Friday, March 29, 2013

Scientists examine nothing, find something

Two studies of vacuums suggest that the speed of light in a vacuum might fluctuate, pointing the way to a quantum mechanical explanation for why the speed of light and other so-called constants are what they are.

By Eoin O'Carroll,?Staff / March 25, 2013

A young person attempts to navigate a laser maze during the grand opening ceremony for the Angry Birds Space Encounter at the Kennedy Space Center earlier this month. Researchers say that the speed of light in a vacuum, long thought to be a universal constant, may actually fluctuate.

Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today/AP

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Where did the speed of light in a vacuum come from? Why is it 299,792,458 meters per second and not some other figure?

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The simple answer is that, since 1983, science has defined a meter by the speed of light: one meter equals the distance light travels in one?299,792,458th of a second.?But that doesn't really answer our question. It's just the physics equivalent of saying, "Because I said so."?

Unfortunately, the deeper answer has been equally unsatisfying: The speed of light in a vacuum, according to physics textbooks, just is. It's a constant, one of those numbers that defines the universe. That's the physics equivalent of saying, "Because the cosmos said so."?

Or did it? A pair of studies suggest that this universal constant?might not be so constant after all. In the first study, Marcel Urban from the University of Paris-Sud and his team found that the speed of light in a vacuum varies ever so slightly.

This happens because what we think of as nothing isn't really nothing. Even if you were to create a perfect vacuum, at the quantum level it would still be populated with pairs of tiny "virtual" particles that flash in and out of existence and whose energy values fluctuate. As a consequence of these fluctuations, the speed of a photon passing through a vacuum varies, about?50 quintillionths of a second per square meter.

That may not sound like much, but it's enough to point the way toward a new underlying physics.

Before 1905, when?Albert Einstein formulated his special theory of relativity, scientists regarded space and time as composing the backdrop of the universe, the immovable stage upon which motion takes place. The only problem with this model is that light seems to move at the same speed regardless of the speed of the source, creating an apparent paradox. Einstein's theory resolved this paradox by replacing Newton's absolutes of time and space with a single absolute, the speed of light.

But if even that can vary, what's left for us to hang our hat on? Nothing, it turns out.

But, as we just noted, nothing is something. Urban's paper suggests that the speed of light and other constants "are not fundamental constants but observable parameters of the quantum vacuum." In other words, the speed of light emerges from the properties of particles in the vacuum.

In the other paper, physicists?Gerd Leuchs and Luis L. S?nchez-Soto, from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Light in Erlangen, Germany, hypothesize how this emergence occurs. They suggest that the impedance of a vacuum ? another electromagnetic 'constant' whose value depends on the speed of light ? itself depends only on the electric charge of the particles in the vacuum, and not their masses.

If their hypothesis is correct, it answers our question of where the speed of light comes from: It emerges from the total number of charged particles in the universe.?

Time will tell if this hypothesis is correct. And of course, by "time," we mean "space and time," by which we mean "the speed of light," by which we mean "nothing," by which we mean "the properties of the quantum vacuum." But in the meantime ? or whatever ? you can thank us for informing you that, as the speed of light in a vacuum continues to fluctuate, so too does the length of the meter. Think nothing of it.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/JZLe20Gk_Iw/Scientists-examine-nothing-find-something

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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Bad weather blamed for drop in quality at Merseyside beaches ...

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Source: http://www.southportvisiter.co.uk/southport-news/southport-southport-news/2013/03/27/bad-weather-blamed-for-drop-in-quality-at-merseyside-beaches-map-100252-33067052/

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US futures down as jitters about Europe continue

NEW YORK (AP) ? Concern about Cyprus and other nations in the Eurozone is weighing down U.S. stock market futures.

Cyprus is formulating details for reopening its banks after a nearly two-week shutdown, following an international bailout agreement that calls for large deposits to be taxed heavily to help pay for the rescue.

Dow Jones industrial average futures are sliding 69 points to 14,409. Nasdaq 100 futures are down 13 to 2,786.80. S&P 500 futures are off 7.75 to 1,549.50.

Investors are waiting for data on pending U.S. home sales for February, set for release at 10 a.m. Eastern.

In Europe, major indexes fell amid worries that the "bail-in" that taps deposits in Cyprus could be considered a model should other countries falter. Asian stocks rose, following Tuesday's rally in U.S. markets.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-futures-down-jitters-europe-continue-122552133--finance.html

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Pope Francis changes up Holy Thursday tradition

ROME (AP) ? Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of a dozen inmates at a juvenile detention center in a Holy Thursday ritual that he celebrated for years as archbishop and is continuing now that he is pope. Two of the 12 were young women, a remarkable choice given that the church's current liturgical law says only men should participate.

The Mass was held in the Casal del Marmo facility in Rome, where 46 young men and women currently are detained. Many of them are Gypsies or North African migrants, and the 12 selected for the foot-washing rite included Orthodox and Muslim detainees, news reports said.

Because the inmates were mostly minors ? the facility houses inmates aged 14-to-21 ? the Vatican and Italian Justice Ministry limited media access inside. But Vatican Radio carried the Mass live, and Francis told the detainees that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion in a gesture of love and service.

"This is a symbol, it is a sign ? washing your feet means I am at your service," Francis told the youngsters. "Help one another. This is what Jesus teaches us. This is what I do. And I do it with my heart. I do this with my heart because it is my duty, as a priest and bishop I must be at your service."

Later, the Vatican released a limited video of the ritual, showing Francis washing black feet, white feet, male feet, female feet and even a foot with tattoos. Kneeling on the stone floor as the 12 youngsters sat above him, the 76-year-old Francis poured water from a silver chalice over each foot, dried it with a simple cotton towel and then bent over to kiss each one.

As archbishop of Buenos Aires, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio would celebrate the ritual foot-washing in jails, hospitals or hospices ? part of his ministry to the poorest and most marginalized of society. It's a message that he is continuing now that he is pope, saying he wants a church "for the poor."

Previous popes would carry out the foot-washing ritual on Holy Thursday in Rome's grand St. John Lateran basilica. The 12 people chosen for the ritual would always be priests to represent Christ's 12 apostles.

That Francis would include women in this re-enactment is remarkable given current liturgical rules that restrict the ritual to men.

Canon lawyer Edward Peters, who is an adviser to the Holy See's top court, noted in a blog that the Congregation for Divine Worship in 1988 said in a letter to bishops that "The washing of the feet of chosen men ... represents the service and charity of Christ who came 'not to be served, but to serve.'"

Peters noted that bishops over the years have successfully petitioned Rome for an exemption to allow women to participate, but that the law on the issue is clear.

"By disregarding his own law in this matter, Francis violates, of course, no divine directive," Peters wrote Thursday. "What he does do, I fear, is set a questionable example."

Others welcomed the example he set.

