As is the norm, Israel?s Bnei Brak Coca Cola plant is up and running in Pesach mode far ahead of the yomtov. Coca Cola in Eretz Yisrael is under the hashgacha of HaGaon HaRav Moshe Yehuda Leib Landau Shlita.
The bottling plant is always kashered far ahead of yomtov to enable shipping the product around the world. While Coca Cola prohibits importing the soft drink from one country to another, special dispensations are made in the case of Pesach to accommodate Coke fans who seek Rav Landau?s mehadrin hashgacha for Pesach.
(YWN ? Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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Health insurance exchanges will be the most visible part of the health-care law in everyday life. How the exchanges will work:
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WHAT'S AN EXCHANGE? It is just another word for marketplace. Each state will have its own exchange serving people who buy their health insurance directly, as well as a separate one for small businesses. Most Republican governors opposed to "Obamacare" are letting Washington run the exchanges in their states. For consumers, the benefits should be the same no matter who runs the exchange. The majority of people now covered by employer plans will not see a change.
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HOW WILL THEY WORK? The exchanges are supposed to have the feel of an online travel site -- think Orbitz or Expedia. Middle-class people will be able to pick from a range of private insurance plans, and most people will be eligible for help from the government to pay premiums. Low-income people will be steered to safety-net programs for which they might qualify. This could be a problem in states that choose not to expand their Medicaid programs under a separate part of the law.
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WHAT'S THE MEDICAID PART? The health-care law also expands the federal-state safety-net program to cover more low-income people. States are free to reject the expansion. In those states, many adults below the poverty level would remain uninsured.
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HOW WILL I KNOW IF I CAN GET HELP WITH MY PREMIUMS? You'll disclose your income to the exchange at the time you apply for coverage and they'll let you know. The law offers sliding-scale subsidies based on income for individuals and families making up to four times the federal poverty level, about $44,700 for singles, $92,200 for a family of four. But read the fine print.
Eating bright-colored fruits and vegetables may prevent or delay ALSPublic release date: 29-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dawn Peters sciencenewsroom@wiley.com 781-388-8408 Wiley
New research suggests that increased consumption of foods containing colorful carotenoids, particularly beta-carotene and lutein, may prevent or delay the onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The study, published by Wiley in Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society, found that diets high in lycopene, beta-cryptoxanthin, and vitamin C did not reduce ALS risk.
Carotenoids give fruits and vegetables their bright orange, red, or yellow colors, and are a source of dietary vitamin A. Prior studies report that oxidative stress plays a role in the development of ALS. Further studies have shown that individuals with high intake of antioxidants, such as vitamin E, have a reduced ALS risk. Because vitamin C or carotenoids are also antioxidants, researchers examined their relation to ALS risk.
According to the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) roughly 20,000 to 30,000 Americans have ALSalso known as Lou Gehrig's diseaseand another 5,000 patients are diagnosed annually with the disease. ALS is a progressive neurological disease that attacks nerve cells (neurons) in the brain and spinal cord, which control voluntary muscles. As the upper and lower motor neurons degenerate, the muscles they control gradually weaken and waste away, leading to paralysis.
"ALS is a devastating degenerative disease that generally develops between the ages of 40 and 70, and affects more men than women," said senior author Dr. Alberto Ascherio, Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Mass. "Understanding the impact of food consumption on ALS development is important. Our study is one of the largest to date to examine the role of dietary antioxidants in preventing ALS."
Using data from five prospective groups: the National Institutes of Health (NIH)AARP Diet and Health Study, the Cancer Prevention Study II-Nutrition Cohort, the Multiethnic Cohort, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and the Nurses' Health Study, researchers investigated more than one million participants for the present study. A total of 1093 ALS cases were identified after excluding subjects with unlikely food consumption.
The team found that a greater total carotenoid intake was linked to reduced risk of ALS. Individuals who consumed more carotenoids in their diets were more likely to exercise, have an advanced degree, have higher vitamin C consumption, and take vitamin C and E supplements. Furthermore, subjects with diets high in beta-carotene and luteinfound in dark green vegetableshad a lower risk ALS risk. Researchers did not find that lycopene, beta-cryptoxanthin, and vitamin C reduced the risk of ALS. Long-term vitamin C supplement intake was also not associated with lower ALS risk.
