Looking Up Words the 'Old Fashion Way'

Modern technology makes it possible for us to look online for a word's meaning, but students earlier this week learned how to do it the old- fashioned way.

Five Trails Rotary Club members, with the help of the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow, gave out dictionaries Fort Caspar Academy third graders.

The Dictionary Kick-Off Program is an event where they visit local schools and give students a dictionary.

Rotary members said third grade is an age when kids begin learning the importance of words and when they begin using word choices in their speech and writing skills.

Chad Cundy, President of the Five Trails Rotary Club shared, "They're so excited about a dictionary. A lot of them don't get a dictionary anymore because everything is so online and they get something to take home and a lot of them don't have books. They're doing everything on digital."


New Delhi: The record of the country in being able to control its geopolitical destiny has been mixed. That India has come this far with all its geopolitical deficiencies is remarkable, and this considerably owes to Jawaharlal Nehru who gave this country excellent foundations. Liberal democracy was the gift of his understanding of the exceptional nature of Indian civilization which is over five thousand years old and predates the Chinese, Sumerian, Egyptian and other vaunted ancient civilizations. In a region riven by medievalism, flawed democracies, dictatorships and totalitarian states, India has registered a distinct identity with liberal democracy which also causes it to tower over the rest as a beacon of hope.

Nevertheless, its geopolitical deficiencies are all too apparent and any further rise for India is only possible if the gaps are filled. Seizing the opportunity provided by a natural fault-line, Indira Gandhi separated East from West Pakistan, but she failed to settle the contentious frontiers of Kashmir with Pakistan. The contentions on Kashmir have only grown since the Simla talks and one of the unintended consequences of India and Pakistan’s rival nuclearization is that terrorism has felt grotesquely empowered in the new circumstances. India’s geopolitical infirmity is entirely evident by its inability to persuade Pakistan to settle Kashmir in a manner honourable to both sides.

The situation with China is more complex. It shares Great Power status with two other major states, the United States and Russia, but it is an ascending power while they are in decline. India would be ill-served by aligning with the United States against China. Russia is already more or less aligned with China and the United States has considered doing the same in the last administration with the flotation of the G-2 idea. Once an idea is born, it does not easily die. If the United States is unable to reverse the decline effectively and promptly (in the sciences and technologies of the future, China is already grabbing a lead), this or a future administration would feel compelled to make a long peace with China. If India, by then, is already formally aligned against China, it will pay a heavy geopolitical price.

On the other hand, if India is strictly non-aligned in respect of China while, at the same time, safeguarding its geopolitical interests, it would be better placed to face future fluxes. Indeed, it is possible that China may even accept and appreciate this stance. After all, for any state, safeguarding its geopolitical interests is supreme. Preeminently for this, India must strive to become self-reliant in conventional arms. Self-reliance would go a long way in securing the country’s true defense needs. It would save billions to the exchequer which could gainfully be diverted to development and poverty alleviation. A determined drive towards self-reliance would also compel services to plan strategies in a manner that privilege jointness over inter-services rivalry for toys of war and appropriations.

In this context, it is critical to stabilize security around nuclear weapons. The Cold War was prevented from going hot because of nuclear weapons. Apart from occasional nuclear sabre-rattling by Pakistan, conversation in the sub-continent about deterrent weapons is surprisingly coy. The concept of balance of terror is quite effective in preventing hostilities from occurring or escalating. While Pakistan is clearly ahead of India in its understanding of deterrent tactics and strategies (since the army is in direct control of nuclear weapons without civilian oversight), India appears in no hurry to catch up. While this is good to the extent that it advertises sobriety, the goodness is ruined by the obsession of the services for the latest imported war toys. The generals and the air marshals appear like children going wild in a glitzy toy shop in New York or London. In the nuclear age, it is both foolish and dangerous to invest in greater and greater quantities of hugely expensive conventional weapons.

This writer can scarcely discuss nuclear strategy in a public forum but India has to do better in bringing stability built on the fact that India, Pakistan and China are nuclear powers. Nuclear conversations among the three states either together or bilaterally would considerably minimize the threat of conventional war. In the missile age, furthermore, to invest hundreds of thousands of crores in manned nuclear bombers constitutes the pinnacle of stupidity. Ditto for huge orders of exorbitant foreign artillery, tanks and so on. India is a poor country. It simply cannot afford conventional defense spending at these high levels. Since India has taken the easy and expensive route of defense imports, the concept of revolution in military affairs (of which the PLA is continuously seized) has entirely bypassed India. India’s high defense spending will ultimately starve the country’s needs for social and industrial investments. To blindly invest ever larger sums in conventional arms as though nuclear weapons, the ultimate decider of security today, do not exist is insane.

As long as India does not think through its defense and security needs, it will often stumble and fall. And autonomous thinking is not possible unless and until India becomes truly non-aligned. When India comes to the final realization that it cannot -- and must not -- depend on foreign powers for security or to resolve neighbourhood disputes, it would have taken the first step towards controlling its geopolitical destiny. The way to that traverses through Non-Alignment.

Also read “India’s geopolitical crisis - 1,” “2,” “3,” “4,” “5,” “6” and “7” here, here, here, here, here, here and here .


Final Girls Berlin Film Festival Announces 2017 Films

The 2nd edition of Final Girls Berlin Film Festival will take place in Berlin, Germany from the 9th to the 11th of June, with a program consisting of three feature films, eight curated short blocks, a talk on the "horror hag" subgenre, a workshop on monstrous representations of the "other" in horror, and an art exhibition with five female artists working in horror.

Festival co-director Sara Neidorf says, "The films we're presenting relish in various forms of resistance; decimating traditional representations of women in film; blurring bodily boundaries; highlighting the perversions lurking within the nuclear family structure; contorting the conventions of romance; painting bloody portraits of revenge." Co-director Eli Lewy adds, "The films screening in FGBFF express women's fantasies and fears in poignant, new ways, showing that horror is fertile ground for feminist filmmaking."

Morgan and Jean, ex-girlfriends who run a true-crime podcast about female serial killers, find themselves in a bind when they suspect Morgan's new love interest of being a murderer as well. Jungermann, a Brooklyn-based comedian, was obsessed with female serial killers growing up, and has an affinity for the genre world: "I'm not interested in making personal films that don't invite people into the experience. Which is why I'm drawn to comedy and genre. It allows you the chance to expose yourself while still thinking about the audience."

XX is a horror anthology with four chilling segments made by four horror bad-asses. Jovanka Vuckovic (former editor of Rue Morgue Magazine) adapts a spine-tingling Jack Ketchum story in "The Box", Annie Clark's (St. Vincent) directorial debut "The Birthday Party" is a hellish take on Weekend at Bernie's; Roxanne Benjamin (V/H/S trilogy, Southbound) gives us an old-school horror romp in "Don't Fall"; and Karyn Kusama (The Invitation, Girlfight) has to come to grips with the darkness in "Her Only Living Son."

Esther (Marina de Van) is an ambitious 30-year-old woman. One fateful night at a party, she seriously hurts her leg, but can't seem to feel the pain. This incident propels her toward the start of a self-destruction compulsion. IN MY SKIN is an exploration of a professional woman's descent into increasingly disturbing and obsessive acts.

Marina de Van broker her leg when shew as 8, and it forever changed how she viewed her body. "I didn't faint and I didn't really feel pain. Instead, I saw my leg as if it wasn't part of my body, as if it was an object. For me, then, it was a fascinating deformed object... I was also struck by how little it takes for our bodies, or parts of our bodies, to suddenly become alien objects, but ones which fascinate us."

Short Film Programs

- Childer (dir. Aislinn Clarke, UK, 2016)
- Postpartum (dir. Izzy Lee, US, 2015)
- Main in the Moon (dir. Monique Mulcahy, Australia, 2017)
- Mommy (dir. Heidi Moore, US, 2013)
- Leonarda (dir. Luca Brinciotti, Italy, 2016)

- Roger Ballen's Theatre of Apparitions (dir. Emma Calder & Ged Haney, UK, 2016)
- Earworm (dir. Tara Price, US, 2016)
- Yuletide (dir. Marinah Janello, US, 2016)
- Abjection (dir. Jiyeon Choi, China, 2017)

- You are a Lesbain Vampire (dir. Thirza Cuthand, Canada, 2011)

- Rash (dir. Merryl Roche, France, 2014)
- Innsmouth (dir. Izzy Lee, US, 2015)

- Stitched (dir. Heather Taylor, US, 2016)
- Consommé (dir. Catherine Fordham, US, 2016)
- Blame (dir. Kellee Terrell, US, 2015)
- Oedipus (dir. Roxanne Bordeaux, UK, 2016)

- Monja Satanica trailer (dir. Viva Ruiz, US, 2007)
- Connie (dir. Cat Davies, UK, 2016)
- Munchies (dir. Sinead Stoddart, UK, 2016)
- Potholes (dir. Jaclyn Goldstein, US, 2016)
- Tampoon (dir. Jeanne Jo, US, 2015)

- Don't Think of a Pink Elephant (dir. Suraya Raja, UK, 2017)
- Upir (dir. Laura Rembault, France, 2016)
- Invasion (dir Auguste Kuneviciute, Lithuania, 2016)

- Restart (dir. Olga Osorio, Spain, 2015)
- Mirror (dir. Sara Eustaquio, US, 2016)
- Whisper (dir. Jo Lewis, UK, 2015)
- Murmur (dir. Aurora Fearnley, UK, 2015)


What a Judge Looks at in Custody Hearing in Illinois

By Elizabeth Rayne

Before Court

Before heading to court, parents have the option to reach their own agreement regarding custody and visitation. When the parents are unable to do so, the court will then send the parents to mediation to give them another chance to sort out their issues with the assistance of a mediator. If mediation is not successful, the court may then appoint a custody evaluator as well as an individual to represent the child's interests - a guardian ad litem, child representative or attorney - in order to assist the court in making a custody determination.

