17 Jan
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
In the past few days, tension has been increasing due to conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation which has led to the United States, the United Kingdom, and France increasing pressure on Russia to remove their troops from Crimea.
Wikinews interviewed specialists in Russian foreign policy and specialists in international law about the legality of Russia’s actions and the consequences of any sanctions imposed by G7 nation economies.
16 Jan
The Best Facial Epidermis to Achieve Younger Looking Skin Care Program
by
Ted Wood
These days, with experience in a variety of therapies, you can even change the epidermis, are born and inherited from their parents. In some cases, it may be a good thing.
If you are one of those who suffer from very dry epidermis, or very oily epidermis, or from acne or other epidermis issues that you are unhappy with and inhibit your everyday life, experience therapy is a welcome blessing.
How much is an epidermal disorders, these days there are so many treatment experiences and epidermis. Modern technology gives the audience a pleasant find its application in order to better the epidermis, and in particular experience.
Light therapy laser and light therapy, using different wavelengths and extreme is now used to help treat acne problems, acne imperfections and wrinkles. Light is used to heat controlled and sensitive epidermis peeling the epidermis, removing old dead epidermal tissue and increase production to newer epidermis.
Epidermal shedding different methods are also becoming popular lines of therapy experience, flaws, stains, and even abnormal epidermal abnormal growths. There is a mechanical skin, such as microderm and skins, such as glycolic and TCA peel.
Again, this therapy to perform exfoliation outer epidermis epidermis problems are most noticeable. The abolition of when it comes to the most noticeable problems are less obvious. However, repeated treatments are usually necessary to have more time and exposure.
Then, there is a class of prescription drugs, such as Botox injections, treatments and retinoids. It should be applied only to licensed physicians because they are dangerous. Botox pictures, such as a toxin that paralyzes muscles and should be used in controlled quantities. Retinoids also cause adverse reactions, and should not be used during child birth.
Natural healthy epidermis care system, as well as with the help of modern technology through better and cleaner production processes can have your own experience of education in today\’s therapy. In fact, they perform better in the sense that they have less or no harmful side effects, performing with the eco-system process and therefore increases what is organic more time to affect the system.
Most of these modern therapies carry epidermis associated with significant symptoms and signs of this issue, but not the main cause, which is usually toxic damage. Toxins can be encountered anywhere, for example, ultraviolet rays from the sun or processed foods in our system. However, toxic damage always occurs, for example, the inner tissue levels.
Natural healthy epidermis care system with powerful antioxidant substances such as vitamin E and coenzyme Q10 for repair epidermal tissue issue is that when they add, only healthy epidermal tissue is created. This significantly reduces the recurrence of this issue already.
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There are various ways to the issue. You can try and try again to remove noticeable symptoms or you can settle for a more organic and permanent remedy that will allow you to age wisely and beautifully.
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16 Jan
Sunday, January 27, 2019
In findings published earlier this month in Ecological Applications, scientists from the University of Washington and Center for Ecosystem Sentinels examine the reason for the plummeting numbers of female Magellanic penguins, Spheniscus magellanicus, that have been reported at the birds’ breeding sites in South America over the past twenty years and more. Wikinews caught up with postdoctoral researcher and study co-author Natasha Gownaris to learn more.
In a press release, Gownaris said, “Two decades ago, there were about 1.5 adult male Magellanic penguins for every adult female at Punta Tombo[…] Today, it’s approaching three males for every female.” The findings suggested a disparity in the death rate of juvenile and adult penguins, rather than differences in chick survival, account for this difference.
Punta Tombo is one of the annual breeding sites for the species; it is in Argentina. The penguins travel thousands of miles each year to reach these sites.
The work involved building population models out of over thirty years of data collected by tagging individual penguins. Findings also suggested the pronounced sex disparity might make population models used to predict survival among other birds with a more even gender balance inappropriate for use on Megallanic penguins.
According to the data, since 1987, overall population of Magellanic penguins in Punta Tombo at one of their annual breeding sites in Argentina has declined 40%, while the male-to-female ratio has greatly increased.
Since 1983, the research team has been putting stainless steel bands on tens of thousands of chicks hatched at the Punta Tombo breeding site in Argentina, noting which juvenile and adult birds make it back to the site the next year and extrapolating how many lived and died. Among juveniles, there was a 17% survival rate for males and 12% for females. Among adults, it was 89% and 85%. These effects became compounded every year, reaching as high as six males to one female among older penguins.
