while supervising inmates
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (AP) - A state corrections officer was struck and killed by a passing vehicle as she supervised inmates doing a work detail in South Florida.
The SunSentinel reports 48-year-old Tawanna Marin died Monday afternoon shortly after being hit by a car.
The crash happened in Coconut Creek, which is near Fort Lauderdale.
Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Julie Jones said in a statement that Marin was a corrections officer with the state for nine years. She was based at the South Florida Reception Center in Doral.
The inmates were working for the Department of Transportation.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
No new leads in pig's head incident at Philly mosque
Katie Colaneri
Al-Aqsa Islamic Society on Germantown Avenue in North Philadelphia. (Bastiaan Slabbers/for NewsWorks)
After a pig's head was thrown at a mosque in North Philadelphia, religious leaders and city officials condemned the act and vowed to find those responsible.
More than one month later, the police investigation has hit a road block.
Surveillance video at the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society mosque shows someone in a red pickup truck throwing the pig's head out the window on the night of Dec. 7. However, investigtors have said the image is too blurry to read the truck's license plate, even with video enhancement technology.
A spokeswoman for the Philadelphia Police Department said it has no suspects and a spokeswoman for the FBI, which is also working on the case, would only say the investigation is ongoing.
Marwan Kreidie, director of the Arab-American Development Corporation who has an office at the mosque, said the community would like to see the perpetrators brought to justice, but he has faith in the investigators.
"The case is still being investigated as a potential hate crime," said Rue Landau, executive director of the city's Commission on Human Relations. "Unfortunately, it's a difficult case to investigate."
In these cases, the commission acts as a liaison between victims and law enforcement, a job that often involves urging investigators to keep cases active and to communicate developments to the affected communities.
Landau said if those responsible for the incident are found — and the case is ultimately prosecuted as a hate crime — it could mean higher penalties for the perpetrators, and it could send a signal to those who would commit these acts in the future.
"When it rises to the level of a hate crime, this isn't just a random criminal act," she said. "This was a crime that was intended to harm a certain group of people or a certain place with institutional vandalism. That sends ripples throughout a community of fear and concern."
For Al-Aqsa, the sense of fear did not last long.
"We just felt, again, a flashback from 9/11, but soon after… the outpouring of support was just overwhelming," said Adab Ibrahim, the mosque's community outreach coordinator. Her husband's parents were among the founders of Al-Aqsa Islamic Society, a group of Palestinian-Americans looking for a place to worship in the 1970s. Today, the mosque has roughly 1,500 members, Ibrahim said.
Over the last month, the mosque has received cards and flowers from neighbors, as well as strangers from Tennessee and Texas to Australia. On Saturday, dozens of people helped paint a mural on the side of the mosque called "windows to peace."
Ibrahim said finding those who committed the affront would help members heal, "but we're also grateful that this has brought us closer as a community."
About Katie Colaneri
@katiecolaneri kcolaneri@whyy.org


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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text:
Pierce The Veil have announced a new UK tour
State Champs are teasing their upcoming EP with new "experimental song", '10 AM'
State Champs are teasing their upcoming EP with new track, '10 AM'.
The song – which was not released at 10 AM, missed a trick there lads – is from their 'Unplugged' EP, fur on 14th August.
Derek DiScanio says: "10 AM might be the most experimental song we've written and recorded. However, it stemmed from a simple idea to have a mellow, acoustic, feel-good vibe, and mix it with lyrical frustration about questioning your worth in a relationship and unrequited love. We were able to bring in some unique electronic elements in post production to top everything off and we're excited to see what everyone thinks of the final product."
"The Unplugged EP is special for us for many reasons," he adds, "one main reason being the writing process. We feel like we really went back to our roots, you know, just the band, in a room with an acoustic guitar, writing songs and having fun," shared DiScanio on the upcoming EP. "We tend to execute our best material in an environment that is stress free and organic. Our fans have been asking for new acoustic, stripped down material for quite some time, we're happy to say it's here."
Give the song a listen below.
PVRIS's Lyndsey Gunnulfsen talks album four: "Expect a lot of high energy"
Skrillex: "For the first time in 4-5 years I've found a new sense of peace"


text:
daily/Media
NBA All-Star Game's 7.1 Million Viewers Down 22% From Telecast In '11
TNT averaged a 4.4 U.S. rating and 7.1 million viewers for Sunday night's NBA All-Star Game, down 15% and 22%, respectively, from a 5.2 rating and 9.1 million viewers last year. The game peaked at a 4.8 rating (7.8 million viewers) from 10:00-10:30pm ET. The game aired up against ABC's...
