Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Yes it has been awhile, Michael. Things are very well in my world...thanks. I continue to enjoy and trade the Forex Market. It really has been my niche.
Enjoy the rest of your day!! And have a great summer too!!!
Speaking of cake I hope you get to enjoy some today...birthday cake that is. Happy Birthday, Michael. Wishing you continued success and a another great year! Cheers!!!
Today shouldn't be a dull day considering it's THAT day...Happy Birthday Michael!!!!
I noticed that you now have over 200,000 postings...Pretty impressive! Glad to see you're still having fun :)
Enjoy your day Michael and have a great summer!!!!
How did you guess? lol...As a matter of fact, yes, was on to the east coast on holidays :)
Thanks so much for the updates Dewy!!
Happy Birthday, Michael!!! Hope you took some time to celebrate....
Very nice!...sounds like you grabbed yourself a little slice of heaven...Fun, sun, sand, and surf. That's the life!!! I'm glad for you :)
Well hello stranger:)
How've you been?
Nice charts...Thanks for tossing them up.
Say, did you get yourself back to SA yet?
Hi jakes_dad,
That's had quite a nice run of late, hasn't it? Thanks for the chart.
Canadian online printer supplies store for cheap & quality ink & toner cartridges for Canon, Epson, Brother, HP, Samsung, Dell, Lexmark etc.
http://www.123inkcartridges.ca/
There was a place around here, not long ago, that was offering $19.95 oil changes plus a coupon for a $12 deluxe car wash. But, I too have dealt with the same mechanic for about 10 years now. I figure my loyalty to him, in the long run, will save money as he's been very good to me about pricing. But yes I agree it does get tempting.
Missy,
I am so very sorry to hear this news. Drummer was an exceptionally special man with an infinitely kind heart and good soul. My heartfelt condolences go out to you, your families, friends and everyone who was fortunate to have known him.
Love Lives On
Those we love remain with us
for love itself lives on,
and cherished memories never fade
because a loved one's gone.
Those we love can never be
more than a thought apart,
for as long as there is memory,
they'll live on in the heart.
Here are a few coupon sites with links to hundreds of coupons.
• www.frugalshopper.ca
Save on: baby and maternity items, cleaning supplies, games and toys, entertainment, garden supplies, recreation and more. Features: printable coupons and e-coupons; forums with information and coupon trading.
• www.redflagdeals.com
Save on: automotive goods, clothing, entertainment, financial services, eco-friendly items, sports, student needs and more. Features: printable coupons and e-coupons; forums with information and coupon trading.
• www.save.ca
Save on: groceries, personal-care items, and pet and cleaning supplies. Features: register and provide your mailing address and the site will mail you the coupons you select.
• http://smartcanucks.ca
Save on: groceries, baby and kids' items, restaurants, health-care products, pet supplies and more. Features: printable coupons and e-coupons; forums with coupon trading and information; trader ratings for users (similar to EBay).
40,000 Miles in 248 Days - Our Earth by Motorcycle
From November 14, 2010 to July 20, 2011, Edelweiss Bike Travel, Number One in
the World for Guided Motorcycle Tours, will be Realizing a Never Before
Attempted Expedition Over all 5 Continents
MIEMING, Austria, November 13 /PRNewswire/ -- "We have been organizing
professional motorcycle tours for 30 years now. To celebrate our anniversary,
we are organizing an unforgettable expedition around our earth for motorcycle
enthusiasts." says the founder of Edelweiss, Werner Wachter, about the unique
and spectacular project, which will start and finish at the Edelweiss
headquarters in Mieming/Austria.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091113/366761 )
DISCOVER OUR EARTH
The first stage starts on November 14, 2010, and leads via Paris to Dakar
in Senegal. Man/woman and machine will then fly to Buenos Aires. Wachter: "We
have allowed 9 weeks for the section from Argentina to Bogota in Columbia.
The subsequent third stage from crossing the Panama Canal to Los Angeles in
California will be relatively short at 5 weeks."
