Inhospitable weather is hurting horseracing cards very badly these days. Doncaster?s Friday card is already in danger, with an inspection planned for Wednesday. But there is some hope as well. The venue is likely to provide jumps fan some cheer on the weekend,
as Saturday?s card is expected to go ahead as planned.
Doncaster is due to host a few major races this weekend. The card includes: Crownhotel-bawtry.com Handicap Hurdle, Racing Post Lightning Novices? Chase Grade 2, Albert Bartlett Novices? Hurdle (Registered As The River Don Novices? Hurdle Race) Grade 2, OLBG.com
Doncaster Mares? Hurdle Grade 2, Sky Bet Chase (A Handicap) (formerly The Great Yorkshire Chase) (Listed Race), TRM Handicap Chase, and Park Hill Hospital EBF Mares? Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race.
Doncaster clerk of the course Roderick Duncan told the Racing Post on Monday: "The forecast has improved a little. We're forecast positive daytime temperatures.?
"There may be a flurry or two of snow around on Wednesday and Thursday, but not a significant amount, and there's every chance that will turn to sleet or rain. Then we'd have a real opportunity."
The spectators at Doncaster are likely to witness plenty of excitement on Saturday. A lot of big runners are due to reach here to show their magic. Lucinda Russell, who trains Bold Sir Brian and Silver By Nature, reveals her plans:
"Bold Sir Brian has also got an entry in the two-mile-five race at Cheltenham. We'll decide which is the best race for him.?
"Silver By Nature is never at his best for his first run, so we're dead keen to get this run into him, then go for the Grand National Trial at Haydock."
The Grade 2 Racing Post Lightning Novices? Chase, which is second race on the card, has attracted 10 exciting entries. The conditions are likely to be very testing, therefore every runner has to be extra cautious.
The Donald McCain-trained, Overturn, is determined to continue the good work after a couple of thrilling wins. Similarly, Tap Night, Lucinda Russell?s charge, is aiming for the hat-trick. The audience is keenly waiting for the action, hoping that the weather
will stay good in the next few days.
A year ago, the $49.99 HTC One VX for AT&T would've been a top-of-the-line superphone. Today it's just a beautiful smartphone?with solid specs and a budget price. The HTC One VX gets you a lovely display, plenty of power, and good battery life, all wrapped up in a phone that's very comfortable to use. Thing is, there are so many good phones out there right now that the HTC One VX isn't quite good enough unseat the Pantech Discover, our current Editors' Choice for budget smartphones.
Design and Call Quality The HTC One VX may be inexpensive, but it looks like a million bucks. HTC's eye for design is on full display here, from the silver plastic rim around the display, to the matte white polycarbonate backing. Peeling it off gives you access to the microSD and SIM card slots, but alas, the 1800mAh battery has been sealed in. There's a volume rocker on the right side of the phone and a power button on top, but minimalism is the name of the game here.
The One VX measures 5.26 by 2.66 by 0.36 inches (HWD) and weighs just 4.37 ounces. Compared to many of the gargantuan new smartphones out there, it fits comfortably and naturally in the palm of my hand.
The 4.5-inch Super LCD 2 screen features 960-by-540-pixel resolution. It's bright and sharp, though not quite as impressive as the 4.8-inch, 720p display on the Pantech Flex. Still, the One VX is easier to hold. There are haptic feedback-enabled touch buttons beneath the display, which I find a little easier to use than the onscreen buttons on many new phones.
The One VX runs on AT&T's EDGE, HSPA+, and LTE networks. You also get 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, which includes support for the faster 5GHz band. I got very good reception and LTE data speeds in New York City, which has been true for most new AT&T phones. As we discovered in our?Fastest Mobile Networks?survey, AT&T's LTE speeds can exceed Verizon's, though Verizon and covers more of the nation. You can use the One VX as a mobile hotspot as long as you're using (at minimum) AT&T's $50 monthly 5GB data plan.
Call quality is pretty good. Voices sound full in the earpiece, though there's some fuzz and hiss. Calls made with the phone are very loud and clear, with average noise cancellation. Calls were fine through a Jawbone Era?Bluetooth headset and standard Android voice dialing worked well over Bluetooth. The speakerphone sounds good and is loud enough to hear outside. The 1800mAh battery was good for a whopping 14 hours and 21 minutes of talk time.
Hardware, Android, and Apps Inside, the One VX is running on a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8930 processor. That isn't quite as fast as the 1.5GHz chip in phones like the Pantech Flex and Samsung Galaxy S III. But the One VX has a lower screen resolution, so it evened out in many of our gaming benchmarks, though the Flex is faster for browsing and in general. Still, at this level of processing power, you'll be able to run any app from the Google Play app store.
The One VX is running Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich), which is a little disappointing, since other new HTC phones like the One X+ are running Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). HTC promises an update, but as usual, there's no timeline for when. You also get HTC's Sense 4.1 overlay, which is a step behind Sense 4+, though it's similar enough.
MILAN (AP) -AC Milan vice president Adriano Galliani said on Saturday that the club is interested in signing Mario Balotelli but only if Manchester City drops its asking price for the Italy striker.
Balotelli, who is a lifelong Milan fan, has long been linked with a return to Italy, where he progressed through the ranks at Inter Milan before joining City in 2010.
"At the end of Friday Manchester City was still saying ?37 million, we'll see on Monday," Galliani said. "At that price, Balotelli will stay at Manchester City."
Balotelli's agent, Mino Raiola, spent time at Milan's headquarters on Friday.
Galliani is more hopeful of bringing Milan idol Kaka back to San Siro on a loan deal until 2015 and is in talks with the Real Madrid player about reducing his salary.
"At this moment, it's looking good, what's positive is that Real want to let him leave, Milan wants to take him and Kaka wants to come to Milan," Galliani said. "What's negative is that we still have a mountain to climb in contractual terms as Spanish fiscal law is different, otherwise there's no way they could have paid the player what they did.
"If the player comes to play in Italy he would be considered Italian in regards to our fiscal codes and that's the obstacle. If Kaka arrives, he'll come for 2 1/2 years, the loan deal isn't a problem but his wages (are)."
A move to bring Kaka back before the start of the season fell through and Galliani said on Wednesday that Milan could not afford his wages.
However, Kaka later hinted he would be prepared to take a pay cut after a flying visit to the city to have dinner with compatriot and current Milan striker Robinho.
Kaka is still adored at Milan, where he had a golden six-year spell during which he helped it to the Serie A and Champions League titles.
Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri is also keen on signing Kaka but insists there will be no move for another former veteran, David Beckham.
