text:
Debashis Basu
Jason Monteiro
Prof Dr BM Hegde
R Balakrishnan
Raj Pradhan
Rajendra M Ganatra PhD
SD Israni
Shailesh Gandhi
Sucheta Dalal
Vinita Deshmukh
Yogesh Sapkale
Financial Planning
Mutual Funds
Stock Manipulation
Fixed Income
Investor Issues
Alternative Investment
Right to Information
RTI Judgement Series
Citizens' Issues
Consumer Issues
Money & Banking
MLM / Chain Money
Bonds, Currencies & Commodities
Companies & Sectors
Moneylife Events
Beyond Money
Book Reviews
Pathbreakers 1
Pathbreakers 2
Leisure, Lifestyle & Wellness
Sign In
Sign Up
Free Helplines
Money & Banking
Economy & Nation
HDFC Bank charges Rs100 per quarter for accessing 'by-invite-only' feature!
Moneylife Digital Team
09 February 2017
To bookmark you need to sign in
Several customers are venting their ire over what they call as 'unethical' banking by HDFC Bank, India's largest private sector lender by assets. Karthik Srinivasan, an old customer of the Bank highlighted the issue in his blog post, which has gone viral on the social media. Karthik and other HDFC Bank customers are opposing the invite only program that they claim, "unethically assumes that you are already in and are willing to pay for it". Unless a customer reads the entire mail and opts out from this offer, she would be charged Rs100 per quarter for availing the Virtual Relationship Manager (VRM) feature.
on 10 Feb 2017 to add response from HDFC Bank to Karthik (in the end)
Here is what Karthik wrote in his blog post (http://beastoftraal.com/2017/02/01/hdfc-banks-invite-only-program-that-unethically-assumes-you-are-already-in-and-are-willing-to-pay-for-it/)...
My first salary was credited to a HDFC bank account. In New Delhi. I have since had HDFC accounts—salary, personal, home loan, car loan, you name it—for over 2 decades.
Now, I'm not adding these details to sentimentalize this post. (Oh well, that first salary part is a bit maudlin, I accept!). The point is, there's way too much banking between me and HDFC that I can't wash them off if the need arises and move to another bank, without a lot of wasted time and effort.
Let me explain what the problem is, first.
I received a mail from HDFC Bank on January 30th. The subject said, "Dear Karthik Srinivasan, Welcome to HDFC Bank Preferred Banking Programme!"
I get at least 2-3 emails from HDFC every week. All of them ensure that they call me a 'preferred' banking customer. This has been going on for over 2-3 years, if I recall right. Now, I have no idea what this 'preferred' banking entails. I'm totally open to the possibility that I was shown a laundry list of fine print when this account was opened and I may have signed it too.
Anyway, I opened the mail curiously, to know why I'm being welcomed into something that I'm adequately a part of. This was the entirety of that mail.
Crux: an invite-only virtual relationship manager has been assigned to me.
My first thought: Oh great! The once-every-2-years that I actually call someone from HDFC bank can be slightly more easier now!
Then, I notice this.
Let me deconstruct that.
I was enrolled into this 'program' in January 2016. After a year of being in the program that I did not ask to be enrolled into and have no recollection of being in (I did check my emails from 2015, in December, and 206, in January and February, as also emails from HDFC when I had opened this account), I will, from now on, be charged Rs.100 per quarter to be in this program.
And, service tax extra.
What cheesed me off is not the nominal amount. It was,
This is an opt-out program.
So, I clicked on the link and performed the 2 actions needed to unenroll myself out of this invite-only program that presumes I'm already in.
In simple terms it means, HDFC depends on a customer's action to not charge him/her. The usual, sane and honest method is, 'HDFC depends on a customer's action to charge him/her'. It means HDFC seeks consent to charge a customer. What they are doing is seeking consent to not charge a customer.
In other words, HDFC depends on the customer to,
1. open the mail,
2. read through the contents,
3. notice a way to opt-out,
4. click the opt-out link,
5. choose 'No' as confirmation and
6. submit the form
… to not charge him/her.
If the customer doesn't perform even one of the above 6 tasks, he/she will be charged.
To make it even more explicit, HDFC presented me with the following:
"I, Karthik Srinivasan, agree to pay Rs.100 (plus service tax) per quarter towards the Virtual Relationship Management Programme. Unless I click on the button below to indicate my preference not to be part of this program, I'd be charged for this service."
This is clearly unethical and devious.
It particularly hits home for me because I was in Flipkart, handling their corporate communications when they faced a similar issue. Back in 2012, when Flipkart launched the 'save credit card' feature (where customers have an option of saving their credit card details for easy payment in the future) after getting a PCI-DSS certification, they rolled out the feature where the check-box for saving the card is checked, by default. This is a classic opt-out tactic that is known to increase sign-ups/uptake of whatever program you are running.
It means, customers, who are previously unaware that Flipkart had a 'save-card' feature now need to take note of this feature and uncheck that box to opt out of this feature. In other words, Flipkart had pre-decided that customers want to be a part of it. And unless a customer explicitly asks not be part of it (by unchecking the box), they will continue to be part of this.
After this service was launched, there was a lot of hue and cry about Flipkart's unethical practice in rolling out this feature. What was truly admirable, back then, was the fact that Flipkart not only acknowledged this error in judgement and set right the process (to opt-in; that is, give customers an unchecked box and let them exercise the option to be a part of this program, or not), but they also blogged about both the error and the reason why they changed it. Here is the blog, from 2012.
HDFC is treading a far more dangerous ground. Flipkart did not charge money from people who forgot to opt out. They merely saved some data without explicit consent. HDFC, in this case, is going to take money from people who may have either ignored the mail, or forgotten to see the message about opting out in the mail. I'm fairly sure there are RBI guidelines that determine that any charge levied on the customer should be done after seeking explicit permission to do so. That is, after explaining to the customer that they are going to be charged for specific services. And not merely inform a customer that they'd be charged from now on for a service and only if they choose not to be part of it, will they be left alone without a charge.
The irony is that this HDFC mail starts by calling it an 'invite-only' service. The crucial point is that my option to decline the invite hinges on my opening and reading this email fully, and taking appropriate action.
I emailed HDFC Bank asking them why this is an opt-out and not an opt-in. I tweeted to them too. I got the following response after 2 days.
They have merely reiterated the status quo to me – that this is what it is, but hey, we did give you an option to get out of this scheme and about being charged. Tough luck if you didn't read the mail.
You could ask me a question based on 'caveat emptor' (buyer beware), which says, 'that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made'. The argument could be, I, as a customer, should be vigilant and alert enough to go through all communication from my bank and take note of the charges proposed to be levied on me and communicate my intent to agree or disagree appropriately. This is a fair argument, but let me present how it may look like, in the real world.
You enter your favorite, and usual cloth store. You try out 3-4 clothes and decide that you don't like the fit and decide to try another store. As you walk out, the sales guy calls you back and says that you need to buy them. You ask him why. He says that the price tags in each of the clothing pieces you tried have a fine print that if you try them, you'd need to buy them too. That your trial amounts to a legal contract between the seller and buyer. This is opt-out. If it was opt-in, before you enter the trial room, a store person would have told you the rules and sought your consent.
If you have got this email, or recall being in something called 'Virtual Relationship Management Programme', please do check your email and take action based on your interest and intent.
So, considering all this, and the effort it'd take for me to close *all* my HDFC accounts and move to another bank, I'm not going that route. Instead, I'm going to try another route, to try and make HDFC take responsibility for this lapse in ethics and apologize, not just to me, but in public, to all their customers.
I'm going to share this blog every single day for the rest of the year – one day in the morning and the next, in the evening (and so on) on Twitter. And once every week on Facebook and LinkedIn for the rest of the year. I'll tag relevant people to each tweet/post as necessary to ensure that it is read and understood by as many people as possible.
I'm very curious to see if my bank has an ethical stand on this issue at all.
The response sent by HDFC Bank to Karthik...
Dear Mr. Srinivasan,
Thanks for giving us the opportunity to clarify and apologies for the delay in responding.
With regard to your query, we'd like to humbly submit that the bank has been fair and transparent in the following:
a) giving the customer the opportunity to test the service for free for a year before levying any charges.
b) providing an opt-out facility for those who do not wish to avail of these services, which is in compliance with all regulatory requirements.
c) communicating the charges to customers at regular intervals, in the welcome letter and subsequently in their monthly statements.
You will also appreciate that the benefits of the programme far outweigh the nominal fee of Rs100 per quarter, which is in line with similar premium programmes available in the market. Here are some of the key benefits listed below:
1) A lifetime waiver on locker rentals
2) Preferential pricing for forex, loans and deposits
3) Waiver of non-maintenance charge of average monthly balance (AMB)
4) A dedicated Personal Banker (PB) / Relationship Manager (RM)
5) Unlimited usage of ATMs, both own and other bank
6) Free subscription to in-house e-magazine AAG, a specialised advisory on investments and stock reports
7) VRM- A platform to enhance customer experience and engagement through a 24*7 access to a Virtual Relationship Manager (VRM).
Trust, we have been able to clarify our stand adequately. Needless to say, the bank remains committed to the highest standards of ethics and business conduct.
Alert me when a new comment is posted
Joginder Singh
2 months ago
@HDFCBANK is addicted to robbing customers and showing higher earnings to its FII shareholders (37% foreigner share holding) so the Bank is valued higher every quarter. So called culture of enhancing the shareholders value by fleecing customers was started long back by #Aditya Puri. RMs are known to trick HNI's into worthless schemes and investments where Bank gets hefty kickbacks / commissions from 4.25% - 15%. Bank offers lifetime free credit cards but down the line upgrades to a premium card and starts milkinh 4 - 5000 annual fee, not even opt out options. similar tricks on Debit Cards. Annual fee keeps rising with some new color or logo added on Debit Card and fee can go 10 folds. Same thing they do with Demat Accounts. Most customer's demat accounts from Centurion Bank and other merged entities were rendered useless and the Dividend cheques with account numbers of those dead banks merged with HDFC Bank were dishonored because of mis- match of account numbers ( HDFC Bank will only care about seam less merger that benefits them) but they digged out those customers account numbers in HDFC and start taking the money out - and not in 100's but 1000's. Bank has the mind set that customers have to pay them for leaving the money with Bank and if they want any service, or talk to the Manager (most - they have are Damagers), Bank has the right to take money and do not need any consent from Customer. Customer needs Bank's consent to take their own money out but Bank does not. And RBI sides with #AdityaPuri most times and if one charge is frowned upon, after couple months Bank has a new paid service or product for which they start debiting. They robbed lacks of Bank of Punjab Customers after merger as BoP opened tons of Zero Balance accounts and HDFC Bank started debiting the fee whenever low balance and will take all the money in few quarters. #HDFCBank has a cash of 38000 Crore on its balance sheet, Supreme Court should confiscate that, taking Suo Motto action and return it to the rightful owners whose accounts were drained out without consent, without knowledge and without any recourse available to them.
Pradeep Kumar M Sreedharan
In Reply to Joginder Singh
2 months ago
To me, RBI is the Alibaba mothering the 40 thieves and the minister is what - I don't know
Pradeep Kumar M Sreedharan
4 months ago
We as customers have no say in the way the system is constructed, and RBI & Govt exists not blunt our protests, but to kill it by eliminating any actionable forum. That this should happen in the digital age is their powerful statement
B. Yerram Raju
4 months ago
Customer is one who pays when he/she gets into the bank either physically or through internet and not who demands a service he wants!! This is how the Banks redefine their customers post computerization. You call the Bank for a service or enquiry, you are charged! If you ignore the charges first time every second time you avail such service or call you are slapped with the charges. HDFC Bank is not so different from others in this regard. There are 25 types of charges you are debited if you have an account with a PSB and a few more with the private sector newgen banks like the HDFC Bank. Technology should have made banking easy and cheap. Banks should have recovered their investment on technology during th e last fifteen years and yet the customers are fleeced and for not doing a service that they promise. There is no cognizable punishment for non-delivery of a service for which payment is made and so the case even with those services that get into their list. Your complaints, if made only on their template, will get a stereo typed response that if you do not get response within 48 hours, you may get in touch with their customer relations manager. Did you not hear the encomiums paid by the PM, FM, and the RBIto the banks for the excellent service they rendered during the demonetisation drive?
Suketu Shah
4 months ago
In Feb 2013 I gave all papers to close my account permanently.Under some excuse their head of Western region Wealth Management via his influences kept delaying closing of my account.Even after submitting all papers my account was finally closed 1 month later on 1 March 2013.What has been mentioned is correct -this bank makes it almost impossible to close the account via sheer harassment.Think several times before opening an account with them and if you already have an account with them God help you.
Jagadish Kota
4 months ago
I am going to close my account if they don't revert the charges.
Joginder Singh
In Reply to Jagadish Kota
2 months ago
They will reverse one charge and come out with a new one. Its their standard practice
Pradeep Kumar M Sreedharan
In Reply to Jagadish Kota
4 months ago
Fight from within, don't quit please
Jagadish Kota
4 months ago
I am going to close my account if they don't revert the charges.
Hemal Mehta
4 months ago
Charging for a opt-out scheme is a day light robbery.
