Study shows that aspirin might do more harm than good

Monday, August 31, 2009

A study performed at Edinburgh University, Scotland has shown that aspirin may do more harm to your health than good.

The research at the university in Scotland was to assess the effects of taking aspirin on a daily basis where no prior or existing medical conditions would merit its prescription. The researchers monitored 3,350 patients aged between 50–75, who were thought to be at risk of heart disease, but did not show any significant symptoms at the start of the study. Over an eight-year time period, 181 of those people taking aspirin had heart attacks or strokes.

More than 3,000 men aged 50–75 were randomly assigned to receive a daily dose of aspirin or a placebo pill and were watched over the eight year time period. There were 34 major bleeds in people taking aspirin, or 2%, in comparison to 1.2% of those who took the placebo. The Aspirin for Asymptomatic Atherosclerosis (AAA) have found that the routine use of aspirin does not prevent vascular disease or conditions and the use of it “could not be supported.”

Peter Weissberg, a professor at the British Heart Foundation, the company which was partly responsible in funding for the trials said, “we know that patients with symptoms of artery disease, such as angina, heart attack or stroke, can reduce their risk of further problems by taking a small dose of aspirin each day. The findings of this study agree with our current advice that people who do not have symptomatic or diagnosed artery or heart disease should not take aspirin, because the risks of bleeding may outweigh the benefits. Because it’s been around for a long time, people think, ‘It must be safe and it can’t do any harm’. They are taking it ‘just in case’ but it’s much more dangerous than some other drugs that people get concerned about, like statins.”

Professor Gerry Fowkes presented the research from the University of Edinburgh at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Barcelona, Spain, which was attended by more than 30,000 heart specialists.

“Our research suggests that aspirin should not be prescribed to the general population, although it does have benefits for people with established heart disease or other conditions,” stated Fowkes.

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Information Technology In Hospitality Industry

By Nick Nikolis

Traditionally, hotels were largely dependent on cards and paperwork at the front desk to keep in touch with old and current customers. They were largely at the mercy of the desires of vacationers to arrive, and on their own efforts and staff to be ready for potential surges or long droughts of occupancy. Luckily, such inconvenience and old-fashioned methods are long since past, thanks to advances in information technology.

The first area in which information technology became important was in regards to billing. Old-fashioned paper-based book-keeping was time consuming and inefficient, and was not able to quickly tell a hotel owner what the situation of their hotel was. Luckily, advances in modern record keeping allow for a hotel owner to keep track of what they have on hand, how much of it they have, and how much it costs. Accounting is complicated, but advanced accounting software, especially that tailored to the unique needs of the hospitality industry, helps to enable hotel owners to make smart decisions. Services and products that are no longer used can be quickly cut off to save money, while those who show demand can be increased in quantity or modified so as to reduce the heavy usage.

Most hotels are familiar with booking rooms and reservations over the phone, but information technology has expanded well beyond that. Hotels can now work with various online travel companies and booking services to have their rooms booked online, with no need to employ expensive staff. This also allows a hotel to advertise their open rooms and special deals directly to persons who would be most likely to purchase them, instead of wasting lots of money advertising in an unfocused manner. High quality information technology thus allows for better arrangement and management of bookings in order to allow a hotel to better maximize occupancy, and to know in advance when large groups or lean times are approaching. This allows a hotel manager to make plans regarding temporary staff, good times to renovate or expand, or other concerns, because he/she can determine the state of their hotel currently and for the next few months with only a few clicks on the computer.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNGO4mdd1oM[/youtube]

The advances in information technology extend well beyond booking, however. The internet is essential for vacationers who wish to contact those back home, and for those traveling on business to get in touch with the office. Therefore, wireless internet has become a very common and very useful service for hotels to provide. Many business minded persons even require that a hotel offer internet services so that they can keep working while on the road. Luckily, such services are easy to provide, as all that is required is a wireless router and various devices to ensure the entire hotel is filled with the network. Modern advances in wireless internet also allow for the wireless internet provided for hotel visitors to be used to network the hotel itself. Security cameras, door locks, and other devices essential to hotel security and safety can be wired into the network, so that staff are alerted whenever a door is propped open, a fire alarm goes off or suspicious activity occurs. Though the hotel guests are wholly unaware of it, this sort of added safety and security keeps them safe, and in the event of a problem they will most certainly appreciate the benefits of such a system.

