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November 2009

Division 10 Specialties

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 21:19 — admin

http://www.specialtiesdirect.com/products.html

A bathroom directly connected to a bedroom is often called an en-suite bathroom. Its use is primarily intended for the occupants of that bedroom only. In French the term "en-suite" literally means "a following", in this case referring to the bathroom being part of the bedroom to which it is attached. A bathroom adjacent to or directly connected to a master bedroom in a private home is generally called a master bathroom, unless it is shared by other bedrooms or is the only bathroom in the home. An en-suite bathroom attached to two bedrooms is sometimes referred to as a "Jack and Jill bathroom". Travelers often get confused regarding different types of bathrooms when booking rooms in hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation. Some common questions relate to en-suite, "private" and "shared" bathrooms (sometimes called "facilities"). Both en-suite and private bathrooms are for the exclusive use of the occupants of a particular bedroom. An en-suite bathroom is accessed from within the bedroom, however, whereas a private bathroom is accessed from outside the bedroom but is normally adjacent or near to the bedroom. A shared bathroom is a bathroom outside of any bedroom that is shared between guests staying in two or more separate bedrooms. Although the word bathroom may be used, this room may have a shower stall instead of a bathtub. The bathroom would also normally include a toilet as well as washing facilities.

In fact throughout the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, the use of public baths declined gradually in the west, and private spaces were favoured, thus laying the foundations for the bathroom, as it was to become, in the 20th century. However in Japan shared bathing in sento and onsen (spas) still exists; the latter being very popular.

Stillbirth risk higher for black women

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 11:08 — admin

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) –
African-American women are twice as likely to suffer a late-pregnancy loss as white women -- partly because of higher rates of pregnancy- and labor-related complications, a government study finds.

Researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health found that among more than 5 million pregnancies in 2001 and 2002, black women were more likely than white or Hispanic women to have a stillbirth.

Among African Americans, 22 of every 1,000 pregnancies ended in a stillbirth. That compared with 10 and 10.5 per 1,000 among white and Hispanic women, respectively.

Health conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes and certain complications during pregnancy -- such as uterine bleeding and premature rupture of the sac surrounding the fetus -- explained a larger share of black women's stillbirth risk compared with white and Hispanic women.

The same was true of labor-related conditions, including problems with the placenta or umbilical cord.

Those disparities suggest that improvements in black women's health before and during early pregnancy could help erase some of the gap in stillbirth risk, the researchers report in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Stillbirth refers to fetal deaths that occur after the 20th week of pregnancy. Among the most common causes are birth defects, poor fetal growth and problems with the placenta -- such as placental abruption, where the placenta peels away from the wall of the uterus, leading to heavy bleeding.

Past studies have found that African-American women are at increased risk of stillbirth, and while the national rate of stillbirth has declined in the past 20 years, the racial gap has not narrowed.

These latest findings shed more light on the problem, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Marian Willinger of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Using records on more than 5.1 million U.S. pregnancies, the researchers found that racial disparities in stillbirth risk were greatest in the 20th to 23rd week of pregnancy and smallest in the last few weeks.

Underlying medical conditions and pregnancy- and labor-related complications accounted for 30 percent of the risk among black women, compared with 20 percent among white and Hispanic women.

In contrast, birth defects and poor fetal growth were bigger factors in white women's stillbirth risk than they were for black women.

A "striking" finding, according to the researchers, is that the racial disparity was even more pronounced among more-educated women. That was because higher education (beyond high school) was linked to a 30 percent reduction in stillbirth risk among white women, while there was little evidence of benefit among black women.

Higher education -- often a marker of advantages like higher income and better healthcare -- is generally associated with better pregnancy outcomes. Exactly why better-educated black women failed to show a substantial decrease in stillbirth risk is unclear.

More research is needed, Willinger's team writes, to see whether biological mechanisms may be contributing to the racial disparity.

SOURCE: American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, November 2009.

Cap Cana Villa

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 06:03 — admin

Cap Cana Villa

Cap Cana is located in the Eastern region of the Dominican Republic known as Juanillo. The site was founded as a new and more ambitious touristic site with contributions from international investors and strategic partners such as Ritz-Carlton, Sotogrande, Donald Trump and many others. The site has a Marina, Large resorts, beaches, and many others. Primarily founded as a site to attract international visitors. The Cap Cana Championship, a Champions Tour golf tournament, is held at Punta Espada Golf Club in Cap Cana, a course designed by Jack Nicklaus.

Cap Cana's area includes more than one-hundred and twenty millon square meters of land, of which twenty-five million will be developed in its first phase. It also includes 8 kilometers of beach and coasts, 5 of which are considered to be among the most spectacular in the Caribbean, locally considered to be neck-in-neck to the beaches of Bahia de Las Aguilas (literally, Bay of the Eagles) located in the southwestern municipality of Perdernales- often referred by past visitors as some of the most beautiful in the world.

