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The Refinity Skin Solutions system, which includes an in-office peel and an at-home regimen, allows dermatologists to deliver maximum medical strength results without irritating the skin or causing discomfort to the patient. Used in both office and at-home settings, the Refinity COSMEDERM-7 Foundation includes a high-performance AHA skincare system that has been formulated with a patented, non-irritant called COSMEDERM-7.
The Refinity COSMEDERM-7 Skin Solutions system begins with an in-office peel that is designed to accelerate exfoliation, and it is then followed up with at-home products to deliver maximum results. The office peel is a 70 percent glycolic acid peel that diminishes the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and improves the skin's texture and tone. And unlike typical cosmetic peels, the Refinity COSMEDERM-7 Skin Solutions peel causes little irritation to the skin due to the patented COSMEDERM-7 anti-irritant. Make no doubt about it, though: the Refinity Skin Solutions peel with COSMEDERM-7 produces dramatic results, even after the first peel. Read More about Cosmederm.


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It has been another record-breaking year for the ABS Genetic Management System® (GMS®), a service offered exclusively by ABS Global, Inc. GMS successfully mated more that 5.81 million animals from July 2011 through June 2012 - an increase of nearly one million animals from the prior year. To date, over 45 million cows have been mated through the GMS program.
With more than 300 evaluators globally in over 40 different countries, GMS is the most widely utilized mating program in the world. For 43 years, GMS has been building cows that are tailor-made for individual operations, ensuring that customers' herds remain profitable for years to come.
GMS evaluators are certified genetic consultants who provide customers with the tools to build a complete and balanced cow that excels in fertility, production and longevity.
"GMS allows us to make a better type of cow that is profitable, is easier to manage in a freestall setup and is problem free. When we started, our objective was to improve the udders and feet and legs on our cows. The cows just keep getting better and better." - Chris Jongsma, South Creek Dairy, Earlimart, CA
GMS places an emphasis on reliability, utilizing pedigree and linear data from the largest sire database in the industry with proven results globally. GMS also offers the highest level of inbreeding protection of any program available in the industry.
"I've been on GMS for 7 years, and the very first thing that made me look at GMS was the reliability of ABS services and the inbreeding control that GMS provides. I've noticed more uniformity in my herd and significant improvements to my herd's udders. The program has saved me time, and the recommendations are very easy to use." - Jan Noordegraaf, Neto-Arapoti, PR, Brazil
GMS evaluators look at both the production and type of both the sire and dam when making mating recommendations, the only mating program to do this. GMS is truly the only genetic management tool in the industry that can offer unbiased mating recommendations, complete inbreeding and genetic recessive control, and offer measurable results that meet the needs for each customer's specific breeding goals.
"GMS really works for me, I started using the system nine years ago to simplify my breeding program and to produce a more standardized herd. I have without doubt reached my goals, the herd is more uniform and the heifers have continually improved." - Stephen Bloor, Park Farm, Siddington, Macclesfield, Cheshire, United Kingdom
To learn more about what GMS can do for your herd, contact your local ABS Representative or call 1-800-ABS-STUD.
Headquartered in DeForest, Wisconsin, ABS Global is the world-leading provider of bovine genetics, reproduction services, technologies and uddercare products. Marketing in more than 80 countries around the globe, ABS has been at the forefront of animal genetics and technology since its founding in 1941. ABS Global is a division of Genus plc.

