text:
Phillips back in the fold, ready for season
GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Truth be told, Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips wasn't quite ready to return to camp after the World Baseball Classic. He hoped Team USA would make it to the championship game on Tuesday night in San Francisco.
Instead, Puerto Rico eliminated the American squad Friday night and advanced into the championship game against the Dominican Republic after beating two-time defending champion Japan. But, Phillips wasn't sad about being among the Reds again.
"I'm disappointed about losing. Being back, I missed the guys and missed the team," Phillips said on Tuesday morning. "Would I have loved to win the WBC? Of course. That's the goal. I wish I was still playing in it right now. Things didn't go that way. The better countries beat us. Now it's time for us to get ready for our real season and enjoy the rest of Spring Training."
After getting a couple of days of rest and his equipment finally arriving, Phillips was back in the Reds' lineup against the White Sox on Tuesday. He played five innings and went 2-for-3 with an RBI single in the fourth inning and two runs scored.
In six Classic games, Phillips batted .269 (7-for-26) and amassed countless more good memories from the experience.
"I'd do it again. It was fun," Phillips said. "It was more than I expected. I loved every second of it."
Phillips also found playing in those types of games to be much different than anything he's done before.
"At Spring Training, you're used to playing three innings, maybe five innings. There, you have to play all nine and try to win," Phillips said. "Instead of going out there and working on things for the season, you have to represent your country by winning. It was a lot of work. It was something I didn't think would be like that but it was awesome. It was a dream come true."
As for getting ready for the season, Phillips spent time with USA coaches Larry Bowa, Dale Murphy and Gerald Perry and also worked with Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins in the infield. He didn't think his preparation for the regular season would be negatively affected.
"It was fun and I got a lot of work in," Phillips said. "I learned a lot from those guys and hopefully it can help me during the season."
Mark Sheldon is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Mark My Word, and follow him on Twitter @m_sheldon. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Hi my name is Christen and I'm a quinoa addict.
This funny looking grain is actually a seed, a complete protein source and considered a super food. It's as easy to cook as white rice and the flavor benefits far out weigh i's counterpart any day.
My love affair with quinoa (pronounced like keen-wa) started over three years ago when I found out I was gluten intolerant. Searching for anything and everything that I could eat was a crucial quest at that time in order to "stay on the wagon". I discovered how very versatile it could be, subbing in for a more nutritious rice, used as pasta, flour, the list could go on and on. Bob's even has a few terrific cookbooks they offer like Quinoa 365 if you're looking for more ideas.
Another great thing? My kids love it! I think because of it's nutty flavor and fun look. It's also not sticky like rice can get so it stays fluffy and has great texture.
The Quinoa and Mixed Veggie Salad recipe I'm sharing today is good standby to have in your arsenal of quick and healthy weeknight meals. It comes together in 20 minutes and can be served as a main dish for a meatless meal, or is a great compliment to some sautéed fish or barbequed chicken.
A couple other variations we've done is adding cooked black beans for more protein or golden raisins to add a sweet balance with the curry dressing. Use whatever veggies you have on hand, the key is to have some with the crunch factor (like the carrots and bell pepper). Want to add some essential Omega 3's? Grind up a tablespoon of Bob's Chia Seeds and add to the dressing.
If you're worried that your kids would never eat a dish with this many vegetables, just give it a try. They may just surprise you. The more you present a variety of good-for-you foods, the easier it gets. Another trick is to make sure and dice the veggies extra small. I do this so my kids are less likely to try and pick them out. They just slip right in with each bite. We have to do what we can!
Make sure you come visit me over at life:styled, where every Monday I share a weekly menu that helps get you organized for your crazy week of school and work ahead.
Quinoa and Mixed Veggie Salad
- 1 ½ cups Bob's Red Mill Organic Quinoa
- 3 cups Water
- 1 large Bell Pepper (or 3 small)
- 2 Tomatoes
- 3 small Carrots
- 1 Avocado
- Juice of 1 Lemon
- ¼ cup seasoned Rice Vinegar
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 tsp Curry Powder
- 1 ½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp fresh ground Pepper
Add the quinoa and water together in a pot over high heat. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Allow to cool.
In the meantime, finely dice the bell pepper, tomatoes, carrots and avocado. Set aside.
In a small bowl mix the lemon juice, rice vinegar, olive oil, curry powder, salt and pepper. Wisk until well combined.
Mix the quinoa in a large bowl combined with the chopped veggies. Add dressing and toss to coat. Serve on a bed of lettuce.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Santa Cruz Warriors acquired forward Paul Carter from the Idaho Stampede in exchange for guard Carlon Brown and a fourth round pick in the 2013 NBA D-League Draft, the team announced Wednesday.
Carter, 25, has played nine games this season for the Stampede, averaging 3.0 points and 2.7 rebounds in 11.3 minutes played per game. The 6-foot-8, 200-pound forward, who played in the NBA Summer League with the Atlanta Hawks and was a member of the 2011 Utah Jazz training camp roster, averaged 10.8 points and 5.4 rebounds in 34 games last season with Idaho.
Brown, 21, was acquired by Santa Cruz via the affiliate rule after spending time at the Golden State Warriors training camp this season. He averaged 5.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists in six games with Santa Cruz.
Also on Wednesday, Golden State recalled guard/forward Kent Bazemore and forward/center Jeremy Tyler from Santa Cruz. Both players were assigned on Monday and participated in the team's 109-93 victory over the Sioux Falls Skyforce on Tuesday.
Thatcher Sammet and Kaijae Yee-Stephens each scored 17 points to help host Santa Cruz High drub Scotts Valley 85-16 in each squad's Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League opener.
Sammet added six rebounds, Jasper Lewin had 11 points and four steals, and Cameron Scholz had seven points and seven rebounds.
The Cardinals (6-7, 1-0) visit Soquel at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Alec Smith had five points to lead the Falcons (0-11, 0-1), who host Soquel at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
Mathews led all players with 20 points, DeVogelaere added 18 and Joe Maleta had 11.
The Sharks (11-2, 1-0) visit Aptos at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
Billy Mullins finished with 14 points for the Cougars (5-8, 0-1), who host Harbor at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
Scotts Valley shook off a slow start to win its SCCAL opener, dispatching Santa Cruz 67-39.
Scotts Valley (7-6, 1-0) trailed 10-7 after the first quarter but averaged 20 points per quarter over the rest of the game. The Falcons got 22 points from Angela Silver and 18 from Nadene Hart and will host Soquel at 7 p.m. Friday.
Ashley Larkin was the Cardinals' top scorer with seven points. Santa Cruz (6-6, 0-1) visits Soquel at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Clark recorded 12 points and 12 rebounds, Madison Rocha scored a game-high 14 points and Natalie Diaz added 13 for the Knights.
Soquel (11-2, 1-0) travels to Scotts Valley at 7 p.m. Friday.
The Mariners (4-7, 0-1) host St. Francis at 7 p.m. Friday.
Leah Viele-Verner led SLV with three points.
Payton McQuillan scored 26 points to key Cabrillo's 55-51 win over host Gavilan.
Nancy Fernandez made three 3-pointers and finished with 13 points and Dominique Bouknight had nine for the Seahawks (2-9), who host Chabot at 5 p.m. Friday.
A golden ticket to the prestigious Brooks PR Invitational arrived in the mail recently for San Lorenzo Valley High junior Anna Maxwell and Aptos senior Nikki Hiltz.
Only returning high school athletes who achieved one of the top 10 times in the nation in a track event during the 2012 season are sent golden tickets for the Feb. 26 meet at the University of Washington.
"It's a major boost for both of those kids," said SLV track and cross country coach Rob Collins.
Hiltz qualified in the 1,600 meters, the event in which she won the state championship as a junior in 4 minutes, 42 seconds, and the 800, where her personal record is 2:09. Maxwell qualified in the 800 (2:10 PR), the 1,600 (4:48 PR) and the 3,200 (10:21), but has chosen to run only the 1,600.
SLV's Cody Johnson is an alternate in the 800, where he holds the 12th fastest time of any returning prep runner.
Hiltz and Maxwell also received invitations last year.


