Government unveils £50 million cancer fund
A £50 million cancer fund is to be set up giving patients greater access to drugs currently unavailable on the NHS, the government announced on Tuesday.
From October doctors will be able to use the fund to offer patients medicines, to prolong or enhance quality of life, which have not been approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
Doctors working in regional groups will decide how the funding is spent in their area based on advice from cancer specialists.
The fund is an interim measure, ahead of a new cancer drugs fund planned for April 2011.
The move comes as a report by the government's cancer tsar, Professor Sir Mike Richards, shows the UK?s uptake of new drugs is lagging behind other European countries.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "I promised that I would help patients in England get cancer drugs that are readily available in the rest of Europe.
"It's a scandal that we are strong in cancer research and participation in clinical trials in the UK, yet NHS patients aren't always seeing the benefits from the research swiftly enough.
"Patients should have access to innovative cancer drugs that can extend or improve their quality of life and which their doctors have recommended, which is why I'm determined to take action now."
Professor Richards said the report showed a "mixed picture" of drugs uptake across a range of diseases.
"In the UK, we have shown encouraging results in NHS usage of statins to reduce cardiovascular disease," he said.
?My findings show, however, that usage of new cancer drugs is relatively low in comparison with international averages."
Ministers rejected suggestions that the fund risked undermining NICE, insisting it would allow access to drugs thrown out by the watchdog for being too costly.
Earlier this year, a report found NICE had rejected expensive medicines which could have extended the lives of up to 16,000 terminally-ill cancer patients.
Head of policy at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: "We are delighted the government has listened to our tireless campaign to improve access to cancer treatments that are not already routinely available on the NHS.
"A few extra months or weeks mean an awful lot to a family affected by cancer."
Related info :
The pound sign ("£" or "₤") is the symbol for the pound sterling—the currency of the United Kingdom (UK). The same symbol is (or was) used for similarly named currencies in some other countries and territories, such as the Irish pound and Gibraltar pound; there are other countries, including Lebanon, whose currency is called "the pound", but that do not use the £ symbol.
The symbol derives from capital "L", standing for libra, the basic Roman unit of weight, which is in turn derived from the Latin word for scales or a balance. The pound became a British unit of weight, and the pound currency unit was so named because it was originally the value of 1 pound Tower Weight (326 g)[citation needed] of fine (pure) silver.
In English-language use, the pound sign is placed before the number (i.e. "£12 000" and not "12 000£"), and separated from the following number by no space or a thin space.
The symbol "₤" is also known as the lira sign. In Italy, prior to the adoption of the euro, the symbol was used as an alternative to the more usual L to indicate prices in lire (but always with double horizontal lines).
Rwanda denies link to journalist murder
The Rwanda government on Saturday denied any involvement in the murder of a journalist who accused the regime of attempting to assassinate a dissident general in Johannesburg.
Jean-Leonard Rugambage was gunned down in Kigali on Thursday and his editor, speaking from his Ugandan exile, accused President Paul Kagame's regime of assassinating his colleague.
"Of course, this is not true, it's baseless," Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo told AFP. "We are not a government that assassinates journalists, we are a responsible government.
The murder raised concerns from media watchdogs that the press was increasingly operating in a climate of fear ahead of August 9 presidential elections.
"There have been all kinds of activities over the past few days which have been orchestrated in order to instill a climate of fear in the run-up to the elections but also in an attempt to smear the government," she said.
"But Rwandans are not afraid because they know that we are not a government that believes in violence or is in the business of assassinating its citizens," Mushikiwabo said.
The police said it was investigating Rugambage's murder.
Rugambage ran Umuvugizi, a banned publication in the local Kinyarwanda language, on whose website he ran a story accusing President Paul Kagame's regime of masterminding the assassination attempt earlier this month in Johannesburg of dissident Rwandan general Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa.
Umuvugizi's editor Jean Bosco Gasasira said he had no doubt that Kagame's regime was behind his colleague's assassination.
"It's 100 percent sure they are the ones who did it," he told AFP from Kampala, where he is exiled.
Gasasira said he had spoken to neighbours and witnesses who were watching the football world cup in a bar close to Rugambage's home and accused Rwandan security of actions that would scupper any credible investigation.
He claimed to have been physically threatened himself by six Rwandan men in Kampala recently but said his status as refugee in neighbouring Uganda did not allow him to flee to a safer country.
"I am not afraid to die... These killings by Kagame's people are not new or an accident," Gasasira said. "He is using genocide, it makes him immune from punishment," he alleged.
The journalist also blamed the international community for turning a blind eye to what he says is a violent authoritarian regime.
"He is doing this while high calibre people like Tony Blair are by his side as advisers. The whole world is praising him as a hero yet he is a killer," he charged.
Watchdogs Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists both urged Kigali to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into Rugambage's killing.
Human rights group have said that Kagame, who has been in power since his movement ended the 1994 genocide against his Tutsi minority, has been restricting political freedom.
Legal facts :
Civil law is primarily contrasted with common law, which is the legal system developed among Anglophone people, especially in England.
