text:
The association of hypercholesterolemia and obesity with airway hyperresponsiveness has drawn increasing attention to the potential role of cholesterol and lipid homeostasis in lung physiology and in chronic pulmonary diseases such as asthma. We have recently shown that activation of the nuclear hormone receptor liver X receptor (LXR) stimulates cholesterol efflux in human airway smooth muscle (hASM) cells and induces expression of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters ABCA1 and ABCG1, members of a family of proteins that mediate reverse cholesterol and phospholipid transport. We show here that ABCA1 is responsible for all LXR-mediated cholesterol and phospholipid efflux to both apolipoprotein AI and high-density lipoprotein acceptors. In contrast, ABCG1 does not appear to be required for this process. Moreover, we show that hASM cells respond to increased levels of cholesterol by inducing expression of ABCA1 and ABCG1 transporters, a process that is dependent on LXR expression. These findings establish a critical role for ABCA1 in reverse cholesterol and phospholipid transport in airway smooth muscle cells and suggest that dysregulation of cholesterol homeostasis in these cells may be important in the pathogenesis of diseases such as asthma.
- lung
- asthma
- nuclear hormone receptors
- ABC transporters
asthma is a multifactorial chronic inflammatory disease of the lung that is characterized by airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR). Disease progression involves bronchoconstriction, recruitment of leukocytes, airway remodeling, and increased smooth muscle mass (10). Many factors are proposed to contribute to the initiation and progression of asthma including genetic predisposition and environmental factors such as pollutants (9). The increased coincidence of obesity and asthma, as observed with recent longitudinal and cross-sectional studies (16, 42), further suggests that metabolic dysregulation may also contribute to AHR. As well, hypercholesterolemia, which is often observed in obese patients with asthma, has been associated with AHR in animal models of lung disease (1, 33, 47). Consistent with the latter, statin therapy has been shown to reduce pulmonary inflammation and proliferation of airway smooth muscle cells (39, 47). Further evidence to support a crucial role for lipid homeostasis in the lung come from animal studies of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters ABCA1 and ABCG1. ABCA1 and ABCG1 mediate cholesterol and phospholipid efflux from peripheral cells to extracellular acceptors such as apolipoprotein AI (apoAI) and HDL for transport back to the liver in a process termed "reverse cholesterol transport" (45). Severe pulmonary abnormalities are observed in both ABCA1 and ABCG1 knockout mouse models. Thus abca1−/− mice display massive lipid accumulation in alveolar macrophages, type II pneumocytes and lung parenchyma, abnormal lung morphology, and shallow breathing (6). Similarly, abcg1−/− mice display progressive lipid accumulation in alveolar macrophages and type II pneumocytes (5). Moreover, patients who suffer from pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) have reduced ABCG1 expression in alveolar macrophages (40). Interestingly, gm-csf−/− mice, which recapitulate disease phenotypes of PAP patients, show reduced ABCG1 expression in alveolar macrophages, implicating ABCG1 as well as the proinflammatory cytokine granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) as crucial regulatory components of lipid and surfactant metabolism in the lung (40). Taken together, the foregoing indicates that metabolic defects in lipid and cholesterol homeostasis may contribute to AHR and lung disease; however, the physiological relevance and mechanisms involved remain unknown.
Although ABC transport proteins have been highly characterized in the macrophage, their role in other lung cell types, such as human airway smooth muscle (hASM), that are crucial in diseases such as asthma, has not been investigated. hASM cells regulate bronchomotor tone and contribute to exaggerated bronchoconstriction (hyperresponsiveness) during an asthmatic attack and to increased smooth muscle mass in the asthmatic airway, which leads to airway constriction and eventual irreversible tissue remodeling (2). Airway smooth muscle cells also mediate immune modulation and inflammation in the airway by promoting the recruitment, activation, and migration of inflammatory cells through the expression of cytokines and inflammatory mediators (21). We have recently demonstrated that both ABCA1 and ABCG1 are highly expressed in hASM and that their expression is regulated by liver X receptor (LXR; subtypes -α and -β), a ligand-activated nuclear hormone receptor that governs cholesterol and fatty acid homeostasis by controlling the expression of key target genes that control cholesterol catabolism, storage, adsorption, and transport (13). Ligand activation of LXR also results in robust cholesterol efflux in airway smooth muscle cells, presumably through the actions of ABC transporters. Given the emerging importance of cholesterol and lipid metabolism in the lung, we sought to further characterize the function of ABCA1 and ABCG1 in hASM cells using small interfering RNA (siRNA) knockdown approaches and small molecule inhibitors of these transporters. We show here that LXR ligand-induced reverse cholesterol and phospholipid transport to both apoAI and HDL is mediated exclusively by ABCA1, whereas ABCG1 appears to play no observable role in this process. Moreover, we show that cholesterol loading of hASM cells specifically increases the expression of ABCA1 and ABCG1 and that this induction is dependent on LXRα/β expression. Our findings indicate that cholesterol and lipid homeostasis are of importance in normal hASM function and suggest that dysregulation of these pathways may contribute to the pathogenesis of respiratory diseases such as asthma.
Human apoAI, TO901317 (T1317), GW3965, 9-cis retinoic acid (9-cisRA), IL-1β, and probucol were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Oakville, Ontario, Canada). HDL purified by ultracentrifugation (d = 1.063–1.21 g/ml) was purchased from Biomedical Technologies (Stoughton, MA). [3H]cholesterol and [3H]choline were purchased from PerkinElmer (Boston, MA). Gene-specific siRNA oligonucleotides were purchased from QIAGEN (Chatsworth, CA). All other chemicals were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich unless stated otherwise.
hASM cells were obtained as described previously (29) from human lungs that were resected at St. Joseph's Healthcare (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) following approval from the Institutional Review Board and the consent of patients undergoing resection. Smooth muscle tissue was isolated from disease-free areas of the bronchi. Airway smooth muscle cells were grown in RPMI media supplemented with 10% FBS, 1% l-glutamine, and 1% penicillin-streptomycin. All experiments were done with cells at passage 5 or earlier. All experiments described herein include a 24- to 48-h serum deprivation step. As has been shown previously, serum removal results in the expression of contractile proteins and other differentiation markers and increases the number of caveolae, which is thought to represent a more physiological relevant state since cells are not normally exposed to high levels of serum (17). This step also synchronizes hASM cell cultures resulting in decreased heterogeneity and more uniform responses.
siRNA transfections.
hASM cells were transfected with siRNA target-specific oligonucleotides using HiPerFect Transfection Reagent and reverse-transfection protocols according to manufacturer's instructions (QIAGEN). Briefly, siRNA (19–285 ng) was incubated with 1.5 μl of HiPerFect reagent in 100 μl of serum-free media at a final concentration of 5–75 nM and incubated for 10 min at room temperature. During the incubation period, hASM cells were harvested and split into 48-well dishes (5 × 105 cells per well in a volume of 250 μl), and 100 μl of siRNA complex was added to each well. Cells were incubated for 24 h or longer (as indicated in the figure legends) and analyzed by real-time PCR as described below.
Real-time PCR.
Total RNA was isolated from hASM cells using the RNeasy QIAGEN kit, and cDNA was prepared from 1 μg of RNA by reverse transcription using the QuantiTect Reverse Transcription kit (QIAGEN) according to the manufacturer's instructions. Real-time PCR was performed using Platinum SYBR Green SuperMix-UDG with ROX PCR mix (Invitrogen, Burlington, Ontario, Canada). Briefly, 5 μl of SYBR Green SuperMix, 2.55 μl of H2O, 1.25 μl of primer sets, and 1.25 μl of cDNA was mixed with a final reaction volume of 10 μl, and PCR amplification was carried out in 384-well plates in an Applied Biosystems 7900HT real-time PCR machine (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). Relative expression was determined using the 2(−ΔΔCt) method (7) and by normalizing to β-actin expression levels. Primer sequences used were: hABCA1, forward 5′-CAGGTGAAAGGCTGGAAACT-3′; hABCA1, reverse 5′-GGCAAGACAATCTGAGCAAA-3′; hABCG1, forward 5′-GGTGTCCTGCTACATCATGC-3′; hABCG1, reverse 5′-TCTGCCT TCATCCTTCTCCT-3′; hβ-actin, forward 5′-CACTCTTCCAGCCTTCCTTC-3′; hβ-actin, reverse 5′-GGATGTCCACGTCACACTTC-3′; hSR-BI, forward 5′-GTACAGGGAGTTCAGGCACA-3′; hSR-BI, reverse 5′-GAACTGGAAGGTGCGGTACT-3′.
Cholesterol efflux.
Cholesterol efflux assays were carried out as previously described (13) with minor modifications. Briefly, hASM cells were split into 48-well dishes at a concentration of 5 × 105 cells per well and allowed to adhere overnight followed by incubation for 48 h in DMEM plus 10% FBS plus [3H]cholesterol (5 μCi/ml). Cells were then washed and incubated for an additional 18 h with equilibration medium (DMEM + 2% BSA) supplemented with T1317 (1 μM), 9-cisRA (1 μM), and probucol (10 μM) where indicated. Efflux was initiated by the addition of efflux medium (DMEM + 0.2% BSA) plus either vehicle, apoAI (50 μg/ml), or HDL (50 μg/ml) where indicated. Radioactivity was measured by scintillation counting, and cholesterol efflux was calculated by dividing the amount of [3H]cholesterol in the media by the total [3H]cholesterol associated with the cells plus media. For efflux experiments using cells that were transfected with siRNA, cell plating and transfections were done on the same day, and the siRNA complex was incubated with the cells overnight. The following day, the media was removed and replaced with labeling media and incubated for 48 h as described above.
Western blot analysis.
hASM cells were transfected with siRNA (50 nM) as indicated in the figure legends, and cholesterol efflux assays were carried out as described above. Total protein was then isolated using 1% Triton X-100 detergent, and Western blot analysis was carried out (25 μg of total protein for each sample) using a commercially available kit (Amersham Biosciences, Baie-d'Urfé, Québec, Canada) according the manufacturer's instructions. Following transfer to nitrocellulose, blots were incubated with rabbit anti-ABCA1 (1:1,000; Novus Biologicals, Littleton, CO) or rabbit anti-ABCG1 polyclonal antibody (1:2,000; Novus Biologicals) for 1 h followed by goat anti-rabbit horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibody (1:5,000; Amersham Biosciences) for an additional hour and visualized by enhanced chemiluminescence. Blots were probed with rabbit anti-β-actin as a loading control.
Cytotoxicity assay.
hASM cells (2.0 × 105 cells per well) were seeded into 96-well dishes and allowed to adhere overnight. Cells were either untreated or treated with probucol (10 μM) in the absence or presence of T1317/9-cisRA (1 μM each) for 18 h in 2% BSA-RPMI. Cells also received equivalent levels of vehicle (DMSO). Cell viability was measured using the Cell Counting Kit-8 according to manufacturer's instruction (Dojindo, Rockville, MD). Colorimetric absorbance readings were performed at 450 nm on a SpectraMax Plus plate reader (Molecular Devices-Amersham Biosciences).
Phospholipid efflux.
Phospholipid efflux assays were carried out as previously described (43). Briefly, hASM cells were split into 48-well dishes at a concentration of 5 × 105 cells per well and allowed to adhere overnight. The media was then replaced by DMEM plus 2% BSA plus [3H]choline (5 μCi/ml), and cells were incubated for 48 h. Cells were washed and incubated for an additional 18 h in DMEM plus 2% BSA supplemented with T1317 (1 μM) and 9-cisRA (1 μM) where indicated. Phospholipid efflux was initiated by the addition of efflux medium (DMEM + 0.2% BSA) plus either vehicle, apoAI (50 μg/ml), or HDL (50 μg/ml) where indicated in a total volume of 250 μl. Supernatants (200 μl) were collected after 5 h, and lipid was extracted using Folch mixture (2:1 chloroform-to-methanol ratio) and measured by scintillation counting. Lipids were extracted from cell monolayers using the hexane-to-isopropanol method as described (43). Phospholipid efflux was calculated as the amount of extracellular [3H]choline/total [3H]choline associated with the lipid fraction of the cells plus media.
Cholesterol loading and unloading with methyl-β-cyclodextrin.
hASM cells were plated in six-well dishes and allowed to adhere overnight, transfected with the indicated siRNA as described above, and serum starved for 24 h in 0.2% BSA-RPMI. Cells were then incubated with methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MβCD; 5 μg/ml) or MβCD in complex with cholesterol (5 μg/ml; Sigma-Aldrich) in 0.2% BSA-RPMI for an additional 24 h where indicated in the figure legends. RNA was isolated and quantified by RT-PCR as described above.
Analysis of HDL and apoAI preparations by fast-performance liquid chromatography.
Purified HDL and pure apoAI described above were separated by gel filtration chromatography using an AKTA FPLC with a Superose 6 HR 10/30 column and eluted into 80 250-μl fractions (35). Fractions were analyzed for total cholesterol using the Infinity Cholesterol Liquid Stable Reagent Kit according to manufacturer's instructions (Thermo Electron, Pittsburgh, PA). HDL and free apoAI fractions were also analyzed for apoAI content by Western blot as described above. Briefly, 10 μl of each fraction was separated by SDS-PAGE and transferred to nitrocellulose. Blots were incubated with goat anti-apoAI (1:10,000; Midland Bioproducts, Boone, IA) for 1 h followed by rabbit anti-goat horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibody (1:10,000; Amersham Biosciences) for an additional hour and visualized by enhanced chemiluminescence.
Statistical analysis.
Unpaired t-tests were used for comparison of groups. P < 0.05 was considered significant.
ABCA1, but not ABCG1, mediates LXR-stimulated cholesterol efflux to apoAI and HDL.
We (13) have previously demonstrated that activation of endogenous LXR in hASM cells by various receptor agonists induces expression ABCA1 and ABCG1 at the mRNA and protein levels and stimulates cholesterol efflux. To determine whether reverse cholesterol transport in hASM cells requires ABCA1 and/or ABCG1 and, if so, to assess the contribution of each receptor in this process, we employed knockdown strategies using siRNAs to specifically reduce the expression of ABCA1 or ABCG1 and tested the effects on cholesterol efflux. As previously demonstrated, cholesterol efflux in airway smooth muscle cells, using apoAI as an acceptor, was increased twofold over control levels in the presence of the LXR ligand T1317 and 9-cisRA, a ligand for the LXR obligate heterodimerization partner retinoic X receptor (RXR) (Fig. 1A). Knockdown of ABCA1, but not ABCG1, blocked all LXR ligand-induced cholesterol efflux to apoAI acceptor. To determine the efficiency and specificity of knockdown of ABC transporters, we isolated RNA and protein from cells treated in parallel during the cholesterol efflux assays and analyzed expression levels by RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. As shown in Fig. 1, siRNAs targeted to ABCA1 or ABCG1 showed specific and efficient knockdown of each respective transporter at both the RNA (Fig. 1B) and protein levels (Fig. 1C). In each case, LXR-dependent induction over control levels was reduced 85–95%. These above findings establish that ABCA1 is necessary and sufficient for LXR-mediated cholesterol efflux to apoAI.
Previous reports have suggested that, in macrophages, ABCG1 is responsible for preferential cholesterol efflux to the lipid-rich acceptor HDL. To determine whether this is also the case in hASM cells, we repeated the above experiment with HDL in place of apoAI. As shown in Fig. 2A, LXR activation increased cholesterol efflux to HDL by twofold over control levels. Surprisingly, knockdown of ABCG1 did not alter the ability of hASM cells to efflux cholesterol to HDL (Fig. 2A). Thus, in contrast to what has been reported in the macrophages (18, 27, 41, 44), HDL does not serve as a cholesterol acceptor for ABCG1-mediated cholesterol efflux in hASM cells. To identify which transporters were responsible for cholesterol efflux to HDL, we investigated the role of the scavenger receptor B type I (SR-BI) and ABCA1, both of which have also been reported to efflux cholesterol to HDL in macrophages (13, 14, 28). Knockdown of SR-BI (>80%) had no effect on efflux to HDL acceptors (Fig. 2, B and C), whereas knockdown of ABCA1 blocked all LXR ligand-induced efflux to HDL (Fig. 2A). To ensure that the observed efflux was not due to contaminating free apoAI in the HDL preparations, we fractionated HDL and pure apoAI protein preparations by fast-performance liquid chromatography (FPLC). ApoAI in the HDL preparations eluted in fractions rich in cholesterol and as a distinct and separate peak, with only minor overlap, compared with pure apoAI (data not shown). These findings indicate that the majority of the apoAI in the HDL preparations was associated with HDL particles and not in free form. Furthermore, the observation that the raw percentage of cholesterol efflux observed with HDL preparations was greater compared with free apoAI (compare Fig. 1A vs. Fig. 2A), despite using equivalent protein amounts (50 μg/ml), indicates that ABCA1-dependent cholesterol efflux to HDL was not a result of contaminating free apoAI in the HDL preparations. The finding that ABCA1 mediated efflux to HDL was further confirmed by using an independent siRNA construct to reduce expression of ABCA1 (Fig. 2D) and by undertaking dose-response and time course experiments. As shown in Fig. 3, increasing amounts of ABCA1 siRNA blocked LXR-stimulated efflux in a dose-dependent manner, an effect that was evident within 1–2 h (Fig. 4, A and B). To independently confirm that ABCA1 is involved in cholesterol efflux to both HDL and apoAI, cells were incubated with probucol, a small molecule that has been shown to specifically block ABCA1-dependent cholesterol efflux while having no effect on ABCG1 (15). As shown in Fig. 5A, probucol inhibited all LXR-mediated cholesterol efflux to both HDL and apoAI while having no effect on cell viability (Fig. 5B). The foregoing establishes that ABCA1 mediates all LXR ligand-induced cholesterol efflux in hASM cells to both apoAI and HDL acceptors and, moreover, that ABCG1 is not involved in this process.
Phospholipid efflux in hASM is mediated by ABCA1.
Phospholipids constitute approximately 80–90% of the lipid found in surfactant and, moreover, play a crucial role in lipid-mediated signal transduction pathways in airway smooth muscle cells (37, 40). Since ABCA1 and ABCG1 knockout mouse models each display significant accumulation in phospholipid levels in the lung (5, 6), we sought next to determine which transporter regulated phospholipid efflux in airway smooth muscle cells. ABCG1 has been previously reported to promote phospholipid efflux, specifically sphingomyelin and phosphatidylcholine, to apoAI when overexpressed in human embryonic kidney (HEK-293) cells, although others have shown no change in type II pneumocytes (5, 20). Additionally, ABCG1 is proposed to be the major phospholipid transporter in alveolar macrophages since elevated levels of ABCA1 cannot compensate for the loss of ABCG1 in alveolar macrophages isolated from abcg1−/− mouse models (40). To determine whether these pathways are conserved and to possibly assign a function for ABCG1 in hASM cells, we knocked down ABCA1 or ABCG1 and measured phospholipid efflux following incubation of cells with [3H]choline. As shown in Fig. 6, A and B, LXR agonists increased phospholipid efflux to apoAI and HDL by twofold. LXR-dependent efflux was inhibited in the absence of ABCA1 but not in the absence of ABCG1. These findings indicate that ABCA1, but not ABCG1, regulates phospholipid efflux in hASM cells.
ABCA1 and ABCG1 expression is elevated on cholesterol loading.
Cells sense cholesterol and respond in part by inducing expression of ABCA1 and G1 transporters (23). To determine whether this is the case in hASM cells, cells were treated with cholesterol in complex with MβCD to load cells with cholesterol or with MβCD alone to deplete cells of cholesterol. As shown in Table 1, ABCA1 and ABCG1 expression levels were induced 11-fold and 18-fold, respectively, by cholesterol loading, whereas expression levels were decreased by 70–90% by cholesterol depletion relative to controls. As expected, knockdown of LXRα/β isoforms blocked the induction of ABCA1 and ABCG1 following cholesterol loading (Table 1). Thus both ABCA1 and ABCG1 mRNA levels are sensitive to cellular cholesterol levels. These findings imply that ABCG1 does in fact respond to changes in cholesterol levels in hASM cells; however, its precise physiological role remains to be determined.
A correlation between high cholesterol levels and AHR has raised many questions in regard to the molecular mechanisms mediating this response and the physiological relevance. Our recent findings that LXR agonists reciprocally regulate the expression of multiple inflammatory mediators in airway smooth muscle cells in vitro as well as promote reverse cholesterol transport through the induction of ABC transporters suggest a possible molecular link between airway inflammation and cholesterol homeostasis. However, the role of lipid and cholesterol homeostasis in airway smooth muscle function is not understood, and further studies are warranted. In contrast, lipid homeostasis plays a well-established role in vascular smooth muscle biology where elevated levels of intracellular cholesterol and oxidized phospholipids, derived from uptake of oxidized (ox) LDL through scavenger receptors such as SR-BI and CD36 (8), induces a proinflammatory reaction by vascular cells that can eventually lead to atherosclerotic lesion development (32, 36). It is interesting to note that asthma is in many ways a disease analogous to atherosclerosis in that both diseases are characterized by chronic inflammation and involve increased smooth muscle hyperplasia and hypertrophy, proinflammatory gene expression, lesion development, extracellular matrix remodeling, and infiltration of inflammatory leukocytes. Analogous to atherosclerotic lesions, the airways of asthmatic patients display endothelial and microvascular damage, which is thought to expose the lung to blood plasma and its constituents including lipoprotein particles such as LDL (34). Thus the asthmatic airway may be subject to a similar inflammatory microenvironment as vascular cells following endothelial damage.
Using siRNA knockdown approaches, we have shown that ABCA1 is necessary and sufficient for all LXR ligand-induced cholesterol and phospholipid efflux in hASM cells, whereas ABCG1 appears not to be required. We further demonstrate that ABCA1 effluxes cholesterol to both apoAI and HDL acceptors, in concordance with others who have shown, in endothelial cells, that ABCA1 but not ABCG1 mediates cholesterol efflux to HDL (22, 26). We confirmed these results using probucol, a small molecule inhibitor specific for ABCA1 as demonstrated by the ability of this compound to inhibit cholesterol efflux in normal fibroblasts but not in fibroblasts derived from Tangier's patients who lack ABCA1 (15). The raw percentages of efflux observed from hASM to both apoAI (4–14%) and HDL (30–40%) are also highly consistent with previous reports in other cell types including macrophages (15, 22). Recently, Mukhamedova et al. (25) using in vitro labeled cells injected into mouse models have shown a correlation between in vitro cholesterol efflux percentages and in vivo reverse cholesterol transport providing evidence that hASM cells potentially function in vivo to regulate reverse cholesterol transport.
Recently, cholesterol mass efflux to HDL was reported to be dramatically reduced in peritoneal macrophages isolated from abca1−/− mice, however, abcg1−/− mice also displayed reduced capacity to efflux cholesterol to HDL, suggesting that, in macrophages, both transporters contribute to efflux to HDL (28). These findings point to a possible cell type-specific role for ABCG1 and cholesterol efflux in macrophages compared with smooth muscle cells. Why airway smooth muscle cells differ from the macrophage in mechanisms of cholesterol efflux to HDL is currently unclear. The macrophage is a highly specialized cell able to phagocytose extracellular materials including apoptotic cells and surfactant (12). Both processes dramatically increase intracellular sterol content, and thus alveolar macrophages have possibly evolved separate mechanisms to handle increased intracellular lipids (12). Additionally, it is possible that macrophage cell types may express additional cofactor proteins that work in conjunction with ABCG1 to mediate efflux of lipids that are not present in hASM. Thus, for hASM cells, it is perhaps sufficient and efficient that ABCA1 can both lipidate apoAI particles to form nascent HDL and in addition, further lipidate HDL itself.
Although ABCG1 is robustly induced in hASM cells by activation of LXR, its function in these cells remains unclear. Recent findings indicate that abcg1−/− have elevated levels of multiple proinflammatory mediators in the lungs (4), and it was suggested that this was likely due to local elevated cholesterol levels. However, the progressive lipid accumulation observed in abcg1−/− mice can be reversed by bone marrow transplantation of wild-type cells suggesting that hematopoietic ABCG1 is required for proper lipid homeostasis in the lung (46). In agreement with these findings, we did not observe an effect on LXR-induced cholesterol transport after ABCG1 knockdown in airway smooth muscle, a nonhematopoietic cell. Whether ABCG1 is linked to roles unrelated to direct lipid efflux in hASM cells (e.g., intracellular lipid trafficking) remains to be tested. Recently, transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling has been shown to specifically increase the expression of ABCG1 and not ABCA1 (3). Since TGF-β plays a fundamental role in ECM production in hASM cells, it is possible that ABCG1 has a function in this context (24, 30).
Our findings raise several questions as to the role of cholesterol efflux and metabolism to AHR in vivo. Although we (13) and others (38) have shown that LXR agonists reduce the inflammatory response in multiple lung cell types, a direct correlation between reverse cholesterol transport and AHR remains to be determined in vivo. Baldan et al. (4) have proposed that cholesterol itself is proinflammatory, and thus elevated levels may exacerbate an inflammatory milieu thereby accelerating the remodeling process occurring in the asthmatic lung. The beneficial effects of LXR may thus be partially due to efflux of excess cholesterol for transport back to the liver and eventually excretion via an ABCA1-dependent mechanism. In support of this, statin therapy, a cholesterol-lowering drug, is recently reported as a potential therapeutic avenue for the treatment of lung diseases (11, 19, 31).
In summary, we demonstrate that LXR ligand-induced cholesterol and phospholipid efflux in airway smooth muscle cells is mediated exclusively by ABCA1 and that elevated levels of cholesterol affect biological processes that are highly relevant to the pathophysiology of asthma. Our findings may thus have relevance to understanding the molecular mechanisms that link obesity and hypercholesterolemia to airway diseases such as asthma. Future studies investigating the mechanisms of high cholesterol diet on AHR and the effects of LXR activation in vivo will provide evidence to support cholesterol lowering as a potential therapeutic avenue in treating asthma in hypercholesterolemic and obese patients.
This work was supported by grants from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario (J. P. Capone) and from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (P. Nair). P. Nair holds the Canada Research Chair in Airway Regulation and Inflammation.
C. J. Delvecchio, P. Bilan, and J. P. Capone have nothing to disclose. P. Nair has received lecture fees from GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, and AstraZeneca.
We thank Katherine Radford for technical assistance with the hASM cells.
The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
- Copyright © 2008 the American Physiological Society


