formatics. Elsevier Science; 2000.

Download references

This work was in part supported by The Hong Polytechnic University (G-U877) and Research Grant Council of the Hong Kong SAR (PolyU 5264/09E). This work is based on our presentation “Truncation of Protein Sequences for Fast Profile Alignment with Application to Subcellular Localization” in IEEE BIBM’2010, Hong Kong.

Author information

Correspondence to Man-Wai Mak.

Additional information

Authors' contributions

M.W. Mak and W. Wang contribute to (1) the idea of cascaded fusion of signal-based and homology-based methods, (2) preparation of data, (3) implementation of CRF cleavage site predictor and SVM/PDA classifiers, and (4) experimental evaluations. S.Y. Kung contributes to (1) the theoretical development and derivation of PDA and (2) the idea of cascaded fusion and sensitivity analysis.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mak, M., Wang, W. & Kung, S. Fast subcellular localization by cascaded fusion of signal-based and homology-based methods. Proteome Sci 9, S8 (2011).

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  • Subcellular Localization
  • Cleavage Site
  • Spectral Space
  • Sorting Signal
  • Subcellular Localization Prediction<|endoftext|>Sponsored by

Boot Camp: Dunlap Ready to Bounce Back From 3-6

Dunlap to use speed and experience this football season

WMBD/WYZZ-TV - DUNLAP, Ill. - A year ago, the Eagles were young and struggled to a 3-6 record.

This season Dunlap players believe they are better prepared for the football season. And the Eagles are hoping to soar again.

Dunlap returns most of its offensive line and receiving crew. The Eagles feel like they are ahead of where they were last August.

"We're getting a lot more plays in," said senior lineman Jacob VanDermyde. "We're over the simple stuff we did last year, geting more advanced. It's more fluid and everything going together well."

In fact, Dunlap's play book is a littel bigger this fall.

"Since we have experience, we know all the plays," said senior lineman Bobby Sansone. "We don't have to review anything so we can keep adding instead of going over stuff we would have had to learn. You can add little trick plays and stuff like that."

Dunlap opens the seaosn at home against Geneseo Aug. 30.

Page: [[$index + 1]]
comments powered by Disqus<|endoftext|>Question: In what country is Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius?
Answer: Bulgaria<|endoftext|>Pancreatic Cyst Symptoms and Diagnosis

A pancreatic pseudocyst is a collection of tissue and fluids that forms on your pancreas, an organ located behind your stomach. It is usually the result of pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) or a hard blow to your abdomen.

Pseudo means “false.” A pseudocyst is shaped like a cyst but is made from different kinds of tissue than a true cyst. A true cyst is more likely to be cancerous than a pseudocyst.

A pancreatic pseudocyst is usually not dangerous unless it ruptures. A ruptured pancreatic pseudocyst, on the other hand, is a life-threatening condition. If you experience any of the following symptoms, go to an emergency room, or call 911:

  • high, persistent fever
  • severe pain in your upper stomach, with pain radiating to your back
  • fainting
  • vomiting blood
  • weak, rapid heartbeat

Pay especially close attention to these symptoms if you have pancreatitis in your personal or family medical history.

What Causes a Pancreatic Pseudocyst?

Pancreatic pseudocysts most often follow a bout of pancreatitis. Pancreatitis is a serious and painful condition in which pancreatic enzymes, which help you digest fats and sugars, overreact and begin to digest the tissues of the pancreas itself.

This can cause swelling, bleeding, and damage to the tissues and blood vessels in the pancreas. Cysts typically form when the ducts that carry pancreatic juices to the intestine become blocked.

There are two types of pancreatitis: acute and chronic. Acute pancreatitis is sudden and can go away without treatment. Chronic pancreatitis resists treatment.

Causes of Pancreatitis

While pancreatitis may be a complication of surgery or caused by certain autoimmune disorders, alcoholism is the most common cause for this condition.

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, 70 percent of pancreatitis cases in the U.S. are caused by alcoholism or alcohol abuse (NCBI, 2010).

Additionally, alcoholism can raise the level of certain fats (triglycerides) in your bloodstream. Your pancreas helps your body digest fats, but it can become damaged if there is too much fat to process.

Your triglyceride level can also be higher-than-normal because of too much fat and cholesterol in your diet, or because you have diabetes or kidney disease.

Pancreatitis can also be caused by gallstones. These are pebble-like deposits that develop in the gallbladder, a small organ located near the pancreas that stores bile produced in the liver.

Gallstones may be very small, or can grow as large as a golf ball. In some cases, they may block the ducts that drain the pancreas, causing pancreatitis to develop.

What are the symptoms of pancreatic cysts?

The symptoms of pancreatic cysts depend on their size and location. Small (less than two cm) cysts usually cause no symptoms.

Large pancreatic cysts can cause abdominal pain and back pain presumably by exerting pressure on the surrounding tissues and nerves.

Small or large cysts in the head of the pancreas also may cause jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes with darkening of the urine) due to obstruction of the common bile duct.

(Obstruction causes bile to back up and forces bilirubin–the chemical that produces jaundice–back into the bloodstream and forces it to be excreted in the urine.)

If the cysts become infected, it may result in fever, chills, and sepsis.

On rare occasions, large pseudocysts can compress the stomach or the duodenum leading to obstruction to the movement of food in the intestines, resulting in abdominal pain and vomiting.

If a cyst becomes malignant and begins to invade the surrounding tissues, it may lead to the same type of pain as pancreatic cancer, pain that usually is constant and felt in the back and upper abdomen.

How are pancreatic cysts diagnosed?

During endoscopic ultrasound, fluid from cysts and samples of tissue also can be obtained by passing special needles through the endoscope and into the cysts.

The risks of endoscopic ultrasound and fine needle aspiration are small and consist of a very small incidence of bleeding and infection.

Occasionally, it is difficult even with the diagnostic tools of endoscopic ultrasound and fine needle aspiration to determine if a pancreatic cyst is cancerous or precancerous.

If the answer is not clear, sometimes repeated endoscopic ultrasound and aspiration are done if the suspicion for cancer or precancer is high.

In other cases, the cyst is reexamined by CT, MRI, or even endoscopic ultrasound after a few months to detect changes that more strongly suggest that cancer has developed. In still others, surgery is recommended.

What Treatments Are Available?

If your doctor determines that you have a pseudocyst, but you don’t have any symptoms, he or she may suggest you wait to see if the cyst goes away on its own.

The growth or shrinking of the cyst can be monitored with regular imaging tests.

When a pseudocyst is pressing on other organs, it should be drained to reduce its size. It should also be drained if it’s grown so large that it could rupture.

Drainage requires surgery under general anesthesia, meaning that you will be asleep and pain-free during the procedure.

Surgery involves making a very small incision to drain the pseudocyst with a needle guided by ultrasound or an endoscopic camera.

Alternatively, the doctor might make a larger incision to view the pseudocyst directly.

The contents of the pseudocyst will be drained or suctioned out. A sample of the contents will be sent to a lab to test for infections and signs of cancer.

You will be prescribed antibiotics even if you don’t have an infection, to make sure one doesn’t develop.

What Is the Outlook for Someone With a Pancreatic Pseudocyst?

The outlook for someone who has a pseudocyst is usually good, as long as there is no chance of rupture. Surgery to drain pseudocysts has a high recovery rate.

What Can I Do to Prevent a Pancreatic Pseudcyst?

Pancreatitis is the most common cause of pseudocysts, so preventing pancreatitis is the best way to prevent cysts from forming.

If you drink alcohol regularly or are an alcoholic, consider stopping or seeking out treatment for addiction, especially if you have a family history of alcoholism or pancreatitis.

A diet low in carbohydrates and cholesterol, and consisting of fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, and lean protein, can lower your triglycerides and help prevent

.

    Wu CH, McLarty JM: Neural Networks and Genome Informatics. Elsevier Science; 2000.

Download references

This work was in part supported by The Hong Polytechnic University (G-U877) and Research Grant Council of the Hong Kong SAR (PolyU 5264/09E). This work is based on our presentation “Truncation of Protein Sequences for Fast Profile Alignment with Application to Subcellular Localization” in IEEE BIBM’2010, Hong Kong.

Author information

Correspondence to Man-Wai Mak.

Additional information

Authors' contributions

M.W. Mak and W. Wang contribute to (1) the idea of cascaded fusion of signal-based and homology-based methods, (2) preparation of data, (3) implementation of CRF cleavage site predictor and SVM/PDA classifiers, and (4) experimental evaluations. S.Y. Kung contributes to (1) the theoretical development and derivation of PDA and (2) the idea of cascaded fusion and sensitivity analysis.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mak, M., Wang, W. & Kung, S. Fast subcellular localization by cascaded fusion of signal-based and homology-based methods. Proteome Sci 9, S8 (2011).

Download citation

  • Subcellular Localization
  • Cleavage Site
  • Spectral Space
  • Sorting Signal
  • Subcellular Localization Prediction<|endoftext|>Sponsored by

Boot Camp: Dunlap Ready to Bounce Back From 3-6

Dunlap to use speed and experience this football season

WMBD/WYZZ-TV - DUNLAP, Ill. - A year ago, the Eagles were young and struggled to a 3-6 record.

This season Dunlap players believe they are better prepared for the football season. And the Eagles are hoping to soar again.

Dunlap returns most of its offensive line and receiving crew. The Eagles feel like they are ahead of where they were last August.

"We're getting a lot more plays in," said senior lineman Jacob VanDermyde. "We're over the simple stuff we did last year, geting more advanced. It's more fluid and everything going together well."

