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| 2020-09-30 15:36:36
Pelosi, Mnuchin fail to reach stimulus deal, CNBC reports
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to strike a coronavirus stimulus deal during a more than 90-minute meeting Wednesday, CNBC's Jacob Pramuk reports. The pair will continue discussions as they try to craft an elusive fifth relief package that could pass both chambers of Congress, the California Democrat said in a statement. Meanwhile, House Democrats plan to vote on their $2.2T rescue legislation later Wednesday - a largely symbolic gesture as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already opposed the plan, the author adds. Reference Link
Fly Intel: Top five weekend stock stories » 19:5610/2510/25/20
Catch up on the…
Catch up on the weekend's top five stories with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Dunkin' Brands (DNKN), the parent company of Dunkin' and Baskin-Robbins, confirmed that it has held preliminary discussions to be acquired by Inspire Brands. There is no certainty that any agreement will be reached. The company said it will not comment further unless and until a transaction is agreed or discussions are terminated. This follows a news report by the New York Times's Lauren Hirsch saying that Dunkin' Brands was in talks to sell itself to Inspire Brands, in a deal that would take Dunkin' Brands private at a price of $106.50 a share. 2. Blackstone (BX) has struck a deal to buy Simply Self Storage from Brookfield Asset Management (BAM), The Wall Street Journal's Miriam Gottfried reports. The private-equity company's nontraded real-estate investment trust, known as BREIT, is buying the 8M square-foot portfolio of self-storage facilities for about $1.2B. The deal is expected to be announced Monday, the author adds. 3. Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM) was a COVID-19 winner, and then it was a COVID-19 loser, but its earnings report on October 28 could make it a winner again, Teresa Rivas wrote in this week's edition of Barron's. After peaking in the March quarter, Sprouts' same-store sales declined as consumers favored one-stop-shops like Target (TGT) and Walmart (WMT) to reduce the risk of virus exposure, the author noted, adding that its stock has dropped 22% in the past three months. However, Sprouts' earnings could help the stock reverse course, the publication contended. 4. Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) announced it has made a non-binding proposal to acquire Coca-Cola Amatil (CCLAY). The Board of Directors of CCEP has made a non-binding offer to acquire 69.2% of the entire existing issued share capital of Coca-Cola Amatil, which is held by shareholders other than Coca-Cola, to be effected by means of a scheme of arrangement; and has entered into a non-binding heads of terms and cooperation letter with Coca-Cola (KO), setting out the terms on which Coca-Cola European Partners proposes to acquire Coca-Cola's 30.8% interest in Coca-Cola Amatil, conditional upon Australian regulatory approvals and the implementation of the scheme of arrangement. Coca-Cola Amatil's Independent Shareholders would receive A$12.75 per share in cash. Coca-Cola would receive A$9.57 per share in cash for part of their shareholding, which comprises 10.8% of Coca-Cola Amatil's shares. Coca-Cola European Partners will work with Coca-Cola to acquire all of Coca-Cola's remaining 20% shareholding in Coca-Cola Amatil, in connection with which Coca-Cola European Partners may satisfy part of the consideration for these Coca-Cola Amatil shares by the issue of Coca-Cola European Partners shares at an agreed conversion ratio. 5. Coca-Cola, NextEra Energy (NEE), Xcel Energy (XEL), WEC Energy (WEC), Eversource Energy (ES), CMS Energy (CMS), Alliant Energy (LNT), Atmos Energy (ATO), and New Jersey Resources (NJR) saw positive mentions in this week's edition of Barron's.
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Turning Point Therapeutics price target raised to $120 from $90 at Oppenheimer » 19:4810/2510/25/20
Oppenheimer analyst…
Oppenheimer analyst Matthew Biegler raised the firm's price target on Turning Point Therapeutics to $120 from $90 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The analyst notes that Turning Point has unveiled initial data for TPX-0022 in a late-breaker at the virtual EORTC-NCI-AACR Meeting. The results were "amongst the most impressive" he has seen for any MET inhibitor-showing clear signs of activity in a variety of Exon14del and MET-amplified genotypes. Biegler believes the clinical profile of TPX-0022 could open the door for accelerated paths to market. The analyst notes that other MET inhibitors are currently only approved for Exon14del lung cancer, and MET was flagged as the target most in need of better drugs in his recent prescriber survey. Based on these data, Biegler is also increasing his Probability of Success for the program to 35% from 15%.
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Check Point upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs » 19:4510/2510/25/20
Goldman Sachs analyst…
Goldman Sachs analyst Brian Essex upgraded Check Point to Neutral from Sell with a $128 price target. The analyst argues that the company has demonstrated signs of stabilization with several quarters of better billings growth following billings weakness into this year. In addition to results for the quarter, his recent industry conversations and survey results reflect improving traction with resellers, better penetration with new products, and tailwinds from elevated firewall demand into the end of the year. Expectations remain low and Check Point continues to trade at a discount, Essex adds.
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Blackstone to buy Simply Self storage for $1.2B, WSJ reports » 17:4710/2510/25/20
Blackstone (BX) has…
Blackstone (BX) has struck a deal to buy Simply Self Storage from Brookfield Asset Management (BAM), The Wall Street Journal's Miriam Gottfried reports. The private-equity company's nontraded real-estate investment trust, known as BREIT, is buying the 8M square-foot portfolio of self-storage facilities for about $1.2B. The deal is expected to be announced Monday, the author adds. Reference Link
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Facebook preparing measures for possible election unrest, WSJ says » 17:4310/2510/25/20
Facebook teams have…
Facebook teams have planned for the possibility of trying to calm election-related conflict in the U.S. by deploying internal tools designed for what it calls "at-risk" countries, The Wall Street Journal's Jeff Horwitz and Deepa Seetharaman report, citing people familiar with the matter. The emergency measures include slowing the spread of viral content and lowering the bar for suppressing potentially inflammatory posts, the people said. Previously used in countries including Sri Lanka and Myanmar, they are part of a larger tool kit developed by Facebook to prepare for the U.S. election. Reference Link
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Apple Services business could be hit in Google antitrust battle, WSJ reports » 17:3810/2510/25/20
The Justice…
The Justice Department's attempt to punish Google (GOOG) for its competitive practices in internet search could end up taking a major toll on a different tech giant: Apple (AAPL), The Wall Street Journal's Tim Higgins reports. A multibillion-dollar deal in which Google pays to be the default search engine on Apple's iPhones and other devices is at the heart of the case the U.S. government filed last week against Google. That deal is also at the heart of Apple's services unit, which has been the biggest contributor to its growth over the past several years, the author notes. The government has pointed to the deal, whose history dates back 15 years, as an example of how Google, a unit of Alphabet, uses its giant profits to block out competition-a contention Google denies.Reference Link
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Coca-Cola European Partners announces proposed acquisition of Coca-Cola Amatil » 17:1910/2510/25/20
Coca-Cola European…
Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) announced it has made a non-binding proposal to acquire Coca-Cola Amatil (CCLAY). The Board of Directors of CCEP has made a non-binding offer to acquire 69.2% of the entire existing issued share capital of Coca-Cola Amatil, which is held by shareholders other than Coca-Cola, to be effected by means of a scheme of arrangement; and has entered into a non-binding heads of terms and cooperation letter with Coca-Cola (KO), setting out the terms on which Coca-Cola European Partners proposes to acquire Coca-Cola's 30.8% interest in Coca-Cola Amatil, conditional upon Australian regulatory approvals and the implementation of the scheme of arrangement. If confirmatory due diligence is completed by Coca-Cola European Partners, other conditions satisfied and an acceptable scheme implementation deed is negotiated, the Board of Directors of Coca-Cola Amatil - excluding Coca-Cola's nominee directors -, intends to unanimously recommend the scheme to Independent Shareholders, in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to an independent expert concluding, and continuing to conclude, that the scheme is fair and reasonable and in the best interests of Independent Shareholders. Coca-Cola Amatil's Independent Shareholders would receive A$12.75 per share in cash. Coca-Cola would receive A$9.57 per share in cash for part of their shareholding, which comprises 10.8% of Coca-Cola Amatil's shares. Coca-Cola European Partners will work with Coca-Cola to acquire all of Coca-Cola's remaining 20% shareholding in Coca-Cola Amatil, in connection with which Coca-Cola European Partners may satisfy part of the consideration for these Coca-Cola Amatil shares by the issue of Coca-Cola European Partners shares at an agreed conversion ratio.
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Amazon wins order to stall $3.4B Reliance-Future deal, Bloomberg says » 17:1210/2510/25/20
Amazon.com secured relief…
Amazon.com secured relief in its dispute with Future Group after a court put a temporary hold on Future's $3.4B sale deal with Reliance Industries, Bloomberg's Upmanyu Trivedi and P R Sanjai report. An arbitration court in Singapore restrained Future Retail and its founders from going ahead with the sale of assets, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The ruling was on Amazon's request for an interim order before main tribunal hearings start, the authors note. Reference Link
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Carlyle nearing $2.4B deal for Siemen's Flender business, Bloomberg says » 17:0910/2510/25/20
Carlyle Group (CG) is…
Carlyle Group (CG) is nearing an agreement to acquire Siemens's (SIEGY) mechanical drive unit for about $2.4B, Bloomberg's Aaron Kirchfeld, Dinesh Nair, and Jan-Henrik Foerster report, citing people familiar with the matter. The companies are finalizing terms of the deal, which could be announced as early as this week, the people said. Reference Link
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Dunkin' Brands near deal for $9B sale to Inspire Brands, NYTimes reports » 17:0610/2510/25/20
Dunkin' Brands, the…
Dunkin' Brands, the parent company of the Dunkin' and Baskin Robbins chains, is in talks to sell itself to a private equity-backed company, Inspire Brands, the New York Times's Lauren Hirsch reported earlier. The deal being discussed, which could be announced as soon as Monday, would take Dunkin' Brands private at a price of $106.50 a share, said two people with knowledge of the negotiations. The company has since confirmed that it has held preliminary discussions to be acquired by Inspire Brands. Reference Link
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Dunkin' Brands confirms preliminary discussions to be acquired by Inspire Brands » 16:5110/2510/25/20
Dunkin' Brands, the…
Dunkin' Brands, the parent company of Dunkin' and Baskin-Robbins, confirms that it has held preliminary discussions to be acquired by Inspire Brands. There is no certainty that any agreement will be reached. The company said it will not comment further unless and until a transaction is agreed or discussions are terminated.