text:
Reading Dance Class & Cocktail Making Hen Party
Group deposit
VIP Events Area
- Individual Payments
- Online Itinerary
- See all Features Here
Two fantastic Reading hen party ideas in one great hen party activity bundle. By booking both the cocktail making hen party and dance class hen party together you'll benefit from great value as well as a fabulous planned day. Reading cocktail making and dance classes are an ideal combination, ensuring the bride to be has a fabulous time.
This Reading Hen Party Bundle includes:
- Dance Class Party (any theme)
- Cocktail Making Party
- Was
- Now From £52.00 pp
Cocktail Making
Get the hen party started, with a cocktail making class, you'll be mixing, shaking and creating your favourite cocktails in one of the city's trendiest venues.
Whats Included
- Welcome drink on arrival
- Professionally trained cocktail mixologist
- City centre venues
- Exclusive just for your group (you won't be sharing with other groups)
- Use bar tools & balancing taste
- Demo cocktails and tasting
- Make & drink 2-3 cocktails per person
- All guests are involved in making cocktails
- Learn to shake, muddle and strain cocktail
- Mocktails – non-alcoholic drinks are available
- Fun & games (some with shots)
- Plus reserved seating where you can enjoy your cocktails or food
- Plus light sharer food platters included (a mixture of hot finger buffet food)
- Upgrade Meal Options instead of food platters (most venues we use can offer these)
- Add a two course meal (main & dessert) to this package for £15pp
- Add a three course meal to this package for £18pp
- Welcome drink
- Mix and shake cocktails
- Includes food platters
- City centre venues
Dance Party Ideas
A Reading Dance Class Hen Party is a fantastic fun hen party idea and suitable for all ages. You will have the best time ever dancing to your favourite tunes.
Whats Included
- Nice fun warm up
- Instruction from an experienced dance instructor
- Introduction the dance theme you have chosen
- Learn some moves
- Rehearse the dance moves as you go
- Then put all the moves together for the final performance
- Don't forget you can singalong as well
- Private room in a city centre venue
- Spectators are free of charge
- Dance Themes include Burlesque, Cheerleading, Grease, Dirty Dancing, Can-Can, GLEE, Thriller, 80's, Chicago, Salsa, Strictly, ABBA, Single Ladies, Kylie & Gangnam Style, plus many more
- 30+ Dance party themes
- Props used in some classes
- City centre private venues
- Experienced dance instructor
There are no reviews yet.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Where Does The Weather (Data) Come From? Visualizations of Worldwide Weather Stations
- October 28, 2011
This post was written by Hohyon Ryu, who interned with us this past summer as a Catalog Engineer. He's currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Texas' School of Information.
The idea for this project started from one of the simplest and most essential questions in computer science. How close is the nearest X from where I stand? To explore how to answer this question, I used our NCDC Weather Station API and attempted to answer, "What is the closest weather station from where I stand"?
A brute force algorithm that calculates distances from all the weather stations will have to go through 2.5 million weather stations. It works but it just takes long long time.
One better solution is dividing the earth by grids. We may divide the globe into small tiles and find the closest station in the grid that I'm standing in. This solution is very fast, but there's another problem. In the map below, let's say I'm standing in New Orleans. There are 2 stations: one in Baton Rouge and one in Slidell. The closest station would be the one in Slidell, it is in a different tile. So this algorithm would find the one in Baton Rouge as the closest point.
So, came up with this solution, a Voronoi diagram for all the stations in the world! It looks like a very complex calculation should be involved to generate a map like the following, but it takes only a few minutes to build the world scale map with 2.5 million points. Each station has a polygon that indicates the range it covers.
The best solution for us was grid + Voronoi lattice. Now let's go back to the New Orleans problem. We're in New Orleans and it is in the grid that intersects with the Voronoi polygons of Slidell and Baron Rouge. So now, we know that we have 2 candidate stations and the one in Slidell is the closest one.
Want to try out making your own visualization of our weather station data? You can find the NCDC Weather Stations API here and the Voronoi Lattice library written in Python is available at Github.


