Trayvon Martin's Funeral Director: No Signs Of Fight On Body (VIDEO)

View photos from a March last week in Miami demanding justice for Trayvon Martin, and

.

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(PHOTOS)","slideshow_id":"217176","vertical":"miami"},{"entry_id":"1380666","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2012\/03\/26\/nine-animals-abandoned_n_1380666.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/217122\/slide_217122_815190_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/217122\/slide_217122_815190_small.jpg","title":"Nine More Emaciated Animals Found Abandoned in Southwest Miami-Dade (PHOTOS)","slideshow_id":"217122","vertical":"miami"},{"entry_id":"1383136","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2012\/03\/27\/sony-ericsson-funny-faces_n_1383136.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/217282\/slide_217282_824478_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/217282\/slide_217282_824478_small.jpg","title":"The Sony Ericsson Open's Hilarious Tennis Game Faces (PHOTOS)","slideshow_id":"217282","vertical":"miami"}]

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Struggling Young Readers Like Kindles

60-Second Science60-Second Science | More Science

Middle school students in a reading improvement class liked using e-readers for a variety or reasons, and felt their reading improved as a result. Sophie Bushwick reports.

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Kindles, Nooks and other E-readers catch flack for threatening the future of printed books. But reading itself may get a boost from the devices. For example, a study of struggling students found that the kids felt better about reading after a course in which they used Amazon Kindles. The research is in the International Journal of Applied Science and Technology. [Twyla Miranda et al, Reluctant Readers in Middle School: Successful Engagement with Text Using the E-Reader]

For two months, 199 middle-schoolers in a reading improvement class in Texas had 15-to-25 minutes every day when they were free to read on the Kindle. In general, the students felt the device improved their reading ability. And they tended to enjoy using an e-reader.

They noted the ease of carrying multiple books in one device, and the feeling that reading was suddenly a high-tech 21st century activity rather than a boring waste of time. And some low-level readers who might otherwise be embarrassed to be seen with a simple book liked keeping their peers in the dark about what title they were reading. In the old days, one had to use a fake book-cover to achieve that level of secrecy.

?Sophie Bushwick

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast]


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Apple needs to redefine itself, but that shouldn't take long

Image
We know that Apple can be OCD-ish about dictionaries at times, but is any brave Cupertino intern ready to step up and run the gauntlet? Apple's definition of itself in its own Dictionary application is looking dusty, while all it really needs is a quick mention of the company's latest gifts to the world -- and we don't just mean the Patent Wars.

[Thanks, Ishmaeel]

Apple needs to redefine itself, but that shouldn't take long originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/eVAQo6czECs/

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Why Personal Branding Is Critical In Today's Online Business ...

Offline business has an advantage. You, as the marketer or a professional or the business owner, have the opportunity to come face to face with your business prospects. You have the advantage of being able to convince your prospects using different body signs including facial expressions, eye contact and hand movement. Apart from these, there is the most powerful method to convince your customers, which is the power of showing emotions.

In the online business, unfortunately, you do not have any of the above advantages. So, does it mean that doing business online is impossible? It is not necessarily so as you have access to other, probably, equally powerful techniques to influence your would-be customers as well as retain existing customers.

What is that powerful technique that I am talking about?

Personal Branding

Actually, you can be very successful in an online marketing scenario when you market yourself and improve/increase your own brand through search engines, social media, article marketing, press releases and through other legitimate marketing methodologies.

Now, to do all the above or even do most of the above will definitely require an enormous effort on your part. Are there any agencies that can help you create as well as exponentially increase your personal branding for you?

Yes, there is a well known company just for this purpose.

Visit Reputation.com and learn more about their services in the areas of Reputation Management.

VN:F [1.9.15_1155]

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

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Source: http://honorablereviews.com/why-personal-branding-is-critical-in-todays-online-business/

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Russia's Duma to consider 'gay propaganda' bill

(AP) ? A controversial bill that is likely to fuel discrimination against Russia's embattled gay community has been submitted to Russia's lower house of parliament.

The bill calls for fines of up to 500,000 rubles ($16,500) for "spreading homosexual propaganda" among minors.

The legislation was submitted Thursday to the State Duma by lawmakers from the central Novosibirsk region who blamed media for promoting gay lifestyles as "normal behavior."

The bill is similar to legislation adopted in February in St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city. Gay rights activists say the legislation could be used to ban public demonstrations.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993, but anti-gay sentiment remain strong.