Custody Determination Factors

As in all states, courts in Illinois determine custody based on what is in the best interest of the child. The court will consider all relevant factors that may indicate what would be in the child's best interest. Factors may include the wishes of the parents, the emotional and physical health of the parents and child, child's interactions with the parents, and child's adjustment to school or community. If the court determines that the child is mature enough to understand the proceedings, usually 14 or older, the court may consider the child's wishes in the custody determination. .

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Joint Custody Considerations

Generally, Illinois courts will only award joint custody when the parents are able to effectively cooperate in matters regarding the child. The parents must submit a "joint parenting agreement," which spells out how the parents will decide major issues such as health care, education and religion. The agreement may also include a provision that if the parents cannot agree on any matter, they will attend mediation. If parents are not able to cooperate, the court will likely award sole custody to one parent, giving her the power to make major decisions for the child.

Other Considerations

In most cases, courts operate on the assumption that siblings should not be separated between households; thus, custody arrangements aim to keep siblings together. Further, when one parent has served as the primary caretaker of the children before the custody battle began, courts are generally reluctant to separate the children from that parent.

Under certain circumstances, Illinois law allows parents to modify a custody order. Except in limited circumstances, such as when a child's physical or mental health is in serious danger due to the current environment, you typically may not modify a custody order until at least two years have passed since the original judgment. After two years, you may seek a custody order when there has been a change in circumstances since the original order and it is in the child's best interest to change the custody arrangement.

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What Are Parental Rights in a Divorce?

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How to Determine Who Will Win Child Custody

Child custody laws vary from state to state. Likewise, different jurisdictions have different preferences and guidelines for how to divide custody between divorcing parents. That said, mothers and fathers both have equal rights to obtain custody of their children. Courts will generally not assume that the child will fare better with a particular parent based on that parent’s sex. Likewise, either parent can file a motion for custody, either during a divorce or after a court has entered a custody order.

Filing for Physical Custody in Virginia

How to Reverse a Sole Custody Order in Missouri

Provided the existence of certain conditions, a parent can be successful in reversing a sole custody order in the state of Missouri. An important first step in the process is understanding the difference between legal and physical custody, and that modifications of existing arrangements require a showing of new facts coming to light after the original order. Notice must be provided to the other parent, and if the parties cannot agree on a parenting plan, the judge will rule in favor of the modification if it is in the best interest of the child.

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Solve your problems faster with Change Analysis Technique

Change is inevitable and all pervasive

Solve your problems faster with change analysis technique

All things change. This is nothing new. But the change itself may be considered an important entity to be used as resource for efficient problem solving in various areas of activity and thought.

Global warming

Rise in temperature worldwide is of great concern and studied in details regarding what can be its effects and how much the damages might be. From management perspective, temperature is one of the key parameters in understanding climate behavior.

Change use in Organizational environment

In every operational environment we identify key parameters to measure their change at regular intervals, effects analyzed, causes identified and actions taken to keep the operational environment at desired state.

In organizational context Change management is an important topic of interest.

Use of change in health domain

In medical diagnostics, temperature is a key parameter in many illnesses. At home when my child catches cold, I check for fever by placing my palm on her forehead to judge the change in temperature from my experience. Physicians prescribe suitable medicines and observe the change in temperature to see whether the medicine is effective in killing the cause of fever.

Temperature though is not the only key parameter in health domain, there are myriads of others. Measuring changes in these parameters, identifying and removing the causes form the backbone of the efforts in keeping humankind in good health.

Change used in R&D

In life science research, change in state is closely monitored by inducing the change artificially through different types of stimuli to the entities of interest and the bio-environment involved.

Change as an independent element of study

The more we know about change as an independent element, what causes the change and by how much, what are its effects and how the harmful effects can be minimized, the more powerful would be our usable knowledge.

Study of change in itself is a subject.

We would highlight here only how you can solve your problems faster using Change analysis technique as a powerful problem solving resource in real life and academic life.

We would use two case examples drawn from two different domains to understand how the technique can make a difference in totally disparate areas of activity.

This characteristic of multi-domain applicability is of course a crucial requirement for a resource to be a member of the overlay abstract discipline of Problem Solving not dependent on any other discipline.

Applying Change Analysis Technique in Maths

Case example 1

Problem: A group of students stood in rows with equal number of students in each row. If number of students in each row were increased by one, the number of rows decreased by 2, whereas if the number of students in each row were decreased by 1, the number of rows increased by 3. What was the total number of students?

Usual conventional solution

Let the students be imagined in a formation of rows and columns. The number of columns and number of rows are assumed to be $x$ and $y$ respectively, so that total number of students will be $x\times{y}$.

From the first problem statement we have,

The number of columns increased to $x + 1$ resulting in a reduction of number of rows to $y - 2$, so that their product, the total number of students would be,

$(x + 1)\times{(y - 2)} = xy$, in whatever row-column formation the students are arranged, the number of students in all rows are same and total number of students remains unchanged.

Or, $xy -2x + y - 2 = xy$,

Or, $y - 2x - 2 = 0$.

Similarly from the second statement, the number of columns decreased to $x - 1$ resulting in increase of number of rows to $y + 3$, so that their product, the total number of students would be,

$(x - 1)\times{(y + 3)} = xy$,

Or, $xy + 3x - y - 3 = xy$,

Or, $3x - y - 3 = 0$.

Adding the two last results,

$x - 5 = 0$,

Or, $x = 5$, that is, the number of columns originally was 5.

And so, from the first equation,

$y - 2x - 2 = y - 10 - 2 = 0$,

Or, $y = 12$, that is, the number of rows originally was 12.

Thus total number of students is, $5\times{12} = 60.$

Answer: $60$.

Problem solver's solution using Change Analysis Technique

Same as before we assume $x$ as number of columns and $y$ as number of rows.

In the first case,

Number of students remaining unchanged, Change in number of students in horizontal direction (from left to right: increase) due to increase in number of columns by 1 is,

$1\times{(y - 2)}=y - 2$, and this must be equal to the change in number of students in vertical direction (from top to bottom: decrease) = $2\times{(x)}$,

Or, $y - 2 = 2x$.

In the second case, similarly equating changes in the number of students in horizontal (a decrease) and vertical (an increase) directions, we get,

$y\times{1} = 3\times{(x -1)}$,

Or, $y = 3x -3$.

From these two simple equations we get $x=5$ and $y=12$ quickly.

Answer: number of students = $x\times{y} = 5\times{12} = 60$.

Aside: It is normal to find change analysis a bit difficult to conceive at first. This is because of the need for abstraction of the entities to visualize, identify and extract the change relationships, while we are not used to think in abstract terms. That's the reason behind the initial discomfort with the idea. In this case, just make two simple drawings to reflect the change situations in pictorial form. This would make the concept crystal clear.

There are other solutions to this problem filling up a complete page opposite to the direction of our efforts.

In contrast, our focus is always to assimilate, formalize and apply a problem solving resource that would solve a problem quickest and most efficiently, that too in more than one domain of activity. Resources are getting more precious by each passing day. Saving and optimizing the use of resources is now one of the most critical activities.

Scope of Change Analysis Technique

This is only one of the numerous math problems that can be solved much faster and hence more elegantly using this powerful problem solving technique. This technique can be applied with great effect in a number of other problem areas of math as well.

But again, math is only one of the areas where this broad based problem solving technique can be applied. There are other real world activity areas of application of this problem solving technique not related to maths at all.

For long I was interested in using change as a resource to make improvements around, unaware about the fact that I was applying the Change Analysis Technique in various forms only. The following effort is something I won’t forget in a hurry because of its unexpected positive results in a very short span of time and that too with minimal efforts.

Case example 2

Teaching editing to my writer friend

Sometime back I was involved in editing and publishing a magazine. Authors were my friends who were just like any other normal people. I mean, they were not professional or even amateur writers.

Editing their first time literary creations, composing the pages and publishing in a short time all by one man was hard.

Layout and composing were not such a burden but editing was. I had to keep the flavour intact while polishing a piece to its shining best. It took a lot of my intense time.

That’s why when I looked at the first paragraph of one of my budding writers’ piece, I got a shock. She had a good flow and powerful expressions but each line of her eight page long write-up had three or four glaring errors on an average.

When all the tasks got somehow completed with unexpected success, I decided to talk to this most promising author of mine, “Listen carefully. You have with you now your fully edited story in the published mag. What you have to do is – Compare your version of the story you sent me with my edited version word by word. Identify each change that I have made. Evaluate and understand reasons behind each and learn how not to make those mistakes next time onward.”

To make the deal clinching, I further clarified, “If I find more than five errors in a page of your next piece, I will mail you back the piece immediately without any more edit.” That was my half-cooked managerial expertise in action.

To the great credit of my friend, her next piece two weeks later was self-edited to near perfection and my labor was minimal. She had learned literary editing, at least up to my limited standards, at one go just by comparing my edits with her original.

Later she wrote a few of the best stories I have ever read.

Change is a powerful resource of problem solving on occasions.


ILab Assignment (Water: An Overlooked Essential Nutrient) custom essay

[meteor_slideshow slideshow=”arp1″]

The title of your presentation is “Water: An Overlooked Essential Nutrient.” A law firm has requested that you introduce yourself, explain why you are at the firm, and discuss the value of hydration. Once those elements have been addressed, the goal of this iLab is to create an essay or handout that compares water, Gatorade, and Powerade on the following categories.

Daily recommendations
Nutrient content
Advantages of consumption (include research reviews)
Safety levels
Disadvantages of consumption (include research reviews)
Ultimately, you need to make a recommendation on which beverage meets the needs of the law firm, and you need to back your recommendation with three pieces of evidence.


WEEK 8 Flashcards Preview

MD2001 > WEEK 8 > Flashcards

Flashcards in WEEK 8 Deck (79):

Explain the divisions of the fluid compartments of the body.