Dr. Ascherio concludes, "Our findings suggest that consuming carotenoid-rich foods may help prevent or delay the onset of ALS. Further food-based analyses are needed to examine the impact of dietary nutrients on ALS."
###
This study is published in Annals of Neurology. Media wishing to receive a PDF of this article may contact sciencenewsroom@wiley.com
Full citation: "Intakes of Vitamin C and Carotenoids and Risk of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis." Kathryn C Fitzgerald, Eilis J O'Reilly, Elinor Fondell, Guido J Falcone, Marjorie L McCullough, Yikyung Park, Laurence N Kolonel and Alberto Ascherio. Annals of Neurology; Published Online: January 29, 2013 (DOI:10.1002/ana.23820).
Author Contact: To arrange an interview with Dr. Ascherio, please contact Todd Datz with the Harvard School of Public Health at tdatz@hsph.harvard.edu.
About the Journal
Annals of Neurology, the official journal of the American Neurological Association and the Child Neurology Society, publishes articles of broad interest with potential for high impact in understanding the mechanisms and treatment of diseases of the human nervous system. All areas of clinical and basic neuroscience, including new technologies, cellular and molecular neurobiology, population sciences, and studies of behavior, addiction, and psychiatric diseases are of interest to the journal. The journal is published by Wiley on behalf of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society. For more information, please visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/ana.
About Wiley
Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has been a valued source of information and understanding for more than 200 years, helping people around the world meet their needs and fulfill their aspirations. Wiley and its acquired companies have published the works of more than 450 Nobel laureates in all categories: Literature, Economics, Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Peace.
Wiley is a global provider of content and content-enabled workflow solutions in areas of scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly research; professional development; and education. Our core businesses produce scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, reference works, books, database services, and advertising; professional books, subscription products, certification and training services and online applications; and education content and services including integrated online teaching and learning resources for undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners. Wiley's global headquarters are located in Hoboken, New Jersey, with operations in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Canada, and Australia. The Company's Web site can be accessed at http://www.wiley.com. The Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols JWa and JWb.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Eating bright-colored fruits and vegetables may prevent or delay ALSPublic release date: 29-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dawn Peters sciencenewsroom@wiley.com 781-388-8408 Wiley
New research suggests that increased consumption of foods containing colorful carotenoids, particularly beta-carotene and lutein, may prevent or delay the onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The study, published by Wiley in Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society, found that diets high in lycopene, beta-cryptoxanthin, and vitamin C did not reduce ALS risk.
Carotenoids give fruits and vegetables their bright orange, red, or yellow colors, and are a source of dietary vitamin A. Prior studies report that oxidative stress plays a role in the development of ALS. Further studies have shown that individuals with high intake of antioxidants, such as vitamin E, have a reduced ALS risk. Because vitamin C or carotenoids are also antioxidants, researchers examined their relation to ALS risk.
According to the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) roughly 20,000 to 30,000 Americans have ALSalso known as Lou Gehrig's diseaseand another 5,000 patients are diagnosed annually with the disease. ALS is a progressive neurological disease that attacks nerve cells (neurons) in the brain and spinal cord, which control voluntary muscles. As the upper and lower motor neurons degenerate, the muscles they control gradually weaken and waste away, leading to paralysis.
"ALS is a devastating degenerative disease that generally develops between the ages of 40 and 70, and affects more men than women," said senior author Dr. Alberto Ascherio, Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Mass. "Understanding the impact of food consumption on ALS development is important. Our study is one of the largest to date to examine the role of dietary antioxidants in preventing ALS."
Using data from five prospective groups: the National Institutes of Health (NIH)AARP Diet and Health Study, the Cancer Prevention Study II-Nutrition Cohort, the Multiethnic Cohort, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and the Nurses' Health Study, researchers investigated more than one million participants for the present study. A total of 1093 ALS cases were identified after excluding subjects with unlikely food consumption.