As advanced as it is, information technology in the hospitality industry is still going forward. Intelligent booking systems enable rapid and efficient guest feedback, along with the ability to predict who is likely to use the hotel again and inform them via e-mail or text messages when good deals arrive. Hotels with room service or other guest services can offer their menus online, allowing for quick updates, high-quality photos, and other ways to allow guests to see and order services before they even arrive. There are also advances in terms of payroll and inventory which make information technology a valuable asset for saving money and maximizing profits. The unique nature of the hospitality industry makes it a great place for new and emerging information technology, and forward-thinking hotel owners and managers are always looking for smart equipment and software to invest in.

About the Author: Nick Nikolis is working in Atlantica Hotels and Resorts as It manager in

Rhodos

. Atlantica Hotels and Resorts is a Europe Hotels chain currently offering lodging services in Cyprus Greece and Egypt. Check here

Greece Hotels

and

Cyprus Hotels

.

Source:

isnare.com

Permanent Link:

isnare.com/?aid=324259&ca=Computers+and+Technology

Miami of Ohio and Boston College advance to 2010 NCAA men’s ice hockey Frozen Four

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Obviously it was an unbelievable feeling

Miami of Ohio beat the Michigan Wolverines 3–2 at the finals of the NCAA Midwest regional ice hockey tournament Sunday night at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Miami sophomore forward Alden Hirschfeld scored at 1:54 into the second overtime when his shot from the top of the left face off circle deflected into the goal off the skate of the Michigan goaltender Shawn Hunwick.

Pat Cannone led the scoring with two power play goals for Miami during regulation. It looked as though Michigan had won the game in the first overtime when Michigan’s forward Kevin Lynch appeared to score. Unfortunately for Michigan the referee blew the whistle calling a penalty just before the puck went in the net. The Miami goaltender Connor Knapp who made 53 saves in the game was named the most outstanding player of the midwest regional tournament.

This was the first multiple overtime game for the Miami of Ohio RedHawks in their 23 years. Miami will be going to the Frozen Four for the second straight year.

It was great to see all those hats on the ice

The Boston College Eagles advanced to the Frozen Four in a shoot out with the Yale Bulldogs. BC defeated Yale 9–7 last night at the finals of the NorthEast regionals in front of 6,054 fans at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts.

BC forward Cam Atkinson had a hat trick and an assist. Mark Arcobello of Yale also had a hat trick. In an attempt to find a way to stop the Eagles scoring Yale played three different goalies during the game. The sixteen total goals is a NCAA record for a regional tournament game. The previous record was thirteen.

This will be the 22nd time that Boston College has made it to the Frozen Four, it is the ninth for coach Jerry York and their third trip in the past four seasons. BC will face Miami of Ohio in the semifinals on April 8 at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan.

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Startup web broadcaster Joost signs deal with Warner Brothers

Friday, May 11, 2007

Internet TV came one step closer to reality as startup web broadcaster Joost recently announced that it signed a deal with Warner Brothers to host some of its WBTV-branded content. This deal, along with content deals with other television providers, lately Time Warner and Sony Pictures Television, makes Joost (pronounced “juiced”) the sweetheart aggregator and provider in the coming on-demand, freely distributed online TV broadcasts.

Joost bills itself as an online community where viewers, “can watch what you want, when you want, in full-screen eye-quality proper TV.” The service currently provides about 150 channels, although the availability of some channels varies by country or region due to copyright restrictions. Viewers can navigate screen menus to make programming choices, and then use “widgets” from drop-down menus that allow users to interact with the programming.

“Widgets include a clock, integration of instant messaging, RSS/News feeds and a chat room for the particular channel being viewed on the screen. Users have the ability to opt out of the widgets during viewing or can easily access them from the mouse-activated menus,” according to John P. Gamboa of the Dailey Aztec.

The development efforts at Joost are backed by technology-savvy web entrepreneurs Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis. The two used Internet peer-to-peer networking to create Kazaa, and then later Skype. The cutting-edge music file sharing and telephony implementations of these two applications, some say bleeding edge, appear to have had an affect on the approach being used now by the two at Joost along with co-developers. The copyright infringement-plagued Kazaa was sold to Sharman Networks in 2002. Skype was sold to eBay in October 2005 for $2.6 billion. In July last year, Kazaa settled with music record labels by making a $100 million payment as reparations for illegal file sharing activities employed by users of the application that enabled the distribution of copyright-infringed music files.