text:
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Freezing rain and sleet made for a sloppy Christmas trek in parts of the nation's midsection, while residents along the Gulf Coast braced for thunderstorms, high winds and tornadoes that were doing damage in some areas.
Winds toppled a tree onto a pickup truck in the Houston area, killing the driver.
Icy roads already were blamed for a 21-vehicle pileup in Oklahoma, where authorities warned would-be travelers to stay home.
Trees fell on a few houses in central Louisiana's Rapides Parish but there were no injuries reported so far and crews were cutting trees out of roadways to get to people in their homes, said sheriff's Lt. Tommy Carnline.
Fog blanketed highways, including arteries in the Atlanta area where motorists slowed as a precaution. In New Mexico, drivers across the eastern plains had to fight through snow, ice and low visibility.
At least three tornadoes were reported in parts of Texas, though only one building was damaged, according to the National Weather Service. Tornado watches were in effect across southern Louisiana and Mississippi.
More than 180 flights nationwide were canceled by midday, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com.
More than half were canceled by American Airlines and its regional affiliate, American Eagle.
American is headquartered and has its biggest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
Meanwhile, a blizzard watch was posted for parts of Indiana and western Kentucky for storms expected to unfold Tuesday amid predictions of up to 4 to 7 inches of snow in coming hours.
Much of Oklahoma and Arkansas braced under a winter storm warning of an early mix of rain and sleet forecast to eventually turn to snow.
About a dozen counties in Missouri were under a blizzard warning from Tuesday night to noon Wednesday.
The holiday may conjure visions of snow and ice, but twisters this time of year are not unheard of.
Ten storm systems in the last 50 years have spawned at least one Christmastime tornado with winds of 113 mph or more in the South, said Chris Vaccaro, a National Weather Service spokesman in Washington, via email.
More headlines:
Snow, severe weather knock on Christmas Day.
India lockdown continues amid furor over gang rape.
Copyright 2012 by ClickOnDetroit.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Minority Populations
The Wisconsin Minority Health Program targets four diverse racial and ethnic minority populations: African American, Hispanic / Latino, Asian and American Indian. Together, these four groups make up an estimated 15% of Wisconsin's total population, and they are the referent populations in all data, programs, funding and initiatives of the Minority Health Program. Other minority groups we work with include Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT); people with disabilities; and disparate rural communities. The target populations are subject to change based on emerging trends in health disparities and the stated population focus of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health, and other federal, national, state and local initiatives.
Wisconsin's Minority Populations, 2000 and 2010
(number and percentage of total population)*
|Percent of total
|Percent of total
|African American
|American Indian
*Note: Race groups are non-Hispanic. Hispanics may be of any race.
Source: 2000 Census Summary File 1; 2010 Census Redistricting File and Census Quick Facts.
2000 Wisconsin population = 5,363,708.
2010 Wisconsin population = 5,686,986.
Minority Health Reports
From this page you can find links to the Department's statistical reports on the health of minority populations in Wisconsin. These reports have been prepared as part of the Minority Health Program.
- Healthiest Wisconsin 2020 Baseline and Health Disparities Report (February 2014) - Baseline data by topic for the HW2020 focus areas, and documentation of health disparities in Wisconsin populations and communities.
- Minority Health HIV/AIDS Disparities Profiles (March 2016)-Fact sheets outlining HIV/AIDS impacts on Black Men and Women in Milwaukee (PDF, 505 KB) , Hispanic/Latino Men and Women in Milwaukee (PDF, 395 KB) , Spanish Version: Hispanic/Latino Men and Women in Milwaukee (PDF, 294 KB) , Females in Wisconsin (PDF, 198 KB) , Youth Aged 13-24 in Wisconsin (PDF, 186 KB) , and American Indians in Wisconsin (PDF, 271 KB) .
- Minority Health Report, 2001-2005 P-45716 (PDF, 897 KB). This report, released in January 2008, presents statistics on the health of African American, American Indian, Asian, and Hispanic/Latino populations in Wisconsin. Most of the data in this report are for the time period 2001-2005.
- Detailed source tables for 2001-2005. These tables have been removed from the website. If you are interested in data from these tables, please contact the Minority Health Program. These detailed tables provided the basis for many of the figures in the Minority Health Report linked above. They are updated versions of tables originally presented in The Health of Racial and Ethnic Populations in Wisconsin, 1996-2000 (see below).
- The Health of Racial and Ethnic Populations in Wisconsin, 1996-2000. This report has been removed from the website. If you are interested in data from this report, please contact the Minority Health Program. This report, released in 2004, presented comprehensive data on the health of African American, American Indian, Asian, and Hispanic/Latino populations in Wisconsin. Most of the data in this report represent the time period 1996-2000.


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Investors considering a purchase of FBR & Co. ( FBRC) stock, but tentative about paying the going market price of $28.93/share, might benefit from considering selling puts among the alternative strategies at their disposal. One interesting put contract in particular, is the February 2014 put at the $22.50 strike, which has a bid at the time of this writing of 75 cents. Collecting that bid as the premium represents a 3.3% return against the $22.50 commitment, or a 5.7% annualized rate of return (at Stock Options Channel we call this the YieldBoost).
Top YieldBoost Puts of the S&P 500 »


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Shortly after marrying, John and Linda Armbruster built their first home in Wildwood, attracted to the area by the affordability and relative closeness to their new combined families. Almost 15 years later, that appeal has grown stronger as their family has grown, with three young girls: Julia, 9; Laura, 7; and Amanda, 6. John, a computer programmer, and Linda, a teacher at Conway School in Ladue, appreciate the family-oriented community and proximity to everything they need. We asked Linda to detail some of her family's favorite things about Wildwood.
What are some of your favorite spots around town?
We live very close to Town Center, and we use the extensive trail system that runs throughout the central part of Wildwood to walk up there. We enjoy going to the small movie theater there, B&B Theater, the frozen yogurt place, Twist, or Happy Go Lucky Outfitters, where they sell Life is Good clothing.
What's an ideal way to spend an afternoon in Wildwood?
We'd probably hit the Wildwood Greenway Trail with our bikes; or, if we're feeling more adventurous, try the trails in Rockwood Reservation. If we end up at Town Center, we'll stop to get ice cream, of course. We also use the Hamilton-Carr Greenway in the summer when we ride on the Wabash Frisco and Pacific Railway, which is a fabulous steam locomotive ride along the Meramec River—it's a great hidden treasure in Wildwood.
What is your family's favorite neighborhood tradition?
There are a lot of great family activities, but we never miss the Wildwood Easter Egg Hunt. There are a ton of families who participate and it's quite the sight to see those eggs disappear in a matter of minutes. It's a big event, with food, clowns and a band. Our kids enjoy it so much they ask about it every year.
Neighborhood Notes
Jeff Lottmann, Re/Max
Wildwood offers a perfect blend of recreation and entertainment with a true sense of community for a superior and sustainable quality of life. From affordable neighborhoods to luxury living, and first-time home buyers to empty-nesters, the city can accommodate any life an evolving family desires.


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Synchronized, instant notification on iPhones, iPads, Android devices and laptops.
Wireless sensor tags connect events in physical world, e.g. motion, door/window opened/closed, temperature or humidity exceeding limits, to your smart phones, tablets and any Web browsers anywhere in the world with Internet access. An event is instantly received on all devices (unless you configure it not send to some). through push notification, no messaging charges apply. The wireless sensor tag is a real-time, cloud based system, so any change you make from one device instantly appears on your other devices: watch what this means .
KumoApp currently provides native support for WeMo switches/bulbs, Honeywell WiFi thermostats, Nest thermostats, and Dropcam integration. The WirelessTag IFTTT Channel allows you to link with over a hundred types of Internet connected products and services, although with slightly more latency than KumoApp. Other home automation systems can be integrated through Web service API or custom URL calling on event.
Small, inexpensive and years of battery life.
A wireless sensor tag is small, inexpensive and has up to years of battery life depending on settings and usage. See technical spec . These are possible because all the power hungry tasks are performed by the Ethernet Tag Manager, which is plugged into the wall power and to your Internet connection. Each wireless sensor tag focuses simply on sensing the physical world and sending the information back to the Ethernet Tag Manager up to 200m (700ft) away, in the most energy efficient way possible. Maximum 40 wireless sensor tags can be associated with one Ethernet Tag Manager. See technical spec.
Highly sensitive.
Each wireless motion sensor tag has a 3D digital magnetic sensor that can precisely measure the orientation of the tag (referenced to the magnetic field of the Earth) with a resolution less than 1 degree. Periodic measurement detects the slightest orientation change resulting from the tag being touched/moved. Watch demo of sensitivity test . In magnetically noisy environments (such as near a moving magnet!), the user can reduce the sensitivity up to several orders of magnitude to eliminate false alarms.
Ultra low power.
Unlike other acceleration sensor based motion sensors, the sensor does not have to be always on in order to capture a disturbance at its exact moment. This patent pending technology of angle based motion sensing trades off a few seconds in notification delay for years of battery life with a tiny coin cell battery, allows each motion sensor tag to be small, light and thin. The user picks a different trade-off between response delay and battery life that best suits the application, individually for each wireless motion sensor tag.
Three-dimensional angle detection
3D magnetic sensor detects not only tilt, but also horizontal rotation. Therefore, it does not matter which direction the tag is placed with respect to the rotation or disturbance to be detected. Watch demo.
When configured in "Door/gate mode", each tag may be attached to any moving surface of to garage doors or regular doors in any orientation, or simply thrown into your fridge door pocket to monitor if the door is open or closed. You can configure the Web app, Android or iOS app to speak to you when a door is opened, opened for too long, or until door is closed from the Motion Sensor Options (iOS/Web/Android).
When configured in "motion detection mode", each tag may be attached to remotes, keys etc to receive notifications and access historical statistics when they were used.
Temperature monitoring with battery life in mind.
Wireless Sensor Tags are designed to maximize battery life. Since transmitting data over the air uses a lot more energy than reading from the internal temperature sensor, each Tag transmits only when temperature has become too high, too low or returned to normal range. To this end, each Tag has built-in algorithm with hysteresis (to prevent back-and-forth transmissions when temperature is at the boundary) to determine if one of these three events has occurred, and transmitting only then and if temperature monitoring is enabled.
You can program the upper and lower temperature threshold and calibrate out temperature sensor offset from the "Temperature Sensor Options" (iOS, Web/Android).
Automatic temperature logging.
When "Auto-Ping" or "Update every..." is enabled for out-of-range notification, the tag appends the latest temperature sensor reading to the status information packet transmitted. Since the radio channel to the Tag Manager only needs to be made ready once, the additional battery drain is minimal.
You can review historical temperature at each tag by tapping the "Temperature Stats" button in tag detail screen (iOS, Web/Android ). You can also download the entire captured raw data as one CSV file for custom processing.
Click/tap and go digging.
Because each wireless sensor tag is so small, anybody can easily lose one. Tap the beep button in the iOS/Android/Web app, and the tag will keep beeping until it is picked up. All you need to do is track down the beeping sound and pick up the tag, and the beeping will stop automatically. See details: iOS or, Web/Android.
Attach the tag to key chains, put inside your wallet, or strap to TV remote controls, and never waste time looking for these items again.
Customizable response delay and battery life.
By using the Wireless Settings, you can change trade-off between battery life and range (slower data-rate results in longer range but worse battery life since it takes longer to transmit/receive), battery life and response time.
For example, if it is something you only look for once a year, and want the battery to last several years, set it to "within 9 sec" response time, and "38.4kbps" data-rate, and battery life is estimated to be 85 month (about half of that when motion sensor is armed.) .
Smallest PIR sensor with professional grade reliability.
Measuring only 1.1'' wide, almost its entire width is occupied by the lens of super reliable and sensitive Panasonic low power PIR sensor module. Our customers tell us this sensor has better sensitivity and less false alarm than any other PIR motion sensor they have tried.
13-bit temperature and humidity sensor.
PIR KumoSensor integrates high accuracy/resolution 13-bit temperature and humidity sensor, which allows you to cloud-record temperature and humidity data month after month, and get notified anywhere in the world when temperature or humidity is out of normal range. If you have a Honeywell WiFi or Nest thermostat, you can configure it track and regulate temperature at the sensor.
3x battery life.
Despite its small size, the wireless PIR KumoSensor includes the CR2450 battery which is enough to last for 3~4 years at the default settings. The industry leading low power consumption of the Panasonic PIR sensor module combined with "low power receive mode" in the radio makes the sensor draw less than 15μA average current with default setting.
Contact based sensor provides immediate response at open and close.
Reed KumoSensor sends you notification immediately when it is moved away from/back to a matching magnet piece. The contact sensor triggers when the two pieces are close, but they do not have to be completely in contact. This allows you to adjust the installation position to define the opening threshold.
The powerful combination of immediate sensor response and the low latency of KumoApp, allows you to turn the Reed KumoSensor into a switch for WeMo light , among many other potential applications.
13-bit temperature/humidity sensor and external water proof probe connector.
Reed KumoSensor not only integrates the same 13-bit temperature and humidity sensor used in other tags, but also supports connecting the most widely used, DS18B20 series water proof temperature probe for logging/notification of pool temperatures, for example.
3x battery life.
The wireless Reed KumoSensor includes the CR2450 battery which is enough to last for 3~4 years at the default settings.
Resistive water detection and capacitive moisture level sensor.
This tag has a resistive sensor at its tip to detect water presence, and capacitive sensors across the exposed portion of the circuit board to measure dielectric constant of the surrounding soil or liquid (for water level).
The moisture level is derived from measured capacitance after a two point calibration by user to define, what kind of condition is "0%" and what is "100%".
The resistive water detector is immediate, while the moisture level measurement is taken and compared against adjustable thresholds at a user configured interval.
Longer battery life, water proof.
By removing the piezo buzzer from the tag, we made room for a CR2450 battery which has 3x capacity than the battery used in our regular motion sensor tags. The circuit board, together with the battery have a water-proof coating. The battery will last for typically 3 to 4 years is not replaceable.
Get notified when each tag goes out of range and returns back in range.
By setting "Auto-Ping" or "Update every...", each Tag is configured to transmit a status information back to the Tag Manager at a certain interval. Upon receiving such status information, Tag Manager transmits an acknowledgement response back to each Tag. When the Tag does not receive the acknowledgement, it repeats the status information transmission for many times before giving up and enter a hibernate mode.
The system only decides that the tag is missing and send out notifications when it does not receive the status information by the estimated time plus the time needed for the retransmissions. Therefore, even when because of temporary interruption a single transmission is not successful, very reliably the system can detect if a Tag has gone out of range or gone missing.
See how to receive out-of-range notification: iOS or, Web/Android.