The body is 60% aqueous fluid - most of the fluid is intracellular (2/3rds) - the remainder is extracellular (1/3rd) The extracellular fluid is separated into interstitial fluid (80%, tissues that bathe the tissues) and plasma (20%, the fluid part of the blood). The exchange between these fluids occurs in the capillaries. The only difference between these two fluids is the presence of plasma proteins which are too large to pass through the capillaries into the interstitial fluid. The intracellular and extracellular fluid are separated by the cell membrane.

What are the concentrations of the major components of intracellular and extracellular fluid?

EXTRACELLULAR FLUID (mM) Na+ 140 K+ 5 Cl- 110 HCO3- 27 Ca2+ 2 Mg2+ 1 Anions- 8 pH 7.4 potential + (mV) IINTRACELLULAR FLUID (mM) Na+ 10 K+ 140 Cl- 5 HCO3- 10 Ca2+

The membrane is a barrier but diffusion of polar and non-polar substances can occur. What are the 2 types of diffusion?

PASSIVE DIFFUSION of fat soluble non-polar substances through the lipid bilayer FACILITATED DIFFUSION of hydrophilic substances through integral membrane protein pores or carriers

What is the difference between integral and membrane proteins?

Membrane proteins confer distinctive functions by acting as transport systems, enzymes, receptors etc. PERIPHERAL proteins are weakly bound and can be removed by mild treatment (changing the pH) INTEGRAL proteins are embedded in the bilayer and can only be removed by disrupting the bilayer.

What is the importance of the amphipathic properties of membrane lipids?

Membrane lipids are amphipathic: small molecules with hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions. Hydrophilic groups are charged (polar) and are readily soluble in aqueous environment. Hydrophobic groups are uncharged (non-polar) and are poorly soluble in an aqueous environment.

What are the key roles played by membrane transport processes?

1. Regulate cell volume and maintain intracellular pH and ionic composition within a narrow range 2. Concentrate essential nutrients from extracellular space and excrete metabolic waste products.

Use flux equation to explain diffusion into an enclosed compartment.

F = P (Co-Ci) note P = permeability constant. The rate of diffusion is measured as T90%, which is the time taken for concentration of the extracellular space to increase to 90% of the capillary concentration (in the case of movement from the capillary to extracellular space) Efflux is from inside to outside, influx is from outside to inside. Flux is the number of molecules crossing a unit area of membrane in a unit time i.e. moles/cm2/sec

What 3 things/processes occur in the first week of embryonic development?

fertilisation, cleavage, and transport to the nucleus

Describe the process of fertilisation. What does it result in? (HINT: there's 3 things)

Occurs in the ampulla of the uterine tube within 12 hours of ovulation (no more than 24 hours, however sperm can live for unto 48 hours in the female genital tract). Fertilisation results in: - completion of meiosis in the oocyte - restoration of the diploid number of chromosomes - determination of sex and initiation of cleavage of the zygote within the zona pellucida.

Describe the process of cleavage. When does it occur? What is it? What does it do? Where does it occur? What does it form?

Occurs within 36 hours of fertilisation, initially cells are totipotent up to the blastocyst stage. Cleavage is a series of mitotic divisions that gives an increase in the numbers of cells (blastomeres). As the cytoplasm is shared, cells become smaller with each division giving a high surface area to volume ratio that enhances the uptake of nutrients, O2 and removal of waste products. Cleavage occurs as the zygote passes along the fallopian tube to the uterus. 16 cells form the morula = a solid ball of cells arranged in inner and outer layers.

What is going on/happens 3-4 days AFTER fertilisation?

The morula consists of approximately 100 cells as it enters the uterus and the zona pelludica dissapears. The outer cells divide to become trophoectoderm Fluid begins to accumulate in the centre of the morula which now becomes know as the BLASTOCYST. Cavities develop between the cells and they fill with fluid. The outer wall of the blastocyst or trophoblast will form the embryonic part of the placenta and secretes early pregnancy factor (EPF) - an immunosuppressant protein to prevent mother recognising embryo as foreign and rejecting it. The inner cell mass consists of blastomeres and forms at one pole of the blastocyst; these cells will give rise to the embryo proper.

What occurs on days 5.5-6?

BINDING TO UTERUS WALL - Binding at the uterus epithelium occurs (embryonic pole attaches) - Down regulation of anti-adhesion molecule MUCN1 - Allows binding via selectins (embryo) to glyco-components on epithelial cells (uterus) - Similar mechanism to white blood cell adhesion to blood vessel walls. - Integrins, laminin and fibronectin involved in initial penetration.

What are the main events which happen during days 6-7?

Implantation begins Trophoblast becomes the “invasive” syncytiotrophoblast and cytotrophoblast (cap the embryoblast which will become the embryo) Syncytiotrophoblast multinucleate syncitium invasion via metalloproteases Immunosuppression of host/graft and graft/host reactions

What occurs on (i) Day 8 and (ii) Day 9 or embryology?

(i) Trophoblast divides and part becomes “invasive” syncytiotrophoblast and cytotrophoblast Two layers form in the embryo – epiblast (inner) and hypoblast The amniotic cavity begins to form as a space within the epiblast. (ii) The flattened cells spread out from the hypoblast to line the inner surface of the cytotrophoblast forming the primitive yolk sac

What happens during days 11-12?

Spaces form in the extra embryonic mesoderm, fusion of these spaces forms the chorionic cavity The blastocyst burrows completely into the endometrium Syncytiotrophoblast (SCT) cells erode through the walls of large maternal capillaries which bleed into the spaces H primitive placental circulation (breakthrough bleeding may occur) The embryonic disk is now bilayered

Why is week 2 known as the week of 2s?

2 layers develop in the trophoblast: - syncytiotrophoblast - cytotrophoblast 2 layers in the inner cell mass: - epiblast (= ectoderm) - hypoblast ( = endoderm) 2 cavities form: - amniotic - chorionic

What site is the most common for ectopic implantation? Why can this occur?

Ampulla There may be a number of causes including mucosal adhesions due to pelvic inflammatory disease (can be caused by chlamydia) 95-97% of ectopic pregnancies are in the ampulla/isthmus of the fallopian tube

What does rupture of the fallopian tube during ectopic pregnancy result in? What are the symptoms of this often confused with?

Rupture of the tube causes blood loss that may be life threatening to mother and fatal for the embryo, the symptoms can be confused with appendicitis leading to misdiagnosis.

Apart from the ampulla of the fallopian tube, where is another place that an ectopic pregnancy can occur?

Very occasionally pregnancies develop on the mesentery and the baby may survive if surgical intervention occurs as mesentery has a good blood supply for early embryo development.

When is the embryo most vulnerable to environmental insult? What do the environmental causes include?

Embryonic period. Most organs and organ systems are formed during the 3rd week, critical period for normal development of organs systems. Drugs chemicals: nicotine/alcohol, chemotherapy/thalidomide/retinoic acid Infectious agents e.g. rubella Ionising radiation

Where are the (i) dorsal-ventral (ii) left-right axes determined in the embryo?

(i) in the oocyte (ii) determined cilia movement in the node

What is the function of (i) channel proteins (ii) carrier proteins?

(i) have watery spaces through the molecule allowing free movement of water and some molecules and ions that move along their concentration gradient. (ii) bind to molecules or ions and move them through the protein to cross the bilayer Channel proteins and carrier proteins are usually selective for a particular molecule

What is the role played by the permeability constant in determining transmembrane diffusion? What does P depend on?

The permeability constant (P) incorporates the factors inherent in both the molecule and the membrane that determines the probability of the molecule crossing the membrane P = ωRT k/a (NOTE: dont need to know this) P depends on: - the size of the molecule and viscosity of solution being diffused through (ω) - The thickness of the membrane (a) - And the molecule resistance (k) eg: lipids are ‘slippery’ and will move more easily than a charged particle which will offer some resistance

Explain the anomalous permeability characteristic permeability properties of water.

Water is one of the small molecules that have anomalous behaviour when comparing permeability across the lipid bilayer to k. Its permeability far exceeds the expected value from the trend of most of the other molecules. This shows that water must be moving by a different mechanism than simple diffusion through the lipid bilayer. ....AQUAPORINS

What is the structure and membrane organisation of the Aquaporin water channel?

Aquaporin is an integral membrane protein found in biological membranes allowing movement of water by offering an alternative route for the movement of water across the membrane without the molecule having to interact with the lipid. The basic aquaporin unit comprise 6 trans-membrane α-helices NPA : asparagine - proline - alanine (amino acid motif) Aquaporins form tetramers in the membrane – each monomer acts as a water channel.

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How does ADH regulates of the transepithelial movement of water?

Anti diuretic hormone (ADH), also called vasopressin, is a 9 amino acid long polypeptide. It increases water reabsorption in the kidneys by up-regulating AQP-2 in the epithelial cells of the late distal tubules, collecting tubules and collecting ducts (requires urine output) Increased AQP-2 channels allows increased water up-take. Whilst AQP-3 channels remain constant.

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What are the 2 types of active transport? Describe them.

- molecules are pumped against an EC gradient at the expense of energy (ATP) = direct use of energy

- Transport is driven by the energy stored in the
EC gradient of another molecule (usually Na+) that was already pumped into the cell using active transport = indirect use of energy

What are 3 examples of primary active transport? Describe them.

1. Sodium potassium pump transports sodium ions out and potassium ions into cells. Establishes a negative voltage inside the cell important for nerve function and signal transmission.

- When 2 x K+ are bound to the external K+ sites and 3 x Na+ to the internal sites ATPase is activated. One ATP is cleaved to ADP + 1 x high energy phosphate bond. Phosphorylation causes a chemical and conformational change to the carrier protein causing the 3 x Na+ to be extruded across the membrane and the 2 x K+ to be introduced into the cell.

- it is responsible for secondary active transport.

2. Ca2+ ATPase transporter:  Present on the cell membrane and the sarcoplasmic reticulum in muscle fibers. Maintains a low cytosolic Ca2+ concentration

3. H+ ATPase transporter: Found in parietal cells of gastric glands (HCl secretion) and intercalated cells of renal tubules (controls blood pH). Concentrates H+ ions up to 1 million-fold

What are the 4 ways that molecules can move across cell membranes?