In fact, Dunlap's play book is a littel bigger this fall.

"Since we have experience, we know all the plays," said senior lineman Bobby Sansone. "We don't have to review anything so we can keep adding instead of going over stuff we would have had to learn. You can add little trick plays and stuff like that."

Dunlap opens the seaosn at home against Geneseo Aug. 30.

Page: [[$index + 1]]
comments powered by Disqus<|endoftext|>Pancreatic Cyst Symptoms and Diagnosis

A pancreatic pseudocyst is a collection of tissue and fluids that forms on your pancreas, an organ located behind your stomach. It is usually the result of pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) or a hard blow to your abdomen.

Pseudo means “false.” A pseudocyst is shaped like a cyst but is made from different kinds of tissue than a true cyst. A true cyst is more likely to be cancerous than a pseudocyst.

A pancreatic pseudocyst is usually not dangerous unless it ruptures. A ruptured pancreatic pseudocyst, on the other hand, is a life-threatening condition. If you experience any of the following symptoms, go to an emergency room, or call 911:

  • high, persistent fever
  • severe pain in your upper stomach, with pain radiating to your back
  • fainting
  • vomiting blood
  • weak, rapid heartbeat

Pay especially close attention to these symptoms if you have pancreatitis in your personal or family medical history.

What Causes a Pancreatic Pseudocyst?

Pancreatic pseudocysts most often follow a bout of pancreatitis. Pancreatitis is a serious and painful condition in which pancreatic enzymes, which help you digest fats and sugars, overreact and begin to digest the tissues of the pancreas itself.

This can cause swelling, bleeding, and damage to the tissues and blood vessels in the pancreas. Cysts typically form when the ducts that carry pancreatic juices to the intestine become blocked.

There are two types of pancreatitis: acute and chronic. Acute pancreatitis is sudden and can go away without treatment. Chronic pancreatitis resists treatment.

Causes of Pancreatitis

While pancreatitis may be a complication of surgery or caused by certain autoimmune disorders, alcoholism is the most common cause for this condition.

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, 70 percent of pancreatitis cases in the U.S. are caused by alcoholism or alcohol abuse (NCBI, 2010).

Additionally, alcoholism can raise the level of certain fats (triglycerides) in your bloodstream. Your pancreas helps your body digest fats, but it can become damaged if there is too much fat to process.

Your triglyceride level can also be higher-than-normal because of too much fat and cholesterol in your diet, or because you have diabetes or kidney disease.

Pancreatitis can also be caused by gallstones. These are pebble-like deposits that develop in the gallbladder, a small organ located near the pancreas that stores bile produced in the liver.

Gallstones may be very small, or can grow as large as a golf ball. In some cases, they may block the ducts that drain the pancreas, causing pancreatitis to develop.

What are the symptoms of pancreatic cysts?

The symptoms of pancreatic cysts depend on their size and location. Small (less than two cm) cysts usually cause no symptoms.

Large pancreatic cysts can cause abdominal pain and back pain presumably by exerting pressure on the surrounding tissues and nerves.

Small or large cysts in the head of the pancreas also may cause jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes with darkening of the urine) due to obstruction of the common bile duct.

(Obstruction causes bile to back up and forces bilirubin–the chemical that produces jaundice–back into the bloodstream and forces it to be excreted in the urine.)

If the cysts become infected, it may result in fever, chills, and sepsis.

On rare occasions, large pseudocysts can compress the stomach or the duodenum leading to obstruction to the movement of food in the intestines, resulting in abdominal pain and vomiting.

If a cyst becomes malignant and begins to invade the surrounding tissues, it may lead to the same type of pain as pancreatic cancer, pain that usually is constant and felt in the back and upper abdomen.

How are pancreatic cysts diagnosed?

During endoscopic ultrasound, fluid from cysts and samples of tissue also can be obtained by passing special needles through the endoscope and into the cysts.

The risks of endoscopic ultrasound and fine needle aspiration are small and consist of a very small incidence of bleeding and infection.

Occasionally, it is difficult even with the diagnostic tools of endoscopic ultrasound and fine needle aspiration to determine if a pancreatic cyst is cancerous or precancerous.

If the answer is not clear, sometimes repeated endoscopic ultrasound and aspiration are done if the suspicion for cancer or precancer is high.

In other cases, the cyst is reexamined by CT, MRI, or even endoscopic ultrasound after a few months to detect changes that more strongly suggest that cancer has developed. In still others, surgery is recommended.

What Treatments Are Available?

If your doctor determines that you have a pseudocyst, but you don’t have any symptoms, he or she may suggest you wait to see if the cyst goes away on its own.

The growth or shrinking of the cyst can be monitored with regular imaging tests.

When a pseudocyst is pressing on other organs, it should be drained to reduce its size. It should also be drained if it’s grown so large that it could rupture.

Drainage requires surgery under general anesthesia, meaning that you will be asleep and pain-free during the procedure.

Surgery involves making a very small incision to drain the pseudocyst with a needle guided by ultrasound or an endoscopic camera.

Alternatively, the doctor might make a larger incision to view the pseudocyst directly.

The contents of the pseudocyst will be drained or suctioned out. A sample of the contents will be sent to a lab to test for infections and signs of cancer.

You will be prescribed antibiotics even if you don’t have an infection, to make sure one doesn’t develop.

What Is the Outlook for Someone With a Pancreatic Pseudocyst?

The outlook for someone who has a pseudocyst is usually good, as long as there is no chance of rupture. Surgery to drain pseudocysts has a high recovery rate.

What Can I Do to Prevent a Pancreatic Pseudcyst?

Pancreatitis is the most common cause of pseudocysts, so preventing pancreatitis is the best way to prevent cysts from forming.

If you drink alcohol regularly or are an alcoholic, consider stopping or seeking out treatment for addiction, especially if you have a family history of alcoholism or pancreatitis.

A diet low in carbohydrates and cholesterol, and consisting of fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, and lean protein, can lower your triglycerides and help prevent the development of pseudocy


olic fraction (MEKC) about proteinuria, glucosuria, and some additional biochemical guidelines in adriamycin-induced renal impairment in rats. and potassium levels. Conclusions: The results indicated that the treatment with the methanolic portion of may improve proteinuria and all other symptoms due to adriamycin-induced nephropathy and, more than losartan, could ameliorate kidney and liver functions. could be a potential source of new dental antinephropathic drug. methanolic draw out, nephropathy, rat Intro No matter etiology, glomerulosclerosis and tubule-interstitial fibrosis will be the last common pathways of development observed in most chronic renal illnesses.[1] Nephropathy is seen as a particular renal alterations. Top features of early renal adjustments are glomerular hypertrophy and hyperfiltration and AZD8931 increased urinary albumin excretion. Advanced nephropathy can be seen as a proteinuria, glucosuria, decrease in renal function, improved bloodstream creatinine or reduced creatinine clearance, glomerulosclerosis, and interstitial fibrosis.[1,2] At the moment, diabetic kidney disease affects about 15C25% of Type 1 diabetics,[3] 20C40% of individuals with Type 2 diabetes,[4,5] and 2% of individuals with medication toxicity.[6] Thus, kidney illnesses is highly recommended as a open public health problem. Regular treatment includes dental enzyme transformation inhibitors such as for example losartan. However, in locations where secure contemporary health insurance and medicines centers are unavailable, the global world Health Company offers recommended the usage of indigenous plants as alternative remedies.[7] About 80% of rural African communities still use phytotherapy to regulate or deal with many illnesses. (Crassulaceae) AZD8931 can be a herbaceous vegetable used in traditional western regions of Cameroon as an AZD8931 antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory medication.[8,9] Adriamycin continues to be utilized to induce nephropathic toxicity in rats in a number of research.[10,11] Today’s work was therefore undertaken to measure the aftereffect of the methanolic fraction of on adriamycin-induced nephropathy in rats. Components and Methods The complete vegetable of was gathered from Batie (Western Cameroon) in January and March and was determined by the Country wide Herbarium of Yaounde (Cameroon) where in fact the voucher specimen (50103/YA) was held. The materials was washed, shade-dried, and powdered. The natural powder of (2 kg) was macerated in 10 L of methanol for 72 h at space temperature. Removal of the solvent from the extract under reduced pressure yielded 113.6 g (5.68%) of a dark green residue. This residue was dissolved in hexane to remove its hydro-insoluble compounds. The final residue (insoluble in hexane) constituted the methanol fraction of (MEKC). The extract yielded 41.8 g (2.09%). Prior to the administration, the extract was dissolved in distilled water. Preliminary Phytochemical TestsPhytochemical AZD8931 constituents of the methanolic fraction of were determined by standard methods using various reagents.[12] This included Mayer and Dragendoff’s reagents for alkaloids, FeCl3 for tannin, frothing test for saponin, magnesium turning and Hcl for flavonoids, NaCl and Fehling’s solutions for glycoside, diethyl ether, sulphuric acid and anhydride acetic for steroids, ether-chloroform and NaOH for anthraquinones, and FeCl3 and K3Fe(CN)6 for phenols and polyphenols. Acute Toxicity EvaluationThe MEKC was tested for its acute toxicity in mice. Five groups of six mice each were administered orally one of the different doses of the extract: 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 g/kg body weight. Control group received only vehicle (water). Animals were observed continuously for initial 2 h, intermittently for the next 6 h, and then at 24 h and 48 h following drug administration for death and overt behavior: lethargy, jerkiness, sensitivity to noise and touch, and respiratory rate. The lethal dose Tmem140 50 (LD50) was determined with the following formulae.[13] LD50 = Xs C d (Sp – ?) Xs = Lethal dose 100; d = Interval between the doses p = Death proportion per group; Sp = sum of death proportions Induction of Renal ImpairmentMale Wistar albino rats weighting 200C250 g, raised in the Faculty of Science, University of Yaound I, were used. They were maintained under natural laboratory conditions (temp and dark/light routine) and allowed usage of water and food had been done based on the Guidelines of.