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China Tesla car recall seems 'a pretty big deal,' says GLJ Research » 16:2910/2510/25/20
Commenting on the…
Commenting on the reported 50K China Tesla car recall, GLJ Research analyst Gordon Johnson says he thinks "the entire China initiative for TSLA is falling apart." The analyst argues that Elon Musk made promises "it seems he will not be able to keep to the Chinese government." "What's important about the recall isn't its impressive size, it's that it is happening at all," Johnson adds, noting that it is "a 100% elective action by China." The analyst believes this "is a big deal," and likely why despite $6B more in cash in Q3 versus Q2, Tesla's interest income was down 25% quarter-over-quarter.
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SAP lowers FY20 revenue guidance to EUR 27.2-EUR 27.8B, from EUR 27.8B-EUR 28.5B » 16:2110/2510/25/20
SAP said in a statement…
SAP said in a statement that, "While SAP continues to see robust interest in its solutions to drive digital transformation as customers look to emerge from the crisis with more resilience and agility, lockdowns have been recently re-introduced in some regions and demand recovery has been more muted than expected. Further and for the same reasons, SAP no longer anticipates a meaningful recovery in SAP Concur business travel-related revenues for the remainder of the year 2020." SAP continues to expect its share of more predictable revenue to be approximately 72%. The company has also raised its cash flow expectations for 2020 on the back of a strong year-to-date cash flow performance and now expects an operating cash flow of approximately EUR 6.0B - previously above EUR 5.0B - and a free cash flow above EUR 4.5B - previously approximately EUR 4.0B. Additionally, SAP said that, "The acceleration of customers' move to the cloud and subsequent business transformations which drive the new ambition's cloud revenue target of more than EUR 22B by 2025. SAP expects this to negatively impact the 2023 operating margin by approximately 4 to 5 percentage points relative to the previous mid-term ambition."
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Celanese expects FY20 adjusted EPS of $7-$7.10, consensus $6.99 » 16:1610/2510/25/20
"Across most of our…
"Across most of our end markets, global demand during the third quarter progressed well along the path of recovery," said Lori Ryerkerk, Celanese's chairman and chief executive officer. "We are monitoring the current resurgence of COVID-19 across various locations for any impact to our businesses. At this stage, the October and November order books are shaping consistently with the third quarter and show no indications of demand retraction. We expect continued momentum in the fourth quarter to partially offset various sequential headwinds including normal December seasonality and a major turnaround at our Frankfurt POM facility. Including all these factors, we expect full year 2020 adjusted earnings of approximately $7.00 to $7.10 per share. Looking to 2021, we remain confident that underlying demand will reach pre-COVID levels at some point in the year. While uncertainty remains, we continue to be focused on controllable actions to drive strong growth next year, including productivity, production planning, and disciplined capital deployment."
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Celanese reports Q3 adjusted EPS $1.95, consensus $1.70 » 16:1410/2510/25/20
Reports Q3 revenue $1.4B,…
Reports Q3 revenue $1.4B, consensus $1.34B. "Our financial results are again a reflection of the commitment of our employees to the success of Celanese in any environment. They have taken decisive actions throughout this year to respond to the difficult realities of COVID-19 and continue to navigate persistent challenges to better serve and support our customers each day. With the recovery we have seen to date, I am pleased to share that all of our production facilities across the globe are again fully staffed and operating to meet demand. We continue to closely monitor business conditions and will remain nimble and purposeful in preparing ourselves for continued recovery and growth in the future. We are encouraged by robust demand recovery for our products across all regions in the third quarter," said Lori Ryerkerk, chairman and chief executive officer.
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Mirati reports preliminary results from mutant KRAS selective inhibitor programs » 16:1010/2510/25/20
Mirati Therapeutics…
Mirati Therapeutics announced preliminary results from the company's mutant KRAS selective inhibitor programs. The preliminary results included updated clinical data of adagrasib, the company's KRAS G12C inhibitor, presented at the 32nd EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Therapeutics and initial preclinical in vivo data of MRTX1133, the company's selective and potent potential first-in-class KRAS G12D inhibitor. In a pooled assessment of 110 patients harboring a G12C mutation in NSCLC, CRC and other solid tumors, monotherapy adagrasib has been well tolerated. 4.5% of treatment-related adverse events led to discontinuation. Over 50 patients have been treated with adagrasib in combination with either pembrolizumab in NSCLC, cetuximab in CRC and TNO-155 in NSCLC or CRC. Each combination has been well tolerated. The pembrolizumab and cetuximab combination cohorts are ongoing and each have cleared the dose limiting toxicity evaluation period at the full dose of each commercial agent and at a 600 mg BID dose of adagrasib. The TNO-155 combination dose escalation and expansion cohorts are ongoing at a 600 mg BID dose of adagrasib. Regarding preliminary efficacy data as of August 30, 2020 in patients with advanced NSCLC treated with adagrasib as a monotherapy at a 600 mg BID dose: Patients had a median of two prior systemic treatments, including all patients receiving prior treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy regimens and 92% of patients receiving prior treatment with an anti-PD-1 /L1 inhibitor. 4 of 6 responders have a duration of treatment for greater than 11 months and all 4 patients remain on treatment. Preliminary explorative correlative analysis of co-mutations of KRAS G12C and STK11 in advanced NSCLC showed a 64% ORR across pooled Phase 1/1b and Phase 2 cohorts. Approximately 30% of all KRAS G12C mutant NSCLC patients have a STK11 co-occurring mutation. Co-occurring KRAS and STK11 mutations have been shown to be significantly correlated with poor clinical outcomes when treated with immunotherapy and platinum-based chemotherapy regimens. In a case study presented from the ongoing clinical trial of adagrasib as a monotherapy, a heavily pre-treated NSCLC patient with an unirradiated, active brain metastases observed a 67% reduction in tumor volume including the disappearance of a metastatic brain lesion. Preclinical studies demonstrate dose-dependent brain and cerebrospinal fluid exposure. The Phase 2 cohort of adagrasib as a monotherapy is currently enrolling additional NSCLC patients with active brain metastases to further explore this patient population which has a high unmet medical need. In a case study presented from the ongoing clinical trial of adagrasib in combination with TNO-155 in collaboration with Novartis, a heavily pre-treated NSCLC patient treated in the combination trial of adagrasib and TNO-155 observed a 60% reduction in tumor volume.
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Cenovus Energy, Husky Energy combine to create oil, natural gas company » 16:0210/2510/25/20
Cenovus Energy and Husky…
Cenovus Energy and Husky Energy announced "a transaction to create a new integrated Canadian oil and natural gas company with an advantaged upstream and downstream portfolio that is expected to provide enhanced free funds flow generation and superior return opportunities for investors." The companies have entered into a definitive arrangement agreement under which Cenovus and Husky will combine in an all-stock transaction valued at $23.6B, inclusive of debt. The combined company will operate as Cenovus Energy Inc. and remain headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of Cenovus and Husky and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021. The combination has low exposure to Alberta oil pricing while maintaining exposure to global commodity prices. The combined company will be the third largest Canadian oil and natural gas producer, based on total company production, with about 750,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of low-cost oil and natural gas production, including 50,000 BOE/d of high free funds flow generating offshore Asia Pacific production. It will be the second largest Canadian-based refiner and upgrader, with total North American upgrading and refining capacity of approximately 660,000 barrels per day, which includes approximately 350,000 bbls/d of heavy oil conversion capacity. The company will have access to about 265,000 bbls/d of current takeaway capacity out of Alberta on existing major pipelines, as well as about 305,000 bbls/d of committed capacity on planned pipelines. In addition, it will have 16 million barrels of crude oil storage capacity as well as strategic crude-by-rail assets that provide takeaway optionality. The combined company is expected to generate an incremental $1.2B of annual free funds flow, comprised of $600 million in annual corporate and operating synergies and $600M in annual capital allocation synergies, achievable independent of commodity prices. The vast majority of the annual savings are anticipated to be achieved in the first year of combined operations, with the full amount of the annual run rate synergies realized within year two. The companies anticipate additional future savings based on opportunities for further physical integration of the upstream and downstream heavy oil assets. The anticipated $600M in annual corporate and operating cost synergies will be achieved through reductions to combined workforce and corporate overhead costs including streamlined IT systems and procurement savings through economies of scale. The company is expected to sustain production levels and downstream operations with an anticipated annual capital investment of $2.4B, a reduction of more than $600M per year compared with what would be required by the two companies on a standalone basis. The combined company is expected to be free funds flow breakeven in 2021 at WTI prices of US$36/bbl, with a line of sight to reducing its free funds flow breakeven to less than WTI US$33/bbl by 2023. This is lower than either company on a standalone basis. At closing, the combined company is expected to have ample liquidity with $8.5B in undrawn committed credit facilities and no bond maturities until 2022.
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Essa Pharma presents therapeutics potential of EPI-7386 » 15:5510/2510/25/20
Essa Pharma presented new…
Essa Pharma presented new preclinical data on ESSA's clinical candidate, EPI-7386, at the 32nd EORTC-NCI-AACR Annual Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics. In an in vitro cellular thermal shift assay, EPI-7386 was shown to physically interact with the both the full-length and the splice variant form of the androgen receptor. In an in vitro full-length AR-driven cellular model, RNAseq data was analyzed by pathway enrichment analysis. EPI-7386 demonstrates largely similar modulation of AR-regulated genes compared to enzalutamide, but with additional unique elements. EPI-7386 exhibits superior activity to enzalutamide in the AR-V7-driven cellular models LNCaP95 and 22Rv1 by modulating AR-driven gene expression with or without the addition of an external androgen.
