Baby Bison Born Via Embryo Transfer May Boost Species Recovery

A new bison calf born this summer at the Bronx zoo is a hopeful sign for the iconic American species, which was almost hunted to extinction, but is now making a resurgence.

Very few herds of purebred bison remain in North America. Two of these herds live in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park, but breeding them outside the park has proven difficult, until now.

On June 20 a healthy male purebred bison calf was born after its embryo was transferred from a purebred Yellowstone bison to a commercial bison?at the Bronx Zoo in New York.

The transfer was carried out by researchers at Colorado State University, led by reproductive physiologist Jennifer Barfield. [Ten Species Success Stories]

"The Bronx Zoo has been working for years to secure pure bison to establish a breeding herd that could supply animals for restoration programs," Pat Thomas, vice president of the Wildlife Conservation Society and Bronx Zoo general curator and associate director, said in a statement. "Dr. Barfield and her team have provided an innovative way to rescue these valuable genes and allow us to create this important herd."

Breeding Yellowstone bison outside of the park has been difficult, because the animals there are exposed to diseases such as brucellosis, which reduces female fertility and milk production and can cause miscarriage. For that reason, the Yellowstone bison have been quarantined there and restricted from spreading to other areas.

To get around the threat of disease, the scientists extracted an embryo from a Yellowstone bison that had been exposed to disease, then washed the embryo to cleanse it of sickness, and implanted it in the uterus of a disease-free female bison.

"In Yellowstone, the bison do not have trouble reproducing," Barfield said. "It's the process of removing animals that have been exposed to disease from the park so that their valuable genetics can be incorporated into other herds or used to create new herds that is the problem."

American bison once roamed the grasslands of North America in huge herds, but their numbers were devastated in the 19th century, when they were hunted for their hides. Bison skins were prized for use as clothing, rugs, and in factory machine belts.

This slaughter was encouraged by the U.S. government, which advocated bison hunting to free up grazing land for commercial cattle, and to thwart Plains Native Americans, who relied on the mammals for survival.

A population that started around 30 million was reduced to a few hundred by the mid-1880s.

In 1905, when the utter extinction of bison seemed imminent, Theodore Roosevelt and conservationist William Hornaday formed the American Bison Society to fight for the survival of the species. Since then, bison conservation efforts have helped the bison population recover, though not nearly to its former glory.

Follow Clara Moskowitz on Twitter?@ClaraMoskowitz?or LiveScience?@livescience. We're also on Facebook?&?Google+.

Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/baby-bison-born-via-embryo-transfer-may-boost-145940801.html

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Federal Court Strikes Down Texas Voter ID Law

A federal court struck down Texas? voter identification law on Thursday, calling it the ?most stringent? of any in the country and saying it would disproportionately burden the state?s minorities and poor as they tried to cast their ballots this fall.

?That law will almost certainly have retrogressive effect,? the three-member panel in the District of Columbia ruled in a unanimous 56-page opinion. ?It imposes strict, unforgiving burdens on the poor, and racial minorities in Texas are disproportionately likely to live in poverty.?

The decision creates uncertainty about the state?s election procedures barely two months ahead of the November voting. Texas Governor Rick Perry signed the law early in 2011, but it has not yet been put into effect, awaiting federal clearance. State officials want to implement it before November, but Thursday?s decision, and the appeals that will follow, have cast doubt on that timeline.

The decision could also serve as a warning to other states with new Voter ID laws. Even though Texas had yet to implement its law, officials elsewhere have seen already-implemented laws subject to challenge. Many are concerned that late-breaking rulings could sow confusion and upend Election Day preparations, as Stateline reported Thursday.

In striking down Texas? law, the court rejected every attempt state officials made to show that it would not disproportionately affect poor and minority voters. That was a key test under the federal Voting Rights Act, which requires pre-clearance of election changes in Texas (and other southern states) because they have a history of racially motivated voter suppression.

?Everything Texas has submitted as affirmative evidence,? the court said, ?is unpersuasive, invalid, or both.?

Texas officials also argued that if their law was unconstitutional under the Voting Rights Act, then the act must be unconstitutional itself. The decision on Thursday didn?t answer that question, and instead ordered a hearing at a later date.

Shortly after the ruling, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott pledged to take his state?s case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

?The Supreme Court of the United States has already upheld Voter ID laws,? Abbott said in a statement. ?Today's decision is wrong on the law and improperly prevents Texas from implementing the same type of ballot integrity safeguards that are employed by Georgia and Indiana.?

Perry, too, said other states? examples should serve as a path for Texas being allowed to implement its law. ?I will continue to work with Attorney General Abbott to fight for the same right that other states already have to protect their elections,? Perry said in a statement.

But in striking the law, the court was careful to delineate among various state laws, saying Texas? example represented a special case.

?Nothing in this opinion remotely suggests that section 5 bars all covered jurisdictions from implementing photo ID laws,? the court said, referring to the provision of the Voting Rights Act that requires preclearance. ?The State of Texas enacted a voter ID law that ? at least to our knowledge ? is the most stringent in the country.?

Indeed, under the Voting Rights Act, Texas attorneys faced the burden of showing their law would not create a disproportionate burden for poor and minority voters. The court insisted that it had failed to do so.

The judges laid out a number of modifications the state could have made to ease the burden: waiving fees for documents to gain an ID, reimbursing poor voters for travel costs, or holding evening and weekend hours at ID offices. ?Texas?s lawyers have only their client to blame,? the court said. ?Put another way, if counsel faced an ?impossible burden,? it was because of the law Texas enacted ? nothing more, nothing less.?

The matter is now likely to go before the U.S. Supreme Court, where Texas is expected to file a petition to block the ruling and allow implementation of the law before November, elections law expert Rick Hasen wrote in a blog post analyzing the decision.

?If this happens, this will be a major question for the Roberts Court,? he wrote, ?and it would have to be decided in short order.?

Source: http://www.pewstates.org/projects/stateline/headlines/federal-court-strikes-down-texas-voter-id-law-85899414771

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Lu Bird Baby: Baby Caleb's shower

Last weekend we had the pleasure of throwing his baby shower for my best friend Anna as they prepare for his arrival home!

Caleb's little life has been so amazing to watch.?

He's only 4 (almost 5) months old and God has already used Him mightily for His glory.

Caleb is proof that God is the Creator and Sustainer of life

and that He is full of mercy and grace.

What a great God we serve!

Here are a few details from the shower.

One of our friends made the cute "Mighty Mouse" onesie to represent Caleb's nickname in the NICU (the doctors called him mighty mouse because he was tiny but strong) and we decorated the mantle with some fabric bunting and pictures of Caleb over the past 4 months.?

The backyard was also decorated for the occasion but since it was sooooo hot we pretty much stayed indoors.?

We asked each guest to write a little note to Anna or baby Caleb and then a few of us shared them during the shower.?

It comes in handy to know a baker.?

One of our friends made the most delicious lemon cupcakes ever.?

Seriously I could have ate them all.

Oh and I totally forgot to take pictures of the rest of the food but we had lots of yummy brunch things...egg casserole, potatoes, french toast casserole, muffins, fruit, croissants, etc.

