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corruption, Encroachment, Independent Media, Independent Research
"Trickle-down" FISA Proceedings Result in Further Revocation of Rights
1 Mar 2022 Ryan DeLarme Leave a comment
Janet Phelan
As the country swings further towards despotism, some interesting and telling cases are being filed in the courts, in an effort to confront and resolve instances of oppression.
One individual filing such cases is John Christiana. While not a bar-certified attorney, he has an MS in Legal Studies and also attended law school. He is formerly the legal director of Targeted Justice, legal director of Targeted America, legal director of PACTS and the legal lead of the Alliance to End Targeting. He was also the legal lead of the European Coalition Task force and is now filing lawsuits.
In a case worth watching, Christiana recently filed a lawsuit in San Bernardino County against Walmart, alleging inappropriate conduct by named staff as well as battery by same. While some of the instances recorded by Christiana in the lawsuit could be sloughed off as simply errors by badly trained staff, together they form a pattern and practice of psychological abuse, graduating to allegations of a level of disturbing physical abuse.
The lawsuit was filed in June of 2021 in Barstow small claims court. As Christiana was prepping for his upcoming day in court, some of his documents for trial were rejected. To his surprise, he was told this was because the case had already been dismissed–before the already scheduled trial–without him being so informed.
When he requested documentation of the dismissal and also a reason why, he was told it was "confidential."
That's right. The litigant was barred from not only receiving notice that his case was dismissed but also refused an explanation.
According to established court procedure, both of these are big No-Nos.
A review of the case file online substantiates the fact that there appears no document relevant to the dismissal signed by the judge and no notice given to Christiana.
There are mounting concerns, buttressed by cases filed concerning targeting by the Muslim civil rights group CAIR as well as by US-born journalist Bilal Abdul Kareem, that certain constitutionally guaranteed rights are being trumped by shadowy national security designations and secret FISA court proceedings. Certainly, when the DOJ waltzed into federal court and got Kareem's case dismissed (he had alleged he was being targeted as a journalist by drone strikes in the ME) based on sweeping generalizations of "national security," alarm bells should have gone off in every civil rights organization and in every major media.
The Christiana case seems to continue this trend. As a "targeted individual," Christiana's rights are alleged to be regularly violated, as he is repeatedly hit with microwave and directed energy weapons. Rather than address his allegations, the court seems to be de facto affirming Christiana's status as a lab rat, an individual without rights, by maintaining that the reasons for the dismissal of his case are a "secret."
Recently, 60 Minutes ran an exposé on the "Havana Syndrome," and featured a number of interviews with federal employees who also claim to have been attacked with this class of weapons, some on White House grounds.
Consistent with the general government policy of denying that ordinary citizens are also being attacked with these weapons, the 60 Minutes piece failed to interview anyone but federal employees. Congress has also passed a bill to provide economic assistance and health care to government employees who are attacked by directed energy weapons, ignoring the plight of everyday people.
The media representative for the San Bernardino court, Julie Vanhook, was unable to provide an explanation for the failure/refusal to inform Christiana that his case had been shut down, insisting that "I can tell you that small claims cases are not confidential and available to view online."
A request was tendered through Ms. Vanhook to set up an interview with the Presiding Judge, which was not responded to at the time of going to press.
Christiana has gone ahead and filed a claim for damages with San Bernardino County for 42 U.S. Code § 1983 – Civil action for deprivation of rights, as well as an injunction to get a copy of the "secret dismissal" and an injunction to be able to file the small claims cases in court (taken off blacklisted list).
He has stated his intent to file a federal lawsuit if his claim is not satisfied.
He has also stated he intends to move to Washington DC shortly in order to continue his activism surrounding the issue of targeting.
FISAHavana SyndromePACTSTargeted IndividualsTargeting
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Mohammad Javad Zarif
Rape, sex trafficking and the spread of disease on the U.N.'s watch
U.S. United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley stands on the sidelines before an NFL football game between the Washington Redskins and the Arizona Cardinals in Landover, Md., Sunday, Dec 17, 2017. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) more >
By Tammy Bruce - - Wednesday, December 27, 2017
There was a gift you may have missed. On Christmas Eve, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, announced a sizeable cut for the U.N. operating budget to the tune of $285 million dollars. That sounds like a lot, and it's a good start, but that's all it is. Ambassador Haley called the cut "a step in the right direction," and implied there would be more to come.
For perspective, The New York Times reports, "[T]he United States is responsible for 22 percent of the United Nations operating budget, the largest contribution. It paid about $1.2 billion of the 2016-2017 budget of $5.4 billion. The United States also is the largest single financial contributor, at 28.5 percent, to a separate budget for United Nations peacekeeping operations, which totals $6.8 billion in the 2017-2018 budget finalized in June."
Upon announcing the cut, Ms. Haley told the less-than august organization, "The inefficiency and overspending of the United Nations are well known. We will no longer let the generosity of the American people be taken advantage of or remain unchecked."
The U.N.'s problems, however, are larger than inefficiency and overspending; they include rape, sex trafficking and the spread of disease.
In August, 2016, the U.N. finally admitted that they, in fact, "played a role" in the cholera epidemic in Haiti, resulting in the deaths of at least 10,000 people while sickening hundreds of thousands more. After years of stonewalling, the U.N. admission comes only after a scathing independent report for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The New York Times reported:
"[The investigator] wrote that the United Nations' Haiti cholera policy 'is morally unconscionable, legally indefensible and politically self-defeating.' He added, 'It is also entirely unnecessary.' The organization's continuing denial and refusal to make reparations to the victims, he argued, 'upholds a double standard according to which the U.N. insists that member states respect human rights, while rejecting any such responsibility for itself.' He said, 'It provides highly combustible fuel for those who claim that U.N. peacekeeping operations trample on the rights of those being protected…'"
The euphemistic word here is "fuel." Many people call it "evidence."
Cholera wasn't the only thing the U.N. was doing in Haiti. The Associated Press reported in April of this year of a "U.N. child sex ring" impacting at least 23 countries. Their investigation found, "U.N. missions during the past 12 years found nearly 2,000 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers and other personnel around the world — signaling the crisis is much larger than previously known. More than 300 of the allegations involved children, the AP found, but only a fraction of the alleged perpetrators served jail time."
Further, the wire service reported, "Here in Haiti, at least 134 Sri Lankan peacekeepers exploited nine children in a sex ring from 2004 to 2007." A decade ago the U.N. promised to crack down on child sex abuse, yet, as the AP reports, years later children were still being "passed around from soldier-to-soldier. And in the years since, peacekeepers have been accused of sexual abuse the world over."
This from the same entity that just put Saudi Arabia on the "UN Women's Rights Commission," for the 2018-2022 term.
Hillel Neuer, executive director of the nonprofit watchdog U.N. Watch, told Fortune magazine, "the vote 'definitely has the power of sending a message,' he says, to Saudi women in particular, by 'putting their oppressor in a position of power and influence when it comes to women's rights.'"
In 2014, the U.N. also placed Iran on the same human rights body.
For an entity that feels Iran and Saudi Arabia deserve to sit on a human rights panel determining the fate of women, it comes as no surprise that last year the same collection of miscreants brought 21 resolutions against Israel, with just 6 against the rest of the world.
U.N. Watch reported in November, "EU states have failed to introduce a single UNGA resolution on the human rights situation in China, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Cuba, Turkey, Pakistan, Vietnam, Algeria, or on 175 other countries."
The U.N. is more than an inefficient over-spender, it is a cancer that American taxpayers are funding to spread. The crimes of sex trafficking alone should be enough for the decent countries of the world to condemn and dismantle it.
Sexual predator Harvey Weinstein is still being internationally condemned and criminally investigated for abusing and assaulting actresses. President Trump is hunting down MS-13 for drug running and sex trafficking. While hugging Iran, Mr. Obama turning a blind eye to drug running, money laundering terrorists Hezbollah is finally revealed and shocking.
But the U.N. continues to operate, and we continue to fund it.
Reducing the billions of dollars we pay by a few hundred million is nothing. President Trump and Ambassador Haley must understand there is no benefit that now outweighs the calamity of the U.N.
Ironically, we can now only achieve the U.N.'s initial mission of making the world a safer place by dismantling the U.N. itself.
• Tammy Bruce, author and Fox News contributor, is a radio talk show host.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Hi Mountain Condor Lookout
Elevation 3198 feet, Los Padres National Forest, San Luis Obispo County, CA
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The Life History of AC2 by Jan Hamber, 2005
Published on 4:40 PM by himountainpaul
Now that AC2 is free, I thought that you all might enjoy reading about AC2 and why this formerly free flying wild bird is so important to the recovery of the species.
First of all, there were only ten formerly free flying wild condors in captivity in 1987 of which AC2 was one.
AC2 and his mate AC3 were first seen on Jan. 9, 1976 by Dick Smith and Jan Hamber as they soared along the escarpment of West Big Pine in the Santa Barbara back country. (There is an assumption that AC2 is the same bird throughout this history. AC3 was identified by Noel Snyder as being the same female that nested at Indian Creek in 1972. He determined this by examining the egg shells that came from the various nestings in Santa Barbara county during the period 1972 - 1985.
The pair was found nesting on the escarpment, successfully fledging a chick in 1976. The fate of that chick is unknown.
In 1977, the pair nested in the same cave. Again, the chick successfully fledged that year. Again the fate of the chick is unknown. The only clue we have is that AC4 and UN1 were identified as possibly being the offspring of the Santa Barbara pair through genetic study. The stud book lists UN1's possible birthday as 1976 and AC4's about 1980. This last date is too late as all nestings were monitored from 1980 on through 1985 so we know the fate of each egg.
In 1978 and 1979, the Museum funded only enough time and dollars for a one day per month trip into the back country. The pair was always seen but the nesting sites, if any, were not found during those 2 years. With the founding of the Condor Research Center in 1980,more resources were available for locating nest sites and monitoring them every day once they were found. Many days were spent in the field by a combination of cooperating agencies, volunteers and a few paid biologists.
