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March 17, 2014 College News - In honor of Women's History Month, the Medical College of Wisconsin has created a series of video vignettes and stories that will be posted online during the month of March. The vignettes highlight some of our women faculty, staff and students and the contributions they have made. The stories highlight MCW programs that improve women's health or help develop women students, physicians, researchers, educators and leaders.
The third story in the series features MCW research programs that address women's health issues. All of the vignettes and stories will be added to MCW's Women's History Month 2014 Web page as they are published.
Women's Health Research Program
The MCW Women's Health Research Program (WHRP) leverages the expertise of existing Medical College of Wisconsin physicians and scientists, hospital partners, and affiliated community organizations to improve the health of women from conception to end of life: improving reproductive and fetal health, developing fertility research, post-menopausal women's health issues and development of a world class gynecologic cancer research program. Some of the current research efforts within the program include:
Center for Patient Care and Outcomes Research (PCOR)
The Center for Patient Care and Outcomes Research (PCOR) comprises a group of multi-disciplinary investigators with a wide-range of clinical backgrounds and research interests, including women's health issues.
PCOR investigators have pioneered the use of population-based databases to study outcomes of breast cancer care, predictors of quality of care, and the comparative effectiveness of newer therapies for breast cancer. Other work has focused on osteoporosis in women and screening disparities, decision-making processes by both physicians and patients as they relate to fracture prevention, and the pharmacoepidemiology of bony fractures in women being treated for breast cancer. Another area of research has investigated the incidence of lymphedema and risk factors for developing lymphedema after surgery among women with breast cancer.
In yet another important area of research impacting women, investigators have focused on improving the processes and outcomes of communication after newborn screening. These studies assess the quality of communication between physicians and mothers after a newborn screening test identifies genetic carrier status for sickle cell disease or cystic fibrosis.
Another area of research focuses on how women and their partners make decisions about treatment for infertility. PCOR investigators are also contributing to national networks working to improve measurement of patient-reported outcomes in the areas of sexual function and lower urinary tract dysfunction, both of which are common issues among women.
More information on these and other PCOR research activities can be found on the PCOR website.
Basic science research efforts
MCW researchers are conducting numerous basic science studies to look at diseases more prevalent in women. Two of those studies include:
Defining the effects of nitric oxide on energy metabolism and tumor growth in breast cancer
It is now clear that estrogen receptor status is an important prognostic indicator in breast cancer and consequently informs treatment strategies. Breast tumors that do not have estrogen receptors do not respond to many available therapies and are more difficult to treat. Recent studies have identified nitric oxide synthase, an enzyme that makes the biologically active free radical, nitric oxide, as a predictor of poor outcome in patients with such breast tumors. However, how this enzyme regulates the growth of tumors is not yet known. The goal of the study is to define the effects of nitric oxide on energy metabolism and tumor growth in breast cancer. New chemotherapeutic agents are clearly needed for the treatment of estrogen receptor negative breast tumors, and drugs which target nitric oxide formation and energy metabolism are already in use clinically. This study will identify the consequences of nitric oxide formation in breast cancers and hopefully lead to improved therapeutic use of these types of drugs in patients with recalcitrant tumors.
Determining the impact of estrogen on pulmonary arterial hypertension
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is high blood pressure specific to the arteries of the lungs and can lead to heart failure if left untreated. While PAH affects people of all ages, races and ethnic backgrounds, studies reported that being female increases the risk of certain types of PAH. Mechanisms to explain the increased risk in females are lacking but are likely related to the production of factors that cause blood vessels to have greater vascular tone and therefore elevated pressure.
Research conducted at MCW discovered that arteries in the lungs of female rabbits have an increased expression of a protein that makes a specific lipid mediator called 15-HETE. 15-HETE enhances pulmonary vascular contractions more in females compared to males. Treatment of male arteries with the female sex hormone, estrogen, increases 15-HETE synthesis and vascular contractions. Further understanding of how estrogen up-regulates the 15-HETE pathway and contributes to elevated pressure in the lung of females may lead to more effective therapeutic interventions to treat PAH in both men and women.
Female athlete triad research
The Women's Sports Medicine Program is a leader in the study of the female athlete triad, an interrelated condition of disordered eating, amenorrhea (lack of menstrual periods), and osteoporosis (bone loss). The research team is examining factors that contribute to the development of the syndrome, as well as treatment methods, and have discovered that women with the triad are more likely to suffer from a fourth component – premature heart disease. The study includes an ongoing analysis of female athletes at Divine Savior Holy Angels high school and the Milwaukee Ballet.
Women's Health Initiative
In the mid-1990s, the Medical College of Wisconsin was selected as a site for the nationwide Women's Health Initiative, a National Institutes of Health-funded program to look at factors leading to heart disease, colon cancer and osteoporosis in post-menopausal women. It was a pioneering study of women's health in that women hadn't previously been uniformly included in important intervention trials.
Over the course of the study, 4,000 women in the Milwaukee area participated. The study allowed many questions about factors associated with the health of women to be answered. One of these factors was hormone therapy. At the time, women were routinely prescribed hormone therapy to alleviate symptoms of menopause. Before the study was completed, it had found that hormone therapy caused an increase in heart attacks among women. This information resulted in millions of women being taken off hormone therapy.
Another important finding was that estrogen plus progestin therapy increased breast cancer. Estrogen plus progestin also increased the risk for mild cognitive impairment and dementia in women. Further analyses of the data and research papers are still being published from the original study.
Philanthropic support for research focused on women's health and women researchers
The Medical College of Wisconsin partners with several organizations to raise funds to support research focused on women's health issues, including the Rock River Cancer Research Foundation, Inc., and WBCS, Inc.
The Rock River Cancer Research Foundation, Inc. raises funds through donations and contributions from events. The proceeds raised support grants for breast cancer research in southeastern Wisconsin. Since 1994, the Rock River HOG Chapter and their sponsoring dealership, Wisconsin Harley Davidson, Inc., in Oconomowoc, have hosted the annual "Ridin To A Cure" event, which has donated more than $1.975 million in grants to the Medical College of Wisconsin breast cancer research program.
WBCS, Inc. was founded in 1998 as an all-volunteer organization. Its mission is to support early-stage breast cancer and prostate cancer research at the Medical College of Wisconsin. WBCS funds, raised through a variety of annual events, are distributed to MCW scientists as research venture funds or "seed grants," for breast cancer and prostate cancer research. In addition, WBCS established an endowed professorship and named a research laboratory for breast cancer research. A nationally recognized researcher is being recruited and will conduct research at the Medical College's WBCS Laboratory for Breast Cancer Research. The scientist will hold The WBCS Professorship of Breast Cancer Research. To date, WBCS has invested more than $5.1 million for the professorship and to fund breast cancer and prostate cancer research at MCW.
The Women in Science Lecture Series, which began in 2007, was created to showcase outstanding research and provide financial support for women scientists at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Women researchers and physicians at the Medical College of Wisconsin are making discoveries that are saving lives and improving treatments for patients with injuries and complex diseases. The Women in Science series offers members the opportunity to learn about critical health issues and leading-edge research by attending five presentations given by distinguished Medical College of Wisconsin female faculty. In addition, Women in Science provides annual awards given to an outstanding female postdoctoral researcher and an established female scientist who serves as a role model and mentor in the lives of young female scientists. Both awards are used to expand on the recipient's research efforts.
©2017 Medical College of Wisconsin. All rights reserved.


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Quit Tobacco – UCanQuit2.org, a U.S. Department of Defense program, is an educational campaign for the U.S. military. Launched in February of 2007, the mission of the campaign website is to help U.S. service members quit tobacco—for themselves and for the people they love.
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U.S. Department of Defense Mission Statement
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chapter 2:
The precise denotation of samatha and vipassanā in the context of meditation can be derived from a passage quoted more fully below. Samatha is the steadying of the mind, its settling, unifying, and concentrating in samādhi. It is therefore similar in meaning to one-pointedness of mind, the most distinctive mental quality of jhāna or samādhi.4 Vipassanā is the seeing and exploring of activities. It therefore refers to wisdom in its refined mode of investigation into the nature of reality as experience.