I have closed my wife's account and will be closing my mother's account pretty soon.
RBI should make a rule that not a single rupee be deducted from bank account for any bank charges unless, the bank has a written communication from the customer. Auto debit for new charges should be banned.
The money in the bank account is of the customer and not of the bank.
Joginder Singh
In Reply to Hemal Mehta
2 months ago
Its the customer who has to fill out forms to withdraw their own money. Bank does not have to do any such thing. They have free access to this free money. Direct debit should require the consent from Account holder but here @HDFCBANK considers itself the rightful owner of the account and not the Custodian of the Account.
Pradeep Kumar M Sreedharan
In Reply to Joginder Singh
2 months ago
Your deposit isn't your money anymore, Bank owns it; you just have a claim on the amount, that's all
4 months ago
This is a CLASSIC case of daylight robbery by a so called CLASSIC Bank. How can someone steal my money from my bank account with a frivolous OPT OUT OPTION.
4 months ago
I closed my account when HDFC Bank did this sometime last year ( if I remember right ) ... don't have the patience or the time for a bank that one cannot trust.
Pradeep Kumar M Sreedharan
In Reply to Chirpy
4 months ago
I took an alternate bank account and is fighting HDFC from within. If I am unsuccessful, at least, it proves that the system is rotten - including the Govts.
Om Prakash Arora
4 months ago
I also received similar mail for being in their Classic program.When I decide to opt out after clicking on the link in the mail and to be doubly sure, also talking to personal banker,who advised me to record objection on line after logging in .Thereafter I received a call from personal banker asking for reason of opting out. When I said that I do not want to pay for the service that I do not need ,she agreed to reverse the charge when levied.I wanted it confirmed over e mail and to be valid for all times in future. I have now received the confirmation.
The experience which caused lot of waste of time n leaving an impression that Bank wanted to fleece .
Few years back they has a similar charge levied on the ISA account opened for the customers which was free to begin with.
Joginder Singh
In Reply to Om Prakash Arora
2 months ago
They offer Free for Life Credit Cards but without Customers consent, they will mail out a upgraded card and if you use it, you have accepted the annual fee of few thousands that goes to increase the Bank's Earning Per Share to keep the Foreigner Share Holders happy. Bank does loot your money but honestly pass it on to their foreigner share holders (37%)
4 months ago
In my case also hdfc bank charged Rs.100 per account (I had 5 account) ie 500 per quarter as Programme Management fees for imperia programme which they registered me. I had follow up with them to finally get charges reversed. Most people do follow for such unethical charges and bank benefits and continue do such unethical things. It is clear case of cheating customers who are not alert.
Pradeep Kumar M Sreedharan
4 months ago
Wearing down the customer at CRM level and swindling the less alert (eternal alertness is impossible for the common man, for unlike the Bankers, our lives aren't centered around banking) is modus operandi of the swindlers, the system being installed employing behavioural economics studies obviously.
M S Prabhakar
In Reply to Pradeep Kumar M Sreedharan
4 months ago
Can you translate your comment to English?
Suketu Shah
4 months ago
They charged Mutual charges twice also to us in 2011(a significant amount) thinking we wl not notice.We got it reversed and there was no apology also.This is a standard modus operandi in hdfc bank.It is clear this banks best days are behind them.The atmosphere in the bank is so vicious that their employees of hdfc bank strongly dislike each other and make fun of each other rather than working as a team.
Best to avoid hdfc bank and also axis bank.There are better private banks like Yes Bank and ICICI Bank.
Shirish Sadanand Shanbhag
4 months ago
This is cheating by HDFC Bank.
RBI Should immediately act on this act, and stop such malpractice immediately.
In Reply to Shirish Sadanand Shanbhag
4 months ago
Sorry Sir, RBI is deaf and dumb in respect of Bank Service charges.The Regulator has assigned its responsponsibility to the Bankers Association . They sow and they only reap.
Shirish Sadanand Shanbhag
In Reply to MOHAN SIROYA
4 months ago
I have seen Indian Bankers' Association do not entertain any complaints of private Indian banks like, HDFC, ICICI Banks or foreign Banks, like Bank of America. To complain against services of such banks, we have to take our complaint directly to RBI. To deal with such private Indian Banks and foreign banks, RBI has a separate office, earlier it was situated at World Trade Centre, Cuff Parade, Colaba, Mumbai-400005.
ICICI Bank was charging Rs.250 for fall in minimum balance in the savings bank. Any other Nationalised Banks, for fall in minimum balance they were charging some nominal amount of Rs.10/- per month. However, ICICI Bank, for fall in minimum balance on one month charged ten times Rs.250/- each, which was wrong.
First of all, Rs.250/- charge for fall in minimum balance was wrong. Then ICICI Bank was having lending rate at 12% per year. In savings bank, minimum balance was Rs.5000/-. If balance falls below this amount, assuming whole of Rs.5,000/- is withdrawn for a month, lending interest would be only Rs.50/-. When I argued with them, they said Rs.250/- is decided by the management, which was unethical.
Again I asked them why you charge Rs.250/- every time in same month when balance falls minimum balance of Rs.5,000/- in a month. bank's answer was it is computer programming by the bank, and customer has to pay for it. How different and unethical, that for faulty charges and faulty programme of the Bank's computer, a customer has to shell out dearly.
In Reply to Shirish Sadanand Shanbhag
4 months ago
With due respect to Mr.Shanbhag, what he mentioned a bout the special RBI cell at Cuffe parade, he apparently did not receive any relief any Icici bank charge. In any event, for last 3 years, the position is changed. Even under RTI applications both regulators viz; RBI and BCSBI both categorically assert that not only to fix the service charges , the responsibility is delegated to the eIndian banks association but even to determine or decide if such charge is REASONABLE or not , responsibility is also abdicated by RBI or BCSBI . This was made amply clear by the then Dy. Governor of RBI Mr.K C Chakravorty , who accepted the position in the especially arranged Seminar by Moneylife Foundation about 3 years back.
5 months ago
Any charge ,other than the banking Service charges applicable for the category of account, no other charge can be levied by the bank without the explicit prior consent of the account holder.
But here if we forget the consumer right to choose, and if we believe in the letter of HDFC bank , then the VRM scheme members are getting much more benefits compared to the quarterly charge of Rs. 100, or Rs. 400 in a year.
Benefits like FOR LIFETIME NO LOCKER RENT , preferential pricing for loans, deposits, waiver of AMB etc etc. are more attractive to remain as VRM member. If I am wrong, Mr. Srinivasan or other HDFC account holders can tell me.
Manohar Vaidya
In Reply to MOHAN SIROYA
4 months ago
I agree with Mohan Siroya - Given the benefits that HDFC is providing for the service and given the fact that it is 1 year free service before the charges are levied, I don't think HDFC is resorting to any unethical practices. Yes, it would have been much better to state the charges upfront - However, as long as there are benefits that are commensurate with the charges levied, this should be fine. This fact seems to be completely lost in the chorus of the angst against the moral stand that they charges should be communicated up-front. This issue should be seen in context of the services provided. I don't think any court or RBI for that matter will take up this issue given the reply provided by HDFC. I am all for charges being communicated up-front, but let us not set aside, nay ignore the benefits that come with the amount levied.
M S Prabhakar
In Reply to Manohar Vaidya
4 months ago
Customer NOT disagreeing ≠ Customer agreement
I will give you a "free" service for a year and provide free advice on how to protect your account, how to set and passwords, etc. After 1 year, I'll charge 1% of your AQB as my charges. Is it fair?
View More Comments
Public Interest
It Takes Two To Do a Legal Tango
Bapoo Malcolm
09 February 2017
To bookmark you need to sign in
It takes two to fight. WWF bouts add a few more, going by the saying, 'the more, the merrier'. Besides, it is obvious that no one will come to see a match where only one guy shows up. Walkovers are a damp squib. If, now, we were to extend that scenario to a court of law, what would be the outcome? Many possibilities, as various permutations and combinations are possible. We list two here.
Imagine a firm, Bapoo Malcolm & Associates; or a company, Bapoo Malcolm Ltd. One Mr X finds fault with the Malcolm entity. He files a suit, Mr X
Bapoo Malcolm & Associates (or Ltd). He has a legitimate grievance, one that the court could uphold. Yet, he gets nothing. What happened?
In another case, three pension funds sued a company for certain amounts. The defendants were named 'L & R Group of Companies'. However, no such company existed. It had so happened that a firm, System Parking, Inc, had changed its name to LR Sys Inc. The next month all its assets and liabilities were acquired by LR System Parking. On whom does one serve the papers? On 'Group of Companies'?
One of the abiding virtues of our legal system, without which we could never be called civilised, is '
audi alteram partem
'. It means 'Hear the other side'. No decision can be given against someone without hearing him. This is a commandment that is more important than all the other 10 put together. Surprisingly, Moses missed out on it!
The process for determining legal matters is fairly straightforward, legal jargon notwithstanding. Mr X files a case. He is the plaintiff, the one who is plaintively complaining. He is asking the court for some relief. He feels he has got the short end of the stick; and someone else is to blame for that. That someone else must be made to pay.
If the other party is an individual, or individuals, they can be named. If found to be at fault, they would have to pay, make good. An individual can be identified, nabbed, put away. If, however, the other side is a company, can it be nabbed, made to pay, put away? It is a legal entity but without a soul of its own. It is a puppet; the strings are in the hands of the managers. It is, then, the puppeteers who must be brought to book. Herein lies the rub. Along with the company named, one must list, as the defendants, the men behind it; those who run it. It is they who will pay, even as they sign the company's cheques; the ones in the other corner.
This lacuna often occurs when people conduct their own cases. They forget to name the office-bearers. Revision is a waste of time and energy, litigants must remember. Having said that, we need to go back to the cases mentioned above.
You be the judge
. How would you decide the L& R Group of Companies case?
The matter went to the appellate court which said: "The odd name 'L&R Group of Companies', which the opening brief on appeal described as 'not a corporation' with no further detail, led us to wonder whether it might be a partnership, a holding company organised as a trust, or perhaps a membership organisation…"
Quoting a case where
magazine was made the defendant, the court declared that there must be 'a party in interest'. In short, a person whom one can collar. It went on: "You can't sue a 'rubric' any more than you could sue the Chicago River or the Magnificent Mile as a proxy for the City of Chicago… a rubric does not have a bank account."
It then directed that the proper parties be named and the case retried. One must have an identifiable opponent who can be brought to court and stand trial.
So, if you want to sue Bapoo Malcolm Ltd, make sure that all the directors are properly named. Even if Bapoo is no longer one of them.
Alert me when a new comment is posted
Bapoo Malcolm
5 months ago
Thanks, Mr. Shenoy. Space constraints do not allow me to elaborate on such cases, especially in Consumer Fora. It is believed that one can save costs by not appointing lawyers. Maybe; but at what cost? Losing a case is definitely not an option. At least, seek advice. Courts, even for consumer matters, have to follow rules. Let us have cases where people have lost; so that we can find the REAL reasons. It could be an interesting exercise.
Arunkumar A Vijayan
In Reply to Bapoo Malcolm
4 months ago
yes sir, would like to hear more of such situations. Nice article. Thanks
5 months ago
Excellent write up, indicating clearly the importance, that the proper parties should be named in a litigation.
Chore Monster: Get the Kids Hooked to Chores
Yazdi Tantra
09 February 2017
To bookmark you need to sign in
With kids busy on Smartphones, it can be a pain to get them to do household chores. With Chore Monster, kids will beg to do their bit.
You create chores with point values for each chore. When a chore is done, the child gets the points. Once the target points are reached, the reward is given, whether it is a favourite food, an outing or a gift.
The kids get to see and review the points, the available rewards and how many points they will need to achieve them. Along the way, they also get to collect random monsters, for added fun. Now that you know how to get the chores done by your kids, try it on your husband—after all, we are all kids at heart!
Alert me when a new comment is posted
5 months ago
An excellent idea. Hope it works with our modern day kids, who are generally smartphone addicts.
Free Daily Newsletter
Capital Gains Tax Rules: Cut through the Knotty Issues
Moneylife Campaign - RBI asks banks to provide details of transactions to...
We prudes feel assailed, but we'll win in the end (The Funny Side)
Mobiles buzz with nuisance calls, SMS as TRAI's 'Do Not Call Registry' makes...
SEBI says advisors can't sell, distributors can't advise on investment...
Shiva Global Agro Industries: Promoters' Rising Stake
Stock manipulation: Nutricircle
Insurance: PMJJBY and PMSBY Auto-renewal in June
English News channels in a state of flux
Nifty, Sensex may suffer a short-term decline – Thursday closing report
SBI, Canara Bank, Bank of Maharashtra again hit customers with hiked charges
Mobiles buzz with nuisance calls, SMS as TRAI's 'Do Not Call Registry' makes...
RBI suddenly discovers that bank customers are getting the raw deal
Are Modi's Schemes Old Wine in New Bottles?
Moneylife Campaign - RBI asks banks to provide details of transactions to...
Locus Standi, or, Is It Any of Your Business?
Horrendous Bad Debts: Will RBI Bite the Bullet This Time?
RBI to focus on mis-selling, KYC violations and usurious service charges
NSE: The Real Clean-up that We Need
Buy in Haste, Repent at Leisure
We are listening!
Please Select
Please Select
Email Delivery
Data Error
Page Url
Solve the equation and enter in the Captcha field.
About Us
AD & Partnership
Terms and conditions
Privacy policy
Cancellation & Refund
Shipping Policy
To continue
Sign Up
Sign In
To continue
Sign Up
Sign In
The Scam
24 Year Of The Scam: The Perennial Bestseller, reads like a Thriller!
Know More
Moneylife Magazine
Fiercely independent and pro-consumer information on personal finance
Know More
Stockletters in 3 Flavours
Outstanding research that beats mutual funds year after year
Know More
MAS: Complete Online Financial Advisory
(Includes Moneylife Magazine and Lion Stockletter)
Know More