text:
Advance Quality and Patient Safety with Tools and Programs from SHM's Center for Hospital Innovation and Improvement.
SHM just launched the "Fight the Resistance" Antimicrobial Stewardship Campaign
"Fight the Resistance" is a new behavior change campaign from SHM intended to encourage appropriate prescribing and use of antibiotics in the hospital. Join in the fight and download your posters today.
Learn How SHM's Glycemic Control Programs Are Changing Lives
Optimize the care of inpatients with hyperglycemia and diabetes and prevent hypoglycemia.
Learn More and Register Now for Project BOOST®
Improve the care of patients as they transition from hospital to home.
Don't Miss the Latest Online Toolkits and Implementation Guides on: Opioid Monitoring; COPD; Acute Coronary Syndrome; Pain Management; PediBOOST and Glycemic Control.
Quality 101 resources build the foundation for initiating quality and patient safety programs in your hospital.
Stepwise workbook and tools developed to lead quality improvement programs including Project BOOST® Care Transitions, Glycemic Control, VTE, Medication Reconciliation and Atrial Fibrillation.
SHM's Signature Programs – including its award-winning Mentored Implementation program and eQUIPS database can be tailored to meet individual hospital or health network needs.
Search by clinical topic to find resources and tools
Join the Conversation:
Hospital Medicine Exchange (HMX) has a Quality Improvement Community.