"The pope's washing the feet of women is hugely significant because including women in this part of the Holy Thursday Mass has been frowned on ? and even banned ? in some dioceses," said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author of "The Jesuit Guide."

"It shows the all-embracing love of Christ, who ministered to all he met: man or woman, slave or free, Jew or Gentile," he said.

After the Mass, Francis greeted each of the inmates and gave each one an Easter egg.

"Don't lose hope," he said. "Understand? With hope you can always go on."

One of the inmates then asked him why he had come to visit them. Francis said it was to "help me to be humble, as a bishop should be." He said he wanted to come "from my heart. Things from the heart don't have an explanation," he said.

Italian Justice Minister Paola Severino, who has made easing Italy's woefully overcrowded prisons a priority, attended the Mass.

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-washes-feet-young-detainees-ritual-173757747.html

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Internet Marketing HelpSpending loads of money on promising products and getting no results? If so now is the time to get some real internet marketing help. I?ll cut right to the chase here. We want to help you with internet marketing for free. We understand this brutal online world and who is who and what is what. There are millions of websites just as there are millions of brick and mortar business?s. Have you ever thought about the difference between the two? Anybody with $20 in their pocket can become a website business owner and run his or her business any way he/she pleases. That is how easy it is to own a business online in 2012. Now that we know pretty much anyone can own a business online, do you think all website owners are educated in business. Do they run an honest practical business and follow ethical business policies?

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These Click Bank products are notorious for being priced at $47. Then $37 and $27 if you try to back out. After your initial purchase you will encounter usually 3 sales pages tempting you to purchase extras. They state with out them the software etc?. will not work. Not in all cases. Most of these internet marketing products do not work leaving you waiting for them to release a new product in hopes that one will work for you. Avoid these shady guru?s at all cost.

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Quantum computing? Physicists' new technique for cooling molecules may be a stepping stone to quantum computing

Mar. 27, 2013 ? The next generation of computers promises far greater power and faster processing speeds than today's silicon-based based machines. These "quantum computers" -- so called because they would harness the unique quantum mechanical properties of atomic particles -- could draw their computing power from a collection of super-cooled molecules.

But chilling molecules to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, the temperature at which they can be manipulated to store and transmit data, has proven to be a difficult challenge for scientists.

Now, UCLA physicists have pioneered a new technique that combines two traditional atomic cooling technologies and brings normally springy molecules to a frozen standstill. Their research is published March 28 in the journal Nature.

"Scientists have been trying to cool molecules for a decade and have succeeded with only a few special molecules," said Eric Hudson, a UCLA assistant professor of physics and the paper's senior author. "Our technique is a completely different approach to the problem -- it is a lot easier to implement than the other techniques and should work with hundreds of different molecules."

Previous attempts to create ultracold molecules were only effective with one or two specific kinds. Creating a method that can be used with many different molecules would be a major step forward because it is difficult to say which materials might be used in quantum computers or other future applications, Hudson said.

By immersing charged barium chloride molecules in an ultracold cloud of calcium atoms, Hudson and his colleagues are able to prevent most of the molecules from vibrating and rotating. Halting the molecules is a necessary hurdle to overcome before they can be used to store information like a traditional computer does.

"The goal is to build a computer that doesn't work with zeros and ones, but with quantum mechanical objects," Hudson said. "A quantum computer could crack any code created by a classical computer and transmit information perfectly securely."

Hudson's experiment makes molecules extremely cold under highly controlled conditions to reveal the quantum mechanical properties that are hidden under normal circumstances. At room temperature, molecules rocket around, bouncing into each other and exchanging energy. Any information a scientist attempted to store in such a chaotic system would quickly become gibberish.

"We isolate these molecular systems in a vacuum, effectively levitating them in the middle of nothing," Hudson said. "This removes them from the rest of the world that wants to make them classical."

The quantum mechanical world of subatomic particles deviates from the classical world that we observe with the naked eye because according to quantum mechanics, electrons can only exist at specific energy levels. In a quantum computer made of a collection of single atoms, information might be stored by boosting some atomic electrons to higher energy levels while leaving others at lower energy states. However, these atomic energy states are not stable enough to reliably preserve data, Hudson said.

"One of the challenges with atoms is that their energy states are very easily influenced by the outside world," Hudson said. "You make this beautiful quantum state, but then the outside world tries to destroy that information."

Instead of saving data in easily disrupted atomic energy states, a more robust way to store information is in the rotational energy states of molecules, Hudson said. A spinning molecule in the lowest energy rotational state could represent a binary one, while a stationary molecule could represent a binary zero.

Despite applications for quantum computing and other industries, cooling molecules to extremely low temperatures has proved a challenge. Even the simplest molecule composed of only two atoms is a far more complex system than a single atom. Each molecule vibrates and rotates like a miniature whirling slinky, and all of that movement must be stilled so that the molecule can lose energy and cool down.

A new cooling technique

To solve the ultracold molecule conundrum, Hudson and his group first created a floating cloud of calcium atoms corralled by incoming laser beams from all directions. This magneto-optical trap keeps the atoms stationary as it cools them to nearly absolute zero. They then use specialized rods with high, oscillating voltages as part of an ion trap to confine a cloud of positively-charged barium chloride molecules within the ultracold ball of calcium atoms to complete the cooling process.

For the vibrating, energetic molecules to lose heat, they must spend a significant amount of time in contact with the surrounding ultracold atom cloud. Hudson and his colleagues used barium chloride ions, molecules missing one electron, because charged molecules are easier to trap and cool than their neutral counterparts. The use of molecular ions is an essential innovation because previous efforts have demonstrated that neutral molecules ricochet off ultracold atoms without sufficient heat transfer.

"When a molecular ion and a neutral atom get close together they get in tight and bang off each other a bunch before the ion goes away," Hudson said. "When they collide like that it is very easy for the energy in one to go to the other."

While magneto-optical and ion traps are not new to the world of molecular physics, Hudson and his colleagues became the first group to combine these methods to create a cloud of ultracold molecules. This paper is the result of over four years of work spent designing, building, and testing their experiment.

"These two different technologies earned Nobel prizes for the scientists who developed them, but there wasn't really a body of knowledge about how to put these two procedures together," Hudson said.

The research is funded by the Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation.

Other co-authors include former UCLA postdoctoral scholar Wade Rellergert; UCLA graduate students Scott Sullivan, Steven Schowalter and Kuang Chen; and Temple University physics professor Svetlana Kotochigova.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Los Angeles. The original article was written by Kim DeRose.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Wade G. Rellergert, Scott T. Sullivan, Steven J. Schowalter, Svetlana Kotochigova, Kuang Chen, Eric R. Hudson. Evidence for sympathetic vibrational cooling of translationally cold molecules. Nature, 2013; 495 (7442): 490 DOI: 10.1038/nature11937

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/SYUzrzW3LIc/130327144129.htm

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Remains of the Day: Windows Blue Announced and Leaked with New Features In Tow

Remains of the Day: Windows Blue Announced and Leaked with New Features In TowMicrosoft starts discussing what's next for Windows, a massive DDoS attack causes global internet slowdowns, Gmail gets a small but useful update, and Android users get a couple of new toys.

