Thomas Friends: Gordon Is Stuck In Tidmouth Sheds!
O, the indignity! Gordon selfishly takes the only berth in Tidmouth Sheds to sleep in. But it turns out his selfishness gets repaid with some bad misfortune - Gordon is stuck in Tidmouth Sheds!...
By: Thomas Friends
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Thomas & Friends: Gordon Is Stuck In Tidmouth Sheds! - Video
A class of drug for treating arthritis -- all but shelved over fears about side effects -- may be given a new lease of life, following the discovery of a possible way to identify which patients should avoid using it.
The new study, led by Imperial College London and published in the journal Circulation, sheds new light on the 10-year-old question of how COX-2 inhibitors -- a type of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) -- can increase the risk of heart attack in some people.
NSAIDs -- which include very familiar drugs such as ibuprofen, diclofenac and aspirin -- are widely-used treatments for debilitating inflammatory conditions such as arthritis as well as being used for general pain relief worldwide. NSAIDs are also being investigated for their potential to prevent cancer. COX-2 inhibitors, which include Vioxx and Celebrex, were developed in the 1990s to avoid the risk of stomach ulcers caused by some NSAIDs, but after they were linked to an increased risk of heart attacks, they rapidly fell out of favour and some brands, including Vioxx, were withdrawn.
The new study, in mice and human volunteers, was led by Professor Jane Mitchell and Dr James Leiper. Professor Mitchell, from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial, said: "Although the majority of arthritis sufferers could safely use COX-2 inhibitors, the fear of heart attacks has left some patients confused and worried about their medication and GPs nervous about prescribing them. This problem is made worse because we now know that most NSAIDs, not just COX-2 selective drugs, carry a similar risk of heart attacks in some patients.
"If we could identify which people have an increased risk, these patients could be offered more appropriate treatments -- and we can start to look at ways of reducing or averting the risk entirely."
NSAIDs work by preventing the production of prostaglandins -- the chemical messengers in tissues and joints that trigger pain and inflammation. Prostaglandins are produced by two different enzymes, known as COX-1 and COX-2, which are found at sites of inflammation as well as in other sites around the body.
The study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, the British Heart Foundation and the Medical Research Council (MRC), looked at where and how removing COX-2 caused changes in gene activity in mice. They found that knocking out COX-2 caused changes in three genes in the kidney which predicted a rise in levels of a molecule linked to cardiovascular disease, called ADMA. In subsequent tests, the researchers found that taking NSAIDs led to a rise in ADMA levels in mice and in 16 human volunteers.
Dr James Leiper, from the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre at Imperial, said: ''ADMA is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. In people increases of ADMA similar to those we found are linked with significant increases in cardiovascular disease and death. Our discovery that COX-2 inhibitors raise ADMA levels provides a plausible mechanism for the increased cardiovascular risk associated with these drugs and provides insights into how this risk might be mitigated'
Professor Mitchell thinks that higher ADMA levels might work as an indicator of which patients are at greater risk of a heart attack.
"If we are right," said Professor Mitchell, "ADMA could be used as a biomarker in a simple blood test to identify who may be at risk, and regular screening would allow GPs to monitor patients' ADMA levels to ensure these remain within safe limits whilst taking the drug." The team are planning a clinical trial to test their idea.
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Biomarker discovery sheds new light on heart attack risk of arthritis drugs
The oceans are a mystery in more ways than one, but you might not expect the answers to come from a pack of electronics and a comet. But that's what the European Space Agency (ESA) says about the unmanned Rosetta probe orbiting comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko. Though 67P is making its first visit to the inner Solar System and won't come closer to the Earth than hundreds of millions of miles, it is throwing new light on one of the fundamental questions in Earth's history: Where did the oceans come from?
According to current theories, the Earth was formed as the disk of dust and gas that surrounded the primordial Sun coalesced into planets. The water in the oceans could have come from that, but the formation of the newborn Earth 4.6 billion years ago left it an incandescent molten mass that would have boiled away any water into space before the crust even had a chance to form. And yet, today three quarters of the Earth is covered by water. So, what was the source?
One idea is that the water came from comets. It's a logical source. Comets are "dirty snowballs" made up largely of ice, so a steady rain of them during the early history of the Earth when the planet was being bombarded by objects from space could have been the origin of the oceans. However, proof needs more than plausibility; it needs evidence.