text: So this is what it looked like in the beginning. Had to change his radiator to a driver side exit. He already had a cross flow, so I moved the bottom exit to the driver side and put a divider in the radiator and made it a double pass cross flow.He has a drive side inlet like a GM to begin with.


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Pharmacokinetics of Miltefosine in Children and Adults (PK)
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
|Cutaneous Leishmaniasis
|Drug: Miltefosine
|Phase 4
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose: Treatment
|Official Title:
|Pharmacokinetics of Miltefosine in Children and Adults: Implications for the Treatment of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Colombia.
- Intracellular and plasma concentration of miltefosine [ Time Frame: Participants will be followed up to 26 weeks. ]
- Parasite burden in lesions and extralesional tissues. [ Time Frame: Participants will be followed up to 26 weeks ]
|Study Start Date:
|October 2011
|Study Completion Date:
|December 2015
|Primary Completion Date:
|May 2014 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
|Assigned Interventions
Experimental: Miltefosine
Miltefosine PO at a dose of 1.8-2.5 mg/kg/day for 28 days
Drug: Miltefosine
Children (2-12 years of age) and adults (18-60 years of age) will receive Miltefosine PO at a dose of 1.8-2.5 mg/kg/day for 28 days.
Other Name: pharmacokinetic
Detailed Description:
An open-label phase IV clinical trial of miltefosine, designed to evaluate intracellular and plasma drug pharmacokinetics in children and adults using a population pharmacokinetics design. Two study groups have been defined: 1) children 2-12 years of age (n=30) and 2) adults 18-60 years of age (n=30) with confirmed parasitological diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis. The participants will receive supervised standard treatment with miltefosine: 1.8 - 2.5 mg/Kg of weight for 28 days.
Miltefosine concentration will be determined in plasma and Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell (PBMCs), from 3 or 10ml peripheral blood samples in children and adults respectively. Sampling will be conducted pre-dosing at days 0,1,15 and 29 during treatment, and at months 1, 2, 3 and 6 post-treatment.
A population pharmacokinetics analysis will be performed using a non-linear model of mixed effects with the software Nonlinear Mixed-effects Model (NONMEM), R and Piranha. Parasite burden will be determined by 7SLRNA Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) of Leishmania from swab samples of lesions and extralesional tissues before and at the end of treatment. The relationship between pharmacokinetics and parasite persistence/burden will be determined by correlation analysis and pharmacodynamic modeling.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|2 Years to 60 Years (Child, Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Age: 2-12 years of age, or 18-60 years of age
- Weight greater than 10 kg
- Parasitologic confirmation of cutaneous leishmaniasis
- Normal hepatic and kidney function
Exclusion Criteria:
- Pregnant or lactating women, and women who are planning to conceive during the study or that reject the use of birth control methods.
- Use of drugs with antileishmanial potential during the previous 6 months, including pentavalent antimonials, amphotericin B, miltefosine, and pentamidine
- Mucocutaneous or visceral leishmaniasis
- For female children, menses or other evidence of reproductive maturity
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01462500
|Corporación Centro Internacional de entrenamiento e Investigaciónes Médicas
|Cali, Valle, Colombia, 5930
|Principal Investigator:
|Nancy C Saravia, PhD
|Centro Internacional de Entrenamiento e Investigaciones Médicas, CIDEIM
|Responsible Party:
|Centro Internacional de Entrenamiento e Investigaciones Médicas
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01462500 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|Study First Received:
|October 25, 2011
|Last Updated:
|August 18, 2016
Keywords provided by Centro Internacional de Entrenamiento e Investigaciones Médicas:
cutaneous leishmaniasis
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous
Euglenozoa Infections
Protozoan Infections
Parasitic Diseases
Skin Diseases, Parasitic
Skin Diseases, Infectious
Skin Diseases
Antifungal Agents
Anti-Infective Agents
Antineoplastic Agents
Antiprotozoal Agents
Antiparasitic Agents
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017


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Safety Study of the PrePex Device for Non-Surgical Adult Male Circumcision During Phased in National Implementation in an Effort to Prevent the Spread of HIV (RMC-07)
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
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- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
It is well known from a range of observational and epidemiological studies that the lifetime risk of acquiring HIV among males can be significantly reduced via circumcision. Numerous papers on the topic were published in the past two decades to elevate HIV prevention awareness, especially in sub-Saharan countries.
Rwanda has a national plan to offer a voluntary circumcision program to 2 million adult men in 2 years as part of a comprehensive HIV prevention package. To achieve this goal, the government is continuing to study the PrePex™ device, developed to enable rapid adult male circumcision in resource limited settings.
In February 2012, Rwanda has received WHO recommendation to scale up Adult Male male circumcision (MC) using the PrePex device. Based on WHO recommendation (Use of devices for adult male circumcision in public health HIV prevention programs: Conclusions of the Technical Advisory Group on Innovations in Male Circumcision, March 2012, WHO/HIV/2012.7), which recommended that the phased implementation include an active surveillance of the first 1000 clients to identify and record all adverse events and side-effects based on standardized definitions. The active surveillance may change to passive surveillance after the first 1000 clients, if the incidence of events is reassuringly low, as determined by independent review.
|Male Circumcision
|Device: PrePex™ device
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose: Prevention
|Official Title:
|One-Arm, Open Label, Prospective Safety Study of the PrePex Device for Non-Surgical Adult Male Circumcision During Phased in National Implementation in an Effort to Prevent the Spread of HIV.
- To assess the safety of scaling up Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) with the PrePex device by assessing the rate of moderate and severe AEs and allowing the program to continue with passive surveillance [ Time Frame: 2 weeks ]
|Study Start Date:
|January 2013
|Study Completion Date:
|February 2013
|Primary Completion Date:
|February 2013 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
|Assigned Interventions
Experimental: PrePex™ device
Adult male circumcision by the PrePex™ device
Device: PrePex™ device
PrePex™ device for adult male circumcision programs. The PrePex™ device is designed to enable conducting male circumcision procedure that is bloodless with no anesthesia and no sutures.
Detailed Description:
Male circumcision can reduce the lifetime risk of HIV infection by 60% in high risk areas such as Sub Saharan Africa. In 2009, the US Government (USAID) reported that scaling up male circumcision to reach 80 percent of adult and newborn males in 14 African countries by 2015 could potentially avert more than 4 million adult HIV infections between 2009 and 2025 and yield annual cost savings of US$1.4 - 1.8 billion after 2015, with a total net savings of US$20.2 billion between 2009 and 2025.
There are over 38 million adolescent and adult males in Africa that could benefit from male circumcision for HIV prevention. The challenge Africa faces is how to safely scale up a surgical procedure in resources limited settings.
The government of Rwanda has a national plan to decrease the incidence rate of HIV by 50%, and to support this, needs to conduct 2 million voluntary adult male circumcisions in 2 years, a nearly impossible goal with surgical methods. Hence, the government embarked upon a pre-safety and pivotal study to test The PrePex™ device, a new device and methodology for rapid adult male circumcision in resource limited settings.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|21 Years to 49 Years (Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Ages - 21 to 49 years
- Subject wants to be circumcised
- Uncircumcised
- Able to understand the study procedures and requirements
- Agrees to abstain sexual intercourse for 6 weeks post device removal
- Agrees to abstain from masturbation for 2 weeks post device removal
- Agrees to return to the health care facility for follow-up visits (or as instructed) after his circumcision for a period of 1 week post removal (2 weeks total)
- Subject able to comprehend and freely give informed consent for participation in this study and is considered by the investigator to have good compliance for the study
- Subject agrees to anonymous video and photographs of the procedure and follow up visits
Exclusion Criteria:
- Active genital infection, anatomic abnormality or other condition, which in the opinion of the investigator prevents the subject from undergoing a circumcision
- Subject with the following diseases/conditions: phimosis, paraphimosis, warts under the prepuce, torn or tight frenulum, narrow prepuce, hypospadias, epispadias
- Known bleeding / coagulation abnormality, uncontrolled diabetes, by questionnaire
- Subject who have an abnormal penile anatomy or any penile diseases
- Subject that to the opinion of the investigator is not a good candidate
- Subject does not agree to anonymous video and photographs of the procedure and follow up visits
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01921608
|Rwanda Military Hospital
|Kigali, Rwanda
|Principal Investigator:
|Vincent Mutabazi, M.D.
|Rwanda Ministry of Health
Additional Information:
|Responsible Party:
|Vincent Mutabazi, Director of the Research Grants Unit, Ministry of Health, Rwanda
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01921608 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|Study First Received:
|February 17, 2013
|Last Updated:
|August 12, 2013
Keywords provided by Vincent Mutabazi, Ministry of Health, Rwanda:
Male Circumcision
HIV Prevention
HIV Infections
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017