text:
Here's a look at what's filming on location Monday, Jan. 13, 2014:
If you have any scoop about where a movie or TV show is filming, let us know about it at [email protected] or at Twitter.com/olv! We depend on your tips to keep the site going, all of our info comes from our amazing readers!
Don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter too for all of the latest up-to-the-minute celebrity sightings and filming info!
Filming in British Columbia:
Fifty Shades of Grey is filming at Burrard Ironworks at Main and Alexander in Vancouver. (Thanks @pursuit23, @gettinmyhateon)
Filming in California:
Castle is filming at Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is filming at 202 W 1st St, Los Angeles (6:00 AM – 10:00 PM).
Gang Related is filming at 500 W Temple St, Los Angeles (6:00 AM – 3:00 PM).
Rake is filing at 145 N Rossmore Ave, Los Angeles (6:00 AM – 10:00 PM).
NCIS: L.A. is filming on the beach around Junipero Ave and E Ocean Blvd in Long Beach.
Knife Fight 2 is filming at 501 S Spring St, Los Angeles (7:00 AM – 10:00 PM).
Filming in Illinois:
Chicago Fire is filming at 3017 S Wells St in Chicago.
Crisis is filming at 1842 W 18th in Chicago (9:00 AM- 6:00 PM).
Filming in New York:
Brother's Keeper is filming at 7th St and Washington Ave in New Rochelle.
Orange Is The New Black is filming at Rockland Children's Psych Center in Orangeburg.
The Blacklist is filming around Westchester Ave and Corporate Park Dr in Harrison.
Power is filming at 58th St and 11th Ave in NYC. Signs also spotted on 5th near 42nd St in NYC (evening). (Thanks Det. Movie Buff)
The Knick is filming around Java St and West St in NYC.
Elementary is filming around 42nd St and 47th Ave – Queens Blvd in Queens.
The Black Box is filming at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City.
Law and Order: SVU is filming around 158-14 Cross Bay Blvd in Howard Beach. Also filming around Rockaway Beach Blvd and Beach 16th St in Rockaway Park. (Thanks @DW_GrlStacey)
Blue Bloods is filming in studio at Broadway Stages in Brooklyn. Also filming around Havemeyer St and Metropolitan Ave in Brooklyn.
Filming in Tennessee:
Nashville is filming in studio at 444 Brick Church Park Drive, Nashville.
Thanks to @marilerie for sharing this photo of Kevin bacon in L.A. If you have a celeb photo to share, let us know at [email protected]!


text:
For most of Thursday, three-star Allen (Texas) linebacker Christian Sam had a captive audience as college football fans and coaches alike waited to hear his college announcement.
The 6-foot-2, 206-pound outside linebacker had narrowed his list down to a final five of Arizona State, Baylor, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, and Texas Tech, and he passed along word his choice would be revealed on Thursday afternoon.
Around 5 p.m. CST, the tweet finally came across from @ShowinStatsSam, he was a Sun Devil.
Article Continues Below
"I have just committed to Arizona State Univerisity!!! #ForksUp #BallSoHardUniversity" Sam tweeted.
It was a close decision, with Baylor also making a strong push and Ole Miss right behind them. However, there were a few things about Arizona State that put them over the top of the competition.
"Like I said about coach Graham and the whole staff, they're great people. And being away from home, like I was telling you, you have to be able to trust the coaching staff and everything," Sam said. "If you're going to be away from home you have to be able to trust the coaching staff and trust they will take care of you and they have the best intentions for you. I felt that with Arizona State.
"And I always knew I had to go to go a school that was best for my abilities and they fit perfectly for me. They have all these different linebacker spots and I can come off the edge and play in space and it benefits my technique and skills of rushing the passer and coming off the edge and using my speed and athletic ability.
"Then they have my major and everything so it all works out. They're top three in the country in my major of broadcast journalism so I really like that. The people down there, the fans, it's just great down there."
The Sun Devil's defensive scheme and how it played into his skillset was a big factor for the Allen standout.
"They have four linebackers - devil, spur, sam, and will - and the ones they could see me playing are on the edge, the spur and the devil, but they know I can play will too," Sam said. "That really helps me get on the field faster and that was a big thing too. They told me I have the ability to come in and impact early and that really affected me. Seeing my film and their film and how it related so well it was a no brainer."
Sam's decision comes on the heels of a recent visit to Arizona State, but even before his trip he had an idea he would wind up a Sun Devil. He has been leaning towards the Sun Devils for about a week and a half but he knew once he was in Tempe he knew he would not stay away for long.
"After they showed me where I could fit in and the people down there and the things they have going on because they have all those renovations about to take place down there. The coaching staff for sure. My coach, me and coach Randolph, we got along the first day I got down there. That's big to be able to get along with your coach because that's where you're going to be for the next three or four years."
Sam is the eighth commitment to the Sun Devils 2014 class and the second Texan to commit to coach Todd Graham and his staff.


text:
So I found this cool surfboard alittle while ago at a fela market for 5$. Ive never heard much about them before and was wondering if any of y'all have. The brand is Sunset surf boards and it says shaped by Mike Willis, its about 7ft long, but it dosent have any dimensions on it, thanks for any info.
Results 1 to 7 of 7
Thread: Sunset surfboards?
May 1, 2012, 01:08 AM #1
Sunset surfboards?
Last edited by fish66; May 1, 2012 at 01:41 AM. Reason: spelling
May 1, 2012, 01:17 AM #2Senior Member
- Join Date
- May 2009
- Posts
- 287
Good score! Sunset was out of Encintas, CA from 68-present day. The board you have there was shaped by Mike Willis who made boards for Sunset from 76' to 78'. The shape is a stinger and a classic example of the late 70's shortboard.
May 1, 2012, 02:56 AM #3Senior Member
- Join Date
- Aug 2010
- Posts
- 2,087
Mgarbutt is right on, Sunset Surfboards out of Encinitas was a very well-respected label in San Diego for many years. As well, Mike Willis was (and I believe still is) an excellent shaper who, with his brother Milt, split from Sunset in the early 80's to start their own label with Nucleus Surfboards. Nucleus was considered a very progressive label and was a very popular board with the up-ad-coming surfers in North San Diego County.
Milt was convicted of Vehicular Manslaughter a few years ago, but I think he's out of the can now. I believe both are in Hawaii and run some sort of surf school and are still shaping out there.
The Sunset label is still being used off and on by a few respected shapers, and you can view some of their boards at Surfy Surfy in Leucadia. http://www.surfysurfy.net/
PS----I'd hold on to it, it'll probably be worth something in a few years. Not Skip Frye value, but definitely worth more than $5. Good score!!!!
Dec 5, 2012, 07:23 PM #4Junior Member
- Join Date
- Dec 2012
- Posts
- 1
I worked there in 1970. Ed Wright was the owner/shaper; Dave Dvorak glassed, glossed and made 'em beautiful (best glasser around at the time) and I did the hot coating/rubbing out. I'd give you $10 for the board right now! I rode my 5'8" Sunset this morning--we built it in '70 and it still goes. No delaminations, no dents...DSCF1075.jpg
Wow, that looks like my first surfboard!
Dec 5, 2012, 07:54 PM #6Junior Member
- Join Date
- Dec 2012
- Posts
- 1
I've got a 7'3" Single fin Sunset that I inherited from an uncle, but it was shaped by Bill Shrosbree. The thing is a tank and I would't give it up for anything.
Dec 6, 2012, 03:06 AM #7Senior Member
- Join Date
- Aug 2010
- Posts
- 2,087
Shrosbree built some great keel fin fishes back in the 70's...well respected in the area.


text:
Melbourne's Creative Women's Circle is meeting again this Saturday.
The speaker this week shall be Shannon Lamden (you may know her from her Etsy shop Auntycookie) and afterwards a fabric swap! How exciting....I don't know about you but my fabric stash could do with a damn good clean out.
If you are in Melbourne these are the details, and remember to please email Tess (tess(at!)tessmccabe.com.au) to RSVP:
Saturday 23rd May
10am - 12midday
MARS Gallery 418 Bay St Port Melbourne
The CWC also has it's own blog now which you can check out here.


text:
Shake-N-Go Saga Naked Unprocessed Brazilian Virgin Remy Human Hair Weave - Natural Body Wave | Shake-N-Go | REMY HAIR | Unprocessed Remy Hair | SALES | SHAKE N GO | HUMAN BUNDLE HAIR | UNPROCESSED HAIR (SINGLE PACK) | Sistawigs.com
SAGA Naked Unprocessed Brazilian Virgin Remy Human Hair Weave Naked Natural Body Wave
Everyone knows color treatment will damage hair. That is why it is essential for hair to be healthy in order to color properly. TRUE secret to the Naked Brazilian hair is its robust health-- comparable to raw hair-- which can dye any way you desire with great results.
Introducing the SAGA Naked Brazilian Virgin Hair series... healthy and dye-namic natural hair one can confidently trust.
Color It Your Way!
•Rich, radiant, healthy hair eben after color treatment.
Lasting Power!
•Healthiness lasts a long time wash after wash.
No Shedding!
•Sophisticated weft design keeps the hair shed free & tangle free.
Naturall Wet & Wavy
•Can be straightened with flat iron and simply wash for a natural curl pattern.
Create Your Own Curls!
•SAGA Nakedd replicates the exact perm roller shape you choose.