The legislation also calls for an up to 1 million ruble ($33,000) fine for material promoting pedophilia.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-03-29-EU-Russia-Gay-Rights/id-4c2032b32e5d462cb20b6c59e0737fa9

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What James Cameron saw 6.8 miles deep in Mariana Trench ( video)

Returning from humankind's first solo dive to the deepest spot in the ocean, filmmaker James?Cameron said he saw no obvious signs of life that might inspire creatures in his next "Avatar" movie but was awestruck by the "complete isolation."

Skip to next paragraph Director James Cameron dove 6.8 miles to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, the deepest dive in 50 years by any man.

The Oscar-winning director and undersea explorer said his record-setting expedition to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, 7 miles beneath the surface of the western Pacific, not only capped seven years of painstaking preparation but was the "culmination of a lifelong dream."

Cameron, 57, spoke to reporters in a telephone conference call from a yacht en route back to shore from the dive site hours after returning safely to the surface from his voyage to the floor of the immense undersea canyon at a point some 300 miles (480 miles) southwest of the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.

RECOMMENDED: Are you scientifically literate? Take the quiz

He described a flat, desolate landscape, 50 times larger than the Grand Canyon, "devoid of sunlight, devoid of any heat, any warmth," where the pressure was so great that it squeezed the height of his submersible vehicle by several inches.

He looked out on the sea floor, illuminated by the lights on his submarine, through a small window.

"When I got to the bottom ... it was completely featureless and uniform," he said. "My feeling was one of complete isolation from all of humanity. ... More than anything, (it's) realizing how tiny you are down in this big, vast, black, unknown and unexplored place."

The only free-swimming creatures he saw near the bottom were tiny shrimp-like arthropods, but little else in the way of life was immediately visible. Cameronsaid further exploration would be required to discern what other organisms might dwell there.

Asked if he encountered anything he might use in his next feature film, he replied, "I can't answer that question right now." But he said, "Anything that I've ever seen underwater goes into the hopper of imagination that gets refracted out into the things that I write."

He also recounted the discomfort of his seven-hour journey into the ocean depths and back, wedged into a cramped, cold capsule at the bottom of a specially designed vehicle that stands 24 feet tall and descends upright and rotating at the speed of about 500 feet per minute.

The craft functioned flawlessly, he said, except for an unexplained failure of the hydraulic system that idled the vehicle's robot arm and prevented Cameron from collecting most of the biological and geologic samples he had hoped to retrieve.

NOT GIVING UP MOVIES

Better known as the director of such blockbuster films as "Titanic," "Aliens" and "Avatar," Cameron made history on Monday as the first person to venture alone to the so-called Challenger Deep, the lowest-known point of the Earth's crust, nearly 36,000 feet beneath the ocean surface.

He also was the first individual to make that journey since 1960, when the only other explorers to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench - U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and the late Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard - spent 20 minutes there together in the submersible craft Trieste.

Cameron said he was inspired as a boy by the original feat of Piccard and Walsh - a mentor and part of his support team at the surface - and by the adventures of French undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau, to take up diving at age 16, even though he lived "in a small, landlocked village in rural Canada."

"Most people probably know me as a filmmaker, but really the ocean and the idea of exploration has been the stronger driver in my life," he said.

By his count, Cameron has made 72 ocean dives in various submersible crafts over the years, including 12 trips during the making of "Titanic" to the famed shipwreck in the North Atlantic.

Still,?Cameron insisted he had no plans to give up his movie career, saying, "I'm going to be turning my attention to 'Avatar 2' and 'Avatar 3' as soon as I finish up with this expedition."

His venture to the Challenger Deep is being chronicled for a 3-D film set for theatrical release and for subsequent broadcast on the National Geographic Channel.

(Editing by Tim Gaynor and Peter Cooney)

RECOMMENDED: Are you scientifically literate? Take the quiz

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/xDLbJxfOo-8/What-James-Cameron-saw-6.8-miles-deep-in-Mariana-Trench-video

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The Cast of Hunger Games Lets Loose with Carrie Keagan on VH1?s Big Morning Buzz Live

Why College Students Do Not Understand Their Loans

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/why-college-students-not-understand-loans-210000614.html

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Chamberlain has surgery after dislocating ankle

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain dislocated his right ankle while playing with his son at a local spot that had a trampoline, jeopardizing his immediate future after yet another odd misstep for New York's bullpen at spring training.

There was no timetable for Chamberlain's return. The team did not say whether the 26-year-old pitcher was using the trampoline equipment when he was injured Thursday.