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In an age where we buy everything from hot chickens to frozen yogurt at the supermarket, it can be refreshing to explore the home baking aisle. Then go home ready to make your own cookies.
Take a stand against profit-driven global expansion: bake your own biscuits, mark them with our "homemade" cookie Stamper. Test the stamp on the included cookie recipe.
Please remember to add postal time (2-3 working days) to obtain a complete estimate of delivery to your door.
You will receive an email to confirm when your item has been sent.
You can also check the status of your order and individual items by accessing My Account details and following the prompts.
Please allow 10 working days from dispatch of your order before notifying us of any late deliveries.
It may be advisable to check with your neighbours to see if a parcel has been left with them, check any outhouses you might have where it may be left if it cannot fit through your letterbox and contact your local sorting office to see if the item has been returned to the depot as undelivered and awaiting collection.
Please see our returns policy.
Where reviews refer to foods or cosmetic products, results may vary from person to person. Customer reviews are independent and do not represent the views of The Hut Group.
(15 Reviews)
The dough stays stuck to the stamp...
Lovely strong ,Large stamp for cookies & biscuits, no mistaking that they are "home-made! Highly recommended for the keen cook......
Really loved this, put lots of flour on it to avoid sticking.
I absolutely love this Cookie Stamp. It adds a personal touch to your cookies and other treats.
What a wonderful little device this Cookie Stamp is for a cook who loves to be an individual by showing her real home-made efforts are not baked in vain. This is easy to use whether you have made the pastry or biscuits to the exact size or not. It's a perfect present for the hostess who already thinks she has it all!
The Cookie Stamp is easy to use, and the recipe included with the stamp was very tasty. Everyone I shared the cookies with was very impressed and wondered how I'd made such professional looking biscuits. I didn't tell them how easy it was!
The Cookie Stamp is nice to use on homemade goods.
This Cookie Stamp was larger than I was expecting which was a great surprise. I love baking with this, it's lots of fun, easy to clean and the wording is clear when baked.
The Cookie Stamp is very well made and it really works! I absolutely love it and it's worth every penny.
I bought the cookie stamp as a present for my husband who's recently started baking. A great fun idea and although the homemade stamp on the cooked biscuit wasn't the clearest it just means he'll have to make some more to get it right! Can't wait to give it a go myself and will buy other family bakers one as a fun gift. Our recipe consistency was the only reason it didn't get 5 stars - it looks and feels good and is easy to clean.
The Cookie Stamp does exactly what it is supposed to do. The recipe is excellent and using golf ball sized balls of mixture, will produce 4" sized baked cookies. Don't leave the mixture in the fridge for too long otherwise it becomes unworkable. The stamp works well if dipped in caster sugar first before each stamping. The mixture does spread on cooking so I could only manage 5-6 per tray. The pattern remains readable and the cookies are chewy not crisp. Easy for kids to use. Great product, great price!
I bought the Cookie Stamp as a bit of fun for the grandchildren. They were very impressed as to what grandma could do with the biscuits.
Very pleased with this Cookie Stamp. It does exactly what it's meant to. I used it to make Norwegisn cardamom and lemon cookies from the Hairy Bakers Bakeathon series. Were good enough to gift wrap and give to friends as unusual presents.
I really enjoyed this Cookie Stamp. The actual stamp was bigger than I was expecting so it makes very large biscuits, yum! I have yet to try the recipes that are on the attached card, instead I made a shortbread style biscuit. It worked well, but you needed to press quite hard to get a clear imprint over the whole biscuit. It works best on the thicker biscuits. I would recommend it and I'm excited to try it out using different cookie/biscuit recipes.
I got this as a Christmas prescent as I love kitchen gadgets. I made the recipe that was included in the packaging and then stamped them with the Cookie Stamp. They look so professional and great, so all my bistcuits will get stamped from now on. Well worth it.


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Five majors comprise the public health program at Rochester:
Regardless of major, our goal is to educate you in an interdisciplinary framework of understanding and responding to global, regional, and local public health challenges.
The curriculum integrates a wide array of disciplines that support the field of public health. The majors are united by a shared set of core competencies. Each major also incorporates a variety of disciplines that support the research needs of the specific major.
Of the four majors, three qualify as majors in the social sciences (epidemiology; health, behavior, and society; and health policy), one qualifies as a major in the natural sciences (environmental health), and one qualifies as a major in the humanities (bioethics). In addition, we offer four minors, each comprising six courses.


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The New School
Program Assessment Series: Architectural Design BFA
Faculty in the architecture program
used qualitative assessment methods when reviewing senior projects – no rubrics
involved! – to determine whether the graduating seniors applied and evidenced
"an insightful consideration of the ethical issues of architectural design as a
discipline with potent social and economic force that are incorporated into
their design." Alexis Kraft, assistant professor of Architecture and Director, BFA Architectural Design/BFA Interior Design, will discuss
how the assessment was conducted, as well as the findings.
This workshop is open to members of the University community only.
79 Fifth Avenue, Room 1618
Free; no tickets or reservations required; seating is first-come first-served
Carolyn Comiskey, email@example.com,
212-229-8947 x2758
Email Updates
Browse Events by School


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BabyFirst Launches September 30 on AT&T U-verse TV
Award-Winning Tot-Parent Television Network To Be Offered On Channel 310
Dallas, Texas, September 26, 2013
BabyFirst, the child development TV network devoted to delivering high-quality child development programming to tots and their parents, makes its debut on AT&T U-verse® TV Sept. 30.* Aaron Slator, President, Content and Advertising, AT&T, and Guy Oranim, Chief Executive Officer of BabyFirst made the announcement Thursday.
The award-winning network will be included in the U-family and U300 packages and above, reaching more than 3 million homes. It will be available on Channel 310 in Standard Definition.
The launch of BabyFirst on AT&T U-Verse brings the network's reach to 38 million homes in the U.S. BabyFirst airs in more than 35 countries.
"We are delighted to collaborate with AT&T U-verse, an innovative and fast growing TV operator, to bring BabyFirst programming to its subscribers nationwide," said Oranim. "We commend the AT&T U-verse executive team for its appreciation of educational children's content and dedication to offering parents the variety and channel selection they seek."
Developed for babies, toddlers and parents, BabyFirst shows inspire a variety of developmental skills. BabyFirst focuses on the parent-child interaction. It has earned critical acclaim for its effectiveness in introducing growing children to the basic learning building blocks, including vocabulary, numbers, music, colors, art and much more.
"BabyFirst has built an impressive viewing audience of young families nationwide. We are pleased to offer this unique, high quality child development network to our AT&T U-verse subscribers," said Ryan Smith, Vice President, Content Acquisition, AT&T.
AT&T U-verse TV is the fastest growing TV provider in the U.S.* and U-verse is a nearly $12 billion annualized revenue stream in only seven years since its initial launch in 2006. AT&T U-verse TV was recently named Frost & Sullivan Video Company of the Year. For additional information on AT&T U-verse - or to find out if it's available in your area - visit www.att.com/u-verse.
Geographic and service restrictions apply to AT&T U-verse services. Call or go to www.att.com/u-verse to see if you qualify.


