This Desktop Design for Gaming Addicts Would "Ruin" Humanity
Sometimes you settle in for some PC gaming or web surfing. And you just don't get up. You can feel your bum go numb and the chair meld into your skin. Surely, you know the feeling.
If so, maybe the above internet-produced desktop design would appeal to you. And if it appealed to enough people, it would probably end the world as we know it. Meh, who needs that anyway? We've got computers!
"Haijin" (??) literally means "a disabled person" in Japanese. However, it's now also being used to describe those who are addicted to online gaming, "netoge haijin" (?????). The term first appeared in 2009, when the Japanese media started reporting about those who played lots of online games. Some of the TV news pieces were questionable, like this 2010 report, which featured one gamer with a bottle to urinate in.
Regardless of how accurate the reporting in Japan has been, a thread popped up on 2ch, Japan's largest bulletin board, in which folks designed desktops which used human waste to power the computers, under the premise they would lead to the ruin of humanity.
Yes, the individual is sitting on a toilet. In the toilet, it says "electric generation" (?? or "hatsuden"). Under the computer, it says "electric power utilization" (?? or "denryoku"; ?? or "shiyou").
Features were added, such as this reclining chair back.
Someone pointed out it wasn't possible to *coughs* pleasure oneself, so a fleshlight like device was added. Hands free?
Then a fan that uses excess heat from the computer was added. That's sensible.
Finally, someone asked if there was a way to grow food, using electric power and excess heat from the computer. It was decided that bean sprouts were best, so that's why there are bean sprouts below the computer.
Ladies and Gents, the end of humanity.
?????????????? [Game News 2ch]
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.
Real-time Intelligence Reports Max Security Solutions provides intelligence reports for the MENA & Africa Regions
Max Security is now providing a free trial for its real-time Intelligence Reports (http://www.max-security.com/intelligence1). The global security consulting firm is offering qualified individuals from corporations and governments a special opportunity to obtain, for a limited time, detailed reports about threats in the Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, free of charge. Countries in these regions are volatile, but can hold strong ROI potential for businesses venturing there. Max?s intelligence can help corporations minimize their operating risks there.
Tel Aviv, Israel- (PRWEB) November 27, 2012
Max Security?s Intelligence reports publicize the warning signs, on a country by country basis. According to Max Security Intelligence Director Dor Raveh, ?A Max Security intelligence report highlighted local unrest and security challenges for foreign embassies in Libya weeks before the terrorist attack was carried out on the US Embassy Staff.?
Max?s Intelligence Reports provide a daily and weekly synopsis on security developments for all countries within coverage areas and more in-depth reports for major developments. Countries covered include Egypt, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa and more. Subscribers can expect frequent updates on terror attacks, protests, power outages, natural disasters, civil strikes, traffic congestion, elections and more.
Yet, Max also offers a more extraordinary service: A customizable set of briefings known as ?Tactical Intelligence Monitoring? (http://www.max-security.com/intelligence1/tactical-intelligence-services). According to Max Security Intelligence Manager Daniel Nisman, ?Tactical Intelligence Monitoring" can include any of the following services: itinerary-based monitoring, coverage for special events and asset monitoring. These reports provide detailed up-to-date news, maps and areas of turbulence. Tactical intelligence updates are an important part of facilitating secure travel and business continuity. Max offers tactical intelligence for high profile visits to large areas of the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and Europe. Max?s services are also very beneficial for companies that have an ongoing presence in unsafe environments and who require both intelligence and security consulting.?
Max Security?s intelligence department has been providing safety, security, and cultural information to multi-national corporations operating in the Middle East for years. ?It?s our job to sniff out the protest, political turmoil, or terror attack before it happens,? exclaimed Ron Gilran, an Intel Manager on the Max team. ?In order to do that, we triangulate between a variety of sources, including social media such as blogs and twitter, local media and ground contacts, to identify any indicator to instability.?
Overall, militancy, terrorism, crime, political protests, natural disasters and infrastructure failures occur more frequently in the MENA and Africa regions. Weak internal security and corruption typically make them far more disruptive to business continuity. Basic travel and bureaucratic obstacles are also more prevalent. However, Max can provide intelligence on simple and complex obstacles alike.
After building a strong reputation and wealth of experience in the corporate sector, Max Security has now increased its coverage areas to include more countries. The company can provide greater flexibility of services and is prepared to provide solutions to the many logistical, cultural, linguistic, and security challenges that corporations and governments face when operating in the Middle East and Africa?s most volatile environments.
According to Nisman, ?In today?s world, all it takes is a caricature in a far-off newspaper for chaos to break loose. Suddenly your business can become a primary target for anger and unrest. Time enables you to make sound decisions. Real-time intelligence reports are your key to determining the situational security measures needed to protect your assets.?
Max?s Intelligence reports are unique due to their ability to pinpoint locations of trouble and even predict them ahead of time. Max is encouraging qualified individuals to sign up for MENA Intelligence Reports and Africa Intelligence Reports to improve their risk management.
About Max Security: Max Security is a global security company with offices in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The company specializes in Intelligence, Executive Protection Services, Security Consulting and Close Protection Training
For More information please contact:
Dor Raveh
Director of Risk Management
Phone: + 972-3-6196297
Fax:????+ 972-3-6195852
Mobile:+ 972-54-2202621
dor.raveh(at)max-security(dot)com
http://www.max-security.com
Max Security Max Security Solutions +97236196297 Email Information
VERSAILLES, France -- A French appeals court on Thursday absolved Continental Airlines of blame for a 2000 Concorde crash that killed 113 people and cleared a mechanic at the U.S. airline of the charge of involuntary manslaughter.
The verdict comes over a decade after the accident helped to spell the end of the supersonic airliner. A previous court ruled that a small metal strip that fell onto the runway from a Continental aircraft just before the Concorde took off from Paris, caused the crash.