The team found that a greater total carotenoid intake was linked to reduced risk of ALS. Individuals who consumed more carotenoids in their diets were more likely to exercise, have an advanced degree, have higher vitamin C consumption, and take vitamin C and E supplements. Furthermore, subjects with diets high in beta-carotene and luteinfound in dark green vegetableshad a lower risk ALS risk. Researchers did not find that lycopene, beta-cryptoxanthin, and vitamin C reduced the risk of ALS. Long-term vitamin C supplement intake was also not associated with lower ALS risk.
Dr. Ascherio concludes, "Our findings suggest that consuming carotenoid-rich foods may help prevent or delay the onset of ALS. Further food-based analyses are needed to examine the impact of dietary nutrients on ALS."
###
This study is published in Annals of Neurology. Media wishing to receive a PDF of this article may contact sciencenewsroom@wiley.com
Full citation: "Intakes of Vitamin C and Carotenoids and Risk of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis." Kathryn C Fitzgerald, Eilis J O'Reilly, Elinor Fondell, Guido J Falcone, Marjorie L McCullough, Yikyung Park, Laurence N Kolonel and Alberto Ascherio. Annals of Neurology; Published Online: January 29, 2013 (DOI:10.1002/ana.23820).
Author Contact: To arrange an interview with Dr. Ascherio, please contact Todd Datz with the Harvard School of Public Health at tdatz@hsph.harvard.edu.
About the Journal
Annals of Neurology, the official journal of the American Neurological Association and the Child Neurology Society, publishes articles of broad interest with potential for high impact in understanding the mechanisms and treatment of diseases of the human nervous system. All areas of clinical and basic neuroscience, including new technologies, cellular and molecular neurobiology, population sciences, and studies of behavior, addiction, and psychiatric diseases are of interest to the journal. The journal is published by Wiley on behalf of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society. For more information, please visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/ana.
About Wiley
Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has been a valued source of information and understanding for more than 200 years, helping people around the world meet their needs and fulfill their aspirations. Wiley and its acquired companies have published the works of more than 450 Nobel laureates in all categories: Literature, Economics, Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Peace.
Wiley is a global provider of content and content-enabled workflow solutions in areas of scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly research; professional development; and education. Our core businesses produce scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, reference works, books, database services, and advertising; professional books, subscription products, certification and training services and online applications; and education content and services including integrated online teaching and learning resources for undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners. Wiley's global headquarters are located in Hoboken, New Jersey, with operations in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Canada, and Australia. The Company's Web site can be accessed at http://www.wiley.com. The Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols JWa and JWb.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Google will lobby?Washington this?year?to make it harder for law enforcement authorities to gain access to emails and other digital messages.
In a blog post on Monday, linked to Data Privacy Day, Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, said the tech giant, in coalition with many other powerful tech companies, will try to convince Congress to update a 1986 privacy protection law.
He cited data, shared last week, showing that government requests for Google's user data increased more than 70 percent since 2009.
In 2012, Google said, it received 16,407 requests for user data affecting 31,072 users or accounts, more than half of them accompanied by a subpoena.
"We're a law-abiding company, and we don't want our services to be used in harmful ways. But it's just as important that laws protect you against overly broad requests for your personal information," Drummond said in the post.
The U.S. Electronic Communications Privacy Act, passed in the early days of the Internet, does not require government investigators to have a search warrant when requesting access to old emails and messages that are stored online, providing less protection for them than, say, letters stored in a desk drawer or even messages saved on a computer's hard drive.
The current system also makes complex distinctions, many disputed in courts, between emails saved as drafts online, in transit, unopened or opened. Some of them are to be released with subpoenas, which have a lower threshold than search warrants as they often do not involve a judge.
A warrant is generally approved by a judge if investigators have "probable cause" to believe that their search is likely to turn up information related to a crime.
Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and popular social media site Twitter ? among others ? have resisted turning over customer data.
