Saturday, June 30, 2012

How To Build Muscle Fast

How To Build Muscle Fast

In some point in our lives every one of us asks ourselves how to build muscle. There are tones of training routines that you can see every day when you are online, but all this information, confuses someone who just started building muscle or just trying to find the right training routine.

Best thing to do if you are new in fitness, and building muscles, is to stick to the basics in workout and diet. Here am going to explain how to do that simply and fast.

Exercise at GYM

In my opinion the easiest and fastest way to build muscle is lifting weights in gym. You can ask in your gym for a training plan. Also every gym has a trainer who will instruct you how to workout properly.

So the first step is to get a training plan. After that learn hot to workout properly. Here are some more tips and trick that you must follow.

Do basic workouts

It is weary important to do basic workouts which include many muscle groups. Including many muscle groups means doing basic exercise such as squats, dead-lifts, bench press and chin-ups. These exercises are best for building strength, and more strength means more muscles and muscle mass.

Do low repetitions

My advice would be to keep your repetitions at first 10-15 repetitions. Then after you learned how to workout properly and you muscles and joints get used to training, after about three weeks change your repetitions. Now keep your number of repetitions low, between 6-10 repetitions.

Increase weights that you are lifting

Also, after you learned how to workout properly, you must increase weight you lift. Increase your weight that much that your number of repetitions don t go over 6-10 repetitions. Increasing weights will help you to build more strength and muscle mass.

Diet to build muscles

The right diet is even more important for getting muscles than training. If you diet is bad, you wont get any new muscles, no meter if you are lifting weight. First thing you must do is to eat 4-6 times a day. Eat small meals. At breakfast eat complex carbohydrates. Such as oats. Throughout the day keep your protein intake high. Eat chicken, fish and turkey meat. They are full of proteins and have low fats.

The right combination of training plan, basic workouts, and the right diet will help you to get muscles fast.

Feel free to comment and ask nay question that you haw about exercise and diet.

Source: http://www.streetarticles.com/exercise/how-to-build-muscle-fast

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Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes divorcing

FILE - In this Monday, March 28, 2011 file photo, cast member Katie Holmes, right, and Tom Cruise arrive at the premiere of "The Kennedys" at The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, Calif. Cruise and Homes are calling it quits after five years of marriage. Holmes' attorney Jonathan Wolfe said Friday June 29, 2012 that the couple is divorcing, but called it a private matter for the family. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

FILE - In this Monday, March 28, 2011 file photo, cast member Katie Holmes, right, and Tom Cruise arrive at the premiere of "The Kennedys" at The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, Calif. Cruise and Homes are calling it quits after five years of marriage. Holmes' attorney Jonathan Wolfe said Friday June 29, 2012 that the couple is divorcing, but called it a private matter for the family. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2012 file photo, actors Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes arrive at the Vanity Fair Oscar party, in West Hollywood, Calif. Cruise and Homes are calling it quits after five years of marriage. Holmes' attorney Jonathan Wolfe said Friday June 29, 2012 that the couple is divorcing, but called it a private matter for the family. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File)

FILE - Actor Tom Cruise and his wife Katie Holmes pose during a photo-call for the world premiere of their new film "Knight and Day" at the Lope de Vega theatre in Seville, Spain on Wednesday June 16, 2010. Cruise and Homes are calling it quits after five years of marriage. Holmes' attorney Jonathan Wolfe said Friday June 29, 2012 that the couple is divorcing, but called it a private matter for the family. (AP Photo/Toni Rodriguez)

FILE - In this Wednesday, May 26, 2010 file photoTom Cruise, right, poses with his wife Katie Holmes pose for the photographers as they arrive for the National Movie Awards at the Royal Festival Hall, in London. Holmes' attorney Jonathan Wolfe said Friday June 29, 2012 that the couple is divorcing, but called it a private matter for the family. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2006 file photo, U.S. actor Tom Cruise, and U.S. actress Katie Holmes with their daughter Suri, who became engaged in June 2005, leave a restaurant in Rome. Cruise and Homes are calling it quits after five years of marriage. Holmes' attorney Jonathan Wolfe said Friday June 29, 2012 that the couple is divorcing, but called it a private matter for the family. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

(AP) ? It always seemed more than a little weird, didn't it? The whirlwind romance of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes with its very public, very emphatic proclamations of love. It all occurred too quickly and too loudly to seem real.

Now, after nearly six years of marriage, Holmes is divorcing Cruise. She filed the papers on Thursday, said Cruise's lawyer Bert Fields. The two share a daughter, 6-year-old Suri, who's been featured in celebrity media nearly as frequently as her parents.

But it's telling that even in addressing their split in the typically vague fashion of famous people, Cruise still refers to Holmes by the name he called her: Kate, as if to distance her from the adorable Katie audiences came to know and love from the teen soap "Dawson's Creek."

"Kate has filed for divorce and Tom is deeply saddened and is concentrating on his three children," Cruise's representative, Amanda Lundberg, told The Associated Press. "Please allow them their privacy to work this out."

Holmes' attorney, Jonathan Wolfe, made a similar plea Friday: "This is a personal and private matter for Katie and her family. Katie's primary concern remains, as it always has been, her daughter's best interest."

But we've never been able to leave them alone ? and even if we tried, they probably wouldn't let us.

Theirs was a bond that never really made sense on paper, despite Cruise's famously euphoric couch-jumping on "The Oprah Winfrey" show and Holmes' starry-eyed confession that she'd had a crush on the "Top Gun" star when she was a girl. Cruise turns 50 on Tuesday, Holmes is 33.

They'd kiss passionately for the benefit of photographers on red carpets and were all-too happy to share the romantic details of their engagement: He popped the question at the Eiffel Tower in Paris early one morning in June 2005. The wedding itself in November 2006 was a fairy-tale, A-list extravaganza at a 15th century Italian castle before a Church of Scientology minister.

So why didn't we believe them? Maybe because it always felt like they were trying so hard to prove to the world they were in love.

"I can't be cool. I can't be laid-back," Cruise said during his notorious "Oprah" appearance. "Something happened and I want to celebrate it."

Cruise has two children with his previous wife, Nicole Kidman. The actor was also previously married to Mimi Rogers. This was Holmes' first marriage.

Cruise showed up alone at recent premieres of the musical film "Rock of Ages," in which he's earning strong reviews for his performance as an Axl Rose-style lead singer. Holmes also was absent earlier this month when Cruise received the fourth-ever Friars Club Entertainment Icon Award. He said at the time that Holmes was overseas and the family would reunite in Iceland for Father's Day.

