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The Illini have their work cut out for them against No. 6 Ohio State. Whether it's the difficulty of facing a zone defense or the talent and size on the roster of Ohio State, the Buckeyes are the toughest match-up for Illinois in the Big Ten Conference basketball season.
Minutes after a 19-point win at Illinois in mid-February, Ohio State guard Evan Turner put the finishing touches on the most decisive loss swallowed by the Illini this season.
"You all witnessed the 'Valentine's Day massacre,' " Turner wrote on Twitter, minutes after compiling 16 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
Now Illinois is looking for revenge.
"We still remember Evan Turner's tweet and what he said, that it was a Valentine's Day massacre,'' Illinois forward Mike Davis said. "So we're taking that to heart, and we're going to try and be a little bit different up there.
"It was a massacre. That's (an insult) to us, especially on our home court. So we've got to take that to heart tomorrow and just play our butts off.''
The Illini have their work cut out for them against No. 6 Ohio State. Whether it's the difficulty of facing a zone defense or the talent and size on the roster of Ohio State, the Buckeyes are the toughest match-up for Illinois in the Big Ten Conference basketball season.
With a roster that starts with 6-foot-7 point guard Evan Turner -- a contender for national player of the year -- and arguably the best talent of any starting lineup in the league, Ohio State manhandled Illinois like no other team this season.
The Buckeyes can clinch a share of the Big Ten title and the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament with a victory over Illinois on Tuesday.
A win by Illinois would clinch a top-five finish in the Big Ten race and a bye in the conference tournament, but it might be tough for the Illini to return the favor with Turner. With all due respect to Turner and the Buckeyes' ability to score, the most intimidating element could be Ohio State's 1-3-1 zone defense that confounded Illinois while holding the Illini to 34.3 percent shooting.
That was Illinois' lowest mark of the season before Minnesota used a zone in holding the Illini to a season-low 31.9 percent shooting in a loss that put the Illini in postseason peril. This Illini team don't pick up some principles quickly, coach Bruce Weber said.
"This team seems to need a lot of repetition,'' Weber said. "At the same time, the difficult part of it is as the season goes on you have to cut back practice to keep them fresh. It's double jeopardy. If you keep them too long, you lose them. If it's too short, they're not ready to deal with things.''
Illinois didn't get much work on zone offense early in the season because few opponents played zone. Illinois didn't have problems scoring against Northwestern's 1-3-1 zone, but Ohio State's athleticism and length make it a tougher challenge. With Turner serving as the front line of defense in the zone, it's not easy to penetrate, but the Illini had more fundamental issues in the first meeting with the Buckeyes.
"In the first game, we weren't even in the right spots,'' Weber said.
The priorities against a zone are simple, Weber said.
"How you attack it is you get (the ball) side to side, get inside touches, go inside-outside. You attack the boards. We've got to push the ball. When we struggled against both Ohio State and Minnesota, we started walking it up and getting on our heels. You push the ball against a zone, attack it before it's set. Make it move, get it disoriented so it's not in the right position.''
A victory would give Ohio State its third conference title in six years under coach Thad Matta. He also led the Buckeyes to the top spot in 2006 and 2007 after guiding Xavier to Atlantic-10 titles in 2002 and 2003. He also won a Midwestern Collegiate championship in 2001 in his only season as Butler coach.
"My whole focus is playing our best basketball,'' Matta said. "Any time you're in a conference race, if you peak ahead or look behind, you end up regretting it. I've never been a guy who thought a lot about a conference championship until the season was over. At that point, if it happens, it happens. Then you can celebrate it.''
John Supinie can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Illinois (18-11, 10-6) vs. No. 6 Ohio State (23-7, 13-4)
8 p.m., Value City Arena (19,049), Columbus, Ohio (ESPN, Illini Sports Network)
ILLINOIS (18-11, 10-6) ppg rpg
F Mike Davis Jr. 6-19 10.5 8.8
F Bill Cole Jr. 6-9 4.3 3.3
C Mike Tisdale Jr. 7-1 11.5 6.2
G Demetri McCamey Jr. 6-3 15.0 3.2
G D.J. Richardson Fr. 6-3 10.7 2.7
OHIO STATE (23-7, 13-4) ppg rpg
F William Buford So. 6-5 14.2 5.5
C Dallas Lauderdale Jr. 6-8 7.4 5.2
G David Lighty Jr. 6-5 12.3 4.6
G Jon Diebler Jr. 6-6 12.3 2.9
G Evan Turner Jr. 6-7 19.7 9.3
Noteworthy: Illinois is the only team to play six of its last eight games against top 15 teams in the Associated Press poll. Indiana, Providence and Texas Tech each play five. … Illinois leads the series 102-65. Diebler scored a game-high 18 points on six 3-pointers to lead the Buckeyes in a 72-53 victory at Illinois on Feb. 14. Illinois didn't have a player score in double figures. … Turner and McCamey were high school teammates at Westchester St. Joseph. … Turner was named Big Ten player of the week Monday, earning the award for the seventh time this season and 10th in his career.
Key for Illini: Play like there's nothing to lose.
Key for Buckeyes: Go with the zone. It worked the first time vs. the Illini.
Key quote: "It's a tough match-up because they have so many weapons. It's difficult because of the versatility with their (forward). That makes it tough on us. Our big forwards aren't used to guarding on the perimeter.'' - Illinois coach Bruce Weber.
Prediction: Ohio State 72, Illinois 62


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brian Glassman brauchte ein neues Website Design und hat einen Wettbewerb auf 99designs gestartet.
Aus 19 Designs von 8 Designern wurde eine Gewinner gewählt.
Hey Everyone, This is going to be one of the easiest contests you ever competed in, because we are looking for a encompassing scheme design for a pre-designed layout of a selling website. In this content you can take the three simple webpage layouts provided by me (see jpg in links below), and use your creativity to fashion the colors, fonts, & visual schemes for website, saving you the trouble of figuring out where to place the web items. Look quickly at the linked pictures and you will see this is a quick an easy job.
Company Name
Accepted File Formats:
Standard Web Formats (.jpg, .gif or .png); Vector Formats (.eps, .pdf or .ai); Layered Formats (.psd or .tiff); dream weaver,
Explain of website: This website is going to be used for selling very expensive items, (but is not linked to any particular product or service) so it should look very professional, serious, yet have that new web feel. For now the company is named (Company Name) we are going to get a name and logo later, after much market research.
Each Submissions should include: The three (3) Fully colored things below. Don't forget this because we are looking at how the color scheme looks across the home page, video player, and gallery!
Layout 1 (main page) http://www.techrd.com/wp-content/up…mepage.jpg
Layout 2 (video player) http://www.techrd.com/wp-content/up…player.jpg
Layout 3 (Gallery view) http://www.techrd.com/wp-content/up…leries.jpg
I can help by: Answering questions quickly via email ( briang1621 at gmail.com ) Also you can use any of the pictures I provided in the scrap jpg. http://www.techrd.com/wp-content/up…20Pics.jpg
I will give feedback twice a day.The bmp files are attached here in a rar. save as then rename to rar and extract
I may be able to export the visio file in other formats so contact me if you want that.
Restrictions are:
1. You can not change the layout or sizing of any items on the webpage (We went through 5 focus groups and user study to get to this final design) (plus this saves you at ton of time)
2. The seller, photographer, & web master buttons must be some shade of the color shown. (This is because our narrator refers to say the green seller colored button in the video)
3. The size of the webpage in the Jpg is the exact size we want the website to appear
4. The content of the text is to say exactly the same (But font & gibberish text can change!)
5. A given color scheme should be consistent across both pages and the video player
6. Also submissions should include all three pages colored the same. (That should be easy)
Our preferences:
We prefer: Un-cluttered designs, Cool design that aren't that distracting Designs with that new web look, Also replace the blank images or video thumbs with something Different font than shown in provided jpg
We do not like: Very bright or grotesque colors, or design that are distracting
Winner will be contracted in the near future to fill out several more web pages following the winning color scheme, so keep in mind there is more money in it if you're the winner.
So in summary this should be a quick project that can make you some cash so please enter we look forward to seeing your creativity in this easy to do project!!