Forex Alerts

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 03:01 — admin

An important part of this market comes from the financial activities of companies seeking foreign exchange to pay for goods or services. Commercial companies often trade fairly small amounts compared to those of banks or speculators, and their trades often have little short term impact on market rates. Nevertheless, trade flows are an important factor in the long-term direction of a currency's exchange rate. Some multinational companies can have an unpredictable impact when very large positions are covered due to exposures that are not widely known by other market participants.

Non-bank foreign exchange companies offer currency exchange and international payments to private individuals and companies. These are also known as Foreign Exchange Brokers but are distinct from Forex Brokers as they do not offer speculative trading but currency exchange with payments. i.e. there is usually a physical delivery of currency to a bank account.

Forex Alerts

Stakes are high in Maine's vote on gay marriage

Mon, 11/02/2009 - 23:17 — admin

PORTLAND, Maine – Bolstered by out-of-state money and volunteers, both sides jockeyed Monday to boost turnout for a Maine referendum that could give gay-rights activists in the U.S. their first victory at the ballot box on the deeply divisive issue of same-sex marriage.
The state's voters will decide Tuesday whether to repeal a law that would allow gay marriage. The law was passed by the Legislature and signed by Democratic Gov. John Baldacci last May but has never taken effect.
The contest is considered too close to call, and both campaigns worked vigorously — with rallies, phone calls, e-mails and ads — to be sure their supporters cast votes in the off-year election.
If voters uphold the law, it will be the first time the electorate in any state has endorsed marital rights for same-sex couples, energizing activists nationwide and deflating a long-standing conservative argument that gay marriage lacks popular support.
Conversely, a repeal — in New England, the corner of the country most receptive to same-sex marriage — would be a jolting setback for the gay-rights movement and mark the first time voters overturned a gay-marriage law enacted by a legislature. When Californians voters rejected gay marriage a year ago, it was in response to a court ruling, not legislation.
Elsewhere around the country, Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine is locked in a tight battle for re-election in New Jersey, Republican Bob McDonnell is heavily favored in the race for Virginia governor, a hotly contested special congressional election in upstate New York has exposed a rift in the GOP between moderates and conservatives, and billionaire Michael Bloomberg is expected to coast to victory in his bid for a third term as mayor of New York.
Apart from Maine, five states have legalized same-sex marriage — Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. But all did so via legislation or court rulings, not through a popular vote. By contrast, constitutional amendments banning gay marriage have been approved in all 30 states where they have reached the ballot.
"The eyes of the nation will be on Maine," said Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "The stakes are high, but so is our hope that Maine will remain among the growing number of states that extend the essential security and legal protections of marriage to all loving, committed couples."
Brian Brown of the New Jersey-based National Organization of Marriage, which has contributed $1.5 million to the repeal campaign, agreed the election is critical for both sides.
He took heart in polls showing a close race, saying polling in other states that voted on the issue tended to underestimate the eventual opposition to same-sex marriage.
"New England is the one area where it's much tougher ground for us than other states," Brown said. "The fact that in a state like Maine we're polling relatively even shows the depth of support for saying marriage is between a man and a woman."
In downtown Portland, hundreds of people carrying signs gathered for a raucous noontime rally Monday in favor of gay marriage. Participants were exhorted to go to City Hall to vote — and make sure others vote as well.
Meredith Hunt, who hopes to wed her partner of 15 years, Melissa Hamkins, has been doing door to door, working the phones and recruiting volunteers. She took time off from her job as a nurse practitioner Monday to join in the final push for gay marriage.
"I'm running on adrenaline at this point. I don't want to leave any stone unturned," said Hunt, 45, who lives on a farm in Bowdoin. "This isn't politics. This is personal."
On the other side, Jeannette Saucier, 71, of Topsham, telephoned potential voters in hopes of stopping gay marriage.
"It's not that I feel bigoted to gay people. We have gay people in my own family, but I don't see them having to be married to prove a point," she said.
Both campaigns have attracted volunteers and hefty financial support from out of state, but the financial advantage went to the side defending same-sex marriage, Protect Maine Equality. It raised $4 million, compared with $2.5 million collected by Stand for Marriage Maine, which forced the repeal vote through a petition drive.
Marc Mutty, on leave from a job with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland to run the Stand for Marriage campaign, said in a homestretch appeal for donations that the election "is about the future of marriage in Maine, and thus the nation."

"It is about whether marriage will continue to be between one man and one woman as God intended and human history has affirmed, or if we will plunge our state into a radical social experiment of 'any two will do,'" he said.