Yet a year ago, in receiving an award from Women in Film, Holmes thanked Cruise in the audience, saying his "commitment to his work and family inspires me daily."

Before the relationship, Holmes had drawn acclaim for her work in films like "Wonder Boys" and "Pieces of April." And Cruise was ... well, he was Cruise, one of the biggest stars on the planet. But the marriage, and the general speculation about its legitimacy, seemed to hurt both their images.

It was around the time of the "Oprah" appearance that Sumner Redstone and Paramount broke ties with Cruise after their long relationship. Cruise's company, Cruise/Wagner Productions, then signed a deal with First & Goal LLC.

Redstone was recently quoted by The Hollywood Reporter as saying that he "actually fired Tom. His behavior was terrible ... He was jumping on the couch on the Oprah show. Women hated him. A lot of people said they would never come back and see Tom Cruise."

Kelly Lynch, editor of the pop-culture website Socialite Life, noted Friday the August 2005 W Magazine cover story on Holmes in which a woman described as Holmes' "Scientology chaperone" sat in on the interview and chimed in on her responses, even though Holmes herself was consistently ebullient about Cruise.

The chaperone also deflected particularly pointed or uncomfortable questions about rumors that this love might not be real.

"She wasn't Joey from 'Dawson's Creek' anymore," Lynch said. "It was almost like the life had been sucked out of her when she started dating him."

Her first film back, the 2008 heist comedy "Mad Money," was a critical and commercial failure. That same year, Cruise came out as the eyepatch-wearing star of the Nazi thriller "Valkyrie," which drew mixed reviews but still made $200 million worldwide.

Holmes' recent films include Adam Sandler's "Jack and Jill" and the Emmy-winning mini-series "The Kennedys," in which she played Jackie Kennedy. Cruise, meanwhile, starred in the fourth film in the "Mission: Impossible" series, "Mission: Impossible ? Ghost Protocol," which has made more than $690 million worldwide.

Lynch said she was surprised by the demise of the duo dubbed "TomKat" because she figured that, no matter what, Cruise and Holmes would always try to maintain the meticulously crafted image that they were the perfect couple.

"Despite some of my reservations about the relationship, I thought they were happy to kind of swim along as man and wife, despite reports in every sort of magazine that they weren't getting along, that Katie is trapped in the marriage," Lynch said. "But I never truly believed that they were truly in love. It felt very arranged."

How the divorce impacts either of their images or careers remains to be seen, said veteran celebrity publicist Howard Bragman.

"They're both going to be defined by their choices. Tom was never really defined by the marriage. Tom was defined by Tom. He's such a force of nature," he said. "A single Tom Cruise is an interesting phenomenon. I think we'll be hearing about him dating.

"Katie will be fine. I think this raises her to a new level. I think she'll get more active in her career," Bragman added. "She's got talent, beauty, a good family, a good support system, good Midwestern values ? these things are all going to serve her. I think mostly she's a good mother. That's what I respect her most for."

___

AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report from New York.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-06-29-Cruise-Holmes%20Divorce/id-b3bf73a1175f4418ab4bf55f1be3f093

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How D3 Gold Sale it might seem your brain proceeded to go blank ...

How D3 Gold Sale it might seem your brain proceeded to go blank

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Source: http://ranying.blogdrive.com/archive/377.html

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When Frank Zappa joined Beethoven and Bach in Claremont (SoCal Sports Observed)

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Source: http://ebz.by/info/US/338157741

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House passes student loan-rate extension

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9to5mac: BlueStacks now lets Android apps run on Macs http://t.co/qOYB37Ne

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Source: http://twitter.com/9to5mac/statuses/218371875284328448

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Friday, June 29, 2012

1600 Question Test Shows How Bad Siri Really Is [Apple]

Pitting Google search against Siri using a monster 1600-question test shows how useful Siri really is: not at all. Google answered correctly 86 percent of the time. Siri achieved just 68 percent accuracy. At that point, it's not much better than a crystal ball. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/gc-Jfc0_4hU/google-search-beats-the-crap-out-of-siri-in-1600-question-test

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WATCH: Tearful Ann Curry Announces 'Today' Exit

Ann Curry is officially leaving Today... today. In recent weeks, the 55-year-old journalist's imminent departure as cohost of the top-rated morning show had been widely reported, though never confirmed. But Thursday morning Curry put speculation to rest.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/ann-curry-announces-shes-leaving-today/1-a-469010?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Aann-curry-announces-shes-leaving-today-469010

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Outrage At Japanese Pet Shop That Sells Exotic Animals Penned ...

By Leon Watson

PUBLISHED: 11:41 GMT, 28 June 2012 | UPDATED: 16:31 GMT, 28 June 2012

Animal charities have condemned a pet shop in Japan which continues to sell exotic animals ? and keep them in tiny cages.

Shoppers can easily pick up a penguin, a meerkat and an alligator at NOAH: The Inner City Zoo, in the port of Yokohama.

The shop is also seen selling otters, megabats, sloths, fennec foxes, capuchin monkeys and a crane ? alongside several other foreign animals.

Many are endangered species and live in cramped cages ? all in one squashed room ? on the second floor of an office building.

Some of the animals cost thousands of pounds to buy.

Josey Sharrad, head of campaigns and communications at IFAW, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said: ?IFAW absolutely condemn the treatment of these animals.

?This shop will never be confused with the natural habitat of a penguin, meerkat, sloth, alligator or other exotic pet.

?Animals have needs in terms of diet, space, exercise and sociability. The idea that these are being met in cramped conditions, in an urban environment, and in close proximity to other animals is ridiculous.

?These conditions cause severe stress for the animals. This can weaken immune systems and lead to risk of disease.

For sale: A meerkat at Noah in the Inner City Zoo in Yokohama, Japan

Inhumane: Animal charities have condemned the pet shop for selling the exotic animals, like this servalInhumane: Animal charities have condemned the pet shop for selling the exotic animals, like this serval

?These diseases could spread from one species to the other and could also represent a risk to human health.

?It is already a hard task to alert people to the dangers that are faced by some of the world?s rarest creatures.

?When these creatures are simultaneously available for purchase, it confuses people as to whether an animal is really at risk of extinction or not.?