Continental was originally fined 200,000 euros and ordered to pay the Concorde's operator, Air France, a million euros in damages. Continental appealed the verdict which it described as unfair and absurd.
Welder John Taylor was cleared of a 15-month suspended prison sentence for having gone against industry norms and used titanium to forge the piece that dropped off the plane.
Continental, now part of United Continental Holdings , had been ordered under the original ruling to pay 70 percent of any damages payable to families of victims. Airbus parent EADS would have to pay the other 30 percent.
The crash sped up the demise of the droop-nosed Concorde - the fastest commercial airliner in history and a symbol of Franco-British co-operation - as safety concerns coupled with an economic downturn after 9/11 drove away its wealthy customers.
The Air France Concorde, carrying mostly German tourists bound for a Caribbean cruise, was taking off from Paris on July 25, 2000 when an engine caught fire. Trailing a plume of flames, it crashed into a hotel near Charles de Gaulle airport. All 109 passengers and four people on the ground died.
After modifications, the plane returned to service but its operators, Air France and British Airways, retired it in 2003, citing high operating costs and a drop in demand.?
Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
While the motives of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose remain shrouded in mystery, the WWE Universe can at least be clear on what to call the NXT competitors: ?The Shield.? That?s the moniker the trio of troublemakers adopted in an interview with Michael Cole recently on Raw.
So what does describing themselves as ?The Shield? mean, exactly? Ambrose led viewers to believe it represents his cohorts? attempt to protect WWE from injustice. (WATCH) The new label will ultimately be defined, though, by the WWE Universe through the insurgents? actions in the weeks to come.
Certain everyday terms can take on a different definition when they?re uttered in close proximity to the squared circle. From the name of The Grandest Stage of Them All to an infamous taunt by ?Stone Cold? Steve Austin, take a look at how five key words took on a whole new meaning in WWE.
Home Care Services in Davidsonville, MD Can Relieve Caregiver ...
Nothing can be quite as stressful as being a caretaker for someone who needs frequent assistance from a family member to live independently. Often aging parents require some kind of assistance around the house, too go shopping, or make medical appointments. However, licensed home care services can take some of the burden off family members or friends who are feeling the pinch of too many demands and not enough time.
Symptoms of caregiver stress include:
? Frustration and anger;
? Guilt because you may have to spread yourself too thin and it doesn?t seem like you can do anything as well as you?d like;
? Lonely because you have less time for a social life; and
? Exhaustion because you are too busy and don?t have enough time for your own needs.
If you find yourself overwhelmed by the responsibility of providing more support than you have time for, it may be time to research what options exist for home health care and personal assistance.
Almost all communities have some kind help for the elderly or disabled, whether they?re community-sponsored or come from private health agencies. Medicare and Medicaid provide some limited benefits, while private insurers may have a wider scope. Meals and Wheels has meal delivery programs in many locations across the U.S., and other public agencies direct caregivers to local supporting agencies that provide specialized caretaking services for a specific clientele.
A licensed home care provider typically does full background checks before bringing on new employees, and these companies are often bonded and insured. They can take people shopping, to doctor visits, help with cleaning and cooking, or simply provide companionship for someone confined at home. You can turn some or all of the chores that you?ve been doing over to a care giver, or just those that you?re uncomfortable providing or don?t have the time to do.
Taking some of the burden off you may be enough to remove the caregiver stress you feel, whether it?s in the short term or for the foreseeable future. In any case, reaching out for support from home care agencies is the first step to living a more balanced, enjoyable life when you have many responsibilities for another.
Home care counselors at?Right at Home?are available to talk with you about your?home care?services including how to reduce?caregiver?stress while providing better, affordable care. We are an elder care agency providing home care?services?in Davidsonville, MD. For more information about home care?services?call us at?(888) 281-5937.
Microsoft confirms Surface with Windows 8 Pro pricing: starting at $899 for 64GB version, shipping in January
Details on the Pro variety of Microsoft's Surface tablet have been hard to come by since the company first announced it back in June, but it's filled in some big ones today. It's confirmed in a blog post that the device will start at $899 for the 64GB model, with the 128GB version setting you back $999. Both of those are what's Microsoft's dubbing the "standalone" model, which means you'll get a Surface pen/stylus, but have to shell out extra for a Touch or Type Cover (each over $100). Both will be available in January, although there's no specific date or word on pre-orders yet.
As you can see, the device looks similar to the Surface RT, including the same "VaporMg" casing and built-in kickstand, and it also boasts a 10.6-inch display with a 16:9 aspect ratio. A key difference with that latter bit, though, is that the screen packs a full 1920 x 1080 resolution as opposed to the 1366 x 768 found on the RT model. You'll also get a third-gen Core i5 processor with 3rd Gen Intel Core i5 Processor with Intel HD Graphics 4000 (no more specifics on that just yet), 4GB of RAM, a Mini DisplayPort that can output a 2560 x 1440 resolution, a full-size USB 3.0 port and, of course, Windows 8 Pro with support for all your traditional desktop applications. All that expectedly makes the tablet itself a bit heftier than its RT-based counterpart -- it's just over half-an-inch thick and weighs in at two pounds on the nose.
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have started withdrawing from towns captured since last week from government troops, following a deal brokered by Uganda, their military leader said on Wednesday.
Such a pull-out would mean the M23 rebel group was giving up gains from a lightning offensive carried out in the past week, but there was no indication they were ending their eight-month-old insurgency.
The rebellion, which U.N. experts say is backed by neighboring Rwanda, has raised the risk of all-out war in a borderlands region dogged by nearly two decades of conflict that has killed about 5 million people and is fuelled by competition over mineral resources.
"We're leaving Sake, we're leaving Masisi," Sultani Makenga told Reuters in rebel-held Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu. "Goma will be later," he said, adding fighters would eventually pull back 20 km from the city.