After the flight over the Pacific, we will start traversing the
Australian continent. "This means 7,000 miles in 4 weeks! Fitness and stamina
will help," stresses Wachter. On the fifth and last stage from Beijing right
across the whole of Asia and half of Europe, participants will be nearing
their final destination, the Alps (8 weeks). On July 20, 2011 it will be time
to celebrate the return of the expedition team in Mieming!
Kevin and Julia Sanders from GlobeBusters, the Guinness Book
recordholders for the fastest circumnavigation of the world, will be
supporting Edelweiss. Wachter: "Let's discover the entire globe!"
All current press texts also on http://www.pressetexter.at
Additional images under:
http://www.tourismuspresse.at/redirect.php?qv20je45
A picture accompanying this release is also available on AP Archive:
http://photoarchive.ap.org (PRN Ref 1)
Contact:
Edelweiss Bike Travel
Karin Gritsch
Sportplatzweg 14
A-6414 Mieming/Austria
Tel.: +43-(0)5264-5690-10
Karin.gritsch@edelweissbike.com
http://www.edelweissbike.com
SOURCE Edelweiss Bike Travel
Contact: Edelweiss Bike Travel,Karin Gritsch, Sportplatzweg 14, A-6414
Mieming/Austria, Tel.: +43-(0)5264-5690-10, Karin.gritsch@edelweissbike.com
13Nov09 16:15 GMT
I've heard that Ryanair was pretty notorious for trying to sell anything that wasn't nailed down...Earlier this year they grabbed some headlines when CEO Michael O’Leary said they were considering charging for the use of the on board loo facilities.
http://blogs.wsj.com/middleseat/2009/02/27/will-ryanair-charge-passengers-to-use-toilets/
FYI...
EWI is offering a freebie week...
http://www.elliottwave.com/freeweek/ffs-nov-2009/default.aspx?code=36890
Nice job on the upgrade! Good to hear all's well. Speaking of sweet...mmm,mmm,mmm those Belgium chocolates!!!!! Indulge, enjoy and Bon Voyage :)
PS...looking forward to the photos.
US Dollar Index
....The DX hit the lower trendline today at just below DX75, but the STU has been watching for a throw-under and sharp reversal at DX74.50. The great thing about the pattern the DX is in, the ending diagonal, is it is clearly a terminal pattern and will be followed by a reversal up. The only question is when. The throw-under and reversal would be a classic indicator of when, but is hasn't happened, and need not to end the pattern. The closing wedge shape is clear, albeit could run for a while before still.
Gold has formed a triangle, the penultimate pattern, indicating another (and final) thrust up is about to occur in gold. Probably the spike down in the Dollar and run-up in gold occur around the same time. So watch gold first to give advance warning of the Dollar Bottom......
http://yelnick.typepad.com/yelnick/2009/10/we-may-have-just-topped.html
Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilisation?
Commentary by Lester R. Brown*
WASHINGTON, Sep 29 (IPS) - In early 2008, Saudi Arabia announced that, after being self-sufficient in wheat for over 20 years, the non-replenishable aquifer it had been pumping for irrigation was largely depleted.
In response, officials said they would reduce their wheat harvest by one-eighth each year until production would cease entirely in 2016. The Saudis would then import virtually all the grain consumed by their Canada-sized population of nearly 30 million people.
The Saudis are unique in being so wholly dependent on irrigation. But other, far larger, grain producers such as India and China are facing irrigation water losses and could face grain production declines.
Emerging Trends Threaten Food Security
Fifteen percent of India's grain harvest is produced by overpumping its groundwater. In human terms, 175 million Indians are being fed with grain produced from wells that will be going dry. The comparable number for China is 130 million. Among the many other countries facing harvest reductions from groundwater depletion are Pakistan, Iran, and Yemen.
The tripling of world wheat, rice, and corn prices between mid-2006 and mid-2008 signaled our growing vulnerability to food shortages. It took the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression to lower grain prices.