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Lianluo Smart Limited, Newegg announce entering into merger agreement » 15:5210/2510/25/20
Lianluo Smart Limited and…
Lianluo Smart Limited and privately-held Newegg jointly announced that they have entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger, whereby the stockholders of Newegg will become the majority owners of Lianluo Smart Limited, as a result of the merger of Lightning Delaware Sub, Lianluo Smart Limited's wholly owned subsidiary, with and into Newegg. In addition, Lianluo Smart Limited will sell its equity holdings in Lianluo Connection Medical Wearable Device Technology to Beijing Fenjin Times Technology Development pursuant to an equity transfer agreement. The disposition will become effective immediately following completion of the Merger. Concurrent with the closing of the merger and disposition described above, the company will conduct a public offering of its common shares with expected gross proceeds of approximately $30M. The consummation of the Restructure and the Financing are contingent on the closing of each other transaction and certain customary approvals and conditions. Lianluo Smart Limited will seek its shareholders' approval of the Restructure as well as an amendment to its memorandum and articles of association to eliminate its dual class share structure, to effectuate a reverse share split if needed to meet Nasdaq's initial listing requirements, to increase the number of its authorized shares and to effectuate a name change. In connection with the closing of the Restructure and the Financing, Lianluo Smart Limited intends to change its name to "Newegg Commerce" and remain Nasdaq-listed under a new ticker symbol. Upon completion of the merger, the board of directors and officers of Lianluo Smart Limited will be replaced by the board of directors and officers of Newegg. It is anticipated that immediately upon completion of the merger, Newegg's current stockholders will have an ownership interest of approximately 99.02%, and Lianluo Smart Limited's existing shareholders will own approximately 0.98%, of the post-merger company. The above ownership percentages do not take into account the company's proposed Financing of common shares that is contemplated to take place concurrently with the Restructure.
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Turning Point Therapeutics presents initial data from Phase 1 SHIELD-1 study » 15:4610/2510/25/20
Turning Point…
Turning Point Therapeutics reported initial clinical data from the ongoing Phase 1 dose finding portion of its SHIELD-1 study of drug candidate, TPX-0022, a potent inhibitor of MET and the associated cancer signaling pathways of SRC and CSF1R. The initial data highlighted preliminary clinical activity, including objective responses across multiple tumor types and a generally tolerable safety profile. Twenty-two patients were treated across four dose levels from Sept. 2019 to the data cut-off date of Oct. 15, 2020. Patients included those with MET-altered non-small cell lung cancer, colorectal cancer, gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer and glioblastoma. The median number of prior therapies was three, with all patients having received at least one prior line of chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy and the majority of patients having received multiple rounds of prior combination chemotherapy. Sixty-eight percent of patients had a baseline ECOG performance score of 1. Preliminary efficacy data was available for 15 evaluable patients with baseline measurable disease and at least one post-baseline scan. TPX-0022 was generally well tolerated, with the most frequent treatment emergent adverse event being Grade 1 or 2 dizziness. Of 10 MET TKI-naive patients, five achieved a partial response, including three with GC or GEJ cancer, one with CRC, and one with NSCLC. All three evaluable patients with gastric or GEJ tumors achieved a response. Of the five responses, three patients achieved a confirmed response, and two patients remained on treatment in a response awaiting confirmation at the time of the data cut-off. Of the five MET TKI-pretreated NSCLC patients, three patients treated with multiple rounds of prior therapy achieved a best response of stable disease with two patients showing tumor measurement improvements. Nine of 15 patients achieved clinical benefit. Six of 15 patients remained on treatment with duration of treatment ranging from 7.6+ to 34+ weeks. The company anticipates initiating Phase 1 dose expansion after determining the recommended Phase 2 dose. Turning Point plans to discuss the ongoing Phase 1 SHIELD-1 study with the Food and Drug Administration to potentially modify the trial into a registrational Phase 1/2 design. The company is targeting initiation of the Phase 2 portion in the second half of 2021, pending FDA feedback. In parallel, based on the SHIELD-1 study initial findings, a combination study with TPX-0022 and an epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor in patients with EGFR mutated MET-amplified NSCLC is also planned for initiation in the second half of 2021. In addition, preclinical data for the company's lead drug candidate repotrectinib were reported in two poster presentations. The first poster expanded on previous work presented in June at AACR 2020 with additional preclinical data of repotrectinib in combination with the KRAS-G12C inhibitor, AMG-510, in a NSCLC xenograft tumor model. In preclinical studies, repotrectinib significantly enhanced efficacy of AMG-510 and showed a marked survival benefit in a KRAS G12C xenograft model when compared to AMG-510 alone. Repotrectinib previously showed synergy in preclinical models with AMG-510 and inhibited KRAS G12C tumor cell proliferation, suppressed receptor tyrosine kinase upregulation induced by AMG-510, and reduced KRAS G12C tumor cell cytokine release. Similar results have since been obtained with other KRAS G12C inhibitors. With the new results presented in a KRAS G12C xenograft tumor model, and previous data shown with repotrectinib in combination with a MEK inhibitor, the company now plans to initiate a clinical combination study in KRAS mutant NSCLC in mid-2021. Further details on the design will be shared at the time of study initiation. The second poster showed preclinical studies of repotrectinib as monotherapy and in combination with irinotecan and temozolomide in neuroblastoma cell lines and pediatric patient-derived xenograft models. Repotrectinib combined with chemotherapy demonstrated increased anti-tumor activity compared to chemotherapy alone in an ALK-mutant neuroblastoma PDX model.
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Revolution Medicines reports progress, expansion of combo strategy with RMC-4630 » 15:3910/2510/25/20
Revolution Medicines…
Revolution Medicines (RVMD) reported interim data from the company's ongoing Phase 1b/2 clinical trial evaluating the combination of RMC-4630 and cobimetinib in an oral presentation at the EORTC-NCI-AACR 32nd Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics. Interim results suggest that a dual intermittent dosing strategy for RMC-4630 and cobimetinib exceeds target plasma exposures for each drug based on preclinical models of RAS pathway-driven cancers that project potential clinical activity. The adverse event profile of the combination, which was consistent with expected on-pathway effects of both drugs, was tolerable under the dual intermittent dosing schedule. The ongoing Phase 1b/2 RMC-4630-02 trial includes an open-label, dose-escalation and dose-expansion study arm designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetic, and pharmacodynamic proles of RMC-4630 and cobimetinib in adult patients with relapsed/refractory solid tumors that harbor specific genomic RAS pathway mutations. The results of this study will inform Revolution Medicines' pending selection of a recommended Phase 2 dose and schedule for the drug combination to be evaluated further in one or more expansion cohorts of patients selected by tumor genotype and histotype that are expected to initiate in 2020. While evaluation of efficacy outcomes is not a primary objective of the dose escalation portion of the RMC-4630-02 study, investigators reported preliminary evidence of anti-tumor activity in patients with colorectal cancer driven by KRAS mutations. As of the data cut-off date, tumor volume reduction was observed in three of seven patients with colorectal cancers harboring KRAS mutations who were treated at the highest dose of RMC-4630, including one unconfirmed partial response in a patient carrying a KRASG12D mutation. Revolution Medicines also announced that it has signed an agreement with AstraZeneca (AZN) to enter a clinical collaboration to study RMC-4630 in combination with an emerging asset from AstraZeneca's preclinical efforts targeting KRASG12C. Under the agreement, AstraZeneca will sponsor and conduct this combination study and Revolution Medicines will provide clinical supply of RMC-4630. Separately, Revolution Medicines and Amgen are collaborators in an ongoing Amgen-sponsored clinical trial studying RMC-4630 in combination with AMG 510, an investigational KRASG12C inhibitor.
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Syros presents initial data from Phase 1 trial of SY-5609 » 15:3410/2510/25/20
Syros Pharmaceuticals…
Syros Pharmaceuticals announced initial safety, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics data from the ongoing dose-escalation portion of its Phase 1 clinical trial of SY-5609 in patients with select solid tumors. SY-5609 is a highly selective and potent oral cyclin-dependent kinase 7 inhibitor. These early data demonstrate proof of mechanism in patients with advanced solid tumors and establish a maximum tolerated dose for continuous daily dosing. The data was presented in a poster session at the 32nd EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium. The study also includes a cohort evaluating SY-5609 in combination with fulvestrant in CDK4/6 inhibitor-resistant HR-positive breast cancer patients. As of August 21, 17 patients had been enrolled in the trial and were eligible for safety, PK and PD analysis. Patients were either treated with continuous daily dosing of single-agent SY-5609 at 1, 3, 4 or 5 mg, or for three weeks on and one week off at 3 mg in combination with fulvestrant. The median age of the patients enrolled in the study was 64. Patients were heavily pretreated with a median of four prior therapies. The MTD for continuous daily dosing was achieved at 3 mg. The data showed that SY-5609 demonstrated dose-dependent increases in POLR2A mRNA expression, a PD marker being used in the trial to measure CDK7 biological activity. Notably, increases in POLR2A in patients treated at 3 mg daily reached levels associated with tumor regressions in preclinical models, as well as with levels of CDK7 target engagement at which a clinical response and apoptosis were observed in a trial of patients treated with a first-generation IV CDK7 inhibitor. SY-5609 demonstrated approximately dose-proportional PK as both a single agent and in combination, minimal accumulation with repeat dosing, and a steady state half-life compatible with once-daily dosing. The majority of adverse events reported with SY-5609 as a single agent were low grade. The most common AEs were nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, platelet count decrease, and vomiting. The safety profile of SY-5609 in combination with fulvestrant was consistent with that of single-agent SY-5609. Five of the 13 patients treated with single-agent SY-5609 were response evaluable, and of those, three achieved stable disease and two had progressive disease; one of the four patients treated in the combination cohort was response evaluable and had progressive disease. The Phase 1 trial continues to actively enroll patients with select solid tumors, including the recently expanded single-agent cohort in lung cancer patients and combination cohort in breast cancer patients, to further evaluate the 3 mg daily dose in focused patient populations. The trial has also been opened to patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, another tumor type that has demonstrated sensitivity to SY-5609 in preclinical models. Additional cohorts are evaluating alternate regimens, supported by preclinical data showing that intermittent regimens of SY-5609 induced tumor regressions. Syros expects to report additional dose-escalation data, including clinical activity data, in mid-2021.
