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Recent eLetters
Displaying 1-10 letters out of 172 published
Human Rights and HIV Interventions in Chinese Labor Camps
Yap and colleagues1 suggest that China's labor camps for drug users present an opportunity to implement universal 'test and treat' programs. They contend that such a step would be consistent with 'humanitarian' principles endorsed by The Global Fund and the World Bank.
Their recommendation is surprising and troubling. The paper cited to support this position (which we co-authored) is not in fact a call to scale up HIV treatment in drug detention centers. Rather, it summarizes the emerging policy consensus among UN agencies and bilateral and international aid agencies that drug detention centers undermine the fight against HIV and should be closed.2
The authors make no mention that The Global Fund board recently adopted a policy explicitly refusing to fund programs in such facilities (in China and elsewhere).3 They (and other donors) have taken this position because they recognize that abuses in such centers are routine and that donors have little ability to ensure independent oversight of their funds or programmes.4
Since 2008, Human Rights Watch has conducted research into compulsory drug detention centers in China and Southeast Asia.5 We have found a wide range of severe human rights abuses, including, in China, the use of HIV tests, according to one guard "to know which female inmates they could sleep with without using a condom."6
Yap and colleagues' recommendations for universal testing and treatment are intended, no doubt, to protect the health and well-being of those detained. Yet, their research failed to ask the right questions and consequently prescribes the wrong medicine. Expanded HIV treatment would aid some concerns of some detainees. Closing these centers down, in line with the joint views of 12 UN agencies, would advance both public health and human rights.7
1. Yap, L., Reekie, J., Liu, W., Chen, Y., Wu, Z., Li, J., ... & Butler, T. HIV testing in re-education through labour camps in Guangxi Autonomous Region, China (a cross-sectional survey). Sexually transmitted infections, 2015: sextrans-2014.
2. Amon JJ, Pearshouse R, Cohen JE, et al. Compulsory drug detention in East and Southeast Asia: evolving government, UN and donor responses. Int J Drug Policy 2014;25:13-20
3. The Global Fund, Global Fund Calls for End to Compulsory Treatment. Announcement, November 26, 2014. http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/mediacenter/announcements/2014-11- 26_Global_Fund_Calls_for_End_to_Compulsory_Treatment/ (accessed June 2, 2105).
4. Garmaise D. Global Fund to End Funding for HIV Services in Drug Treatment Centers in Viet Nam. Global Fund Observer Newsletter 2014;234 http://www.aidspan.org/gfo_article/global-fund-end-funding-hiv-services- drug-treatment-centres-viet-nam (accessed June 2, 2105).
5. Amon J, Pearshouse R, Cohen J, Schleifer R. Compulsory drug detention centers in China, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos: health and human rights abuses. Health Hum Rights 2013;15(2):124-37.
6. Cohen JE, Amon JJ. Health and human rights concerns of drug users in detention in Guangxi Province, China. PLoS Med 2008;5:e234.
7. International Labour Organization, Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, World Health Organization, et al. Joint statement: compulsory drug detention and rehabilitation centres. March 2012. www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/sub_landing/files/JC2310_Joint%20Statement6March12FINAL_en.pdf (accessed June 2, 2105).
Conflict of Interest:
None declared
Recreational Drugs used
The use of recreational drugs used in sexual contexts by MSM (referred to in many developed countries as "ChemSex") is of increasing public health concern; it would be helpful if the abstract was ammended to include which recreational drugs were being used by the cohort in this study.
Conflict of Interest:
None declared
Why are anogenital warts diagnoses decreasing: Can we explain sex- and age-specific decreases?
The audit by Clarke et al of 106 patients provides a useful estimate of the percentage of anogenital warts among GUM clinic attenders that the patient had not noticed (in 2010), at 12.3%[1]. They suggest that failure to examine these patients may have accounted for a considerable proportion of the reduction in anogenital warts diagnoses in GUM seen in England between 2008 and 2012, of 8% among males and females of all ages[2]. In our detailed ecological analysis of the declines in anogenital warts diagnoses in GUM clinics[3], we considered changes in diagnosis and reporting practices as possible explanatory factors. As far as we were aware, such changes would likely have affected all GUM clinic attenders, males and females, of all ages. Decreases, however, have not been seen for all. We have seen declines of over 20% among young women (under 20years), smaller declines among young men, and level or increasing rates in older males and females[2-4]. We have also seen similar declines in diagnosis made by GPs[3]. This pattern is harder to explain by fewer patients being diagnosed via examination in GUM, but could be explained by cross- protection from bivalent HPV vaccination. We found a significant association between observed declines and estimated HPV vaccination coverage among young women[3,4]. If Clarke et al, or others, have data showing that the effect of changes in diagnosis and/or reporting practices in GUM and GP since 2008 differ by sex and age, this could provide an alternative explanation for the decreases we have seen in anogenital warts diagnoses in England.
1 Clarke E, Board C, Patel N, et al. Why are anogenital warts diagnoses decreasing in the UK: bivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine cross-protection or failure to examine? Sex Transm Infect 2014;90:587.
2 Public Health England. Table 3: Selected STI diagnoses and rates by gender, sexual risk and age group, 2009 to 2013. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/sexually-transmitted-infections- stis-annual-data-tables (assessed 28 Nov 2014).
3 Howell-Jones R, Soldan K, Wetten S, et al. Declining genital Warts in young women in england associated with HPV 16/18 vaccination: an ecological study. J Infect Dis 2013 Nov 1;208(9):1397-403.
4 Public Health England. Declines in genital warts since start of the HPV immunisation programme. Health Protection Report 2014;8(24)
Conflict of Interest:
None declared
STIs and HIV in South Africa
Dear Editor,
In South Africa, a country that has battled with the HIV and TB co- epidemic for more than two decades, STI management has received little attention. We were delighted to read the article by Lurie et al, which highlights the high burden of STI syndromes in people living with HIV, in particular, in the period before ART initiation. While we concur with the authors' conclusions that systematic STI testing and treatment is warranted in HIV care programmes, the epidemiological data presented leave several unanswered questions.
There are major problems with reliance on syndromic management, particularly with the syndrome of vaginal discharge. STI symptoms poorly correlate with laboratory diagnoses, illustrated by gonorrhoea and chlamydia, which are mostly asymptomatic in women. Studies at the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) have shown a high prevalence of laboratory-diagnosed STIs in women at the time of acute HIV infection. Further analysis showed that clinical assessment alone missed 88% of laboratory-diagnosed STIs and 66% received unnecessary treatment [1].
Furthermore, the commonest cause of vaginal discharge is bacterial vaginosis (BV), an infection that is associated with sex, but does not appear to be sexually transmitted. We have found that over 50% of women had BV at HIV diagnosis which is often persistent [1]. Lurie et al omit mentioning BV, perhaps misclassifying some of their findings.
While the authors' results are intriguing, a potential mechanism for the reduction of syndromic STIs on ART is missing. One could hypothesize that immunosuppression may increase the susceptibility and ability to clear STIs and BV. However, in this study the reduction in incidence was independent of CD4 count, in fact, the opposite was true, that a higher CD4 count was associated with more syndromic STI diagnoses. Alternative mechanisms namely behavioural change and length of clinical follow-up may have had a greater impact on the reduction of syndromic STI incidence than improvement in CD4 count in response to ART.
We hope, that the findings by Lurie et al and the following debate will contribute to the long overdue implementation of STI testing and treatment policies in South Africa.
Yours sincerely,
Nigel Garrett and Adrian Mindel Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA)
1.Mlisana K, Naicker N, Werner L, Roberts L, van Loggerenberg F, Baxter C, et al. Symptomatic vaginal discharge is a poor predictor of sexually transmitted infections and genital tract inflammation in high- risk women in South Africa. J Infect Dis 2012,206:6-14.
Conflict of Interest:
None declared
Missing the path: time to reconceptualise STD prevention
The highlights of a strategy endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2010 for Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) screening, testing and early initiating into treatment (TnT) to Men that have Sex with Men (MSM) and transgender people are discussed by Cohen et al. in their editorial letter entitled "WHO guidelines for HIV/STI prevention and care among MSM and transgender people: implications for policy and practice" (1,2). In the same line as WHO, the authors call for improved access to STI screening services for people in low and middle- income settings regardless of their sexual identity, sexual orientation or their cultural and socioeconomic characteristics (1,2) Due to the higher prevalence of STI among these vulnerable groups, compared to the general population, the uptake of this guideline is recommended to prevent the transmission of STI and ensure that sexual minorities enjoy their right to access quality provision of STI healthcare (1,2).
The advantages of this strategy are understandable. This, regardless of the scarcity of data on the cost-effectiveness, cost-benefit and impact on community incidence of STI of routine TnT to asymptomatic MSM and transgender people that the WHO recommends (1). As the raison d'etre of a public health approach being informed by the evidence seems disregarded, in this letter we intend to highlight some gendered aspects that also derive from the WHO guideline and that, in our opinion, Cohen et al. may have given the same relevance as they had given to the WHO-endorsed TnT strategy.
STI screening is a secondary prevention strategy. In the scenario we are discussing, it may be assumed that all MSM and transgender people may eventually engage in sexual risky behaviours and, as consequence, be infected with an STI. Hence, the recommendation to screen those targets populations for STI even if asymptomatic. The pitfall of this recommendation is that these vulnerable groups may end up dealing with healthcare providers with prejudices towards them. The first assumption healthcare providers should have in mind is that these groups adhere to key messages on how to lead a healthy sexual life. Hence, Routine STI screening should not be the first step in the cascade to prevent, detect and treat STI. It can be ventured that STI TnT approach might result being less cost-effective, potentially more stigmatizing, and, more distanct from the goal of equity that the traditional primary prevention strategies hold (2,4).
On the other hand, women are not listed among the beneficiaries of this prevention strategy. The significance of understanding the motivations and other factors contributing to sexual risk taking among MSM that also have sexual intercourse with Women (MSMW) have been highlighted elsewhere (5,6,7). It must be acknowledged that in many low and middle- income countries, in order to fulfil with social expectations, many MSM may also engage, in an casual or in a permanent manner, in heterosexual relationships (7). To effectively reduce the community-level prevalence of STI, all asymptomatic women should also be targeted as beneficiaries of this TnT. In a context where cultural taboos and social stigma, judgemental attitudes from health workers towards sexual minorities, repressive policies, and anti-gay legislation, it is very unlikely that their MSMW might disclose to their female partners or their healthcare providers that they occasionally engage in unprotected same-sex sexual intercourse.