The researchers noted implications for penguin conservation: Gownaris remarked, “Over the years, this team has helped preserve the land and waters around breeding colonies like Punta Tombo[…] But now we’re starting to understand that, to help Magellanic penguins, you have to protect waters where they feed in winter, which are thousands of miles north from Punta Tombo.”
Gownaris answered a series of questions for our correspondent.
((Wikinews)) What prompted your curiosity about Magellanic penguins?
Natasha Gownaris: I’ve wanted to be a marine scientist since I was a child, when I would collect sand crabs (Emerita talpoida) from local beaches in New York. I studied fish as a graduate student, but I have a pair of adopted parrots and I am generally fascinated by birds. Plus, penguins eat fish! Studying penguins seemed like a great way to merge my love for the ocean and my love for birds. Penguins and other seabirds are also important to study because they tell us something about the health of the ocean ecosystems they feed in, similar to the use of canaries to test air quality in coal mines. Unfortunately, the decline of many seabird species worldwide is yet another warning sign of the negative and widespread impacts humans are having on the ocean.
((WN)) How did you approach putting together such a large-scale study?
NG: This study started in 1982, long before my joining the lab in March of 2016. Dr. Dee Boersma began this study as a response to a Japanese company’s interest in harvesting penguins for their skin, meat, and oil. Although the project has evolved over time, Dr. Boersma had the foresight to start banding chicks in 1983 and to set up a standard protocol that we follow each year. Since then, over 44,000 chicks have been banded at Punta Tombo. We’ve been able to follow some individuals for 30+ years, collecting detailed information on things like how often they breed and how many mates they’ve had.
((WN)) How much time did you end up spending in Argentina? What was it like at the breeding site?
NG: Members of the Boersma lab and volunteers spend approximately six months each year at Punta Tombo. I was fortunate enough to spend nearly four months at the colony between 2015 and 2017. It’s an incredible, otherworldly place. Magellanic penguins nest in burrows or bushes, and some areas of the colony are so dense with burrows that you feel like you’re on a different planet. The colony has declined by over 40% since the study started…so I can’t even imagine what it was like in the 1980s. My favorite time of the day is around 8PM, when (hopefully fat) penguins are returning to the colony en masse after a foraging trip. They are also most vocal in the morning and evening, making their characteristic braying sound— the related African penguin earned the name “jackass penguin” because they sound a bit like donkeys. The colony is also full of other beautiful and interesting creatures, including a llama-like species called the guanaco and an ostrich-like species called the rhea.
| I was fortunate enough to spend nearly four months at the colony between 2015 and 2017. It’s an incredible, otherworldly place. | ||
((WN)) Do you have any theories on why more female juveniles die at sea? You mention starvation; what might be the causes of that, and are there other possible explanations you can think of?
NG: We are not yet certain why females are more likely to die, but we think it must be related to their smaller body size. Because the mortality is most uneven in juveniles, higher mortality doesn’t seem to be related to greater costs of breeding for females than for males. Female Magellanic penguins are about 17% lighter than males and have smaller bills. We think that, because of this size difference, females have a lower storage capacity, can’t dive as deep, and can’t take as wide a range of prey as males — all disadvantages when faced with limited and unpredictable food resources. These disadvantages hit juvenile females even harder, as juveniles are still learning how to forage and often travel further than adults do in the non-breeding season. Counts of carcasses in the species’ migration range support starvation as the main cause of female-biased mortality; while oiled carcasses have a sex ratio of 1:1, females outnumber males in carcasses of starved birds. The only other possibility is that females are moving to other colonies at higher rates than are males, but this species is known to almost always return to its natal colony to breed.
((WN)) You suggest conservation efforts should look at protection of feeding grounds. What sort of measures do you think might be beneficial?
NG: Because penguins migrate such long distances over the non-breeding season, a mixture of tools (including no-take marine protected areas and traditional fisheries management tools, like catch limits) is likely to be needed. Although there is currently some spatial protection surrounding the species’ breeding colony, this protection does not extend to their migratory route. And, of course, everyone can contribute to penguin conservation by reducing their plastic waste, making more sustainable food choices, and reducing their carbon footprint.
((WN)) What do you think might be causing pressure on food sources for the penguins?
NG: The two main threats to the food sources of this colony are climate change, which cause shifts in primary productivity and fish stocks, and fisheries. Fisheries compete with penguins for fish species such as hake and anchovy.
((WN)) Have you noticed differences in behavior among the penguins as the ratios become increasingly skewed?
