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It was announced in the news today that authorities in Saudi Arabia have cracked down on potential unrest by banning all protests and marches in the country. The security forces have been ordered to use all measures to prevent public disorder. Hmmm, I wonder how long this will actually last? The beauty about astrology is that you can have a glimpse ahead and see trouble on the horizon. Looking at Saudi Arabia and the general synopsis in the heavens just around the corner, the world needs to be concerned.
Lets have a quick look at the Saudi Natal Chart. By it's appearance, it is remarkably similar to the Libya chart I looked at a few days ago. There is a Cancerian ascendant, security and the defence of the kingdom will be of utmost importance. We have a nervous Virgo Sun trine a very powerful Saturn in Capricorn the 7th. The ruler, King Abdullah has an iron grip on everything that goes on. You can see the aspects radiating out from this Saturn touching all planets by aspect except the Jupiter/Neptune conjunction in the 3rd house. That Jupiter Neptune conjunction represents a large expanse (Jupiter) of oil (Neptune) in the local environment (3rd house) which is exploited by international (Jupiter) oil companies . We can see a brutal cruel attitude to justice (Pluto conjunct Mars opposite Saturn), a very restrictive attitude to women's affairs (Venus quindecile Saturn), a very hard line taken over dissent (Saturn square Uranus) and control over communication, the press & travel (Saturn trine Mercury). The Moon representing the people is in the hidden 12th house inconjunct the all powerful Saturn. I suspect there will be a lot of chatter behind the scenes against the absolute monarchy, but the ruling family and it's security forces keeps a lid on the population.
Now however, problems are in the pipeline. The Saudi Sun sits at 29 degrees Virgo and the Saudi Midheaven sits at 1 degree Aries. The Sun represents the absolute ruler, the King and the Midheaven represents the ruling government, those at the top. Right now as I write, transiting Uranus (which represents rebel opposing forces to the ruling monarchy) is 2 minutes from opposing the natal Sun. At the same time Uranus will conjunct the Saudi Midheaven on 30th March. Uranus is also making a square aspect to the natal Moon, the people, no doubt seeing what is happening in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia will be in a mood for revolt. Uranus when it connects to the major angles (Ascendant & Midheaven) or the personal planets (the Moon and the Sun) on a national chart always heralds change. Remember this too. Uranus is just about to change signs from confused dreamy Pisces into action dominated, war like Aries; the people will finally be able to get mobilised. You just watch the sparks fly around the world!! Just as worrying, transiting Pluto is trine the Jupiter/Neptune conjunction. Pluto is transformational, or can denote a blockage of some kind. Is the oil supply from Saudi Arabia going to be affected in some way? On the Solar Arc charts, there are two aspects virtually exact now. SA Pluto is square the Saudi Ascendant and SA Uranus will shortly conjunct it which means a transformation in the face of the country more than likely by revolution of some type, or by a dramatic change. SA Moon representing the people is conjunct the South Node. To me, this almost suggests a turning in on the country itself. Putting this all together, I can see the possibility of major popular unrest or even civil war. Two years down the line in approximately 2013, SA Mars will square Uranus! Ouch, disruption with violence, maybe military based. It doesn't sound very hopeful, does it? Factor this in as well. King Abdullah is himself 87 and I understand his health is not too good. Should something happen to him, then the crown is up for grabs.
As you will be aware, Saudi Arabia controls the largest reserves of oil in the world. As I mentioned before, oil is ruled by Neptune and Neptune is just about to change signs too like Uranus. Neptune will move from Aquarius to Pisces in April. So what will this mean for the world oil supply? Neptune hasn't been in this spot just about to move into Pisces since 1848, the first oil well was drilled in 1853. Will it mean that the main oil supplies of the world (Saudi Arabia, Libya) will be managed by countries in flux or disorganisation? Pisces is a nebulous sign, where control dissolves completely, and if that happens, what will happen to the price of petroleum world wide? Serious questions indeed for a world dependent still on oil supplies. If the Astrology holds out and I have read it correctly, the world will and needs to be worried.
** UPDATE 12th March 2011 **
After seeing how the last Solar Eclipse has affected the world in many ways, Japan Tsunami, New Zealand Earthquake and all the disruption across North Africa, I thought I would have a peek into the future and look at the next Solar Eclipse due for 1st July 11. What I saw shocked me. I have written that any planet hitting an angle on an eclipse chart relocated to a point on earth will severely affect that region. Located to Riyadh, the next eclipse itself not hits almost directly onto the Midheaven but the Cardinal cross formed at the time of the eclipse has Saturn on the Ascendant, Pluto on the IC and Uranus on the descendant. Major changes WILL happen in Saudi Arabia starting I would guess late summer this year. Please return back over time as I update this article…


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Downtown Holiday Market in Washington, DC
The 2015 Downtown Holiday Market is here! Running from November 27th through December 23rd, this year's Market is bigger and better than ever. Now in its eleventh year, the event boasts one of the most spectacular outdoor shopping experiences in the Maryland and DC area.
The market features more than 150 exhibitors and artisans who rotate almost every day, meaning you'll want to make multiple trips! People who like to shop local can rest easy knowing that almost half of the vendors are Washington, DC-based photographers, potters, designers, crafters, and bakers.
While you're shopping, enjoy festive live entertainment, plus great snacks and seasonal treats. Located across from the Verizon Center and convenient to Metro and nearby parking, the market is a fun and convenient way to complete all of your holiday shopping in one place. You're sure to find something special for everyone on your list right in the heart of Downtown.
Thousands of gifts are available for purchase including fine arts, crafts, jewelry, clothing, accessories, pottery, photography, clothing, specialty foods, and more! Trust us, you don't want to miss this incredible once-a-year event.

subset: commoncrawl


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Zero one has a crystal ball.
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Motel 6 Bellingham
3701 Byron Avenue, Bellingham, WA 98225, United States of America –
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Guests are required to show a photo ID and credit card upon check-in. Please note that all Special Requests are subject to availability and additional charges may apply.


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Office (305) 433-2818
Brasil: +55 (21) 4042 1368
Argentina: 54 (11) 5258 2199
Romania: +40 (21) 539 8233
Contact Us
Coconut Grove Florida and its ambiance plus its many art themed events have made it a popular neighborhood in the South Miami area. People of all ages can come to Coconut Grove and experience its cornucopia of restaurants and cafes, a trait that has lead to it earning the distinction of Miami's Food Court. This relaxed atmosphere can still reach the energy of Miami Beach yet it's this laid back setting that draws many people to explore Coconut Grove real estate.
Coconut Grove offers a huge amount of places to live, from traditional single family homes and estates to Coconut Grove condos. A great perk of choosing Coconut Grove homes for sale is you can find just as many luxury homes featuring five or six bedrooms as you can traditional ones with three bedrooms for a much lower price. In terms of Coconut Grove condos, one of the major highlights is none other than the Ritz-Carlton. CocoWalk is perhaps the best spot to go shopping nearby. Alternatively, Coral Gables has Miracle Mile and Merrick Park or you can visit Downtown Miami.