  • Looking Back and Springing Ahead Microsoft has officially announced it's new software strategy, the long-rumored Windows Blue. While Blue is just a codename right now, and the company is is stopping just shy of actually calling it a new OS, a build of Windows Blue has leaked and the folks at NirmalTV.com have the lowdown?you'll see that the tweaks are exclusively centered on the Metro UI and not the desktop. [The Official Microsoft Blog]
  • Massive Cyberattack Hits Internet Users In what's being called the largest and most sophisticated Distributed Denial-of-Service(DDoS) attack to date, a group of as-yet unknown websites joined in tandem to target the Spamhaus Project, a non-profit spam-fighting group. Spamhaus. which is estimated to be responsible for up to 80% of all blocked spam, added data-storage company CyberBunker to it's blacklist, claiming that spammers use the service to host their junk mail. The move incited the ire of CyberBunker's supporters, which may have led to the large-scale attack that caused what many outlets claim to be a global internet slowdown on Tuesday. You shouldn't worry too much about it, though?our sister site Gizmodo did some research and found that the attack really wasn't very devastating at all. [CNN]
  • Swipe Between Messages in the Gmail App for iPhone Google updated it's Gmail app for iOS today, which allows you to swipe left or right to move between conversations and enter edit mode to take action on multiple messages in the inbox. [Gmail]
  • The World's Languages in Your Pocket (No Internet Required) Today Google released offline language packages for Google Translate on Android, allowing users to use Google Translate when no connection is available, albeit with a less comprehensive dictionary. Also new for Android users are info cards for Google Play Movies & TV, which will display information of interest on whatever you're watching when you pause the video. It's also contextual, so you'll be able do see things like what song is playing in the scene you're watching. [Official Android Blog]
  • Live Transit Information in More Cities on Google Maps Today Google Maps introduced improved live transit information in New York City, Salt Lake City, and Washington D.C. New York users will now receive live departure times for four subway lines, while Salt Lake City gets the same for its buses and trams. D.C. commuters will now see live service alerts. [Google Maps blog]
  • FBX Now Both in Desktop News Feed and Right-Hand Side Facebook Exchange, the social network's targeted ad service, launched an alpha test yesterday that will display targeted ads directly in the newsfeed for some users, in addition to where they're currently displayed on the right-hand side of the screen. [Facebook Studio]
  • Amazon Expands X-Ray to TV, Powered by IMDb and Available on the Kindle Fire Family Amazon's IMDb-powered X-Ray service, which allows Kindle Fire users to find out more about what they're watching by looking it up with a single tap, is now available for TV shows as well. The service is available starting today for the most popular shows on Amazon Instant Video like Justified or Downton Abbey, and will expand to the entire catalog over time.

Photo by photastic (Shutterstock), a2bb5s (Shutterstock), and Feng Yu (Shutterstock).

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/XHbDHXYi2_8/remains-of-the-day-windows-blue-announced-and-leaked-with-new-features-in-tow

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Thursday, March 21, 2013

Senate vote: OK $85 billion cuts, avert shutdown

FILE - In this March 18, 2013 file photo, House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate pressed ahead Wednesday on a huge, bipartisan spending bill aimed at keeping the government running through September and ruling out the chance of a government shutdown later this month. The developments in the Senate come as the House resumed debate on the budget for next year and beyond. Republicans are pushing a plan that promises sharp cuts to federal health care programs and domestic agency operating budgets as the price for balancing the budget in a decade. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - In this March 18, 2013 file photo, House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate pressed ahead Wednesday on a huge, bipartisan spending bill aimed at keeping the government running through September and ruling out the chance of a government shutdown later this month. The developments in the Senate come as the House resumed debate on the budget for next year and beyond. Republicans are pushing a plan that promises sharp cuts to federal health care programs and domestic agency operating budgets as the price for balancing the budget in a decade. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2013 file photo, Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate pressed ahead Wednesday on a huge, bipartisan spending bill aimed at keeping the government running through September and ruling out the chance of a government shutdown later this month. Blunt said he's been promised a vote on an amendment ? eagerly sought by the meatpacking and poultry industries ? that would offer them relief from food inspector furloughs that threaten to intermittently shutter plants. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Deputy Commerce Secretary for Resource Management Hari Sastry, left, looks over documents on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 19, 2013, during a break in his testimony in a joint hearing on sequestration held by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs, and the subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and the Census. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

(AP) ? The Senate approved legislation Wednesday to lock in $85 billion in widely decried spending cuts aimed at restraining soaring federal deficits ? and to avoid a government shutdown just a week away. President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats rejected a call to reopen White House tours scrapped because of the tightened spending.

Federal meat inspectors were spared furloughs, but more than 100 small and medium air traffic facilities were left exposed to possible closure as the two parties alternately clashed and cooperated over proposals to take the edge off across-the-board spending cuts that took effect on March 1.

Final House approval of the measure is likely as early as Thursday. Obama's signature is a certainty, meaning the cuts will remain in place at least through the end of the budget year on Sept. 30 ? even though he and lawmakers in both parties have criticized them as random rather than targeted. Obama argued strongly against them in campaign-style appearances, predicting painful consequences, before they began taking effect, and Republicans objected to impacts on Pentagon spending.

Without changes, the $85 billion in cuts for the current year will swell to nearly $1 trillion over a decade, enough to make at least a small dent in economy-threatening federal deficits but requiring program cuts that lawmakers in both parties say are unsustainable politically. As a result, negotiations are possible later in the year to replace the reductions with different savings.

The administration as well as Republicans picked and chose its spots in arguing for flexibility in this year's cuts.

"My hope is that gets done," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said earlier in the week of the effort to prevent layoffs among inspectors that could disrupt the nation's food supply chain. "If it does not, come mid-July we will furlough meat inspectors," he added, departing from the administration's general position that flexibility should ease all the cuts or none at all.

The final vote was 73-26, with 51 Democrats, 20 Republicans and two independents in favor and 25 Republicans and Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana opposed.

Political considerations were on ample display in both houses as lawmakers labored over measures relating to spending priorities, both for this year and a decade into the future.

Rep. Mark Mulvaney, R-S.C., said he had wanted the House to vote on Obama's own budget, but he noted the president hadn't yet released one. 'It's with great regret ... that I'm not able to offer" a presidential budget for a vote, he said. He added he had wanted to vote on a placeholder ? "34 pages full of question marks" ? but House rules prevented it.