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IBM's London "Linux on Power" event, held on the evening of September 22nd in central London at the Planetarium, began at 7.00 p.m.
The start of the night
I, along with about another fifty attendees were marched inside, issued with a badge with our name on each and told to make our way to the foyer where IBM treated us to free drinks and hors d'oeuvres. We mingled, chatted and drank for about an hour. There were a couple of PCs running a web browser pointing at IBM's OpenPower Project home page and an IBM technician showing off and explaining a new Power dual-core PC and answering questions about it.
Free food and drinks were supplied
"Linux on Power"?
At about 8.00 p.m. we were herded into the main Planetarium itself, where after a very generalized introduction we were treated to an excellent show demonstrating some of the latest Digistar technologies used to generate Planetarium shows. First up was "Journey to Infinity", where we "travelled" through our solar system, then the galaxy and finally the universe. We were then given a demonstration of graphical abilities that the presenter had put together which successfully emulated a white knuckle ride through space. Impressive as these shows were, there was some confusion as to what they had to do with "Linux on Power". The IBM reps didn't seem to be able to enlighten us to that either.
The night concludes
After the show, and some questions about it, we were guided back down to the foyer where we had a choice of an Italian or English buffet, or in the case of greedy people like myself, both. After another hour and a half of mingling, eating, drinking, talking and generally having a good time, it was time for me to leave and go home. On the way out IBM gave all attendees a Linux t-shirt.
Eating, drinking, mingling and being merry
Hang on! What just happened?
The evening was pleasant. We were wined, dined and generally entertained well. And, I appreciate the effort IBM put into the event, both in terms of manpower and cost (they didn't charge for the evening). However, I felt they could have focused more on Linux for Power than they did. We were given no literature. And although the Planetarium show was entertaining it had nothing to do with Power itself. In fact, during the event, I needed to hunt down the IBM rep in order to ask him for information about it.
Further confusion was caused by the fact that the PCs displaying OpenPower's home page were running Microsoft's XP Professional and Internet Explorer! Needless to say that the attendees made sure that Mozilla Firefox had been installed on each machine by the end of the night, as had PuTTy. It would've been far more appropriate if these machines were running a Linux desktop. It wouldn't have been difficult to arrange—booting from a Knoppix or Ubuntu-Live CD would have done the trick if nothing else.
IBM expert answering questions regarding his Power machine
From what I understand through my conversation with the IBM rep, IBM are pushing Power hard, and integral to that is the presence of GNU/Linux and free software. What they're trying to do, among other things, is engage the free software community to port applications to that platform, and to encourage them to write new applications for it. So it seems the planetarium event was was an attempt at a bond-forming exercise between IBM and the free software community in order to assist with this goal.
In order to promote porting and creation of applications within the community, IBM have created "OpenPower". Once I discovered what it was I actually found it to be quite exciting. I was told that what IBM have done is make available a few Power servers free of charge for people to port, compile and test their programs, in order to ensure they function on them. Whatever IBM's faults were in getting their message across during the evening, I can assure anyone interested, that they are re-stating their commitment to the free software community and GNU/Linux and placing their money where their mouth is.
All in all it was an enjoyable evening, although it seemed to be more of a "community bonding" exercise rather than a presentation of "Linux on Power" and "OpenPower". As far as I was concerned, it was a success (but then I asked the right questions). Whether it will be a success for IBM will depend to a large extent on the response the free software community gives them.
My daughter's first job as a model showing the free tee-shirt
IBM's OpenPower home page is well worth a visit if you are involved in free software development. And it's a concept to be supported if you are a free software advocate.


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Fairfax County Receives Top Award in 2012 Digital Counties Survey
July 17, 2012
- County receives national technology award as the leading jurisdiction of its size.
- Annual energy savings of more than $300,000 being realized.
On Monday, July 16, Fairfax County was recognized as the best in the nation in the 2012 Digital Counties Survey for all jurisdictions with a population greater than 500,000. The award was presented at the National Association of Counties annual conference in Pittsburgh, Pa., to Supervisor Gerry Hyland, Supervisor Penny Gross, and Deputy County Executive Pat Harrison on behalf of the county.
Department of Information Technology Director Wanda Gibson credits "tech-savvy constituents, good county leadership, incredible employees and effective information technology investments" for moving Fairfax County's technology initiatives forward. Fairfax County also implemented a modern Enterprise Resources Planning system that further consolidated multiple business functions between both the County and Fairfax County Public Schools.
The award announcement noted Fairfax County as a leader in several initiatives:
- A number of mobile apps and services available in the hands of residents. Residents can tap into emergency alerts, local child-care availability, land use data, transit information, public facility locations and more.
- A large volume data consolidation effort unifying structured and unstructured land use data, resulting in significant time savings for both staff and the public.
- Saving $300,000 annually from energy programs, which include remote power management of computing resources, virtualizing servers and consolidating data storage.
- Provisioning applications out to departments through its private cloud, which the county hopes to extend to other local governments in the future.
- Leading local interoperability efforts in the Northern Virginia area by enabling the Public Safety Data Exchange system, which allows multiple jurisdictions to share emergency 9-1-1 call data, bringing efficiencies to regional emergency response. The time required to dispatch the appropriate emergency responders has been cut in some cases by 20 to 50 percent.
- Leading the way for interconnectivity of fiber networks between multiple Northern Virginia local governments.
The Digital Counties Survey evaluates localities on their ability to demonstrate successful outcomes through the strategic use of technology. Winning jurisdictions aligned goals with strategy, showed measurable benefits and improvement over the prior year, utilized innovative solutions, and demonstrated a commitment to collaboration. The evaluation and awards are given through a partnership between the National Association of Counties, Government Technology magazine and the Center for Digital Government.
More Information:


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The Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce will host its monthly Coffee Network from 8 to 9 a.m. Thursday at Susie K's Caf, 145 E. Main St. Ravenna.
The guest speaker will be Portage County Engineer Michael Marozzi.
Visitors will have a chance to meet a variety of contacts each month and enjoy a cup of coffee. They should bring business cards and literature, and express how the chamber can help their businesses.
For more information, call Jack Ferguson, executive director of the chamber, at 330-296-3886.


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Art Major Concentrations
Drawing-Painting 30 hours in painting (studio)
Graphic Design 30 hours in graphic design
Combined Studio 36 hours (18 hours in two studio areas of Drawing, Painting, or Graphic Design)
Art Electives Balance of required courses
Senior Exhibition Graduating B.F.A. students must participate in a B.F.A. exhibition in the gallery during their senior year


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QUARRY Bank Musical Theatre Society need a director, musical director and choreographer to work on an upcoming production of The King and I.
The show will run from June 2-6 at Brierley Hill Civic Hall.
Kath Head, the society's publicity officer, said: "If you would like to work with a group of forward thinking, dynamic people and feel you are able to offer a great amount of skill and experience to the production team roles, then we look forward to hearing from you."
The deadline for applications is September 26.
Anyone interested in the positions, should email email@example.com.


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Avery® Priority Pocket File Folder 73510, Assorted, Letter Size, Pack of 24Product Number: 73510
Make sure your important documents and reminders area always in sight with our essential Priority Pocket File Folders. No more "out of sight, out of mind" with these unique folders that feature a clear partial pocket on the front so you can keep vital items in view. It's also a great place to store documents that need to be readily accessible, such as to-do lists and routing lists or smaller items like receipts and business cards. With these file folders you'll never lose sight of what's important.
Product Description:


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William and Cleo (Wilkerson) Allen will celebrate their 50th anniversary on Saturday from 1 to 3:30 p.m. at Full Gospel Outreach Church. The celebration is open to family and friends. No gifts, please. The church is at 14790 U.S. Highway 19 in Chiefland.
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the Chiefland Citizen, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
Click the question mark below to see where your account ID appears on your mailing label.
If you are new to the award winning Chiefland Citizen and wish to get a subscription or simply gain access to our online content then please enter your ZIP code below and continue to setup your account.
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Wagyu is not only delicious, it is also healthier than other varieties of beef. Health experts have found that Wagyu beef possesses a ratio of mono-saturated to saturated fat that is better than in other beef, and has a higher level of a beneficial fatty acid called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA).
Rastelli's Wagyu beef starts with Wagyu cattle that are naturally raised using stringent breeding and dietary practices by select ranchers in Australia. These cattle are fed the traditional Japanese diet of natural corn, alfalfa, barley and wheat straw. No hormones, growth promoters or antibiotics are ever used. The beef is then hand-trimmed and perfectly portioned by trained butchers at Rastelli's state-of-the-art, USDA certified processing facility. Then the beef is flash frozen and individually sealed, maintaining it at the peak of perfection for up to 12 months.
Rastelli's all-natural, center cut Wagyu Kobe Strip Steak is prized for its high-quality and unique taste and texture. You will find this beef to be next-level delicious. Simply defrost then grill or sear and serve with demi-glace or your favorite sauce.
Rastelli steaks are flash frozen and shipped with dry ice for safe delivery to your door; We guarantee it! Rastelli items are shipped from a dedicated fulfillment center that specializes in steaks. A cost of $12.99 per address is applied for Rastelli orders. This cost is separate from shipping charges that apply to non-Rastelli items in your cart. No incremental costs apply as you add additional Rastelli items to cart, so order more Rastelli items and save on shipping. Free standard shipping on Rastelli items totalling over $150. Surcharges apply for expedited services. Lower 48 states only.