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By Barry Santini, ABOM
Photographs by NED MATURA; Drivewear Lenses courtesy of Younger Optics. Frame: Persol/Luxottica
Although the Departments of Motor
Vehicles (DMVs) in each of the 50 states
has a different protocol for driver testing,
licensure and re-registration, they all share
one thing in common: a person's vision
must meet a minimum standard of acuity.
This fact alone should persuade every
vision professional (whether optician,
optometrist, ophthalmologist or support
staff) that emphasizing the importance of
having the sharpest vision possible when
driving is not only good for each client, it's
also good for society as a whole. Can you
name another activity where less-thanoptimal
vision poses such a potential danger
for both an individual and others
around them? Driving with sub-optimal
acuity can result in reduced depth perception,
low-level contrast discrimination,
accuracy in judging distances and negatively
impact traffic signal recognition. All
of these deficiencies affect a driver's reaction
time and will therefore significantly
increase chances for an accident. And
while having sharp vision will not guarantee
avoiding an accident, driving without
it will certainly increase your odds.
When considering how to optimize a driver's
vision, we should first evaluate the visual conditions
affecting driving. The most important
factors that influence these visual conditions
are the time of day (daytime, dusk or night
time) and the driver's field-of-view.
Daytime driving is generally done under
photopic conditions. Photopic conditions
mean your pupils will constrict to 1.5 to
3mm in response to the elevated lumen levels.
However, smaller pupils can effectively
mask focus error because the rays limited by
these diameters tend to produce a sharp
image. As a result, many clients may have
prescriptions that indicate a small correction
is needed, even though the client may not
complain of vision problems when driving.
This is why a proper refraction is generally
performed in a darkened room (where the
pupil can open up to at least 5mm). These
conditions will reveal any lack of optimal
focus. With this in mind, it is obvious that
most motor vehicle acuity tests are not done
in appropriate conditions. The current testing
environment in most DMV offices features
both bright lighting and reduced testing
distances. These two testing parameters
further compromise the reduced acuity
thresholds employed by the DMVs. (It is
also ironic many states have, or are considering
laws that mandate pre-schooler
screening standards—along with subsequent
doctor referral—that utilize acuity
thresholds far more stringent than our
DMVs currently allow.)
Besides the basics of full prescription correction,
daytime drivers must contend with
the direct glare of the sun. When recommending
sunglasses, the proper selection of
tints and densities should be reviewed and
determined with each client. There are various
gender considerations that can influence
the choice of lens color (also know as
"hue"). While we're familiar with the spectral
differences between the primary sunwear
color families of gray, brown and
green, it is also important to note there are
some differences between male and female
color vision that will influence their preference
of lens hue. In general, most men's
color vision is red-sensitive and often prefer
a neutral-transmittance lens such as gray. On
the other hand, most women are red-deficient,
and often find a gray tint "flat" or dull,
while a brown-based tint appears to provide
more "natural" vision. These gender guidelines
are by no means universal. Individual
demonstrations are recommended for each
client. In addition, people will often become
accustomed to a particular tint during years
of use (visual habit). Demonstrating all the
primary and secondary sun tints (rose, for
example) is the only way to discover the
optimal choices for your client.
Photochromic lenses are a popular lens
option today. But for almost all types, photochromic
lenses do not work optimally for
driving. The UV rays that change the lens
from light to dark are blocked by a car's roof
and window glass.
An exception is the new Drivewear lens
from Younger Optics. Developed in conjunction
with Transitions Optical, Drivewear
lenses are polarized photochromic lenses that
are activated by both UV and visible light.
Drivewear lenses can darken in a car, with a
response proportional to the brightness levels
encountered. Along with their photochromic
quality, Drivewear lenses also feature
optimized hue-changing qualities that
further enhance their glare reduction.
Daytime drivers can also encounter the
debilitating glare effects of reflected light.
Whether glare reflections originate off window
glass, the dashboard or the road surface,
polarizing lenses are the ideal solution.
Through selectively blocking of reflections
from horizontal surfaces, polarizing lenses
deliver improved contrast sensitivity, and
thereby, allow drivers to more quickly see a
child, bicycle, pedestrian or car lurking in
the shadows of trees or buildings.
The most important difference between
daytime and dusk or night time driving is a
reduction in contrast. Lower lumen levels
result in mesoscopic or scotopic conditions,
and encourage your pupil to dilate between
4mm and 7mm. At these diameters, any
lack of optimal eye focus will no longer be
camouflaged. These are the conditions that
will often be accompanied by some sort of
complaint from your client. If their correction
is not fully up to par, this is the environment
where it will show. Even if their
last refraction concluded with a "no correction
change needed," drivers often complain
about a lack of visual comfort and
confidence during dusk and night time
conditions. These evening considerations
are really completely different from daytime.
Unfortunately, our current refraction
protocol does not routinely include optimizing
driver vision for dusk and night.
Although still not yet fully understood,
night myopia significantly influences vision
sharpness and contrast discrimination. Primarily
evolutionary in origin, night myopia
is defined as the eye's tendency to adopt a
nearsighted focus at larger pupil openings
(6mm to 8mm), and under low levels of
illumination. It is postulated that evolution
played a role in the development of this
trait through natural selection. Amongst
our small, mammalian ancestors, those who
could more quickly recognize a predator at
close range, such as when awoken from
sleep at night, survived to propagate offspring.
This genetic trait was favorably
selected down millions of years of evolution
and contributed to the development of
night myopia.
The underlying optics of night myopia are
an amalgam of various factors, all contributing
to a more near-sighted focus at larger
pupil diameters. For one thing, our dilated
eyes exhibit an effect known as spherical
aberration, wherein the rays at the out edge
of our expanded pupil are focused (prima-rily by the cornea) further in front of the
retina. In addition, there is also the "Purkinje
effect," wherein the eye's peak sensitivity
shifts into the shorter wavelength, blue end
of the spectrum at low levels of illumination.
This also makes the eye's focus more near
sighted. Compounding these two near-sighted
factors is the eye's tendency to adopt a
focus of approximately three feet when "at
rest," i.e., either with the eyes closed or with
no distinct object to focus upon (also know
as "empty-field myopia"). These three factors
are generally thought to all contribute to
the phenomenon of night myopia, by reducing
acuity and contrast sensitivity at night.
Refractive surgery: Did it spell the end of eyewear
and contact lenses? This was forecasted,
but the current reality is much different.
No doubt, our understanding of vision processing
is much more advanced today, primarily
as a result of the analysis of dissatisfied
refractive surgery clients. Once a term that
generated much concern in the eyewear
industry, refractive surgery (which also
encompasses the more popular "laser surgery")
has now taken its place as an alternate
refractive-correction choice. Refractive
surgery's use of abberometry, which produces
a more comprehensive model of the
eye's focus, has enlightened our understanding
of many of the night-myopia effects
described above. Aberration analysis can
often yield a more accurate and precise
determination of astigmatism and axis than
traditional objective/subjective refraction
techniques. Through a more precise and
complete measurement of the eye's total
focus, abberometry corroborates that there
are clinically significant focus differences
between smaller and larger pupil openings.
Therefore, there is now a clearly defined
need to test whether different prescriptions
for daytime versus dusk/evening driving are
Either the doctor or dispenser (or both)
should discuss and recommend a separate eyewear
prescribed and designed for anyone who
places a premium on vision and night driving
safety. Besides delivering a crisp distance focus,
optimally focused vision delivers superior contrast
discrimination. This is especially important
at dusk and night, where contrast gradients
are notoriously soft. Eyewear for night
driving will employ even the smallest Rx correction.
The lenses may be clear, or if the client
is particularly light sensitive, utilize one of the
new, specialized polarizing hues optimized for
conditions besides bright sunlight. Whether
clear or tinted, premium, hydrophobic antireflection
coatings are mandatory for reduced
ghosting and contrast enhancement.
As a driver, not only is it important how sharply you
see, but also how much you can see counts with
equal significance. A critical issue surrounding any
optimized eyewear/sunwear for driving is field-ofview.
Most states' DMV vision regulations contain
minimum standards for a driver's angular field of
view (FOV) and will restrict deficient candidates
even when their central acuity is 20/20. In New
York, for example, drivers must possess not less than
140 degrees field-of-view (monocular or binocular).
Although recent fashion trends favor larger eye-sizes,
it was not long ago that 45mm to 49mm eye-sizes
were the popular norm for both eyewear and sunwear.
As our clients have already discovered, smaller
sized sunglasses deliver inadequate sun protection.
But smaller eye-sizes also do not allow a truly safe
field of view for driving. The traditional solution for
sunwear has been to choose larger eye-sizes, say
56mm or greater, with a shape difference of 6mm to
9mm. This results in heavier, thicker and more cumbersome
sunwear, and still doesn't provide an optimal
solution for non-sun driving eyewear
Finding first acceptance in plano sunwear for sports,
we are rapidly entering a paradigm shift in lens-form
dispensing. Wrap-around eyewear significantly
increases the driver's unobstructed FOV, without a
need for large "B" lens dimensions and without
additional weight and thickness. Wrap-around
designs work for both sunwear and regular eyewear.
Up until recently, examination, lens and frame technology
has been based on flatter-form lens curves.
(This is because lens production techniques were
derived from those first optimized for glass.) Note
how most of the latest technology for our popular
aspheric lenses is designed to make them flatter and
thinner. But these flat lenses are unsuitable for use
with newer frames that feature steeper wrap-angles
(also known as "face-form" angle).
Using frame wrap angles of 10 to 25 degrees, along
with lens base curves of six to eight diopters, it is
finally possible to deliver eyewear that can be truly
described as offering a "panoramic" field-of- view…
literally, akin to having a prescription ground in your
windshield. However, there are new vision considerations
that accompany these curved lenses and this
is where a paradigm shift occurs. With non-traditional
values for vertex distance (nine to 11mm) and
pantoscopic lens tilt, an "Rx compensator" program
must be used to ensure sharp central acuity and
binocular fusion with these wrap angles and curves.
There may also be residual issues with peripheral
sharpness and that's where a whole new generation
of lenses specifically-designed for wrap-around eyewear
come in. Products such as SOLA/Zeiss Spazio,
Shamir Attitude and KBCo's Wrap Solutions offer
not only an optimized periphery for wrap eyewear
through the use of aspheric and atoric curves, they
also possess a lens form factor that reduces excessive
thickness and weight (for minus powers).
Vision care professionals should also be aware that
wrap eyewear requires pupillary compensation for
the de-centering effects of lens tilt, depending on
degree of wrap angle. Success in wrap eyewear also
depends on using a starting Rx that is fully corrected
for maximum distance focus. In my practice, I have
found that clients enthusiastically receive vision-optimized,
wrap-around single-vision and progressive
eyewear. Although there is an initial perceptual
adjustment, clients love the improved field-of-view
and comfortable fit of wrap eyewear. Starting with
wrap around sunwear, customers eagerly desire the
same "panoramic" vision for special night-driving
eyewear made in the same wrap around form.
As sunwear is often cited as the ideal second pair sale,
the time is ripe for vision professionals to unlock the
hidden sales potential of optimized eyewear for driving.
When your client comes says "I'm uncomfortable
with driving in general, but particularly at dusk
and night," your response should be "With today's
vision technology, we have a better understanding of
the unique vision processes that affect your eyes when
driving. We'll be able to show you how an optimized
pair of driving eyewear can restore your feeling of
confidence and safety, particularly at night." There
has never been a better time, nor a more receptive
audience, for that "third" pair of eyewear. Make your
clients happy and safe, and unlock the profits hidden
in every sale of optimized eyewear for driving.LT
Barry Santini is a New York State licensed optician
based in Seaford, N.Y.
May 2007
L&T New Products


text: Many analysts believe the recent rally in the US Dollar could be coming to an end. If so, that would be great news for gold. As we know, in the US gold prices move inversely to the value of the US Dollar. The Fed comments on Weds are telling many analysts that the Fed is more dovish than previously believed, which could keep down the US Dollar in the medium term, and give gold some support. We'll give you links today to a few articles discussing this. In the meantime, have a great weekend!