External loads applied to skeletal muscle cause increases in the protein

External loads applied to skeletal muscle cause increases in the protein translation rate which leads to muscle hypertrophy. ablation. Fourteen days after surgery the weight of the plantaris muscle per body weight increased by 8% 22 32 and 45% in the WK MO MI and ST groups respectively. Five days after surgery 18 rRNA content (an indicator of translational capacity) increased with increasing overload with increases of 1 1.8-fold (MO) 2.2 (MI) and 2.5-fold (ST) respectively relative to non-overloaded muscle (NL) in the WK group. rRNA content showed a strong correlation with relative muscle weight measured 14 days after surgery (r = 0.98). The phosphorylated form of p70S6K (a positive regulator of translational efficiency) showed a marked increase in the MO group but no further increase was observed with further increase in overload (increases of 22.6-fold (MO) 17.4 (MI) and 18.2-fold (ST) respectively relative to NL in the WK group). These results indicate that increases in ribosome biogenesis at the early phase of overloading are strongly dependent on the amount of overloading and may play an important role in increasing the translational capacity for further gain of muscular size. Introduction In skeletal muscle it is generally known that the increase of muscle mass subsequent to application of an external load is achieved by the accumulation of increasing of protein synthesis [1]. Among the processes involved in AZD8931 protein synthesis protein translation has a central role in determining the amount of protein synthesized. To ascertain the IL1-ALPHA part played by translation in overload and/or exercise-induced muscle hypertrophy contributions of the capacity and efficiency of translation must be considered [2]. Both processes have been thought to be important in AZD8931 the exercise-induced increase in protein synthesis. However most studies have focused on the mechanisms controlling translational efficiency (e.g. ribosome activation AZD8931 through the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) C1 signaling pathway [3 4 and not on the contribution of “translational capacity”. Translational capacity is determined by the amount of “translational machinery” per unit volume of cells: ribosome numbers transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) molecules and translational factors. All three factors are important but the number of ribosomes present in the cell has been thought to be a primary determinant of translational capacity [5]. Therefore ribosome biogenesis may have an essential role in the control of protein synthesis and cell growth [6 7 Involvement of ribosome biogenesis has been shown in the growth of cardiac muscle [5 8 but little is known about the contribution of ribosome biogenesis to hypertrophy of skeletal muscle. Recently some studies have shown increased ribosome content in skeletal muscle hypertrophied by synergist ablation in rats [11-15] and in human skeletal muscle after resistance-exercise training [16]. However whether a quantitative relationship exists between the external loads applied to the muscle and ribosome biogenesis is not known. “Translational efficiency” is defined as the rate of protein synthesis per ribosome and is limited mainly by the initiation step of translation. Baar and Esser reported a strong positive correlation between phosphorylation-induced activation of p70S6K (an initiator of translation) and the magnitude of hypertrophy in muscles subjected to mechanical loading [17]. Therefore p70S6K could be the main regulator of the mass of skeletal muscle. However more recent studies have shown weak or no correlation between p70s6k phosphorylation and the magnitude of AZD8931 muscle hypertrophy [18-20]. Thus our aims were: (i) to establish an animal model of muscle hypertrophy in which the magnitude of hypertrophy can be controlled in a stepwise manner; and (ii) to ascertain if the magnitude of muscle hypertrophy is correlated with ribosome biogenesis and/or p70S6K activation in the early phase of overloading. AZD8931 Materials and Methods Animals Sixty-four male Wistar rats (11 weeks; 330 g) were purchased from CLEA Japan (Tokyo Japan). They were housed in individual cages at regulated temperature (22°C) humidity (60%) and illumination cycles (12-h light and 12-h dark). They were allowed to eat commercial rat chow (CE2; CLEA Japan) and drink water for 15 min at 4°C and supernatants collected. Protein concentrations of supernatants were determined using a protein quantification kit (Protein Assay Rapid Kit; Wako Pure Chemical Industries Osaka Japan). Samples were mixed with ×3 sample buffer (1.0% 2-mercaptoethanol 4 SDS 0.16 M.<|endoftext|>Question: Who is the author of Falling?
Answer: Anne Provoost<|endoftext|>2013 AC: Where's Our Money?

Did you see a difference in your first paycheck of 2013? Do you even know where your money is going? Take a closer look at what "saved" us from the fiscal cliff.

So, how much less is your paycheck in 2013 A.C.? (after the cliff).  Aren

) about proteinuria,

Objectives: To investigate the result of methanolic fraction (MEKC) about proteinuria, glucosuria, and some additional biochemical guidelines in adriamycin-induced renal impairment in rats. and potassium levels. Conclusions: The results indicated that the treatment with the methanolic portion of may improve proteinuria and all other symptoms due to adriamycin-induced nephropathy and, more than losartan, could ameliorate kidney and liver functions. could be a potential source of new dental antinephropathic drug. methanolic draw out, nephropathy, rat Intro No matter etiology, glomerulosclerosis and tubule-interstitial fibrosis will be the last common pathways of development observed in most chronic renal illnesses.[1] Nephropathy is seen as a particular renal alterations. Top features of early renal adjustments are glomerular hypertrophy and hyperfiltration and AZD8931 increased urinary albumin excretion. Advanced nephropathy can be seen as a proteinuria, glucosuria, decrease in renal function, improved bloodstream creatinine or reduced creatinine clearance, glomerulosclerosis, and interstitial fibrosis.[1,2] At the moment, diabetic kidney disease affects about 15C25% of Type 1 diabetics,[3] 20C40% of individuals with Type 2 diabetes,[4,5] and 2% of individuals with medication toxicity.[6] Thus, kidney illnesses is highly recommended as a open public health problem. Regular treatment includes dental enzyme transformation inhibitors such as for example losartan. However, in locations where secure contemporary health insurance and medicines centers are unavailable, the global world Health Company offers recommended the usage of indigenous plants as alternative remedies.[7] About 80% of rural African communities still use phytotherapy to regulate or deal with many illnesses. (Crassulaceae) AZD8931 can be a herbaceous vegetable used in traditional western regions of Cameroon as an AZD8931 antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory medication.[8,9] Adriamycin continues to be utilized to induce nephropathic toxicity in rats in a number of research.[10,11] Today’s work was therefore undertaken to measure the aftereffect of the methanolic fraction of on adriamycin-induced nephropathy in rats. Components and Methods The complete vegetable of was gathered from Batie (Western Cameroon) in January and March and was determined by the Country wide Herbarium of Yaounde (Cameroon) where in fact the voucher specimen (50103/YA) was held. The materials was washed, shade-dried, and powdered. The natural powder of (2 kg) was macerated in 10 L of methanol for 72 h at space temperature. Removal of the solvent from the extract under reduced pressure yielded 113.6 g (5.68%) of a dark green residue. This residue was dissolved in hexane to remove its hydro-insoluble compounds. The final residue (insoluble in hexane) constituted the methanol fraction of (MEKC). The extract yielded 41.8 g (2.09%). Prior to the administration, the extract was dissolved in distilled water. Preliminary Phytochemical TestsPhytochemical AZD8931 constituents of the methanolic fraction of were determined by standard methods using various reagents.[12] This included Mayer and Dragendoff’s reagents for alkaloids, FeCl3 for tannin, frothing test for saponin, magnesium turning and Hcl for flavonoids, NaCl and Fehling’s solutions for glycoside, diethyl ether, sulphuric acid and anhydride acetic for steroids, ether-chloroform and NaOH for anthraquinones, and FeCl3 and K3Fe(CN)6 for phenols and polyphenols. Acute Toxicity EvaluationThe MEKC was tested for its acute toxicity in mice. Five groups of six mice each were administered orally one of the different doses of the extract: 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 g/kg body weight. Control group received only vehicle (water). Animals were observed continuously for initial 2 h, intermittently for the next 6 h, and then at 24 h and 48 h following drug administration for death and overt behavior: lethargy, jerkiness, sensitivity to noise and touch, and respiratory rate. The lethal dose Tmem140 50 (LD50) was determined with the following formulae.[13] LD50 = Xs C d (Sp – ?) Xs = Lethal dose 100; d = Interval between the doses p = Death proportion per group; Sp = sum of death proportions Induction of Renal ImpairmentMale Wistar albino rats weighting 200C250 g, raised in the Faculty of Science, University of Yaound I, were used. They were maintained under natural laboratory conditions (temp and dark/light routine) and allowed usage of water and food had been done based on the Guidelines of.