The original difference is that, historically, common law was law developed by custom, beginning before there were any written laws and continuing to be applied by courts after there were written laws, too, whereas civil law developed out of the Roman law of Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Law).
In later times, civil law became codified as droit coutumier or customary law that were local compilations of legal principles recognized as normative. Sparked by the age of enlightenment, attempts to codify private law began during the second half of the 18th century (see civil code), but civil codes with a lasting influence were promulgated only after the French Revolution, in jurisdictions such as France (with its Napoleonic Code), Duchy of Warsaw/Congress Poland (see Kodeks cywilny 1806/1825), Austria (see ABGB), Quebec (see Civil Code of Quebec), Italy (Codice Civile), Portugal (Código Civil), Spain (Código Civil), the Netherlands (see Burgerlijk Wetboek), and Germany (see Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch).
Codification, however, is by no means a defining characteristic of a civil law system. For example, the statutes that govern the civil law systems of Sweden and other Nordic countries are not grouped into larger, expansive codes like those found in France and Germany.[11] Furthermore, many common law jurisdictions have codified parts of their laws, for example, the federal statutes in the United States Code, and much Australian criminal law. There are also so-called "mixed systems" that combine aspects of both common and civil law systems, such as the laws of Scotland, Louisiana, Namibia, the Philippines, Quebec, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
Thus, the difference between civil law and common law lies not just in the mere fact of codification, but in the methodological approach to codes and statutes. In civil law countries, legislation is seen as the primary source of law. By default, courts thus base their judgements on the provisions of codes and statutes, from which solutions in particular cases are to be derived. Courts thus have to reason extensively on the basis of general rules and principles of the code, often drawing analogies from statutory provisions to fill lacunae and to achieve coherence. By contrast, in the common law system, case law is a major source of law, while statutes are often seen as supplemental to judicial opinions and thus interpreted narrowly.
The underlying principle of separation of powers is seen somewhat differently in civil law and common law countries. In some common law countries, especially the United States, judges are seen as balancing the power of the other branches of government. By contrast, the original idea of separation of powers in France was to assign different roles to legislation and to judges, with the latter only applying the law (the judge as la bouche de la loi, or 'mouth-piece of the law'). This translates into the fact that many civil law jurisdictions reject the formalistic notion of binding precedent (although paying due consideration to settled case-law), or restrict the power to set precedents to a competent Supreme Court.
This is in principle true in France, where judges cite only legislation, but not prior case law. (However, this does not mean that judges do not consider it when drafting opinions.) By contrast, court opinions in German-speaking countries can be as long as English ones, and normally discuss prior cases and academic writing extensively.
There are, however, certain sociological differences. In some Civil law countries judges are trained and promoted separately from attorneys, whereas common law judges are usually selected from accomplished and reputable attorneys. In the Scandinavian countries judges are attorneys who have applied for the position, whereas France has a specialized graduate school for judges.
With respect to criminal procedure, certain civil law systems are based upon a variant of the inquisitorial system rather than the adversarial system. This kind of judicial organization is sometimes criticized as lacking a presumption of innocence. Most European countries, however, are parties to the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 6 guarantees "the right to a fair trial" and the presumption of innocence. The Convention is ratified by all the members and as such part of their national legislation. Some civil law nations, for example Germany, also have legislation that predates the Convention and secures the defendant the presumption of innocence, implicitly or explicitly. Another example is Norway, where the presumption is guaranteed by uncodified customary law and validated theory[12] recognized by the Supreme Court in plenary (effectively forming a precedent).
While the presumption of innocence is present, what distinguishes the more inquisitorial system is the frequent lack of a jury of peers, which is guaranteed in many common law jurisdictions. Inquisitorial systems tend to have something akin to a "bench" trial made up of a single judge or a tribunal. Some Scandinavian nations have a tribunal that consists of two civilian and one trained legal professional. One result of the inquisitorial system's lack of jury trial is a significant difference in the rules of trial evidence. Common law rules of evidence are founded on a concern that juries will misuse, or give inappropriate weight to unreliable evidence. In inquisitorial systems the rules of evidence are sometimes less complicated because legal professionals are considered capable of identifying reliable evidence. Most noteworthy of these is the lack of a hearsay rule.[
Long road to oil cleanup looms over Gulf Coast
A wellhead cap at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico is slowly pinching off a geyser of oil spewing from the earth, but there's no containing much of the crude that's already escaped, a reality becoming increasingly evident on the region's beaches.
The battle to contain the oil is likely to stretch into the fall, the government's point man on the spill warned. The cap will trap only so much of the oil, and relief wells being drilled won't be completed until August. Meanwhile, oil will continue to shoot out.
To Kelcey Forrestier, a 23-year-old biology graduate visiting Okaloosa Island, Fla., it was already clear Sunday that the spill and its damage will last long into the future.
"Oil just doesn't go away. Oil doesn't disappear," said Forrestier, of New Orleans. "It has to go somewhere and it's going to come to the Gulf beaches."