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iHerb Customer Reviews
Better sleep too
Verified Purchase
Better sleep too
The guaifenesin helped with the mucus drainage as expected but what was a pleasant surprise was much better sleep with no after effects.
Was this review helpful to you?
Better sleep too
Posted by iHerb Customer on Jan 21, 2008 | Verified Purchase
The guaifenesin helped with the mucus drainage as expected but what was a pleasant surprise was much better sleep with no after effects.
Best Ever
Posted by iHerb Customer on May 23, 2009 | Verified Purchase
This stuff really works to decongest my chest and help me breathe better. Gave it to my grandson and he fell in love with it. He had been stopped up all day and when we got home I gave him one pill. In no time he was better and ask if it was really possible it could work that fast!!!!! He kept on until his Mom ordered him some. He had asthma since he was a baby. I love it.
Great Product for a Fantastic Price
Posted by priyanka on Nov 22, 2012 | Verified Purchase
This product has many uses, though the main one is to thin mucous secretions which it does well. It has also been used in Fibromyalgia to reduce pain. Dr Amy uses it frequently in her protocol to help bring minerals back into balance. Haven't seen a better price anywhere else!
The most valuable upper-respiratory infection product ever made!!!
Posted by iHerb Customer on Oct 06, 2013 | Verified Purchase
I've been purchasing this product for several years from i-herb. Every time my family gets an upper-respiratory type of cold bug, we start taking this immediately to keep the mucous secretions thin in our lungs and sinuses. We have not had to go to the doctor or take antibiotics for any cold bug since the year 2000!!! Along with other herbals that we take for immune support, this is the one product that helps us avoid getting an infection in our lungs or sinuses!!! Excellent!
It really works!
Posted by iHerb Customer on Feb 19, 2011 | Verified Purchase
After over 10 years of going from specialist to specialist: Gastroenterologists; Ear, Nose and Throat doctors, Accupunture treatments, and specialized clinics, I was referred to Air Power. It worked from the very first time I dosed. The ongoing mucuous which is identified with eastern medicine as plum pit syndrome,disappeared. This mucous is one that cannot be cleared out by coughing and expelling, because it's like it's not really there. It's uncomfortable, annoying, and tiring. I am finally relieved of these symptoms. I am so happy I found Air-Power!
The best stuff for sinus headaches and infections
Posted by iHerb Customer on Nov 29, 2011 | Verified Purchase
I'm so glad I found your website and you sell Air-Power. It stays sold out at our local health food store. This stuff is great for sinus headaches and sinus infections. I used to have to go to the doctor at least twice a year for sinus problems but since I've been taking Air-Power, I havent had to go to the doctor in three years. Plus you sell it at a reasonable price and shipping is fast. Thanks a lot.
great expectorant
Posted by iHerb Customer on Apr 19, 2010 | Verified Purchase
I use this to help control my sons asthma when it flares up. Helps to remove mucus from respiratory track. The marshmallow also helps to soothe. Better than any prescription you can buy. My family also ALWAYS uses this for colds as an expectorant. LOVE IT!
Enzymatic Therapy, Air Power, 100 Tablets
Posted by iHerb Customer on Jan 14, 2009 | Verified Purchase
Can't say enough about how good this product is! Has helped me through challenging allergy seasons. It's the only supplement that I have found to be safe for me as I am epileptic and am hyper-sensitive to stimulants normally found in decongestants.
Air Power - Respiratory Helper
Posted by iHerb Customer on Jul 09, 2012 | Verified Purchase
I dosed up on these rather large dry capsule shaped pills - in line with the instructions. Ended up chewing them to break down to manageable size to swallow. Developed negative reaction from my chest upward I felt I was in this pharmaceutical haze. My feet also felt weird sensations. Not a good experience at the time. Not achieving the results I expected having read other reviews and I've abandoned them.
this stuff works!!!
Posted by Choimin on Dec 07, 2016 | Verified Purchase
This has helped me clear lots of mucus and cleared my airway. Also helped with my stubborn cough too! I used 2 tabs 3 times a day and for about 3 days all of my mucus are gone! Excellent product and good price too!


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Phico Therapeutics CEO Dr. Heather Fairhead will give 2 lectures and present 2 posters at ICAAC, the premier conference on antimicrobial agents and infectious diseases, which showcases the latest-breaking science and lectures from top researchers from around the world.
On Wednesday, September 12, 2012 from 9:15 - 11:15 AM, Dr. Fairhead will present F-2066 - SASP: Efficacy against Pseudomonas aeruginosa in a Murine Pneumonia Model demonstrating that Phico Therapeutics' SASPject™ PT3.1 shows promising in vitro and in vivo activity against P. aeruginosa, a prominent ICU pathogen with high levels of antibiotic resistance, as is increasingly seen in other bacteria such as t MRSA, E. coli and K. pneumoniae. In this study, PT3.1 was shown to be effective in treating P. aeruginosa lung infection.
"It is an honour for me to have been invited to present this poster at ICAAC 2012 highlighting the progress we have made in the development of this revolutionary technology" explains Dr Heather Fairhead CEO, Phico Therapeutics. "We are creating a new class of antibacterial that we can use to more effectively treat patients with multidrug resistant strains of Gram-negative bacteria including E. coli and K. pneumoniae."
Phico continue to develop products in their antibiotic platform technology, SASPjectTM, which is specifically designed to combat the problem of antibiotic resistance.
The successful completion of a £1.03m Wellcome Trust Strategic Translation Award supported a phase I trial which showed that Phico's first product, SASPject PT1.2, to treat nasal infections of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, including the superbug MRSA, is safe and well tolerated in healthy human volunteers. Phico is developing PT3 products to broaden the range of activity in drug resistant Gram negative bacteria.
SASPject™ PT3 products are intravenous treatments for infections of Gram-negative bacteria such as P. aeruginosa, K. pneumoniae and E. coli, which may carry the NDM-1 enzyme. Metallo-beta-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) is an enzyme that makes bacteria resistant to a broad range of beta-lactam antibiotics which are a mainstay for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant infections.
Because the NDM-1 gene is carried on plasmids, the gene can be readily transferred between different strains of bacteria by horizontal gene transfer. The resulting bacteria are resistant to multiple classes of antibiotics, including beta-lactam antibiotics, fluoroquinolones, and aminoglycosides, but most were still susceptible to colistin, although at least one death has been reported in a patient after treatment with colistin. Since being identified in Sweden in 2009 in a Swedish national of Indian origin, NDM-1 has spread throughout the world with cases appearing in Canada, the UK, Japan, the USA and India. Other genetic elements conferring high levels of antibiotic resistance, such as "VIM", are also spreading at an alarming rate. This demonstrates the crucial need for new technologies that fight bacterial infection. SASPject PT3.1 has been shown to be unaffected by all these antibiotic resistances.
SASPject is a novel antibiotic therapy that can be targeted to any bacteria including multi-drug resistant bugs. The active agent is an antibiotic protein called SASP which is coupled to delivery vectors that can be narrow spectrum to target selected individual bacterial species, or broad spectrum to target multiple species or genera of bacteria.
SASP works by binding to bacterial DNA and inactivating it. It switches off all primary functions in the bacterial cell and stops it from reproducing, thereby halting the spread of infection. Crucially, SASP can bind anywhere on the DNA so the development of resistance by bacteria is considered unlikely. The SASP gene is delivered to selected bacterial species using targeted nano-devliery vehicles (NDVs). The bacteria synthesise the anti-bacterial SASP after gene delivery, which leads to rapid cell death.
Phico's SASPject™ products deactivate the bacteria and prevent the release of toxins and other inflammatory cell components from both target and non-target bacteria thus potentially minimising toxicity. Unlike conventional antibiotics, SASPject™ has no effect on any bacteria other than those at which it is targeted. Normal skin and gut bacteria ("good bacteria") are unharmed potentially minimising the gastrointestinal side effects common to traditional antibiotics.
SASPject™ PT3 products are being developed against antibiotic resistant Gram-negative bacteria including P. aeruginosa, E. coli and K. pneumoniae. These bacteria can cause serious infections and their resistance to conventional antibiotics is spreading.
Dr Heather Fairhead
Phico Therapeutics Ltd.
Babraham Research Campus
Babraham, Cambridge, CB22 3AT
+44 (0)1223 496755
About Phico Therapeutics
Founded in 2000, Phico Therapeutics has attracted over £10m in funding from multiple sources, including the Wellcome Trust.
With seed funding from Cambridge Research and Innovation Ltd. (CRIL), Phico Therapeutics succeeded in securing several subsequent rounds of funding from both government and private sources. Phico has received 3 DTI R&D Awards to develop the anti-MRSA SASPject system and to adapt SASPject to fight the bacterium Clostridium difficile. The latest £1 M investment will be used to further develop SASPject targeted to multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria such as E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae.
The Wellcome Trust has granted Phico a Strategic Translation Award of £1.03M that has funded Phico through a Phase I clinical trial with SASPject PT1.2 and will fund through II clinical trials. In vitro, SASPject PT1.2 demonstrates rapid activity against S. aureus including drug resistant strains (MRSA).
Phico's offices and laboratory are located at the Babraham Research Campus in Cambridge, UK, in the Cambridge Cluster biotech hub. The company employs a staff of sixteen, including eight post-doctoral R&D scientists.


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Are There Dangerous Chemicals In My Garden Hose?
Posted March 30, 2014
Every now and then I read something that reminds me of the ubquitous and far-reaching dangers in the world around me. It seems like I can't even enjoy the simplest things in life these days without being reminded that everything is trying to kill me. Case in point for me this week came on Grist, when a reader asked Umbra about the dangers of garden hoses. Is your Minneapolis concrete garden path a highway to hell?
Garden hoses? I thought to myself. What could be wrong with garden hoses?
As it turns out, potentially a great deal, because plastic hoses could leach chemicals into the water -- that same water you're using on your organic fruits and vegetables that you might not be bothering to wash because you think you know what's on them. And, of course, that same water that's trickling into the soil for your plants to take up, allowing chemicals to concentrate in their stems, leaves, and fruits.
The leaching per watering session may not be much, but it builds up over time. And while the health risk might be lower than some other risks around you, it's by no means nonexistent, which means it's worth ameliorating it if you can. Reducing risks can help you stay that much safer in the world around you, and while you shouldn't live in constant fear, prudent caution is a good trait to have.
Many hoses include pthalates and other softeners to prevent kinking and make them more comfortable to use. In addition, some are treated with antimicrobial products like triclosan to prevent the growth of mold and mildew, a common problem with garden houses. All of these chemicals are linked to human health problems, and they aren't the kind of thing you want spilling out all over your food, especially if you have children, who are particularly vulnerable to food-borne chemicals.
Looking out at the bright shiny garden hose coiled neatly against my house, I'm almost tempted to go on a mission throughout the neighborhood, ripping hoses out at the roots and saving my neighbors from themselves. You see, it's not just that plastic hoses contain health risks: the standing water that sits in them, according to Umbra, has been revealed to have lead and other chemicals, leached out from the plumbing in hose bibs and other equipment.
Seriously, don't drink the water! And if you don't want to drink it, you might be thinking twice about putting it on your plants, right?
Umbra recommends switching to a rubber hose in order to avoid some of the chemical leaching problems. Her suggestion is also handy for you, because rubber hoses can be less subject to irritating kinks and cracking (it's still important to store hoses in the shade and discharge water after use so they don't sit around filled with water after watering, though). It's also a good idea, she says, to run the hose for a few seconds before turning it on the garden to allow it to flush out before you get going with the watering.
Katie Marks writes for Networx.com.View original post.