External loads applied to skeletal muscle cause increases in the protein

External loads applied to skeletal muscle cause increases in the protein translation rate which leads to muscle hypertrophy. ablation. Fourteen days after surgery the weight of the plantaris muscle per body weight increased by 8% 22 32 and 45% in the WK MO MI and ST groups respectively. Five days after surgery 18 rRNA content (an indicator of translational capacity) increased with increasing overload with increases of 1 1.8-fold (MO) 2.2 (MI) and 2.5-fold (ST) respectively relative to non-overloaded muscle (NL) in the WK group. rRNA content showed a strong correlation with relative muscle weight measured 14 days after surgery (r = 0.98). The phosphorylated form of p70S6K (a positive regulator of translational efficiency) showed a marked increase in the MO group but no further increase was observed with further increase in overload (increases of 22.6-fold (MO) 17.4 (MI) and 18.2-fold (ST) respectively relative to NL in the WK group). These results indicate that increases in ribosome biogenesis at the early phase of overloading are strongly dependent on the amount of overloading and may play an important role in increasing the translational capacity for further gain of muscular size. Introduction In skeletal muscle it is generally known that the increase of muscle mass subsequent to application of an external load is achieved by the accumulation of increasing of protein synthesis [1]. Among the processes involved in AZD8931 protein synthesis protein translation has a central role in determining the amount of protein synthesized. To ascertain the IL1-ALPHA part played by translation in overload and/or exercise-induced muscle hypertrophy contributions of the capacity and efficiency of translation must be considered [2]. Both processes have been thought to be important in AZD8931 the exercise-induced increase in protein synthesis. However most studies have focused on the mechanisms controlling translational efficiency (e.g. ribosome activation AZD8931 through the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) C1 signaling pathway [3 4 and not on the contribution of “translational capacity”. Translational capacity is determined by the amount of “translational machinery” per unit volume of cells: ribosome numbers transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) molecules and translational factors. All three factors are important but the number of ribosomes present in the cell has been thought to be a primary determinant of translational capacity [5]. Therefore ribosome biogenesis may have an essential role in the control of protein synthesis and cell growth [6 7 Involvement of ribosome biogenesis has been shown in the growth of cardiac muscle [5 8 but little is known about the contribution of ribosome biogenesis to hypertrophy of skeletal muscle. Recently some studies have shown increased ribosome content in skeletal muscle hypertrophied by synergist ablation in rats [11-15] and in human skeletal muscle after resistance-exercise training [16]. However whether a quantitative relationship exists between the external loads applied to the muscle and ribosome biogenesis is not known. “Translational efficiency” is defined as the rate of protein synthesis per ribosome and is limited mainly by the initiation step of translation. Baar and Esser reported a strong positive correlation between phosphorylation-induced activation of p70S6K (an initiator of translation) and the magnitude of hypertrophy in muscles subjected to mechanical loading [17]. Therefore p70S6K could be the main regulator of the mass of skeletal muscle. However more recent studies have shown weak or no correlation between p70s6k phosphorylation and the magnitude of AZD8931 muscle hypertrophy [18-20]. Thus our aims were: (i) to establish an animal model of muscle hypertrophy in which the magnitude of hypertrophy can be controlled in a stepwise manner; and (ii) to ascertain if the magnitude of muscle hypertrophy is correlated with ribosome biogenesis and/or p70S6K activation in the early phase of overloading. AZD8931 Materials and Methods Animals Sixty-four male Wistar rats (11 weeks; 330 g) were purchased from CLEA Japan (Tokyo Japan). They were housed in individual cages at regulated temperature (22°C) humidity (60%) and illumination cycles (12-h light and 12-h dark). They were allowed to eat commercial rat chow (CE2; CLEA Japan) and drink water for 15 min at 4°C and supernatants collected. Protein concentrations of supernatants were determined using a protein quantification kit (Protein Assay Rapid Kit; Wako Pure Chemical Industries Osaka Japan). Samples were mixed with ×3 sample buffer (1.0% 2-mercaptoethanol 4 SDS 0.16 M.<|endoftext|>2013 AC: Where's Our Money?

Did you see a difference in your first paycheck of 2013? Do you even know where your money is going? Take a closer look at what "saved" us from the fiscal cliff.

So, how much less is your paycheck in 2013 A.C.? (after the cliff).  Aren’


 could be looking for equipment to ensure his survival and facilitate his travels," the SQ said in a statement sent to MTL Blog on Thursday evening.

Keep Reading Show less<|endoftext|>Question: Who is the father of Ptolemy II Philadelphus?
Answer: Ptolemy I Soter<|endoftext|>Risks That Are Being Prepared for

The following are a few types of health emergencies we are preparing for in our Valley.

Bio-terrorism is the planned, unlawful use, or threat of use, of biological weapons made from living organisms with the intent of causing death or disease in humans, animals, or plants.

Chemical Emergency

Natural Disasters & Severe Weather

Natural Disasters and Severe Weather such as floods and wildfires could cause public health emergencies.

Mass Casualties

Mass Casualties can occur when an explosion, blast, or fire happens. Whether the event is caused by an act of terrorism or is unintentional, numerous people could suffer life threatening injuries.

Community Member's Participation

You are a vital, essential part of our efforts.<|endoftext|>Breaking News
More () »

Suspect in custody after SWAT situation on Wickersham Lane, police say

Officials responded to a barricaded subject at 1515 Wickersham Lane on Tuesday afternoon.

AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin Police Department has taken a suspect into custody after a nearly six-hour SWAT standoff at an apartment complex on Wickersham Lane.

Police said a call came in just after 3 p.m. Tuesday of a disturbance at 1515 Wickersham Lane, where the Collective on Riverside apartment complex is located. Officers could hear an active disturbance inside the subject's apartment when they arrived on the scene.

When officers went to make contact, they could hear a male subject inside who threatened to shoot officers if they entered the apartment. After hearing that, officers reported hearing what sounded like a firearm being loaded inside the apartment.

This led officers to contain the area and to treat the incident as a barricaded subject call. The SWAT team was called to the scene.

The SWAT team and hostage negotiators attempted to make contact with the man inside. However, police say the man was uncooperative with authorities' efforts to get him to come outside voluntarily.

After being on the scene for some time without cooperation from the subject, police obtained an arrest warrant for terroristic threat against a peace officer. Police said when officers went to execute that warrant, they received additional information that a woman inside the apartment was in distress and possibly being held against her will.

Immediately upon receiving that information, officers initiated entry into the apartment. Police said the woman was rescued and is uninjured, and the male suspect was taken into custody.

A resident of the complex told KVUE's Mike Marut that he and his roommate were told to evacuate and that they were sent an email from property management around 5 p.m., informing them of "an incident happening on property that local law enforcement is handling."

The relationship between the woman and the suspect is unknown at this time.

Any charges in addition to the arrest warrant for terroristic threat against a peace officer are pending as the investigation continues.

Officials said the suspect has a violent history with the APD.

'For a lot of people, it's going to be a nightmare' | Some of Austin's homeless population react to the camping ban

Austin has passed Prop B, reinstating the public camping ban. What happens now?

'Do we want to shrink our office space?' | COVID-19 effect on Austin office spaces<|endoftext|>Truls mork

The Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk grew up in Bergen in a musical family, his father a cellist and his mother a pianist. At the age of 17 he began studying with Frans Helmerson and would later receive tuition from the Austrian cellist Heinrich Schiff and Natalia Shakhovskaya in Moscow. In 1982 he became the first Scandinavian to be a finalist and prize winner in the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition. He was later a prizer winner at the Cassado Cello Competition in Florence in 1983 and at the Naumberg Competition in New York in 1986. Mørk quickly became known for his romantic and emotional approach and has emphasised his wider, more structural interpretation of the Bach Cello Suites as a particular hallmark of his playing. His international touring career began in 1989 and he has since worked with the major orchestras of Europe, including the London Symphony and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Mørk plays a 1723 Domenico Montagnana cello.<|endoftext|>Friday, July 9, 2010

Dispatches From Nappyville: I don't have "good" hair

This morning at the doctor's office, a friendly African American nurse became entranced by my hair. She patted it gently while measuring my height. "I love your hair!" She stole glances at my thick chunky 'fro/week-old twist out while taking my blood pressure. Then, peering closely at my head, she asked, "How did you get it that way?

Me: "I just put a few big twists in and took them loose."

Nurse: "Hmmm...What grade of hair do you have? Does it curl naturally? Do you have good hair?"

Me: (pause) "Well, my hair is natural. I don't have any chemicals in it."

Nurse: "Oh, yeah, then you've got that good hair. It's cute!"

Good hair. If there are two more loaded words in the black beauty lexicon, I don't know what they are.

Here is what I find curious every time I have had this discussion since deciding to go natural (and I have had it numerous times): I don't believe in the concept of "good hair," but I know exactly what type of hair black folks are referring to when they invoke that phrase...and it ain't mine.

My hair is not silky. I don't have big, uniform curls. My hair grows out and is thus slow to reveal its true length. It's super thick and not combable when not wet and well-conditioned. No one, back in my hair relaxing days, ever put the words "Tami" and "good hair" together in a sentence. In fact, my stylist used to make a big show of having to go in the back and get the strong stuff to tame my kinks. In its multiple textures, my hair reveals my racial heritage--most especially my African roots. I love my hair. It is great hair. But it is not good hair--not in the way my kindly nurse meant the words.

So, why do I (and so many of natural-headed friends) get accused of having "special" hair, when our manes are really unremarkable? I suspect it is because black women are taught that big, kinky curly, fluffy, non-combable hair can't be pretty--that hair that reveals its African roots isn't "good."

I have written often of my weariness at white people exoticizing my black hair. But what makes me sadder than having my looks marginalized by the majority culture is when my own people, convinced as they are of our hair's deficiency, communicate their conviction that only exceptional black hair can be pretty, when they marvel at my hair for doing precisely what theirs might do without chemicals or weave.