People are looking for increased choice and flexibility in their TV experience…

Kazaa became a copyright bust. Skype became a jaw-dropping hit, and a hit in the jaw of telcom carriers whose management of voice transmission became undermined by the sub-set of Internet users with broadband connectivity and peer-to-peer web awareness. The evolution is distinctively one-way. Online broadband peer-to-peer connectivity is here to stay after a nasty birth.

“People are looking for increased choice and flexibility in their TV experience, while the entertainment industry needs to retain control over their content,” said Joost chief executive officer Fredrik de Wahl. “We’ve married that consumer desire with the industry’s interests.”

The “marriage” of TV content to “consumer desire” is the hot-spot that media conglomerates are still seemingly trying to figure out as they dispense their less valuable content for Internet consumption. Joost has managed to secure some rights to webcast programming, but the content is not the highest quality broadcasted TV programming currently available through established subscription cable and satellite distribution channels, or even free airwave TV.

Underlying the concept of Internet TV is the distribution of content in a way that is more efficient than the existing model. Peer-to-peer networking over the Internet makes programming available when a user asks for it. The ‘on-demand’ feature of this approach frees up space in the distribution pipeline and provides feedback to the aggregator to know exactly what is in demand. It gives a middle-man the leverage to negotiate with media conglomerates and then manage a pipeline flooded with unviewed content, thereby conserving bandwidth. It also lets viewers opt for free online TV programming through content arrangements made by the web broadcaster, who acts as a gateway to the programs. However, it is not an advertising-free service.

The Joost hoopla is partly spurred on by its expansionist decision on May 1 to allow users of the Beta version to distribute 99 invitations to other people who could become Beta users.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Startup_web_broadcaster_Joost_signs_deal_with_Warner_Brothers&oldid=1149599”

Anti Tumor Drugs Market To Gain Impetus From Increasing Incidence Of Cancer

A new research report by Transparency Market Research (TMR) presents a comprehensive overview as well as an unbiased analysis of the global market for anti-tumor drugs. The study is titled “Anti-Tumor Drugs Market – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013 – 2019.”

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A tumor, also known as a neoplasm, is caused by an unusual proliferation of tissues. It is broadly classified as a benign tumor and a malignant tumor. A malignant tumor is cancerous in nature while a benign tumor possesses the potential to turn into a malignant one. The increasing incidence of the malignant tumor is propelling the demand for anti-tumor drugs in the global arena. According to the WHO, by the end of 2025, the number of patients suffering from cancer would reach 15 million globally. Going by the prediction, the worldwide anti-tumor drugs market is likely to witness exponentially increasing demand for these drugs over the next few years.

In addition to this, governments and various non-governmental organizations in several economies are getting concerned over the alarming rate of mortality due to cancer across the world and have taken various initiatives to encourage the development of anti-tumor as well as anti-cancer drugs. This factor, along with the increased government funding for research and development activities in this field, also leads to the significant growth of the global anti-tumor drugs in the near future.

According to the report, the future of the global anti-tumor market looks thriving. However, various side-effects such as hair loss, weakness, nausea, allergies, and other dermatological side effects of these drugs are likely to restrict the market’s growth in the coming years.

Anti-tumor drugs help in limiting the growth of tumor cells by regulating the level of hormones in these cells. Various anti-tumor drugs mentioned in this market report are idarucicin, daunorubicin, citomycin D, doxorubicin, epirubicin, bleomycin, mitoxantrone, and mitomycin.

Additionally, alkaloids, used as anti-tumors drugs, such as irinotecan, etoposide, topotecan, vinorelbine, vinblastine, streptozocin, chlorambucil, ifosfamide, cyclophosphamide, melphalan, paclitaxel, vincristine, bendamustine, temozolomide, dacarbazine, busulfan, procarbazine, carmustine, and docetaxel, are also mentioned in this study.

The report also maps the competitive landscape of the global anti-tumor drugs market by assessing the company profiles of the key market players. As per the research study, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Gilead Sciences, and Bristol-Myers Squibb are leading the worldwide market for anti-tumor drugs.

The main objective of this research is to provide a clear picture of the global anti-tumor drugs market to participants, stakeholders, and consultants and assist them in making crucial strategies for the further expansion of their businesses.

Full Research Report on Global Anti-tumor Drugs Market:

Despite passage of bailout bill, two US states may need loans

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Despite the passage of a 700 billion USD bill by the United States House of Representatives on Friday and the Senate on Wednesday, two U.S. states may need loans totaling over 14 billion dollars.

California and Massachusetts are seeking at least 7 billion dollars each from the federal government as loans. Officials and lawmakers in both states say that the loans would be temporary.