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Aileron announces proof-of-concept data from ALRN-6924 Phase 1b trial » 15:3110/2510/25/20
Aileron Therapeutics…
Aileron Therapeutics announced new positive clinical data from its ongoing Phase 1b trial demonstrating clinical proof of concept that treatment with ALRN-6924 prior to second-line topotecan administration resulted in a protective effect against severe anemia, thrombocytopenia and neutropenia in patients with p53-mutated small cell lung cancer. The results are being featured in a late-breaking poster presentation at the 32nd EORTC-NCI-AACR Annual Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics. ALRN-6924 is a cell-permeating peptide drug designed to work intracellularly, activating wild-type p53 to selectively shield healthy cells from chemotherapy in patients who harbor p53-mutant tumors, approximately 50% of all cancer patients, without interrupting chemotherapy's targeting of cancer cells. As of August 31, 2020, the data cut-off for this data presentation, a total of 26 adult patients were enrolled in the dose optimization part of the ALRN-6924 Phase 1b trial, evaluating treatment with ALRN-6924 given 24 hours prior to chemotherapy. 18 patients were enrolled across three ALRN-6924 dose levels and an additional eight patients were enrolled in a 0.3 mg/kg expansion cohort. 25 of these patients were evaluable per the trial protocol. ALRN-6924 was administered 24 hours before each dose of topotecan. Topotecan was administered on days 1 through 5 of every 21-day treatment cycle. In the trial, toxicities were evaluated using the National Cancer Institute's Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events. Per the Phase 1b trial protocol, patients were not permitted to receive prophylactic G-CSF treatment in cycle 1. Across all ALRN-6924 dose levels, Grade 3/4 anemia, Grade 3/4 thrombocytopenia and Grade 4 neutropenia were limited to 24%, 36% and 48% of patients, respectively. In the topotecan plus placebo arm of a recent third-party randomized Phase 2 trial in SCLC patients receiving topotecan, Grade 3/4 anemia, Grade 3/4 thrombocytopenia and Grade 4 neutropenia were reported in 63%, 70% and 76% of patients, respectively. In the ALRN-6924 trial, while chemoprotection effects were observed across all ALRN-6924 dose levels, the 0.3 mg/kg dose level showed the most robust chemoprotection results, with Grade 3/4 anemia, Grade 3/4 thrombocytopenia and Grade 4 neutropenia limited to 21%, 36% and 43% of patients, respectively. Additionally, none of the patients on ALRN-6924 experienced febrile neutropenia. In the topotecan plus placebo arm of the recent third-party randomized Phase 2 trial in SCLC patients receiving topotecan, febrile neutropenia was observed in 17% of patients. None of the patients treated at the 0.3 mg/kg ALRN-6924 dose level had hematological serious adverse events and only one patient received one red blood cell transfusion and one platelet transfusion1. In the topotecan plus placebo arm of the recent third-party randomized Phase 2 trial, 41% and 31% of SCLC patients received red blood cell and platelet transfusions, respectively. At the 0.3 mg/kg ALRN-6924 dose level, no patients required erythropoiesis-stimulating agents, and seven patients required G-CSF treatment.
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Momo announces Yan Tang as Executive Chairman, Li Wang as new CEO » 15:1310/2510/25/20
Momo announced that its…
Momo announced that its board of directors has approved Yan Tang to step down from the position of Chief Executive Officer, and promoted Li Wang to this position, effective on November 1, 2020. Wang is a director of the Company, currently serving as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Momo. Starting from November 1, 2020, Yan Tang will become the executive chairman of the board of directors of Momo, in which role he will continue to be integrally involved in setting the strategic priorities and directing new business initiatives for Momo.
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RenovaCare to host conference call » 12:3110/2510/25/20
Management holds a…
Management holds a conference call to provide an overview of the Company's performance in 2020 year-to-date and also discuss its business objectives for 2021 on October 29 at 11 am. Webcast Link
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The Future Of HP
HP Inc. is on a mission to prove the naysayers wrong yet again. The company already has proven it can grow in two sluggish markets, PC and print. The challenge now is to prove that it can keep growing -- and make its big bets, in areas such as 3-D printing and commercial virtual reality, into big businesses. During HP's Executive Forum 2018 conference in Las Vegas this week, executives including CEO Dion Weisler (pictured) said that the company sees ample opportunity to keep up the pace, but can't pull it off without channel partners. HP has "generated an enormous amount of momentum, and momentum in business is incredibly important," Weisler told 400 partners gathered at the conference. "Let's leverage the momentum that we have to continue to propel us forward."
How exactly does HP plan to keep up the momentum? In the following slides, we've rounded up 10 key takeaways on where HP is looking to go next with its products and partners.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Simply Works Keyboard & Keyguard
Simply Works Keyboard & Keyguard!
A wireless keyboard that is child friendly with large keys and lowercase letters.
- Simple layout and color coding makes it easy to find keys. Blue for letters, red for numbers and so on.
- Large keys (up to 30% larger) arranged vertically for easy locating.
- Lettering is up to 4 times larger than on standard keyboards.
- No larger than a standard keyboard.
- Key repeat function may be easily switched on or off.
- Optional clear keyguard available.
- 32 foot operational range.
- Requires Simply Works Receive receiver for operating your computer.
- Simply Works Keyboard Starter Pack includes Simply Works Receive & Simply Works Keyboard.
- Mac, Win, and Android Tablet compatible
- iPad compatible when used with the Simply Works for iPad.
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When a person dies due to someone else's careless or negligent actions, the impact upon surviving family members is overwhelming. There are funeral services, burial arrangements, and final affairs to handle, all at a time when loved ones are still grieving. The financial implications are considerable, yet they may pale in comparison with the loss of the deceased's support, love, and guidance.
South Carolina law does provide certain family members with rights under these circumstances, based upon wrongful death concepts. At Walker Morgan, our lawyers have experience fighting on behalf of those who have lost a loved one, helping clients recover compensation from the responsible party.
Protecting the Rights of Surviving Family Members
While legal action cannot a person back, state law allows family members to seek compensation for the devastating losses they suffer, financially and personally. South Carolina defines a wrongful death as one that's caused by the misconduct of another person, either through negligence or intentional acts. Under the law, certain individuals may stand in decedent's shoes to pursue a claim that's similar to a personal injury matter. Because the decedent isn't alive to pursue the claim, it must be done by:
- The executor of the deceased's will, where he or she appointed one; OR,
- The administrator appointed by a court, where the decedent didn't have a will.
A wrongful death case proceeds through the executor or administrator, but that person is pursuing the claim on behalf of the deceased's surviving loved ones, who have experienced a horrendous loss. The people who have standing to recover compensation in a wrongful death case are:
- The surviving spouse and children of the victim;
- The parents who survive the decedent, if there is no spouse and no children; and,
- The descendants of the deceased person, if he or she didn't have surviving parents, a spouse, or children.
Compensation After Losing a Loved One
For the losses they suffer, the surviving family members may recover several types of damages in a wrongful death case:
- The costs of funeral and burial services;
- Medical bills and costs for treatment rendered to the decedent for final illness;
- Lost wages and benefits;
- Property damage, if any;
- Loss of care, companionship, guidance, support, and experience; and,
- Emotional anguish.
Note that, if the person's death was due to reckless or intentional actions, it's possible to seek an additional amount for punitive damages. These damages are intended to punish the responsible party for his or her misconduct.
Speak with an Experienced Lexington Wrongful Death Lawyer
Wrongful death claims are complicated under South Carolina law, as these cases incorporate legal concepts that go beyond a typical personal injury case. To protect your rights as a surviving family member, it's necessary to retain an attorney with knowledge in such areas as probate and estate administration. At Walker Morgan, our lawyers can help you through the difficult times that follow a loved one's death, and assist your family in recovering the compensation you deserve. To schedule a free consultation, please visit us online or call our Lexington, SC office at 803-636-8790.


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Birthday Cake Bazaar
Prep Time:
1 Hour(Ready in 3 hours)Makes 12 ServingsIngredients CAKE: 1 (18.25-oz.)
pkg. Pillsbury® Moist Supreme® Funfetti® Cake Mix 1 1/4 cups water 1/4 cup oil 2 eggs FROSTING:
2 (16-oz.) can Pillsbury® Creamy Supreme® Vanilla Frosting Blue gel or paste icing color (not liquid food color) EQUIPMENT AND DECORATIONS: Toothpicks4 (6-inch) wooden skewers Blue decorator sugar 64
assorted colored round candies 1 small white gumdrop 2 brown miniature candy-coated chocolate baking bits 2 candied
orange slices Directions Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 8-inch
round cake pans. In large bowl, combine all cake ingredients; beat at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at medium
speed. Pour batter into greased and floured pans.Bake at 350°F for 35 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center
comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans for 15 minutes. Remove cakes from pans; place on wire racks. Cool 1 hour or until completely
In small bowl, tint 1 1/2 cups of the frosting
with blue icing color until of desired light blue color.Cut crescent moon shape off each cake layer. (See diagram at above.)
