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Good Morning Team -
Wow - what a trip to experience such a crazy meltdown yesterday /:( It was def a good reminder that I am still very much HUMAN!!! Flobee, I would have LOVED to be scooped up yesterday Lol - thank you sooo much for having such a huge heart! You just put a much needed big smile on my face ;) It is the people like YOU (and Sharon, and Eric, and Melissa, and Hrdhat77, and Val, and Amy, and Shea and EVERYONE else that is on this journey together) that inspire ME!!! I come from a Family of borderline insane "Overachievers" so I am becoming very aware of that "not good enough program" that has been running my Life. So now, I am Affirming to myself everyday that I am more than good enough and don't have to be perfect to be Loved!!! Not only am I detoxing Physically, I am seriously detoxing Mentally, Emotionally and Spiritually as well... it's a lot. I've heard that is actually to be expected, so if anyone else starts feeling a little NUTS, don't worry ;)
I actually did have a great breakthrough as a result of my carazy internal drama yesterday tho. I have been really encouraging everyone in my Life to take on this BFL Challenge with me and so far no one has been up for the task. Then out of nowhere, my oldest sister (who I had done this with over 8 years ago) shows up last night with BFL Journal in hand, ready to start her Body for Life 12 week Challenge!!! Seriously perfect timing... and I'm so excited to have her as support.
It was so great to be able to coach her through her first workout!!! And as a result of re-connecting with my own personal sense of direction, my much needed motivation returned; just in the simple act of helping someone else. The "Universal Law of Reciprocation" is truly magic! Also, I am NOT a morning person at all - however I randomly woke-up at 5am today and instead of just going back to bed, I got up and went straight to the gym to get my Cardio workout in! Not sure I am going to keep that schedule goin, however it was really nice to be up so early doing something productive (...and BTW I give ALL of you who do those super early morning workouts some serious props!!! You guys are Super Hero's Hah)
Such a blessing to have this Community Forum. Thank you to ALL of you, have an Incredible day!!! xoxo Kat
DAY 30 - BFL Journal daily Lesson-for-LIFE:
"Finishing what you start is a habit we can all develop." I've noticed far more people start fitness programs than finish them. Why? Quite clearly, quitting has become a habit for many people. The good news is we all have the potential to finish what we start, to follow through and honor self-promises. The key is to make finishing what you start a habit - a positive pattern of action. One of the things that can help is if you see every day as an example for how you'll approach the entire 12-week Program. Today, by achieving your nutrition, exercise, and mindset goals, you can feel the satisfaction of honoring self-promises and finishing what you started. Tomorrow, you have that Opportunity again. And each day, as you stick with it, you'll be working to develop your ability to follow through and succeed! And that is perhaps the greatest habit you could possibly develop through this Body-for-LIFE experience. ~Bill Phillips~
Ugh...ok, it's my turn. I still have not missed a single workout or cheated on a single meal...I haven't even overdone my free day. My workout yesterday was not very good, and I was feeling weak, and I've been having an itchy scratchy face for a few days and now I'm all broken out. I didn't sleep well last night, and maybe got 4 hours of sleep after finally getting to sleep. I have a headache and I am so tired, AND...I'm somehow 2 pounds heavier this week. So it's interesting to hear that other people are detoxing and having some rough times. I've been feeling a little "detoxy" myself. I know it's not unusual, but we do sometimes have these down type days. It does get discouraging to see the scale go up, and then not have any change in your measurements. Then again, 4 weeks is really not all that long if you think about it.
So...having had my rant, just know that I'm not giving up. It's just not in my nature. Kat, I will admit to being one that thinks you are gorgeous and I wish I could have your body, and your spirit. We definitely hold ourselves up to higher standards than others have for us, and it's time to give ourselves a break. Hrdhat, you are a real fighter to jump back on the train after all that happened to you! THAT is an inspiration to me, for sure. Revenge of the lobster...and all this time I thought that would be a good protein ;).
Thanks for being there, guys. I'm sure I'll be sunnier tomorrow! Have a great day!
Must be the week for tail spins...here is my very personal rant: thanks in advance for letting me get this off of my chest. I am actually a very private person. The fact that I am sharing this (AND let you all see my before photos) are way out of my comfort zone but part of the healing process...
For years, I let the "not good enough" syndrome totally get to me. In addition to being diagnosed with cancer last year, I went through some pretty traumatic emotional events as well. For almost 2 years, my normally amazing and supportive husband was awful. Always in a bad mood, not very nice to me and somehow blamed it all on my. I'm not fun enough, I'm not adventurous enough, I don't know how to just relax and let go, I'm too ambitious and driven, blah, blah, blah. His being in a bad place was totally my fault in his mind and I bought into it.
Late 2011, he volunteered for a year-long deployment to Afghanistan and left with only 2 weeks' notice. He spent a week of that time in Illinois with his mom without me – he insisted. Turns out, we went there because he was having an affair with his high school sweetheart - how cliché right? He went to spend the week with her. I found out about it about a week after he left the country. Insult to injury, my mother-in-law is good friends with this other woman and was 100% behind their affair. Shortly after learning about the affair, I was diagnosed with cancer. My husband told me it was over with the other woman and I stupidly believed him. I later found out that it was indeed NOT over and that he was still telling her to wait for him and that as soon as I was "well" he would leave me for her. Both of my step-daughters found out and called me in tears asking what I was going to do. I told him that he had apparently made his decision. He had clearly chosen her. No need to wait for me to get well. I could and would do this on my own and I was no longer his concern. I didn't take his calls or return his emails for weeks. I appeared to be strong and in control - truthfully, I was a complete, devastated mess. He kept telling me that he couldn't bare to lose me and that he felt trapped in his relationship with his mom and this other woman. He made a huge mistake publically and didn't know how to undo it. My reply - he needed to put on his big boy panties and man up. He needed to admit that he had made a huge mistake and then start taking steps to fix it. He did and then had to face both of his daughters. They were not at all supportive of him which was difficult for him. They have always been close and I think he fully expected them to understand and be sympathetic. They were definitely NOT.
We are in therapy and are both committed to making our marriage work. I spent 6 months in counseling (and on anti-depressants) myself before he came home. I truly believe that he is sorry for what he did and what he put me through. However, his mother has never apologized for her part in all of this. She is a pathological liar, manipulator, and control freak. She has talked bad about me, behind my back of course – never to my face, for 20+ years. I can find it in my heart to forgive my husband. I will never forget but I can forgive and work towards fixing us.
I haven't been able to forgive his mother. A sincere apology would so a long way but I will never get one from her. She's my husband's mother so she is part of our life - like it or not. She's here this week, staying with me, visiting some of her Arizona friends and acting like nothing ever happened. She booked tickets without talking to us about her dates. My husband is in Canada!!!! It's just the two of us here. I can't look at her without feeling the pain and hurt of last year or the fact that she had a hand in it all. I am not "over it" yet.
I am an emotional eater and self-destructive when I feel threatened or insecure. The past few days were not pretty...
However, after not sleeping well, I started off today bright and early (5am Kat) with a tough cardio workout and about 10 minutes of reflection. I can't let anyone else control me. I am in control of me. Likewise, I can't control anyone else. I can only control how I respond. I can and will do this – for me and only me. It is hard and it takes determination and courage. I have come a long way recently cannot go back to being the person that I was. It will kill me! I deserve better and I AM WORTH IT!
Sharon, I read your whole post in tears. I'm not very good at expressing myself about things, and for my stumbling for words, I hope you'll forgive me. I'm very impressed by the way you have handled yourself. Your dedication in the face of so much adversity is something I'd like to be able to pull off myself. I hope I could, in future. I'm so sorry about the cancer and about people treating you so disrespectfully. There's really something about being betrayed by someone so close to you that really throws off the entire earth's axis. Even colors don't look the same, and you start looking at everyone differently. I've been there myself in the past, and I know there could be few things as bad as that feeling in the world. Only a few other things would be worse, and on would be finding out you have cancer, and you've had both.