The diocese coordinated $550,000 in contributions to the repeal campaign and has criticized Baldacci, a Catholic and former altar boy, for signing the marriage law.

Gay-marriage opponents have stressed the theme — disputed by their rivals — that gay marriage will be taught in schools if the law is allowed to stand. A Stand For Marriage radio ad Monday focused on an attempt to strip the state license from a high school counselor who spoke out against gay marriage in a television commercial.

"Don't be fooled. If Question 1 fails and homosexual marriage is legalized, those in power in Maine schools will push it on students just as they are trying to punish one of Maine's best educators for supporting traditional marriage," the radio ad said.

Gay rights was also on the ballot Tuesday in Washington state, where voters will decide whether to uphold or overturn a recently expanded domestic partnership law that gives same-sex couples the same state-granted rights as heterosexual married couples.

Among other ballot items around the country:

• Measures in Maine and Washington that would limit state and local government spending by holding down increases to the rate of inflation plus population growth. Voters would have to approve of any spending over the limits, or any tax hikes.

_A measure in Maine that would allow dispensaries to distribute marijuana for medicinal purposes. It is a follow-up to a 1999 measure that legalized medical marijuana without setting up a distribution system for patients who don't grow their own pot.

_In Ohio, a measure that would allow casinos in four major cities: Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo. Voters have defeated four previous gambling proposals over two decades, but casino supporters — who claim 34,000 jobs would be created_ say the woeful economy might produce a different outcome this time.

___

David Crary reported from New York.

Kids will need two doses of H1N1 flu vaccine

Mon, 11/02/2009 - 20:59 — admin

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
Up to 30 million doses of vaccine against the pandemic H1N1 flu have been delivered to the U.S. government and production is now picking up, officials said on Monday.

But they said more studies confirm that children under the age of 9 will need two doses to be fully protected.

And studies in pregnant women, one of the groups most vulnerable to swine flu, show no indication of side effects from the vaccine.

The U.S. government is working to make vaccines and drugs available to fight the pandemic while countering fears about safety and criticisms that officials were too optimistic in predicting how quickly the vaccine would be ready.

Original predictions suggested that at least 80 million doses should have been delivered to state health departments, clinics and retailers by now and a few politicians have complained.

Lines have formed as people seek the vaccine for themselves and their children to protect against the virus, which has killed at least 1,000 Americans and infected an estimated 5 million.

"Over time, we expect that supply will start to increase and eventually catch up with the tremendous demand that we are seeing now," Dr Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told a news briefing.

"As of today, 30 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine are available for the states to order." That is a cumulative amount -- CDC had 26.6 million doses of vaccine available on Friday.

"We know that about half the vaccine that has been administered so far has been to children under 18," Schuchat said. Unlike seasonal flu, which is most dangerous to the elderly, H1N1 is hitting younger adults and children especially hard.

Clinical trials being run by the government confirm that children under age 9 need two doses of the swine flu vaccine -- optimally four weeks apart -- to be fully protected.

Last week the World Health Organization said governments might consider giving a single dose to as many children as possible, but Dr Anthony Fauci of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said the scientific data showed it is important to get children vaccinated twice.

WEAKER RESPONSE

"Children 6 months to 9 years had a less robust immune response," Fauci said. Initially, children were tested a week to 10 days after getting the first dose. Follow-up for three weeks confirms they need a second boost, Fauci said.

Fauci said results from pregnant women also showed the vaccine worked well -- not unexpected because seasonal vaccine also works well -- and caused no serious side effects.

He said 28 pregnant women have died in the United States from swine flu so far.

A special team of non-government experts has been assembled and was holding its first meeting on Monday to look at reports on the vaccine's safety, said Dr Bruce Gellin of the National Vaccine Program Office at the Health and Human Services Department.

Fauci disputed critics who say the vaccine is being distributed too slowly to be of use against the virus, which is active across the entire country.

"You cannot assume that this is going to disappear," he said. "I don't think you can make the assumption that anything is going to be too little, too late."

And Schuchat said the CDC was working to make an experimental antiviral drug available to hospitals that might need it for the most seriously ill patients.

Biocryst Pharmaceuticals Inc's peramivir has been cleared for experimental intravenous use in the sickest patients. Schuchat said the company donated 1,200 courses of the drug but that works out to just 600 treatments in reality.