Lifeguards found a "very minor" set of fingernail-size tar balls over the weekend on the western edge of the island about 35 miles east of Pensacola, marking the easternmost point oil has been discovered ashore.
The spill's harmful environmental effects also appear to have spread to Texas, with the government saying Sunday that dead, oiled birds were reported for the first time in that state. A wildlife report issued Sunday by the government command center in Robert, La., says two dead birds with oil on them were found in Texas, but didn't elaborate on the circumstances. Dozens of dead, oiled birds have been found in other Gulf states, the majority of them in Louisiana.
Jim Suydam, a spokesman for the Texas General Land Office, which has been monitoring spill, said he hadn't heard about the birds and that the oil was still 100 miles from the Texas-Louisiana border.
Officials reported Sunday afternoon that a sheen of oil was spotted about 150 miles west of Tampa, though they did not expect the slick to reach the western Florida peninsula in the near future.
BP said Monday that the cost of the response has reached about $1.25 billion. The company said the figure does not include $360 million for a project to build six sand berms meant to protect Louisiana's wetlands from spreading oil.
The prospect that the crisis could stretch beyond summer devastated residents along the Gulf, who are seeing more and thicker globs of oil appear all along the coast.
The floors in Ruth Dailey's condominium in Gulf Shores, Ala., are already smeared with dark blotches of oil, she said, and things are only going to get worse.
"This is just the beginning," she said. "I have a beachfront condo for a reason. With this, no one will want to come."
A couple miles away, workers cleaning sand at a state park finished their work and left their refuse on the beach in the way of the incoming tide.
"Waves are washing over plastic bags filled with tar and oil. It's crazy," said Mike Reynolds, a real estate agent and director of Share The Beach, a turtle conservation group.
At Pensacola Beach, Fla., the turquoise waves also were flecked with floating balls of tar. Buck Langston, who has been coming to the beach to collect shells for 38 years, watched as his family used improvised chopsticks to collect the tar in plastic containers.
"Yesterday it wasn't like this, this heavy," Langston, of Baton Rouge, La., said Sunday. "I don't know why cleanup crews aren't out here."
Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, overseeing the government's response to the spill, has expressed similar frustration, ordering cleanup crews to the Alabama coastline after surveying the scene from the air. But he acknowledged the relative futility of their efforts.
"It's so widespread, and it's intermittent," he told The Associated Press on Saturday. "That's what's so challenging about this. Everyone wants certainty. With an oil spill like this, there isn't any."
Since it was placed over the busted well on Thursday, the cap has been siphoning an increasing amount of oil. On Saturday, it funneled about 441,000 gallons to a tanker on the surface, up from about 250,000 gallons it captured Friday.
But it's not clear how much is still escaping from the well, which federal authorities have estimated was leaking between 500,000 gallons and 1 million gallons a day. Since the spill began nearly seven weeks ago, roughly 23 million to 50 million gallons of oil have leaked into the Gulf.
The inverted funnel-like cap is being closely watched for whether it can make a serious dent in the flow of new oil. Allen reserved judgment, saying he didn't want to risk offering false encouragement.
"This will be well into the fall," he said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation." "This is a siege across the entire Gulf. This spill is holding everybody hostage, not only economically but physically. And it has to be attacked on all fronts."
Related information:
The coast is defined as where the land meets the sea.[1] A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs.[2] Both the terms coast and coastal are often used to describe a geographic location or region; for example, New Zealand's West Coast, or the East and West Coasts of the United States.
A pelagic coast refers to a coast which fronts the open ocean, as opposed to a more sheltered coast in a gulf or bay. A shore, on the other hand, can refer to parts of the land which adjoin any large body of water, including oceans (sea shore) and lakes (lake shore). Similarly, the somewhat related term "bank" refers to the land alongside or sloping down to a river (riverbank) or to a body of water smaller than a lake. "Bank" is also used in some parts of the world to refer to an artificial ridge of earth intended to retain the water of a river or pond. In other places this may be called a levee.
While many scientific experts might agree on a common definition of the term "coast", the delineation of the extents of a coast differ according to jurisdiction, with many scientific and government authorities in various countries differing for economic and social policy reasons.
2010 hurricane season seen more active than feared
The 2010 Atlantic hurricane season will be even more active than feared, leading U.S. forecasters said on Wednesday as they predicted 10 hurricanes, five of them major, with a 76 percent likelihood that a major hurricane would hit the U.S. coastline.
The outlook from the Colorado State University team follows predictions by U.S. government scientists for an intense season that could disrupt efforts to contain a huge Gulf of Mexico oil spill and also batter earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
Increasing a previous estimate for a "very active" season, the leading CSU storm research team founded by hurricane forecast pioneer William Gray said the six-month season beginning on June 1 would likely see 18 named tropical storms.
Of these, CSU saw 10 becoming hurricanes, with five becoming major Category 3 or higher hurricanes with winds above 110 miles per hour (177 km per hour).