Set aside crescent shapes for fins and tail. For body of fish, spread flat side of 1 remaining large cake piece with
2 tablespoons frosting. Attach remaining large cake piece, flat side against frosting; secure with toothpicks. Carefully spread
frosting on cut edges of cake layers. Place frosted side down on platter or foil-covered cardboard. Frost body of fish.
Sprinkle scale portion of fish with blue decorator sugar. Tint remaining frosting with blue icing color to make a
darker blue color. Frost outer edge of crescent moon-shaped cake piece. Place on end of body portion for tail; secure
with 2 wooden skewers. Frost tail fin completely; sprinkle with blue decorator sugar. Cut remaining cake piece into
3 equal pieces. (See diagram.) Set aside middle piece. Frost cut sides of 1 piece. Place on top of fish for top fin, secure
with 2 wooden skewers. Frost top fin completely; sprinkle with decorator sugar. Cut remaining piece crosswise in half to use
for fins on sides of fish. (See diagram.) Attach fins to body with frosting. Frost side fins completely; sprinkle with decorator
sugar. Decorate sides of fish with colored round candies for scales. Cut white gumdrop in half and flatten; place
on cake for eyes. With small amount of frosting, attach baking bit on each eye for pupil. Roll out and cut orange slices to
form lips; place on fish and secure with toothpicks. Remove toothpicks and skewers from cake before serving. HIGH
ALTITUDE (ABOVE 3500 FEET): See package for directions.
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Flickr is one of the largest photo-sharing web resource. It hosts millions of images taken by professional photographers.
This is a quick guide which explains the copyrights and Creative Commons attributes of images on Flickr and how to search for an appropriate image under a proper CC license. Understanding these restrictions will help you in finding right (and trouble-free) images for your site or blog.
Understanding different License conditions as per Creative Commons:
First, you need to understand the following four conditions
Means you can copy, distribute and display the images(or any other piece of work). Also you can create derivative of the image. You can alter and modify the image at your will. All you need to do is provide proper credit to the original owner (Like linking back to the profile of uploader or direct Flickr image page).
Means you can copy, display and distribute the work but only for non-commercial purpose.You can not sell it or Use it Earning Purpose.
No Derivative Works
Means you can copy, display and distribute the work as it is. You can not modify the work in any form.
Share Alike
Means you can use the image or work and distribute or display it under the same license to this one.
Flickr and CC License:
Images on Flickr are either strictly copyrighted or fall under six CC license. Images marked as copyrighted (All Rights Reserved) are not meant to be copied or used in any form. You cannot display or use these images until and unless you have prior permission from the original author. Rest, other images are uploaded under following sic license.
Attribution License
Images uploaded under this license are best to use for your blog or site. You can modify these images and use it in any form you like. All you need to do is provide proper credit and link back to the original owner.
Click here to search Images under Attribution License
Attribution-NoDerivs License
You can use these images as long as you credit the photographer and do not modify the image. Images under this license are also a fair good deal for your blog or site.
Click here to search Images under Attribution-NoDerivs License
Attribution-NonCommercial License
You are free to modify and use these images by providing proper credit to the photographer (or uploader). These images cannot be used for any commercial purpose. So if your blog or site is monetized by any paid advertising like Google Adsense, better not to use these type of images.
Also while using these type of images, its necessary to look into future possibilities of monetizing your blog/site. Your site/blog may not be displaying any paid advertisements right now, but in future, you may change your mind and start monetizing the ad spaces. So better avoid these type of images on your webpage.
Click here to search Images under Attribution-NonCommercial License
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
Same as above one. But you are restricted to modify the images in any form and use them as it is.
Click here to search Images under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
Attribution-ShareAlike License
You are free to use and modify the images until you credit the photographer release the work under the same license.
Click here to search Images under Attribution-ShareAlike License
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License
Same as above. But the images cannot be used for any commercial purpose. You cannot use these type of images if your webpage as any paid ad space (like banners, text links or Contextual ads like Google Adsense).
Click here to search Images under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License
I hope you will find above tutorial helpful If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to ask in comment space of this blog entry.


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Background: The daily pill burden in hemodialysis patients is one of the highest reported to date in any chronic disease. The adherence to prescribed treatment has implications on the quality of life, the survival of patients, and the economic cost of their treatment, this being a priority public health issue. Objective: To evaluate the adherence to pharmacological treatment examining, among the possible causes of non-adherence, psychosocial factors such as depression, anxiety, cognitive impairment and social support. Method: Transversal-observational study of thirty five patients that suffer from chronic renal disease and who are on manteinance hemodialysis, evaluated by self-reported measures. Results: Non-adherent patients have significant higher depression index than adherent patients. Anxiety, cognitive impairment and social support do not show a significant relation with the degree of adherence or compliance with farmacological treatment. Conclusions: These results suggest that psychological intervention in chronic haemodialysis patients with a severe depression index could increase the degree of fulfillment and general well-being of renal patients.
Introducción: Los pacientes en hemodiálisis (HD) son uno de los colectivos que toma mayor cantidad de comprimidos en comparación con otros enfermos crónicos. La adherencia al tratamiento prescrito tiene implicaciones en la calidad de vida, la supervivencia y el coste económico de su tratamiento, siendo este último un tema prioritario de salud pública. Objetivo: Evaluar la adherencia al tratamiento farmacológico en pacientes en HD crónica examinando, entre las posibles causas de la no adherencia, factores psicosociales como depresión, ansiedad, deterioro cognitivo y apoyo social. Material y métodos: Estudio observacional transversal llevado a cabo en treinta y cinco pacientes con enfermedad renal crónica en HD, evaluados mediante cuestionarios administrados por personal especializado. Resultados: Los pacientes no adherentes presentan índices de depresión significativamente más elevados que los adherentes al tratamiento farmacológico. La ansiedad, el deterioro cognitivo y el apoyo social no muestran relación estadísticamente significativa con el grado de cumplimiento. Conclusiones: Estos resultados sugieren que la intervención psicológica en pacientes en HD con mayores índices de depresión podría aumentar el grado de cumplimiento y bienestar general del enfermo renal.
Patients on haemodialysis (HD) are one of the groups that take the most medicine in comparison to other chronically ill patients. These people do not always follow the recommendations given by medical staff regarding their medication, lifestyle or diet. It is known that not adhering to the prescribed treatment has implications on quality of life, patient survival and economical cost of their treatment, making this a priority topic in public health1.
According to the World Health Organisation, the definition of adhering to treatment would be: "The degree to which the behaviour of a person corresponds to the instructions agreed with a medical professional in terms of taking medication, following the recommended diet and making changes in lifestyle". In addition, it sets out that there is a series of risk factors that would be related to the lack of adherence1, among which social and emotional factors can be found. Among the social factors, social support, i.e. obtaining resources from interaction with other people has shown to be a determining factor in survival and adherence to treatment2.
In regard to emotional factors, in spite of the high rates of depression in patients on HD, varying between 25%-50%3,4, studies that take into account adherence to treatment in relation to emotional problems are scarce. Some recent data affirm that depression and anxiety are two of the most frequent psychological conditions in kidney patients, which increases the lack of adherence and non compliance with the dietary restrictions as well as the indirect suicide attempts5,6.
In a systematic revision7 on the adherence to oral medication in patients on HD, which includes 19 studies with a variable number of patients (from 19 to 6251), the degree of non-adherence went from 3% to 80%. In 58% of the studies, degrees of non-adherence greater than 50% (average of 67º%) were found8. The psychosocial factors were only analysed in one of them.
Furthermore, various studies focusing on analysing the determining factors of non-adherence with samples of elderly patients argue that a possible cause for not complying with treatment is due to low morale. Along this same topic, another of the factors described as a cause for non-adherence in this group could be forgetfulness, encouraged by deterioration in cognitive functioning and the high proportion of elderly people who live alone and have little support9. For these reasons, it would be interesting to find out if psychosocial factors such as depression, anxiety, cognitive impairment and social and family support have a significantly effect in compliance with medical prescriptions.
The aim of this study is to evaluate adherence to pharmacological treatment in patients on HD examining, among the possible causes for non-adherence, psychosocial factors such as depression, anxiety, cognitive impairment and social support.
To study the adherence to pharmacological treatment in a sample of patients on HD and the psychosocial factors such as depression, anxiety, cognitive impairment and social support, that might have an influence on it.
This is a cross-sectional observational study on prevalent patients on HD dated July 2013.
Prevalent patients on HD of the HD unit in the Infanta Leonor University Hospital in Madrid. For ease of access, the patients in the morning shift were preferably selected.
Inclusion criteria were: a) patients over the age of 18; b) to have been on HD for more than one month; c) to meet the physical, mental and linguistic criteria to be able to answer the questions on the questionnaires; d) to provide their informed consent.
Informed consent
The aims of the research are explained and the informed consent is collected to be able to carry out the necessary surveys and study their data, in accordance with the regulations of the Data Protection Agency.
Variables analysed
A standardised sheet was created for patients on dialysis in order to obtain information on demographic variables such as age, sex, relating to the HD technique, current living situation and if they receive help or assistance at home.
The degree of treatment compliance was measured by the Simplified Medication Adherence Questionnaire (SMAQ)10, validated on the Spanish population of patients on renal replacement therapy (Table 1). This questionnaire consists of six dichotomous questions so any response in the sense of non-adherent will mean that the patient is considered non-adherent.
To evaluate the clinical variables, the following questionnaires were applied:
1. Spanish adaptation of the The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), by Beck, Steer and Brown (1996) by Sanz, García-Vera, Espinosa, Fortún and Vázquez (2005) 11,12: used to evaluate the intensity of symptoms of depression. It is a self-administered questionnaire with 21 items. In each one, the patient must choose the sentence that best describes their state during the last two weeks from between four alternatives ordered from minor to serious severity. Each item is valued from 0 to 3 depending on the alternative chosen and after adding up the points a result varying from 0 to 63 can be obtained. The cut-off points used for grading the intensity of the symptoms of depression are as follows: 0-13 points minimal depression; 14-19 points: mild depression; 20-28 points: moderate depression, and 29-63 points: severe depression.