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Muskingum College students have less-than-leisurely plans for spring break
More than a dozen Muskingum College students will spend their spring break next year doing anything but taking a break.
They'll be joining nearly 100 other college students from across the country in Habitat for Humanity's Build Blitz in Columbus, GA. The challenge of the blitz is to build five new homes in just five days. During their week of service, the students and their adult advisors will contribute 720 hours of volunteer labor to the project.
Students participating in the project are:
Valerie Haught '07
Heather Luczyk '07
Rebecca Dockman '08
Jason Esselburn '07
Stephanie Parmiter '06
Cherie Shuba '06
Krista Sample '07
Valerie Weaver '07
Tiffany McCarty '07
Emily Snode '06
Kim Stevens '06
Dan Cowden '06
Brandon Hartman '07
Admission Counselors Sarah Weaver and Joy Pittman
Maps & Directions
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Undergraduate Admission
Financial Aid
Graduate & Continuing Studies
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For Dennis Franz of TV's "NYPD Blue," life Is good.
(continued from page 2)
Inside trailer No. 2 sits Dennis Franz, better known to the man in the street as Detective Andy Sipowicz, the character he plays. He rests on a couch, waiting to be called to film a scene for the 19th of the season's 22 episodes for "NYPD Blue." He leans back, a Churchill in his large hand. He sports the slacks and the bargain short-sleeved shirt that have become Sipowicz's trademark apparel on the show. "I always liked the smell of a smoke-filled room," he says, measuring each word as one would expect of an actor. "I think it's a good smell."
Whereas some actors are notoriously difficult to deal with, Franz is accessible. He doesn't have an ego that would plug the Grand Canyon. "An actor," Marlon Brando once said, "is a guy who, if you ain't talking about him, ain't listenin'."
Again, not Franz. He offers the most careful, deliberated answers to even the most incidental questions. He cares about each response, cares to get the wording right. He talks at length about high school, about the theater department at Southern Illinois University, about his time in Vietnam, about his role on "NYPD Blue" and about his recent marriage. A production person pops her head into the trailer. "Scene 27 Baker is now no longer at the end of the day," she tells Franz. "Your scene is thelast scene of the day."
Bingo. Franz is now free for several hours of conversation. The time is needed, for executive producer and co-creator Steven Bochco does not allow writers on the set, reasoning that they distract the crew from the laborious task at hand. Gaining access to a war meeting at the Pentagon would be easier than getting a tape recorder and pad on the set of "NYPD Blue."
So the set for this award-winning police drama with a distinctly New York feel is whatever set you can envision from this nondescript row of trailers that looks like a Winnebago Wonderland. Here, in a kind of twilight realm, actors act and rest, talking about the O.J. trial whenever time allows or whenever it comes up--which it always does in Los Angeles. Despite the geographical disparity between the impetuous and populated streets of New York and the left coast "Happyland" known as Hollywood, the show is an obvious success.
Franz couldn't be more affable. Down-to-earth and self-effacing, loquacious and friendly, he describes his life before and after the show without affectation. And he's got a lot on his mind besides this lot of studios. He and his bride, Joanie Zeck, planned an April Fools' Day wedding--no hidden jokes--because they met on that day 13 years ago. And the unrelenting pace of the show has him putting in 12-, 15-, even 18-hour days. Thus, this homey trailer adjacent to the set is not a luxury, but a necessity. On one wall hangs a photo of his bride, another of himself and buddies Dennis Farina and Joe Mantegna smoking cigars, and another of his three-legged dog, Bigelow. A copy of the acclaimed film Hoop Dreams sits near his television.
He still needs to find time to practice tomorrow's lines. He's not the complaining type, however. Franz's life has afforded him a wealth of experiences--jubilant and routine and depressing--and the wisdom that accompanies them.
Los Angeles is a far cry from Franz's childhood home in the Chicago suburbs. He was born on October 28, 1944, in Maywood, Illinois, the son of a baker who had to find another line of work when he developed an allergy to flour. His parents ended up working in the postal service. "My father was a quiet role model for me," says Franz. "We have a saying: 'You get too soon old, and too late smart,' " he says, using a humorous German accent. "After many years, I have understood more and more the significance of that phrase and how accurate it was.
"I respected my father always. He was a quiet disciplinarian. He was self-taught and well-read, but he didn't have a formal education," Franz adds. "I always respected his ethics and the way he would treat other people. I think I learned very good things from him. He lived for the family; that was his priority in life. Very seldom did he set a bad example for me."
Franz concedes that he had a terrific time as a kid. "I had a wonderful childhood, and it all centered around baseball. Baseball was my sport. I started out in the outfield, but I wanted to be part of the activity all the time, so I put on a few pounds and I became a catcher. That was my position, because I always loved being involved."
Growing up seven miles from Chicago, Franz's undying allegiance to the beloved "Cubbies" is understandable. "I grew up wanting to be like Ernie Banks," he says in his Chicago accent, recalling the Cubs Hall of Fame shortstop. "I was always imitating his hand movements on the bat," he says, demonstrating Banks' spiderlike digits fingering a bat handle.
Franz also began smoking as a teenager. "I remember a specific time when we were, oh gosh, sophomores. I was at a buddy's house with a couple of guys, and we were watching a football game on TV on a Sunday afternoon. His parents were not in the house, so we pulled out a box of cheap cigars. We were in the middle of stinking up the TV room when the doorbell rang. And this guy freaked--I said we were sophomores, but we were probably in grade school--and he runs to the front door and yells, 'Who's there?'
"It was his uncle. He shouts, 'Just wait a minute!' We started opening up the windows, trying to air out the house, tossing the cigars, running back and forth with ashtrays full of ashes. And we just about had it cleaned up when one of the guys with an ashtray bumped into someone else and all the ashes spilled out on the floor. So he's calling out, 'OK, wait a minute; I'll be right there.' And he gets out the vacuum cleaner, and he's running the vacuum cleaner, and his poor uncle is still standing there at the front door. Finally, he got it all cleaned up, and he yells, 'Just a second!' He opens the door, and his uncle steps in the door one foot and says, 'Jeez, who's been smoking? If you're going to smoke cigars, at least smoke good ones.' " Eventually, Franz would.
Franz was also active in football and swimming in high school, but the centerpiece was always baseball. "Babe Ruth was my first idol. I never saw him play, of course, but everything about him was bigger than life. He represented baseball. He represents the meaning of baseball, just as Jordan does basketball. The first book report I did in school was about the Babe Ruth story."
But in high school, Franz was drawn to another kind of performance. He got a lead role in Little Hiawatha, and was immediately hooked. "I loved getting in front of people. I loved not being myself and trying to understand this other person," he recalls. "I found it very comforting, and it was something that I immediately wanted to pursue, enough so that I left my other passions behind. This became a passion for me. Every time I went to a school, I would look at their auditoriums and their theater departments."
But acting in junior college and Southern Illinois University would soon give way to a tormenting, 11-month tour of duty in Vietnam. After his college graduation in 1968, a notice from the local draft board arrived. The day before Franz was to report, he enlisted in officer's school. In the Army he served with the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions. "I was with two recon units--it was the loneliest, most depressing, frustrating time that I can ever imagine in my life," Franz says, his face sinking.
"Nine months I was in the field, two months in the rear. It was one of those experiences that you never want to experience again, but it was life-altering. It was a very maturing time for me. I came back a much different person than when I left, maybe much more serious. I was frivolous before I left. I left my youth over there. I left it behind," says Franz. Moments ago he was recalling some of the fun times of his youth. Now his face is forlorn; his voice, quiet.
"Fortunately, I was not physically hurt. Emotionally I was touched upon; I had seen many friends get wounded or lose their lives. They were temporary friends but all meaningful at the time. They were my only friends; that was my world. We developed those tight bonds. You don't have anyone--family, relatives, loved ones, girlfriends--you don't have any of that. So the buddies you make while you were there, that's your world. They become all-important to you, so when something happens to them it really hurts."
Just then, a knock comes at the trailer door. As if on cue, the friendly face of Sharon Lawrence pokes her head in. "Hi, Sharon," Franz says, smiling broadly at the woman who plays Sylvia Costas, the officious assistant district attorney whom Sipowicz plans to marry. "We're doing an interview with the cigar magazine," he says, holding up a copy of the publication. "He should go on the cover," she says, then rushes off to do a scene.
After his tour in Vietnam, Franz joined the Organic Theater Company, writing original material for and touring with the cast. One production was Bleacher Bums, which Franz helped write. "We did play after play, and after we'd finish one, we'd talk about what we were going to do next. One of my friends from that time was Joe Mantegna. Joe lived near Wrigley Field, and we were all big Cubs fans. Joe suggested doing a play about Cubs fans and the mentality of Cubs fans," says Franz. What he means is the mentality of living with losing, year in and year out. The Cubs last won a World Series in 1908. "The play was about accepting the Cubs for what they are and loving them regardless, knowing that we will probably never see a World Series in our lifetime."
The play went on to become one of the longest-running plays in Chicago history, and though everyone expected its impact to be regional, they were surprised when it caught on in Los Angeles. "Joe remounted it out here at a theater just around the corner from the studio--it ran for over 11 years," Franz remarks.
Soon, Franz broke into film, securing roles in Robert Altman's A Wedding and Brian De Palma's The Fury, both in 1978. After moving to Los Angeles at the behest of these directors, Franz got a spot opposite Bruce Willis in the 1990 megahit Die Hard 2: Die Harder. He played Captain Carmine Lorenzo, a territorial horse's ass and cop wanna-be who--while head of Dulles Airport security in Washington, D.C.--is getting in Willis' way. Although the movie was a box-office smash, because of the nature of the role it didn't open up any new vistas for Franz. "That was Bruce Willis' vehicle," he says. But Lorenzo displayed enough piss and vinegar and his conflict with Willis' character was one of the dramatic highlights of the film. Another meaty role was in 1989 with his hero Gene Hackman in The Package.
But before his more recent films, Franz had made inroads into television. Producer Steven Bochco created "The Bay City Blues," the story of a minor league baseball team. Franz had the starring role, alongside Michael Nouri, Sharon Stone and Bernie Casey. Though the show ended after just 13 episodes in late 1983, Franz was asked back for "Hill Street Blues," another Bochco production. And it was because of his connection to "Hill Street" that he copped the role for "NYPD Blue."
"Steven Bochco and [co-creator and executive producer] David Milch called me about six months prior to the actual shooting," Franz recalls. "They asked me if I'd like to do another cop show." At first, Franz was not elated. "I had already had my fill of cop shows," he explains. "But they described it as a gritty cop show. Soon I agreed. It was just me at first, and then they signed James McDaniel" (who plays Arthur Fancy, the lieutenant who doesn't suffer fools gladly). Little by little it came together.
"I had no idea it was going to be this big," he marvels. "I thought that all of my TV shows would be successful. You can never tell. The timing was right, the controversy, the quality of the show. And the writers are the stars of the show," Franz says.
"I knew 'NYPD' was a good piece of work," he continues. "I'm twice-blessed to be in two successful shows like this. When we go to New York, it's like a feeding frenzy, like the Beatles in the '60s." That last remark is hyperbolic--thousands haven't shown up at airports and crowded hotel sidewalks to squeal when the cast of "NYPD Blue" hits the New York City streets. But, says Franz, "Cops pull us over to the side of the road, yelling 'Hey Sipowicz, take a picture.' "
But while the public glory is palpable, so is the private work. "If you know how shots are established to get the look of the show, we have to repeat the same thing over and over with different angles and shots. Scenes are physically and emotionally exhausting. The camera goes from side to side, wide, zoom, tight. You repeat the work over and over again. This is not uncommon. At the start of each scene there are questions the actors bring up about the logic of the scene; we question a lot. A lot of times Milch is rewriting for us, reworking new dialogue on the spot. It is exhausting but rewarding--we're tired at the end of the show, but it's a good tired. You can hold your head up because you're proud."
Week in and week out, it all seems to work. The show is an odd mélange of police cases and relationships among the characters, often running counterpoint to one another. While Sipowicz and Sylvia Costas are romantically on the rise, heading toward an unlikely marriage of opposites, the fumbling, anguished and allergy-ridden Detective Greg Medavoy (Gordon Clapp) is losing his way pursuing the alluring blonde precinct secretary, Donna Abandando, played with intelligence and self-assurance by Gail O'Grady. The writing and directing are so damned good, so consistently good, that even ordinary episodes shine. The gloom of the station house, the stark reality of the interview room, the looks of tension, the understated comportment of these streetwise cops--it all adds up to a heady mix. The whole ends up being much greater than the sum of the parts.
It was thus utterly baffling to many observers that last year's Emmy for Best Drama would go to "Picket Fences," a pleasant, but not great, production. Indeed, if there was ever a doubt that New York-style shows like "NYPD Blue" are at a disadvantage among California award voters, last year's selection seems to eliminate all doubt.
Franz, however, did cop an Emmy for Lead Actor in a Dramatic Series. Both he and David Caruso, who played Detective John Kelly, the red-haired cop for whom each case seemed to present a fresh existential crisis, could have taken the award. When Franz won, Caruso congratulated him.
Which leads to the controversy of controversies that has surrounded the show in its second year. "The first season was a battle, trying to get people in some cities to have the permission to be able to watch the show and judge for themselves," Franz recalls. "The show was having to defend itself for our use of certain language. And that was a big topic. Not that we seem to have won those battles, but this is a year of contentment after all the discontent."
Well, almost. After Caruso demanded a reported $100,000 per episode--triple his salary--and unusual scheduling arrangements, Bochco let him go. "Whether it was money, ego or personality clashes, the bottom line is still that when 'NYPD' lost Caruso, it lost its soul," said Jeff Jarvis of TV Guide. "He gave 'NYPD' its tension: sexual, moral, dramatic." Since Caruso's departure, actor Jimmy Smits ("L.A. Law") has come on board "NYPD" for its second season as Detective Bobby Simone, which invites inevi-table comparisons.
"It's the most natural thing for people who watch the show to compare," Franz says. "I think they're both great, and they both handle their characters--there are distinct differences between the two characters. Caruso's character was one of a weary sort, always trying to do the right thing. That caused great angst within himself. He was always battling good versus evil. And the Bobby Simone character is also an upstanding character with much integrity."
Despite the post-mortem sentiments of fans and scribes, the show is flourishing, consistently placing in the top 10 shows of the week. Although wildly different than Caruso's character in manner, Jimmy Smits' character is effective and is developing more and more each week. The ratings reveal that millions of fans have stayed with the show to give Smits a chance; they are being rewarded, as the show's writers begin to unravel his enigmatic character.
"From what we've seen of him so far, he isn't battling as many demons as were presented in the Kelly character," says Franz. "That's not to say it's not going to happen, because I'm sure it is. There's something going on in his past, but we don't know about his past yet. There have been a few episodes that have ended where I really longed to know what happened to Bobby Simone before he came to this point. I assume that the audience is asking the same question. What kind of man is this, where is he coming from and will that open up as time goes on?"
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Can you explain what geotechnical engineering is?
Geotechnical engineering is one discipline within civil and environmental engineering that focuses on the engineering behavior and characteristics of earth materials. In some projects, the mechanical properties of earth materials are key elements, as in the construction of earthworks (such as levees or dams), or structures (foundation for bridges and buildings). In other cases, knowing the behavior of these materials allows us to assess the imposed risk to society from natural disasters, such as earthquakes, landslides and liquefaction.
What's your educational background?
My bachelor's degree is in civil engineering from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Venezuela. After graduating and completing my thesis work, I was officially considered a professional engineer, and then I became a professor of civil engineering. I decided to pursue graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I immigrated to the United States and graduated with my master's and doctorate of science degrees in geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering.
Tell me about your journey.
Engineering caught my attention very late in high school. During my third year in college and over subsequent years, I began working as an engineering assistant for a consulting company in water resources. This led me to learn about water conveyance systems, fluid mechanics and the design of water reservoirs for hydroelectrical projects. While at MIT, I concentrated on geotechnical engineering and water resources. Upon becoming a professor here at UC-Berkeley, one of the areas that interested me was earthquakes and related topics such as pavement mechanics.
Shortly after graduation from college in 1985, I became a geotechnical consultant and I have been a professional practicing engineer for more than 25 years. In the process, I've been an associate principal for Arup, an engineering consulting firm in San Francisco, and a program director for the National Science Foundation, in the area of geohazard mitigation. Today, I'm a professor at UC-Berkeley, where I've been teaching for 15 years.
What are some of your duties?
As a professor at Berkeley, you are expected to excel in three key areas: academics, research and service. This semester, I'm teaching two classes: numerical modeling in geomechanics and environmental geotechnics. I am also in charge of two undergraduate seminars: introduction to civil and environmental engineering, and professional aspects in civil and environmental engineering. This semester, including office hours, I'm on campus teaching and assisting students for 15-20 hours a week.
Research is a very important component of the weekly schedule of a professor at a premier research institution such as UCBerkeley. Conducting research, supervising students, writing/documenting your research and, certainly, writing proposals occupies most of the time in this area.
In addition, the University of California relies on self-governance, so we [faculty] also participate and are expected to contribute in making decisions and thus we are involved in numerous committees at the department, college and university levels. We also serve in external committees, advisory boards for companies and government agencies, nationally and internationally among other activities.
Is civil engineering a good career?
Civil engineering is one of the most exciting and vibrant disciplines today. As a society, we will face significant challenges in the coming decades and I believe that civil engineers are in a great position to develop and implement the technology required to face those challenges. Dealing with aging infrastructure, design and construction of structures resilient to natural disasters and sustainable cities are just only a few of these areas.
Civil and environmental engineering at Berkeley provides a well-rounded curriculum with particular emphasis in fundamentals. Both at the undergraduate and graduate levels you are able to go in depth into one specific area or discipline and gain an expert status while remaining exposed to a broader set of issues and information.
If you would like to be considered for a career profile or want to nominate someone, please e-mail Charlotte Cusack at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Aaliyah Who Thinks Apron
Product Color:
Product information
Wearing this Apron Aaliyah Who Thinks proves to everyone that you really CAN cook. I mean, who else would put on an apron for no other reason? And everyone knows that a Barbeque is a messy (and yummy) ordeal. Aaliyah Who Thinks might even protect you from extra heavy duty splatters and spills.
The Aaliyah Apron includes neck ties and extra long waist ties and makes any cooking experience rewarding. You are sure to receive many compliments! 35% Cotton / 65% polyester blend, twill fabric. Machine washable.
Sku: MD0BL0000028941818180002LOCR00000


