Prostate cancer testing and treatment guidelines developed

ScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2012) ? Julio M. Pow-Sang, M.D., chair of Moffitt Cancer Center's Department of Genitourinary Oncology, and colleagues have published two prostate cancer articles in the September issue of JNCCN -- The Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. The articles review and clarify recent updates made to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network's (NCCN) guidelines for the screening and treatment of prostate cancer.

According to the NCCN, nearly 242,000 cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in 2012, accounting for 29 percent of new cancers among men. It is estimated that more than 28,000 men will die from the disease this year.

According to the journal, prostate cancer is "over diagnosed and over treated" and is subject to a controversy "fueled by large screening studies." This month, Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, the NCCN has offered support for active surveillance, a strategy by which men with low-risk tumors, often classified as clinically insignificant, are monitored over time.

"Depending on the disease characteristics and the patient's life expectancy and personal preference, active surveillance may be a viable alternative to immediate and radical treatment," Pow-Sang said. "For others with high-risk, localized tumors or locally advanced disease, there are recent treatment advances that should be considered."

New agents and therapy combinations According to the NCCN, external beam radiation and androgen deprivation therapy have been the traditional treatments for patients with high-risk tumors. However, the NCCN reports that brachytherapy, either permanent seed implant or temporary placement (high dose radiation), combined with external beam radiation and androgen deprivation therapy is increasingly being used for these patients.

The first article, Prostate Cancer, version 3.2012, noted that two new agents -- abiraterone acetate and immunotherapy sipuleucel-T -- are welcome therapeutic additions for patients with late-stage disease and poor prognosis.

Abiraterone acetate, which inhibits a key enzyme related to prostate cancer, can be given to patients after their chemotherapy. Studies have shown that it can also be used in chemotherapy-na?ve patients.

Sipuleucel-T, a second line therapy, is a live cancer vaccine approved in 2010 for treating asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic patients with metastatic prostate cancer. The NCCN has recommended the new drug for use after chemotherapy failure or as treatment along with chemotherapy.

"The new NCCN guidelines highlight important updates to the management of prostate cancer," concluded Pow-Sang and his co-authors. "These protocols are updated annually and more often when new, high-quality clinical data become available. The guidelines are based on evidence from clinical trials combined with expert consensus."

Active surveillance and PSA density, percent free, and biopsy cores

In a second article, Enrollment Criteria Controversies for Active Surveillance and Triggers for Conversion to Treatment in Prostate Cancer, Pow-Sang and co-author David D. Buethe, M.D., a urologic oncology fellow at Moffitt, examine the controversy and criteria for implementing active surveillance for patients with asymptomatic prostate cancer and identify the triggers that would convert active surveillance patients to active treatment status.

The authors note that for those patients with prostate cancers at low-risk for progression, the active surveillance strategy was proposed a decade ago but is recently receiving more attention as a viable management option.

"However, critical uncertainties still surround active surveillance," Pow-Sang said. "The criteria that qualify a patient as low or very low risk are not clear, nor is the definition of disease progression."

In this article, Pow-Sang and Buethe reviewed recent literature regarding those uncertainties, examining criteria for assisting in selecting men for active surveillance, including PSA density, percent free versus percent total PSA, biopsy positive core results and "volume of involvement" data.

"A PSA density of greater than 0.08 ng/mL/g has been identified as a significant predictor of future disease progression in those with low-risk prostate cancer," reported Pow-Sang. "However, some clinicians use a level of 0.15 ng/mL/g as a threshold."

Percent-free PSA has been found to be a significant predictor of organ-confined disease, said Pow-Sang and Buethe, noting that some reports have shown a significant indirect correlation between percent-free PSA and prostate cancer volume; but as yet this parameter is "not widely accepted as a predictor of cancer extent."

They also looked at studies on positive cores from biopsies and the extent to which core results could be used to develop criteria for treatment. Reports have shown the predictive value of positive biopsy cores, but the frequency for performing prostate biopsies remains controversial for outcomes of active surveillance patients, Pow-Sang said.

"Biopsies are not without consequences," he said. "Rectal bleeding and serious infectious complications from frequent biopsies need to be considered."

Additionally, no standard protocol exists, and controversy remains, for the frequency of PSA testing and the digital rectal exam for patients who are under active surveillance.

"Current guidelines vary," Pow-Sang said. "There are recommendations that the PSA and digital rectal exam should be performed every three to six months, or the PSA every three months and the digital rectal exam every six months. The frequency of biopsies is also variable, from once a year to up to every three years."

New potential tools

Pow-Sang and Buethe also report that a new tool, the PCA3 urinary marker, may be useful. PCA3 is a urine test used to quantify copies of the known prostate cancer gene 3. A PCA3 score of 35 or greater is considered possibly malignant. The test is prostate cancer specific and unaffected by prostatitis or benign prostatic hyperplasia, both of which have confounded the results of PSA testing.

The future of active surveillance

"Most studies report that 30 percent of active surveillance-classified men will be reclassified in the short term to clinically significant cancer that may require treatment," noted Pow-Sang. "Once more, PSA velocity (how quickly the PSA score rises) or PSA doubling time (how often the score doubles) has no clear role in active surveillance."

When counseling men with early prostate cancer, all treatment options, risks and complications should be discussed, Pow-Sang confirmed.