text:
There was a time when the first thing I did when I woke up was grab the newspaper to see what was going on in the world. Alas those days are long passed and newspapers, if still in existence, are going through massive restructuring and re-aligning in order to survive. A lack of an on-line service effectively puts them out of the 'game.'
Television came and changed the way we got our news and entertainment. Change in the way the news is delivered has been a constant. Wherever news is happening it is now very active and the live broadcasts put our living rooms right at the scene.
Society is not the same today as it was last year let alone many years ago and one of the main reasons for this is the communication aspect.
Look at the current global political situation with Presidential elections in the US; the vote on whether Great Britain leaves the European Union; the Australian elections and other similar activities which are now so media driven and aim to engage directly through all the social media channels.
Social Media has changed the rules of engagement and some experts say that unless you have a digital media strategy then you are not in business. So where does that leave you?
I read on how the Norwegian Seafood Export Council had blown past rivals in China's Twitter world, with well over 110,000 followers on the wildly popular Weibo microblogging site. Apparently at the time that was more than double the followers for the second-most followed seafood micro blogs in the country; seafood restaurant chain Aomen Dulou and aquaculture producer/processor Homey. Of course having followers does not always mean success in selling your products. There is more to it than just putting something on social media. The marketing strategy needs to be active.
I recall the Australian Government in their "G'day Australia" promotion managing to get an Australian chef on Good Morning America TV program promoting Shrimp which struck the Government people as a major success. The only problem was communication with the industry was poor so even if people wanted to buy Australian Shrimp there were very few retailers who actually had any stock – hence a wasted opportunity!
Seafood is a global product; in fact the World Trade Organisation says that 'fish and fishery products now constitute the most highly traded food commodity internationally.' The figures show that coffee is about one third of seafood, to give you an idea of the volume.
Across the world new technologies are entering the world of fishing to help eliminate one of our major challenges, illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing (IUU). Smart phone technologies connected to software enable fishing companies to know what is being caught even though the vessels may be far out to sea.
In Norway the world's first remote pelagic 'e-auction,' Norges Sildesalgslag, has shown the way forward. No fish is handled at the market which is on the 5th floor of a city building. The electronic fish-auction and up-to date catch-journal has proven to be a very efficient marketplace for pelagic fish. The fishermen 'meet' the buyers in a digital marketplace with all the information the buyers need to put in bids for the catch. The system is open for all buyers who want to participate in the first-hand sale of pelagic fish and both Norwegian and foreign fishing vessels participate in the auction because of the stability, security, efficiency and fairness it provides to all parties.
In China the high use of smart phones has enabled massive access to the country's media market and made micro-blogging and other social media a key marketing tool for seafood firms in the country and this is slowly happening on our home front. Norway is not the only country to take advantage of this as the Canadian government, using a Chinese language website, www.canadafood.cn, and a Weibo account promotes Canadian imports, including seafood.
In other marketing on social media, global airline KLM Royal Dutch Airlines employs large numbers of people to engage with millions of followers on Facebook and is now giving passengers the option to receive flight updates through Messenger. If they agree while booking a ticket, KLM will then start up a chat thread, where it'll send booking confirmation, flight status, and any scheduling changes. It'll also send over a boarding pass, which passengers will be able to use to get through security and onto their flight.
Digital boarding passes aren't new, but Messenger's conversational interface is. It's a familiar way for KLM to get in touch with customers, and a convenient one for the many people who already use Messenger daily to get in touch with friends. KLM goes beyond just sending updates, too — passengers will also be able to chat with KLM support right inside of Messenger.
We are seeing how social media can definitely be a powerful tool and it is one that our industry needs to embrace more as we move into the future.
Traceability will become more and more important and this can be a difficult area for many developing countries as generally there are many 'middle-men' within the system. It is easy for product to get mixed and that then eliminates the traceability component. Systems are being viewed which will be able to solve these problems eventually.
Can we sell more fresh seafood using social media? Maybe, but one thing is for certain we can definitely inform and educate the consumers through this medium and that surely will be a good thing. The internet is, of course, open to everyone and we have already seen many scare campaigns started by ignorant operators.
I cannot stress enough that in the social media space we need to think about the consequences of our actions. The industry has enough enemies as it is without sectors of the industry picking on other sectors. The best rule is 'if you cannot say positive things about all seafood then say nothing at all.' The worst situation is one industry person 'mouthing off 'about another industry person's product.
Everyone is a critic nowadays when it comes to restaurants. Taking photographs of the meal, posting onto various social media and even critiquing the meal and restaurant –it is all so easy. It impacts on the restaurateur for sure but, if done well, it is a good thing for all as it enables continuous improvement. Mind you the need to understand you will never please everyone is important. It is difficult to think that this trend will change in the short term.
For the retail fish market or the supermarket seafood counter there are great opportunities with social media. The products that we have are the essential 'get-it-now-while-we-have-it food,' which is a superb fit for fast-paced, real-time, social media communications. Seafood is always an interesting photo for consumers to take and you can imagine how they could be enticed into uploading images of first-of-the-season wild products and the like.
Building a customer support base using social media is an essential tool in today's world and just think how you could create interest by posting great photographs and descriptions of arrivals at the store. Add some connectivity to recipe ideas and some basic FAQ's about each species and you are immediately engaging and enticing the taste buds of your clients. They will be beating down the doors if you do it right…
Happy Fishmongering!
The Fishmonger