text:
Template:WikiProject Mills
|WikiProject Mills
|(Rated C-class, High-importance)
|This WikiProject banner uses
{{WPBannerMeta}}, a meta-template for easily creating and maintaining banners and talk-page notices. Any recently appearing error or display issue which is not obviously caused by a recent edit to this template is probably due to an error in, or recent update to, Template:WPBannerMeta or one of its subpages. Please report any such errors to Template talk:WPBannerMeta, so that any errors can be fixed for this and other projects. Any information or warnings about the template are below:
Place this on the talk page of relevant articles:
{{WikiProject Mills |class= |importance= |b1= |b2= |b3= |b4= |b5= |b6= }}
Optional parameters
- class – valid values are listed in the custom class mask. See the quality scale for details. B-class checklist (available only when
- b1 – Referencing and citation (see the B-class criteria for details).
- b2 – Coverage and accuracy (see the B-class criteria for details).
- b3 – Structure (see the B-class criteria for details).
- b4 – Grammar and style (see the B-class criteria for details).
- b5 – Supporting materials (see the B-class criteria for details).
- b6 – Accessibility (see the B-class criteria for details).
- Set these to "yes" or "y" if the article meets the criterion; "no" or "n" if it does not. If the criterion has not been checked, omit the parameter or leave it with a blank value. When
|class=bis set, all six criteria need to be satisfied, otherwise the article is treated as if
|class=cwere set.
- importance – valid values are: top, high, mid, low, na (case-insensitive). See the importance scale for details.
- listas – This parameter, which is the equivalent of the DEFAULTSORT sortkey that should be placed on all biographical articles, is a sortkey for the article talk page (e.g. for Richard Arkwright, use
|listas=Arkwright, Richardso that the talk page will show up in the A's and not the R's of the various assessment and administrative categories). This is important because it is one source used by those who set DEFAULTSORT on the article; consider also setting the DEFAULTSORT for the article when setting this parameter. For more information about this, please see Wikipedia:Categorization of people#Ordering names in a category.
It is not required if another WikiProject template on the same page has its own
|listas=set, since it not only affects categories used by the banner in which it is set, but it also affects the sortkey of all other banners and templates.
- small – set
|small=yesto display a small version of the template aligned along the right side of the page (as opposed to at the top). This parameter does not work as expected if the banner template is enclosed in
{{WikiProject banner shell}}or any of its redirects.
- category – set
|category=noif, and only if, a banner is being used for demonstration or testing purposes, to prevent unnecessary or undesirable categorization. Otherwise, omit this parameter.
{{WikiProject Mills |class=c |importance=mid |b1=n |b2=y |b3=y |b4=y |b5=y |b6=y |listas=Arkwright, Richard }}
See also
|The above documentation is transcluded from Template:WikiProject Mills/doc. (edit | history)
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox (create | mirror) and testcases (create) pages.
Please add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.


text:
The idea of a Barents Region was first presented by Norway in April 1992. After several consultations with Russia and Nordic countries, the Barents Euro-Arctic Region (BEAR) was established with the adoption of the Kirkenes Declaration in 1993. At the 5th BEAR Council (BEAC) meeting in January 1998, it was decided that the activities of the Council would include health issues and a health cooperation programme was established. The first Health Programme for the Barents Region lasted five years (1999 – 2003). During this period, contacts between health institutions and personnel became closer and networks developed in the field of health. At the same time, a number of serious health threats remains or has become even more acute. In the Kirkenes Declaration of the 11th of January 2003, the prime ministers urged the health- and social authorities to gain full control of communicable diseases. In December 2002, the BEAC Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) appointed an ad hoc Working Group (WG) on Health and Related Social Issues for the year 2003. The aim of the WG was to fulfil the goal of gaining control of communicable diseases.
The Council adopted a new and enhanced health and social programme for the years 2004 – 2007 on the 3rd of October 2003 with emphasis on the situation in the Russian part of the Barents region. The priority areas identified by the WG, chaired by Finland and the Republic of Karelia, were as follows:
• Prevention and control of communicable diseases• Prevention of lifestyle related health and social problems, and promotion of healthy lifestyles• Development and integration of primary health care and social services.
It was suggested that the priority for the BEAC in the field of communicable disease control should be HIV/AIDS during the first years of the programme. An ad hoc group was created for preparing a multilateral project on HIV/AIDS. The group proposed to ask STAKES (National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, Finland) to conduct this work. STAKES nominated Dr. Zaza Tsereteli to function as a consultant and to continue the preparations of the project. It was emphasized from the beginning that the preparation and implementation of the future Barents HIV/AIDS Program should be the responsibility of the local authorities in the Russian regions. It was agreed that the regions should define their own needs and set up their own goals. Many programmes or projects were introduced in Russia during the last several years, but not many were successful or sustainable for longer than the project periods. Such programmes or projects are shown to have a positive impact on the situation only if the Russian authorities participate in their preparation and the local needs are taken into account from the very beginning. What is most important, they should be responsible for the implementation.
During the first six months of the programme preparation more than 50 meetings were arranged and more than 100 persons were interviewed. The processes proceeded from general to detailed discussions, starting with problem identification and assessment of needs. In the middle of the preparation process, a two-day working seminar was conducted in Petrozavodsk where a parallel meeting of officials and HIV/AIDS experts took place. More than 30 HIV/AIDS experts from the Russian regions, Finland, Norway, Sweden, the World Health Organization and other relevant international bodies took part in the seminar financed by the Norwegian government. The seminar concluded that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is still spreading in the Barents region and that a comprehensive response to the HIV/AIDS situation is lacking. Interventions to improve the health infrastructure and to influence individual and social norms are still not effective and efficient. As a result it was agreed that the main aim of the new HIV/AIDS Programme in the Barents region will be to strengthen the national capacity to respond to the epidemic.
What does the Barents HIV/AIDS Programme address? The HIV/AIDS component of the programme includes six key focus areas for multisectoral and complementary interventions. The programme advocates catalytic activities to provide new momentum and strengthen intervention measures previously implemented. Despite a globally unfavourable context, the programme requires evidence of the government's continued interest in the priority areas of public health.
The six objectives of the programme are to:
- update the existing legislation to assure effective policies for control of the HIV epidemic - improve the technical response capacity for project planning and implementation - implement comprehensive and realistic prevention and surveillance activities -assure affordability and accessibility of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment related to individual needs within the public health system- implement programmes ensuring respect for human rights, including people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs) - establish coordination between HIV/AIDS services and primary health care, educational, penitentiary and social services.
The programme focuses on interventions in a number of problem sectors. The programme aims at providing a greater number of PLWHA with better and more organized management of their own health including access to treatment, patient follow-up and control of ARV treatment compliance.
Vulnerable populations will also receive more and better assistance to make preventive behaviour part of their life irrespective of living conditions. One area of activity involves behavioursurveys and studies among vulnerable sub-populations including injecting drug users (IDUs), sex workers, prisoners, men who have sex with men (MSM) and young people. Based on the recommendations of an external review, behavioural surveillance of vulnerable sub-populations is identified as the next priority for the national surveillance system.
There is insufficient knowledge about the evolution of the disease. This is caused by deficiencies in the notification system, inadequacies in keeping secondary serosurveillance survey records and failure to conduct behavioural surveillance. This situation will be remedied through a reorganization of the system and enforcement of procedures.
Legislation should not prevent effective, evidence-based prevention strategies. Rather, the laws should facilitate preventive activities in all population groups including people who are particularly vulnerable to the infection and may act as a gate through which the virus may enter the general population. Legislation should also promote the participation of the entire civil society in the fight against HIV. The programme aims at supporting development of legislation that enables the implementation of evidence-based prevention strategies among vulnerable groups such as drug users, other socially excluded groups, sexual minorities etc.
Overcrowded prisons with infected inmates, poor hygiene and sanitation are important risk factors contributing to the spread of communicable diseases in the region. The risk of HIV infection is higher for prison inmates than for the general population. Prisons might be a unique site for successful preventive work regarding HIV and drug abuse.The promotion of voluntary counselling and testing for prisoners and the provision of training for staff and prisoners regarding HIV prevention will be included in the programme activities.
Every activity has been modelled on experience gained and lessons learned from within the Russian Federation. In addition, the activities incorporate good practice from the other countries, for example the design of harm reduction and information education and communication (IEC) programmes. Technically, many activities may be seen as a scaling-up of existing projects in Russia. However, given the many challenges of such a sizeable scaling-up process, many of the activities will be new. For example, international best practices indicate that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) must play a critical role in interventions concerning vulnerable populations. Despite the fact that there are local NGOs in Russia currently working with vulnerable populations, fully implementing this approach will require wide-ranging and groundbreaking collaboration with the country's NGO sector.
Another key area that is both a comprehensive and realistic part of the prevention and surveillance component is the strengthening of needle exchange programmes throughout the region. These will focus on providing IDUs with sterile needles and associated consumables thus reducing the need to share injecting equipment and intravenous solutions. The needle exchange activities will be supported by an expansion of low threshold support centres (LTSC) and outreach services for IDUs. All activities will be implemented with the active involvement of IDUs. In general, this broad-based approach to harm reduction puts Russia on the leading edge. Given the critical link between IDUs and HIV/AIDS it is necessary to take a progressive approach to reduce vulnerability of IDUs and prevent the spread of HIV among IDUs and the population in general.
The first and second objectives address the development and implementation of policies to ensure an environment in the country that facilitates work with vulnerable populations. The activities include education and advocacy campaigns targeting policy makers and opinion leaders in Russia, training for journalists on HIV/AIDS and improvements in surveillance policy and practice. Different government organizations, NGOs and other partners, each of which will be required to have relevant knowledge and skills, will implement activities across all the objectives. The implementing partners will have access to domestic and international technical assistance to ensure that the interventions are effective.
The third objective concerns effective prevention programmes focusing on the needs of vulnerable population. The activities include harm reduction initiatives for IDUs, outreach and peer education programs with sex workers and MSM, IEC and condom distribution programmes in prisons, school and community-based IEC-BCC programmes for young people and improved services for sexually transmittedinfections (STI).
Activities related to the fourth objective, access to treatment for PLWHA, include broad-based care and treatment services (e.g. ARV, treatment for opportunistic infections, psychosocial support and palliative care) and maternal care and treatment centre (MCTC). Focus will be on developing a network of diagnostic laboratories to enable monitoring of disease progression, evaluation of treatment success and resistance testing in the case of treatment failure. The supporting role of the NGOs and the communities concerning home-based care and clinical management of infected persons should be strengthened.
The fifth objective is to establish respect for human rights, including PLWHAs. The activities under this heading are based on recognition of the fact that an effective response to HIV/AIDS demands an understanding of the link between HIV/AIDS and human rights. Provision of training and technical assistance to staff and other health and humanitarian service providers for implementing the principles of confidentiality, non-discrimination and cultural diversity will be supported. Emphasizing that HIV-related discrimination is illegal is an important part of the current programme.
The Barents HIV/AIDS Programme is taking a multisectoral approach in recognition of the fact that the HIV/AIDS epidemic has an impact on every sector and all development programmes.. Coordination is a main tool for the implementation of all planned activities. Consensus building among representatives of different sectors at the regional level will be organized to reach decisions concerning improvement of the infrastructure, spectrum of services, coordination, referral system, quality control systems in health care, and the social and penitentiary sector with regards to HIV/AIDS policy. Representatives from the educational, primary health care, penitentiary and social sectors will be invited and actively involved in the implementation of different activities.
The programme is supporting the establishment of a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system to perform the critical task of monitoring and evaluating the programme implementation. The system will provide valuable information for the programme management and for other stakeholders and external parties. It will allow project managers to assess whether existing projects and interventions are sufficient and to identify challenges that may deter successful outcomes.
A multinational Steering Committee (SC) chaired by Norway has been established for the programme. The Murmansk Health Committee has taken the position of Vice Chairman of the SC. This committee will meet 2-3 times a year. Members of the Steering Committee are appointed from countries or regions in the Barents region. The meetings and the reports are made available to other interested parties. Donors and international organizations etc. participate as observers. STAKES and the Programme Co-ordinator (PC) operating under STAKES are responsible for the implementation of the programme.
The Barents HIV/AIDS Programme is starting with the implementation of a project financed by Government of Finland. The project will establish preventive services accessible to high-riskand vulnerable groups. The representatives of the Murmansk Health Committee have expressed their commitment to accelerate the initiation of the first tangible sub-project. The activities of this project, which will be implemented in collaboration with local specialists from the primary health care sector, social workers and others, will be conducted through LTSCs that serve both IDUs and associated populations. Several other projects are in the pipeline and the Barents HIV/AIDS Programme will continue to act as an umbrella for different projects in the Barents region.