As for me, I divorced in 2010 from my husband of 14 years. He was bipolar, and perpetually unemployed, and I just couldn't handle it. My children suffered as well, and I knew that I was stronger on my own. I have since finally been in control of my own life, and I've been very happy and very content. My children are better, my home is better...everything has been better. I did not have the perseverance or strength to stick it out. I think his life and mine improved for that exchange, or I would be disappointed in myself that I couldn't stick it out like you have. That takes tremendous courage.
The same goes for you, Kat. I read your courageous story earlier on, but just didn't know how to put any of my thoughts to words then. I do read all of your thoughts and stories, and feel inadequate trying to respond because I'm coming from such a wonderful place myself...almost to the point of feeling guilty.
I wish you weren't going through any of that, but we will be here for you through THIS, at least, and we are VERY PROUD of you for hanging in there in the face of so many horrible trials. You and Kat are both heroes to me ::hugs::
WOW... All I can say is WOW. It is a privilege to be here with such strong people. Being a minister, I hear many life stories, and value each and every one of them. Helps me keep perspective in my own life. Kat and Sharon, you two are and inspiration to us all.
Having been through a divorce last year, I know the pain and sense of loneliness that comes with it. I admire you Sharon for wanting to work it through... on top of battling cancer. Kat, you are an inspiration keeping things going here and taking on your challenges head on and being an inspiration to others.
Think this just shows this is more than a diet, but a way of life, connecting mind, body and spirit.
You are all a blessing and I am humbled and grateful to be here with you.
Hi all!
Does anyone watch the Biggest Loser? My take away this week from the show was that I need to fix what's happening on the inside so that I quit sabotaging my progress. Sharing my story is part of that process so thank you all providing a "safe" place to do that.
Eric and Melissa - don't sell yourself short. You both did what you needed to do for yourself. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to walk away from marriage that was causing you pain and hurt and to tackling life on your own.
Kat - how exciting to have your sister join you on this journey. Get her on this forum!!!! I will be doing back to back challenges so I'll be here for a while :-) I have tried to recruit family and friends but no takers so far. I think my husband would do it if he didn't travel every week for work. He is supportive but that isn't the same as having someone taking the challenge with you. Congrats
Not sure where you all live but we have some strange things going on with our weather. A week ago it was almost 80. Today, I didn't hit 50. I know 50 would be heaven for a lot of places but remember - Arizona summers are BRUTAL. This is our good time of year. "Winter" is the reason I stick it out through months of 100-115 degree weather. Yesterday was incredibly windy. Today, I woke up to rain. Not a big deal in most places but it is very rare to wake up to rain here. It is the desert after all. The change in weather with moisture in the air makes my knee hurt like there is no tomorrow. I couldn't finish my workout this morning and I even broke down and took some motrin. I am looking forward to the day when it doesn't hurt so much. Right now my surgeon is encouraging a joint replacement but I want to see how much better it will feel without all of this extra weight I am carrying first! I'd really rather NOT have a replacement surgery done in my early 40s.
I took some progress pictures this morning but was highly disappointed. I don't see much progress and my measurements are only marginally better. The scale (which I haven't been on since I started) hasn't moved at all :-( I thought I would be further along by week 4. I have had some personal set backs along the way so I suppose this is to be expected. I know that stress hinders progress. I can't eliminate my stressors right now (work, marriage, monster-in-law, etc) but I can recommit to my goals and do the best that I can. I can eat better. I can workout harder. I can get more sleep. I can learn and practice relaxation techniques. As Eric wrote above - this is about more than just a diet - it's connecting body, mind and spirit. This is Body for Life not body for today or body for the next 12 weeks. This is all about lifestyle changes for me and breaking years of bad habits. It'll happen I will just keep at it and not give up even when I'm discouraged. You all have no idea how much you help in this process. I probably would have given up already if not for this forum.
Thanks for being the amazing people that you are :-)
I've been going to this truly incredible "group therapy" since my Hospitalization last Summer to help me learn more about my own human psyche, understanding the chronic illnesses and overall coping skill sets for LIFE. (Btw - I fought against going to a therapist for over 7 years thinking that I was "strong enough" to handle Life on my own - Hah...turns out that NOBODY is! That is why we are all here on this Planet, Together!!! Even just being a part of this BFL Forum is actually an incredible form of therapy in itself; definitely is for me ;)
So, in going through my own personal psychological meltdowns and physiological breakdowns this week, and then reading what you all have been going through (Melissa, Sharon, Hrdhat77, Eric and everyone else who just hasn't had the chance or desire to post yet - all of us experiencing varying degrees of turbulence), I am seeing much more clearly what separates the weak from the strong, or better yet, the Spectators from the Gladiators! YES we ALL get the badges of courage and strength that we have very deservingly earned through going through Life's extremely devastating trials. However, what I realized today is that we didn't necessarily have any other choice!
Meaning, we didn't ask to get sick, or have our hearts betrayed and stomped on, or to lose our loved ones, etc... Those things just happened to us ...And, those are all crucial elements to our "personal stories" and absolutely hold beyond phenomenally significant importance to who we are as people today. We ALL gained sooo much personal conviction and strength through those experiences, that I personally would have concluded that we could face and successfully overcome absolutely ANYTHING, right!?! Maybe not...
When Life throws us a devastating circumstance, we "DEAL" with it however we decide to at that moment in our Lives. Interestingly enough, Society, or the people around us show their support by affirming how brave, or strong, or resilient we are. They're not wrong, because we definitely were! The difference though between those circumstances and this BFL Challenge is one incredibly important factor... CHOICE!!! This is something that we don't actually HAVE to do, or even deal with if we don't want to. We have full control about whether or not this is even an element in our Lives right now. Unlike our other devastating experiences in Life, we actually have the CHOICE to walk away from ALL of the daily difficulties that come with competing in this Challenge.
However, I would bet that if YOU are one of the people that have made it to this point and are still even reading this, then YOU were designed to be a Gladiator, NOT a Spectator!!! So to get through this Challenge successfully, we are going to have to make the choice every single day to climb back into the Arena and be the Gladiator that we have been preparing to become. We have to leave all the "Saboteurs" at the gates and fight the fight every day; even if we have to walk in limping and bleeding!
I realized today that I have been so beyond beaten and bloodied "out there in the arena of Life" that I had completely checked out and became nothing more than an insecure scared Spectator, just watching from the sidelines. Interestingly enough, that is where most of the damage has actually occurred (on the sidelines!!!) So, kicking, screaming, limping, crying or bleeding - I am CHOOSING to climb back into this BFL Challenge Arena (obviously an analogy for my LIFE!!!) and doing whatever it takes to be one of the last ones standing... and I believe that YOU already know if you are going to be standing there with me...
There goes my cinematic epic movie story-telling personality! Hahah. And also, please know that this is absolutely still a safe space to talk freely and be completely transparent. I imagine that the coming days are actually going to get even more challenging from here! I just came to a place where I personally needed to make a solid decision for myself; IN or OUT. I knew that if I truly wasn't ready to CHANGE, then no matter what I did, I wasn't going to... I KNOW now though that re-connecting to my WHY and re-committing myself to this Challenge, I WILL start seeing the results and FAST!!!
Lots of LOVE to Everyone!!! xoxo Kat
Hi Team!
Thank you Kat for putting a lot of what I have been feeling into (cinematic-storytelling) words. I've definitely felt like a spectator recently and want to get back to feeling like a Gladiator again.
It is so true that much damage happens when you are on the sidelines. How different it is when you are Gladiator and can fend off a lot of the things that hurt you. It's much easier being proactive than reactive. And I believe it's healthier.
Thanks again Kat.
I hope everyone else on the team is doing well.
Sharon- ill be here for a while too. Back to back... And it doesn't end.