subset: commoncrawl


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The Second Amendment has been under attack, which means the NRA has also been under attack. Gun owners everywhere are very concerned about the anti-common sense agenda which will make it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and those they love. It's quite obvious that criminals don't obey laws, so the measures the Obama administration and its cohorts are planning will not serve to curb gun violence.
Governor Palin, an NRA life member, has been a strong advocate for the Second Amendment. As an Alaskan and a hunter, she understands the value of this Constitutional right, and as far back as 2009, as discussed here, she warned a gathering of NRA members that this administration would use health care to infringe on the Second Amendment. As usual, she has demonstrated an interesting ability to predict the direction we're headed as a nation. At a time when clueless people are counseling Americans to rely solely on whistles or buy a double-barreled shotgun, and when others are exploiting children to push gun control, Governor Palin sees the big picture.
Kenton and Pam Lodwick, also from Alaska, had the honor of videoing the Governor's August 1, 2009 speech in Anchorage. The footage was then edited by All-Around Video. With permission from each of them, I'm posting the video in its entirety.
As Kenton indicated in the Youtube description:
At the 9:35 minute mark of Part 1, she gives a remarkably prescient prediction that there would be a some kind of tie-in between ObamaCare and guns in an effort to take away our Second Amendment rights.
This is what Governor Palin said nearly 4 years ago:
"And by the way, [with] health care being so big in D.C. right now, be wary when some kind of tie-in occurs. Because it will crop up: a tie-in with guns in an attempt to take away our rights under the guise of some new health care plan. You know that this is coming–that the two issues will somehow crop up and they'll be tied together. So we have to be very wary of that." -Governor Sarah Palin, August 1, 2009 at the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska
In this 2009 NRA speech, Governor Palin discussed the Second Amendment, and she warned us:


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SMART Recovery meeting
What is SMART Recovery?
SMART (Self Management and Recovery Training) Recovery is a free group program assisting any problematic behaviours, including addiction to drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, gambling, food, shopping, Internet and others.
Guided by trained peers and professionals, participants come to help themselves and help each other using a variety of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and motivational tools and techniques.
- Event Date
- Thu 12 Sep 2019
- Recurring Event
- Weekly
- Time
- 9.30am
- Duration
- 90 mins
- Venue
- Gateway Baptist Church,1052 Mount Gravatt Capalaba Rd, MacKenzie QLD 4156
Further Information
- Presenter
- Dan, Barry, Meg
- Organisation
- Cost
- Free
- Participants
- General Public
- Catchment
- Any
- Type
- Meeting


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CPAN6 helps you collecting, on your own or with a group of people. Sharing across networks between a diversity of systems.
Each collection is kept in a separate archive. CPAN6 handles bundles of archives, and has as no equivalent as we know of. The Pause6 component is a generally applicable archive maintainer, which can be configured to be forgiving, or apply very restrictive business rules.
CPAN6 and Perl(6)?
CPAN6 started off to become the follow-up of CPAN, Perl5's module archive. Please note that CPAN is the only archive for Perl5. CPAN6 may get used as archive for Perl6 or other Parrot related language modules, but there are no realistic plans for that: CPAN6 is not even usable on the moment (as is Perl6).
CPAN6 is under heavy development. The design is mainly stable, defined as XML schemata (although it may be implemented in other formats than XML, like JSON or YAML).
The implementation is relatively simple once powerful sub-components are ready. Most effort is spent to produce general purpose modules of sufficient quality. The first release of the CPAN6/Pause6 modules is planned for April 2010.
|CPAN6.org | Mark Overmeer | 2010-01-21


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Zagat's "50 States, 50 Burgers" Highlights a Featured Burger for Each State
Zagat editors recently released a round-up of burgers, highlighting one for each state. While the post doesn't specifically designate the selected burgers as the "best", we still want to know what you think about your state's burger. Did Zagat get it right, or miss the boat?
To save you some time scrolling through the 50-image slideshow, we've reproduced the list below. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
All of the burgers, by state
- Alabama: The Penn Burger at C.F Penn Hamburgers in Decatur (watch a video interview with Dr. Franklin Penn, co-owner of C. F. Penn Hamburgers, here)
- Alaska: The Lord Baranof Burger at Arctic Roadrunner in Anchorage
- Arizona: Lodge Burger at The Lodge in Scottsdale
- Arkansas: Burger at CJ's Butcher Boy Burgers in Russellville (AHT review)
- California: The Johnny Bleu Cheese at The Escondite in Los Angeles (AHT review)
- Colorado: Buffalo Burger at City Grille in Denver
- Connecticut: The Original Burger at Louis' Lunch in New Haven (AHT review)
- Delaware: State Fair Burger at 2 Fat Guys in Hockessin
- Florida: Frita at El Mago De Las Fritas in Miami
- Georgia: Burger at Holeman & Finch in Atlanta (AHT review)
- Hawaii: Blue Hawaii Burger at Honolulu Burger Co. in Honolulu
- Idaho: Bacon Cheeseburger at Big Jud's in Boise
- Illinois: Single Cheeseburger at Au Cheval in Chicago (AHT review)
- Indiana: Bourbon Burger at BRU Burger Bar in Indianapolis
- Iowa: Boomstick Burger at Zombie Burger + Drink Lab in Des Moines (AHT review)
- Kansas: Smoke Burger at The Burger Stand in Lawrence
- Kentucky: Mega-Ho at Tolly-Ho in Lexington
- Louisiana: Cajun Shrimp Burger at Mason's Grill in Baton Rouge
- Maine: Surf & Turf Burger at East Ender in Portland
- Maryland: Baltimore Burger at Abbey Burger Bistro in Baltimore
- Massachusetts: Burger at Craigie on Main in Cambridge (AHT review)
- Michigan: Big Chief at Duggan's Irish Pub in Royal Oak
- Minnesota: Jucy Lucy at Matt's Bar in Minneapolis (AHT review)
- Mississippi: Catfish Burger at Moss Creek Fish House in Pearl
- Missouri: Benny Burger at Blanc Burgers + Bottles in Kansas City
- Montana: Bison Burger at Montana Ale Works in Bozeman
- Nebraska: Western Burger at The Cellar Bar & Grill in Kearney
- Nevada: Banh-Mi Burger at Bachi Burger in Las Vegas
- New Hampshire: The Mac Daddy Kobe Burger at Hanover Street Chophouse in Manchester
- New Jersey: Sliders at White Manna in Hackensack (AHT review)
- New Mexico: Green Chile Burger at Bert's Burger Bowl in Santa Fe
- New York: Black Label Burger at Minetta Tavern in NYC (AHT review)
- North Carolina: White Trash Burger at Pinky's Westside Grill in Charlotte
- North Dakota: The Humpty-Dumpty at JL Beers in Fargo
- Ohio: Thurmanator at The Thurman Cafe in Columbus (Hamburger America excerpt)
- Oklahoma: The Buster Burger at Ron's Hamburger & Chili in Tulsa
- Oregon: LePigeon Burger at Le Pigeon in Portland (AHT review)
- Pennsylvania: Breakfast Burger at the Lucky Old Souls Food Truck in Philadelphia
- Rhode Island: Sliders at Harry's Bar and Burger in Providence (AHT review)
- South Carolina: Tell-Tale Heart Burger at Poe's Tavern in Charleston
- South Dakota: Wild West Buffalo Burger on Texas Toast at Bob's in Sioux Falls
- Tennessee: Tennessee Burger at Burger Republic in Nashville
- Texas: Bean and Frito Burger at Bracken Store Cafe in San Antonio
- Utah: Bacon Bleu Cheeseburger at No Name Saloon in Park City
- Vermont: The Turducky Burger at Worthy Burger in South Royalton
- Virginia: Classic Burger Seared Inside and Outside at Carytown Burgers in Richmond
- Washington: Dick's Deluxe at Dick's Drive-In in Seattle (AHT review)
- West Virginia: Black and Bleu Burger at Fat Patty's in Huntington
- Wisconsin: Port & Blue Burger at Jake's Burger in Brookfield (AHT review)
- Wyoming: The Buffalo Buffalo Burger at Big D's Country Burgers in Farson (closed)
- The United States of Burgers: 50 States, 50 Burgers, an Interactive Map
Zagat's List of America's Best Burgers in 25 Cities
Love hamburgers? Then you'll Like AHT on Facebook! And go follow us on Twitter while you're at it!
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Windows 8 looks set to offer users the option to store a copy of their operating system on a USB stick and boot it up on different PCs.
The feature, called 'Portable Workspace' requires a USB stick with at least 16GB to play with in order to store all the necessary files and will please anyone who can't bear to be parted from their OS.
It is described as "a feature that allows you to run Windows from a USB storage device" in a leaked screengrab of the set up window.
OS on a stick
It seems a somewhat unusual move for Microsoft, which has long guarded its software closely, requiring outlandishly long and complex product keys, multiple user licenses and a blood bond to be taken out before you can use any Windows software in order to reduce piracy.
We wouldn't be surprised to see all manner of security hidden away in the portable workspace to avoid sneaky unauthorised booting of the OS.
Sadly, it looks as though only users with Windows 8 Enterprise Edition will be able to take advantage of the handy feature, suggesting it's intended to make life easier for the IT crowd rather than the humble home user.