2. The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), by Beck, Epstein, Brown and Steer (1988) adapted to Spanish by Magán, Sanz and García-Vera (2008)13,14: used for evaluating the presence of symptoms of anxiety and their severity. It is a self-report inventory made up of 21 items. Each item on the BAI takes a symptom of anxiety and for each one of these, the evaluated person must indicate the degree to which they have been affected by this during the last week, using a Likert scale of four points: 0 (nothing at all), 1 (mildly, it did not bother me much), 2 (moderately, it was very unpleasant, but I could stand it), 3 (severely, I could barely stand it). Each item is valued from 0 to 3 depending on the answer and after adding up the points from each item an overall total is obtained whose range is from 0 to 63. The cut-off points used for grading the intensity of the symptoms of anxiety are as follows: 0-7: minimal anxiety; 8-15: mild anxiety; 16-25: moderate anxiety, and 26-63: severe anxiety.
3. The Mini Mental State Exam, by Folstein, Folstein and McHugh adapted to Spanish by Lobo, Sanz et al (2002)15,16 was used to measure cognitive state. It is a test with 30 questions in which the evaluator asks the person to perform tasks and they respond to the questions asked. The Mini Mental detects cognitive disorders by evaluating the following areas: orientation in time and space, coding, attention and concentration, recollection, language and visual construction. Points are given depending on the number of correct answers in the tests, so high scores show a better congnitive functioning. The overall score varies between 0 and 35. The cut-off points used for grading cognitive damage are as follows: 0-10 points severe damage; 11-20 points: moderate damage; 21-26 points: average damage, and 27-35 points: minimal damage.
4. The MOS Questionnaire on social support by Sherbourne and Stewart (1991) adapted to Spanish by De la Revilla (2005)17,18 was used to measure social support. It is a multidimensional questionnaire that allows the evaluation of quantitative aspects (size of the social network) and qualitative aspects (dimensions of the social support): It consists of 20 items. The first evaluates structural support and the rest evaluate functional support. Five dimensions of social support are explored: psychological, informative, tangible, positive social interaction and affection. The interviewee is asked, by means of a 5 point scale, how frequently each type of support is available to them. The factorial analysis advises to join the psychological and informative support items, leaving 4 subscales at the end, which independent scores can be obtained for: psychological support (items 3, 4, 8, 9, 13, 16, 17 and 19 instrumental support (items 2, 5, 12 and 15 positive social interaction (items 7, 11, 14 and 18) and emotional suppot (items 6, 10 and 20). The overall rate of social support is obtained by adding the 19 items together. Social support is scarce when the rate is lower than 57 points. When the scores are lower than the following parameters, support will be needed: psychological support: 24, instrumental support: 12, social interaction: 12, and emotional support: 9.
Procedure and statistical analysis
The tests were applied during the HD sessions. The comorbidity of each patient was checked in their medical records and the Charlson Index was calculated.
Quantitative variables are presented as means and standard deviations (± SD), or as medians (range) in abnormal distribution values.
To compare two independent continuous variables, Student's t test was used for unpaired samples. To compare discrete variables, the χ2 test was used as well as Fisher's test when it was necessary (n<5).Pearson's correlation coefficient was calculated. A value of P <.05 was considered to be statistically significant.
Statistical analysis was performed and graphics were created using SPSS software version 15.0 (SPSS, Chicago, USA).
The samples was made up of 35 subjects, 22 males and 13 females, with an average age of 68.3 (14) years. Of them, 14 were diabetic; the average body mass index was 24.8 (5.1) (range 17.7-40.4) kg/m2. The average Charlson Index was 5.85 (2-12).
85.71% of the subects lived with family and 94.29º% were out of work, either on leave or retired (Table 2).
All the patients were dialysed three times a week with high-flux dialysers and synthetic membranes. The average time on HD was 81 (2-329) months. The length of the sessions was equal to or greater than 4 hours, apart from the patients with residual renal function greater than 5ml/min average clearing of urea and creatinine. 16 patients were dialysed in post-dilution on-line haemodiafiltration with more than 20l of infusion per session. The average eKt/V was 1.8 (0.45) (range 1.1-2.78). All HD machines had ultrapure dialysate.
Regarding the prescribed medication, the average number of pills taken daily was 10.97 (4-20).
We found that 65.7% of the patients adhered to the pharmacological treatment vs. the 34.4% that did not (Table 2). There were no differences in adherence related to age or sex. Nor was a relationship found with the living or employment situation, but it must be considered that most patients lived with family and were not working. The non-adherent patients showed significantly higher rates of depression (P=.003) than those who adhered to the pharmacological treatment.
Adherence to the pharmacological treatment did not show significant differences in terms of anxiety, cognitive impairment or social support.
Other results
In regard to the psychological variables, 48.6% of the subjects showed average-to-moderate cognitive impairment, 40% suffered from mild-to-moderate depression and, to a lesser extent, 25.7% showed mild-to-moderate rates of anxiety (Table 2).
The females showed significantly higher levels of anxiety (P=.005) and cognitive impairment (P=.04) than the males.
Depression and anxiety were significantly related (r=0.63, P<.0001).
There is an inverse correlation between depression and social support in the emotional dimension, i.e., greater rates of depression are related to low levels of emotional support. The rest of the social support parameters had no connection to depression (Table 3).
The treatment adherence obtained was 66%, a statistic that agrees with research on adherence in chronic diseases19, additionally showing that the non-adherent patients had higher rates of depression.
Although the number of daily pills is high, we consider that the degree of adherence found in our unit is satisfactory. We believe that these good results could be due to the fact our patients were in constant communication with their healthcare professionals and said they were highly satisfied with their relationship with the medical staff in the annual survey carried out in the HD unit, within the ISO 9001 monitoring. Even so, a high percentage of patients did not adhere to the treatment, so investigating the causes of this is a very relevant aspect in order to improve it. Better adherence would possibly reduce the number of daily pills since in practice non-adherence provokes "inefficacy" and as a consequence, an intensification of the treatment.
There are few studies that relate adherence to treatment with the emotional problems of the patients on HD. Anxiety, cognitive impairment and social support are not connected to the degree of adherence to treatment (Table 4), although depression is. This finding is very important given that depression is a treatable condition and doing so could have a beneficial effect on the degree of adherence to treatment.
We believe that the lack of a relationship between anxiety and adherence to treatment could be due to the fact that part of the symptoms of physical anxiety registered on the questionnaires were actually symptoms from the renal disease or others (palpitations, sweating, dizziness, numbness, shaking)20.
Some studies argue that young patients tend to not to adhere to treatment21. In our study, we have not found a relationship between socio-demographic variables (age, sex) and adherence. Furthermore, bearing in mind the average age of the sample (68.3 years), a certain amount of non-adherence could be expected due to the deterioration of cognitive functions, forgetfullness and the high proportion of elderly people who live alone and have little support. The results conflicting with data obtained in other research9 could be explained by the high levels of social support that most of the evaluated patients had, meaning that studies conducted in different countries might not be universal due to there being different social determinants depending on the culture.
If we focus on the results of the different questionnaires in isolation, we find that a quarter of the sample studied shows anxiety and 40% show mild or moderate depression which agrees with the prevalence found in other studies8,9. We also observe that the social support is high in most of the evaluated subjects and that a large proportion show average to moderate levels of cognitive impairment.
Studying the relationships, the results show that greater levels of depression are related to high degrees of anxiety. Similarly, low levels of emotional support are related to greater levels of depression (Table 3).
The main limitation of our study is that we had a small number of patients so it would be necessary to perform a broader study to better identify the problems and evaluate their solution in a second step.
As a conclusion and also as a reflection, we often underestimate the levels of depression and anxiety in the patients on dialysis, focusing our dedication and efforts on offering better dialysis and pharmacological treatment. This study shows the impact that depression has on adherence to treatment, so any psychological or pharmacological intervention on depresion could improve adherence to treatment. The problem is that few HD units normally have a psychologist present to evaluate and help the patients which could increase the degree of compliance and general well being of the renal patient.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest related to the contents of this article.
Table 1. Simplified Medication Adherence Questionnaire
Table 2. Descriptive statistics
Table 3. Depression-social support correlation
Table 4. Differences between adherent and non-adherent patients and level of signification


text:
- Description
DetailsThe improvement compared to ordinary red heater
1. From the original ordinary 0.3-line high-temperature line to 0.6-line thick white high-temperature line, can bear higher temperature, and looks more beautiful.
2. From the original 40W power to 50W, therefore, the maximum temperature increases from 300-31℃ to 340-350℃ or so.
3. The new version heater used in all imported skills, the use of 304 stainless steel, with the internal use of 2080 nickel chrome wire to achieve maximum service life.
4. Can be used with the new HT-NTC100K temperature thermistor (Temperature measurement can be up to 350 degrees).
Voltage: 12V
Power: 50W
Heating head size: 6 * 20mm
Heating head material: 304 stainless steel
Line length: 1M
Line thick: 0.5 mm⊃2; (The cross section of the copper wire inside the heater is 0.5mm⊃2;)
Heating temperature: up to 350 degrees
1. The effective heating part of the heater must keep dry.2. The electrical connector of the single-ended heater should be placed out of the insulation layer and heating room, and the working voltage shall not exceed its rated value of 10%. The shell should be effectively grounded.3. Electric components working environment, the temperature should not be greater than 95 degrees, no explosive or corrosive gases.4. Electric components should be stored in a dry place.
Package Included:
1x BIQU Ceramic Cartridge Heater


text:
Lights, Camera, Action!
The cornerstone of almost all great fantasy books is the action scenes held within them. This is also one of the skills that many authors of today have trouble with. A good action scene will draw readers in and immerse them in the author's world. It will grip them so tight that the pages will continue to turn, and time will pass, and the reader won't even notice. Every author wants to achieve this, but what takes an action scene from good to great? How do we entrance our readers so they won't want to put the book down?