The following is a catalog of the nestings of AC2 and AC3 from 1980 through 1985:
1980 - AC2/AC3 nested in Big Pine Canyon on the north side of the escarpment. The egg hatched but the chick died of stress during a measuring and weighing trip on June 30, 1980. This death put a stop to a newly given permit to trap condors for radio telemetry. The permit was not reinstated until 2 years later.
1981 - AC2/AC3 again nested on the West Big Pine escarpment in the same cave used in 1976 & 1977. This nest was watched every day. When the normal hatching date was well past, the CRC team climbed up to the nest and determined that the egg had failed and the chick died, either at or during, hatching.
1982 - AC2/AC3 nested in Don Victor Valley. more than 8 miles away from what we thought was their core area at West Big Pine. Again a constant nest watch was instituted from Mid-April, when the nest site was finally discovered, until the end of Oct. This chick fledged successfully and survived until Thanksgiving time, Nov. 1983. The chick, known as Bosley, was killed by cyanide found in an M-44 "coyote getter". The event changed the way the predator control arm of the USFWS placed out M-44s 0R in condor country. They now were ordered to place only one, not 2 M-44s, in a set.
1983 - An important nesting took place this year when AC2/AC3, with AC2 now carrying a radio and AC3 with distinctive notches in several feathers of her wing, nested back at the old 1972 Indian Creek nest site. This egg was taken for the captive breeding program, hatched and was a female named Almiyi. Because observers were out in the field constantly, we noted the pair driving Bosley away from the nest site. Bosley had fledged early Sept. and thus came from an egg laid early in the season. This proved once and for all that condors could, contrary to Koford's thesis, lay eggs in successive years even though the chick from the previous year survived. So the reproductive rate of condors was increased by this new knowledge. Formerly (and still quoted call the time) is the statement that condors lay one egg every other year. Now we knew that it was possible for condors to lay 2 eggs in 3 years with a surviving fledgling. The 1983 egg was laid late in April.
1984 - 2 nestings by AC2/AC3 in 1984. The first egg was removed from Mono Narrows on Feb. 12, 1984 and taken to San Diego Zoo. The egg hatched and became a chick was named Ojai. The second nest was situated on Madulce Peak. The egg was taken on Mar. 18, 1984 to the Zoo. The egg hatched. The chick was named Yosemite but it died a few days later from a bacterial infection.
1985 - 3 nestings by AC2/AC3 in 1985. The first egg came Feb. 14, 1985 from a different cave on the Madulce cliffs. This egg hatched. The chick was named Kaweah, the only male produced by this pair. The second egg was laid back at the West Big Pine Nest site on Mar. 18, 1985. This egg failed to develop properly and thus no chick survived from this nesting. If you watch the Audubon film narrated by Robert Redford called "Condor" you will see the E-Team do an egg pickup. The last nesting of this pair occurred in Bluff Canyon on Big Pine Mt. on April 15. The egg was incubated by the pair until a concern for the egg's safety (ravens were cruising too close to the nest and ravens were a known predator of condor eggs) brought about a nest climb where the fertile egg was taken to the zoo and replaced with a dummy egg to keep the pair close to the nest. On June 17, 1985 the dummy egg was taken, thus releasing the pair from incubating duties. This egg hatched and the female chick was named Malibu. In all, 9 eggs were laid and 4 chicks hatched for the captive breeding project from this pair.
1985/6 - In mid December 1985, biologists noted that AC3 was remaining at Bittercreek (then Hudson Ranch) while AC2 returned to the roost areas in Santa Barbara Co. A constant watch was set up to monitor the AC3's behavior. It became evident that she was very ill. After several attempts, she was run down, captured and taken to San Diego Zoo where she was found to be suffering from severe lead poisoning. Despite a major effort by zoo personnel, AC3 died on Jan. 18, 1986. This was the end of the five original nesting pairs found by the biologists of the CRC. AC3's death also ended the discussion about whether to trap all remaining condors for captive breeding or to leave a few wild birds out to be mentors to released captive bred condors.
AC3's death also ended the discussion about whether to trap all remaining condors for captive breeding or to leave a few wild birds out to be mentors to released captive bred condors. The order went out to trap all remaining condors and any hope for a surviving wild population vanished. AC2 was captured in December 1986 on Hudson Ranch. By the time all the birds were taken into captivity, we had learned that the nesting area for AC2/AC3 covered about 64 square miles of the Sisquoc, Santa Cruz, Mono and Indian watersheds. Access to the area was either by the Big Pine Administrative Road or by way of the Pie Canyon Jeepway through Potrero Seco. Thus the pair could fly from a nest site on West Big Pine to Don Victor Valley in about 20 minutes and it would take a single observer about 6 to 7 hours to cover the same ground.
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We are now in our 17th year of service as a fully restored fire lookout, field research facility, and remote tracking station for the endangered California condor. We offer seasonal internships to college biology students, conduct local public outreach programs, and have an active volunteer base. Please explore our site to find out more about the Lookout Project and how you can get involved.
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Q: Pushing a Pick List to a checkout Terminal from a mobile Device I have a mobile App for picking goods, Developed in Xamarin Forms/Android to pick items via Barcode in Store. I would like to send that basket for finalising to a terminal PC running a UWP app for final processing. I would like to do this like in supermarket SCAN the Terminals QR code and the Pick List appears on it. How is this done and what API in .Net can achieve this?
Any pointers to get me started greatly appreciated.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Open Medicine Journal
ISSN: 1874-2203 ― Volume 7, 2020
Gender Differences and Treatment Outcome among Drug Induced Hepatotoxicity Tuberculosis Patients
Kamini Nadarajah1, Amer Hayat khan1, *, Irfhan Ali1, 2, Raja Ahsan Aftab1, 3, *, Imam Shaik4
1 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia
2 Department of Respiratory Medicine, Penang General Hospital, Penang, Malaysia
3 School of Pharmacy, Taylor's University, Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
4 School of Medicine, Taylor's University, Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Aims and Objective:
The aim of the current manuscript is to determine the association between gender differences and drug-induced hepatotoxicity among patients receiving anti-tuberculosis therapy and to determine the outcome of the treatment.
A retrospective observational study was conducted among tuberculosis patients at Respiratory Clinic of Penang General Hospital (PGH) and Bukit Mertajam Hospital. A validated data collection instrument was used to collect patients' demographic and clinical data confirmation of drug induced hepatotoxicity among tuberculosis patients was based on biochemical criteria which included 3 fold increase in liver enzymes in response to anti TB medication. All results were analyzed through SPSS version 20.
The study subjects were predominantly males 146 (76.8%) than females 44 (23.2%). Drug-induced hepatotoxicity with anti-tuberculosis drugs was observed the most among Chinese 90 (47%) ethnicity. Eighty-five (72%) male and 33 female (28%) tuberculosis drug-induced (TB-DIH) patients had a successful treatment outcome. Female patients had a statistically significant positive association with successful TB-DIH treatment outcomes (OR=1.83, 0.988-3.390 95%CI). Upon multivariate analysis, Indian ethnicity (OR = 0.173, p = 0.024), patients with relapse of Tuberculosis (TB) (OR= 0.332, p = 0.032) and Human Immune Virus (HIV) (OR= 0.217, p = 0.027) were less likely to have successful TB-DIH treatment outcomes.
Female Tuberculosis Drug Induced Hepatotoxicity (TB DIH) patients were more likely to have successful treatment outcomes. A number of factors such as Indian ethnicity, patients with relapse of Tuberculosis (TB) and patients with Human Immune Virus (HIV) were less likely to have successful TB DIH treatment outcomes.
Keywords: Gender differences, Drug-induced hepatotoxicity, Tuberculosis, Treatment outcomes, MDR-TB, Anti-tuberculosis therapy.
Publisher Id: MEDJ-6-26
Received Date: 09/02/2019
Revision Received Date: 05/04/2019
ePub Downloads: 84
Total Views/Downloads: 917
© 2019 Nadarajah et al.
* Address correspondence to these authors at the Department of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia and School of Pharmacy, Taylor's University Jalan Taylors, Subang Jaya, Selangor Malaysia; Tel: 0060-175453546, 0060-172554387;
E-mails: dramer2006@gmail.com, rajaahsan.aftab@taylors.edu.my
09-02-2019 Original Manuscript Gender Differences and Treatment Outcome among Drug Induced Hepatotoxicity Tuberculosis Patients
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the pre-historical diseases known to mankind and still remains the leading single infectious cause of death among adults [1Wirth T, Hildebrand F, Allix-Béguec C, et al. Origin, spread and demography of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. PLoS Pathog 2008; 4(9)e1000160
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1000160] [PMID: 18802459] ]. It is believed that one in three is either infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, or is at risk of developing the disease [2World Health Organization. Treatment of tuberculosis Guidelines 2010.https://www.who.int/tb/publications/2010/9789241547833/en/]. The WHO classified Malaysia as an 'intermediate' TB burden country in 2004. In the last 20 years, the incidence rate has been stagnating, although there was a slight upward trend between 2004 and 2006, from 60.3 to 62.6 per 100,000 [3Liew SM, Khoo EM, Ho BK. Tuberculosis in Malaysia: Predictors of Treatment Outcomes in A National Registry. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 19].
The global increasing threat of drug resistance and multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) is another important reason for the TB epidemic. In 2008, MDR-TB emerged with an estimated 440,000 cases globally [2World Health Organization. Treatment of tuberculosis Guidelines 2010.https://www.who.int/tb/publications/2010/9789241547833/en/]. Almost 50% of MDR-TB cases worldwide are estimated to occur in China and India [2World Health Organization. Treatment of tuberculosis Guidelines 2010.https://www.who.int/tb/publications/2010/9789241547833/en/]. The non-standardised and interrupted chemotherapy treatment of TB is the main risk factor for MDR-TB [4Songhua C, Pengcheng H, Xiaomeng W, et al. Risk factors for multidrug resistance among previously treated patients with tuberculosis in eastern China: a case–control study. IJID 2013; 17(12): e1116-11120.].