text:
MOVIE SYNOPSIS [ General Audiences ] Edie is a teenager crossing undocumented US as he promises never bend back in a factory. Carmela is nine and, though he knows more than landfills stories, travels every evening to watch the sky and see flying kites. Adrian and Fernando struggling to raise her family while dreaming of going around the world as wrestling idols. You can watch Of Kites and Borders (De cometas y fronteras) online on TV cable or theaters with original audio in English at different dates. This film premiered in theaters in 2013.
Rating: 5 by 220 users./
Runtime: 58 minutes
58-minute film (full movie) directed by Yolanda Pividal.
The original audio of Of Kites and Borders (De cometas y fronteras) has dialogues in Dolby Digital, it was produced in USA.
It premiered in cinemas or television in 2013.
Screenplay written by Ángel Luis Lara.
Carmen Vidal Balanzat and Yolanda Pividal.
This film was produced and / or financed by Chicken And Egg Pictures, Fledgung Fund, Coproducción EEUU-México-España; Kayro Productions, Independent Filmmaker Project and Jacob Burns Film Center.
Composed by Alfonso Arias and Andy Belmonte.
Without commercial breaks, the full movie Of Kites and Borders (De cometas y fronteras) has a duration of 58 minutes; the official trailer can be watched in streaming on the Internet. You can watch this full movie free in EnglishDolby Digital in movie TV channels, renting the DVD or with VoD services (Video On Demand player, Hulu) and PPV (Pay Per View, Netflix).
See the page of this full movie, Of Kites and Borders (De cometas y fronteras) in FULLTV Movies.