The CSU scientists increased their forecast from an April 7 prediction of 15 named storms, eight hurricanes and four major hurricanes.
"The probability of a major hurricane making landfall along the U.S. coastline is 76 percent compared with the last-century average of 52 percent," said forecaster Phil Klotzbach, who works with Gray.
The CSU team saw a 51 percent chance that a major hurricane would make landfall on the U.S. East Coast, including the Florida Peninsula, and a 51 percent chance that one would hit the Gulf Coast, from the Florida Panhandle to Brownsville, Texas.
It put the chance of a major hurricane tracking into the Caribbean at 65 percent.
The expected extreme hurricane season this year is seen posing a threat to efforts to control and clean up oil spewing from a ruptured Gulf of Mexico well owned by BP Plc, described by President Barack Obama's administration as the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.
Experts warn that a storm surge in the Gulf of Mexico -- an abnormal rise in sea level created by a hurricane -- could whip the oil slick and chemicals used in trying to disperse it out of the Gulf and ashore on beaches, vegetation and even homes.
HAITI QUAKE SURVIVORS SEEN VULNERABLE
"If the storm tracks to the west of the oil, there is the potential that the counter-clockwise circulation of the hurricane could drive some of the oil further toward the U.S. Gulf Coast," Klotzbach said.
But he added the forecasters did not see the huge, fragmented oil slick itself having much of an impact on any tropical storm or hurricane passing over the area.
There are fears too about how a major hurricane sweeping through the Caribbean over Haiti would affect around 1.5 million homeless survivors of the January 12 earthquake who are camping out in the streets under tents and tarpaulins.
Quake survivors living in the makeshift camps are seen as highly vulnerable to the tropical rains, flooding and landslides which have killed thousands of Haitians in the past.
Detailing weather conditions seen favoring the formation of hurricanes, Gray said the CSU team increased its forecast "due to a combination of a transition from El Nino to current neutral conditions and the continuation of unusually warm tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures."
Warmer waters contribute to the development of hurricanes and dissipation of the El Nino weather phenomenon over the Pacific Ocean reduces the probability of wind shear -- caused by a clash between prevailing upper-levels winds out of the west and lower-level easterly winds out of Africa -- that can tear apart hurricanes or break up their circulation.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last week predicted one of the more active hurricane seasons on record, forecasting 14 to 23 named storms, with eight to 14 becoming hurricanes, nearly matching 2005's record of 15.
The Gulf Coast may see a repeat of the 2005 season when a record 28 storms formed, which killed nearly 4,000 people and caused an estimated $130 billion in damages. The list included Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans.
Related information:
A season is a division of the year, marked by changes in weather, ecology, and hours of daylight.
Seasons result from the yearly revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of revolution. In temperate and polar regions, the seasons are marked by changes in the intensity of sunlight that reaches the Earth's surface, variations of which may cause animals to go into hibernation or to migrate, and plants to be dormant.
During May, June and July, the northern hemisphere is exposed to more direct sunlight because the hemisphere faces the sun. The same is true of the southern hemisphere in November, December and January. It is the tilt of the Earth that causes the Sun to be higher in the sky during the summer months which increases the solar flux. However, due to seasonal lag, June, July and August are the hottest months in the northern hemisphere and December, January and February are the hottest months in the southern hemisphere.
In temperate and subpolar regions generally four calendar based seasons are recognized: spring (adj. vernal), summer (adj. estival), autumn (adj. autumnal), and winter (adj. hibernal). However, ecologists in Europe and Australia are increasingly using a six season model for temperate climate regions that includes pre-spring (adj. prevernal) and late summer (adj. seritonal) as distinct seasons along with the traditional four (See Ecological Seasons below).
In some tropical and subtropical regions it is more common to speak of the rainy (or wet, or monsoon) season versus the dry season, because the amount of precipitation may vary more dramatically than the average temperature. For example, in Nicaragua, the dry season is called Summer (Oct to May) and the rainy season is called Winter (Apr to Nov) even though it is located in the northern hemisphere.
In other tropical areas a three-way division into hot, rainy and cool season is used.
In some parts of the world, special "seasons" are loosely defined based upon important events such as a hurricane season, tornado season or a wildfire season.
Chinese seasons are traditionally based on 24 periods known as solar terms, and begin at the midpoint of solstices and equinoxes
Thai protest leaders to surrender, end sit-in
Thailand's Red Shirt protest leaders say they are formally ending their anti-government protest and will surrender to authorities to prevent more deaths.
The announcement came after the army overran their heavily barricaded encampment in central Bangkok on Wednesday.
Seven Red Shirt leaders went on stage in the core protest zone to announce their decision, which was greeted with shouts of dismay from the men and women gathered around.
Protest leader Natawut Saikua said "we have done our best." Weng Tojirakarn said "we want to prevent further losses of our Red Shirt brothers and sisters."
He said "let us first prevent further losses of lives," and urged supporters to leave the area.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
BANGKOK (AP) — Thai soldiers with armored vehicles stormed into a fortified encampment occupied by anti-government protesters Wednesday, breaking through bamboo-and-tire barricades in a major military offensive in the heart of Bangkok.