The experience of the WHO since 1997 in assisting high TB burden countries to set up standardised TB surveillance systems shows that globally, men account for a higher proportion of notified TB cases (63% or 64%) [5World Health Organization. 2007.https://www.who.int/tobacco/ resources/publications/tb_tobac_monograph.pdf]. Data on sex differentials in TB from some Western European countries during the period from 1930 to 1950, when the disease burden there was still high, present a different picture: no significant difference in TB between the sexes in childhood and pre-adolescence, a higher incidence in female than in male adolescents and young adults, and a higher incidence in men than in women over 40 years of age. Studies in various countries have also shown that progression from TB infection to disease is likely to be faster for women compared to men in their reproductive years, and faster for men over 40 years of age [6Ottmani SE, Uplekar MW. Gender and TB: pointers from routine records and reports. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 2008; 12(7): 827-8.
[PMID: 18544211] ].
The most frequent adverse effects of anti-tuberculosis treatment are hepatotoxicity, skin reactions, and gastro-intestinal and neurological disorders [7Alma T, Martin JB, Rob EA, et al. Antituberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity: Concise up-to-date review. JGH 2008; 23(2): 192-202.]. Hepatotoxicity is the most serious adverse effect of anti-tuberculosis therapy [8Frieden TR, Sterling TR, Munsiff SS, Watt CJ, Dye C. Tuberculosis. Lancet 2003; 362(9387): 887-99.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(03)14333-4] [PMID: 1367 8977] ]. Anti-tuberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity (ATDH) causes substantial morbidity and mortality and diminishes treatment effectiveness. Asymptomatic transaminase elevations are common during anti-tuberculosis treatment, and hepato-toxicity can be fatal if not recognized early and when therapy is not interrupted in time. Isoniazid, rifampicin and pyrazinamide are potentially hepatotoxic drugs. The incidence of ATDH during standard multidrug TB treatment has been variably reported as between 2% and 28%. This rate depends on the investigators' definition of hepatotoxicity as well as the population studied [9Vivek VB, Tyagi A, Shrivastava M, et al. Incidence of hepatotoxicity in Indian patients receiving standard multidrug anti-tubercular therapy without risk factors. CEGH 2013; 1(2): 58.].
Tuberculosis drugs are commonly safe. However, in certain scenarios, the use of these drugs may cause some problems such as the occurrence of ADRs. The purpose of the current manuscript is to determine the association between gender differences and drug-induced hepatotoxicity in anti-tuberculosis therapy in Bukit Mertajam Hospital and Penang Hospital (PGH), Malaysia.
2.1. Study Design & Location
A retrospective observational study was conducted among the tuberculosis patients at the Respiratory Clinic of Penang General Hospital (PGH) and Bukit Mertajam Hospital. The study ran from January 2007 until September 2013.
2.2. Study Population
The Malaysian population stands at over 28 million. The country is separated by the South China Sea into two regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo (also known as East Malaysia). The study location was Penang, located in West Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia) with a population of 1,503,000 and an area of 1,046 km2. The study population included individuals (males and females) of all age groups who were in Penang during the study period and were suffering from confirmed tuberculosis.
2.3. Sampling Technique
The sampling technique used in this study was the universal sampling technique: collecting patients' TB records available in the Chest Clinic. No information gathered directly from patients in the ward. Patients' records were sorted, patients with inadequate medical records were allowed to complete analysis, and patients receiving other potentially hepatotoxic medications concurrent with the anti-TB treatment were excluded.
2.4. Criteria for the Confirmation of Drug-induced Hepatotoxicity Among Tuberculosis Patients
The confirmation of drug induced hepatotoxicity among tuberculosis patients was based on biochemical criteria and clinical judgment of clinician. The biochemical criteria included the increased level of liver enzymes in response to anti TB medication and included the presence of one of the following conditions that include rise in 3 fold times the upper limit of ALT and AST along with nausea, vomiting and jaundice, and normalization of liver enzymes and the resolution of sign and symptoms of hepatotoxicity after withdrawal of anti-Tb drugs [10Hassen Ali A, Belachew T, Yami A, Ayen WY. Anti-tuberculosis drug induced hepatotoxicity among TB/HIV co-infected patients at Jimma University Hospital, Ethiopia: nested case-control study. PLoS One 2013; 8(5)e64622
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064622] [PMID: 23696901] ].
2.5. Treatment Outcome Evaluation
A TB patient is defined cured if he/she is smear negative one month prior to the completion of treatment. Treatment outcomes were evaluated on the basis of smear testing at the end of treatment [11Khan AH, Israr M, Mateen O, et al. Gender Differences In The Treatment Outcomes Among Tuberculosis Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis In Pakistan. WIMJ ]
The record of each patient was kept in an envelope which was referred to as the patient's wallet or patient's case. Besides containing the record file of the patient drug therapy, the wallet contained x-ray films, laboratory test results and referral letters from doctors. All types of drug therapies are noted here, as well as other complications. Drug-related problems, their sensitivity on the basis of clinical signs and symptoms, and the management of these problems, were also recorded.
Each data collection form was assigned a serial number to ensure traceability. Coding of the responses was carried out and the data was entered into a computer and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 programme for Windows (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).
The data was analyzed by using parametric and non-parametric statistics such as descriptive, Chi-square, and independent "t" tests. Descriptive tests were used to describe the frequencies of patients and their lab tests. Chi-square tests were used to find the associations between the nominal variables (demographic factors such as gender, race and age) and disease. Logistic regression was used to adjust OR and was used to indicate the significance of association. A P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
2.8. Ethical Consideration
Ethical clearance was secured from the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University Sains Malaysia. Permission to proceed with the study protocol was obtained from the Clinical Research Centre (CRC) Penang Hospital, Pulau Pinang.
Table 1 demonstrates the socio-demographic characteristics of the study subjects at the time of diagnosis. The study subjects were predominant males (n=146, 76.8%), with only 23.2% females (n=44). The mean body weight was 45.83kg. The age of the patients was divided into two groups as shown in Table 1. The majority of patients (n=153, 80.5%) were above 35 years of age, with 37 patients (19.5%) below 35 years of age. The mean age was 46.92 years. There was no significant difference between both groups (p = 0.136).
Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country with three large race groups: Malay, Chinese and Indian. Hence in this study, the race is categorized into four groups: Malay, Chinese, Indian and other. Other races here stand for patients from other countries: Indonesia, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Nepal. The occurrence of DIH with anti-tubercular is as follows: Malay 64 (34%), Chinese 90 (47%), Indian 25 (13%), and others 11 (6%), which shows non-significant differences (p = 0.239).
A significantly higher percentage of these patients was from urban areas (n=151, 79.5%), and particularly unmarried males (n=99, 81.8%). There were no significant differences in the employment status (p=0.448) and education level (p=0.247).
Socio-Demographic Status of TB-Drug Induced Hepatitis Patients.
In this study, male patients were found to be more strongly associated with smoking (95.1%) being one of the main risk behaviours (p<0.001). Moreover, non-alcoholic (n=109, 95.6%) and non-IVDU (n=103, 71.0%) male patients showed significant differences (p=0.001) (Table 1).
Majority of the cases were newly registered (n=163, 85.8%); and 27 (14.2%) were relapse cases. Positive for sputum smear for M.tuberculosis showed similar results in this study as illustrated in Table 2. However, patients with non-diabetes mellitus history (n=130, 79.3%) and non- HIV/AIDS history (n=107, 72.8%) had significant differences (p<0.05) as shown in Table 2.
85 (72%) male and 33 (28%) female patients had a successful treatment outcome. Statistically, patients' gender had a significant association (p=0.044) with treatment outcome. It is also shown that being a female has a statistically significant positive association with successful treatment outcome (OR=1.83, 0.988-3.390 95% CI) (Table 3).
In univariate analysis, patients with relapse TB (OR = 0.297, P-value = 0.006), co-morbidities (OR = 0.501, P-value = 0.028) and HIV (OR = 0.346, P-value = 0.004) had statistically significant negative associations with successful treatment outcomes (Table 4).
Upon multivariate analysis, successful treatment outcome was observed in smokers (OR =2.345, P-value = 0.033), whereas Indian ethnicity (OR = 0.173, P-value = 0.024) and patients with relapse TB (OR= 0.332, P-value = 0.032) and HIV (OR= 0.217, P-value = 0.027) were less likely to have successful treatment outcomes (Table 5).
Patients clinical characteristic.
Treatment outcome.
Univariate analysis of predictors of treatment outcomes.
Multivariate analysis of predictors of treatment outcome.
The use of a multi-drug regimen for the treatment of TB, such as the combination of INH, RIF and PZA, has been associated with an increased incidence of hepatotoxicity when compared with INH monotherapy used for anti-TB prophylaxis [12Durand F, Jebrac G, Passayre D, et al. Hepatotoxicity of antitubercular treatments. DS 1996; 15: 394-405., 13Pande JN, Singh SPN, Khilnani GC, Khilnani S, Tandon RK. Risk factors for hepatotoxicity from antituberculosis drugs: a case-control study. Thorax 1996; 51(2): 132-6.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/thx.51.2.132] [PMID: 8711642] ]. The occurrence of anti-TB hepatotoxicity is variable. In the current study, 6.1% of patients developed anti-TB DIH, an incidence less than those stated in reports available from India (8.0-19.8%) [13Pande JN, Singh SPN, Khilnani GC, Khilnani S, Tandon RK. Risk factors for hepatotoxicity from antituberculosis drugs: a case-control study. Thorax 1996; 51(2): 132-6.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/thx.51.2.132] [PMID: 8711642] ] but more than those from the West (4.3%) [14Lee WM. Drug-induced hepatotoxicity. N Engl J Med 1995; 333(17): 1118-27.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJM199510263331706] [PMID: 7565 951] ]. In Malaysia, the incidence of anti-TB DIH was reported at 9.7% and 8.7% [15Marzuki OA, Fauzi ARM, Ayoub S, Kamarul Imran M. Prevalence and risk factors of anti-tuberculosis drug-induced hepatitis in Malaysia. Singapore Med J 2008; 49(9): 688-93.