Past decades have witnessed world grain price surges, but they were event-driven - a drought in the former Soviet Union, a monsoon failure in India, or a crop-withering heat wave in the U.S. Corn Belt. This most recent price surge was trend-driven, the result of our failure to reverse the environmental trends that are undermining world food production.
These trends include - in addition to falling water tables - eroding soils and rising temperatures from increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Rising temperatures bring crop-shrinking heat waves, melting ice sheets, rising sea level, and shrinking mountain glaciers.
With both the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets melting at an accelerating pace, sea level could rise by up to six feet during this century. Such a rise would inundate much of the Mekong Delta, which produces half of the rice in Viet Nam, the world's second-ranking rice exporter. Even a three-foot rise in sea level would cover half the riceland in Bangladesh, a country of 160 million people. And these are only two of Asia's many rice-growing river deltas.
The world's mountain glaciers have shrunk for 18 consecutive years. Many smaller glaciers have disappeared. Nowhere is the melting more alarming than in the Himalayas and on the Tibetan plateau where the ice melt from glaciers sustains not only the dry-season flow of the Indus, Ganges, Yangtze, and Yellow rivers but also the irrigation systems that depend on them. Without these glaciers, many Asian rivers would cease to flow during the dry season.
The wheat and rice harvests of China and India would be directly affected. China is the world's leading wheat producer. India is second. (The United States is third.) With rice, China and India totally dominate the world harvest. The projected melting of these glaciers poses the most massive threat to food security the world has ever faced.
The Harbinger of Civilisation's Demise?
The number of hungry people, which was declining for several decades, bottomed out in the mid-1990s at 825 million. In 2009 it jumped to over one billion. With world food prices projected to continue rising, so too will the number of hungry people.
We know from studying earlier civilisations such as the Sumerians, Mayans, and many others, that more often than not it was food shortages that led to their demise. It now appears that food may be the weak link in our early twenty-first century civilisation as well.
Will we follow in the footsteps of the Sumerians and the Mayans or can we change course - and do it before time runs out? Can we move onto an economic path that is environmentally sustainable? We think we can. That is what Plan B 4.0 is about.
Mobilising to Save Civilisation
Plan B aims to stabilise climate, stabilise population, eradicate poverty, and restore the economy's natural support systems. It prescribes a worldwide cut in net carbon emissions of 80 percent by 2020, thus keeping atmospheric CO2 concentrations from exceeding 400 parts per million.
Cutting carbon emissions will require both a worldwide revolution in energy efficiency and a shift from oil, coal, and gas to wind, solar, and geothermal energy.
The shift to renewable sources of energy is moving at a pace and on a scale we could not imagine even two years ago.
Consider the state of Texas. The enormous number of wind projects under development, on top of the 9,000 megawatts of wind generating capacity in operation and under construction, will bring Texas to over 50,000 megawatts of wind generating capacity (think 50 coal-fired power plants) when all these wind farms are completed. This will more than satisfy the needs of the state's 24 million residents.
Nationwide, new wind generating capacity in 2008 totaled 8,400 megawatts while new coal plants totaled only 1,400 megawatts. The annual growth in solar generating capacity will also soon overtake that of coal. The energy transition is under way.
The United States has led the world in each of the last four years in new wind generating capacity, having overtaken Germany in 2005. But this lead will be short-lived. China is working on six wind farm mega-complexes with generating capacities that range from 10,000 to 30,000 megawatts, for a total of 105,000 megawatts. This is in addition to the hundreds of smaller wind farms built or planned.
Wind is not the only option. In July 2009, a consortium of European corporations led by Munich Re, and including Deutsche Bank, Siemens, and ABB plus an Algerian firm, announced a proposal to tap the massive solar thermal generating capacity in North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean.
Solar thermal power plants in North Africa could economically supply half of Europe's electricity. The Algerians note that they have enough harnessable solar energy in their desert to power the world economy. (No, this is not an error.)