"We want peace," Makenga said. "We're prepared for the return of government troops, they're going to come ... But if Kabila's troops harass the people we're prepared to come back in, we're just around the corner," he said.
Ugandan military chief Aronda Nyakayirima said on Tuesday after a meeting with Makenga that M23 had agreed to withdraw from Goma unconditionally. But M23's political leader Jean Marie Runiga initially cast doubt on the deal, saying the pull-out was contingent on a list of demands - including direct talks with President Joseph Kabila.
The mixed messages from Makenga and Runiga could be a sign of divisions within the movement, according to analyst Jason Stearns at independent think-tank the Rift Valley Institute.
"This is a military movement with a political wing created post facto ... it's undermined internal cohesion," he said.
Makenga told Reuters his decision to withdraw forces from Goma was made before the meeting with Uganda's army chief in Kampala, but Stearns believes M23 may be coming under external pressure given the storm of protest from regional powers caused by the rebel capture of Goma.
"The future of M23 depends on the diplomatic dance between donors, countries in the region and Kigali," Stearns said.
The rebels seized Goma on November20 after Congolese soldiers withdrew and U.N. peacekeepers gave up defending the city. U.N. experts say Rwanda, Congo's small but militarily powerful eastern neighbor, is giving orders to the rebels and supplying arms and recruits, a charge denied by Rwanda.
The Congolese army was skeptical about any M23 withdrawal.
"Let's see how things evolve, we'll see whether they're doing this in good faith or not ... Nothing has changed, we're still in our positions," Colonel Olivier Hamuli, spokesman for the FARDC army said.
About 100 people gathered in rain in Goma on Wednesday to protest against the possible return of government troops, marching to the U.N. offices to deliver a memo.
"When the government troops were here before we had no peace, now as we welcomed M23, we think they'll cause even more problems than before," protester Alain Safari said.
Makenga said rebel forces would withdraw to about 20 km of Goma, leaving a company of 100 soldiers at the airport, and allowing government troops to return to the city.
According to the agreement in Uganda, government troops would return to Goma on Thursday, followed by a visit on Friday by regional defense chiefs.
The conflict in eastern Congo - which has big reserves of gold, tin and coltan, an ore of rare metals used in making mobile phones - has displaced 140,000 civilians according to the United Nations.
(Reporting by Jonny Hogg; Writing by Bate Felix; Editing by Pravin Char)
Strategies That Will Help You Become A Better Person | Lori ...
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Learning about self improvement
is the number one way to guarantee you?re improving yourself in the best way possible. Read on for some great tips on developing yourself to become a better person.
Don?t waste too much money on comfort items. As part of your personal development, clean up your financial matters. Eliminate unnecessary expenses.
If you are trying to improve yourself, a setback from a failure can seem incredibly demeaning. The truth about failure is that it is a learning experience in disguise. Failure helps you learn about weaknesses and strengths. If you look at it that way, when you fail, you should be happy, because you now know more about you.
As you ascertain your needs and how you will approach them, there is one thing that must be done. It is important to play an active role in your own life story, instead of just watching it pass by. If you act only as a spectator, no one will really pay attention to you, so be active!
Focus on improving yourself first; you deserve to be happy! This does not mean privileging your happiness to a fault, but it does mean that you must take responsibility for your own happiness. You should never sacrifice your beliefs in the search for happiness.
Weight loss should not be the only reason to exercise. There are so many different physical and emotional reasons to exercise. Exercising causes the release of endorphins that make you feel happier and less irritable. Self improvement requires many tough choices. Even if you don?t have all of the information you would like to have, don?t fear decision making. When you make good decisions, it builds up your self esteem and your instincts. You will make the wrong decision sometimes. Use those mistakes as a chance to learn something new. A wrong choice only ensures that your next choice will be better. Cut out selfishness to become a better person. Having the capability to help others, and personally sacrifice, are major landmarks to building your inner character. When you make some sacrifices that help others and not hurt yourself, you can grow as a person.
Whereas trying to fix your problems yourself is always a great idea, sometimes you might have to seek out professional help. Books can be very helpful to help you understand your problems, but they tend to lack the insight and knowledge which a therapist can give you. Even the simple act of having someone impartial that you can talk to can improve your chances for success. A self-help book simply cannot provide the human interaction afforded by a therapist or counselor.
There will usually be a difference in where you are in life, and where you want to be. This is the best way to be able to set a course of direction to get there. If you are unable to recognize this need, you will not be effective in developing yourself to your highest potential.
Give your energy to the things that are most important in your life. When it comes to focusing your feelings and emotions, strive to apply them to the important aspects of your life that build happiness, and do not waste them on the negative aspects that weigh you down and prevent inner peace.
As you learned earlier, developing yourself as a person requires you to learn new things. Knowing something isn?t enough, though. You have to put that knowledge into action. The avenues open to you for self-improvement are many. You can start to feel better about yourself when you put this information into action.
Want more strategies that will help you become a better person and grow your income at the same time? Click Here TODAY! **********************************************************************
#1 Go Purchase your ticket(s) to the Austin Texas Event right now.
#2 Listen to last Monday Empower Hour. (This is very important if you want to change your financial situation)
#3 Do your daily blog post
#4 Market on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Youtube, craiglist, do solo ads, classified ads (you get the picture, pick 3 and stick with it!)
#5 Set your intention that you will get two sales a day
#6 Go to the gratitude log on our ning group site and post one thing you are grateful for
http://empowernetworkdreamteam.ning.com/
#7 Go to a quiet place and do a 15 minute meditation.
NOTE: Some of these are part of the 8 core committements that are in your back office that you should be implementing everyday anyway!
URGENT: The next event is already live in your back office
?Release Your Inner BadAss?
Mark your calendar for January 18-20, 2013 in Austin, Texas at the Hilton Downtown!
Tickets are on sale for a limited time for a discounted price of ONLY $127
more than 1,600 tickets have already been sold, so you better get yours TODAY at that
ridiculous price!