  1. Diffusion across the membrane (non-polar molecules)
  2. Diffusion through membrane pores
  3. Protein carrier facilitated diffusion
  4. Active transport (primary with specific ATPases and secondary with specific transporters)

Describe secondary active transport (co1 transport) with Na+ symporter.

[Na+] across the membrane is high outside / low inside the cell

Na+ high creates electrochemical energy due to pressure to diffuse through the membrane.

Na+ and a second molecule bind to the symporter and both are transported into the cell using Na+ electrochemical energy eg. glucose, amino acids and 2 x HCO3-

What is the function of (i) symporters (ii) antiporters?

(i) transport substance in the same direction as a 'driver' ion e.g. Na+. It involves the use of an EC gradient

(ii) transport substance in the opposite direction as a 'driver' ion like Na+

Describe secondary active transport with antiporters.

Antiporters use Na+ electrochemical energy to transport Calcium and Hydrogen ions out of the cell while Na+ enters.

Transport is in the opposite direction to the primary ion (eg. Na+)

Why is the sodium pump named the sodium pump?

Since the extrusion of Na+ takes place against a steep electrochemical gradient (concentration and electrical) the active transport system is called the sodium pump

Describe the structure of the sodium pump.

Consists of one alpha and one beta subunit, however they exist as dimers (2 sodium pumps, therefore 2 alpha & 2 beta subunits).

The alpha and beta subunits are both integral proteins, BUT alpha spans the entire width of the membrane and hence it must be the active subunit for the transport of sodium. The alpha protein also has ATP binding sites on the intracellular side which provides the energy for the movement of substance against a concentration gradient. On the extracellular side of the alpha subunits are cardiac glycoside binding sites which allows inhibition of the pump.

The beta subunit only reaches about half way through the membrane from the extracellular side and has extracellular glycoproteins on the surface.

What is necessary for the sodium pump to function? Approx how many pump sites to cells have in their membranes?

ATP available intracellularly

Cardiac glycosides must only be able to inhibit from the extracellular surface

Na ions bind internally (3 per alpha)

K ions bind externally (2 per alpha).

NOTE: Most cells have around 1 million sodium pump sites in their cell membrane

What is the clinical significance of the interaction between the binding of the cardiac glycosides and the extracellular potassium concentration?

A decrease in the [K+]O results in an increased affinity between cardiac glycoside and the sodium pump. As [K+]O is decreased the sodium pump is inhibited as less substrate carrier complexes can be formed. This causes a build up of [Na+]I (inside the cell). This hence inhibits the action of the calcium/sodium contort transport carrier leading as sodium does not move into the cell via facilitated diffusion due to the increased intracellular concentration. Hence there is a build up of intracellular calcium which leads to increased heart contractions.

What is the function of diuretics? What are they used to treat? What side effects can occur?

They INCREASE urine output by the kidneys (i.e. promote diuresis)

High bp and excessive fluid retention

Loop diuretics such as Furosemide increase urinary excretion of potassium which may lead to hypokalaemia

Explain the link between cardiac glycoside toxicity and blood potassium concentrations. How can digoxin toxicity be treated?

Patients on digoxin (narrow therapeutic index) who start diuretics (furosemide) – may become hypokalaemic.

A reduction in competition between K+ and digoxin results in increased digoxin binding (though plasma concentration is unchanged) to the sodium pump.

Because of the very narrow therapeutic index, the patient develops digoxin toxicity

This can be treated however by administering a digoxin binding antibody such as digibind. Digibind rapidly binds to the digoxin causing it to dissociate from the sodium pump reversing the toxicity associated with the increased sodium pump inhibition caused by the hypokalaemia.

What is the difference between primary and secondary active transport?

Primary active transport systems directly couple the hydrolysis of ATP to molecular movement (sodium, potassium pump).

Secondary active transport systems use the energy stored in the Na+ gradient (generated by the sodium pump) to drive molecular transport against the electrochemical gradient via co-transport or counter-transport.

Explain the mechanism of sodium dependent calcium transport.

Sodium, calcium exchange occurs by secondary active counter-transport.

Sodium pump provides the large concentration gradient, as sodium diffuses in and calcium is forced out against a concentration gradient and electrochemical gradient.

What are the mechanisms involved in the transepithelial transport of glucose? Describe intestinal uptake of glucose.

Na+ dependant transport of glucose occurs by secondary active co-transport. The high Na+ concentration gradient drives the uptake of glucose against a concentration gradient.

GLUT 1 = basal uptake in placenta and brain

GLUT 2 = transepithelial transport, beta cells

GLUT 3 = basal uptake in brain

GLUT 4 = skeletal muscle (insulin dependent)

GLUT 5 = intenstinal absorption of fructose

Intestinal uptake of glucose: 2 Na+ ions move into the cell per 1 glucose molecule through the sodium dependant glucose transporter (SGLT1 or SGLT2) from the apical compartment (lumen of the intestine) into the cell.

Glucose then passes into the blood vessel via facilitated glucose transporter GLUT2 (facilitated diffusion).

Define (i) sporadic (ii) endemic (iii) epidemic (iv) pandemic.

(i) occasional cases occuring irregularly

(ii) persistent backround levels of occurance (low to moderate level)

(iii) occurrence in excess of the expected level for a given time period

(iv) epidemic occurring in or spreading over more than one continent

What is the definition of an outbreak? (HINT: there's actually 2 definitions)

 Two or more people who experience a similar illness or confirmed infection and are linked by a common factor OR when the observed number of cases unaccountably exceeds the expected number for a given place and time

What are the 3 parts of the epidemiological triad? Describe them.

Agent = the organism that causes the infection

Host = the potentially susceptible individual

Environment = the external factors that affect potential disease transmission

What is the chain of infection? (HINT: there's 6 steps)

  1. PORTAL OF ENTRY = The place the infectious agent enters the new host. E.g. mucous membrane, respiratory tract, broken skin (e.g. open wound, insect bite, cannula, central line), urinary tract, placenta etc
  2. SUSCEPTIBLE HOST = The person who is at risk of the infection (e.g. high risk groups: elderly, very young, chronic disease, immunosuppressed)
  3. INFECTIOUS AGENT = The disease causing organism. E.g. bacteria, virus etc
  4. RESERVOIR = The place where the infectious agent lives. E.g. in people (e.g. GI tract), animals, insects, environment (e.g. soil, water, furnishings, equipment) etc
  5. PORTAL OF EXIT = The means by which the infectious agent leaves. E.g. saliva, nose/throat discharges, faeces, vomit, blood etc
  6. MODE OF TRANSMISSION = How the infectious agent moves to the susceptible host. E.g. skin contact, coughs/sneezes, droplet spread, ingestion of infected food/water, faecal-orally, by vector etc

What is the equilibrium potential?

The movement of an ion under the assumption that the membrane is only permeable to that ion.

The equilibrium potential of potassium is negative due to the high concentration of the positive potassium ion  intracellularly (140mM) compared to extracellularly (5mM). This would cause a net outflow of positive ions from the cell and therefore the inside of the cell will become negative (-100mV).

The sodium equilibrium potential is a positive value. There is a high concentration gradient from extracellularly (140mM) to the intracellular concentration of sodium (10mM). Under the assumption that the membrane is only permeable to sodium, sodium ions (positive ions) diffuse into the cell and the cell becomes positively charged in comparison to outside the cell (60mV).

What is the origin of the resting membrane potential?

A very small number of K+ ions diffuse out of the cell down their concentration gradient. Because K+ ions are not accompanied by anions, charge separation occurs and the electrical potential of the cell interior becomes negative with respect to the extracellular solution. At rest the membrane is only slightly permeable to Na+ (50 times less so than K+, PNa+ : PK+, 1 : 50).

Define (i) depolarisation (ii) re-polarisation (iii) hyperpolarisation.

(i) The change in membrane potential from negative resting potential (-70mV) to positive peak (30mV).

(ii) From the positive peak (30mV) back to resting membrane potential (-70mV)

(iii) From the resting membrane potential (-70mv) to an even greater negative value (-90-100mV).

What is the difference in response of electrically excitable and inexcitable cells to depolarisation? (NOTE: Excitable cells are nerve and muscle cells, whereas all other cell types are inexcitable.)

When a depolarising current is applied to an inexcitable cell a proportional change in membrane potential will be recorded, as V=IR (R is membrane resistance which stays constant in an inexcitable cell).

This is the case in an excitable cell up to the threshold potential. After the threshold potential is reached (high enough voltage/current applied) the size of the current applied has no significance to the size of the depolarisation of the membrane. This is due to the resistance of the membrane changing. A change in permeability to ions cause this change in membrane resistance by the opening of voltage gated channel proteins.

What are the 5 main characteristic of an action potential?

  1. The initial depolarisation must reach a critical threshold
  2. Once the threshold is attained, the depolarising upstroke is regenerative
  3. The potential depolarises, overshoots zero and peaks at around +30mV
  4. The response is all-or-none
  5. The potential repolarises from the peak of the overshoot back to the resting level.

What is the relationship between the changes in membrane permeability and membrane voltage?

Permeability to sodium ions changes when an action potential is initiated. The change in sodium permeability is transient, this tells us the channels responsible for sodium permeability are only open for a limited period of time and they close after this. The permeability of sodium increases rapidly by x600 when an action potential is initiated.

There is a delayed increase in potassium permeability after the action potential, this causes hyper-polarisation to occur. The membranes permeability increases 10 fold during repolarisation.

What is the role of voltage-gated and time-dependant Na and K channels in the action potential?

At a resting potential (-70mV) the voltage-gated SODIUM channels are closed but capable of opening (activation gate shut).

- At the threshold potential of -50mV there is a rapid opening of the activation gate triggered which open the channel until the peak potential of +30mV is reached. The opening of the sodium voltage-gated channel proteins causes the 600 times increase in membrane sodium permeability hence allowing Na+ ions to diffuse into the intracellular fluid (ICF) and depolarise the membrane.