Daytona 500 In Primetime Earns 7.7 Overnight After Red Flag Delay Forces Late Finish
Media Notes


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text:
Transmission of drug knowledge in medieval China: A case of Gelsemium
September 2, 2019 Yan Liu Leave a comment
Yan Liu
Assistant Professor at SUNY, Buffalo
I am a cultural historian of China, specializing in the history of medicine in the first millennium. I am generally interested in the history of pharmacology, religious healing (especially Daoism), alchemy, the history of senses and emotions, and the exchange of medical knowledge in the global context.
Latest posts by Yan Liu (see all)
Transmission of drug knowledge in medieval China: A case of Gelsemium - September 2, 2019
Understanding Efficacy (yan) in Tang China - September 1, 2019
[SYLLABUS] History of Chinese Medicine - May 22, 2019
Syndicated from https://recipes.hypotheses.org/8065
One striking feature of classical Chinese pharmacy is the abundant use of toxic substances. Prominent examples are aconite, arsenic, and bezoar. Fully aware of the toxicity, or du, of these substances, Chinese doctors developed a variety of methods to prepare and deploy them for therapy. How was such knowledge produced in medieval China? And how did it migrate from one space to another? Here I use several medical documents from the seventh century to address these questions, focusing on gouwen 鈎吻 (Gelsemium), a highly toxic herb growing in southern China (opening image).[1]
The seventh century is a crucial moment in the history of Chinese medicine. The favorable political environment of early Tang dynasty (618-755) fostered the flourishing of medical ideas and the formation of a number of influential texts. One of them is the Newly Revised Materia Medica (Xinxiu bencao 新修本草, 659), the first state-sponsored pharmacological text produced in China. Compiled by more than twenty court officials, the text reflects the government's effort to standardize medical knowledge. Gelsemium is one of the 850 drugs in the book (Fig. 1). Defined as warming, pungent, and highly toxic, the root of the herb could cure, among others, wounds inflicted by metal weapons, ulcers, swelling, and convulsion. The authors also stressed the great danger of the herb by showing that drips squeezed from one or two leaves would suffice to kill a person. But not a goat. Quite the contrary, its sprouts could make the animal grow large. It must be, the authors mused, the case that everything in the world submits to something else.
Figure 1. The entry of gouwen (Gelsemium) in the Newly Revised Materia Medica (659).
This copy of the text is from Dunhuang (P. 3714), dated to 667 or later. Image courtesy of Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gallica).
Gelsemium was also embraced by doctors at the time. Sun Simiao 孫思邈 (581?-682), one of the most famous doctors in Chinese history, incorporated the drug into his Essential Formulas Worth A Thousand in Gold for Emergencies (Beiji qianjin yaofang 備急千金要方, 650s). The toxic herb appears in nineteen prescriptions in the text, primarily for topical treatment. In one case, Sun presented a formula called "Ointment of Gelsemium" to treat toxic swelling, pain and numbness in the limbs, ulcers, weak feet, among other conditions. At the end, he warned: "This formula should not be given to vulgar people. Be cautious."
Why did Sun keep the formula away from vulgar people, a term probably referring to commoners? Two possible reasons. First, handling Gelsemium was a delicate matter. Due to its high toxicity, any misuse of the herb could result in dire, if not lethal, consequences. Commoners may not possess the proper knowledge of deploying the herb, hence they should refrain from taking this formula. Second, because Gelsemium straddled medicine and poison, laymen might easily use it to harm others. By restricting its access, Sun tried to prevent such malicious misuse. Contemporary sources echoed Sun's concern. According to an eighth-century statute of medical practice, private families were forbidden to possess Gelsemium. The government tightly controlled the access of the toxic herb to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.
This begs the question whether the plant was actually used as a medicine. At the high level of the society, this is likely the case. The evidence came from a precious collection of medicines preserved in the Todaiji Temple in Nara, donated by the Empress Dowager Komyo in 756 as a gesture of benevolence. Because of the vibrant cultural interaction between China and Japan at the time, many drugs of Chinese origin travelled eastward. Gelsemium was one of them (Fig. 2). It is possible that the herb reached Japan as an item of exchange between the two imperial courts that appreciated its medicinal value.
Figure 2. Gelsemium root preserved in the house of Shosoin in the Todaiji
Temple in Nara, dated to the eighth century. The roots are 0.5-2.0 cm in diameter and 17-24 cm in length. Image courtesy of the Imperial Household Agency website.