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As a national center that provides service and leadership for the scientific community, NCAR must be a venue where new ideas, methods, tools, and practices are developed, gathered, evaluated, and shared. NCAR should serve as a hub for community interactions, collective definition of grand challenges, and development and implementation of collaborative research activities to address such challenges. To fulfill this role, NCAR has to maintain a world-class scientific workforce, a high standard of excellence, strong collaborations, and a broad spectrum of fundamental research that leads to new understandings, and more-focused programmatic research (such as described in the imperatives that follow). Programs that encourage innovation and creativity contribute to intellectual and programmatic renewal at NCAR and in the community and help build the foundations for continuing scientific advancement. To support this imperative, NCAR will
- Conduct discovery-oriented research across the atmospheric, solar, and related sciences to identify emerging issues, develop new approaches, and guide the direction or redirection of ongoing research programs
- Develop and support collaborative research efforts that combine ecological, hydrological, biogeochemical, and social science expertise with core atmospheric disciplines to address challenging and multifaceted Earth system science problems
- Build an expanded scientific visitor program with the flexibility to entrain a broad community of scholars and reward NCAR staff for spending time in other research organizations to encourage exchange of information and development of new perspectives
- Work with universities, the broader science community, and public- and private-sector decision makers to identify grand challenge problems of societal and scientific interest, in order to define new approaches and methods for research
- Enhance supercomputing, observational, and modeling facilities by evaluating new technologies; experimenting with advanced computational architectures; and developing prototype instruments, models, and model components
- Provide regular opportunities for staff to pursue high-risk, potentially path-breaking research projects