"Active surveillance is a reasonable management strategy for low-risk and very low risk prostate cancer, but allows for continual reassessment and identification of progressive tumors."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal References:

1. James L. Mohler, Andrew J. Armstrong, Robert R. Bahnson, Barry Boston, J. Erik Busby, Anthony Victor D?Amico, James A. Eastham, Charles A. Enke, Thomas Farrington, Celestia S. Higano, Eric Mark Horwitz, Philip W. Kantoff, Mark H. Kawachi, Michael Kuettel, Richard J. Lee, Gary R. MacVicar, Arnold W. Malcolm, David Miller, Elizabeth R. Plimack, Julio M. Pow-Sang, Mack Roach III, Eric Rohren, Stan Rosenfeld, Sandy Srinivas, Seth A. Strope, Jonathan Tward, Przemyslaw Twardowski, Patrick C. Walsh, Maria Ho, and Dorothy A. Shead. Prostate Cancer, Version 3.2012 Featured Updates to the NCCN Guidelines. J Natl Compr Canc Netw, 2012 DOI: 10:1081-1087
2. Pow-Sang and David D. Buethe. Enrollment Criteria Controversies for Active Surveillance and Triggers for Conversion to Treatment in Prostate Cancer. J Natl Compr Canc Netw, 2012;10:1101-1110 DOI: 10:1101-1110

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/XOHwwHxdgFQ/120929140229.htm

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Jason Calacanis? Next Act, And Another Pivot For Inside.com, As A ?Knowledge Community?

Serial entrepreneur and investor Jason Calacanis appears to be gearing up for the launch of his next venture, which may also signify one more pivot for his information site Mahalo. And that next step also looks like a new chapter for an internet domain that itself has seen a couple of pivots. On a tip from a reader, we visited inside.com and found this:

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/CqVNVfznUSo/

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Dan Hardy vs. Rory Markham is your knockout of the week

Dan Hardy usually fights well in his home country of England. For example, check out what he did to Rory Markham at UFC 95 in London.

On Saturday, he will fight Amir Sadollah in his hometown of Nottingham. He's gone 1-4 in his last five fights, but recaptured that knockout ability against Duane Ludwig in May. Will Hardy come up with another fine performance for the people of Nottingham? Speak up in the comments, on Facebook or Twitter.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/dan-hardy-vs-rory-markham-knockout-week-131950070--mma.html

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Tips About Designing Your Current Garden Shed?Easy Home ...

Do you need an appropriate closet for your increasing variety of gardening tools and equipment? If you are, you got to have a garden shed. This outbuilding is a pretty reliable safe-keeping for all your gardening requirements. There are various kinds of garden sheds constructed nowadays regarding the supplies and the commonly used versions are wood, metal, metal, vinyl and also plastic.

If you have sufficient skills and knowledge concerning carpentry, you might opt to construct the explained structure. It is this exciting activity that won?t only need your physical efforts but also your mental capacity. Typically, garden sheds can be constructed just considering the skills from the builders. Certainly, you choose it to be personalized wherever possible and that would mean styling your own garden shed or garden sheds. Here are a few of the things you can do for you to proceed with styling the said outbuilding.

? First of most, consider the area where it will be put up. You need to determine a place that you will put it that you will have comfortable access to huge equipment such as wheelbarrows and also mowers among others. Additionally, the area must be capable to accommodate a structure because it has a strong footing and level surface. In that way, it is certain that the outbuilding will be constructed on a stable ground.

? Take a measurement from the existing area. Drawing out a plan from the yard and present buildings to aid in the visualization of the scale and of the proposed outbuilding. You need to include the existing setting such as the trees, fencing and others that can get a new accessibility of the explained outbuilding.

? Decide on how huge it?ll be. Bear in mind that it must be huge enough to adequately and safely home all your gardening requirements. However, it must certainly not destroy the view of your yard such as when it consumes a huge area. It is recommended that for an common size garden, an approximately 100 square feet gardening shed can be installed that is consuming only as much as 5 percent of the accessible space in your garden. It?s for the purpose of maintaining a pleasant aesthetic appeal of your complete yard.

? Now you can think of its design. To get this done, you have to consider blending it to your yard while also complementing the look to your house. You can consider looking at various garden shed programs online if you want to get some idea. In developing it, you have to consider the materials to use, the style you want to achieve for it and how it will appear against your yard and main home as well as your budget. Bear in mind that it should not only appear very attractive but in addition very useful that it fulfills all your requirements.

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Source: http://easyhomeimprovementideas.com/do-it-yourself-home-imrpovement/tips-about-designing-your-current-garden-shed-5278

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Los Angeles drivers see minimal traffic in "Carmageddon 2"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Drivers in Los Angeles saw limited congestion on Saturday near a key freeway corridor shut down this weekend in what has been dubbed "Carmageddon 2," due to fears of gridlock from a 53-hour construction project, officials said.

A 10-mile (16-km) stretch of the 405 Freeway at the Sepulveda Pass, normally the nation's busiest thoroughfare, was closed at midnight on Friday for a $1 billion freeway widening project.

But so far, despite the slowing near the project itself, traffic seemed to be zipping along in the city as a whole, said California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Officer Charmaine Fajardo.

"So far so good, it looks like people are heeding the information we've put out there and staying out of the area," Fajardo said.

Construction crews with giant cranes on Saturday chipped away at a bridge spanning the 405 Freeway in the city, with pieces of concrete dropping dozens of feet (meters) to the ground below. A four-foot (1.2-metre) pad of dirt laid down in advance protected the pavement from the falling debris.

The work is to widen the bridge itself to expand the freeway below.

The project comes just over a year after a similar weekend construction shut down the same area in what was dubbed "Carmageddon," in anticipation of massive congestion that never came to pass as many drivers stayed home.

This year, the project has caused some anxiety nonetheless among officials and motorists in the city where car travel is king but only very limited congestion had materialized by noon.

More significant delays could develop on Saturday afternoon as people pile into cars heading for the beach, highway patrol officials said.

The shutdown of the 405 Freeway along the Sepulveda Pass is scheduled to end at 5 a.m. on Monday, said Marc Littman, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The construction crew on the project stands to be fined $6,000 per closed lane for every 10 minutes that the project extends past its scheduled ending on Monday morning, officials said. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Sandra Maler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/los-angeles-drivers-see-minimal-traffic-carmageddon-2-192613668--sector.html

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Hearing brains are 'deaf' to disappearance of sounds, study reveals

ScienceDaily (Sep. 27, 2012) ? Our brains are better at hearing new and approaching sounds than detecting when a sound disappears, according to a study published September 27 funded by the Wellcome Trust. The findings could explain why parents often fail to notice the sudden quiet from the playroom that usually accompanies the onset of mischief.