- At the threshold potential the slow closing inactivation gate is triggered. This closes at the peak membrane potential preventing any further movement of Na+ ions through the channel. The inactivation gate does not reopen again until the membrane is depolarised (-70mV) at which point the channel “resets” and the inactivation gate opens and the activation gate closes.

The sodium channels are controlled by a positive feedback mechanism, the Na+ channels open increasing Na+ permeability which increases flow of Na+ into the cell. This causes membrane depolarisation which causes Na+ channels to open, restarting the cycle. This feedback system is stopped by the set “timer” of the Na+ voltage-gated channel inactivation gate.

At resting potential the voltage-gated POTASSIUM channels are closed preventing movement of K+ ions through them.

- At the threshold potential the delayed opening of the activation gate is triggered which remains closed unit the peak membrane potential is reached. At the peak potential the activation gate opens, this allows K+ ions to diffuse out into the extracellular fluid (ECF) depolarising the membrane.

- The potassium channel stays open until hyper-polarisation (-80mV) is reached at which point it closes preventing further movement through the channel.

What is chemotherapy?

The use of chemicals (either natural or synthetic) to inhibit the growth/replication of “invading organisms” or cancerous cells within the body

Antibiotics and antibacterials can be used interchangably

What is selective toxicity?

These drugs are intended to be toxic to the invading organism or cancerous cell but be relatively harmless to the host or normal cells.

This approach depends upon the existence of biochemical differences between the target group of cells and the host.

This is what makes cancer hard to target by chemotherapeutic methods as they develop from the host’s cells, whereas bacteria are relatively easy to target in comparison due to the evolutionary differences of prokaryotes.

What are examples of different selective toxicity?

Penicillins: in the absence of allergy have very low toxicity and high doses can be used

Aminoglycosides have a narrow THERAPEUTIC INDEX thus the dose that causes toxicity is very close to the therapeutic dose

For anti-tuberculosis drugs such as isoniazid and pyrazinamide a number of pts will develop hepatotoxicity that is not dose related and may require treatment to be stopped

What is the function of peptidoglycans? (HINT: there's 5 points)

1) They make up the cell wall of bacteria and do not occur in eukaryotes.

2) Cell wall is made up from various numbers of strands of peptidoglycans

3) The strands are made up multiples of amino-sugars; N- ACETYLGLUCOSAMINE & N-ACETLYMURAMIC ACID dimers. The n-acetylmuramic acid has a short peptide side chain (hence peptidoglycan).

4) The peptide side chains are cross-linked to form a latticework.

5) Cross-linking gives the cell all its strength.

What are the 3 types of bacterial cell wall inhibitors? Describe why they are used to treat bacterial infections

 ß-Lactam antibiotics - Penicillin family and drugs like it, share a common structure

- Stop the cross linking by targeting the enzyme responsible for forming cross linkages (peptidyl transferase). This prevents the cross-linking peptides from binding to the tetra-peptide side-chains.

Vancomycin - Come into play when there is resistance e.g. MRSA (meticillin resistance). However there can also be resistance to these e.g. VRSA (vancomycin resistant)

- Stops the elongation of the peptide backbone, stops the joining of one dimer to another (stops joining of one “brick” to another).

Bacitracin - stops the lipid mediated transfer of the “bricks” from one side of the cell membrane to the other

Why is penicillin an almost 'perfect' drug? What are the 4 main groups of penicillins? Describe them.

As we have no metabolism for penicillin and therefore it is excreted in the urine without interacting with our cells.

BUT ... 5% of the population are allergic to penicillin and bacteria can develop resistance to it.

1. Penicillin G & V - G is the original strain found and is still the most potent but it is not acid stable and therefore will be destroyed in the stomach. Penicillin V is acid stable and therefore is the most common

2. ß-Lactamase-resistant Penicillins (e.g. Methicillin, Oxacillin, Nafcillin, Cloxacillin, Dicloxacillin.) - If a bacteria has the ß-Lactamase enzyme present, which allows it to break down ß-Lactam rings, they are resistant to most penicillins. To counter this penicillins that aren’t destroyed by ß-lactamase were developed.

3. Broad-spectrum penicillins (e.g. Ampicillin and Amoxicillin.) - Not all bacteria were susceptible to penicillins as they had a waxy coating which prevented the penicillins getting to the enzymes. This is due to the differences in cell wall of Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria. To counter this more broad spectrum antibiotics were brought in.

4. Extended Spectrum Penicillins (e.g. carbenicillin, ticaracillin, azlocillin, piperacillin) - Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections are deadly hospital acquired bacteria and are not killed by antiseptic washing or the normal spectrum of penicillins. Here the extended spectrum penicillins are used

What are cephalosporins?

They come from the fungus cephalosporium acremonium

Work by the same mechanism as pencillins

Classified in generations in the order in which they were developed

They can now be termed by means of administration; oral is cephalexin; parenteral are cefuroxime and cefotaxime

What are the 2 bacterial folate antagonists? Describe their function. What is sequential blocking?

 These are antibiotics which act through an inhibition of the folate pathway in bacteria (folate = folic acid). Folate is a vitamin involved in making haemoglobin in humans, we have to acquire it as a vitamin in the diet. However bacteria must make their own folate, so targeting how folate is made is specific to bacteria.

The folate system is important in cell metabolism and this makes bacteria susceptible to drugs which interfere with folate metabolism, thus we have our ‘selective toxicity’ target.

Sulphonamides mark the beginning of antimicrobial chemotherapy dating back to the 1930s and preceding the penicillins.

 Folic acid is made by joint pteridine and PABA. The antibiotics are competitive antagonists as they have similar structures to the constituents of folic acid.

 Sulphonamides inhibit the enzyme which converts PABA to folate. Trimethoprim inhibits the enzyme from folate to tetrahydrofolate.

Sequential blocking = the blocking of two enzymes in a sequence, this is much more effective than blocking one only.

What are aminoglycosides? Give examples. How do they inhibit protein synthesis?

 Very powerful antibiotics which have to be injected

E.g. streptomycin, kanamycin, neomycin, gentamycin

1. They form ionic bonds at the cell surface

2. Penetrate the cell wall by a transport mechanism across the cell membrane.

3. They then diffuse into the cytoplasm and then bind to the bacteria ribosomes at the interface between the assembled 30s and 50s subunits OR directly to the individual subunits.

4. This inhibits protein synthesis by causing the misreading of mRNA, which causes the wrong tRNA, wrong amino acid, wrong protein.

What are tetracyclines? What is their function/MoA?

Have 4 benzene rings

They prevent attachment of the tRNA to the acceptor (A) site on the mRNA-ribosomal complex. This prevents the addition of amino acids to the peptide chain.

- Unlike the aminoglycosides, they are only weakly bound to the ribosomes.

- Differences in the activity of individual tetracyclines are related to their solubility in the lipid membrane of the bacteria.

What is the function of Chloramphenicol, Erythromycin and Clindamycin?

They prevent the addition of new amino acids to the growing peptide chain by binding to the ribosomes.

This prevents association of the peptidyl-transferase with the amino acid and no peptide bond is formed i.e. no transpeptidation.

It may also prevent translocation of the ribosome down the mRNA template (Erythromycin).

- They are also used when penicillins don’t work and anyone who is allergic to penicillin is given erythromycin

What synthetic antibiotics are Topoisomerase II inhibitors?

synthetic antibiotics recently introduced into clinical practice

Broad spectrum agents: ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, norfloxacin. Narrower spectrum drugs: cinoxacin and nalidixic (first introduced and is not fluorinated).

They act by inhibiting bacterial DNA Topoisomerase II also known as DNA gyrase.

- This enzyme catalyses the introduction of negative supercoil in DNA permitting transcription and replication

What is gastrulation? When/what occurs?

Gastrulation is the process during which the three primary germ layers form. It involves cellular rearrangements and cell migrations and marks the beginning of the embryonic period.

The process of gastrulation occurs during days 14 /15

Epiblast cells stream into the embryo along the primitive streak/node. The migrating cells that first sink into the groove and replace the hypoblast cells form the endoderm.

The trilaminar disc is then established. Mesoderm is formed when epiblast cells spread between the the two layers. In front of the node a specialised mesoderm structure called the notochord forms (an importantsignalling structure) between the two layers

What is neurulation? When/what occurs?

Occurs at the beginning of week 3

The notochord induces the overlying ectoderm to thicken and form the neural plate

Neurulation is  induced by the bar shaped tissue - notochord (deep to the neural epithelium)

- Epithelial cells become columnar. The plate will make a tube (neurulation). Day 19+ a midline groove becomes apparent

- on days 20-21 cells on neural plate edge thicken forming folds and a groove

- day 22 the edges roll over and the cells fuse to make a tunnel

- rostral neuropore closes day 25

- caudal neurpore closes day 27 and 3 brain vesicles develop into the brain

What are the 2 types of neural tube defects? What do they occur as a result of?

Due to the failure of the neural tube to close

Failure of rostral nueropore = anencephaly (lack of development in brain)

Failure of caudal neuropore = some forms of spina bifida (vertebral column doesn't form)

What are neural crest cells? What cell types do they produce?

Specialised cells that migrate away from the neural tube epithelium. They produce a variety of cell types:

Cranial nerve ganglia, Dorsal root ganglia, Autonomic ganglia, Adrenal medulla, Schwann cells

Peripheral glial

Smooth muscle of cardiac outflow

Odontoblasts, Craniofacial skeleton

Thyroid parafollicular (C) cells, Melanocytes

What 2 symptoms can arise as a result of defective neural crest development? Describe them both.

Waardenburg’s Syndrome (autosomal dominant 1/50,000)

- Some types have Pax-3 gene deletion

- Pigment abnormalities (even albinism)

- Deafness

- Constipation

- Heterochromia of eyes

- Telecanthus (widely separated eye “corners”)

Treachers Collins Syndrome (autosomal dominant 1/50,000)

- Defective protein called Treacle (TCOF1 gene)

- Failure of formation/apoptosis of neural crest cells

- Abnormal eye shape

- Micrognathia

- Conductive hearing loss,

- Underdeveloped zygoma

- Malformed ears

What are derivatives of the ectoderm?