They have put in place policies, based on the constitutional protection from unreasonable searches, that require search warrants for access to content of private communications.
Privacy activists say the outdated law should be reformed to extend the constitutional right to privacy online, but legislation limiting government requests will not face an easy road.
Last year, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced a bill that would have updated the current law.
It triggered a wave of concerns from the police and FBI that new restrictions would impede crime investigations and possibly endanger victims.
"After three decades, it is essential that Congress update ECPA to ensure that this critical law keeps pace with new technologies and the way Americans use and store email today," Leahy said in a statement on Monday.
His privacy legislation died in Congress last year after his counterpart in the House of Representatives, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Republican, drafted another version of that bill, which also tackled other issues but stripped out privacy reform language.
Last year, Goodlatte said he was willing to consider the privacy law reform, but that the timeline then was too short for a "thorough examination."
Leahy has now included the change of privacy laws as one of his top priorities this year.
(Reporting by Alina Selyukh in Washington and Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco; Editing by Steve Orlofky)?
Henry Kissinger recently gave an ominous forecast on the future of Iran's nuclear program: that it will be taken care of one way or another very soon.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum at a Swiss ski resort in Davos, Kissinger said,?"People who have advanced their view will have to come to a determination about how to react or about the consequences of non-reaction," he said.
"I believe this point will be reached within a very foreseeable future."
Also at Davos, Agence France Presse reports that?President Shimon Peres said,?"There will be more attempts to try and negotiate, but there will always be in the horizon a military option, because if the Iranians think it's only economic and political, they won't pay attention."
Kissinger, Peres and Defense Minister Ehud Barak all seem to think that the Iran nuclear situation will come to close in some way in the next few months.
However, exactly how that will happen remains a subject of debate ? where some see military threat and possible strikes as integral, , others report that sanctions have crippled the country, opening up critical lanes for upcoming nuclear talks with the U.N. Security Council.
One recent Haaratz report said that Iran's income from oil had plummeted 50% in recent months, and the country has been unable to find the space to store its excess oil. Iran's oil represents 80 percent of its income, and the U.S. has almost unilaterally banned the import of that oil. On the other side, Iran's major importers are Asian countries (though China is exempt, it still represents an ally) ? countries likely to, and more importantly, able to, put pressure on the U.S. to drop sanctions.
While Iran may try to delay and quibble over locations for the negotiation, it looks like economic sanctions may well cause their hand to fold, and soon.
From Haaratz:
Iran's leaders know the only route to ease the economic pressures - and possibly undercut threats of military action on its nuclear sites by Israel - is through potential deal-making with the six world powers, which include the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany.
SEE ALSO:??Iran says war is the only thing that will stop them >
SEE ALSO:??The Military and Defense Facebook page for updates >
The world and Venezuela are anxiously awaiting for Hugo Chavez's first public appearance since fleeing to Cuba for cancer treatment last year. That's why the Spanish paper?El Pais?decided to run a picture of what they thought was an intubated Chavez. There was on problem was: it wasn't him.
RELATED: Hugo Ch?vez Says He Has Cancer
The paper, which is the biggest in Spain and is also distributed across Latin America, ran the fake image on their front page:
RELATED: Chavez Welcomed Home with Crossword Conspiracy Theory
The headline to that is "The Secret of Hugo Chavez's Illness" and it would have been a major international scoop. But, that guy isn't Chavez. That's just some random intubated man. There aren't details of how El Pais finally found out they had been duped, but the news organization spent Thursday stopping the presses, pulling early editions off of newsstands and issuing an online apology (the image remained on the web for half an hour):
El Paisapologizes to its readers for the damage caused. The newspaper has opened an investigation to determine the circumstances of what happened and the errors that were committed in the verification of the photo.
The paper claimed they were given the photo by a news agency, and there are reports that El Pais paid for the phony image.?Obviously, the temptation to believe in the scoop was strong. The Venezuelan government hasn't been forthright about the status of Chavez since he underwent his fourth cancer surgery last month, and as Reuters reports, Chavez hasn't been seen at all for six weeks.?"The Venezuelan government called the photo 'grotesque,'" according to the BBC.