"There are talks in progress for Kaka, an important negotiation process if this great return should occur," Allegri said. "I agree with the club and Adriano Galliani on everything, so there has never been my position opposed to that of the club. There is an exchange of ideas, certainly, but it's not true that I don't want Kaka.
"I know Beckham, he is a great guy and a player of real class. However, you can't wipe out his birth certificate and Milan have chosen to focus on youth hopefully with support from an important champion like Kaka."
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
advertisement
More newsAnder Gillenea / AFP - Getty Images
Roundup: 10-man Barcelona loses at Sociedad
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - Ten-man Barcelona lost its first match of the Spanish league season Saturday, squandering a two-goal lead in a 3-2 defeat at Real Sociedad and allowing an injury-time winner.
LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - London's Heathrow Airport canceled a fifth of flights on Sunday and airlines scrapped 40 percent of flights to Paris's main airports as snow blanketed parts of Europe, with more forecast.
Air France predicted more cancellations on a similar scale for Monday.
Heathrow Ltd, owned by Spain's Ferrovial, said the reduced schedule - amounting to around 250 fewer flights - would help it cope with the snowfall without making further cancellations.
As snow continued to fall through Sunday, the airport operator said Monday's flight schedule would be cut by 10 percent. That number could rise, depending on conditions at other European airports, Heathrow said.
The Paris airport operator, ADP, said airlines scrapped 40 percent of flights in and out of the two main airports on the outskirts of Paris, Charles de Gaulle and Orly, primarily reducing short-haul services.
London's smaller Stansted and Gatwick airports said they were operating as normal on Sunday morning but that delays and some flight cancellations were likely.
Weather forecaster the British Met Office said snow was likely to continue into Monday. As much as eight centimeters was expected in southeast England on Sunday, it said.
On average, some 1,300 flights leave Heathrow daily. The airport, Europe's busiest, operates at close to full capacity after Britain's coalition government blocked development of a third runway in 2010.
"Many airports have plenty of spare runway capacity so aircraft can be spaced out more during low visibility without causing delays and cancellations," said Heathrow, whose owners have campaigned hard for more capacity at the London hub.
"Because Heathrow operates at almost full capacity, there is simply no room to reschedule the delayed flights," it said.
Heathrow has spent 36 million pounds ($57 million) on upgrading its winter weather equipment since 2010 - a year that saw it face heavy criticism after it almost shut down when snow hit just before Christmas. It now has 130 snow-clearing vehicles.
More than 400 flights were canceled on Friday, while on Saturday 111 flights, most of them operated by IAG's British Airways, were canceled and hundreds of passengers spent the night in Heathrow's terminals.
BA said there had been a knock-on effect because many of its planes were in the wrong place after Friday's snow.
"Like other airlines at Heathrow we have complied with a request to reduce our schedule by 20 percent on Sunday and we continue to work with Heathrow Airport to help keep the airport running as smoothly as possible," BA said in a statement.
"We are doing everything we can to help customers whose flights have been disrupted by severe weather."
Services by Air France-KLM, Ireland's Aer Lingus and Germany's Lufthansa have also been affected.
France's SNCF rail firm announced delays of up to 40 minutes on many lines as drivers cut speed in a safety measure.
Some 25,000 homes lost power supply in southwestern France.
Emergency services were drafted in to rescue around 100 people from an urban train carriage that got stuck on a track which passes in open air over the Seine river in Paris, said Frederic Grosjean, a spokesman for city's emergency services.
(Additional reporting by Rosalba O'Brien in London, and Brian Love and Gerard Bon in Paris; Editing by Louise Heavens and Myra MacDonald)
When you thought a wedding/engagement was the biggest thing in your life, you find yourself pregnant and preparing the biggest and first event of your baby?s life, the Baby Shower. There?s nothing quite like preparing the perfect baby shower; as well as ensuring your guests are hosted to the highest standards, it is every Mum?s big moment for celebrating their soon to be newborn. Everything must be perfect!
Choosing a theme can be a project in itself; the gender is a good start but if waiting for a surprise, the opportunities are endless. At Mumzworld, we provide a whole host of charming and inspiring ideas, all of which add that sparkle and touch of magic to your memorable occasion. ?Special events such as these always warrant something unique and unusual with sentiment and subtlety. Do yourself a?favor?and take a look at Mumzworld collection, we make your magical day a memorable one with everything needed for the perfectly planned Baby Shower.
Set your?color?combinations, pastels, primary or white wash and decide upon your message, whether welcoming, filled with wonder or wise words. Make?marvelous?memories with table decorations and?center?pieces for all to admire and enjoy. Be the talk of the town with?favors?and subtle thank you as your guests take their seats and sit down. Celebrate in style with your room dressed to impress; add a personal touch, a poem, family photo, message to your new born, something cute and guaranteed to be a success.
It?s Mums big moment to enjoy her last weeks of pregnancy with friends and family in anticipation awaiting her newborn. Sharing and?swapping?baby stories, asking questions and embracing the change, it?s a wonderful experience one that will never be the same again.
Make your baby?s pre-birth celebrations a soaking success, one that represents you, your baby and family, illustrating love and relationships to admire to impress. The Baby Shower is your hour to mark and celebrate the creation and miracle of your next generation.
High oil prices and continued oil problems around the world will likely push the US economy into a severe recession by the end of 2013, Tverberg writes.
By Gail Tverberg,?Guest blogger / January 19, 2013
In this December 2012 photo, the sun sets behind an oil pump jack and the Rocky Mountains near Fredrick, Colo. High oil prices tend to lead to unemployment, Tverberg writes, and high unemployment tends to lead to higher government expenditures and lower government revenue.
Ed Andrieski/AP/File
Enlarge
We have been hearing a lot about escaping the fiscal cliff, but our problem isn?t solved. The fixes to date have been partial and temporary. There are many painful decisions ahead. Based on what I can see, the most likely outcome is that the US economy will enter a severe recession by the end of 2013.
Skip to next paragraph Our Finite World
Gail Tverberg, an actuary with a background in math, analyzes energy and financial matters from a perspective that the world has limited resources. For more of Gail's posts, click?here.
Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition
My expectation is that credit markets are likely see increased defaults, as workers find their wages squeezed by higher Social Security taxes, and as government programs are cut back. Credit is likely to decrease in availability and become higher-priced. It is quite possible that credit problems will adversely affect the international trade system. Stock markets will tend to perform poorly. The Federal Reserve will try to intervene in credit markets, but if the US government is one of the defaulters (at least temporarily), it may not be able to completely fix the situation.
Less credit will tend to hold down prices of goods and services. Fewer people will be working, though, so even at reduced prices, many people will find discretionary items such as larger homes, new cars, and restaurant meals?to be unaffordable. Thus, once the recession is in force, car sales are likely to drop, and prices of resale homes will again decline.