Minority Democrats advanced a plan that calls for $1 trillion in higher taxes, $500 billion in spending cuts over a decade and a $200 billion economic stimulus package. Republicans voted it down, 253-165.

They are expected to approve their own very different blueprint on Thursday.

It calls for $4.6 trillion in spending cuts over a decade and no tax increases, a combination that projects to a balanced budget in 10 years' time. That spending plan would indeed be simply a blueprint, lacking any actual control over federal spending.

The issues were grittier in the Senate, where lawmakers grappled with the immediate impact of across-the-board cuts on individual programs.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., a deficit hawk, said he wanted to reopen the White House tours, shut down since earlier in the month. He said his proposal would take about $8 million from the National Heritage Partnership Program and apply it toward "opening up the tours at the White House, opening up Yellowstone National Park and the rest of the national parks."

White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters previously the decision the cancel the White House tours was made by the Secret Service because "it would be, in their view, impossible to staff those tours; that they would have to withdraw staff from those tours in order to avoid more furloughs and overtime pay cuts."

But in remarks on the Senate floor, Coburn said, "This is a Park Service issue, not a Secret Service issue."

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said the funds involved in Coburn's amendment would not go to the Secret Service, and as a result the tours "would not be affected." He also said the Heritage program, a public-private partnership, helps produce economic development and should not be cut.

The vote was 54-45 against the proposal. Montana Sen. Max Baucus, whose state borders on Yellowstone National Park, was the only Democrat to vote with Republicans.

The Park Service has announced some parks may open late to automobile traffic this spring because budget cuts have reduced funds available to clear roads of winter snow.

The overall legislation locks in the $85 billion in spending cuts through the end of the budget year, yet provides several departments and agencies with flexibility in coping with them. It extends flexibility to the Pentagon, the departments of Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, Justice, State and Commerce and the Food and Drug Administration.

But bipartisanship has its limits, and in private negotiations Republicans rejected Democratic attempts to provide flexibility for the rest of the government.

That set off a scramble among lawmakers to round up support for changes on a case-by-case basis.

The provision to prevent furloughs for federal meat inspectors had the support of industry as well as from both sides of the political aisle and cleared without a vote. It was supported by Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, a Democrat seeking re-election next year, and Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, who quietly helped Democrats round up the votes they needed to clear the legislation over a procedural hurdle.

The effect was to transfer $55 million to the Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service from other accounts within the department, including deferred maintenance.

"Without this funding, every meat, poultry, and egg processing facility in the country would be forced to shut down for up to two weeks," said Blunt. "That means high food prices and less work for the hardworking Americans who work in these facilities nationwide."

In contrast to Blunt, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, opposed Democrats when they sought to overcome procedural hurdles earlier in the week.

In the days since, he repeatedly refused to let the bill advance unless he was given a chance to cancel about $50 million in cuts aimed at contract employees at more than 170 air traffic facilities around the country. In the end, his amendment was jettisoned without a vote.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-20-Budget%20Battle/id-cddf66236ea74bad8b97567ebc04c787

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"For All Mankind - The Life & Career of Mick Foley" DVD/Blu-ray contents

DVD Disc 1 ? Main program

A Happy Story

Idyllic Childhood

Huge Fan

Training School

Working the Road

WCW

Sting

Vader

ECW & Japan

Mankind

Dude Love

Hell in a Cell

Mr. Socko

The Rock

Author

Triple H

Commissioner

Going Away

Randy Orton

Making a Difference

Edge

Retirement

Stand Up Comic

A Complete One-Off

DVD Disc 2- Matches

SuperstarsSeptember 1986

Jack Foley & Les Thornton vs. The British Bulldogs

Alternate Commentary: Mick Foley & Joey Styles

?

AWA All Star WrestlingOctober 1988

Cactus Jack & Gary Young vs. Scott Steiner & Billy Travis

?

Wild West WrestlingApril 1989

Cactus Jack Manson vs. Brickhouse Brown

?

Power HourMarch 1990

Cactus Jack vs. Keith Hart

?

Power HourNovember 1991

Submit or Surrender Match

Cactus Jack vs. Sting

?

Clash of the Champions XVIIIJanuary 21, 1992

Falls Count Anywhere Match

Cactus Jack vs. Van Hammer

?

Ft. Lauderdale, FLMay 1995

Barbed Wire Match

Cactus Jack vs. Sandman

?

CyberSlamFebruary 1996

Cactus Jack vs. Shane Douglas

Alternate Commentary: Mick Foley & Joey Styles

?

In Your House: Cold Day in HellMay 11, 1997

Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia

?

In Your House: Canadian StampedeJuly 6, 1997

Mankind vs. Hunter Hearst-Helmsley

?

DVD Disc 3 - Matches

RawNovember 17, 1997

Dude Love vs. Rocky Maivia

?

King of the RingJune 28, 1998

Hell in a Cell

Mankind vs. Undertaker

Alternate Commentary: Mick Foley & Joey Styles

?

RawJuly 13, 1998

WWE Tag Team Championship Match

Mankind & Kane vs. New Age Outlaws

?

In Your House: Rock BottomDecember 13, 1998

WWE Championship Match

Mankind vs. The Rock

?

SmackDownSeptember 2, 1999

WWE Tag Team Championship

Mankind & The Rock vs. Triple H & Shane McMahon

?

SmackDownDecember 16, 1999

Mankind vs. Al Snow

?

No Way OutFebruary 27, 2000

Hell In A Cell ? Retirement Match

Cactus Jack vs. Triple H

?

Blu-ray Disc 1 ? Main program

A Happy Story

Idyllic Childhood

Huge Fan

Training School

Working the Road

WCW

Sting

Vader

ECW & Japan

Mankind

Dude Love

Hell in a Cell

Mr. Socko

The Rock

Author

Triple H

Commissioner

Going Away

Randy Orton

Making a Difference

Edge

Retirement

Stand Up Comic

A Complete One-Off

Blu-ray Disc 1- Matches

SuperstarsSeptember 1986

Jack Foley & Les Thornton vs. The British Bulldogs

Alternate Commentary: Mick Foley & Joey Styles

?

AWA All Star WrestlingOctober 1988

Cactus Jack & Gary Young vs. Scott Steiner & Billy Travis

?

Wild West WrestlingApril 1989

Cactus Jack Manson vs. Brickhouse Brown

?

Power HourMarch 1990

Cactus Jack vs. Keith Hart

?

Power HourNovember 1991

Submit or Surrender Match

Cactus Jack vs. Sting

?

Clash of the Champions XVIIIJanuary 21, 1992

Falls Count Anywhere Match

Cactus Jack vs. Van Hammer

?

Ft. Lauderdale, FLMay 1995

Barbed Wire Match

Cactus Jack vs. Sandman

?

CyberSlamFebruary 1996

Cactus Jack vs. Shane Douglas

Alternate Commentary: Mick Foley & Joey Styles

?