DAY 31 - BFL Journal daily Lesson-for-LIFE:
"You can restore your body to a level of health and fitness you might not have enjoyed for years." Most people who begin the Body-for-LIFE Program didn't spend weeks or months falling out of shape... it's something they've been "working on" for years. Remarkably, and thankfully, it doesn't take nearly as long to rebuild the body; in fact, in as little as 12 weeks, you can restore your body to a level of health and fitness you might not have enjoyed for years. I'm often awestruck by the ability of the human body to heal, rebuild and renew. When you decide to make a change, and then you follow a sound, scientific approach like Body-for-LIFE (which integrates a combination of aerobic and strength-training exercise, proper nutrition, and focused, positive thinking), you can experience a lower risk for heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. And you can look younger, feel younger, and enjoy a higher quality of Life. ~Bill Phillips~
Good morning!
Kat - what do you do for a living? Your "cinematic epic movie story-telling" is awesome and I love your last post :-)
I AM here by choice and I am really ready to be a Gladiator! I have let my weight keep me on the sidelines (figuratively and literally) and that is not ok. I'll jump into the arena with you Kat! Who else????
I read on one of the champion's blog that throughout their challenge the concept of "interested versus committed" was a driving force. We started off this journey with a lot of people that were interested. Those of us still here on this forum are committed. Our level of commitment might differ from each other and will likely change along our own personal journey. However, if you are still here, even silently reading the posts without actively participating, I consider you committed. Speak up, jump into the arena, and fight for yourself, your health and your future.
Recipe share: I made an awesome Thai Chicken Soup in the crockpot yesterday. It might be a new favorite for me!
Hope you all have a terrific BFL Day
Still here and kicking! Motivation has been in a little slump this week but I keep going to the gym and after I get started everything starts to feel right. Had a killer lower body yesterday legs are a little Sore :)
Sharon- I would love to get that recipe
Kat- love the posts keep them coming
Eric- ill be doing back to back too
Ps. This iPad tends to change my words to other words as I type so if something doesn't make sense I prob just didn't catch it.
I'm definitely in it for the long haul! I'm not the quitting type, either!! Both my daughter and my BF are both still in it as well. They will do what I do, and if I stick to it, so will they. Good clan I've got. I have another daughter who is away in Washington state with her father for this year, and I have been missing her terribly. In June, I get to drive up there and get her. I'm really looking forward to having the family back together.
I'm still in a slump, feeling very tired, fatigued, and drug out, headachy (4 days now) and my muscles feel very weak. I have been making sure to have all of my meals, and I always drink lots of water. Of course, there is the EXTRA trial that women have each month to deal with, and I've been dealing with that. I hope that's all it is. I take multi-vitamins, omega capsules, and even b vitamins. I don't sleep very well, but then I never do, so that's not anything new into the mix. I'm thinking about increasing my carbs just a tad and seeing if that helps. How my muscles feel is a lot like how they always felt when I tried Atkins for that month. I didn't get as a good a workout last night as I wanted, and I missed the abs all together because of the headache. It's the first time since I started that I made any compromise, so I'm sure it wont' hurt anything, but I sure hope it goes away within the next couple days.
As far as wanting to see results in the fourth week, I think everyone is at the point where they really are ready to see some real change. However, as I've read over and over on the forums, most women don't see hardly any change until week 8, then something magical happens between week 8 and 12 and they say MOST of their change happened in those last 4 weeks. For men, the 4th week through the 8th seem to be key, but not for women. So take heart!! If we hang in there, it WILL pay off at the end. We just have to have faith. We KNOW that eating right and exercising is the right thing for our bodies. We KNOW that they MUST change with that kind of consistency. It's only a matter of time, then we will never look back. Let's look to that 8th week as our next goal, and I think we won't be disappointed.
Have a great day, y'all.
To answer your question Sharon, I have been one of those "jack of ALL trades, Master of none" ADD types - which is something else that I really want to change. I have definitely enjoyed dabbling in all kinds of interests and professions (Military, Restaurant, Psuedo-Horse "Wrangler", Sports Medicine, Associate Producer for Television, Modeling, Creative Writing, Fashion Photography, AKC Dog Breeding, Product Brand Managing, Massage Therapy, Trading Accounts, etc... AAhhh and there's more I'm sure hah) however my soul is now reeeaaally craving Purpose!!! Ever since I was 5 years old all I ever wanted to be was a Performance Singer and live on a Vineyard/Horse Ranch; so those are next on my list to Experience! ;) Would be even better with a Husband and kids...
I do also have a passion for writing and have been working on a Screenplay for a few years... so time to get that finished and manifested too! :) And just recently got invited to co-create a really fascinating "Social Experiment" Documentary Series called "Under My Mask". It is basically going to be the documented study of what is really going on deep inside a person, underneath all of the facades and "smoke n mirrors" illusions that we create in order to "protect" ourselves. Society as a whole has isolated from one another so much that we have actually become so enthralled in our own fears of each other that, not only do we disconnect and hurt each other, we disconnect and destroy ourselves! My own struggles with these issues make this for an even more purposeful endeavor and hope to shed some much needed light on these "taboo subjects". We will be Casting over the Summer, if anyone is interested in being a study subject! Heheh
And on a more personal note:
Sharon - I just LOVE you!!! You have been so hugely instrumental in keeping me going. Your consistency in "showing up", participating and just being completely transparent has truly created the support that I was seeking when starting this Challenge. If your husband doesn't already know how lucky he is to have you, then he is def about to find out! We're gonna be beating all the men away with a stick! Or not... up to you LOL ;) xoxo
Eric - I already see you as a Gladiator. YOU were the one who brought us all together!!! Please give yourself credit for doing that for all of us. You were a born Leader, and that is where you belong. Step into that role with Faith and watch the miracles happen all around you!
Melissa - Thank you for being so consistent and transparent as well!! How incredible that you have those closest to you, following your lead! That is a huge feat girlfriend. I would guess that your true power lies in the ability to enroll and Influence. People are so desperate for inspirational direction; who knows, you may become the next Jillian Michaels!
Hrdhat77 - Okay, I'm finally going to ask... what's your real name??? Lol. You are so grounded and seem to be almost unshakeable!!! Good day, bad day and everything in between you show up, add your contributions and support and seem keep your Life perspective so simple. Very cool - I have a lot to learn from you!!!
Val, Amy, Shea, MrGuy, Flobee, Juzuki, Dan, Kaykay, FitMama (really sorry for anyone that I've forgotten at the moment) - Miss you... I know how busy Life can get, and hope that you all know how IMPORTANT you are to this Team and to me! Thank you ALL for every contribution thus far and really looking forward to getting to know each of you even better!!!
Have an amazing day 32 Everyone ;) Off to go kick sum Cardio butt then will be back to post the BFL DLFL xoxo Kat
I only have a few seconds but I wanted to pass this "Pep Talk from Kid President" along. My oldest step daughter (the one who just returned from Afghanistan) sent it to me. I hope it offers some motivation and encouragement!
© Abbott Laboratories,2013


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Empty 1/4 oz Silver Armenia 100 Drams Noah's Ark 500 Coin Box
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(Balenciaga jacket, Sonia Rykiel feather dress, Chloé bag, Alexander Wang sandals)
I went a little all out for 9 in the morning to head to Louis Vuitton, the last show I went to this season. This feathered dress was so much fun to wear, the movement and volume are unparalleled when it comes to things I've worn on my body. Which is also why I kept the rest of the look simple with barely there sandals and a biker jacket. Sidenote: best way to not freeze this winter while wearing a minidress is to have it be made out of feathers. So very insulative, for the obvious reasons.