Oil prices may temporarily drop. This price decrease, together with a drop in credit availability, is likely to lead to a reduction in drilling in high-priced locations, such as US oil shale (tight oil) plays.?
Other energy sources are also likely to be affected. Demand for electricity is likely to drop. Renewable energy investment is likely to decline because of less electricity demand and less credit availability. By 2014 and 2015, less government funding may also play a role.
This recession is likely be very long term. In fact, based on my view of the reasons for the recession, it may never be possible to exit from it completely.
I base the foregoing views on several observations:
1.?High oil prices are a major cause of the United States Federal Government?s current financial problems.?The financial difficulties occur because high oil prices tend to lead to unemployment, and high unemployment tends to lead to higher government expenditures and lower government revenue. This is especially true for oil importers.
2.?The United States and world?s oil problems have not been solved.?While there are new sources of oil, they tend to be sources of expensive oil, so they don?t solve the problem of?high-priced?oil. Furthermore, if ourreal economic problem is high-priced oil, and we have no way of permanently reducing oil prices, high oil prices can be expected to cause a long-term drag on economic growth.
3.?A cutback in discretionary spending ?is likely.?US workers are already struggling with wages that are not rising as fast as GDP (Figure 2). Starting in January, 2013, US workers have the additional problem of rising Social Security taxes, and later this year, a likely cutback in government expenditures. The combination is likely to lead to a cutback in discretionary spending.
4.?The size of our current financial problems, both in terms of US government income/outgo imbalance and debt level, is extremely large.??If high oil prices present a permanent drag on the economy, we cannot expect economic growth to resume in a way that would fix these problems.
Last year, the growing popularity of electronic dance music, or E.D.M., brought out the deal-makers of the music industry as if drawn to the scent of prey. A handful of big dance promoters were sold, and one media mogul, Robert F.X. Sillerman, announced plans to build a $1 billion dance music empire. But the year ended without any big, market-defining deal.
That deal may be coming soon, however, with the possible sale of Insomniac Events, which puts on the huge Electric Daisy Carnival festival. Bidders for the company include Live Nation Entertainment and Mr. Sillerman?s company, SFX Entertainment. AEG Live and Red Light Management, an artist management firm with interests in music festivals like Bonnaroo, have also made offers but are not believed to be strong contenders in the auction, according to several people?directly involved with the talks.
These companies ? among the biggest players in live music ? are valuing Insomniac at between $70 million and $100 million, and are looking to buy anywhere from 50 to 100 percent of the business, said these people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were ongoing.
Representatives of all the companies declined to comment.
Insomniac, founded 20 years ago by Pasquale Rotella, is the biggest promoter of electronic dance music in the country. The company sold more than one million tickets last year to dozens of events; its biggest, the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, had more than 300,000 people in attendance over three days. The company did not report sales figures for that event, but a smaller Electric Daisy last year, in New Jersey ? with only 100,000 in attendance ? had $7.3 million in gross ticket sales, according to Pollstar, a concert industry trade publication.
The sale of Insomniac could shift the competitive landscape of the business. SFX, for example, which so far has made only a handful of deals, would instantly become a major player with Insomniac in its portfolio, while Live Nation, which puts on dozens of festivals around the world, could end up controlling many of the biggest dance events in the United States as well.
A deal for Insomniac could be particularly important for Mr. Sillerman, who wants to build a national media network around the disconnected dance audience. So far he has bought two promoters, and according to a report on Thursday in Miami New Times, SFX has also made an investment in a number of major nightclubs in Miami. That is a small empire compared with Live Nation, but Mr. Sillerman has been down this road before: in the 1990s, he established the core of what became Live Nation by buying up dozens of rock promoters around the country, much as he is attempting to do now in the world of E.D.M.
The people briefed on the talks said it was possible that the sale process could break down. One reason is that Mr. Rotella, like many promoters of his generation, built up his company gradually, on the fringes of the industry, and he may prefer to remain independent. Mr. Rotella has also spoken out against corporate deals in the past.
The dance world is also seen as risky by some investors, and the scene has never shaken its reputation as a drug haven. At Electric Daisy in Los Angeles three years ago, for example, a 15-year-old girl died of a drug overdose. Mr. Rotella has had other problems as well. Last year he was indicted by a California grand jury on charges related to the embezzlement of $2.5 million from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. He has denied the charges.
Ben Sisario writes about the music industry. Follow @sisario on Twitter.
While the auto industry collectively recovers, debates, and conducts other miscellaneous post-mortem Detroit Auto Show things; the Montreal International Auto Show is just, ahem, revving up. Today, Honda unexpectedly debuted the Gear concept: a compact car reportedly "inspired by fixed-gear bicycles." Honda says the Gear provides "the automotive answer for young, urban, Gen-Y lifestyles."
So, how can car design be inspired by a bicycle with a single gear, is in incapable of coasting, and in some cases feature no brakes? According to Honda the connection is more of a philosophical one, "It is simple and utilitarian, but also customizable, connected and full of personality," the Japanese Automaker said in a release.
Translated into non-marketing speak, Honda is trying to reach out to the young, city-dwelling demographic by creating a car not modeled after the practical reasons why people ride bikes?dirt cheap, simple, sustainable transport?but because a few hip neighborhoods across the country created a status symbol out of the unassuming fixie.
It makes some sense. In essence, people got into fixed-gear and single-speed bikes because they were contrarian?formerly only used by kids on BMX bikes, bike messengers, and Olympic track cyclists. Honda is trying to recreate that contrarianism in car?the fixed-gear bicycle of cars.
But one key point the Japanese automaker is missing is that it's much less expensive to achieve high-class status within the fixed-gear circles?or even cycling in general?than it is within automotive ones. Spend $800 on a high-quality frame, another couple hundred or so in parts, and for around $2,000, in terms of status, you've got the Ferrari-equivalent fixie. No matter how affordable Honda makes their conceptual Gear subcompact, $2,000 isn't going to go very far in the automotive world.
And besides, the very act of turning your bicycle into a status symbol is, at its very core, a response to the car as one.
This isn't the first time an automaker has tried to court cyclists, however. Within recent memory is the 1997 Volkswagen Jetta Trek, which is just a Jetta with a bike rack and a Trek mountain bike on top, as Volkswagen explains in no uncertain terms in their 1997 TV ad:
Another is the 2000 Ford Focus Kona: A brown-colored Ford Focus ZX3 with, you guessed it, a bike rack and a Kona mountain bike on top.
Truthfully, if Honda wants to grab the attention of a handful of trendy zip codes, it couldn't hurt to throw in some bicycle parts.