The accident at a play area came two weeks after All-Star setup man David Robertson hurt himself moving boxes at home.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Friday that Chamberlain had surgery and would be hospitalized at least a few days. The 6-foot-2, 240-pound righty was working his way back from elbow ligament replacement surgery and wasn't expected to return until June or July.

Asked Friday if this could threaten Chamberlain's career, Cashman said: "I'm not in position to say. Right now it's too early for that. He's in very good hands. He's a healer. He's a tough guy."

Bone broke through the skin during the dislocation. Chamberlain was scheduled for an MRI exam and CT scan Friday.

"My guess is he landed funny," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

Girardi said he spent about 30 minutes with Chamberlain at the hospital Friday morning that both of them were "a little emotional."

"I wanted to see how he was doing. You know it's crushing. I just told him, we're going to be here for him, we're going to get you through this and we're going to get you back on the mound. But you're going to go through some difficult times," Girardi said.

"You can only look forward. You've got to look forward. You can't look at 'what if?'" he said. "You can see the disappointment, there's no doubt that."

Earlier this month, Robertson stumbled on the stairs of his home in St. Petersburg while moving empty boxes for recycling. The Yankees' fears of a serious injury were abated when Robertson was diagnosed with a bone bruise.

And once it became clear Robertson's injury was minor, his teammates let him have it. Among those in the clubhouse weighing in with sarcastic cracks about carrying boxes was Chamberlain himself. Chamberlain often is like a big kid himself, joking with teammates and playing around.

But there was little humor coming out of the Yankees' camp Friday. The mood in the clubhouse was somber, and Cashman seemed shaken as he met with reporters. He even acknowledged at the end of the media session that he was rambling.

"He's facing a lot right now," Cashman said. "I can't tell you, really, anything more than something unfortunate happened. We're in the very early information side of this thing."

In January, Chamberlain agreed to a one-year contract for $1,675,000, up from $1.4 million last year. The deal was not guaranteed. Cashman said Friday it's not the right time to talk about Chamberlain's contract status.

As to whether this falls in the category of unacceptable off-the-field injuries, Girardi said: "I don't want to get into that now. What I want to talk about is getting him better and being there for this kid. He's going through a lot."

Cashman said Chamberlain's son was not hurt. The boy began kindergarten last year and Chamberlain often tweets about how proud he is of his son's hockey.

Chamberlain went 2-0 with a 2.83 ERA in 27 relief appearances last season before elbow surgery June 16. Now, another setback

"I feel extremely bad for him," Yankees captain Derek Jeter said. "He's worked hard to get his arm back in shape. A fluke accident. I feel extremely bad for him. He's got to be disappointed. I feel terrible for him."

Chamberlain was his usual playful self inside the Yankees' clubhouse Thursday and had a bullpen session set for Friday.

"From the baseball stuff, he was doing great," Cashman said. "I feel bad because I know how much he loves his game, and how much he was looking forward to coming back ahead of schedule. It's clearly derailed that, but what more does that mean, I don't know. A lot of things must be running through his mind."

Chamberlain has had an up-and-down career since joining the team in August 2007. He started out 2-0 with an 0.38 ERA in 19 relief appearances.

Chamberlain later inspired the "Joba Rules" that governed how much he would pitch, with the Yankees wary of overusing him while deciding whether he would be a starter, setup man or closer-in-waiting behind Mariano Rivera.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chamberlain-surgery-dislocating-ankle-150323262--mlb.html

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Potential biomarkers linked to UTI-related pregnancy complications identified

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 22-Mar-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Erin Pope
Erin.Pope@NationwideChildrens.org
614-355-0495
Nationwide Children's Hospital

Investigators in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital have developed a mouse model in which a mother's urinary tract infection negatively affects the offspring, an occurrence anecdotally observed in humans. Using this first-of-its-kind model, they have identified proteins in the blood that may indicate whether such an infection might stunt fetal growth. Study findings have been published in the March 21, 2012, edition of PLoS ONE.

Nearly 50 percent of all women are affected by urinary tract infections (UTIs). Although most UTIs rarely cause complications in the general population, UTIs during pregnancy can impact the developing fetus, raising the risk for prematurity, low birth weight and possibly childhood asthma. In fact, all pregnant women are routinely screened for UTIs during the first trimester and repeatedly for high-risk patients.

Mouse models have been helpful in understanding the immunological changes that occur during pregnancy when a mother develops an infection within the uterus. Yet, no animal model exists to show how side-effects of a localized infection outside of the uterus, such as bladder inflammation from a urinary tract infection, impact a developing fetus.