CNS, PNS, neural crest cells, sensory epithelium of the ear, nose and eye

Epidermis (skin, hair, nails, sweat glands)

Cornea and lens of the eye

Epithelium of the oral and nasal and paranasal air sinuses and anal canal

Some facial bones (intra-membranous ossification), cartilages of the pharyngeal arches and tooth enamel

Pineal and pituitary glands

What are the 3 aggregates of mesoderm that develop on either side of the notochord?  Describe them (including mainly what they form).

1. Paraxial Mesoderm (forms the somites - close to the midline)

- Sclerotome hard tissue migrates medially to form the vertebrae that surround the notochord and neural tube

- Dermatome forms the dermis  (NB the epidermis is derived from the ectoderm)

- Myotomes forms the skeletal muscle of the trunk and limbs via the limb buds

2. Intermediate Mesoderm

- Forms the gonads and kidneys

3. Lateral Mesoderm (forms paired plates)

- Somatic mesoderm forms the dermis ventrally, the heart and blood vessels and most connective tissues of the body.

- Splanchnic mesoderm forms smooth muscle connective tissues and serosal linings of the abdominal and thoracic cavities (peritoneum, pleura and pericardium)

What are the derivatives of the mesoderm?

All muscle types (smooth, striated and cardiac)

Cartilage, bone and connective tissues

Blood, bone marrow and lymphoid tissues

Endothelial lining of blood vessels

Serous membranes

Sclera and vascular tunic of the eye

Synovial membranes of joints

Urogenital system

What is endoderm? How is it formed?

The yolk sac becomes the gut tube

Amnion enwraps the embryo almost completely cuttng off gut from yolk sac

A image thumb

What are the derivatives of the endoderm?

Lens and retina
Olfactory epithelium
Oral Cavity Epithelium
Sensory organs of ear
Glands: Salivary gland, Sweat Gland and Mammary Gland Adenohypophysis (ant. pituitary)

What is the scientific method? (HINT: there's 7 points)

1. Observation/experiments

2. Explanation (Hypothesis) which can be tested

3. Prediction

4. Experimentation and data interpretation

5. Confirmation (or not) of the hypothesis

6. Peer review

7. Publication (conference/academic journal)

Explain the importance of evidence based medicine in the provision of care

Comment on the effect of bias on scientific research

Differentiate between primary and secondary research studies

Explain the purpose of peer review

Explain what is meant by an evidence pyramid

How do you access the accuracy of information?

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Randomised controlled double blind studies

Cohort studies

Case control studies

Cross sectional studies

Case study, series or report

Read it in a textbook

Somebody told me

What are types of (i) primary studies (ii) secondary studies in research?

(i) Direct experimentation:

- in vitro models = molecular biology, cell and tissue culture, isolated tissue and organs

- in vivo testing = animal models and volunteers (artificial control over biological variables)

Clinical trials: drug treatments and follow up

(ii) Research overviews

Review – expert summary of a number of research studies

Systematic review – objective analysis of all qualifying primary research studies

Meta- analysis – integrated analysis of the numerical data from all qualifying studies


Title: Multiparadigm Patterns of Thought and Design Authors: Charles D. Knutson Timothy A. Budd Curtis R. Cook Contact: Charles D. Knutson knutson@research.cs.orst.edu 962 NW Cypress Ave. Corvallis, Oregon 97330 (541) 752-4052 Abstract: Since its inception, the field of software design patterns has emphasized an object-oriented perspective. Yet object-oriented programming is just one of many programming paradigms. When we expand our view of programming to become more inclusive of other paradigms, we are presented with a much wider range of possible design choices. In this paper, we illustrate this, by showing that even such a simple process as iteration can be approached from a number of different perspectives. Alexander sought patterns that succeeded in stating true invariants, summarizing "a property common to all possible ways of solving the stated problem." If design patterns are to be considered truly universal, the pattern community should broaden to consider other programming paradigms.


Ted Kelton and his cocker spaniel, Mona Marie, bare some teeth for photographers and show why they won first prize in the dog-and-master look-alike contest at the first Festival of Dogs, which was held Wednesday in Central Park in New York City. The festival, sponsored by The Iams Co. of Dayton, Ohio, manufacturer of pet food, and ISE Inc., Minneapolis, manufacturer of Oops!Scoops, was held to promoted socially responsible dog ownership.


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Either, Some or None: An introduction to monadic structures and functional programming
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| por Edson Hilios Seguir 0 Seguidores em 04 jul 2018 |
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We will discuss and understand the monadic structures, going through the most important monads, it's operations and main advantages of the functional programming using Scala, Kotlin, Swift, a little bit of Clojure and why not JavaScript. By the end of the day you should know the main monads and how to use them solve different day-by-day problems and deeply in love with functional programming.

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I have worked in Telefónica Brasil Innovation Center with data acquisition and analysis of Internet of Things and Smart Cities solutions, and act as maker and software evangelist where I did a bunch of courses and talks at events and universities. Nowadays you can find me at 99taxis processing millions of transactions a day with functional programming, immutable data and other cool technologies.

THE CONF was founded in 2017 as an annual conference to fill the gap of instituting an International-level event in Brazil, where all speakers present in English. That way we can finally have a body of presentations that anyone in the world can consume and a venue where anyone in the world can attend. The goal is to showcase what interesting new tech, such as Data Sciences, Brazilians are working on, and integrate nearby countries and the rest of the world in the future.

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WiSPP is the Women in Science Parkville Precinct initiative, a collaborative effort to boost numbers of women in science leadership.

WiSPP comprises five of Australia’s largest medical research institutes, representing over 4000 scientists solving health problems in immunity, childhood disorders, brain disease and cancer.

Currently, across the science sector, women make up less than 8% of our senior leaders. The lack of diversity in our teams is squandering scientific discovery.

The goal of this initiative is to develop and demonstrate an effective model of tackling the problem, drawing on the collective knowledge, resources, and commitment of five eminent medical research institutes to work together to achieve collective impact in this area.

Our Institutes:


Degenerative Disc Disease

Friday, September 23, 2016

Degenerative disc disease is not a disease, but rather a degenerative condition that can be painful and can greatly affect your quality of life. Dr. Edward Hill explains more about this condition in todays 60 Second Housecall.

Dr. Hill:

Degenerative disc disease is a term used to describe the normal changes in your spinal discs as you age. It affects more than 3 million Americans each year.

Spinal discs are soft, compressible discs that separate the vertebrae that make up the spine. The discs act as shock absorbers for the spine, allowing it to flex, bend and twist.

Degenerative disc disease can take place throughout the spine. It most often occurs in the discs in the lower back and the lower part of the neck.

Degenerative disc disease may result in back or neck pain. This varies from person to person. The pain often gets worse with movements such as bending over, reaching up or twisting. You may have numbness or tingling in your leg or arm.

Treatment may include ice or heat and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Your health professional can prescribe stronger medications if necessary. Physical therapy and exercises for strengthening and stretching the back are often recommended. In some cases surgery may be recommended.

For North Mississippi Medical Center, Im Dr. Edward Hill.


A lot of mention has been made of late as to who is benefitting the most from their debate performances, and who is damaged irreparably. Amidst the entertainment of the fiasco that has been the debate cycle, in both parties, there are unseen winners and losers.

The Loser: US Foreign Policy

Despite the increasingly dire threats facing the United States abroad, a growing refugee crisis and the backlash from the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris, foreign policy largely sits on the backburner. Yes, the rhetoric surrounding taking the fight has been intense and widespread amongst most of the candidates. However, this is all that presently exists, and the American voter seems to be far more interested in the smoothest talker, and not the most qualified Commander in Chief.

As each day of the campaign drags on, likely primary voters appear to draw their motives from public issue statements, rather than any meaningful record of accomplishments. The polls are reflecting this. The candidates gaining both the most traction and media attention have very little, if any, foreign policy prowess on which they can draw to justify becoming the next Commander in Chief of the armed forces during this incredibly crucial time.

Republicans Donald Trump and Ben Carson, the two undeniable leaders in almost every recent poll, have nearly zero experience in any political field. Trump touts his negotiating experience as a point of pride for his foreign policy credentials. His outlandish, macho talking points have allowed him to soar in the polls despite lacking versed stances on any events in which a foreign entity, like ISIS, would have no interest or reason to negotiate. Then, of course, there is Carson, who has publicly admitted he is actively studying foreign policy on the campaign trail and has struggled to fend off reports that members inside his campaign “coach” him on foreign policy basics.

After the steep polling drop-off from the two distinct frontrunners, we have the class of three young senators: Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rand Paul (R-KY). These senators have gained a lot of influence within the party, especially within the younger demographic the GOP desperately needs to reach. But, what does it mean for foreign policy?

Senator Rubio has laid out a strong, clear plan for strengthening the military and re-establishing American influence abroad. However, his attendance record in the Senate has been increasingly, and perhaps justifiably, called into question. Could President Rubio adequately handle international relations as president when he couldn’t dedicate time to hash out these issues as a Senator? There’s also the fact that Rubio attacked Senator John McCain (R-AZ) for “knowing nothing about enhanced interrogation.” Senator McCain was a prisoner of war in Viet Nam and lost most of the function in his arms due to the torture he endured there.

Senator Cruz largely joins Rubio in advocating for a strong national defense. Cruz’s vision, if implemented, would be a large benefit to the United States’ standing in the world. However, he has stated he would use overwhelming force to achieve American objectives, but not dedicate resources to “nation build” in the aftermath. This threatens to cause even more instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world and reflects the issue with inexperienced leadership.

There is always the interesting case of discussing foreign policy with the Paul family. Senator Paul, as well as his father, former presidential candidate Ron Paul, blames American involvement in foreign affairs for many of the world’s problems. Paul’s non-interventionist vision also threatens to harm American integrity abroad and threatens our relationship with Israel by sacrificing the ability for the United States to influence global decisions.