Now, I dig a compliment as much as the next person. If feels good to know someone else thinks my hair rocks as much as I do. But these encounters with other black women often leave me lamenting our collective lack of knowledge about our own natural tresses (this is what happens when you relax, weave and wig from the cradle to the grave) and how good they can look. I am left damning the the Eurocentric beauty standard and the hold the notion of "good hair" has on my people.

Photo credit: Nodlem

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...<|endoftext|>Friday, August 23, 2013

Performing or giving a talk in front of an audience is the most common social fear for people in the Canadian military

Between May and December 2002 there was a survey on social fears done on a sample of people on active duty in the Canadian military. There were 5155 from the Regular force and 3286 from the Reserve, for a total of 8441. The total responding was about 80%, or 6842. Results were analyzed and eventually published in an article by Amber A. Mather, Murray B. Stein, and Jitender Sareen in the October 2010 issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Research and titled Social Anxiety Disorder and Social Fears in the Canadian Military: prevalence, comorbidity, impairment, and treatment seeking. You can read an abstract here. Table 2 listed how prevalent 13 fears were. Those results are shown in the following bar chart. (Click on it to see a larger, clearer version).

Performing/giving a talk in front of an audience was the most common fear (17.3%), followed by speaking up in a meeting/class (15.7%), meeting new people (15.0%), talking to people in authority (13.3%), and taking important exam/interviewing for job, even though prepared (13.0%). Then came almost a tie between attending parties/social gatherings (11.2%) and talking with people you don’t know well. Another tie followed for entering a room where others are already present (10.7%) and working while someone watches (10.7

"The discovery of the ATV used by David Côté and the ongoing investigation lead us to believe that the suspect could be looking for equipment to ensure his survival and facilitate his travels," the SQ said in a statement sent to MTL Blog on Thursday evening.

Keep Reading Show less<|endoftext|>Risks That Are Being Prepared for

The following are a few types of health emergencies we are preparing for in our Valley.

Bio-terrorism is the planned, unlawful use, or threat of use, of biological weapons made from living organisms with the intent of causing death or disease in humans, animals, or plants.

Chemical Emergency

Natural Disasters & Severe Weather

Natural Disasters and Severe Weather such as floods and wildfires could cause public health emergencies.

Mass Casualties

Mass Casualties can occur when an explosion, blast, or fire happens. Whether the event is caused by an act of terrorism or is unintentional, numerous people could suffer life threatening injuries.

Community Member's Participation

You are a vital, essential part of our efforts.<|endoftext|>Breaking News
More () »

Suspect in custody after SWAT situation on Wickersham Lane, police say

Officials responded to a barricaded subject at 1515 Wickersham Lane on Tuesday afternoon.

AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin Police Department has taken a suspect into custody after a nearly six-hour SWAT standoff at an apartment complex on Wickersham Lane.

Police said a call came in just after 3 p.m. Tuesday of a disturbance at 1515 Wickersham Lane, where the Collective on Riverside apartment complex is located. Officers could hear an active disturbance inside the subject's apartment when they arrived on the scene.

When officers went to make contact, they could hear a male subject inside who threatened to shoot officers if they entered the apartment. After hearing that, officers reported hearing what sounded like a firearm being loaded inside the apartment.

This led officers to contain the area and to treat the incident as a barricaded subject call. The SWAT team was called to the scene.

The SWAT team and hostage negotiators attempted to make contact with the man inside. However, police say the man was uncooperative with authorities' efforts to get him to come outside voluntarily.

After being on the scene for some time without cooperation from the subject, police obtained an arrest warrant for terroristic threat against a peace officer. Police said when officers went to execute that warrant, they received additional information that a woman inside the apartment was in distress and possibly being held against her will.

Immediately upon receiving that information, officers initiated entry into the apartment. Police said the woman was rescued and is uninjured, and the male suspect was taken into custody.

A resident of the complex told KVUE's Mike Marut that he and his roommate were told to evacuate and that they were sent an email from property management around 5 p.m., informing them of "an incident happening on property that local law enforcement is handling."

The relationship between the woman and the suspect is unknown at this time.

Any charges in addition to the arrest warrant for terroristic threat against a peace officer are pending as the investigation continues.

Officials said the suspect has a violent history with the APD.

'For a lot of people, it's going to be a nightmare' | Some of Austin's homeless population react to the camping ban

Austin has passed Prop B, reinstating the public camping ban. What happens now?

'Do we want to shrink our office space?' | COVID-19 effect on Austin office spaces<|endoftext|>Truls mork

The Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk grew up in Bergen in a musical family, his father a cellist and his mother a pianist. At the age of 17 he began studying with Frans Helmerson and would later receive tuition from the Austrian cellist Heinrich Schiff and Natalia Shakhovskaya in Moscow. In 1982 he became the first Scandinavian to be a finalist and prize winner in the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition. He was later a prizer winner at the Cassado Cello Competition in Florence in 1983 and at the Naumberg Competition in New York in 1986. Mørk quickly became known for his romantic and emotional approach and has emphasised his wider, more structural interpretation of the Bach Cello Suites as a particular hallmark of his playing. His international touring career began in 1989 and he has since worked with the major orchestras of Europe, including the London Symphony and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Mørk plays a 1723 Domenico Montagnana cello.<|endoftext|>Friday, July 9, 2010

Dispatches From Nappyville: I don't have "good" hair

This morning at the doctor's office, a friendly African American nurse became entranced by my hair. She patted it gently while measuring my height. "I love your hair!" She stole glances at my thick chunky 'fro/week-old twist out while taking my blood pressure. Then, peering closely at my head, she asked, "How did you get it that way?

Me: "I just put a few big twists in and took them loose."

Nurse: "Hmmm...What grade of hair do you have? Does it curl naturally? Do you have good hair?"

Me: (pause) "Well, my hair is natural. I don't have any chemicals in it."

Nurse: "Oh, yeah, then you've got that good hair. It's cute!"

Good hair. If there are two more loaded words in the black beauty lexicon, I don't know what they are.

Here is what I find curious every time I have had this discussion since deciding to go natural (and I have had it numerous times): I don't believe in the concept of "good hair," but I know exactly what type of hair black folks are referring to when they invoke that phrase...and it ain't mine.

My hair is not silky. I don't have big, uniform curls. My hair grows out and is thus slow to reveal its true length. It's super thick and not combable when not wet and well-conditioned. No one, back in my hair relaxing days, ever put the words "Tami" and "good hair" together in a sentence. In fact, my stylist used to make a big show of having to go in the back and get the strong stuff to tame my kinks. In its multiple textures, my hair reveals my racial heritage--most especially my African roots. I love my hair. It is great hair. But it is not good hair--not in the way my kindly nurse meant the words.

So, why do I (and so many of natural-headed friends) get accused of having "special" hair, when our manes are really unremarkable? I suspect it is because black women are taught that big, kinky curly, fluffy, non-combable hair can't be pretty--that hair that reveals its African roots isn't "good."

I have written often of my weariness at white people exoticizing my black hair. But what makes me sadder than having my looks marginalized by the majority culture is when my own people, convinced as they are of our hair's deficiency, communicate their conviction that only exceptional black hair can be pretty, when they marvel at my hair for doing precisely what theirs might do without chemicals or weave.

Now, I dig a compliment as much as the next person. If feels good to know someone else thinks my hair rocks as much as I do. But these encounters with other black women often leave me lamenting our collective lack of knowledge about our own natural tresses (this is what happens when you relax, weave and wig from the cradle to the grave) and how good they can look. I am left damning the the Eurocentric beauty standard and the hold the notion of "good hair" has on my people.

Photo credit: Nodlem

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...<|endoftext|>Friday, August 23, 2013

Performing or giving a talk in front of an audience is the most common social fear for people in the Canadian military

Between May and December 2002 there was a survey on social fears done on a sample of people on active duty in the Canadian military. There were 5155 from the Regular force and 3286 from the Reserve, for a total of 8441. The total responding was about 80%, or 6842. Results were analyzed and eventually published in an article by Amber A. Mather, Murray B. Stein, and Jitender Sareen in the October 2010 issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Research and titled Social Anxiety Disorder and Social Fears in the Canadian Military: prevalence, comorbidity, impairment, and treatment seeking. You can read an abstract here. Table 2 listed how prevalent 13 fears were. Those results are shown in the following bar chart. (Click on it to see a larger, clearer version).

Performing/giving a talk in front of an audience was the most common fear (17.3%), followed by speaking up in a meeting/class (15.7%), meeting new people (15.0%), talking to people in authority (13.3%), and taking important exam/interviewing for job, even though prepared (13.0%). Then came almost a tie between attending parties/social gatherings (11.2%) and talking with people you don’t know well. Another tie followed for entering a room where others are already present (10.7%) and working while someone watches (10.7%). Going


 pain.”

Most U.S. states carry out the death penalty by injecting inmates first with sodium pentathol, a fast-acting barbiturate that knocks prisoners unconscious. They are then given a dose of pancuronium bromide to stop their breathing and, finally, potassium chloride to stop their heart.

But there have been several well-publicized cases where executions went badly wrong.

In Ohio, the 2006 execution of Joseph Clark took more than an hour after corrections official punctured his arm 19 times in a botched effort to find a vein.

That same year in Florida, the execution of Angel Diaz lasted 34 minutes because the first round of drugs failed to kill him, requiring officials to administer a second dose. The case forced the state to implement a new lethal injection protocol.

“The question is — how perfect does the system need to be?” says Berman.