Potential new treatment for gastrointestinal cancers discoveredPublic release date: 17-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Vanessa Solomon
solomon@wehi.edu.au
61-393-452-971
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
Rachel Steinhardt
rsteinhardt@licr.org
212-450-1582
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
Researchers have identified a complex of proteins that promotes the growth of some types of colon and gastric cancers, and shown that medications that block the function of this complex have the potential to be developed into a new treatment for these diseases.
The complex of proteins, known as mTorc1 (mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1), has previously been implicated in the development of some other cancers but this is the first time it has been shown to promote the growth of colon and gastric cancers that are associated with inflammation.
Dr Stefan Thiem and Associate Professor Matthias Ernst from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute's Cell Signalling and Cell Death division made the discovery with colleagues while at the Melbourne-Parkville Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. Associate Professor Ernst is a Ludwig Institute Member. Their findings are published online today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Cancers of the digestive system are a significant cause of death in Australia. Colon (or bowel) cancer causes more than 4000 deaths annually more than any other cancer except lung cancer while more than 1000 Australians die from gastric (or stomach) cancer each year.
Ernst said many types of colon and gastric cancer were associated with chronic inflammation. "We have previously shown that the immune system's inflammatory response can promote the growth of tumours," he said. "In the digestive system, persistent inflammatory conditions have been linked with tumour growth: patients who have stomach ulcers or gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining) are more susceptible to gastric cancer, while inflammation of the colon, called colitis, is associated with an increased risk of developing colon cancer."
The research team found that inflammation-associated gastric and colon cancers showed activation of mTorc1, an aggregate of proteins that signals inside cells to promote growth. Many cancer types depend on mTorc1 activity to grow, and there is considerable interest in the use of mTorc1 inhibitors to treat cancer.
The growth of inflammation-associated colon and gastric cancers could be treated with mTorc1 inhibitors, Ernst said. "We were excited to discover that the growth of these cancers in laboratory models could be prevented by treatment with mTorc1 inhibitors that are already in clinical trials for other types of cancer," he said. "In the future, we hope that this finding might lead to better treatment options for colon and gastric cancers that are associated with inflammation. Since there are also other types of cancer that are associated with inflammation, we suspect that these could also be susceptible to treatment with mTorc1 inhibitors."
###
The research was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council and the Victorian Government.
[ | E-mail | 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.
Potential new treatment for gastrointestinal cancers discoveredPublic release date: 17-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Vanessa Solomon
solomon@wehi.edu.au
61-393-452-971
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
Rachel Steinhardt
rsteinhardt@licr.org
212-450-1582
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
Researchers have identified a complex of proteins that promotes the growth of some types of colon and gastric cancers, and shown that medications that block the function of this complex have the potential to be developed into a new treatment for these diseases.
The complex of proteins, known as mTorc1 (mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1), has previously been implicated in the development of some other cancers but this is the first time it has been shown to promote the growth of colon and gastric cancers that are associated with inflammation.
Dr Stefan Thiem and Associate Professor Matthias Ernst from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute's Cell Signalling and Cell Death division made the discovery with colleagues while at the Melbourne-Parkville Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. Associate Professor Ernst is a Ludwig Institute Member. Their findings are published online today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Cancers of the digestive system are a significant cause of death in Australia. Colon (or bowel) cancer causes more than 4000 deaths annually more than any other cancer except lung cancer while more than 1000 Australians die from gastric (or stomach) cancer each year.
Ernst said many types of colon and gastric cancer were associated with chronic inflammation. "We have previously shown that the immune system's inflammatory response can promote the growth of tumours," he said. "In the digestive system, persistent inflammatory conditions have been linked with tumour growth: patients who have stomach ulcers or gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining) are more susceptible to gastric cancer, while inflammation of the colon, called colitis, is associated with an increased risk of developing colon cancer."
The research team found that inflammation-associated gastric and colon cancers showed activation of mTorc1, an aggregate of proteins that signals inside cells to promote growth. Many cancer types depend on mTorc1 activity to grow, and there is considerable interest in the use of mTorc1 inhibitors to treat cancer.
The growth of inflammation-associated colon and gastric cancers could be treated with mTorc1 inhibitors, Ernst said. "We were excited to discover that the growth of these cancers in laboratory models could be prevented by treatment with mTorc1 inhibitors that are already in clinical trials for other types of cancer," he said. "In the future, we hope that this finding might lead to better treatment options for colon and gastric cancers that are associated with inflammation. Since there are also other types of cancer that are associated with inflammation, we suspect that these could also be susceptible to treatment with mTorc1 inhibitors."
###
The research was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council and the Victorian Government.
[ | E-mail | 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.
Psy?cho?log?i?cal Health and Safety in the Work?place Stan?dard released!
Back?ground
In?recent?years,?a?grow?ing?base?of?evi?dence?has?illu?mi?nated?the?impor?tance?of?address?ing the psy?cho?log?i?cal require?ments of employ?ees in the work?place. Con?se?quently, the?Men?tal?Health?Com?mis?sion?of?Canada?(MHCC)?cham?pi?oned?the?devel?op?ment?of?a?National?Stan?dard?of?Canada?for?Psy?cho?log?i?cal?Health?and?Safety?in?the?Work?place work?ing?col?lab?o?ra?tively?with?the?Bureau?de?nor?mal?i?sa?tion?du?Qu?bec?(BNQ)?and?CSA?Standards.
The intent of devel?op?ing the Stan?dard is to pro?vide sys?tem?atic sup?ports that will enable Cana?dian employ?ers to develop and con?tin?u?ously improve psy?cho?log?i?cally safe and healthy work envi?ron?ments for their employees.
Key points about the Standard
The Stan?dard is offi?cially titled Psy?cho?log?i?cal Health and Safety in the Work?place ? Pre?ven?tion, pro?mo?tion and guid?ance to staged implementation.
The Stan?dard is vol?un?tary. It is not a legal frame?work or regulation.
The Stan?dard was devel?oped for both employ?ees and employers.
The Stan?dard is about men?tal ill?ness pre?ven?tion and men?tal health pro?mo?tion in the work?place. It is intended to help pre?vent harm to all peo?ple in the work?place, whether or not they have expe?ri?ence with men?tal illness.
The Stan?dard offers any type of orga?ni?za?tion a struc?ture and process for chang?ing how men?tal health and men?tal ill?ness are approached in the workplace.
The Stan?dard can be used dif?fer?ently by dif?fer?ent busi?nesses and orga?ni?za?tions depend?ing on their needs. Some busi?nesses may use the Stan?dard to cre?ate poli?cies and processes for pro?mot?ing good men?tal health while oth?ers may use it to inform train?ing programs.