Research, Research, Research
The first point I have to make about action scenes is the level of research involved. If your action scene is a battle, you must have a good understanding of anatomy, weapons, fighting techniques, armor, and much more. If your action scene is a chase, you must understand timing, mapping, and have a keen understanding of just how fast people, animals and vehicles can move.
Action scenes that feel real will capture your readers' attention, even if they deal with fictional concepts. You don't need to incorporate a lot of technical jargon into the scene, just understand the forces at work, and the factors involved. Good research will show in the writing. Trying to write about something you don't understand will interfere with your readers' suspension of disbelief and jar them out of the story, which is the last thing you want.
Melee, Ranged, Magical and Hand-to-hand Combat
If you are incorporating combat scenes in your story, there are four basic types of combat to keep in mind, and there are rules for each of them. This ties in with research, because you must understand the weapons, distances and techniques you are writing about or your action scene will fall flat.
Melee combat is accomplished with handheld weapons of some kind. Knives, swords, polearms, maces and morning stars are just some of the many handheld weapons that your characters could use. Discover the proper names of the weapons, know what they look like and how to describe them to somebody who might not know the proper names of weapons. What techniques are used with the weapons and does your character have that level of expertise?
The second type of combat is ranged. This is usually done with ranged weapons like bows, crossbows, or guns. Again, research the weapons and understand how they work, what the rate of fire is for them, how much ammunition they can hold, and what the effective range for them is. Some ranged weapons aren't very good at point blank range, so be sure to check this out as well. Fighting style isn't really required for ranged combat, but you do need to understand distance and cover. Ranged weapons are less effective against opponents who have some level of cover. Also, the character using the weapon has to know how to fire it, reload it, and aim it.
Magical combat is a personal favorite of mine, but must be very well written in order to captivate an audience. This particular method of combat requires the highest level of suspension of disbelief from the reader, and thus it's critical that you understand how to captivate that audience. There's nothing worse than trying to read a magical combat scene that's clunky and not well thought out. If you have a magic system, be sure to fully understand that magic system and don't break any rules for convenience. Readers will pick up on that rule breaking and call you on it. Be descriptive, and make sure that any spell casting your characters do is consistent with the rest of the book. Combat should not have its own set of rules for magic.
The last method of combat is the hardest for me to write, as I have so little experience with it. Hand-to-hand combat is any fight that involves no magic or weapons. Just two characters duking it out. This could be martial arts, boxing, fist-fighting, or any number of other styles of hand-to-hand combat. When dealing with hand-to-hand combat, it's important to understand how much punishment a body can actually take before shutting down. Different people have different pain tolerances, and this can help you distinguish the characters in a fight scene. Also, have a mind as to how many hits to the head a character can take before falling unconscious. Despite what movies would have us believe, this is actually a fairly low number.
The Chase is On
Action scenes don't have to involve combat. Chase scenes are full of action if you can get the description down. My advice for this is to map out the route of the chase on an overhead map that is drawn to scale, and then be sure you have timings down, landscape features, and details. Is the chase on foot or in vehicles of some kind? What speed are the characters or vehicles moving at?
Something that can add excitement to a chase scene is a close call. Partway through the scene, incorporate a close call, where the chaser almost catches the target of the chase. I know it seems cliché, but how often do you see this in movies, and it never really gets old.
To keep the energy high in a chase scene, keep the focus on the characters at hand and don't get too bogged down in detail about the scenery. The reader wants to know how the chase ends, and if you put too much descriptive text into the scene, you'll have readers skimming or skipping to the end of the scene to find out. It's all about balance.
Giving it Meaning
Writing a good action scene is tough, but even harder is making sure your reader understands why the action scene is there. The characters involved must have a reason to be part of the action, and there should be a purpose in the story for the action scene. Putting action in for the sake of having action doesn't make for a very good story. Also, having nothing but a long string of action scenes will leave your reader so overwhelmed that they may put the book down just to get a breather from it. Be sure to interject some slower parts to give your readers a chance to breathe and process the scenes. If the action scene is a long one, it might be wise to insert a break in the middle of the scene as well.
Active Language
Articles about active and passive voice are everywhere, so I won't bore you with the details of this. There is no place where an active voice is more important than in an action scene. Verbs should be strong and descriptive and kept in active voice. Descriptions should be clear and concise and kept to as few words as possible without losing their meaning. The idea is to set the pace for the action quite high to keep the excitement up without losing too much detail in your descriptions. There's a balancing act happening here.
It's tough to cover everything involved in writing a good action scene, but I hope this gets you started. Entire books could be written about this subject and still never cover all of it, but the basic guidelines are simple: know your characters, know your setting, and understand all the factors involved when putting that scene together. Balance the description with the action, and be sure to use good, strong language and active verbs to fill the scene out. Above all else, good luck, and have fun writing it.
5 Comments
Great post, Thomas! Action, from the motions to active language in general, is important for every writer to be aware of – regardless the genre. Thank you for sharing this; your advice is golden~
I really liked this post, and found it very helpful. I struggle to write good battle scenes/action sequences, and this post covers some points that I can take back and use. Thanks!
I'm glad y'all enjoyed it. I'll be working on another Writer's Den post soon. Still looking for a topic. 🙂
Brilliant post 🙂 I posted recently on my blog about some of the more technical aspects of writing fight scenes and what sort of things editors like to see, if anyone is interested 🙂
Great article! I think I struggle a lot with active language and chase scenes. I have a really hard time describing a chase and keeping it interesting. I love your tip on mapping out the route and knowing the landscape, that would certainly help know the scene and keep it interesting!


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Like many people, you may have been aware of the need to save more for a while, but can't seem
to get into the swing of it. We all want more money to invest and play with, but bad habits, a lack of self-discipline, and plain old forgetfulness can all get in the way of this. I've found that one of the best ways to hit your personal finance goals is adopting a few simple habits…
Passive Spending Barriers
Anyone in the developed world is totally surrounded by a culture of consumerism. This has led to the success of a lot of great businesses, but it's also made passive spending way too easy. If you know that you're making impulse buys and poor financial decisions too easily, it may be time to protect yourself with some firm rules. Setting yourself savings plans for every individual want, putting costly experiences over costly possessions, and using indecision as a prompt for not buying anything at all, can all be great for keeping more money in your wallet. It can be hard to follow these rules at first, but giving yourself reminders and sticking to these barriers can establish some excellent wealth-building habits.
I'm not suggesting that you devote a large part of your time to what people call "extreme couponing", although this could certainly save you a lot of money! However, if you're not using coupons at all, this is another good habit to get into, frequently espoused by these awesome money saving websites. You'll be able to get a lot of items for free, or at least for a fraction of the price you'd usually pay for them. When certain things are super cheap on a coupon, you can stockpile these and avoid spending anything on them for a long time. Furthermore, when you get used to looking for coupons and special offers, you'll become more aware of what you're spending, and will naturally begin to shave some money off your usual spending. Regular couponers are generally much less susceptible to impulse-buying as well. There are countless coupon websites out there aside from the traditional sources, so start looking at what's on offer!
Cooking at Home More Often
If you're one of the millions of people who has a crippling phobia of the kitchen, then eating out every other night can seem like a pretty smart move. Yes, you'll save yourself some effort and will be able to recommend some great places to out-of-towners. However, you'll also be sacrificing some huge savings. Cooking at home can not only save you a small fortune over time, but is also a lot healthier for you. Plan your meals out for the whole week, even when you're getting towards the end of your paycheck, and only buy the food necessary for those meals. This can often lead to you having a lot of leftovers, which you can whip up into an improvised meal before your next big grocery shop, thereby saving yourself even more money!
There are so many ways on how you can save money. You can start adapting this habits and you are on your way to saving more!


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Meanings & Co.
The Interdisciplinarity of Communication, Semiotics and Multimodality
- Editors
- (view affiliations)
Part of the Numanities - Arts and Humanities in Progress book series (NAHP, volume 6)
Part of the Numanities - Arts and Humanities in Progress book series (NAHP, volume 6)
This book explores the interdisciplinarity of semiotics and communication studies, comprising both theoretical explorations and semiotic applications to communication with theoretical bearings. These disciplines have generally been understood as mutually implicit, but there still are many unexplored research avenues in this area, particularly on a conceptual level. The book offers broad insights into the epistemological relations between semiotics and other approaches to communication from perspectives such as sociology, philosophy of language and communication theory. As such, it sheds light on the communication of knowledge.
Semiotics is currently enjoying increasing popularity within the humanities and social sciences. Understood as relational logic (Charles Peirce) or hermeneutics (structuralism and poststructuralism), semiotics fundamentally implies certain positions with regard to communication. Because of the generality and conceptual vagueness of semiosis and communication, how one elucidates the other is still an underexplored theme. With some pioneering studies of this relation, the books examines various fields, such as language, code, learning, embodiment, political communication, media, cinema, cuisine, multimodality and intertextuality.


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We're chatting on the phone when my baby begins to cry. "I'm sorry," I say, "but I have to take care of my baby."
When I return to the conversation, I apologize again. "Please," my interviewee says. "You're a mom. You've got to make your baby a priority. This is an example of taking our faith from the theoretical to the practical."
These words of wisdom belong to Scott Hahn, Ph.D., and it seems fitting that he should speak them during an interview about his most recent book, "Signs of Life: 40 Catholic Customs and Their Biblical Roots."
Dr. Hahn is a renowned apologist of the Catholic faith. A Catholic convert, he's penned dozens of books, some recounting his journey to the Church, others defending Catholic teachings. But his newest book isn't about chronicling his conversion or defending Catholicism. It's more than a theoretical treatise for the faith. At its heart, Signs of Life is about enriching the lives of the faithful.