subset: commoncrawl


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Credit Suisse Goes Bearish on OHL Mexico As Cash Dwindles
Credit Suisse's opinion on OHL Mexico (MX:OHLMEX) has gone from bullish to bearish.
On Thursday, analyst Eugenio Amador downgraded shares of the Mexican highway contractor to Underperform from Outperform, arguing that the company's rapidly depleting cash position will leave it unable to benefit from government-funded projects.
In Mexico, shares fell 2.3% to 34.15 pesos in afternoon market action, adding to an already dismal weak for the stock. The shares have fallen 11% since closing Monday at 38.38 pesos on Monday.
…We delved into financial obligations of the company and observed that cash ebitda is not sufficient to cover obligations, additionally we expect 2013 capex of P$2,429mn resulting in a negative FCF of P$3,243mn in 2013 and P$4,511mn in the next three years. Under current circumstances OHL-Mexico's will be limited to participate in new projects that could be generated from the new National Infrastructure, hence growth from a sizable infrastructure program could be missed by the company.
Earlier this week, OHL Mexico announced a convertible bond issue. Still, the company must refinance its existing debt, and take other action to comply with its cash needs, says Amador. And given the stock's current price level, equity follow-on is likely, he added.


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Bed Bugs Factor Into Building Condemnation
Posted December 13, 2012
If anyone doubts the severe repurcussions of bedbug infestations, this story should change their minds. In July of this year, an apartment complex in St. Paul, Minnesota was condemned and evacuated due to neglect and property damage. The apartment complex, known as the Westminster Court apartments, was condemned due to exposed electrical wiring, rot in living areas, doors without locks, rodents, and a bed bug infestation. The owners of the buildings failed to get help from St. Paul/Minneapolis exterminators before the buildings were deemed uninhabitable, foreclosed, and condemned. Local landlords hopefully took note, and will see the ill effects of ignoring building maintenance, and will do better to keep their properties up to code.View original post.


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Last week I uploaded my record label's new release Ionic Vision – Club Isolation to TuneCore. I use them to get my releases onto iTunes, Amazon and eMusic. You pay a maintenance and service fee charge of $19.98 per album. This is reoccurring yearly charge for every album you have "live" for sale. You also pay a one time charge of .99 for each store you want to have the release on. For example .99 for Amazon worldwide, .99 for eMusic and for iTunes each world store is separate so .99 for iTunes USA, .99 for iTunes Germany, etc… I don't bother selling my music on some stores they offer like Rhapsody or Napster.
One thing you may notice if you used Tunecore in the past is the maintenance and service fee charge has doubled from what it used to be. I emailed Tunecore about the price change and they told me yes it did go up but only effects newly added releases. So for example, your older albums on iTunes won't start incurring a double charge. My albums make a decent amount of money per month so its not a major issue for me. However, for the new single on my label with just 4 songs on it I now have to question if it's worth doing. Beatport, Neuton, Juno Download and of course my own online store (using Easybe) don't charge me anything to put a release up. I do want these releases on iTunes and Amazon but only if I will surely will not loose money. I'm a glass is half full guy so this release went up using Tunecore.
I still think Tunecore is a good service. They have a great website. Uploading and organizing your releases works smoothly and is a nice looking process. They always answer my emails right away. Storage is getting cheaper so I'm not sure why thier fee doubled. Let's hope for more competition in this space as really at this point Tunecore is the only good option for independent labels to get onto iTunes. I do feel it's important to keep the concept of "point of sale" in mind which states the more places you sell your stuff the more money you should make.


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Boggs embraces chance to play in Classic
"It is a big deal to me," said Boggs, who was officially named to Team USA's roster last week. "A lot of guys don't want to play in this thing. I do. I'm going to take advantage of it and enjoy it and hopefully be a part of a team that enjoys it."
Aside from representing his country, Boggs is giddy about the chance to pitch for one of his childhood heroes. Greg Maddux -- who spent 11 of his 23 Major League seasons pitching in Atlanta, about two hours from Boggs' home -- is set to be the U.S. pitching coach.
"That was the guy to me, other than Chipper [Jones]," Boggs said. "Maddux was the man. I'm absolutely going to take advantage of being around Greg Maddux. I know his style was probably a little different than what I try to do, but at the same time, that guy is one of the best to ever step on the rubber. I'll absolutely enjoy that."
Dale Murphy, another Braves great, is also on the coaching staff.
Boggs could be absent from Cardinals Spring Training for several weeks, should Team USA advance deep into the Classic. He has the luxury to be away, though, because of job security. For the first time in his career, Boggs prepares to enter the season with a defined role on the Major League team.
"Even when I leave, my focus is going to be on getting myself ready to pitch in April through September and October," Boggs said. "I want to go be a part of Team USA and win that thing. At the same time, I know where my most important business is, and that's with the Cardinals."