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Empower Network helped pay for my trip to the Dominican Republic and that is why I am cool chillin! Want to chill on the beaches of the world? Click HERE and join!
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Tagged as: become a better person, developing yourself, improving yourself, self improvement
Creating A Family Recipe Scrapbook | Fulton Tea Party Home - Ike ...
I can not tell you how many times I?ve called my mom and said ?mom I just have to have your recipe for such and such?. It?s been a slow accumulation of recipes, but she chuckles each time I realize I need yet another recipe from her.
Now that I have an adult daughter of my own I really wanted to pass the recipes on to her also. Many of these recipes she?s been eating since she was old enough for solids. My daughter also has a recipe book from her aunt on her dad?s side.
Recipe scrapbooks can be given to aunts, uncles, cousins, children etc. A 6?6 scrapbook works wonderfully. They are large enough to hold a 3?5 index card. You can also use an 8?8 scrapbook and have the recipes on paper, instead of index cards.
I think it?s a great mix to combine photos and recipes. For example, a group family photo at the beginning of the album is a great way to start off the album. If you?ve asked for recipes from multiple family members, put a photo of the recipe submitter on one page and the recipe on the opposite page.
It?s also a great help to have a shopping list. Consider the actual recipe on one page and a shopping list on the opposite page. I very often take a recipe to the market with me and shop off the recipe page. By creating the list, the recipe book holder just needs to remove the shopping list page and take it to the market.
Another idea is to create a bit of history with your recipes. If you?ve had several family members contribute recipes, consider having the recipe on page, photos on one page and a bit of information on the author on a 3rd page. Most scrapbooks are very expandable, so there is room for many pages in one album.
All of my cookbooks have measurement charts and converters in them, so when making a recipe album, it?s great to add this information to either the back or the front.
Recipe albums are a great gift for both the new bride, especially if the gift comes from her husband?s family with recipes for all of the dishes he grew up with and for the college graduate setting up their first home.
Some Disadvantages Of Computer Technology | Personal Tech and
Every little thing nowadays is run by technology. Safety program runs the Safety for our residence, internet hosting monitors our internet web site, and programmable computer software does our activity such as recording, calculating, and information transferring. You just have to system it to do a certain job, and it will do what you wish it to do. No concerns ask. That is how fantastic technology can do to folks these days.
On the other hand, let us not often appear at the excellent side since Every thing has a negative side as effectively. Pc technology also, has it. It is not all the time that it operates the way we require it to be. There will come a time that it will quit operating. Why? It is simply because of several factors. For instance, our Pc gets infected by a Pc virus and you do not know it simply because the Computer system virus is also powerful that the antivirus that we have cannot detect it. This virus can go by way of our files and software program, destroy it, and quit it from operating. When this occurs, carrying out your everyday job will quit also. When it is left behind, it can lead to worse issues such as destruction and deletion of our files, and even method failure. If this occurs, you may well even want to replace your Personal computer with a new a single.
With all of this, you nonetheless can?t rely on your whole job with the use of technology. Make it a point that you too do it your self even some occasions.
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Philadelphia, PA, November 27, 2012 Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a form of learning that begins at the moment of the exposure to extremely stressful situations and that grows in impact as trauma-related memories are rehearsed and strengthened repeatedly. This somewhat oversimplified view of PTSD yields a powerful prediction: if one could disrupt the rehearsal and strengthening of traumatic memories, a process called reconsolidation of memories, then one might reduce PTSD risk or PTSD severity after potentially traumatic events.
To be certain, it is tricky to attempt to alter traumatic memory reconsolidation. In fact, some early strategies for "trauma debriefing" turned out to strengthen rather than diminish posttraumatic learning.
Despite these challenges, a new study by Dr. Barbara Rothbaum and colleagues reports that a behavioral intervention delivered to patients immediately post-trauma is effective at reducing posttraumatic stress reactions.
"PTSD is a major public health concern," said Rothbaum, professor in Emory's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. "In so many people, what happens immediately after a traumatic event can make things worse or better. Right now, there are no accepted interventions delivered in the immediate aftermath of trauma."
To conduct the study, the researchers approached patients who presented to the local emergency room due to a traumatic event, including rape, car accident, or physical assault. Half of those who agreed to participate received the behavioral intervention, which was started immediately, while the other half did not. All patients were repeatedly assessed for symptoms of depression and stress over a twelve-week period.
The intervention is a modified form of exposure therapy in which a survivor confronts anxiety about a traumatic event by recounting it. Administered over the course of 3 1-hour sessions, the goal is to alter the person's thoughts and feelings about the traumatic event. Trained therapists asked the participants to describe the trauma they just experienced and recorded the description. The patients were instructed to listen to their recordings every day. The therapists also helped the patients look at obtrusive thoughts of guilt or responsibility, and taught them a brief breathing relaxation technique and self care.
They found that the intervention was safe, feasible, and successful at reducing posttraumatic stress reactions, compared to those who were assigned to the assessment-only condition, at 4 and 12 weeks post-injury.
"This study provides an elegant and clinically important test of the trauma reconsolidation hypothesis," commented Dr. John Krystal, editor of Biological Psychiatry.
The implications of this study are immense, Rothbaum explained. "If we know what to do, then we can train emergency workers to intervene with patients on a large scale. In addition to being implemented in the emergency room, it can help on the battlefield, in natural disasters, or after criminal assaults."
She concluded, "More research is needed, but this prevention model could have significant public health implications. A long-standing hope of mental health research is to prevent the development of psychopathology in those at risk instead of being limited to symptom treatment after disease onset."
###
The article is "Early Intervention May Prevent the Development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Randomized Pilot Civilian Study with Modified Prolonged Exposure" by Barbara Olasov Rothbaum, Megan C. Kearns, Matthew Price, Emily Malcoun, Michael Davis, Kerry J. Ressler, Delia Lang, and Debra Houry (doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.06.002). The article appears in Biological Psychiatry, Volume 72, Issue 11 (December 1, 2012), published by Elsevier.