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Stories by Kate Bolin [4] Series by Kate Bolin [0] Reviews by Kate Bolin [0] Challenges by Kate Bolin [0] Favorite Series [0] Kate Bolin's Favorites [0]
No results found.
|The authors own nothing. Joss, UPN, WB, etc. own Buffy, the show, the characters, the places, and the backstory. The authors own any original plots.


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Find results with:
- in
- remove
- to
Searching collections:
- Seek
- Discover
- Look
- Learn
- Services
- Donate
The Archives of Michigan offers researchers a combination of original source records, published histories and indexes, and free access to several online subscription databases. Here are a few suggestions to help you get started as you begin to explore your family history.
Step 1: Gather.
Starting with yourself, and moving back generation by generation, gather and write down what you know about each member of the family: names–dates, and locations of key events and moments in their lives. Ask questions of other family members, there is no one better to offer insight on the family's past than the people who lived it. Similarly, perhaps someone in the family has already collected genealogical information. Researchers often can fill in lots of information, via the family archives, family bibles, photographs, or other family records. The key with this first step is to gather as much foundational information on the family as possible – the names, dates, and locations are data that will guide your research as you move forward.
Step 2: Organize.
Having a lot of information won't mean much if it isn't organized properly. Once you have done your homework, spend some time to get properly organized, using pedigree charts, family group sheets, or perhaps a family tree software product. These forms and tools, available online, will help will help you prioritize your research, reveal gaps on the family tree, identify what you know, and more importantly, what you don't.
Step 3: Explore.
The U.S. Census is, without a doubt, the most important resource that genealogists utilize in their family history research. It provides that critical foundation from which every future discovery is built upon. Offering a glimpse into the family every 10 years, the census is available from 1790-1940. (The 1890 schedules were largely destroyed, however.) Researchers can learn about an ancestor's address, age, marital status, birthplace, parents' birthplace, naturalization status, year of immigration, occupation, and much more. The U.S. Census can be found online at Ancestry, FamilySearch, and at other sites as well.
Step 4: Localize.
As you continue on in your research, be sure to utilize the Archives' online catalog (www.answercat.org) and the digital collections here at Seeking Michigan to identify specific resources of interest. If you focus on a particular geographic area or record type rather than a sweeping general query, your search results will be much better. Remember that the Archives of Michigan's expansive collections include more than just Michigan; areas of strength including the Great Lakes states, the New England region, New York, Pennsylvania, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
Step 5: Expand.
Once the critical foundation of the who, when, and where has been established with the U.S. Census, researchers can then easily expand their search and move into other content categories, including vital records, cemetery transcriptions, and naturalizations. Many records, of course, can be found online, but many collections can only be utilized onsite at an archives, library, or county courthouse.
In this day and age, researchers can find records of their ancestors only a few seconds after getting started. What a great time to get started on researching your family's history! We encourage you to begin your journey with us here at the Archives of Michigan. Happy searching!
Search Our Catalog:
How to search Death Records:
You can search for death records by using the "Advanced Search" button in the top right corner of any page.
- Click the "Advanced Search" button in top right corner of screen.
- Select field you wish to search, such as "Given Name," from "All Fields" drop down menu.
- Type name, county, or year into blank box.
- Click "Search" button.


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Chris Hobbs, who works as a software safety specialist here at QNX Software Systems. Well, I'm happy to say that the book is now available. It's called Embedded Software Development for Safety-Critical Systems and it explores design practices for building medical devices, railway control systems, industrial control systems, and, of course, automotive ADAS devices.
The book:
- covers the development of safety-critical systems under ISO 26262, IEC 61508, EN 50128, and IEC 62304
- helps developers learn how to justify their work to external auditors
- discusses the advantages and disadvantages of architectural and design practices recommended in the standards, including replication and diversification, anomaly detection, and so-called "safety bag" systems
- examines the use of open-source components in safety-critical systems
A version of this post originally appeared on the QNX Auto Blog.


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danjp28 necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 132 diseños de 35 diseñadores freelance.
Final Concept Machine and Design
We are a young husband and wife team opening up our own CNC (computed numerically controlled) machine shop. We specialize in custom tooling. We'll be designing and creating new components out of steel and aluminum.
We are located in the Midwest but will be doing business all over the country. Not your average small-town business!
This logo will be featured on our website, our business cards (which will be handed out at various tradeshows) and all other business documents.
This is a new business but our target audience will be engineers looking to have parts manufactured. Our audience may also include medical companies looking to have prototypes of new products made.
We are looking for a design to attract engineers and other customers to our business.
What we DO want:
1. symbol of some kind to represent our company alongside the full company name.
2. Modern (perhaps edgy) , Professional, and very easy to read.
3. A strong manly looking logo.
What we DO NOT want:
1. DO NOT want to use the company's initials in the logo.
2. Nothing elegant or girly...afterall...this industry is mostly men :)
3. No pink or purple
We really have no ideas of our own so we definately need your help!
Can't wait to see the designs you come up with!! Be creative!!
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Computer based Synth? Fruity Loops? Ableton? Project 5? Dezag dezig, ajeb ajeb, da beat is in da house, shake it up baby!
Use this control to limit the display of threads to those newer than the specified time frame.
Allows you to choose the data by which the thread list will be sorted.
Order threads in...
Note: when sorting by date, 'descending order' will show the newest results first.
Forum Rules


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Oh, olden times—you so crazy. The modern subway might be a perfectly functional way to get around a big city, but you can't help but feel a little disappointed that inventor George Bennie's hanging Railplane didn't catch on as a more exciting alternative.
Unveiled in 1930, the Railplane technically wasn't a monorail since it used both an overhead rail to hang from, and a guide rail underneath it. So duorail is maybe a better description. Like the underground subway, the Railplane was designed to operate away from traffic on busy surface streets, but by running above roads and cities instead. And as it caught on, its growing infrastructure of rails would have been used by both passenger and cargo trains.
The most unique aspect of the Railplane, and the reason it was named that in the first place, was its use of an airplane propeller for propulsion. Which today just seems like an all-around terrible idea because it would have been incredibly loud, and terribly dangerous as the cars passed through each station. So it's not surprising that the Railplane's creator was bankrupt by 1937, and the 130-yard prototype line that had been built in Glasgow, Scotland, was torn down in the 1950s for scrap metal.
[Wikipedia via The Daily Mail]
Images by J. A. Hampton & Topical Press Agency/Getty Images