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Study of the Pathogenesis of Porphyria Cutanea Tarda
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OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the effect of standard treatments on various predisposing factors in patients with porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT).
II. Investigate alcohol history, smoking, liver dysfunction and its etiology, estrogen use, and family history of PCT in these patients.
III. Study the relationships of excess iron and the hemochromatosis gene to PCT, including clinical features and risk of recurrence in these patients.
IV. Assess hepatitis C virus infections in these patients. V. Assess vitamin C levels in these patients before and after treatment. VI. Assess dietary habits in these patients. VII. Assess activity of cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYP) in vivo in these patients.
VIII. Study polymorphic genes for enzymes that metabolize foreign chemicals, including CYP enzymes and glutathione transferases in these patients.
|Porphyria Cutanea Tarda
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Primary Purpose: Screening
|Estimated Enrollment:
|Study Start Date:
|November 2000
PROTOCOL OUTLINE: Patients undergo a complete medical evaluation and documentation of porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) including history, physical examination, standard clinical laboratory tests and porphyrin studies. Alcohol history, smoking, liver dysfunction and its etiology, estrogen use, and family history of PCT are investigated and recorded. Patients complete a questionnaire to assess intake of vitamin C and other nutrients.
Iron status is assessed by serum ferritin, Fe and Fe binding capacity, and by the number of phlebotomies needed to reduce ferritin to the target level. A blood sample is tested for the hemochromatosis (HC) gene to determine whether each patient has 0, 1, or 2 copies of the HC mutation.
Serum hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody and HCV RNA are measured. Standard liver function tests and liver biopsy are done if clinically indicated.
A fasting blood level of ascorbic acid is obtained. Blood clearance of caffeine and antipyrine, and urinary excretion of caffeine and chlorzoxazone metabolites are determined by breath tests or measurements in blood or saliva.
Genotyping for polymorphic genes for enzymes that metabolize foreign chemicals, including cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYP) and glutathione transferases are completed.
Following completion of the above studies, patients undergo individualized standard treatment either by serial phlebotomies or low dose chloroquine. Patients with HCV are also treated with interferon alfa-2b.
Patients are followed after treatment, at which time initial studies are repeated.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|Child, Adult, Senior
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
- Well documented sporadic (Type I) or familial (Type II) porphyria cutanea tarda: Increased plasma porphyrins (fluorescence maximum at neutral pH near 617 nm) Increased urinary porphyrins (consisting mostly of uroporphyrin and heptacarboxylporphyrin) Increased isocoproporphyrins in feces
- No other type of porphyria
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00005103
|United States, Texas
|University of Texas Medical Branch
|Galveston, Texas, United States, 77555-0209
|Study Chair:
|Karl Elmo Anderson
|University of Texas
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00005103 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|Study First Received:
|April 6, 2000
|Last Updated:
|June 23, 2005
Keywords provided by National Center for Research Resources (NCRR):
inborn errors of metabolism
porphyria cutanea tarda
rare disease
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Porphyria, Erythropoietic
Porphyria Cutanea Tarda
Porphyrias, Hepatic
Metabolic Diseases
Skin Diseases, Genetic
Genetic Diseases, Inborn
Skin Diseases
Liver Diseases
Digestive System Diseases
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 19, 2017


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Wadood, Fields to play in Spainfrom staff reports
JOHNSON CITY -- Former East Tennessee State University men's basketball standouts Jerald Fields (Gainesville, Fla.) and Zakee Wadood (Lonoke, Ark.) have announced that they will continue their playing careers in Spain later this year. The two signed professional contracts in July and will soon cross the Atlantic Ocean to begin preparation for the upcoming season.
The top professional league in Spain is the ACB, while the two developmental divisions include LEB1 and LEB2. Wadood will play for Ourense, which competes in LEB1, while Fields will play for La Laguna, which competes in LEB2. There are 16 teams in both LEB1 and LEB2.
"I think this is a great opportunity for both Jerald and Zakee," said ETSU head coach Murry Bartow. "It's obviously well deserved, and from talking to some people it sounds like they both should do well."
The Southern Conference Player of the Year in 2003-04, Wadood led the Bucs in rebounding (8.0 rpg) and blocked shots (70), while finishing second on the squad with an average of 14.8 points per game. Wadood ended his career sixth all-time with 1,382 points, and finished atop the school's all-time block list with (182).
"I'm just happy to still be playing after college," Wadood said. "I think it's an opportunity to put up numbers and see where it goes from there. My agent's told me about a lot of guys that got their start in Spain and ended up playing in the NBA. That's my dream."
Meanwhile, Fields ended last season as an All-SoCon selection, finishing second on the team in rebounds (6.5 rpg) and third in points (13.3 ppg). Fields also finished his career among the best scorers in ETSU history, placing eighth on the all-time list with 1,351 points. He also finished third in program history with 167 blocks.
"I'm going to the Canary Islands," Fields said. "It's going to be nice, but most important is that I'm happy to still be playing basketball. It's a stepping stone to get where I think I really want to go. I'm just glad Zak and I are getting this opportunity."
The fact that Wadood and Fields will be going to the same league should be no surprise to many ETSU fans, considering the two were inseparable during their college years. However, there is the chance the two will play against one another in Spain. That will be a change.
"There's a chance somewhere down the line that Jerald and I could play against each other," Wadood said. "That would be kind of odd after playing with him for so long at ETSU."
For more information on the LEB1 and LEB2 leagues, visit www.eurobasket.com and click on the link for Spain located under the Europe drop-down menu
|Starhq.com © 2008-2011. All rights reserved. 300 N Sycamore St, Elizabethton, TN 37643


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Standardized user environments are critical for organizations that want to reduce IT support costs and workload. Faronics WINSelect provides a quick, flexible, and scalable way to configure the functionality and feature set of any Windows computer to conform to an organization's requirements. WINSelect also complements, manages, extends, and often replaces Group Policy Objects (GPO). It works alongside existing policies and delivers features and capabilities not offered by GPOs.


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genkaku wrote:Please delete if it is somehow off-topic, but I would like to ask:
If we make distinctions between men and women, are we still talking about enlightenment?
I would guess it has less to do with enlightenment, since both men and women can become arahant, and more to do with the teaching function of a sammasambuddha. In this we are talking not just of enlightenment but also of enlightenment relating to unenlightenment, teacher relating to student.