Strong orga?ni?za?tional lead?er?ship from all work?place stake?hold?ers and a com?pre?hen?sive approach to orga?ni?za?tional change will also be required.
It is impor?tant to note that the Stan?dard is a start?ing point for chang?ing how men?tal health and men?tal ill?ness are approached in the work?place. Not all issues related to employee men?tal health can be addressed by meet?ing the Stan?dard alone.
Why is a national Stan?dard needed?
1. Employee well-being/public health case for action
Employ?ees ben?e?fit from work?places that pro?mote and pro?tect their psy?cho?log?i?cal health and safety. ?To this point, the con?sen?sus of research in this area is that healthy work lives play an essen?tial part in main?tain?ing pos?i?tive men?tal health as evi?dence by the con?clu?sions of the MHCC 2012 report Chang?ing Direc?tions, Chang?ing Lives: The Men?tal Health Strat?egy for Canada:
Adults spend more wak?ing hours in the work?place than any?where else. This includes peo?ple liv?ing wit men?tal health prob?lems and illnesses.
Healthy work lives play an essen?tial part in main?tain?ing pos?i?tive men?tal health.
The work?place plays a key role in pub?lic health ini?tia?tives aimed at pro?mot?ing men?tal health and pre?vent?ing men?tal illness.
The health or harm cre?ated in work?places spills over into the well-being of fam?i?lies, com?mu?ni?ties and soci?ety at?large.
2. Eco?nomic case for action
For employ?ers, the busi?ness case in favour of the new stan?dard rests on four main para?me?ters ? (1) enhanced cost effec?tive?ness, (2) improved risk man?age?ment, (3) increased orga?ni?za?tional recruit?ment and reten?tion as well as cor?po?rate social respon?si?bil?ity. (4) It is also an impor?tant risk man?age?ment strat?egy as employ?ers are increas?ingly held legally respon?si?ble for main?tain?ing psy?cho?log?i?cal health and safety in the work?place and increas?ingly sub?ject to civil suits for employee harass?ment, bul?ly?ing and/or chronic overwork.
Wit?ness the following:
One in five Cana?di?ans will expe?ri?ence a men?tal ill?ness in a given year. In 2011, 40% of Cana?di?ans expe?ri?enc?ing men?tal ill?ness were between the ages of 20?39 (Sem?tanin, P. et al. 2011, The list and eco?nomic impact of major men?tal ill?nesses in Canada: 2011 to?2041).
Men?tal health prob?lems and ill?nesses are a lead?ing cause of dis?abil?ity in Canada, esti?mated to account for nearly 30% of dis?abil?ity claims and 70% of the total costs (Saira?nen, Matzanke, D., & Smeall, D. 2011. The Busi?ness Case: Col?lab?o?rat?ing to help employ?ees main?tain their men?tal well-being. Health?care Papers).s
The longer some?one is away from work due to ill?ness, the less changce there is of a suc?cess?ful return to the work?place (6 months off ? 50%; 9 months ??10%)
If unad?dressed, the impact of men?tal health prob?lems on lost pro?duc?tiv?ity due to absen?teeism, pre?sen?teeism and turnover will cost Cana?dian busi?ness $198B over the next 30 years (Smetanin et al,?2011)
Between 10% and 25% of men?tal dis?abil?ity costs that are cur?rently directly borne by many employ?ers, could be avoided.
How can orga?ni?za?tions start using the Standard?
Down?load and become famil?iar with the con?tent of the Stan?dard and its annexes.
Des?ig?nate a cham?pion in your organization?s lead?er?ship team who will take respon?si?bil?ity for mov?ing for?ward with activ?i?ties to imple?ment the Stan?dard.
Get your organization?s senior lead?er?ship on board and develop a pol?icy state?ment around work?place psy?cho?log?i?cal health and safety.
Under?take a plan?ning process to iden?tify your organization?s gaps. Involve employ?ees at every stage. Use avail?able tools (e.g. GM@W, the Standard?s audit tool, exist?ing work?place data) to assess what your orga?ni?za?tion is cur?rently doing to sup?port psy?cho?log?i?cal health and safety in the work?place and what you can do to improve on that effort.
Resources for more infor?ma?tion and assistance
The Stan?dard includes infor?ma?tive annexes to help users develop approach to imple?men?ta?tion and inte?gra?tion. Other tools that com?pli?ment the Stan?dard include:
The Action Guide for Employ?ers (men?tioned in our past blog?posts)
The web?site ?Men?tal Health First Aid? (http://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.ca/EN/Pages/default.aspx)
For Twit?ter users fol?low the launch of the Stan?dard using hash?tag #workplaceMH
For Face?book users join the con?ver?sa?tion (https://www.facebook.com/theMHCC)
For YouTube view?ers view the Men?tal Health Commission?s YouTube chan?nel here: http://www.youtube.com/1mhcc. Videos from the stan?dard launch will be pub?lished as they become available.
Down?load the announce?ment here: Psy?cho?log?i?cal Health and Safety Stan?dard Like us on facebook.com/homewoodhumansolutions
In a May 2011 interview with AdAge,?Rolling Stone?founder and publisher Jann Wenner memorably described magazine publishers? embrace of the iPad as ?premature? and spurred by ?sheer insanity and insecurity and fear.? A little under two years later, Wenner Media has decided the time is right for the classic music magazine to embrace the tablet:?Rolling Stone?s first iPad edition hits Apple?s Newsstand app Thursday.
Wenner Media describes the launch as a ?planned progression? that began in May 2010 with?Rolling Stone?s Beatles guide app?and continued with a music news iPhone app and the launch of Us Weekly?on iPad last May. A digital replica edition of?Rolling Stone is already available for Kindle Fire, Nook and Zinio, but the iPad edition is optimized for the tablet and ?all of the album and song reviews and music-related articles will include a link to listen to music samples and purchase tracks from iTunes.? (Those are the red buttons in the image at left.) In his AdAge interview two years ago, one of Wenner?s arguments against releasing magazines on iPad was that it was too expensive and didn?t provide enough revenue; the iTunes affiliate partnership helps with that.
The iPad edition of Rolling Stone?will not be bundled with the print issue. iPad subscriptions are $1.99 per month or $19.99 per year, while a single issue is $4.99 ? the same as the print magazine on the newsstand.
WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) ? The Martin Luther King Jr. Parade will take place on Front Street this year.
In the past, the celebration had started on Castle Street, but organizer decided it was time for a change.
This year, the parade will start at Second and Hanover Streets and head down North Front Street to Princess Street, turn on Water Street and end at the intersection of Brunswick and Front Streets.