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose at the open on Friday, as Potash Corp added to Thursday's gains, while Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp climbed following its announcement that it has discovered oil in Brazil.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index <.gsptse> rose 34.98 points, or 0.27 percent, 12,858.60 shortly after the open. Nine of the index's 10 main sectors were higher.
(Reporting by Solarina Ho; Editing by James Dalgleish)
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Thanks to Joomla and WordPress, the possibilities are endless as far as website design is concerned. Ecommerce sites, forums, online business directories, blogs, websites, etc can be created effectively. If you are looking to create a site using Joomla, you need to avail the services of web hosting companies. These companies will have Joomla installed for you. Joomla CMS is absolutely free of cost! You will only incur expenditure on domain name and web hosting. Incidentally, there are many benefits of WordPress as a content management system. You can build a great website and create powerful online applications.
If you are on the lookout for an inexpensive alternative CMS solution, then WordPress fits the bill perfectly. It is a popular open source blog publishing program. More and more corporate companies are making full use of WordPress these days. Its easy to use functions facilitate overall customization. It is recommended that you hire web professionals for the best results in Web designing. They will take care of search engine optimization, your web presence, bounce rates, etc. Designing a website all by yourself is not advisable. It is time consuming and risky. Many a times, when individuals undertake the responsibility of doing it themselves, it results in a poorly designed website. A poorly designed website reflects badly on your company. You will not be able to entice visitors and retain them in the long run.
"The entire world can help us" find exoplanets (alien planets), says a Kepler scientist. NASA is throwing open its list of possible exoplanets to anyone who wants to look.
By Miriam Kramer,?Space.com / January 22, 2013
This artist's conception depicts the Kepler-10 star system, located about 560 light-years away, near the Cygnus and Lyra constellations. Kepler has discovered two planets around this star. Kepler-10b, the dark spot against the yellow sun, is (so far!) the smallest known rocky exoplanet, or planet outside our solar system.
T. Pyle / JPL-Caltech / NASA-Ames
Enlarge
Scientists with NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft have revamped the mission's online archive of alien worlds, opening up the database for the entire world to see.
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Researchers are now posting all exoplanet sightings by the Kepler observatory into a single, comprehensive website called the "NASA Exoplanet Archive." Instead of going through the long planet confirmation process before making data publicly available, since December of last year, scientists have started shoveling out all the data Kepler collects into a comprehensive list.
"When we make that list, right away it goes to the archive," Kepler mission team member Steve Howell told SPACE.com during the 221st American Astronomical Society meeting in Long Beach, Calif., this month. "So the day we know about the list, the archive knows about the list. And then everybody, including us, can work on that list. But that list is dynamic so if we, or a community person, makes an observation and says, 'Hey, I looked at this planet candidate but it's really an eclipsing binary,' then that entry in the archive will be changed."
The archive has information about the size, orbital period and other metrics of any possible planet discovered and investigated by Kepler.
"It's all in real time," Howell said. "The sausage-making process is exposed."
Before the new archive was debuted, astronomers were already doing creative work with the data. One created a visually stunning video of every known Kepler planet candidate ? 2,299 unconfirmed exoplanets at the time ? orbiting one central point.
The Kepler team?s new "open" attitude toward data release is giving everybody, not just members of the scientific community, a chance to do some hands-on scientific research by building their own experiments, Howell said.
A group of high school students has already taken data from groups of planets observed by Kepler and mapped them against a map of known stars looking for a pattern. Howell doesn?t think they'll see much, but he's glad that they have the opportunity to get creative.
"The entire world can help us with this Kepler data," Howell said. "I don't see any downside."
?Planet Hunters, a collective of amateur astronomers, recently found 42 new alien planets using Kepler data that was publicly available prior to the launch of the new archive system.
It would be difficult for Kepler scientists to get their jobs done without the help of amateur astronomers around the globe, mission researchers said. By making the exoplanet archive more accessible, it could mean that more planets are found and confirmed in shorter amounts of time than ever before.