[PMID: 18830542] ,16Amer HK, Azhar SS, Hassali MA, et al. Anti-tubercular chemotherapy and drug-induced hepatitis. Health Med 2010; 536-44.]. The variation in the incidence of anti-TB DIH observed in the current study may be due to differences in patients' characteristics, regimens used, type of monitoring, and the diagnostic criteria defining hepatotoxicity [13Pande JN, Singh SPN, Khilnani GC, Khilnani S, Tandon RK. Risk factors for hepatotoxicity from antituberculosis drugs: a case-control study. Thorax 1996; 51(2): 132-6.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/thx.51.2.132] [PMID: 8711642] ].
The current study comparatively assessed the socio-demographic profiles between the genders of these patients. A higher percentage of anti-TB DIH was found in male than female patients. Not surprisingly, we observed that male patients had a higher percentage of concurrent risk factors such as smoking, diabetes mellitus, and alcohol consumption which predispose to the incidence of tuberculosis. The social and cultural values may play an important role in the higher incidence of TB among men. The literature suggests that the higher incidence of TB among males might be due to their large social contacts whereas culturally women tend to stay at home or work in the field in developing countries. However, if countries are developed, such cultural and social differences may not play the same role, as both genders have high social contacts. In such cases, biological mechanisms play an important role in determining gender differences in infection rates. In a 15-year prospective study of 280,000 subjects, it was reported that progression from infection to disease was 8.6% among men and 3.1% among women [17World health organisation report of Global tuberculosis control 2003.http://www.who.int/gender/documents/en/TB.factsheet.pdf]. This difference may also be due to men's greater exposure to risk factors that include smoking and alcohol.
Gender differences were highly observed in many studies and it has been reported that females are at increased risk of hepatotoxicity compared to males. A study by Batool et al., (2006) [18Batool SM, Hamid RK, Masoud S. Incidence of Hepatotoxicity due to antitubercular medicine and assessment of risk factors. Iran J Med Sci 2006; 6(1): 44-7.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.3923/jms.2006.44.47] ] reported that out of 60 patients, 38 female patients had anti-TB DIH. Another study showed that 44 (44%) males and 56 (56%) females had anti-TB DIH [19Makhlouf HA, Helmy A, Fawzy E, El-Attar M, Rashed HA. A prospective study of antituberculous drug-induced hepatotoxicity in an area endemic for liver diseases. Hepatol Int 2008; 2(3): 353-60.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12072-008-9085-y] [PMID: 19669265] ]. A recent study by Alima et al. (2013) reported 17 female patients (51.5%) who had anti-TB drug-induced hepatotoxicity and 53 (53.5%) among the control group [10Hassen Ali A, Belachew T, Yami A, Ayen WY. Anti-tuberculosis drug induced hepatotoxicity among TB/HIV co-infected patients at Jimma University Hospital, Ethiopia: nested case-control study. PLoS One 2013; 8(5)e64622
However, several other studies explained hepatotoxicity as a higher risk factor in males than females [20Marzuki OA, Fauzi ARM, Ayoub S, Kamarul IM. Prevalence and risk factors of anti-tuberculosis drug-induced hepatitis in Malaysia. Singapore Med J 2008; 49(9): 688-93.
[PMID: 18830542] ]. A study by Lee et al. showed that 84 (57%) male and 64 (43%) female patients had anti-TB DIH. Another study by Amer et al. (2010) reported males (n=75, 59.5%) were more affected then females (n=51, 40.5%) [16Amer HK, Azhar SS, Hassali MA, et al. Anti-tubercular chemotherapy and drug-induced hepatitis. Health Med 2010; 536-44., 21Watt AH. Spontaneous reporting of suspected adverse drug reactions. Br J Clin Pharmacol 1992; 33(4): 461-2.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2125.1992.tb04070.x] [PMID: 1576 073] ]. Drug-induced hepatotoxicity was more common in males (n=36, 56%) than females (n=29, 44%) [22Jaiprakash H, Narayana S, Mohanraj J. Drug-induced hepatotoxicity in a tertiary care hospital in rural South India. N Am J Med Sci 2012; 4(2): 90-3.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/1947-2714.93385] [PMID: 22408755] ]. In this study, the incidence of anti-TB DIH is higher in male patients (n=146, 76.8%) than female patients (n=44, 23.2%). The results reflect that the incidence is higher in males which correlates to that reported by Marzuki et al. [20Marzuki OA, Fauzi ARM, Ayoub S, Kamarul IM. Prevalence and risk factors of anti-tuberculosis drug-induced hepatitis in Malaysia. Singapore Med J 2008; 49(9): 688-93.
Age was divided into a younger age group (≤35 years of age) and older age group (>35 years of age) for the purpose of this analysis, based on previous studies [23Ungo JR, Jones D, Ashkin D, et al. Antituberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity. The role of hepatitis C virus and the human immunodeficiency virus. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 1998; 157(6 Pt 1): 1871-6.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1164/ajrccm.157.6.9711039] [PMID: 9620920] , 24Lee BH, Koh WJ, Choi MS, et al. Inactive hepatitis B surface antigen carrier state and hepatotoxicity during antituberculosis chemotherapy. Chest 2005; 127(4): 1304-11.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0012-3692(15)34481-0] [PMID: 1582 1209] ]. Although it has been reported that advanced age can be a risk factor for anti-TB DIH [10Hassen Ali A, Belachew T, Yami A, Ayen WY. Anti-tuberculosis drug induced hepatotoxicity among TB/HIV co-infected patients at Jimma University Hospital, Ethiopia: nested case-control study. PLoS One 2013; 8(5)e64622
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064622] [PMID: 23696901] , 11Khan AH, Israr M, Mateen O, et al. Gender Differences In The Treatment Outcomes Among Tuberculosis Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis In Pakistan. WIMJ ], in the present study no correlation was found between age groups and the risk of developing anti-TB DIH (p=0.136). Also in other studies, advanced age was not a risk for anti-TB DIH [25Sharifzadeh M, Rasoulinejad M, Valipour F, et al. Evaluation of patient-related factors associated with causality, preventability, predictability and severity of hepatotoxicity during antituberculosis treatment. Pharmacol Res 2005; 51: 353-8.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2004.10.009] [PMID: 15683749] , 26Javadi MR, Shalviri G, Gholami K, Salamzadeh J, Maghooli G, Mirsaeedi SM. Adverse reactions of anti-tuberculosis drugs in hospitalized patients: incidence, severity and risk factors. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2007; 16(10): 1104-10.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pds.1468] [PMID: 17823987] ]. In this study, 121 (79.1%) male patients and 32 (20.9%) female patients aged 35 and above developed anti-TB DIH compared to 25 (67.6%) male patients and 12 (32.4%) female patients below 35 years of age. The mean age for the males and females were 47.49 ± 14.28 and 45.0 ± 14.96 years, respectively.
The incidence of anti-TB DIH observed in the current study is similar to those reported from Western countries and in Malaysia. A number of factors including residence, smoking habit, alcohol consumption and intra venous drug user's patients were found to be significantly associated with anti-TB DIH. Female TB DIH patients were more likely to have TB treatment success when compared to their counterparts. Likewise, our analysis suggests that Indian ethnicity, patients with relapse tuberculosis (TB) and patients with Human Immune Virus (HIV) were less likely to have successful treatment outcomes. Intensive monitoring of patients on anti-TB drugs with identified risk factors, especially during the first month of treatment, might help to identify potential hepatotoxicity in time and to withdraw drugs at the right time to prevent severe hepatotoxicity which may be fatal.
The current paper is and will not be submitted elsewhere until a final decision is reached. All authors are made aware that the current manuscript is submitted to Open Medicine Journal. The manuscript has undergone English editing and grammar services by English editing Netherlands (english-editing.nl)
HUMAN AND ANIMAL RIGHTS
No animals were used in this research. All human research procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the committee responsible for human experimentation (institutional and national), and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2013.
The study data is extracted from Respiratory Clinic of Penang General Hospital (PGH) and Bukit Mertajam Hospital and authors have it on SPSS.
The authors declare no conflict of interest, financial or otherwise.
Declared none.
[1] Wirth T, Hildebrand F, Allix-Béguec C, et al. Origin, spread and demography of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. PLoS Pathog 2008; 4(9)e1000160
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1000160] [PMID: 18802459]
[2] World Health Organization. Treatment of tuberculosis Guidelines 2010.https://www.who.int/tb/publications/2010/9789241547833/en/
[3] Liew SM, Khoo EM, Ho BK. Tuberculosis in Malaysia: Predictors of Treatment Outcomes in A National Registry. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 19
[4] Songhua C, Pengcheng H, Xiaomeng W, et al. Risk factors for multidrug resistance among previously treated patients with tuberculosis in eastern China: a case–control study. IJID 2013; 17(12): e1116-11120.
[5] World Health Organization. 2007.https://www.who.int/tobacco/ resources/publications/tb_tobac_monograph.pdf
[6] Ottmani SE, Uplekar MW. Gender and TB: pointers from routine records and reports. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 2008; 12(7): 827-8.
[PMID: 18544211]
[7] Alma T, Martin JB, Rob EA, et al. Antituberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity: Concise up-to-date review. JGH 2008; 23(2): 192-202.
[8] Frieden TR, Sterling TR, Munsiff SS, Watt CJ, Dye C. Tuberculosis. Lancet 2003; 362(9387): 887-99.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(03)14333-4] [PMID: 1367 8977]
[9] Vivek VB, Tyagi A, Shrivastava M, et al. Incidence of hepatotoxicity in Indian patients receiving standard multidrug anti-tubercular therapy without risk factors. CEGH 2013; 1(2): 58.