At least two protesters were killed and one foreign journalist appeared dead after getting shot in the chest. Two other foreign journalists were wounded by bullets.
Surreal scenes of warfare erupted in one of the ritziest parts of the capital, as troops armed with M-16s marched through the central business district past upscale apartment buildings to retake the area around manicured Lumpini Park, which has been under the control of protesters camped there for weeks.
Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn declared the first stage of the army operation to secure the area around Lumpini Park successful and said that some protest leaders had fled. He asked the public to inform police if any of the leaders were spotted.
However, two of the three key leaders remained in the protest zone giving defiant speeches and singing on a stage, as troops drew closer.
An Associated Press reporter who followed the troops into the protest camp saw the bodies of two men sprawled on the ground, one with a head wound and other apparently shot in the upper body. They were the first known casualties in the assault that began before dawn Wednesday on a 1-square kilometer (3-square kilometer) stretch of downtown Bangkok that protesters have occupied.
Troops fired M-16 rifles at fleeing protesters and shouted, "Come out and surrender or we'll kill you."
An AP photographer saw three foreign journalists shot. One was an Italian photographer shot in the chest. His eyes were rolled back and he showed no signs of life. A Dutch journalist walked into the hospital with a bullet wound in his shoulder. The third journalist was a 53-year-old American documentary filmmaker who was treated for a shot in the leg.
The photographer also saw at least seven Thais brought to a hospital. It was unknown if they were dead or unconscious.
As troops entered the fringes of the protest area, they passed smoldering fires and hastily abandoned campsites where clothes were still hanging on laundry lines. Shoes were scattered, chairs were overturned and a huge pile of rice was covered with flies.
Panitan went on national television four hours after the crackdown began to announce it was under way, speaking first in Thai and then in English.
"The operations will continue throughout the day," Panitan said. "We would like to reassure the citizens of Bangkok that the operations are designed to make sure we stabilize the area."
The army action came after weeks of defiance by the protesters who are seeking to oust the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
"This is D-Day," said one soldier when asked earlier in the day if this was the final push to clear the protest zone.
Thick black smoke from mountains of burning tires darkened the skies Wednesday, billowing over the skyscrapers of this Asian metropolis of 10 million that has descended into chaos over the last week, with at least 39 killed, most of them civilians.
The violence in Bangkok, a popular stop for tourists heading to Thailand's world-famous beaches, has caused concern internationally and raised doubts about the stability of this Southeast Asian nation.
The so-called Red Shirt demonstrators marched into Bangkok in mid-March to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, dissolution of Parliament and immediate elections.
They created an encampment in Bangkok's posh downtown Rajprasong district in April, surrounding themselves by a barricade of tires and bamboo spears, some of which appeared to be in flames Wednesday.
An estimated 3,000 people were believed to be inside the 1-square-mile (3-square-kilometer) protest zone, which has taken over several blocks of downtown Bangkok's toniest shopping and tourism district.
Related information:
A protest expresses a strong reaction of events or situations. The term protest usually now implies a reaction against something, while previously it could also mean a reaction for something. Protesters may organize a protest as a way of publicly and forcefully making their opinions heard in an attempt to influence public opinion or government policy, or may undertake direct action in an attempt to directly enact desired changes themselves.[1]
Self-expression can, in theory, in practice or in appearance, be restricted[2] by governmental policy, economic circumstances, religious orthodoxy, social structures, or media monopoly. When such restrictions occur, opposition may spill over into other areas such as culture, the streets or emigration.
A protest can itself sometimes be the subject of a counter-protest. In such a case, counter-protesters demonstrate their support for the person, policy, action, etc. that is the subject of the original protest.
Nintendo, American heart group join to tackle obesity
The American Heart Association has teamed up with Japanese entertainment giant Nintendo to harness its Wii consoles and encourage Americans to exercise more to counter a soaring obesity problem.
Nintendo, whose Wii consoles with motion-controlling sensors took markets by storm in 2006, is working with the AHA in order to cut the risks of heart disease among Americans, their websites said.
According to the AHA nearly 70 percent of Americans do not get enough regular physical activity. Obesity, a major health problem in the US, is a determinant of cardiovascular disease, the number one killer in the country.
The association said that the average American spends more than eight hours a day sitting and recommends all adults to get at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week and 60 minutes daily for children.
Nintendo will carry the AHA logo on its active-play video game products including the Wii, the Wii Fit Plus, and the Wii Sports Resort.
The US has seen a dramatic increase in obesity during the past 20 years with roughly one in three adults considered obese, according to government statistics.
Nintendo hopes to reignite the Wii's sales, which have declined since its launch, and is banking on software aimed at increased physical activity as competitors such as Sony prepare to launch their own motion-sensing equipment.
The Kyoto-based company said earlier this month that games such as "Wii Sports Resort" and "Wii Fit Plus" helped raise the console's total lifetime sales to 70.93 million units, a record in the firm's history.