In the local community, the situation was different. We get a clue from a seventh-century manuscript from Dunhuang, a town located in the far west of the Tang Empire on the Silk Road. The manuscript contains miscellaneous formulas, many for external application. One, called "Ointment of Illicium," merits our attention (Fig. 3). It closely resembles Sun Simiao's formula that I showed above, but with an important variation: it doesn't use Gelsemium. Underneath the ingredient Phytolacca (danglu 當陸), we find an explanation: "The original formula uses Gelsemium. Nowadays it cannot be obtained, so one uses Phytolacca to replace it." We can posit why this happened, given Gelsemium's habitat in southern China, which is far away from Dunhuang, and its restricted access to commoners, as explained earlier. By contrast, Phytolacca was a local herb whose medical function substantially overlapped with that of Gelsemium, making it a reasonable substitute for the distant, unattainable plant.
Figure 3. Drug substitution in a seventh-century manuscript from Dunhuang (P. 3731). The formula of the "Ointment of Illicium" is highlighted by the blue box. The arrow points to the note, written in small characters, that specifies the substitution of Phytolacca for Gelsemium. Image courtesy of Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gallica).
This example of drug substitution is telling. Compared to social elites, lay people in local communities faced the challenge of limited medical resources. Consequently, they sought alternative options. The rise of authoritative texts at the imperial center thus went hand in hand with its fluid transformation as it moved in various geographical and social domains. Medical knowledge, upon transmission, was destabilized, begetting varied practices in society.
[1] This illustration of gouwen (Gelsemium) is from a late sixteenth-century pharmaceutical text (Buyi leigong paozhi bianlan, 1591). Reprint from Buyi leigong paozhi bianlan, ed. Zheng Jinsheng (Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe, 2008), vol. 1, 241.
Chinagelsemiumpharmacologypoisontoxin
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text:
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class Mage_Downloadable_Model_Mysql4_Link_Purchased extends Mage_Downloadable_Model_Resource_Link_Purchased
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@global_her Turkish leader wants to turn Hagia Sophia back into a mosque: https://t.co/qr4HpTsGxu If so, what happens to all the Christian mosaics?
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text:
Biol Reprod. 2003 Apr;68(4):1119-33. Epub 2002 Nov 13.
Neuronal inputs from the hypothalamus and brain stem to the medial preoptic area of the ram: neurochemical correlates and comparison to the ewe.
Scott CJ1, Clarke IJ, Tilbrook AJ.
Department of Physiology, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia. chscott@csu.edu.au
The retrograde tracer, FluoroGold, was used to trace the neuronal inputs from the septum, hypothalamus, and brain stem to the region of the GnRH neurons in the rostral preoptic area of the ram and to compare these imputs with those in the ewe. Sex differences were found in the number of retrogradely labeled cells in the dorsomedial and ventromedial nuclei. Retrogradely labeled cells were also observed in the lateral septum, preoptic area, organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, stria terminalis, subfornical organ, periventricular nucleus, anterior hypothalamic area, lateral hypothalamus, arcuate nucleus, and posterior hypothalamus. These sex differences may partially explain sex differences in how GnRH secretion is regulated. Fluorescence immunohistochemistry was used to determine the neurochemical identity of some of these cells in the ram. Very few tyrosine hydroxylase-containing neurons in the A14 group (<1%), ACTH-containing neurons (<1%), and neuropeptide Y-containing neurons (1-5%) in the arcuate nucleus contained FluoroGold. The ventrolateral medulla and parabrachial nucleus contained the main populations of FluoroGold-containing neurons in the brain stem. Retrogradely labeled neurons were also observed in the nucleus of the solitary tract, dorsal raphe nucleus, and periaqueductal gray matter. Virtually all FluoroGold-containing cells in the ventrolateral medulla and about half of these cells in the nucleus of the solitary tract also stained for dopamine beta-hydroxylase. No other retrogradely labeled cells in the brain stem were noradrenergic. Although dopamine, beta-endorphin, and neuropeptide Y have been implicated in the regulation of GnRH secretion in males, it is unlikely that these neurotransmitters regulate GnRH secretion via direct inputs to GnRH neurons.
10.1095/biolreprod.102.010595
Adrenocorticotropic Hormone/metabolism
Brain Stem/physiology*
Fluorescent Dyes/pharmacokinetics
Hypothalamus/physiology*
Neural Pathways/physiology
Neurons/physiology*
Neuropeptide Y/metabolism
Preoptic Area/physiology*
Septum of Brain/cytology
Septum of Brain/metabolism
Sex Characteristics*
Sheep/physiology*
Stilbamidines/pharmacokinetics
Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase/metabolism
2-hydroxy-4,4'-diamidinostilbene, methanesulfonate salt
Fluorescent Dyes
Neuropeptide Y
Stilbamidines
Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase
Corticotropin - Hazardous Substances Data Bank


text:
Roundtable: Black Authors in Spotlight Black authors are enjoying increasing book sales and greater attention. Farai Chideya hosts a roundtable on the past, present and future of black literature. Guests include author DeWitt Gilmore, who writes under the name Relentless; Malaika Adero, senior editor for Atria Books; and Nick Chiles, editor-in-chief of travel magazine Odyssey Couleur.