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The AAFP has long urged CMS to pay for care coordination and other cognitive services that play a pivotal role in enhancing health care access, improving quality and controlling costs. And now CMS has started to heed that call by including a provision in the proposed 2013 Medicare physician payment regulation that would compensate family physicians and other primary care physicians for providing nonface-to-face care that helps patients transition back into the community after hospital and nursing home stays.
According to the proposal, CMS would establish a new G code to pay primary care physicians and other primary care health professionals for furnishing a range of care-coordination services after a patient is discharged from a hospital or other health care facility. These services include obtaining and reviewing a patient's discharge summary, reviewing diagnostic tests and treatments, establishing a care plan, and communicating with other physicians and members of the health care team.
The proposal explicitly addresses the value of primary care and the importance of care coordination in improving quality and controlling costs, acknowledgments that AAFP President Glen Stream, M.D., M.B.I., of Spokane, Wash, finds encouraging. "I was struck by the wording of the payment rule -- about wanting to recognize the value of primary care and the importance of care coordination," he said in an interview with AAFP News Now.
"CMS has made a significant effort to recognize the undervaluing of primary care and has made a substantial step in the right direction to address that. We will continue to work with CMS going forward to build on that."
In a July 6 press release(www.cms.gov), CMS singled out the effect of the proposed rule on family physicians, saying the rule would increase payments to family physicians by approximately 7 percent; other practitioners providing primary care services would receive between 3 percent and 5 percent.
The 7 percent figure for family physicians is based on a 2 percent payment increase that is scheduled to take effect as a result of a phased-in Physician Practice Information Survey(www.ama-assn.org) and a 5 percent increase from the newly proposed postdischarge transitional care management code, according to a preliminary analysis conducted by the AAFP.
The Academy has until Sept. 4 to respond to the proposed rule and is analyzing and preparing a summary of the proposal.
"The AAFP is going to do a lot more evaluation of this," said Stream. "We will give our assessment of what we think the impact will be and how many of our members we think will offer this (care-coordination) service."
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Have we lost the true significance of �Thanksgiving?�
Have we lost the true significance of �Thanksgiving?�
�Black Friday� has crept backwards into Thanksgiving Day itself � now referred to as �Black Thursday.�
In many places, the waning hours of Thanksgiving were dark, indeed.
Police in Virginia reported a stabbing incident. Two men got into a fight in the car parking lot over a space. One used his fists; the other, a knife.
A police officer responding to the scene of a shoplifting around 10 p.m. at a Kohl�s store in Romeoville, Ill., saw the alleged thief dragging another officer along with his car. The responding officer shot the driver to stop him.
People pushed, shoved, brawled, and generally acted like they had lost their senses.
Great deals on merchandise?
Many stores usually closed on Thanksgiving Day opened at some point Thursday to get a jump on the Black Friday rush. These stores robbed their employees of time with their families, a mainstay of the Thanksgiving celebration.
Have we forgotten the real purpose of Thanksgiving Day?
Have our deities changed into material items we can put on charge cards?
Although the true origins of Thanksgiving seem shrouded in mystery, we do know that the Pilgrims celebrated a bountiful harvest in 1623, and the Puritans of Massachusetts had an annual observance of Thanksgiving that dated from 1630 and continued unbroken until 1680.
The first �national� proclamation of Thanksgiving dates from 1777. This proclamation was issued by the Continental Congress even as our young nation struggled for its independence. Technically, we were not a nation yet. We were colonies in rebellion against Great Britain. Delegate Samuel Adams wrote a draft of the proclamation that was revised and later adopted by the full Congress. The proclamation begins with these words:
�For as much as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for Benefits received, and to implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of; �.�
The proclamation urges the legislative and executive powers of each state to express their gratitude to God for His blessings, to consecrate themselves to His service, to make penitent confession of their sins, and to seek forgiveness through the merits of Jesus Christ.
On October 3, 1789, President George Washington made a proclamation creating the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the national government of the United States of America. That proclamation read, in part:
�Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks �.�
During the dark days of the War Between the States, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a day of national thanksgiving be observed the last Thursday of November in 1863. This document, authored by William Seward, Lincoln�s Secretary of State, said:
�The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.�
Did you notice the common theme?
The purpose of Thanksgiving Day is � uh � well, to express our gratitude to God for the rich blessings we have received.
Do we do justice to the history and purpose of Thanksgiving when we turn it into another hyped-up commercial enterprise? Do we live up to the measure of those who founded this nation when we are willing to brawl over merchandise and parking spaces?
Next year, let�s forget �Black Thursday� and use one day to focus our attention on truly giving thanks and spending time sharing that gratitude within our families.
We are better than pushing, shoving, brawling, grabbing, and snatching.
Nothing on sale, even for a great price, should prompt us to sacrifice our common decency to covetousness.
Mike Parker is a columnist for The Free Press. You can reach him at firstname.lastname@example.com or in care of this newspaper.


text: Students in Worcester Prep's Middle School recently presented "This Phone Will Explode at the Tone: A Comedy in Three Acts" to students, parents and friends. Teacher Linda Smith directed the play with the help of Assistant Director and seventh-grade student Jamie Welch. Some of the actors are pictured, above first row from left, Ali Wyatt, Kyle Chandler, Mattie Maull, Carolyn Dorey, Claire Esham and Arella Berger; second row, Brittany Wangel, Shea Dowling, Victoria Lawrence, Lindsey Banning, and Parker Marshall; third row, Fiona Reid, Natalie Twilley, Sophie Brennan, Emmi Shockley, Jenny Rosales and Mark Wilson. Submitted Photos


text:
- Activities , Celebrations , Culture , Eco , Family , Festivals , Food
Selamat Hari Raya!
A waft of freshly cut ketupat fills the air. On the stove, the chicken curry simmers slowly in the pot. Even the beef rendang has been cooked to perfection. The plates, cups and utensils are neatly arranged and small jars filled with crispy cookies. The cookies are made early as these can be stored in airtight containers. The house is spick and span, and new with a fresh coat of paint. Everything is new (or almost new!) and neat and tidy to usher in Hari Raya Aidilifitri.


text:
Eric Brooke, a veteran rock 'n' roller and frequent host at area jam nights, recruited a couple of serious local music notables for a power trio named BVD.
A concert Saturday night at Panini's in Jackson Township will celebrate the release of the "BVD" album.
B = Brooke.
V = Joe Vitale, a percussionist who has recorded and toured since 1971 with the likes of Crosby, Stills and Nash, the Eagles, Joe Walsh, Buffalo Springfield and other top acts.
D = Don Dixon, a singer-songwriter with many solo albums and a famed record producer who has worked with R.E.M., the Smithereens, Marshall Crenshaw, Marti Jones (his wife) and numerous others.
BVD came together simply enough. "I made a call to Joe and he said, 'Let's do it,'" Brooke said. "Don said, 'Sure.' Next thing, we were recording."
The three gathered last May in a Canton garage that a friend of Brooke's had converted into a ceramics studio. Another of Brooke's friends, Trevor Meyer, brought the recording equipment and engineered the sessions.
"We set up, Joe and Don walked in, we shook hands, gave hugs and they said, 'OK, what have you got?" Brooke recalled.
On electric guitar, Brooke played them an idea, and Dixon on bass and Vitale on drums joined in. Inspiration was apparently fertile — BVD wrote and recorded three songs a day.
"We recorded live," Brooke said. "Sometimes first take, sometimes two. Then it was, 'What's next?'"
From 11 recorded songs, eight made it onto the album. Brooke sings seven and Dixon one.
"It's straight-forward rock with some different flavors involved," Brooke said of the album. "Some of it has a power-pop edge to it, some of it hard rock, some has a little funk to it."
The personalities of Brooke, Vitale and Dixon meshed easily. "We clicked as a group really well," Brooke said. "For me, this was a dream come true. These guys are legends of the industry and they're so nice.
"Don is funny. He said things I didn't expect him to say. And Joe has got so many great stories from the road," he said. "It was great to hear them together. They'd never had the opportunity to play together."
BVD, preceded by the Marc Andrew Project, will take the Panini's stage at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday. The set will include all eight songs from the new CD, which sells for $10, along with songs from BVD's individual members.
"We'll probably be throwing in 'Rocky Mountain Way,' " Brooke said of the Joe Walsh classic hit on which Vitale was drummer.