Hearing plays an important role as an early warning system to rapidly direct our attention to new events. Indeed we often rely on sounds to alert us to things that are happening around us before we see them, for example somebody walking into the room while our back is turned to the door. Yet little is known about how our brains make sense of the sounds happening around us and what makes us hear certain events while completely missing others.

Researchers at the UCL Ear Institute wanted to try and understand what makes certain sounds easily detectable while others go unnoticed. They created artificial 'soundscapes' composed of different on-going sounds and asked listeners to detect the onset or disappearance of different sound-objects within the melee.

Overall, the team found that listeners are remarkably tuned to detecting new sounds around them but are much less able to detect when a sound disappears. In busy sound environments, the participants missed more than half of the changes occurring around them and the changes that were detected involved much longer reaction times. The effects were observed even in relatively simple soundscapes and didn't seem to be affected by volume.

Dr Maria Chait, who led the research at the UCL Ear Institute, said: "On the one hand, we might expect to be more sensitive to the appearance of new events. In terms of survival, it is clearly much more important to detect the arrival of a predator than one that has just disappeared. But this reasoning doesn't apply to other situations. Imagine walking in a forest with your friend behind you and suddenly having the sound of their footsteps disappear. Our results demonstrate that there are a large number of potentially urgent events to which we are fundamentally not sensitive. We refer to this phenomenon as 'disappearance blindness'"

The study also explored how resilient listeners are to scene interruptions. In busy scenes, such as those we often face in the world around us, important scene changes frequently coincide in time with other events. The study showed that even brief interruptions, such as a short 'beep' occurring at the same time as the change, are sufficient to make listeners fail to notice larger scene changes. It is thought that this occurs because the interruption briefly captures our attention and prevents the information about the change from reaching our consciousness.

"Understanding what makes certain events pop out and grab attention while others pass by un-noticed is important not only for understanding how we perceive the world but also has important practical applications. For example, to aid the design of devices intended to help professionals such as air traffic controllers and pilots who operate in environments where the detection of change is critical," added Dr Chait.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Wellcome Trust, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Francisco Cervantes Constantino, Leyla Pinggera, Supathum Paranamana, Makio Kashino, Maria Chait. Detection of Appearing and Disappearing Objects in Complex Acoustic Scenes. PLoS One, 2012 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0046167

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/fvGcnMKDhiA/120927174751.htm

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Abbas accuses Israel of 'ethnic cleansing'

UNITED NATIONS (AP) ? Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of ethnic cleansing Thursday for building settlements in east Jerusalem.

"It is a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people via the demolition of their homes," Abbas said in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

His remarks came shortly before Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to speak.

Israel conquered the eastern part of Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Mideast War. It later annexed it but the move has not been internationally recognized. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem to the capital of their future state in the West Bank.

Abbas also said he has opened talks on a new bid for international recognition at the U.N., but didn't specify exactly when he will ask the General Assembly to vote.

"Intensive consultations with the various regional organizations and the state members" were underway, he said.

The Palestinians will apply to the General Assembly for nonmember state status.

That stands in sharp contrast to last year, when they asked the Security Council to admit them as a full member state, but the bid failed.

Abbas insisted that the new quest for recognition was "not seeking to delegitimize Israel, but rather establish a state that should be established: Palestine."

Palestinian officials said their bid is likely to be submitted on Nov. 29.

Abbas said in a speech to the assembly that efforts to win Palestine status as an observer state ? a lower level than last year's failed bid for recognition as a full state ? were not intended to pose any threat to Israel.

"We are not seeking to delegitimize Israel, but rather establish a state that should be established: Palestine," Abbas said.

However, Abbas said he was "speaking on behalf of an angry people," who believed they were not winning their rights despite adopting a "culture of peace and international resolutions,

"Israel gets rewarded while continues the policies of war, occupation and settlements," he said.

Abbas also accused Israel of seeking to "continue its occupation of East Jerusalem, and annex vast parts of West Bank ... and refuses to discuss seriously the Palestinian refugees issue."

He claimed that Israeli actions threatened to undermine the Palestinian Authority to the point "which could lead to its collapse."

Palestinian officials said that their bid for recognition will likely be submitted to the General Assembly on Nov. 29, after the U.S. presidential election. Abbas has sought to avoid entangling the Palestinian statehood bid in U.S. presidential politics.

Appealing to other nations for their support, Abbas asked world leaders to help avoid a new "catastrophe" in Palestine. "Support the establishment of the free state of Palestine now, and let peace win before it's too late," he said.

"We have started intensive consultations with the various regional organizations and the state members in order for the General Assembly to take a decision granting the state of Palestine the status of nonmember state during this U.N. session," he said.

At last year's General Assembly, Abbas took center stage with his attempt to win full membership to the world body. However, that application failed to win enough support in the U.N. Security Council.

Palestinians did win membership last year of UNESCO, the Paris-based U.N. cultural agency ? despite the objections of Israel and the U.S.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/abbas-accuses-israel-ethnic-cleansing-172143638.html

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Nokia cuts smartphone prices before new models arrive

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Struggling phone maker Nokia has knocked 10-15 percent off the prices of two of its top of the range smartphones, hoping to boost sales before newer models arrive in markets in November.

Nokia has cut the price of the Lumia 800 by around 15 percent and the Lumia 900 by 10 percent in Europe, according to device pricing data compiled by British research firm CCS Insight. Nokia declined to comment.

Earlier this month, Nokia launched Lumia 820 and 920, which many see as crucial for the Finnish company's survival. But the newest models will only go on sale in November, leaving the company's sales team struggling with older smartphone models for over a month.

Nokia had already slashed the price of the Lumia 800 by around 15 percent earlier this month and made smaller cuts for its other Lumia models.

Once the world's biggest mobile phone maker, Nokia fell behind rivals in smartphones and has racked up more than 3 billion euros ($3.86 billion) in operating losses in the last 18 months.