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Crepes are a delightful delicacy that can be either sweet or savory, as we've proven here. Don't be too intimidated by them, they are far easier than they seem. This recipe was developed by our Label Content Manager, Michelle, who also writes the blog Je Mange la Ville and makes use of both quinoa flour and cooked quinoa grain for a delicious, gluten free crepe. Fill sweet crepes with jam, Nutella, fresh fruit, whipped cream or simply a bit of butter and top with powdered sugar. A savory filling of spinach, mushrooms and feta is suggested below. For even more sweet or savory filling ideas, check out these suggestions from The Kitchn.
Sweet or Savory Quinoa Crepes
Makes 6-7 crepes
- 1/2 cup Quinoa Flour
- 1-1/2 tsp Granulated Sugar (sweet) OR 1/2 tsp salt-free Spice or Herb Blend (savory)
- 1/8 tsp Kosher Salt
- 3/4 cup 2% Milk
- 2 Eggs
- 1.5 Tbsp Butter, melted
- 1/4 cup cooked Quinoa
Combine the flour, sugar or spice blend, salt, milk, eggs and butter in a blender. Mix until smooth and mixture starts to get bubbly. Let batter sit for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight in the refrigerator.
When ready to make crepes, heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the cooked quinoa to the batter and stir to incorporate. Spray the pan lightly with non-stick spray. After stirring batter again, use a 1/4 cup measure to add batter to pan, swirling gently to spread the crepe batter out. Cook until crepe is has small bubbles on its surface and looks slightly dry on the top, about 2-3 minutes. Gently flip (you may need to use your fingers as well as a spatula), and cook on the other side about a minute.
Repeat with remaining batter, mixing before making each crepe. Stack crepes between sheets of parchment or paper towels until ready to use.
Note: It is highly probable that the first crepe will not work (they just hardly ever do). Keep going, the second crepe will be fine.
Savory crepes filled with sautéed spinach, mushrooms and feta cheese, rolled up and baked for about 20 minutes at 350°F. Serve with a lemon-garlic aioli or mustard.


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Organic vegan farming a part of climate justice - 5 Dec 2011
Organic vegan farming a part of climate justice - 5 Dec 2011
Organic vegan farming a part of climate justice.
On Saturday, December 3, thousands of activists from around the world joined in a peaceful rally through the streets of Durban, South Africa, calling for decisive action from the United Nations Climate Change Conference as participants enter their second and final week of discussion. Supreme Master Television's correspondent explores one promising solution for all stakeholders.
Correspondent (F):
Greetings. Here in the African continent, the time-honored traditions of agriculture have been built on consistent rainfall patterns. However, farmers are now finding that, due to climate change, they can no longer count on the weather the way that previous generations had.
Paul Okongo – farmer, Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (M):
We farmers who are outside there, we are the feelers, we are the detectors of this. There is climate change, and something must be done, and it should be done now.
Correspondent (F):
Feeling the threat of global warming to food security, growers from across Africa are here at COP 17 calling for what they say is climate justice, which includes commitments to greenhouse gas mitigation measures as well as adaptation support. Both farmers and governments in Africa support organic farming as important for a greener future.
Edna Molewa – Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, South Africa (F):
Ways and means that can help us get organic farming into larger scales, I think, will actually respond to the current challenges that we have.
Paul Okongo – farmer (M):
If you put a lot of organic matter in the soil, then the produce is safe from these chemicals, metallic things and all these, all free from sewages. So we advocate safe food – mainly organic farming.
VOICE: To ensure the most effective solution overall, experts have also pointed out the need to address the adverse climate effects of livestock raising. A report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) stated that animal agriculture accounts for at least 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions, with more recent research by the World Watch Institute finding that the livestock industry alone is responsible for more than 51%
of global emissions.
Dr. Patrick Bond (M):
Meat is the main disastrous force for climate change, because of the methane that's coming from cows, but also the transport. And the ways in which we treat animals are terrible and uncivilized. If you believe in climate justice, then you should become a vegetarian.
Correspondent (F):
To raise awareness of the organic vegan farming and diet solution to climate change, the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association held a gala dinner for delegates featuring an urgent video message by Supreme Master Ching Hai and respected guest speakers.
Members have meanwhile been speaking daily with hundreds of people at two booths and offering free vegan food samples. Some 10,000 informative flyers have also been given out over the last several days in various parts of Durban, with people showing their eagerness to find out more about the state of the planet and the healthy, emissions-reducing vegan diet.
Romica Milupi – Zambian activist (F):
I want to support to be vegetarian. No more meat. I want just to go on vegetables, so that I can keep the environment.
Edna Molewa (F):
We need to push hard and push ourselves to save this planet. We need to really save this planet.
Correspondent (F):
Reporting for Supreme Master Television from Durban, South Africa.
VOICE: We thank all climate summit delegates, concerned scientists and citizens who are helping advance us toward sustainable actions. May we move swiftly to develop the most humane and health-promoting agriculture and lifestyles to save our planet.
In an interview during the December 2010 climate change talks in Cancún, Mexico, Supreme Master Ching Hai expressed her urgent wish for leaders to adopt the organic vegan solution.
Supreme Master Ching Hai :
If I were in the United Nations, I would advise all the countries, immediately start organic vegan. And all the subsidies that they use for the meat industry, the extra money that the governments give, just give them to turn to vegan, organic. Yes, it's very easy.
I don't know why they delay like this. Because the United Nationseven themselves know that the methane gas and nitrous oxide gas, and other gases from animal industry are warming the climate more than all the transportation together.
So why not eliminate that cost, you see? (MBC(m): All right. Yes.)
It's so easy. And then they use the subsidies before, tell the farmers to change to organic. (MBC(m): Yes.) Yes.
Of course it's cheaper, and healthier for everybody and healthier for the planet. I told you 51% is from the animals, gases, to warm the climate, it's 51% from animal industry, (Q(m): Yes, of course.) so if we take out the animals, then we have less, 51% less, you see? (Q(m): I see.)
And then if we plant organic from the face of the Earth, all tillable land, then we absorb another 40%. Then, we have 51%, 40%, gone. The leftover, the trees can take care, the oceans can again take care – everything, no problem. I can't believe they still say, "We'll talk again next year." – if we're still alive! Yes? (MBC(m): Yes.)
Extra News
Coinciding with the Nov 28, 2011 opening day of the UN climate talks in Durban, South Africa, International Energy Agency chief economist Fatih Birol stated at current energy consumption rates, the Earth will warm by 6 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100, making it a dangerous place to live.
اینرا به دوست خود ایمیل کنید