“At one extreme, the justices might say it needs to be so perfect that we are shutting it down because we can never get to that level of perfection. But I think there are very few members of the current court that would actively assert that.”

A more likely outcome is that the court will assert the need for state’s to impose stricter standards during administration of the drug and provide better training for their executioners.

“If the Supreme Court makes a strong statement — ‘you either do this as perfect as possible or you don’t do it at all’ — it will have resonance, Berman says.

“The tenor of the court’s decision will end up scripting what follows.”

Story Tools
<|endoftext|>Top Shows

Contact ONE News

Russia refuses to lift Georgia ban

Published: 12:11PM Wednesday October 04, 2006 Source: Reuters

Russia has rejected US and EU calls to lift economic sanctions on Georgia, saying it had cut transport links to curb a dangerous military build-up by its pro-Western neighbour.

In unusually strident remarks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lashed out at the United States. US support for Georgia had "stimulated" Tbilisi into taking unfriendly steps against Russia, he said.

Russia cut rail, air and postal links with the former Soviet republic in response to the arrest of four Russian soldiers on spying charges. Tbilisi released the four on Monday in what it termed a goodwill gesture.

But Moscow made clear the spying row was just part of what it sees as a deeper dispute with Georgia, which has irked Moscow by aggressively pursuing membership of Nato and the European Union and pulling out of Russia's orbit.

Asked at a Moscow news conference if the sanctions might soon be lifted, Lavrov said: "Not for the time being."

Lavrov said Georgia was channelling funds from organised crime in Russia into a slush fund to buy weapons in a massive military build-up directed at the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, both backed by Moscow.

"Millions of dollars are passing from Russia to Georgia at a time when Georgia is engaged in a huge military build-up," he said. "We can only draw one conclusion: they are preparing very actively to solve militarily the conflicts on their territory."

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has vowed to restore central control over the breakaway regions but Tbilisi has ruled out military action against them.

Georgia says it is boosting military spending to reverse years of neglect and bring its forces up to Nato standards.

Lavrov spoke to foreign journalists amid growing Western unease over Moscow's decision to go ahead with the sanctions even after Tbilisi released the Russian soldiers.

"We do hope that Russia very, very soon lifts these sanctions because sanctions do not, particularly in this case, lead anywhere," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told Reuters in an interview in Tbilisi.

In Washington, US State Department spokesman Tom Casey urged Russia to drop its blockade against Georgia and appealed to Moscow to work with Tbilisi "in a positive spirit".

In a new sign of the tensions, Georgia urged Russia to stop nearby naval exercises, calling them a threat to regional peace and a violation of the United Nations charter.

Russia's state-run gas monopoly Gazprom promised to maintain supplies of gas to Georgia. But flights and trains from Moscow to Tbilisi were cancelled as the transport ban began to bite.

Georgian Economic Development Minister Irakly Chogovadze told Reuters the sanctions would hit the economy but added: "We will survive."

Ratings agency Standard and Poor's, which gave Georgia's debt an initial long-term sovereign credit rating of B+ in December, said the deteriorating relations with Russia might threaten the positive outlook on its credit ratings.

Georgians were alarmed by moves in Russia's parliament to give ministers the power to halt money transfers to Georgia.

Almost a sixth of Georgia's national income comes from cash sent home by relatives working in Russia, who number about one million, according to central bank estimates.

"I am very concerned - me and my family depend on the money that comes from Russia," said Georgi, 35, who was receiving a $200 wire transfer from his parents in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don at a bank branch in central Tbilisi.

But it was unclear how the Russian measure would be enforced, or if it would materialise at all.

Georgian officials said if a ban was imposed, money transfers could be re-routed through third countries.

Russia's parliament had said initially the measure would be put to a vote on Wednesday. But the deputy in charge of drafting the proposal said on Tuesday it was being examined by legal experts and he could not give a date for a vote.

At his news conference, Lavrov noted Georgia arrested the Russian soldiers soon after Saakashvili visited Washington.

"I am not saying it was done on orders from somebody outside Georgia. But it certainly stimulated Georgia to act as it did."

Lavrov also questioned whether Saakashvili - swept to power in a 2003 "Rose Revolution" - was a legitimate president.

Officials close to Saakashvili believe the Kremlin's ultimate goal is "regime change" in Georgia. Russia denies this.<|endoftext|>Jerry always wore a safety harness when he was on a roof but not on the driveway since the driveway is flat.<|endoftext|>01264 313444
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Tea Grading

Know your Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe from your Fannings? Find out what’s behind the terminology used in grading tea?

Before the tea that makes your daily cup gets even close to the teabag or caddy, all kinds of sorting and grading has to happen. This is because when tea emerges from the drying machines at the end of the manufacturing process, it consists of a mixture of different sized pieces of leaf - all of which brew at different rates.

So to ensure an even brew, these particles must be sorted into different grades (or sizes). This is done either by hand or by passing the leaves though sifters with graduated mesh sizes to separate them out.

The resulting piles of tea are then classified according to size, type and appearance.

Classification systems vary from country to country. In China, teas are named by region, the time of year when the tea was picked, the method of manufacture, the leaf type used or the mystical legend behind the tea's origins.

For example - Chun Mee means Precious Eyebrows, inspired by the gently curved shape of the dried green leaves. Jiqu Wulong means Nine-Bend Stream Black Dragon. And Rose Congou refers to black tea skilfully made by hand and blended with dried pink rose petals.

From black to white and green, within each tea variety, grading terminology is based on quality. Words such as 'special' for the finest and 'common' for the lowest grade are used, with grades 1-7 in between. Oolong teas have their own special classification and are given names such as 'choicest', 'finest fine' and 'extra fancy'. In Taiwan, the even more grammatically idiosyncratic - 'fully superior', 'fine to finest' and 'fully good' grade the oolongs. While in Japan, green teas are described as 'good common', 'finest fine' and 'extra choicest'.

Traditional tea producing countries, such as India and Sri Lanka, is where you'll find the orthodox manufacturing method for black teas. Grading terms divide the leaf into 'leaf' grades and 'broken' leaf grades - with broken leaf grades referring to what is left after the larger leaf grades have been sifted out.

In Africa, and other countries that manufacture black tea for teabags, they use the Crush, Tear and Curl (CTC) method - a further system of grading terminology. It's designed to differentiate the much smaller, grainy particles known as 'fannings'.

These extremely small pieces of tea - sometimes called 'dusts', are left over after higher quality grades of tea such as the orange pekoe are gathered and sold. Traditionally, fannings were treated as the rejects of the manufacturing process. But in the last century they've experienced a huge demand in the developing world, mainly because they are cheap and produce a very strong brew - so a little goes a long way.

Our new Everyday Tea really makes the grade.  This special blend combines a traditionally strong base

substantial risk of wanton and unnecessary pain.”

Most U.S. states carry out the death penalty by injecting inmates first with sodium pentathol, a fast-acting barbiturate that knocks prisoners unconscious. They are then given a dose of pancuronium bromide to stop their breathing and, finally, potassium chloride to stop their heart.

But there have been several well-publicized cases where executions went badly wrong.

In Ohio, the 2006 execution of Joseph Clark took more than an hour after corrections official punctured his arm 19 times in a botched effort to find a vein.

That same year in Florida, the execution of Angel Diaz lasted 34 minutes because the first round of drugs failed to kill him, requiring officials to administer a second dose. The case forced the state to implement a new lethal injection protocol.

“The question is — how perfect does the system need to be?” says Berman.

“At one extreme, the justices might say it needs to be so perfect that we are shutting it down because we can never get to that level of perfection. But I think there are very few members of the current court that would actively assert that.”

A more likely outcome is that the court will assert the need for state’s to impose stricter standards during administration of the drug and provide better training for their executioners.

“If the Supreme Court makes a strong statement — ‘you either do this as perfect as possible or you don’t do it at all’ — it will have resonance, Berman says.

“The tenor of the court’s decision will end up scripting what follows.”

Story Tools
<|endoftext|>Top Shows

Contact ONE News

Russia refuses to lift Georgia ban

Published: 12:11PM Wednesday October 04, 2006 Source: Reuters

Russia has rejected US and EU calls to lift economic sanctions on Georgia, saying it had cut transport links to curb a dangerous military build-up by its pro-Western neighbour.

In unusually strident remarks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lashed out at the United States. US support for Georgia had "stimulated" Tbilisi into taking unfriendly steps against Russia, he said.

Russia cut rail, air and postal links with the former Soviet republic in response to the arrest of four Russian soldiers on spying charges. Tbilisi released the four on Monday in what it termed a goodwill gesture.

But Moscow made clear the spying row was just part of what it sees as a deeper dispute with Georgia, which has irked Moscow by aggressively pursuing membership of Nato and the European Union and pulling out of Russia's orbit.

Asked at a Moscow news conference if the sanctions might soon be lifted, Lavrov said: "Not for the time being."

Lavrov said Georgia was channelling funds from organised crime in Russia into a slush fund to buy weapons in a massive military build-up directed at the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, both backed by Moscow.

"Millions of dollars are passing from Russia to Georgia at a time when Georgia is engaged in a huge military build-up," he said. "We can only draw one conclusion: they are preparing very actively to solve militarily the conflicts on their territory."

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has vowed to restore central control over the breakaway regions but Tbilisi has ruled out military action against them.

Georgia says it is boosting military spending to reverse years of neglect and bring its forces up to Nato standards.

Lavrov spoke to foreign journalists amid growing Western unease over Moscow's decision to go ahead with the sanctions even after Tbilisi released the Russian soldiers.