text:
Links for Keyword: Parkinsons
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, or subscribe to our mailing list, to receive news updates. Learn more.
By Anne Pycha Future doctors may ask us to say more than "Ahhh." Several groups of neuroscientists, psychiatrists and computer scientists are now investigating the extent to which patients' language use can provide diagnostic clues—before a single laboratory test is run. Increased computing power and new methods to measure the relation between behavior and brain activity have advanced such efforts. And although tests based on the spoken word may not be as accurate as gene sequencing or MRI scans, for diseases lacking clear biological indicators, language mining could help fill the gap. Psychiatrists at Columbia University interviewed 34 young adults at risk for psychosis, a common sign of schizophrenia that includes delusions and hallucinations. Two and a half years later five of the subjects had developed psychosis, and the remaining 29 remained free of the disorder. A specially designed algorithm combed the initial interviews collectively to look for language features that distinguished the two groups and found that psychosis correlated with shorter sentences, loss of flow in meaning from one sentence to the next and less frequent use of the words "that," "what" and "which." When later tested on each individual interview, the computer program predicted who did and who did not develop psychosis with 100 percent accuracy. The results were recently published in Schizophrenia, and a second round of testing with another group of at-risk subjects is now under way. Parkinson's Disease Twenty-seven subjects in a study at Favaloro University in Argentina listened to recorded sentences containing verbs associated with specific hand shapes (such as "applaud" or "punch"). As soon as they understood the sentence, participants pressed a button while keeping both hands in either a flat or clenched-fist position. © 2016 Scientific American
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity; Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System; Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders
Link ID: 21818 - Posted: 01.25.2016
Videos just discovered show the first people ever to be treated for the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. The footage, hidden for half a century, shows Chilean miners with severe movement problems improving on daily doses of L-dopa. The videos were filmed by George Cotzias at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York. In 1963, while studying the toxic effects of manganese in human tissues, Cotzias learned of four workers in the Corral del Quemado mine in Andacollo, Chile, who had developed a syndrome called manganism – which resembled Parkinson's – through inhaling manganese dust. Cotzias travelled to Chile to include the miners in a trial of leva-dopa, a chemical building block that the body converts into dopamine, low levels of which cause uncontrolled movements in people with Parkinson's. L-dopa was being tested in Parkinson's patients around the same time but with little success – even small amounts caused adverse side-effects that prevented a high enough dose reaching the brain. The footage clearly shows the severe problems with walking and turning miners had before treatment. After several months of receiving a daily dose of L-dopa, they were able to feed themselves, shave, tie their shoelaces, and run. "It's a very important part of the history of neurology," says Marcelo Miranda, a researcher at Clinica Las Condes in Santiago, Chile, who found the footage, some of which was shown at a conference in the 1960s, but hasn't been seen since. "It's the only available document of that period that shows the first patients with Parkinson's symptoms treated with L-dopa and their extraordinary response." © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System
Link ID: 21811 - Posted: 01.23.2016
By Diana Kwon Six years before her husband was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disorder marked by tremors and movement difficulties, Joy Milne detected a change in his scent. She later linked the subtle, musky odor to the disease when she joined the charity Parkinson's UK and met others with the same, distinct smell. Being one of the most common age-related disorders, Parkinson's affects an estimated seven million to 10 million people worldwide. Although there is currently no definitive diagnostic test, researchers hope that this newly found olfactory signature will lead help create one. Milne, a super-smeller from Perth, Scotland, wanted to share her ability with researchers. So when Tilo Kunath, a neuroscientist at the University of Edinburgh, gave a talk during a Parkinson's UK event in 2012, she raised her hand during the Q&A session and claimed she was able to smell the disease. "I didn't take her seriously at first," Kunath says. "I said, 'No, I never heard of that, next question please.'" But months later Kunath shared this anecdote with a colleague and received a surprising response. "She told me that that lady wasn't wrong and that I should find her," Kunath says. Once the researchers found Milne, they tested her claim by having her sniff 12 T-shirts: six that belonged to people with Parkinson's and six from healthy individuals. Milne correctly identified 11 out of 12, but miscategorized one of the non-Parkinson's T-shirts in the disease category. It turned out, however, she was not wrong at all—that person would be diagnosed with Parkinson's less than a year later. © 2015 Scientific American
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity; Chapter 9: Hearing, Vestibular Perception, Taste, and Smell
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System; Chapter 6: Hearing, Balance, Taste, and Smell
Link ID: 21582 - Posted: 10.31.2015
Alan Hoffman says nilotinib has changed his life. Just weeks after he started taking the drug in a clinical trial, he began to feel himself recovering from his Parkinson's disease. The retired professor of social science first started to show the signs of Parkinson's in 1997. Over the years, his symptoms worsened. "I couldn't get out of bed without my wife," Hoffman says. Once a prolific reader, devouring four or five books a week, Hoffman found himself unable to keep his attention on even a short magazine article. His body became increasingly rigid, and he started to lose his sense of balance. "I fell a lot," he says. And it affected his social life. The disorder was such a struggle, Hoffman says he considered taking his own life. He tried a range of medications, which eased his symptoms to varying degrees. In 2008, he had surgery to implant an electrode into his brain. The deep brain stimulation that followed helped with the rigidity, he says. But deep brain stimulation doesn't offer a cure – the brain cells continue to die. So Hoffman agreed to join a six-month clinical trial of nilotinib – a drug typically used to treat leukaemia. Nilotinib blocks a protein that interferes with lysosomes – cell structures that destroy harmful proteins. Researchers behind the trial think that nilotinib can free up lysosomes to do a better job of clearing out proteins associated with Parkinson's disease. (For a full report on the effect of the drug see "People with Parkinson's walk again after promising drug trial".) © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System
Link ID: 21537 - Posted: 10.21.2015
An expensive cancer drug may reverse late-stage Parkinson's disease, enabling participants in a small clinical trial to speak and walk again for the first time in years. While there are several treatments for the symptoms of Parkinson's, if confirmed this would be the first time a drug has worked on the causes of the disease. "We've seen patients at end stages of the disease coming back to life," says Charbel Moussa of Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington DC, who led the trial. The drug, called nilotinib, works by boosting the brain's own "garbage disposal system" to clear proteins that accumulate in the brains of people with Parkinson's disease, says Moussa. These proteins are thought to trigger the death of brain cells that make molecules like dopamine that are needed for movement and other functions. Nilotinib is already approved to treat cancer – it blocks a protein that drives chronic myeloid leukaemia. It also blocks another protein that interferes with lysosomes – cell structures that destroy harmful proteins. Moussa thinks that nilotinib can free up lysosomes to do a better job of clearing out proteins associated with Parkinson's disease. Tests in animals showed promise, so Moussa, his colleague Fernando Pagan and their team set up a small trial of 12 volunteers with Parkinson's disease or a similar condition called dementia with Lewy bodies. The trial was designed to test only the safety of the oral drug, which was given as a daily dose for six months. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System
Link ID: 21528 - Posted: 10.20.2015
By Kristin Ozelli Four years ago writer and producer Jon Palfreman was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He has chronicled his experience and that of many other "Parkies," as patients sometimes call themselves, in two books, the latest of which is Brain Storms: The Race to Unlock the Mysteries of Parkinson's Disease, published this year by Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux, which traces some of the recent progress of medical researchers in treating this disease. He shared with Scientific American MIND senior editor Kristin Ozelli some of the insights he gleaned while working on this book. You wrote an earlier book about Parkinson's and produced a prize-winning documentary, The Case of the Frozen Addicts, and have experienced the disease personally. While you were researching Brain Storms, was there anything new you learned about the disease that really surprised you? What is truly surprising is just how long biomedical research takes to deliver life-changing therapies. The promising therapies around when I wrote my first book 20 years ago, like neural grafting and growth factors—therapies designed to replace, revive or protect dopamine neurons—well they haven't panned out. On the other hand, since my first involvement with Parkinson's, there have been some extraordinary advances in basic science. In a sense, the disease has been rebranded from a movement disorder (resulting from damage to a very small part of the brain) to a systemic condition involving not only tremor and rigidity but also a whole host of symptoms—from depression to sleep disorders, from constipation to dementia. Indeed, there's an entirely new theory of the disease that sees it as being driven by a protein alpha-synuclein that goes rogue and, prionlike, jumps from neuron to neuron creating havoc. © 2015 Scientific American
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System
Link ID: 21435 - Posted: 09.23.2015
A choir of Canadians with Parkinson's disease is helping researchers test how well the performers regain facial movement to express emotions. Tremors and difficulty walking are often the most noticeable symptoms of Parkinson's disease, which affects about one in 500 people in Canada. Those with the disease may also have limited facial movement, which hampers the ability to express themselves. For people with Parkinson's who have "masked face syndrome," it can be difficult for others to decipher how they're feeling. That's because we unknowingly mimic or mirror each other during interaction to connect. "Within a hundred milliseconds of seeing someone else smile or frown, we are smiling or frowning," said Frank Russo, a psychology professor at Ryerson University in Toronto. "We're mirroring what the other person is doing. And that's one of the things that is absent in Parkinson's. It's the absence of mirroring that is leading to some of the deficit in understanding other people's emotions." Having a static face can leave people with Parkinson's seem cold and aloof as they also show deficits in understanding other people's emotions. The patient can then become emotionally disconnected from others. Studying the 28 members of the Parkinson's choir has bolstered Russo's thinking that singing, facial expressions and social communications are interconnected. So far Russo has found that mirroring effect or mimicry was restored among choir participants who sang for 13 weeks. ©2015 CBC/Radio-Canada.
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity; Chapter 15: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System; Chapter 11: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Link ID: 21410 - Posted: 09.15.2015
By Diana Kwon Each year doctors diagnose approximately 60,000 Americans with Parkinson's disease, an incurable neurodegenerative condition for which the number-one risk factor is age. Worldwide an estimated seven to 10 million people currently live with the malady. As U.S. and global populations grow older, it is becoming increasingly urgent to understand its causes. So far, researchers know that Parkinson's involves cell death in a few restricted areas of the brain including the substantia nigra (SNc), one of two big cell clusters in the midbrain that house a large population of dopamine neurons. These cells release dopamine and are involved in a variety of functions including reward processing and voluntary movement. Their death leads to the motor control and balance issues that are core symptoms of the disease. New research shows that these brain cells, most at risk in Parkinson's disease, require unusually high amounts of energy to carry out their tasks because of their highly branched structures. Like a massive car with an overheating engine, these neurons are susceptible to burnout and early death. This discovery emerged from a comparison of energy use in nigral dopamine neurons and in similar neurons found in the nearby ventral tegmental area (VTA), also in the midbrain. "We were trying to understand why dopamine neurons of the substantia nigra die in Parkinson's disease patients while there are so many other brain cells that have no problem at all," says Louis-Eric Trudeau, a neuroscientist at the University of Montreal and senior author of the study published in the August 27 Current Biology. © 2015 Scientific American,
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System
Link ID: 21353 - Posted: 08.28.2015
Sarah Schwartz In 2011, science journalist Jon Palfreman saw a doctor about a tremor in his left hand. The doctor diagnosed Palfreman, then 60, with Parkinson's disease. The disorder, which is newly diagnosed in 60,000 Americans each year, promised a crippling future of tremors, loss of mobility, dementia and more. Palfreman decided to use his reporting expertise to investigate how Parkinson's disease affects the body and learn about efforts to find a cure. With Brain Storms, Palfreman follows Parkinson's history from the careful observations of 19th century physicians to today's cutting-edge research. Palfreman relates complex research studies as gripping medical mysteries. He describes how scientists connected Parkinson's with the dramatic loss of the brain chemical dopamine and with tenacious protein knots called Lewy bodies that are a hallmark of the disease. Palfreman also explores treatments past and present, including the widely used drug levodopa that restores motion (sometimes uncontrollably), gene therapies, brain surgeries and promising experimental antibody treatments that attack and dissolve misfolded Parkinson's-related proteins. Ultimately, Brain Storms is about more than Parkinson's disease; it's about the people living with the disorder. Palfreman describes patients who must teach themselves to walk without falling over or who freeze in place. He writes about a researcher driven to search for a cure after the disease affects his own father. © Society for Science & the Public 2000 - 2015
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System
Link ID: 21284 - Posted: 08.12.2015
By Smitha Mundasad Health reporter A type of diabetes drug may offer a glimmer of hope in the fight against Parkinson's disease, research in the journal Plos Medicine suggests. Scientists found people taking glitazone pills were less likely to develop Parkinson's than patients on other diabetes drugs. But they caution the drugs can have serious side-effects and should not be given to healthy people. Instead, they suggest the findings should prompt further research. 'Unintended benefits' There are an estimated 127,000 people in the UK with Parkinson's disease, which can lead to tremor, slow movement and stiff muscles. And charities say with no drugs yet proven to treat the condition, much more work is needed in this area. The latest study focuses solely on people with diabetes who did not have Parkinson's disease at the beginning of the project. Researchers scoured UK electronic health records to compare 44,597 people prescribed glitazone pills with 120,373 people using other anti-diabetic treatment. They matched participants to ensure their age and stage of diabetes treatment were similar. Scientists found fewer people developed Parkinson's in the glitazone group - but the drug did not have a long-lasting benefit. Any potential protection disappeared once patients switched to another type of pill. Dr Ian Douglas, lead researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: "We often hear about negative side-effects associated with medications, but sometimes there can also be unintended beneficial effects. "Our findings provide unique evidence that we hope will drive further investigation into potential drug treatments for Parkinson's disease." © 2015 BBC
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System
Link ID: 21199 - Posted: 07.22.2015
by Andy Coghlan A man in his mid-50s with Parkinson's disease had fetal brain cells injected into his brain last week. He is the first person in nearly 20 years to be treated this way – and could recover full control of his movements in roughly five years. "It seemed to go fine," says Roger Barker of the University of Cambridge, who is leading the international team that is reviving the procedure. The treatment was pioneered 28 years ago in Sweden, but two trials in the US reported no significant benefit within the first two years following the injections, and the procedure was abandoned in favour of deep brain stimulation treatments. What these trials overlooked is that it takes several years for fetal cells to "bed in" and connect properly to the recipient's brain. Many Swedish and North American recipients improved dramatically, around three years or more after the implants – long after the trials had finished. "In the best cases, patients who had the treatment pretty much went back to normal," says Barker. After the fetal cells were wired up properly in their brains, they started producing the brain signalling chemical dopamine – low levels of this cause the classic Parkinson's symptom of uncontrolled movements. In fact, the cells produced so much dopamine that many patients could stop taking their Parkinson's drugs. "The prospect of not having to take medications for Parkinson's is fantastic," says James Beck of the Parkinson's Disease Foundation in the US. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity; Chapter 7: Life-Span Development of the Brain and Behavior
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System; Chapter 13: Memory, Learning, and Development
Link ID: 20989 - Posted: 05.27.2015
Patricia Neighmond Terri Bradford has suffered debilitating headache pain all her life. Some days the pain is so bad, she says, "By 11 o'clock in the morning, I'm on the couch in a darkened room with my head packed in ice." Over the years, Bradford, who is 50 years old and lives in Bedford, Mass., has searched desperately for pain relief. She's been to the doctor countless times for countless tests. "Everything I've had, I've had twice," she says. "I've had two spinal taps; I've had so many nerve blocks I've lost count." Bradford is not alone. It's estimated that every year 12 million Americans go to the doctor seeking help for headaches. Nearly one quarter of the population suffers from recurrent severe tension headaches or migraines. People who go to the doctor for headache pain are more likely to be sent for advanced testing and treatment, a study finds. That testing is expensive, it may not be necessary and could even be harmful, says lead researcher Dr. John Mafi of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Mafi looked at the rates of advanced imaging like CT scans and MRIs in people with headaches, as well as referrals to other doctors, presumably specialists. He found that from 1999 to 2010, the number of diagnostic tests rose from 6.7 percent of all doctor visits to 13.9 percent. At the same time, referrals to other doctors increased from 6.9 percent to 13.2 percent. So almost double what it was a decade ago. Mafi says this isn't because more people are suffering headaches. The headache rate has remained virtually the same over the past decade. But what has changed is supply and demand. Today there are a lot more advanced diagnostic machines than there were a decade ago, and more patients are asking to be tested. © 2015 NPR
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 8: General Principles of Sensory Processing, Touch, and Pain; Chapter 15: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System; Chapter 11: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Link ID: 20906 - Posted: 05.11.2015
Roger Dobson Tapping your fingers on the table is usually a sign of boredom or irritation. But not all tappers are equal, it seems. Men drum their digits slightly faster than women and people in their twenties tap substantially faster than people twice their age. The results of the first study into finger-tapping speeds also found that smokers tap a little faster than non-smokers and fit people tap faster than those who avoid exercise. The research, carried out by scientists at two universities in Istanbul – Bogazici University and Fatih University – examined the tapping rates and "finger load capacities" of 148 people aged between 18 and 85. Each participant was asked to perform a one-minute tapping exercise on a keyboard at "maximum volitional tempo". Researchers found that the index finger on the right hand of both men and women was the fastest digit, achieving a tapping rate of up to five beats a second among those in their twenties. The middle finger was almost as nifty as the index finger, but the little finger – the slowest digit in the bunch – was capable only of a sluggish 3.8 taps a second among people in the same age group. At first glance, the study might appear to be rather frivolous. But a deeper understanding of finger tapping could aid the design of computer keyboards and musical instruments. It may also aid researchers who use finger-tapping tests for medical assessment of neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and Alzheimer's.
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity; Chapter 7: Life-Span Development of the Brain and Behavior
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System; Chapter 13: Memory, Learning, and Development
Link ID: 20887 - Posted: 05.05.2015
Scientists have raised hopes that they may be able to create a vaccine to block the progress of Parkinson's disease. They believe new research provides evidence that an abnormal protein may trigger the condition. If the theory is correct, researchers say it might be possible to prime a person's immune system – using a special vaccine – so it is ready to attack the rogue protein as it passes through the body. In this way, the protein would be prevented from destroying a person's dopamine-manufacturing cells, where the disease inflicts its greatest damage. This new vision of Parkinson's has been arousing excitement among researchers. "It has transformed the way we see Parkinson's," said Roger Barker, professor of clinical neurosciences at Cambridge University. Parkinson's does not usually affect people until they are over 50. However, researchers have uncovered recent evidence that suggests it may be caused by an event occurring 10 to 20 years before its main symptoms – tremors, rigidity and slowness of movement – manifest themselves. "If you ask Parkinson's patients if, in the past, they have experienced loss of sense of smell or suffer from disturbed sleep or have problems with their bowels, very often they reply they have," said Barker, whose work is backed by the charity Parkinson's UK, whose Parkinson Awareness week ends on Sunday. "Frequently these patients manifest symptoms several years before it becomes apparent they have the disease. We now believe there is a link." © 2015 Guardian News and Media Limited
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System
Link ID: 20855 - Posted: 04.28.2015
Carl Zimmer In 1998, Dr. Philip A. Starr started putting electrodes in people's brains. A neurosurgeon at the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Starr was treating people with Parkinson's disease, which slowly destroys essential bits of brain tissue, robbing people of control of their bodies. At first, drugs had given his patients some relief, but now they needed more help. After the surgery, Dr. Starr closed up his patients' skulls and switched on the electrodes, releasing a steady buzz of electric pulses in their brains. For many patients, the effect was immediate. "We have people who, when they're not taking their meds, can be frozen," said Dr. Starr. "When we turn on the stimulator, they start walking." First developed in the early 1990s, deep brain stimulation, or D.B.S., was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating Parkinson's disease in 2002. Since its invention, about 100,000 people have received implants. While D.B.S. doesn't halt Parkinson's, it can turn back the clock a few years for many patients. Yet despite its clear effectiveness, scientists like Dr. Starr have struggled to understand what D.B.S. actually does to the brain. "We do D.B.S. because it works," said Dr. Starr, "but we don't really know how." In a recent experiment, Dr. Starr and his colleagues believe they found a clue. D.B.S. may counter Parkinson's disease by liberating the brain from a devastating electrical lock-step. The new research, published on Monday in Nature Neuroscience, may help scientists develop better treatments for Parkinson's disease. It may also help researchers adapt D.B.S. for treatment of such brain disorders as depression and obsessive compulsive disorder. © 2015 The New York Times Company
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity; Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System; Chapter 3: Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Link ID: 20817 - Posted: 04.18.2015
Jane Brody The Holy Grail in any progressive disease is to find it early enough to start effective treatment before irreversible damage has occurred. For Parkinson's disease, which afflicts 1.5 million Americans and growing, a new study has brought this goal a little closer. The study, conducted among more than 54,000 British men and women, identified a slew of symptoms that were more likely to be present in people who years later were diagnosed with Parkinson's. The findings underscore the prevailing view among neurologists that the damage caused by this disease begins long before classic symptoms like tremors, rigidity and an unsteady gait develop and a definite diagnosis can be made. The study, by Dr. Anette Schrag and fellow neurologists at the University College London, was published in The Lancet in January. As many as five years before a diagnosis of Parkinson's, those who developed it were more likely to have experienced tremor, balance problems, constipation, low blood pressure, dizziness, erectile and urinary dysfunction, fatigue, depression and anxiety. In addition, Dr. Claire Henchcliffe, director of the Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Institute at Weill Cornell Medical Center, said that REM sleep behavior disorder, characterized by a tendency to act out one's dreams while asleep, is one of the strongest prediagnostic symptoms, along with a lost sense of smell and subtle changes in cognition. Dr. Melissa J. Nirenberg, a Parkinson's disease specialist at New York University Medical Center, said, "Up to 80 percent of people with the sleep disorder get Parkinson's or a similar neurodegenerative disease." © 2015 The New York Times Company
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity; Chapter 14: Biological Rhythms, Sleep, and Dreaming
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System; Chapter 10: Biological Rhythms and Sleep
Link ID: 20698 - Posted: 03.19.2015
By JON PALFREMAN EUGENE, Ore. — FOUR years ago, I was told I had Parkinson's disease, a condition that affects about one million Americans. The disease is relentlessly progressive; often starting with a tremor in one limb on one side of the body, it spreads. The patient's muscles become more rigid, frequently leading to a stooped posture, and movements slow down and get smaller and less fluid. As the disease advances — usually over a number of years — the patient becomes more and more disabled, experiencing symptoms from constipation to sleep disorders to cognitive impairment. Can Parkinson's be slowed, stopped or even reversed? Can the disease be prevented before it starts, like polio and smallpox? More than at any time in history, success seems possible. Having sequenced the human genome, biomedical researchers have now set their sights on the ultimate frontier — the human brain. The formidable puzzle is to figure out how a three-pound lump of mostly fatty matter enables us to perform a seemingly endless number of tasks, like walking, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, thinking, loving, hating, speaking and writing ... and why those awesome abilities break down with neurological disease. Many scientists view Parkinson's as a so-called pathfinder. If they can figure out what causes Parkinson's, it may open the door to understanding a host of other neurodegenerative diseases — and to making sense of an organ of incredible complexity. In Parkinson's, the circuitry in a tiny region of the brain called the basal ganglia becomes dysfunctional. Along with the cerebellum, the basal ganglia normally acts as a kind of adviser that helps people learn adaptive skills by classic conditioning — rewarding good results with dopamine bursts and punishing errors by withholding the chemical. Babies rely on the basal ganglia to learn how to deploy their muscles to reach, grab, babble and crawl, and later to accomplish many complex tasks without thinking. For example, when a tennis player practices a stroke over and over again, the basal ganglia circuitry both rewards and "learns" the correct sequence of activities to produce, say, a good backhand drive automatically. © 2015 The New York Times Company
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System
Link ID: 20606 - Posted: 02.24.2015
By Lenny Bernstein Parkinson's Disease patients secretly treated with a placebo instead of their regular medication performed better when told they were receiving a more expensive version of the "drug," researchers reported Wednesday in an unprecedented study that involved real patients. The research shows that the well-documented "placebo effect" -- actual symptom relief brought about by a sham treatment or medication -- can be enhanced by adding information about cost, according to the lead author of the study. It is the first time that concept has been demonstrated using people with a real illness, in this case Parkinson's, a progressive neurological disease that has no cure, according to an expert not involved in the study. "The potentially large benefit of placebo, with or without price manipulations, is waiting to be untapped for patients with [Parkinson's Disease], as well as those with other neurologic and medical diseases," the authors wrote in a study published online Wednesday in the journal Neurology. But deceiving actual patients in a research study raised ethical questions about violating the trust involved in a doctor-patient relationship. Most studies in which researchers conceal their true aims or other information from subjects are conducted with healthy volunteers. This one was subjected to a lengthy review before it was allowed to proceed, and, in an editorial that accompanied the article, two other physicians wrote that "the authors do not mention whether there was any possible effect (reduction) on trust in doctors or on willingness to engage in future clinical research."
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity; Chapter 8: General Principles of Sensory Processing, Touch, and Pain
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System; Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System
Link ID: 20542 - Posted: 02.02.2015
By SAM ROBERTS When he was just 5 years old, Thomas Graboys declared that he intended to become a doctor. As a young physician, he visited a nephew serving in the Peace Corps in Mauritania and remained for two months, treating dozens of patients a day. He skied and played tennis and joined fellow cardiologists as the drummer in a rock band called the Dysrhythmics. In Boston, he was famous as a member of the team that diagnosed the Celtics star Reggie Lewis's heart defect before he died abruptly on a basketball court. In short, "he was a medical version of one of Tom Wolfe's masters of the universe," one reviewer concluded after Dr. Graboys (pronounced GRAY-boys) published his autobiography. But barely 60, after experiencing horrific nightmares, frequently flailing in bed, losing his memory, suffering tremors and finally collapsing on his wedding day, he acknowledged that he was suffering from Parkinson's disease and the onset of dementia. He informed his patients that he had no choice but to close his practice. "My face is often expressionless, though I still look younger than my 63 years," he recalled in the autobiography, "Life in the Balance: A Physician's Memoir of Life, Love, and Loss With Parkinson's Disease and Dementia," which was published in 2008. "I am stooped," he continued. "I shuffle when I walk, and my body trembles. My train of thought regularly runs off the rails. There is no sugarcoating Parkinson's. There is no silver lining here. There is anger, pain, and frustration at being victimized by a disease that can to some extent be managed but cannot be cured." After managing for more than a decade, Dr. Graboys died on Jan. 5 at his home in Chestnut Hill, Mass., his daughter, Penelope Graboys Blair, said. The cause was complications of Lewy Body Dementia, which was diagnosed after his Parkinson's. He was 70. © 2015 The New York Times Company
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System
Link ID: 20485 - Posted: 01.15.2015
Stem cells can be used to heal the damage in the brain caused by Parkinson's disease, according to scientists in Sweden. They said their study on rats heralded a "huge breakthrough" towards developing effective treatments. There is no cure for the disease, but medication and brain stimulation can alleviate symptoms. Parkinson's UK said there were many questions still to be answered before human trials could proceed. The disease is caused by the loss of nerve cells in the brain that produce the chemical dopamine ,which helps to control mood and movement. To simulate Parkinson's, Lund University researchers killed dopamine-producing neurons on one side of the rats' brains. They then converted human embryonic stem cells into neurons that produced dopamine. Parkinson's Disease Parkinson's is one of the commonest neurodegenerative diseases These were injected into the rats' brains, and the researchers found evidence that the damage was reversed. There have been no human clinical trials of stem-cell-derived neurons, but the researchers said they could be ready for testing by 2017. Malin Parmar, associate professor of developmental and regenerative neurobiology, said: "It's a huge breakthrough in the field [and] a stepping stone towards clinical trials." A similar method has been tried in a limited number of patients. It involved taking brain tissue from multiple aborted foetuses to heal the brain. Clinical trials were abandoned after mixed results, but about a third of the patients had foetal brain cells that functioned for 25 years. BBC © 2014
Related chapters from BN8e: Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System
Link ID: 20292 - Posted: 11.08.2014