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Vintage color is the special sauce audio producers crave when producing. We want the sound of Mic pres from the 70s, spring reverbs and even that classic sampler sound. Decimort is a new plug-in from the ever impressive Polish software freaks D16. There are a host of bit crushers on the market but Decimort specializes in recreating the effect of old EMU Emulators and Ensoniq samplers.
"Electronic music producers (especially in Hip-Hop) have always been aware that classic samplers (such as early Akai and EMU units) had a character and sound of their own. They added a "grit" and "colour" to the samples and loops they played back which made them sound "Fat" and sit well in a mix. This sound colouration was due to the encoding techniques, lower sample rates, lower bit rate and conversion circuits which these early samplers used. Decimort recreates this colouration and adds the vintage sampler magic to any loop, bass line or sound played through it. It also acts as the perfect bit crusher with filter." – D16.pl
You can hear some very good Decimort samples in the context of full songs on the D16 site: click here However, below I recorded and posted some straight forward clips. Each clip starts with the dry sound then I click on Decimort:
A choir sequence from the basic Reason soundbank. I chose the choir samples because you could find very similar samples in The Fairlight CMI:
A computerized vocal which I think shows off Decimort quiet nicely:
A simple Roland TR-808 loop through some Decimort presets:
One thing I really like about Decimort is that is has a wet/dry knob, something I wish all plug-ins had! Also, automating the Frequency in Decimort sounds very potent. Overall it's a nice plug-in that I could see using many instances of. I like to try using filters and bit-crusher before I'll grab an eq.
Decimort is Mac/PC AU/Vst for 35€. Demo available: click here
photo credit: Johnrpenner


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Java hashset example.
Posted on: April 4, 2011 If you enjoyed this post then why not add us on Google+? Add us to your Circles
Share this Tutorial Follow us on Twitter, or add us on Facebook or Google Plus to keep you updated with the recent trends of Java and other open source platforms. Connect Me on Google+


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Jim Lauderdale's Reason and Rhyme: Out TODAY
Can there be too much of a good thing? If the question's about collaboration between American roots music hero Jim Lauderdale and legendary lyricist Robert Hunter, the answer's an emphatic "no!" Marking the former's debut on the respected Sugar Hill records label, Reason And Rhyme makes a compelling case for the continued vitality of the Lauderdale—Hunter partnership—and for Lauderdale's unique and deeply satisfying approach to bluegrass.
"This one's back to total bluegrass," Lauderdale says of the collaborative follow-up to 2010's electric Patchwork River, and so it's no surprise that it features many of the musicians involved in previous bluegrass efforts like Could We Get Any Closer (2009) and 2007's Grammy-winning The Bluegrass Diaries. The close-knit crew, headed up by producer and resonator guitarist Randy Kohrs, is perfectly in tune with Lauderdale's 'grass-with-a-twist sensibilities, and whether it's a return buddy like bassist Jay Weaver or new colleague Mike Compton (mandolin), each player delivers mightily with the genre's characteristic virtuosity and emotional fire.
2011-10-21 North Bethesda, MD - Strathmore
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In the first two parts of this series we discussed the effects of moisture, particle size and instrument type on the accuracy of near infrared (NIR) predictions. We also established that current on-farm NIR technology can measure moisture values and detect changes in other nutrients. In the third and final part of this series we'll look at where it may or may not make sense to utilize on-farm NIR
Obvious wins
Obvious "win" senarios for on-farm NIR are cases where there is a lot of variation, and great value in quantifying that variation in a short amount of time. A prime example would be a dairy feeding a high haylage diet out of bags.
Ohio State University recently published findings from a study concerning the variation of feeds within a farm (see Chart 1). It clearly shows that day–to-day variation in haylage dry matter can be very high.
Here, measuring moisture values using an on-farm NIR instrument seems to make a lot of sense, because the values can be obtained and used in real time. While there are other methods available for measuring moisture, most take an hour or per sample. In contrast, on farm NIR could allow a feeder to measure several samples within minutes before feeding or even make adjustments between batches.
Obvious fails
Obvious "fail" senarios for on-farm NIR are cases where there is very little variation or precise nutritional values are required. For example, a dairy feeding corn silage from a large bunker that is faced from top-to-bottom prior to feeding. In this case, most of the variation in the bunker is eliminated when the various layers on blended together during facing.
The University of Minnesota published a trial (see Chart 2) from a similar senario and compared the results of an on-farm NIR system to oven drying samples once per week. Over 9 weeks, this study showed no statistical difference in any animal performance parameters.
In hindsight, these results are not surprising, because the primary forage in the diet – corn silage – showed very little variation throughout the study. In fact, the dry matter content from the weekly oven drying measurements always fell within about a 2% range, which is approximately the same as the accuracy limitations for this measurement by on farm NIR
These are just two examples of where application of on-farm NIR may and may not make sense. Some other cases that are worth consideration include monitoring incoming wet commodities like wet distillers, beet pulp and gluten feed. How often do we currently test the moisture content of these feeds, and how often should we?
In addition, mounting NIR instruments on forage harvesting equipment allows for the creation of yeild maps that reflect both the total tonnage and the yield of individual nutrients like starch and protein. If we could cross reference our soil maps with protein yield maps what could we learn?
Finally, what if we could segregate each truckload of silage or bale of hay depending on the nutrient qualities of that individual lot?
As the scale of individual farms continues to increase we may need to re-think some of our beliefs about how feedstuffs should be tested. Under the right circumstances on farm NIR may be a viable option. Like any tool, it will require a user with some basic knowledge of its capabilities and acceptance of its limitations.


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Hello friends
I have a Dilemma that is going to approach me in the future
I am currently studying for a degree in Biology. I want to pursue this career into genetic/medical research but unfortunately this would mean being part of animal experiments (even at the lowest level it would mean fruit flies)
What should I do?
N.B Of course this is dependent on me passing my degree and getting a masters/PHD


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Jos , did you see that Adam just closed my thread ? i thought it was quite reasonable , what's going on ..!
thanks ; )
Robert love the support and direction you provide, you must see my personality as it is intended and not how it presents, my thanks to you and hopefully we will meet in person one day since your not that far away from my location.
Thanks for your advice, i hope the images will turn out how i sort of picture it in my mind....
thanx- nice to know im goin in the right direction
thanks for you comment really appreciate it
still not working for me... its giving the same "security" error or something.
i'll keep trying