Roundtable: Black Authors in Spotlight
February 20, 20064:29 PM ET
Black authors are enjoying increasing book sales and greater attention. Farai Chideya hosts a roundtable on the past, present and future of black literature. Guests include author DeWitt Gilmore, who writes under the name Relentless; Malaika Adero, senior editor for Atria Books; and Nick Chiles, editor-in-chief of travel magazine Odyssey Couleur.
ED GORDON, host:
This is NEWS & NOTES. I'm Ed Gordon. Black authors are enjoying increasing book sales and greater attention. From Maya Angelou to Terry McMillan, From Bebe Moore Campbell to Omar Tyree, black literature is seeing a growing readership. NPR's Farai Chideya has a special roundtable on the past, present and future of black literature. Farai?
FARAI CHIDEYA reporting:
Thanks, Ed. Joining me from our bureau in New York is Dewitt Gilmore, who writes under the name Relentless Aaron. He's the author of Push, The Last Kingpin and Platinum Dolls, among other books. Also in our New York bureau is Malaika Adero, senior editor for Atria Books at Simon and Schuster. And from the studios of Emory University, Nick Chiles, editor-in-chief of Odyssey Couleur travel magazine. He recently wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times titled There Eyes Were Reading Smut. Welcome to all of you.
Ms. MALAIKA ADERO (Senior Editor, Atria Books): Thank you.
CHIDEYA: So, Relentless, can you give us a taste of what your books are like? You know, the plots, the characters, the audience.
Mr. DEWIT GILMORE (Author, aka Relentless): Generally, what I did was I pulled from my experiences in business, in entertainment, on the streets, in prison, and in the Marine Corp, I basically took from all of these various experiences and poured them into my characters, my plots and worked at being, at mastering my craft in doing so.
CHIDEYA: The Last Kingpin, just one of your titles. What's that about?
Mr. GILMORE: It's about an organization that stretches from the streets of the Bronx to the jungles of Bogota, Columbia, and I'd like to say that it's a big lesson in humanity because it really outlays the levels of desperation and temptation that there are in, as it relates to the drug industry. This would also touch on the thugs in the street that sell it, the traffickers, the DEA that hunts it down, the death squads that commandeer it down in the jungles, and as well as the farmers, so it really is, it spans that entire organization, and it doesn't leave anything at random, like these random acts that you see today. This really does lay it out intricately, surgically. It's a look at the drug war as we know it today.
CHIDEYA: Malaika, the place where you work, Atria Books, publishes everything from the speeches of Ozzie Davis to the kind of va-va-voom bedroom lit of Zane. So what in particular is the appeal of someone like Zane? And who is the audience for those top-selling books?
Ms. ADERO: Well, the numbers of the audience are in the hundreds of thousands, and it's primarily women. It's primarily African-American women. The range of education levels and economic levels to not any one particular core group.
CHIDEYA: And is it strange to be at a publishing imprint that has such a wide span of the kinds of books that you publish, some of which are very highbrow, and some of which are not?
Ms. ADERO: No, no, and actually, no stranger than I am because really my list reflects who I am, and I appreciate as a reader and as an editor literature that ranges from the literary, Maurice Kongday(ph), Carl Hancock Rux, to urban lit. I mean, there are categories of literature that I don't do, for example romance novels. That's not something that is particularly my forte. I cater to a market that is very varied. I mean, the African-American market is very varied. Obviously, the American public is quite varied. I have books by Asian writers, European writers as well.
CHIDEYA: Now, Nick, you're a novelist, and you wrote a scathing New York Times op-ed called Their Eyes Were Reading Smut. In response, author Jill Nelson sent in a letter of support, and she complained, in that letter, that the bookstores, quote consign African-American writers to a literary ghetto, end quote. Now, is the problem street lit books themselves? Or is it the fact that all black books are lumped together in one section of the book store?
Mr. NICK CHILES (Editor-in-Chief, Odyssey Couleur): No, actually, I don't mind the one section of the bookstore. I mean, I appreciated Jill's perspective on that. But my complaint was how the section now seems to be overwhelmed by this street lit, and street lit, in and of itself, isn't something that I necessarily have had a problem with. I mean, it's not the kind of books that I would prefer to read or that I would want my children reading, but when I walked into a Borders a few weeks ago, and I had been aware of this, the growing influence of street lit, certainly if you go into any black bookstore the last couple years, it pretty much has become all that you see.
