Saturday, November 4, 2006
On November 13, Torontonians will be heading to the polls to vote for their ward’s councillor and for mayor. Among Toronto’s ridings is Scarborough East (Ward 44). One candidates responded to Wikinews’ requests for an interview. This ward’s candidates include Donald Blair, Diana Hall, Mohammed Mirza, Ron Moeser, Kevin Richardson, Richard Rieger, Richard Ross, and Kevin Wellington.
For more information on the election, read Toronto municipal election, 2006.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
An explosion at the University of Missouri-Columbia (Mizzou) on Monday afternoon left four people injured, authorities say.
The explosion occurred in a science laboratory in Schweitzer Hall around 2:20 p.m. CDT (1920 UTC) Monday. The source of the explosion was first thought to have been a 2,000-pound (907.2-kilogramme) hydrogen tank, but fire officials later said that this was not the case. The cause of the incident is currently under investigation by the Columbia Fire Department.
The Columbia Fire Department arrived at Schweitzer Hall after a report of a structure fire, but found that most of the fire had already been extinguished by the building’s fire sprinkler system. The remaining flames were put out by firefighters, one of whom said it looked as if “a bomb went off in the lab”.
Of the four hurt in the blast, one was a research scientist, one a graduate student, and the other two postdoctoral fellows. Three were treated for mild injuries and released from University Hospital, while the fourth was in good condition after being taken to the hospital’s burn unit for life-threatening injuries. A school spokesperson said that the university was not allowed to release the names of the victims.
Authorities initially believed that a large container of hydrogen gas had exploded, but investigators later said that the tank was intact. Fire officials also retracted an earlier statement that said the incident had been a result of human error. In a Monday night news release, the fire department said that lab workers had turned on the hydrogen but did not recognize warning signs indicating a dangerously high level of hydrogen gas in the lab, so they left the gas supply running. The report said the explosion occurred after the gas reached a source of ignition. However, the department said Tuesday that the investigation into the explosion is still ongoing and that they were not certain human error was the cause.
The investigation should determine the cost of repairs for the building, as well as whether the school should implement new procedures to avoid similar incidents in the future. The lab where the explosion took place will be totally rebuilt.
Schweitzer Hall houses Mizzou’s biochemistry department, which is part of the medical and agricultural programs. The building’s single classroom is located in the basement and was not in use at the time. The explosion happened on a third-story lab assigned to Judy Wall, a university professor, who was in her office across from the lab during the incident and referred inquiries to the news bureau. Other labs in the building were not disturbed, and Schweitzer Hall was established to be structurally sound, although nearly twenty windows had been shattered from the blast. The building reopened Tuesday for researchers to continue working.
Submitted by: Abigail Aaronson
In recent years, several excellent wrinkle reducing options have been created as an alternative to full surgical face lifts. The most popular and least invasive include injectables like Restylane, Botox, and Juvederm.
Restylane
Restylane is very effective in plumping and sculpting lips, reducing facial wrinkles and improving the overall fullness of the facial tissue. It has been on the market since December 2003 when it was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and it offers some of the longest lasting results among injectables on the market today.
It is a substance composed of non-animal based hyaluronic acid in a clear liquid gel form. It is administered by applying local anesthesia, and then injecting Restylane into the lips, mouth, nose, or other skin tissue. Some people do experience some discomfort during needle insertion.
This treatment option is usually best suited for those between 35 and 60 years old and has a great success rate for improving deep wrinkles and fine lines. Restylane is injected under the skin and the substance helps to plump up the underlying tissue producing a face with more volume in the lips, and cheeks, and wherever it inserted.
The results can be readily apparent after a week, but there may be some swelling for a day or two after the procedure. Most patients will be extra sensitive to sunlight and UV exposure so they will be cautioned to stay out of the sun. While the results are stunning, they are not permanent and future treatments will be needed to maintain the desired effect.
Botox
Botox is the brand name for the botulinum toxin, it has now become the number one cosmetic procedure performed in the U.S. and it is very effective in softening the look of crow’s feet, frown lines, and lines between the eyebrows. Botox is injected beneath the facial skin and it paralyzes the muscles in the face that cause the deep wrinkles. The injection sites are marked carefully as the placement of the toxin is very critical to the success of the treatment.
After all the Botox is administered, which takes about 20 minutes or less, the patient is free to go home, back to work, or anywhere she like because there is no down time or recovery period. The results may take a week to be fully visible, but the will be dramatic although temporary. Botox results last about three to four months and treatments must be repeated about that often to retain the less-wrinkled look.
Juvederm
Juvederm is another popular filler injectable that can reduce facial wrinkles, especially the lines from the nose to the corners of the mouth. It was approved by the FDA in June 2006 and is a gel implant made up of hyaluronic acid like Restylane. Juvederm also adds volume to your face where time and aging have caused it to sink or sag.