Organizers hope the new route will draw a larger crowd.
There?s a new coupon available for $0.50/1 Pepperidge Farm Frozen Bread. ?You can use this coupon at Meijer to pick up Texas Toast for just $1.50 each:
Pepperidge Farm Texas Toast, $2.50 $0.50/1 Pepperidge Farm Frozen Bread printable $1.50 each after coupon
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D: a film that has to resort to throwing chainsaws at its audience to make sure they?re paying attention. It ignores all other sequels and prequels of the Chainsaw franchise and carries on from the events of the 1974 original, beginning with the townspeople burning down Leatherface?s house along with his entire family. Years later, teenager Heather Miller inherits a Texas estate from her grandmother and travels there with a group of friends, only to discover that the house harbours a chainsaw-wielding serial killer with a mask of skin sewn to his face. Leatherface is back? again.
One of Texas Chainsaw?s biggest failings is its insistence that it is a sequel to the original. If they had marketed it as a sequel to the 2003 remake, that would have been bearable, but to actually try to snuggle up to the warmth of the original in the hope that some of its greatness would rub off just doesn?t work. Texas Chainsaw even begins with a muddled two minutes of actual clips from Tobe Hooper?s classic ? an attempt to remind its audience of what happened, treating it almost as though it were a condensed prequel, but it essentially just acts as a comparison. Big mistake. It?s like as if a small child showed its parents an oil painting by Picasso and then held up a scribbled pencil drawing beside it, except you?re not thinking ?this is so cute, at least he tried?, instead you just want to go home and watch the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, without having to go to the cinema and pay an extortionate amount of money to see it in 3D.
The 1974 Texas Chainsaw Massacre?is held in such high regard because of its ability to shock even forty years after its release (consider, too, its tiny budget of $80,000; TC3D?s budget was roughly 1000 times that). The film has a unique grainy, yellow quality that makes it instantly?recognizable?and somehow vaguely comforting, whilst?Texas Chainsaw 3D is more in the vein of a Saw movie (in fact, a sequel is being considered even as you read this), and so the beauty is gone and the characters have been replaced by wooden stereotypes who spend more time in their underwear than fully-clothed.
What is most interesting about Texas Chainsaw 3D, and perhaps its only redeeming quality, is the way in which Leatherface is humanised: as the film unwinds, he becomes less of a chainsaw-wielding maniac, and more of a man who cares for the members of his own family that have fed and clothed him throughout his life, for after all ?blood is thicker than water?.Yes, this element of sympathy has been explored before, most obviously in TCM3, but here it comes as a surprise, particularly when the film is just another money-making vehicle for the ?spectacle? of 3D, which is itself underwhelming and for the most part unnecessary (a few blood-spurts here and there, and an occasional chainsaw in the face are not enough to merit its inclusion in the first place).
Other than that, there?s not much more you can say. If you revel in watching teenagers being hacked into unrecognisable pieces and more ass-shots than you can keep count of, then Texas Chainsaw 3D does the job. The acting is alright (note the rooky cop played by Scott Eastwood, son of Clint), the special effects are tolerable and the story is good enough, but overall not exactly worth the admission price.
Generic HIV treatment strategy could save nearly $1 billion annually but may be less effectivePublic release date: 14-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lauren Woods Law2014@med.cornell.edu 646-317-7401 Weill Cornell Medical College
NEW YORK (Jan. 14, 2013) -- Replacing the combination of brand-name, antiretroviral drugs currently recommended for control of HIV infection with soon-to-be-available generic medications could save the U.S. health care system almost $1 billion a year but may diminish the effectiveness of HIV treatment. A study led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Weill Cornell Medical College investigators, appearing in the January 15 Annals of Internal Medicine, examines the potential impact of such a change.
"The switch from branded to generic antiretrovirals would place us in the uncomfortable position of trading some losses of both quality and quantity of life for a large potential dollar savings," says Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, of the MGH Medical Practice Evaluation Center, lead author of the study. "By estimating the likely magnitude of these offsetting effects now before generic antiretrovirals actually hit the shelves we can confront our willingness as clinicians, patients and as a society to make these difficult choices."
In 2011 the cost of antiretroviral drugs in the U.S. was around $9 billion, most of which was paid for by government sources. The currently recommended treatment for newly diagnosed patients is a single pill (Atripla) taken daily that combines three brand-name antiretrovirals: tenofovir (Viread), emtricitabine (Emtriva) and efavirenz (Sustiva). A generic form of the antiretroviral drug lamivudine, which has a similar mechanism of action to emtricitabine, became available in January 2012, and a generic version of efavirenz is expected in the relatively near future.
Replacing two of the three branded drugs with generics could significantly reduce costs, the authors note, but such a strategy would also have disadvantages. A more complicated treatment regimen, requiring three daily pills instead of one, increases the risk that some patients will miss doses, leading to the loss of antiretroviral effectiveness called treatment failure. Laboratory studies have also found that lamivudine may be slightly less effective and more vulnerable to the development of drug-resistant viral strains than emtricitabine.
To evaluate the impact of a switch to a generic-based antiretroviral regimen, the research team used a widely used mathematical model of HIV progression to simulate the effects of a daily three-pill regimen of generic efavirenz and lamivudine plus brand-name tenofovir, compared with the current one-pill combination drug. They adopted a worst-case scenario to project the efficacy of the generic drugs and their impact on viral resistance
Their results indicated that switching all HIV-infected patients in the U.S. to the three-drug generic strategy would produce lifetime savings of $42,500 per eligible patient. In the first year alone, the nationwide savings would reach nearly $1 billion. However, the quality-adjusted loss of life expectancy could be as much as 4.5 months.
The study's senior author, Bruce Schackman, PhD, chief of the Division of Health Policy and associate professor of Public Health at Weill Cornell Medical College, says, "Diverting patients from the most effective, branded treatment alternative could be made more acceptable if the savings were directed to other HIV-related needs. For example, fewer than half the state-funded AIDS Drug Assistance Programs include the effective protease-inhibitor-based treatment for hepatitis C virus (HCV), which infects up to 25 percent of HIV-infected individuals. We calculated that, for every 15 patients switched to the generic-based regimen, one who is also infected with HCV could be treated and potentially cured of that infection."
Adds Walensky, a professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, "For patients who take their medications well and adhere to the medical regimen, the generic option will be a bit more complex but could be as effective as the standard regimen. But a patient who relies heavily on the simplicity of taking a single pill is more likely to suffer detrimental effects, since missing doses will increase the risk of treatment failure.