We also played a couple simple baby games.?

Because what's a baby shower without games.

And the best part of any shower...presents!!!

Anna finally got some BLUE in her life with tons of cute boy stuff (she also has two girls at home so they are overwhelmed with pink right now).?

It was so fun to be celebrating Anna and baby Caleb and we are all counting down the days until he is home.?

Source: http://www.lubirdbaby.com/2012/08/baby-calebs-shower.html

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You've selected in order to yo?

You?ve selected in order to your mortgage very early. You are aware of that having your property free and clear is the most risk-free method to monetary liberty the simplest way to invest in your potential. But how do you do it? What on earth is the easiest way to be sure to will hold personal safety along the way? Before you hop deal with initial into very early home finance loan pay off, you will need to understand the ways by which you?ll settle your house loan first. If you?re not thorough, you might pick the wrong a single and locate by yourself in an enormous amount hurt if, for example, you expertise unforeseen expenditures or get able where you?re paying additional money than you make.

Many businesses tout property finance loan gas software package courses (sometimes known as Inchfunds combine accountsIn .). A mortgage reduce works with a personal line of credit in line with the a guarantee in your house. Because the owner of a house, you have out a home equity loan, which offers the assets required to your major steadiness at time periods in significant amounts ? normally amongst $5,000 and Buck15,000 at one time ? even though making contributions each and every paycheck you get for repaying your mortgage.

Just after every transaction is made towards your home loan, your salary is needed to repay down the road of credit score. The program then requests you when your consideration has equalized away from, so you make an additional settlement.

The speedier you choose to do this, a lot more each cost is made of major as an alternative to desire, and the quicker the loan time gets, often as much 20 years.

This procedure could work having said that, there are many drawbacks. These software programs require large get started-up fees. Such as, just about the most preferred house loan reduce organizations, U . s . First Monetary, fees Money3,500 for the software package. More, you have to you try to the many energy alone. The program isn?t robotic, thus it involves excessive self-discipline and may thus be dangerous and prosperity burning models cautious.

As a mortgage reduce plan requires that you play a role all your earnings in the house a guarantee loan, it works within the prediction that you will never come across any unanticipated fees when you plan to get rid of your home finance loan. If you undertake, you could discover by yourself in danger and dealing with increased financial debt than whenever you started off. This also means that, in an effort to get your house a guarantee loan, you need ample and regular flow of greenbacks. Additionally, the number of equity in your house needs to be over the number of primary then you owe on your own mortgage. And, sad to say, whenever you have fiscal worry, hel-home equity loans are under easily available since equity valuation on homes is unsure, and financial institutions are only resistant to easily give cash.

Conversely, a a smaller amount dangerbiweekly ion is in order to your home finance loan utilizing a biweekly repayment plan. Rather than pay your entire monthly expenditure, you only pay half of your payment per month just about every two weeks. Seeing as there are 52 days in a single year, this translates into 26 50 percent-bills, which often implies 13 full payments. Consequently on a yearly basis, you pay very similar to just about every monthly payment, and you shell out an extra 13th fee that straight cuts down your mortgage loan key sense of balance.

Imagine that you acquire a residence, which the main equilibrium of your 30-year mortgage loan is Buck300,000. In the set 7.5Per cent interest, and a Bucks2,100 monthly repayment, you?ll be having to pay practically Money750,000 before you?ll unique the home. Which means you are going to pay in excess of Dollar455,000 in curiosity only in the 30-12 months lifetime of your home finance loan.

Difference by purchasing a biweekly loan payment program. Suppose precisely the same Usd300,000 mortgage on the exact resolved 7.5Per-cent charge, that has a Usd1,050 biweekly settlement. With this biweekly credit reparing payment plan, you?ll be saving virtually Dollar125,000 in interest rates, and you will then spend your mortgage down in only below 23 ages.

You can also do this oneself. But for you to do it by themselves, keep in mind this: Most people lack the training to hold a fee shape on their own also to regularly add additional money thus to their mortgages more than this kind of a longer term phase. Less than 5 percent of the American house owners achieve this. Custom-made, programmed ideas take the inconvenience beyond doing it your self and may make salvaging cash and time straightforward.

Most loan officers and quite a few impartial providers present biweekly repayment ideas and definately will improve your repayments by drawing 50 % of your regular monthly mortgage payment from the checking out or bank account every a fortnight. That may individualize these types of courses to coincide together with your salaries.

Robotic biweekly packages tend to be start, bendable, and flexible than property finance loan accelerator courses. Compared with accelerator applications, any home owner can join a biweekly cost method. There is no additionally lending involved, so there isn?t any credit history or salary wants to join. Seeking to: A biweekly credit repairing repayment schedule would not operate on the notion that your only fabric financial objective is shelling out your home finance loan very early. It enables you to include added main bills when you need, and you?ll in the short term hang excess installments as essential. As a final point, normal subscription charges for programmed options are considerably below accelerators, far too.

For anyone who is like many people, you cannot afford to consider sizeable pitfalls with regards to your ability to earn money. But owning a home passively can even be prosperity eating up. You should be a wise, successful owner of a house in order to take control of your fiscal stability. The house you keep are going to be the most significant expense you are making, and you ought to leverage the possibilities that present themselves. Although a home financing gas software that utilizes your home a guarantee loan can be handy to experienced people who have a considerable and good flow of revenue, it could possibly leap the regular home-owner into personal ruin. For all of us who go overboard tubing care, however, take into account a computerized biweekly cost plan. These applications involve tiny possibility, if any in any way, all of which will minimize considerably the time and money spent on shelling out your mortgage.

Tags: normal subscription charges, fabric financial objective, home equity loan

Source: http://nytinsider.com/youve-selected-in-order-to-yo/

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Veterans rely on patchwork safety net during hard times

By Rebecca Ruiz, NBC News

For many of the hundreds of thousands of veterans awaiting a decision from the Department of Veterans Affairs on disability and pension claims, the agency's backlog can lead to a period of financial hardship during the transition back to civilian life.

Ron and Karen Sanquist experienced this first-hand when Ron, a National Guardsman who had been deployed to Iraq in 2009 and Afghanistan in 2006, was released from active duty.

While cobbling together work in construction and at a call center ? both of which severely reduced his National Guard pay???Ron filed a claim for post-traumatic stress disorder that resulted from his combat experience ?during his deployments. The disability benefit would have helped the Sanquists afford their $3,000 in rent and monthly bills, but the backlog of claims meant the family would have to wait months for a decision.

---

Ron lost his position at the call center after requesting leave to fulfill his National Guard duties. Bills then began to pile up as the family of five missed rent, utility and insurance payments, among other expenses. The situation worsened in May when Ron, 39, was diagnosed with a heart murmur for which he'd need emergency surgery, guaranteeing that he'd be out of work and unable to job hunt for several weeks.

Desperate not to fall further behind, Karen turned to the patchwork safety net for veterans and their families experiencing financial hardship, an occurrence that happens more frequently than the public realizes, according to those who assist veterans and service members during hard times.