Related information:
Nintendo was founded as a card company in late 1889, originally named "Nintendo Koppai". Based in Kyoto, Japan, the business produced and marketed a playing card game called Hanafuda. The handmade cards soon became popular, and Yamauchi hired assistants to mass produce cards to satisfy demand. Nintendo continues to manufacture playing cards in Japan[11] and organizes its own contract bridge tournament called the "Nintendo Cup".[12]
New ventures (1956–1975)
In 1956, Hiroshi Yamauchi (the grandson of Fusajiro Yamauchi) visited the U.S. to talk with the United States Playing Card Company, the dominant playing card manufacturer in that country. He found that the world's biggest company in his business was only using a small office. This was a turning point, where Yamauchi realized the limitations of the playing card business. He then gained access to Disney's characters and put them on the playing cards to drive sales.
In 1963, Yamauchi renamed Nintendo Playing Card Company Limited to Nintendo Company, Limited. The company then began to experiment in other areas of business using the newly injected capital. During this period of time between 1963 and 1968, Nintendo set up a taxi company, a "love hotel" chain, a TV network and a food company (trying to sell instant rice, similar to instant noodles). All these ventures eventually failed, and after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, playing card sales dropped, leaving Nintendo with 60 yen in stocks.
In 1966, Nintendo moved into the Japanese toy industry with the Ultra Hand, an extending arm developed by its maintenance engineer Gunpei Yokoi in his free time. Yokoi was moved from maintenance to the new "Nintendo Games" department as a product developer. Nintendo continued to produce popular toys, including the Ultra Machine, Love Tester and the Kousenjuu series of light gun games. Despite some successful products, Nintendo struggled to meet the fast development and manufacturing turnaround required of the toy market, and fell behind the well-established companies such as Bandai and Tomy.
In 1973, the focus shifted to family entertainment venues with the Laser Clay Shooting System, using the same light gun technology used in Nintendo's Kousenjuu series of toys, and set up in abandoned bowling alleys. Following some success, Nintendo developed several more light gun machines for the emerging arcade scene. While the Laser Clay Shooting System ranges had to be shut down following excessive costs, Nintendo had found a new market.
Frizzy Hair Tips
Let's get into some humor before I talk about frizzy hair styles. Have you ever touched you hair and felt that few sticks are rooted there in place of your hair? Or, has your head ever been electrocuted that let the strands of hair on your scalp stand upright? No, that cannot be a real life experience, but yeah your hair can be as dry as wooden sticks and as rough as electrocuted hair. When you have such kind of hair, it's very difficult to manage the bunch of thick frizzy fuzz on your head. Every day you might be cursing your hair, saying. 'Oh! God, how could I get rid of this dry clump, how could I get a silky lustrous mane? Is there any hair style that can manage my frizzy hair?' Chill then, here are some frizzy hair styles that can hold in your frizzy hair. Read more on frizzy hair solutions.
Before I go into the frizzy hair styles, I shall get you some frizzy hair tips, that will help you to keep your hair under your control. You can also read, how to tame frizzy hair.
Frizzy Hair Tips
Before you go for a hairdo, follow these tips to perfectly manage your frizzy hair. Get some more frizzy hair tips.
- Go to a hairdresser who is experienced in styling and designing frizzy and dry hair.
- Prefer a wet look on your hair to calm down the clumsy volume.
- Always maintain the style. Visit the salon at least once in 3 months to trim the ends.
- If you observe split ends, immediately trim it, before it does any damage to your hair.
- Avoid using razor to trim the ends of your hair.
- Always massage with oil, before you wash your hair. Apply a good conditioner after shampooing.
- Avoid styling your hair with gels, mousse or chemicals. This can give you a temporary clean look but will damage your hair completely in the long run. Get more ideas about hair masks for frizzy hair.
- Avoid using hairdryer, hair straightner or hair iron as less as possible.
- Brush your hair and take care to prevent tangles.
Frizzy Hair Styles for Men
Men with curly or wavy hair can have frizzy hair. It gives you a clumsy look and moreover gets damaged on combing every time. There are herbal hydrating creams and styling gels that can repair the damaged hair follicles and provide nourishment to your hair. Applying pure natural and herbal products have always proved to be advantageous instead of chemical hair gels. Whatever you do, getting good frizzy hair styles is the first step. Check out these frizzy haircuts.
Short haircuts tapered at the end, will reduce the length of the hair while retaining only a small part of the curls at lower edge. Keep long from the top and chop the hair over entire volume to de-bulk the thick frizzy hair. Read more on haircut styles and ideas.
Crew cut is the ideal haircut for men with absolute frizz and total dry hair. This cut requires minimal maintenance, as the hair is cut very short from the sides with a bit longer on the top. The level of shortness shall vary depending on the type you want. Read more on thick frizzy hair.