More people sifting through the wealth of data collected by Kepler means that scientists have a better chance of finding even more planets circling distant stars, Howell added.
Since its launch in 2009, NASA's Kepler spacecraft has flagged more than 2,300 objects as possible alien worlds. Although only about 100 have been confirmed, scientists expect that at least 80 percent could be certifiable exoplanets.
Currently, Kepler has entered a "safe mode" after researchers spotted an issue with one of the spacecraft's three reaction wheels that are responsible for orienting the telescope. The malfunction has stalled science observations, but researchers hope that the issue will be resolved by Sunday (Jan. 27).
To explore the new NASA Exoplanet Archive, visit: http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/
You can follow SPACE.com staff writer Miriam Kramer on Twitter @mirikramer.?Follow SPACE.com on Twitter?@Spacedotcom. We're also on Face
Jan. 22, 2013 ? A multi-center Phase III clinical trial demonstrates that Abraxane (nab-paclitaxel) plus gemcitabine is the first combination of cancer drugs to extend survival of late-stage pancreatic cancer patients compared to standard treatment.
The MPACT (Metastatic Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Clinical Trial) study was led by physicians from Scottsdale Healthcare's Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center Clinical Trials, a partnership between Scottsdale Healthcare and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).
Their findings show that Abraxane plus gemcitabine was well tolerated and resulted in clinically meaningful outcomes compared to gemcitabine alone, the current standard of care. The study abstract was released January 22 and the data will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2013 Gastrointestinal Cancers annual meeting Jan. 25 in San Francisco.
"We are ecstatic that this clinical trial of Abraxane plus gemcitabine improves survival for patients with advanced stage IV pancreatic cancer," said Dr. Daniel Von Hoff, international lead investigator for MPACT, chief scientific officer for Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center Clinical Trials at Scottsdale Healthcare, and TGen's Physician-In-Chief. "It once again demonstrates that laboratory science based medicine can make a difference for patients."
MPACT is the largest phase III clinical trial completed in advanced pancreatic cancer with more than 800 patients. Findings from the study showed a 59 percent increase in one-year median survival rates from less than a quarter of the patients (22 percent) to more than a third (35 percent). The two-year survival rate for this cancer is negligible, less than 4 percent, but that more than doubles (9 percent) with the nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine combination.
One of those patients was Lynne Jacoby, 48, of Phoenix, who works as a director of compliance for a healthcare company. Jacoby was given only weeks to live when her Stage 4 pancreatic adenocarcinoma, a tumor the size of a golf ball, was first diagnosed in April 2012 -- nine months ago.
"If you had to live your life in a year, and that is all the time you have, wouldn't you do everything you could to experience this time," said Jacoby, who for nearly a year before her diagnosis had experienced night sweats, indigestion, stomach pains, neck and back pain, and an elevated white-blood count.
She began the treatment of Abraxane plus gemcitabine in May 2012 and continues on the medications, saying now that she "feels awesome, wonderful." She is scheduled to remain on the drug combination through May 2013.
"Life is priceless. No amount of money can be placed on life. I know I would be gone already if it was not for Dr. Von Hoff," said Jacoby, who also refers to him as "Dr. Von Hope."
The study showed significant improvement among some of the sickest patients including those with increased metastases. Significantly there was no increase in life-threatening toxicity. Other drug combinations that have demonstrated benefit have been limited by increased toxicities.
"This is a major improvement in a cancer with the lowest survival rates among all cancer types," said Dr. Ramesh Ramanathan, medical director of Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center Clinical Trials at Scottsdale Healthcare and principal investigator for the clinical trial in the United States. "Advanced pancreatic cancer is fourth most common cause of cancer death in the United States and throughout the world. It is difficult to diagnose with a majority of the cases diagnosed at a late stage after the disease has already advanced."
Abraxane wraps traditional chemotherapy, paclitaxel, in near-nano sized shells of albumin, a protein that the tumor sees as food. The tumor uses various mechanisms to preferentially attract the albumin, which then acts like a "Trojan Horse" to release its package of chemotherapy inside the tumor. It is approved in the U.S. for metastatic breast cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.