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|June 24, 2009
Volume 11, Issue 13
|Midwifery Today E-News
"Placenta Medicine"
Print Page
Welcome to Midwifery Today E-News !
Subscription Sale for Students!
Special prices on Midwifery Today magazine! This offer expires June 30, 2009 (postmark or fax by the expiration date). More information.
Save $5 on Placenta: The Gift of Life, Survivor Moms or Brought to Earth by Birth
Visit our Spring into Savings page to learn how you can save $5 on any one book from Motherbaby Press. And while you're there, look over all the other great offers, including special offers from other birth-related businesses. [ ARTWORK BY OLIVIA ]
Midwifery Today Online Store
Placenta rituals, remedies and recipes…
…are what you'll find in Placenta: The Gift of Life. Read this book to discover the various ways placentas have been used by people around the world and throughout the ages. You'll also find 15 recipes that will show you how to use the placenta in ointments, essences and other remedies for a variety of ailments. Placenta: The Gift of Life is a book from Motherbaby Press, an imprint of Midwifery Today.
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Learn more about the Philly conference. To receive a printed program by mail when it becomes available, please e-mail email@example.com with your name and postal address.
In This Week's Issue:
Quote of the Week
"What if every woman had her placenta encapsulated instead being prescribed a bottle of pills? I think depression would decline, breastfeeding rates would increase and greedy pharmaceutical and formula companies would be out the massive profit they make off our ignorance."
— Tiffany Rosenbrock
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The Art of Midwifery
After a woman has a baby, many changes quickly begin to occur in her body. Hormones revert to pre-pregnancy levels, organs shift and blood levels decrease—just to name a few. This transition can sometimes be difficult. Placentas contain hormones which, when given in the postpartum period, can make the change easier. Ingesting the placenta also can help to prevent postpartum depression. I have seen quite a few women who had postpartum depression with previous pregnancies take placenta medicine after a current pregnancy and feel completely different.
Placenta medicine also has nutritional benefits. It is a high source of iron and protein. Because the placenta is the bridge between mother and baby, it contains all of the same vitamins and nutrients that mother has passed across to baby. This may be especially important if a woman experiences postpartum hemorrhage.
— Kelly Graff
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Scientists in Russia and Belarus are adding lactoferrin, a protein in human milk, to goat milk through genetic modification. The intent is to enable mothers who cannot breastfeed their children to give them milk that is almost as good.
Ninety doe kids from genetically modified bucks are being raised on a farm outside of Moscow in the hope they will produce milk with the same—or higher—amount of lactoferrin [that] is found naturally in human breast milk.
Similar projects are being carried out in the Netherlands and China. Dutch scientists have created a transgenic cow producing the protein, but in small quantities. Goats were chosen over cows for the Russian-Belarusian study because they produce more milk in proportion to their weight and are less dependent than cows on external factors such as temperature.
— Daily Telegraph, 2009
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Drying the Placenta
The most practical method of processing the placenta is to dry it. This method has been and still is being used all over the world. Depending on the culture, the placenta is dried in the oven or in the sun. When the placenta is finally mummified after many hours, it will still need to be protected from bacteria and insects.
Traditionally the dried placenta is wrapped in a piece of cloth and hung in a cool, dry place to be cured like bacon. In a modern household, a preferable method is to grind it into a powder and keep it in a well-sealed jar in the refrigerator. The powder can then be used to produce various remedies.
The placenta must be completely mummified before being pulverized. The average placenta is 25 mm thick, has a diameter of 22 cm and weighs about 500 g. Depending on the size and thickness of the organ, an average of three days and three nights is required for it to dry enough to be broken into chunks.
The exposure to heat during the drying process should be as gentle on the healing substances as possible. Afterwards, the placenta will only be half its original size and will have turned hard and black. It needs to be brittle enough to be crushed into pieces with a heavy object.
First, grate the dry chunks of placenta, then grind with a coffee mill or with a mortar and pestle. Keep removing the powder and grinding the bigger pieces. If the powder is still not fine enough, add a carrier substance such as sugar, silica or mineral earth. The crystals of the carrier substance will make the powder even finer.
The completed placenta powder keeps best in a cool, dry place. The container should be marked with the date the powder was made, the dilution and the origin of the raw material. Experience shows that the powder can be stored for up to three years. If bacteria, spores or parasites are not destroyed, the powder will develop a bad smell. If this happens, do not use the powder anymore.
— Cornelia Enning
To read more about the placenta or find recipes using the dried placenta, Placenta: The Gift of Life can be purchased here.
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Question of the Week
Q: I have a friend who has been trying to get pregnant for at least two years now, probably three, without success. She is a powerful, healthy, active, spiritual woman. Her husband is a wonderful African dancer and has an individual providing spiritual guidance from Africa who has promised them that the baby will come someday. I am an RN and know the medical definition of infertility. I try to have hope for them but it is hard for me. My friend has had all the infertility tests run and has been told all is okay with her. I do not know about her husband. They cannot afford in vitro fertilization.
My friend has great faith and has, incredibly, not lost hope but I wish I had some information to give her besides the normal medical research on things that could help her get pregnant. I know this is a struggle so many other women deal with too. Any ideas?
— Maira
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Question of the Week Responses
Q: My 21-year-old daughter has been advised to have a LEEP (loop electrosurgical excision procedure) for moderate dysplasia due to HPV. I know this may leave scarring on the cervix or possibly pose a small risk of preterm labor when she becomes pregnant. My midwife said she would be put on a preterm labor protocol. What experiences have midwives had with this situation?
Have you seen cervical scarring or preterm labor after a LEEP? Does scarring lead to slower dilation or "stalls" in dilation? Does she have any alternatives for treatment other than the LEEP? What is your advice regarding pregnancy? Would this preclude her from using a midwife?
— Michelle
A: During my first pregnancy, I had preterm labor and delivered at 37 weeks. After the birth of my first son, my cervical dysplasia (discovered during pregnancy) did not resolve, but continued to worsen. I had laser ablation of the cervix 5-1/2 months postpartum (a laser is used to burn the outer portion of the cervix and get rid of the abnormal cells).
I became pregnant 14 months after the first birth, and had no issues with preterm labor. In fact, he was born at 41 weeks. This labor was not typical, in that my contractions were not painful, but I was making cervical change throughout the day. I arrived at the hospital at 9 am, and he was born at 4:30 pm. The only intervention I had was an AROM at my request at 9 cm.
I also have a friend who had cryo for her dysplasia (with the same obstetrician/gynecologist I used), and had no trouble becoming pregnant, carrying to term and delivering just fine.
I can't speak to midwives risking out women from personal experience, other than I talked about my own situation with a midwife friend, who had no concerns about my ability to homebirth if I ever became pregnant again.
— Meredith
A: LEEPs are so common I wasn't going to respond to the above question thinking that other midwives would have had many women with a similar history. I have not seen any women have preterm labor, [though this] does not mean that other midwives or practitioners have not had the exact opposite experience from me. HPV is an infection and generally transmitted to the vaginal and cervical tissues by sexual intercourse. It can lead to cancer and therefore LEEP is recommended. What I have seen most often is the scarring of the cervix that initially slows dilation. For example, opening past a finger tip in labor can be prolonged. During a cervical exam massage of the cervix has relieved the scar tissue and dilation then proceeds as normal on women who have not taken DHA or other essential fatty acids during pregnancy.
DHA administration is now becoming commonplace supplementation in mainstream obstetrical care for baby's brain growth and development during the last trimester of pregnancy. Something midwives have been doing forever—evening primrose oil—is similar in terms of properties, is excellent for fetal brain growth and development and softens the cervix preparing it for dilation. Most midwives prefer that a client wait until she is 36 weeks to begin evening primrose oil. Start with 500 mg the first week, 1000 mg the second week, 1500 the third week, until a total of 3000 mg a day is ingested. Evening primrose oil has undergone clinical trials and is considered non-toxic to infants up to 8000 mg/daily dose.
For general overall cervical health—folic acid. Even 400 mcg per day of folic acid can have major improvements on cervical health and I have read research that has uncovered reversal of dysplasia in some women once they started ingesting folic acid supplements over a period of time. In addition, should one become pregnant while taking folic acid supplementation, she is already preventing the possibility of dietary/hereditary spinal cord anomalies with the folic acid-B12 deficiency syndrome. What is good for baby is definitely good for mom!
— Sandra Tallbear, CNM
A: I'm a midwife in New Zealand providing continuity of care for women over their childbirth experience. I have cared for a number of women with the procedure you are querying—called a LLETZ procedure in NZ. Both LLETZ and cone biopsy have the potential to cause scarring of the cervical tissue, resulting in cervical dilatation dystocia (lack of dilatation) or an incompetent cervix (a cervix that dilates prematurely). However, I am yet to see this—all the mothers I have cared for who have undergone this treatment have labored either at term or post-term without cervical problems.
It does not preclude women from midwife care—here in NZ women have a consultation with an obstetrician during the pregnancy to discuss the possible risks, but remain under midwifery care. Hope this helps.
— Kelly Manninen, Midwife
A: I have not seen any significant incidence of either cervical incompetence or preterm labor resulting from LEEPs although these are potential risks. Scar tissue causing difficulty dilating is another possible complication of LEEP, however, I have not seen any significant incidence of that either. Fortunately, most LEEPS, if done well, should not have a major impact on childbirth, and having it done well is essential to prevent loss of elastic tissue or scarring.
— Eden Gabrielle Fromberg, DO, FACOOG, DABHM
Q: I have a friend who has endometriosis in her lungs. She has bled during her period for many years, (spit blood) from her lungs, and now after her second baby she finally did testing and discovered that it is endometriosis.
I hope to find her some solutions, hopefully alternative—a way to help her without filling her with drugs and hormones. We are from southern Chile, in South America. I would really appreciate some tips, or even better, the name of someone who knows how to heal or treat naturally (successfully) this ailment.
Thank you very much.
— Aiyana Gregori
A: I would recommend acupuncture for endometriosis. Years ago my roommate had endometriosis and her best relief from symptoms and eventual healing came from acupuncture treatments.
— Danette Condon
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Think about It
OSU Study Reveals Conflict between Doctors, Midwives over Homebirth
CORVALLIS, Ore. Two Oregon State University researchers have uncovered a pattern of distrust—and sometimes outright antagonism—among physicians at hospitals and midwives who are transporting their homebirth clients to the hospital because of complications.
Oregon State University assistant professor Melissa Cheyney and doctoral student Courtney Everson said their work revealed an ongoing conflict between physicians and midwives, similar to that found in other studies of the dynamics between the two groups across the country.
The pair recently examined birth records in Oregon's Jackson County from 1998 through 2003, a period when that county saw higher-than-expected rates of prematurity and low birth weight in some populations. The researchers wanted to assess whether those rates were linked to midwife-attended homebirths.
The findings revealed that assisted homebirths did not appear to be contributing to the lower-than-average health outcomes and, in fact, that the homebirths documented all had successful outcomes. But even more importantly to Cheyney, discussions with doctors and midwives uncovered a deep mistrust between the two groups of birthing providers, with doctors expressing the firm belief that only hospital births are safe, while midwives felt marginalized, mocked and put on the defensive when in contact with physicians.
"We've been getting insight into their world view, and it's been quite illuminating," Cheyney said.
Cheyney, who is a practicing midwife in addition to being an assistant professor of medical anthropology and reproductive biology, said she was surprised that physicians, when presented with scientifically conducted research that indicates homebirths do not increase infant mortality rates, still refuse to believe that births outside of the hospital are safe.
"Medicine is a social construct, and it's heavily politicized," she said.
She is working with Lane County obstetrician Dr. Paul Qualtere-Burcher to draft guidelines that would help midwives and their clients decide when they need to seek medical help, based in large part on Cheyney's research, and another that would ask physicians to recognize midwives as legitimate caregivers.
Qualtere-Burcher said creating an open channel of communication isn't easy.
"I do get some pushback from physician friends who say that I'm too open and too supportive," he said. "My answer, to quote (President) Obama, is that dialogue is always a good idea."
Qualtere-Burcher said he believes that if midwives felt more comfortable contacting physicians with medical questions or concerns, there would be a greater chance that women would get medical help when they needed it.
"Treat (midwives) with respect, as colleagues, and they'll not be afraid to call," he said.
While Qualtere-Burcher believes it would be wonderful, but Utopian, for all midwives to agree to seek medical assistance under the guidelines they're proposing, and for all physicians to learn to deal more collegially with midwives, he hopes that if a small group on each side agrees to the plan, it will provide more evidence that a stronger relationship between physicians and midwives will lead to better outcomes for mothers and infants.
Last year the American Medical Association passed Resolution 205, which states: "the safest setting for labor, delivery and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex" The resolution was passed in direct response to media attention on home births, the AMA stated.
What is interesting, Cheyney points out, is that 99 percent of American births occur in the hospital, but the United States has one of the highest infant mortality rates of any developed country, with 6.3 deaths per 1,000 babies born. Meanwhile, the Netherlands, where a third of deliveries occur in the home with the assistance of midwives, has a lower rate of 4.73 deaths per 1,000.
One of the biggest problems Cheyney sees is that physicians only come into contact with midwives when something has gone wrong with the homebirth, and the patient has been transported to the hospital for care. There are a number of reasons why this interaction often is tension-filled and unpleasant for both sides, she says.
First is the assumption that homebirth must be dangerous, because the patient they're seeing has had to be transported to the hospital. Secondly, the physician is now taking on the risk of caring for a patient who is unknown to them, and who has a medical chart provided by a midwife which may not include the kind of information the physician is used to receiving.
And because the midwife is often feeling defensive and upset, Cheyney said, the contact between her and the physician can often be tense and unproductive. Meanwhile, the patient, whose intention was not to have a hospital birth, is already feeling upset at the change in birth plan, and is now watching her care provider come into conflict with the stranger who is about to deliver her baby.
"It's an extremely tension-fraught encounter," Cheyney said, "and something needs to be done to address it." As homebirths increase in popularity, she added, these encounters are bound to increase and a plan needs to be in place so that doctors and midwives know what protocol to follow.
"We're having a meeting in early May to propose a draft for a model of collaborative care that might be the first of its kind," in the United States, Cheyney said.
Cheyney is also pushing to get hospitals and the state records division to better track homebirths. The department of vital records had no way to indicate whether a birth occurred at home until 2008, and without being able to pull data, Cheyney said it's hard to explore the nature of home birth in Oregon.
She's also working on education programs for midwives in rural areas, including a cultural competency piece as demographics in Oregon continue to change.
Re: E-News 11:7 about Uterine Didelphys
Some time ago I had a colleague, a young doctor with uterus didelphys. She had two normal pregnancies and two normal deliveries in our small community hospital without problems. I think that a key is good pregnancy and labor control, without unnecessary interventions.
— G. Colic, MD, Ob/Gyn specialist
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text: Slim cotton-wool elbow-patch shirt in red-and-black plaid Item F4155 Color: BLACK Size: LARGE All sizes are US sizes. LARGE Size Charts Quantity: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Prices do not include taxes. Add to Bag Wishlist Add to Bag Add To Wishlist share: size & fit Slim fit, cut more narrowly through the body and sleeves. Product Details This handsome shirt is woven with a blend of cotton and wool for some lightweight warmth on those days when the temperature starts to sink. We also added elbow patches for a polished, rustic look inspired by classic outdoor gear. Cotton/wool. Button-down collar. Single pocket with pen holder. Machine wash. Import. Online only. Item F4155.