Fear to being stigmatized acts as a driving force that leads MSM to becoming MSMW, keeping their sexual orientation hidden, and hindering them from accessing and demanding STI healthcare. Acknowledging this leads us to another worrisome issue that should not be neglected from the umbrella of responsibilities that lie within the scope of the public health arena; how many countries with pandemic HIV/AIDS infection figures have actually decriminalized homosexuality in the last decade? According to the International Lesbian and Gay Association Report, there were 76 countries prosecuting people because of their sexual orientation as recent as in 2010. Eleven countries still include death penalty for homosexuals in their penal code (8). To effectively inform and carry out any health promotion campaign targeting MSM and transgender people, beyond advocating for the implementation of massive TnT strategies that capitalize the potential of new nucleid acid amplification testing technologies, the international community should move the focus to advocate for low and middle-income countries? governments to abolish their pre-colonial 'anti- sodomy laws', build the capacity of their healthcare providers to better address the health needs of MSM and transgender people, and raise awareness among the general population to respect the sexual rights of the most vulnerable ones (9,10).
A behavioural change approach, with the aim to promote adoption of safer sexual practices and an active demand of HIV/STI healthcare services, needs to be effectively integrated with any proposed TnT strategy. Health promotion is a basic public health tool that we find that it is not referred to in Cohen et al. missive. There is scientific evidence that behavioural change-based education, community awareness and advocacy approaches targeting sexual minorities may have a positive impact -even in budget-constrained settings- in terms of adoption of safer sexual practices with the ultimate goal to reduce incidence of HIV/STI (11). Why for Cohen et al. the cornerstone of the cascade of "solutions" to the high prevalence of STI may lie in targeted routine TnT when there is evidence on the benefits primary prevention strategies?.
From a primary prevention point of view, other approaches should be recommended. A public health approach to tackle HIV/STI is necessarily gendered. The structural gender system has to be taken into account, including in low and middle-income countries, when designing and endorsing these types of prevention strategies. It is crucial to understand how gender constructions are determinant in populations adopting sexual risk practices, in impeding or facilitating their access to HIV/STI diagnostic and treatment services, and in influencing government and institutional policy and decision making processes (12). To have a more comprehensive picture to inform approaches such as the STI TnT discussed in this letter, it can be suggested that other subjects such as "masculinities, transactional sex, infrastructural deficits in health and education (at all levels), fragile states and global governance" (13) should be studied and that sexual risk practices should be tackled in a broader context in which gender equity is pursued and stigma and discrimination are combatted.
1. Cohen J, Lo Y, Caceres CF, Klausner JD, for the WHO guideline working group. WHO guidelines for HIV/STI prevention and care among MSM and transgender people: implications for policy and practice. Sex Transm Infect 2013;89:536-538. 2. Gerbase A. Prevention and treatment of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections among men who have sex with men and transgender People: Recommendations for a public health approach. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO, Programme HIV/AIDS, 2011. Report No.: ISBN 978 92 4 150175 0. 3. Starfield B, Hyde J, Gerv?s J, Heath J. The concept of prevention: a good idea gone astray? J Epidemiol Community Health 2008;62:580-583. 4. Starfield B, Shi L, Macinko J. Contribution of Primary Care to Health Systems and Health. Milbank Quaterly 2005;83:457-502. 5. Maulsby C, Sifakis F, German D, et al. HIV risk among men who have sex with men only (MSMO) and men who have sex with men and women (MSMW) in Baltimore. J Homosex 2013;60:51-68. 6. Harawa NT, McCuller WJ, Chavers C, et al. HIV risk behaviours among Black/African American and Hispanic/Latina Female partners of men who have sex with men and women. AIDS Behav 2013;17:848-55. 7. Eaton LA, Pitpitan EV, Kalichman SC, et al. Men who report recent male and female sex partners in Cape Town, South Africa: an understudied and underserved population. Arch Sex Behav 2013;42:1299-308. 8. Ottoson D. State-Sponsored Homophobia. A world survey of laws prohibiting same sex activity between consenting adults. ILGA (International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association). 2010. 9. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). UNAIDS Action Framework: Universal Access for Men who have Sex with Men and Transgender People. WHO Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. 2009. 10. Ripley J, Lauer K, Hebert P, et al. Speaking Out: A Toolkit for MSM- led HIV/AIDS Advocacy. Levi Strauss Foundation. The Global Forum on MSM and HIV (MSMGF). 2010. 11. McDaid LM, Hart GJ. Sexual risk behaviour for transmission of HIV in men who have sex with men: recent findings and potential interventions. Curr Opin HIV AIDS 2010;5:311-5. 12. Connell R. Gender, health and theory: Conceptualizing the issue, in local and world perspective. Social Science and Medicine 2012;74:1675- 1683. 13. Phillips AF, Pirkle CM. Moving beyond behaviour: advancing HIV risk prevention epistemologies and interventions (A report on the state of the literature). Glob Public Health 2011;6:577-92.
Conflict of Interest:
None declared
Response to 'Relative or Absolute? - Miller'
Dear editor,
Responding to the editorial by Miller et al regarding the methodology of our study , we would challenge the assessment of the Zelen design as representing a form of 'deception'. Zelen design is employed to generate real life responses to help understand the translation challenges of introducing any similar or modified intervention across a whole area.
When general practices involved in our study were later informed of their participation none expressed concern. Qualitative work undertaken with these practices since the study has further confirmed they were supportive of the study design selected, and stated it reduced bias. Chlamydia data from general practice are routinely collected and published in England.
The editorial correctly identifies that levels of chlamydia screening within general practices in England is currently low. Viewed in this context, the 60% uptake generated by this intervention is significant. In terms of the increases in testing observed during and after the intervention period, our results were reported without inflation. Further, while the results from the intervention may be modest, repeated on a national scale a substantial increase in overall testing rates would be observed.
The National Chlamydia Screening Programme identifies general practice as an important venue through which opportunistic screening can be offered to young adults. We also know the most common form of contact young people have with medical services is with their GP. The results generated through our intervention represent a positive development in our understanding of how to increase screening in this setting. By engaging GPs in chlamydia screening, opportunities are created to discuss wider sexual health issues with young people, in a familiar and trusted surrounding.
We concur with Miller et al that changing practitioner behaviour is challenging. General practice is a complex environment where practitioner behaviour is subject to the influence of previous education and training, practice managers and partners, competing targets, and other priorities determined by the NHS. Other further research has shown that sustained support is important to maintain the impact of any multifaceted intervention, , and therefore Public Health England is continuing to provide such support. However, further research into how to sustain and maximise the impact of interventions to improve the sexual health service delivered in primary care would also be beneficial.
AUTHOR NAMES; Cliodna A M McNulty 1, Angela H Hogan 2, Ellie J Ricketts 3, Louise Wallace 5, Isabel Oliver 6, Rona Campbell 7, Sebastian Kalwij 8, Elaine O'Connell 4, Andre Charlett 9
Author affiliations
1 Public Health England Primary Care Unit, Microbiology Department, Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, and Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
2 (Previously) Public Health England Primary Care Unit, (Currently) Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
3 Public Health England Primary Care Unit, Microbiology Department, Gloucestershire Royal Hospital
4 (Previously) Public Health England Primary Care Unit, (Currently) University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
5 Applied Research Centre Health & Lifestyle Interventions, Coventry University, Coventry, UK
6 Field Epidemiology Service, Public Health England, and University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
7 School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
8 Amersham Vale Training Practice, London, UK
9 Statistics, Modelling and Economics Department, Public Health England, 61 Colindale Avenue, London, UK
Miller W, Nguyen N. Relative or Absolute? A significant intervention for chlamydia screening with small absolute benefit. Sex Transm Infec [Editorial -in print] 2014
McNulty C a M, Hogan AH, Ricketts EJ, Wallace L, Oliver I, Campbell R, et al. Increasing chlamydia screening tests in general practice: a modified Zelen prospective Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial evaluating a complex intervention based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Sex Transm Infec [Internet]. 2013 Sep 4 [cited 2013 Oct 23];1-7. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24005256
Shafer M-AB, Tebb KP, Pantell RH, Wibbelsman CJ, Neuhaus JM, Tipton AC, et al. Effect of a clinical practice improvement intervention on Chlamydial screening among adolescent girls. JAMA?: J. Amer Med Assoc. 2002 p. 2846-52.
Kalwij S, French S, Mugezi R, Baraitser P. Using educational outreach and a financial incentive to increase general practices' contribution to chlamydia screening in South-East London 2003-2011. BMC public health [Internet]; 2012 Jan [cited 2013 Oct 23];12(1):802. Available from: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=3524034&tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=abstract
PHE National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP) website; http://www.chlamydiascreening.nhs.uk/ps/index.asp accessed on 8th April 2014
Conflict of Interest:
All authors have completed the Unified Competing Interest form at http://www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf (available on request from the corresponding author) and declare that '(1) CM, ER, AH, LW, RC, IS, EO, SK, AC have support from the Public Health England for the submitted work. Dr Cliodna McNulty leads the Public Health England Primary Care Unit that has an ongoing programme of work aimed at improving the management of infectious disease in primary care. Public Health England leads the National Chlamydia Screening Programme in England.
Promoting HIV testing, chlamydia testing and long acting reversible contraception.
Phillips and colleagues found a third of in-patients had HIV tests following implementation of a routine HIV testing policy at Croydon University Hospital1. We recently found similar rates of HIV testing in young women in the community in our medical student research projects. In line with the 2013 Framework for Sexual Health Improvement's "three specific indicators for sexual health" 2, we investigated reported uptake of HIV testing, chlamydia testing and long acting reversible contraception (LARC) in young women attending a further education college and a university in London.
In September 2013 consecutive women in common room areas were invited to complete a confidential questionnaire on sexual health. The response rate among women at Lambeth College was 78% (77/99). The mean age of responders was 18 years (range 16-24), and 43% described themselves as being of black ethnicity, 19% white, and 38% of other ethnicity. Of the 39 (51%) women who said they were sexually active, 51% (20/39) had been tested for HIV in the past year and 78% (28/36) for chlamydia. A third (13/39) were currently using LARC (implant n=10, injection n=3).
The response rate among women at London Southbank University was 92% (79/86). The mean age of responders was 21 years (range 18-25) and 38% were from ethnic minorities. In the past year, 32% (25/79) had been tested for HIV and 34% (26/77) for chlamydia. Only 5% (4/79) reported the use of LARC in the past year, all of these being the implant. We agree with Phillips and colleagues that late diagnosis of HIV is a major public health problem. The recent Natsal report found that 29% of women but only 14% of men aged 16-24 years reported being tested for HIV in the past 5 years 3. Although rates of HIV testing in sexually active, multiethnic young women in our study were encouraging, it is also crucial to promote HIV testing in young men.
Anne Tear and Jessica Herbert 3rd year Medical Students Pippa Oakeshott Reader in General Practice Population Health Sciences and Education, St George's, University of London Correspondence: email@example.com, email@example.com Acknowledgement We thank students and staff at Lambeth College and London Southbank University.