According to Massachusetts’ state treasurer, Timothy P. Cahill, the state was unable to borrow money last week on a short term loan. He also states that the state can afford to pay its bills and debts for the next few weeks, but not beyond that without a short-term loan from the government. Cahill has asked the federal government for a loan similar to the recent one passed by Congress and the Senate.

“That’s all we would ask them to do: Treat us like the investment banks,” said Cahill to the Associated Press.

Officials in California say they need an emergency loan, or they will run out of money by the end of October. California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger said the state is “not out of the woods” and needs a short term loan from the government.

“California and other states may be unable to obtain the necessary level of financing to maintain government operations and may be forced to turn to the federal treasury for short-term financing,” said Schwarzenegger in a letter to the Treasury Department, which is taking the letter under consideration.

On Friday, the U.S. House of Representative voted to pass a revised bailout bill which included raising the FDIC insurance cap to $250,000, a move designed to please progressives. However, the $110 billion in tax breaks, earmarks and what has been called pork barrel spending is not offset by any increases in revenues and has added opposition to the bill from some Representatives in the House. Earmarks added into the bailout bill included $192 million in tax rebates for the Virgin Islands rum industry, $148 million in tax cuts for the wool industry, $100 million tax cuts to the auto racing industry, and $48 million in Hollywood tax incentives, among others.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Despite_passage_of_bailout_bill,_two_US_states_may_need_loans&oldid=4358158”

Wikinews interview with America’s Got Talent finalists Celtic Spring

Thursday, August 31, 2006

This exclusive interview features first-hand journalism by a Wikinews reporter. See the collaboration page for more details.

Irish American dance and fiddle band Celtic Spring was recently a finalist in America’s Got Talent. Talent was a NBC television series search for America’s next big talent, featuring singers, dancers, magicians, comedians and other talents of all ages. The series was hosted by Regis Philbin, and judged by former tabloid editor Piers Morgan, singer Brandy, and actor/singer David Hasselhoff.

The mother of the family, Mary McCauley Wood, talked to Wikinews about their group’s performances and the America’s Got Talent experience.

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How You Can Improve Collections By Outsourcing Medical Billing

Medical billing and coding is the process of submitting medical claims and bills so the health practitioners can get paid for their services. The companies that offer these services are called medical billing companies. Due to the numerous benefits of outsourcing medical billing, many health practitioners across the United States are outsourcing medical billing services from the top ranked medical billing company. One of the main benefits of outsourcing billing is that a medical practice’s revenue and collections are improved. There are many billing companies offering the top ranked medical billing service. It is important to choose the company that best suits your medical practice. In this article, we will list the questions you should ask medical billing companies to select the right one for your practice. But first, let’s discuss the benefits of outsourcing and how it can improve collections.

Improved Collections: It is estimated that medical billing companies are much better at collecting bills as compared to the in-house billing departments of medical practices. This is because it is the primary focus of billing companies and they are experts at it.

Insurance Eligibility Check: Top ranked medical billing service companies will duly check the medical insurance eligibility of your patients.

Variable Cost: Since billing companies charge a percentage of your bills, therefore you don’t have to pay the same amount when you are on a vacation or file fewer claims. With in-house billing departments, you will have to pay a fixed amount for billing staff’s salaries.

Better Consistency: Imagine if a billing employee of your private practice takes FMLA, the bills and claims that need to be submitted will start to pile up.

Transparency: Transparency is important in every field and medical billing is no different. It becomes even more important when money is involved. To ensure transparency the medical billing companies will send you financial reports on a regular basis.

Data Protection: Protecting patients’ data against hackers and data leakage is extremely important. Billing companies are much better at data safety as compared to billing departments of private practices.

Questions to Ask Billing Companies

You should ask these questions to medical billing companies before finalizing one for your medical practice.

  • What will be the cost?
  • How will they ensure data safety?
  • What measures do they take to stay compliant with government regulations and health industry protocols?
  • Can they provide references of other medical practices that use their services?

Medical Billing Companies in the United States

It is important to use top ranked medical billing service, so here are some of the medical billing companies in the USA.

  • BillingFreedom
  • AdvancedMD
  • CureMD
  • Cerner
  • Helpware

Wikinews interviews 2020 Melbourne Lord Mayor Candidate Wayne Tseng

This article mentions the Wikimedia Foundation, one of its projects, or people related to it. Wikinews is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Thursday, October 22, 2020

2020 Melbourne Lord Mayor candidate Wayne Tseng answered some questions about his campaign for the upcoming election from Wikinews. The Lord Mayor election in the Australian city is scheduled to take place this week.