The pancreas is a gland behind the stomach that secretes enzymes into the upper part of the small intestine to help digestion. It also produces hormones, including insulin, which helps regulate the metabolism of sugars.
The incidence of pancreatic cancer is increasing worldwide with an estimated 279,000 cases per year, including nearly 44,000 in the U.S. in 2012, and resulting in more than 37,000 American deaths last year.
Individuals seeking information about eligibility to participate in clinical trials at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare may contact the cancer care coordinator.
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RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Unflinching Cop Thriller End of Watch - Rotten TomatoesNews ? Columns ? RT On DVD ? RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Unflinching Cop Thriller End of Watch
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Plus, a couple of acclaimed documentaries, a lurid adaptation, and a raunchy comedy.
This week on home video, we've got a few Certified Fresh movies to share with you, and at the top of the list is a gritty copy thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena. After that, we've got an Oscar-nominated music documentary, a period drama based on a book, a cheeky female comedy, and another acclaimed doc about a bizarre crime story. See below for the full list!
Also available this week:
New Criterion Collection releases for Wim Wnders's Oscar-nominated dance documentary Pina (95%) and Andrei Tarkovsky's Ivan's Childhood (100%) on both DVD and Blu-ray.
Certified Fresh drama Keep the Lights On (95%).
A 60th Anniversary Special Edition Blu-ray of John Ford's Oscar-winning A Quiet Man (89%), starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.
Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (49%), starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.
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Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron makes a speech on having a referendum on staying in the European Union in London, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. Cameron said Wednesday he will offer British citizens a vote on whether to leave the European Union if his party wins the next election, a move which could trigger alarm among fellow member states. He acknowledged that public disillusionment with the EU is "at an all-time high," using a long-awaited speech in central London to say that the terms of Britain's membership in the bloc should be revised and the country's citizens should have a say. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron makes a speech on having a referendum on staying in the European Union in London, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. Cameron said Wednesday he will offer British citizens a vote on whether to leave the European Union if his party wins the next election, a move which could trigger alarm among fellow member states. He acknowledged that public disillusionment with the EU is "at an all-time high," using a long-awaited speech in central London to say that the terms of Britain's membership in the bloc should be revised and the country's citizens should have a say. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron walks past a map of Europe on a screen as he walks away after making a speech on holding a referendum on staying in the European Union in London, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. Cameron said Wednesday he will offer British citizens a vote on whether to leave the European Union if his party wins the next election, a move which could trigger alarm among fellow member states. He acknowledged that public disillusionment with the EU is "at an all-time high," using a long-awaited speech in central London to say that the terms of Britain's membership in the bloc should be revised and the country's citizens should have a say. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron makes a speech on having a referendum on staying in the European Union in London, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. Cameron said Wednesday he will offer British citizens a vote on whether to leave the European Union if his party wins the next election, a move which could trigger alarm among fellow member states. He acknowledged that public disillusionment with the EU is "at an all-time high," using a long-awaited speech in central London to say that the terms of Britain's membership in the bloc should be revised and the country's citizens should have a say. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron is seen through an autocue and framed by people in the audience as he makes a speech on having a referendum on staying in the European Union in London, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. Cameron said Wednesday he will offer British citizens a vote on whether to leave the European Union if his party wins the next election, a move which could trigger alarm among fellow member states. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron makes a speech on holding a referendum on staying in the European Union in London, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. Cameron said Wednesday he will offer British citizens a vote on whether to leave the European Union if his party wins the next election, a move which could trigger alarm among fellow member states. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
LONDON (AP) ? British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged Wednesday to offer citizens a vote on whether to leave the European Union if his party wins the next election, prompting rebukes from European leaders accusing the premier of putting the bloc's future at risk over domestic politics.
Claiming that public disillusionment with the 27-nation EU is "at an all-time high," Cameron used a long-awaited speech in central London to say that the terms of Britain's membership in the bloc should be revised and the country's voters should have a say.