Reference List (1) Philips. D, Barbour. A, et al, Implementation of a routine HIV testing policy in an acute medical setting in a UK general hospital: a cross sectional study, STI 2013, doi: 10.1136/sextrans-2013-051302 (2) Department of Health, Improving outcomes and supporting transparency, November 2013, pg 53, 91,99 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/263662/2901502_PHOF_Improving_Outcomes_PT2_v1_1.pdf [Acessed 13th December 2013] (3) Sonnenberg P, Clifton S, Beddows S, et al, Prevalence, risk factors, and uptake of interventions for sexually transmitted infections in Britain: findings from the National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal), The Lancet, Volume 382, Issue 9907, Pages 1795 - 1806, 30 November 2013 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61947-9
Conflict of Interest:
None declared
Dear Editor
Trichomonas Vaginalis (TV) is frequently described as being associated with pre-term delivery and low birth weight - and was again by Professor Hillier in her editorial in her (unreferenced) introductory paragraph. As far as I can ascertain, this association appears to be based on published evidence from the 80s and 90s.
Is it possible, given the more recent understanding of a link between TV and poverty, that these 20 year old studies were confounded?
There is conflicting evidence as to whether the use of metronidazole is itself associated with worse birth outcomes1,2 and so it is important to have a full understanding of the role of TV.
In global terms I work and teach in a setting with a low prevalence of HIV. Can anyone help me find reasonably strong evidence that TV is other than a harmless commensal for those of my patients who are asymptomatic?
1.What have we learned about vaginal infections and preterm birth? Carey JC et al Semin Perinatol 2003 27(3):212-6 2. Investigation of metronidazole use during pregnancy and adverse outcomes Catherine A Coss et al Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 2012 56(9) 4800-5
Conflict of Interest:
None declared
Response to a letter Recent Advances of the HIV Surveillance System in Iran: Current Situation and Ways Forward
We very much appreciate the letter that Dr Haghdoost and colleagues wrote in relation to some of the issues outlined in our paper HIV surveillance in MENA: recent developments and results and, in addition, described some more recent developments in HIV surveillance in Iran.
We would like to reflect on several issues that they raised.
Our paper states that Djibouti, Iran, Morocco and Pakistan can be classified as having fully functioning HIV surveillance systems as trends in HIV prevalence in these countries can be assessed over time for certain population sub-groups. Surveillance systems in these countries have a sufficient quantity and quality of the data that can be used to guide the programmatic responses. We also mentioned other nine countries that have partially functioning HIV surveillance systems.
As described in the Methods section of our paper, the assessment of the quality of HIV surveillance systems was based on the questionnaire sent to National AIDS Programmes (NAPs) of the countries of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and not on the data presented in the paper by Garcia Calleja et al published in Sexually Transmitted Infections in 2010. As described in our paper, to assess the quality of HIV surveillance systems we adapted a method developed by WHO and UNAIDS.123
As one of the limitations, we outlined that data were provided by the NAPs, which might have missed data sources collected by other agencies that Haghodoost et al. mention, such as surveys in partners of IDUs. However, as planning of surveillance and programmatic responses is lead by the NAPs, we think that collecting data from NAPs gives an appropriate insight into the type and quality of data that the countries use for planning and evaluating the national HIV response. We are aware that many studies might be undertaken in the EMR, but their results are not disseminated, and this is particularly the case with studies done in groups at higher risk of HIV that are heavily stigmatized.
In relation to some other issues that the colleagues raised, surveys using respondent-driven sampling were done in many other countries in the Region (some of these are referenced in the paper) as well as Mode of Transmission studies.4
We have not reflected on the reasons for the improvements in HIV surveillance in North Africa and the Middle East, but we believe this has been due to greater availability of funding provided by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and capacity building efforts of numerous international and national agencies.
We agree with Dr Haghdoost and the colleagues that there are substantial improvements in HIV surveillance in Iran though significant challenges remain in bridging the gaps that the system still has. One of them is certainly in conducting studies on HIV and sexually transmitted infections in MSM and transgendered individuals, which due to prevailing stigmatization are still lacking throughout the Region.
1. Garcia Calleja JM, Jacobson J, Garg R, et al. Has the quality of serosurveillance in low- and middle-income countries improved since the last HIV estimates round in 2007? Status and trends through 2009. Sex Transm Infect 2010;86(Suppl 2):ii35-42
2. Walker N, Garcia-Calleja JM, Heaton L, et al. Epidemiological analysis of the quality of HIV sero-surveillance in the world: how well do we track the epidemic? AIDS 2001;15:1545-54
3. Lyerla R, Gouws E, Garcia-Calleja JM. The quality of sero- surveillance in low- and middle-income countries: status and trends through 2007. Sex Transm Inf 2008;84: i85-91.
4. Mumtaz G, Hilmi N, Zidouh A, El Rhilani H, Alami K, Bennani A, Gouws E, Ghys P, Abu- Raddad L. HIV Mode of Transmission Analysis. Rabat: Kingdom of Morocco. Ministry of Health, Department of Epidemiology and Disease Control, 2010.
Conflict of Interest:
None declared
Recent Advances of the HIV Surveillance System in Iran; Current Situation and Ways Forward
We very much enjoyed reading Dr. Bozicevic's paper about the recent developments in HIV Surveillance in MENA in a recent issue of your journal [1]. Some topics discussed in that paper concern us and we would like to share a few opinions about the current HIV surveillance system in Iran and its recent advances. In the paper it is stated that only two countries in the region (Morocco and Sudan) have a partially functioning HIV surveillance; however, we assume this is based on the data presented in a study conducted in 2009 [2] and at present, Iran has also a somewhat functioning HIV surveillance system. For example, Iran has done a pretty fine job in controlling the HIV infection among IDUs and monitoring the epidemic trend in pregnant women [3]. Iran has been also conducting biannual bio-behavioral surveys among IDUs, FSWs, IDU partners, and prisoners [3]. More recently, size estimation programs have been introduced to the system and we have conducted size estimation studies in estimating the size of at risk populations [4]. On top of the above, Iran is one the only countries in the region that has conducted Respondent Driven Sampling as well as Mode of Transmission studies [3, 5]. What is more, the number of HIV/AIDS related publications in Iran (in PubMed database) has doubled in a five- year period which is also an evidence of improvement of the system [6]. We think a number of reasons may have contributed to this progress. The role of the Regional Knowledge Hubs in HIV/AIDS Surveillance in educating healthcare providers and researchers as well as health policy makers cannot be ignored [7]. These educations have been given through national and international workshops and sending out educational packages to different policy makers, from members of the parliament to those in the presidential office. We assume highlighting the burden of HIV/AIDS in the upcoming years has been successful in drawing policy makers' attention to the seriousness of the HIV epidemic across the country in a way that controlling HIV/AIDS throughout the country was a serious concern in the recent presidential debates. Despite all the achievements in addressing the HIV epidemic, there is still a lot to be done and the current system still suffers to a considerable extent. For example, likewise most countries in the region, MSM and transgendered populations have long been overlooked in the HIV surveillance system; ignorance mainly originated from the stigma surrounding such populations. We think one of the main challenges to be overcome is the pitfalls in the case finding and reporting system of Iran. The sensitivity of case finding in Iran is low and following up the HIV patients and assessing their adherence to therapy is a major challenge in front of healthcare providers [5, 8]. Although the case reporting system is not fully functioning, a national computer-based is being launched in the country that opens a window of hope in fixing the defects in the current reporting system. The Ministry of Health is really optimistic about this system; however, its effectiveness is yet to be evaluated.
References: 1. Bozicevic I, Riedner G, and Garcia Calleja JM. HIV surveillance in MENA: recent developments and results. Sex Transm Infect, 2013. online: p. 1-6. 2. Garc?a Calleja JM, Jacobson J, Garg R, et al. Has the quality of serosurveillance in lowand middle-income countries improved since the last HIV estimates round in 2007? Status and trends through 2009. Sex Transm Infect, 2010. 86 (Suppl 2): p. 35-42. 3. National AIDS Committee Secretariat and Ministry of Health and Medical Education. Islamic Republic of Iran AIDS Progress Report On Monitoring of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV and AIDS.2012, available at: www.unaids.org/en/dataanalysis/knowyourresponse/countryprogressreports/IRiran,1.PDF2012. 4. Shokuhi M, baneshi MR and haghdoost AA. Size Estimation of Groups at High Risk of HIV/AIDS using Network Scale Up in Kerman, Iran. Int J Prev Med, 2012 .3(7): p. 471-476. 5. Nasirian M, Doroudi F, Gooya MM, et al. Modeling of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Modes of Transmission in Iran. Journal of Reaserch in Health Sciences, 2012. 12(2): p. 81-87. 6. Saba HF, Kouyoumjian SP, Mumtaz GR, et al. Characterising the progress in HIV/AIDS research in the Middle East and North Africa. Sex Transm Infect, 2013. online: p. 1-5. 7. Mostafavi E, Haghdoost AA, mirzazadeh A, et al. Regional HIV knowledge hubs: a new approach by the health sector to transform knowledge into practice. Health Promotion International, 2012. online: p. 1-7. 8. Haghdoost AA, Mostafavi E, Mirzazadeh A, et al. Modelling of HIV/AIDS in Iran up to 2014. Journal of AIDS and HIV Research Journal of AIDS and HIV Research, 2011. 3(12).
Conflict of Interest:
None declared
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The Emerald Coast Young Marines are among the nation's top Young Marines units that encourage drug-free communities. Now, the organization has an award to recognize the achievement.
The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Young Marines youth organization's Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Award honors six units — one award per division — for drug demand reduction efforts through community education and peer-to-peer role modeling.
Emerald Coast Young Marines, of Crestview, is the Division 3 winner.
Other winners include: Division 1, Westover Young Marines, Chicopee, Mass.; Division 2, LCpl Caleb Powers Young Marines, Fredericksburg, Va.; Division 4, Pikes Peak Young Marines, Colorado Springs, Colo.; Division 5, Lapeer County Young Marines, Attica, Mich.; and Division 6, East Valley Young Marines, Mesa, Ariz.
The awards were presented June 5 at the Young Marines annual Adult Leaders' Conference in Washington D.C.
"The DEA first met with the Young Marines a few years ago," Tammy Simpson, drug prevention program manager of the DEA's Drug Demand Reduction Section, said. "We were so impressed with the Young Marines' initiative when communicating with peers and others about the dangers associated with using drugs. We, at the DEA, congratulate the winning units, and we appreciate the Young Marines' efforts to educate the community and increase awareness about the drug problem."
Units were judged on drug demand reduction hours, curriculum and the steps taken to reach out to the community to include peers and others.
The Young Marines is a national non-profit 501c(3) youth education and service program for boys and girls, age 8 through completion of high school.
The organization promotes members' mental, moral and physical development and teaches leadership, teamwork and self-discipline.
The Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Awardcommemorates a DEA special agent and Marine who worked in Mexico and came dangerously close to exposing the top leaders of a multi-billion drug pipeline. He was abducted and brutally murdered in 1985 at age 37.