To see if comets could have been the source of Earth's water, scientist's turned to isotopic analysis. Water is made up of an oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms, and the hydrogen atoms are made of a proton and an electron. However, if a hydrogen atom also has a neutron in its nucleus, it becomes a hydrogen isotope called deuterium.
What's clever about this is that the ratio between normal hydrogen atoms and deuterium isn't fixed. It depends on the origin of the atoms, and by matching the ratios of one source against another, scientists can deduce where the water in any particular part of the Solar System probably came from because the ratio changes the farther away from the Sun you get. This means that water that comes from the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter will be different from that coming from the Kuiper Belt beyond Pluto, which will in turn differ from that of the Oort cloud on the fringes of the system.
This is where Rosetta comes in. Among the suite of instruments carried by the orbiter is the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA), which is a pair of mass spectrometers and a pressure sensor used to determine the chemical composition of comet 67P's coma, the temperature and speed of the gas molecules, and last, but not least, the ratio of various isotopes including hydrogen.
According to astronomers, comet 67P is a fossil of the earliest days of the Solar System because it came from the Oort cloud, which has remained unchanged for billions of years. These icy fragments float in space until a passing star or other massive object disturbs them and sends them hurtling toward the Sun. As they do so, some are captured by the gravitational pull of Jupiter and swung into new orbits. In the case of 67P, it now swings around the Sun in an elliptical orbit with a period of 6.5 years, coming no closer to the Sun than a point between Earth and Mars before heading back out beyond Jupiter.
What all this means is that 67P is made up of very ancient water and if comets are the source of Earth's oceans, then the isotope ratios should match to a reasonable degree. However, they don't. ESA says the 67P confirms measurements taken of 11 other comets that have been studied all of which, except one, showed very different deuterium/hydrogen ratios from that of Earth. And the odd-comet out, called comet Hartley 2, is a Jupiter Family comet, which has a different origin from those in the Oort cloud.
Deuterium-to-hydrogen ratios in the Solar System (Image: ESA/Altweg)
In all, ESA says that the deuterium/hydrogen ratio of the Earth is 1.56 104 while 67P's ratio is 5.3 x 104. This makes 67P's ratio three times higher than that of Earth's oceans and is higher than that of any other Oort cloud comet measured so far.
FREDERICK Peralta with son Kevin. JILSON SECKLER TIU
Getting teary-eyed is perhaps the last thing one expects to experience after watching a Frederick Peralta fashion show.
Known for theatrical and heavily embellished pieces, the multi-awarded designer seems more likely to shock his audience than make it cry.
However, this wasnt the case recently as Peralta staged Marry Me at Marriott, his 30th anniversary show featuring 34 wedding gowns and a dozen tuxedos.
There wasnt a dry eye in the grand ballroom as he and his 22-year-old son Kevin Peralta, one of the shows models, walked down the ramp at the end of the show, holding hands and acknowledging the hearty applause.
Those familiar with the designers story and how Kevin came into his life savored the rare moment.
That night wasnt exactly Kevins modeling debut for his dad. But it was the first time many people, including some of Peraltas friends and clients, saw how Kevin had grown.
The first time he modeled for me was when he turned four, said Peralta. He was a ring bearer in my Paco Park show. When he was 12, he also took part in a wedding show I did at Edsa Shangri-La.
The designer asked Kevin, whom he adopted as a baby, to do it as a favor for Papa.
The young man, who grew up surrounded by his fathers dresses, loyal clients and team of dressmakers in Malate, readily obliged.
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Frederick Peralta sheds a tear
December 9, 2014 6:40 AM
(credit: Charlie Langton/WWJ Newsradio 950)
GROSSE POINTE PARK (AP) - Officials say farmers market sheds that block a roadway between the poverty-pocked east side of Detroit and upscale Grosse Pointe Park arent expected to be removed anytime soon.
The cities mayors in October reached an agreement to remove the sheds, which some say were erected as a hostile act.
Grosse Pointe Park City Council heard comments on the issue Monday night, according to the Detroit Free Press. City Councilman David Clark says the blockade will eventually come down or at least change its form, but its not going to be soon.
The deal includes removing blight and redeveloping the border area between the two cities to create a connecting gateway. Grosse Pointe Park will reopen drivers access to the blocked off Kercheval Avenue, where workers finished building traffic barriers and sheds earlier this year.
Detroit Land Bank Authority spokesman Craig Fahle told officials Monday that Detroit is taking rapid action against blighted properties on the Detroit side of the border.