Customers have to pay an entry fee of £4 to look around the shopCustomers have to pay an entry fee of ?4 to look around the shop

According to their website, NOAH has just recently taken stock of marmosets, fennecs and squirrels ? all as babies.

Prices are often on request, and at the time of taking the pictures, a prairie dog ? a type of rodent ? was priced at ?1,500.

Alan Knight, chief executive of International Animal Rescue, said: ?We would urge people to stay away from this pet shop and others like it.

?Exotic animals should live in the wild as nature intended, not in captivity as a source of entertainment and prestige, and to line the pockets of greedy pet shop owners.

?Breeding and selling wild animals as exotic pets is cruel and irresponsible.

?Wild animals of any species lead miserable lives as the pets of people who have little or no knowledge of how to care for them properly.

?Undoubtedly many of them are eventually abandoned when they become ill or grow too large and too strong for their owners to manage.

?It is particularly shocking to be breeding and selling endangered species because this puts a price on the animals? heads ? and encourages people to want them as pets.

?As a result, in many cases exotic animals are caught from the wild ? endangering the population as a whole.?

NOAH, which stands for Nature Orientated Animal House, was established in 1999. Customers have to pay an entry fee of ?4 to look around the shop.

One onlooker said: ?I was shocked to see so many endangered animals for sale. Particularly the penguins and crane ? who would want those as a pet anyway?

?Most animals were quiet, as if they?d come to terms with their enforced captivity. Many are in tiny cages, and the owls are tightly fixed down so they can?t fly.

?On occasion, a monkey would throw a noisy fit in its cage, and run around screaming, trying to escape. The animals looked sad.?

Owner, Kenji Takahashi, 59, insists that he obeys all the rules of Japan.

?I may not agree with all the laws of Japan, but I must obey them,? he said. ?My premises may not be perfect and the space we have for each animal is not as big as we would sometimes like.

?But the same could be said for any zoo across the world. What I am trying to do is increase the love that humans have for exotic animals.

?If you keep tropical fish you are less likely to throw a cigarette in a river because you know how important the water quality is to the creatures that live there.

?I want to allow people to understand and experience these amazing creatures.?

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2165934/Outrage-animal-welfare-groups-Japanese-pet-shop-insists-selling-exotic-animals.html#ixzz1z7cDkQao

Source: http://havehest.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/outrage-at-japanese-pet-shop-that-sells-exotic-animals-penned-up-in-small-cages/

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Supreme Court turns away media companies' appeal

(AP) ? The Supreme Court has turned down media companies' plea to lift a prohibition on owning both a newspaper and a television station in the same market.

The justices on Friday denied the companies' appeal without comment. The media outlets say the restrictions no longer make sense in the Internet era.

The appeal also sought to get rid of other ownership limits including how many local television stations one company can control.

The companies say the rules make it harder for broadcasters and newspapers to do business and respond to competitors on the Internet, satellite and cable ? entities which don't face the same restrictions.

Critics of media consolidation have warned of the dangers of too many media outlets falling under the ownership of a handful of large corporations.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-06-29-Supreme%20Court-Media%20Ownership%20Rules/id-5c1e17cb67e0426f8c696d9eddc6d23c

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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Location-Based Shopping App Shopkick Partners With MasterCard On Rewards Program

MC-Shopkickv2Mobile shopping app?shopkick?is announcing a partnership with MasterCard today which will allow cardholders to earn "kicks" (shopkicks' in-app rewards) by linking their card with shopkick's Buy & Collect program and making qualifying purchases. These kicks can later be redeemed for things like gift cards, music downloads, movie tickets, and other offers. In addition, in exchange for signing up for the new program, MasterCard cardholders will also receive 250 bonus points for each card they add to shopkick for a limited time during the program's launch.

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App loyalty on the rise, iOS users more decicated than Android

Localytics gathered data from app users across Android and iOS during Q3 2011, and found that 23% of Android owners use an app more than 11 times, while 35% of iPhone and iPad users do the same. At the other end of the spectrum, iOS users are only slightly more fickle than those on Android: 24% versus 21% used an app only once before ditching it.


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Naval idea: NCAA piggybacking on last year's 'all on deck' success

Philadelphia, PA (My Sportsbook) - The NCAA is big business because it has recalibrated and recultivated its image to stay one dribble ahead of our wants and needs.

We, as college basketball fans, clamor for change -- even if a superficial tweak is pre-packaged as a monumental shift. We voiced displeasure with "our" teams being left out of March's madness, and the NCAA created the very successful First Four. Our warning cry at greater tournament expansion (98 teams or more) was heard as the governing body pumped the brakes in the face of public discord despite walking away from the millions more invitees would have brought.

Either the NCAA employs a full department of Twitter listening agents, or it's adept at correlating fans' passions into mutual beneficial actions. That's why March Madness is so popular and successful, and it was the main idea behind last year's Carrier Classic, the North Carolina-Michigan State season tip-off aboard the USS Carl Vinson in the San Diego bay.

The NCAA used a visually stunning atmosphere, tied it into a patriotic event with President Barack Obama in attendance, plastered it in national television's high-definition sets and marketed it as the unofficial start of the college basketball season.

Brilliant.

It didn't hurt that two of the game's most popular programs were part of the Veteran's Day spectacle, a mixture of national pride and pageantry that went off without a hitch from the untrained eye (despite all of the logistical headaches involved with holding a live sporting event aboard a government- owned ship).

No one seemed to notice the sloppy early season basketball, because on-court precision wasn't the game's purpose. For years, fans yearned for a season start date, like baseball's Opening Day or even college football's Kickoff Classic.

The NCAA balked at labeling one game the season's tip-off, using Thanksgiving holiday tournaments from Alaska to Hawaii as the unofficial beginning, but when this idea presented itself, the marketing minds in Indianapolis did what they always do.

They jumped at the chance to celebrate our nation's servicemen and women, while using the forum to announce with grandeur, "college basketball is back!" And when the NCAA sees success, it doesn't sit on its hands but rather aims higher, and in this case farther out to sea.

Florida will face Georgetown on a ship off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida on November 9, the closest non-college football or NFL date to Veterans Day. The Gators-Hoyas tilt is the third college hoops contest scheduled to be played on a naval ship on that date. Marquette and Ohio State will play on a ship off the Charleston, South Carolina coast, while Syracuse will take on San Diego State off the San Diego coast on the flight deck of the retired USS Midway. It is not clear whether the other two games will be played on active ships.