NG: In a separate study currently under review, we have shown that aggression between males of Magellanic penguins is higher when the sex ratio at the colony is more skewed towards males. We also showed that nearly all females at the colony breed but that, over time, fewer and fewer males find mates. Single male penguins sometimes intrude [on] nests of mated pairs and interrupt the incubation of eggs or feeding of chicks, leading to mortality. In some cases, they will even attack and kill chicks.
((WN)) Your release mentioned sexing the penguins was problematic; how did you achieve it with confidence?
NG: We have some methods of sexing penguins that we feel confident about — using genetics or measures of cloaca size around egg laying, for example. However, these methods are time intensive, so we have also developed visual cues for sex penguins (bill size, behavior, forehead shape). We looked at individuals that had been sexed using both a certain method (e.g. genetics) and visual methods to calculate how often we got it right based on visual cues alone and found that we have very high accuracy. We also used statistical tools to help to deal with uncertainty in the sex of some individuals.
((WN)) How well can you extrapolate population trends at Punta Tombo based on the birds you tagged? More broadly, how well do you think this work represents global populations?
| everyone can contribute to penguin conservation by reducing their plastic waste, making more sustainable food choices, and reducing their carbon footprint | ||
NG: It is likely that females have higher mortality than males at other colonies of this species and in other penguin species. We unfortunately do not have enough information from other colonies of this species (e.g. sex ratio and population trends) for an accurate global assessment of population trends. We do know that some colonies of the species are growing but that, at the global level, the species is still in decline.
((WN)) In your opinion, for how much longer are penguin populations sustainable without intervention?
NG: This is nearly impossible to answer without more information on other colonies of the species, but the Punta Tombo colony is declining rapidly. We estimate declines of at least 43% since 1987 from our annual surveys at the colony, but it is likely that actual declines are higher because of the increasingly skewed sex ratio.
((WN)) What are your next plans moving forward with your work?
NG: We are currently studying the sex ratio in Magellanic penguin chicks (at hatching and at fledging) to determine how this influences the sex ratio in adults. There are two priorities moving forward — 1) estimating sex ratio at other colonies of this species and determining whether females are more likely to leave Punta Tombo for other colonies than are males and 2) determining the mechanisms underlying lower female survival, e.g. by studying the foraging behavior and diet of males and females and the individual characteristics (like body size) that correlate with survival.
15 Jan
Thursday, December 18, 2008
A team of eight transplant surgeons in Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, USA, led by reconstructive surgeon Dr. Maria Siemionow, age 58, have successfully performed the first almost total face transplant in the US, and the fourth globally, on a woman so horribly disfigured due to trauma, that cost her an eye. Two weeks ago Dr. Siemionow, in a 23-hour marathon surgery, replaced 80 percent of her face, by transplanting or grafting bone, nerve, blood vessels, muscles and skin harvested from a female donor’s cadaver.
The Clinic surgeons, in Wednesday’s news conference, described the details of the transplant but upon request, the team did not publish her name, age and cause of injury nor the donor’s identity. The patient’s family desired the reason for her transplant to remain confidential. The Los Angeles Times reported that the patient “had no upper jaw, nose, cheeks or lower eyelids and was unable to eat, talk, smile, smell or breathe on her own.” The clinic’s dermatology and plastic surgery chair, Francis Papay, described the nine hours phase of the procedure: “We transferred the skin, all the facial muscles in the upper face and mid-face, the upper lip, all of the nose, most of the sinuses around the nose, the upper jaw including the teeth, the facial nerve.” Thereafter, another team spent three hours sewing the woman’s blood vessels to that of the donor’s face to restore blood circulation, making the graft a success.
The New York Times reported that “three partial face transplants have been performed since 2005, two in France and one in China, all using facial tissue from a dead donor with permission from their families.” “Only the forehead, upper eyelids, lower lip, lower teeth and jaw are hers, the rest of her face comes from a cadaver; she could not eat on her own or breathe without a hole in her windpipe. About 77 square inches of tissue were transplanted from the donor,” it further described the details of the medical marvel. The patient, however, must take lifetime immunosuppressive drugs, also called antirejection drugs, which do not guarantee success. The transplant team said that in case of failure, it would replace the part with a skin graft taken from her own body.
Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, a Brigham and Women’s Hospital surgeon praised the recent medical development. “There are patients who can benefit tremendously from this. It’s great that it happened,” he said.
Leading bioethicist Arthur Caplan of the University of Pennsylvania withheld judgment on the Cleveland transplant amid grave concerns on the post-operation results. “The biggest ethical problem is dealing with failure — if your face rejects. It would be a living hell. If your face is falling off and you can’t eat and you can’t breathe and you’re suffering in a terrible manner that can’t be reversed, you need to put on the table assistance in dying. There are patients who can benefit tremendously from this. It’s great that it happened,” he said.