In early 2011, it bet its future on Microsoft's Windows Phone software. Windows accounts for only around 3 percent of global smartphones, while Google's Android platform controls two-thirds of sales and Apple has around a quarter.

Competitive pricing is considered crucial for Nokia to lure back customers, even though pricing does not seem to be an issue for rival Apple. In Belgium, for example, more than 10,000 people have pre-registered for the latest iPhone even before a local price has been set.

(Reporting by Tarmo Virki; Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nokia-slashes-prices-smartphones-models-arrive-122733253--finance.html

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Summer ends strong for Hawaii tourism economy

HONOLULU (AP) ? Hawaii's tourism economy ended the summer with double-digit increases in visitor arrivals and spending.

That's according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority's August statistics.

The authority said Thursday spending grew 14.6 percent last month compared to the previous year to $1.19 billion. August arrivals increased 11 percent.

Arrivals from the U.S. West grew almost 8 percent for the 10th consecutive month of growth.

Japanese arrivals increased nearly 13 percent last month, but remained lower than the August 1996 record. There was a 4 percent drop in daily spending, which resulted in a moderate, about 6 percent increase in total spending.

Canadian arrivals dropped 0.6 percent and spending decreased 1.4 percent.

Authority President and CEO Mike McCartney says upcoming festivals and events will help draw visitors during the slower fall travel period.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/summer-ends-strong-hawaii-tourism-economy-204213416--finance.html

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Detroit's $3.5 Billion Bridge to the Future

With its twin 900-foot towers and silvery steel cables, the $3.5 billion bridge is a striking symbol of Detroit's rebirth. But it is something more than that. Along with a new rail tunnel and an intermodal freight-transfer hub, it's a monument to those who knew that Detroit needed a dramatic stroke. By 2025, new transportation infrastructure has turned the city into a humming trade gateway between the American Midwest and the world. But first it had to overcome some tangled history.

Opened in 1929 to connect Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, the Ambassador Bridge became the busiest international border crossing between the U.S. and its largest trading partner. By 2010, the rickety relic was carrying a quarter of the $500 billion in annual trade between the U.S. and Canada. With truck traffic expected to double by 2035, local politicians and business and labor leaders pushed hard for the new bridge. "Our company sends 600 trucks over the Ambassador Bridge every day," Ford executive chairman Bill Ford says. "What if something happens to the bridge? Of course we need a new bridge!"

Since 1979, the Ambassador Bridge has been the private property of Manuel "Matty" Moroun, who started out working in his father's gas station and became a billionaire by buying up all the shares of the privately financed bridge in the 1970s, then pocketing the profits from tolls, duty-free shops, and gas pumps. Forbes magazine called it "the best monopoly you never heard of." And Moroun fought hard to protect it through well-publicized contributions to politicians and a multimillion-dollar campaign to sway public opinion.

It was long-simmering resentment toward Moroun, in part, that ignited the charge to greenlight the new bridge project. Canada agreed to contribute $2.3 billion. It has not cost Michigan taxpayers a dime.

Long before the financing came together, Ted Zoli?chief bridge engineer of HNTB Corp. and winner of the MacArthur Foundation's coveted genius grant?was on the case. Zoli knew that the new bridge would be much more than a point-A-to-point-B proposition: It is playing a big role in jump-starting Detroit's and Michigan's economic engines. Achieving that goal has been helped by the fact that the bridge is publicly financed and generates public revenue. But the way the bridge itself came to be is also important.

Zoli, whose unmistakable designs now span waterways from Boston to Mumbai, built his career on a simple premise: "Cleverness in design and construction techniques can be a source of major savings in the cost of building and maintaining a bridge," he says.

In Detroit he went against the grain. Most bridge builders today prefer prefabricated steel orthotropic decks, an advanced technology also used in shipbuilding. But Zoli opted for a simpler, somewhat old-fashioned steel-reinforced grid deck on his Detroit bridge.

"The sections of an orthotropic deck would usually be manufactured outside the United States?probably in Brazil, Korea, or China," he says. "What worse thing could you do to Detroit? This was an opportunity to create an American-made bridge. Plus, I'm very interested in adapting technology that's maybe less sophisticated or less modern and reimagining what it could be."

While a high-tech orthotropic deck is generally more expensive than a grid deck, the latter requires more labor to fabricate and install. In job-hungry Michigan, Zoli reasoned, a vice became a virtue. Not only can the grid decking be manufactured locally, but a large crew is needed to fit together the deck plates?roughly 1000 laborers working over a six-year period.

Zoli lightheartedly calls the technology stupidly simple, because each deck section is an identical rectangular 8 x 10?foot steel piece. But when the sections are put in place, each angled a fraction of a degree, a gracefully curving roadway emerges, supported by a steel superstructure. Stupidly simple? Maybe. But also brilliant, durable, and expensive-looking without being expensive.

A final consideration was the site. Zoli advised positioning his bridge about 2 miles downriver from the Ambassador Bridge, far from downtown. "It really is a regional bridge," Zoli says. "It doesn't make sense to disrupt the heart of the city with all that truck traffic."

Zoli views bridge building primarily as an act of public service, not as a way of burnishing his personal legend. He rebels against the notion of "signature" structures, a concept embraced by many brand-name architects, so-called starchitects, who flourished in those heady years before the Great Recession descended. "Signature is something I want to take off these things," Zoli says. "This bridge is not an architectural monument or an engineering feat. It becomes monumental only if it's seen as something that serves the community."