text:
Eileen West Simply Paradise Short Nightgown E533942
Sorry, no other customer-recommended styles found.
This product was discontinued July, 2012 and is no longer available. Please consider one of the Customer-Recommended Replacements above, or try a new search.
This refreshing dot print short nightie has floral embroidered eyelet trim at the neckline, with striped ribbon woven through slots. Pleating graces the bodice and bottom. Made of woven 100% cotton.
Try these keyword searches with similar features:


text:
Julio Martin-Garcia
Julio Martin-Garcia obtained his Ph.D. degree in molecular biology and biochemistry from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain, working in molecular biology, host-pathogen interactions, and immune responses in human hepatitis B and C viruses. After post-doctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania, he currently serves as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and as a Member of the Center for Molecular Virology and Translational Neuroscience, Institute for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Disease, at Drexel University College of Medicine (Philadelphia, PA). Since 1999, he has been working in the definition of the viral and cellular determinants for macrophage tropism and neurotropism of HIV-1, and his studies could provide a crucial link between macrophage tropism and associated phenotypes with neurotropism and neurovirulence/neurotoxicity of HIV-1. In addition, he is interested in better defining the relationship between selected components of the innate immune system and the modulation of susceptibility to HIV-1 infection in various cell types.
Biography Updated on 14 March 2012


text: Hi. I have read many older threads about the loadhandler but I wanted to get some more recent feedback. I am a small 1 man operation that does landscaping. Keep about 20 regular mowing every 2-3 weeks plus other work, mulch cleanups etc. I do not have enough money this year for a dump insert but HATE shoveling out a fully loaded truck! I have the side built up 2 1/2 feet. The Loadhandler would be primarily for grass and leaves. Any thoughts or ideas would help. Thanks!!


text:
COMPARED to my contemporaries and me, subsequent generations drink more alcohol and more frequently than we did.
I am however concerned, with the announcement that England intends to follow Scotland with a minimum pricing policy, that "experts" confidently guarantee that the policy will reduce alcohol consumption by those groups who currently are considered to be abusing alcohol ("Minimum alcohol pricing breaches EU trade rules", The Herald, November 29).
It is difficult to find any evidence to categorically prove that an increase in unit price will result in a direct reduction in alcohol abuse. Expert opinion appears to simply be a guess based on observations that, when the price of alcohol is reduced in countries where it has been prohibitively expensive or where prohibition was previously the norm, that alcohol consumption escalates. I think it dangerous to extrapolate from this that a price increase will reduce consumption when there is no attempt to reduce availability or pay heed to other social factors.
Loading article content
People of my generation have witnessed a sea-change in where and when one can buy alcohol yet this major significant fact is completely ignored. Perhaps the way forwards should be a return to a policy where the sale of alcohol was limited to stand-alone off-licences and current legislation was applied vigorously. Then we could avoid the collective punishment of the poor that is the reality of the minimum pricing policy.
David J Crawford,
Flat 3/3 131 Shuna Street,


text:
DRY KILL LOGIC's cover of the GUNS N' ROSES classic "It's So Easy" has been made available for streaming at this location. The song comes off the group's upcoming EP/DVD, entitled "The Magellen Complex", due on June 27 via Psychodrama/Repossession Records. Described by the band as a "tribute to the fans," the CD also contain a cover version of DANZIG's "Dirty Black Summer", plus an original track called "From Victim To Killer" that will be included on DRY KILL LOGIC's upcoming album, due later in the year. On the DVD, fans will find footage from the band's early days, including never-before-seen interviews on the road and in the studio, the video for "Paper Tiger" and more. Further details are available at this location.DRY KILL LOGIC's latest album, "The Dead and Dreaming", is available now on Repossession Records. "The Dead and Dreaming" is the follow-up to the acclaimed "The Darker Side of Nonsense", which was released in 2001 through Roadrunner Records. DRY KILL LOGIC recently announced the addition of bassist Brendan Duff (100 DEMONS, A THOUSAND FALLING SKIES) to the group's ranks.
DRY KILL LOGIC: Cover Of GUNS N' ROSES' 'It's So Easy' Posted Online
To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).


text:
Despite the fact that we've posted several photos and a poster for the forthcoming South Korean creature feature "Sector 7" here at Beyond Hollywood, the truth of the matter is that none of us really know what the film is about. Sure, you've got a group of people on an oil rig fighting some sort of incredibly sinister monstrosity, but above that, the specifics of the plot have been shrouded in virtual darkness. Until now. Although I'm of the belief that monster movies don't need much of a story — I'm just happy just watching people fighting blood-thirsty beasts for 90-plus minutes — having more information to chew on sometimes gets people more interested. So here you go, dear readers. Feel free to throw as much interest as you want at "Sector 7".
As promised, the plot synopsis:
In "Sector 7", an underwater oil field located south of Jeju Island, Hae-jun is working as a marine equipment manager on an oil prospecting ship called Eclipse. Joining the crew later is Jeong-man, a former colleague of Hae-jun's father, assigned to Eclipse as captain. Though his job is to oversee the withdrawal of the ship, he suggests conducting some drilling one last time. After 3 weeks of preparation, Hae-jun takes new recruit underwater, but he sinks to the bottom of the sea when his equipment fails. Shortly after crew members begin to turn up dead, one by one, their bodies viciously mutilated. What the few survivors soon discover is a transparent underwater creature they encountered once before. The viral monster infiltrated the ship through the drilling pipe and has been feeding on the crew to survive. For Hae-jun and his colleagues, a fight for their lives begins.


text: Issue that I cannot resolve: I have purchased and installed an express slot firewire card to a Dell Vostro 3500 to enable the capture of video from my Canon GL2 Camcorder. When I try to capture the video from the camera using Adobe Premiere Pro my system crashes with a BSOD with the following stop error - 0x0000008E (0xc0000005, 0xB781FCF4, 0x00000000) followed by - ks.sys - Address B92DECF4 base at B92DA000, Date stamp 48025C12. I have tried to use system restore but that hasn't resolved the issue, OS is XP Pro SP3.


text: Robert Kern <robert.kern <at> gmail.com> writes: > > >>> > > >>> > One alternative that does not expand the API with two-liners is to let > >>> > the ndarray.fill() method return self: > >>> > > >>> > a = np.empty(...).fill(20.0) > >>> > >>> This violates the convention that in-place operations never return > >>> self, to avoid confusion with out-of-place operations. E.g. > >>> ndarray.resize() versus ndarray.reshape(), ndarray.sort() versus > >>> np.sort(), and in the broader Python world, list.sort() versus > >>> sorted(), list.reverse() versus reversed(). (This was an explicit > >>> reason given for list.sort to not return self, even.) > >>> > >>> Maybe enabling this idiom is a good enough reason to break the > >>> convention ("Special cases aren't special enough to break the rules. / > >>> Although practicality beats purity"), but it at least makes me -0 on > >>> this... > >>> > >> > >> I tend to agree with the notion that inplace operations shouldn't return > >> self, but I don't know if it's just because I've been conditioned this way. > >> Not returning self breaks the fluid interface pattern [1], as noted in a > >> similar discussion on pandas [2], FWIW, though there's likely some way to > >> have both worlds. > > > > Ah-hah, here's the email where Guide officially proclaims that there > > shall be no "fluent interface" nonsense applied to in-place operators > > in Python, because it hurts readability (at least for Dutch people > > ): > > http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-October/038855.html > > That's a statement about the policy for the stdlib, and just one > person's opinion. You, and numpy, are permitted to have a different > opinion. > > In any case, I'm not strongly advocating for it. It's violation of > principle ("no fluent interfaces") is roughly in the same ballpark as > np.filled() ("not every two-liner needs its own function"), so I > thought I would toss it out there for consideration. > > -- > Robert Kern > FWIW I'm +1 on the idea. Perhaps because I just don't see many practical downsides to breaking the convention but I regularly see a big issue with there being no way to instantiate an array with a particular value. The one obvious way to do it is use ones and multiply by the value you want. I work with a lot of inexperienced programmers and I see this idiom all the time. It takes a fair amount of numpy knowledge to know that you should do it in two lines by using empty and setting a slice. In [1]: %timeit NaN*ones(10000) 1000 loops, best of 3: 1.74 ms per loop In [2]: %%timeit ...: x = empty(10000, dtype=float) ...: x[:] = NaN ...: 10000 loops, best of 3: 28 us per loop In [3]: 1.74e-3/28e-6 Out[3]: 62.142857142857146 Even when not in the mythical "tight loop" setting an array to one and then multiplying uses up a lot of cycles - it's nearly 2 orders of magnitude slower than what we know they *should* be doing. I'm agnostic as to whether fill should be modified or new functions provided but I think numpy is currently missing this functionality and that providing it would save a lot of new users from shooting themselves in the foot performance- wise. -Dave