Dr Alex Clarke, of the Royal Free Hospital had praised the Clinic for its contribution to medicine. “It is a real step forward for people who have severe disfigurement and this operation has been done by a team who have really prepared and worked towards this for a number of years. These transplants have proven that the technical difficulties can be overcome and psychologically the patients are doing well. They have all have reacted positively and have begun to do things they were not able to before. All the things people thought were barriers to this kind of operations have been overcome,” she said.
The first partial face transplant surgery on a living human was performed on Isabelle Dinoire on November 27 2005, when she was 38, by Professor Bernard Devauchelle, assisted by Professor Jean-Michel Dubernard in Amiens, France. Her Labrador dog mauled her in May 2005. A triangle of face tissue including the nose and mouth was taken from a brain-dead female donor and grafted onto the patient. Scientists elsewhere have performed scalp and ear transplants. However, the claim is the first for a mouth and nose transplant. Experts say the mouth and nose are the most difficult parts of the face to transplant.
In 2004, the same Cleveland Clinic, became the first institution to approve this surgery and test it on cadavers. In October 2006, surgeon Peter Butler at London‘s Royal Free Hospital in the UK was given permission by the NHS ethics board to carry out a full face transplant. His team will select four adult patients (children cannot be selected due to concerns over consent), with operations being carried out at six month intervals. In March 2008, the treatment of 30-year-old neurofibromatosis victim Pascal Coler of France ended after having received what his doctors call the worlds first successful full face transplant.
Ethical concerns, psychological impact, problems relating to immunosuppression and consequences of technical failure have prevented teams from performing face transplant operations in the past, even though it has been technically possible to carry out such procedures for years.
Mr Iain Hutchison, of Barts and the London Hospital, warned of several problems with face transplants, such as blood vessels in the donated tissue clotting and immunosuppressants failing or increasing the patient’s risk of cancer. He also pointed out ethical issues with the fact that the procedure requires a “beating heart donor”. The transplant is carried out while the donor is brain dead, but still alive by use of a ventilator.
According to Stephen Wigmore, chair of British Transplantation Society’s ethics committee, it is unknown to what extent facial expressions will function in the long term. He said that it is not certain whether a patient could be left worse off in the case of a face transplant failing.
Mr Michael Earley, a member of the Royal College of Surgeon‘s facial transplantation working party, commented that if successful, the transplant would be “a major breakthrough in facial reconstruction” and “a major step forward for the facially disfigured.”
In Wednesday’s conference, Siemionow said “we know that there are so many patients there in their homes where they are hiding from society because they are afraid to walk to the grocery stores, they are afraid to go the the street.” “Our patient was called names and was humiliated. We very much hope that for this very special group of patients there is a hope that someday they will be able to go comfortably from their houses and enjoy the things we take for granted,” she added.
In response to the medical breakthrough, a British medical group led by Royal Free Hospital’s lead surgeon Dr Peter Butler, said they will finish the world’s first full face transplant within a year. “We hope to make an announcement about a full-face operation in the next 12 months. This latest operation shows how facial transplantation can help a particular group of the most severely facially injured people. These are people who would otherwise live a terrible twilight life, shut away from public gaze,” he said.
14 Jan
Submitted by: German Dymovski
When seeking a good town car service for a night out, it may be beneficial to obtain a couple of suggestions. If you can, get a few referrals from people that have done this and enjoyed their experience. This will help you find a good service in a short period of time. If you do not have any referrals, do a quick internet search. List a few car services and see who provides the best service. You can also Google them regarding any customer reviews.
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12 Jan
Thursday, December 18, 2008
A team of eight transplant surgeons in Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, USA, led by reconstructive surgeon Dr. Maria Siemionow, age 58, have successfully performed the first almost total face transplant in the US, and the fourth globally, on a woman so horribly disfigured due to trauma, that cost her an eye. Two weeks ago Dr. Siemionow, in a 23-hour marathon surgery, replaced 80 percent of her face, by transplanting or grafting bone, nerve, blood vessels, muscles and skin harvested from a female donor’s cadaver.