[10] Hassen Ali A, Belachew T, Yami A, Ayen WY. Anti-tuberculosis drug induced hepatotoxicity among TB/HIV co-infected patients at Jimma University Hospital, Ethiopia: nested case-control study. PLoS One 2013; 8(5)e64622
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064622] [PMID: 23696901]
[11] Khan AH, Israr M, Mateen O, et al. Gender Differences In The Treatment Outcomes Among Tuberculosis Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis In Pakistan. WIMJ
[12] Durand F, Jebrac G, Passayre D, et al. Hepatotoxicity of antitubercular treatments. DS 1996; 15: 394-405.
[13] Pande JN, Singh SPN, Khilnani GC, Khilnani S, Tandon RK. Risk factors for hepatotoxicity from antituberculosis drugs: a case-control study. Thorax 1996; 51(2): 132-6.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/thx.51.2.132] [PMID: 8711642]
[14] Lee WM. Drug-induced hepatotoxicity. N Engl J Med 1995; 333(17): 1118-27.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJM199510263331706] [PMID: 7565 951]
[15] Marzuki OA, Fauzi ARM, Ayoub S, Kamarul Imran M. Prevalence and risk factors of anti-tuberculosis drug-induced hepatitis in Malaysia. Singapore Med J 2008; 49(9): 688-93.
[16] Amer HK, Azhar SS, Hassali MA, et al. Anti-tubercular chemotherapy and drug-induced hepatitis. Health Med 2010; 536-44.
[17] World health organisation report of Global tuberculosis control 2003.http://www.who.int/gender/documents/en/TB.factsheet.pdf
[18] Batool SM, Hamid RK, Masoud S. Incidence of Hepatotoxicity due to antitubercular medicine and assessment of risk factors. Iran J Med Sci 2006; 6(1): 44-7.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.3923/jms.2006.44.47]
[19] Makhlouf HA, Helmy A, Fawzy E, El-Attar M, Rashed HA. A prospective study of antituberculous drug-induced hepatotoxicity in an area endemic for liver diseases. Hepatol Int 2008; 2(3): 353-60.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12072-008-9085-y] [PMID: 19669265]
[20] Marzuki OA, Fauzi ARM, Ayoub S, Kamarul IM. Prevalence and risk factors of anti-tuberculosis drug-induced hepatitis in Malaysia. Singapore Med J 2008; 49(9): 688-93.
[21] Watt AH. Spontaneous reporting of suspected adverse drug reactions. Br J Clin Pharmacol 1992; 33(4): 461-2.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2125.1992.tb04070.x] [PMID: 1576 073]
[22] Jaiprakash H, Narayana S, Mohanraj J. Drug-induced hepatotoxicity in a tertiary care hospital in rural South India. N Am J Med Sci 2012; 4(2): 90-3.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/1947-2714.93385] [PMID: 22408755]
[23] Ungo JR, Jones D, Ashkin D, et al. Antituberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity. The role of hepatitis C virus and the human immunodeficiency virus. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 1998; 157(6 Pt 1): 1871-6.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1164/ajrccm.157.6.9711039] [PMID: 9620920]
[24] Lee BH, Koh WJ, Choi MS, et al. Inactive hepatitis B surface antigen carrier state and hepatotoxicity during antituberculosis chemotherapy. Chest 2005; 127(4): 1304-11.
[25] Sharifzadeh M, Rasoulinejad M, Valipour F, et al. Evaluation of patient-related factors associated with causality, preventability, predictability and severity of hepatotoxicity during antituberculosis treatment. Pharmacol Res 2005; 51: 353-8.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2004.10.009] [PMID: 15683749]
[26] Javadi MR, Shalviri G, Gholami K, Salamzadeh J, Maghooli G, Mirsaeedi SM. Adverse reactions of anti-tuberculosis drugs in hospitalized patients: incidence, severity and risk factors. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2007; 16(10): 1104-10.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pds.1468] [PMID: 17823987]
Daniel Pesut
(Indiana University School of Nursing, USA)
Jacques Descotes
(Centre Antipoison-Centre de Pharmacovigilance, France)
Patrice Talaga
(UCB S.A., Belgium)
Jeffrey M. Weinberg
(St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, USA)
Debomoy K. Lahiri
(Indiana University School of Medicine, USA)
Robert Looney
(Naval Postgraduate School, USA)
Richard Reithinger
(Westat, USA)
J. Ferwerda
(University of Oxford, UK)
Sean L. Kitson
(Almac Sciences, Northern Ireland)
Hubert Wolterbeek
(Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands)
Alessandro Laviano
(Sapienza - University of Rome, Italy)
Philippe Hernigou
(Paris University, France)
Fidel Toldrá
(Instituto de Agroquimica y Tecnologia de Alimentos, Spain)
M. Bendandi
(University Clinic of Navarre, Spain)
Peter Chiba
(University of Vienna, Austria)
Jaime Sampaio
(University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal)
Eduardo A. Castro
(INIFTA, Argentina)
(Chiba University, Japan)
Daniel Shek
(Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)
Jih Ru Hwu
(National Central University, Taiwan)
Study Design & Location
Criteria for the Confirmation of Drug-induced Hepatotoxicity Among Tuberculosis Patients
Treatment Outcome Evaluation


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Oliver Wahlstrom struck first for the United States in the gold-medal game against Finland on Saturday night, but the goal was disallowed as U.S. forward Alexander Chmelevski was deemed to have made contact with goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in the crease.
The call was then upheld following a video review.
Rule 184 in the IIHF rulebook states that "any contact the attacking skater initiates with a goaltender, either directly or by pushing an opponent into the goaltender, also runs the risk of incurring a penalty or nullifying a goal."
Rule 186 states that "if an attacking skater makes contact with a goaltender in the goal crease during game action, he will be assessed a minor penalty for interference. If a goal is scored at this time, it will not count."


text:
We are a small team of strategic thinkers with international experience across policy, innovation and public service delivery. We are dedicated to the transformation of public services.
We work independently and with others to create innovative thinking and solutions to enable governments to make the right public service decisions, from policy through to procurement.
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Kate has worked full time in public policy development and public service delivery for the last 15 years. On graduating from Cambridge University, Kate spent a significant part of her early career working in politics and the public sector, advising senior politicians on the reform and development of policy, with a particular focus on the fields of criminal justice, home affairs, legal affairs, prisons and probation.
Since then Kate has also worked in senior roles for several listed private sector organisations specialising in the redesign and delivery of public services globally and across several sectors including justice, defence, transport and health. Most recently, Kate is the Group Strategy and Communications Director for Serco Group plc, and sits on the Global Group Executive Committee. Kate's focus throughout her career has been on public service innovation for better outcomes.
kate.steadman@sercoinstitute.com
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Ben leads on the Institute's major projects as well as overseeing its day-to-day operation. His focus is on developing innovative solutions to the challenges facing public services and communicating them to policymakers.
With nearly a decade of experience working in research, policy and politics, Ben joined the Institute from the UK Parliament and Welsh Parliament where he was an advisor to a number of senior politicians. Developing manifestos and communications strategies for two UK General Elections, as well as leading on inter-party negotiations during a hung Parliament, Ben has an extensive understanding of the policymaking process. Before working in party politics, Ben was a communications consultant at a top UK public affairs agency, where he assisted public and private sector organisations to run campaigns and become thought leaders at a local, national and international level.
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Having completed an MA in European History at UCL in 2020, Robert worked as a Research Volunteer for the Constitution Unit, specialising in citizens' assemblies, deliberative democracy and voter information. He joined the Institute in August 2021.
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Samuel joined the Institute after working as a Parliamentary Researcher in the House of Lords. During his time in Parliament, he developed a keen interest in developing policy solutions through innovation and research. In particular, he focused on policy related to integrated family support services and the importance of families and relationships to prisoners' rehabilitation. His political interest stems from his degree at King's College London where he studied PPE, with a focus on normative ethics, populism, and global extremism in his final year.
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While "sounding it out" is an important part of reading, there are lots of other helpful things we can say to young readers. If you're in a hurry, grab a cheat sheet of praises and prompts HERE.
My educational psychology professor in college was known for his calm, soft way of speaking which lulled people right to sleep. However, one of his lessons has always stuck with me. One day he had us work in groups to throw a bean bag backward over a shoulder with the goal of landing it on a piece of copy paper. After each toss we attempted, our group members gave us feedback. Comments included things like, "toss it a little harder," or, "that was hard enough but it needs to be a little more to the right." After a few attempts and corresponding feedback, everyone could get the bean bag on the piece of paper or at least much closer than on their first attempt. The key to this success was the educational F-word…feedback!
Of course teacher will give feedback about how students can improve, but it's also important to give feedback about what students are doing right! This encourages students to use those same strategies again and again.
What can you put in your students' tool boxes for attacking tricky words beyond just "sound it out"?
-Can something in the picture help you?
-Slide through all the sounds.
-What word chunks do you see?
-What word would make sense in the sentence?
-You said ______. Does that look right/sound right/make sense?
-Try a different vowel sound.
I've organized all of these praise and prompt comments on a handy cheat sheet that you can put in your guided reading binder or send with parents and tutors. Click HERE to get a free copy.


text:
Q: Samba - Create files/dirs as group Say I have a protected directory called Corp that only members of the unix group Corp can access and its mostly working with:

read list = @corp
write list = @corp
create mask = 0770

Problem is, when a user creates a file there, its setting the user and group ownership to them, e.g. when user1 creates foo1, it has the permissions 770 for user1:user1 and user2 can't access or edit the file.
Is there a way to make it user1:corp from samba settings or should I change the create mask to 0777 (which I've enabled temporarily after doing a chgrp -R corp on the shared directory)?
Users have SSH access to the server so the folder /svr/corp itself needs to be restricted, right now its set to 770.

A: You can use the force group directive in your share definition to force that a particular group be used for all files on that share.