"There's no getting around the fact that savings from generics will only be realized if we deliberately route patients away from the most effective, branded treatment alternative," she stresses. "This is a trade-off that many of us will find emotionally difficult, and perhaps even ethically impossible, to recommend. All of us consumers, providers and advocates would be far likelier to embrace such a policy change if we knew the savings would be redirected towards other aspects of HIV medicine."
###
Additional co-authors of the Annals report are Yoriko Nakamura, Pamela Pei, PhD, and Kenneth Freedberg, MD, MSc, MGH Medical Practice Evaluation Center; Paul Sax, MD, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Milton Weinstein, PhD, Harvard School of Public Health; and David Paltiel, PhD, Yale School of Medicine. The study was supported by grants from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease.
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital, founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The MGH conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United States, with an annual research budget of more than $750 million and major research centers in AIDS, cardiovascular research, cancer, computational and integrative biology, cutaneous biology, human genetics, medical imaging, neurodegenerative disorders, regenerative medicine, reproductive biology, systems biology, transplantation biology and photomedicine. In July 2012, MGH moved into the number one spot on the 2012-13 U.S. News & World Report list of "America's Best Hospitals."
Weill Cornell Medical College
Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University's medical school located in New York City, is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine, locally, nationally and globally. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research from bench to bedside, aimed at unlocking mysteries of the human body in health and sickness and toward developing new treatments and prevention strategies. In its commitment to global health and education, Weill Cornell has a strong presence in places such as Qatar, Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria and Turkey.
Through the historic Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, the Medical College is the first in the U.S. to offer its M.D. degree overseas. Weill Cornell is the birthplace of many medical advances -- including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer, the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, and most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. Weill Cornell Medical College is affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where its faculty provides comprehensive patient care at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The Medical College is also affiliated with the Methodist Hospital in Houston. For more information, visit weill.cornell.edu.
[ | E-mail | 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.
Generic HIV treatment strategy could save nearly $1 billion annually but may be less effectivePublic release date: 14-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lauren Woods Law2014@med.cornell.edu 646-317-7401 Weill Cornell Medical College
NEW YORK (Jan. 14, 2013) -- Replacing the combination of brand-name, antiretroviral drugs currently recommended for control of HIV infection with soon-to-be-available generic medications could save the U.S. health care system almost $1 billion a year but may diminish the effectiveness of HIV treatment. A study led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Weill Cornell Medical College investigators, appearing in the January 15 Annals of Internal Medicine, examines the potential impact of such a change.
"The switch from branded to generic antiretrovirals would place us in the uncomfortable position of trading some losses of both quality and quantity of life for a large potential dollar savings," says Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, of the MGH Medical Practice Evaluation Center, lead author of the study. "By estimating the likely magnitude of these offsetting effects now before generic antiretrovirals actually hit the shelves we can confront our willingness as clinicians, patients and as a society to make these difficult choices."
In 2011 the cost of antiretroviral drugs in the U.S. was around $9 billion, most of which was paid for by government sources. The currently recommended treatment for newly diagnosed patients is a single pill (Atripla) taken daily that combines three brand-name antiretrovirals: tenofovir (Viread), emtricitabine (Emtriva) and efavirenz (Sustiva). A generic form of the antiretroviral drug lamivudine, which has a similar mechanism of action to emtricitabine, became available in January 2012, and a generic version of efavirenz is expected in the relatively near future.
Replacing two of the three branded drugs with generics could significantly reduce costs, the authors note, but such a strategy would also have disadvantages. A more complicated treatment regimen, requiring three daily pills instead of one, increases the risk that some patients will miss doses, leading to the loss of antiretroviral effectiveness called treatment failure. Laboratory studies have also found that lamivudine may be slightly less effective and more vulnerable to the development of drug-resistant viral strains than emtricitabine.
To evaluate the impact of a switch to a generic-based antiretroviral regimen, the research team used a widely used mathematical model of HIV progression to simulate the effects of a daily three-pill regimen of generic efavirenz and lamivudine plus brand-name tenofovir, compared with the current one-pill combination drug. They adopted a worst-case scenario to project the efficacy of the generic drugs and their impact on viral resistance
Their results indicated that switching all HIV-infected patients in the U.S. to the three-drug generic strategy would produce lifetime savings of $42,500 per eligible patient. In the first year alone, the nationwide savings would reach nearly $1 billion. However, the quality-adjusted loss of life expectancy could be as much as 4.5 months.
The study's senior author, Bruce Schackman, PhD, chief of the Division of Health Policy and associate professor of Public Health at Weill Cornell Medical College, says, "Diverting patients from the most effective, branded treatment alternative could be made more acceptable if the savings were directed to other HIV-related needs. For example, fewer than half the state-funded AIDS Drug Assistance Programs include the effective protease-inhibitor-based treatment for hepatitis C virus (HCV), which infects up to 25 percent of HIV-infected individuals. We calculated that, for every 15 patients switched to the generic-based regimen, one who is also infected with HCV could be treated and potentially cured of that infection."
Adds Walensky, a professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, "For patients who take their medications well and adhere to the medical regimen, the generic option will be a bit more complex but could be as effective as the standard regimen. But a patient who relies heavily on the simplicity of taking a single pill is more likely to suffer detrimental effects, since missing doses will increase the risk of treatment failure.
"There's no getting around the fact that savings from generics will only be realized if we deliberately route patients away from the most effective, branded treatment alternative," she stresses. "This is a trade-off that many of us will find emotionally difficult, and perhaps even ethically impossible, to recommend. All of us consumers, providers and advocates would be far likelier to embrace such a policy change if we knew the savings would be redirected towards other aspects of HIV medicine."
###
Additional co-authors of the Annals report are Yoriko Nakamura, Pamela Pei, PhD, and Kenneth Freedberg, MD, MSc, MGH Medical Practice Evaluation Center; Paul Sax, MD, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Milton Weinstein, PhD, Harvard School of Public Health; and David Paltiel, PhD, Yale School of Medicine. The study was supported by grants from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease.
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital, founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The MGH conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United States, with an annual research budget of more than $750 million and major research centers in AIDS, cardiovascular research, cancer, computational and integrative biology, cutaneous biology, human genetics, medical imaging, neurodegenerative disorders, regenerative medicine, reproductive biology, systems biology, transplantation biology and photomedicine. In July 2012, MGH moved into the number one spot on the 2012-13 U.S. News & World Report list of "America's Best Hospitals."
Weill Cornell Medical College
Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University's medical school located in New York City, is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine, locally, nationally and globally. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research from bench to bedside, aimed at unlocking mysteries of the human body in health and sickness and toward developing new treatments and prevention strategies. In its commitment to global health and education, Weill Cornell has a strong presence in places such as Qatar, Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria and Turkey.