Tseng runs a firm called eTranslate, which helps software developers to make the software available to the users. In the candidate’s questionnaire, Tseng said eTranslate had led to him working with all three tiers of the government. He previously belonged to the Australian Liberal Party, but has left since then, to run for mayorship as an independent candidate.

Tseng is of Chinese descent, having moved to Australia with his parents from Vietnam. Graduated in Brisbane, Tseng received his PhD in Melbourne and has been living in the city, he told Wikinews. Tseng also formed Chinese Precinct Chamber of Commerce, an organisation responsible for many “community bond building initiatives”, the Lord Mayor candidate told Wikinews.

Tseng discussed his plans for leading Melbourne, recovering from COVID-19, and “Democracy 2.0” to ensure concerns of minorities in the city were also heard. Tseng also focused on the importance of the multi-culture aspect and talked about making Melbourne the capital of the aboriginals. Tseng also explained why he thinks Melbourne is poised to be a world city by 2030.

Tseng’s deputy Lord Mayor candidate Gricol Yang is a Commercial Banker and works for ANZ Banking Group.

Currently, Sally Capp is the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, the Victorian capital. Capp was elected as an interim Lord Mayor in mid-2018 after the former Lord Mayor Robert Doyle resigned from his position after sexual assault allegations. Doyle served as the Lord Mayor of Melbourne for almost a decade since 2008.

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Ten April Fool’s pranks of 2009

Friday, April 3, 2009

April Fools’ Day pranks harmlessly pervaded worldwide again this year. Media outlets and internet sites have joined family, office workers, and friends to provide a wide variety of practical jokes. Ireland, France, and the United States celebrate April Fools all day, whereas a few countries celebrate jokes only until noon such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa.

Car and Driver claimed that GM and Chrysler were ordered out of NASCAR by the White House by the end of 2009 in order to receive any more government loans. There are press releases about this short-lived prank which received controversial feedback.

The Swiss Tourism Board has announced that volunteers were desperately needed, The Association of Mountain Cleaners “makes sure that our holiday guests can always enjoy perfect mountains. Using brooms, brushes, water and muscle power, they clean the rocks of any bird droppings.”

This year Gmail produced a new autopilot feature for April 1, 2009 which can read your email and automatically respond to every message.

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BMW released its new Magnetic Tow Technology which allows your BMW to magnetically attach to the vehicle ahead of you. This enhanced technology allows the driver to remove their foot from the gas pedal and turn off the motor.

The Guardian proposed its move to Twitter, which would allow the newspaper to fit its article content into 140 character messages or “tweets”. Included in this venture was the archiving of past events reported by The Guardian, such as, “1927 OMG first successful transatlantic air flight wow, pretty cool! Boring day otherwise *sigh*”

Google’s technological break through for April Fool’s Day was CADIE, (Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity). By extracting internet search patterns combined with Brain Search, a part of CADIE technology, Google can now search your thoughts and memories.

Wikipedia even fooled Fox News who claimed that “every item on the home page of the user-generated site Wikipedia is fake. The featured Wikipedia article regaled the “Museum of Bad Art” in Boston.” However, each item on the main page was based on reality — even news articles such as NASA reports a shower of diamonds over the Republic of Sudan, which was based on a meteorite which passed over Sudan whose fragments did reveal diamonds upon discovery.

The Conficker Internet worm had been in the news warning of a worst case scenario when computers worldwide would be affected by the virus. Even the chief security adviser for Microsoft, Ed Gibson, didn’t want to make any predictions about what would happen. Experts just knew that it was set to go off on April 1. Several anomalous happenings were attributed to Conficker including Leroy “Mac” MacElrie who claimed to be the programmer of the Conficker worm and turned himself in to police.

Hotels.com ran an advertisement offering hotel room bookings on the moon which would be offered on European websites starting at £800 a night.

Qualcomm ingeniously revealed a new wireless networking technology called wireless convergence. Making use of the flight patterns of pigeons. They then use innovative solutions to converge the birds with wolves to protect the internal improvements.

Media outlets were not the only ones pulling pranks. Gaming websites across the internet Blizzard, Joystiq, and affiliates posted reviews and announcements of games with tongue in cheek. YouTube offered viewers a unique April Fool’s experience as videos were offered upside down. In Ireland, U2 fans received a U2opia concert on a shopping centre roof top concert rather than the real thing.

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