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Manipulative Activities
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Making a Cotton Applicator Activity - Complete classroom activity setThis activity isolates just one step of a polishing exercise — making a cotton swab to apply the polish. Twisting tiny pieces of cotton around the ends of the Orange Sticks is a fascinating fine-motor challenge for young children. Learn More
Hex Bolt BoardThis is the easiest of the three boards because the driver covers the nut and will not slip. Four hexagonal-headed bolts and a hex nut driver (7"). Designed by a Montessori teacher. Learn More
Slotted Bolt BoardFour slotted bolts of equal diameter and 3½" stubby screwdriver. Designed by a Montessori teacher to aid the development of eye-hand coordination and teach a practical skill. Learn More
Graded Bolt BoardThe bolts are graded in diameter for a more difficult exercise. Five slotted bolts and 3½" stubby screwdriver. Designed by a Montessori teacher to aid the development of eye-hand coordination and teach a practical skill. Learn More
All 3 Boards of Education - Includes Hex, Slotted, and Graded Bolt BoardsDesigned by a Montessori teacher to aid the development of eye-hand coordination and teach a practical skill. Many teachers have told us these boards are the most-used activity in the classroom. Learn More
Nuts & Bolts Set - 15 piecesFor use as a combination sorting and manipulative exercise, this set includes three bolts in graded sizes: ⅜" dia. x 3" long; 5/16" dia. x 2" long; and ¼" x 1" long. Each bolt is fitted with a washer, a hex nut, a lock washer, and a wing nut. Learn More
Shape Sorting Box - A classic wooden toy from Original ToyToddlers love matching these simple blocks to the cutout shapes in the lid of the box. In fact, they love it so much they do it over and over! 8 blocks, 2 of each shape and wooden box (5⅛" square x 3¼" high). Learn More
Pop Beads - 300 snap-together plastic beadsSnap them together—pop them apart! Pop beads are a classic manipulative toy, and these are our favorites. Children can practice making designs and patterns out of the 300 shaped and regular beads in assorted colors. ½" plastic beads. Learn More
Twist & Turnables - From HapeYoung children can refine their fine motor skills with these colorful screw-together blocks. This set of eight wooden blocks can be matched by shape or color. Four are fitted with sturdy plastic screws to join with the others. Learn More
Stack & Sort Board - Wooden manipulative from Melissa & DougThis well-made activity is a wonderful introduction to shapes, colors, and numbers. Children will stack and count the pieces and sort them by color. All wood. 13" long; 4¼" high overall. Learn More
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College graduation invitations design inspiration graduation invitations 1Graduation
College Graduation Invitations
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Landscape Water Conservation Resources Map
We've created a resource for California residents interested in conserving water in their landscapes. In this map, you'll find information published by your local municipalities, including conservation practices, low-water plants, rebate programs, and more.
You can also find information about recycled water in your region. This may include upcoming or ongoing projects and tips on using recycled water in your landscapes.
Select the appropriate map below and start saving California's most precious commodity today!
Please email us at email@example.com with feedback or to add resources to the map.
Compiled by Jennifer Tso; last updated: 12/9/2013