The soaring investment in wind, solar, and geothermal energy is being driven by the exciting realisation that these renewables can last as long as the earth itself. In contrast to investing in new oil fields where well yields begin to decline in a matter of decades, or in coal mines where the seams run out, these new energy sources can last forever.
At a Tipping Point
We are in a race between political tipping points and natural tipping points. Can we cut carbon emissions fast enough to save the Greenland ice sheet and avoid the resulting rise in sea level? Can we close coal-fired power plants fast enough to save at least the larger glaciers in the Himalayas and on the Tibetan Plateau? Can we stabilise population by lowering fertility before nature takes over and halts population growth by raising mortality?
Yes. But it will take something close to a wartime mobilisation, one similar to that of the United States in 1942 as it restructured its industrial economy in a matter of months. We used to talk about saving the planet, but it is civilisation itself that is now at risk.
Saving civilisation is not a spectator sport. Each of us must push for rapid change. And we must be armed with a plan outlining the changes needed.
*Lester R. Brown is founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute. "Plan B 4.0: Mobilising to Save Civilisation" can be downloaded for free at http://www.earth-policy.org/.
(END/2009)
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48650
Is Eli Lilly Milking Cancer by Promoting and Treating It?
Jeffrey Smith
Author and founder of the Institute for Responsible Technology
Posted: October 7, 2009 02:27 PM
Breast Cancer Action and a coalition of consumer and health organizations have launched a campaign called Milking Cancer, where you can demand from Eli Lilly that they withdraw their dangerous bovine growth hormone from the market. For more on bovine growth hormone, see the 18-minute film, Your Milk on Drugs.
Years ago, an owner of a glass company was arrested for throwing bricks through store windows in his town. What a way to increase business! Has Eli Lilly figured out the drug equivalent of breaking, then fixing our windows?
In August 2008, the huge drug company agreed to buy Monsanto's bovine growth hormone (rbST or rbGH), which is injected into cows in the US to increase milk supply. It was an odd choice at the time. A reporter asked Lilly's representative why on earth his veterinary division Elanco just paid $300 million for a drug that other companies wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. The drug's days were obviously numbered. The former head of the American Medical Association has urged hospitals to stop using dairy products from rbGH-injected cows, the American Nurses Association came out against it, even Wal-Mart has joined the ranks of numerous retailers and dairies loudly proclaiming their cows are rbGH-free. In fact, Monsanto's stock rose by almost 5% when the sale was announced, and Eli Lilly's dropped by nearly 1%.
The main reason for the unpopularity of this hormone, which is banned in most other industrialized countries, is the danger of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). Dozens of studies confirm that IGF-1, which accelerates cell division, substantially increases the risk of breast, prostate, colon, lung, and other cancers. Normal milk contains IGF-1, milk drinkers have higher levels of IGF-1, and the milk from cows injected with Eli Lilly's drug has much greater amounts of IGF-1. You can connect the dots.
Would it be too crass to point out the obvious conflict-of-the-public's-interest that Eli Lilly also markets cancer drugs? In fact their drug Evista, which might help reduce the risk of breast cancer, may lower IGF-1 (according to one small study). So on the one hand, Eli Lilly pushes a milk drug that might increase cancer, and on the other, it comes to the rescue with drugs to treat or "prevent" cancer. Call it the perfect cancer profit cycle.
It gets better.
Cows treated with rbGH have much higher incidence of mastitis, a painful infection of the udder. This results in more pus in the milk (yuck). But don't worry. It's Eli Lilly to the rescue again. They are one of the companies happy to sell antibiotics to dairy farmers to treat the infection--which can't help but increase antibiotic resistance in humans (double yuck).
History of Lawsuits and Criminal Charges
But would Eli Lilly consciously risk our health just to increase their profit? What kind of company are they and can we trust them with our food? If recent events are any indication, you better look for rbGH-free labels.