subset: commoncrawl


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East Central European Cuisine
Ashkenazi cuisine with a cosmopolitan twist.
By Claudia Roden
We Also Recommend
Reprinted with permission from The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York, published by Knopf.
The Ashkenazi Diaspora gradually spread westward and southward. During the Thirty Years' War (1618‑1648), Germany began to readmit Jews, who supplied the armies. By the eighteenth century, the numerous German courts offered opportunities to financiers and "court Jews"—as those who served as financial advisers and agents to rulers in Europe were known—some of whom became extremely wealthy and powerful. The old Jewish communities in the lands that were to become Romania, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia grew large with Jews from the annexed Polish territories and immigrants from Poland and Russia.
In the nineteenth century, the Jews of Europe achieved emancipation. The process had begun when Napoleon's revolutionary armies carried their ideals of the Rights of Man and equality into the countries they conquered, ending the age of the ghetto. The spirit of Enlightenment spread through a Europe that was shedding feudalism and industrializing and helped all the Jewish communities to achieve economic and social integration. Jews flocked to large cities like Prague, Budapest, Vienna, and Bucharest.
A small minority attained wealth and prominence in banking and commerce, the liberal professions, and various industries, but the majority who flooded in from Russia and Poland remained a poor, uprooted working class. While Jews in the villages remained steeped in religious orthodoxy and tradition, speaking Yiddish—their Polish roots much in evidence—the Haskalah (Hebrew for "Enlightenment") spread modernization, acculturation, and integration in the cities. Although there was a certain replication of Polish Jewish culture, there was also a gradual assimilation of the varied local and ruling cultures (the lands were part of the German, Russian, and Austro‑Hungarian empires and were ethnically diverse). Several essentially different Jewish communities developed. Hungarian became the language of the Jewish elite, German that of the business communities, and Czech, Romanian, and other languages were spoken regionally.
Did you like this article? MyJewishLearning is a not-for-profit organization.


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[Here's an excerpt from the email Joel mentions in his comment on the previous post, with a few additions from me in italics.]
Poking around in boxes and file cabinets while looking for something else, I came across an ancient photo copy of the instructions Dad wrote for me. I'd like to warn you it is possibly politically incorrect. In addition, it may well come through to some fans of Westerns that my father scorned the genre and the fans.
To explain: at the time Dad was attempting to get one of his major novels for S&S finished, finish several other contracts, and still maintain the Westerns as a way of bringing in steady cash. He was paid about $3000 per Fargo and a similar amount would come in from the sales in Norway and much of the rest of Europe. Demand for Fargo and Sundance was there but there simply was not enough of Dad to go around. I do not recall the name, however, there was an author in upstate NY who started a number of pulp (non Western) series and farmed out the work to nearly 20 ghost writers on contract. Dad was looking to build up something along those lines as well. [Joel and I have since established that he was talking about Lyle Kenyon Engel of Book Creations Inc. — a company for which I wrote about 50 books.]
By this point Dad had written a lot of Westerns and other pulp to support a wife, three sons, and make a mortgage payment. He was just plain tired of writing Westerns for a while. The irony is, of course, his love of writing started because of his love of Westerns. He faithfully followed the serials at the movie theaters and listened to the radio shows and read the pulp magazines of Westerns. It was with a sale of a Western story he got his start. He took annual trips to the West with my godfather and his best friend, Jim Henderson, an editor at the Norfolk Virginian Pilot. [Ben Haas wrote the comic novel THE BELLE FROM CATSCRATCH with Jim Henderson, both of them using pseudonyms, Richard Meade and Jay Rutledge, respectively. I have a copy of the book and hope to read it soon. The cover art, by the way, is by the great Jack Davis of MAD Magazine fame, and Joel sent me these scans as well.]
Dad craved recognition as a non pulp writer. Living well outside the orbit of NYCity and not able to teach at a university as he had no college degree, he probably never had the social connections for lightening to strike until the last four months of his life when a huge paperback sale of his final novel THE HOUSE OF CHRISTINA occurred. Even then, it was not reviewed widely by the major papers because it was a straight forward story. He remained a "mid list author" all his professional life and by the time he was 49, fat, and bald he was professionally interested in moving past writing paperbacks.
[Another bit of irony is that many of the literary writers from that era are forgotten and unread, while at least some of us are still reading, enjoying, and talking about books by Ben Haas and other authors like him who were great storytellers.]


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In addition to supporting students, the Office of Student Success is committed to supporting faculty. We offer a variety of tools to help faculty help students:
peer tutoring,
the academic alert system,
information about academic accommodations, and
pedagogy resources on the internet (Student Web Resourses link).
If you find a pedagogically sound resource you would like posted on our site, please send that link with the URL pasted into the text box so we can share that resource with the rest of our academic community. Email new the URL links with a brief explanation to Dan Sylvester at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Happy Holidays everyone! Have you been getting into the seasonal spirit by drinking too much at office parties and spending too much money on presents for yourself? No one cares! All we care about is who is having the Best Week Ever this week! Who could it be???
Well, we won't know who is having the Best Week Ever until an all new episode of Best Week Ever airs tomorrow night, Friday December 13, at 10/9 C. Until then, check out these exclusive behind-the-scenes clips of the Best Week Ever cast. Looks like the dudes of the cast are all think famous women are having the Best Week Ever, but maybe they're wrong! Maybe they're right! What do you think? Who YOU think is having the Best Week Ever?
Sherrod Small thinks P!nk is winning the week.
However, Michael Che is here to remind us that Sarah Palin is back in the public eye where she wants to be.
And Mike O'Gorman is casting his vote for Tila Tequila.
They all make interesting arguments, but what do you think?
Who YOU think is having the Best Week Ever?
Don't forget to tune in for a brand new episode of Best Week Ever this Friday at 10/9 C. SET YOUR DVR!