A: Set the setgid permission on the directory so that objects created there are created with the group ID of the directory set.
chmod 2770 /svr/corp
Any objects created within the directory will then be created with the gid of the /srv/corp directory.


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text:
All about Jorge Sulbaran
By Edition On Monday, June 20th, 2016
Removal of a corrupt Director of CBCS will only benefit our financial sector
With all due respect, but the supervisory board members of the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten (CBCS), Lopez (Sxm) and Pietersz (court appointed) are either stupid or corrupt. Obviously they don't know More...
By Edition On Friday, May 6th, 2016
Same as DAE was, InselAir is an important provider of currency and jobs
My position is the same like it was when Dutch Antilles Express (DAE) needed a financial support from the Government. InselAir, like DAE used to be, is an important provider of foreign currency in our economy and More...
By Edition On Thursday, November 5th, 2015
The PNP party in their desperation is creating chaos in our traffic
A traffic that is jammed all over Curaçao, causing disgust and anger in traffic, just because the coalition party PNP does not have adequate people to manage Public Works. This is the consequence of appointing More...
By Edition On Thursday, September 10th, 2015
Mentally sick damned fools
In Curacao we have a severe mental problem. An international Dutch crook named John Duess appears at our shores with millions of dirty money owned by the Red Mafia. Mediocre and immoral politicians, under control More...
By Edition On Wednesday, March 11th, 2015
The real reason behind the Sanction law
Right now Refineria Isla, a mainstay of Curaçao's economy, is refining Russian Crude. The acceptance of the Sanctions laws basically means closing of Isla Refinery. Case in point, they used Dutch born, Curaçao More...
By Edition On Wednesday, September 3rd, 2014
Curacao small island, big problems (part 6) – Who wanted to destroy Helmin Wiels?
Wiels continued to make enemies at home and abroad, denouncing everything from local corruption to the presence of the US Military installation, which he believed was used to control, not eliminate, the flow of More...
By Edition On Thursday, August 28th, 2014
Curacao small island, big problems (part 4) – ties between politics and the underworld
There are Indications that Helmin Wiels was misled by his own party members. There was a proposal from a group of "investors" interested in acquiring property and obtaining a concession in the Curacao Sea Port, More...
By Edition On Tuesday, August 26th, 2014
Curaçao small island, big problems (part 3) War against drugs. . . or the Curacao connection?
It is known that DEA agents infiltrate legit business in all sectors, to control businessmen with lucrative deals, as compensation for their participation in the lucrative Narco trafficking. Obviously F.d.c.G. is More...
By Edition On Friday, August 22nd, 2014
Curacao small island, big problems (part 2) U.S. intelligence infiltrates Curacao
Meanwhile the formality to endorse the agreement with USA State Department for the presence of the US Military base, known as FOL (Forward Operation Location) had to be confirmed by the new Government. Since the More...
Curacao Small Island, big problems (part1) – the real story behind curacao's politics
It was 10.10.10 the day Curacao became an autonomous nation in the Dutch Kingdom, NOT everybody was happy but there was optimism from the side of the "NO" party's. But sorrow in the "YES" party's! Since More...


text:
Win Exclusive Passes to Tinariwen's First-Ever Concert in Malaysia
By JUICE Malaysia • Oct 27th, 2017 in Contests
If there's one band you gotta know about, it's Tinariwen – a Grammy-award winning group hailing from the dusty plains of Mali. Said to be Thom Yorke's favourite band, their sounds are reminiscent of a heartbroken gang leader or the world-weary soldier – bravado replaced by tenderness. The haunted croaks of the band's main singers, Ibrahim and Abdallah, complement their "Saharan blues" sound of swirling guitars, rhythms inspired by the gait of camels, and gutturally declaimed poetry.
This upcoming 13 November, you'd be glad to hear that they're set to perform their first-ever concert in Malaysia, marking their only appearance in Southeast Asia as part of their 2017 Asia Tour. And what's more, we've got three (3) pairs of exclusive passes for y'all to grab.
PUSAKA pres. Tinariwen: Live in Kuala Lumpur
Date Monday 13 Nov '17
Time 8pm
Venue KL LIVE
To win a pair of passes, all you need to do is to answer the question below.
Q: What's your most memorable travel experience like?
Send your most creative answer by Thursday 2 November '17 along with your full name, IC (or passport) no., and handphone number with the subject 'PUSAKA pres. Tinariwen' to contest@juiceonline.com. Winners will be notified immediately via email. JUICE will not share the details of our chosen winners to the public.
Watch this space for updates on the event.


A math tutor from Annangrove.
The traditional role of study has to transfer knowledge from one period to the next. Formal education and learning occurred from the requirement to train experienced workers in an Industrial Age society. These days, while we continue with the Info Age and right into the Expertise Age of social advancement, we face the demand to establish labour force who could work successfully in a society rooted in modern technology as well as info handling.
Minimally, to come to be clever people, trainees should learn how to rationalise and also think critically regarding the world in which they live. Ultimately, we need to enlighten our children to become independent learners who can locate, review, process, generate, and synthesise details utilizing a wide range of sources as well as evaluation strategies.
Students comprehend in various ways and also at different rates. There are some views about the means people learn that I consider are universal and which have assisted to create my educational methods.
Students grasp perfectly by "doing": Experiencing a cube is more powerful compared to an instructor informing a student that a parallelepiped is a six-sided object having squares on each face. Students require a great quantity of relevant examples and operations in order to help make ideas and relationships come to life.
Children make connections with previous experiences: Cognitive psycho therapists explain that understanding is formed of large bonds made among segments of information stored in long-term memory. Studying is the procedure of creating bonds within unknown and present (saved) knowledge. For that reason, students understand best if the latest material is closely connected to information and ideas which have really by now been discussed.
students study better if the data is pertinent and also interesting: Learning is an intense process. A student should be completely interested to efficiently interact in the material. The very best means to captivate trainee focus is by making activities and discussion interesting, pertinent, and (when possible) fun.
Tutors need to make every effort to inspire all trainees to make the most of their education by coming to be life-long learners. Teachers need to focus on critical thinking and analytical abilities by stimulating students to inquire, reason, explore, as well as guess. students should relish in the excitement of learning as well as discovery.
My technique to training is to make maths comprehensible, suitable, and delightful. I stress to the children that mathematics is not merely a selection of ideas, solutions, and also computation skills, but rather, a logical and analytical method of thinking regarding day-to-day life. I put an extremely great importance on critical thinking and also analytical skills.
Discover by doing: I assume that maths is not passively learned, and I, consequently, aim to prepare lessons that actively engage my trainees in fun and fascinating means. I likewise require that students employ much time doing homework jobs and projects.
Cooperative learning: I am strong adherent in collective learning with personalized liability. Team work forces scholars to share and clarify their ideas and techniques with each other. Mathematics is better learned by assisting others - personal mastery of a subject is shown as the student is able to explain it to others.
Maths should be fun as well as interesting: I strive welcome each and every discovery or discovery with enthusiasm and wonder. I always encourage trainees who want to make an educated guess at a tough concern. I do my best at designing activities which I find fun, and that can grab the students' interest.
High assumptions: I have extremely high expectations for all my students. I anticipate that every trainee will certainly come ready to actively participate and to do their best work. I believe that my assumptions typically transfer to greater assumptions of the trainees. Of course, it is important to support those students that have difficulty with this idea.
The more I learn regarding education and learning, the more I feel I do not know. I feel that every educator can make improvements in his/her training. Learning is an art - a symphonic merging of material, delivery, and also evaluation. Various students require various blends of this medley.
Hi my name is Mariam Prescott, I live in Annangrove, NSW . But can also travel to Glenorie 2157, Beaumont Hills 2155, Arcadia 2159, Winston Hills 2153, Middle Dural 2158, Castle Hill 2154, Merrylands West 2160.
I enjoy maths as well as I love instructing it. I recognise that mathematics isn't really for everybody but I wish that in my tutorials I could assist you find out the material and, perhaps, you could discover that mathematics could be enjoyable to study as well!


Liferay have good asset Frame work to manage Web content, Documents, Blogs, wikis and message board .It will help us segregate content and other assets.
Liferay have introduced Vocabulary, Categories and Tags to segregate all the assets and its makes displaying assets very easy. We can make different set of assets and we can display these by group. These categories and tags will help us to refine search result so that end user always see relevant data when they search. Assume we have news portal and it has different kind of news and have different locations. The news may be National News, International News, Politics, Sports, Entertainments and Other types of news.
We can say its parent category under this we can have child categories. Asset may associated with multiple vocabularies.
It's used to grouping assets, when we create any asset in Liferay we can map asset to specific category and we can also map one asset to multiple categories. Each vocabulary associated with one or more categories.
News: Sports, Politics and Entertainment.
In Liferay Asset is like some entity it may be Web content, Blog, wiki, Document and Message boards. All these we can consider as Asset.
We can say each vocabulary can be associate with multiple categories and each asset can be associated with multiple categories and multiple tags.
Assume we have News Portal it consist huge amount of web content. Now we can categorise the content as follows.
In Liferay all assets mapping with group and group may be Site, Organization and User Group.
These vocabulary Categories based on Group means each site have its own vocabulary and categories.
Follow the article to know more about create Liferay Site.
Then you site will be crated once created site then create some page for site.
Go to pages section and click on site pages.
Click on Add page then give page name as Home then save it now page will be created.
Once you successfully created site then login as Site Administrator or Portal Administrator.
Go to my sites then you can see newly created site (News Portal) click on your site then you will navigate to your site home page.
Click on Add Vocabulary then it will launch you the screen to create new vocabulary now provide Name and Description. Finally click on save then new Vocabulary created for the site.
As for our example we are going to create News and Location Type. Same you use Add Vocabulary then create both.
Click on Add Category then it will launch Add Category Popup window provide Name, Description and we need to map category with vocabulary. In the dropdown (To Vocabulary) you can select desired vocabulary.