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There are a lot of elements that go into being able to deliver a successful webinar. Your platform might not be working hard enough for you.
Take the Webinar Platform Assessment and find out!Go
Does your audience need to download software or plugins to view your webinars?
Yes, they have to download software to view
No, they can access our events with a single click
Yes, they have to download a plugin to view


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Are you still wondering what to include in your diet this winter? Food that can keep you warm and is healthy at the same time? Well, you need not think so much. Just add a bowl of ragi to your daily diet. It helps to keep your body warm and at the same time it is nutritious.
Also Read: Health Benefits Of Ragi
The health benefits of ragi are plenty. But if you want to know how good ragi is for winters then today at Boldsky we will be pointing out a few of the benefits of ragi for winters. Cold and weight gain are common issues faced during winters by many people. In such weather conditions, one needs to turn to ragi.
Also Read: Reasons To Start Liking Ragi Ball
Ragi, also known as millets or nachni is nutritious. It is rich in calcium, proteins, iron and several other nutrients that makes it a perfect must have for the cold chilly winters. In addition to this, ragi is rich in fibre and low in unsaturated fat. This forms the perfect ingredient that aids in weight loss during the winter season.
Here are a few of the reasons to eat ragi during winters. Take a look.
1. Increase Bone Strength:
Ragi has high contents of calcium and is good for the bones. It helps in increasing the bone strength and prevents breaking of bones and osteoporosis that are quite common during the winters.
2. Weight Loss:
One of the best ways to lose weight during winters is to include ragi in your daily diet. Rich in fibre and amino acid, ragi helps reduce appetite and aids in weight loss.
3. Aids In Digestion:
Ragi is rich in fibre content. It helps in digestion. One could consume ragi in the form of soup, ragi upma, idli or ragi malt. It helps to keep your body warm as well.
4. Anaemia:
Rich in iron and vitamin C, ragi helps in making up for the blood loss in the body and thereby prevents anaemia and low haemoglobin level. Just include a bowl of ragi every day in your diet.
5. Helps Reduce Stress:
Ragi is rich in antioxidants and amino acids. It thus works as a natural relaxant agent, helping reduce stress.
6. Helps Treat Insomnia:
Have a bowl of ragi every day; it helps in keeping the body warm and prevents sleep disorders like insomnia as well.
7. Helps Control Diabetes:
Rich in fibre content and low in glycemic index, ragi helps in keeping diabetes under control.
8. Helps Control High Blood Pressure:
Ragi is rich in amino acids and helps prevent the accumulation of fat in the body. This in turn helps in controlling the blood pressure.
9. Reduce Cholesterol:
Ragi is rich in amino acids. It helps in lowering the cholesterol level and body fat. Accumulation of fat in the liver is quite common during the winters. Adding a bowl of ragi in the diet every day helps prevent cholesterol and fat deposition in the body.


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Jessie's Seviper
Jessie's Seviper
Jessie's Seviper (Japanese: ムサシのハブネーク Musashi's Habunake) was the first Pokémon caught by Jessie of Team Rocket during her travels through Hoenn, presumably as a replacement for her recently released Arbok.
Jessie caught Seviper in A Tail with a Twist after initially being impressed with its sneaky and aggressive demeanor. It had defeated Ash's Treecko earlier in the episode, which is why Jessie wanted it so much. Although Seviper was intelligent, and outsmarted Team Rocket's multiple attempts to ensure its capture, Jessie caught Seviper after it had bitten off a chunk of her hair, mangling poor Seviper with her "Fury Swipes" and "Mega Kick".
Seviper is, along with Yanmega, Jessie's primary battling Pokémon, often seen battling alongside James's Cacnea in Hoenn and later James's Carnivine in Sinnoh. While shown to be fairly powerful before being caught by Jessie, after it fell into her command, it suffered the inevitable fate that all Team Rocket Pokémon face- defeat by Ash or another good character. In the episode ZigZag Zangoose, Jessie and Seviper were determined to win a battle against Seviper's mortal enemy, a Zangoose belonging to the trainer Nicholai.
Seviper has also entered a few Contests. In Mademoiselle Jessica's contest debut, in All Things Bright and Beautifly!, Seviper was Jessie's chosen Pokémon to enter the contest, but miserably failed to pass the Appeal Round, as Jessie didn't prepare herself to the contest, and ordered Seviper to use attacks that Seviper can't learn, such as Blaze Kick. She is then seen apologizing to it, meaning she does care about Seviper. In Settling a Not-So-Old Score!, Jessilina used Seviper in the Appeal Round. Not much of the Appeal was seen, because while Seviper was performing it, Dawn was thinking about her Pachirisu's Appeal, focusing the attention on her, not in Jessie. However, Kenny stated that Seviper was being quite good. The appeal ends with Jessie ordering Seviper to perform Wrap and Bite on Jessie herself, and thus, amazing the crowd.
In the episode A Stand-Up Sit-Down!, Jessilina decided to face Dawn to "practice" for the Hearthome City contest. However, it was Zoey who accepted the challenge. Jessie used the combination of Seviper and Dustox and her idea was to make Dustox use Poison Sting and then to make Seviper use Poison Tail on Dustox's Poison Sting, making it spin and added extra-power to it. Brock even said that that was a smart combination. However, that didn't work as Zoey's Glameow countered with Iron Tail, making the combination going to other side around and then Zoey's Shellos used Mud Bomb, breaking the combination of Poison Sting and Poison Tail. Seviper and Dustox both were then easily defeated by Zoey's Glameow. In Dawn's Early Night Seviper and Dustox were used in the Battle Round of the Hearthome City contest and lost against Nando. Not much of the battle was seen. In Old Rivals, New Tricks it was also used in the battle round of a Contest and it was quite successful until it lost to Dawn.
Since Jessie has caught Yanmega, Seviper isn't seen in as many battles as before. It is also used as Team Rocket's escapist rogue to blanket the area in Haze, replacing James's Weezing's duty to steal innocent Pokémon under the shrouded premises.
In Yes, in Dee Dee it's Dawn! and Playing the Performance Encore, Jessie used Seviper for the Daybreak Town Contest. In the appeals round, it made an entrance by coming out of its Poké Ball, which was placed inside James's Carnivine's mouth. In the next episode, it battled alongside Yanmega.
In Teaching the Student Teacher!, Jessie used it this time for the Neighborly Town Contest, where it was used for the appeals round, aiding her win her fourth ribbon. In Dawn of a Royal Day!, Jessie used again for the Arrowroot Town Contest in the battle round, where it fought Princess Salvia (disguised as Dawn) and her Togekiss. After a fierce battle it lost, but Salvia gave her the ribbon for the performance she gave during their battle, allowing her to enter in the Sinnoh Grand Festival.
In the Grand Festival, Jessie used Seviper multiple times, including the Appeals Round, a battle with Yanmega as well as a battle alongside Carnivine. However, Jessie lost her final battle to Dawn.
Following the Team Rocket trio's journey in Sinnoh, Jessie was forced to leave Seviper at Team Rocket's headquarters as it is not a Pokémon native to the Isshu region and would seem suspicious.
Moves used
|A † shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves.
- In Faced with Steelix Determination!, Professor Oak's lecture is about Jessie's Seviper. He writes this Pokémon senryū about it: あかいキバ わわるとアブネー ハブネーク The red fangs, it's dangerous to touch them; Habunake.
- In Jessie's first encounter with Seviper, she was taller than Seviper. However, in recent episodes, Seviper is much taller than her. This could be an error on the animator's part, or could just simply mean it has grown during its time under Jessie's ownership.
- It should be noted that in League Unleashed! Seviper was its original size when it was in A Tail with a Twist.
- Seviper also makes a second, low sound which sounds like purring. It usually does this when searching or surprised.
- Like its trainer, Seviper is "bossy", as shown in ZigZag Zangoose! when James insulted it and it hissed at him, in which James got scared and bowed to Seviper instead. It also hissed at Meowth when he called it a big overgrown Caterpie and slapped him with its tail.
- In Tears For Fears!, its Japanese voice could be heard during the brawls with Zangoose.
- Aside from Ash's Pikachu, Meowth, and her Wobbuffet, Seviper has been a part of a main character's party for longer than any other Pokémon, having been Jessie's main battler throughout all of Advanced Generation and all of Diamond & Pearl.
- Seviper is one of only two Pokémon in the anime (the other being Ash's Kingler) that was caught while battling a human, somehow, Jessie managed to defeat Seviper.
- In the 4Kids English dub, some of the noises made by Satō are retained along with Sinterniklaas's voice. When TPCi took over the dub, they stopped retaining Satō's voice.
Related articles
For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Seviper.
|Team Rocket's Pokémon
|Travel with:
|On hand:
|At HQ:
|In training:
|At home:
|Traded away:
|Given away:
|Evolved with another Pokémon:
|For a list of other Pokémon Team Rocket has commanded, see here
|This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime.