As of Aug. 25, there were 899,000 compensation and pension claims pending, two-thirds of which have been in the system for more than 125 days. In the Portland, Ore., area, where the Sanquists live, there are nearly 12,000 claims pending, far fewer than other major metropolitan areas in the West; Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Oakland and Phoenix are seeing twice that figure. While two-thirds of the claims processed in Portland have taken more than 125 days, the percentage spikes to more than 90 percent in Los Angeles and Oakland.

In a statement to NBC News, the Department of Veterans Affairs said that 1 million claims had been completed in the previous two fiscal years, and that the agency is on target to finish an additional 1 million in 2012.

"Still, too many veterans and their families have to wait too long to get the benefits they have earned and deserve which is unacceptable," the statement said.

VA is aiming to complete claims within 125 days with 98 percent accuracy by 2015 as it transitions to a digital processing system. The technology will be implemented in 16 regional offices this year and reach an additional 56 regional offices by the end of 2013. VA called the technology a "lasting solution" that will eliminate the backlog.

Karen told NBC News that her experience with VA was very positive, but that the nearly yearlong delay in receiving a decision on Ron's disability benefit still took a toll. "The waiting period is scary because you don?t know if it?s going to be two months or if it?s going to be another year."?

To survive the wait, Karen used what was left of the couple's savings and applied for assistance from several nonprofit groups and veteran service organizations. Ron's unit gave the couple a month's rent, as did the American Legion. ReserveAid covered another month's rent as well as lapsed medical insurance payments. USA Cares paid a garbage bill and Operation Homefront sent a $250 Wal-Mart gift card.

In July, the Sanquists began receiving disability payments for Ron's PTSD as well as his heart surgery, which was deemed service-connected. The process was expedited since the Sanquists were experiencing hardship, and the first sum included back payment for the months required to award the claim.

As Ron looks for a position that will allow him time to finish his last semester of school in animation and graphics afforded by the GI Bill, the family's finances remain shaky. "It's definitely one month at a time," Karen said.

Some families aren't as lucky as the Sanquists.

Barry Walter, state director of veterans services for the Illinois Veterans of Foreign Wars, said that though the "backlog adds to an already desperate situation," many families don't seek help until it's too late and their home is already in foreclosure, for example. The stigma of needing financial aid, particularly for veterans, can prevent them from coming forward early in the process.

However, veterans often aren't aware that they are eligible to receive emergency financial assistance from the county or state as well as organizations like VFW. In Illinois, counties have veterans assistance commissions that provide aid for expenses like unexpected dental or medical bills and utility shut-off notices. Some states also offer emergency grants to veterans, but Walter said that many don't know of those resources.

VFW's national program, Unmet Needs, awards one-time grants of up to $2,500 to families in hardship. Since 2004, more than $4.4 million has been given out to 3,200 military families. Veterans are qualified to receive assistance up to 36 months after an honorable discharge. The Illinois VFW also runs its own assistance fund and spent $38,000 in 2011, the majority of it to help veterans with expenses like rent and groceries.

Walter said that he receives about one inquiry a day from veterans seeking aid. The calls come from young veterans who have just returned and can't find work, veterans nearing retirement age who have been laid off, and even the elderly who now need a pension increase for medical expenses or nursing home care. They are all affected by the backlog, Walter said. He'll tell them about the VFW's programs, but he'll also refer them to organizations like the Salvation Army, Lutheran Services, Easter Seals and Catholic Charities, which can provide help.

The American Legion, also a veterans service organization, operates a temporary financial assistance fund for military families with children at home. An average of a half million dollars is allocated each year for food, clothing, shelter and utilities. Requests can be granted in as little as 24 hours and the average claim takes less than a week to process, according to Jason Kees, family support network coordinator for the American Legion.?

Kees told NBC News that the fund is run through a separate endowment and that requests exceed the available aid. As a result, the organization dips into its own funding to make up the difference.

Kees said that the public's lack of awareness adds to the challenges of getting enough resources to families in need.

Once a community realizes a veteran is struggling, Kees said, "the outpouring of love and support is fabulous." But all too often, the public doesn't realize military families need help because of the perception that the war in Iraq is over and the fighting in Afghanistan is winding down. ?

Karen Sanquist said that the emergency aid her family received was a "blessing," but that she wished more people knew about the available services.

"It was wonderful hearing these people say, 'There?s a light at the end of tunnel but until you get there, make sure you don?t get so far behind that you get in trouble."

Rebecca Ruiz is a reporter at NBC News. Follow her on Twitter here.

More content from NBCNews.com:

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/29/13509609-veterans-rely-on-patchwork-safety-net-during-hard-financial-times?lite

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Learn how hypnosis can help with self improvement | New NLP ...

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Learn how coma can assistance with self improvement

Article by Theresa Jordan

When we operate to take of hypnosis, we would bear in thoughts seeking during tv as well as examination doctors with their patients overhanging pendulums in front of them. I?m flattering certain we am not a usually a single who remembers photos as well as cinema depicting these images. we know which we have been extraordinary about what coma is as well as how it functions for people as well as a lot some-more importantly how it can await you. Hypnosis is used these days to await enlarge lives as well as to stop bad habits. Medical Science is fixing coma as an pick technique for self-improvement.

What is Hypnosis?

Hypnosis is apropos in a focused coma of thoroughness with out any distractions. While being in a coma state, we is starting to be have sum thoroughness as well as we will expected be experiencing a feeling of being loose as well as calm. Given which your thoroughness is not distracted, your thoughts is open as well as we have a capability to take in report which will await we urge your illness as well as stop bad behaviors.

Most people which do self-hypnosis have distant some-more carry out over their emotions as well as their behavior. It can additionally await we cope with mishap or understanding with a healing condition. Essentially a many visit factors which people operate coma have been for:

* To stop smoking * To remove weight * To relieve stress * To relieve annoy * Sexual Issues * Addictions & Habits * Phobias * And so most more??

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Source: http://newnlptechnology.com/uncategorized/learn-how-hypnosis-can-help-with-self-improvement/

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Source: http://briggshubert71.typepad.com/blog/2012/08/learn-how-hypnosis-can-help-with-self-improvement-new-nlp.html

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Army's tank, automotive center gets new leader ? Army Technology ...

RDECOM Director Dale Ormond (left) presents TARDEC Director Dr. Paul Rogers with the delegation of authority Aug. 13 during an assumption of leadership ceremony at TARDEC.

DETROIT ARSENAL, Mich.? The researchers and engineers responsible for developing the next generation of Army vehicles got a new leader Aug. 13.

U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command Director Dale Ormond formally presented Dr. Paul Rogers with delegation of authority during a ceremony here. The Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center is a critical organization within RDECOM.

?It is very rare that civilians get this kind of opportunity,? Ormond said. ?This is one of the opportunities where we hand a civilian a set of keys and say, ?It?s yours to drive and it?s yours to manage and run.? We don?t do that very often, so this is a very special occasion.?

Rogers previously served as Program Executive Office Ground Combat Systems deputy, also located at the Detroit Arsenal. In that role, Rogers managed the development, systems integration, acquisition, testing, fielding, sustainment and improvement of ground combat systems for with the Army?s transformation plan. He said the time spent with the PEO increased his knowledge of how TARDEC collaborates with its government partners and prepared him for his new role.