text:
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South African Journal of Science
On-line version ISSN 1996-7489
Print version ISSN 0038-2353
S. Afr. j. sci. vol.108 n.1-2 Pretoria Jan. 2012
Why did schistosomiasis disappear from the southern part of the Eastern Cape?
Chris C. AppletonI; Inbarani NaidooII
ISchool of Biological and Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
IIMalaria Research Unit, Medical Research Council, Durban, South Africa
We reviewed the early literature and maps of the occurrence of urogenital schistosomiasis (bilharzia) in the Eastern Cape, South Africa from the 1860s until its decline from about 1900 and reappearance in 2002. Although this decline in transmission has received little attention to date, clinical descriptions of the disease over this period indicate that infection was common, probably patchy, although sometimes with severe morbidity. The long period of quiescence between 1900 and 2002 is thought to be as a result of several factors, but primarily because of the impact of the area's cold winters and drought-prone climate on the survival and reproduction of both the snail intermediate host Bulinus africanus and the intramolluscan stages of the parasite. The concept of an outbreak area is invoked to describe the occurrence of intense urogenital schistosomiasis transmission in localised areas for relatively short periods of up to 35 years in this the southernmost part of its range in Africa, a suboptimal environment for transmission.
Monitoring changes in the distribution of urogenital schistosomiasis (bilharzia)1 in South Africa is important with respect to public health, especially the proposed national helminthiasis control programme.2 However, the fact that schistosomiasis is not, and never has been, a notifiable disease in South Africa makes monitoring and surveillance difficult. Whilst there is no indication that the urogenital form of the disease is spreading within the country, there is clear evidence in the literature for a historical contraction, albeit temporary, in its geographic range in what is now the Eastern Cape Province. In this paper, we review the historical literature on urogenital schistosomiasis in the Eastern Cape, south of the Buffalo River, to reconstruct the clinical epidemiology of the disease from its discovery in 1863 to circa 1900 and to examine reasons for its subsequent disappearance from this area until 2002.
Historical account
Urogenital schistosomiasis was diagnosed in boys from Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, by Dr J. Harley, a general practitioner in Port Elizabeth, in 1863.3 These diagnoses were only 11 years after the publication of Dr Theodor Bilharz' report4 on his discovery of the causative agent of the disease, the blood fluke Schistosoma haematobium, in the mesenteric vein during a post-mortem in Kasr el Aini Hospital, Cairo. Harley's 1864 report3 was the first record of the disease in sub-Saharan Africa and led him to believe (correctly) that it occurred throughout the length of the continent and that his finding was at the southern limit of its range. The decline of the disease from this same part of the Eastern Cape from about 1900 has attracted little attention until now.
Epidemiology and transmission of urogenital schistosomiasis
Although no statistics are available, there was consensus amongst case reports between 1864 and 18993,5,6,7,8,9 in respect of several, now widely recognised, characteristics of urogenital schistosomiasis. All age groups were infected but infection was commonest in children, mostly boys, between 3-years and 16-years old with a history of contact with local waterbodies. The most frequent symptom, haematuria, usually disappeared before the age of 20 because recreational swimming had stopped by this time, thus reducing the chances of further infection.9 As for the longevity of the disease, haematuria was observed, often continuously, in individual patients for up to 10 years9 but, following Harley3, the infection probably persisted 'as long as life continued'. Girls and women were seldom affected because they had little contact with natural water.
Transmission was attributed to contact with rivers, usually through swimming, but apparently also occurred through contact with infested water in vleis, farm dams, irrigation furrows and even streetside canals. In terms of seasonality of transmission, Haw8 believed that spring and summer were more 'dangerous' for contracting schistosomiasis than other seasons, whilst Spencer9 claimed that children contracted the disease almost entirely in the dry winter, when rivers were reduced to a series of pools in which they swam on warm days. Presumably, Spencer meant that most cases of haematuria were diagnosed in winter because we now know that haematuria may take several years post-exposure to develop.10
In the 1890s, knowledge of the schistosome life cycle was incomplete and based on that of the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica.8,11,12 Thus the cycle was assumed to include development inside an aquatic intermediate host and this was widely thought to be a mollusc. It was only in 1915 that the intermediate host of S. haematobium in South Africa was identified as the planorbid freshwater snail Bulinus africanus.13,14
Clinical descriptions of urogenital schistosomiasis
Clinical descriptions of urogenital schistosomiasis3,5,6,7,8,9,12,15,16all noted that macroscopic haematuria and dysuria were the most common and recognisable symptoms. Although these early reports from the Eastern Cape did not give prevalence data, phrases like 'the haematuria of the Cape',3 'the remarkable frequency of haematuria among young boys',15 'It's only the redwater. We've all got it.'16 and 'very prevalent, very chronic'9 indicate that S. haematobium infection was common in the area.
Most diagnoses were confirmed microscopically by demonstrating the presence of the fluke's characteristic terminal-spined eggs in a patient's urine. In 1899 Haw17 therefore recommended that in all cases of haematuria in South Africa, urine should be examined microscopically for the disease. The frequency of haematuria and dysuria and the comments by Chute12 and others that the urine of some patients was dark red ('a deep claret colour') or 'pure blood' indicates that some of these were severe and would be classified as high-intensity infections today. Frequent reports of albuminuria, calculi and spicule-shaped or lozenge-shaped deposits of uric acid support this interpretation. However, it was not appreciated by these early authors that as many asymptomatic as symptomatic cases would have been present in the population, that is, that there would have been as many light infections with microhaematuria rather than macrohaematuria or dysuria, which would probably have gone undiagnosed. Indeed, Van der Werf and De Vlas18 recently estimated that the presence of macroscopic haematuria in a community generally corresponds to an infection intensity of >100 eggs/10 mL. At lower intensities haematuria is less commonly seen and is more likely to be as a result of other causes. Dysuria may occur at lower intensities, that is, >10 eggs/10 mL.
Reports of urine microscopy by these early observers reveal that egg output was sometimes high, up to '30 or 40 or more' per microscope slide, hundreds per terminal micturition ('teaspoonful') and several thousand per day. Eggs were often free in the urine but many, up to about 300, could be seen embedded with epithelial cells in clots of blood in strings of flocculant, dirty white mucus. Harley3,6 provided detailed drawings of these eggs and the miracidia that hatched from them.
Complications such as ureteral constrictions would seldom have been seen with the techniques available but may nevertheless have led to hydroureter, hydronephrosis and perhaps secondary infection and renal failure. However, renal and bladder colic, blood clots and calculi resulting from these complications were commonly reported and their passage down the urinary tract was usually accompanied by symptoms such as lassitude, tenderness of the kidneys and pain, sometimes severe, in the lumbar region radiating to the ureters, urethra, bladder and penis, particularly at the end of micturition.5,6,7,8,9 Appendicitis and anaemia were also common and the growth of infected children was often impaired.12
Microhaematuria is today regarded as one of the earliest symptoms of urogenital schistosomiasis, starting as soon as 4 weeks after exposure.10 Macroscopic haematuria, often accompanied by dysuria, usually takes longer to appear, up to 3 months post-exposure, and sometimes up to 2 or 3 years after exposure. Calculi may take 5-7 years to develop. Symptoms such as these thus point to chronic S. haematobium infections but the pre-1900 authors cited previously were seldom able to confirm this by examining autopsy material for urinary tract lesions. Neither were cystoscopy, pyelography nor ultrasound available at the time, although by 1910 it had become recommended practice to examine all cases of haematuria cystoscopically for the characteristic pathology of the disease.19
These observations conform to those of the autopsy-based studies of Bhagwandeen20 and Cooppan et al.21 in neighbouring KwaZulu-Natal, which give a more detailed clinical picture of what the disease in the Eastern Cape may have looked like. In these studies a high proportion of patients had detectable morbidity. Many of these patients complained of haematuria and sometimes dysuria and urography or ultrasound showed abnormalities of the urinary tract. Bladder cystitis was common and involved a variety of macroscopic lesions in the bladder wall and the lower ureters. Polyps and sandy patches formed in the mucosa and submucosa and thickened the tract's walls, causing ureteral obstructions which restricted the flow of urine (hydronephrosis and hydroureter) and led to secondary infection. A smaller proportion of infected subjects was subclinical but urine microscopy would have shown microhaematuria.
Overall the morbidity indicated by the early case reports from the Eastern Cape seems comparable with that described later from KwaZulu-Natal. Some cases were undoubtedly serious and Bhagwandeen's summary of the situation in KwaZulu-Natal20 probably also applies to the Eastern Cape in the late 19th century. Bhagwandeen20 wrote: '... from this study has emerged the startling fact that urinary bilharziasis has a high bladder morbidity and that ureteric damage is not only common but is often severe'. Although Harley6 considered that the disease was rarely fatal, Turner22 in his review of schistosomiasis in South Africa subsequently recorded deaths as a result of hydronephrosis in the former Transvaal. Turner22,23 also recorded pulmonary complications and the presence of S. haematobium eggs in genital lesions. These related complications probably occurred in the study area too. Genital involvement is now known to be common in S. haematobium infections and is reflected in the changed name for the disease, urogenital schistosomiasis.1 Genital lesions are not infrequently reported from the Transkei today.24
Historical and current distribution of urogenital schistosomiasis
The southernmost locality for urogenital schistosomiasis in Africa has long been considered to be the Port Elizabeth-Uitenhage areas of the Eastern Cape, that is, approximately 34ºS. This limit is based on Harley's 1864 report of infection in children from Uitenhage which he described as common in the catchment of the Swartkops River. A survey of the literature3,5,6,7,8,9,12,15,16,25 indicates that, in addition to Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage, transmission occurred at King William's Town (the most frequently cited locality) and East London over a period of about 35 years from the 1860s to at least the late 1890s. In comparison, transmission occurring at Alice, Fort Beaufort and Graaff Reinet was reported only in the late 1860s. Single case reports from numerous other localities testify to transmission, probably at lower intensities, but the dates of these are often not given. These localities, together with others listed by Turner22, indicate that transmission occurred widely in the region and was associated with the drainages of most if not all rivers from the Baakens River in the west to the Buffalo River in the east. The Buffalo River stands out as the most frequent source of infection.
In 1938 Porter26 published the first map of the geographic distribution of S. haematobium in South Africa (Figure 1a). This map was drawn in 1934 from data collected between the 1860s and 1932 and its database combined cases that Porter had personally diagnosed, was told of by 'reliable medical sources' or had gleaned from the literature, as well as records of the intermediate host, the snail B. africanus, carrying schistosome infections. Porter's26 endemic area was bounded by localities identified in this way and so includes intervening areas where it was thought that schistosomiasis could occur. The disease's south-western limit lay along a line running north-west from Port Elizabeth to Graaff Reinet (where Porter rated transmission as 'slight'), that is, bounded by the Baakens, Swartkops and Sundays Rivers. The northern boundary lay along a transect from Graaff Reinet eastwards to Sterkstroom and Elliot at altitudes between 800 m and 1500 m. Porter noted that, whilst infection rates varied greatly over this area, transmission had been well established at Port Elizabeth and King William's Town and their environs. Porter's monograph also describes snail compatibility experiments with S. haematobium carried out in 1920 using eggs from a patient who had contracted the disease in King William's Town - evidence that transmission continued in King William's Town for some years beyond 1900.