The success of one game has spawned into three, but that shouldn't be a surprise for anyone who knows the venture capitalists at the NCAA, which was lauded for the precision with which it organized last year's Carrier Classic and praised for the overwhelming television viewership and genuine interest in the unofficial start to the season.

The NCAA is still big business, actually even bigger than it used to be, because it listens, it discusses, it acts, it assesses then it comes back bigger and grander than ever. The First Four and Carrier Classic are just two examples of college basketball attempting to increase fan interest and line its pockets in the process.

Judging by last March's television ratings and the praise at this year's Carrier Classic announcements, the NCAA has not only maintained its one dribble edge on its customers, but it is sprinting forth faster and stronger than ever before.

NOTRE DAME LOCKS UP BREY

In a profession with little job security, Mike Brey certainly feels appreciated and secure after the Fighting Irish announced a 10-year contract extension that will run through the 2022 season. Brey hit the nail on the head during a press conference announcing the extension, explaining that he felt this job was his last one if he handled it the right away and detailing how expectations under his leadership have evolved from "surviving" in the Big East to "thriving" in the conference. That's what eight NCAA Tournament appearances will do, including one of his best coaching jobs last season, leading the Irish to 22 victories before a loss to Xavier in the NCAA Tournament's second round.

What comes with increased expectations is an increased desire for improvement, and for Brey's program, that includes a trip to the Final Four. Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick understands those sentiments.

"We're in business to win NCAA championships," he said. "If I didn't think Mike Brey could win an NCAA championship in basketball, we wouldn't be sitting here today."

UCONN SUFFERS MOST FROM NCAA'S NEW ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS

We first discussed the Huskies' self-inflicted plight last spring, but it has been revealed that Connecticut is just one of 10 men's basketball teams that will be banned from next season's NCAA Tournament because of a failure to reach new academic standards.

UConn is the first school from a major conference to face a postseason ban in one of the two most prominent college sports based completely on its APR (Academic Progress Rate) score. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Cal State Bakersfield, California-Riverside, Jacksonville State, Mississippi Valley State, North Carolina-Wilmington, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Toledo and Towson will join Jim Calhoun's program on the sidelines.

Cal State Bakersfield could be eventually removed from the list because its scores are still being reviewed.

The three-time national champion Huskies are the sore thumb that sticks out of the group. Their four-year APR score of 889 is eleven points below the prerequisite benchmark, and an appeal to the NCAA for a waiver that would have allowed it to play in next year's tournament was denied. UConn could also be ruled ineligible for the Big East Tournament, forcing the conference to re- seed prior to the championship in New York City.

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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

CDC trying out free rapid AIDS test at drugstores

Walgreen's pharmacy manager Sarah Freedman stands in her store in Washington, Tuesday, June 26, 2012. Would you go to a pharmacy to get tested for the AIDS virus? Health officials want to know. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday announced a $1.2 million pilot project to offer free rapid HIV tests at pharmacies and clinics in 24 cities and rural communities. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Walgreen's pharmacy manager Sarah Freedman stands in her store in Washington, Tuesday, June 26, 2012. Would you go to a pharmacy to get tested for the AIDS virus? Health officials want to know. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday announced a $1.2 million pilot project to offer free rapid HIV tests at pharmacies and clinics in 24 cities and rural communities. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Walgreen's pharmacy manager Sarah Freedman stands in her store in Washington, Tuesday, June 26, 2012. Would you go to a pharmacy to get tested for the AIDS virus? Health officials want to know. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday announced a $1.2 million pilot project to offer free rapid HIV tests at pharmacies and clinics in 24 cities and rural communities. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Walgreen's pharmacy manager Sarah Freedman stands in her store in Washington, Tuesday, June 26, 2012. Would you go to a pharmacy to get tested for the AIDS virus? Health officials want to know. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday announced a $1.2 million pilot project to offer free rapid HIV tests at pharmacies and clinics in 24 cities and rural communities. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Walgreen's pharmacy manager Sarah Freedman stands in her store in Washington, Tuesday, June 26, 2012. Would you go to a pharmacy to get tested for the AIDS virus? Health officials want to know. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday announced a $1.2 million pilot project to offer free rapid HIV tests at pharmacies and clinics in 24 cities and rural communities. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

ATLANTA (AP) ? Would you go to a drugstore to get tested for AIDS?

Health officials want to know, and they've set up a pilot program to find out.

The $1.2 million program will offer free rapid HIV tests at pharmacies and in-store clinics in 24 cities and rural communities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday.

Drugstores now offer blood pressure checks, flu shots and a few other types of health services. Officials are hoping testing for the AIDS virus will become another routine service.

"By bringing HIV testing into pharmacies, we believe we can reach more people by making testing more accessible and reduce the stigma associated with HIV," CDC's Dr. Kevin Fenton said in a statement. He oversees the agency's HIV prevention programs.

The tests are already available at seven places, and the CDC will soon pick 17 more locations.

The HIV test is a swab inside the mouth and takes about 20 minutes for a preliminary result. If the test is positive, customers will be referred to a local health department or other health-care providers for a blood test to confirm the results, counseling and treatment.

When the project ends next summer, CDC officials will analyze what worked well and what didn't, said Paul Weidle, the epidemiologist who is heading up the project.

An estimated 1.1 million Americans are infected with HIV, but as many as 20 percent of them don't know they carry the virus, according to the CDC. It can take a decade or more for an infection to cause symptoms and illness.

Since 2006, the CDC has recommended that all Americans ages 13 to 64 get tested at least once, not just those considered at highest risk: gay men and intravenous drug users.

On special occasions, health organizations have sent workers to some drugstores to offer HIV testing. This week, Walgreens ? the nation's largest chain of pharmacies ? is teaming with local health departments and AIDS groups to offer free HIV testing at stores in 20 cities.

But this CDC pilot program is different: It's an effort to train staff at the pharmacies to do the testing themselves, and perhaps make it a permanent service.

"I'm excited. It's such a new and novel thing for us," said Sarah Freedman, who manages a Walgreens in Washington, D.C., that is participating in the pilot program.

At her pharmacy, the testing is done in a private room. They've also taken steps to make sure that a customer can very quietly request the test. For example, they've put out stacks of special test request cards ? they look like business cards ? at George Washington University and other nearby businesses. Anyone seeking a test can simply hand the card to the clerk, she said.

Only three or four customers have gone through with a test in the first few weeks.

"We get a lot of questions," she said. "Usually they get the information and they go and sit on it and think about it."