Read more at Army.mil

This entry was posted on August 28, 2012, 7:48 am and is filed under People. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://armytechnology.armylive.dodlive.mil/index.php/2012/08/28/armys-tank-automotive-center-gets-new-leader/

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For Free! ? With Help From Central Arkansas ... - Learning Language

Learn a language for free using Mango via Central Arkansas Library System.

All you need is a Central Arkansas Library System library card to access Mango, an online system for learning a huge range of languages from Arabic to Vietnamese. And it?s all free.

Here?s what you need to do:

Get a CALS library card, available on line for residents of Pulaski and Perry counties by clicking here. Your card will be mailed to you within a week or so. Or use the one you have.?

Click on the library website?s Research and Reference tab, then Databases by Subject, then on Mango. Create a profile with your library card number, e-mail address and password, choose a language, and start learning.?

The variety of languages available is staggering ? among them Cantonese or Mandarin Chinese, Croatian, Danish, Haitian Creole, biblical Hebrew, Irish, Pashto, Slovak, Tagalog, and urdu, along with the languages you?d expect such as French (and French Canadian), German, Greek, Italian, Latin, Spanish ? and, just for fun, Pirate.

Mango offers a link to the Google translation engine so you can translate a conversation from one language to another (sometimes with hilarious results). ?

For more information click here.?

Article source: http://www.inarkansas.com/86422/learn-a-language--for-free--with-help-from-central-arkansas-library-system

Tags: learn languages

Source: http://howtolearnlanguage.73shelves.com/2012/08/28/learn-a-language-for-free-with-help-from-central-arkansas-library-system/

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Pretend play may not be as crucial to child development as believed, new study shows

ScienceDaily (Aug. 28, 2012) ? Pretend play can be fun for preschool children, but a new University of Virginia study, published in the current online edition of the journal Psychological Bulletin, finds that it is not as crucial to a child's development as currently believed. Pretend play is any play a child engages in, alone, with playmates, or with adults, that involves uses of the imagination to create a fantasy world or situation, such as making toy cars go "vrrooooom" or making dolls talk.

Based on a number of key studies over four decades, pretend play is widely considered by psychologists -- and teachers and parents -- to be a vital contributor to the healthy development of children's intellect.

However, the new U.Va. study -- a thorough review of more than 150 studies -- looked for clearly delineated contributions of pretend play to children's mental development, and found little or no correlation.

Much of the previously presented "evidence" for the vitality of pretend play to development is derived from flawed methodology, according to Angeline Lillard, the new study's lead author and a U.Va. professor of psychology in the College of Arts & Sciences. She said testers might have been biased by knowledge that they were testing children who had engaged in adult-directed pretend play prior to testing.

"We found no good evidence that pretend play contributes to creativity, intelligence or problem-solving," Lillard said. "However, we did find evidence that it just might be a factor contributing to language, storytelling, social development and self-regulation."

She said it is often difficult for psychologists to separate whether children who engage in pretend play are already creative and imaginative, or if the pretend play, often encouraged by parents or teachers, actually promotes development.

"When you look at the research that has been done to test that, it comes up really short," Lillard said. "It may be that we've been testing the wrong things; and it may well be that when a future experiment is really well done we may find something that pretend play does for development, but at this point these claims are all overheated. This is our conclusion from having really carefully read the studies."

Lillard emphasized that various elements often present during pretend play -- freedom to make choices and pursue one's own interests, negotiation with peers and physical interaction with real objects -- are valuable, especially with appropriate levels of adult guidance.

These conditions exist both in pretend play and in other playful preschool activities that encourage children to discover their own interests and talents, such as the method used in Montessori schools.

Pretend play is also important diagnostically for children between 18 months and 2 years old, Lillard said. A complete absence of pretend play among children of that narrow age range could indicate autism, and suggests that such children be evaluated for other signs of the neurological disorder.

A growing problem, she said, is a trend in schools toward intensively preparing children for tests -- often supplanting organized and informal playtime, leading to a debate over whether early childhood curricula should include materials and time for pretend play.

"Playtime in school is important," Lillard said. "We found evidence that -- when a school day consists mostly of sitting at desks listening to teachers -- recess restores attention and that physical exercise improves learning."

Regarding pretend play, she said, "If adults enjoy doing it with children, it provides a happy context for positive adult-child interaction, a very important contributor to children's healthy development."

Stephen Hinshaw, editor of Psychological Bulletin and a professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley, said, "The article by Lillard and colleagues is a game-changer -- a paragon of carefully-reasoned evidence that will challenge the play-based domination of the early-childhood field for years to come."

Lillard's graduate student co-authors are Rebecca Dore, Emily Hopkins, Matthew Lerner, Carrie Palmquist and Eric Smith.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Virginia. The original article was written by Fariss Samarrai.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Angeline S. Lillard, Matthew D. Lerner, Emily J. Hopkins, Rebecca A. Dore, Eric D. Smith, Carolyn M. Palmquist. The Impact of Pretend Play on Children's Development: A Review of the Evidence.. Psychological Bulletin, 2012; DOI: 10.1037/a0029321

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/~3/mqIAIaMZWlM/120828152504.htm

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CELEBRATE HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH DURING MUSEUM ...

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at the free festival ?Celebraci?n! on Saturday, Sept. 29, at the N.C. Museum of History in downtown Raleigh. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., this family event will feature music and dance performances by Tar Heel Latino groups, a cooking demonstration, hands-on activities, dance workshops, and more. Come learn about North Carolina?s diverse Hispanic heritage and culture during this lively festival. Parking is free on weekends.With so much to see and do, ?Celebraci?n! will overflow outside onto Bicentennial Plaza, directly in front of the museum.
??Celebraci?n! is going to be a fun-filled event with activities for all ages,? says Tricia Blakistone, Event Coordinator. ?This is a great opportunity to learn about Latino culture, and the Museum of History is very excited to be coordinating this festival.?
For a brief overview of this large event, a sampling of topics and highlights follows. On Saturday, Sept. 1, a complete schedule with performance and presentation times will be posted in English and Spanish on ncmuseumofhistory.org/latino, or call 919-807-7900.

?

Music and Dance

Catch performances by these musicians and dance groups:

• Los Cu?ados de Tierra Calienta, playing Ranchera songs;
• Cesar Oviedo?s Latin Rio, featuring Cuban, Brazilian and Spanish tunes;
• Los Viajeros Mariachis;
• Triangle Tango;
• the Venezuelan Dance Group; and
• Ballet Folklorico Guadalupano.

Watch a cooking demonstration and taste samples. Sandra Gutierrez, author of the cookbook The New Southern-Latino Table, will prepare dishes that blend ingredients, traditions and culinary techniques of Latin America and the American South.

Eta Carina, presenting tropical dance music;
Hands-on Activities

• ??????? Make your own miniature pi?ata to take home.
• ??????? Try your hand at some cool Latin beats during a percussion workshop.
• ??????? Learn steps to Zumba, an Afro-Cuban dance-fitness phenomenon, and participate in the Latin Dance Showcase workshop featuring a variety of Latin dance moves.