"The book is designed to help ordinary Catholics - whether cradle Catholics or converts - to discover the inexhaustible riches of what it means to live life as a Catholic," Dr. Hahn says. "The Catholic faith is certainly meant to be studied and understood but even more, it is meant to be lived and enjoyed."
The genesis for the book began some 20 years ago when Dr. Hahn realized that while his roots in Catholicism were planted in Biblical and theoretical ground, he needed something more in order for his faith to blossom to its fullest.
"All of our beliefs can be grounded in Scripture, but it's another thing to discover that our faith offers a culture with customs and all sorts of traditions that once seemed alien to me," he explains. "You can't become an American by reading and studying the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address. It's a life lived by people, and it has been for so long that you really have got to step into the middle of it. The same is true with our faith. I became motivated to really become a Catholic - not just in my head but in my heart, not just in my soul but in my body. Not just in my career but in my marriage and family."
To this end, "Signs of Life" illuminates myriad rites, customs, and traditional prayers - from the Rosary to praying with icons - inexorably tied to the Catholic faith. Each chapter covers a single topic and reveals the Biblical and historical foundation of the custom, as well as answers to some of the common objections and misconceptions about the practice.
But, as Dr. Hahn reminded me during our phone conversation, the theoretical has to become practical. So the book also offers ideas for applying these Catholic customs to everyday life.
After all, our faith is not just a set of rules; it's a way of life and a path to joy and peace. "Being a Catholic is not just about believing certain things to be true. It's about celebrating," says Dr. Hahn. "In a family, you don't just gather together at one address because you have the same last name. It's about birthdays and anniversaries and vacations and all those things that really create the memories that make you a family. The same is true with holy water, making the Sign of the Cross, the rosary, Advent, Christmas, and Easter, discovering the saints, all these so-called popular devotions - none of these are mandatory, but Catholics are discovering there's something about the timelessness and the eternal that these traditions and customs embody that bring stability, joy, peace, and consistency."
When writing and researching the book, Dr. Hahn found one of the most interesting "signs of life" to be relics.
"Every Catholic parish in the world has a relic in the altar where the Mass is celebrated. Why do we put bones of dead saints in altars? How do you explain that? Relics are one of those things that non-Catholics might just screw up their faces and roll their eyes and say, 'Ewwww,'" says Dr. Hahn. "But in the Book of Revelation, John describes how he sees the souls of the martyrs - those who have been beheaded - under the heavenly altar where they're crying out to God in prayer. It occurred to me that the martyrs who have died for the faith are not really dead. They're more alive than we are. They are awake and alive in the presence of God 24/7 where they're constantly praying for us."
"There aren't two churches - one in heaven and one on earth. There aren't two liturgies - one for the angels and the martyrs and one for us. The altar is the intersection of heaven and earth," Dr. Hahn explained. "The Mass is something that is being done on earth as it is heaven. We're surrounded at every Mass by angels and saints and martyrs.
"So why not have a visible reminder of this invisible reality embedded in every altar where every Mass will be celebrated?"
Relics are just one of the many customs Dr. Hahn illuminates in his book, offering a window into the mystery of what it means to be a Catholic.
Luckily for me, we not only talked about Dr. Hahn's book, but my baby's meltdown proved to be a perfect segue to an uplifting conversation about living the faith as a wife and mother. As a mom of three little ones, my own "signs of life" are nursing babies, defiant toddlers, and curious 5-year-olds. And Dr. Hahn assured me that's perfectly okay. God meets us where we're at, and teetering baby steps toward Him are steps in the right direction.
"How can wives and mothers better build their domestic church? How can we marble in some of these beautiful customs into our homes?" I asked Dr. Hahn.
"From my own experience as a husband and a father, every single morning before noon, you're already beyond Plan A. You're on plan F. You've had to adjust your schedule so many times. One of the things Kimberly [his wife, who is also a successful author] has helped me see is that we need prayer markers in our day," he says. "At noon, we try to do the Angelus. This marks the midpoint of the day with prayer. We also try to make it a point to a pray the Rosary. When the kids were young, we started with an after-dinner decade. Later we went ahead and took a step out in faith and began to pray a Rosary. We started to experience such a shared sense of peace and calm."
Even if you don't make it through a full Rosary, he says, don't give up. God hears all prayers - even the toddler-interrupted ones.
I shared with Dr. Hahn that I've stopped trying to follow a strict prayer schedule, but instead have tried to embrace a rhythm of prayer to our day. He agreed that this is a good approach for busy moms. "Start with a morning offering, have a prayer around noon, and pray grace before meals. Just try to find a way to have a day where you regularly meet the Lord."
But even when we stumble, even when our lives and pure exhaustion muffle our prayers and good intentions, God is there. He is the ultimate source of life and strength.
"God's strength is made perfect by our weakness. Life is just punctuated by all these periods of dryness and of weakness. We start feeling those are the lonely deserts, but we know from those footprints in the sand that God is doing so much more with our less," Dr. Hahn says. "Our problem is almost always that we fall back upon our own natural resources rather than trusting God's supernatural resources. He's always going to call us to something more than we want and take away what we think we want to show us what we need."
And I thought I was just going to get a good interview about a book. Instead, I received spiritual direction - a real life example of God giving me what I needed more than what I thought I wanted.
To learn more about Dr. Hahn and his works, please visit http://www.scotthahn.com.
Topics: Books , Culture , Faith , Family , Motherhood


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If your in the mood to read an in-depth analysis of economics and enjoy the detailed discussion of wealth, land, population, capital, transportation interest and rail roads you should pick up a copy of the Essentials of Economic Theory by John Bates Clark published in 1907. It will teach about the fundamentals of economics from a neoclassical perspective.
By the time you finish this book you will understand the bigger picture of how large scale economic systems work.
Neoclassical, or Orthodox Economics, relates to the belief that people are rational in their choices. When given alternatives people will naturally pick the best choice. New products with new features and scarcity will be worth more than older products with high supply.
I wish I could say all people are rational but this isn't always the case. Much of our choices are based in our personal beliefs, available information, and limited options.
The book outlines so many fundamental concepts that economic students were required to read this book as standard curriculum. That is no longer the case, and while much of the information provided has lost some of its relevancy the majority of ideas holds true as much today as it did then.
You will likely fall asleep a few times reading this book. It is extremely long winded and 550+ pages of in depth analysis. The advantage is that by the time you complete you have a fairly descent understanding of basic classical economic theory.
The one big lesson is that every component of the system is influenced by other factors. When you adjust, supply-demand, labor costs, etc. it makes its way throughout the entire system.
You can read the book for free Free-Essentials of Economic Theory


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Art exhibition's 100 pictures to celebrate Thanet's coastline
PUBLISHED: 12:46 17 August 2017 | UPDATED: 12:46 17 August 2017
The display will be put up by All Saints Art Group
An art group from Thanet will be holding their annual art exhibition in the church hall where they meet every week.
All Saints Art Group will be holding the Exhibition of Traditional and Comtemporary Art featuring pieces made with oils, acrylics, and watercolours over the August Bank Holiday weekend next week.
There will be over 100 pictures for sale and what the group say are "reasonable prices".
The main feature of the exhibition will be a recreation of every bay around the Isle of Thanet, by all 18 members of the art group.
The 18 individual paints of the coastline will be exhibited around walls of the church hall and will all be for sale. There will be a map of Thanet accompanying the display to show where the bays are and their names.
Art is being used as a big regeneration tool across Thanet and since the Turner Contemporary opened in 2011 on Margate's seafront, over 1.5 million people have visited the gallery, showing a rise in popularity of art as a leisure activity.
The vision of the Turner Contemporary organisation is Art Inspiring Change, using collaboration, learning, ambition and transformation to give everyone to access to world-class art.
Local historian, Jenny Burgess, will be photographing the paintings and producing pamphlets about all the indiviual bays of Thanet during the event.
The All Saints Art Group started in October 2013 and they meet evert Friday at the All Saints church house in Birchington, where the exhibition is being held.
Opening times for the display are from 10am to 4pm from August 26-28, and is open to everyone including dogs and kids.
The exhibition is free entry, and there will be refreshments, homemade cakes, tombola and of course, art.
For more information and enquiries on tickets contact Mick Cairns from Midas Leisure - the craft and gift fair organisers acrosss the borough - on 0796622517 or Lesley on 01843 841936.
If you value what this story gives you, please consider supporting the Bromley Times. Click the link in the orange box above for details.


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[Ed. note: If you hate stats, or are just not familiar, please read on and don't give up! This stuff was confusing for even the most diehard stathead at one point. There is good stuff here. And if you have questions, please ask. We don't judge around here]
We are more than one-third of the way through the season. Let's take a look at how some of the Rays hitters are performing in terms of weighted On Base Average (wOBA). If you are not familiar with wOBA, just think OPS, but better (check this link for a quick explanation). However, typically, if a player has a good OPS, they will also have a good wOBA and vice versa.
In short, this is the best way to get a sense of who has been swinging the bat the best. Notes on the table are below…
Notes on the table…
- wOBA is on an OBP scale which makes it easier than OPS to get an idea of what is good and what is not good. The cutoffs are somewhat arbitrary but generally, .350 and above is good, .335 is average and anything below .320 is not very good.
- The Rays as a team have a wOBA of .315, which ranks 9th in the AL.
- Basically, the Rays lineup is a case study in feast-or-famine. Five of the Rays have been hitting lights out, led by Matt Joyce who has a ridiculous .415 wOBA.
- But the Rays also have 9 batters with at least 80 plate appearances who are struggling to carry their weight. It is no surprise that Reid Brignac, Kelly Shoppach, Dan Johnson and Felipe Lopez are at the bottom.
- wOBA does not consider stolen bases or defense. So wOBA doesn't accurately reflect BJ Upton's value. Still, his .313 wOBA would be his second-worst mark in a full season.
- In the end, we really don't see any surprises here. Just about everybody is ranked right where we thought they would be.