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I know this probably gets moved. I started a Bracket League on yahoo for PD. We have 10 people signed up already, but I know we can get more. Heres the info.
Group ID : 50098
Pw: 12121212
Brackets must be completed before thursday games begin.
No prize. Just bragging rights.


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Here's a quick web update.
We're less than a week away from Mothership Zeta, and there's a pair of new interviews with DLC Producer Jeff Gardiner at Go! Gaming Giant and Talking About Games. Here's a look at a snippet from the latter:
What was the motivation behind taking players onto an alien spacecraft for Mothership Zeta? Did someone on the team have an encounter?
Jeff Gardiner: We thought it would be a very unique environment to explore, a far cry from the dust ravaged wastes of DC. The lead designer, Emil Pagliarulo, and I are interested in Alien conspiracy theory… There's a lot of information to sift through on the internet, while neither of us is quite sure what to believe it makes for interesting coffee conversation.
Sites continue to give away Point Lookout Codes. GameFocus is the latest with a contest running through tomorrow.
In preview coverage, NowGamer has a new preview for Brink. Here's a sample:
"Your character will be entirely user-created, giving you the chance to be totally unique. Our short demonstration pointed to a customisation engine that appeared to ensure your character looked damn cool no matter what you did with it – quite a feat."
For more on Brink, check out E3Coverage.com's interview with Richard Ham.
Finally, if you haven't checked out the trailer for The Book of Eli — starring Denzel Washington — you might want to give it a look. On several sites, including Kotaku, comparisons to Fallout 3 are already being made.
Updates: This morning on Kotaku, I spotted some cool Fallout "accessories." Learn how to put them together at The Weekly Geek.
Elsewhere, you can learn more about the technology for Brink at PC Games Hardware — who has an interview with Arnout van Meer — Splash Damage's Technical Director.
If you're planning on attending QuakeCon — check here for details on how you could win a 2010 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 Coupe. Sadly, I'm not eligible, so I'll have to stick with Nike and New Balance.


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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Brad Keselowski typically will sign just about anything when a fan asks for an autograph.
But he denied a request prior to Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. When a female fan approached him with one of his No. 2 hats, he promptly refused to sign it.
Because she stole it—from him.
"I took off my hat and I sat it on the car (in practice) and was getting ready to get in it. I see my hat there and so I toss it on top of the pit box. Right about that time, Jimmie (Johnson) and I were both getting back into our cars to make our runs and a bunch of fans had started to hang around our garage area and our toolboxes where I flung my hat. …
"I go out and make my run and I pull back in and my hat's gone. Where did my hat go? I'm walking around and media is chasing me around and my hair is all over, it's crazy and I'm sweating so it has that weird look to it. I've got helmet head. And I think, 'Somebody stole my hat.'
"I lose things a lot. I lose my car keys. I lose my wallet. People that lose things a lot always say the same thing: Somebody stole my blah, blah, blah. But this time somebody really did steal it. …
"I get out my phone (later) and … the first tweet was someone who wrote me and said: 'Hey Brad, I just took your hat, thank you. …'
"As luck would have it, this person stole my hat. I got another hat. There will be more hats. I wasn't frowning. But somebody stole my hat either way. …
"And so before the race, I'm going to get into my car. Literally right before the race starts … and this girl comes walking up with this hat and goes, 'Hey, Brad, I'm the girl that stole your hat the other day. Can you sign it?'
"I thought it was pretty incredible that someone would one, steal your hat; two, go on Twitter and tell you they stole your hat; and three, walk up to you and be like, 'Hey, right before you get in your car to race for the championship, can you sign this hat that I just stole from you and told you about yesterday?'
"I thought that was pretty remarkable. I didn't sign it. It felt wrong."