"We do hope that Russia very, very soon lifts these sanctions because sanctions do not, particularly in this case, lead anywhere," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told Reuters in an interview in Tbilisi.

In Washington, US State Department spokesman Tom Casey urged Russia to drop its blockade against Georgia and appealed to Moscow to work with Tbilisi "in a positive spirit".

In a new sign of the tensions, Georgia urged Russia to stop nearby naval exercises, calling them a threat to regional peace and a violation of the United Nations charter.

Russia's state-run gas monopoly Gazprom promised to maintain supplies of gas to Georgia. But flights and trains from Moscow to Tbilisi were cancelled as the transport ban began to bite.

Georgian Economic Development Minister Irakly Chogovadze told Reuters the sanctions would hit the economy but added: "We will survive."

Ratings agency Standard and Poor's, which gave Georgia's debt an initial long-term sovereign credit rating of B+ in December, said the deteriorating relations with Russia might threaten the positive outlook on its credit ratings.

Georgians were alarmed by moves in Russia's parliament to give ministers the power to halt money transfers to Georgia.

Almost a sixth of Georgia's national income comes from cash sent home by relatives working in Russia, who number about one million, according to central bank estimates.

"I am very concerned - me and my family depend on the money that comes from Russia," said Georgi, 35, who was receiving a $200 wire transfer from his parents in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don at a bank branch in central Tbilisi.

But it was unclear how the Russian measure would be enforced, or if it would materialise at all.

Georgian officials said if a ban was imposed, money transfers could be re-routed through third countries.

Russia's parliament had said initially the measure would be put to a vote on Wednesday. But the deputy in charge of drafting the proposal said on Tuesday it was being examined by legal experts and he could not give a date for a vote.

At his news conference, Lavrov noted Georgia arrested the Russian soldiers soon after Saakashvili visited Washington.

"I am not saying it was done on orders from somebody outside Georgia. But it certainly stimulated Georgia to act as it did."

Lavrov also questioned whether Saakashvili - swept to power in a 2003 "Rose Revolution" - was a legitimate president.

Officials close to Saakashvili believe the Kremlin's ultimate goal is "regime change" in Georgia. Russia denies this.<|endoftext|>01264 313444
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Tea Grading

Know your Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe from your Fannings? Find out what’s behind the terminology used in grading tea?

Before the tea that makes your daily cup gets even close to the teabag or caddy, all kinds of sorting and grading has to happen. This is because when tea emerges from the drying machines at the end of the manufacturing process, it consists of a mixture of different sized pieces of leaf - all of which brew at different rates.

So to ensure an even brew, these particles must be sorted into different grades (or sizes). This is done either by hand or by passing the leaves though sifters with graduated mesh sizes to separate them out.

The resulting piles of tea are then classified according to size, type and appearance.

Classification systems vary from country to country. In China, teas are named by region, the time of year when the tea was picked, the method of manufacture, the leaf type used or the mystical legend behind the tea's origins.

For example - Chun Mee means Precious Eyebrows, inspired by the gently curved shape of the dried green leaves. Jiqu Wulong means Nine-Bend Stream Black Dragon. And Rose Congou refers to black tea skilfully made by hand and blended with dried pink rose petals.

From black to white and green, within each tea variety, grading terminology is based on quality. Words such as 'special' for the finest and 'common' for the lowest grade are used, with grades 1-7 in between. Oolong teas have their own special classification and are given names such as 'choicest', 'finest fine' and 'extra fancy'. In Taiwan, the even more grammatically idiosyncratic - 'fully superior', 'fine to finest' and 'fully good' grade the oolongs. While in Japan, green teas are described as 'good common', 'finest fine' and 'extra choicest'.

Traditional tea producing countries, such as India and Sri Lanka, is where you'll find the orthodox manufacturing method for black teas. Grading terms divide the leaf into 'leaf' grades and 'broken' leaf grades - with broken leaf grades referring to what is left after the larger leaf grades have been sifted out.

In Africa, and other countries that manufacture black tea for teabags, they use the Crush, Tear and Curl (CTC) method - a further system of grading terminology. It's designed to differentiate the much smaller, grainy particles known as 'fannings'.

These extremely small pieces of tea - sometimes called 'dusts', are left over after higher quality grades of tea such as the orange pekoe are gathered and sold. Traditionally, fannings were treated as the rejects of the manufacturing process. But in the last century they've experienced a huge demand in the developing world, mainly because they are cheap and produce a very strong brew - so a little goes a long way.

Our new Everyday Tea really makes the grade.  This special blend combines a traditionally strong base of African and Indonesian teas, with the rich, malty taste of Assam.


The woman decided to make more jelly than jam because the jelly was very popular.<|endoftext|>

“She’s putting up some announcements ﬁrst thing in the morning. Notice of an execution.”

“Our school is going to see it today,” Tong said. “A gun to the bad man’s head. Bang.”

Old Hua shook his head and did not reply. It was different at school, where the boys spoke of the ﬁeld trip as a thrilling event, and none of the teachers opposed their excitement. “Do you know the bad man in the announcement?” Tong asked Old Hua.

“Go and look,” Old Hua said and pointed down the street. “Come back and tell me what you think.”

At the end of the street Tong saw a newly pasted announcement, the two bottom corners already coming loose in the wind. He found a rickety chair in front of a yard and dragged it over and climbed up, but still he was not tall enough, even on tiptoes, to reach the bottom of the paper. He gave up and let the corners ﬂap on their own.

The light from the streetlamps was weak, but the eastern sky had taken on a hue of bluish white like that of an upturned ﬁsh belly. Tong read the announcement aloud, skipping the words he did not know how to pronounce but guessing their meanings without much trouble:
Counterrevolutionary Gu Shan, female, twenty-eight, was
sentenced to death, with all political rights deprived. The
execution will be carried out on the twenty-ﬁrst of March,
nineteen seventy-nine. For educational purposes, all schools
and work units are required to attend the pre-execution
denunciation ceremony.
At the bottom of the announcement was a signature, two out of three of whose characters Tong did not recognize. A huge check in red ink covered the entire announcement.

“You understand the announcement all right?” asked the old man, when Tong found him at another bin.

“Does it say it’s a woman?”

“She is very young, isn’t she?”

Twenty-eight was not an age that Tong could imagine as young. At school he had been taught stories about young heroes. A shepherd boy, seven and a half years old, not much older than Tong, led the Japanese invaders to the mineﬁeld when they asked him for directions, and he died along with the enemies. Another boy, at thirteen, protected the property of the people’s commune from robbery and was murdered by the thief. Liu Hulan, at ﬁfteen and a half, was executed by the White Army as the youngest Communist Party member of her province, and before she was beheaded, she was reported to have sneered at the executioners and said, “She who works for Communism does not fear death.” The oldest heroine he knew of was a Soviet girl named Zoya; at nineteen she was hanged by the German Fascists, but nineteen was long enough for the life of a heroine.

“Twenty-eight is too early for a woman to die,” Old Hua said.

“Liu Hulan sacriﬁced her life for the Communist cause at ﬁfteen,” replied Tong.

“Young children should think about living, not about sacriﬁcing,” Old Hua said. “It’s up to us old people to ponder death.”

Tong found that he didn’t agree with the old man, but he did not want to say so. He smiled uncertainly, and was glad to see Ear trot back, eager to go on their morning exploration.

Even the tiniest noise could wake up a hungry and cold soul: the faint bark of a dog, a low cough from a neighbor’s bedroom, footsteps in the alley that transformed into thunder in Nini’s dreams while leaving others undisturbed, her father’s snore. With her good hand, Nini wrapped the thin quilt around herself, but hard as she tried, there was always part of her body exposed to the freezing air. With the limited supply of coal the family had, the ﬁre went out every night in the stove under the brick bed, and sleeping farthest from the stove, Nini had felt the coldness seeping into her body through the thin cotton mattress and the layers of old clothes she did not take off at bedtime. Her parents slept at the other end, where the stove, directly underneath them, would keep them warm for the longest time. In the middle were her four younger sisters, aged ten, eight, ﬁve, and three, huddled in two pairs to keep each other warm. The only other person awake was the baby, who, like Nini, had no one to cuddle with for the night and who now was fumbling for their mother’s breast.

Nini got out of bed and slipped into an oversize cotton coat, in which she could easily hide her deformed hand. The baby followed Nini’s movement with bright, expressionless eyes, and then, frustrated by her futile effort, bit with her newly formed teeth. Their mother screamed, and slapped the baby without opening her eyes. “You debt collector. Eat. Eat. Eat. All you know is eating. Were you starved to death in your last life?”

The baby howled. Nini frowned. For hungry people like the baby and Nini herself, morning always came too early. Sometimes she huddled with the baby when they were both awake, and the baby would mistake her for their mother and bump her heavy head into Nini’s chest; those moments made Nini feel special, and for this reason she felt close to the baby and responsible for all that the baby could not get from their mother.

Nini limped over to the baby. She picked her up and hushed her, sticking a ﬁnger into the baby’s mouth and feeling her new, beadlike teeth. Except for Nini’s ﬁrst and second sisters, who went to elementary school now, the rest of the girls, like Nini herself, did not have ofﬁcial names. Her parents had not even bothered to give the younger girls nicknames, as they did to Nini; they were simply called “Little Fourth,” “Little Fifth,” and, the baby, “Little Sixth.”

The baby sucked Nini’s ﬁnger hard, but after a while, unsatisﬁed, she let go of the ﬁnger and started to cry. Their mother opened her eyes. “Can’t you both be dead for a moment?”