But I think I was blown away when I saw it in Borders, and so I guess, kind of seeing all those titles, lurid and very crass, the sexual positions and the violence depicted on the covers, it all just kind of hit me at once like a smack in the face. When you look at this title above this section, African- American fiction, and then you walk in it, then you get the impression that this is who we as an African-American community consist of: crime, violence, a glorification of these street elements that certainly don't even come close to depicting the totality of our experience in this country, so...
CHIDEYA: But Nick, let me ask you this. Who are you blaming? Who was slapping you in the face? Was it the black readers? Was it the street lit authors?
Mr. CHILES: I think everybody has a stake in this. I mean, certainly the publishing community has seen the dollars that are available with this type of fiction, and they're going at it whole heartedly, kind of crowding a lot of other things off of their lists and out of the market. The bookstores don't really have much a conscience.
They see what sells, and they respond to that. But I think readers who appreciate different types of literature, different types of experiences depicted in their literature, they have more of a responsibility to go to the stores and buy the things that they like to support, a diversity of book types, because right now, as Malaika mentioned, there's a lot of women buying this stuff, a lot of younger women, like girls buying this stuff, and so the booksellers are responding to the marketplace, and so that's what consumers seem to be saying that they want.
CHIDEYA: So, Malaika, if you were on the subway in New York, and you saw a 13- year old girl reading Zane, I've seen them reading it, would you feel like, Gosh, I unleashed something on the world that maybe isn't going where I intended it to go?
Ms. ADERO: No, I don't think that. I mean, I'd prefer to see a 13-year old reading something else, but I don't think it's the worst thing in the world. When I was in junior high school and high school, you know, we were always dog- earing the pages of books like Mario Puzo's The Godfather and anything else we read that had any sexual content of it, and passing it around. You know, I mean, that's what kids do. I would hope that that 13-yearold's experience was balanced at school and at home by exposure to other kinds of literature.
CHIDEYA: Relentless, how do you respond to somebody like Nick who's like, you know what, this is crazy that black literature is being converted into this street literature?
Mr. GILMORE: Well, you know, if you walk out of your house, and you walk down the block, you can find anything to be offended to by, so you know, I live by a live and let live philosophy, so you know, nothing that the next person does is going to really bother me unless it has some physical implications, and then it's all bets off.
You know, I don't know how Nick's doing with book sales, and I really don't know why he felt that slap in the face, but you know what? If I was in his shoes, I would not necessarily hate on the next genre. I would try to do what was necessary to push my book, to push my book to the forefront because there's always going to be stuff out there that we can detest or what have you. But to each his own.
How could you write books, in one sense, and then frown on another genre, an entire genre of books, an entire genre of books that's doing nothing but stimulating reading. We want readers by any means necessary because whether they read good or bad books, whether the kids read good or bad books, they're still broadening their awareness. And then eventually, as they grow out of what Nick calls the smut, then maybe perhaps they'll read a book like Guy Johnson, Maya Angelou's son, who's one of my favorite authors.
But then, when you frown on that quote unquote "smut," are you frowning on Sydney Sheldon's smut that's deeply buried in his fiction? Are you frowning on Elmore Leonard's smut, who buries things like that deep in his fiction? I mean, you know, why should we would be outcasted? We should be embraced and encouraged to write, to be more imaginative, to write books that step beyond the threshold.
CHIDEYA: Let me Nick in on that. Why should he be lambasted? And isn't it just the same as the smutty white authors? Or is there a higher stake because of the race issue?
Mr. CHILES: There's definitely a higher stake because of the race issue. I'm a parent. I'm somebody who cares about my community, who cares about the things that my children are exposed to, and if I see a ten-year old who's wandering into a bookstore or who's in a library, African-American, and looking for something to inspire them, I will be disturbed by seeing this, the offerings that are in front of them in a Borders or in the library if it consists largely of this urban fiction.
No, I don't have a problem with the fact that urban fiction exists and that there are writers like Relentless Aaron out there making a dime, and yes, your books may sell more than mine. That's not the question. That is not even close to why I'm here. I'm talking about the message that we're sending to our community that this is who we are, this is who we consist of, then you're really short selling who we are and the diversity of our experiences in America.