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Jay-Z has bult an empire on the back of his hip-hop stardom with a cigar in his hand.
(continued from page 2)
Then he exhales a cloud of smoke with an air of satisfaction—right there in his New York City office.
Yes, Manhattan has strict no-smoking laws. But the outlaw impulse dies hard. After all, this is the king in his castle—or at least the business version of it. The true castle, the one he shares with his queen, singer Beyoncé Knowles, is a massive penthouse in Tribeca. This room, however, is impressive enough. Call it the nerve center for a dynasty: his office at Rocawear, the urban clothing concern he cofounded in 1996 as an adjunct to his fledgling Roc-A-Fella Records. The clothing company occupies the better part of two floors of a mammoth office building in the Garment District.
"If I'm in New York, I'm mainly here," Jay-Z says. "This serves as central headquarters."
His office, with its 39th-floor views of Times Square and the East Side of Manhattan, is sprawling: bigger than most New York apartments and lavishly tasteful, with massive mahogany pieces dominating two walls and a large desk holding down one end of the room.
There's a sitting area with couches and an elaborate coffee table, on which are piled art books on the work of Ed Ruscha and Damien Hirst. A large flat-screen TV on one wall is tuned silently to CNN. The walls are dotted with photographs, which make their own statement about his place in the world and the pantheon in which he sees himself: a row of images by photographer Herb Ritts of supermodels Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford (all of whom are friends of Jay-Z); a famous picture of the Beatles and Muhammad Ali; a photo of the Rat Pack—Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. Perhaps most significantly, there's a black-and-white portrait of the late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, arguably the first African American to conquer the serious art world with a hip-hop sensibility.
On this day, Jay-Z, who has been a GQ Man of the Year, is in relaxed mode: a black sweater, white T-shirt, jeans and sneakers, along with Urkel-ish black-frame glasses.
He settles his lanky 6-foot-2 frame into a comfortable-looking straight-back chair and savors the cigar. Though he can name the most expensive bottle of wine or shot of Cognac he's ever had, he can't name the most expensive cigar he's ever smoked.
"I like Montecristos—those are probably some of my favorites," Jay-Z says, referring to Cuban versions of that brand. "But I like a bit of everything: Romeo y Julieta, Partagas. One of my first favorites was Dunhills, when I first started smoking them. But I go back and forth. I think it's like anything else: sure, you can find good, inexpensive cigars, but the things that are really good are the ones that cost.
"I like them bigger but mild. It gives the appearance of smoking something heavy—but it's not. It's just relaxing. I don't know the lingo—like 'It's got an oaky flavor,' stuff like that. It's just based on what I like. No one schooled me in cigars, like no one schooled me in how to buy art or drink wine," he says, although his taste in wine is pretty exquisite, such as Sassicaia, the great Italian wine. But, he continues, "A cigar is like a gift you give yourself. I smoke at times when I'm relaxing, or celebrating."
There's been plenty to celebrate for Jay-Z. If anything, the music career (and all of its offshoots) that began in 1996 with the founding of his record label, Roc-A-Fella Records, and the release of his first CD, Reasonable Doubt, has been one long celebration, with victory after victory in a musical field that Jay-Z himself refers to as "a competitive sport."
Competitive sports, of course, require champions. Forbes magazine placed Jay-Z at No. 7 on its Celebrity 100 power rankings in June 2008—just behind Johnny Depp, Tiger Woods and Jay-Z's wife, Beyoncé, and ahead of Brad Pitt, Steven Spielberg and LeBron James. On the same magazine's money rankings, he came in at No. 10, ahead of Will Smith, David Letterman, Madonna and Alex Rodriguez. The magazine estimated his annual pay at $82 million; published estimates of his personal wealth run as high as $350 million—and that was before his most recent big deal with concert-promotion giant Live Nation. Jay-Z himself shrugs at suggested figures when queried. (He won't discuss his marriage to Beyoncé at all: "You need to have certain parts of your life you don't talk about. I'm not hiding it; I'm just not giving details.")
Jay-Z's reach is vast, with tentacles, as he refers to them, extending into a variety of ventures. For starters, there's Roc-A-Fella Records, now an imprint of Def Jam Records. He and his partners sold a half stake to Def Jam in 1997 for $1.5 million; they sold off their remaining share in the label for $10 million in 2004. Jay-Z's first 10 albums—released between 1996 and a short-lived retirement that began in 2003—sold 33 million copies.
Then there's Rocawear: the massively successful clothing line was sold to Iconix Brand Group for $204 million in 2007. "We sold off the women's line, the kids', the bags—but we kept the men's line, which is the parent company," Jay-Z says. "And I maintain creative control of that."
Not that he has any designs on being a designer. "I never had those aspirations," he says. "I know what looks good aesthetically—or I should say I have my personal taste that the culture gravitates to. Me? I couldn't draw a stick figure."
There's also his string of 40/40 sports bars; his premium vodka, Armadale; an endorsement deal with Armand de Brignac's Ace of Spades Champagne; a partnership in an advertising agency that focuses on multicultural consumers. He owns a piece of the NBA's New Jersey Nets (who are scheduled to move to Jay-Z's native Brooklyn in 2010 or 2011). He's appeared in ads for Budweiser Select, Hewlett Packard, the NBA. His signature sneaker (the first for a nonathlete) was a best seller for Reebok. And he's become politically active, campaigning for Barack Obama in 2008 and taking up the cause of access to clean water in the Third World ("Really, it's a civil rights issue," he says).
He made his most recent major move in 2008, signing a deal reportedly worth $150 million with Live Nation. It was billed as a so-called 360 deal, one in which Live Nation would partner with Jay-Z on all of his creative output: not just recordings, tours and merchandise but all entertainment ventures, including film, publishing and a record label (Roc Nation) through which he can discover and promote new talent.
"It encompasses so much," Jay-Z, 39, says, studying his cigar. "I believe what it's about is a true partnership. We're building this brand and participating in the equity. It's about extending the brand beyond one platform. The music industry made so much money from music that it didn't care about anything else."
Jay-Z's own music has earned him the title of world's best rapper—whether as Jay-Z or his alter egos, Jigga and J-Hova. Still, he nearly walked away from that throne when he announced his retirement from performing and recording in 2003 (before coming back in 2006 with Kingdom Come). Retirement wasn't a new idea, "When I started, I had a goal," he says. "I was going to make an album—a gold album. And then I was going to be the owner of my own label. Telling my story through my music was just a means to getting into the business."
Retirement didn't stick. "I think he figured out that he had a lot left to do," says Michael Rapino, chief executive officer and president of Live Nation.
When he returned, Jay-Z reclaimed his position, though up-and-comers such as Lil Wayne (and Jay-Z protégé Kanye West) provide a steady challenge. Jay-Z recognizes that, no matter how good his music, hip-hop is intensely competitive and ever-changing. In the rap world, the long-running artist regularly confronts an unwinnable battle with gravity.
"There's a time when you're white-hot. Everybody knows who you are; everybody wants to listen to you," he says. "But you're always fighting gravity. Rap is about the sense of discovery: Who's the guy who's rapping about the new thing, the next thing? Who's the guy who's on your iPod? And you take it to school and say, 'This isn't coming out for a month and I've got it now.' That's all part of the conversation."
As a young man, he rapped about his life on the street, the ins and outs of the drug hustle. On his 2006 comeback, Kingdom Come, his subject matter was life as a CEO, enjoying the kind of luxe existence that a mega-million-dollar fortune can buy. "I like South Beach, but I'm in St. Tropez," he rapped on "30 Something" from that album—which had the biggest first-week sales of any of his releases but wound up selling only about one-third of what its predecessor, The Black Album, did. Jay-Z sees that as part of the game.
"The challenge of longevity is that you got to come out of the door being who you are. As you grow and mature, you lose that mass audience. But you still have a connection with the people who grew with you. I feel the need to grow—and that's not always popular in hip-hop. They want you to make your first album again. But you can't. You'll always have new guys trying to pull you down. There will always be the new hot guy saying, 'You ain't shit.' And those things do pull at you."
For Jay-Z, music is an art—but it's also a product—and he's worked hard to establish the Jay-Z brand. He wants it to be as familiar as any household good. "Branding is about creating a consistent message," he says. "All the great brands that have been around forever, things like Johnson & Johnson, have that. I know that, if I have a baby and I need some lotion for that baby, I've got to get that pink bottle from Johnson & Johnson."
Rapino says, "We have two completely different deals with him—the Jay-Z deal and the Shawn Carter deal. Jay-Z is that completely rare artist who is not only king of his genre but one of the greatest of all time as an artist. And if you look at Shawn Carter the businessman and what he's accomplished, he's got to be in the top five of the most successful businessman-artists. He definitely grew up in the street—but he's got incredible intuition and skill in being able to turn that on-the-ground training into a real business."
Street" is not a euphemism—Jay-Z made the move to successful musician and entrepreneur at the age of 26 after spending almost a decade on the streets of Brooklyn (he grew up in the Marcy Projects), dealing drugs at the height of the crack epidemic, a time when his neighborhood could have been mistaken for the Wild West.
He's made no secret of his past. Indeed, his early albums amounted to a combination chronicle/confessional/celebration of that life. His honesty about both his high and low points, along with his blend of verbal facility and lyrical fluidity (and an ear for beats that just don't quit), marked him as a uniquely talented rapper.
"I believe that first album was so successful because I was really just trying to talk to a specific group of individuals," Jay-Z says. "I've heard records where you know the things they're talking about are not real. But I was out there living that life and I was trying to get every detail into my music. I had the experience of going to my shows and having big guys crying, saying, 'Man, you're telling my story. You're in my brain.'"
When he decided that his talent as a rapper was a gift he could not ignore, he put that lucrative drug business (one in which he had somehow avoided both a criminal rap sheet and a fatal or crippling encounter with a rival or customer—or the law) behind him to focus on music.
"The thing that made me stop doing it was that I had a talent," he says. "And I had people saying to me, 'You have a true talent.' I believe in karma, that everything happens for a reason—call me crazy, but that's what I believe. So knowing that I had talent—and doing what I had been doing to get by—I knew that I had to give the music 100 percent of my time. I had to leave the streets alone and give it my all. But if I'm honest, I'll tell you that if the music thing hadn't worked, I would have gone back."
He and his then-partners, Damon Dash and Kareem Burke, recorded his first album themselves and pitched it to the leading record labels. When none of them would take a chance on an untried rapper, the three men launched their own label, Roc-A-Fella, and put Jay-Z's first album out themselves, relentlessly touring East Coast clubs to promote the album. Reasonable Doubt was successful enough that Def Jam offered Roc-A-Fella a distribution deal. With his third album, Vol. 2 … Hard Knock Life, a bit of autobiography built on a hook sampled from the Broadway musical Annie.
After feeling his way into the business world as CEO of his own burgeoning label, Jay-Z has grown into an urban businessman and entrepreneur legitimate enough to help stump for Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign. He spent time with the candidate on the campaign trail and was invited to Obama's presidential inauguration, where wife Beyoncé performed. There's awe in Jay-Z's voice when he talks about being in Washington, D.C., for the historic event. "There was this euphoric feeling in Washington," he says with a smile. "There was such a great mood. I'd run across people who'd been there when Martin Luther King [Jr.] had his march—people who never thought they'd see the day America would elect an African-American president. Speaking to Obama on the three or four occasions that I did was surreal. Where I come from, you never think you'll end up having a normal conversation with the president of the free world. It gave me this huge sense of accomplishment. I've won a couple of Grammys and that felt great—but this was something way beyond that."
Despite his own political activism—for Obama and on behalf of the issue of clean water—Jay-Z has no political ambitions of his own. "I'm not a politician," he says. "I've been through too much dirt—and I tell the truth. It would never work for me.
"But I don't think you should have to have a spotless record to run for office. We want people who are honest, who will stand up. Life is complicated. You do things when you're young that you wouldn't do now. Everyone has written with a crayon on their mother's wall. That doesn't mean you'd do it now. What we don't want are crooks. You look at all these people who graduated from Princeton and Harvard, who are supposed to be pillars of the community—every day in the newspaper arrested for some kind of financial fraud. Then you look at someone like Michael Phelps. He's 23. What's he gonna do? He's a kid. He's going to experiment."
Obama's election, Jay-Z says, offers minority youth a positive role model, something he didn't have growing up in his neighborhood. Instead, he looked up to the drug dealers who became the "gangsta" heroes—tragic or otherwise—of the rappers and rap fans in the 1980s and '90s. "When I was growing up, there weren't role models like doctors and lawyers in our community, nobody on TV who looked like us," he says.
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