We successfully crated Vocabulary and Categories now we are going to news and mapping these categories.
To prepare the news we will use Liferay web content Journal Articles. In the content section click on Web content and Add new Basic Web content.
Provide Title and Design your content in the editor.
In the right section you can see list of associated things for web content.
Click on Categories section then you can associate category for your news.
Click on each vocabulary Select button then you can see relevant categories from that select check box which related to your web content then close window.
Now you can see categories associated to web content.
You can also map multiple categories if the new belongs to National and International then you can selection both.
Finally click on Publish then web content will be crated.
The above process you can apply for each web content creation and select relevant categories and add relevant tags so that your news will be ready and you can display based on category and tags and users also can find relevant news when they search.
Now we can display news based on categories. Liferay have provided portlet Asset Publisher from this we can display web content based on categories.
Go to Page and Drag and Drop Asset Publisher portlet.
It will be display if the given category or tag does not contains.
Such a way we can display based on our need.
Liferay also given category navigation portlet and this portlet we need use with asset publisher so that it will be display assets based on categories when we click on category.
We need to always place this portlet with asset publisher portlet and we also have Tags Navigation portlet.
When we click on Tags or Categories then Assets will be Filters in Asset Publisher.
Thank you so much for this article. It was helpful.


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Katja Holländer - Hallo Katja (1966)
American-born singer Katja Holländer signed to the Polydor label in her family's German homeland in 1966, where she cut a number of go-go-tastic tunes with some of the country's top songwriters.
She was born Melody Hollaender on 20 March 1944 in Hollywood, California, in the United States. Her father was composer Friedrich Hollaender, who is best known for having penned Marlene Dietrich's Falling in love again/Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt.
Melody came to Europe in the 1950s, and in 1966 she landed a contract with the Polydor label in Germany.
At that time, the country was smitten with Nancy Sinatra. Her These boots are made for walkin' had just spent six weeks at the top of the charts, and a German version of the song, performed by fellow US singer Eileen, had also proved a hit.
Polydor bosses decided that their new signing – who had been renamed Katja Holländer – would be the perfect front for a Teutonic take on this sound.
Katja was teamed with top lyricist and producer Kurt Feltz and composer Werner Scharfenberger, the pair behind many big hits by the likes of Gitte, Mina and Connie Francis.
The first single to be released from this collaboration was the first-rate Er heißt Peter, with Wenn ich deinen Namen hör, a version of the Jackie De Shannon-penned Come and stay with me (a hit in the UK for Marianne Faithfull), on the reverse.
Perhaps surprisingly, the 45 failed to sell.
What is more unexpected is that the label pushed ahead with its plans for Katja to cut an album.
The resultant LP, Hallo, Katja, is remarkably good. Full of catchy tunes and tongue-in-cheek lyrics, it is now much sought after by fans of the genre. However, despite promotional appearances on German TV, it didn't attract much attention from record buyers at the time.
The following year, Katja switched to the smaller Populär label for one final German release, Weine nicht um einen Boy, issued under the alternative spelling of Katja Hollaender. When it went the way of her previous releases, no further material was issued.
Katja now lives back in California, where she manages her father's musical legacy.
http://www.readysteadygirls.eu/#/katja-hollander/4532558106
tags 60's, Germany, Girls, Katja Holländer
Lora 6 Apr 2015, 11:14:00
Thanks for rare LP! Wo-ow!
Cover with Katja Holländer - it's look like my portrait!
Very similar - and I even have the same dress and often do the same hairstyle.
Yes, I love this naive and charming style of the sixties!
Every day waiting for new rarities!
Lora.
45' rarities - Rocky F. Holicke – Movement / Read...
The Tangerine Zoo - Outside Looking In (1968)
Twentieth Century Zoo - Thunder On a Clear Day (19...
Stained Glass - Aurora (1969)
Stained Glass – Crazy Horse Roads (1968)
The Osmonds - Crazy Horses (1972)
The Archies - Sugar Sugar (1969)
The Archies - This Is Love (1971)
The Archies - Jingle Jangle (1969)
Johnny Kidd &The Pirates - 25 Greatest Hits
Marcie Blane - Bobby's Girl :The Complete Seville ...
Ria Bartok - French EP Collection
VA - Rock Party 1966
Wanda Jackson & Cliff Richard- The Best Of Rock'N'...
Oxfords - Flying Up Through The Sky (1966-72)
The Simple Image - Spinning Spinning Spinning
VA - Kraut! Demons! Kraut ! German Psychedelic Und...
Heimatliche Klaenge vol.58-62: 1000 Nadelstiche
Beau Brummell Esquire & His Noble Men - B Side Vi...
Shelley Fabares - Growing Up The 1962 Recordings
The Beau Brummels - Magic Hollow (1964-1968)
The Beau Brummels - Introducing The Beau Brummels ...
Ray Anthony And His Bookends – The Twist (1962)
Heimatliche Klaenge vol.157 : Alpha Centauri
Larry Williams - The Larry Williams Show with John...
Jon & Robin - Elastic Event (1967)
Arthur Alexander - Lonely Just Like Me: The Final ...
The E-Types - Introducing...The E-Types (1965-1966...
Jan Rhode & The Adventures - Same (1965) & Come'n ...
Jay-Jays - Bald Headed Woman
The Hounds - The Lion sleeps tonight 1966-1968
Tol-Puddle Martyrs - Spiral Records (60's)
Ray Hoff & The Off Beats
The Who - Magic Bus (1968)
Thomas Natschinski und seine Gruppe - Mokka-Milch-...
The Sonics - 45'
V.A. - Untamed & Innocent
J. Frank Wilson & The Cavaliers - Last Kiss (1964)...
The Tol-Puddle Martyrs - Puddle With... The Tol-Pu...
The Peep Show - Maze (1967-1968 LP Comp.)
Dante & The Evergreens - Evergreens and Friends
Perry Como - Juke Box Baby
Birtha - Can't Stop The Madness
VA - Frolic Diner (LP) Vo.1 - 6
Them - Now And Them (1967)
The Mystics - 16 Golden Hits


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Tag Archives: ANDRES SANCHEZ
LA IRA O EL SEOL.
It's a funny thing, when you collect film music you sometimes think that you know the style of many of the composers that you favour, well I thought I knew what to expect from composers Gus Reyes and Andres Sanchez, up until I heard their score for, LA IRA O EL SEOL that is, When I first started to listen I thought, this is certainly different, but I should know that composers who write for film are a talented bunch and are able to alter their style and also the sound that they create from film to film, to suit the scenario of the film and also the style of the movie. LA IRA O EL SEOL contains a score that is a lot darker and complex than anything Sanchez and Reyes have written before, well at least darker than anything I have heard from them. This is a menacing sound here, a virulent and chilling persona comes through and does effectively chill one to the bone. It is in my opinion one of the most accomplished and polished scores that they have penned to date. I am a fan of dark and shadowy scores and this one fits the bill perfectly, there is a real sense of the unknown and the foreboding purveyed within the work, often fleeting sounds or hints of themes and motifs can be disconcerting for the listener as one is trying to focus upon what one thinks is an emerging theme, but instead another sound hits you out of nowhere, the cue HELL on the score is a harrowing piece and the composers make effective use of choir and Soprano, I would not say that it is a melodic cue, but more of an impacting and powerful one, with the voices of the choir bringing an uneasy and unnerving quality to the work.
These attributes also manifest themselves throughout the remainder of the score, the composers creating a sinister and unhinged sound that for me evoke the works of composer Gyorgy Ligeti, in REQUIEM ll: IL KYRIE and ATMOSPHERES. The use of the human voice being a vital component to the creation of a fearful and near chaotic sound. I have to say that when listening to many of the cues on the score I did feel uncomfortable as in spine tingling so. LA IRA O EL SEOL is a robust and vibrant work, complex yet attractive, uneasy yet at the same time mesmerising. Take a listen, it's a rewarding experience. Recommended.
ANDRES SANCHEZGus ReyesLA IRA O EL SEOL
FALCO.
The composing powerhouse collaboration that is Gus Reyes and Andres Sanchez is once again with us. One of their more recent projects, FALCO the TV series season one is I have to say another excellent work with these two versatile and talented composers not failing to excite, entertain and wow, with their inventive and innovative style of scoring. FALCO is an up beat and commanding score that is filled with haunting musical hooks and pulsating beats, it is a work that is very much contemporary in its style, the composers utilising synthetic sounds alongside a more conventional style, but it is on this occasion the electronic side of things that dominates and is effective. The composers establish a core sound early on in the work, and from this they build their atmospheric and darkly enticing yet up tempo score, in many ways I was reminded of the work of Giorgio Moroder mainly in MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, it has that aura and persona to it, the tense and nervy sounds create layers of tension which build and multiply to fashion a stressful atmosphere. This mood is present throughout most of the score, with the occasional respite, that at times lulls the listener into a false sense of security. I found myself totally immersed by the dark and tense style that is employed within the soundtrack, and at times although not thematic it still held my attention and was in a strange way mesmerising. This is a brooding and understated work at times but every now and then we are treated to a hint of a theme that does on occasion burst forth as in the track BASEBALL. I also think and this is a personal thing, that there are within the score a few references to the music of the Euro western, just little nuances, fleeting sounds and even a strumming of guitar placed at a strategic point in the proceedings, kind of evokes the sound we associate with the likes of Morricone, Nicolai and Ferrio. Overall this is a score that I am confident you will savour and enjoy, so add it to your collection.
ANDRES SANCHEZFALCOGus Reyes


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There seems to be a lot of peacocking going on in burlesque at the moment. My Twitter feed is overflowing with photographs of costuming projects, new headdresses, statements about rhinestones and details of up-coming performances. And as much as I love seeing the outcomes of passionate investments, I'd also love to read about inspiration sources, burlesque research and the muses that fire burlesque flames…
Read Doing Your Burlesque Research Part One
Beatrix Von Bourbon: Doing Your Burlesque Research, Part Two. (©Mat Ricardo)
When it comes to Twitter, Dita Von Teese (@ditavonteese) is an excellent example of a performer who shares her research, posting interesting book pages, web-links and snippets of information about past performers. She often shares her secrets when asked, posting details of her make-up, props, styling and even lighting. Michelle L'amour (@michelle_lamour) has also been generously sharing bite-size "tease tips" on a daily basis – reason alone to sign up for a Twitter account!