text:
Why America must quit the Death Club
How can the US feel comfortable in the company of Iran? That urge for bloody retribution is unworthy
As the sodium pentothal was injected into the restrained form of Troy Davis, the family of his victim, Mark MacPhail, watched intently. When Davis was pronounced dead, several were reported to have smiled. "I'm kind of numb," said his mother, Anneliese MacPhail. "All the feelings of relief and peace I've been waiting for all these years, they will come later. I certainly do want some peace."
It is rare to hear the justification for capital punishment expressed so starkly: watching a man being put down in front of you is recompense for the loss of your child, the literal enactment of an eye-for-an-eye settles the score, death is a salve for grief.
That such a judicial reprisal, no less crude than a hand severed for…


text:
Antique Primitive Hand Made Seed Sorter / Grain Sizer
Sold for:
Start Free Trial
or Sign In to see what it's worth.
- Sold Date:
- Source: eBay
You are bidding on a 19th century seed sorting board. During the 19th century seeds were sorted by size before they placed in the planters. If the seeds were too large it would clog the planters and thus cause delay to unclog the equipment. This is such a rare piece it should probably be in some agricultural museum. It measures 20 1/2" long, 16 1/4" wide. It is 5 3/4" high at the back and 4" high in the front. The tin has been punctured with the correct size the seeds can be for the early planters. This is hand made and as you can see be the pictures made with hand wrought square nails. I am selling this with no reserve.Please check my other auctions this week. Payment: I accept paypal, money orders, & personal checks. Money orders and paypal items will be shipped the next day, items payed by check when they clear. Payment must be made within 7 days of auction's close. INSURANCE: For your protection and mine, I am now requiring insurance on all items. T is no point in saving two dollars if your going to loose two hundred do to damaged or lost merchandise. Shipping: Items are shipped within 48hours of payment. I am not responsible for items without insurance. When you don't insure you assume all the risk. I ship USPS Priority mail whenever possible. Shipping will be calculated on this item. ... read more


text:
For quarterback Joe Flacco 2013 was a disappointing season to say the very least.
In 2013, Flacco set career highs in passing yards (3,912) along with passing attempts (614), but also in interceptions (22) as well, while throwing for just 19 touchdowns.
Some will say that his careers highs were a byproduct of an inept running game while others will say it was his offensive line giving him zero protection as he was sacked a career high 48 times. Both are valid points indeed. Joe certainly isn't without fault as the former Super Bowl MVP showed his inconsistencies week in and week out.
Some players are media lighting rods. Attracting attention with comments made during press conferences for all the wrong reasons. Flacco is the the exact polar opposite of those headline hogs, yet seemingly he is scrutinized for remarks made at the podium.
It began in April of 2012 when Flacco's agent Joe Linta told members of the media that he thought Joe was a top-five quarterback in the league. Flacco echoed Linta's comments telling a local sports radio station (WNST) that he believed he was the best quarterback in the NFL while using that five-letter word many now disdain — ELITE.
Yet before a quarterback can actually become elite he has to envision himself as such.
The self-description was smeared by skeptics.
This offseason Flacco's love of the game was challenged by local and national media members stemming from his failure to get together with his receivers prior to OTA's, minicamp or training camp.
As Flacco and the Ravens kicked off training camp on Tuesday, the tall gunslinger spoke once again spoke to the media following his first practice and was peppered with questions that stopped just short of the ridiculous.
When asked whether he has certain expectations for the new offense being installed by new coordinator Gary Kubiak, Flacco was all business.
"I think we did a great job picking up what we've installed so far. I think we've installed it, most of it, three separate times now, so everybody has a pretty good overview of it. We're still going to make mistakes, but they have to be corrected quickly, and you can't be making them again and again.
"You have to come out here right after that, and that mistake should be gone. I think we can expect a pretty high level of pace, and I think we can expect a pretty high level of precision being that we've done it for a couple of months, and that's what I'm going to expect. I'm going to expect us to go out there and operate at a high level. I don't care if it's a new offense or not."
The quarterback who is now working with his third offensive coordinator since his arrival in Baltimore had a certain swagger with his words, direct with his point: No more excuses for the offense!
"We've got a couple weeks, and we're going to be playing real games, and we've got to execute at a high level in order to win those because they're going to come down to little things like that," when asked about whether he was in execution mode when it comes to plays.
"That's why we can't expect to come out here and make little mistakes. We've got to have that stuff cleaned up, and come out here and operate so that we can translate it to Sunday."
It's crazy to think that there won't be hurdles to overcome or bumps in the road regarding the new system for Joe but it appears as if he has been re-energized by Gary Kubiak and Rick Dennison.
Dare I even utter the word leader?
"[It's about] just coming out here with confidence and trying to get that across to everybody else. I think that's going to be big for us this year, just coming out here and playing confident and making a decision and sticking with it.
"I think when we come out here, starting with me, if I can execute at a high level and show everybody else that they should execute at a high level and they will execute at a high level, I think we'll get that confidence to go out there on Sundays and kind of play with a little bit of swagger. I think that's what it's going to take."
Again brash statements once again made by Joe that will undoubtedly be used against him if the offense does not drastically improve in 2014.
Follow me on @sportguyRSR


text:
Victorian Society Book of the Victorian Paperback
For any house-proud owner of a Victorian property this book represents a unique and invaluable resource.
Packed with information about Victorian architectural ideas, building methods and materials, it includes a wealth of practical advice about the maintenance and conservation of Victorian homes.
Part 1 provides a concise overview of the development of the Victorian house, the wide range of architectural styles that came in an out of fashion over the period, and the lifestyles of the original owners the houses were designed to accommodate.
Throughout, the emphasis is on family houses of various sizes rather than the great houses of the aristocracy, which are discussed only in relation to their influence on contemporary builders and architects.
Part 2 discusses structures and materials, covering brickwork, stone, renders and stuccos, roofs, woodwork, windows and doors, ironwork and conservatories.
In each case there is comprehensive advice on symptoms of trouble, techniques for preservation and restoration, and the correct choice of materials. Part 3 covers services - fireplaces and chimneys, lighting, kitchens and bathrooms - all subjects requiring particular sensitivity to achieve a satisfactory compromise between preserving the spirit of the original building and meeting modern standards of comfort and convenience.
Part 4 examines all aspects of interior decoration, including plasterwork, decorative tiles, paint colours and finishes, wallcoverings, curtains and blinds, and floorcoverings.
The book is completed by lists of further reading, places to visit and useful addresses, including those of specialist suppliers and contractors, and sources of more detailed information and advice.
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 272 pages
- Publisher: Aurum Press
- Publication Date: 01/10/2007
- Category: Architectural structure & design
Free Home Delivery
on all orders
Pick up orders
from local bookshops


text:
EC: V2426 Series
Hardware - industrial PCs: Moxa Americas, V2426 Series. The V2426 Series embedded computers are based on the Intel Atom N270 x86 processor with multiple interfaces for railway and various industrial applications. This is a Control Engineering 2011 Engineers' Choice (EC) nominee.
The V2426 Series embedded computers are based on the Intel Atom N270 x86 processor, and feature 4 RS-232/422/485 serial ports, dual LAN ports, and 3 USB 2.0 hosts. Also, the V2426 computer provides VGA and DVI-I outputs, making them particularly well-suited for railway and various industrial applications.
The dual Ethernet ports can offer a speedy and reliable solution for network redundancy, promising continuous operation for data communication and management. As an added convenience, the V2426 computers have 6 DIs, and 2 DOs for connecting digital input/output devices. In addition, the CompactFlash socket, SATA connector, and USB sockets provide the V2426 computers with the reliability needed for industrial applications that require data buffering and storage expansion. Moreover, the V2426 contains 2 peripheral expansion slots, offering flexible integration for the applications that require additional module.
Pre-installed with Linux, or Windows Embedded Standard 2009, the V2426 Series provides programmers with a friendly environment for developing sophisticated, bug-free application software at a low cost.
Moxa Americas
For more, see www.controleng.com/awards.
Log in or create an account to submit your comment for this article.


text:
Rummenigge not worried by Madrid interest
Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is not worried about Real Madrid poaching players because he believes his club is better.
Jose Mourinho is rumoured to be interested in Bayern stars Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philipp Lahm having already brought in Germany internationals Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira.
However, having already tied Franck Ribery and Thomas Muller down to new deals until 2015, Rummenigge believes there is no reason to fear the duo will depart.
"Real Madrid have a great name, but Bayern's is better and, at the moment, we are the more successful club," he told Bild. "I think we can come to an agreement to extend the two deals until 2015."
Rummenigge also called on Mario Gomez to prove himself at the club after dismissing Liverpool's loan bid as "absurd". Gomez, 25, joined from Stuttgart last summer in a deal said to have been worth over €30 million, but he made limited impact and struggled for first-team football.
"Liverpool's loan offer was absurd," he said. "I told him, in a long conversation, 'We believe in you, but you have to fight for your place. You have to fight and work like a devil'. Ivica Olic is so popular because he always fights like a devil.
"As another example, Soren Lerby played like a sausage in his first year at Bayern, and our former coach Udo Lattek said, 'He must go', but no one wanted to buy him. In his second year, Lerby was world-class. I think Mario can be, too. We will do well to support him."
Rummenigge also confirmed that he hopes to extend coach Louis van Gaal's contract, despite the Dutchman having expressed a desire to coach a national side.
"We are very satisfied with Louis van Gaal's work," he said. "We aim to extend his contract. I expect that we'll know by Christmas what is happening."
Use a Facebook account to add a comment, subject to Facebook's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your Facebook name, photo & other personal information you make public on Facebook will appear with your comment, and may be used on ESPN's media platforms. Learn more.