In Your House: Cold Day in HellMay 11, 1997

Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia

?

In Your House: Canadian StampedeJuly 6, 1997

Mankind vs. Hunter Hearst-Helmsley

?

Blu-ray Disc 2 - Matches

RawNovember 17, 1997

Dude Love vs. Rocky Maivia

?

King of the RingJune 28, 1998

Hell in a Cell

Mankind vs. Undertaker

Alternate Commentary: Mick Foley & Joey Styles

?

RawJuly 13, 1998

WWE Tag Team Championship Match

Mankind & Kane vs. New Age Outlaws

?

In Your House: Rock BottomDecember 13, 1998

WWE Championship Match

Mankind vs. The Rock

?

SmackDownSeptember 2, 1999

WWE Tag Team Championship

Mankind & The Rock vs. Triple H & Shane McMahon

?

SmackDownDecember 16, 1999

Mankind vs. Al Snow

?

No Way OutFebruary 27, 2000

Hell In A Cell ? Retirement Match

Cactus Jack vs. Triple H

?

Blu-ray Disc 2 - Blu Ray Exclusives

Promos

?

WCW World Championship WrestlingOctober 5, 1991

Sting?s Birthday Cake

?

WCW Saturday NightSeptember 10, 1994

No Ear Surgery

?

RawApril 5, 2004

Barbie

?

SmackDownAugust 1, 2008

Cutting Edge

?

RawSeptember 24, 2012

Relevancy with CM Punk

?

Stories

Frank Foley

Snowed In

DeNucci Training School

Arrested in Italy?

Cactus Jack ? The Name

Africa

Birth of Bang Bang

Losing Teeth

On the Spot

Wanted T-Shirt

Smoking Flight?

Anti-Hardcore ECW

Farewell in ECW

Vicious Suplex

Kevin Sullivan ? Mentor

Rock ?n Sock Jacket

Disneyland

Loogie Heard ?Round the World

Commentator

Mr. Socko vs. The Cobra

Comedy Show

Favorite Mick Foley Persona

Sheamus Meets Mick

Christmas Cheer

Wardrobe

Thrifty Mick

Great Dad

View Comments

Source: http://www.wwe.com/wweshop/dvd/for-all-mankind-the-life-career-of-mick-foley-dvdblu-ray-contents

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Google eBooks expanding to Australia | flaflom

Google eBooks expanding to Australia



Google e-Books is the new front in the electronic age for Google and with the right strategy, will be a lucrative business for the internet giant which seems to have it?s fingers in everything.

Google e-Books was launched last year to much fan fair in the US before rolling out to the UK and Canada in the past few weeks and Australia this week.

To break into the Australian market, Google has partnered with Australian book giants, Dymocks and Booktopia, with the two offering Google?s eBooks for sale through their websites. The two retailers will become wholesalers for Google?s eBooks.

In terms of numbers, the Google store has hundreds of thousands of titles available for purchase and millions of books that are available for free. The books will be in ePub and PDF formats and can be read on most eBook readers.

Booktopia has fast become one of the biggest online book retailers in Australia. A Booktopia promo code is often available which also attracts consumers.

? Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet 2

Permanent Link

Source: http://flaflom.org/google-ebooks-expanding-to-australia/

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FastHosts Internet Launches Two SSD Dedicated DS1210 Servers

Fasthosts Internet has launched two new dedicated servers which feature the latest SSD technology and quadruple the SSD space on the flagship DS1210.Fasthosts Internet has launched two new dedicated servers which feature the latest SSD technology and quadruple the SSD space on the flagship DS1210.

Web hosting provider Fasthosts Internet announced on Wednesday it has launched two new dedicated servers which feature the latest SSD technology and quadruple the SSD space on the flagship DS1210.

These new server configurations provide customers with many benefits, including fast application launch times, backup solutions. which Fasthosts Internet launched in February 2011, as well as an overall increase in performance.

The web hosting provider is offering an initial promotion of half price for the first 3 months, with prices for the professional range starting from ?84.50 per month.

Fasthosts advanced series offers great value for small businesses while the professional series are designed for high speed, processing power and stability for small to medium-sized businesses.

The new range?s most significant changes are based on the hard disk drive, providing servers that are more robust, resilient and allow for quicker read/write times.

The new servers offer four times the SSD space as they did previously, as well as backup solutions for safer data storage options.

Starting from ?124.50 per month for the first 3 months, and ?249.00 per month thereafter, the 24-core DS1120 offers 32GB RAM, 2 x 250GB SSD and 2 X 1TB SATA HDD.

Available from ?174.50 per month for the first 3 months and ?349.00 per month thereafter, the 32-core DS1210 offers a massive 64GB RAM, 2 x 500GB SSD and 2 x 2TB SATA HDD. Customers will see further savings when they sign up if they opt for annual payments.

Backed by a guaranteed 99.99 percent network uptime, both the DS1120 and DS1210 are ideal for business critical applications or to host large websites, mail or media.

The DS1120 uses 2 x 2.1GHz AMD OpteronTM 12-core processors to deliver energy-efficient performance, while the DS1210 features 2 x 2.1GHz AMD OpteronTM 16-core processors for even more power.

Customers will be provided with unlimited bandwidth, be able to retain complete hands-on remote control of their server at all times, a free SSL certificate for the first year, Parallels Plesk Panel 11, for simple and easy management, a 100Mbps connection, and 24-hour technical support from the UK via the phone or online.

All Fasthosts Windows dedicated servers include 50GB of free online backup space.?Fasthosts also offers a free consultancy service to help customers find the right solution.

?As a part of our ongoing campaign and promise to further inspire and support business, we have introduced these top end servers,? said Claire Lewis, marketing director at Fasthosts Internet. ?Our latest range reflects our mission of working alongside businesses to provide the latest technology and support business growth. Our new 24 and 32 core servers are an excellent opportunity to access huge processing power on an affordable basis. We are confident that even the most demanding professional users will be impressed with the performance and responsiveness.?

Last July,?Fasthosts Internet launched a range of business hosting packages designed to meet the needs of a wide range of businesses.

Talk back: Are you currently offering SSD dedicated servers to your customers? Do you think these new dedicated servers will bring in new business for Fasthosts Internet? Let us know in a comment.

Justin Lee

About Justin Lee

Justin Lee has been a staff analyst with theWHIR since 2004. He writes about a range of web hosting and IT-related issues facing the industry on the WHIR website, as well the print version of the WHIR magazine. Follow him on Twitter @Justin_theWHIR.

Source: http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/fasthosts-internet-launches-two-ssd-dedicated-ds1210-servers

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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

How Much House Can You Get for $225,000? | Zillow Blog

Each week we take a look at how much house you can expect to get at a specific price point. This week, we?re looking at homes priced around $225,000.

