text: Plastic Free July, an initiative started in Australia in 2011, is making its global debut this year. It's a campaign designed to make us think about how we use plastic in our daily lives in an effort to get us to eliminate single-use plastic from our routines. There is no doubt that plastics play a significant role in improving our quality of life (i.e., bicycle helmets, hearing aids, etc.), but our growing reliance on single-use plastics is not only creating environmental problems (six of the top 10 items found during the Ocean Conservancy's 2012 Coastal Cleanup were single-use plastics), but it's perpetuating this myth that there are unlimited natural resources on this planet, so therefore we can feel free to use and dispose of them as we wish. We know this is not the case, but our routines continue to support the disposable lifestyle – and many of us find it difficult to break bad habits. The Plastic Free July initiative challenges people to make a commitment to eliminate single-use plastics from their lives for one day, one week, one month or longer. If it becomes too difficult to go cold turkey, they suggest that you tackle the top 4 (straws, plastic bags, plastic bottles and coffee cup lids). During last year's International Coastal Cleanup, approximately 1,019,902 plastic bags were retrieved. If you ate jellies, could you tell the difference? Any contribution to the effort, they say, is a step in the right direction. They are right. As the Director of Conservation at the National Aquarium, I've been involved in our cleanup efforts at Fort McHenry for more than a decade. More than 95 percent of the debris we remove from the wetland is plastic or foam and an overwhelming majority of that is single-use. This debris affects the health of our waterways, the health of our wildlife and the health of our communities – and it's preventable. On one end of the process, we can get much better at waste disposal and recycling in our region. At the other end of the process, we can take steps to dramatically reduce the amount of single-use plastics that we use, keeping it out of the waste stream altogether. There are several good resources out there if you would like tips on how to take the first step, like living plastic free, My Plastic Free Life and the Ocean Conservancy's smartphone app called Rippl. A couple of years ago, I began my own journey to eliminate the top 4 from my daily routine, and while it has been mostly successful, it hasn't always been perfect (hint: you can't take a stainless steel water bottle into Camden Yards to watch an Orioles game). I have reusable shopping bags stashed in my car and my purse and carry an insulated mug with me just about everywhere I go, but more than half the time, I still forget to inform restaurant waiters that I don't need a straw before one is automatically plopped down on the table. I know changing habits takes time, so I try to give myself a break. More importantly, I know that the real success is not so much when you reach your goal, but when you start making conscious decisions that rely less and less on convenience and more and more on responsible consumerism. Have you gone plastic free? Are you participating in the Plastic Free July challenge? Share your experience with me in the comments section! Tags: conservation-expert, international-coastal-cleanup, national-aquarium-experts, ocean-conservancy, plastic-free-living, plastic-pollution, single-use-plastics, thoughtful-thursday, thoughtful-thursdays Categories: Animals, Conservation, News Previous Post Next Post