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/rebuilding-america/detroits-3-5-billion-dollar-bridge-to-the-future-13115581?src=rss

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Amputee shot by police had battled mental illness

An HPD officer peeks out of a door at City Hall as activists call for answers from city officials on why a police officer on Saturday fatally shot Brian Claunch, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012, outside City Hall in Houston. Claunch, a wheelchair-bound double amputee living in a group home for the mentally ill, was shot and killed by Houston Police in the early morning hours Saturday. Police say HPD officer Matthew Martin shot and killed Claunch, who was waving an object in his hand that turned out to be a pen. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Johnny Hanson)

An HPD officer peeks out of a door at City Hall as activists call for answers from city officials on why a police officer on Saturday fatally shot Brian Claunch, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012, outside City Hall in Houston. Claunch, a wheelchair-bound double amputee living in a group home for the mentally ill, was shot and killed by Houston Police in the early morning hours Saturday. Police say HPD officer Matthew Martin shot and killed Claunch, who was waving an object in his hand that turned out to be a pen. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Johnny Hanson)

The Rev. Ronald Smith, second from left, leads a prayer during a vigil for shooting victim Brian Claunch Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012, in Houston. Claunch, a wheelchair-bound double amputee living in a group home for the mentally ill, was shot and killed by Houston Police in the early morning hours Saturday. Police say HPD officer Matthew Martin shot and killed Claunch, who was waving an object in his hand that turned out to be a pen. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Brett Coomer)

Activist Ali Muhammad with the National Black United Front leads a protest of about 15 people calling for answers from city officials about why a police officer on Saturday fatally shot Brian Claunch, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012, outside City Hall in Houston. Claunch, a wheelchair-bound double amputee living in a group home for the mentally ill, was shot and killed by Houston Police in the early morning hours Saturday. Police say HPD officer Matthew Martin shot and killed Claunch, who was waving an object in his hand that turned out to be a pen. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Johnny Hanson)

HOUSTON (AP) ? Mental illness prompted Brian Claunch to get rid of his own left arm and leg. Then, despite his disabilities, he spent the better part of a decade finding opportunities to run away from residential care facilities, preferring to live on the streets.

Yet in recent months, the 45-year-old man who was in a wheelchair and had paranoid schizophrenia seemed to settle into some stability, staying put, taking his medications.

That all abruptly ended this past weekend in a confrontation with police in which a Houston police officer fatally shot Claunch.

Despite his history of harming himself, Claunch's criminal and mental health backgrounds don't indicate he was violent toward others. John Garcia, owner of the Healing Hands Assisted Home Care facility where Claunch was living and where the confrontation with police happened, recalled a loving but also at times quarrelsome man.

"He was aggressive. As far as violent, I don't know," said Garcia, who was not there when the shooting happened. "Every time (Claunch) got into a situation with me, I would just say, 'Brian, calm down, calm down,' and I would walk away from him and in an hour or two he would be OK."

According to court records, Claunch lost his left arm and leg because "he firmly believed that the devil was in the left side of his body so he (decided) to lay down on the railroad tracks and waited for a train to come and (dismember) him." People with paranoid schizophrenia, a chronic condition, often see and hear things that aren't there.

Some of the worst aspects of Claunch's mental illness burst forth when he wouldn't calm down after demanding cigarettes and soda around 2 a.m. Saturday, Garcia said.

A caretaker called police. Authorities say Claunch cornered a responding officer with his wheelchair and waved a shiny object in his hand. The other responding officer, fearing for his partner's life and his own safety, shot Claunch in the head, police said. The shiny object turned out to be a ballpoint pen.

Since the shooting, community and civil rights groups have called for changes in how officers are trained and disciplined. Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland has called the shooting tragic but asked people to reserve judgment until the department's investigation is completed. The FBI is monitoring the case.

A mental status examination in 2002 found Claunch was "pleasant and cooperative" but had a history of psychiatric hospitalizations over the prior decade. He was unable to work and would not take his medications, leading to him "hearing voices."

A probate court judge declared Claunch a ward of the Harris County Guardianship Program in 2003.

Court records show Claunch's mother initially petitioned to be her son's guardian but changed her mind. Records show Claunch also had a brother and sister. Efforts this week to reach his family were unsuccessful.

During the first two years of his guardianship, Claunch did well, living in a personal care home in Houston, according to annual reports submitted to the probate court.

But by 2006, Claunch started running away, panhandling on local streets. Over the next few years, he went missing, was hospitalized and was in and out of jail on drug and trespassing charges. He also stopped taking his medications.

In 2010, he was placed at a state mental hospital in East Texas for several months.

He started living at Healing Hands in May 2011 but ran away after four months. He was found and brought back in March. At Healing Hands, located in a three-bedroom home, Claunch lived with two other men.

Estella Olguin, a spokeswoman for the Harris County Guardianship Program, said in the time Claunch was a ward of the county, he lived in at least 12 facilities. After coming back to Healing Hands, "he seemed to do really well," she said.

Garcia, 62, said he had twice before called police about Claunch ? both times because he left the home and refused to return.

Claunch had seemed fine Friday night, said Garcia, who had given him a pack of cigarettes, two sodas and his medication before leaving around 8 p.m.

But Claunch, a chain smoker, went through his cigarettes and soda and around 2 a.m. began aggressively demanding more of both from the overnight caretaker.

The caretaker called 911, initially telling the operator he was having problems with a mentally ill person. Because of static on the line, it's unclear if the operator knew about Claunch's mental condition, Garcia said.

Citing the ongoing investigation, Houston police spokesman John Cannon said he could not comment on whether the responding officers knew of Claunch's mental state. Healing Hands does not have any signs outside saying it is a facility for mentally ill or physically challenged individuals.

According to police, Claunch threatened to kill the two officers and tried to stab one with the shiny object in his hand.

The officer who shot him, Matthew Marin, had fatally shot another suspect in 2009, firing on a man who was stabbing his neighbor to death and refused to drop the knife. A five-year veteran, Marin was placed on administrative leave after Claunch's death.

Garcia said he is still in shock and is reserving judgment on whether the shooting was justified.

"I love Brian. He was one of God's children and that's the way I look at him," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-09-27-Houston%20Police-Amputee%20Shot/id-784462ce2381496db586bfa09fdb3087

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Simple Tips On How To Provide Your Home With A Good Landscape

Improving the look of your home requires time and effort. Some say that a little creative skills and a basic knowledge are tools that can help you with process of home improvement. Providing your home with a good landscape increases its curb appeal. Landscaping does not only beautify your house but it gives higher home value and raises appraisals on homes by a significant margin if you wish to prepare your home for sale in the market later on.