A December 17, 2006 New York Times article revealed that according to hundreds of internal documents and emails,
Eli Lilly has engaged in a decade-long effort to play down the health risks of Zyprexa. ... Lilly executives kept important information from doctors about Zyprexa's links to obesity and its tendency to raise blood sugar -- both known risk factors for diabetes. ... Lilly was concerned that Zyprexa's sales would be hurt if the company was more forthright about the fact that the drug might cause unmanageable weight gain or diabetes.
Their own surveys revealed that 70% of psychiatrists had at least one patient "develop high blood sugar or diabetes while taking Zyprexa." And 30% of patients taking the drug for a year gained at least 22 pounds--some over 100 pounds. But Lilly told their sales team, "Don't introduce the issue!!!"
One doctor even warned: "Unless we come clean on this, it could get much more serious than we might anticipate." It did indeed get serious. They paid out hundreds of millions in settlements to people who claimed they developed diabetes or other disorders.
But Lilly's Zyprexa troubles were not over. In early 2009, they were forced to pay a record-setting $1.42 billion settlement with the Justice Department, and another record-setting state consumer protection claim of $62 million, for illegally marketing the drug to children and the elderly. It emerged in June of this year that Lilly "officials wrote medical journal studies about the antipsychotic Zyprexa and then asked doctors to put their names on the articles, a practice called 'ghostwriting.'"
Eli Lilly was also the maker of the infamous Diethylstilbestrol (DES), a synthetic estrogen. Starting in 1938, it was prescribed to pregnant women to prevent miscarriages and other problems. Although in 1953, research showed that it didn't actually prevent miscarriages, it continued to be used until 1971, when the FDA alerted the public that the daughters exposed to DES in the womb were at risk of a rare vaginal cancer. An estimated 5-10 million pregnant women received DES. The civil courts held Lilly liable because they should have foreseen (based on prior information) that DES might cause cancer and that Lilly should have done the proper testing before marketing it.
Rigging Research
In the late 1980s Eli Lilly was one of four companies (including American Cyanamid, Upjohn, and Monsanto) that tried to get their version of bovine growth hormone approved by the FDA. I sat down with Dr. Richard Burroughs, who was a lead reviewer for the agency on these applications. He didn't have kind words to say about the companies. "They didn't follow good science and they didn't follow regulations for adequate well controlled studies," he said. "They just went out and skewed the data."
He said, for example, that Eli Lilly had mysteriously lost organ samples that may have shown problems in injected cows. And their researchers came up with creative ways to hide reproductive changes in the animals. Specifically, injections appeared to suppress cows' regular menstrual cycle or reduce the visual symptoms. The company was required to report the number of cows "in heat," but was told by the FDA that they could not use bulls to identify them. If bulls were needed, then the label on their drug would have to inform farmers that they would need a bull to help identify which cows were in heat. And most farms didn't have bulls.
According to Burroughs, FDA investigators figured out that Lilly researchers secretly pumped up a heifer--a young female cow--with male hormones, so that the transgendered animal would act like a male and be attracted to the cows in heat. Lilly followed the letter of the law by not using a bull, but well, you can decide if you want to trust these guys.
Eventually, Lilly and two other companies withdrew their products, leaving Monsanto's brand of rbGH as the only one that got approved and marketed. But Lilly worked a deal where they represented Monsanto's drug outside the US. They sell it in 20 countries, including South Africa, Brazil, Colombia, Honduras, Kenya and Mexico. And now, they offer it in the US as well.
Human Reproductive Problems from Drugged Milk
In May 2006, an article in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine concluded that rbGH use, and the subsequent increase in IGF-1 in the US diet, is probably the reason why we have much higher levels of fraternal twins compared to the UK, where rbGH is banned.
Mothers with twin births are more likely to suffer from hypertension, gestational diabetes, hemorrhage, and miscarriage. Twin babies are more likely to be born prematurely and suffer from birth defects, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, vision and hearing disorders, and serious organ problems. How many drugs do you suppose Eli Lilly sells to treat these disorders?