Notes for editors
Full text of the article is available to credentialed journalists upon request; contact Rhiannon Bugno at +1 214 648 0880 or Biol.Psych@utsouthwestern.edu. Journalists wishing to interview the authors may contact Kathi Baker at +404 727 9371 or kobaker@emory.edu.
The authors' affiliations, and disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available in the article.
John H. Krystal, M.D., is Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine and a research psychiatrist at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. His disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available here.
About Biological Psychiatry
Biological Psychiatry is the official journal of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, whose purpose is to promote excellence in scientific research and education in fields that investigate the nature, causes, mechanisms and treatments of disorders of thought, emotion, or behavior. In accord with this mission, this peer-reviewed, rapid-publication, international journal publishes both basic and clinical contributions from all disciplines and research areas relevant to the pathophysiology and treatment of major psychiatric disorders.
The journal publishes novel results of original research which represent an important new lead or significant impact on the field, particularly those addressing genetic and environmental risk factors, neural circuitry and neurochemistry, and important new therapeutic approaches. Reviews and commentaries that focus on topics of current research and interest are also encouraged.
Biological Psychiatry is one of the most selective and highly cited journals in the field of psychiatric neuroscience. It is ranked 5th out of 129 Psychiatry titles and 16th out of 243 Neurosciences titles in the Journal Citations Reports published by Thomson Reuters. The 2011 Impact Factor score for
Biological Psychiatry is 8.283.
ABOUT ELSEVIER
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close
to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include SciVerse ScienceDirect, SciVerse Scopus, Reaxys, MD Consult and Nursing Consult, which enhance the productivity of
science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).
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.
Philadelphia, PA, November 27, 2012 Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a form of learning that begins at the moment of the exposure to extremely stressful situations and that grows in impact as trauma-related memories are rehearsed and strengthened repeatedly. This somewhat oversimplified view of PTSD yields a powerful prediction: if one could disrupt the rehearsal and strengthening of traumatic memories, a process called reconsolidation of memories, then one might reduce PTSD risk or PTSD severity after potentially traumatic events.
To be certain, it is tricky to attempt to alter traumatic memory reconsolidation. In fact, some early strategies for "trauma debriefing" turned out to strengthen rather than diminish posttraumatic learning.
Despite these challenges, a new study by Dr. Barbara Rothbaum and colleagues reports that a behavioral intervention delivered to patients immediately post-trauma is effective at reducing posttraumatic stress reactions.
"PTSD is a major public health concern," said Rothbaum, professor in Emory's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. "In so many people, what happens immediately after a traumatic event can make things worse or better. Right now, there are no accepted interventions delivered in the immediate aftermath of trauma."
To conduct the study, the researchers approached patients who presented to the local emergency room due to a traumatic event, including rape, car accident, or physical assault. Half of those who agreed to participate received the behavioral intervention, which was started immediately, while the other half did not. All patients were repeatedly assessed for symptoms of depression and stress over a twelve-week period.
The intervention is a modified form of exposure therapy in which a survivor confronts anxiety about a traumatic event by recounting it. Administered over the course of 3 1-hour sessions, the goal is to alter the person's thoughts and feelings about the traumatic event. Trained therapists asked the participants to describe the trauma they just experienced and recorded the description. The patients were instructed to listen to their recordings every day. The therapists also helped the patients look at obtrusive thoughts of guilt or responsibility, and taught them a brief breathing relaxation technique and self care.
They found that the intervention was safe, feasible, and successful at reducing posttraumatic stress reactions, compared to those who were assigned to the assessment-only condition, at 4 and 12 weeks post-injury.
"This study provides an elegant and clinically important test of the trauma reconsolidation hypothesis," commented Dr. John Krystal, editor of Biological Psychiatry.
The implications of this study are immense, Rothbaum explained. "If we know what to do, then we can train emergency workers to intervene with patients on a large scale. In addition to being implemented in the emergency room, it can help on the battlefield, in natural disasters, or after criminal assaults."
She concluded, "More research is needed, but this prevention model could have significant public health implications. A long-standing hope of mental health research is to prevent the development of psychopathology in those at risk instead of being limited to symptom treatment after disease onset."
###
The article is "Early Intervention May Prevent the Development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Randomized Pilot Civilian Study with Modified Prolonged Exposure" by Barbara Olasov Rothbaum, Megan C. Kearns, Matthew Price, Emily Malcoun, Michael Davis, Kerry J. Ressler, Delia Lang, and Debra Houry (doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.06.002). The article appears in Biological Psychiatry, Volume 72, Issue 11 (December 1, 2012), published by Elsevier.
Notes for editors
Full text of the article is available to credentialed journalists upon request; contact Rhiannon Bugno at +1 214 648 0880 or Biol.Psych@utsouthwestern.edu. Journalists wishing to interview the authors may contact Kathi Baker at +404 727 9371 or kobaker@emory.edu.
The authors' affiliations, and disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available in the article.
John H. Krystal, M.D., is Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine and a research psychiatrist at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. His disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available here.
About Biological Psychiatry
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Biological Psychiatry is 8.283.
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Voters Approve Transportation Spending, AASHTO's New President and More
While infrastructure netted hardly a mention in this year's presidential campaign, dozens of state, city and county governments held elections related to highway, transit and water infrastructure. By and large, voters supported these efforts.
The narrative, infrastructure advocates say, is a familiar one, and the results aren?t unusual. Historically, state and local voters have more often than not supported funding local transportation projects.
The trend also illustrates a stark contrast to the state of affairs at the federal level. Congressional lawmakers have been wary of approving solutions that would generate new revenue for transportation projects. "I think the initiatives we saw that were successful [in states and localities] showed again that when people know what they're going to get, they're more likely to support it," said Kerry O'Hare, vice president and director of Building America's Future Educational Fund.