CHIDEYA: Malaika, let me bring you back in here. One of our commentators here at NEWS AND NOTES, Professor Mark Anthony Neal, thinks that the appeal of street lit is similar to that of hip-hop music. He says there's been a kind of travelogue appeal to it--folks get to travel into the ghetto by listening to the music. Now, if you carry that analogy out, some people have critiqued hip- hop, because it's like, you know, there's guys producing albums about drive- bys, long after they've made millions of dollars, because they're taking white kids into some kind of fantasy about what ghetto life is like. Is this street lit starting to cross over to white audiences, and if so, what are they learning about black life from it?
Ms. ADERO: Yes, it's a good question and we don't see any evidence that it has. I think that it's a matter of time, myself, but actually, I don't think it has yet crossed over, but I agree with your colleague. The literature does mirror the music. And the literature is varied, it's not all the same. I mean, the quality of the writing from author to author isn't the same, the content and the story lines are not the same.
I, of course, publish some of this, and I do because I think some of the work is important. And some of that work which is different from erotica, and different from work that's age inappropriate for young people, I actually have acquired, because they are books that I would want and do want the children and the young people, age appropriate, mind you, to read, because they are important cautionary tales, and an important reference point for having discussions about what is going on in this society today.
CHIDEYA: How much do we know about the sales of these books? How much would a top street-lit book sell in terms of numbers of copies sold?
ADERO: Uh-huh.
CHIDEYA: How much of the black book market does this represent? Do we know anything about that?
Mr. ADERO: Yeah, we do because, and being an inquiring editor, Shannon Holmes, for example, I've published two of his novels. Bad Girls, for example, when I last checked, 111,000 copies. We published Sister Souljah's Coldest Winter Ever, which has now sold over a million copies in all of the editions, various editions. You know, and publishers don't have total control over what retailers do, and we're negotiating with them and nagging them all the time about balancing the placement of work.
You know, we want the literary work up front as we want other kinds of books. The other thing is it just so happens, publishers, we actually don't' spend more money in promoting urban lit and street lit, because we don't have to. The word of mouth is so tremendous, just like in the music industry, you know, you could put out an underground record, and it can make money, the same thing happens for us.
CHIDEYA: So, let me ask you this, Relentless, Malaika just mentioned that some of the street lit books have redemptive themes, or, you know, people who were going through things and who emerged triumphant on the other end, do you see yourself ever, in your books, writing about redemption in a way that actually could be teaching life's lessons, or is that just not the point of what you do?
Mr. GILMORE: No, but I actually do that. I actually do teach underneath the entertainment. I actually, I pride myself with broadening a person's awareness, you know, whether it's street politics or high-level politics. If people stretch their imaginations past the book covers, because, you know, we all know a shallow person judges a book by it's cover, we will be able to see the jewels within the books, and not pigeon-hole everyone, and if I wasn't a good writer, people wouldn't be flocking to me.
I wouldn't get the front page of the art section in the New York Times. On the other hand, other authors that might feel slighted by such thing, you know, might have a problem with it, and I think that might where Nick felt he was being smacked.
CHIDEYA: Nick?
Mr. CHILES: So, you think you're on the front page of the Art Section because of the quality of your writing? Is that what you're saying?
Mr. GILMORE: Oh, absolutely, because without the quality of my writing I wouldn't have sold so many books.
Mr. CHILES: So, the fact that you're selling books on the prison bus, you don't think that's what the Times felt was newsworthy about this, and that that was converted into a book deal?
Mr. GILMORE: No, that just happens to be coincidental.
Mr. CHILES: You think it's the quality of your writing?
Mr. AARON: That was coincidental, that the writer ran into me while I was selling books on the prison bus. Prison bus books, the books that we sell on the prison bus, Nick, is not, that's not our biggest audience. Our biggest audience is in the streets, is in the beauty salons, is on the web. You know, that's where my audience is. I mean, I also sell books to the prisons and on the prison buses, but I also...
CHIDEYA: Let me just jump in and ask Nick, you know, E. Lynn Harris, who, he started out selling in beauty parlors, door-to-door out of the trunk of his car. There's a long history of black folks kind of boot strapping it to get literature out, or to get books out. Now, would you consider doing street marketing? Have you done street marketing for your books, regardless of the kind of literature you do, there's a whole market of people who just go to the corner booksellers. Could literature, black literary fiction, become more aggressive in competing street to street?
Mr. CHILES: Well, I think that all of literature needs to be more aggressive and wiser about how we market our books, and finding our audience. I mean, this is about finding your audience. I'm not sure if the audience for many of my books would be on a prison bus, but you know, they, they're somewhere in the community, and it's part of my job and my publisher's job to find them, but the answer to that question lies in what our editor said about not having to spend as much money on the marketing of these books, because they're doing the marketing, the street marketing themselves.