Local Artists

See creations by these artists and others, and watch them at work.

• Clini Polloni, who was born and raised in Chile, will feature her oil paintings inspired by people, animals and nature.

• Cornelio Campos uses a folkloric art style to depict everyday scenes of Mexican life. Other paintings focus on the immigrant experience.

Edith Morales will highlight Artesania ecologica ixtle, a type of weaving from a plant fiber.

In addition, you can meet members of Latino organizations in North Carolina. Learn about the Hispanic Ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, El Pueblo, Diamante Inc., the N.C. Society of Hispanic Professionals, and other groups.
Be sure to see the museum?s first bilingual exhibit, Al Norte al Norte: Latino Life in North Carolina. Focusing on the history of experiences of Latinos in North Carolina, the exhibit features images by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Jos? Galvez.
With so much to see and do during ?Celebraci?n!, there won?t be a dull moment. The event is made possible through the generous support of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.

For more information about the Museum of History, call 919-807-7900 or access ncmuseumofhistory.org or Facebook.
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at the free festival ?Celebraci?n! on Saturday, Sept. 29, at the N.C. Museum of History in downtown Raleigh.

About the N.C. Museum of History

The museum is located at 5 E. Edenton Street, across from the State Capitol. Parking is available in the lot across Wilmington Street. Hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. The Museum of History, within the Division of State History Museums, is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.

About the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources

The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources annually serves more than 19 million people through its 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, the nation?s first state-supported symphony orchestra, the State Library, the N.C. Arts Council, and the State Archives. Cultural Resources champions North Carolina?s creative industry, which employs nearly 300,000 North Carolinians and contributes more than $41 billion to the state?s economy. To learn more, visit www.ncdcr.gov.

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Source: http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/event/celebrate-hispanic-heritage-month-during-museum-festival/

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Buy Cheap Business owner security cameras - Crip Commentary

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2012 at 12:46 am and is filed under Memories of Harriet.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.cripcommentary.com/harriet/2012/08/buy-cheap-business-owner-security-cameras/

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Follow These Rules For Self Help Success | Gifts For Happiness

When you are faced with tough, stressful situations, learn to use your intellect more than your emotions. If you can learn how to stay cool during high-stress situations, you are likely to gain the confidence that you need to conquer just about anything in your daily life. Take some time during your day to stop and take breaths.

TIP! No matter what your personal development goals are, there is one thing you need to do. It is important that you be an active participant in living your life.

Identifying the need for improvement is in itself a major step. The following are a few good self-help tips to try that will give you a good idea about what you might want to attempt.

Leadership is about exercising authority, but good leaders are humble, too. When rebukes are necessary, be gentle yet firm, and keep in mind that you must be able to serve to be able to lead effectively. Being virtuous and having integrity is part of being a leader, too, and few people will follow a leader that does not display these traits.

TIP! You should seek to be surrounded by like-minded people. This will reinforce the aspects of your personality that you are seeking to develop, while allowing you to distance yourself from toxic individuals in your life.

One great personal development goal you can set is to practice being more selfless. Having the capability to help others, and personally sacrifice, are major landmarks to building your inner character. Inner growth is increased by sacrificing your own comfort and turning your focus to the needs of others, while maintaining your core values.

Declaring lowliness is a crucial step in advancing in personal development. You will want to learn all you can, once you realize that you have only scratched the surface of all there is to be known. Once you adopt this mindset, you will be more open-minded and receptive to new knowledge, which will lead to self-improvement.

TIP! Find out how successful people improved themselves. The best way to learn how to avoid making mistakes in your career and your personal life is to discover the path that other people have taken toward self-fulfillment.

One part of depression you may not thought of to look at is your diet and increasing the amount of complex carbohydrates that you consume. A lack of complex carbs can lead to a shortage of serotonin, a significant factor in depression. This can also be achieved by upping your intake of raw fruits and veggies, legumes and whole grains.

Do not expect to accomplish your goals and transform your life without deciding to do so and taking action. You have to determine exactly what you want and consciously decide to work toward it.

TIP! Write a personalized affirmation. Take some time to write down a few of the good things that you love about yourself and keep it on a exotic postcard.

Determine the things that you value so that you can better come up with an excellent personal development strategy for your needs. It wouldn?t make sense to develop a trait that was contrary to who you are. Seek out areas of your life that you can develop that you can spend your energy on without going against what you hold important in life. This enables you to make lasting changes in your life, both in a personal and a professional capacity.

Silence your worries. The scenarios in your mind that are caused by worrying are just that, only in your mind. Instead of worrying, consider the worst case scenario, and start taking concrete steps to address that worst case. This will help you feel prepared in the event of a tragedy but also keep living your life.

TIP! Rather than boasting about your myriad medals, trophies, and awards, ask others about some of their proudest moments and most notable achievements. People will appreciate your company more, and you will find new common points of interests between you and your friends.

If your goals are realistic, you will be more likely to reach them and build a life that works for you. If you can identify weaknesses, you can improve on them and yourself.

Making improvements in your health will put you on the fast track of personal development. A healthy body will help you feel much better. You?ll be able to think more clearly when you are healthy, and even save money since you will require less medical care. Make adopting healthier habits a goal.

TIP! It is important to treat your body well and listen to its signals. When your body lets you know that it needs food, water, rest, or the like, give it what it needs as soon as you can.

Make a list of goals you wish to achieve. Write it down if you want to achieve a certain goal. Then, brainstorm things that you could do or have done that will improve your confidence. Put yourself into a good situation. By pursuing your goals aggressively and systematically, you are more likely to succeed.

Establish a very detailed plan to improve your life. If you have specific goals in mind, you will be better able to break down the path to accomplish this feat. When you follow this plan, the small steps will feel easier to accomplish, meaning success will come faster.

TIP! They say that speaking and listening are equally important. This especially holds true for developing yourself.

When engaging in personal development, tell yourself that you want to be better because you deserve better. You have no one to disappoint but yourself. When all is said and done, you know that what was done was all that you could do, and you won?t have any regrets.

Everyone makes mistakes, one of those is poor food choices every now and then. Stress can be just as detrimental to your health as a sugary meal, so keep that fact in mind, and try to relax.

TIP! Develop yourself by using love to grow and drive your faith. They stem from one another; you must have love to have faith.

Always retain your sense of humility. We are all but tiny dots in the scope of this universe. It is impossible to know everything. We can all learn and grow. When you allow yourself to be aware of this, new vistas will open to you. When you approach situations with an open mind, you will see how much you can learn from others.

If you are not able to achieve anything you wanted to, it is time to evaluate the situation seriously. Check online and find others whom share similar goals with you and find out what they are doing compared to what you?re doing. Maybe you are underestimating the problem, or maybe you are underestimating yourself.

The majority of employers that you encounter won?t care about the school you graduated from. They care about how successful you are at doing your job. Only the most prestigious of positions look at where you went to school. The degree is what is critical, and what will produce opportunity.

TIP! When you are pursuing your personal development goals, having setbacks can be discouraging and make you feel like a failure. However, failure should be a way that you can learn.