The Clinic surgeons, in Wednesday’s news conference, described the details of the transplant but upon request, the team did not publish her name, age and cause of injury nor the donor’s identity. The patient’s family desired the reason for her transplant to remain confidential. The Los Angeles Times reported that the patient “had no upper jaw, nose, cheeks or lower eyelids and was unable to eat, talk, smile, smell or breathe on her own.” The clinic’s dermatology and plastic surgery chair, Francis Papay, described the nine hours phase of the procedure: “We transferred the skin, all the facial muscles in the upper face and mid-face, the upper lip, all of the nose, most of the sinuses around the nose, the upper jaw including the teeth, the facial nerve.” Thereafter, another team spent three hours sewing the woman’s blood vessels to that of the donor’s face to restore blood circulation, making the graft a success.
The New York Times reported that “three partial face transplants have been performed since 2005, two in France and one in China, all using facial tissue from a dead donor with permission from their families.” “Only the forehead, upper eyelids, lower lip, lower teeth and jaw are hers, the rest of her face comes from a cadaver; she could not eat on her own or breathe without a hole in her windpipe. About 77 square inches of tissue were transplanted from the donor,” it further described the details of the medical marvel. The patient, however, must take lifetime immunosuppressive drugs, also called antirejection drugs, which do not guarantee success. The transplant team said that in case of failure, it would replace the part with a skin graft taken from her own body.
Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, a Brigham and Women’s Hospital surgeon praised the recent medical development. “There are patients who can benefit tremendously from this. It’s great that it happened,” he said.
Leading bioethicist Arthur Caplan of the University of Pennsylvania withheld judgment on the Cleveland transplant amid grave concerns on the post-operation results. “The biggest ethical problem is dealing with failure — if your face rejects. It would be a living hell. If your face is falling off and you can’t eat and you can’t breathe and you’re suffering in a terrible manner that can’t be reversed, you need to put on the table assistance in dying. There are patients who can benefit tremendously from this. It’s great that it happened,” he said.
Dr Alex Clarke, of the Royal Free Hospital had praised the Clinic for its contribution to medicine. “It is a real step forward for people who have severe disfigurement and this operation has been done by a team who have really prepared and worked towards this for a number of years. These transplants have proven that the technical difficulties can be overcome and psychologically the patients are doing well. They have all have reacted positively and have begun to do things they were not able to before. All the things people thought were barriers to this kind of operations have been overcome,” she said.
The first partial face transplant surgery on a living human was performed on Isabelle Dinoire on November 27 2005, when she was 38, by Professor Bernard Devauchelle, assisted by Professor Jean-Michel Dubernard in Amiens, France. Her Labrador dog mauled her in May 2005. A triangle of face tissue including the nose and mouth was taken from a brain-dead female donor and grafted onto the patient. Scientists elsewhere have performed scalp and ear transplants. However, the claim is the first for a mouth and nose transplant. Experts say the mouth and nose are the most difficult parts of the face to transplant.
In 2004, the same Cleveland Clinic, became the first institution to approve this surgery and test it on cadavers. In October 2006, surgeon Peter Butler at London‘s Royal Free Hospital in the UK was given permission by the NHS ethics board to carry out a full face transplant. His team will select four adult patients (children cannot be selected due to concerns over consent), with operations being carried out at six month intervals. In March 2008, the treatment of 30-year-old neurofibromatosis victim Pascal Coler of France ended after having received what his doctors call the worlds first successful full face transplant.
Ethical concerns, psychological impact, problems relating to immunosuppression and consequences of technical failure have prevented teams from performing face transplant operations in the past, even though it has been technically possible to carry out such procedures for years.
Mr Iain Hutchison, of Barts and the London Hospital, warned of several problems with face transplants, such as blood vessels in the donated tissue clotting and immunosuppressants failing or increasing the patient’s risk of cancer. He also pointed out ethical issues with the fact that the procedure requires a “beating heart donor”. The transplant is carried out while the donor is brain dead, but still alive by use of a ventilator.
According to Stephen Wigmore, chair of British Transplantation Society’s ethics committee, it is unknown to what extent facial expressions will function in the long term. He said that it is not certain whether a patient could be left worse off in the case of a face transplant failing.
Mr Michael Earley, a member of the Royal College of Surgeon‘s facial transplantation working party, commented that if successful, the transplant would be “a major breakthrough in facial reconstruction” and “a major step forward for the facially disfigured.”
In Wednesday’s conference, Siemionow said “we know that there are so many patients there in their homes where they are hiding from society because they are afraid to walk to the grocery stores, they are afraid to go the the street.” “Our patient was called names and was humiliated. We very much hope that for this very special group of patients there is a hope that someday they will be able to go comfortably from their houses and enjoy the things we take for granted,” she added.