Grosse Pointe Park City Attorney Dennis Levasseur says the community is negotiating with Detroit about a comprehensive development on Kercheval.
MORE: Grosse Pointe Park Agrees To Reopen Border WithDetroit
Did Mostly-White Affluent Suburb Close Off Street To Keep DetroitersOut?
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Grosse Pointe Park Barricade Staying Put For Now
Researchers have found new evidence that explains how some aspects of our personality may affect our health and wellbeing, supporting long-observed associations between aspects of human character, physical health and longevity.
A team of health psychologists at The University of Nottingham and the University of California in Los Angeles carried out a study to examine the relationship between certain personality traits and the expression of genes that can affect our health by controlling the activity of our immune systems.
The study did not find any results to support a common theory that tendencies toward negative emotions such as depression or anxiety can lead to poor health (disease-prone personality). What was related to differences in immune cell gene expression were a person's degree of extraversion and conscientiousness.
The study used highly sensitive microarray technology to examine relationships between the five major human personality traits and two groups of genes active in human white blood cells (leukocytes): one involving inflammation, and another involving antiviral responses and antibodies.
A group of 121 ethnically diverse and healthy adults were recruited. These were comprised of 86 females and 35 males with an average age of 24 (range 18-59) and an average body mass index of 23. The participants completed a personality test which measures five major dimensions of personality -- extraversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness -- (NEO-FFI McCrae and Costa, 2004). Blood samples were collected from each volunteer for gene expression analysis and their typical smoking, drinking and exercise behaviors were also recorded for control purposes. Gene expression analysis was carried out at the Social Genomics Core Laboratory at UCLA.
Leading the research, Professor Kavita Vedhara, from The University of Nottingham's School of Medicine, said: "Our results indicated that 'extraversion' was significantly associated with an increased expression of pro-inflammatory genes and that 'conscientiousness' was linked to a reduced expression of pro-inflammatory genes. In other words, individuals who we would expect to be exposed to more infections as a result of their socially orientated nature (i.e., extraverts) appear to have immune systems that we would expect can deal effectively with infection. While individuals who may be less exposed to infections because of their cautious/conscientious dispositions have immune systems that may respond less well. We can't, however, say which came first. Is this our biology determining our psychology or our psychology determining our biology?"
These two clear associations were independent of the recorded health behaviors of the participants and subsets of white blood cells which are the cells of the body's immune system. They were also independent of the amount of negative emotions people experienced. The study also found that expression of antiviral/antibody-related genes was not significantly associated with any personality dimension.
In the remaining three categories of personality, 'openness' also trended towards a reduced expression of pro-inflammatory genes and 'neuroticism' and 'agreeableness' remained unassociated with gene expression.
The research concludes that although the biological mechanisms of these associations need to be explored in future research, these new data may shed new light on the long-observed epidemiological associations between personality, physical health, and human longevity.
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Relationship between personality, health: Study sheds new light on link
Eden Prairie, Minnesota Birchwood Technologies announces introduction of the new NEAR-ZERO water recycler for use in new and existing TRU TEMP low temperature black oxide finishing lines.
Designed to reduce rinse water consumption up to 99 percent, the NEAR-ZERO system allows the user to recycle and re-use process rinse water by filtering out free and emulsified oil and detergent residues. The system maintains rinse water pH at a near neutral level for continual reuse.
The NEAR-ZERO system provides TRU TEMP black oxide process users a cost-effective way to conserve water, particularly in areas where water use is restricted or where normal water and city sewer services are not easily accessed. For example, a normal TRU TEMP black oxide process line with 100 gallon tanks utilizes three flowing rinse tanks, each requiring a flow rate of about two gallons of water per minute. When operated for one shift per day for a month, the total water consumption is about 63,000 gallons all going to city sewer as non-hazardous discharge. Though the actual cost of this volume of water is usually modest, a flowing rinse system may not be a viable option for all users.
The Near-Zero Water Recycler allows the user to recycle and re-use the water in the rinse tanks for about a month. Then the Near-Zero filter media is changed, and all three rinse tanks are changed and re-filled with clean water, and the monthly cycle starts over. Total water consumption equals 300-500 gallons a 99% reduction.
The NEAR-ZERO water recycling system is designed for TRU TEMP process lines of all sizes and is completely pre-engineered for fast setup. The NEAR-ZERO system has easy to operate controls and has an enclosed cabinet with a spill containment base. The system can be integrated into most TRU TEMP tank lines in only a few minutes.