subset: commoncrawl


text:
COOK, PREP (FULL-TIME) Now Hiring 2 openings!!
Bon AppetitSan Francisco, California 94103
Updated in the last 2 weeks
Save time and take some hassle out of your job hunt.
Use filters and keywords to sort and save your popular/favorite searches.
Express interest by telling us where you want to work.


text:
Announcing Summerfest 2017, The Philadelphia Summer Craft Beer & Music Festival at the incredible XFINITY Live! - complete with indoor & covered outdoor beer gardens, 7 spectacular areas with 200+ beers to taste, food trucks, multiple musical acts and MUCH MORE! Grab some friends and come on out for great day of amazing beer-drinking fun.
Home Brewed Events and Eat Your PHL are proud to present S.E.E.D, the second annual vegan craft food and beer festival on August 13th 2017 from 2pm to 6pm at Sugarhouse Casino. The food and beer community in Philadelphia is one of the best in America and the time has come to feature the flourishing vegan food scene in the city. S.E.E.D, Sustainable Everyday Edibles and Drinkables, will be the area's first fully vegan food and beer festival, an inclusive and sustainable experience that everyone can enjoy – vegans, vegetarians and omnivores alike.
A portion of the proceeds will benefit The Humane League of Philadelphia, working toward reducing animal suffering by inspiring change at all levels. Your general admission ticket will get you three hours of vegan food from some of Philadelphia's best restaurants, as well as plenty of beer from over 25 breweries. Accompanying the food and beer will be a vegan marketplace with 25 vendors selling their best vegan goods. There will also be live music and a DJ as part of the entertainment for the soiree.
Newtown Square Neighbors is a non-profit organization whose mission is to actively support and enrich community spirit and local businesses, and to promote positive relationships within the Newtown Square community. Newtown Square Neighbors' Inaugural Pints in the Square in September 2016 was a resounding success. Residents of Newtown Square and surrounding areas turned out in droves for a fabulous, fun day. More than 300 walkers and runners participated in the 5k and 500 beer lovers sampled products from more than 25 different craft brewers. In October were able to present a check for $25,000 to the Newtown Square Fire Company.
Click here to register for this year's event!


text:
- Go to Analysis > Information Library.
- Click Add an ad-hoc query.
- Choose the source view of Revenue and click Ok.
- In the middle column "Select Revenue fields," select Authorization code under credit card and move this to Include Records Where. set the criteria to Equal to, then type in the 6 digit authorization code from BBMS or Cybersource.
- In the middle column, select Authorization code and move it to Results Fields to Display.
- In the middle column, select Name on Card and card number and move these fields to Results Fields to Display.
- Go to the Preview Results tab.
- If there are results, look for the result with the matching date, amount, last 4 digits of the credit card number, and name on card as BBMS or Cybersource. Note that the date may be different, depending on how it was entered in Altru, but multiple details should match. You can click on the correct result, then click Browse to find the record in Altru.
- If there are no results, then the credit card charge is not in Altru.
This issue can occur for a variety of reasons including the order being cancelled after swiping the card, the connectivity during the transaction as well as back office connectivity with our payment services. We are working with our payment services to team to develop a better process for handling this situation to alert the constituents as well as enable the system to better handle common flows of transactions. This is going to be a long term fix, and for the time being we can enter these transactions as a back office payment and match that payment to the unmatched disbursement or if it was a duplicate charge, you can refund it through BBMS.


text:
Today, I rode my bike to work. While biking on the road, I gave a hand signal for turning left. A car passing the opposite way veered towards me and attempted to give me a high five. I now have cuts all over my body and my bike is in two pieces. FML
Not specified
The thumb strikes backYou have left your thumbprint on 2500 comments.0%
The return of the thumbYou have thumbed 5000 comments.0%
Keen reader – Level: student ninjaYou have voted for 15% of the entire collection of FMLs to date.3%
Keen reader – Level: master ninjaYou have voted for 50% of the entire collection of FMLs to date.1%
Keen reader – Level: godlike ninjaYou have voted for 100% of the entire collection of FMLs to date.0%
One more and it's business timeYou've received 68 Hugs on your profile. Kinky.0%
By Shaun - / Tuesday 16 June 2009 02:13 / United States
Today, I found out that my 'girlfriend', who I've been emailing with, was really my friend playing a prank on me. He asked me for naked pictures of myself and I sent them to him. FML
By Paco4242 - / Saturday 13 June 2009 01:47 / United States
Today, I had a very intense sexual dream that made me come and left me panting when I woke up. It was the best orgasm I'd ever had. The trouble was, it wasn't about a hot girl, or anything sexy. It was about bacon. FML
By wtfdreams - / Sunday 17 May 2009 12:33 / United States
Today, I found out that the girl I've been dating online for over three months is actually a very bored 14-year-old boy. FML
By Iman - / Monday 4 May 2009 06:12 / United States
Today, I had to pee really bad so I tried to unlock my door as fast as I could. I put my key in and turned it too hard, the key snapped inside. I ended up peeing on myself. FML
By Anonymous - / Friday 1 May 2009 04:11 / United States


text:
For millions of small businesses in India, hunting for credit has always been a challenge for them to make their startup with lots of ease. India has about 57.7 million small business units, many of them small proprietorships. Providing debt financing and working capital loans to these enterprises is still a task.
We have a team of highly skilled experts to bridge the gap between SME's and various lenders and assist them to get the loan so that they can extend the root of their business.
It's time to expand your business with end-to-end loan approval to run your business at lots of ease. At Loan Affairs, we committed to help your growing business with small business loans. With a clientele of more than millions, we have set our foot across the world. Our team is multi faceted and renowned to be strategic enthusiastic who laid a helping hand to provide hassle free loan solutions.


text:
On Thursday, the Osage Beach Board of Aldermen met to discuss the Parkway West Study and what they should focus on next to improve the area. City Planner Cary Patterson says he agrees with the majority of the board when they say the citizen's should stop looking at the city as a west side and an east side and start focusing on improving the community as a whole. … [Read More]
Latest News
Morgan Co. R-2 Making Policy Revisions
For the last two school years, the Morgan County R-2 school board has been working to review their policies. During their last School Board meeting, … [Read More]
Featured Story
Laclede Industries Recycling Center Closing Public Drop
A lake area recycling center is remodeling and will be closing its public drop. Linda Kimrey with the Laclede Industries Recycling Center in Lake Ozark has … [Read More...]
Local News
Shots Fired During Football Tournament Attended by Camdenton Lakers
The Camdenton Laker Football Team got quite the scare while in Springfield for the Ozark Conference 7-on-7 Tournament Thursday. While playing in a field outside of JFK Stadium, Coach Jeff Shore says he heard what he thought was a vehicle backfiring … [Read More]
Linn Creek Man Dies While Working in SE Iowa
A Camden County man has died while working on a construction site in southeast Iowa. 45 year old Brian Wood of Linn Creek was working at a jobsite at Fort Madison on Wednesday afternoon. He was reportedly being lifted by a forklift when he fell from … [Read More]
Controversial Rezone Approved by Camden Co. Commission
A piece of property in Linn Creek will be rezoned as industrial property. The property formerly known as "The Zoo" will be used for office buildings, as well as concrete manufacturing and steel fabrication. The determination comes after a meeting by the … [Read More]
SBFPD Looking for Citizen Feedback
The Sunrise Beach Fire Protection District has asked for a levy increase recently in hopes to keep the Spruce Road Station open 24/7. To learn how the community feels about his district, Chief Dennis Reilly says he's sent out a survey to the residents. … [Read More]
Ameren Begins Spraying for Mosquitoes
With the nice weather, mosquitoes have begun making appearances throughout the lake area again. Every year to help the issue, Brian Vance with Ameren says they consistently have three boats on the water spraying chemicals. Vance says they mainly … [Read More]
Woman Arrested For Driving Wrong Way on Highway
A dangerous situation on Thursday was able to end safely thanks to quick reacting by the Highway Patrol. 21 year old Elizabeth Young of Jefferson City was driving in the wrong direction around 1 o'clock Thursday morning when an officer pulled her over. … [Read More]
Morgan Co. R-2 Preparing for One-to-One Program
Earlier this year, the Morgan County R-2 School Board voted to move to the one-to-one program, which will provide students with chromebooks for use at home and school to help them become more comfortable using technology for their learning. Superintendent … [Read More]
Special Session Continues
As part of the special session, the Senate sent what many believe was a weak bill for restrictions against abortion clinics. The House has since written up their own version, which has much stronger abortion laws, including stipulations to prosecute … [Read More]
Gov. Greitens Signs Bill to Protect Children
A Senate bill carried by a lake area representative was signed by Governor Eric Greitens on Thursday. Representative Diane Franklin carried Senate Bill 160 through the House, which put forth a list of rights to ensure children are being protected. Among … [Read More]
Missing Woman Arrested In Laclede County For Failure to Appear Warrant
More information has been revealed regarding the missing person report in Camden County. 40 year old Lesley Rogers of Camdenton was reported missing and in danger after supposedly having a meeting set up with her ex-husband, 44 year old Phillip Rogers of … [Read More]