I think that that lies at the heart of why so many mainstream publishers are now so eager to acquire this stuff. If you have some guy who you know is going to be out there hustling, selling it out of the back of his car, going into, up and down the street into barber shops, beauty parlors, then sure, you're going to be a lot more eager to publish him regardless of the quality of the writing, than somebody maybe who's more literary or more commercial. I can understand why they would be more attracted to the guy who's going to work harder.
CHIDEYA: Now, I'm afraid that we're just about out of time, but I'm going to go one last question to Malaika. Given what you just heard, the interchange between Relentless and Nick, what is the future of street lit as a part of African-American literature?
Mr. ADERO: I never set aside the quality of the writing and the storytelling for marketing considerations. One of the most affective means for making a book popular is for it to get into the word of mouth flow. All authors have to take responsibility for promoting their own work along with, and in partnership with their publisher.
CHIDEYA: Well, that's going to have to be the last word. We've been talking street lit with Malaika Adero, senior editor for Atria Books at Simon and Schuster; Relentless Aaron who was born Dewitt Gilmore, author of the upcoming Extramarital Affairs; and Nick Chiles, co-author with his wife, of novels including A Love Story. Thank you, all.
Mr. ADERO: Thank you.
Mr. CHILES: Thank you.
CHIDEYA: Back to you, Ed.
GORDON: All right, Farai, thanks a lot. That was NPR's Farai Chideya. Next up on NEWS AND NOTES, we'll meet a master of the Brazilian martial art form, Caporera. At nearly 80 years old, he's now introduction it to a younger generation.
(Soundbite of music)
You're listening to NEWS AND NOTES from NPR News.


Airguns in the UK are subject to the firearms acts, under the Firearms (Dangerous air weapons) rules 1969 they are classified as low powered Air Weapons and as such they are restricted to a maximum power of 12 foot pounds energy for a rifle and 6 foot pounds energy for a pistol. Air rifles above 12ft/lbs are classified as a Section 1 Firearm and requires a licence (FAC) otherwise known as a firearms certificate, and an Air pistol above 6ftlb is a prohibited weapon.
This gives you the result in foot pounds force (ftlb).
The pellet weights used in the above calculation are typical weights for the sizes of pellet but you must always check the actual weight of your pellet before performing your own calculation.
The following pests are considered suitable for controlling using a sub-12 ftlb Airgun.
BIRDS: (covered by the open general licences) crows, rooks, jackdaws, magpies, jays, wood pigeon, collared doves, and feral pigeons.
MAMMALS: brown rats, grey squirrels, stoats, mink and rabbits.
All bird and animals are protected by law. Certain species are classified as pests or vermin and only these species can be legitimately shot and then only by authorised persons. An Authorised Person is someone who has the proper permission from the land owner to control pests on that land.
Carrying a loaded Air-weapon in a public place 6 months imprisonment and / or £5,000 fine.
Trespassing with an air weapon 3 months imprisonment and / or £2,500 fine.
Trespassing on private land with an air weapon 3 months imprisonment and / or £2,500 fine.
Possessing or using an air weapon if sentenced to 3 months or more in custody 3 months imprisonment and / or £2,500 fine.
In addition if original sentence up to 3 years 5 year ban on use of firearms.
Or if for 3 years or more Life ban on use of firearms.
Killing or injuring any bird or protected animal unless authorised £5,000 fine.
Firing an air weapon within 15m / 50ft of a public highway £1,000 fine.
Selling or hiring air weapon or ammunition to person under 17, 6 months imprisonment and / or £5,000 fine.
Making a gift of air weapon or ammunition to person under 14, £1,000 fine.
Having air weapon or ammunition with intent to damage property 10 years imprisonment.
Having air weapon with intent to endanger life, Life imprisonment and / or appropriate fine.
Using air weapon to resist or prevent arrest, Life imprisonment and / or appropriate fine.
Threatening others with an air weapon (even if unloaded) to cause them to fear, unlawful violence 10 years imprisonment and / or appropriate fine.
Not forgetting the chance of being shot and killed by the police should you not obey instructions when challenged by them, they cannot tell if you have just an airgun or a more lethal firearm so will treat all arms as lethal and respond accordingly.
It should be born in mind by every airgun shooter that the unexpected could happen and they could find themselves facing a civil action for damage to property or even injury to persons or livestock. Every airgun shooter should have Third Party Public Liability Insurance before venturing out of doors, and joining one of the bodies representing shooters interests is the best way to achieve this.
Following the enactment of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006, listed below are the current regulations relating to the purchase, ownership, sale and possession of airguns and ammunition.
1) No person under the age of 14 may purchase, hire or be given an airgun or ammunition.