This filler is available in three formulas, each specifically designed to target a particular area of the face. One targets fine lines like crow’s feet, another reduced forehead wrinkles and another is good for the nasolabial folds as well as the lips and cheek shapes. Juvederm effects can last for six to nine months, but additional treatments will be necessary at that point to continue to reduce wrinkles and maintain facial volume.
About the Author: For treatments with Botox in Dallas TX, contact a surgeon whose primary goals is patient safety and believes it’s worth the extra effort to obtain the most natural results. Find out more about the procedure and schedule a consult at
usaplasticsurgery.com/
.
Source:
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Saturday, July 17, 2010
A car bomb that exploded at about 20:00 MDT Thursday (01:00 Friday UTC) in a violent area of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico killed several people and injured more.
Police spokesman Jacinto Seguro said Friday that Mexican federal police received a call that an officer was dead. Seguro went on to say, “When they went to check the car, there was a dead body in there, dressed up like a police officer, but it wasn’t one of ours. They put him in a civilian car but dressed him up in a municipal police uniform. That’s when the bomb went off. It’s like an act of terrorism.”
Federal police spokesman Ramon Salinas said the blast killed two officers, a paramedic, and one civilian, although Mayor Jose Reyes said that only three died. At least six others were injured, although reports have said the total injured may be as high as sixteen. Four remain in the hospital, including three paramedics and one civilian.
Mexican authorities say it was a car bomb, but counter-terrorism experts are still unsure as to what caused the vehicle to explode. Intelligence expert Fred Burton said, “For this to be an improvised grenade attack, in some capacity, it doesn’t surprise me.”
The Juarez cartel, one of the two drug-traffickers in the area, claimed responsibility for the bombing in a graffiti message. “We have more car bombs,” the graffiti said.
Ciudad Juárez has a history for trafficking drugs to the United States, especially into Texas.
Before the explosion, the police arrested a suspected leader of the Juarez cartel, Jesus Armando Acosta Guerrero.
This year more than 7,000 people have died as a result of drug-related violence in Mexico since this year began. Attorney General Arturo Chavez on Friday said nearly 25,000 people have died in the last three and a half year period.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
A team of eight transplant surgeons in Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, USA, led by reconstructive surgeon Dr. Maria Siemionow, age 58, have successfully performed the first almost total face transplant in the US, and the fourth globally, on a woman so horribly disfigured due to trauma, that cost her an eye. Two weeks ago Dr. Siemionow, in a 23-hour marathon surgery, replaced 80 percent of her face, by transplanting or grafting bone, nerve, blood vessels, muscles and skin harvested from a female donor’s cadaver.
The Clinic surgeons, in Wednesday’s news conference, described the details of the transplant but upon request, the team did not publish her name, age and cause of injury nor the donor’s identity. The patient’s family desired the reason for her transplant to remain confidential. The Los Angeles Times reported that the patient “had no upper jaw, nose, cheeks or lower eyelids and was unable to eat, talk, smile, smell or breathe on her own.” The clinic’s dermatology and plastic surgery chair, Francis Papay, described the nine hours phase of the procedure: “We transferred the skin, all the facial muscles in the upper face and mid-face, the upper lip, all of the nose, most of the sinuses around the nose, the upper jaw including the teeth, the facial nerve.” Thereafter, another team spent three hours sewing the woman’s blood vessels to that of the donor’s face to restore blood circulation, making the graft a success.
The New York Times reported that “three partial face transplants have been performed since 2005, two in France and one in China, all using facial tissue from a dead donor with permission from their families.” “Only the forehead, upper eyelids, lower lip, lower teeth and jaw are hers, the rest of her face comes from a cadaver; she could not eat on her own or breathe without a hole in her windpipe. About 77 square inches of tissue were transplanted from the donor,” it further described the details of the medical marvel. The patient, however, must take lifetime immunosuppressive drugs, also called antirejection drugs, which do not guarantee success. The transplant team said that in case of failure, it would replace the part with a skin graft taken from her own body.
Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, a Brigham and Women’s Hospital surgeon praised the recent medical development. “There are patients who can benefit tremendously from this. It’s great that it happened,” he said.
Leading bioethicist Arthur Caplan of the University of Pennsylvania withheld judgment on the Cleveland transplant amid grave concerns on the post-operation results. “The biggest ethical problem is dealing with failure — if your face rejects. It would be a living hell. If your face is falling off and you can’t eat and you can’t breathe and you’re suffering in a terrible manner that can’t be reversed, you need to put on the table assistance in dying. There are patients who can benefit tremendously from this. It’s great that it happened,” he said.