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|Home > Ilyas
♂ Ilyas
What does Ilyas mean?
Ilyas as a boys' name means "Jehovah is God". Ilyas is an alternate form of Elias (Greek, Hebrew).
ASSOCIATED WITH -as
VARIANTS Ilyaas, Elyas, Ellis, Ellice, Elis, Elice
RELATED FORMS VIA ELIAS Elia, Eliasz, Eljasz, Ilia, Ilie, Ilija, Ilja, IlyaCREATIVE FORMS
(male) Ilyam, ..
(female) Ilyar, ..
Ilyas Milan (I.M.), ..
How popular is Ilyas?
Ilyas is an unusual given name for men but a very prominent surname for both adults and children (#40833 out of 150436, Top 27%). (2000 U.S. CENSUS)
Ilyas was first listed in 2011 and reached its apex position of #1658 in the U.S. in the year 2014, and is at #1774 presently. (TOP BABY NAMES, 2015)
Which version is better?
Elias (#100 THE PREVIOUS YEAR), Ellis (#419), Elyas and Elis are the prominent related forms of Ilyas (#1774). Other forms, like Elia, are uncommon. These relations of Ilyas are at the height of their popularity presently (ADOPTION OF 0.26%). Elias has been the most recognizable form.
Similar Names
Ilyas is alike in pronunciation to Aloys, Alwis, Alwyss, Ilias and Wallas. Other recommended sound-alike names are Amyas, Claas, Ilan, Ilar, Illya, Iyar, Iyyar and Klaas. Like Ilyas, these names are not commonly used.See names in meaning and etymology.


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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Shrimp Endive Salad with Lemon Cream Dressing
Justin and I were lucky enough to have a date night a few weeks ago. We went to Grain and Gristle, a cute little pub with amazing food and tons of pickles. I love any place with loads of pickled things! (Even though I think the restaurant name is a bit unfortunate, the place is stellar and I would recommend it!)
While there I had an endive salad with shrimp. The combination of crunchy bitter endive and the sweet shrimp was made even tastier by the creamy, lemon dressing. I had to replicate it. It took a few tries to get the dressing right, and needed real cream, not a low-fat alternative. Also, using a meyer lemon made the dressing much more delicate and fragrant, but using a regular lemon and adding a spoon of white sugar worked just as well.
This makes plenty of dressing, enough for a few salads. Save it in the fridge for about a week.
Shrimp Endive Salad with Lemon Cream Dressing
1 shallot, very finely chopped
Juice from 2 meyer or regular lemons (2 teaspoons white sugar if using regular lemons)
1/3 cup olive oil
large pinch of kosher salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 heads of endive, separated and laid on a serving platter or individual plate
1/2 - 1 lb shrimp, cooked and peeled.
1. In a jar, add shallot and lemon juice. Let rest 10 - 15 minutes. This will soften the shallots.
2. Add olive oil, (sugar), and salt to jar. Put on the lid and shake until it starts to emulsify (get a bit thick). Add cream and gently stir to combine. Don't shake the cream too much.
3. Separate endive leaves and lay them on a serving platter or individual plate. Divide shrimp onto the plate or platter.
4. Drizzle with dressing.
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Clubs and Schools encouraged to have closer links with the
The BMAA is the microlight pilots representative
organisation and as you know it is steered by volunteers from the membership
who act as directors of the company BMAA ltd. The Board of Directors is
referred to as the BMAA Council.
The BMAA Council wants to have a better system of contact
with the members to make sure that they understand the views of the members and
take those into account when forming policy on their behalf. Clubs and Schools
are the natural gathering places for microlight pilots where discussion takes
place and opinions are aired. To help link the members discussion with the
Council policy making we are setting up a contact list for two way
communication and inviting all Clubs and Schools to appoint or cajole a member to
be the BMAA Point of Contact. It shouldnt be a particularly onerous task, but
the Council believe it will be a very valuable step to improve communications
to make sure they get it right for the membership.
If you can nominate a BMAA Point of Contact for your Club or
School please use the form below to advise us.
Thank you for your support.
The BMAA Council.
Your Club or School nameYour nominated BMAA Point of ContactTheir BMAA Membership numberTheir email address Please enter the numbers below into the box


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The country may be facing a financial crisis and an extremely unstable political situation, but it's football that dominates this morning's Dutch dailies. Oranje - as the Dutch national squad is known - kicks off its campaign for World Cup victory later today and the colour orange is splashed liberally across most of the front pages.Huge expectations ahead of first World Cup match De Telegraaf breaks out the orange ink for its front-page headline, which screams, "We're going for it". The populist paper also prints photographs of the entire squad and coach Bert van Marwijk along with a photo of one of the many streets in the Netherlands that has covered all the buildings with flags, orange bunting and other daft football-related stuff. De Telegraaf confidently predicts that football lovers across the Netherlands hope that today's match against Denmark "will be the first in a series of glorious victories that lead to the Dutch lifting the cup". Free sheet De Pers leads with a photo of winger Dirk Kuyt and the headline, "it's now or never". In a rather alarming echo of caretaker Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's oft-repeated "I'm going for gold" campaign slogan, striker Wesley Sneijder tells the paper the exact same thing. As Mr Balkenende's CDA was decimated in last week's election, perhaps Mr Sneijder should chosen his words more carefully as they don't really inspire confidence anymore. "Ready for the kick off," is AD's assessment of the Dutch squad's preparedness for the opening match against Denmark. "The Netherlands hopes to write World Cup history," says the populist tabloid adding, "The players are chomping at the bit and eager to get to work". Torrent of complaints about vuvuzela noise AD reports that the NOS - the Dutch TV station broadcasting World Cup matches - has decided to turn down the volume from the stadiums after a steady stream of complaints about the "ear-piercing din created by the thousands of vuvuzelas in the stadiums". The populist paper says that just three days into the World Cup, some viewers are so fed up with the braying of the vuvuzelas that around 15,000 of them have signed an internet petition calling on FIFA to ban fans bringing them into the stadiums. AD also prints a decibels chart: a jumbo jet produces 130 decibels and a vuvuzela produces 127 decibels; and says, "listening to noise that registers over 100 decibels for more than 15 minutes can permanently damage hearing". The paper also tells us that vuvu means, "make a racket" in Zulu. Elsewhere AD says "it will be quiet on the streets of the Netherlands as the Dutch squad starts its World Cup campaign". Given that some stupid company has been giving away plastic orange vuvuzelas to all and sundry, I do rather think that AD has gotten that one wrong. I think they sound like a constipated camel desperately trying to have a bowel movement. Coalition negotiations underway De Volkskrant reports that Queen Beatrix appointed VVD Senator Uri Rosenthal as coalition negotiator and "urged him to make haste" in his exploration of the viability of a coalition between the free-market liberal VVD, the right-wing populist Freedom party PPV and the centre-right CDA. "Instability within PVV and CDA makes right-wing coalition extremely difficult," headlines Trouw on its front page. The paper writes that Senator Rosenthal must firstly ascertain whether it is possible to forge a coalition between three parties that have "very different views and policies," and secondly, "assess the stability of the coalition partners' parliamentary parties". According to Trouw, a coalition between the three will be "extremely difficult" as the PVV's economic policies have "far more in common with Socialist party policies than the VVD's or the CDA's economic plans".
The Protestant paper says it will be "even more difficult for Senator Rosenthal to assure himself that a VVD-PVV-CDA coalition will be stable". Trouw points to Hero Brinkman, a well-known "PVV loose cannon," and "several dissidents within the CDA and the VVD"."Resistance to pact with PVV," headlines AD above an article on the coalition negotiations and adds, "influential CDA and VVD politicians say coalition with Wilders is undesirable". It looks as though the political horse-trading will continue for quite some time yet. Dam Square screamer: I'm innocent AD interviews the 'Dam Square screamer' who says, "I'm innocent". At this year's 4 May Remembrance Day ceremonies, Adam screamed very loudly near the end of the two minutes silence. The paper tells us that in the ensuing panic, "63 people were injured and Crown Prince Willem Alexander and Princess Máxima legged it". Adam, sitting on his usual bench near Dam Square drinking cheap beer, tells the journalist, "I'm really sorry for what happened, but it's not my fault". As usual, he's a bit confused and vague, but he says, "I didn't even realise it was Remembrance Day. I went to a whole bunch of different bars and thought everyone was being quiet and boring".
Interspersed with strange musings on life, he adds "a careful analysis of the footage shows that people panicked in response to a woman who screamed after I screamed and the sound of that metal barricade falling over".Good news for controversial Amsterdam metro line Finally, good news for Amsterdam's controversial North-South metro. Trouw reports that the giant drill tunnelling underneath Amsterdam's historic - and fragile - city centre has successfully tunnelled under two historic buildings and reached Dam Square with just "a few millimetres of subsidence". The North-South line consortium made the announcement on Sunday. The North-South metro has been plagued by budget overruns, delays and unexpected subsidence. Many Amsterdammers say it is a political prestige project and a completely unnecessary waste of money that could seriously damage the foundations of many of the historic buildings in Amsterdam.
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide