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Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and is ready for a busy Holiday Season. I know I am ready and one of the events I plan to check out this weekend, Nov 30-Dec 2, in Harlem is Flan Tasting! Yup, we can all indulge in all the flan we want from HerFlan.com at The Mink Building located at 1361 Amsterdam Avenue at West 127th Street. And the next best part, is that this event is FREE! SoHarlem.org has organized this event for one of its entrepreneurs, Sandra Hernandez, who has been creating rich tasting flan for more than a decade. All the details are listed below. See you there!
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The Reader presents Reader on Tap, bringing together local breweries and five great San Diego bands for an unforgettable night of music and tastings. Rock out with Transfer, Dead Feather Moon, The Creepy Creeps, Low Volts, and Schitzophonics… Read More
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Modified Stem Cells Offer Potential Pathway to Treat Alzheimer's DiseaseApr. 15, 2014 Genetically modified neural stem cells show positive results when transplanted into the brains of mice with the symptoms and pathology of Alzheimer's disease, neurobiologists have found. The ... full story
Scientists Grow Cartilage to Reconstruct NoseApr. 10, 2014 Scientists report first ever successful nose reconstruction surgery using cartilage grown in the laboratory. Cartilage cells were extracted from the patient's nasal septum, multiplied and ... full story
Laboratory-Grown Vaginas Implanted in PatientsApr. 10, 2014 Scientists reported the first human recipients of laboratory-grown vaginal organs. They have described long-term success in four teenage girls who received vaginal organs that were engineered with ... full story
Too Much Protein May Kill Brain Cells as Parkinson's ProgressesApr. 10, 2014 The most common genetic cause of Parkinson's disease destroys brain cells and devastates many patients worldwide, scientists have discovered. The investigators found that mutations in a gene ... full story
Influenza Has an Achilles' Heel: New Drug Reduces Flu MortalityApr. 10, 2014 Flu epidemics cause up to half a million deaths worldwide each year, and emerging strains continually threaten to spread to humans and cause even deadlier pandemics. A study reveals that a drug that ... full story
Viral Therapy Shows Promise Against Brain TumorsApr. 8, 2014 A genetically engineered herpes simplex viral therapy is safe when used in conjunction with radiation in the treatment of malignant gliomas, one of the most deadly forms of brain cancer, researchers ... full story
Potential Combination Therapy for Aggressive Thyroid CancerApr. 7, 2014 A novel mouse model of anaplastic thyroid cancer has been developed by scientists who have also identified a combination of targeted therapies that shrinks these tumors. Most patients diagnosed with ... full story
Freshwater Turtle Crosses the Aegean SeaApr. 7, 2014 Scientists have studied the widely distributed freshwater turtle, Mauremys rivulata. In spite of geographical barriers, the turtles are genetically very similar throughout their vast distribution ... full story
Researchers Design Trees That Make It Easier to Produce PaperApr. 3, 2014 Researchers have genetically engineered trees that will be easier to break down to produce paper and biofuel, a breakthrough that will mean using fewer chemicals, less energy and creating fewer ... full storyMore:
New Approach to Detecting Changes in GM FoodsApr. 3, 2014 Does genetic manipulation causes unintended changes in food quality and composition? Are genetically modified (GM) foods less nutritious than their non-GM counterparts, or different in unknown ways? ... full story
Self-Healing Engineered Muscle Grown in the LaboratoryMar. 31, 2014 Living skeletal muscle that contracts powerfully and rapidly, integrates quickly into mice, and for the first time, demonstrates the ability to heal itself both inside the laboratory and inside an ... full story
Increasing Longevity of Seeds With Genetic EngineeringMar. 27, 2014 A new way of improving the longevity of plant seeds using genetic engineering has been discovered. The key is the overexpression of the ATHB25 gene. This gene encodes a protein that regulates gene ... full story
Genetics Can Explain Why Infections Can Trigger Onset of Different Types of Rheumatoid ArthritisMar. 26, 2014 A new international study has revealed how genetics could explain why different environmental exposures can trigger the onset of different forms of rheumatoid arthritis. The findings could have ... full story
Unravelling Nerve-Cell Death in Rare Children's DiseaseMar. 25, 2014 Mutations in a protein that plays a role in the body's DNA repair system has been discovered by researchers, similar to what's observed in the rare children's disease ataxia-telangiectasia. The ... full story
MRI Reveals Genetic Activity: Deciphering Genes' Roles in Learning and MemoryMar. 25, 2014 Doctors commonly use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to diagnose tumors, damage from stroke, and many other medical conditions. Neuroscientists also rely on it as a research tool for identifying ... full story
Engineers Design 'Living Materials': Hybrid Materials Combine Bacterial Cells With Nonliving Elements That Emit LightMar. 23, 2014 Inspired by natural materials such as bone -- a matrix of minerals and other substances, including living cells -- engineers have coaxed bacterial cells to produce biofilms that can incorporate ... full story
Fried Foods May Interact With Genes to Influence Body Weight, Say ExpertsMar. 18, 2014 Individuals who are genetically predisposed to obesity may be more susceptible to the adverse effects of eating fried foods, concludes a study. The results of a new study show that eating fried food ... full story
Bacterial Reporters That Get the Scoop: Engineered Gut Bacteria 'Remembers' What It SawMar. 17, 2014 A new engineered strain of E. coli bacteria non-destructively detected and recorded an environmental signal in the mouse gut, and remembered what it 'saw.' The advance could lead to a ... full story
We Must Forget to Avoid Serious Mental Disorders, and Forgetting Is Actively RegulatedMar. 13, 2014 In order to function properly, the human brain requires the ability not only to store but also to forget: Through memory loss, unnecessary information is deleted and the nervous system retains its ... full story
Synthetic Spider Silk Strong Enough for a SuperheroMar. 5, 2014 Spider silk of fantastical, superhero strength is finally speeding toward commercial reality -- at least a synthetic version of it is. The material, which is five times stronger than steel, could be ... full story
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- Fundamental differences found between human cancers, genetically engineered mouse models
- Protein clumps as memory
- Fruit flies with better sex lives live longer
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- Innovative approach could ultimately end deadly disease of sleeping sickness
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- Mucus useful in treating IBD, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease
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Uelversheim, Germany
Gernsheim, Germany
Nierstein am Rhein, Germany
Frankfurt - Karben, Germany
"We spent a week in Guesthouse Gerold and could not have been more pleased. Helena and Andrea were such wonderful hosts. They went out of their way to make us feel at home. Helena greeted us cheerfully each morning and was eager to answer our questions. Each morning we had a delicious German style breakfast with fresh rolls, assortment of sausage and cheese, and delicious marmalade. Cereals, yogurt, and juice were also available. The coffee was delicious as well. Our rooms were very clean with fresh linens and towels. We would definitely return to Guesthouse Gerold in the charming village of Bad Kohlgrub whenever we return to southern Bavaria in the future."
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Note moyenne:
La note moyenne attribuée aux hébergements de la destination Königstein correspond aux avis deposés par des vacanciers du monde entier y ayant séjourné. Rendez-vous sur la page de description de la maison d'hôtes de votre choix pour consulter les avis.


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:taz:Gotta love Taz lol!
Hi: Some of you out there in booklovin' cyberland might know me already but if you don't thanks so much for stopping by. I'm Ashlynn Monroe and I love to write. I've been doing it forever but in the last couple of years after I turned thirty I decided it was time to do something with my zillions of wips on the hard drive.
I host a blog talk radio show--Must Love Books and I'd love for you to tune in Sunday Nights at 5:30 pm CST (WI) time. You can listen on your computer or phone and even call in and say hey. I spot light new and aspiring authors, readers, reviewers, publishers, and just anyone who love books. I'd love to have you on the show too. Email the show at email@example.com or me at firstname.lastname@example.com.
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The Expense Submittal System (ESS) is a Web-based solution for the creation of expense reports, expense report approval, payment, and accounting. The complete expense reporting process is covered. ESS provides report entry, approval routing, corporate policy checking, credit card statement importation, paperless receipt management, and report payment.