text:
MSM's long name is methylsulphonylmethane, but you may find it listed under a host of synonyms. The same is true for glucosamine. Glucosamine is manufactured as a sulfate, hydrochloride and chlorohydrate and combined with MSM and other supplements.
Glucosamine in any form may thin blood, so use caution if you are taking blood thinners such as Warfarin or have a bleeding disorder. MSM has no known interactions with drugs or other supplements.
Common Effects
The list of common physical side effects from using glucosamine include an upset stomach, headaches, sun sensitivity, tougher nails, insomnia, drowsiness and skin reactions. The side effects for MSM are similar and include nausea, fatigue, bloating, headache and itching.
Rare Effects
Rare side effects reported from glucosamine use are flatulence, diarrhea, constipation, heartburn, nausea, abdominal pain, loss of appetite and occasional vomiting. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should not use glucosamine and, as a precaution, MSM.
Most glucosamine supplements are manufactured from shell fish, so if you are allergic to shell fish take extreme care in selecting glucosamine supplements. MSM has allergy reactions for some.
Glucosamine used in combination with MSM, chondroitin and Vitamin C has shown promise in treating osteoarthritis. MSM may relieve pain from arthritis and muscle aches and boost the immune system.
Consult with a medical profession before using these supplements if you are taking blood thinners or insulin. If you have kidney or liver problems talk with your doctor before using glucosamine and MSM.
Related Searches
You May Also Like
Glucosamine Side Effects
Glucosamine, also known as glucosamine sulfate, is a nutritional supplement commonly taken for osteoarthritis and other joint complications. Glucosamine is a compound...
What are the Benefits of Glucosamine Chondroitin MSM?
Glucosamine chondroitin MSM is a nutritive option which may provide support to joints and connective tissues. It is often used to ease...
What Are the Dangers of Taking Glucosamine Chondroitin?
Many people add glucosamine chondroitin to their diet as a nutritional supplement and to alleviate arthritis pain. As a supplement, the FDA...
Chondroitin Glucosamine Side Effects
Chondroitin glucosamine is a combination of naturally occurring chemicals formed in sugar chains that aids in maintaining healthy joints in users. The...
The Effects of MSM Supplements in Cats
Arthritis is common among older cats; according to Dr. Jean Hofve of LittleBigCat.com, studies indicate 90 percent of cats older than 12...
The Side Effects of MSM in Dogs
MSM is a natural supplement that is used in both humans and animals to ease joint pain and create healthy hair, skin...


text:
September 27, 2014 Total Views: 4970 Today: 1 ★★★★
Hotel Brighton Paris, This 19th-century building is situated in the heart of Paris, opposite the Louvre and the Tuileries Gardens. This hotel is furnished with antique furniture, chandeliers, and artworks. Each air-conditioned room at the Brighton combines historical charm with modern comfort. All the rooms have a typical Parisian decor, period furniture and paintings. It features views of the courtyard or the les Tuileries and a private bathroom and satellite TV. Hotel Brighton has a 24-hour reception and a tour desk. There is a lift, and Wi-Fi access is available throughout the hotel. Paris's attractions are easily accessible on foot, but there is the Tuileries Metro Station just 50 metres from the hotel. (Hotel Brighton Paris hotels booking).


text:
With 1.7 million freelancers, we'll match you with the perfect talent.
Over 22 Years Experience!
Sem3DDesign provides SolidWorks 3D Product design and development SPECIALIZING IN PLASTIC PART DESIGN MOLD DESIGN. Other services include Assembly tooling, machined part design and rapid prototypes. I also convert 2d drawings to 3D using SolidWorks. Completed work can be exported to many file formats.


text:
Arts, Performing Arts, Comedy, News & Politics, Religion & Spirituality, TV & FilmFollow
Podcast by Kevin Smith, Scott Mosier
Parental Advisory
May 15th, 2014
Episode 563 of 670 episodes
In which our hero answers that question at the Montclair Film Festival. With Special Guest Joel Stillerman.
You'll need to sign in to write a comment.
Welcome The Vox Markets Podcast with Justin Waite A new episode is released daily, giving you interviews with CEO's, market commentators and the stock of the day as suggested by listeners to the podcast.