"Observations that an infection isolated to the urinary tract is associated with adverse perinatal outcomes have been anecdotal," said Sheryl S. Justice, PhD, principal investigator in the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and lead study author. "The effects that bladder inflammation and other infection symptoms have on pregnancy have not been fully characterized in humans. Currently, there are no reliable biomarkers to indicate whether urinary tract infected pregnant women's babies are at risk for poor outcomes." Dr. Justice is also a faculty member at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

To examine such a scenario, Dr. Justice and fellow investigators at Nationwide Children's developed a mouse model of urinary tract infection in pregnant mice. Due to the short gestational length of the mouse, they were unable to observe premature delivery under experimental conditions. However, the offspring of mothers that experienced experimental UTI displayed up to 80 percent decrease in fetal weight when compared to non-infected mothers.

Blood draws showed significant differences in pro-inflammatory proteins between infected mothers and non-infected mothers days before delivery. "The inflammatory response in the uterus was more severe than in the kidney, suggesting that the tissue of the placenta may be more susceptible to changes in immune status than other nearby organs," said Dr. Justice.

The lowest offspring weight correlated with the highest serum levels of the inflammatory protein IL-6. "Our findings strongly suggest that serum levels of IL-6 may be linked to poor growth of the baby within the womb," said Dr. Justice. "We are now positioned to investigate these proteins as potential biomarkers that may have predictive value to identify a fetus as risk for UTI-induced prematurity."

###

For more information on Dr. Sheryl Justice, visit http://www.nationwidechildrens.org/sheryl-s-justice
For more information on The Center for Microbial Pathogenesis, visit http://www.nationwidechildrens.org/microbial-pathogens
For more information on The Research Institute, visit http://www.nationwidechildrens.org/pediatric-research


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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 22-Mar-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Erin Pope
Erin.Pope@NationwideChildrens.org
614-355-0495
Nationwide Children's Hospital

Investigators in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital have developed a mouse model in which a mother's urinary tract infection negatively affects the offspring, an occurrence anecdotally observed in humans. Using this first-of-its-kind model, they have identified proteins in the blood that may indicate whether such an infection might stunt fetal growth. Study findings have been published in the March 21, 2012, edition of PLoS ONE.

Nearly 50 percent of all women are affected by urinary tract infections (UTIs). Although most UTIs rarely cause complications in the general population, UTIs during pregnancy can impact the developing fetus, raising the risk for prematurity, low birth weight and possibly childhood asthma. In fact, all pregnant women are routinely screened for UTIs during the first trimester and repeatedly for high-risk patients.

Mouse models have been helpful in understanding the immunological changes that occur during pregnancy when a mother develops an infection within the uterus. Yet, no animal model exists to show how side-effects of a localized infection outside of the uterus, such as bladder inflammation from a urinary tract infection, impact a developing fetus.

"Observations that an infection isolated to the urinary tract is associated with adverse perinatal outcomes have been anecdotal," said Sheryl S. Justice, PhD, principal investigator in the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and lead study author. "The effects that bladder inflammation and other infection symptoms have on pregnancy have not been fully characterized in humans. Currently, there are no reliable biomarkers to indicate whether urinary tract infected pregnant women's babies are at risk for poor outcomes." Dr. Justice is also a faculty member at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

To examine such a scenario, Dr. Justice and fellow investigators at Nationwide Children's developed a mouse model of urinary tract infection in pregnant mice. Due to the short gestational length of the mouse, they were unable to observe premature delivery under experimental conditions. However, the offspring of mothers that experienced experimental UTI displayed up to 80 percent decrease in fetal weight when compared to non-infected mothers.

Blood draws showed significant differences in pro-inflammatory proteins between infected mothers and non-infected mothers days before delivery. "The inflammatory response in the uterus was more severe than in the kidney, suggesting that the tissue of the placenta may be more susceptible to changes in immune status than other nearby organs," said Dr. Justice.

The lowest offspring weight correlated with the highest serum levels of the inflammatory protein IL-6. "Our findings strongly suggest that serum levels of IL-6 may be linked to poor growth of the baby within the womb," said Dr. Justice. "We are now positioned to investigate these proteins as potential biomarkers that may have predictive value to identify a fetus as risk for UTI-induced prematurity."

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For more information on Dr. Sheryl Justice, visit http://www.nationwidechildrens.org/sheryl-s-justice
For more information on The Center for Microbial Pathogenesis, visit http://www.nationwidechildrens.org/microbial-pathogens
For more information on The Research Institute, visit http://www.nationwidechildrens.org/pediatric-research


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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-03/nch-pbl032212.php

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