Maps similar to that of Porter's26 were published by Gale27 and De Meillon28 (Figures 1b and 1c) but showed transmission to extend westwards to George and Humansdorp, respectively. De Meillon28 noted, as had Porter26, that in the Eastern Cape (and elsewhere) the distribution of the snail host was wider than that of the disease but predicted that the disease's range might spread to correspond with that of its snail host. Later, in 1959, a survey by Pitchford and Geldenhuys29 recorded a prevalence of 0.9% (2/224) for the Uitenhage district but noted that according to the district surgeon at the time, the prevalence, presumably diagnosed from haematuria and/or urine microscopy, had been ±20% some 20-30 years earlier (i.e. in the 1930s and 1940s). Similar low prevalences were found east of the Port Elizabeth-Uitenhage-Graaff Reinet axis, namely 1.1% at both King William's Town (2/181) and East London (5/444), but, as with Uitenhage, unpublished surveillance by local health authorities had recorded higher levels of 20% - 25% for these towns several decades before; a situation that persisted until at least the late 1940s.
The Atlas of bilharzia in South Africa30 contains maps of disease prevalence data from surveys carried out between the early 1950s and late 1970s (with addenda to 1982), but it is not possible to assign exact dates to the records because the raw data are no longer available. Nevertheless, the atlas shows a much more restricted distribution for the disease in the Eastern Cape (Figure 2). Data were presented in prevalence categories with records in the 6% - 10% and 11% - 25% categories for Mount Gulu and Chalumna, 20 km and 35 km south of East London, respectively. Occasional reports to C.C.A. from local health authorities in the East London area suggest that focal transmission may have occurred there into the 1990s.
In the Eastern Cape today, it is only in the former Transkei that prevalences above 20% are encountered routinely.31,32,33 This observation was confirmed in 2000 through routine surveillance by the Eastern Cape Health Department (Meidany F 1999, personal communication, October 28). Currently the southern limit of the disease is in the southern Transkei but the specific locality is not known with certainty. Health Department surveillance suggests that it lies in the vicinity of Willowvale (±32º15'S), approximately 80 km south-east of Umtata. A prevalence of 9.1% was recorded there in 1994 (Meidany F 1999, personal communication, October 28).
Pitchford and Geldenhuys29 did not find any infections west of the Port Elizabeth-Uitenhage axis, that is, at Humansdorp, Kareedouw, the Tsitsikamma and Groot River valleys and Knysna. Interestingly, however, the two maps of the disease published during the 1940s27,28 showed transmission in the Humansdorp area, as well as beyond Humansdorp to George, but without supporting parasitological information (Figures 1b and 1c). De Meillon28 cited data from Dr Harrington, of the South African Institute for Medical Research in Port Elizabeth, who reported that he had seen 'numbers of undoubted indigenous cases' of S. haematobium from Humansdorp. Despite this report, neither Le Roux34 nor De Meillon28 actually stated that urogenital schistosomiasis had spread to Humansdorp. In fact Le Roux34 conceded that his observations on the ungulate schistosome Schistosoma mattheei did not preclude human transmission occurring at Humansdorp, and De Meillon's28 map showed that it did. It is interesting then that a later map by Pitchford and Visser35 showed three isolated areas of transmission remaining in the study area: Humansdorp, Port Elizabeth and King William's Town (Figure 3).
In summary, urogenital schistosomiasis clearly occurred in people between the Port Elizabeth-Uitenhage area and the Buffalo River, an area of ±46 000 km2, during the last four decades of the 19th century. Pockets of high transmission were located in populated areas. Prevalences at these localities had dropped to 20% - 25% by the 1930s and 1940s, or perhaps earlier - an interpretation supported by the fact that reports of transmission in the area ceased to be published around 1900. Figure 4 tracks the reports on individual foci of transmission as gleaned from reports in the literature. From Figure 4, we suggest that for about 35 years (from 1863 to 1899), the major transmission areas were in Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage, King William's Town and East London, whilst Fort Beaufort was a major transmission area for only about 4 years (1866-1869). Most other sites are represented by single reports only and are therefore thought to have been short-lived. The post-1900 decline in transmission continued such that the disease had all but disappeared from this part of the Eastern Cape by the late 1950s, with residual prevalences of <1%. This situation remains today.
Recent transmission in the Humansdorp area
Humansdorp is the type locality for the ungulate schistosome S. mattheei. This species was described by Veglia and Le Roux36 from specimens collected in 1926 during autopsies of sheep that had died following an outbreak of schistosomiasis on a farm in the area. Named after Mr S.W. Matthee, owner of the farm, S. mattheei caused heavy stock losses at the time but subsequently disappeared from the area37 because, according to Pitchford38, Mr Matthee had followed Le Roux's34 advice on control measures.
In September 2002, schistosomiasis was diagnosed near Jeffrey's Bay 24 km east of Humansdorp by the South African Institute for Medical Research in Port Elizabeth. Fifteen cases of overt haematuria were recorded by staff at Humansdorp Hospital in children aged between 7 and 15 (on average 10 years old) and all were confirmed from urine microscopy to be infected by S. haematobium with egg loads being described as 'abundant'. A count of 1993 eggs/10 mL urine was obtained for one sample processed at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Archer CE 2002, personal communication, October 02). This count is very high by international standards and is classified as a severe intensity infection.39 Mean measurements ± s.d. for the eggs from these children were 133.6±14.9 mm x 65.5±8.8 mm (n = 25) and lie within the normal range for S. haematobium. Large amounts of mucus were present in the urine. All diagnosed children were treated with praziquantel at the standard dose of 40 mg/kg (Coetzee DO 2002, personal communication, October 08).
A visit by C.C.A. to the area from 08 to 10 October 2002 showed that 13 of the children with haematuria lived on two farms, Sonop (11 children) and Die Bult (2 children), and the remaining 2 children lived in an informal settlement, Smithstown. All localities were situated within a few kilometres of each other, less than 10 km from the coast. The parasite was probably introduced to the area by migrant fishermen from the Transkei and/or KwaZulu-Natal who worked on local squid (chokka) boats and lived in the Smithstown informal settlement.
Bulinus africanus, the snail intermediate host for S. haematobium, is known from the area and was recorded from the Kabeljous River near Jeffrey's Bay.29,30 This snail also occurs in the adjacent two rivers to the west (Seekoei and Kromme Rivers) with Kareedouw on the Kromme (33º56'S, 24º17'E) being its south-westernmost locality in Africa. The absence of the snail from rivers further westwards is probably because these rivers are generally acidic (pH 4.5 - 6.7).40 The record by Connolly41 of B. africanus from Knysna has not been confirmed.
A survey of six waterbodies in the area (three earth farm dams and three sites on the Kabeljous River) showed B. africanus to occur in one of the dams, Tweekloof. According to parents and local farmers, children from the area, including those who contracted S. haematobium, often swam in this dam on their way home from school in the nearby town of Jeffrey's Bay. Tweekloof dam is the presumed site of transmission in this outbreak.
Tweekloof dam
Tweekloof dam is located at 33º58'S, 24º55'E at an altitude of ±71 m above sea level, ±9 km north-west of Jeffrey's Bay, and is fed by a canal from the Kabeljous River. The dam has grassy banks as well as floating and emergent vegetation (Ludwigia sp. and Scirpus sp., respectively). Six adult B. africanus, measuring 13.6 mm - 14.9 mm shell height, were collected in the dam within a 30-min period. None of the adult snails was infected with schistosomes (one carried a prepatent echinostome infection) and no juvenile snails were found. Other snail species found were Lymnaea columella and Bulinus tropicus. The water of Tweekloof dam was well oxygenated, was clear with a conductivity of 713 µS/cm, had a pH close to neutral and was pale brown. Although high for fresh water, the observed conductivity is within the tolerance range of B. africanus.42 The dam is used for irrigation and watering cattle. Examination of faecal samples from the cattle that drank in the dam showed no S. mattheei, although 83.3% (15/18) were infected with the conical fluke Calicophoron microbothrium.
Enough is known of the biology of B. africanus to suggest that the failure to find juveniles in Tweekloof dam, whilst juveniles of B. tropicus were present, is meaningful. This finding suggests that in the south-western parts of the Eastern Cape, the south-westerly end of its geographic range, B. africanus may not exhibit the annual pattern of three overlapping generations identified in the lowveld of the Mpumalanga Province - a region highly endemic for S. haematobium.43 This difference is because this region of the Eastern Cape experiences long, cold winters, as shown by temperature data from Cape St Francis, the nearest meteorological station, 21 km from the study area (Figure 5).
De Kock44 concluded from experimental work that South African B. africanus reproduces over a 10 ºC temperature range (19 ºC - 29 ºC) but that within this range its intrinsic rate of natural increase (rm) is low relative to other snail species. In fact, B. africanus does not survive or breed well in cold water, and at water temperatures below 20 ºC, rmdropped close to zero (0.3). With mean monthly minima below 18 ºC throughout the year in the study area (Figure 5) and mean monthly maxima below 20 ºC for 5 months (June to October), few B. africanus are likely to survive winter and those that do will only start to breed in late spring once the water has warmed to 22 ºC - 23 ºC. It is even less likely that schistosome-infected individuals will overwinter successfully, so transmission will probably depend on each spring-summer generation being infected anew. Following Pitchford and Visser45 this will mean a transmission season of only 3-4 months (late December to March) compared with 10 months in the Mpumalanga lowveld.
Pitchford and Visser35 made similar observations on B. africanus exposed to S. haematobium and S. mattheei and kept in outdoor aquaria at Cradock, one of the towns in the Eastern Cape interior (at an altitude of 885 m) where Porter26 recorded patients infected with S. haematobium. As at Cape St Francis, mean monthly minima fell below 18 ºC throughout the year but mean monthly maxima were below 20 ºC for only 2 months, June and July. Snails reproduced in summer when mean monthly maxima rose above 25 ºC but overall survival was poor with all test snails dying in winter when mean monthly minima dropped below 5 ºC. Cercarial shedding was intermittent for both schistosome species and limited to short periods between January and May. These results led Pitchford and Visser35 to suggest that neither S. haematobium nor S. mattheei was likely to become established in the area although short periods of transmission might occur.
A comment by Le Roux34 that S. haematobium transmission was 'by no means widespread' in the Cape Province but was instead localised to certain well-defined areas conflicts with the later maps26,27,28 (Figures 1 and 2). However, Porter's26 map, as well as the other two which seem to be copies, included areas considered to be of 'potential' as well as areas of proven endemicity. Nevertheless, it is clear that transmission occurred at numerous places in the Eastern Cape between the early 1860s and late 1890s, but declined after about 1900. No new foci were reported for the next 100 years until that near Jeffrey's Bay in 2002. Some localised events may of course have gone unreported and Pitchford's38 remark that 'it is probably somewhat rare today' suggests that he doubted that urogenital schistosomiasis had completely disappeared in the study area. We also do not view the quiescence of the disease in this area as a reduction in the disease's geographic range but rather we classify the area as an outbreak area for urogenital schistosomiasis following the definition given by Green et al.46. A comparison between the maps of Porter26 and Gear et al.30 (Figure 6) shows this outbreak area to be approximately 12% of the total endemic area of South Africa as mapped by Porter26.