No discussion of US foreign policy would be complete, however, without the mention of the name Bush. President George W’s little brother, former Florida Governor, Jeb Bush, is trying to take over in a world that has largely rejected the Bush doctrine of foreign policy. This has also been harmed by Jeb’s unwillingness to reject his brother’s shortcomings and his fumbling many questions on the subject.

The rising tide of candidates, who have very poor foreign policy credentials, has only been compounded by the debate process marginalizing or eliminating the best candidates this cycle has to offer in terms of foreign policy. And, no, despite being Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton (D-NY) does not fall into this group. Her lack of notable accomplishments in that role and the fact that foreign relations failed to improve during her time there keeps her out of that upper echelon.

Conversely, despite his vast experience, former Governor of Virginia, Jim Gilmore, never had a shot in this race. What chances he had were eliminated by being excluded from all but one of the debate thus far. However, Gilmore logged years of service in the Army in West Germany in the 1970s, and was a former counterintelligence agent. He also has run or founded various councils within the Department of Homeland Security dedicated to security policy. His governorship of Virginia also coincided with the attacks of 9/11, which hit the Pentagon, in Arlington, VA. Unfortunately, this process blocks voters from access to his knowledge and experience.

Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) also has military experience in the Air Force and was the longest-serving governor in Texas history. He created millions of jobs in a huge economy, and has experience dealing with external competition. He’s also had experience dealing with the immigration crisis at the Texas border, which he deployed the Texas National Guard to combat. His campaign had huge support within the armed service community, but, after being relegated to the lower tier debate, he never caught momentum.

Another Senator who receives fairly little mention in this process is Lindsey Graham (R-SC). He also served in the Air Force and logged over 20 years of military service. He now serves on the Armed Services Committee in the Senate and has been endorsed by the aforementioned Senator McCain. Graham, due to low coverage and polling, has never made the top tier debates and was excluded altogether from the most recent one.

Finally, perhaps the most qualified Commander in Chief of all the candidates does not come from the Republican pool at all. Former Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) was a decorated Viet Nam War veteran, including two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star. He served as Assistant Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy under the Reagan administration. Webb has further articulated clear knowledge of foreign policy and had a strong record of accomplishments during his term in the Senate. However, he received paltry speaking time in the only Democratic debate before he dropped out.

Winner: Vladimir Putin

The way this process has, thus far, marginalized legitimate foreign policy perspectives has paved the way for Vladimir Putin’s full ascension into the position of most powerful man in the world.

Putin has helped re-establish Russia as a dominant world force and has been ardent in his fighting of ISIS and radical Islamic forces in the Middle East. The Obama administration’s reluctance to take an active role has allowed Putin to maximize his influence.

The United States has helped embolden Russian leaders by pushing NATO right up to the Russian borders during the Bill Clinton administration. There is nothing wrong with NATO expansion, and given the time, it was a useful tool to deter future Russian aggression into former Soviet bloc states. It was used again by President Bush (43) to add the Baltic states to the alliance.

However, during these administrations, America displayed an active foreign policy, and projected strength. Therefore, these NATO expansions can be seen as strategic moves to maintain global influence. On the other hand, if America projects weakness, and retreats in influence, an advocacy for NATO expansion can be seen as nothing other than a symbolic move and unnecessarily antagonistic towards Russia.

Putin has seen this American weakness in policies like Hillary’s “reset” during her time as Secretary of State, where she initiated a unilateral easing of tensions and relaxing of US policy towards Russia, in hopes of making deals with then-President Dmitri Medvedev. It only projected weakness and galvanized Russian ambitions.

Now, Putin assumes a vast amount of influence on the world stage and the only credible threat to that unilateral influence would be a strong American leader. Symbolic moves like the expansion of NATO without any strategic objectives in mind, only projects weakness, and also gives Putin a rationalization for more rash actions that he knows the US would not be willing to back up.

Despite various assertions, Vladimir Putin is not an unreasonable or evil man. He has been both inspired and encouraged by reckless assertions on the part of US leaders and by their lack of strength when it comes to pressing international issues. He is an international actor responding to changing international conditions in order to increase his influence and leverage globally.

This makes him an undeniable threat to American influence abroad, and to America itself. We need a strong national leader to take on Putin’s advances head-on.

The dearth of credible Commanders in Chief in our presidential race and the rhetoric that has been spewed during this cycle will score as a victory for Putin who will continue to increase Russian influence while he takes on ISIS and threatens territorial expansion. He will receive no backlash from a United States that seems content to elect a leader who cannot adequately challenge his advances or be respected in an international context.


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Yang Jiechi Holds Working Meeting with US Side

On November 1, 2016, State Councilor Yang Jiechi held a working meeting with Assistant to the US President for National Security Affairs Susan Rice and Secretary of State John Kerry of the US in New York. Both sides exchanged in-depth views on implementing the important consensus reached by President Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama during their meeting in Hangzhou, China-US relations and other issues of common concern. Both sides agreed to continuously maintain exchanges at high-level and all levels, expand pragmatic cooperation and properly manage differences, so as to promote the sustained and stable development of China-US relations.

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Saturday, June 16, 2018

Kindergarten: Imaginary Animal Collage

Kindergarteners have begun a short series of lessons introducing the element of texture. Students were quick to describe the definition of texture, and were led to notice that everything has a texture. Students were also informed that a viewer is rarely allowed to touch an actual work of art, but that our eyes can help us to know what something might feel like, even before our fingers touch a surface.
Students were then shown five objects, one at a time, and asked to use descriptive words, as well as their eyes, to identify the texture of each object before being passed around to allow each student to handle and touch. The objects consisted of a piece of burlap, a block of wood, a spiny seashell, a ball of woolen yarn, a bird feather and a large pinecone.
Students were then shown how to use plastic rubbing plates which allow for a textured surface to be printed upon paper by rubbing with a drawing tool. Students were instructed to create three such rubbings, even using the bottom of their shoe, if desired. These rubbings were then collected and saved for the following art class.

A week later, students were shown the artwork of illustrator, Eric Carle, with whom most kindergarteners are familiar. Students were shown examples of collages Carle created of real and imaginary animals, comparing their differences and discussing Carle’s artistic techniques. Students were then instructed to create their own imaginary animals from shapes cut from their rubbings to help convey texture in their collage.


On Father’s Day, we tell you how to balance family and work life to get the best of both worlds

Published : 17 Jun 2018, 10:54:44
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Father’s Day is for celebrating the fatherhood and the positive influence which fathers have brought in our lives.
There are different things you might remember your father. It could be that time when he taught you to play cricket, or when he scolded you but then made it up by taking you out for an ice cream later!
With changing times, fathers are starting to play a more important role in children’s lives, and we spoke to a few dads who talk about how they manage a hectic work life and make time for their kids.
“Eight years back the birth of my daughter saw her take over the main star cast in my life and I moved on to a supporting role,” says Jiggy George, founder, Dream Theatre and managing director, Mojostar.
“This was natural and seamless. The fact, that I had transitioned at the same time from a high-level corporate job to my own startup entrepreneurship helped in terms of flexibility of time. From day 1, I was hands-on and did everything voluntarily from diaper changes, bathing, burping and clowning around. We made a conscious decision to not seek any help from support staff or family and so were completely invested in our baby’s life,” he said.
George says that they found and nurtured common interests, music being top of the charts. He strums the guitar while his daughter sings, and they watch music videos and cartoons together. There is a lot of wordplay, re-reading Harry Potter, answering curious questions and also discussing her sometimes insightful and curveball observations.
Another important habit that George practises is marking his calendar so that he attends every landmark and important occasion in her school life.
Nikhil Kapur, founder and managing director at Atmantan, has a list of things he feels working fathers should keep in mind so that they can balance both office and spending time with their children.
1. Don’t be an absent dad. You need to allocate time to your kids and then defend this time as family work time.
2. Our children will always love us no matter what; but if you want to have that deeper connect with your kids, then you need to be around for the small and big things in their lives. It can be homework, play dates, watching a movie, discussing a book that they read, etc… all this makes us understand our kids better. Like if they are going through a difficult time, it helps them discuss this with you when you take the time to connect with them and you also get a chance to clear their understanding, give them advice different from what they may hear from their friends or peers.
3. Basically be mindful when you are with them. This is a beautiful tip that I picked up at a workshop for parents, and it works brilliantly. When our kids are with us, we need to cut out all the other clutter in our mind and only listen to our kids at that moment. The voice of kids shouldn’t become a distant background noise... even if we spend 15 minutes with them, those 15 minutes should only belong to them. You will be surprised at the quality of interaction both the child and you experience when you start focusing your attention on your child.
4. Create a free speech atmosphere at home. Time is a scarce commodity and there are travel days/hectic schedules… Hence, we must let kids know that they can say how they feel at any time and come to us with any issue that’s troubling them at any time too! If the child doesn’t feel verbally suppressed, I have seen them become less suppressed in other aspects of their life as well.
5. Play sports. This is so important and on so many levels too, e.g. physical and mental fitness, camaraderie, problem solving and even leadership skills.
6. Be a part of their life the way you want them to be a part of yours. We expect our children to come to office picnics, wish our colleagues or even join us on work family dinners sometimes. Then let’s start reciprocating with something as simple as reading their favourite stories, watching the movies they love, or even researching the characters they idolise (trust me, this many-a-times is the toughest bit to grasp for me)… when we see what they see, then we truly become a part of their life.
7. Laugh with your kids. Often, I use humour with my son when I tell him stories or when I goof up getting home on time or even when plans go astray. This always helps defuse a situation, and sometimes even drive a point home in a more palatable way.-Hindustantimes

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Monday, June 25, 2018

The Multiple Perspectives of Innovators

Innovators are among us and within us, spot them by how they think and do things differently.

Either for individuals or businesses, creativity is a long-term endeavor. It must be cultivated. Why can innovators find more view spots than others? Why can innovators think differently and connect unusual dots effortlessly? What fuels creativity? Creativity is a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Here are some perspectives of being innovative.