Here are some simple tips on how to make a twist on your property.

A good mowed lawn. A regular maintenance of the lawn can spice up the appearance of your property. Cutting down the grass on the same level and providing some fertilizers can enhance the healthy glow of the lawn. Make sure that you have available tools to do the make over or else you will hire a person who can take charge of this work.

Use available space for your outdoor features. The presence of d?cors and furnitures are things that make up a good looking and attractive home. Providing your house with a simple botanical garden, water features, pavements on walkways, and seating areas and customized stools accentuate the landscape of your property. This way you are adding a twist of customized space and accessories to outdoor features.

Include more flowerbeds, trees, and shrubs when are starting to make a good landscape. Try to put some decorative flowers outside and plant more trees and shrubs. Make the space of your property usable and beautiful by doing some patterns. A little research on this will help you ease the process of planting and landscaping.

Outdoor lighting matters. A well-lit property gives you a positive feeling. A catchy landscape also matters at night and one way to create this feeling is to provide enough lighting outside. Try to use LED lighting for a good eco-friendly environment. Remember that this type of lighting saves energy and environmentally friendly. Always give your visitors a feeling of security when they stop by or walk in to your home at night. You can always rely on when your front and back yards are well-lit and inviting.

Apply these secrets of landscaping when improving your home?s look and all will be worth it.

Click to search for home listings and Search for real estate properties now.

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Source: http://saltlake.countyutahrealestate.com/2012/09/simple-tips-on-how-to-provide-your-home-with-a-good-landscape/

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Pregnancy: Your hospitalization Options | Pregnancy Week By Weeks

Are you a woman who is presently doubtful as to in any case of if you are prepared for parenthood? If that is the case, are you currently active sexually? If that's so are you using any form of contraception? Parenting and pregnancy are all crucial issues, ones that are tough to back down from. For this reason, if you're not intending to become a mummy just yet, it is critical that you take the time to familiarize yourself with all of your contraception options.

Maybe, the most well-liked and most well-known birth control technique is that of rubbers. Condoms, in most cases, are very efficient against forestalling pregnancy. On unusual occasions, they can break or leak, but you are sometimes safe. Just be certain to buy a type of condoms that is known for their strength and durability. What is pleasant about this well loved birth control system, is that you are often not only protected against pregnancy, but sexually transmitted illnesses as well.

Though rubbers are an effective contraception system used by many [**] there are several ladies and men who incline not to utilize them. If you're not interested in handling the issue of the birth and upbringing of a child, it is vital that you take the time to get to grips with the other alternatives that you have for contraception. A couple of those alternatives, released below, are ones that might not be as well known or as hot as rubbers, but they're typically just as efficient.

Birth control tablets are a hormonal form of contraception. Birth control pills require the taking of a pill each and everyday of the month. Birth control tablets are referred to as being effective, as long as they are taken as directed. As with several other medicines, birth control pills are not ideal for smokers, as they may cause additional health issues. With a huge selection of contraception tablets, including ones that dispose of your menstrual period, you're going to find something that can provide you with help.

Aside from sheaths and birth control, the next most well loved type of contraception is another hormonal strategy. This birth control method is sometimes referred to as the Depo shot. The Depo shot has one main downfall and that is that it has been associated with a poor absorption of calcium. That is why many Depo users are advised to take calcium additions everyday. What's nice about the Depo shot is that it is not only effective at preventing pregnancy, but it is also administered on a three-month schedule and periods are often an out-of-date thing.

Although not as well regarded as condoms, the Depo shot, and contraception tablets, IUDs are also effective sorts of birth control. IUDs are called Intra-Uterine Devices. Intra-Uterine Devices (IUDs) come in a number of different formats, but they are still built to shield you from pregnancy. This is either done with the use of a copper gadget which is spermicidal, or ones that release progestin.

The earlier mentioned contraception methods are basically just one or two of many that exist, but these contraception techniques are designed to prevent pregnancy right from the start. Should you find yourself in an emergency scenario, it is very vital to know that you have a number of different options, including emergency contraceptives. These emergency contraceptives can be bought through your doctor?s office or your local pharmacy. In spite of being able to offer you help, it is really vital that you don't use abortion or maybe emergency contraceptives as a kind of contraception. If that's what you've been doing, you've got a entire other set of issues that must be dealt with.

As a reminder, the already mentioned contraception methods can all help to stop you from becoming pregnant. With that in mind, the sole technique of contraception, at this moment, that will protect you from sexually spread disease is that of a condom.

Steve Mulzer does a lot of research on various topics and writes about these subjects while not hiking on the weekends with family, or selling products like dickies scrubs free shipping which is of a very high quality. Also, the author sells dickies scrubs which is also a very high quality product. Playing various instruments with a band during the week is yet another leisure activity that keeps time moving for this busy writer.

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Tagged as: health, medical, Pregnancy

Source: http://pregnancybyweeks.blogsgalaxy.com/pregnancy/pregnancy-your-hospitalization-options/

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Tiny Strategies Tom Brady Jersey To Assist You Make The Self - Home

Posted by snowemcade1982 on Sep 25, 2012 in ANIMAL | 0 comments

Increasing your self will not take place on its own. The entire process of personal development demands Tom Brady Jersey and Rob Gronkowski Jersey Wes Welker Jersey Marshawn Lynch Jerseys Matt Flynn Jerseys Russell Wilson Jerseys establishing targets and adding sound guidance into practice. This post will give you concrete assistance that may help you obtain any target that you want to obtain. As soon as you read this article, start on the road to good results.

For most people self improvement invokes images of extended hours spent focusing on an MBA or researching something different. Even though this is 1 solution additionally it is easy to work on other aspects which are more interesting like figuring out how to prepare food or working on other functional lifestyle abilities.