There's a second Walgreens in Washington offering the test, as well as branches in Chicago and Lithonia, Ga. Other test sites: East Pines Pharmacy in Riverdale, Md., Mike's Pharmacy in Oakland, Calif. and a federal Indian Health Service location in Billings, Mont.

Each of the locations will get enough tests to check 200 to 300 people.

__

Online:

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/

Associated Press

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FutureDash EnergyBuddy hands-on (video)

We've seen more than a few energy monitors, but how many of them offer a pretty light show on the side? The EnergyBuddy -- first unveiled as a prototype at CES but just now inching toward a full launch -- is a complete home energy-tracking system brought to you by Cali-based startup FutureDash. Starting at $99, it keeps tabs on users' energy consumption with a square-shaped gadget that connects to your network via WiFi or Ethernet. The square glows red, yellow or green depending on how much electricity you're guzzling, and you have the ability to specify what qualifies as acceptable usage.

Naturally, the EnergyBuddy has a few peripherals in tow. A sensor installed at your electrical panel communicates with the rest of the system, and so-called Smart Plugs let you track the energy consumption of individual devices. The iPhone, iPad and desktop apps also offer some pretty in-depth stats, including dollars per hour spent on energy and a chart detailing consumption throughout the day. FutureDash is currently pushing the product on crowd-funding site Indiegogo, and though availability is TBD, you can take a peek at the system in our hands-on video below.

Joseph Volpe contributed to this report.

FutureDash EnergyBuddy hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 18:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Britain's queen shakes hands with ex-IRA chief

BELFAST (Reuters) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth shook the hand of former IRA guerrilla commander Martin McGuinness for the first time on Wednesday, drawing a line under a conflict that cost the lives of thousands of soldiers and civilians, including that of her cousin.

The meeting with McGuinness, who is now the deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, comes 14 years after the Irish Republican Army ended its war against British rule in the province, and is one of the last big milestones in a peace process whose success has been studied around the world.

The queen met McGuinness, Northern Ireland's Unionist first minister Peter Robinson and Irish President Michael D.Higgins for just under 10 minutes behind closed doors in a theatre in a leafy suburb of Belfast cordoned off by hundreds of police.

McGuinness shook the gloved hand of the queen a second time as she left the theatre, this time in front of television cameras, but unlike other guests chose not to bow his head.

The queen's bright green outfit appeared to have been chosen with Ireland's national color in mind, and McGuinness wished a smiling monarch well in Irish, saying "Slan agus beannacht", which he told her means "Goodbye and God speed".

There has been scattered opposition to the gesture of reconciliation from dissident Irish militants and from some of the IRA's victims. But the vast majority of the province's politicians backed the meeting, the first between the queen and a top member of the IRA or its former political wing, Sinn Fein.

"Today is a huge event and it is, in a sense, the ultimate handshake," John Reid, British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2001 to 2002, told the BBC.

"On all sorts of levels this is a hugely significant step but it is only one more step in a long process. This may take generations - to get back to absolute reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland."

OBSTACLE REMOVED

Ireland's president said the handshake was "something that had to be done" to remove an obstacle to reconciliation. Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said the gesture was symbolic but added that "the journey isn't near completion".

A few hours later, the queen waved to crowds from an open-topped car at a celebration of her Diamond Jubilee attended by over 20,000 people - a stark contrast to the armored limousines that have been a mandatory precaution on previous visits.

The queen regularly meets senior Unionist politicians, Protestants who want Northern Ireland to stay inside the United Kingdom, but not Sinn Fein - the largest party representing Catholic nationalists who want a united Ireland.

McGuinness is a hero to Republican hardliners, but has long been a hate figure to Unionists, many of whom harbor deep suspicions about his past.

He admits he was on the front line in the war with British forces, including on Bloody Sunday in 1972, when troops shot dead 13 unarmed protesters, but says he never killed anyone.

A British report said that McGuinness probably was armed with a submachinegun on Bloody Sunday, but did nothing to provoke the massacre. He has said he left the IRA in 1974, but most historians believe he was active for most of its campaign.

For the queen and her consort Prince Philip, who shook McGuinness's hand more cursorily, the conflict had a personal edge.

The queen's cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was also Philip's uncle, was killed by the IRA in 1979 with three others, including his 14-year-old grandson, when his boat was blown up while he was on holiday in Ireland.

More than 1,000 members of the British security forces were among 3,600 people killed during the 30 years of the "Troubles".

McGuinness told the queen that he agreed with comments she made last year that all victims of the conflict should be remembered, according to a source who was at the meeting.

"STILL A REPUBLICAN"

McGuinness said on Tuesday that, while he represented people who had been badly hurt by British state violence, he was also big enough to understand that the queen and other families in Britain had also lost loved ones.

Asked by reporters after the meeting if his convictions had changed, he said he was "still a Republican".

Sinn Fein, which has become increasingly popular south of the Irish border as the main party opposing an EU/IMF bailout, is keen to bolster its image as a mainstream party and distance itself from a violent past that alienates many southern voters.

It still wants a referendum on whether Northern Ireland should remain part of Britain, but in the short term its aim is to be in government in the north and south simultaneously.

Only last year, Sinn Fein rejected invitations to attend events during the queen's landmark visit to the Irish capital Dublin, the first by a British monarch since the republic won independence from Britain in 1921.

Some Republicans branded McGuinness a traitor for meeting a queen who is also commander-in-chief of Britain's armed forces.

"People are not unhappy that someone is shaking her hand, just not him. He's a hypocrite," said Martin, a 42-year-old unemployed man who said he and his friends had got criminal records defending their neighborhood in working-class Belfast.

"He sent people out to fight. To die. And now he's putting on a suit and shaking her hand? I don't want war (but) this shouldn't have happened till the next generation."

With splinter groups continuing to attack British targets, security forces say the risk of an attack is at its highest level since the Good Friday peace agreement was signed in 1998.

Nine police suffered minor injuries on Tuesday night when they were pelted with petrol bombs and other missiles.