Tell Eli Lilly to take rbGH off the market and out of your milk. To find non-rbGH dairy products, check out the non-GMO shopping section at www.responsibletechology.org.
International bestselling author and filmmaker Jeffrey M. Smith is the executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology. His first book, Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You're Eating, is the world's bestselling and #1 rated book on GMOs. His second, Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods, documents 65 health risks of the GM foods Americans eat everyday. Both are distributed by Chelsea Green Publishing.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-smith/is-eli-lilly-milking-canc_b_312754.html?view=print
“He who would travel happily must travel light.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Have fun :)
Ask Jackie...everything you ever wanted to know about homesteading
http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/JackieClay/
Nests of dinosaur eggs found
2009-10-01 14:27
New Delhi - Indian geologists have found a trove of dinosaur eggs, estimated to be about 65 million years old, in the country's southern state of Tamil Nadu, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
The fossilised eggs were found in the Sendurai village in the central district of Ariyalur, an area rich in fossils dating back 140 million years, the Times of India said.
"We found clusters and clusters of spherical eggs of dinosaurs, and each cluster contained eight eggs," MU Ramkumar, geology lecturer at Periyar University, told the newspaper.
The eggs were discovered during a study funded by Indian and German scientific institutions, the report said.
Ramkumar said each egg was about 13 to 20 centimetres in diameter and they were lying in sandy nests about 1.2m wide.
Scientists said they believe the eggs belonged to large, predatory dinosaurs called carnosaurs and docile sauropods, long-necked herbivores that grew to enormous heights and sizes.
Earlier fossil finds have indicated dinosaurs once roamed the region, but the latest discovery was the first time that hundreds of nests with clusters of dinosaur eggs have been unearthed in the district, the report said.
The clusters were under ash from volcanic eruptions on the Deccan plateau. Scientists said the Deccan eruptions might have caused the dinosaurs to become extinct.
Samples of the eggs are to be sent to Germany for further research.
"This is a very significant finding as never before have we found so many dinosaur eggs in the country," senior scientist Jyotsana Rai was quoted as saying.
- SAPA
http://www.news24.com/Content/SciTech/News/1132/4064dfababb54d7ebdbe32e329ab3066/01-10-2009-02-27/Nests_of_dinosaur_eggs_found
Dutch researchers find mutation linked to greater virulence in swine flu virus
Helen Branswell, Medical Reporter, THE CANADIAN PRESS
29 September 2009 10:46
TORONTO - Dutch scientists have reported they have found what was thought to be a key mutation in some swine flu viruses from the Netherlands, a change many virologists feared would give the viruses the ability to cause more severe disease.
But so far the evidence seems to suggest this mutation does not make the new H1N1 virus more virulent, the researchers said Tuesday.
The change, at position 627 on the PB2 gene of the virus, is known to increase the ability of flu viruses to replicate; prolonged viral replication can lead to more serious illness. The mutation has been found in all known human flu viruses, including the three that caused the pandemics of the last century.
"Everybody predicted that this mutation is going to have a big impact on virus replication of the new H1N1," said Dr. Ron Fouchier, one of the authors of the report and a molecular virologist at Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam.
"If you would have asked me three months ago, I would have bet my car on it. But nobody placed that bet because everybody was sure that it would increase (virulence)."
If they had, it seems they might have been able to claim the keys to Fouchier's SUV.
Three people either known or suspected of having been infected with the mutated H1N1 viruses suffered only mild disease. And ferrets infected with a laboratory synthesized H1N1 virus with this change also did not suffer more severe disease. Ferrets are the standard animal model for human flu.
"Given the information that we have at present, we have no indication for increased virulence," said Dr. Marion Koopmans, chief of virology in the infectious diseases laboratory of the National Institute of Public Health, The Netherlands.