Houston, TX

15322 Greenleaf Ln, Houston, TX?
For sale: $229,900

Houston, TX
This sophisticated colonial-style home in Houston has 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. Built in 1987, the property has been well-maintained with beautiful hardwoods and exterior landscaping.

Colorado Springs, CO

814 E. Monument St, Colorado Springs, CO?
For sale: $225,000

Colorado Springs, CO
It?s not every day that you see a turn-of-the-century Victorian hit the market. This 1898 Colorado Springs?home has several notable features including 10-foot ceilings, a claw-foot bathtub and walk-in closets in all 4 bedrooms.

West Hartford, CT

24 Knollwood Rd, West Hartford, CT?
For sale: $229,900

West Hartford, CT

Is there anything more quaint than this 1942 Cape Cod-style home in West Hartford, CT? The 1,275-square-foot cottage is tasteful inside and out?? from a screened-in porch in the backyard to a sunny interior with wooden built-ins and custom-framed windows.

Bend, OR

62697 Larkview Rd, Bend, OR
For sale: $225,000

Bend, OR
This 3-bedroom craftsman is located on reportedly one of the best streets in northeast Bend. The current owner has made several updates to the 2003 construction including a fresh coat of exterior paint, central air conditioning, hardwood floors on the first floor, master bath tile and new carpet.

Albuquerque, NM

6554 Basket Weaver Ave NW, Albuquerque, NM
For sale: $229,500

Albuquerque, NM
Constructed in 2011, this custom home promotes eco-friendly living with gold-level green-building certification. Designed specifically for Albuquerque residents, major attention has been given to the? walls and roof insulation, as well as other engineering details, to make the home both economical and environmentally conscious.

Related:

Source: http://www.zillowblog.com/2013-03-20/how-much-house-can-you-get-for-225000/

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Monday, March 18, 2013

Piikki Organizes and Uploads Your Receipts From Your Phone

Piikki Organizes and Uploads Receipts From Your Phone iOS: Receipts are ridiculously easy to lose, so I always try to snap a picture of important ones with my phone. From now on, I'll be taking those pictures with Piikki.

There are plenty of apps and methods to store receipts on your smartphone, but I have yet to encounter a faster option than Piikki. When you want to store a receipt, Piikki's built-in camera can automatically detect its edges and crop out the background, keeping the file size to a minimum. Once you've taken your photo, the app will automatically store a geotag with your receipt so you can remember where it came from, and you can also key in the amount to keep track of expenses.

My favorite feature of Piikki, though, is one-click uploading to Evernote, Google Drive, or Dropbox. The receipt will still be stored within the app with all its accompanying metadata, but you'll know it's also safely backed up to your cloud services of choice. Piikki is a universal app available for $1.99 in the App Store.

Piikki: Receipt Scanner & Expense Reports ($1.99) | App Store

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/9Ir4eygL0BY/piikki-organizes-and-uploads-your-receipts

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Egypt vigilantes hang 2 thieves by feet in public

EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT -- Egyptian men surround the bodies of two men who were beaten and hung by vigilantes after being accused of theft in Samanod, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday March 17, 2013. Egyptian vigilantes beat two men accused of stealing a motorized rickshaw, then stripped them half-naked and hung them still alive in a bus station in a small Nile Delta town on Sunday, according to security officials who said both men died. The killings came a week after the attorney general's office encouraged civilians to arrest lawbreakers and hand them over to police. (AP Photo)

EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT -- Egyptian men surround the bodies of two men who were beaten and hung by vigilantes after being accused of theft in Samanod, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday March 17, 2013. Egyptian vigilantes beat two men accused of stealing a motorized rickshaw, then stripped them half-naked and hung them still alive in a bus station in a small Nile Delta town on Sunday, according to security officials who said both men died. The killings came a week after the attorney general's office encouraged civilians to arrest lawbreakers and hand them over to police. (AP Photo)

EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT -- Egyptians surround the bodies of two men hung by their feet in a bus station after being accused of theft in Samanod, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday March 17, 2013. Egyptian vigilantes beat two men accused of stealing a motorized rickshaw, stripped them half-naked and hung them by their feet in a crowded bus station in the Nile Delta on Sunday, according to security officials. Both men died.The killings came a week after the attorney general?s office encouraged civilians to arrest lawbreakers and hand them over to police. (AP Photo)

EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT -- Egyptians surround the bodies of two men hung by their feet in a bus station after being accused of theft in Samanod, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday March 17, 2013. Egyptian vigilantes beat two men accused of stealing a motorized rickshaw, stripped them half-naked and hung them by their feet in a crowded bus station in the Nile Delta on Sunday, according to security officials. Both men died. The killings came a week after the attorney general's office encouraged civilians to arrest lawbreakers and hand them over to police. (AP Photo)

EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT -- Egyptians surround the bodies of two men hung by their feet in a bus station after being accused of theft in Samanod, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday March 17, 2013. Egyptian vigilantes beat two men accused of stealing a motorized rickshaw, stripped them half-naked and hung them by their feet in a crowded bus station in the Nile Delta on Sunday, according to security officials. Both men died. The killings came a week after the attorney general's office encouraged civilians to arrest lawbreakers and hand them over to police. (AP Photo)

EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT -- Egyptians surround the bodies of two men hung by their feet in a bus station after being accused of theft in Samanod, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday March 17, 2013. Egyptian vigilantes beat two men accused of stealing a motorized rickshaw, stripped them half-naked and hung them by their feet in a crowded bus station in the Nile Delta on Sunday, according to security officials. Both men died. The killings came a week after the attorney general's office encouraged civilians to arrest lawbreakers and hand them over to police. (AP Photo)

(AP) ? Egyptian vigilantes beat two men accused of stealing a motorized rickshaw on Sunday and then hung them by their feet while some in a watching crowd chanted "kill them!" Both men died, security officials said.

The killings come a week after the attorney general's office encouraged civilians to arrest lawbreakers and hand them over to police. They are emblematic of the chaos sweeping Egypt and a security breakdown of frightening proportions.

It was one of the most extreme cases of vigilantism in two years of sharply deteriorating security following the 2011 uprising. Gruesome photos circulated quickly on Facebook and other social media outlets, showing images taken by people in the crowd of thousands who watched and recorded the lynchings on cell phone cameras.

The killings were in the town of Samanod, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of Cairo in the Nile Delta province of Gharbiya.

Mamdouh al-Muneer, spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood group in the Gharbiya governorate, told The Associated Press that the lynchings followed a spate of rapes in the area. He said there have been a number of incidents in the past several months of girls being abducted while leaving school.

"Unfortunately, the police are completely out of the picture in Gharbiya. They are not comfortable with their position, with the president or with their role after the uprising," he said.

The Brotherhood is the country's dominant political group.

Egypt is currently mired in another wave of protests, clashes and unrest that have plagued the country since the ouster of authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in the pro-democracy uprising two years ago.