(Additional reporting by Padraic Halpin in Dublin; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Sen. Hatch looking to avoid revolt within GOP

FILE - In this June 15, 2012 file photo, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch and Dan Liljenquist talk before participating in a debate before the Utah primary election at KSL Newsradio in Salt Lake City. Hatch said that he?s participated in three debates so far with Liljenquist, all untelevised, a number he said still exceeds what?s occurred in other states? GOP primaries this year. ?I think we?re done,? Hatch said. ?I think folks in Utah have had enough.? (AP Photo/The Deseret News, Laura Seitz, Pool, File )

FILE - In this June 15, 2012 file photo, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch and Dan Liljenquist talk before participating in a debate before the Utah primary election at KSL Newsradio in Salt Lake City. Hatch said that he?s participated in three debates so far with Liljenquist, all untelevised, a number he said still exceeds what?s occurred in other states? GOP primaries this year. ?I think we?re done,? Hatch said. ?I think folks in Utah have had enough.? (AP Photo/The Deseret News, Laura Seitz, Pool, File )

FILE - In this file photo from Thursday, Aug. 12, 2010, Rep. Charles Rangel listens during a news conference at his Harlem office in New York. Rangel, 82, is seeking re-election to the 13th Congressional District which he has represented for more than four decades. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

(AP) ? Over the past two years, GOP primaries have ended the careers of several veteran Republican politicians who were backed by the party's establishment. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch is seeking to avoid the same fate in his first primary challenge since winning office in 1976.

Hatch's race is the premier event as several states hold primaries Tuesday. Among them is New York, where 82-year-old Rep. Charlie Rangel is running for a 22nd term, the first time he's faced voters since the House censured him 18 months ago for failing to pay all his taxes and for filing misleading financial disclosure statements.

Those issues, plus changed demographics in the Democrat's redrawn Harlem district, could pose a re-election challenge for Rangel, who has also faced some health problems. But Rangel told CNN on Tuesday: "I got a clean bill of health. I'm fired up and ready to go."

A few months ago, Hatch was considered vulnerable ? like his former Republican colleague Robert Bennett, who was booted from the Senate two years ago at the Utah nominating convention, and like six-term Republican Sen. Richard Lugar, who lost in last month's Indiana GOP primary.

But Hatch, 78, is now viewed as the heavy favorite in Tuesday's matchup against former state Sen. Daniel Liljenquist. Hatch has enjoyed a huge resource advantage that let him unleash the most expensive and detailed campaign operation in Utah's history. Hatch raised about $10 million, and that has allowed the campaign to contact thousands of voters individually and to spread two messages on the airways: He has the backing of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, and his seniority on the Senate Finance Committee would benefit the state.

Liljenquist, 37, is a relative newcomer to the Utah political scene. He enjoyed recognition for leading efforts to overhaul the pension system for the state's employees during his first term as a legislator. Instead of opting to rise through the state's political ranks, he chose to take on the state's best-known political figure.

Liljenquist has seized on voters' concerns about the growing national debt and has tried to make the case that Hatch has been a major contributor to that debt by voting continually to raise the federal debt ceiling, supporting a Medicare drug benefit and working with the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy to establish the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Utah has a unique nominating system, and Hatch was widely viewed as most vulnerable when about 4,000 GOP stalwarts gathered at the state's nominating convention in April. Delegates at the convention tend to be more conservative than the GOP electorate. The Hatch campaign team spent months behind the scenes trying to generate a new crop of delegates to the convention, and that work paid off, with the large majority of this year's delegates being new to the process. In the end, Hatch won 59.2 percent of the delegates, just shy of the 60 percent he needed to avoid a runoff with Liljenquist.

The Hatch campaign includes many of the state's top political consultants and strategists. It also hired some of the tea party activists who had helped generate Sen. Mike Lee's win two years ago.

"It was an organizational effort beyond anything the state has seen before," Hatch campaign manager Dave Hansen said. "Fortunately, we had the resources to pay the costs on that organizational effort."

Much of the money fueling Hatch's campaign came from corporations and trade groups that frequently have business before the Senate Finance Committee, which Hatch probably would chair if the GOP can win the Senate in November. Hansen said Hatch is not beholden to any particular group other than the residents of Utah.

Liljenquist's camp said it has motivated supporters who are expected to head to the polls in a low-turnout election. Holly Richardson, a campaign spokeswoman, said that in recent years candidates such as Lee and Rep. Jason Chaffitz fared better than pre-election polls had said they would. She said the campaign was reaching out to voters who don't normally participate in primaries.

The winner of the GOP primary will be the huge favorite to win the general election in November against Democratic candidate Scott Howell.

In New York, Rangel was fending off four challengers including state Sen. Adriano Espaillat and former Clinton White House official Clyde Williams in a newly drawn Manhattan and Bronx district that is now majority Hispanic. Espaillat, a native of the Dominican Republic, has strong support from the district's large Dominican community, but Rangel is still widely popular in Harlem and has the support of labor unions and most of the state's Democratic lawmakers. Andrew Cuomo, New York's popular Democratic governor, endorsed Rangel last week.

Democrats also faced a potentially problematic upset in Brooklyn in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Rep. Ed Towns. Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries has been favored to win the race and has received the endorsement of most Democratic leaders but is facing strong competition from Charles Barron, a city councilman and former Black Panther known for making incendiary comments about Jews and gays. Barron last week received the endorsement of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

___

Freking reported from Washington. AP writer Beth Fouhy in New York contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Kred Starts Offering Rewards So Maybe You?ll Finally Give A Damn About Your Influence Score

Kred RewardsKred today launches "Rewards" so you can win discounts and product samples if you get retweeted and Liked enough. That doesn't mean you should TRY to get retweeted or Liked more, but now there's at least a reason to sign up to see your influence score. While you might think this score is meaningless, marketers want to reach people who can actually influence others to care about them, and services like Klout and Kred are an efficient method. But it's not all about follower count. If you're going to give something away, you want to give it to someone who'll actually mention your company. That's why Kred Rewards are transparent, and brands can see why a recipient's score is high so they're not hooking up a hermit.

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Scientists to reveal Stephen Hawking's 'brain hack'

Ted S. Warren / AP

To produce the words for text or speech, British physicist Stephen Hawking currently uses an infrared sensor mounted on his eyeglasses, visible here on the left side of his face during an appearance this month in Seattle. The sensor picks up twitches from his cheek, which are translated into the desired letters or words. Hawking and neuroscientist Philip Low are experimenting with a headband-mounted system that can translate brain waves directly into text and speech, but Hawking has said that system isn't yet up to speed.

By Alan Boyle

After months of tweaking, researchers are finally ready to show off a high-tech headband that can translate Stephen Hawking's brain waves into speech?? providing what could eventually become an easier avenue for the paralyzed British physicist and many others to share their deep thoughts.