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Bid History for One Lot SuperCoach SCM-1282 ProTeam Commercial Backpack Vacuum
Auction Start Date: 08/10/12 2:41 PM ET
Auction End Date: 08/21/12 2:41 PM ET
Asset ID: 183 Number of Bids: 8
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One Lot SuperCoach SCM-1282 ProTeam Commercial Backpack Vacuum
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This auction is for (39) SuperCoach SCM-1282 ProTeam Commercial Backpack Vacuum & Assortment of attachements. See Photos for attachments. All vacuums were in working condition when recently removed from service.
Note: Please inspect items prior to placing a bid. This asset may contain defects. The University of Maryland(Seller) makes no warranty, guaranty or representation of any kind, expressed or implied, as to the merchantability or fitness for any purpose of the property offered for sale. ALL SALES ARE FINAL. Sold as is, where is. Please read Terms & Conditions.
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Removal: All items must be removed within 7 business days from the time and date of issuance of the Buyer's Certificate. The Buyer will make all arrangements and perform all work necessary, including packing, loading and transportation of the property. Property may be removed between the hours of 9:00a.m. and 3:30p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. For additional information or to schedule property removal, please contact Larry Butler at (410) 706-6619 or email@example.com. A daily storage fee of $10.00 may be charged for any property not removed within the 10 business days allowed and stated on the Buyer's Certificate.
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Gear Review
A good set of gaiters!
The build is extremely good and the two tone colours make for difference, if you are into pure aesthetics. After unpacking them and taking a long severe look at them, I'm still at odds with a 'bit of plastic' to go under the arch of the boot as I can see this becoming ragged very soon on walking over rocks and other landscapes. Having said that - they are very waterproof- very hard wearing (the uppers) and comfortable. The hook and the velcro fastening took some getting used to. My old pair fastened at the back. My Asolo's will take the hook but it feels as though the gaiter is being pulled a little too much. The velcro fastener is rock steady and tight.
All in all, a very good gaiter for winter expeditions and cross country skiing; Spring and Fall hiking and well worth the investment.
View More Details on Mountain Hardwear Pinnacle Stretch XT Gaiter


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DAYTONA BEACH, FL (February 12, 2009) – After being in the wrong place at the wrong time in Wednesday afternoon's final practice session before the Gatorade Duel, Jamie McMurray and his No. 26 Crown Royal team were forced to go to a back-up car for Thursday's race. The back-up car the team chose however was the same car McMurray finished second with in Saturday's Budweiser Shootout and the team looked to this car to perform well in the Duel. McMurray finished 10th in Thursday afternoon's first race and felt confident that the car would be a solid contender for Sunday's Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
The Gatorade Duel is the Sprint Cup Series preliminary event to the Daytona 500 held annually in February at Daytona International Speedway. The event consists of two 150-mile races, and serves as a qualifying race for the Daytona 500. The finishing order in the two 150-mile races, determines the starting lineup for the Daytona 500 held on Sunday, February 15th.
Qualifying for the Daytona 500 is unique in NASCAR. Only the two front row starters are determined by the ordinary qualifying process of timed laps. After the top two positions are locked in, the rest of the starting grid is set by the finishing order of these two Duel races. Drivers participate in one of the two races. Half the field entered for the Daytona 500 races in the first race, and the other half the second. The finishing order of the first race fills the odd positions of the starting grid (inside of each row), and the finishing order for the second race fills the even positions of the starting grid (outside of each row.)
McMurray was selected to race in the first of the 60-lap races of the afternoon. When the green flag waved at 2:20 p.m. EST, the No. 26 Crown Royal Ford Fusion dropped to the rear of the field after the team was forced to go to a back-up car following an on-track incident during Wednesday's final practice session. The car the team selected to run was the same car from Saturday evening's Budweiser Shootout where McMurray finished second due to a last-lap caution. The Crown Royal team did not have an opportunity to practice with the car before Thursday's race, but felt confident that they had a fast car.
Within the opening laps of the race, the No. 26 machine drove up to 20th before the first caution of the day came during lap three. McMurray took the opportunity to radio in to his crew chief Donnie Wingo that the car was "pretty tight in the center and off of the turns." Wingo made a note of the tight conditions and opted to not pit during the first caution. The field restarted on lap seven with the Crown Royal Ford in 19th and by lap thirteen, McMurray had piloted his way into the sixth position on the leaderboard.
The tight-handling conditions continued to challenge McMurray as he fought for track position. The second caution of the race came during lap 25 and Wingo called his driver to pit road for four fresh tires and fuel. The team also opted to make a minor air pressure adjustment to the right rear tire in an effort to help with some of the tightness in the corners.
McMurray and the No. 26 Crown Royal Ford restarted in eighth on lap 31 and by lap 38 drove his way into the top five as he passed the No. 48 for the fifth position. During lap 49, with eleven laps remaining, the No. 1 car spun and brought out the third caution. Wingo opted to leave his driver out on the track in an effort to avoid being marred in the middle of the pack and hopefully avoid any possible altercations in the final laps. The plan allowed McMurray to lead for a total of six laps after the field returned to green flag racing but then a multi-car wreck on lap 53 set up another restart on lap 56. McMurray and the Crown Royal Ford found themselves without any drafting help on the restart and got shuffled back to tenth.
"That's a pretty good car we have," commented McMurray after the race. "On that last restart, with Jimmie (Johnson) and Jeff (Gordon) behind me, I knew that Jeff would lag a little bit and Jimmie would get on his bumper, and he got on my outside. I thought someone would pull down to the bottom line with me, but it turned out that no one wants to help with old tires because you think the other car isn't going to make any progress on those tires. We wanted to win this afternoon, but we really just wanted to finish and not tear our car up today. This is the car that ran well in the Shootout and when the race started today, it drove a lot better than the other one, so it should be a good Daytona 500 car for our Crown Royal team."
Jeff Gordon won Thursday's first race of the Gatorade Duel at Daytona and Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top-three finishers. Kyle Busch won the afternoon's second Gatorade Duel of the day and held off Mark Martin and Brian Vickers who finished second and third respectively.
This Sunday the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series begins the 2009 regular season at Daytona International Speedway for the 51st running of the Daytona 500. Pre-race television coverage begins on Sunday, February 15th at 2:00 p.m. E.S.T. on FOX. Radio coverage will be provided by the Motor Racing Network (MRN).
Daytona 500
Daytona International Speedway (2.5-mile speedway)
Daytona Beach, Fl.
Thursday, Feb. 15, 2009


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I've been so some shows and they are AMAZING! Very intimate and tons of fun for ALL types of people. These guys also exhibit at the Midtown Alley Streetfest each year ... you can find them everywhere! Kudos to Brad and Hannah, and all the artists who take this opportunity to get out there and show their stuff.
Best Nomadic Art Show St. Louis 2010 - Art Underground
Art Underground started out as a house party with a twist. Knowing that many of their talented friends rarely had the chance to show their work in a gallery setting, Brad and Hannah Edwards offered the walls of their own Lafayette Square apartment. They then invited a few dozen friends over for a casual gathering. The deal: If any of the art on the walls sold, the money would go straight to the artist, with no commission. The notion took hold — big time. Acclaimed local artists began contacting the Edwardses to find out how to get involved. The second party attracted 50 people. The third brought in 75. Constricted by the space in their 1,000-square-foot apartment, the Edwardses knew they could no longer host the parties in their home. But they also knew they were on to something that was rejuvenating the St. Louis art scene — something that, in Brad's words, is "gaining art new fans rather than recycling an existing audience." Thanks to the generosity of homeowners and developers, Art Underground's quarterly events have been housed in such beautiful buildings as the Abbey on the Park and in a stunning loft space in Midtown Alley. The popularity of the exhibitions has required selectivity on Art Underground's part; featured artists have included printmaker Kim Wardenburg, fashion designer Arushi Kumar, abstract painter Michael Bolton and photographer Hal Moran. Admission to the event is always free and, ever true to the mission that began on their own four walls, Brad and Hannah Edwards give all proceeds to the artists.
The third party had 250 people there and everyone sold art.Brad and Hannah have done an amazing job putting together an organization that really HELPS the artist.I owe them a huge "thank you" for all they have done for me.WELL DONE!
Wow. Thanks guys for this incredible honor and write-up! This is amazing...


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NSW police have seized a computer and compact discs which allegedly contain child pornography images.
A Seven Hills man has been charged with possession of child pornography, according to a statement.
The 32-year-old man was arrested last night and taken to Blacktown Police Station, where he was charged with possessing child pronography.
He was unable to meet conditional bail and was due to appear at Parramatta Local Court today.
NSW Police were unable to provide any further information.
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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Women's Lacrosse Fans' Choice Player of the Year Award is back for 2010! Fans can vote here for their favorite America East women's lacrosse player, including UNH's Shaunna Kaplan (Framingham, Mass.) and Kate Keagins (Bay Shore, N.Y.).
Voting will go through the end of the day on Thursday, April 29. The winner will be announced Friday, April 30 via release at AmericaEast.com.
In the 2009 Women's Lacrosse Fans' Choice Player of the Year voting, Kaplan finished third and teammate Sarah von Bargen was the runner-up.
Kaplan, a 2010 tri-captain of the Wildcats who has started all 14 games, leads the team in assists (22) and points (42). She ranks second in goals (20) and is tied for fourth in caused turnovers. On the America East leaderboards, the senior attacker is first in assists per game and tied for sixth in points per game. In five league games, Kaplan has tallied nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points. Her season highlights include a seven-point game (3g, 4a) at Stony Brook. Kaplan has tallied a point in 13 of 14 games with an active seven-game point-scoring streak. She has 10 multiple-point games and that includes six multiple-goal efforts and four multiple-assist performances.
Keagins, a sophomore midfielder who has played in all 14 games with 12 starts, is tied for third on the team in goals (19) and ranks fourth in both assists (nine) and points (28). She is the team leader in caused turnovers (24) and is tied for the lead in both ground balls (28) and draw controls (27). Keagins is the only Wildcat who has recorded double digits in all four of the following statistics – goals, ground balls, caused turnovers and draw controls. She has recorded a point in 13 of 14 games – in fact, she has scored a goal in 13 of 14 games.– with an active seven-game point-scoring streak. Keagins has nine goals and four assists for 13 points in five America East league games. She ranks fifth in the conference in caused turnovers per game.
UNH (9-5 overall, 3-2 AE) returns to action April 28 (4 p.m.) at Boston College and concludes the regular season May 1 (1 p.m.) at the University of Vermont. The Wildcats will be the #3 seed in the upcoming America East Championship tournament (May 6 & 8).