In response to the medical breakthrough, a British medical group led by Royal Free Hospital’s lead surgeon Dr Peter Butler, said they will finish the world’s first full face transplant within a year. “We hope to make an announcement about a full-face operation in the next 12 months. This latest operation shows how facial transplantation can help a particular group of the most severely facially injured people. These are people who would otherwise live a terrible twilight life, shut away from public gaze,” he said.
11 Jan
Thursday, January 12, 2006
The Hospitality Club became the first hospitality exchange network to pass the 100,000 members milestone on January 11, 2006. Its closest competitors, CouchSurfing and GlobalFreeLoaders, have 40,000 and 30,000 members.
Hospitality exchange organisations are dedicated to putting travellers in contact with locals offering to host them in their house for free, or simply offer them a tour of their city or share a meal with them. Besides the obvious financial advantage, the Hospitality Club believes that “bringing people together and fostering international friendships will increase intercultural understanding and strengthen peace.”
Servas Open Doors, the oldest network, in fact formally views itself as a peace initiative, and there are also a number of smaller hospitality exchange networks which focus on specialized audiences, such as Agritourism.
w:Veit Kühne from Dreseden, Germany, who founded the Hospitality Club in 2000 while he was still a student, believes that “one day, everyone will have the opportunity to visit any country knowing that someone will be waiting to receive them with open arms. People will travel in a different way, meet each other and build intercultural understanding through personal contact.”
“There will be many members in places like Israel and Palestine, Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Chechnya, Rwanda, or Timor who will exchange hospitality with each other, and in small steps the Hospitality Club will have helped making peace a lasting vision for our wonderful planet,” he adds.
Hospitality Club was the first online organisation to offer on a major scale the possibility for travellers to find and contact locals open to cultural exchange. The whole system is entirely free, and hosting fees are supported by Google advertisements. The safe and efficient operation of the 30+ languages website and its database, forum, and chatroom depends on the work of hundreds of volunteers from around the world.
Anybody can become a member, but they must provide their full name and address, for security reasons. All members have a profile they can fill with information about themselves and their preferences, to help prospective visitors contact the person most likely to welcome them.
The most often mentioned drawback of the system is lack of security. The main difference between hospitality exchange networks and other social networking platforms such as Orkut or LiveJournal is that the former’s ultimate objective is to allow for face-to-face meetings. Users should realise that there is a risk involved, although according to Frenchman Jean-Yves Hégron, main software developer of the Hospitality Club, “By using the Club you have the same level of risk as the one you face whenever you get out from your home.”
Discussion about strategic or security issues is not allowed on the website’s forum, hence critics often mention lack of transparency in how they perceive decisions are taken by volunteers in Hospitality Club. Another point of critique is the fact that there is no legal organisation behind Hospitality Club, and the domain name is registered to the founder of the Club himself. Messages containing links to other hospitality exchange networks were at some point deleted without further notice though this policy has since then been reverted. Exponential growth of the network has also caused server failures alike to those observed in Wikipedia until recently.
The idea of free hospitality exchange is not new. Servas was the first organisation to develop it, right after World War II. It still exists to this day, with over 15,000 members, and is represented as an NGO in the United Nations. Because democratic, paper-based Servas is perceived as bureaucratic by some, Hospex was created as the first online network in 1991.
Hospitality Club succeeded to Hospex in August 2000, introducing innovative security features ranging from spam protection to passport control and a sophisticated feedback system, thus making online hospitality exchange available to travellers with higher safety concerns. From 1000 members in July 2002 to 10,000 in February 2004, it quickly grew to 100,000 on 11 January 2006 and is expected to reach the million in about two years.
10 Jan
Tax Saving Tips For Expatriate Working In Australia
by
smithcalvin
If you not a resident of Australia and planning to seek an employment here then it is strongly recommended to seek for an expert advice on your Australian taxation obligation . Expatriates working here mostly prone to income tax on their Australian sourced income. Except from your wages and
Salaries it also targets on your dividends that have source within Australia.
Being a resident of Australia you need to pay Individual Tax Services which depends on your circumstances and needs to reviewed case by case basis. If you need to pay Australian income tax it is important to keep in mind that Australian tax finishes by June 30 and you need to lodge an income tax return by 31 October. If you hire a tax agent or account then they are eligible to log your extensions.
If you are expatriates then you need to understand number of consideration when you are negotiating your employment contract as this will help you legally to minimizing your tax. If you are expat and do not have knowledge that how you will minimize you tax then don t worry and continue reading with it as following I am going to these points in detail and I am sure that it will be very helpful for you as I have years of experience in providing Expatriate Tax Services.