This wave of unrest has also engulfed the nation's police force. Thousands of officers and low-ranking policemen have broken ranks, staging protests and waging strikes against what they say is the politicization of the force by President Mohammed Morsi, who came from the Muslim Brotherhood, and his interior minister.

The state-run newspaper Ahram reported on its website that the events in Samanod began when the two men were dragged in the street after being caught "red-handed" trying to steal a motorized rickshaw. Witnesses said they were also accused of kidnapping a girl inside the rickshaw, but that she escaped unharmed.

A witness said they were beaten but still alive before they were strung up from the rafters of an open-air bus station. Both were stripped down to their underwear.

Photographs from the scene show one of the bodies hanging with deep, bloody lacerations covering his back. From the front, one of the men's face is completely covered in blood. Other shots showed both hanging by their feet, bruised, cut and bleeding.

A photographer who witnessed the scene told the AP that some in the crowd threatened to kill him if he took pictures of the lynchings with his professional camera.

He said that women and children were in the crowd of about 3,000 watching the lynchings, some from their balconies overlooking the scene, and some chanted in support "kill them!"

Afterward, residents took their bodies and dumped them on the doorstep of a nearby police station, according to witnesses.

Other photographs show the men lying on the ground dead in their underwear, with ropes around their feet.

Their bodies are covered in dirt, bruises, blood and lacerations as a group of men gathered around them. One man in the angry crowd grasped a knife in one fist and another held up a bloodied wooden stick.

Security officials said some in the crowd tried to help free the two men but were pushed back by others.

The bodies were later taken to the morgue for identification, according to security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Residents also threatened to lynch another two men accused of involvement in attacks on girls.

Witnesses said they were bracing for possible blood feuds between residents of Samanod, where the attack took place, and the nearby village of Mahallahit Ziyad, where the two men killed were from.

Ahram reported that police could not reach the site of the hangings because angry microbus drivers had cut off all the major roads of the nearby city of Mahalla to protest a shortage of diesel fuel, one of Egypt's many crises. Earlier in the day, residents there also burned tires and set up roadblock along a main train track to protest the fuel shortages.

"The lack of security has created a sense of terror here," one witness said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. "The entire area is shut down because of protests against the fuel shortages."

Citizens have grown bolder in taking matters into their own hands following the 2011 uprising. The country's once powerful and feared police force was left weakened after the revolt.

Thousands of policemen are now on strike to demand better working conditions and they also refuse to confront widespread protests against President Morsi's leadership.

Some of the striking police officers allege that Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood is attempting to control them. The Brotherhood denies that.

Al-Muneer, the Brotherhood spokesman in Gharbiya, accused some policemen of hoping for a collapse of security to pave the way for the old regime to return to power. That same accusation has been leveled at the police repeatedly, both in the midst of the uprising and the aftermath.

He said the Brotherhood fully rejects the killings and said citizens should have arrested the two but then handed them over to police.

The attorney general's call for citizen arrests a week ago was prompted by the police strike and deteriorating security. Opponents of his call fear that this is a prelude to the substitution of police by militias, including those belonging to other Islamist groups allied with Morsi and the Islamic fundamentalist Brotherhood.

Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, who oversees the country's police, met with officers and low-ranking policemen to hear their demands on Sunday.

Two days earlier, Morsi attended traditional Islamic prayers at a Cairo-based camp for riot police. He praised the force despite public criticism over their violent response to anti-government demonstrations.

Morsi is facing an onslaught of challenges, from the police strikes to an increasing number of violent sexual attacks on women to mounting diesel shortages that have crippled daily life for millions in Egypt.

And although vigilante killings are not frequent in Egypt, there have been similar attacks in the past two years.

In 2012 in northern Sharqiya province, police said relatives of a man who was killed when muggers tried to steal his car lynched one of the thieves. They then burned his body while it hung from a light pole.

Another case that year was in the Nile Delta province of Mansoura, where relatives of a victim took justice into their own hands and lynched two suspected killers.

Anger at Morsi was on display again Sunday, when protesters took their demands to the Brotherhood's doorstep. Hundreds clashed with police who fired tear gas at the crowd outside of the Islamist group's Cairo headquarters.

The crowd was responding to an assault on journalists, who claimed they were attacked by Brotherhood members Saturday evening during coverage of a meeting.

The journalists said that after a group of activists sprayed anti-Brotherhood graffiti on the ground outside the group's Cairo headquarters, the Brotherhood guards attacked with sticks and chains.

Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan said in a statement that guards outside the building were provoked and insulted by the activists and journalists.

Many of the group's offices were attacked across the country in December during violent protests over the drafting of the constitution.

Dozens of journalists rallied outside their syndicate in the capital Cairo against the incident.

Diaa Rashwan, the newly elected head of the syndicate who replaced a figure considered by most journalists as pro-Brotherhood, said he would file a lawsuit against the Brotherhood spokesman for suggesting that journalists had incited the violence.

The opposition party Al-Dustor, led by Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, blamed the Brotherhood's leadership for allegedly encouraging "militias" loyal to the group to join the fight.

There were clashes on Saturday during protests against Morsi and the Brotherhood during the president's trip to the impoverished governorate of Sohag. The presidency on Sunday denied that opposition protesters had tried to storm the hall where Morsi had been speaking, despite video that showed the attempt.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-17-Egypt/id-299e2ffa3e21409ba0472f8e6713ca17

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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Nearly a third of antibiotic prescriptions for dialysis patients inappropriate

Nearly a third of antibiotic prescriptions for dialysis patients inappropriate [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 12-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Kate Enos
kenos@gymr.com
202-745-5071
Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America

Dialysis patients face increased risk of antibiotic-resistant infections

Patients who receive hemodialysis are at a significant risk of developing infections, a leading cause of hospitalization and death in this patient population. A new study highlights the need to improve antibiotic use in outpatient dialysis facilities as data shows nearly a third of antibiotic prescriptions are deemed inappropriate. The study is published in the April issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

The United States Renal Data System reported that from 1993 to 2010, the number of hospitalizations due to infection rose by more than 45 percent in chronic hemodialysis (CHD) patients. They noted that patients receiving dialysis were admitted to the hospital two times per year for an average of 12 days, and 36 percent were readmitted within 30 days. During hospitalizations, CHD patients appeared to have contributed to the spread and acquisition of multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs) among other hospitalized patients.

"The high prevalence of MDROs harbored by CHD patients compared to that in lower-risk populations, compounded by the rising rate of infections, emphasizes the need to reduce the emergence and spread of MDROs in this population," said Graham Snyder, lead researcher in the study. "Despite the high prevalence, there are limited data pertaining to antibiotic use in outpatient hemodialysis units."