Dr Alex Clarke, of the Royal Free Hospital had praised the Clinic for its contribution to medicine. “It is a real step forward for people who have severe disfigurement and this operation has been done by a team who have really prepared and worked towards this for a number of years. These transplants have proven that the technical difficulties can be overcome and psychologically the patients are doing well. They have all have reacted positively and have begun to do things they were not able to before. All the things people thought were barriers to this kind of operations have been overcome,” she said.
The first partial face transplant surgery on a living human was performed on Isabelle Dinoire on November 27 2005, when she was 38, by Professor Bernard Devauchelle, assisted by Professor Jean-Michel Dubernard in Amiens, France. Her Labrador dog mauled her in May 2005. A triangle of face tissue including the nose and mouth was taken from a brain-dead female donor and grafted onto the patient. Scientists elsewhere have performed scalp and ear transplants. However, the claim is the first for a mouth and nose transplant. Experts say the mouth and nose are the most difficult parts of the face to transplant.
In 2004, the same Cleveland Clinic, became the first institution to approve this surgery and test it on cadavers. In October 2006, surgeon Peter Butler at London‘s Royal Free Hospital in the UK was given permission by the NHS ethics board to carry out a full face transplant. His team will select four adult patients (children cannot be selected due to concerns over consent), with operations being carried out at six month intervals. In March 2008, the treatment of 30-year-old neurofibromatosis victim Pascal Coler of France ended after having received what his doctors call the worlds first successful full face transplant.
Ethical concerns, psychological impact, problems relating to immunosuppression and consequences of technical failure have prevented teams from performing face transplant operations in the past, even though it has been technically possible to carry out such procedures for years.
Mr Iain Hutchison, of Barts and the London Hospital, warned of several problems with face transplants, such as blood vessels in the donated tissue clotting and immunosuppressants failing or increasing the patient’s risk of cancer. He also pointed out ethical issues with the fact that the procedure requires a “beating heart donor”. The transplant is carried out while the donor is brain dead, but still alive by use of a ventilator.
According to Stephen Wigmore, chair of British Transplantation Society’s ethics committee, it is unknown to what extent facial expressions will function in the long term. He said that it is not certain whether a patient could be left worse off in the case of a face transplant failing.
Mr Michael Earley, a member of the Royal College of Surgeon‘s facial transplantation working party, commented that if successful, the transplant would be “a major breakthrough in facial reconstruction” and “a major step forward for the facially disfigured.”
In Wednesday’s conference, Siemionow said “we know that there are so many patients there in their homes where they are hiding from society because they are afraid to walk to the grocery stores, they are afraid to go the the street.” “Our patient was called names and was humiliated. We very much hope that for this very special group of patients there is a hope that someday they will be able to go comfortably from their houses and enjoy the things we take for granted,” she added.
In response to the medical breakthrough, a British medical group led by Royal Free Hospital’s lead surgeon Dr Peter Butler, said they will finish the world’s first full face transplant within a year. “We hope to make an announcement about a full-face operation in the next 12 months. This latest operation shows how facial transplantation can help a particular group of the most severely facially injured people. These are people who would otherwise live a terrible twilight life, shut away from public gaze,” he said.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
In a move aimed to prevent fines stemming from its antitrust lawsuit filed by the European Commission (EC), Microsoft announced that it will be releasing portions of the source code to its Windows operating system.
The EC ruled in March 2004 that Microsoft had abused its position in the low-end server and media player market, and required that Microsoft “disclose complete and accurate interface documentation which would allow non-Microsoft work group servers to achieve full interoperability with Windows PCs and servers”. Microsoft reacted by making available 12,000 pages of technical documentation and up to 500 hours of technical support, but the EC came to the conclusion that it was not enough.
Announcing that “we are putting our most valuable intellectual property on the table so we can put technical compliance issues to rest”, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith asserted that Microsoft would be superseding the EC’s requirements as a sign of good faith. “While we are confident that we are presently in full compliance with the Decision, we wish to dispel any notion that Microsoft’s technical documents are insufficient”, said Smith.
The EC responded in a memo that it will study Microsoft’s reply to the Statement of Objections once it receives the full details. However, EC Competition Commissioner spokesman Jonathan Todd commented that “it would be premature to conclude access to the source code would resolve the problem of the lack of compliance with our decision.”
A similar offer was made by Microsoft in August 2002 during its antitrust lawsuit filed by the United States Department of Justice and several states’ Attorneys General. The resulting “Microsoft Communications Protocols Program” had suffered continuous criticism regarding excessive cost, paperwork, and non-disclosure agreements. It is unclear at this time if Microsoft’s planned “Work Group Server Protocol Program” will suffer from the same issues if accepted by the EC.
Microsoft is expected to return to the EC courts in April.