"This is a mutation that is in the textbooks as something to look out for, but whether it really confers something to these (H1N1) viruses remains to be seen."
Koopmans, Fouchier and a number of colleagues disclosed the surprising findings through ProMed, a website and mailing list that serves as an early warning system for infectious diseases developments. It is closely scrutinized by scientists and public health officials in the infectious diseases sphere.
The Dutch scientists reported finding two viruses with this change that appear to have been transmitted between mid-July and mid-August in the West Frisian Islands in the north of The Netherlands. The area is a popular destination for Dutch and German campers.
One of the mutated viruses was recovered from a male who had been there and who started developing symptoms on Aug. 9. The second was found in a girl who hadn't been to the area, but whose sister had been camping there at the time. The sister was also sick, but there was no specimen from her to test. Koopmans said the working assumption is that the sister who went camping was also infected with this virus.
The first virus was only discovered in mid-September, when it made its way to Koopmans' lab. An investigation at that point showed the male and the sister had been part of a group of 24 who shared two tents on the island. Most of the members of the camping party reported having been ill.
Koopmans said officials have looked at specimens from the area and from the regions from whence the campers came, but haven't found more viruses with this change.
"There's no evidence yet that this virus has spread any further in Holland," Fouchier said. "Of course we're currently still looking for it. Every virus we get our hands on we check (position) 627. But we haven't found any more."
Labs have been looking for this mutation from the moment the new H1N1 virus was fully analyzed and it was seen it didn't have the same amino acid at position 627 as other human viruses have.
Some scientists even suggested the virus might not be fully adapted to spread among humans because it didn't have this change, but instead had an amino acid at position 627 that is normally seen in avian flu viruses. The pandemic virus, which is a never-before-seen hybrid of swine, avian and human genes, has an avian PB2 gene.
Dr. Richard Webby, head of the World Health Organization's influenza collaborating centre at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., said there is good evidence this mutation is associated with adaptation of avian influenza viruses to humans, but the proof that it is linked to severity of disease is less clear.
Viruses with this change show increased virulence in mice and sometimes in ferrets, but not always, he said, suggesting the ferret data probably are more reliable. "I think this is one instance where mice are probably lying a little bit," Webby said.
In some flu viruses this change is known to allow the virus to replicate at cooler temperatures, meaning they can infect the upper airways, rather than the warmer deep lung area preferred by avian flu viruses.
That might actually be a good thing with this H1N1, Webby said, noting autopsies have shown that in severe cases the pandemic virus wreaks havoc deep in the lungs.
Dr. Nancy Cox, who heads the influenza division at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, warns people should not take too much comfort from the fact this change doesn't seem to make the virus more virulent at this point.
"We just know that influenza can change in unpredictable ways through mutation and reassortment," she said, referring to the process by which flu viruses swap genes with each other.
"The unexpected can arise, and arise very quickly. So we shouldn't write this off. It is causing hospitalization. It is causing fatalities. And in every single case that you hear about, it's a tragedy."
-Follow Canadian Press Medical Writer Helen Branswell's flu updates on Twitter at CP-Branswell
http://www.metronews.ca/ottawa/live/article/324939--dutch-researchers-find-mutation-linked-to-greater-virulence-in-swine-flu-virus
Well that's no fun :(
Is that clip from your "channel"?
2007 Finca Flichman Malbec/Cabernet Sauvignon Expresiones Reserve
http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=708007
Very nice long taste and a little less expensive than Cockfighter's.
Curious...did you happen to hear back from Pooles Rock people?
Boy toys are most welcomed ;)
Sad :(
It will be interesting to see if they are successful.
Kseniya Simonova - Sand Animation - Ukraine's Got Talent
Bought a Chilian Sauvignon blanc the other day called Espiritu de Chile. The reason I choose that one was simple...It came with a freebie...a wine stopper that was in the form of an Easter Island big head statue. I'm a somewhat of a sucker for stuff like that...LOL. Personally, I didn't care much for the wine but the prize was well worth it!!!!! Don't ever send me out to buy the TV snacks 'cause I'd come back with a Kinder Surprise...just for the toy of course!