Nini shufﬂed Little Sixth back to bed and ﬂed before her father woke up. In the front room Nini grabbed the bamboo basket for collecting coal and stumbled on a pair of boots. A few steps into the alley, she could still hear the baby’s crying. Someone banged on the window and protested. Nini tried to quicken her steps, her crippled left leg making bigger circles than usual, and the basket, hung by the rope to her shoulder, slapped on her hip with a disturbed rhythm.

At the end of the alley Nini saw an announcement on the wall. She walked closer and looked at the huge red check. She did not recognize a single character on the announcement–her parents had long ago made it clear that for an invalid like her, education was a waste of money–but she knew by the smell that the paste used to glue the announcement to the wall was made of ﬂour. Her stomach grumbled. She looked around for a step stool or some bricks; ﬁnding none, she set the basket on the ground with its bottom up and stepped onto it. The bottom sagged but did not give way under her weight. She reached a corner of the announcement with her good hand and peeled it off the wall. The ﬂour paste had not dried or frozen yet, and Nini scraped the paste off the announcement and stuffed all ﬁve ﬁngers into her mouth. The paste was cold but sweet. She scraped more of it off the announcement. She was sucking her ﬁngers when a feral cat pounced off a wall and stopped a few feet away, examining her with silent menace. She hurried down from the basket, almost falling onto her bad foot, and sending the cat scurrying away.

At the next street corner Nini caught up with Mrs. Hua, who was brushing paste on the four corners of an announcement when the girl walked up.

“Good morning,” the old woman said.

Nini looked at the small basin of paste without replying. Sometimes she greeted Mrs. Hua nicely, but when she was in a bad mood, which happened often, she sucked the inside of her mouth hard so that no one could make her talk. Today was one of those days– Little Sixth had caused trouble again. Of all the people in the world, Nini loved Little Sixth best, yet this love, a heavy knot in her stomach, as Nini sometimes felt it, could not alleviate her hunger.

“Did you have a good sleep?”

Nini did not reply. How did Mrs. Hua expect her to sleep well when she was always starving? The few mouthfuls of paste had already vanished, and the slight sweet taste in her mouth made her hungrier.

The old woman took a leftover bun from her pocket, something she made sure to bring along every morning in case she saw Nini, though the girl

“She’s putting up some announcements ﬁrst thing in the morning. Notice of an execution.”

“Our school is going to see it today,” Tong said. “A gun to the bad man’s head. Bang.”

Old Hua shook his head and did not reply. It was different at school, where the boys spoke of the ﬁeld trip as a thrilling event, and none of the teachers opposed their excitement. “Do you know the bad man in the announcement?” Tong asked Old Hua.

“Go and look,” Old Hua said and pointed down the street. “Come back and tell me what you think.”

At the end of the street Tong saw a newly pasted announcement, the two bottom corners already coming loose in the wind. He found a rickety chair in front of a yard and dragged it over and climbed up, but still he was not tall enough, even on tiptoes, to reach the bottom of the paper. He gave up and let the corners ﬂap on their own.

The light from the streetlamps was weak, but the eastern sky had taken on a hue of bluish white like that of an upturned ﬁsh belly. Tong read the announcement aloud, skipping the words he did not know how to pronounce but guessing their meanings without much trouble:
Counterrevolutionary Gu Shan, female, twenty-eight, was
sentenced to death, with all political rights deprived. The
execution will be carried out on the twenty-ﬁrst of March,
nineteen seventy-nine. For educational purposes, all schools
and work units are required to attend the pre-execution
denunciation ceremony.
At the bottom of the announcement was a signature, two out of three of whose characters Tong did not recognize. A huge check in red ink covered the entire announcement.

“You understand the announcement all right?” asked the old man, when Tong found him at another bin.

“Does it say it’s a woman?”

“She is very young, isn’t she?”

Twenty-eight was not an age that Tong could imagine as young. At school he had been taught stories about young heroes. A shepherd boy, seven and a half years old, not much older than Tong, led the Japanese invaders to the mineﬁeld when they asked him for directions, and he died along with the enemies. Another boy, at thirteen, protected the property of the people’s commune from robbery and was murdered by the thief. Liu Hulan, at ﬁfteen and a half, was executed by the White Army as the youngest Communist Party member of her province, and before she was beheaded, she was reported to have sneered at the executioners and said, “She who works for Communism does not fear death.” The oldest heroine he knew of was a Soviet girl named Zoya; at nineteen she was hanged by the German Fascists, but nineteen was long enough for the life of a heroine.

“Twenty-eight is too early for a woman to die,” Old Hua said.

“Liu Hulan sacriﬁced her life for the Communist cause at ﬁfteen,” replied Tong.

“Young children should think about living, not about sacriﬁcing,” Old Hua said. “It’s up to us old people to ponder death.”

Tong found that he didn’t agree with the old man, but he did not want to say so. He smiled uncertainly, and was glad to see Ear trot back, eager to go on their morning exploration.

Even the tiniest noise could wake up a hungry and cold soul: the faint bark of a dog, a low cough from a neighbor’s bedroom, footsteps in the alley that transformed into thunder in Nini’s dreams while leaving others undisturbed, her father’s snore. With her good hand, Nini wrapped the thin quilt around herself, but hard as she tried, there was always part of her body exposed to the freezing air. With the limited supply of coal the family had, the ﬁre went out every night in the stove under the brick bed, and sleeping farthest from the stove, Nini had felt the coldness seeping into her body through the thin cotton mattress and the layers of old clothes she did not take off at bedtime. Her parents slept at the other end, where the stove, directly underneath them, would keep them warm for the longest time. In the middle were her four younger sisters, aged ten, eight, ﬁve, and three, huddled in two pairs to keep each other warm. The only other person awake was the baby, who, like Nini, had no one to cuddle with for the night and who now was fumbling for their mother’s breast.

Nini got out of bed and slipped into an oversize cotton coat, in which she could easily hide her deformed hand. The baby followed Nini’s movement with bright, expressionless eyes, and then, frustrated by her futile effort, bit with her newly formed teeth. Their mother screamed, and slapped the baby without opening her eyes. “You debt collector. Eat. Eat. Eat. All you know is eating. Were you starved to death in your last life?”

The baby howled. Nini frowned. For hungry people like the baby and Nini herself, morning always came too early. Sometimes she huddled with the baby when they were both awake, and the baby would mistake her for their mother and bump her heavy head into Nini’s chest; those moments made Nini feel special, and for this reason she felt close to the baby and responsible for all that the baby could not get from their mother.

Nini limped over to the baby. She picked her up and hushed her, sticking a ﬁnger into the baby’s mouth and feeling her new, beadlike teeth. Except for Nini’s ﬁrst and second sisters, who went to elementary school now, the rest of the girls, like Nini herself, did not have ofﬁcial names. Her parents had not even bothered to give the younger girls nicknames, as they did to Nini; they were simply called “Little Fourth,” “Little Fifth,” and, the baby, “Little Sixth.”

The baby sucked Nini’s ﬁnger hard, but after a while, unsatisﬁed, she let go of the ﬁnger and started to cry. Their mother opened her eyes. “Can’t you both be dead for a moment?”

Nini shufﬂed Little Sixth back to bed and ﬂed before her father woke up. In the front room Nini grabbed the bamboo basket for collecting coal and stumbled on a pair of boots. A few steps into the alley, she could still hear the baby’s crying. Someone banged on the window and protested. Nini tried to quicken her steps, her crippled left leg making bigger circles than usual, and the basket, hung by the rope to her shoulder, slapped on her hip with a disturbed rhythm.

At the end of the alley Nini saw an announcement on the wall. She walked closer and looked at the huge red check. She did not recognize a single character on the announcement–her parents had long ago made it clear that for an invalid like her, education was a waste of money–but she knew by the smell that the paste used to glue the announcement to the wall was made of ﬂour. Her stomach grumbled. She looked around for a step stool or some bricks; ﬁnding none, she set the basket on the ground with its bottom up and stepped onto it. The bottom sagged but did not give way under her weight. She reached a corner of the announcement with her good hand and peeled it off the wall. The ﬂour paste had not dried or frozen yet, and Nini scraped the paste off the announcement and stuffed all ﬁve ﬁngers into her mouth. The paste was cold but sweet. She scraped more of it off the announcement. She was sucking her ﬁngers when a feral cat pounced off a wall and stopped a few feet away, examining her with silent menace. She hurried down from the basket, almost falling onto her bad foot, and sending the cat scurrying away.

At the next street corner Nini caught up with Mrs. Hua, who was brushing paste on the four corners of an announcement when the girl walked up.

“Good morning,” the old woman said.

Nini looked at the small basin of paste without replying. Sometimes she greeted Mrs. Hua nicely, but when she was in a bad mood, which happened often, she sucked the inside of her mouth hard so that no one could make her talk. Today was one of those days– Little Sixth had caused trouble again. Of all the people in the world, Nini loved Little Sixth best, yet this love, a heavy knot in her stomach, as Nini sometimes felt it, could not alleviate her hunger.

“Did you have a good sleep?”

Nini did not reply. How did Mrs. Hua expect her to sleep well when she was always starving? The few mouthfuls of paste had already vanished, and the slight sweet taste in her mouth made her hungrier.

The old woman took a leftover bun from her pocket, something she made sure to bring along every morning in case she saw Nini, though the girl would never know this. Nini reminded Mrs. Hua of the daughters she had once