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Advanced Search
Windows Insider
In spite of its shortcomings, you can't beat the price of Microsoft's Intelligent Message Filter.
Outlook 2003 has a built-in spam filter, and quite a few free or low-cost Outlook add-on filters for spam, but these point solutions don't scale well in an enterprise. It's much more effective to block spam at the gateway, although you do risk blocking real e-mail. Many users would rather cope with spam than risk missing critical e-mail from a client.
The IMF attempts to find a balance between gateway filtering and evaluation of potential false positives by using a two-pronged approach to filtering coupled with the assignment of a number called a Spam Confidence Level, or SCL. The IMF assigns an SCL in the range of 0-9 to each incoming SMTP message based on its potential for being spam. The higher the SCL, the spammier the message.
Microsoft hasn't released details about how IMF actually operates other than it makes heuristic decisions, which is a programmer's way of saying that the rules are flexible but can't be described to the public.
IMF adds the SCL rating to the header of each message, so you need only install IMF at the Exchange 2003 servers that act as inbound SMTP gateways. If you use a third-party server as an SMTP gateway, or a Windows server running SMTP but not Exchange, then you'll need to run IMF at each Exchange 2003 server.
IMF has two options for handling messages based on their assigned SCL. These options are exposed in the Message Delivery properties window in Exchange System Manager (ESM) (see Figure 1).
The "Gateway Blocking" option tells IMF to block or archive messages that meet or exceed the specified SCL setting, with the default being 8 out of a possible 9. Any messages that get this SCL rating are either archived or deleted right at the gateway before they can be placed into the information store.
Messages that have a lower SCL rating might possibly be desirable rather than spam. The "Store Junk E-mail" option allows these messages to be sent to the user but they're placed into a special Junk Mail folder in the user's mailbox.
The other Exchange servers in the organization don't need to run IMF. They've already been coded to look for SCL entries in message headers.
Like other policies in Exchange, the Store Junk E-mail setting must be applied to each server individually, using ESM. Drill down to the Protocols folder under each server and expand the tree under the SMTP protocol. You'll find a new Intelligent Messaging Filter icon, shown in Figure 2.
The properties window for the Intelligent Message Filtering icon has an option to apply the IMF policy to the SMTP service on the server. You must apply the IMF setting to the SMTP virtual server on every Exchange 2003 server, including the gateway server or servers that are running IMF.
How Much to Block?
One of your first jobs after installing IMF is to determine where to set the threshold for the two filter limits: the block/archive threshold and the junk mail threshold.
To help make the SCL threshold determination, I devised a simple test. I used mail from my own mailbox to create a set of messages in three categories: Good Mail, Guaranteed Spam and Potential Spam. To determine if a message was spam, I used an Outlook add-on called Inboxer, www.inboxer.com, which uses a trainable Bayesian filter to triage messages based on spam content. I then created an Access database for each message category using Outlook's Export feature.
Armed with these three message databases, I wrote a script that would go through the databases and send each entry as if it were a distinct mail message targeted at the SMTP server and recipient of my choice. In essence, I created a little bulk mail engine. To simplify message handling in the script, I used an SMTP toolkit called ActiveEmail from ActiveXperts, www.activexperts.com/activemail.
When you go through the script, take note that the connString syntax points at the path to the Access database (mdf file). I used three databases: Goodmail.mdb, GuaranteedSpam.mdb, and PossibleSpam.mdb. The syntax for the SELECT statement includes flags for connection handling. I assigned the entire content of the "Body" field to a standard VBScript variable, msgBody, then assigned the msgBody variable to the "Body" property of the SMTPMail object. This ensured that the entire block of text would be processed as a unit and evaluated as plain text. Here's the script:
targetAddress = "email@example.com"
targetName = "Test User"
targetServer = "w2k3-s1.company.com"
Set aeObj =
connString = "DRIVER={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};" &_
Set Connection =
connection.connectionTimeout = 30
connection.CommandTimeout = 80
Connection.Open connString
Set rs = CreateObject("ADODB.RecordSet")
rs.open "SELECT * From EMAIL", Connection, 0, 1
Do While Not rs.eof
aeObj.HostName = targetServer
msgBody = rs.Fields("Body")
Echo the e-mail message to the screen before sending it.
WScript.Echo "From: " & rs.Fields("FromName") & " " & rs.Fields("FromAddress")
WScript.Echo "To: " & targetAddress
WScript.Echo "Subject: " & rs.Fields("Subject")
WScript.Echo msgBody
wscript.echo string(40,"*")
'Assign entries to the ActivEmail object
aeObj.FromAddress = rs.fields ("FromAddress")
aeObj.FromName = rs.fields ("FromName")
aeObj.AddTo targetAddress, target Name
aeObj.Subject = rs.fields("Subject")
aeObj.BodyType = 0
aeObj.Body = msgBody
WScript.Echo "Sent message with this result: " & aeObj.LastError
wscript.echo string(40,"*") & vbNL & vnNL
Now that I had a way to send spam to a target Exchange server, I needed a simple way to determine the SCL rating assigned to each message. To do this, I made use of a technique posted by James Webster at the MS Exchange Team blog. The posting contains instructions for building a custom Outlook form that exposes the SCL rating in the heading of a message. Webster also posted instructions for exposing the SCL rating in OWA.
To make sure all the inbound messages from my little bulk e-mail engine arrived at the target mailbox, I set the gateway block/archive threshold in the Message Delivery properties to take no action and I put the Junk Mail threshold at 9. I then fired the messages from my databases at a test user and sorted the results by SCL. Table 1 shows the SCL results for the contents of the GoodMail database.
Of the 541 messages in the GoodMail database, 62 percent (332 messages) were given a completely clean score of 0 by the IMF. Another 138 got a score of 1-3, making them almost certainly not spam. That left 71 messages, or 13.1 percent of the total, with sufficient spamminess to make them interesting for analysis. Because I had already purged this database of spam, this 13.1 percent represents potential false positives in the SCL range of 4-7.
I noticed very little difference between messages with the three middle ratings. Several of the SCL 5 messages came from my national account manager and many of the SCL 4 messages came from friends and relatives. I wouldn't have wanted the gateway to block or archive any of these messages.
Of the messages that were assigned an SCL of 6 or higher, four were newsletters to which I subscribe and two turned out to be spam that slipped past my personal spam filter. Good job, IMF!
Table 2 shows test results from the Guaranteed Spam database. Messages that got an SCL rating of 0-3 resembled newsletters, which may explain why they got such low scores. However, two messages flagged with an SCL of 1 were instances of the classic, "I am a distinguished representative of a troubled nation." I'm surprised IMF flagged this type of message as acceptable.
Table 3 shows the results for messages flagged by my personal spam filter as probable spam but worth checking for false positives. Before running the test, I purged the list of all good e-mail. The vast majority of messages getting an SCL of 0-5 were one-liners such as "See attached" or "Read this document." IMF doesn't read attachments.
Setting the Threshold
If you elect to archive messages at or above a given SCL at the gateway, the messages that meet the threshold go into a folder called UCEArchive under \Exchsrvr\Mailroot\vsi 1. Users can't access these messages to evaluate for false positives. If a user thinks that an important incoming e-mail has been diverted by the spam filter, you as the administrator must search the UCEArchive folder for any messages containing the complaining user's e-mail address. The messages are stored as EML files, so they can be opened in Outlook Express or Notepad. You can add the following Registry hack at the IMF server to include the SCL rating in the headers of the archived messages:
Key: HKLM | Software | Microsoft | Exchange | ContentFilter Value: ArchiveSCL Data: 1 (REG_DWORD)
Because users can't access archived messages, you need to set the block/archive threshold high enough to be sure you aren't going to get false positives. As you can see by comparing the tables, the ability of IMF to differentiate between spam and ham is fairly good when the spam content is undeniable, so setting IMF to block or archive messages with an SCL of 7 or higher shouldn't result in rejecting potentially good mail.