Living away from home allowance (LAFHA) and motor vehicles allowance are the two significant tax saving allowance that can comes under \”salary packaged\”. Living away from home allowance is specially made for expatriates to compensate them additional costs of moving resident and it provides them tax break for food and rent same as LAFHA motor vehicles allowance will also be helpful in tax saving for them.
Many Expat are not aware that expenses on deriving your income can also be claimed, like you can claim you depreciation on your internet, professional subscriptions and note book and it will reduce your taxable income. It is important point and mostly people are not aware of this.
You can also reduce your tax by number of tax rebates and it will save your thousands of dollars that you never expect but for that you need to consult a tax expert to assist you well and if you are looking for best and affordable Individual Tax Service provider then you can visit to usautax.com
Superannuation system is compulsory in Australia it is a system whereby your employer is required to contribute a percentage of your income into an Australian registered superannuation fund.
If you find that your employer making these contribution then you can claim it back when you are leaving Australia permanently.
Hoping that all these points will help you in saving your hard earn money.
Thomas M Carden EA JSM Thomas is a director at United States Australia Tax Service. USAUTAX.COM He enrolled to practice before the Internal Revenue Service. He has over 17 years of Tax and Financial Industry experience. If you are looking for Internal Revenue Service or any question for Expatriate Tax Services or you are looking for Individual Tax Services then Article Source: ArticleRich.com
10 Jan
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
English actress Rachel Weisz thinks that Botox injections should be banned for all actors.
The 39-year-old actress, best known for her roles in the Mummy movie franchise and for her Academy Award-winning portrayal in The Constant Gardener, feels facial Botox injections leave actors less able to convey emotion and that it harms the acting industry as much as steroids harm athletes.
In an interview with UK’s Harper’s Bazaar, coming out next month, Weisz says, “It should be banned for actors, as steroids are for sportsmen,” she claims. “Acting is all about expression; why would you want to iron out a frown?”
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Currently living in New York, she also mentions that English women are much less worried about their physical appearance than in the United States. “I love the way girls in London dress,” she claimed. “It’s so different to the American ‘blow-dry and immaculate grooming’ thing.”
8 Jan
By Bruno
Are you thinking about adding a purebred puppy to your household? Every purebred dog breed is genetically predisposed to its own unique list of medical problems. However, a few breeds are notorious for having more than their fair share of medical issues, and committing to a lifetime of care for these breeds without full understanding of the time and cost required is unfair to both yourself and the dog. This article describes the most common medical issues of three popular breeds: the Bulldog, Cocker Spaniel, and Dachshund. Read on to become educated and decide if one of these breeds is really the right dog for you!
With so many different dog breeds available, choosing the one that’s right for your household can be overwhelming. Most people do a fair amount of research before purchasing a purebred puppy, and commonly make the decision based on the breed’s size, appearance, and personality. These are all important factors, but one very important factor is often overlooked: medical issues. Purebred dog breeds have essentially been inbred over generations, which ensures consistency in the breed’s traits, but also allows genetic defects and medical disorders to be propagated in the breed. A few dog breeds are notorious for their medical problems, and it is crucial to have an understanding of these issues before you commit the time and money to caring for a dog for its lifetime.
The Bulldog: Respiratory Difficulty, Skin Infections, and Corneal Ulcers
The English Bulldog is famous for its appearance. It has a short, stocky build and a wide stance giving it a tough and sturdy appearance. It has a short muzzle and prolific facial folds. It is a widely popular breed, and appears in numerous commercials and print advertisements for pet products. Unfortunately, the breed is also famous for its medical problems. The short, smashed-in face that makes it so adorable also creates some medical issues. The Bulldog suffers from what is called Brachycephalic Airway Syndrome (BAS). The four components of this syndrome are: Stenotic nares (nostrils that are disproportionately narrow), hypoplastic trachea (the tracheal diameter is disproportionately small), elongated soft palate (the tissue in the roof of the mouth extends too far back into the throat), and redundant pharyngeal tissue (excessive tissue in the back of the throat). All of these anatomical problems taken together mean that the Bulldog has a very difficult time breathing. It is so difficult for this breed to move air to their lungs that you can actually hear them breathing, even at rest. The problem worsens exponentially if the animal is stressed, overworked, or overheated. It is very easy for a Bulldog to go into a state of respiratory distress, necessitating emergency veterinary care. In some cases, surgery is necessary to correct the anatomical abnormalities to allow the animal to breath. Expect to pay a few thousand dollars if surgery is necessary.