The system, developed by San Diego-based NeuroVigil and known as iBrain, uses a head-mounted receiver the size of a matchbox to pick up different types of brain waves. iBrain employs a computer algorithm called SPEARS to analyze the brain emanations and encode them for a text-based speech reader. Philip Low, NeuroVigil's founder, chairman and CEO, is to present the latest results from his work with Hawking on July 7 at a Cambridge conference on consciousness.


"I haven't discussed doing a demonstration with Stephen, but we could do that, of course," Low told me today. During the conference, Low will be showing video clips of Hawking using the iBrain to communicate.

For decades, Hawking has been coping with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative nerve disease that has left the theoretical physicist confined to a wheelchair and unable to move even his fingers. To write or speak, he currently uses an infrared sensor system mounted on his eyeglasses: His cheek twitches are read by the sensor to control a wheelchair-mounted computer system that slowly encodes the patterns of those twitches. It can take a half-hour for Hawking to twitch out a couple of sentences in response to a question.

In an abstract prepared for next month's presentation, Low and Hawking describe how they worked out their technique for the iBrain system. Hawking (who is described as a "high-functioning 70-year-old ALS patient" in the abstract) was told to try moving one of his hands or feet ? for example, flexing his foot or scrunching his hand into a ball. The limbs didn't move, of course, but just thinking about trying to move them generated readable brain-wave patterns.

"The subject's brain activity demonstrated distinct broad-spectrum pulses extending to the gamma and ultra-high gamma ranges," the researchers wrote. "Such pulses were present in the absence of actual movement, and absent when the subject was not attempting motion."

The abstract said Hawking's brain also buzzed with alpha brain waves when he closed his eyes, as expected.?Alpha waves are associated with wakeful relaxation, and are probably familiar to anyone who's undergone biofeedback training. Gamma waves, in contrast, are associated with increased attention?? and in the past have been linked to?activities ranging from running to learning.

Lots of possibilities
The fact that Hawking's brain signals could be read reliably is a good sign, not only for one of the world's best-known scientists but for hundreds of thousands of others around the world.?Low and Hawking say their work "opens the possibility to link intended movements to a library of words and convert them into speech, thus providing ALS sufferers with communication tools more dependent on the brain than on the body."

Low told me that the brainwave-reading device could be used to control prosthetic devices "to give ALS sufferers mobility"?? sort of like a real-life version of the Stephen Hawking robotic exoskeleton proposed in an Onion parody 15 years ago.

The iBrain device could have other applications, such as diagnosing sleep apnea, studying autism and monitoring other brain conditions. It's already been used in a clinical trial to monitor the effects of experimental drugs on brain activity. The U.S. military is also looking into how the device can help treat traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, which are big issues for combat veterans. Direct brain-to-speech communication, however, represents the highest-profile application, particularly when Stephen Hawking is involved.

"We'd like to find a way to bypass his body, pretty much hack his brain," The Telegraph quoted Low as saying.

The key question for Hawking is whether iBrain represents an improvement over the system he currently has. Back in April, the professor told The New York Times?that the project hadn't quite reached that point. "At the moment I think my cheek switch is faster ... but should the position change I will try Philip Low's system," he wrote in an email sent by an assistant.

In that quote, Low said Hawking was talking about brain-computer interfaces in general, rather than specifically about iBrain. "What we are seeing is in fact an immediate response, so the question is going to be to productize this, so that he can communicate reliably should he lose control of his cheek muscles," he said.

TEDMED via YouTube

Neuroscientist Philip Low (at right) demonstrates how the iBrain device can send brain-wave readings to a cellphone with an subject who's wearing the headband (at left) during a TEDMED 2009 presentation. Click on the image to watch the YouTube clip.

Personal quest
Low said the iBrain project was already moving on to Version 2.0, and the iBrain 3 device is due to be built next year. "That will be about the size of a U.S. quarter," he told me. "People will be able to check their brain activity much like you or I can check our blood pressure."

The 32-year-old, Vienna-born researcher's company has come a long way since its founding, which Low says he initially financed by putting $240,000 on his credit card. Someday, he hopes brain-monitoring systems will be used to pick up the signs of neurological problems early enough to do something about them. For Low, this is not just business. It's personal.

"I would have loved to see this 20 years ago, when my father suffered from a side effect of a commonly used sleep drug," he told me. "He threatened someone with a weapon ... a gun, actually. And it destroyed our family."

His father was eventually pardoned, but it took a long time to put everything back together. That experience led Low to look into the neurological basis of sleep, including experiments with bird brains. That was what led him to come up with the SPEARS algorithm in the first place.

"It's very ironic that an algorithm I initially developed to analyze the brain patterns of birds has found its way to dealing with Stephen Hawking's brain patterns, the U.S. military and autistic children," he told me.?

More about Stephen Hawking:


Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

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BondingContractors.com ? Blog Archive ? Outfits For Pet dogs ...

We humans commemorate Halloween in a grand old design, and for many of us, it is a thinly veiled pretext for us to let our hair down and really go wild at whatever party we can easily take care of to appeal our way into. Why should our loved buddies be left at home whilst their masters get a kick out of all the fun and glory? With puppy costumes, you will be able to bring your pet along with you and let them enjoy themselves.

In these economically turbulent and volatile times, money is tighter than ever before and so people are having to cut corners and conserve funds wherever and nevertheless they can. With that in mind then, if your dog is a puppy (and therefore, liable to experience a progression spurt sometime in the near future) then you must think of utilizing Costumes For Pets that have Velcro straps.

The major benefit of Velcro straps is that they can effortlessly be scaled up-wards or downwards as the scenarios of the situation could merit and so if your cute little puppy at last reaches full size, that stunning fairy wardrobe is quite possibly going to need some readjusting.

Be cautious about purchasing the very first few costumes for your puppy that you occur to stumble across on the net. The explanation for this is that provided how competitive the market pet costumes happens to be, this means that there is a lot of price competitors out there. Just what this suggests in real terms is that if the customer is shrewd enough to shop around and compare the different clothing that are on sale, they will definitely have the ability to discover the perfect costume that additionally happens to be within their price array.

This might sound like a rather outlandish thing to be concerned about, but, offered the nature of the family holiday, it is consistently safe to be mindful. When purchasing a costume for your canine, make sure that they are not flammable because throughout Halloween candles have a tendency to be conspicuously utilized. The last thing you prefer is for your dog to end up coming to be a fireball as their flammable costume instantly comes to be ignited by a stray candle.