text: 8 How to optimize content for Search Engines? Posted on April 26, 2015 by Mukesh Annamalai After writing about SEO introduction and keyword research blog posts, I am going to tell you how to optimize your content for search engines. First thing you should know is why content optimization is required? If you are online for… Continue Reading →


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Dumfries, VA Hotels
Choose dates of your desired stay and Get Rates to display currently available nightly rates.*
Days Inn Dumfries Quantico
16925 Old Stage Road
Dumfries, VA 22026
Rates Recently Found: ($59.49 - $99.99)
2 Star
The Days Inn hotel is centrally located between Washington D.C. and Fredericksburg. Days Inn Dumfries is a few miles from the Potomac Mills Mall and Quantico Military Base and National Museum of the M ... Click for More Info
Econo Lodge Near Quantico Marine Base
17005 Dumfries Rd.
Dumfries, VA 22026
Rates Recently Found: ($70.99 - $70.99)
1 Star
The Econo Lodge Near Quantico Marine Base hotel in Dumfries, VA is an easy stop on the road. Our hotel is near attractions like Potomac Mills Mall, Hylton Memorial Chapel, Leesylvania State Park and R ... Click for More Info
Comfort Inn Near Quantico Main Gate North
16931 Old Stage Road
Dumfries, VA 22026
Rates Recently Found: ($89.49 - $110.48)
3 Star
When you stay at the Comfort Inn near Quantico Main Gate North hotel in Dumfries, VA, you'll be ready to take on the day. Nearby attractions also include the Historic Fort Belvoir, Potomac Mills Outle ... Click for More Info
Hampton Inn Dumfries
16959 Old Stage Road
Dumfries, VA 22026
Rates Recently Found: ($88.42 - $139.00)
3 Star
Our hotel will begin exterior and roof renovations on August 28th through November 30th with minimal impact to our guests. Please pardon our dust during this time and we look forward to welcoming you ... Click for More Info
Holiday Inn DUMFRIES - QUANTICO CENTER
3901 Fettler Park Drive
Dumfries, VA 22025
Rates Recently Found: ($136.99 - $147.99)
3 Star
Stay Refreshed at the Dumfries only Full-Service HotelAs one of the newest hotels in Dumfries, the Holiday Inn® Dumfries- Quantico Centers location is the perfect place for you, just off I-95, near a ... Click for More Info
Super 8 Dumfries/Quantico
17416 Jefferson Davis Highway
Dumfries, VA 22026
Rates Recently Found: ($58.05 - $113.99)
1 Star
The Award winning Super 8 Dumfries/Quantico, VA is located off Interstate I-95 at Exit 152A. Quantico Marine Base gate is only 2 miles, Potomac Mills Outlet Mall is 6 miles, and Washington, DC and ... Click for More Info
Sleep Inn Near Quantico Main Gate
17470 Jefferson Davis Hwy
Dumfries, VA 22026
Rates Recently Found: ($65.00 - $74.99)
2 Star
Located between Washington DC and Fredericksburg. Potomac Mills Mall - 5 minutes. Quantico main gate - NATIONAL MARINE CORP MUSEUM 2 MILES Major restaurants nearby. 25 minutes to Washington D.C. attra ... Click for More Info
Red Roof Inn Dumfries
17113 Dumfries Rd
Dumfries, VA 22025
Rates Recently Found: ($56.99 - $56.99)
2 Star
The Pet-Friendly Red Roof Inn Dumfries is conveniently located just off of I-95, a mere 2 miles from downtown Dumfries. We are situated in a location perfect for leisure or business travelers, as we a ... Click for More Info
Virginia Offbeat Attraction Map
Quirky Tourist Attractions in or near Virginia
While in Virginia, you might enjoy a visit to:
Fairfax, Virginia: National Firearms Museum
Self-described "crown jewel of firearms museums in the world" is loaded for bear, criminals, and storm troopers. Has the 1878 Gatling Gun that Clint Eastwood fired in The Outlaw Josie Wales.
Bealeton, Virginia: Giant Roller Skate
Made of wood and plaster, it's been around since the 1980s, a relic of the Pre-Rollerblade Epoch.
Washington, DC: Scary Staircase From "The Exorcist"
Father Karras fell down head first in the 1973 horror film, but you can take one step at a time. The steps received a historical marker on Oct. 30, 2015.
Washington, DC: Abraham Lincoln's Hitching Post
The Great Emancipator had his horse tied up here from 1861-1865.
© RoadsideAmerica.com, Doug Kirby, Ken Smith, Mike Wilkins. Information provided as an unofficial resource on attractions as a convenience to our visitors.
Dumfries Hotel ChainsComfort Inn
Days Inn
Econo Lodge
Hampton Inn
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Red Roof Inn
Sleep Inn
Super 8
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Most Desired Travel Destinations:New York, NY
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Birmingham, AL


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The CMA Awards may not be on until this evening, but a couple of the awards have already been handed out! Announced live from Nashville this morning, the CMA Music Event of the Year was awarded to Dierks Bentley and Elle King for "Different for Girls." He is nominated for two more awards tonight.
Chris Stapleton also picked up an award for the CMA Music Video of the Year. Chris, along with director Tim Mattia, won the award for Stapleton's video 'Fire Away'. Chris is nominated for 3 more awards tonight.
#DifferentForGirls Wins Musical Event Of The Year! #CMAawards50 pic.twitter.com/4XwVjeQXDt— Dierks Bentley (@DierksBentley) November 2, 2016
The 50th annual CMA Awards promises to be a dazzling show with hosts Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood. Performers include Thomas Rhett, Little Big Town, Alabama, Miranda, Alan Jackson, Chris Stapleton, George Strait, Kelsea, Reba, Luke, Randy Travis, Florida Georgia Line, Tim McGraw, Keith Urban and Dwight Yoakam. It airs tonight on ABC.


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VideoHive Billowing Smoke Of A Distant Grass Fire Time Lapse 4612132
Stock Footage \ Time Lapse
Evening \ Dissipates \ Flares \ Billows \ SmokeSmoke \ Forest \ Distant \ Clouds
Stock Footage - Billowing Smoke Of A Distant Grass Fire Time Lapse 4612132 by Stock_Labs @ VideoHive
Stock Footage \ Time Lapse
Smoke billows from a distant grass/forest fire that dissipates as evening sets. And then flares back up.
Alpha Channel: No; Looped Video: No; Frame Rate: 29.97; Resolution: 1920x1080; Video Encoding: Photo JPEG; File Size: 154mb; Number of Clips: 1; Total Clip(s) Length: 0:27; Source Audio: No; Color: Full Color; Pace: Time Lapse.
Coastal Sunset Behind Park Bench; A Pair Of Tractors Baleing; Clouds Passing Over BarbWire Fence 1; Clouds Passing Over a Barbwire Fence 2; Night Traffic Through A Small Town At Christmas; Field and Trees at Sunset 1; Sun Casting Rays 1.
Keywords: clouds, dusk, field, fire, smoke.


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HER House Alumnae! What have you been up to?
We are looking for submissions for our upcoming newsletter and would love to include any updates about you, your family, your profession, your hobbies and your memories about the HER House.
Please send us a few sentences about you to share in the HERAA newsletter. You can message us on Facebook or email us at firstname.lastname@example.com – by Fri, Nov. 9.
Please make sure to include your full name (including maiden, if applicable), school and year of graduation.
If you'd like to read previous years' alumnae updates for inspiration, you can do so on our Newsletter Archives page.