You should try to find and read books that tell you about personal development. These types of reading materials can often provide new insights and give you methods to alter your behavior in lifelong positive ways. Books on the topic of personal development can be poorly written. To avoid this, make sure you read books that have been reviewed well.

Look for pieces of writing or prose that were created for motivation. In certain cases, this could take the form of religious volumes, in others, it could be a collection of historical quotations. Having something that you can easily turn to when times get tough and you need encouragement gives you a better mind set, and helps you handle your life better.

Take note of any changes that you may have regarding how you feel or what you are thinking as you try these tips. Be kind to yourself

Never forget that you are priority number one. Likewise, you cannot stress over making everyone around you happy 24/7; this is impossible no matter how hard you try. Think of yourself first, but don?t step on others just to get what you want. When you live your life always staying true to your beliefs, morals and ethics, happiness should naturally follow you down the path of personal development.

Source: http://www.giftsforhappiness.com/follow-these-rules-for-self-help-success/

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Controlling gene expression: How chromatin remodelers block a histone pass

ScienceDaily (Aug. 26, 2012) ? Two opposing teams battle it out to regulate gene expression on the DNA playing field. One, the activators, keeps DNA open to enzymes that transcribe DNA into RNA. Their repressor opponents antagonize that effort by twisting DNA into an inaccessible coil around histone proteins, an amalgam called chromatin, effectively blocking access to DNA by enzymes that elongate an RNA strand.

Both teams maneuver by chemically modifying histones -- the activators by decorating histones with acetyl groups -- let's call them green flags -- causing them to loosen their grip on DNA. The repressors retaliate by marking histones with red flags, often methyl groups, which call in de-acetylase enzymes to clip off the green flags, restore the chromatin barrier and end that round of gene expression. Disturbing this biochemical balance lies at the heart of many diseases, particularly cancer.

Recently, the lab of Jerry Workman, Ph.D., investigator at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, reported in the journal Nature that a reserve of "pre-acetylated" histones sits on the chromatin sidelines ready to sub for histones whose green flags get clipped by repressors, a tactic aiding the activators called "histone exchange." In a companion study published in the Aug. 26, 2012 Advance Online Publication of Nature Structural & Molecular Biology the Workman lab now shows that a repressor called Set2 in yeast recruits a protein assistant to block the histone exchange. That study reveals a heretofore unknown mechanism to keep gene activation under control and ensure that erroneous transcription does not occur.

"Accurate gene expression is critical for normal cell function, and when this control is lost cells grow abnormally," says Workman. "These two studies identify mechanisms used by cells to regulate gene expression, which is important for our understanding of what goes wrong in diseases marked by unregulated cell growth, like cancer."

The study began when the group, in collaboration with Stowers proteomics experts Michael Washburn, Ph.D., and Laurence Florens, Ph.D., applied mass spectrometry analysis to identify any protein expressed in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae that bound to chromatin in regions patrolled by Set2. Those regions were readily apparent by the presence of Set2's red flag methyl group planted in a specific histone protein interacting with DNA.

"We knew that Set2 added this mark in the middle and downstream parts of genes to recruit de-acetylases," says the study's lead author Michaela Smolle, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in the Workman lab. "But the proteomic search allowed us to cast a wide net for other proteins associated with that mark -- a bit like fishing."

Among the fish caught was a component of a yeast chromatin "remodeler" known as Isw1, providing circumstantial evidence that the Set2 red flag attracts Isw1 as well as de-acetylases. Additional genomic experiments evaluating the entire genome of a yeast mutant lacking Set2 supported that idea: not only were the red methyl flags missing but the chromatin landscape was devoid of Isw1 as well.

To assess Isw1's biological function the group exploited yet another yeast mutant, this one lacking the ISW1 gene itself. Microarray analysis of global transcription in ISW1 CHD1 mutants showed widely perturbed gene expression marked by aberrant expression of RNA snippets rather than complete transcripts. Biologists view the presence of such "cryptic transcripts" as indicators of cellular stress.

Analysis of acetylation and methylation patterns in chromatin of ISW1 mutants revealed the probable cause: mutants showed ramped up histone exchange activity marked by excessive levels green-flagged pre-acetylated histones along the length of many genes, a condition likely favoring initiation of truncated RNAs.

"Our work shows that the Set2 methylation mark plays two important roles to ensure that RNA transcription starts only at the beginning of the gene and not in the middle," says Workman. "On one hand, it recruits Isw1 to block incoming histones, and on the other it also recruits a deacetylase to remove any acetylation marks that might happen to have sneaked in."

The Workman lab uses yeast, fruit flies and mammalian cells to study multiple factors that activate and repress transcription. Thus far, they have characterized players in the repressive Set2 pathway primarily in yeast, in part because yeast represents an ideal organism for mutational analysis and has a fairly small genome -- 6,000 genes compared to the 25,000 or so in humans or mice.

Smolle notes that although yeast genomes are simpler, the principles that govern Set2 activity in yeast will likely hold true for its human counterparts, among them the human protein SETD2. "Yeast has a single methylase, while humans have several, and flies and humans have several Isw1-like proteins," she says. "While you cannot equate one with the other precisely, you can be reasonably sure that what happens in yeast happens in humans as well but tends to be more complicated."

Workman agrees, adding that these discoveries have significant implications for human disease. "Strikingly, the human homolog of Set2, SETD2, is implicated as a tumor suppressor in breast cancer and in renal carcinoma, and those cells are deficient in the SETD2 methylation mark," he says. "These findings strongly suggest that SETD2 could be important in controlling cell growth and preventing tumors. Thanks to yeast, we now know more about how Set2 does that."

In addition to Florens and Washburn, other contributors to the study include Swami Venkatesh, Ph.D., Hua Li, Ph.D., Ying Zhang, Ph.D., and Madelaine M. Gogol, all of the Stowers.

This work was supported by the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and a grant from the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences (R01GM047867).

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stowers Institute for Medical Research, via Newswise.

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

---

Journal References:

1. Michaela Smolle, Swaminathan Venkatesh, Madelaine M Gogol, Hua Li, Ying Zhang, Laurence Florens, Michael P Washburn, Jerry L Workman. Chromatin remodelers Isw1 and Chd1 maintain chromatin structure during transcription by preventing histone exchange. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.2312
2. Swaminathan Venkatesh, Michaela Smolle, Hua Li, Madelaine M. Gogol, Malika Saint, Shambhu Kumar, Krishnamurthy Natarajan, Jerry L. Workman. Set2 methylation of histone H3 lysine?36 suppresses histone exchange on transcribed genes. Nature, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nature11326

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/~3/TLElya5Yb7I/120826142836.htm

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Fight for women's vote defines presidential race

FILE - In this Aug. 24, 2012, file photo Republican Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., talks to the media gathered in Chesterfield, Mo., and told them he will stay in the U.S. Senate race despite the uproar over his remarks about rape and pregnancy. Akin's comments awakened the ever-slumbering tensions between the Republican Party's two core wings: social conservatives and corporate interests just as Republicans were hoping for a united front at their convention to nominate Mitt Romney for president. (AP Photo/Sid Hastings, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 24, 2012, file photo Republican Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., talks to the media gathered in Chesterfield, Mo., and told them he will stay in the U.S. Senate race despite the uproar over his remarks about rape and pregnancy. Akin's comments awakened the ever-slumbering tensions between the Republican Party's two core wings: social conservatives and corporate interests just as Republicans were hoping for a united front at their convention to nominate Mitt Romney for president. (AP Photo/Sid Hastings, File)

FILE - In this June 18, 2012, file photo RNC chairman Reince Priebus, right, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wis., left, arrive at a campaign event in Janesville, Wis. Priebus said on a talk show Sunday Aug. 26, 2012, that Republican candidate Todd Akin's insistence on staying in the Missouri Senate race could cost the party its chance to win control of the Senate. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

ARVADA, Colo. (AP) ? A nation at war, crippling joblessness and a looming budget standoff that could wreck the economy have been overshadowed in recent days by an issue that polls show doesn't even crack voters' lists of top 10 concerns: abortion.