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A SOUTH MARSTON PCSO and the Swindon town centre Neighbourhood Policing Team have been honoured at a special awards ceremony.
Work carried out by volunteers, police officers and PCSOs across Wiltshire and Swindon was recognised at the first Neighbourhood Policing Awards presentation in Devizes.
The awards were set up by the Police and Crime Commissioner for Wiltshire and Swindon, Angus Macpherson.
Mr Macpherson had been due to address the invited audience and present the awards, but he is recovering in the Royal United Hospital in Bath after suffering a heart attack a week ago while on an official engagement in Trowbridge.
In his absence, the awards were presented by the Chief Constable Pat Geenty.
Mr Geenty was a member of the judging panel together with Wiltshire Council leader Jane Scott, Swindon Council chief executive Gavin Jones, High Sheriff Peter Addington and Mr Macpherson.
Kieran Kilgallen, chief executive of the Office of the PCC, told the gathering: "If Angus was here today I am sure he would be telling you just what an important part volunteers play within the communities of Wiltshire and Swindon.
"Volunteering is something which Angus holds dear and being a volunteer himself, in his very limited spare time, he knows how fulfilling such work can be.
"Angus has been quite clear since being elected to office that volunteers have a huge role to play in helping him achieve the priorities he set out in his Police and Crime Plan.
"This is the 30th anniversary of Volunteers' Week and charities and organisations across the country are taking the opportunity to thank the army of people who, by willingly giving their time, truly make a difference."
Mr Geenty expressed his delight that Mr Macpherson was making progress in hospital and praised the Commissioner for his initiative in setting up the awards and said they shared a commitment to harness the potential that volunteers have to offer.
PCSO Juliet Evans, for South Marston and Highworth, won the PCSO of the year award.
Nominated by South Marston Parish Council, the judging panel felt that Juliet was a worthy winner of this award. She is supportive of local initiatives, for example Community Speed Watch, accompanying the team on many occasions, even those outside her normal working hours.
Juliet holds meetings regularly with the communities to which residents are invited to discuss any problems or difficulties they may have, particularly those concerning potential criminal activity or anti-social behaviour.
She gives her support to the Swindon Salamander Programme for Down's Syndrome children.
Often patrolling her areas on foot or on her bicycle, she has been known to choose to walk from Highworth to South Marston, ending at Gablecross Police Station, a distance of some five miles.
The Neighbourhood Policing Team of the Year award went to Swindon Town Centre, Broadgreen NPT, who were nominated by Broad Street Area Community Council.
The award was in recognition of the support and encouragement given by the local team to the community as a whole.
The team have shown that with time, understanding and patience, getting to know people and different groups, and by encouraging integration and breaking down barriers, they have helped to make the area a better place to be.
They have a good understanding of community and people, and engage with all members of the community; they are always willing to take part in community events and projects with both older and younger residents.
As a result, crime and disorder in the area has been noticeably reduced.


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Ben wrote: Being the smallest recognized religion makes it easy to be the fastest growing!
Ben wrote:Apart from my co-practitioners, I know no other Buddhists (let alone Theravadins) here in Tasmania. And my co-practitioners don't even consider themselves as 'Buddhist'! But then, I am a difficult-to-get-along-with bastard so maybe I just scare everyone off!
mikenz66 wrote:I suspect that the proportions of Theravada in Australia/Oceania is seriously overestimated at 50%. Down here the majority of Buddhists are immigrants, and the majority of those are from China and Korea, so unlikely to be Theravada.
retrofuturist wrote:Yes. A look at Buddhanet's World Buddhist Directory might be a useful tool for approximate proportions.
pilgrim wrote:For a start, there should be at least a million Theravadins in Xishuangpanna. But still some way off from 50m.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xishuangba ... Prefecture
Return to "General Theravāda discussion"
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I thought that working in the media was a precarious career path until I started to learn more about the executive charter business. In the media these days we struggle to understand how our hard work will be paid for, with readers less and less willing to pay for our words and pictures and advertising budgets shrinking. Evidently, too many people out there think that a credible free press comes for free. Then there's the daily threat of unscrupulous online rivals stealing our materials and presenting the fruits of our labors as their own. Go sue us, they sneer when challenged.
Charter operators face some similar challenges in what has become a decidedly shaky business plan now threatened by further financial meltdown. In the October and November monthly editions of AIN you'll be able to read our latest special report on the charter and fractional ownership industries. We'll be detailing the pressures these companies now face, but, for the time being, here's a summary of why I'm still glad to be a wage-slave reporter rather than trying to scratch a living as a charter operator:
• There are still far too many aircraft available for charter chasing soft and inconsistent levels of demand.
Too many charter firms are selling themselves short, flying aircraft at loss-making rates in a vain bid to cover overheads. Part of the reason for this is that most aircraft offered for charter are owned by individuals or companies that farm them out under management in the hope of recouping some of their expenses. In bad times, this business model distorts the competitive balance. Making matters worse is the fact that owners who might otherwise sell their aircraft and remove them from the charter inventory do not feel they can do so due to the continuing weakness of pre-owned prices. It's a bit like an airborne version of the Florida real estate market. And, guess what, it could be about to get worse because banks are in trouble again and another credit crisis cannot be ruled out (see below).
• The economies of what remain–for the time being–the world's two leading charter markets, the U.S. and Europe, are basically stagnant.
That's the good news. The bad news is they could be about to lurch back into another full-blown recession, less than two years after pulling out of the last recession. European states such as Spain, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Greece are grade-A basket-cases, with their governments in various states of denial about their crippling public debts. France could be next and my own country, the UK, is hanging on like grim death. Germany is getting tired of paying the bills for neighbors who seem increasingly like spoiled-brat, trust-fund teenagers. Oh, and no one knows for sure just how badly banks (in Europe and beyond) could be exposed, if any of the above states default on their debts, because evidently they were too busy counting their ill-gotten bonuses to learn any of the lessons from the last financial crisis and our politicians were too spineless to make them learn these lessons. That's what could result in the imminent release of the unwelcome Hollywood blockbuster sequel: "Credit Crunch II: The Return of the Pre-owned Aircraft Value Collapse."
• Coming next to a theater near you: "Currency Crisis: Vengeance of the Swiss Franc."
This week the government of Switzerland, where many major business aviation service companies are based and which boasts a massive private aircraft fleet for such a relatively small country, started pumping huge wads of cash into the international currency markets. Why? Because the Swiss Franc has become grotesquely over-valued against the euro and the U.S. dollar–so much so that the competitiveness of the Swiss economy is being undermined and this could lead to one of the world's wealthiest countries descending into recession and deflation. The trouble is that the aforementioned European basket-case economies, and probably the U.S. too, aren't going to be able to take the Swiss corrective action in stride. With the very few tools available to their governments to protect their worsening finances, they could resort to retaliatory action in currency markets, leading to the very real possibility of a ruinous currency exchange war. This could badly destabilize already precarious charter rates and the cost structure of embattled operators.
• But surely charter firms can simply shift their fleets to the emerging markets such as China and India to compensate for problems in more mature markets?
In theory, yes, and to some extent this is happening, but the fact remains that the new markets are not developing as well as many of us had hoped. There are still massive bureaucratic and political obstacles to opening up business aviation in these countries and, no matter what people tell you, they just don't seem to be getting any easier. Earlier this year I discussed this with Kenn Ricci, executive chairman of U.S. fractional ownership and charter group Flight Options. I agree with him that there is a distinct political element to the development of international markets for private aviation. In his view, a lack of personal freedom and democracy in places like China could stunt growth by holding back the travel aspirations and possibilities of even the wealthy. Fundamentally, business aviation is about freedom. Equally fundamentally, the Chinese government appears to be at best ambivalent about freedom; in fact, it finds it rather inconvenient. Several leading economists, such as the UK's Will Hutton, believe that this suppression of personal freedom and initiative will mean that China may not fulfill the potential for growth on which the charter business is counting. Then there's India, where recent investigations into alleged endemic corruption have revealed that businesses are commonly having to pay as much as one-third of their revenues in bribes just to be able to keep trading. Is it any wonder that the long-awaited business aviation infrastructure isn't getting built there?
• The charter sector is being further undermined by endemic illegality.
This takes two forms. First, aircraft that are authorized to fly only for private purposes are being offered for hire. Since they are not constrained by the same rules as commercial operators, operators of these aircraft can charter them at rates that AOC holders cannot match. Illegal operators are often invalidating the terms of their finance agreement and insurance. If they crash, the widows and orphans of their pilots and passengers will be left to fend for themselves because life insurance policies won't pay out. Second, some charter operators are routinely flouting cabotage rules that prevent commercial flights within and between territories other than the one in which they are based. For the most part, the authorities–in Europe at least–are doing practically nothing to stop these illegal practices. Regulators who have endless energy and zeal to enforce other rules in the most pedantic, hair-splitting way possible are completely failing to prosecute operators who fly illegally.
Right, now that I've cheered you up, I need to get back to work. There are publishers out there in Russia, China, the Middle East and India (you know who you are) waiting to steal the next batch of AIN articles. They've got mouths to feed, you know.
Ronald Ludema (not verified)
January 12, 2012 - 9:26am
Your article is an excellent example of what is happening to this industry. Also, as I was again reminder of yesterday with a visit form or FAA rep that it's not about the fact that you have had over 40 years of safe flying if you don't keep up with the constant changing requirements in paperwork all those years and efforts mean nothing. There is no consistancy across the country, manual requirments change so rapidly you can't keep up. FAA requires you to be prompt and accurate and then they fail to repond in a timely manner so what you sent them is out of date and gets returned as unacceptable. Part 91 lease operators have become a epidemic can work outside the 135 requirements and are pricing way below realistic numbers. We continue doing this because like you said are airplane values are so low we would loose our lifes work if we sold.
Thank you for your time.