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'Paul Gaustad will always remember his first NHL playoff experience, playing in front of 20,000-some fans. His ears won't let him forget — they might still be ringing. "It was really loud," says Gaustad, whose Buffalo Sabres beat Philadelphia 4-2 in the first round and face Ottawa starting tonight. "It was so loud (in Philly and Buffalo) that you couldn't hear people talking on the bench, or coaches calling out lines. My ears hurt after games."'
You are here: Home / SabresBeat / Ex-Hawk prepares for lengthy playoff


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tip of the week
Just when Michael Kappel, the heaven-sent gardener in our midst, had given up on his sweet autumn clematis (Clematis terniflora), God had other plans and it started to bloom. Several years ago, Kappel had planted this clematis at the base of some newly planted star jasmine (Tracehlospermum jasminoides) that were meant to grow into a vining screen along the side of his house. Now the jasmine are around 10 feet tall and, just a few weeks ago, Kappel's clematis finally began to flower. Clematis are known for finding their way betwixt and between other plants and really do their best when protected on all sides by vegetation from other vines or tall shrubs. Sweet autumn clematis shows off large clusters of white, mildly fragrant flowers from now until fall. It is cold hardy and has no problem handling a hard frost.
I came upon some coleus. But not just any coleus, a glorious coleus. An overflowing profusion of color. Each leaf was a leaf within a leaf. Each primordial pink eruption surrounded by a heart-shaped field of burgundy-bronze. And, finally, a neatly toothed margin of green that framed each leaf around the edge.
You might think I was walking in a park, in a forest, or in some cloistered garden. But I was actually strolling on the sidewalk on the south side of Victory Boulevard, just east of Coldwater Canyon in North Hollywood. Not the most romantic setting for poetic musings, yet that's where this coleus grew, in a planter outside an empty storefront office.
Plants do this all the time. They transform their surroundings. We take plants for granted but would be nothing without them. Just look around you. Los Angeles is a semi-arid zone, little more than an urban desert were it not for the plantscape that makes it green. In any city there is a strong emotional component to meetings between asphalt and vegetation, to encounters between concrete and coleus. No matter how dingy an urban corner may otherwise be, as long as a coleus is growing there, that corner will not be sad or bleak. Coleus is the candle that illuminates the darkness.
The best part of this job is that, while constantly on the look out for horticultural surprises, you never stop finding the most perfect horticultural displays in the most unlikely places. Plants are highly opportunistic. If you don't pay attention, a seedling in the crack of a sidewalk or driveway can quickly turn into a palm, a fig, or a Brazilian pepper tree.