(Editing by Eric Beech)

Oral arguments scheduled in Polanski's CA appeal

Mon, 11/02/2009 - 18:23 — admin

LOS ANGELES – A California appeals court will listen to oral arguments from Roman Polanski's attorneys about why it should require a lower court to decide whether to dismiss charges against the fugitive director, whether he is present or not.
Polanski in July appealed a Los Angeles Superior Court judge's decision not to dismiss the criminal case because the director didn't appear for a hearing. The California Second District Court of Appeal on Monday set oral arguments for Dec. 10.
Los Angeles authorities have considered the Oscar-winning director a fugitive since he fled the United States in February 1978 just before he was to be sentenced for unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.
The appeal was filed before Polanski's arrest in Switzerland on Sept. 25. He has resisted efforts to return him to Los Angeles. Extradition paperwork filed by U.S. authorities states the maximum sentence that Polanski, 76, faces is two years in prison.
Polanski's French attorney has filed a new bail offer with Swiss authorities in an attempt to free the Oscar-winning filmmaker.
Lawyer Herve Temime said the offer Monday includes "adequate guarantees" that Polanski will not flee justice if released. Polanski is awaiting a decision on extradition to the United States.
Switzerland's Justice Ministry rejected a bail offer Friday, considering Polanski a high flight risk. They noted it was not a cash offer.
Temime said Sunday the new offer would include a "very, very significant" cash amount, but he gave no further details Monday.
The California appellate court's decision to schedule oral arguments came 10 days after prosecutors and Polanski's attorneys filed supplemental briefs on why the appeal should either be heard or dismissed.
Prosecutors have consistently argued that Polanski needs to be present for the judge to consider whether to dismiss the case against him. They argued the appeal should be barred by Polanski's status as a fugitive, and that his arrest has rendered the case moot since there is now a chance that he will be returned to the United States.
Polanski's attorneys, however, argued his status as a fugitive shouldn't disqualify his appeal. The Superior Court judge should be required to decide whether to dismiss the case because of a judge's misconduct in handling Polanski's original criminal case, they stated in court filings.
They also contend that because of the previous misconduct, Polanski should not have to attend the hearing.
Polanski's victim, Samantha Geimer, has repeatedly asked for dismissal of the charges against Polanski. Her attorney filed a declaration in the appeals case last month, stating that the case's re-emergence has caused her undisclosed health issues and problems at her workplace.
She sued Polanski years after he fled, and the director agreed to pay a $500,000 settlement to her. It is unclear how much of the money she received.

Candidates for governor in Va. make final push

Mon, 11/02/2009 - 16:56 — admin

RICHMOND, Va. – Democrat R. Creigh Deeds turned to the man he hopes to succeed as Virginia governor to lash the Republican front-runner in a final rally before Tuesday's election.
Gov. Tim Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, questioned the character of Republican Bob McDonnell, who has a strong lead in the polls. Kaine is barred by Virginia's Constitution from seeking re- election.
Meanwhile, McDonnell paid little attention to Kaine's slight as he and two fellow Republicans on the statewide ticket jetted to seven separate Monday rallies. Polls the past week showed McDonnell ahead by 11 to 18 percentage points, and his ticketmates also leading by solid margins, fueling hopes of a GOP sweep one year after Democrats dominated the state in the presidential race.
This election and another race for governor in New Jersey are being watched as possible referendums on the policies of President Barack Obama — and omens for Democrats who control Congress in the 2010 midterm elections.
Kaine told a subdued crowd of about 200 at Virginia Commonwealth University that Republicans want to mask McDonnell's rigidly conservative record and portray himself as a moderate.
"They're trying to re-create their whole record and say that they've had this conversion experience on the road to Election Day," Kaine said.
"You can tell what someone will do by what he has done. You can tell somebody's character by whether he's willing to stand by you," Kaine said. "When you vote it's really important to vote on character."
Kaine said he was not referring solely to the master's thesis that McDonnell, at age 34, wrote in 1989 disparaging women, gays and unmarried "cohabitators."
He cited McDonnell's opposition to the state's restaurant smoking ban, due to take effect Dec. 1 and a vote he took as a legislator against a resolution urging equal pay for women.
A spokesman for the McDonnell campaign responded by criticizing Kaine's dual roles as governor and DNC chairman.
"Nice of the DNC chairman to fly into Virginia today," Tucker Martin said. "If he'd been here more over the past six months, he'd know that Virginians have rejected these kinds of harsh personal attacks in favor of Bob McDonnell's positive agenda for jobs, schools and roads."
In an evening rally, McDonnell recited the stump speech he has given for months and never mentioned Kaine's comments in addressing 300 jubilant Republicans who turned out in a hangar at Richmond International Airport.
But ticketmate Bill Bolling, seeking re-election as lieutenant governor, contrasted Wednesday's optimism with several years of mournful election-eve gatherings.
"Everywhere we go, the crowds are two times, three times bigger than we've ever seen before. I think there are a couple of reasons for that. No. 1 is we're tired of losing and we're ready to win again," Bolling said.
The last time a Republican won a contested, top-of-the-ticket statewide election in Virginia was 2000, when George Allen unseated Democratic Sen. Chuck Robb.



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