Frizzy Hair Styles for Women
Women with frizzy hair can try different hairdos to style their frizzy hair. You need to have some patience to manage your dry and frizzy hair. There are ample frizzy hair styles in vogue today. Apart from the tips, mentioned above, you need to go to a good salon to get a good cut, that will not only suit your face but also allow you to manage your hair. If you have long hair, along with a goos cut, you can braid it, bun it or do a ponytail. Use hair bands or hair claws to get a neat look.
You can get a bob done if you have short hair. Long frizzy hair can be layered out to reduce the volume. You can get a typical 'Christmas tree cut' or 'pyramid cut' to maintain your frizzy hair. The layers should be long and should begin below the chin. Channel cutting also helps to maintain frizzy hair in women. Keep the cut flat on the top of head to avoid a puffed up look. Super-short cuts gives a chic look to teens and youngsters. Know more about frizzy wavy hair.
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Please stop pondering, if you have frizzy hair. You can always manage it with these frizzy hair tips. Get the right hairdo, that will suit you, from the multiple frizzy hair styles offered in the salon.
Average Heart Rate During Exercise
Heart rate is nothing but the number of times a heart beats per minute (BPM). The normal heart rate varies from person to person depending upon the age, overall health and physical activity performed by the person. Heart rate is not constant all the time and it fluctuates because of change in physical and mental stress. Your heart supplies oxygenated blood to all parts of the body and as the demand for blood and oxygen increases, the heart has to beat faster to meet the needs of the body. Thus, heart rate depends on the demand of blood in the body. The heart rate during exercise is therefore high and it is low while resting. If you've been inactive, then measuring your heart rate during exercise is especially important. You should not get tired quickly. For this, you should be aware of target and average heart rate during exercise.
Average Heart Rate During Exercise
The normal resting heart rate for children (6-15 years) is 70 to 100 BPM. The normal adult heart rate is about 60 to 100 BPM at rest. This resting heart rate increases with age. Healthy individuals, whose hearts function efficiently and who enjoy cardiovascular fitness, have a comparatively lower heart rate. If your body is conditioned and toned, less beats per minute will be required to pump blood to your body. You might be surprised to know that in a well-trained athlete, the heart rate may be as low as 40 to 60 BPM. Does heart rate increase during exercise? Yes, the heart rate during exercise will be higher than the normal heart rate.
The maximum heart rate or Max HR is useful to measure the training intensities of an athlete, as it is measured individually. The maximum heart rate (Max HR) is obtained when you subtract your age from 220. So, if you are 35 years old, it would be 185. The average and healthy heart rate during exercise would be around 50 to 60% of your maximum heart rate. So, for a 35 year old individual the average and healthy heart rate will be somewhere around 92 and 110. Slight variation depending upon the sex and the constitution of the individual is considered as normal. It is better if you can stay within 50 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate during exercise. Read more on how to determine target heart rate.
Target Heart Rate During Exercise
As mentioned above, staying within 50 to 85 percent of your max HR is recommended. This range is known as your target heart rate during exercise. The following table shows the estimated target heart rates during workouts for different ages. The figures are averages, so you should use them as general guidelines.
| Age | Target Heart Rate Zone (50-85%) | Average Maximum Heart Rate (100 %) |
| 20 years | 100-170 BPM | 200 BPM |
| 25 years | 98-166 BPM | 195 BPM |
| 30 years | 95-162 BPM | 190 BPM |
| 35 years | 93-157 BPM | 185 BPM |
| 40 years | 90-153 BPM | 180 BPM |
| 45 years | 88-149 BPM | 175 BPM |
| 50 years | 85-145 BPM | 170 BPM |
| 55 years | 83-140 BPM | 165 BPM |
| 60 years | 80-136 BPM | 160 BPM |
| 65 years | 78-132 BPM | 155 BPM |
| 70 years | 75-128 BPM | 150 BPM |
Read more on:
- Optimal Heart Rate
- Ideal Heart Rate to Burn Fat
If you are taking high blood pressure medicines, you should consult your physician for the ideal heart rate during exercise. You may like to read more on blood pressure during exercise.
I hope you find the above information helpful. Your heart rate during exercise reflects your overall health and also the health of your heart. You should try to keep your heart rate slow and steady.
Laptop Battery Not Charging Problem Solved
If you find that your laptop runs normally when you plug in the adapter, but shows a 'laptop battery not charging' notification, then you will be unable to use the laptop without a power source. The battery in laptop computers makes it possible to use the machine without connecting it to a power outlet, and not being able to use this function can be a major disadvantage for laptop users.
The causes for this defect can be traced to either a faulty laptop battery or a loose connection somewhere inside the machine. Laptops are something that are used while on the move, and it is not possible to keep it connected to a power source every time it is used. As a result of this, it is imperative to find the exact cause and a suitable solution to the laptop battery not charging problem.
Laptop Battery Not Charging Problem Solved
Remove the Battery
Sometimes the battery may get dislodged from its chamber due to some movement. This will inadvertently mean that the battery will not charge since it is not placed in the right position. Removing the battery and then placing it back in its place properly will show you if this was the reason why the laptop battery was not charging when plugged in. There are a number of connectors that work in tandem when the battery is being charged, and the displacement of even one of these components leads to the laptop battery not charging problem.