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Mistic electronic cigarettes offer fantastic flavor, your choice of nicotine level, and great value, without all the inconveniences of traditional cigarettes… but what are the ingredients in Mistic electronic cigarettes, exactly?
Mistic ecigs are available in both rechargeable and disposable styles, traditional and menthol flavors, and 3 different concentrations of nicotine. Whatever your preferences, there is a Mistic ecig that's perfect for you.
Each Mistic is made up of a stainless steel cartridge and a recyclable lithium ion battery. The cartridge is comprised of an inhaler, vaporizer, and liquid container.
The liquid in the cartridge is the source of each Mistic ecig's flavor. It contains a blend of nicotine, flavoring, propylene glycol and water. Propylene glycol may sound intimidating, but it's just a clear liquid commonly used as a preservative in foods and pharmaceuticals.
When you draw on your Mistic ecig, it vaporizes the liquid to create a flavored water vapor, which looks like smoke and delivers the high-quality flavor that has made Mistic ecigs so popular with our customers.
Each cartridge lasts about 300 draws, equivalent to roughly two packs, and when it runs out, all you have to do is attach the battery to a fresh cartridge.
Mistics are available in different nicotine concentrations so you can decide precisely how much you want. In either traditional or menthol, you can choose from 1.8%, 1.2%, and even 0% nicotine.
If you prefer a disposable ecig, the Mistic Black line offers you both traditional and menthol flavors in 2.4% nicotine.
You can purchase the full range of ecigs in our online store, or find retail locations near you with our store locator.
If you're interested in buying Mistic products but are having trouble finding them in stores, tell your local retailers! Your opinion matter to them, just like it does to us. We'd love to hear from you! Do you already use Mistic ecigs? Where do you buy your Mistic products? Have you ever used our online store?
Check back here for more information, news, sales and promotions of Mistic products. You can get in touch with us in the comments below, or via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube, or Google+.


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Woman Delivers 10-Pound Baby on the Same Day She Finds Out She Is Expecting
When I got pregnant, I was keenly aware of the baby growing inside my ever growing body. I got fat everywhere — sorry, I'm not supposed to say that. I got pregnant everywhere — from my double chin down to my bloated belly, there was no denying something was living inside of me, and it wasn't just McDonald's.
Well, apparently Linda Ackley was one of those unsuspecting moms who didn't actually know she was pregnant until the very last minute. And we mean the very last minute. According to Michigan's MLive.com, just hours after Linda found out she was expecting, she delivered!
Linda went to the doctor due to bloating in her 40-week pregnant belly abdomen, only to find out that she was due to give birth about three or four weeks later. After a second ultrasound, she was told she was full term or more and needed an emergency C-section.
"Some people have nine months to prepare. I had (15) hours," her husband, Mike, told MLive.com.
Linda gave birth to her first child, a healthy baby girl that they named Kimberly Kay Ackley. And get this: She weighed over 10 pounds.
Imagine going into see your doctor for stomach pain and coming out with a 10 pounds, 1 ounce baby girl? Talk about getting your world rock-a-bye-babied!
Source: MLive.com
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Caption Contests, Contests, Pictures, Technology
We knew it wouldn't take very long before the age of sentient technology was upon us. Computers are taking over great swathes of the legal profession. LegalZoom is taking away business. Contract attorneys fear for the day when their work is fully outsourced to machines.
I, for one, welcome our new computer overlords, if only because their King, the internet, is still undecided about the legal profession. Help the internet help you…
Here's the picture for our latest caption contest. What do you think, should the internet hate lawyers?
Same rules as always: submit possible captions in the comments. Please try to be funny. We'll choose our favorites — with preference given to those with a legal bent — and then let you vote for the best one.
Please submit your entries by WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15 at 11:59 P.M. (Eastern time). Thanks!
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text: I have an original 68 Shelby deck lid for a fastback. I just acquired this piece from a gentleman that bought all the usable fiberglass parts off a wrecked 68 Shelby when he was in High School in 1975. He bought the parts and put them onto his standard 68 fastback(which he still has), after a few years he pulled the parts off and stuck them into his garage and they have set there ever since. When i bought all the parts , he showed me pictures that were dated 1976 that showed his car with these parts on his car. I have a full restoration shop and am a Shelby fanatic, I have no doubts that this is an Original part. The deck lid is in very good condition, the fiberglass isnt showing any signs of cracking or becoming brittle. The only damage that I can see is that there is a smal chip out of one of the edges, its about the size of the head of a pencil. Deck lid still has original seal on it and the light. This is truly a rare and a amazing part. Im asking $1000.00 obo Please contact me if you have any questions Terry Phillips 503-581-0514 [email protected] P.S Im trying to upload the pictures but am having some issues. If they arent with the add I can send detailed pictures to anyone that is interested


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Global Warming / Veg Resources
Global Warming PowerPoint (by Saurabh Dalal)
Sierra Club
Huffington Post (Veg the New Prius)
Christian Science Monitor
United Nations Report
Full UN Report (408-page PDF)
Summary UN Report (1-page PDF)
News article with comments (2-page PDF)
News article with comments (online)
Spread the Word - Get Active!
Earth Day
FARM (Farm Animal Rights Movement)
FARM's Great American Meatout
In Defense of Animals
Other Resources
E/Environmental Magazine
Johns Hopkins (Center for a Livable Future)
Compassion in World Farming (Eat Less Meat)
Well-Fed World
Grace Factory Farming
Farm Sanctuary Factory Farming
University Research
According to a recent study by University of Chicago professors Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin, a vegetarian diet uses less fossil fuel and is therefore more energy efficient and less polluting than the "mean American diet," a mixture of plant and animal foods. They found that adopting a vegetarian diet reduces greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide per year - as much as switching from an SUV to a compact.
David Pimentel and Marcia Pimentel, "Sustainability of Meat-Based and Plant-Based Diets and the Environment," Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 78.3 (2003): 661S-662S. Click here for PDF.
Special thanks to co-sponsor E Magazine!
Click here for a Free Trial Issue!


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Report on crime stats
Posted: August 06, 2011|
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ANTI-SOCIAL behaviour and violent crime was up in Prestbury last month – but reports of burglary took a dip.
There were a total of 34 incidents of anti-social behaviour in June, compared to 32 in May.
There were nine reports of violent crime, compared to eight in May.
Burglaries accounted for eight recorded crimes in June – down from 11 in May and April respectively.


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The New Mexico State men's basketball team starts its season tonight against Western Michigan in Honolulu, Hawai'i, but freshman center Tanveer Bhullar hopes to see you at the home opener next Friday, Nov. 15. The Aggies take on UTEP in the Pan American Center one week from tonight. Tickets can be purchased at the Pan American Center ticket office or by calling 575-646-1420.
Tonight's game can be heard on KGRT 103.9 FM with 'Voice of the Aggies,' Jack Nixon giving the play-by-play. Tip-off is set for 11:30p.m. (MT) with a pregame show starting at 11p.m. The broadcast can also be heard from anywhere around the world online at www.NMStateSports.com for a fee. Click on the live events feed to access the feed.


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This episode of The Session opens on a sad note, as the crew worries about Chad's abandonment of Tasty in favor of his gig at Handles Gastropub. Luckily for Tasty, his new entourage is comprised exclusively of women, so it's no skin off his back. Justin introduces a new listener-sponsored segment initiative, and as usual, the BN Army wastes no time in bringing it strong.
We welcome to the studio Ron Manabe, the veteran brewmaster and senior vice president of the Tied House Brewery & Cafe. Ron tells us about the investors who made it possible for him and his partners to open the brewery back in 1988, a time long before there was a booming craft beer movement. With their outstanding beer and innovative marketing approach, the Tied House has grown into what is now a Bay Area staple brand and destination. We hear first-hand about their newest venture, a contract brewery with its own label called Hermitage Brewing Company, as none other than Chad himself has partnered with Ron to make Hermitage the production facility for Handles. We take several listener questions and play a rousing round of Stump the Brewer before bidding Ron farewell.
The Trophy Fire infiltrates the studio. We hear from the brothers Schuman and lead singer Ben Flanagan about the making of their most recent album Modern Hearts, while they share tales from the road and anecdotes about the band's early days. They accent the segment with acoustic performances of several cuts from the album.
The Christmas Show
The Session broadcasts its annual Christmas show with Logsdo... (more)
Want to write something?Submit a BN Army Blog