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Roughly 68 percent of measures that would extend funding for highways, bridges and transit were approved, according to The American Road & Transportation Builders Association. The projects tracked are valued at $2.4 billion. The American Public Transportation Association found a similar rate of success with the batch of transit ballot initiatives it tracked on Election Night.
Successful campaigns tend to have clear project lists, broad coalitions that grassroots activists along with the business community support, and an easily identifiable benefit to voters, said Jason Jordan of the Center for Transportation Excellence, which tracks transit votes.
"When you make a specific request of people -- 'do you want this kind of project, this set of transportation options in your community and are you willing to pay for it?' -- the data is pretty unambiguous," Jordan said. "Most of the time the answer to the question is yes."
Some of the most significant, successful campaigns are highlighted below:
By a 57 percent margin, Alaska voters approved a $453.5 million bond measure that will pay for a slew of major projects, including $50 million for the port in Anchorage and $30 million for a rail extension. The future of these two projects, however, is unclear amidst legal disputes. The bond will also help pay for several congestion-relieving highway projects. "We're a young state," said Acting Transportation Commissioner Pat Kemp. "We're trying to get our unique problems taken care of."
In Honolulu, the number one issue in the mayoral election was the fate of the city's elevated rail line, which has been viewed as integral to reducing congestion in the island city. The $5.1 billion project, which has been praised by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, is projected to generate 116,000 trips each weekday. Kirk Caldwell, a supporter of the project, defeated former Gov. Ben Cayetano, who had pledged to stop it if elected and replace it with a less expensive plan that included bus rapid transit and other elements.
Michigan voters proved that money doesn't always win elections, defeating a proposed amendment backed by the state's wealthy Moroun family, which controls Detroit's privately-owned Ambassador Bridge. The family was threatened with increased competition -- and potentially a loss in revenue -- due to a new crossing backed by Gov. Rick Snyder. Canada is poised to front the costs of the toll road bridge project. About $28 million was raised to fight the project, nearly all of? which came from the Moroun's businesses. The ballot measure pushed for an amendment that would require a statewide vote on any new international bridge. Observers, including many of the state's major newspapers, said the campaign blatantly mischaracterized the international project. "People made clear in Tuesday?s election that they believe in Michigan?s future and support the governor?s vision of moving forward so we can grow our economy and create jobs," Snyder spokesman Ken Silfven said.
Other infrastructure wins: Arkansas voters approved a half-cent sales tax for highways, bridges and roads that would be used to fund a $1.3 billion highway improvement bond. Maine voters said yes to Question 4, a $51 million transportation bond primarily for road and bridge repairs, and Question 5, a $7.9 million bond for the state's water and wastewater revolving loan fund. Oklahoma voters approved up to $300 million in bonds that would give the state's Water Resources Board a reserve fund. Arlington County, Va., voters approved bonds of $14.6 million to help fund the D.C. regional transit agency, and $17.3 million for bike and pedestrian improvements along with road repaving. And Rhode Island voters approved bonds of $12 million for the state's wastewater infrastructure fund and $8 million for the drinking water fund. "The product we're promoting here is improvement ... caused by groundwater and wastewater pollution," said Anthony Simeone, executive director of the Rhode Island Clean Water Finance Agency. "So it's something that makes perfect sense to our voters when they look at it, and there's a job creation aspect of it."
Below are highlighted some of the most significant ballot losses:
Memphis voters opted against a one-cent per gallon gas tax that would have been used to provide a dedicated funding stream to the area's transit agency. Supporters had hoped for a win, since the cost per driver wasn't particularly high -- less than $7 per year for an average motorist getting 20 mpg. But supporters also noted that voters in the area faced other tax hikes on the ballot, which might have hurt their cause. Memphis City Councilman Edmund Ford Jr., an ardent supporter of the tax, says he views a strong transit system as an economic driver since it would help people get to work. "This is one tax that no one should have speculation over where the money will go," Ford said.
Voters in Los Angeles County overwhelmingly supported Measure J, which would have extended an existing half-cent sales tax for transportation projects for another 30 years beyond 2039, when the existing tax is set to expire. In the end, it wasn't enough. State law requires a two-thirds majority of votes to enact the tax, and the ballot only got 64.7 percent. Officials had hoped that by passing Measure J, the timetable for the expansion of subways, bus service and light rail would have been dramatically accelerated. The measure would have allowed the transportation authority to borrow more money now and pay it back with the future tax revenues
Arizona voters shot down Proposition 204, which would have renewed a one-cent sales tax set to expire next year. In its first year, the tax would have generated a projected $971 million, 10 percent of which would have gone towards transportation projects, according to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. Opponents characterized the tax hike as unnecessary.
Other infrastructure losses: Hawaii voters said no to a constitutional amendment that would have allowed the state to issue revenue bonds to help dam and reservoir owners pay for safety improvements. Virginia voters passed a constitutional amendment that seeks to limit the use of eminent domain. Some observers believe it could spell trouble for infrastructure, since governments would now be on the hook not just for the value of the property they take, but for lost profits that result from it.
Q&A with Rhode Island Department of Transportation Director (RIDOT) Michael P. Lewis
The debut of this newsletter happens to come at the same time the country's state DOT directors are convening in Pittsburgh for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) annual conference. I caught up with RIDOT Director Michael P. Lewis, AASHTO's new president.
What are your priorities for your new term?
We're coming up on the 100th anniversary of AASHTO in 2014. It's time to take stock of where we've been for the last 100 years. We're all collectively trying to figure out how we implement MAP-21. There are some obvious, groundbreaking new elements in the surface transportation bill, particularly as it relates to performance measurement and more discretion from states on how they spend federal money. But it's only a two-year bill. So while we're thinking about how to implement MAP-21, we're immediately thinking about MAP-22, and what the next bill should look like.