With alcohol freely streaming and a total shortage of parental obligation, you never recognize just what might effectively happen.

Given the fact that Halloween only comes as soon as a year, you could would like to offer some severe consideration as to renting an outfit. The explanation that renting outfits for canines is a really good concept is that not just do you conserve money in terms of what you would pay over purchasing the fashion itself, but, in the occasion that your puppy grows larger, further down the road, you are not stuck with a fashion that is means too small for them. Weigh the difference between leasing a pet fashion and buying one.

The writer happens to be in the area of dogs and cats and into small dog harness for some time and made an article that can be find at http://pawspetstore.com/article_1/Wide-Variety-of-Unique-Dog-Goodies-at-Paws-Pet-Store.htm to get answers to your issues.

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Monday, June 25, 2012

New tools for evaluating quality of life for cats, dogs with heart disease

New tools for evaluating quality of life for cats, dogs with heart disease [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 25-Jun-2012
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Contact: Thomas Keppeler
tom.keppeler@tufts.edu
508-839-7910
Tufts University, Health Sciences Campus

'CATCH' and 'FETCH' scores help veterinarians and pet owners make critical decisions

Quality of life has become accepted as an important predictor of survival among human patients with heart failure. Now veterinarians at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University have developed two surveys that may prove to be similarly useful in evaluating the quality of life for dogs and cats with heart disease.

Known as "FETCH" (Functional Evaluation of Cardiac Health) and "CATCH" (Cats' Assessment Tool for Cardiac Health), the surveys ask owners to rank aspects of their dog's or cat's health on a scale of 0 to 5. Veterinarians are then able to assess the animal's perceived quality of life, which may inform decisions about treatment, nutrition or even euthanasia.

Researchers found that the FETCH and CATCH scores correlated well to the International Small Animal Cardiac Health Council (ISACHC) classification for disease severity.

Results of the CATCH evaluation were published in the May 15 edition of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, building on the earlier publication of the FETCH study.

"Studies have indicated that pet owners value quality of life much more than longevity in their animals," said Professor of Clinical Sciences Lisa M. Freeman, board-certified by the American College of Veterinary Nutrition . "We want our dogs and cats to have happy lives, and we believe this tool is a helpful in evaluating whether our pets still do."

The survey tools were developed by Freeman and Professor of Clinical Sciences John E. Rush, board-certified cardiologist and criticalist at the veterinary school's Foster Hospital for Small Animals. Freeman and Rush set out to create and evaluate a tool for pets similar to the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire, one of the most widely used evaluation tools in human cardiology.

The CATCH tool was validated using studies in 75 cats at Tufts' Foster Hospital for Small Animals, the University of Pennsylvania's Medical School and the VCA Animal Care Center of Sonoma County (Rohert Park, Calif.), then tested in 200 cats at the three previous sites, as well as Oregon State University, Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital (Woburn, Mass.) and Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston.

The work on the tools will continue to measure their responsiveness to medical treatment and create a clinical and research tool for clinicians, Freeman said.

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Freeman LM, Rush JE, Oyama MA, Macdonald KA, Cunningham SM, Bulmer B, Macgregor JM, Laste NJ, Malakoff RL, Hall DJ, Trafny DJ. "Development and evaluation of a questionnaire for assessment of health-related quality of life in cats with cardiac disease." J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2012 May 15;240(10):1188-93.

About the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University

Founded in 1978 in North Grafton, Mass., Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University is internationally esteemed for academic programs that impact society and the practice of veterinary medicine; three hospitals and two clinics that combined log more than 80,000 animal cases each year; and groundbreaking research that benefits animal, public, and environmental health.


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New tools for evaluating quality of life for cats, dogs with heart disease [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 25-Jun-2012
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Contact: Thomas Keppeler
tom.keppeler@tufts.edu
508-839-7910
Tufts University, Health Sciences Campus

'CATCH' and 'FETCH' scores help veterinarians and pet owners make critical decisions

Quality of life has become accepted as an important predictor of survival among human patients with heart failure. Now veterinarians at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University have developed two surveys that may prove to be similarly useful in evaluating the quality of life for dogs and cats with heart disease.

Known as "FETCH" (Functional Evaluation of Cardiac Health) and "CATCH" (Cats' Assessment Tool for Cardiac Health), the surveys ask owners to rank aspects of their dog's or cat's health on a scale of 0 to 5. Veterinarians are then able to assess the animal's perceived quality of life, which may inform decisions about treatment, nutrition or even euthanasia.

Researchers found that the FETCH and CATCH scores correlated well to the International Small Animal Cardiac Health Council (ISACHC) classification for disease severity.

Results of the CATCH evaluation were published in the May 15 edition of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, building on the earlier publication of the FETCH study.

"Studies have indicated that pet owners value quality of life much more than longevity in their animals," said Professor of Clinical Sciences Lisa M. Freeman, board-certified by the American College of Veterinary Nutrition . "We want our dogs and cats to have happy lives, and we believe this tool is a helpful in evaluating whether our pets still do."

The survey tools were developed by Freeman and Professor of Clinical Sciences John E. Rush, board-certified cardiologist and criticalist at the veterinary school's Foster Hospital for Small Animals. Freeman and Rush set out to create and evaluate a tool for pets similar to the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire, one of the most widely used evaluation tools in human cardiology.

The CATCH tool was validated using studies in 75 cats at Tufts' Foster Hospital for Small Animals, the University of Pennsylvania's Medical School and the VCA Animal Care Center of Sonoma County (Rohert Park, Calif.), then tested in 200 cats at the three previous sites, as well as Oregon State University, Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital (Woburn, Mass.) and Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston.

The work on the tools will continue to measure their responsiveness to medical treatment and create a clinical and research tool for clinicians, Freeman said.

###

Freeman LM, Rush JE, Oyama MA, Macdonald KA, Cunningham SM, Bulmer B, Macgregor JM, Laste NJ, Malakoff RL, Hall DJ, Trafny DJ. "Development and evaluation of a questionnaire for assessment of health-related quality of life in cats with cardiac disease." J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2012 May 15;240(10):1188-93.

About the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University

Founded in 1978 in North Grafton, Mass., Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University is internationally esteemed for academic programs that impact society and the practice of veterinary medicine; three hospitals and two clinics that combined log more than 80,000 animal cases each year; and groundbreaking research that benefits animal, public, and environmental health.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


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.


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