text:
The global threat of Zika virus to pregnancy: epidemiology, clinical perspectives, mechanisms, and impact
- First Online:
- Received:
- Accepted:
DOI: 10.1186/s12916-016-0660-0
- Cite this article as:
- Boeuf, P., Drummer, H.E., Richards, J.S. et al. BMC Med (2016) 14: 112. doi:10.1186/s12916-016-0660-0
- Citations
- 8k Downloads
Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that has newly emerged as a significant global threat, especially to pregnancy. Recent major outbreaks in the Pacific and in Central and South America have been associated with an increased incidence of microcephaly and other abnormalities of the central nervous system in neonates. The causal link between ZIKV infection during pregnancy and microcephaly is now strongly supported. Over 2 billion people live in regions conducive to ZIKV transmission, with ~4 million infections in the Americas predicted for 2016. Given the scale of the current pandemic and the serious and long-term consequences of infection during pregnancy, the impact of ZIKV on health services and affected communities could be enormous. This further highlights the need for a rapid global public health and research response to ZIKV to limit and prevent its impact through the development of therapeutics, vaccines, and improved diagnostics. Here we review the epidemiology of ZIKV; the threat to pregnancy; the clinical consequences and broader impact of ZIKV infections; and the virus biology underpinning new interventions, diagnostics, and insights into the mechanisms of disease.
KeywordsBiology Pregnancy Microcephaly Placenta Epidemiology Economic cost Pathogenesis Public health
Zika virus epidemiology
ZIKV is a flavivirus that is primarily transmitted by daytime-active mosquitoes of the Aedes spp. Other routes of transmission have been reported, including sexual transmission, with low rates of transmission from oral and anal sex also described [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. ZIKV was first identified in a rhesus macaque in the Zika forest in Uganda in 1947 [8]. The first evidence that ZIKV could infect humans came from serological surveys conducted in Uganda [9]. Evidence of sporadic human infections was then demonstrated across Africa and parts of South-East Asia, but the first major ZIKV outbreak described was in 2007 on the island of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia. In that epidemic, it was estimated that >73 % of the total population was infected [1]. Since 2007, ZIKV has continued its eastward migration, detected in French Polynesia in 2012–14, the Easter Islands (Chile) in 2014, and Brazil in 2015, where between 500,000 and 1.5 million cases of Zika have occurred. ZIKV transmission has now been documented in 66 countries and territories; since 2015, 49 countries and territories previously ZIKV-negative have experienced their first reported ZIKV outbreak [10].
Clinical manifestations
Level of threat to pregnant women
The rapidly expanding distribution of ZIKV and its potentially high penetrance in newly affected populations pose very significant threats to pregnant women and their fetuses in many regions. The first trimester of pregnancy is a crucial period for brain development and ZIKV infection early in pregnancy is likely to be more strongly associated with microcephaly than infections later in pregnancy, as demonstrated in French Polynesia [21]. Consequently, the impact of the expansion of ZIKV to previously unexposed populations may not be perceived for a number of months, as seen in the delayed observations of microcephaly and fetal malformations in French Polynesia [21] and Brazil [22]. As of 25 June 2016, in Brazil, there were 8165 reported cases of microcephaly suspected to be associated with ZIKV infection, of which 5104 have been investigated and 1638 (32 %) were confirmed to be linked to ZIKV [23]. Modeling data from French Polynesia revealed that the risk of microcephaly from infection in the first trimester was 1 % [21]. This estimation relied on passive surveillance of only ~30 % of general practice clinics and is likely to be an underestimation of the actual risk given that some mothers could have had a miscarriage or stillbirth or may not have presented for clinical care. Such data from the Brazil outbreak are not yet available. This relatively low risk has to be balanced with the large population exposure and high incidence of ZIKV in some regions (e.g., ~70 % in French Polynesia [21] and Yap [1]). The reasons why microcephaly and other congenital complications associated with ZIKV have become prominent in recent outbreaks is currently unclear. It may be explained by specific mutations in ZIKV strains causing recent epidemics, and/or host or other cofactors. The enormous size of recent and ongoing epidemics has also aided the detection of complications.
Strength of the evidence for a link between Zika virus and microcephaly
Evidence for a causal link between ZIKV and microcephaly
Epidemiological and clinical findings
Increase in microcephaly cases coincides with increase in ZIKV transmission (with a 6-month delay)
Data modeling shows that the main period at risk is the first trimester of pregnancy
Of the microcephaly cases investigated in Brazil, 32 % were linked to ZIKV
Case study: Miscarriage of a baby with microcephaly was positive for ZIKV (including in its brain), but negative for other known infectious causes of microcephaly
Laboratory studies
ZIKV can infect human neural progenitor cells and attenuate their growth in vitro
Primary human placental macrophages and trophoblasts are permissive to ZIKV infection in vitro
Animal models
Mouse model of ZIKV display signs of microcephaly
Analogy to related viruses
Rubella virus, another flavivirus, causes microcephaly when infection occurs during pregnancy
These and other lines of evidence collectively support that ZIKV can cause microcephaly and led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to conclude that "sufficient evidence has accumulated to infer a causal relationship between prenatal Zika virus infection and microcephaly and other severe brain anomalies" [24].
Consequences of Zika virus-associated microcephaly on public health and health economics
The WHO predicts up to 4 million ZIKV infections in 2016 in the Americas alone [36] and initial modeling suggests that up to 2.17 billion people live in areas conducive to ZIKV transmission [37]. Given the potential enormous scale of the issue, greater attention needs to be given to the public health consequences and likely economic impacts of an increased number of children with microcephaly and other neurological and ocular abnormalities [38, 39]. These abnormalities, as well as microcephaly, are strongly associated with intellectual impairment, seizures, visual and hearing impairment, feeding difficulties, and significant developmental delay, signifying a poor prognosis for affected children with many unable to talk or walk [40, 41, 42]. As mentioned above, ZIKV infections in adults have also been linked with Guillain–Barré syndrome, a potentially debilitating and serious complication.
ZIKV could potentially impact on the economies of affected countries, such as through reduced tourism and impact on trade [43]. However, there has been little focus on the economic impact to the health system and implications regarding cost of treatment, and the loss of productivity of affected children and their carers. Disability is associated with lower educational attainment, higher unemployment, and additional financial costs for families [44]. These financial costs are at times over 40 % of household income, representing a potentially catastrophic health expense that may drive some households into poverty and perpetuate the cycle of entrenched poverty and poor health [44, 45]. Providing appropriate healthcare and support services for these children will further stretch already overburdened health systems. Quantifying this burden on a society, health system, and economy is difficult due to the paucity of available data, but it is likely to be substantial. Evidence emerging from Brazil describes families struggling to access appropriate specialist services and treatment, a situation further exacerbated by Brazil's current economic downturn [46, 47]. Dengue virus, a related flavivirus also transmitted by Aedes spp., caused around 58 million symptomatic infections in 2013, and is thought to have cost US$8.9 billion to the global economy in 2013 [48]. The epidemiological and clinical differences between Dengue virus and ZIKV limit the generalizability of this cost estimate; however, it does highlight the potential scale of economies that could be at stake. For example, since January 2012, the Pacific region has experienced a major surge in mosquito-borne diseases with concurrent epidemics of dengue, chikungunya, and ZIKV infections affecting all 22 Pacific island countries and territories [49]. There is also a pressing need to assess the implications of ZIKV on global maternal and child health, and to ensure an equitable and accessible provision of quality, comprehensive care for affected families.
Zika virus biology and vaccines
A strong knowledge of ZIKV biology is important for the development of vaccines, therapeutics, and better diagnostics. Recently, cryo-electron microscopy revealed the architecture of ZIKV strain H/PF/2013 isolated in Micronesia in the 2013–14 outbreak, confirming its structural analogy with other flavivirus members [50]. Similar to other flaviviruses, ZIKV is an icosahedral enveloped virus with an ~11 kb positive-sense RNA genome encoding a single polyprotein of 3417–3423 amino acids. The polyprotein encodes three structural proteins [capsid (C), precursor membrane (prM), and envelope protein (E)] and seven nonstructural proteins (NS1, NS2A, NS2B, NS3, NS4A, NS4B, and NS5 proteins), which are derived by cleavage of the large polyprotein by proteases. By analogy to other flaviviruses, viral entry of ZIKV into host cells is assumed to involve the specific binding of viral surface glycoprotein E to cellular receptors, followed by endocytosis, viral fusion, and delivery of the nucleocapsid into the cytoplasm. Viral replication occurs in the cytoplasm and viral assembly occurs in the endoplasmic reticulum [51]. The ectodomain of the ZIKV glycoprotein E comprises a typical three-domain organization (domain I, II, and III). The fusion loop resides at the tip of domain II and is important for viral fusion with the host-cell membrane during viral entry. Domain III is connected via the stem region to the transmembrane domain (TMD) that anchors the glycoprotein E to the viral membrane [50, 52, 53]. The region surrounding the Asn154 glycan of the glycoprotein E shows the biggest structural deviation from the dengue virus envelope glycoprotein as a result of an insertion of two N-terminal and four C-terminal residues flanking Asn154. In the related West Nile virus, the Asn154 glycan is associated with neurovirulence in isolates obtained post-1999; mouse-adapted strains with poor neurovirulence lack a glycan at this position [54]. Further study on the role of the Asn154 glycan in ZIKV are required to examine whether it plays a role in ZIKV neurovirulence. Understanding the nature and function of these proteins and glycans is important for developing novel anti-ZIKV drugs and vaccines.
At this stage, a number of vaccine approaches are being pursued, including DNA-based and recombinant protein subunit vaccines. Live attenuated vaccines are also promising, being modeled off work for yellow fever and dengue viruses. Given recent findings in animal models, a vaccine for ZIKV appears to be a feasible proposition. A study conducted in Balb/c mice showed that a single vaccination of DNA encoding the full-length prM-E region of the BeH815744 strain from Brazil afforded complete protection 4 or 8 weeks later from a challenge dose of 102 plaque-forming units (pfu) of either a ZIKV isolate from Brazil (ZKV2015) or an isolate from Puerto Rico (PRVABC59), two strains from the Asian lineage that differ by five amino acids [55]. Truncation of the prM-E region to remove either the TMD of glycoprotein E or the TMD and stem region of glycoprotein E, or immunization with full-length glycoprotein E alone, TMD-truncated glycoprotein E, or TMD and stem-truncated glycoprotein E were not protective; however, viral loads were lower compared to those in sham-vaccinated animals. Analysis of the correlates of protection revealed that glycoprotein E-specific antibody titers correlated with protection and inversely correlated with viral load in challenged animals. The protective efficacy of this vaccine was mediated by IgG, as demonstrated by the fact that passive transfer of IgG into naïve animals was protective, and depletion of CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, or CD4+ and CD8+ T cells did not alter the level of protection afforded by the vaccine.
These observations were extended to a conventional vaccine platform using an inactivated purified ZIKV vaccine (Puerto Rico PRVABC59 strain). Immunization of Balb/c mice with the vaccine (formulated with alum as the adjuvant) generated neutralizing antibodies and all animals were protected when challenged with the Brazilian ZKV2015 strain [55]. It is important to note that the Brazilian ZKV2015 strain used in these challenge studies has been demonstrated to cause fetal microcephaly and intrauterine growth restriction in wild-type SJL mice [56]. In addition, while the Balb/c mice used by Larocca et al. [55] did not have a fatal outcome from infection, viremia was detected and its duration was similar to that observed in human infections of ZIKV. How these findings will translate to humans and the prevention of microcephaly is unclear, but these findings provide a proof of concept that it will be possible to develop a ZIKV vaccine for clinical evaluation in humans using a nonreplicating vaccine.
Diagnosis of Zika virus infection
The current tools available to accurately diagnose ZIKV infections are limited, and there is a need for highly specific point-of-care tests for ZIKV detection and improved serological tools for clinical diagnosis and population-based surveillance [57, 58]. Available diagnostics have mainly been used to test symptomatic individuals and it is unclear how they perform in asymptomatic individuals, who comprise ~80 % of infected individuals and who may be important reservoirs for virus transmission [1]. These diagnostic uncertainties are especially important for pregnant women who may infect their fetus, with severe consequences for fetal development, despite having asymptomatic infections themselves. Therefore, and in accordance with recent CDC guidelines for testing pregnant women with possible ZIKV exposure, there is a strong justification for testing asymptomatic at-risk pregnant women as long as laboratory capacity is adequate [59]. These at-risk women include those who have traveled to areas with active ZIKV transmission and those who have had sex without a condom with a male partner with possible ZIKV exposure, especially if they or their partner develop symptoms or signs of ZIKV disease.
Anti-ZIKV antibodies are highly cross-reactive as a result of antigenic relatedness between ZIKV and other flaviviruses such as dengue, Japanese encephalitis, West Nile virus, Kunjin virus, yellow fever, Murray Valley encephalitis, and others that often co-circulate with ZIKV [60]. Cross-reactivity with antibodies induced from vaccination with yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis vaccines can also occur [61]. These limitations in current serological assays remain a major obstacle for individual diagnostics and screening, as well as population-based serosurveillance. The detection of circulating antigen(s) is currently not available for ZIKV, but this approach is likely to be valuable because the period of antigenemia extends beyond the period of viremia. In dengue, detection of NS1 antigen has been used for direct virus detection, and IgM-specific reactivity adds specificity. Various technology platforms are exploring ways of multiplexing serological responses to a range of flaviviruses and other co-circulating arboviruses [62, 63].
As with other arboviruses, viral culture itself is possible, but is impractical for routine diagnostic use. Plaque reduction neutralization assays (PRNT) may be used as confirmatory assays if there is no prior evidence of previous flavivirus infection or vaccination with a flavivirus vaccine as the potential for cross-reactivity of antibodies acquired from exposure to other flaviviruses can be problematic. Nucleic acid amplification methods like reverse transcription (RT) PCR remain the main diagnostic approach in acutely symptomatic individuals owing to their high sensitivity and specificity. The viremia period extends from a brief pre-patent period and commonly continues for 3–5 days after the onset of symptoms [64, 65, 66], but may extend for up to 11 days [60, 67]. RT-PCR can also be used to detect ZIKV in amniotic fluid [68], breast milk [69, 70], semen [71], and saliva [72], and may be used to screen blood products. Given that ZIKV can be found in urine for up to 7 days longer than in serum, urine may be a more useful sample when there are delays in presentation [73, 74]. With proven or suspected microcephaly, testing for other etiological factors is important, including rubella, cytomegalovirus (CMV), toxoplasmosis, herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster virus, HIV, and chikungunya virus, as well as excluding other noninfectious causes. PCR assays are often used with consensus primers targeting multiple flaviviruses, followed by sequencing or ZIKV-specific PCR. Generic flavivirus PCRs may suffer from lower sensitivity compared to species-specific PCR, but it provides a practical screening tool, especially when a range of other infections need to be considered.
Potential mechanisms linking Zika virus and microcephaly
Microcephaly developing in utero (hereafter microcephaly) is principally due to impaired neurogenesis, which includes a reduced number of neural progenitor stem cells and/or impaired neuronal division and differentiation [75]. Several noninfectious causes or conditions associated with microcephaly have been described, including genetic predisposition [76] and prenatal alcohol exposure [77]. Supporting ZIKV infection as a cause of microcephaly, ZIKV has been detected in the brain tissue of microcephalic fetuses [27, 78] and in vitro evidence demonstrates that ZIKV can infect neural progenitor cells and attenuate their growth [29]. Infection of human cortical neural progenitor cells can cause cell cycle dysregulation and caspase-3-mediated apoptosis [29]. Permissiveness of cells for ZIKV entry appears to be supported by several surface receptors, including DC-SIGN, AXL, Tyro3, and, to a lesser extent, TIM-1, with a major role for AXL [79]. In fetal brain tissue, AXL is highly expressed in cells of the developing cerebral cortex, including radial glial cells, astrocytes, endothelial cells, and microglia, but the expression of Tyro3 and DC-SIGN is low or absent, respectively [80]. Expression of AXL in the outer margin of the neural retina and in cells of the ciliary marginal zone adjacent to neural retina provides a possible explanation for the development of blindness in babies born to ZIKV-infected mothers [80, 81]. After entry of the virus, replication of viral RNA induces a strong antiviral response with upregulation of TLR3 mRNA as well as RIG-I and MDA-5 mRNA. Silencing of TLR3 causes strong upregulation of viral replication but does not alter the type I interferon (IFN) response. Treating infected cells with IFN-α, IFN-β, or IFN-γ caused a dose-dependent inhibition of viral replication [79], which may suggest potential therapeutic approaches for future development.
ZIKV could reach the fetal brain by transplacental passage and/or diffusion into the amniotic and yolk sacs during embryogenesis [82]. A transplacental passage is plausible, even if term placental cells appear to be protected against ZIKV infection by a constitutive IFN-λ response [83]. It is not known whether these protective mechanisms are in place and efficient in early pregnancy. A recent study showed that primary human placental macrophages and trophoblasts were permissive to productive ZIKV infection [84]. This in vitro evidence is supported by ex vivo findings of ZIKV detection in chorionic villi. This demonstrates that ZIKV can infect the placenta, most likely from maternal blood. Other routes of fetal ZIKV infection early in pregnancy could include leakage through the trophoblastic plugs or diffusion of ZIKV into the amniotic and yolk sacs as they form. ZIKV has been identified in semen, which could give the virus access to the early embryo given the strong evidence for sexual transmission of ZIKV [85]. However, this is unlikely to be the main route of embryonic infection.
Placental ZIKV infection could impair placental functions, contributing to the fetal growth restriction and placental insufficiency sometimes described for ZIKV infections associated with microcephaly [21, 22, 27]. In particular, aberrant placental autophagy could contribute to an impairment of placental functions. In placental cells, autophagy usually limits viral replication [86]. However, in skin fibroblasts, ZIKV appeared to stimulate autophagy, which is associated with higher ZIKV loads [79].
ZIKV has recently emerged as a major global threat to pregnancies, and there is now strong evidence linking ZIKV infection with microcephaly and other significant congenital abnormalities. Given the serious congenital complications that can arise from ZIKV infection and the substantial long-term consequences of these, a strong and rapid global public health and research response to the virus is essential to limit and prevent the major health, social, and economic impact of the virus, and to advance the development of therapeutics, vaccines, and improved diagnostics. This will require substantial ongoing funding commitments. Moreover, the current Zika crisis is a salient reminder of the ongoing threat to human health posed by infectious pathogens.
We acknowledge the help of Tracy Parish (Burnet Institute) for preparation of the figure, and Mike Toole (Burnet Institute) for reviewing the manuscript.
Funding was provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia (Early Career Fellowship to JSR, Senior Research Fellowships and Project Grants to JGB and HED). The Burnet Institute is supported by the NHMRC Independent Research Institutes Infrastructure Support Scheme, and a Victoria State Government Operational Infrastructure Support grant. Funding bodies had no role in the design of the study or collection, analysis, and interpretation of data or in writing the manuscript.
Authors' contributions
All authors contributed to the planning, writing, and revision of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Funding information
|Funder Name
|Grant Number
|Funding Note
|National Health and Medical Research Council
Copyright information
Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.