2) A person under the age of 14 must at all times when shooting be supervised by a person over the age of 21.
1) No person under the age of 18 may purchase, hire or be given an airgun or ammunition.
2) A person in this age group may shoot unsupervised on private land with the permission of the landowner but must be supervised by somebody over the age of 21 if in a public place.
It should be noted that this means that a person aged seventeen and a half who may have a driving licence cannot take an air rifle from home to his club to shoot unless the gun is possessed by somebody over the age of eighteen or the seventeen and a half-year old is supervised by a person over the age of twenty-one.
A person over the age of eighteen can buy an airgun and pellets and use them unsupervised.
1) It is an offence to have an airgun in a public place "without good reason", the proof being the responsibility of the possessor.
3) When shooting over private land it is an offence for the pellet to go beyond the boundary of the premises on which the gun is being used unless there is permission from the adjoining landowner.
4) Persons who by way of trade deal in airguns, pressure bearing parts or component parts must be a Registered Firearms Dealer and any transaction must be face-to-face. Ammunition for airguns may continue to be sold by post.
3) An "airgun" with the kinetic energy of less than one joule is considered a toy and is therefore not covered by the above restrictions but may be considered a realistic imitation firearm (if it looks like a gun). The sale of realistic imitation firearms is now banned with one or two minor exceptions, mainly for historical re-enactment, museums and television/film/theatrical performances or as a recognized member of an airsoft site affiliated to the Association of British AirSoft.
Offence of allowing minors access to air rifles/pistols, The Firearms Act 1968 is amended as follows.
Failing to prevent minors from having air rifles/pistols.
It is an offence for a person in possession of an air rifle/pistol to fail to take reasonable precautions to prevent any persons under the age of 18 from having the air rifle/pistol with him.


Let's be honest: the best part of New York Fashion Week is the street style — if you're thin, that is. Historically, street style galleries have focused almost exclusively on thin, straight-size women.
This is partially an inventory problem: Much of the designer clothing that street style photographers want to shoot every season only comes in smaller sizes. A much, much larger part of the problem, though, is that being plus-size in fashion means being routinely overlooked. Street style photographers — the ones who swarm the sidewalks, lay down in puddles, and jump in front of moving cars — document the same group of editors and influencers, season after season. I've discussed this phenomenon with friends and colleagues, and we've heard every excuse in the book: Editors don't want photos of plus-size women. Plus-size women don't come to fashion week. Plus-size women aren't stylish enough. Plus-size women can put their photos on their own blogs instead.
RELATED: Here's what it's like to work in an industry that kind of hates you.
For NYFW, InStyle offers a street style gallery dedicated exclusively to plus size people — the ones who struggle to find fashion like the kind they see coming down the runways, but want to express themselves through clothing all the same. The people who, despite what every other street style gallery you've seen suggests, actually do attend NYFW. After shouldering their way into an industry that doesn't necessarily want them around, they show up to fashion week, dress the hell up and turn the hell out in clothing they probably had to work exceedingly hard to find. These are the individuals who've scoured the backs of brick and mortar stores looking for options, only to realize they're actually limited to shopping mostly online. They've taken inspiration from designers who refuse to make clothing in their size, and often, used their lack of options as motivation to demand more from the industry.
Part of that 'more' is representation in the coverage of the industry. We can't force designers to create clothing in plus-sizes, but we can be part of the effort to show that there are stylish plus-size women in fashion, that they deserve to be included in the conversation, and that everything said to the contrary is an excuse.
By my count, this is the first plus size NYFW street style gallery from a mainstream publication, and — the fact that all of these images were shot by plus size woman is just icing on the big, fat, well-decorated cake. Our photographer, Lydia Hudgens, will be hitting up shows and events throughout the week to add more looks, so keep checking back for more plus-size street style inspiration.


Homeownership is on a rapid decline… And it's only getting worse since the height of the housing boom.
In January 2015, it fell to 20-year lows of 63.9% -- a rate last recorded in the third quarter of 1994.
In April, it fell to lows of 63.7% -- the lowest since 1990.
Nowadays, notes CNBC, that rate has plunged to 63.4% -- a number not seen since 1967.
It's not likely to reverse when the housing collapse becomes a distant memory either. In fact, according to the Urban Institute, homeownership could continue falling well into 2030, as reported by The Washington Post.
By that time, the rate could be as low as 61.3% -- a number not seen for at least 50 years.
It's another reason why rents could be about to rocket.
Coupled with short supply, and rents could be on an aggressive move higher. Look at Tucson, Arizona for example, where there just is not enough inventory to satisfy hot demand.
Your Rent is about to Skyrocket… Here's why.