The NEAR-ZERO Water Recycling System is an important new option for metal finishers in water-restricted areas. These include small shops on septic systems, sewer districts that restrict total water volume, or in plants where the blackening line is located in a warehouse without water/sewer hookups. In all instances, the Near-Zero Water Recycling System can be installed on a new process line, or added to an existing line as a retrofit. The new system can make the difference between successful in-house blackening and no blackening at all.
Want more information? See at: http://www.birchwoodtechnologies.com Email: info@birchwoodtechnologies.com
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Water Recycler works with black oxide process.
LAWRENCE PIERCE | Gazette
(Left to right) Joe Solomon, Taylor Books manager Dan Carlisle and owner Ann Saville discuss the shops latest addition: a used book room. The store is hosting a Book Blizzard Thursday to gather donations for the room, which will open next month.
It started with a back room that had only a cat and a mountain of cardboard inside.
With a little vision and some elbow grease, Taylor Books has changed that ignored spaced into a used book room.
Joe Solomon, curator of the shops latest project, first approached bookstore manager Dan Carlisle with the idea during a job interview.
Part of his resume said something about running his own used bookshop, which I found very interesting, said Carlisle, who showed him the room during that meeting.
Solomon, while living in Brooklyn, ran a used bookstore on the Internet.
I vowed never ever, ever to do that ever again. Because while the books were real, I never met all the people the books were going out to and finding homes with, Solomon said.
The idea had been germinating at the shop for years, Carlisle said.
We have talked about it and talked about it. Gone through different phases of, Yes, we can do this, No, its not possible, Carlisle said.
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Shop hopes used books make for 'beloved resource'
ELDRIDGE There is a significant discrepancy in knowledge and talent inside Dan Knight's practice room.
In one corner, Bettendorf has three nationally ranked wrestlers, two other state champions and a state runner-up.
The other side of the room features a plethora of inexperience, particularly at the upper three weights, after 220-pounder Max Erpelding has been ruled out for the season.
For Bettendorf to have any opportunity of defending its state duals title come February, Knight realizes the development of the latter is paramount.
"The attitude is there, the work ethic is there, but they just need mat time and to do things over and over again," Knight said after the Bulldogs defeated Davenport Central 80-0 and North Scott 43-24 in a Mississippi Athletic Conference double dual Thursday night at The Pit. "It will take time."
In the meantime, there is added pressure on Bettendorf's established wrestlers to produce bonus points.
They delivered.
After North Scott won four of the first five bouts to build a 21-3 advantage, Bettendorf recovered with four falls, a major decision and forfeit win to seal the triumph.
"For me, it is more individual pressure than team pressure," said 120-pounder Jacob Schwarm, who had a pair of first-period falls on the night. "I'm always looking for pins and bonus points."
In addition to Schwarm, Jack Wagner (113 pounds), Fredy Stroker (145) and Jacob Woodard (152) had pins for the Bulldogs. It marked the 100th career fall for Stroker.
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Bulldogs' big guns pave way to win over Lancers
December 11, 2014 - Canadian Football League (CFL) B.C. Lions (Vancouver) The BC Lions Football Club will hold its annual locker room sale on Saturday, December 13th from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm at the home of the Leos, BC Place (access via Gate H). Season ticket holders can take advantage of exclusive access to the locker room sale from 10:00 am to 11:00 am.
In addition to authentic Lions merchandise including the club's popular gun-metal gray alternate jerseys, fans can pick up game-used helmets and practice balls and take advantage of special pricing on select 2014 BC Lions gear. There will also be a great selection of merchandise from the 102nd Grey Cup.
Current BC Lions players Adam Bighill, Shawn Gore, Ernest Jackson and J.R. LaRose, will be on hand during the day to sign autographs.
What : BC Lions annual locker room sale
When: Saturday, December 13th
Where: BC Place (access via Gate H)
Time: 11:00 am to 2:00 pm (season ticket holder access: 10:00 am)
Season tickets for 2015 are on sale now . Whether you're renewing your current seats or signing up for 2015 there's no better time than right now to take advantage of savings up to 27% on the price of single game tickets. Early-bird renewals and new season ticketholders purchasing before December 16th can also secure their seats at 2014 pricing. Everyone renewing or purchasing seats for the 2015 season through January 30th, 2015 will also be entered to win a 2015 Nissan Titan .
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BC Lions Annual Locker Room Sale Set for Saturday