The Sepulveda Garden Center, located in Encino on Magnolia Boulevard between Hayvenhurst Avenue and Balboa Boulevard, is one of the best places not only for encountering botanical surprises but for learning horticultural lessons as well. While visiting the Center a few Sundays ago, I met Laurelle Johnson, who sang the praises of permaculture. Permaculture is a practice which, in its purest form, eliminates the need for any garden inputs other than what grows on site. Just add water and, presto, you have a garden that lasts forever. For instance, a permaculture vegetable garden would utilize leaves and stems of the plants growing there, once crops have been harvested, for mulch. You would grow heirloom vegetable varieties that breed true from seed so that the seeds for future squash or tomato plants would be extracted from the squash and tomatoes you harvest this year. Or, as Johnson has done, you would take slips or cuttings from an existing sweet potato plant and root them on site.
One of the classic procedures for building a compost pile involves alternate layering of organic material and soil. Johnson has created her planter beds by turning them into elongated compost piles. She has done this by alternating thin layers of garden debris, such as prunings and uprooted vegetable plants that have finished producing their crops with soil dug from between the beds. Where soil has been dug, pathways are now in place. Thus, permanent beds and permanent pathways between them have been developed with the same shovelfuls of earth.
Johnson has an outstanding crop of butternut squash that appears almost ready for harvest. This is a type of winter squash, meaning it can be stored for months. Unlike other winter squash, which must be stored in a cool place, butternut squash can also be stored at room temperature and may be used in long-term table arrangements prior to consumption. Butternut squash is ready to harvest when its rind is thick enough to resist puncture by a fingernail.
"How do you propagate hydrangeas from cuttings and when should one do this? Also, when one purchases a certain color of this plant, how do we keep that color always. I have been told so many things but none have worked."
— Shirley Schuhmacher, Rialto
Hydrangeas are among the easiest plants to propagate on account of their semi-succulent stems. Skilled propagators can even root hydrangea cuttings in water. For standard propagation, take 4- to 6-inch cuttings from stems that have yet to produce flowers. Retaining the top two leaves, remove leaves from bottom nodes (bumps where leaves meet stem). There should be around 2 inches of stem beneath bottom most node and cuttings should be inserted in rooting medium to a depth where this bottom node is covered. To speed rooting, cuttings may be dipped in root hormone prior to insertion in growing medium. Root hormone is available at nurseries but it is not required for rooting of hydrangea cuttings. You should also cut off the top half of hydrangea leaves to minimize water loss. Tenting of hydrangea cuttings with the aid of popsicle sticks and plastic wrap is also advised, although cuttings may root without being tented. Place them in bright light but away from hot sun and roots should start to form within three weeks. Rooting medium should be one part peat moss and one part perlite or sand.
As for retaining their color, blue hydrangeas demand highly acidic soil, which is achieved by fertilizing with aluminum sulfate on a regular basis. Pink and red hydrangeas will probably maintain their colors unassisted in our alkaline soil, but you may get more vivid color in them by fertilizing with super-phosphate. White hydrangeas do not change color. Incidentally, hydrangeas often turn green as they mature and may be harvested and utilized in dry arrangements when this color is shown. For unknown reasons, hydrangeas of any color may sometimes bloom in green for a year or two before reverting to their original color.