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Submitted by: Derek Rogers
For those who are unsure as to what a Cat-5 cable is, it is a cable that is a twisted pair high signal integrity cable that is often referred to as a Cat5. There are many of these cables that are shielded but there are also some that are unshielded. The Category 5 cables have been out dated by the standard specifications of structured cabling for certain computer networks like Ethernet, and it is sometimes also used for other signals like ATM, voice services and token ring (the local area network technology). The Category 5 cable s specifications were distinct in the ANSI/EIA-568-A/TIA, with other explanations in the TSB-95 s.
The category 5 cable is made up of twisted pairs that are in one cable jacket. When balanced lines are used, it helps to protect a high signal-to-noise ratio in spite of the interference from other sources, including both external ones as well as other common pairs. It is used for many networks, but the most common one it is used for is the 100 Mbits networks, like the 100BASE-TX Ethernet, even though IEEE 802.3ab can define the standards for the 1000BASE-T-Gigabit Ethernet over the category 5 cables. These cables normally have three twists per inch of every twisted part of 24 gauge or American Wire Gauge (AWG).
If you are looking for something that offers a little more than the Cat-5, there is the Category 5e which is an enhanced version. The 5e version adds certain specifications that specifically target the far end crosstalk. By 2001, the 5e was known as the TIA/EIA-568-B standard, but it is no longer recognised as the original cat-5 anymore. People now know it as the Cat 5e and nothing else. Even though the 1000BASE-T was originally designed to be used with only the Cat 5 cable, the more prominent specifications of the Cat 5e cable and its connectors make it perfect for when you are looking for something to fit with the 1000BASE-T.
Unlike many other cables, the Cat 5e doesn t have the option of longer cable distances, especially for the Ethernet networks. Most cables still have the 100 meter limit to them. There is no way that you could use a cable longer than this.
Cat-5 cabling is the future, and many people will agree. You don t have to use other cables that don t do half the job a category 5 will do. There is no need for that anymore. Now you can get straight to the point with these cables. Cat-5 cabling is there when you need it. It provides you with options that not many other cables are able to do.
The cables are available in both solid conductor and stranded forms. The solid cable is not as expensive as its alternative and it provides more reliable connections with the insulation displacement connectors. With the stranded form of cable you will find that it is more flexible and it is also able to endure more bending and other movements without it breaking. It also offers reliable connections, but more so with other insulation piercing connectors.
About the Author: Derek Rogers is a freelance writer who writes for a number of UK businesses. For Cat-5 Cabling, he recommends Network 24, a leading provider of
Structured Cabling
.
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Sunday, October 7, 2007
Shona Bracken is running for the Communist Party in the Ontario provincial election in Toronto—Danforth. Wikinews interviewed her regarding her values, her experience, and her campaign.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
2008 COMPUTEX, famed as the 2nd-largest ICT trade show in the world, started today at the Taipei World Trade Center, Taipei International Convention Center, and TWTC Nangang with 1725 companies’ participation including top 5 nations – Hong Kong, South Korea, China, France, and Japan. With the newly-launched TWTC Nangang, the COMPUTEX set its record with its exhibition scale expanding by 53% and the number of participating manufacturers increasing by 29%.
This year of COMPUTEX has some special features including “Design and Innovation Award of COMPUTEX”, set to discover innovative designs world-wide, “Environment-related topics”, highly respected by environmentalists and industrial businesspeople with many ICT products related to energy-efficiency and green technology showcased at “Mega Trends Pavilion”.
| This 28-year-old trade show competes with the other ones like CeBIT and COMDEX every year. In 2003, we (the government) ever confronted a unprecedented frustration, that is, SARS. It ever forced this show temporarily suspended for a while, but this gave us a great opportunity to regulate the steps to exhibit at the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 3, and finally, we succeeded and eventually became the 2nd-largest ICT show of the world in 2004. I’m very appreciated for a significant growth of 1725 companies’ participation after the Taiwan External Trade Development Council decided to expand this show into TWTC Nangang. I believe that the COMPUTEX will bring a major profit of USD$2 billions for ICT and exhibition industries. | ||
With another concurrent trade show – “2008 WiMAX Expo Taipei”, located at Taipei Show Hall 2, Taipei Computer Association, one of the show organizers, will mainly promote the “WING”-conceptual products like WiMAX, ICT crossovers, Notebooks, and Green IT products this year. In addition, DRAMeXchange Compuforum, e21Forum, Taiwan Design Forum, and Next Generation Network Forum will be held in conjunction with the COMPUTEX to attract international businesspeople from vast industries.
Saturday, October 1, 2005
New Zealand has relaxed the safety rules imposed on internal airlines in 2002, once more allowing passengers to carry pocket knives with blades less than 60mm long and knitting needles.
Other larger items remain banned, including ice-skates, pool cues, hockey sticks, skateboards, cricket bats and harpoons.
Other countries more at risk from terrorism such as the United States of America and Australia will maintain their stricter rules and continue to ban a range of small, sharp objects from their internal flights.
The airlines have also agreed to help return items seized from passengers before boarding.