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Valganciclovir to Treat HHV-8 Associated Multicentric Castleman's Disease
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00361933
Recruitment Status : Withdrawn (Research never begun.)
First Posted : August 9, 2006
Last Update Posted : April 18, 2017
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
|Condition or disease
|Giant Lymph Node Hyperplasia
|Drug: Valganciclovir
|Phase 4
All participants will undergo an initial screening appointment. At this visit, participants will be tested for Human Herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), the virus that is associated with MCD, and we will review participants' medical history and medical records to determine whether he/she has MCD. If participants do not live within the Seattle area, this visit may occur over the phone.
Those who qualify for the study will be followed for up to 2 years. During that 2 year period, participants will be asked to collect oral swabs once a week and have blood drawn monthly. If subjects do not live within the Seattle-area, they will be asked to ship these samples to UW for testing. We will provide subjects with instructions for these shipments. This will be done at no cost to the participant.
If during the 2 year period the participant experiences a MCD flare, he/she will be admitted to the University of Washington Medical Center's Clinic Research Center for 14-days. If the participant does not live within the Seattle-area, all travel expenses will be covered.
The study will enroll a total of 8 patients who will receive open-label valganciclovir for 14-days. Everyday during the hospitalization, participants will have blood drawn (to check your HHV-8 levels), 1 oral swab will be collected and a general physical exam will be performed.
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Actual Enrollment :
|0 participants
|Intervention Model:
|Single Group Assignment
|None (Open Label)
|Primary Purpose:
|Official Title:
|Clinical and Virologic Response to HHV-8 Associated Multicentric Castleman's Disease to Valganciclovir
|Study Start Date :
|December 2008
|Actual Primary Completion Date :
|May 2009
|Estimated Study Completion Date :
|May 2009
|Experimental: 1
Drug: Valganciclovir
valganciclovir open label, two 450mg tablets orally, twice a day
Other Name: Valcyte
- Time to improvement [ Time Frame: 14 days ]
- One-log reduction in HHV-8 peripheral blood viral load [ Time Frame: 14 days ]
- Safety and tolerability of valganciclovir [ Time Frame: 14 days ]
- Proportion of patients resolving symptoms by 4 days [ Time Frame: 14 days ]
- HHV-8 detection in the plasma or oropharynx [ Time Frame: 14 days ]
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Age 18 years
- Negative pregnancy test (for female participants)
- Diagnosis of MCD for over one year, with a history of at least one MCD recurrence annually
- Evidence of infection with HHV-8
- A willingness to travel and reside temporarily in Seattle for completion of the study protocol.
- For HIV-infected participants, a stable antiretroviral regimen for the past 6 months
Exclusion Criteria:
- Concurrent Kaposi sarcoma or non-hodgkin's lymphoma
- A history or evidence of CMV disease
- Hypersensitivity to ganciclovir or valganciclovir
- Use of high-dose acyclovir (>800 mg bid), valacyclovir (>1000 mg qd) or famciclovir (>1000 mg qd), ganciclovir, foscarnet, or cidofovir
- Neutropenia (ANC <1500)
- Renal insufficiency with serum creatinine > 1.5 mg/ml or CrCl < 60
- AST or ALT > 5 times upper limit of normal
- Concurrent administration of medications which are often associated with severe neutropenia or thrombocytopenia (i.e., chemotherapy, etc)
- Concurrent administration of probenecid or didanosine.
- Inability to read and understand English
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT00361933
|Principal Investigator:
|Corey Casper, MD, MPH
|University of Washington
|Responsible Party:
|Corey Casper, Professor, University of Washington
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|First Posted:
|August 9, 2006 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|April 18, 2017
|Last Verified:
|April 2017
Castleman Disease
Pathologic Processes
Lymphoproliferative Disorders
Lymphatic Diseases
Immunoproliferative Disorders
Immune System Diseases
Antiviral Agents
Anti-Infective Agents

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Item No.: TY-020
100% lyocell printed, lightweight, breathable, and silk-like softness.
What's lyocell: Lyocell is the newest pure natural fiber, made from wood cellulose. Lyocell is eco-friendly, 100% biodegradable. and is hypoallergenic.
Size: Twin, full, queen, king or as your requirements.
Package: Inner PVC bag / pc, outer export carton normally.
Export fabric and finished goods.


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Taylor Armstrong And Bar Refaeli Address Dancing With The Stars Rumors
Today, Taylor Armstrong was a guest on Ryan Seacrest's radio show. Unless something changes, many of you can take a sigh of relief (as well as myself, lol). According to the interview, Taylor says she hasn't been approached by Dancing With The Stars to dance, but, she says she can dance and she might be open to it if approached.
With the cast announcement for the new season of "Dancing With The Stars" less than 2 weeks away, there has been speculation that Taylor may be on the upcoming season. Taylor tells us she has not been approached by the show, but says she would be open to it. "I can dance," she says confidently. "I'll cut myself down for pretty much anything, but I actually can keep a beat."
Thanks to Lori for this news!
ADDING: And on that note, Bar Refaeli won't be dancing either as rumored. You can view a video at Access Hollywood where she says she doesn't have time.