Missouri Republican Todd Akin's comment that women who were victims of "legitimate rape" rarely become pregnant touched off furious maneuvering by Republicans and Democrats alike, the latest iteration of a campaign that has been driven by both sides' need to court a small slice of the American electorate. Several hundred thousand independent suburban women will play an outsized role in deciding whether President Barack Obama keeps his job.

The issue reverberated Sunday, on the eve of the Republican convention, as Mitt Romney accused Obama's campaign of sinking to a sad low by trying to link the GOP candidate to Akin's statements about rape and abortion.

Romney also conceded that the controversy is hurting the Republican Party, and GOP chairman Reince Priebus said Akin's insistence about staying in the Missouri Senate race could cost the party its shot at winning control of the Senate in November.

"It really is sad, isn't it, with all the issues that America faces for the Obama campaign to continue to stoop to such a low level," Romney said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday."

Romney's comments were in response to Obama's contention that the Republican candidate has locked himself into "extreme positions" on economic and social issues and would surely impose them if elected president.

"I don't think that if Congress presented him with some of the items that are in the Republican platform at this convention that would, for example, entirely roll back women's control over their reproductive health, that he would stand in the way," Obama said in an interview with The Associated Press published Saturday.

The charges and countercharges reflect an ongoing political skirmish that shows no signs of letting up about two months before Election Day.

While suburban women are always a sought-after demographic in presidential campaigns ? 10 million more women than men voted in 2008 ? both sides agree that this campaign has been marked by an unusual intensity of debate over women's issues, particularly reproductive rights.

Both sides have clashed this year over Romney's calls to end federal funding of Planned Parenthood, Republican demands to let some employers avoid covering workers' birth control costs and a Democratic political operative's chastising of Romney's wife for being a housewife.

Polling data is mixed and hotly debated over whether the abortion issue helps candidates who favor abortion rights or those who oppose them. But Tony Robinson, a political science professor at the University of Colorado, Denver, said that Republicans are in peril this time because the stances they are now talking about ? like banning abortion in cases of rape or restricting birth control ? are ones that are widely unpopular.

"Whatever party is driven to its most extreme positions on this is punished by the electorate," Robinson said.

Democrats and some independent analysts say Republicans kicked off the debate by tacking hard to the right during the GOP primary.

"Rick Santorum is really the person they have to blame for this attention now," said Jennifer Lawless, director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University, referring to the former Pennsylvania senator and strong abortion foe, who fought to pull social conservatives away from Romney during the primary.

In the hours after Akin's comments, Democrats leapt at the chance to link him to the Republican presidential ticket ? almost as quickly as Romney, his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, and other prominent conservatives ? scrambled to condemn the remarks.

Democrats noted that Ryan had co-sponsored a controversial bill of Akin's that they contended would redefine rape, announced a list of abortion rights activists as speakers at their upcoming convention and a weeklong national swing of female surrogates dubbed the "Romney/Ryan: Wrong for Women" tour.

Meanwhile, Republicans, who have their own women-heavy lineup of convention speakers, defended their inclusion of a plank in their party platform outlawing abortion in the case of rape.

Colorado is one of the most competitive presidential states, where pollsters estimate about 100,000 undecided voters ? the majority of whom are female ? will decide the race. Both campaigns are fighting hard in the state for the women's vote.

The Romney campaign holds weekly women's phone banks, where female volunteers gather to call other women and urge them to back the Republican ticket. The Obama campaign holds meetings, house parties and canvasses for women, and has television ads attacking Romney's stance on reproductive rights in heavy rotation.

During a campaign visit earlier this month, Obama was introduced by Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student who was called a "slut" by Rush Limbaugh for her prepared testimony to a Senate committee that health insurance should cover birth control.

"When it comes to a woman's right to make her own health care choices," Obama said of his opponents, "they want to take us back to policies better suited to the 1950s than the 21st century. Colorado, you have to make sure it doesn't happen."

On Thursday, in an interview with a Denver television station, Romney was quickly asked how he would close the gender gap that persistently shows women favoring Obama.

"I think the issues women care about are the issues that our campaign is focused on ? which is, Number One, making sure that women and their kids and other members of their family are able to have good jobs," he said.

Analysts say both candidates face risks.

Romney needs only look to the last competitive election in Colorado, when Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet defied the 2010 GOP landslide by eking a narrow victory over his Republican opponent, Ken Buck.

Bennet painted his opponent as insensitive to women's issues while a debate also raged over a statewide ballot measure to grant legal rights to a fertilized egg. It was overwhelmingly defeated by a 70-30 percent margin but is returning to the ballot in November. Democrats here have eagerly noted that Ryan sponsored a similar bill in Congress.

Veteran Colorado pollster Floyd Ciruli said Obama must be careful not to look "extreme" in his use of reproductive issues, but that he's been lucky because Republicans keep bringing them up on their own.

Ciruli said the women swing voters the president is targeting "love politics to be above politics. They love for all of us to be together. They can be very put off by narrow appeals."

Both sides note that Obama's pitch on women's issues may also rally his sometimes disaffected base ? just as critical in a nail-biter race where few have yet to choose sides. Indeed, on a recent morning in this key swing suburb, every one of a half-dozen women interviewed on the contest had already made up her mind.

Colleen Faust, a 70-year-old retired teacher and Democrat, recalled writing a paper about a woman's right to birth control when she graduated college in 1965. "I grew up in pre-Roe v. Wade and I don't trust the Republicans," she said, referring to the landmark Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion.

Cherie Harris, 48, a self-identified strong conservative who owns a firearms and self-defense business, scoffed at arguments about women's health issues. "That's a big smoke screen," she said. "My 21 and 22-year-olds, how're they going to be able to find jobs? That's what I worry about as a woman."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-08-27-Campaign-Women's%20Vote/id-8ae85265826141979e6956d24c5f8a7a

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Star Wars Episodes II and III 3D re-releases officially dated for theaters in September and October 2013

Before Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace came back to the theaters earlier this year converted for 3D, the plan was to bring the other five movies to theaters one at a time each year, but that has apparently changed. At the Star Wars Celebration VI event in Orlando (where we first found out about the Blu-ray release two years ago) Lucasfilm announced that Episodes II and III in 3D will be released in theaters back to back in fall of 2013, arriving September 20th and October 11th, respectively. Missing so far from the announcement? A reason for the back-to-back release or any word on Blu-ray 3D plans. In lieu of more details, although it means Attack of the Clones will come back later in the year than Phantom Menace did, with any luck this accelerated schedule is a good omen for the original trilogy's return. Of course, we'll have to wait and see what magic can be worked with those older film and special effects elements, however IGN apparently found an early preview of the Episode II 3D footage to be promising.