text:
Caroline Vreeland topless at the beach (DrunkenStepfather) Joanna Krupa flaunts her newly single body (TMZ) Jemma Lucy naked in outdoor shower (TaxiDriverMovie) Cara Rose in full topless bloom (EgotasticAllStars) Kristen Stewart black thong for V Magazine (Egotastic) ... read more
Rupert Sanders regrets going down on Kristen Stewart five years. Or at least he regretted the scandal before getting to conveniently mention it while pushing his new turd Ghost in the Shell. read more
Who knows what Kristen Stewart is really like? Not the puff piece writers at People, or the essayists at Vogue who sit down to lunch with her on the veranda to discover her complexities. read more
Chain smoke cigarettes. Flip off cameras. Take on indie roles in French noir cinema. Announcing you're gay at 25 is a nice touch. But the buzz cut is what really pisses off mom. She told you girls had to be pretty. My baby! read more
Kristen Stewart landed the cover of V magazine's "Free Spirit" issue for being a rich girl who hates her parents and became a lesbian in her mid-20's. That's the free spirit combo pack. read more
Lesbians aren't so different from you and me. Or not so different at all if you're also a lesbian. Kristen Stewart became a lesbian a couple years ago when she looked in her closet and decided she was mostly there. She's transitioned easily into the butch role as she's... read more
It's weird how people so quickly take on the guise of central casting characters when they assume a new role in their life. Kristen Stewart and Stella Maxwell clearly employed a lesbian lifestyle coach to develop appropriate wardrobe and mannerisms affected by millennial... read more
Sexual fluidity means that everybody who has the means will eventually find themselves going down on a Victoria's Secret model. It's the game winning touchdown of life no matter what team you play for. read more
Because lesbian relationships necessarily involve two chicks you can always count on twice the crazy. It makes lesbian life rather dramatic when both people in a relationship might at any time light the other person's possessions on fire or toss their shit in the street.... read more
Kristen Stewart is back together with her ex girlfriend St Vincent who was formerly dating Cara Delevingne making her the new Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon except with crotch bumping or quite possibly just Instagram pics. read more
The daughter from the marriage Johnny Depp broke off to be with Amber Heard seems to be doing well. Gaunt, pale, heroin chic. It's all you can ask for at seventeen. At least once you've tossed both school and an honest job out the window as options. read more
Kristen Stewart is back in baby's arms. The actress who channels privilege rage into lesbian make-out sessions is back together with her previous girlfriend and personal assistant, Alicia Cargile. Not just men fuck their assistants in Hollywood. Though men often weigh... read more


text:
Use cookies (small textual content files)to store data on your laptop to give you the greatest expertise. As well as, the Division has met the challenges of latest and surprising public health points, reminiscent of H1N1, the opioid disaster, Ebola, and Zika, that emerged throughout President Obama's time in office. HHS contributed to these reductions both by means of our homelessness-specific packages, akin to ACF's Runaway and Homeless Youth program and HRSA's Health Take care of the Homelessness program, in addition to via help from our mainstream applications, reminiscent of Medicaid and Non permanent Help for Needy Households. One look at the myriad of vitamin and health shows on BlogTalkRadio and you may see we're one of the healthiest websites on the Net! The Well being Chief Forge is a protracted type podcast featuring in-depth interviews with superb leaders who work in health and healthcare.
In collaboration with colleagues on the Department of Training, 18 states have been funded to create complete and coordinated early learning programs from birth until kindergarten by means of the Preschool Improvement Grants. No matter complaints about EHR methods, physicians and hospitals are adopting them, and it is time we labored to enhance their sustainability and efficacy inside the health area. Once more, consult your doctor for advice anytime your health and effectively being are at stake.
Among realities being faced by immigrant children, extreme poverty is probably the one that almost all strongly impacts upon their wellbeing and mental health. It was the disruptive … Read More


text:
Quadrature Encoders
Having trouble using quadrature encoders? Want to kow what they are, how they work and how to read them? Take a look through the guides below:
Ireland Hospitality Management Assignment Help
Avail assignment experts for hospitality assignment help with APA, MLA citation style at lowest price. Achieve your targets of academics and get higher marks in college, our experts provides you unique Ireland hospitality assignment help support in limited time.
Great website, keep it up!
Numerologist review
Organifi Green Juice review
16000 woodworking plans
Teds Woodworking
Good article!
Great job, I like your Sportowe Buty Nike Internationalist recipe very much. I never made this dish, But I love Tofu so, now I will try to cook this. Thank you for sharing this blog.
Check out Nike for the the
Check out Nike for the the middle of 1980s. cocktail dresses At the moment, The business recognized its own matters as a high end particular sports flower girl dresses running shoes label it joined in the plus size dresses fun to the requirements white dress of leading sports sportsmen. Merely paid survey subsequent short wedding dress demonstrated that petite dresses over fifty bridesmaid dresses percent attached formal dresses to Nike's selling were going bridesmaid dresses to individuals who were making use of purple wedding dress specific dresses for women running shoes and blue wedding dress boots as graduation dresses an alternative long sleeve wedding dress to unconventional lace wedding dress athletic running heels.
In flower girl dresses relation wedding dress to nearly bewteen barefoot and shoes formal dresses and as a result barely towards wedding dress eastern you will see that look at chaos lace wedding dress M37. This evening dresses occassion now help long sleeve wedding dress try Theta and as purple wedding dress well casual dresses Iota on to assist plus size dresses you the dog's western side. Estimated midway together and during Auriga you will see M38 and a ut southeast will wedding dress snatch M36. The vast majority a lot of, For sunday cocktail dresses day time, An variation subsidized in plus size wedding dress front of plus size wedding dress the hawk plus size dresses but AIPAC evening gowns sales reputation. white dress Brad Sherman of georgia plus size wedding dress to restrict blue wedding dress finance to confrontation cheap wedding dress wearing maxi dresses Libya can certainly and as a result prior to the conforms aided by blue wedding dress the systems quality given your place a considerable by absolute greater wedding dress number, By using close to equivalent evening gowns capability from the maxi dresses all sides, Created all of the control petite dresses involving each party(Pelosi, Boehner, Hoyer, casual dresses Cantor) Opponent. evening dresses Relatedly, A bipartisan evening gowns sounding place regular players lately charged the president and also criminal assistant entrance, Making claims all gua in Libya is against cheap wedding dress the blue wedding dress law cheap wedding dress and casual dresses even unconstitutional,
The foregoing act got learned long sleeve wedding dress by lace wedding dress the excellent white dress Zinedine Zidane, Even so was mikka lace wedding dress Maradona nobody ordered dresses for women it into men and petite dresses women maxi dresses spotlight. When mobility up front though using pitch affect it forth kind of, And so cocktail dresses work to pull it in graduation dresses return jointly on your leading foot. Even though evening dresses do that, beach wedding dress You exercise with all cheap wedding dress by your own self in mid-air beach wedding dress in addition, do an cheap wedding dress entire 360 levels look petite dresses along with flower girl dresses leading foot on beach wedding dress your golf ball.
You graduation dresses should dresses for women visit the Martin's super plus size wedding dress market in Hagerstown and come across graduation dresses the at bridesmaid dresses their his or red dress her review. Paul Collier is with less flower girl dresses time recovering administrator, The cocktail dresses problem dresses for women for 18 a graduation dresses lot of a number evening gowns of. It's exactly the required measure for bridesmaid dresses the first cocktail dresses sort gambling performing rear. Just because prom dresses have got incorrect, Exposing misuse in a complete prom dresses wierder very flower girl dresses well wedding dress be facing. The PSS isn't a necessary questionnaire red dress together lace wedding dress with dresses for women the prom dresses result fee found pink wedding dress when it comes to 2012 only agreed to be 57%. Can red dress be certainly nearly maxi dresses extremely difficult to know what percentage of the that rejected to engage succeeded mainly because were terrified of their mate casual dresses and of dealing with the fact of their couples, But it must be considered pink wedding dress as plausible,
Home fran Coen purple wedding dress is regarded as 62. Actor or actress comic blue wedding dress Howie Mandel has maxi dresses been 61. Celebrity plus size wedding dress Cathy Moriarty evening dresses is almost certainly formal dresses 56. Wisconsin features was the prom dresses winner seven right formal dresses away activities associated with Gordon and also casual dresses No. 2 prom dresses immunity in the white dress usa. Arkansas condition needs scooped 10 plus size dresses in evening gowns the right position overdue fantastic opportunistic safeguard, Additionally Barrett leading an forceful attack.
Suggestions held on these pages is proposed formal dresses by motivated bridesmaid dresses third wedding contented insurer. short wedding dress To be truthful and that place red dress making pink wedding dress not at all extended plus size dresses extended auto warranty specifics or to representations during affiliation white dress therewith. 26, pink wedding dress 2016 /PRNewswire/ Seacoast evening dresses business savings association related with long sleeve wedding dress south carolina("Seacoast" In addition"The business") beach wedding dress (Dow jones: SBCF) At the moment noted latest latest shopping results for the third purple wedding dress quarter along with long sleeve wedding dress 2016.Seacoast claimed net gain of $9.1 million within short wedding dress third quarter as to 2016, Another purple wedding dress 106% as short wedding dress well beach wedding dress $4.7 million increase pink wedding dress within third quarter petite dresses coming from red dress all 2015 or improve $3.8 million, Also 71%, When than the short wedding dress second quarter of the 2016.