However, there's quite a bit of gray area between SCL 4-6 where the messages need human evaluation. If you set the Junk Mail threshold at SCL 6, a significant amount of spam gets into the user's main inbox. However, setting the threshold at SCL 4 could put quite a bit of regular mail into the Junk Mail folder.
In my opinion, forcing the users to search their Junk E-mail folder for many potentially good messages is asking too much of them. I recommend setting the Junk Mail limit to SCL 6 then letting your users delete any spam that slips through.
Unless your users are diligent about cleaning out their Junk E-mail folders after they review the mail, you'll find that messages build up in your Exchange stores like barnacles on a battleship. You can prevent long term buildup by creating a Mailbox Manager job that periodically cleans older mail from the Junk Mail folder.
If you use Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) to monitor your Exchange servers, you should download the IMF Management Pack for MOM. This free addition to your MOM arsenal provides the monitoring capability you need to assure proper operation of IMF servers. Download from http://snipurl.com/6ta8.
Is IMF All the Spam Filtering You Need?
I'm accustomed to using a trainable Bayesian filter for my personal mail and I found the inability to train the IMF to be a significant disadvantage. This means that an SCL 4 message containing the text "Happy with your current proportions? Look at http://v-a-r-o-o-m.com." will continue to reach a user's mailbox, day after day, until the next update to the IMF database. To get that update, you must go to Microsoft's update site, which requires planning and additional configuration. Compare this to third-party products where the database updates happen transparently and automatically.
Also, I was disappointed at the large numbers of spam messages that must get through the gateway to the user's mailboxes to avoid false positives. Several third-party products make use of thumbprints and rapid database updates to identify spam that otherwise would evade a strict Bayesian filter.
I didn't test the performance impact of running the IMF. The number would have little meaning, in any case, unless it was given in comparison with other products on similar hardware. It is possible to combine ham and spam in the set of test messages used by Microsoft's Load Simulator for Exchange 2003 (Loadsim 2003). Using Loadsim and your own ham-and-spam message combination, you can come up with a comparison benchmark for your own hardware. Download Loadsim 2003 from http://snipurl.com/6tkt.
In spite of its shortcomings, you can't beat the price of IMF. If you're deploying Exchange 2003, you should at least evaluate it before spending additional money on third-party products. If you want to see real-time demos of some of the more popular antispam products, come to the Fall TechMentor event in San Jose, California (Sept. 27-Oct. 1, www.techmentorevents.com). I'll be showing many features of these products in head-to-head comparisons.
Printable Format
you will be surprised to find that Exchange's IMF does not perform the promised action (delete, archive and so on) on any message that has an SCL level EQUAL to the SCL level selected in the IMF interface, but ONLY on messages that have an SCL level GREATER than the one specified in the interface.
For example, if you specify a level of 8 for the blocking threshold, expecting it will block messages with an SCL rating of 8 AND 9, you will only find out that messages with the SCL rating of 8 are not blocked.
And if you specify a level of 6 for the moving threshold, expecting it will move messages with an SCL rating of 6 AND 7, you will only find out that messages with the SCL rating of 6 are not moved to the user's Junk E-Mail folder.
Therefore, if you need messages with the SCL level of 8 to be blocked, and messaged with the SCL level of 6 to be moved to the user's Junk E-Mail folder, you will need to configure the threshold levels with 7 and 5 respectively
Great article but no mention on the IMF bug, ill go find it and re post as it was what i was looking for initially.
thank you so much, great article
How i may contact admin this site? I have a question.iijiivei
very informative
I wish spamers understood that I would never purchase a product that was introduced to me VIA Spam. The more they evade my attempts to block them the more resolute I become.I will never purchase anything from a spammer ever. Get it yet Spammers.
Very good, but I prefere using PerfMon to choose the famous two thresholds as dsicribed in Microsoft technical paper(Microsoft Exchange Intelligent Message FilterDeployment Guide) Thank you.
Excellent article. Much obliged for the help.
Excellent article. Thanks so much for the info as we wrestle with this as well....
A very informative document for the uninitiated.
Excellent initiative and many thanks! Spam is really a big problem and a big issue reagrding time consumption that needs a better handling.Wish you all the best for the New YearRegardstheglobalchinese
Informative article
Very Informative - Barry UK
It's also worth reminding that Exchange 2003 shipped with built-in support for DNS blocklists. I configure connection filtering using the ORDB and Spamhaus blocklists, and combine that with IMF for extremely good results.
Great column and IMF is good. But, by definition, the more people covered by a spam filter then the more errors it will make. That is because one person's spam may be another person's ham. The filter either must be set too mild and let a lot of spam through OR it must be set harsh for at least one of the users. A solution is to use the free IMF at a mild setting to reduce traffic on the network without it making a single error. Then, let users use a desktop filter, like the InBoxer filter mentioned in the column, to fine tune for each user's needs.
I believe the overtone of this article comes across a little harsh. I think each Exchange deployment will need to evaluate the SPAM needs of its orgainzation. While I do not believe that IMF is a complete SPAM solution, for many companies it is a good start or addition. We were able to leverage IMF in conjunction with our current SPAM solution. We have some special routing setup that allows Exhcange IMF to be the gateway, pass the message to the next SPAM system and then back to the Exchanbge system. By "rejecting" the SPAM messages at gateway we have reduced our email flow from over 12 million messages down to 3 million messages per month. Looking at the hostorical reports from other SPAM solution, legitimate mail did not decrease. We have had this in place for 2 months with a SCL level of 7 and have received no complaints from the user community. (At the reject setting, the sender of a message rejected will receive a NDR that the message was not delivered)Since we we were able to "relocate" some Exchange servers to accomplish out special routing, the reduced message load that IMF has given us the ability to decommision two of the servers that ran the third party SPAM software that were required for the volume of email that we run.Bottom line: IMF is an impressive solution from MS that was Free. Take a look at it for your organization. Even at the higher settings, it can provide dramatic results.
nice article
Great column, but implementing it, on the lowest lvl, it even blocks Scan to Email in our environment. Quite an annoyance unless there was some way to allow email@example.com.
Thank you, now I know how to configure my IMF.
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While recently doing some SEO consultations, I noticed how most people don't understand the importance of internal linking. Let's go back to SEO basics for a minute so I can explain.
The goal of all search engines is to serve you with the most relevant possible websites to your searches. All search engines have a different "algorithm" for deciding which pages are most relevant. Almost all of these algorithms (Google especially) place high importance on inbound links. This means the more sites linking to your site the better. The most valuable thing you can have is an inbound link from a site serving content relevant to yours. For example since my site has articles on SEO, a useful inbound link would be one from seoengine.com.
"Inbound links are like other sites voting for your content and telling search engines what your content is about."
On the other hand, internal links are like letting search engines know about your content and voting for it. This is extremely important! Internal links signal search engines that your pages exist and are important.
Internal links are also important because your links carry authority. What do I mean when I say your links carry authority? Well, let's say my homepage taylorlovett.com is a Google PageRank 6 (which it actually is). That means all links on my homepage carry the authority of PageRank 6. So links on my homepage carry more authority than links on some obscure page of my website that has PageRank 1. But by linking my homepage to that obscure page, I am, in a sense, telling search engines that obscure page should have more authority. Therefore my homepage should contain links to the rest of my website to spread around the "authority".
Does that make sense? I hope it does. If not, feel free to email me with any questions.


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If you haven't been to the YMCA lately, you might notice those changes.
YCMA member Joseph Taylor says those changes have been welcomed by those who use the facility every day.
"I think it's been absolutely great. I think the Y's moving in the right direction, and I've been pretty pleased with what I've seen so far," Taylor said.
Taylor personally enjoys the upgrades made to the sauna area, but other members feel the overall atmosphere has improved, as well.
"When you create a little better atmosphere, especially for the younger people, they see that things are cleaner, and that makes them want to come back," Y member, Tommy Jones said.