In my previous article, I wrote of my own research experiences, but shared little on exactly how to research, something I intend to remedy within this article.
Burlesque Research: Videos
First off, watching videos of other performers is a quick, fun and easy way to research, something that many people do without necessarily realising that it counts as research! A great little website for finding performance videos is burlesque specialists Stripcheez. They feature a 'Cheez Star of the day' on the front page, accompanied by an embedded video – this makes for a fabulous way to get a daily burlesque fix at one mouse click. Visit this site and you can spend hours clicking around recommended and related videos, learning about performers you'd not yet encountered and events you hadn't dreamed possible.
Watching burlesque videos online will teach you many things that are simply not possible to learn from a burlesque movement class. These include:
– Who performs burlesque now (and who has performed burlesque then).
– What numbers are or have been performed on the circuit. Within this I include themes, soundtracks and narratives that form the basis of acts (e collaboration tools for business.g. Little Red Riding Hood). Learning about existing acts can help prevent you falling into the trap of pairing a well-known song with its corresponding theme only to perform your act and then find yourself accused of unoriginality or of copying a performer who has already paired the two together. An example of this would be performing a candy-themed act to 'Lollipop' by The Chordettes.
– What aesthetic approaches people are taking (and have taken) to burlesque, from gorelesque to tribute acts, large props to burlesque classics (balloon pops, fan dances etc).
– On a deeper level, a viewer can watch acts by well-known burlesque performers and decide for her/himself whether the act lives up to their expectations. If so, why so? If not, why not? Contemplating other people's acts like this helps you to understand your own burlesque tastes and leanings. If you are a performer too, this reflexive approach to watching other people's acts helps you to focus your own contributions. You may find you begin to mirror your critical observation of others by applying the same level of critique to your own work.
"…some performers may wish to keep their act concept secret until they perform the act for the first time. In this case, one has to weigh up the pros and cons of the impact of an act's grand reveal against the speedy assistance one can get with making that act strong and powerful through publicly-assisted research."
When it comes to researching specifics, my top tip is – don't be afraid to ask.
Asking performers or scene-goers with more time on the circuit than yourself can save you a lot of research time. If you're interested to learn whether someone is already performing an act that satires kid's TV, you can either spend hours browsing video websites or you can spend minutes asking a handful of well-directed questions. Use your social networking accounts to befriend other performers or burlesque fans – a quick status update can spark responses instantly. If you want a more in-depth response from a wider pool of burlesque family members, use forums.
If there's a specific historic element you're researching, like striptease acts who have used live animals in their acts, it can be quite daunting to start sourcing books and sifting through pages of material. If you ask people who have done a little more research than you, or have different specialist areas within their research, then the start of your own research project may be assisted by a book recommendation, a performer's name or a video link.
Contacting other performers is a great way to simultaneously kick-start research, network and make new friends. A little email can also demonstrate that you respect an established performer's opinion and experience – this won't go unnoticed and may score you some brownie points with those in the top echelon of burlesque figures. I've yet to come across an established burlesque performer who is not willing to assist newer performers.
This said, there are a couple of areas that are rather faux pas to request assistance with.
Firstly, if you are based in a large city, don't ask another, more established performer based in the same city to share his/her contacts list for promoters/bookers. The established performer has spent months, or sometimes years, nurturing their relationship with their bookers. To an established performer with a fragile sense of self-confidence, it may also feel like they're adding to their own competition if they assist skilled performers with getting work.
Established performers sometimes feel that new-performers are requesting to piggy-back on a lot of hard work when they ask for contacts. Other established performers feel that sharing contacts may jeopardise business relationships, either by damaging a sense of confidentiality between themselves and their bookers, or by damaging the booker's reputation if the booker hires an act that she/he deems to be sub-standard because they trusted the apparent recommendation of the established performer.
Secondly, don't ask for supplier details of costume/props in order to get a replica of an existing costume/prop made. Unlike clothing lines, costume and prop makers tend to make one-off, bespoke pieces for burlesque performers. It's ok thing to ask a performer for a costumier's details because you like the costumier's aesthetic and would like something in a similar style, but don't treat costumes and props like off-the-peg clothes, they deserve more respect than that.
"There's so much information out there that it's impossible to ever reach a point where you've read, seen and heard everything there is to know about burlesque…" (Red Herring ©Craig Cochrane)
Declare Your Burlesque Research
Don't be afraid to reveal your ideas and the associated things that you need help to research. Your honesty and openness will immediately make people more willing to help you out. If you trust people with your idea, they'll be more likely to care to assist. Sure, there's always a fear that someone will copy, steal or imitate your idea, but I think that's a waste of brain-power. If you've posted your idea publicly, with a date and time attached to it, an imitator's got to be a complete imbecile if they're going to then take your idea and claim they came up with it first.
In some ways, by posting publicly you're date-stamping your concept. Of course, some performers may wish to keep their act concept secret until they perform the act for the first time. In this case, one has to weigh up the pros and cons of the impact of an act's grand reveal against the speedy assistance one can get with making that act strong and powerful through publicly-assisted research.
Areas to research? Well, of course, the obvious culprits are your act concept, your music, your costume and, if you're bringing in other skill sets, the pairing of your skill set with burlesque. All these elements ought to be researched both in terms of their intrinsic content and their history (or lack of it) within the burlesque world. Say, for example, you plan to make an act based on Cleopatra. One should research both the historical figure of Cleopatra and the appearance of the character within burlesque to-date. It may also be useful to research other artistic depictions of Cleopatra such as paintings, films and plays, to see where other artists have taken the character.
It's important and useful to know what acts have come before you and whether they've been successful. If you're aiming for complete originality, then research around your act's main elements. For example, if you want to make an original fan dance (see my previous article, How to Make a Fan Dance Your Own), learn about past/present performers, how they dance with their fans and what kind of soundtracks they use. This research will really help you to focus your act.
"Just because a particular performance element isn't one of your key strengths, it doesn't mean you ought to write it off. Face the challenge and embrace the challenge, not to over-come your weakness, but to get to know it better…"
Burlesque Research in Reverse
I'm also a big fan of researching opposites to the key elements of your performance execution. I've heard people state that they can't dance and therefore will stick to performing narrative, comedy-based acts. However, if such performers research dance by going to a few dance classes, they may find they can then identify the specific elements of dance that they struggle with. This would then help them to simultaneously identify the opposite areas where they have strength.
A lack of rhythm, for example, means a performer doesn't need to rely on music to carry her/his act. Such a performer will not need the audial rhythm to remain consistent throughout his/her act and therefore is free to use music to create audial jokes and/or use a medley of music. In learning about the areas of performance that are effected by rhythm, such as complicated footwork sequences and punchy dance-crescendos, a performer who struggles with rhythm will learn more about the mechanisms of rhythm. One can then find ways to apply rhythmic mechanisms without depending upon rhythmic skill, such as using narrative pacing (as opposed to paced movement) to add highs and lows to an act.
Just because a particular performance element isn't one of your key strengths, it doesn't mean you ought to write it off. Face the challenge and embrace the challenge, not to over-come your weakness, but to get to know it better. This is why job interviewers will ask you about your weak areas – they don't merely want you to demonstrate self-awareness, but also how you can use a weakness to your advantage.
Burlesque Research: The Tribute Act
Another obvious trigger for research is the tribute act. In fact, to make a successful tribute act one has to conduct an incredibly thorough research project. Assuming one is going for a non-satirical tribute to a specific performer's number; one mustn't limit one's research to the previous performer's act concept and costuming.
One must get to know the performer by learning about their life on and off stage – what factors contributed to this performer and her/his act becoming famous in the first place? Get to know the entire personality of the act, from the performer's motivations through to the social and political surroundings of the act's original popularity.
Celebrated tribute acts: Michelle L'amour in tribute to Sally Rand (©Don Spiro) and Dirty Martini in tribute to Zorita (©Guido Laudani)
It's easy to base a tribute act upon your own identification with a past performer or act, but your tribute will be much stronger if you go a step beyond this and build your act upon a foundational level of respect for the original artist.
Researching burlesque history assists your professionalism in general. A few examples? You get your first magazine interview. The interviewer asks 'Which performers from burlesque's Golden Era have inspired you?' If you don't know much about burlesque history, you risk either name-dropping a performer who did not take to the stage during the Golden Era or you risk looking like a phoney when you say 'I don't really know any of the performers outside of my local area'.
Can you imagine a musician being asked to list their favourite acts of the last one hundred years and stating 'I don't really know anything about old music'?! If you don't know much about burlesque history you risk looking selfish, foolish, pretentious and/or amateur.
Another example? One of my pet peeves is when performers imitate costuming, especially with regards to belly dance or Eastern inspired costumes. There is a reason why burlesque costumes frequently have a hint of bellydance about them, from isis wings to chiffon-draped shimmy belts. These costumes pack a punch if the performer is clever enough to use and pay tribute to the historic significance of the part belly dance/exotic dancing played within the history of burlesque (from Salome through to Little Egypt and beyond).
If you're on stage wearing an item just because you've seen someone else wear something similar and you think it looks pretty, you might be missing a trick. You might also be embarrassing yourself by failing to acknowledge an inherent purpose or cultural significance to a prop or a piece of costume.
There's so much information out there that it's impossible to ever reach a point where you've read, seen and heard everything there is to know about burlesque. By keeping engaged with your art, you keep your ideas moving, you keep your inspiration fresh and you keep your passion alive. By sharing your research you also help to inspire others to do the same, to keep learning, growing and becoming a better performer…
Burlesque research