text:
John Crate
John Crate gained his professional experience in Calgary, Ottawa and Edmonton. He has developed substantial project management experience in a wide variety of commercial and institutional projects including hospitals, research laboratories, high tech office and production facilities, commercial office space, heritage restoration and building rehabilitation, site master planning and light rail transit facilities. His responsibilities have encompassed programming, design, management, production and contract administration. John joined DIALOG in 1998.


text:
Recipe 4Results™
"Recipe 4Results™ Enables You To Deliver Parts Of The System Into Your Business… Yourself"
Just like following a recipe.
We'll give you the recipe AND the ingredients…
So whether you want to know how to introduce a single strategy, or more, we'll give you the instructions, make sure you understand them, and let you get cooking. And every one of our Recipes comes with an upgrade so if you want a critique of your work, or a little bit of help and encouragement, you can add that in too.
This is the only one of our products where the fee isn't Results Based, because we can't know how quickly you'll decide to get on with growing your business.


text: Middle Class Homeless Taylor and Zach are swindled by a fast talking homeless man. taycalm September 04, 2012 318 Views More Info Full Credits taycalm Uploader Additional Credits Jayden Lund as the homeless man Stats & Data 41Funny1Die 318 Views September 04, 2012 Published Category Sketch Tags middle class homeless credit card taylor calmus moped checkers rally's bum change Up Next: Valentines Day? AUTOPLAY Up Next In: 10 Valentines Day? Team Christmas- Obama and the Nog Donner Down Things I'll never say to my wife... again. Follow Browse Related Comments 10+ more View All ▶ taycalm Vaguely Related Videos Vaguely Related Pics & Words Advertisement Tags: middle class homeless credit card taylor calmus moped Advertisement


text: Gorgeous and spacious modern home with great room concept and extended back porch. Built in cabinetry, formal dining room plus office/ den. Walk in kitchen pantry, spacious indoor laundry room with an extended garage for plenty of storage. All this on over and acre. Great home for large family or farm help. Perfect for HITS attendee. Could be rented seasonally. Many possibilities but nothing like it. New interior/ exterior paint and tons of landscaping improvements. Won't last.


text:
Mumbai, September 13 (CINEWS): Rani Mukerji's pregnancy news was just talk until her sister-in-law Jyoti Mukerji affirmed it as of late. The whole family had been skilfully evading media glare until yesterday when a photograph of her displaying the child knock became famous online on online networking.
The performer is in her second trimester and the infant is normal in January. Around two weeks back, the Mumbai Mirror had reported citing a source that the conveyance will happen in Mumbai.
"They came back to India a week ago subsequent to going in the UK for over a month yet have taken off once more, nobody knows where," the insider said.
The bits of gossip about Rani being pregnant initially surfaced when a fan detected her booking an arrangement for a pre-birth kneads at a spa in London.
"Rani has been far from media glare for quite a while and theories she is pregnant. She was as of late seen holidaying in London. The performer looked loose and was gleaming. She was dressed coolly and was seen going to an extravagant spa for the pre-birth rub," the Mid-Day had cited a source as saying.
Despite the fact that Rani's pregnancy reports were affirmed this time, there were such reports in the past as well. Around a year back, while advancing "Mardaani", guesses the performing artist was expecting her first kid with spouse Aditya Chopra.


text:
Dr. Andrew Norris MD Patient Reviews
- Ophthalmology Fort Collins, CO
Overall Rating
4 Patient Reviews
- Wait Time 25 minutes
- Easy Appointments
- Promptness
- Friendly Staff
- Fair and Accurate Diagnosis
- Bedside Manner
- Spends Time With Patients
- Appropriate Followup
Showing 1 - 4 reviews
1.0 of 5
December 7th, 2015
Billed my insurance every two months for two years. Every time I mentioned glaucoma and macular degeneration. I was fine until last year when he brought it up out of the blue. Scared me to death and I cried. When he asked me why I was upset, I just walked out. Don't go if you are looking for any semblance of bedside manner. Never looks at you. Just the computer. And to boot, the prescription was soo wrong I'm stuck in my old ones for another 2 months.
5.0 of 5
January 29th, 2015
positive experience
Friendly and bright staff The doctor made good eye contact and seemed knowlegable
5.0 of 5
April 21st, 2016
1.0 of 5
May 20th, 2014
Health Guides
Contact Lens Care
A complete overview of what you need to know about your contact lenses.
more health guides
Nearby Doctors
Dr. Andrew Norris, MD is similar to these 3 Doctors near Fort Collins, CO.
Fort Collins, CO
Fort Collins, CO
Fort Collins, CO


text:
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Point of View Tips
In writing, everyone has one too, but it's far better if you as the author decide ahead of time through whose point-of-view are you going to be telling the story. Of course it could be the narrator's point-of-view but then you are distancing the main character(s) from the reader.
Using first person is the easiest POV to use, but even that can be tricky. The main thing to remember is you need to establish who that "I" person is right away; from whose eyes are we seeing this story through.
My favorite is close third person. In my Deputy Tempe Crabtree mysteries, the story is always viewed through her. She's the one who is experiencing everything that's going on. In the narration, everything is what she's doing, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, thinking. When writing these mysteries, I try to climb inside her and see through her eyes. Once in awhile I might do one chapter from another's point-of-view like I did in Invisible Path. The very first chapter is told in first person by one of the main character's in that particular story. It seemed the best way to get his back-story across. From the second chapter on, everything that happened came through Tempe in third person.
In my Rocky Bluff P.D. series I use multiple points-of-view--but only one per scene. In this series I have an ensemble cast of characters. In each book, the reader learns what is happening to the police officers of Rocky Bluff P.D. and to their families and how the job affects the family and what's going on at home affects the job.
In one chapter I may have several scenes to show what is happening to each character at more or less the same time. But each of these scenes is handled as close third person, with the POV character being the one who is telling and experiencing what is going on.
No matter how you do it, the POV character should always be the one who has the most at stake in that particular scene.
Remember, your POV character only knows what he or she thinks, he can't know what anyone else is thinking. He or she can assume, or guess or figure out, but can never know what thoughts are inside another person's head. Also, the POV character can't see himself. He can't see tears welling in his own eyes, but he can feel them. He can't see his cheeks turning red, but he can feel his face warming.
Head-hopping is when the author jumps from one person's POV to the next. Some romance writers do this a lot, especially in love scenes--and I have to admit some do it quite well. But for most of us, it's far better to remain in one POV for an entire scene.
Hope this is helpful.
4 comments:
- Phoenixgirl said...
Thank you, Marilyn. I was up so many times during the night trying to figure out what to do, and I think I'm going to take Shirley's suggestion and use Chapter 12 as my Chapter 1 instead. I'm going to investigate close first person POV more today and hopefully I'll get it right. :) Thanks for all your input and help.
- April 7, 2011 at 6:34 AM
- Holli said...
I write in close 3rd person, and also use different points of view, but also only use one pov in the same scene. I find head hopping, even in most romance novels, to be a little distracting, but it could be that I was "taught" it was a cardinal sin so I'm predisposed to think it is bad writing.
One of the things I do when I edit is make sure I haven't accidentally shifted my point of views. For example, describing a feeling of a character that the pov character wouldn't know. Most of the time it's easy not to bleed into another pov, but I find in moments of anger, such of heated arguments, or in romantic scenes, sometimes my pov will slip for a sentence or two and I have to read carefully to weed it out.
Holli Castillo
Gumbo Justice
- April 7, 2011 at 6:50 PM
- Linda Leszczuk said...
I guess I'm a bit odd. As a reader, I love "headhopping". As long as the writer is clear on whose head we're in at any given moment, I enjoy seeing the scene through different pairs of eyes. Not surprisingly, I like to write the same way, but I have accepted the advice of pretty much everyone and stick to close 3rd person instead.
- April 8, 2011 at 10:04 AM
- Marilyn Meredith a.k.a. F. M. Meredith said...
Hi, Lisa, I hope this helped.
Yes, Holli, it is easy to slip out of someone's POV and I do sometimes too.
And Linda, yes it works if you actually can tell right away who the next POV character is, but if you can't then it can be confusing.
- April 8, 2011 at 10:13 AM