The disease's decline and subsequent quiescence in this area during the 20th century has been attributed to various environmental and biological factors. Cawston47 suggested a role for changing climatic conditions by drawing attention to a prolonged drought in the area and the vulnerability of B. africanus populations in both rivers and disjunct pools to droughts. The distribution of B. africanus given by Gear et al.30, and subsequently by Brown48 and De Kock and Wolmarans49, shows B. africanus to be absent from much of the S. haematobium area of the Eastern Cape as mapped earlier26,27,28 (Figure 6). As Gear et al.30, Brown48 and De Kock and Wolmarans49 all used confirmed B. africanus identifications from the National Freshwater Snail Collection, it can be argued that the snail's recorded absence from much of this area is either because it never occurred there or its range has retracted from the area since the 19th-century outbreaks. Alternatively, B. africanus occurs more widely in this area than these maps show, but, as discussed by Appleton and Stiles40, only as difficult-to-find relict or temporary populations in standing waterbodies associated with dykes in the Karoo sediments that dominate the area. Support for the opinion that standing waterbodies within the study area may be colonised by B. africanus, comes from the fact that three large dams have been built in the area and B. africanus has been reported to occur in all of them.50
We believe that the occurrence of B. africanus in the study area, the marginal south-west of its range, is both sporadic and unpredictable and this is key to the recorded decline in schistosomiasis transmission. As De Kock44 noted for such areas, a severe winter followed by a poor rainy season could lead to the extirpation of many of these populations. Immigration and repopulation are also likely to be slow under these conditions. Even though B. aftricanus is considered to be an only 'moderately successful' aestivator,48 adults can survive for prolonged periods in sediment with a surface moisture content as low as 1.8% - 1.9% at temperatures up to 45 ºC.51 The ephemeral nature of these habitats, the snail's tolerance of adverse conditions and its high innate capacity for increase will undoubtedly lead to dramatic fluctuations in its numbers, such that its survival in any given year will depend largely on the rainfall pattern and the length of time for which its habitats are dry.49
In her analysis of the historical climate of Africa, Nicholson52,53 did in fact identify a severe drought in the Eastern Cape from 1895 to 1920. Rainfall in the region during the preceding period 1868-1895, which covers most of the outbreaks discussed earlier, was 'variable' but with evidence for increased precipitation at several sites including King William's Town, one of the outbreak sites, and Graaff Reinet. More recent analysis54 has shown that in the Eastern Cape, a summer rainfall area, the coefficient of variation in annual rainfall is typically high, indicating that year-to-year fluctuations in precipitation are likely to vary by up to 40%. Under such conditions it is to be expected that, following De Kock and Wolmarans49, the habitats of B. africanus will dry out making its long-term presence unpredictable. Shiff55 showed how this may happen by demonstrating the effects of the dual stresses of low winter temperatures and drying of the habitat in reducing, or even stopping, reproduction by the closely related B. globosus in a seasonal pool in Zimbabwe. These stresses would also inhibit or retard asexual reproduction by the intramolluscan stages of S. haematobium resulting, in the present situation, in transmission for 3-4 summer months only. Indeed, periodic drying of waterbodies for 3 months or more has often been recommended as a snail (and parasite) control measure. By way of comparison, the ungulate schistosome Schistosoma margrebowiei is only able to survive in seasonal pools in dry areas of West Africa because the similarly brief opportunities for transmission there are compensated for by its egg production being rapid (more so than S. haematobium) and its snail intermediate hosts, Bulinus forskalii and Bulinus scalaris, being better aestivators than B. africanus.48,56
Complicating the understanding of human urogenital schistosomiasis in the region in the late 19th century is the fact that S. haematobium and S. mattheei are sympatric and both use B. africanus as an intermediate host. Additionally, there are the opinions of several authors, including Le Roux57 and Pitchford58, that the drawings of eggs that were recovered by Harley3 from urine samples from patients in Uitenhage, showed mixed infections. The majority of eggs illustrated were S. haematobium but one figure clearly showed S. mattheei. That these mixed schistosome infections were in fact hybrids was demonstrated by Pitchford59 and Wright and Ross.60 With the benefit of hindsight, this finding is not surprising because the two schistosomes share the same snail host and consequently may be transmitted in the same waterbodies when these are used by both humans and domestic stock. These and subsequent studies have shown that (1) a prior S. haematobium infection is necessary for hybrids with S. mattheei to develop in people, (2) the hybrid combination of male S. haematobium x female S. mattheei is particularly robust and is, like S. haematobium, a parasite of the urinary system (the less robust and less common male S. matheei x female S. haematobium hybrid is an intestinal parasite) and (3) the vigour shown by this hybrid is evident in both its larval and adult stages. Wright and Ross60 and Wright and Southgate61 argued, based on experimental data, that hybrid infection rates in B. africanus would be higher and produce more cercariae than pure S. haematobium or S. mattheei infections. They argued that hybrid cercariae were likely to be more infective to people and so hybrid worm loads would be greater than those of pure infections of either species. Hybrid adult worms grow larger than in the initial S. haematobium infections, mature more rapidly and produce more eggs; they are thus likely to be more pathogenic.
Whether this hybrid could have spread under Eastern Cape conditions to the extent that it increased the pathogenicity of the disease is debatable. Following Van Wyk37 and Southgate et al.62, the combination of male S. haematobium and female S. mattheei would give rise to a sizeable population of hybrids in people, but probably at different rates in different places, perhaps replacing the original pure S. haematobium infections in some situations. However, because the study area experiences long, cold winters and is drought prone, snail populations would probably have needed to be reinfected annually in spring - a situation that allows for transmission to people for only 3-4 months of the year. In addition, adult S. mattheei have a much shorter lifespan in humans than do S. haematobium,63 so frequent reinfection in humans by S. mattheei might also be needed to maintain hybridisation. In other words, persistence of hybrids in these outbreaks required the snail intermediate hosts to be reinfected frequently, perhaps annually, and for those involving intense transmission, reinfection of the final hosts as well.
Calculations by Kruger et al.64 indicated, however, that this was unlikely to happen because far fewer hybrid eggs than S. haematobium eggs would be voided into water. Consequently, hybrid worm burdens in people would be too low to produce the pathogenic strain that would be needed to raise the disease's public health profile. They concluded from experimental and field data in the sub-tropical Mpumalanga lowveld that most human S. mattheei infections arose from infections contracted in early spring. They argued that S. mattheei cercariae were more common at this time when temperatures were rising than were S. haematobium cercariae. However, as temperatures in the Eastern Cape do not rise above 20 ºC until October, this pulse of infections may not have occurred there. On balance it seems that the hybrid was not widely spread and there is no evidence that the morbidity here was any more severe than in, for example, KwaZulu-Natal, as discussed earlier.20,21
Pitchford and Geldenhuys29 considered that anthropogenic factors may have been responsible for the retreat of urinary schistosomiasis from the study area. These factors included control measures such as improved living conditions, relocating of houses away from infested streams as was done at Uitenhage, and a prohibition on bathing in the Buffalo River at King William's Town coupled with a chemotherapy campaign in the town. The drug used for chemotherapy was not named but was probably one of several antimony-based compounds available. Typically these had high cure rates but severe side effects so compliance was often problematic. However, R.J. Pitchford thought that increasing agricultural development and the accompanying pollution of waterbodies were important factors (1975, personal communication to CCA, May 10). Changing livestock farming practices dictated by agricultural development may also have upset transmission of the hybrid by separating waterbodies used by stock from those used by people. This separation would have prevented hybridisation by creating a reproductive barrier between the species and result, once again, in only pure S. haematobium infections in people. This separation would in turn have reduced the pathogenicity of human urogenital schistosomiasis infections and lowered the disease's profile in the community.
The discovery of active S. haematobium transmission associated with the Kabeljous River in 2002 represented a new geographical limit for urogenital schistosomiasis in Africa because the locality lies approximately 65 km south-west of the previously accepted limit, the Port Elizabeth-Uitenhage axis, and a few kilometres further south. This new limit also represented a return of the disease to the Eastern Cape area. Schistosomiasis may in fact have been transmitted within the Kabeljous River area before, because parents of the infected children recalled that haematuria had occurred in the area some 30-35 years earlier (i.e. in the late 1960s). This anecdote might explain the delineation of Humansdorp and its environs as an S. haematobium-endemic area by Pitchford and Visser35 (Figure 3). There are also anecdotal reports of haematuria at Kareedouw on the upper reaches of the Kromme River some 70 km further to the west (Van Niekerk J and Kotze M, Department of Health, Humansdorp 2002, personal communication, October 10). Gear et al.30 recorded B. africanus at several localities on the Kromme River near Kareedouw and S. haematobium transmission in this area should be investigated.
The outbreak near Jeffrey's Bay may be a recent example of what happened previously at the historical Eastern Cape hotspots of Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage, King William's Town and East London. Snails were present at these localities and all that was needed was the introduction of the parasite through human contact. The Jeffrey's Bay outbreak was clearly localised and characterised by intense transmission. Its short duration was probably as a result of chemotherapy.
Although various factors would have affected the urinary schistosomiasis transmission cycle at the time, it is likely that the most influential in terms of the decline of the disease between about 1900 and 2002 were those that acted directly on host snail bionomics and cercarial transmission. The area is characterised by unstable, drought-prone habitats with high B. africanus mortality likely during the long, cold winters, which means that the new generation of snails would have needed to be reinfected annually in late spring by the schistosome parasites and this would in turn have led to a short cercarial transmission season. The short lifespan of S. mattheei in human hosts means that, for transmission of the S. haematobium/S. mattheei hybrid to persist, people too would have needed to be reinfected annually. The impact of public health interventions such as the chemotherapy campaign at King William's Town29 would have been more localised.
C.C.A. acknowledges discussions with the late Dr R.J. Pitchford (South African Medical Research Council) in the 1970s on the reduction in schistosomiasis transmission in the Eastern Cape. Thanks go to Dr D.O. Coetzee (Superintendent, Humansdorp Hospital) for drawing attention to the 2002 outbreak near Jeffrey's Bay and for hospitality during his visit and to the hospital staff for help in locating Tweekloof dam. Mrs C.E. Archer (University of KwaZulu-Natal) processed the single urine sample sent to Durban. The temperature data for Cape St Francis were kindly supplied by the South African Weather Service, Pretoria.
Competing interests
We declare that we have no financial or personal relationships which may have inappropriately influenced us in writing this article.
Authors' contributions
C.C.A. was the principal investigator. I.N. contributed to the epidemiological interpretation of the records, mapped the data and formatted the figures.
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Correspondence to:
Chris Appleton
Postal address: School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville campus
Durban 4000, South Africa
Email: email@example.com
Received: 20 Aug. 2010
Accepted: 08 July 2011
Published: 09 Jan. 2012
© 2012. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS OpenJournals. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.