The Bulldog’s difficulty breathing is not its only challenging trait. The excessive facial skin that creates those adorable wrinkles also causes some major problems for the breed. The valleys of skin between the facial folds create a dark, moist environment perfect for bacteria and yeast to proliferate. This causes smelly, oozy skin infections that require constant attention. The excessive skin on the Bulldog’s face also predisposes the breed to a condition called ‘entropion’, which is the inward folding of the upper or lower eyelid. When the eyelid rolls inward, the eyelashes act as an abrasive irritant to the sensitive cornea, which is the clear outer surface of the eye. Constant rubbing of the cornea leads to corneal ulcerations and abrasions, which require veterinary attention. Many Bulldogs are cursed with repeated corneal ulcers and the only permanent solution to entropion is surgical correction, which is expensive and sometimes requires repeated attempts for success.
The Cocker Spaniel: Severe Ear Infections and Oily, Smelly Skin
The Cocker Spaniel is traditionally one of the most popular dog breeds in the United States. ‘Lady’ from Lady and the Tramp, probably the most famous Cocker in popular culture, embodies the more endearing qualities that draw people to the Cocker – the long, heavy ears, the long eyelashes, and the luxurious hair coat. Cocker Spaniels tend to have easy-going personalities and can make great family pets. However, a few characteristics of the Cocker Spaniel can make it less than appealing for the average dog owner.
Cockers are notorious for having severe and chronic bacterial ear infections. Their long, heavy ears combined with underlying skin abnormalities create the perfect place for bacteria to thrive. Ear infections require intense at-home care, and it is not uncommon for an ear infection that is not appropriately treated to become so severe that pus literally oozes from the ear canal. The infected ears have a very distinct, pungent odor that can be smelled from across a room, and handling the ears for treatment leaves a smell on the hands that is only removed after repeated washings. Many Cocker Spaniels with chronic ear infections develop narrowed, inflamed ear canals, which can actually cause the ear canals to be closed off from the outside. This condition requires surgery, which is expensive and painful for the animal.
In addition to the horrendous ear problems, Cocker Spaniels also suffer from a condition known as primary seborrhea, which is a disorder that causes the skin to be flaky, oily, and smelly. This can make petting, or even being close to the dog unpleasant. Seborrhea also affects the way the oil glands function, and causes the formation of sebaceous adenomas, which are benign oil gland tumors resembling warts in appearance. It is not uncommon for an older cocker spaniel to have dozens of sebaceous adenomas on its body. The problem is largely cosmetic and the tumors are benign, but they can be irritating to the animal and sometimes bleed, necessitating removal.
The Dachshund: Intervertebral Disc Disease and Periodontal Disease
The Dachshund, or ‘wiener dog’, was bred for hunting small mammals. It’s long back, long muzzle, and short legs make it perfect for sniffing small animals out of their holes. The Dachshund is a very popular breed because of its small size and ability to integrate well into a family. However, anyone thinking of purchasing a Dachshund needs to be aware of a few potential problems with the breed.
First of all, the Dachshund’s extraordinarily long back makes it prone to a condition called Intervertebral Disc Disease (IVDD). IVDD is a degenerative weakening in the intervertebral discs, which are the spongy cushions between the individual vertebrae that make up the backbone. When the disc is weakened, it is at risk of rupturing and protruding into and compressing the spinal cord beneath it. When the spinal cord is compressed, neurologic function in the rear legs is compromised. This results in anything from mild weakness in the hind legs to complete hind limb paralysis and loss of control of the bladder and bowels. IVDD is commonly seen in middle-aged Dachshunds who are otherwise healthy, and many times emergency spinal surgery is necessary to save the function of the legs.
In addition to IVDD, Dachshunds are also genetically predisposed to severe periodontal disease, which is the degenerative loss of structural support around the teeth. Although this may not sound like a big deal, severe periodontal disease has a major effect on quality of life for the animal. If the periodontal disease is severe enough the teeth will become very painful and infected, and will have a terrible odor associated with them. Periodontal disease can affect the animal’s ability to eat, and will require surgical extraction.
In conclusion, choosing which breed to integrate into your household is a very important decision. Common medical problems of the breed should be one of the factors you examine closely when making that decision. The Bulldog, Cocker Spaniel, and Dachshund can be great pets, if you are willing to commit to caring for them. Be aware of the potential time and financial commitments that you may be taking on by purchasing a purebred puppy, as you will be doing a disservice to both yourself and the dog if you are not prepared to deal with its potential problems.
About the Author: Bruno is a Norwegian dog expert. He has been blogging about Hunderaser and Hundeutstyr for more than five years.
Source: isnare.com
Permanent Link: isnare.com/?aid=653210&ca=Pets