Perception: Perception is one’s interpretation of the reality. Perception is based on one’s thought processes which are influenced by one’s thinking style, cognitive understanding, and knowledge level. A perceptive mind is subjective but can be open enough to embrace other minds' perception. Having a learning attitude allows you to become more positive and gives you the energy to overcome obstacles and practice creativity frequently. How we wish to impact the world creatively has to be in alignment with our perception - With an ever-changing world, it is important to consciously update perceptions for things you are not sure or people you do not know well, the purpose is to the make appropriate adjustments and lead change creatively.

Plasticity: Neuroplasticity refers to the lifelong capacity of the brain to change and rewire itself in response to the stimulation of learning and experience. In neuronal terms, this involves disabling some of the “wiring” and working on the new ones. All of that requires a deliberate mental effort. The cognition involves exploring varieties of meanings/thoughts, abandoning old connections, and establishing new relations to trigger creativity. A creative mind with plasticity is able to absorb all necessary knowledge and adjust its thinking processes according to changes in its environment, as well as applying the acquired knowledge and lessons to succeed in new situations, to connect wider dots for sparking creativity.

Patten Recognition: Patterns are defined as "solutions of problems in a context" with a body of "descriptions of forces." Pattern thinking is a type of creative thinking because sometimes tie patterns together so you can navigate among them for figuring out alternative solutions. Patterns are containers for describing relationships, pattern thinking is a hybrid thinking to combine designing thinking, architect thinking, system thinking, and visual thinking. To be creative, you need to continue discovering new patterns, so it requires you to keep your eyes open and keep your mind off the box in order to break down conventional box and actively seek out new ideas wherever you can discover them.

Problem-Solving: Unless there is a problem, there is no creativity. Creativity needs a problem, and a creative person needs a purpose. Being creative is about how to solve a problem intelligently and come up with elegant solutions. Change, creativity, and problem-solving are all interrelated. It takes courage to get out of conventional thinking box, practice creative thinking to come out novel ideas, broaden thoughts and connect wider dots for coming up better solutions. You never know how innovative you might be in some field before encountering the problems and before the adoption of solutions. Creative problem-solvers are able to reframe circumstance or conditions around a problem and solve them in alternative ways. Innovation is all about the madness of solving problems and doing things in the better way.

Personality: When we say personality, we are talking about mindsets/ traits/emotions/attitudes/ behavior. Thinking is the seed that molds and makes one's life. The way we think has much of effect and impact on how we interact with the world. Extroverts can share ideas or thoughts by interacting with others or the environment proactively; Introverts can spend more time pondering and often creativity is nurtured in solitude. Both personality types have a great opportunity to be creative. People are different, we all have different characters, personalities, favorite activities, strengths, and weaknesses. Both introverts and extroverts need to learn how to think profoundly, connect interdisciplinary dots, be open to new experience, and tolerate ambiguity, to stimulate creativity.

Innovators are among us and within us, spot them by how they think and do things differently. Empower them to build the culture of innovation. The world needs more of creative thinkers who can handle the ever-increasing complexities and discover the new path for leading digital transformation smoothly.

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Speeches and Statements by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi

Address by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the Nagasaki Memorial Service for the 57th Nagasaki Peace Ceremony

August 9, 2002

Here today on the occasion of the Nagasaki Peace Ceremony marking the 57th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, I reverently pay sincere tribute to the souls of the atomic bomb victims. Furthermore, I express my heartfelt sympathy for those suffering from the after-effects of the atomic bomb.

After the war, thanks to the efforts of its citizens, the City of Nagasaki has achieved great development, and today, upholding as fundamental principles the desire for peace and respect for human rights, Nagasaki is advancing plans to develop as a city that will be a center for exchange, keeping its history alive. We can never forget that the lives lost to the horrors of the atomic bomb serve as a foundation of that development.

As the only country ever to have experienced nuclear devastation, based on its determination that the horrors brought upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki should never be repeated, Japan observes its Peace Constitution, firmly maintaining the Three Non-Nuclear Principles of not possessing nuclear weapons, not producing them, and not permitting their introduction into its territory. There will be no change to this position in the future as in the past.

At the United Nations General Assembly last autumn, Japan advocated the importance of the early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), and proposed a draft resolution indicating a path to the total elimination of nuclear weapons, which received overwhelming support from the international community, as in previous years. The Japanese government will continue to appeal to other governments towards the early entry into force of the CTBT. Aiming to realize at an earliest date a peaceful and safe world without nuclear weapons, Japan will make its utmost efforts to lead the international community in promoting measures for nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons. As such, I believe that it is indeed very significant in enhancing international understanding among the citizens that, following on from last year, representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have again gathered in Nagasaki to hold a meeting to work for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

With regard to the atomic bomb victims, I have been working to enhance comprehensive support measures spanning health care, medical treatment and welfare based on the Law to Support the Survivors of the Atomic Bomb. From the current fiscal year, a decision has been made to provide new assistance measures for individuals who have lived abroad since being exposed to the atomic bomb. I will continue to work sincerely to promote support measures by facing the reality of the aging victims of the atomic bomb. Furthermore, I will strive to ensure that the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims scheduled to open next fiscal year will serve as a facility to convey the disaster of the atomic bomb to the entire world and commemorate everlasting peace.

I would like to conclude my address by offering my heartfelt prayer for the repose of the atomic bomb victims' souls and my best wishes for the future to the atomic bomb survivors and the bereaved families, and for the further prosperity of the City of Nagasaki.

Junichiro Koizumi
Prime Minister of Japan


Trentino Alto Adige

Trentino Alto Adige represents one of the northern door to reach Europe, by Switzerland and Austria.

The region is famous for its hundreds and hundreds Castles, historical Buildings, luxury Palaces, and furthermore Churces and Chapels.

Daily cultural events are always in program in whole territory of Trentino Alto Adige, in museums, exhibition, special events. This area is rich in cultural and historical heritage that occupies over half a million people.

Two only cities: Trento and Bolzano.

Even if Trentino Alto Adige is part of Italian State, most part of its population prefers to speak in German instead of Italian, and in some remote areas among the mountains, there are whole villages that speak Ladino language.

All the territory of the region is made up of mountains, little rivers, valleys, glaciers and lakes, little typical villages built with local building all in wood. The main mountains are Ortler and Monte Cevedale without forgetting the whole complex of Dolomiti mountains; from them a lot of valley take name as Val Pusteria, Val Venosta, Val di Fiemme, Val di Fassa. The main river is Adige, but also important are Isarco and Sarca.

Tourism both in summer and winter represents a great activity in the economy of the region. Many resorts are located in the picturesque landscape of Dolomiti.

The climate of Trentino-Alto Adige is mostly alpine. Winters are cold and snowy from November till End of March, the temperature ranges from -5 ° C to -10 ° C in the coldest months and in the summer the average is from 30 ° C to 35 ° C. In autumn and spring usually rains.

During the winter season this little region becomes one of the ideal destination for ski’s lovers: Trentino Alto Adige offers km and km of wonderful ski runs for beginners and for great experts, but also possibility for doing snow-board, ice-skating, and other “winter” sports.

For all visitators, the region puts at disposal a large variety of accommodation: hotels, aparthotels, apartments, residence and chalet. They are located in several areas near the ski-slopes or near the main ski resorts, they offer all comforts that clients need. A great attention also to the family with children, with the possibility to ski school teacher at disposal for learning also to the little kids how to  ski.

For the summer, possibility to have excursions around the km of green paths around the mountains, by bike or simply on foot, visiting the little villages and the little farm where the owner produce locally cheese and bread.

Just some words for the regional cuisine : famous all over the world are the Apples produced in Trentino Alto Adige; the Speck, it’s a smoked ham typical of that area; and then Cheese, Bread, Cakes as the “Strudel” staffed with apples; Fish coming from the quantity of lakes scattered in all the region, always cooked and matched with “polenta”; a note also to the wines as Pinto, Riesling and Traminer and why not to the schnapps too.

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Distances between main cities

Bolzano Trento Brunico Venezia Verona Milano
Bolzano 60 74 268 155 279
Trento 130 215 102 226
Brunico 215 226 350
Venezia 120 269
Verona 159


Root and Scale Workout

Ok. No diagrams in this lesson. The reason is that this technique should work on pretty much any instrument. We've tested it on keys, bass and guitar so we're jumping to the logical conclusion that it'll work on any instrument. Which would include vocals [EDIT: works great with vocals. Tried it], but we'd think you'd have to be a pretty dynamic singer to pull this off. Actually, it's not beginner material for any instrument. That's for sure.

First up. This exercise mentions chords. But if your instrument does not play chords (like a saxophone or flute) then just use a root note. Your choice of chord can vary according to your style. If you're a metal guitarist and just want to use a powerchord, fine. If you're a jazz guitarist and want to go something augmented not a problem. The most important thing is that your root note/root chord must always remain the same, and obviously the scale you choose must match that root chord. If you're a non-chord player as mentioned earlier stick to a scale or mode of your choosing. And, use this technique on a variety of chords/scales/keys. From now on we will just refer to your foundation chord/note as 'root'.

Here's the challenge. Play your root note and then an orderly sequence of notes from the scale - it could be three notes, four, five, or just two. Plenty of room to experiment. We're going to use three notes for this example. If you do happen to be a keys/piano player this is one hand only, ok! Now, try this sequence. The numbers are the notes of the scale you've chosen (and remember R = root note or root chord).

R, 1, 2, 3 - R, 2, 3, 4 - R, 3, 4, 5 - R, 4, 5, 6 - R, 5, 6, 7 - R, 6, 7, 8 - R, 7, 8, 9 - R, 8, 9, 10.

Round it off with the root note or chord to resolve the harmony. A great thing about this exercise is it expands your ability to jump from foundation (lets say a chord) to a melody - whether it's a riff, passing tones, embellishment, or leaping into a solo.

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