The Y has added some new exercise equipment and taken steps to repair older machines. The pool area has also been outfitted with a new $16,000 pool heater.
Owensboro Family YCMA President, Arthur Harreld, is looking forward to more improvements.
"There are just so many things we're excited about that have happened, but probably the most gratifying is just to see the membership being enthused that their Owensboro Family YMCA is being attended to and improved," Harreld said.
Those improvements seem to fit well with why members come to the Y.
"I play a lot of racquetball and for the fellowship. A lot of good people come here, and I enjoy talking to them," member Randy Embry said.
Up next on the list of improvements is completing the whirlpool area.
New swimming pool and whirlpool heaters and filters have been added at the Athenian branch of the YMCA.
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VIETNAM RELEASES DENGUE-BLOCKING MOSQUITOTuesday, 05 November 2013 10:38 Published in Health & Fitness
TRI NGUYEN ISLAND, Vietnam (AP) -- Nguyen Thi Yen rolls up the sleeves of her white lab coat and delicately slips her arms into a box covered by a sheath of mesh netting. Immediately, the feeding frenzy begins.
Hundreds of mosquitoes light on her thin forearms and swarm her manicured fingers. They spit, bite and suck until becoming drunk with blood, their bulging bellies glowing red. Yen laughs in delight while her so-called "pets" enjoy their lunch and prepare to mate.
The petite, grandmotherly entomologist - nicknamed Dr. Dracula - knows how crazy she must look to outsiders. But this is science, and these are very special bloodsuckers.
She smiles and nods at her red-hot arms, swollen and itchy after 10 minutes of feeding. She knows those nasty bites could reveal a way to greatly reduce one of the world's most menacing infectious diseases.
All her mosquitoes have been intentionally infected with bacteria called Wolbachia, which essentially blocks them from getting dengue. And if they can't get it, they can't spread it to people.
New research suggests some 390 million people are infected with the virus each year, most of them in Asia. That's about one in every 18 people on Earth, and more than three times higher than the World Health Organization's previous estimates.
Known as "breakbone fever" because of the excruciating joint pain and hammer-pounding headaches it causes, the disease has no vaccine, cure or specific treatment. Most patients must simply suffer through days of raging fever, sweats and a bubbling rash. For those who develop a more serious form of illness, known as dengue hemorrhagic fever, internal bleeding, shock, organ failure and death can occur.
And it's all caused by one bite from a female mosquito that's transmitting the virus from another infected person.
So how can simple bacteria break this cycle? Wolbachia is commonly found in many insects, including fruit flies. But for reasons not fully understood, it is not carried naturally by certain mosquitoes, including the most common one that transmits dengue, the Aedes aegypti.
The germ has fascinated scientist Scott O'Neill his entire career. He started working with it about two decades ago at Yale University. But it wasn't until 2008, after returning to his native Australia, that he had his eureka moment.
One of his research students figured out how to implant the bacteria into a mosquito so it could be passed on to future generations. The initial hope was that it would shorten the insect's life. But soon, a hidden benefit was discovered: Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes not only died quicker but they also blocked dengue partially or entirely, sort of like a natural vaccine.
"The dengue virus couldn't grow in the mosquito as well if the Wolbachia was present," says O'Neill, dean of science at Monash University in Melbourne. "And if it can't grow in the mosquito, it can't be transmitted."
But proving something in the lab is just the first step. O'Neill's team needed to test how well the mosquitoes would perform in the wild. They conducted research in small communities in Australia, where dengue isn't a problem, and the results were encouraging enough to create a buzz among scientists who have long been searching for new ways to fight the disease. After two and a half years, the Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes had overtaken the native populations and remained 95 percent dominant.
But how would it work in dengue-endemic areas of Southeast Asia? The disease swamps hospitals in the region every rainy season with thousands of sick patients, including many children, sometimes killing those who seek help too late.
The Australians tapped 58-year-old Yen at Vietnam's National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, where she's worked for the past 35 years. Their plan was to test the Wolbachia mosquitoes on a small island off the country's central coast this year, with another release expected next year in Indonesia.
Just getting the mosquitoes to Tri Nguyen Island was an adventure. Thousands of tiny black eggs laid on strips of paper inside feeding boxes had to be hand-carried inside coolers on weekly flights from Hanoi, where Yen normally works, to Nha Trang, a resort city near the island. The eggs had to be kept at just the right temperature and moisture. The mosquitoes were hatched in another lab before finally being transported by boat.
Yen insisted on medical checks for all volunteer feeders to ensure they weren't sickening her mosquitoes. She deemed vegetarian blood too weak and banned anyone recently on antibiotics, which could kill the Wolbachia.
"When I'm sleeping, I'm always thinking about them," Yen says, hunkered over a petri dish filled with dozens of squiggling mosquito pupae. "I'm always worried about temperature and food. I take care of them same-same like baby. If they are healthy, we are happy. If they are not, we are sad."
Recently, there have been several promising new attempts to control dengue. A vaccine trial in Thailand didn't work as well as hoped, proving only 30 percent effective overall, but it provided higher coverage for three of the four virus strains. More vaccines are in the pipeline. Other science involves releasing genetically modified "sterile" male mosquitoes that produce no offspring, or young that die before reaching maturity, to decrease populations.
Wolbachia could end up being used in combination with these and other methods, including mosquito traps and insecticide-treated materials.
"I've been working with this disease now for 40-something years, and we have failed miserably," says Duane Gubler, a dengue expert at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore who is not involved with the Wolbachia research.
"We are now coming into a very exciting period where I think we'll be able to control the disease. I really do."
Wolbachia also blocks other mosquito-borne diseases such as yellow fever and chikungunya, O'Neill says. Similar research is being conducted for malaria, though that's trickier because the disease is carried by several different types of mosquitoes.
It's unclear why mosquitoes that transmit dengue do not naturally get Wolbachia, which is found in up to 70 percent of insects in the wild. But O'Neill doesn't believe that purposefully infecting mosquitoes will negatively impact ecosystems. He says the key to overcoming skepticism is to be transparent with research while providing independent risk analyses and publishing findings in high-caliber scientific journals.
"I think, intuitively, it makes sense that it's unlikely to have a major consequence of introducing Wolbachia into one more species," O'Neill says, adding that none of his work is for profit. "It's already in millions already."
Dengue typically comes in cycles, hitting some areas harder in different years. People remain susceptible to the other strains after being infected with one, and it is largely an urban disease with mosquitoes breeding in stagnant water.
Laos and Singapore have experienced their worst outbreaks in recent history this season. Thailand has also struggled with a large number of patients. Cases have also been reported in recent years outside tropical regions, including in the U.S. and Europe.
Vietnam has logged lower numbers this year overall, but the country's highest dengue rate is in the province where Yen is conducting her work.
At the area's main hospital in Nha Trang, Dr. Nguyen Dong, director of infectious diseases, says 75 of the 86 patients crammed into the open-air ward are infected with the virus.
Before jabbing his fingers into the stomach of one seriously ill patient to check for pain, he talks about how the dengue season has become much longer in recent years. And despite the government's increased education campaigns and resources, the disease continues to overwhelm the hospital.
If the experiment going on just a short boat ride away from the hospital is successful, it eventually will be expanded across the city and the entire province.
The 3,500 people on Tri Nguyen island grew accustomed to what would be a bizarre scene almost anywhere else: For five months, community workers went house-to-house in the raging heat, releasing cups of newborn mosquitoes.
And the residents were happy to have them.
"We do not kill the mosquitoes. We let them bite," says fisherman Tran To. "The Wolbachia living in the house is like a doctor in the house. They may bite, but they stop dengue."
Specimens collected from traps are taken back to the lab for analysis to determine how well Wolbachia mosquitoes are infiltrating the native population.