text:
Facebook has been noticing the rise in anonymous sharing apps and now wants part of the action.
Although there have been rumors that Facebook offered $100 million to social app Secret, those rumors have been scotched, according to the Re/Code. Still, Facebook is working on how to make their users share anonymously, too.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
Apparently Facebook has already been figuring out ways for users to log in anonymously, but the goal is that users will be liberated with a secret identity. Messages on anonymous sharing apps tend to be more outrageous, with admissions of cheating, stealing and generally being an unfeeling or immoral person. Others like a platform free of judgment, or at least to who they really are.
As the Re/Code suggests, Facebook could just buy its way into the market, just as it bought messaging app WhatsApp for $19 billion last month. However, Facebook doesn't need to buy a company to make for users to post anonymously -- it simply needs an app where they can log on without using their real names.
The new feature could provide more usage for the site and possibly bring younger users, something Facebook seems not to be attracting.


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Making education FunFriday, February 10th, 2012
The game I am co founder of Tune Hopper Just received an awesome review on Appolicious!
My favorite part
Jessica Daily says, "Ah, why isn't all education so enjoyable? While aimed at kids there's no reason someone new to music or trying to learn an instrument couldn't use this to start learning music theory."


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Calderón underwent microfracture surgery on Thursday in Denver
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (Thursday, March 28, 2013) – Colorado Rapids defender Diego Calderón is expected to miss 4-5 months after undergoing microfracture surgery on his right knee on Thursday in Denver. Calderón, who started each of the Rapids' first four games in defense, underwent the procedure after suffering a knee injury during Saturday's match at the LA Galaxy.
The injury occurred in the first half of the Rapids' match at the Galaxy, when Calderón collided with the goalpost after clearing a scoring attempt off the goal line. He was replaced by defender Chris Klute in the 34th minute of the match. An offseason acquisition for the Rapids, Calderón came to the club from Liga de Quito in his native Ecuador, where he is also a member of his country's national team.
The Rapids return to Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City this Saturday to face off against the Portland Timbers at 4:00 p.m. MT, with a magnetic schedule and detachable Rapids car magnet available to fans leaving the stadium following the game. For more information, or to purchase tickets, call 303-825-GOAL or visit www.ColoradoRapids.com.


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What's in your bag, Eagle-Eye Cherry?
His popular song "Save Tonight" was constantly playing in people's heads back in 1997, but on his fifth album, Streets of You, the singer-songwriter from Sweden features excellent, very personal country folk. The 49-year-old musician will be touring Germany with hits old and new in April. He let Lufthansa Magazin inspect his luggage at Tegel Airport in Berlin.
The sound of Eagle-Eye Cherry
"Save Tonight"