Replace the Battery
In all likelihood, the reason why your laptop battery is not charging is that the battery has worn out. Like all electronic components, the laptop battery is also culpable to deterioration over time, and due to this it may not be getting charged at all. In such a situation, you have no choice but to simply replace the battery with a new one. This will solve all your problems and also give your laptop a new lease of life. You may wish to know more about how batteries work.
Plug in Power
This is an elementary cause for laptop battery not charging when plugged in, but it is something that happens occasionally. Ensure that the power cable is plugged in properly, because if it is not, your battery will not receive an adequate amount of power supply. When the power cable is plugged in, you must check the bottom right corner of your desktop and click on the battery icon to see if it is getting charged. If you find the laptop battery not charging, then maybe your cable has not been plugged in properly.
Replace the Charger
If you are absolutely certain that the cable is still not charging the battery, in spite of being plugged in properly, then may be you need to replace the charger itself. Chargers for laptops are easily available and are not very expensive, so you will not have to spend too much money as well. Just like the battery itself, the charger too is prone to deterioration.
Refresh the Battery
Some manufacturers of laptops provide the option of refreshing the battery after it has been used for a period of time, in order to enhance and prolong its life. Read the manual that you received with your laptop and check if this service is available to you. This can be carried out by entering the BIOS or the CMOS setup, and the instructions for this will also be provided in the manual for your laptop.
Service the Laptop
If all these options fail, and you still find the laptop battery not charging, then you should visit a computer repair store and have a professional help you out with the problem. This may be an expensive option and it may even take some time before you get your machine back, but these stores will ultimately be able to tell you what is wrong with the laptop and how to fix it.
Also see the following:
- Laptop Battery Care
- Laptop Battery Troubleshooting
- Tips for Purchasing Notebook Batteries
Seeing the laptop battery not charging should be a cause for concern for laptop users all over the world, as this makes the laptop work like a desktop computer. Moreover, this raises a very high possibility of a person losing some important data when the laptop battery dies completely.
Red Phosphorus Information
The chemical element phosphorus is a non-metal that is represented by the chemical symbol P and has an atomic number 15. Phosphorus belongs to a multivalent nonmetal nitrogen group. It is commonly found in phosphate rocks and exits in two forms. These two major forms of phosphorus are: white phosphorus and red phosphorus. In this article we shall learn some information related to red phosphorus. You can read more on chemical elements in the articles in chemistry
Red Phosphorus Information
When compared to white phosphorus, red phosphorus is relatively harmless and stable. Red phosphorus can be handled safely as it has less ring strain that is added with polymeric nature that gives it higher stability. The red phosphorus (Pn) is also known as red amorphous phosphorus.
Red phosphorus is an opaque compound that is amorphous or crystalline in nature. It is either orange red, dark red, violet/dark purple or reddish brown in color. It is available in granular, pill or powder form commercially.
White phosphorus is converted into red phosphorus, when it is exposed to sunlight or heated on its own vapor to about 250°C . Red phosphorus does not show phosphoresce in air like white phosphorus. It does not ignite until heated to about 260°C . Red phosphorus is stable at room temperature, nonvolatile and odorless compound.
Many students often wonder about red phosphorus solubility in water. Red phosphorus does not dissolve in water and carbon disulphide general solvent. Red phosphorus is found to be in an intermediate phase that is between white and violet phosphorus. Red phosphorus melting point is about 317.3 K or 590°C.
Red Phosphorus Uses
Due to its stability, red phosphorus uses are mainly commercial. Red phosphorus is the main component of matchbook strike plates for safety matches. It is also used in manufacturing of signaling flares, military pyrotechnic devices, etc.
Red phosphorus is also used in synthesis of drugs, as it can produce hydriodic acid (HI) when combined with elemental iodine. Hydriodic acid coverts ephedrine or pseudoephedrine into methamphetamine. Methamphetamine is stimulant that alters mood, increases energy, alertness and self-esteem. It also induces feelings of euphoria, thus making the user addicted to it. You can read more on facts about methamphetamine.
Red phosphorus is also used to manufacture fertilizers for root development and promoting plant vitality and growth. Uses of red phosphorus also includes in increasing the production on seeds and flowers and make the plant disease and pest resistant.
Red phosphorus uses also includes in metallurgy industry for casting and refining various metals like lead smelting in copper processing. It is also used in making racer bullets, incendiary devices, pesticides, pyrotechnic devices and many other products. It is also used in organic synthesis reactions. Red phosphorus helps in the manufacture of phosphoric acid, phosphine, phosphoric anhydride, phosphorus pentachloride, and phosphorus trichloride. It is also commonly used in electroluminescent coatings and in flame retardants for polymers.
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This was some information related to red phosphorus. Red phosphorus is not toxic and does not ignite spontaneously when exposed to air. However, it is a highly flammable powder that is sensitive to friction, impact and electric sparks. I hope this information has helped you get some information on red phosphorus.