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It is now possible to page (next/previous) photos in a gallery. This feature has been requested for a long time and improves the usability of the galleries. Before this update, when a thumbnail in a gallery was clicked, the main entry, description, photo and comments were shown, but the gallery navigation was lost; you could only click the browsers back button to return to the gallery page. Now the gallery navigation is maintained and photos in a gallery are grouped together so that only those photos in that gallery are shown.
For example, here's the gallery page:
Now when the thubmnail is clicked, the main photo is shown, but the gallery information is retained and the paging (next/previous) only pages the photos in the gallery:
All PixyBlog themes have now been updated to use the gallery paging, but for those who have customized their themes, please read this discussion about how to get this working for you.
Also included in this update is the ability to have empty galleries and sub-galleries. Before empty galleries were not displayed on photoblogs, even if a sub-gallery had a photo in it. This means that galleries can now be structured in a more hierarchal way and if a sub-gallery has a photo, then the parent gallery is now shown.
Note: we have noticed a slowdown in the page loading times for gallery pages. This we are working on and they should be back to full-speed shortly.
As always, feedback here in the comments or in our discussion forum is always welcome.
- Pixy Team
News and information about the PixyBlog photo sharing community. Check back regularly for updates, or subscribe to our newsletter or RSS feed.
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Your liver performs many vital jobs. Among other things, it removes toxins from your blood and stores vitamins, minerals, and fuel necessary to survive. Unfortunately, the liver is vulnerable to damage. What should you know to keep your liver healthy and prevent disease?
Your liver is a large and complex organ. It is responsible for breaking down and eliminating naturally occurring toxins as well as many types of medications. It also acts as a chemical factory, producing bile (necessary for digestion), clotting factors, other proteins in the blood, as well as cholesterol and various forms of fats. The other major function of the liver is to store and release carbohydrates.
Just performing its duties makes your liver vulnerable to injury. For instance, deactivating potentially harmful drugs and medications is a hazardous job. Drug breakdown can damage liver cells and result in acute or chronic liver disease. Preventable factors that may damage your liver include alcohol and drug abuse, medications, infections, and certain health conditions. The most common causes of liver disease are:
Sometimes liver damage is acute and potentially reversible. Other times it's chronic and irreversible. Common signs of acute liver disease include jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes), nausea and vomiting, fatigue, and abdominal pain plus abnormal liver blood tests.
When damage becomes progressive and irreversible, it may lead to chronic liver disease. Permanent loss of liver function can result from a complication called cirrhosis , or scarring of the liver. In severe cases, a liver transplant may be required to sustain life.
Other problems that are associated with chronic liver disease include fluid build-up in the abdomen (ascites), trouble thinking clearly ( encephalopathy ), gastrointestinal bleeding, bleeding disorders, and a greatly increased risk of liver cancer .
Since chronic liver disease cannot be cured, prevention is key. Here are some tips to help you reduce your risk of developing liver disease for each of the most common causes.
Several contagious viruses can cause of inflammation of the liver (hepatitis):
Heavy alcohol consumption can result in damage to the liver cells and eventually cirrhosis. Preventive measures include:
Excess weight can cause a potentially harmful buildup of fat in the liver. Fatty liver disease usually does not cause symptoms. It may appear as abnormal liver blood tests that can eventually progress to cirrhosis. If you are overweight, work to gradually lose excess weight through diet and exercise.
Hemochromatosis is a relatively common hereditary disorder that causes excessive iron storage in the liver. This can eventually lead to impaired liver function and cirrhosis. Blood tests (for iron and iron-carrying protein) to detect the disease and phlebotomy (bloodletting) to treat the disease can prevent these complications, especially when diagnosed and treated early.
Many drugs can act as toxins to your liver, including acetaminophen (when taken in excess), anesthetics, seizure medications, antibiotics used for tuberculosis , and some cholesterol reducers. Certain herbs and supplements can be toxic to the liver as well, including very high doses of vitamin A or niacin, comfrey, germander, coltsfoot, and sassafras.
Always talk to your doctor about potential side effects before taking any supplements or medications. Ask if you should have liver tests due to the medications or supplements you are taking.
If liver disease does occur, the best time to detect it is early. Inform your doctor of any factors you have that may increase your risk for liver disease. Your doctor can monitor your liver function with blood tests and order further testing if necessary. If abnormalities persist, make sure your doctor follows up on them and adequately explains the cause or refers you to a gastroenterologist.
American Liver Foundation
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
The Canadian Association of Gastroenterology (CAG)
Canadian Liver Foundation
Resnick RH, Chopra S. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis: a common hepatic disorder. Family Practice Recertification. 2002;24:43-50.
Riley TR, Bhatti AM. Preventive strategies in chronic liver disease: Part I. Alcohol, vaccines, toxic medications and supplements, diet and exercise. American Family Physician. 2001;64:1555-1560.
Riley TR, Bhatti AM. Preventive strategies in chronic liver disease: Part II. Cirrhosis. American Family Physician. 2001;64:1735-1740.
Symptoms of liver disease. US Department of Veterans Affairs website. Available at: http://www.hepatitis.va.gov/patient/basics/liver-disease-symptoms.asp. Accessed February 4, 2014.
Why you need to protect your liver. Consumer Reports on Health. April 2001;6-9.
Yoshida EM. Abnormal liver function tests: What to do for the patient. Consultant. April 1, 2003;505-517.
Last reviewed February 2014 by Michael Woods, MD
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Copyright © 2012 EBSCO Publishing All rights reserved.
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