The strain of bacteria used on the island blocks dengue 100 percent, but it's also the hardest to sustain. At one point, 90 percent of the mosquitoes were infected, but the rate dropped to about 65 percent after the last batch was released in early September. A similar decrease occurred in Australia as well, and scientists switched to other Wolbachia strains that thrive better in the wild but have lesser dengue-blocking abilities.
The job is sure to keep Yen busy in her little mosquito lab, complete with doors covered by long overlapping netting.
And while she professes to adore these pests nurtured by her own blood, she has a much stronger motivation for working with them: Dengue nearly claimed her own life many years ago, and her career has been devoted to sparing others the same fate.
"I love them," she says, "when I need them."
On the Net: HTTP://WWW.ELIMINATEDENGUE.COM/
Follow Margie Mason on Twitter: twitter.com/MargieMasonAP
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STREP SCORECARD MIGHT HELP TELL IF YOU NEED A DOCTuesday, 05 November 2013 10:23 Published in Health & Fitness
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Debating whether to seek a strep test for that sore throat? One day there could be an app for that: Researchers are developing a home scorecard that aims to prevent thousands of unnecessary trips to the doctor for this common complaint.
More than 12 million people make doctors' visits for a sore throat every year. Usually the culprit is a virus that they just have to wait out with a little TLC.
In fact, the risk of strep throat is low enough for adults that doctors may skip testing them, deciding not to bother after running down a list of symptoms. That can leave patients wondering why they spent hours in the waiting room and had to pay the doctor's bill.
"If you could know that your risk was low enough that you wouldn't even be tested, you might actually save yourself a visit," said Dr. Andrew Fine, an emergency physician at Boston Children's Hospital.
The trick: Combine some of the symptoms that doctors look for with a bit of computer data to tell if strep throat is circulating in your geographical region. If the bug's in your neighborhood, that increases the chances that you've caught it, said Dr. Kenneth Mandl, a Harvard professor and informatics specialist with Boston Children's.
As a first step, Fine and Mandl turned to the records of more than 70,000 sore-throat patients who got strep tests and had their symptoms recorded at CVS MinuteClinics in six states between 2006 and 2008. They determined those people's risk of strep using the experimental scorecard approach and checked the computer model's accuracy against the strep test results.
Nationally, identifying those with less than a 10 percent chance of strep throat could save 230,000 doctor visits a year, the team reported Monday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
The method wasn't perfect: It meant 8,500 strep cases would have been missed, or the diagnosis delayed, concluded the government-funded study.
But Mandl said it's unlikely that would lead to lasting harm as most of those infections would clear up on their own, or persisting pain eventually would send patients to the doctor. And he noted that the rapid strep tests that doctors use in their offices can miss cases, too.
Much more research is needed to prove if the method would work in everyday life and if a mobile app or a phone call to the doctor would be the best approach. The Boston team has begun the next step: Parents of kids who come to the hospital's emergency room for a strep test are handed a digital tablet and asked to fill out the scorecard first. Researchers will see how the combination of symptoms and local infection trends compare with actual strep test results.
Sore throats are a challenge. Strep throat, caused by bacteria named Group A streptococcus, is to blame for only about 10 percent of cases in adults, and 30 percent in children.
It's hard to tell who needs a strep test based on symptoms alone, cautioned Dr. Chris Van Beneden of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which helped fund the new research. But what is clear: Doctors should be sure it's strep before prescribing antibiotics because those bacteria-fighting drugs have no effect on viruses.
Yet research published last month in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine found 60 percent of adults who sought care for a sore throat received antibiotics. Unneeded antibiotic use can spur development of drug-resistant germs.
The Boston team looked at the flip side of the issue: Who could safely skip a strep check? Because strep is most common in children ages 5 to 15, doctors usually test youngsters with a sore throat for the bacteria.
For anyone 15 or older, Mandl said doctors may skip a test depending on symptoms. While a cough and runny nose are more typical of a cold virus, strep symptoms might include a fever, enlarged lymph nodes, tonsils with swelling or pus and lack of a cough.
So Fine and Mandl focused first on the over-15 crowd. Because feeling lymph nodes and peeking at tonsils could be difficult for the average layman, their scorecard posed easy questions: Is there a fever? Is there a cough?
Then came the key: The scorecard automatically merged those symptoms with local trends in strep diagnosis.
It's a practice called biosurveillance. Already, hundreds of hospitals, clinics and health departments automatically report certain symptoms and diagnoses to the government. That lets officials track the spread of flu every year, for example - and some web sites now show flu activity by zip code so people can check if influenza has reached their community.
Likewise, results of strep tests are available digitally from testing laboratories, clinics, even large doctors' offices, Mandl said. They just have to be collected and used, which isn't routine.
In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Robert Centor of the University of Alabama, Birmingham, said too many clinics and emergency rooms still give a strep test to every sore throat patient. But he questioned if the home scorecard approach would make a difference, wondering if biosurveillance would be too costly or if average patients even would use it before seeking care.
© 2013 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED. Learn more about our PRIVACY POLICY and TERMS OF USE.
St. Clair County first responders get funding through grantsTuesday, 05 November 2013 08:02 Published in Local News
St. Clair County is getting a financial boost for its emergency responders.
The county will receive 10-thousand dollars in grants from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, which will provide for upgrading and maintaining equipment that allows different agencies to communicate with one another.
The grant money comes from the September 11th Fund which is supported by part of the fee charged for state's "America Remembers" license plates.
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Nate left his family's church at the age of 18. He will be speaking about his experiences in the church and his journey out of the extremism taught by his family. He initially fled to Canada to put as much distance between himself and his abusive family. But now his journey brings him full circle, on exactly the opposite side of the fence. He's an atheist, and he supports the troops.
The atheists in the military are making waves this year, including an on-post festival at Fort Bragg. Nate Phelps will be joining Richard Dawkins and several prominent speakers and musicians for 'Rock Beyond Belief' on March 31st.
Rock Beyond Belief organizers are enthusiastic about Nate Phelps speaking at the event. Lead organizer and American Atheists Military Director, Justin Griffith said, "His support of the soldiers and their families is a strong testament of his struggles to overcome the intense religious dogma his family ingrained in him. His family is overtly hostile and unpatriotic, and he grew up on that. It's impressive to see such a dramatic change in a person." Fred Phelps and his family of about 60 have been protesting since 1991. It is unclear whether they plan to attend this event, and if they are legally permitted to picket anywhere near the on-post stage. In fact, the family did contact Griffith, "Justin - if you want real balance, invite us." Griffith declined to invite them.
Griffith explained, "I told them that they'd probably even be helping me out. It would present a false dichotomy of 'rational calm atheists' vs. 'soldier-hating Christians'. It would also do a great deal of good to have all of the normal Christians unite with us in mutual disgust, perhaps breaking down barriers. Despite all of this, I don't want to be responsible for their antics, so an invitation is not happening."
The festival is an American Atheists event. It was made possible by a $50,000 donation from the Stiefel Freethought Foundation. For more information on the event, check the festival's website.
Note: Journalists MUST formally request permission to film / photograph on the Army Base.
This must be done in advance and the deadline is rapidly approaching.
Contact Justin Griffith firstname.lastname@example.com
Trailer for Rock Beyond Belief: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6kJ_EwwnD4 Please feel free to link to or embed this in your online publications.
Hotel: with discount rate: Holiday Inn Bordeaux 910-323-0111. Ask for the discount rate for RBB. (You must contact them by phone, their website is not working). The official American Atheists after-party will be here, with lots of access to our lineup.
To get on post: you will need a valid photo ID and vehicles need registration/proof of insurance. Fort Bragg is providing additional personnel to handle the surge of traffic expected for this event. Civilians are absolutely welcome.
Disclaimer: Justin Griffith is an active duty soldier, but does not speak on behalf of the DoD or the Army. No DoD endorsement is implied.
CONTACT: Primary Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Alt email address: firstname.lastname@example.com
Phone (239) 689-0323