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- Revision 37
- Access to digital forms on Jamesforms.com
Legal Secretary Federal Litigation
How to file federal pleadings and papers, document completion and filing requirements, and a directory of names, addresses, telephone numbers and more for each federal court.
By Pamela Everett Nollkamper
- Revision 37
This update of Legal Secretary Federal Litigation offers you the most up-to-date information you need, including filing requirements, fees, federal rules and court procedures. In this revision you will find:
- Filing requirements for electronic access to court records
- Updated fees and prices
- Current electronic filing requirements
- Updated contact information for clerks, judges, and courts
Perfect for legal secretaries, paralegals, librarians and attorneys, Legal Secretary Federal Litigation not only explains how to file federal pleadings and papers, but also includes document completion and filing requirements, and a comprehensive directory of names, addresses, telephone numbers and more for each federal court. Save time, phone calls and returned documents by using the one-stop resource for federal court filing.
Fast Access to Every Federal Court
The only guide that shows you in one volume the who, what, where, when, and how of filing documents in any federal court. All your filing needs can be met with one desk-sized volume. Legal Secretary Federal Litigation is a combination federal court directory and procedures guide. It lists all the filing requirements, fees, courts, names, addresses and phone numbers you need to speed up the filing process and avoid costly errors. Inside Legal Secretary Federal Litigation you'll find information that is:
- Current and Accurate All information is updated twice annually by the court clerks themselves and double-checked by our editorial advisory board.
- Easy to Use Each section is organized by subject, and courts are listed alphabetically by district. Filing requirements, fees, hours, addresses and phone numbers are conveniently listed in the same section so you won't constantly flip back and forth.
- Practical Court-specific procedures and local rules are described and defined in plain English, and only the information you need is included. Litigation timetables and procedures checklists help keep your filing on track. You'll save time, phone calls and returned documents by using the one-stop resource for federal court filing.
Ideal for legal secretaries, paralegals, librarians and attorneys, this book not only explains how to file federal pleadings and papers, but also includes document completion and filing requirements, and a comprehensive directory of names, addresses, telephone numbers and more for each federal court. Includes filing requirements for every federal court:
- Filing Deadlines
- Filing Fees
- Backing and Covers
- Number of Copies Needed
- Electronic Access Information
- Appendices to Briefs
- Rule 26 Discovery Requirements
- Caption Style
Also includes the addresses of all federal courts, along with complete listing of names and phone numbers of the following:
- Clerks
- Judges
- U.S. Attorneys
- U.S. Marshals
- U.S. Magistrates
- Secretaries of State
- Division Offices
Chapter 1: Overview of the Federal Court System
Chapter 2: Federal Litigation Procedure
Chapter 3: District Court Directory and Filing Requirements
Chapter 4: Appellate Court Procedures
Chapter 5: Appellate Court Directory and Filing Instructions
Chapter 6: Supreme Court Directory and Procedures
Chapter 7: Special Courts Directory and Procedures
Chapter 8: Directory of Federal Agencies
Pamela Everett Nollkamper is President of Gem Legal Management, Inc. a corporation that provides consultant services to law firms and corporations. Ms. Everett-Nollkamper is an instructor in the paralegal programs of Saddleback College and Fullerton College in Orange County, California. She is a member of the Legal Assistant Advisory Committees of Fullerton College and Saddleback College.
In addition to authoring this book, Ms. Everett-Nollkapmer's writing credits include author of Bankruptcy Courts And Procedures (James Publishing), Fundamentals Of Law Office Management (West Publishing), co-author of Limited Liability Company (James Publishing) and articles for various legal publications including Legal Assistant Today Magazine.
Ms. Everett-Nollkamper holds a bachelor's of science degree in Vocational Education from California State University at Long Beach and a master's degree in Management from the University of Redlands. She is listed in Who's Who of American Law, Who's Who of Emerging Leaders of America, Who's Who of American Education, Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who of Finance and Industry, the International Who's Who of Women, and Who's Who in the World.
Contact Us
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Fax: (714) 556-4133


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WORCESTER, Mass. - The 2009 Holy Cross athletic season is officially underway as five teams had competition last week and five kick off the season this weekend. The men's soccer team will host Bryant on Tuesday, Sept. 8 at Linda Johnson Smith Soccer Stadium in the home opener. The game will be broadcast by Crusader Vision. Multiple Holy Cross athletic events are featured on Crusader Vision, the package, done in association with Stretch Internet, is available for $6.95 per event or a $79.95 annual subscription. Visit http://www.stretchinternet.com/holycrossvideo.html for more details, including a complete listing off all games on Crusader vision.
The women's soccer team, field hockey team, volleyball team and men's tennis team all host home events this week, while the cross country teams, women's tennis team and men's golf team are on the road.


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As netbooks continue to evolve, they're adopting new features that make them more than ordinary PC companions. The Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3, the world's first convertible netbook with a capacitive multitouch screen, is a prime example of this evolution. The $499 swivel mini-notebook, which was announced today, contains some impressive specs and software.
Also included is an array of features including Active Protection System (hard drive shock resistance), DirectShare (for syncing files with another notebook without connecting to the Internet), Lenovo Maplife (Wi-Fi location-based mapping), Lenovo NaturalTouch (a suite of touch-enabled multimedia apps), and Quick Start 2.0 (instant-on).
In addition, a$329 non-convertible version of the system, the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3, has also been announced. It shares the majority of the specs found on the S10-3t except that it includes a chiclet keyboard with rounded keys, three USB 2.0 ports, a 5-in-1 memory card reader, and a choice of 0.3-MP or 1.3-MP webcams.
Both systems will be available for purchase this month.
I like Lenovo S10-3t! Great


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What happens today will make it clear where you stand with certain people and why your association is unlikely to last. It's no big deal not all relationships stand the test of time. Move on to something better.
or email email@example.com
April 9, 2013 | 4:00am
We've sent an email with instructions to create a new password. Your existing password has not been changed.


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|TNStars College Savings 'Double Your Money' Offer Extended
The Tennessee Treasury Department is extending a promotion that allows Tennessee residents who sign up for the state's TNStars College Savings 529 Program to receive a $50 match for the first $50 they invest in the program. The matching funds promotion will be available through June 30, 2013.
TNStars is a cost effective, easy way for Tennesseans to start saving for their children's or grandchildren's college education. The Tennessee Treasury Department estimates that college tuition and fees are rising by at least 7 percent per year. So saving is not an option - it's a must.
TNStars is a college savings plan created by Tennesseans, administered by Tennesseans, for Tennesseans that allows participants to choose from 15 investment options, ranging from conservative to aggressive. The plan offers low investment fees and money earned on those investments may be withdrawn tax-free, provided it is used to pay for qualified educational expenses for the account's beneficiary. In fact, the funds can be used at thousands of public or private universities, community colleges, technology centers, vocational schools and any post-secondary institution that is eligible to receive U.S. Department of Education student loan funds.
An account can be established for as little as $25, but Tennessee residents who invest $50 or more will each receive $50 in matching funds from the state deposited into their accounts. In addition to the $50 match, Tennessee residents who roll over their entire account balances to TNStars from other states' 529 college savings programs or Tennessee's prepaid tuition program will each receive $100 in incentive funds deposited into their TNStars accounts.
More than a thousand Tennesseans have opened accounts - so don't be left out! The $50 match and the $100 rollover incentive are some of the keys to help your child or grandchild get the education and training needed for the 21st Century Tennessee specialized workforce.
Anyone interested in learning more about TNStars may visit www.TNStars.com or call toll-free to (855) 386-7827.


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Unlocking the Key to Deep Sleep
By Sarah Fenske
Making the Ferguson Commission Matter
By Danny Wicentowski
My Fake Boyfriend Became a Real-Life Crush
By Lindsay Toler
Rep. Jeffrey Pogue Bill Would Ban Unisex Bathrooms
By Danny Wicentowski
Darren Wilson Gives Speech to Nonprofit
By Danny Wicentowski
Angel Stewart and Other Victims of Violence Ask for Mercy
By Jessica Lussenhop
Obama Praises St. Louis' LaunchCode
By Lindsay Toler
By Lindsay Toler
In the past century, technology has driven innovation. The straight steel razor of the 1800s required honing and stropping to keep its edge. Many barbers continue to use a slight variation on this 200-year-old tool.
In 1895 a Baltimore man named King Camp Gillette invented the first disposable safety razor, the first blow to the professional shave. In 1921 Jacob Schick created the first insert razor. (Schick also introduced the first electric shaver in 1929, but for matters of focus and taste, this story is avoiding the subject of electric razors altogether.)
The first disposable twin-blade arrived in 1971. Then, in 1998, Gillette revolutionized the business by investing $750 million to launch the triple-bladed Mach 3. Despite Schick's introduction of the quadruple-bladed Quattro last year, the Mach 3 remains the state of the art. The future brings lasers -- eternal removal. A man with a Fu Manchu might one day laser all but his 'stache, and never handle a razor again.
The arrival of the AIDS virus in the 1980s sent shock waves through the barbering profession. Prior to the disease, a nick was a minor happenstance brushed away with a styptic pencil. But after AIDS, blades became biohazards, and barbers began wearing rubber gloves.
"We were scared to death of AIDS," says Charles Kirkpatrick, executive officer of the National Association of Barber Boards of America, the governing body of the profession. "We didn't know how to deal with it, so a lot of people just stopped. My theory was, put the damn rubber gloves on and get down to it with a hot shave."
The number of barbershops still offering a classic shave is dwindling. Today you're as likely to find the barber steam, lather and Mach 3 as the classic straight-razor treatment. The tony Missouri Athletic Club's barbershop, the downtown bellwether of men's grooming, abandoned the straight razor altogether a few years ago. The Mach 3 gives a better shave.
And rather than leave it to the pros, 21st century man hacks away at raw faces like a monkey with a steak knife. We wake up, grunt, shit, shower and shave. One hundred thousand years later, the latter task remains a royal pain in the ass.
And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.
Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.
Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts." -- Ezekiel 5:1-3.
Ray Marti used the same Henckel-brand straight razor throughout his 49-year career as a barber. "It was beautiful," he says. "It had a ruby in it and everything. It finally broke last year." So he bought a new blade, which he's getting ready to drag across my face.
Marti is the proprietor of the Alley Way Barbershop in Clayton. On this recent weekday morning, the place is in a state of disarray. Two unused chairs serve as support for a pool table-size plank of plywood. Lengths of model train track, a few sketches and some Styrofoam are scattered across the board. He's building a train for his grandkids. The basement room has seen better days. The wall-mounted hairdryer looks about twenty years old; mini-vise grips serve as its makeshift power switch.
When first asked his method of shaving, Marti is polite but terse: "Of course I use a straight razor. I'm a barber."
With his studied, measured air and well-groomed beard, the barber talks and looks a lot like James Lipton, host of Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio. Marti used to cut hair at the Ritz-Carlton, but in 1996 the new Ritz owners decided to outsource, so he moved into his own shop a block away.
After priming my beard with hot towels, Marti fills a mug with hot water, which he sloshes around and dumps out. Marti's of the old school: He uses a brush and shaving soap. He soaks his brush under the faucet, pokes it into the mug and starts swishing it like a mortar and pestle. Soon a latte-like froth appears and rolls over the brim.
He firmly moves the lathered brush across my face, pressing it deep within my whiskers in a circular motion. He works the brush like Claude Monet painting water lilies. In the mustache area, he paints with a more pointillist precision, careful to avoid getting the cream on my lip. The shave will take him 45 minutes to complete.
Myriam Zaoui and Eric Malka's definitive book The Art of Shaving proclaims that the secret to a perfect shave is the brush. "It generates a rich and warm lather," the authors write. "It softens and lifts the beard off the face; it brings the right amount of warm water to the skin during the shaving process to open the pores and to lubricate the skin; and it gently exfoliates the surface of the skin to rid it of dead cells."
Sponsor Content