LOL...absolutely!!!!
Just tried Cockfighter's Ghost Verdelho. It's dry with a citrusy taste and quite a tang. Wasn't half bad! I understand that their Pinot Noir is outstanding. It's a rare find in my town so I'll have to pick it up on my next excursion to Toronto. Have you tried either at all?
I went on a bit of an Argentinean malbec spree this past winter when I was in Mexico. Sampled a number of Chilian Carménères as well. Sadly, I couldn't tell you the name of any of them but I can say I enjoyed them all!
Banned because of the label?...seems pretty silly. It's not available in this area so I won't get to try it any time soon unless you want to mail me a bottle....
LOL...now that's quite the unique title...Have a very Happy Birthday, Michael. Enjoy...enjoy...enjoy!!!!
Might rock help soak up warming gas?
Peridotite turns CO2 into solid carbon mineral like limestone, marble
msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 5:38 p.m. ET, Fri., Nov. 7, 2008
NEW YORK - A common rock can be harnessed to soak up the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide at a rate that could help slow global warming, scientists reported in a new study.
When carbon dioxide comes in contact with the rock, known as peridotite, the gas is converted into a solid carbonate like limestone or marble.
Geologist Peter Kelemen and geochemist Juerg Matter said the naturally occurring process can be supercharged 1 million times to grow underground minerals that can permanently store 4 billion or more of the 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide emitted by human activity every year.
Peridotite is the most common rock found in the Earth's mantle, or the layer directly below the crust. In some places it also appears on the surface — particularly in the Middle Eastern nation of Oman, which is conveniently close to a region that emits substantial amounts of carbon dioxide in the production of fossil fuels.
"To be near all that oil and gas infrastructure is not a bad thing," Matter said in an interview.
Supercharge via drilling, hot water
The scientists, who are both at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York, say they could kick-start peridotite's carbon storage process by boring down and injecting it with heated water containing pressurized carbon dioxide.
"Once jump-started in this way, the reaction would naturally generate heat — and that heat would in turn hasten the reaction, fracturing large volumes of rock, exposing it to reaction with still more CO2-rich solution," the university said in a statement. "Heat generated by the Earth itself also would help, since the further down you go, the higher the temperature. The scientists say that such a chain reaction would need little energy input after it was started."
The peridotite field in Oman is already naturally absorbing 10,000 to 100,000 tons of carbon a year, the researchers found, far more than anyone had thought.
The two made the discovery during field work in Oman's desert. "Their study area, a Massachusetts-size expanse of largely bare, exposed peridotite, is crisscrossed on the surface with terraces, veins and other formations of whitish carbonate minerals, formed rapidly in recent times when minerals in the rock reacted with CO2-laden air or water," the university stated.
Peridotite also occurs in the Pacific islands of Papua New Guinea and Caledonia, and along the coast of the Adriatic Sea and in smaller amounts in California.
The study by Kelemen and Matter will appear in the Nov. 11 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Not a silver bullet
Many companies are hoping to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by siphoning off large amounts of carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants and storing it underground.
But big greenhouse gas emitters like the United States, China and India — where abundant surface supplies of the rock are not found — would have to come up with other ways of storing or cutting emissions.
Using underground caverns could require thousands of miles of pipelines and nobody is sure whether the potentially dangerous gas would leak back out into the atmosphere in the future.
Kelemen cautioned that this discovery alone would not solve the carbon problem.
"We see this as just one of a whole suite of methods to trap carbon," Kelemen said. "It’s a big mistake to think that we should be searching for one thing that will take care of it all."
To that end, Matter has also been working on a project in Iceland where a different rock, volcanic basalt, might be able to absorb CO2. Tests are set for next spring, the university said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27593907/
MSN Privacy . Legal
© 2008 MSNBC.com