Researchers from Boston, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, calculated the total antibiotic use over a retrospective 35-month period, and additionally followed 278 patients during a 12-month period and analyzed the antibiotics these patients received at two outpatient dialysis units.

Inappropriate administration of antibiotics was defined as giving antibiotics when criteria for infection based on national guidelines published by major infectious diseases and nephrology societies were not met; failing to use a more narrow-spectrum antimicrobial agent based on culture results; and using antimicrobial prophylaxis when indications for surgical prophylaxis were not met.

A total of 1,003 antimicrobial doses were administered during the 12-month study period. Nearly one in three patients received at least one antimicrobial dose.

Of the 1,003 doses of antibiotics, nearly one-third of antibiotic doses were classified as inappropriate. The most common reason for inappropriate administration was that conditions for infection were not met. Blood-stream infections were the most common misdiagnosed infection based on unmet criteria.

The second most common reason for inappropriate antibiotic administration was using a potent antibiotic when an equally efficacious and available antibiotic less likely to promote resistant bacteria could have been used. The antibiotics most likely to be inappropriately prescribed included vancomycin, which is commonly used for skin-related infections and infections associated with the vascular access used for dialysis, and third or fourth generation cephalosporins, which are used for a broad array of infections.

"Since antimicrobial exposure is the main risk factor for the emergence and spread of MDROs, minimizing inappropriate antimicrobial use is imperative. The findings of this study provide important information toward minimizing inappropriate antimicrobial use in outpatient dialysis units. By identifying key areas, including best practices in documentation and classification of infections, and a focus on antibiotic de-escalation, this study should lead to future antimicrobial stewardship interventions tailored to outpatient dialysis units," said Snyder.

###

Graham M. Snyder, Priti R. Patel, Alexander J. Kallen, James A. Strom, J. Kevin Tucker, and Erika M. C. D'Agata. "Antimicrobial Use in Outpatient Hemodialysis Units." Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology 34:4 (April 2013).

Published through a partnership between the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and The University of Chicago Press, Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology provides original, peer-reviewed scientific articles for anyone involved with an infection control or epidemiology program in a hospital or healthcare facility. ICHE is ranked 15 out of 140 journals in its discipline in the latest Journal Citation Reports from Thomson Reuters.

SHEA is a professional society representing more than 2,000 physicians and other healthcare professionals around the world with expertise in healthcare epidemiology and infection prevention and control. SHEA's mission is to prevent and control healthcare-associated infections and advance the field of healthcare epidemiology. The society leads this field by promoting science and research and providing high-quality education and training in epidemiologic methods and prevention strategies. SHEA upholds the value and critical contributions of healthcare epidemiology to improving patient care and healthcare worker safety in all healthcare settings. Visit SHEA online at http://www.shea-online.org, on Twitter @SHEA_Epi and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/SHEApreventingHAIs.



[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Nearly a third of antibiotic prescriptions for dialysis patients inappropriate [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 12-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Kate Enos
kenos@gymr.com
202-745-5071
Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America

Dialysis patients face increased risk of antibiotic-resistant infections

Patients who receive hemodialysis are at a significant risk of developing infections, a leading cause of hospitalization and death in this patient population. A new study highlights the need to improve antibiotic use in outpatient dialysis facilities as data shows nearly a third of antibiotic prescriptions are deemed inappropriate. The study is published in the April issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

The United States Renal Data System reported that from 1993 to 2010, the number of hospitalizations due to infection rose by more than 45 percent in chronic hemodialysis (CHD) patients. They noted that patients receiving dialysis were admitted to the hospital two times per year for an average of 12 days, and 36 percent were readmitted within 30 days. During hospitalizations, CHD patients appeared to have contributed to the spread and acquisition of multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs) among other hospitalized patients.

"The high prevalence of MDROs harbored by CHD patients compared to that in lower-risk populations, compounded by the rising rate of infections, emphasizes the need to reduce the emergence and spread of MDROs in this population," said Graham Snyder, lead researcher in the study. "Despite the high prevalence, there are limited data pertaining to antibiotic use in outpatient hemodialysis units."

Researchers from Boston, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, calculated the total antibiotic use over a retrospective 35-month period, and additionally followed 278 patients during a 12-month period and analyzed the antibiotics these patients received at two outpatient dialysis units.

Inappropriate administration of antibiotics was defined as giving antibiotics when criteria for infection based on national guidelines published by major infectious diseases and nephrology societies were not met; failing to use a more narrow-spectrum antimicrobial agent based on culture results; and using antimicrobial prophylaxis when indications for surgical prophylaxis were not met.

A total of 1,003 antimicrobial doses were administered during the 12-month study period. Nearly one in three patients received at least one antimicrobial dose.

Of the 1,003 doses of antibiotics, nearly one-third of antibiotic doses were classified as inappropriate. The most common reason for inappropriate administration was that conditions for infection were not met. Blood-stream infections were the most common misdiagnosed infection based on unmet criteria.

The second most common reason for inappropriate antibiotic administration was using a potent antibiotic when an equally efficacious and available antibiotic less likely to promote resistant bacteria could have been used. The antibiotics most likely to be inappropriately prescribed included vancomycin, which is commonly used for skin-related infections and infections associated with the vascular access used for dialysis, and third or fourth generation cephalosporins, which are used for a broad array of infections.

"Since antimicrobial exposure is the main risk factor for the emergence and spread of MDROs, minimizing inappropriate antimicrobial use is imperative. The findings of this study provide important information toward minimizing inappropriate antimicrobial use in outpatient dialysis units. By identifying key areas, including best practices in documentation and classification of infections, and a focus on antibiotic de-escalation, this study should lead to future antimicrobial stewardship interventions tailored to outpatient dialysis units," said Snyder.

###

Graham M. Snyder, Priti R. Patel, Alexander J. Kallen, James A. Strom, J. Kevin Tucker, and Erika M. C. D'Agata. "Antimicrobial Use in Outpatient Hemodialysis Units." Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology 34:4 (April 2013).

Published through a partnership between the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and The University of Chicago Press, Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology provides original, peer-reviewed scientific articles for anyone involved with an infection control or epidemiology program in a hospital or healthcare facility. ICHE is ranked 15 out of 140 journals in its discipline in the latest Journal Citation Reports from Thomson Reuters.

SHEA is a professional society representing more than 2,000 physicians and other healthcare professionals around the world with expertise in healthcare epidemiology and infection prevention and control. SHEA's mission is to prevent and control healthcare-associated infections and advance the field of healthcare epidemiology. The society leads this field by promoting science and research and providing high-quality education and training in epidemiologic methods and prevention strategies. SHEA upholds the value and critical contributions of healthcare epidemiology to improving patient care and healthcare worker safety in all healthcare settings. Visit SHEA online at http://www.shea-online.org, on Twitter @SHEA_Epi and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/SHEApreventingHAIs.



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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/sfhe-nat031213.php

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