Our entire senior executive leadership is moving on. [Executive Director John Horsley, Director of Program Finance and Management Jack Basso, and Director of Engineering and Technical Services Tony Kane are all retiring in early 2013]. We're clearly in a transition year. I want to be very careful not to bring too many things in. I want to carry forward (outgoing AASHTO President and Michigan DOT Director) Kirk Steudle's emphasis on technology and ITS [Intelligent Transportation Systems].
What are your members going to be discussing in Pittsburgh this weekend?
A big effort is going to be the implementation of MAP-21 and ensuring we're all understanding what the goals are of the performance measures and the timing of it. As much as MAP-21 is great -- we have two years of commitment from the federal government -- it is level funded. Many of us look at that as a victory compared to the alternative. But we can't forget the fact that that's very much below what we need to be investing in transportation infrastructure in this country. So as much as we cheer the fact that we have MAP-21, we need to figure out how to best utilize our resources to cover as much as we need to cover with such a deficit in investment.
How soon are you going to start making your case and lobbying for the successor to MAP-21, which expires in two years?
We absolutely need to start talking about it. It takes that long to coordinate with the administration, the House and the Senate. It looks like we're going to have a new secretary of transportation, and there's going to be a new set of priorities. The House and Senate makeup will be different. All of that we're going to have to learn. We at AASHTO will have to step back and say, "Now that we have MAP-21 in place, what do we want to build on for the future?" I don't think it's ever too early to begin that discussion.
What do you like about MAP-21? What are your biggest concerns with implementation?
I'm a glass half-full kind of guy and look at this as a positive. I think some of the concerns that have been expressed about additional reporting are legitimate. But we also need to continue to learn to work smarter. When times are tough, it often produces more innovation. If it's not hard and things are coming easily, there's less incentive to innovate. I don't think we're every going to be in a position that we're flush with so much cash that we become lazy. I think that's a good thing.
Must Reads
Transportation Nation: A self-reported survey by the leaders of Denver's bikeshare program reveals that its members are nearly 90 percent white, and less than 1 percent are black.
Washington Examiner: The regional authority overseeing a $6 billion rail extension to Dulles airport -- one of the largest transportation projects in the country -- is rife with nepotism and mismanagement, according to a new report.
Bloomberg Businessweek: Meet Chris Couri, the man behind the cheekily named company, "We Do Lines," which specializes in the unusual field of parking lot painting.
Eno Center for Transportation: AASHTO finance guru Joung Lee explains five myths about TIFIA, the federal credit program that received a huge boost in funding under the new highway bill.
FastCoExist.com: See a slideshow of how workers removed hundreds of millions of gallons of salt water from the New York subway system in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
The Hill: President Obama's victory means Amtrak is unlikely to be privatized and transportation funding probably won?t be gutted.
Popular Mechanics: TSA could be more effective -- and less frustrating -- if it switched to a system that relied more on background checks and intelligence gathering.
YaleNews | Rescheduled Hacker talk explores American politics vs ...
?In the Company of Scholars,? the lecture series hosted by the dean of the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, is getting a second start this year, with the presentation of the talk by political scientist Jacob Hacker that was canceled due to storm Sandy.
Hacker's talk ? ?Is American Politics Undermining the American Dream?? ? will take place on Monday, Dec. 3, at 4 p.m. Like the other ?In the Company of Scholars?? lectures this year, the talk will take place in Rm. 119 of the Hall of Graduate Studies, 320 York St. It will also be live-streamed on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/YaleUniversity?v=n-24Su0Rnac?, and live-tweeted: follow @yalegsas.
Hacker?s talk will examine how rising economic inequality is linked to changes in American politics and policy, with a special emphasis on the recent election. ?The middle class ? drowning in debt, battered by economic insecurity, losing ground to an increasingly affluent group at the top ? has been badly neglected by American politics,? Hacker says. ?This is not a natural market development. Government has made the rich richer and turned its back on the middle class.?
The lecture series is designed to bring students and professors together across the disciplines to hear talks by distinguished faculty members. It takes its name from the opening words of ?Yale: A Short History? by historian George W. Pierson: ?Yale is at once a tradition, a company of scholars, a society of friends.?
Other speakers in the series include historian Beverley Gage, Jan.22; religious studies scholar Kathryn?Lofton, Feb. 19; and physicist Paul Tipton, April 2.
Record-setting X-ray jet: X-rays from supermassive black hole 12.4 billion light years from Earth
ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2012) ? A jet of X-rays from a supermassive black hole 12.4 billion light years from Earth has been detected by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This is the most distant X-ray jet ever observed and gives astronomers a glimpse into the explosive activity associated with the growth of supermassive black holes in the early universe.
The jet was produced by a quasar named GB 1428+4217, or GB 1428 for short. Giant black holes at the centers of galaxies can pull in matter at a rapid rate producing the quasar phenomenon. The energy released as particles fall toward the black hole generates intense radiation and powerful beams of high-energy particles that blast away from the black hole at nearly the speed of light. These particle beams can interact with magnetic fields or ambient photons to produce jets of radiation.
"We're excited about this result not just because it's a record holder, but because very few X-ray jets are known in the early universe," said Teddy Cheung of the National Academy of Sciences, resident at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC, and lead author of the paper describing these results.
As the electrons in the jet fly away from the quasar, they move through a sea of background photons left behind after the Big Bang. When a fast-moving electron collides with one of these so-called cosmic microwave background photons, it can boost the photon's energy into the X-ray band.
"Since the brightness of the jet in X-rays depends, among other things, on how fast the electrons are moving away from the black hole, discoveries like the jet in GB 1428 tell us something about the environment around supermassive black holes and their host galaxies not that long after the Big Bang," said co-author Lukasz Stawarz from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in Kanagawa, Japan.
Because the quasar is seen when the universe is at an age of about 1.3 billion years, less than 10% of its current value, the cosmic background radiation is a thousand times more intense than it is now. This makes the jet much brighter, and compensates in part for the dimming due to distance.