Just about the most crucial ideas to personal improvement is usually to exercise selflessness. By taking a little while from every day to aid an individual or perhaps show them that you simply attention, you will start to view the correct self inside of you. Make little sacrifices to get started the journey of personal development.

Optimistic positive affirmations might be a powerful www.shopseattleseahawks.com tool to your self improvement, however, not in the event you communicate them by rote, without the need of engagement or curiosity. Constantly get sentimentally included whenever you replicate your positive affirmations to oneself. When you find yourself repeating your affirmations, invest your whole interest with them and concentrate on strengthening good sensations.

Shame is an important hindrance to personal improvement due to unfavorable influence it has on self confidence. Feelings of a sense of guilt normally suggest that one has behaved against one?s ideals. Personal beliefs are guidelines one particular chooses, generally in child years, regarding how 1 ought to reside. A sense of guilt indicates that a person has, in simple terms, shattered one?s very own program code of integrity.

Once you have made a option to break an unsatisfactory practice, then commit yourself to breaking up it. You must make your self split this practice again and again. This will be significant Marshawn Lynch Jersey and Matt Flynn Jersey Russell Wilson Jersey Tom Brady Jersey Rob Gronkowski Jersey Wes Welker Jersey in order to switch to a much better life-style. Should you not devote, you will certainly be tied to the unhealthy habit and you will resent yourself for doing it.

Creating in your faith based improvement will bring you into a a lot more calmer tranquil condition in your lifetime. When taking care of personal development, you need so as to dropped a feeling of quiet. Investing some time praying and giving up some management to your greater energy will help you continue to be much more focused during times of great stress.

To boost Rob Gronkowski Jersey your individual improvement, you should have an entire knowing of the things that you then become associated with. You need to learn the ?how? and ?why? of everything you are carrying out. It is actually ok to inquire all the questions you may have. This can only improve your own personal development.

Stay motivated and stress free with workout. Workout is a great stress reliever but a majority of men and women have a hard time entering into a groove along with it. Operate in tiny actions every day to formulate a regular regimen. Have a friend that workouts with you and maintains you determined, that will help you to keep.

Do you experience feeling strengthened yet? The information you just read through are element of a stable diet plan John Hannah Jersey of solid determination and guidance. When you nonetheless need to have additional inspiration to obtain your targets, display this article to a buddy and ask him how he has used these suggestions to his life.

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Source: http://funclub24.com/2012/09/25/tiny-strategies-tom-brady-jersey-to-assist-you-make-the-self-improvement-exceptional/

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Molecular process in fat cells that influences stress and longevity identified

ScienceDaily (Sep. 26, 2012) ? As part of their ongoing research investigating the biology of aging, the greatest risk factor for type 2 diabetes and other serious diseases, scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center have identified a new factor -- microRNA processing in fat tissue -- which plays a major role in aging and stress resistance. This finding may lead to the development of treatments that increase stress resistance and longevity and improve metabolism.

The findings appear in the Sept. 5 online edition of Cell Metabolism.

Over the past several years, it has become clear that fat cells (adipocytes) are more than just repositories to store fat. Indeed, fat cells secrete a number of substances that actively influence metabolism and systemic inflammation. Previous studies have found that reducing fat mass by caloric restriction (CR) or surgical or genetic means can promote longevity and stress resistance in species from yeast to primates. However, little is known about how CR and fat reduction produce these beneficial effects. This study investigated one type of molecular mediator -- change in microRNAs (miRNAs) and the processing enzymes required to make them- that is influenced by aging and reversed by caloric restriction. miRNAs are involved in the formation of mature RNA.

Based on studies conducted using human cells, mice and C. elegans (a microscopic worm used as a model organism for aging studies), the researchers demonstrated that levels of multiple miRNAs, decrease in fat tissue (adipose) with age in all three species. This is due to a decrease in the critical enzyme required from converted pre-miRNAs to mature miRNAs, Dicer. In the human study, which compared the miRNA levels in preadipocytes (fat cell precusors) of young, middle-aged and older people, people aged 70 and older had the lowest miRNA levels. "The fact that this change occurs in humans, mice and worms points to its significance as a general and important process," says lead author C. Ronald Kahn, MD, Chief Academic Officer at Joslin Diabetes Center and the Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Caloric restriction, which has been shown to prolong lifespan and improve stress resistance in both mice and worms, prevents this decline of Dicer, and in the case of the mice, restore miRNAs to levels observed in young mice. Conversely, exposure of adipocytes to major stressors associated with aging and metabolic diseases, including toxic agents, Dicer levels decreased. Mice and worms engineered to have decreased Dicer expression in fat showed increased sensitivity to stress, a sign of premature aging. By contrast, worms engineered to "overexpress" Dicer in the intestine (the adipose tissue equivalent in worms) had greater stress resistance and lived longer.

Overall, these studies showed that regulation of miRNA processing in adipose-related tissues plays an important role in longevity and an organism's ability to respond to age-related and environmental stress. "This study points to a completely new mechanism by which fat might affect lifespan and is the first time that anyone has looked at fat and miRNAs as factors in longevity," according to co-author T. Keith Blackwell, MD, PhD, co-head of Joslin's Section on Islet Cell and Regenerative Biology and Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School.

Based on this study, Blackwell suggests that "finding ways to improve miRNA processing to keep miRNA levels up during aging might have a role in protecting against the stresses of everyday life and the development of age- and stress-related disease."

Dr. Kahn and the study investigators are currently working on ways to genetically control Dicer levels in the fat tissues of mice, to create mouse models that are more or less resistant to stress. "We would love to find drugs that would mimic this genetic manipulation to produce a beneficial effect," says Dr. Kahn. "If we can better understand the biology of aging, we might also understand how age impacts diabetes," says Kahn.