[Thanks, Rachael]

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

Star Wars Episodes II and III 3D re-releases officially dated for theaters in September and October 2013 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Aug 2012 16:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Using Business Process Management (BPM) Software to increase ...

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Source: http://colinclarkeventprocessing.com/112/using-business-process-management-bpm-software-to-increase-enterprise-productivity

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Drew Peterson attorneys to mount 'quick' defense

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) ? And now it'll be Drew Peterson's turn.

After four weeks of witnesses telling jurors that Peterson wanted ex-wife Kathleen Savio dead, threatened to kill her and was willing to pay someone else $25,000 to do the job, the former suburban Chicago police officer's attorneys will get a chance this week to present his side of the story.

With the Will County prosecution expected to rest Monday, Peterson's attorneys will aim to persuade jurors that the death of Peterson's third wife was nothing more than a tragic accident, despite testimony about his threats and how she was so fearful she slept with a knife under her mattress. Their case may have been aided by repeated prosecution missteps in a trial that has rested almost exclusively on hearsay and circumstantial evidence.

For three years, Peterson's attorneys have insisted Savio slipped in the tub, hit her head and drowned. They have pathologists poised to testify to that, countering other pathologists who told jurors that Savio's 2004 death was a homicide and an autopsy reached the same conclusion ? though only when authorities exhumed her body after the disappearance of Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy Peterson.

"I'm not entirely certain (the prosecution has) shown she was murdered," said Daniel Coyne, a clinical professor of law at Chicago-Kent College of Law. "The evidence that a murder took place is in question, and if they haven't proved there was a murder, everything else is irrelevant."

Presiding Judge Edward Burmila exposed potential holes in the state's case Friday when he told prosecutors they had failed to either place Peterson in the bathroom where Savio's body was found or to illustrate exactly how he might have killed her.

When prosecutors asked Burmila ? with jurors out of earshot ? if they could enter testimony to suggest Peterson could have used his training as a police officer to put Savio in a stranglehold, he refused to let them.

"You can't be serious," he balked. "You don't even have any evidence linking him to the scene. Now you want to say this is what he did there?"

One defense attorney observing the trial said prosecutors succeeded in making a strong case that Savio did not simply slip in the bathtub. Kathleen Zellner, who has handled cases in Will County, noted "common sense" testimony that points to foul play. For example, she pointed to testimony that Savio was not found wearing a hair clip, as she usually did when she bathed, but wearing a necklace. Investigators also did not find a bath mat near the tub.

"Those kinds of things resonate with women jurors," Zellner said. "Women don't bathe with jewelry."

Zellner said there is "a tsunami of evidence against him on motive, that he wanted her dead." David Erickson, a former state appellate judge who teaches at Chicago-Kent, agreed, noting the testimony of Jeff Patcher, who told jurors that Peterson offered him $25,000 to hire a hit man.

"I think that's devastating, absolutely devastating," he said.

The defense has the option of resting without calling a single witness, arguing that the state fell far short of proving its case. But Peterson lawyer Joe Lopez told reporters Friday their team planned to mount a defense that should last two days. "It'll go smoothly, and it'll go quick," Lopez said.

Their witnesses could include officers who investigated Savio's death, to counter a prosecution argument that the police work was badly bungled. They also must decide whether to call Peterson himself, a risky move given the arrogant and seemingly callous personality he displayed for years before TV cameras.

Some argue that Peterson needs to testify, since he's the only one who can say where he was when Savio died. The only other person who could speak to that is his missing fourth wife, Stacy, whose minister was allowed to testify that Peterson warned her about police questioning her and coached her for hours on how to lie to them.

"They've got to hear from him or Stacy, and we all know Stacy is not going come in and vouch for him," Zellner said.

Erickson disagreed, pointing out that prosecutors would grill Peterson about the threats, possibly allowing them to introduce new evidence. There also would be risk in denying the hearsay evidence and appearing to attack the victim.

"If that man takes the stand, it's over," Erickson said. "He's got to call his dead (ex) wife a liar."

Still, Erickson said, recent media reports that Peterson receives love letters in jail suggest Peterson might be able to charm the jury.

"He does still charm people and maybe he thinks he can be that charming guy" on the witness stand, he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/drew-peterson-attorneys-mount-quick-defense-182459791.html

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Getting In Touch With Acupuncture For Infertility ?

In the case of overweight persons, an acupuncture therapist can begin with a physical and psychological assessment to know the reason behind the patient?s weight condition.

For a patient who would really like to lose weight with acupuncture, the acupuncturist commonly inserts 5 needles in every ear. Of those needles, four facilitate with detoxification among the body: kidneys, lungs, nervous system and liver. Last needle aids in relaxation.

The principle of acupuncture is that the specific meridians of the body (composed of lines) and pressure points. If there is a disease that yin and yang (hot and cold side of things) are not balanced, leading to physical symptoms such as acne. Restore the balance are specific pressure points or acupuncture points are inserted along a line with a needle. After the needles are inserted in the fields of law, the slow flow of energy back into balance, eliminating the disease in this process.

Acupuncture is not something new, it has existed for around 2,600 years and used in China as anesthesia. So why wait, relieve yourself of the pain and be revived through acupuncture.

So what can be done to treat migraine headaches? According to the World Health Organization (WHO), studies suggest that acupuncture can play a significant role in treating migraines, as well as many other types of headaches.

Today, I have noticed that several people are looking towards various therapies rather than ancient solutions for improving our health. A study in 2004 showed that thirty five% of American adults are obese and that figure looks prefer it can be climbing to alarmingly dangerous levels. Acupuncture weight loss treatment is one such solution, and in this text I intend to debate the effectiveness of acupuncture weight loss treatments.

Health insurance is something to consider when you look at the question ?How much is acupuncture?? but you have to meet many requirements to get acupuncture costs covered. Usually, the number of treatments you need to have will determine acupuncture cost. No matter how you look at it, the cost of acupuncture can be somewhat pricy, but it is often effective in increasing fertility, relieving anxiety, and even helping with lower back pain. Many factors can affect cost, but acupuncture is often a less costly treatment that other traditional procedures.

Acupuncture works to open the blockages in these pathways by inserting needles in the acupuncture points lying on the meridians. These needles activate the points which are associated with body organs. This activation maintains smooth flow of energy and increases circulation in blood.

Regrettably people still seem to have this notion that acupuncture is nothing more than putting needles into their body. They do not realize how many years it takes to learn the order in which these needles are inserted in which to improve upon given aches and pains. It is in no way luck.

Acupuncture is an ancient form of healing that is also quite effective in treating back problems. So take a look at his credentials and make sure that he is accredited.
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Source: http://all-articles-directory.com/getting-in-touch-with-acupuncture-for-infertility/

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