"We're lucky that the universe gives us this natural amplifier and lets us detect this object with relatively short exposures," said co-author Aneta Siemiginowska, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA, "Otherwise we might miss important physical processes happening at very large distances from Earth and as far away as GB 1428."
While there is another possible source of X-rays for the jet -- radiation from electrons spiraling around magnetic field lines in the jet -- the authors favor the idea that the cosmic background radiation is being boosted because the jet is so bright.
Prior to the discovery of the jet in GB 1428, the most distant X-ray jet known was 12.2 billion light years away, and another is located at about 12 billion light years, both discovered by authors of the GB 1428 paper. A very similar shaped jet in GB 1428 was also detected in radio waves with the NSF's Very Large Array (VLA).
The particle beams that produce these three extremely distant X-ray jets appear to be moving slightly more slowly than jets from galaxies that are not as far away. This may be because the jets were less energetic when launched from the black hole or because they are slowed down more by their environment.
The researchers think the length of the jet in GB 1428 is at least 230,000 light years, or about twice the diameter of the entire Milky Way galaxy. This jet is only seen on one side of the quasar in the Chandra and VLA data. When combined with previously obtained evidence, this suggests the jet is pointed almost directly toward us. This configuration would boost the X-ray and radio signals for the observed jet and diminish those for a jet presumably pointed in the opposite direction.
Observations were also taken of GB 1428 with a set of radio telescopes at different locations around Earth that allows details to be resolved on exceptionally small scales. They revealed the presence of a much smaller jet, about 1,900 light years long, which points in a similar direction to the X-ray jet.
This result appeared in the September 1st, 2012 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Other co-authors of the paper are Doug Gobeille from University of South Florida in Tampa, FL; John Wardle from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA; and Dan Harris and Dan Schwartz from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
M. A. Guerrero, N. Ruiz, W.-R. Hamann, Y.-H. Chu, H. Todt, D. Schoenberner, L. Oskinova, R. A. Gruendl, M. Steffen, W. P. Blair, J. A. Toal. Rebirth of X-ray Emission from the Born-Again Planetary Nebula A 30. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, September 1st, 2012 [link]
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
The body of Yasser Arafat was exhumed briefly on Tuesday so medical examiners could attempt to determine whether he was poisoned. Arafat?s widow, Suha, requested a murder investigation, and high levels of polonium-210 have been found on the Palestinian leader?s personal effects. Explainer readers have asked a series of polonium questions, which are answered below.
Why do political assassins like polonium-210? Because a small amount is very deadly. Polonium-210 is extremely toxic, and it?s relatively easy to smuggle across borders because it emits only short-range radiation. But it?s not a good choice for an assassin who wants to get away with his crime. Unlike many other potential poisons, polonium-210 is easily identifiable and can leave a radioactive trail to the culprit. It makes sense as an agent of murder only if you?re trying to make a statement. The chemical is, in a sense, a calling card, because only a handful of major countries, including Israel, the United States, and Russia, are known to maintain large stockpiles of polonium-210, and private entities can buy only small amounts under a government license.
The popularity of polonium-210 as an agent of murder may be overstated because of a single, dramatic case. In 2006, Alexander Litvinenko died slowly from polonium-210 poisoning in London. Before dying, the former KGB agent accused Vladimir Putin of ordering the attack. Litvinenko remains the only high-profile known case of deliberate polonium poisoning.
Where does polonium-210 come from? Bismuth. When showered with neutrons, the element bismuth absorbs one of them to become radioactive bismuth-210. Over the course of five days, the bismuth atom undergoes beta decay: The neutron turns into a proton, an electron, and an antineutrino, with the latter two particles eventually leaving the nucleus. The result is polonium-210. The world?s supply of polonium-210 is produced in a nuclear reactor in the central Russian city of Chelyabinsk.
Polonium-210 is also naturally present in the environment in small amounts, because it is a decay product of uranium.
How does polonium-210 kill? Through irradiation. Polonium-210 is a prolific emitter of high-energy alpha particles, and is 5,000 times more radioactive than radium. Alpha radiation loses much of its energy on first impact, so being exposed to external sources isn?t normally fatal. If, however, the substance enters the body, it damages bone marrow, causing nosebleeds, bruising, and hair loss. High doses travel through the body, irradiating tissue and sometimes killing the victim. Pictures of Alexander Litvinenko, who was allegedly fed dissolved polonium-210 in his green tea, dramatically demonstrate the external symptoms of polonium poisoning, including hair loss and yellowing of the skin.
If he really was poisoned, would polonium-210 still be detectable in Arafat?s body after eight years in a mausoleum? Possibly. The radioactivity of a sample of polonium-210 drops by one-half every 138 days, so examiners will be looking for approximately two-one-millionths of the original dose of radiation. Still, if Arafat was exposed to a lethal dose, it?s possible that tests will be able to detect the leftovers. It will likely be months before authorities get the results.
Got a question about today?s news? Ask the Explainer.
Sometimes you settle in for some PC gaming or web surfing. And you just don't get up. You can feel your bum go numb and the chair meld into your skin. Surely, you know the feeling. 
Yes, the individual is sitting on a toilet. In the toilet, it says "electric generation" (?? or "hatsuden"). Under the computer, it says "electric power utilization" (?? or "denryoku"; ?? or "shiyou"). 
Features were added, such as this reclining chair back.
Someone pointed out it wasn't possible to *coughs* pleasure oneself, so a fleshlight like device was added. Hands free?
Then a fan that uses excess heat from the computer was added. That's sensible.
Finally, someone asked if there was a way to grow food, using electric power and excess heat from the computer. It was decided that bean sprouts were best, so that's why there are bean sprouts below the computer.
Symptoms of caregiver stress include:
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Public release date: 27-Nov-2012
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Was Yasser Arafat poisoned?