Study co-authors include Marcelo A. Mori, Prashant Raghavan, Jeremie Boucher, Stacey Robida-Stubbs, Yazmin Macotela, Steven J. Russell, and T. Keith Blackwell of Joslin; and James L. Kirkland and Thomas Thomou of the Mayo Clinic.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Joslin Diabetes Center, via Newswise.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Marcelo?A. Mori, Prashant Raghavan, Thomas Thomou, Jeremie Boucher, Stacey Robida-Stubbs, Yazmin Macotela, Steven?J. Russell, James?L. Kirkland, T.?Keith Blackwell, C.?Ronald Kahn. Role of MicroRNA Processing in Adipose Tissue in Stress Defense and Longevity. Cell Metabolism, 2012; 16 (3): 336 DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2012.07.017

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/xAi7xo7QHa4/120926152931.htm

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Bombs explode at security site in Damascus: rebels

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Bombs planted by rebels exploded at a school building occupied by security forces and pro-government militias in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Tuesday, activists and rebels said.

Residents said smoke was billowing from the area in southeastern Damascus and an activist said ambulances were rushing to the scene.

"At exactly 9:35 a.m., seven improvised devices were set off in two explosions to target a school used for weekly planning meetings between shabbiha militia and security officers," said Abu Moaz, a leader of Ansar al-Islam, one of the rebel groups in the 18-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

The state news channel Syria TV quoted a government official as saying two improvised explosives planted by "terrorists" blew up near the "Sons of Martyrs" school in Damascus. It said seven people were wounded, with minor damage to buildings.

Rebels said they expected high casualties from the blast but they did not give any confirmed reports of deaths.

"There were several officers present, and we are hoping they will be part of a large number of killed in this operation," Abu Moaz said.

Southern Damascus has become a battleground between Assad's forces and opposition fighters. Last week, the army bombarded rebel strongholds there to flush them out of the capital, once seen as Assad's untouchable seat of power but now a site of daily fighting.

Damascus residents also reported heavy clashes for two hours on Baghdad Street in a central district of the capital just to the north of the Old City.

(Reporting by Erika Solomon; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bombs-blow-security-damascus-rebels-080109913.html

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Small-Business Lessons From Harley-Davidson's Turnaround

The New York Times:

This weekend, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about how Harley-Davidson turned itself around using "lean" manufacturing strategies. Lean, or just-in-time, manufacturing is the Toyota production system, which started with W. Edwards Deming and his work with statistical quality control. Whenever I see this kind of article about a large company, I think about how the thoughts and principles can be applied to the smaller companies I work with.

As I read this one, three things occurred to me.

1. The idea behind lean is to create capacity -- not to reduce employee headcount. In this case, Harley-Davidson reduced its headcount by more than 1,000 people using lean techniques. Harley-Davidson probably can do this just once. If it continues to use lean strategies to reduce headcount, it will see employee enthusiasm for the program wane.

Read the whole story at The New York Times

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/25/small-business-lessons-fr_n_1912212.html

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Making Easy Child Friendly Home Improvements | My Blog

Posted by crafty88 on Sep 25, 2012 in SPORTS | Comments Off

When you paint interior rooms during a home improvement project, allow extra drying time if your house is new. Newer homes are usually built with extremely effective (nearly air-tight) separation between the interior and exterior. While this is an advantage for you as a homeowner in most situations, when you paint inside, your paint will take longer to dry than the paint manufacturer might claim.

Here is a home improvement for working with contractors! If you are having work done, be sure to inform the head of the crew if you are not happy! In the ideal world, everyone would understand and do exactly what you want, the way you want it done! If that is not the case, speak to the head of the crew! You are paying the bills, and you are in charge. If you aren?t happy, speak up. If things don?t work out with that contractor, there are lots of others to choose from.

Dirty ceiling vents can make your home look bad. You can purchase and install new ceiling vents, giving your home a cleaner and neater look.

If you are doing any home improvements on the roof of your home, make sure you wear the proper shoes so that you keep yourself safe. Many accidents in home improvements happen from people falling off their roofs. Be careful up there by wearing the right shoes and tie yourself off whenever possible.

When wanting to make a living out of home improvement, it is important that you have great people skills. If you do not have great people skills, when dealing with your clients it is very likely that you would lose quite a few jobs. It is better to be a people person, and make the money you want!

Begin the installation of your new kitchen cabinets by drawing a horizontal benchmark line around the perimeter of your entire kitchen. This level line will provide a reference point for you to measure from when installing your wall and base cabinets. Your benchmark line should begin at the highest point of your floor.

New wallpaper can transform a room. Before you add wallpaper, you need to find out what type of wall is under the existing wallpaper. Usually walls are either drywall or plaster smoothed over lath. You can figure out what kind of wall you are dealing with by feeling the wall, plaster is harder, smoother, and colder than drywall. You can also try tapping the wall, drywall sounds hollow while plaster does not.

Smoke detectors are required for safety in your home. Many homes only put them in certain areas. You can increase the safety in your home, by installing additional detectors in places like bathrooms, kitchens and basements. These areas can sometimes be overlooked, though prone to fires as much or more than the rest of the house.

Soak your hands in salad oil after completing an oil painting job. The oil will help release the paint from where it has splattered on your hands. Salad oil smells better and is a lot safer than the typical cleanup choices of mineral spirits or kerosene.

When getting ready to prime a room that is going to be painted, have your primer tinted so that it is the same color as the paint you are using. The primer will still do its job, but instead of needing three coats of paint, your walls will require only two.

Removing wall paper is something that may sound easy, but it actually takes some skill. You need to know what type of wallpaper you need to remove, and what type of wall you have. Based on the wallpaper you have, you then either need to dry-strip it or soak it and scrape it off. Make sure you do your research to determine what needs be done.

In summary, there are some obvious ideas that have been tested over time, as well as some newer techniques that you may not have considered. Hopefully, as long as you follow what we suggest in this article, you can either get started with your home improvement project or improve on what you have already done.

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Source: http://funclub24.com/2012/09/25/making-easy-child-friendly-home-improvements/

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More countries restrict Internet to stifle critics: report

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/more-countries-restrict-internet-stifle-critics-report-183923633.html

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