text:
About Group
No activity in last 7 days
Group Description
The Hybrid and Exotic Cat group is a friendly group for those that that own or hope to own a hybrid or exotic cat at some point in the future. Breeds such as the Bengal, Savannah, Chausie, Caracat, Safari as well as Servals, Jungle cats, Caracals, Geoffroys, Ocelots, Margays etc. are all welcome. Sharing of information on breeding, nutrition, training, socialization as well as the preservation and supporting the right to own these magnificent cats will be discussed. Educating those who don't currently own one of these cats is encouraged. Breeders are welcome to share their cats available.
Group Information
- 284
- Wild Cats
- Dec 26, 2004
- English
Group Settings
- This is a restricted group.
- Attachments are permitted.
- Members cannot hide email address.
- Listed in Yahoo Groups directory.
- Membership requires approval.
- Messages are not moderated.
- All members can post messages.


text:
What is a Secured Credit Card?
A secured credit card is a major credit card that requires a cash deposit to secure the credit line for that account. If you deposit $500 in the FDIC-insured account; you can charge up to $500. The deposit also acts as a guarantee the credit card issuer will be protected if you are unable to make your payments.
Benefits of Secured Credit Cards
Rebuild credit with secured credit cards. Secured credit can help you rebuild credit and get you on track to a good credit score. Credit cards, if managed well, can be a great way to build a solid credit history and improve scores. Credit cards give you a means to establish a good payment history. Payment history is imperative to having good credit as it accounts for 35% of your overall credit score. Secured credit cards are a perfect answer for consumers who are unable to qualify for unsecured credit cards. A secured credit card may be the only method to establish or re-establish credit.
Rebuilding Credit With a Secured Credit Card
Consumers with bad credit should engage in credit repair and debt management in order to rebuild credit. But this alone will not help rebuild credit. If you want to improve your credit score and rebuild credit, you need current positive credit reporting in your credit files. Secured credit cards will give your credit report open, active revolving credit lines on your credit reports. This will give you the opportunity to show you handle credit responsibly. Managing credit responsibly will re-establish credit history and improve scores.
How to Manage Secured Credit Cards
Secured credit cards must be managed the same as unsecured credit cards. Just because you have secured the credit card with a deposit, does not mean you can skip payments or make late payments. Late payments on a secured credit card will have the same negative effect as regular, unsecured credit cards.
Top 3 Management Tips for Secured Cards:
- Keep your account balances low. This means whatever your credit limit, do not charge over 30% of the available limit. The only exception is that you pay your balance in full each month.
- Avoid late payments at all costs. Late payments will be reported to the credit bureaus in the same manner a late payment on an unsecured credit card would be reported.
- Use your credit card at least once a month. Rebuilding credit requires you actively use credit as well as timely repay credit obligations. Even if you only make a small purchase each month and pay it in full; this counts as using your credit card and will help rebuild credit
Quickly Raise Your Credit Score
First, get a few secured credit cards. Second, make small purchases. Third, pay the account in full or at least pay more than the minimum payment, on time, every month. By simply adding new revolving credit your credit scores will get an immediate bump up. Having several revolving lines of credit such as secured credit cards is going to allow you to raise your credit scores quickly. Making timely payments on several secured credit cards along with keeping account balances low will quickly raise your credit scores.
Choosing the right Secured Credit Cards
There are several types of secured credit cards. Consumers with poor credit are often marketed secured credit cards that come with high fees. Stay away from fee-laiden credit cards, they may do more damage to your credit. You want a secured credit card with the following features:
- No application fee and a low annual fee
- FDIC-Insured Savings Account for your security deposit.
- Reports monthly to the major credit bureaus just like an unsecured credit card
- Allows you to convert or apply for an unsecured credit card after 9 to 12 months of on-time payments and good account management
Instant Decision Secured Credit Cards
The First Progress Platinum Prestige MasterCard® Secured Credit Card requires no credit history or minimum credit score for approval. It is a full-feature platinum MasterCard® good for car rental, hotels and anywhere MasterCard® is accepted. Monthly reporting to all 3 major credit bureaus. The card is secured by an FDIC-insured deposit of $200 to $2,000. Complete the online application now!
For consumers that want a high limit secured card, the UNITY Visa Secured Credit Card from One United Bank is the right choice. Cardholders can choose their credit limit from $250 to $10,000 with an FDIC-insured security deposit. Cardholders enjoy an introductory rate of 9.95% for the first 6 months then a competitive fixed rate of 17.99%. Monthly reporting to all three major credit bureaus (TransUnion, Experian, Equifax) is provided to help rebuild credit.
USAA membership is reserved for the members of the military, veterans who honorably served and their eligible family members. Enjoy a fresh start with the USAA Secured Credit Card. If you've had past credit problems you are welcome to apply. Improve credit scores with on-time payments. An interest earning USAA 2-Year Variable Rate CD will be used as a security deposit. The money you put in upfront, from $250 to $5,000, is the card's credit limit. Start building your credit today.


text:
Please sign in to comment. Don't have a profile? Join now! Joining is absolutely free and no personal information is required.
....... And so I must swim
20 pieces
24 comments
142 solvesSolve puzzle
The boat was close to a beach in undeep water. When Micky had to go out I walked through the water and Micky did swim. Often not all the way, it was too far, Then I had to carry a very wet dog. I don't mind. She loved to be there.


text:
A three vehicle accident in Cambridge kills one.
Cambridge Police reported that the accident took place on Southgate Parkway just before 7 p.m.. Tuesday.
One motor vehicle sustained damage and the driver, 63-year-old Chester Staffey of Cambridge was uninjured.
The drivers of the other two vehicles were trapped inside and one had to be extricated by members of the Cambridge Fire Department.
One driver, 24-year-old Adam Fair of Byesville was treated at Southeastern Ohio Regional Medial Center and released.
The other, 70-year-old Sylvia Milligan of Cambridge was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Southgate Parkway was closed for three hours and the accident remains under investigation by the Cambridge Police.


text:
Andrew Preece, Ricardo
This session presents the Sentience project, which has pursued the application of information about a vehicle's future route to improve fuel consumption. The project, a collaboration between Ricardo, Orange, TRL, Jaguar Land Rover, Ordnance Survey, and Innovits, has shown significant fuel consumption improvements on a demonstration hybrid vehicle.
During the initial phase, concepts were developed on the desktop using MATLAB and Simulink. Dynamic programming was used in MATLAB to provide a basis for strategies, which were developed in Simulink making use of a detailed vehicle model. Use of Real-Time Workshop coupled with the extensive use of the Embedded MATLAB® subset within the model allowed the rapid development of complex algorithms to the vehicle in the subsequent phase.
Three distinct fuel-saving strategies were developed:
The demonstration vehicle was subjected to an extensive test program: on the road, on a test track, and in a climatic chamber. MATLAB was used to process the test results and derive calibration improvements.
Results showed an estimated 10% CO2 and fuel saving in real-world U.K. driving.
Recorded: 22 Jun 2010


text:
Beginning September 8, 2017 all attendees of recorded and live webinars will be prompted to download the new Connect Add-in version 11.9.980.387 in order to continue watching webinars. The add-in will be available via the lightning installer directly in the webroom, or you can download it ahead of time from here. Please scroll to 'Meeting Add-ins for Adobe Connect 9' and then select 'Download latest Adobe Connect 9 Meeting Add-in' (version 11.9.980.387, ZIP format, posted on August 9th, 2017) for either Windows or MAC, depending on what platform you are using. Thank you!
Privacy Legal
© Eastern Currents Distributing
Join the club! You are on your way to being able to browse our webstore and learning
If you have forgotten your password, we'll email it to the address you previously
registered with.
Remember, passwords are case sensitive. If you can't recall your password, please use our Forgot Password tool.
To register a new account, click


text:
Get a free shipping quote.
Luke is a 4 year old registered Spotted Saddle Horse. He is between 14.3-15 hands and is smooth gaited. Luke is a very sweet boy and extremely easy to be around. He loves attention and will always come up to say hi in the paddock. He goes out by himself without a problem and is not buddy or barn sour. He goes through water, is good going up and down hills, and has been ridden around dogs and traffic. He is good for baths, farrier and vet and is just a super easy going horse.... (read more)
Ride, train, show and sell Missouri Fox Trotters
Avoid Scams and Fraud - Potential areas of fraud: wire transfer, moneygrams, money orders, cashier checks, shipping, escrow, "transaction protection", "guarantee". Check out the Buyer Safety section for more info.


text:
Tailgating games are a great way to enjoy tailgate parties before the big game. Below is a list of the Top 10 Tailgating Games on the market.
If you feel that we left out a tailgating game that deserves a top ten placement please leave a comment below and let us know.
The Cornhole game tops our list as the best tailgating game on the market. The game with a funny name is extremely addicting and seems to be getting bigger and bigger each year. What is Cornhole and How to Play?
2. Washers Toss Game
The washers toss game is played by tossing washers at a 2ft x 2ft box that has a six inch pipe in the center. The goal is to land inside the box (1pt) or inside the pipe (3pts). The first person to 21 wins. The washers game shown above also uses small bean bags.
3. Redneck Golf (aka Ladder Ball)
Redneck golf (aka ladder ball, ladder golf or hillbilly golf) is played by tossing bollos at the ladder and wrapping your bollo around one of the rungs on the ladder. Each rung has a different point value.
4. Beer Pong
Beer pong is a very popular tailgating game among the younger crowd at Tailgate parties, college dorm rooms, camping and more.
5. Frisbeer (aka Polish Horseshoes)
Frisbeer is played by throwing a frisbee at a beer can placed on top of a post. Simple concept but more difficult than it appears.
6. Target Toss Game
Target toss is played by tossing bean bags at a target with 5 holes and each hole has a different point value.
7. Yard Dice Game
8. Quarters Game
9. Kubb
10. Quoits Ring Toss Game