Through the historic Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, the Medical College is the first in the U.S. to offer its M.D. degree overseas. Weill Cornell is the birthplace of many medical advances -- including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer, the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, and most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. Weill Cornell Medical College is affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where its faculty provides comprehensive patient care at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The Medical College is also affiliated with the Methodist Hospital in Houston. For more information, visit weill.cornell.edu.
[ | E-mail | 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.
Those of you who subscribe to Baseball?America probably already have seen their Top 10 prospects for the Brewers for 2013, a list that I?help BA compile each year.
For those who haven't seen the new Top 10, here it is:
It is the second consecutive year that Peralta has been ranked as the Brewers' top prospect.?That status was in jeopardy after a shaky 2012 season at Class AAA?Nashville but Peralta re-established himself as No. 1 with a strong showing with the Brewers in September.
A couple of things of note in the Top 10. As you can see, five of the top six prospects are pitchers, a reflection of the growing number of solid arms the Brewers are developing in their farm system.
Another thing you might have noticed is that three members of the Top 10 are from the 2012 draft -- outfielder Victor Roache (No. 7), catcher Clint Coulter (No. 9) and outfielder Mitch Haniger (No. 10). Accordingly, the Brewers are feeling pretty good about last year's draft.
Another member of the Top 10 is new to the organization -- right-hander Johnny Hellweg, one of the three prospects acquired last July from the Angels in the Zack Greinke trade.?Shortstop Jean Segura played so many games after coming up in August that he lost rookie status for 2013, which is why you don't see his name in the Top 10.
I will be doing an online chat for baseballamerica.com at 2 p.m. CST today to discuss the top 10 and any other questions you might have about the Brewers' farm system. Feel free to join in. The remaining members of the organization's Top 30 will be revealed when BA's Prospect Handbook comes out in the near future.
'; return comment; } $("#comments").delegate(".edit-comment-form,.reply-to-comment-form,#comment-form","submit",function(e){ e.preventDefault(); var thisForm = $(this); var mainMessageContainer = $("#comment-form-messages"); if(thisForm.is(".reply-to-comment-form")){ var messageCont = thisForm.parent(".reply").siblings(".active-reply-container"); if(messageCont.length == 0){ messageCont = $(''); thisForm.parent("li").before(messageCont); } if(_commentUser.isLoggedIn){ insertComment(this,true,function(obj){ //debugResponse(obj); if(obj.error){ if(obj.error == "User must be logged in to perform the action."){ messageCont.html("
Sorry, there was a problem when submitting your comment, please try again.
"); } messageCont.removeClass("hide"); }else{ // possible status APPROVED,NOTAPPROVED, FLAGGED, AUTHOR, BOT, REJECTED if(obj.status == "APPROVED"){ messageCont.attr("id","comment-"+obj.id).html(buildCommentHTMLString(obj)); _commentUser.refreshComments = true; $.cookie('_commentSession',_commentUser,{expires:_commentUser.expires,path:'/'}); }else{// handle all other cases with this blanket messageCont.html("
Your comment has been received. If you do not see it immediately, it is being routed for approval.
"); thisForm.hide().parent("li").hide(); messageCont.removeClass("hide"); } }else{ // new if(_commentUser.isLoggedIn){ insertComment(this,true,function(obj){ //debugResponse(obj); if(obj.error){ if(obj.error == "User must be logged in to perform the action."){ mainMessageContainer.html("
Sorry, there was a problem when submitting your comment, please try again.
"); } }else{ // possible status APPROVED,NOTAPPROVED, FLAGGED, AUTHOR, BOT, REJECTED if(obj.status == "APPROVED"){ $("#comments-list ol").eq(0).prepend(''); _commentUser.refreshComments = true; $.cookie('_commentSession',_commentUser,{expires:_commentUser.expires,path:'/'}); }else{// handle all other cases with this blanket mainMessageContainer.html("
Your comment has been received. If you do not see it immediately, it is being routed for approval.
"); } //reset form mainMessageContainer.html(""); $("#comment-body").val("").trigger("blur"); } }); }else{ mainMessageContainer.html("
'); } j.push(''); return j.join(""); } function spew(array, process, context){ setTimeout(function(){ var item = array.shift(); process.call(context, item); if (array.length > 0){ setTimeout(arguments.callee, 100); } }, 100); } function createCommentsList(__data){ var __comnts = __data.comments; var __comntsLength = __comnts.length; if(__comntsLength > 0){ var comts = []; var appendNth = 10; if(__comntsLength ',getCommentBody(__comment),'
');
if(__comment.hasResponses){
var __commentResponses = __comment.responses;
var __commentResponsesLength = __commentResponses.length;
for (var r=0; r ',getCommentBody(__response),'');
}
}
comts.push('
'); if((i+1) % appendNth == 0 || (i+1) == __comntsLength) { if((i+1) == __comntsLength){ que.push(''+comts.join('')+''+__data.html); }else{ que.push(''+comts.join('')+'');
}
comts = [];
_chunk++;
}
}
if(que.length > 1){
spew(que,function(chunk){
$("#comments-list").append(chunk);
$("#comments-list .bzdu.commenter-"+_commentUser.id).removeClass("bzdu").addClass("bzbu");
});
}else{
$("#comments-list").append(que.join(''));
$("#comments-list .bzdu.commenter-"+_commentUser.id).removeClass("bzdu").addClass("bzbu");
}
_paging.setHash(false,{event:"pageload"});
if(window.location.hash.indexOf("comment=") > -1){
var scrl = window.location.hash;
scrl = scrl.substring(scrl.indexOf("comment=")+8);
if(scrl.indexOf("&") > -1){
scrl = scrl.substring(0,scrl.indexOf("&"));
}
$("html,body").animate({scrollTop:$("#comment-"+scrl).offset().top},"fast");
}
}else{
$("#comments-list").html('');
}
}
$(window).hashchange(function(){
if(_paging.event == "pageload"){
var windowLocationHash = window.location.hash;
windowLocationHash = windowLocationHash.replace(/^#!/,"");
if(windowLocationHash && (windowLocationHash.indexOf("sort=") > -1 || windowLocationHash.indexOf("page=") > -1 || windowLocationHash.indexOf("viewAll=") > -1 || windowLocationHash.indexOf("pageSize=") > -1 || windowLocationHash.indexOf("comment=") > -1)){
var urlVars = [], hash;
var hashes = windowLocationHash.split('&');
for(var i = 0; i Refreshing comments...');
}
if(!window.location.hash || window.location.hash.indexOf("comments") > -1){
//this sets default sort order to newestfirst on initial page load
//condition for #comments on blog posts and no hash on article urls, we do ajax
$("#comments-list").html('