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Filmakers Library Online Video
Connect to Filmakers Library Online Video
What is it? Filmakers Library Online provides award-winning documentaries with relevance across the curriculum—race and gender studies, human rights, globalization and global studies, multiculturalism, international relations, criminal justice, the environment, bioethics, health, political science and current events, psychology, arts, literature, and more. It presents points of view and historical and current experiences from diverse cultures and traditions world-wide.
Why use it? Discover video covering historical and current experiences from diverse cultures and traditions world-wide.
Coverage: varies
Access: Available on networked computers on the MSU campus in Bozeman and via the proxy server. Unlimited number of simultaneous users.
Learn more: Filmakers Library Online
Subjects: Film & Photography, Multidisciplinary
Last updated: 2015-08-01 04:43:32 by Kirsten Ostergaard


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A One Stop Shop for Kids Activities
Parents are busy people. Finding fun and engaging activities for their kids takes enough time without the hassle of comparing prices and schedules and reading reviews. It's never been easier to quickly find the best children's activities and camps at the right price, time, and location.
Today's featured startup, Activity Rocket, makes it easy for parents to find all the information they need about orgnizations, sports teams, and camps for their children -- all in one place. With comprehensive access to social networking, reviews, and discounts, mothers and fathers don't have to worry about spending a ton of time searching for the perfect place for their child. Learn more about this Startup Maryland startup from its founder, Lisa Friedlander.
Tell us about your product or service
Activity Rocket revolutionizes the multi-billion dollar kids' activity marketplace with a one stop shop serving activity providers, parents and mommy marketers. The problem: parents are frustrated with the disconnected, time consuming process of finding, comparing, sharing, and organization of kids classes, sports & camps. The Rocket's centralized website directly connects registration ready parents and local activity providers for kids ages 0-18. Parents get organizational and social networking tools, reviews, discounts, educational blog content, and in the future shopping cart payment for multiple classes and one common registration form. Providers directly connect to parents in a way impossible through traditional medium; resulting in increased referrals/registrations.
What inspired you to start your company?
Activity Rocket was born from two mothers' frustration with the entire kids' activity process and disconnected marketplace. We knew we wanted to solve a problem that existed in our daily lives as moms, women, professionals. We kept constantly coming back to the nightmare surrounding finding, scheduling, and organizing our lives around our kids (we have 5 between us) activities. Our AH HA moment came when one week I was looking for a Tuesday afternoon class for my then 3 year old. The only parameters were it had to be Tuesday between 12-3 when my older kids were in school. Did not matter at all what type of activity it was! Well 3 1/2 hours later I finally found a toddler gymnastics class. At the same time, Ilene was booking travel plans for her entire family in Expedia and was finished in 15 minutes. It was crazy to us that it took hours to find a gymnastics class in our backyard but you could book travel anywhere in the world in a matter of minutes!
Tell us about the startup community in your city and state
Amazing! The DC Metro area startup scene is robust and growing like weeds. We have been so blessed to have met many inspiring, passionate individuals and tech leaders in our backyard. Go DC!
What are your startup's three biggest challenges to growth?
There have been many challenges and it has been both exciting and stressful to try and solve them. Following the lean startup methodology, our solutions haven't always been perfect in an ideal world; however, they got us to the next step in a reasonable way having learned immensely from the experience. Along those lines, we have come to realize that there is no such thing as perfection just iteration. Another challenge has been educating both parents and businesses that there is a better way to get the job done and to let go of the old fashioned ways to embrace the new - its a process. Another big challenge is the data or scheduling information of the various activity providers.
What is the best way to secure, maintain, update - and is this solution workable for just one region or can you scale with it or do you need something additional to move with greater speed.
How will connecting to the resources in your Region help you overcome these challenges?
There are so many amazing resources and people in our startup community and we have been very blessed to have utilized our connections and our connections connections wisely. Whenever we face an issue we turn to our network and seek out the individual or individuals who are best suited to help us solve that issue.
Why should startups join Startup America and get connected to their Region?
You can't go it alone - well you can but your chances of success significantly diminish - and why reinvent the wheel when there are lessons to be learned from those that have gone before you. If you want to succeed and I don't know one entrepreneur that doesn't, utilize all of your resources and human capital is the most valuable of all.
What else should we highlight about your startup?
We launched our beta product in Montgomery County, MD in October 2011. Since launch, we have proven the concept with over 250 Vendors, over 25,000 activities/camps in our database and over 50,000 site visitors. We are now expanding into DC and Northern Virginia to serve the parents of the entire DC Metro area. Activity providers are now contacting us daily to sign up. We have secured several national advertising purchases as well. Currently, we are working with iStrategy Labs (a top digital agency in DC; Peter Corbett its founder has revolutionized the DC Tech world single handedly) to design Phase 2 of the site which will be relaunched early next year with an entire new look as well as amazing new functionality. We have also hired a national marketing firm Kaleidescope that specializes in parent/youth marketing to set our local, regional, and national go to market strategy. Exciting things are on the horizon for 2013.
Learn more and connect with Activity Rocket here.
www.activityrocket.com | www.facebook.com/activityrocket | @ActivityRocket
Join Activity Rocket and over 10,500 startups changing the landscape of our American economy. Get your free Startup America Partnership membership here:


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There are two kinds of booster seats available for purchase, and both serve very important functions. The first - car boosters - are used when a child outgrows a traditional car seat and is ready to feel more like a "big kid" during travel time. Secondly, chair boosters are used to help a child sit tall at the dinner table when a high chair will no longer do. Read on for insight into both of these booster worlds, and glean some shopping advice at the same time.
Car booster seats are the more common concern parents have. While dinner table boosts are fairly straightforward, knowing when and how to place your child in a car booster is a much bigger dilemma. Just as a first time parent frets over their infant's car travel options, parents of older children re-experience these same emotions as they find themselves in unknown territory once again.
For starters, a child should not be placed in a car booster seat until he has outgrown the standard carseats recommended by various safety regulators. The average age and size is between 4 and 8 years old, with continued use until the child is at least 4'9" tall. Use these as your preliminary guidelines to discover whether it's time to add car booster seats to your shopping list.
Car booster seats come in two distinct styles - high back and no-back. The high-back booster provides the head and neck support similar to a traditional car seat. Both a lap and shoulder seat belt must be utilized for a child to be strapped in correctly. A combination seat is also available that will allow you to use a harness at first, followed by the lap/shoulder belts as your child grows. The second version of the car booster is found in the no-back design that adds height and safety to your child's car ride, but does not include any sort of head/neck support. For this reason, you should not purchase this type of booster unless your back seats are already equipped with built-in headrests.
When shopping for a booster, don't hunt around for the perfect style or upholstery design, but rather focus on safety and the ability to meet standard safety regulations. If you are unsure, check out the current standards online or visit your local police or fire station for advice and approval.
Sometimes you can strap your child into a floor model at the store to ensure you'll get a good fit. A booster seat such as the Maxi Cosi Rodi is a great pick if you'd like sleek style combined with the ultimate in safety performance. Combi also manufacturers wonderful booster seats, such as the Dakota Booster which allows children to feel mature and comfy at the same time with its limited constraint but invaluable safety assurance.
Heading back to home, kitchen booster seats are also a purchase worth researching. What types of chairs will your child be using with the booster? Is there a particular style that works better with the rest of decor in your home? There are so many chic designs available, it makes little sense to buy a clashing dining room table accessory when you can keep things looking coordinated and put together. Healthy Care Deluxe Booster Seat is a perfect example of this, in solid colors complimentary of many home motifs. Made by Fisher-Price, the god of baby products, your child can use this booster for quite some time thanks to its 3-point height adjustable tray for easy usage no matter how tall your child grows in those early years.
Booster seats for both the car and kitchen are important for a safe childhood experience. Spills and tumbles take place so often, it's in your best interest to avoid damage by not being as cautious and careful as you can be.