text:
At InsuranceQuotes, we want to make buying and using insurance a more straightforward experience. Get started with our free quote finder to instantly find and compare the latest quotes for auto, home, renters, life, health, or business coverage in your area. If you're unsure about the finer details of policies, coverage limitations or claims, check out the IQ Insurance Library's comprehensive insurance guides and subject-specific articles written by our team of independent insurance experts.
The cost of insurance is on the rise: the price for auto insurance rose 3.6% between 2011 and 2012, and 3.1% for homeowners and renter's insurance, according to the Insurance Information Institute. In fact, auto liability insurance premiums alone have been increasing by 2.8% annually for the past three years. This makes choosing the right coverage and provider all the more crucial to save money without sacrificing important aspects of coverage.


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As IPv4 addresses run out, compatibility with the new protocol will be key for Web-facing servers
The White House announced last month that almost 300 new datasets have been put online at Data.gov as part of the president's Open Government Initiative. However, as the amount of data on IPv4-enabled government servers grows, the pool of available IPv4 addresses is drying up.
During the next few years, government efforts to make greater use of the Internet will run up against an Internet in which growth is dominated by incompatible IPv6 addresses.
"Data.gov and cloud computing are still the headline grabbers," said Peter Tseronis, chairman of the CIO Council's IPv6 Working Group. But those initiatives require the access and capabilities that the next generation of IP will provide. "The administration needs to take a stand on this. You can't be talking about cloud computing without talking about the state of the Internet, and that means IPv6."
In May 2009, the CIO Council released a "Planning Guide/Roadmap toward IPv6 Adoption within the U.S. Government." "It should be recognized that by the end of 2011, there will be new clients and servers on the Internet which have no choice but to only have an IPv6 address," the road map states. "For the rest of the Internet to be able to communicate with them, they should then be able to serve to IPv6 customers and access IPv6 servers."
That means the government's Internet-facing servers and almost all devices should be able to use IPv6, the road map states. Nonpublic facing networks that do not rely on carrier transport across the Internet core can afford to migrate to IPv6 through a more gradual tech refresh.
Although agencies rushed to meet a requirement to make their core networks IPv6 capable by June 2008, little has been done since to enable the new IP. The United States lags behind foreign initiatives, such as China's Next Generation Internet five-year plan and the European Commission's i2010 initiative to deploy IPv6 widely in Europe this year.
"Action is needed by the U.S. government in order to retain our nation's technical and market leadership in the Internet sector and to expand and improve services for America's citizens," the road map states.
The urgency of the situation was underscored by the announcement in January by the Number Resource Organization, which oversees global allocation of IP addresses, that less than 10 percent of the available IPv4 address space remains unassigned. IPv4 addresses have been in use for more than 30 years and are able to accommodate about 4 billion addressed devices. But the rate at which they are being assigned is speeding up. As of September 2007, 80 percent of IPv4 were addresses assigned. At present rates, the available pool is expected to be used up in less than 600 days.
The depletion of addresses does not mean that the Internet will cease to work. But as future growth occurs in the IPv6 address space, the Internet could be divided into old and new versions, interoperable only through translation gateways that create bottlenecks for ever-increasing amounts of traffic. To avoid this scenario, the government is gradually making IPv6 use its policy. An IPv6 government profile for products has been developed, and the Federal Acquisition Regulation now requires agencies to specify the profile when acquiring IP-enabled equipment. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is developing a testing program to certify that IPv6 products meet this profile.
But more work remains, said Tseronis, who is deputy associate chief information officer at the Energy Department. According to the road map, agencies should already have included concrete plans for deploying critical IPv6-enabled network services in their strategic architecture plans and have created business cases for those services. They should now be deploying IPv6-enabled services.
"This is not a sprint, it is truly a marathon," Tseronis said. It is not enough for a CIO to have a network that works now. "If you are a CIO, finding out how you can take advantage of the new Internet is your job."
About the Author
William Jackson is a Maryland-based freelance writer.
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