Cameron proposed that his Conservative Party renegotiate the U.K.'s relationship with the EU if it wins the next general election, expected in 2015.
"Once that new settlement has been negotiated, we will give the British people a referendum with a very simple in-or-out choice to stay in the EU on these new terms. Or come out altogether," Cameron said.
The speech was seen by many as a gamble to shore up support from Cameron's fractured, increasingly anti-EU party that risked antagonizing other countries focused on stemming the eurozone debt crisis.
The fiercely independent island nation has never been an enthusiastic member of the bloc, seeing itself as culturally different and balking at having policy dictated by Brussels. But the drumbeat has grown over fears that new EU regulations to address the debt crisis will further restrict the country's control over its own economic policies.
Many EU member states, which had in the run-up to the speech stressed the importance of Britain's presence in the bloc, took a sharper tone after Cameron spoke.
Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, said Cameron was playing "a dangerous game," and accused him of playing domestic politics.
"This was an inward-looking speech that does not reflect European reality and will not impress many of the U.K.'s European partners," Schulz said.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius likened the EU to joining a soccer club ? "you can't say you want to play rugby," he told France-Info radio.
Britain does not use the euro currency, but membership in the EU has given the U.K. access to the massive joint European market as well as a say in how the region should govern itself and run its financial markets. The country has also benefited from EU funds to build infrastructure such as broadband networks.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said his country wants Britain "to remain an active and constructive part" of the EU, but suggested that countries could not be allowed to write their own terms for EU membership, saying "a policy of cherry-picking won't function."
Italian Premier Mario Monti said the EU does not need "unwilling members," adding that he hopes British citizens will decide to remain in the bloc and help shape its future. He said the referendum would be best framed with a direct question ? up or down on membership ? rather than a fuzzier query for voters.
"I think there is an advantage in the idea of eventually putting to the people the real question in a referendum," he said.
Cameron stressed that his first priority is renegotiating the EU treaty ? not leaving the bloc.
"I say to our European partners, frustrated as some of them no doubt are by Britain's attitude: work with us on this," he said.
Cameron said a new EU treaty should reshape the bloc, protect and complete the single market, allow the transfer of powers on issues from crime to working hours back from Brussels to national governments, and make Europe's economy more competitive and its institutions more flexible and democratically accountable.
Cameron insisted Wednesday that a "one size fits all" approach to the EU is misguided.
"Let us not be misled by the fallacy that a deep and workable single market requires everything to be harmonized," he said. "Countries are different. They make different choices. We cannot harmonize everything."
Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany is "of course prepared to talk about British wishes, but we must always bear in mind that other countries have other wishes."
Her foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer added that Britain could lose future economic benefits if it exits the EU, for example if tentative talks on a free trade deal between the U.S. and EU are successful.
"If such negotiations lead to a conclusion the fruits will only be available to those who are members of the union," he told reporters in Berlin.
Even as he raised the specter of a referendum, Cameron reiterated his view that Britain should stay in the EU.
"I speak as British prime minister with a positive vision for the future of the European Union. A future in which Britain wants, and should want, to play a committed and active part," Cameron said. "There is no doubt that we are more powerful in Washington, in Beijing, in Delhi because we are a powerful player in the European Union."
The timeline Cameron laid out mostly hinges on a Conservative victory in the next general election. But he said legislation will be drafted before 2015 so that if his party wins, it can be introduced and passed quickly to ensure a vote could be held "in the first half" of the next Parliament.
Cameron's proposals drew lukewarm support from the foreign minister of the Netherlands, where the prime minister was initially slated to give his speech last week before it was postponed due to the Algeria hostage crisis.
Frans Timmermans said in a statement that the Netherlands agrees with many of Cameron's criticisms of the EU.
"That's why we want to keep the British on board in the EU," he said. "Because you reform the EU from within, not by walking away."
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Associated Press writers Elaine Ganley in Paris; Geir Moulson, David Rising and Frank Jordans in Berlin; Don Melvin in Brussels and Angela Charlton and David McHugh in Davos, Switzerland, contributed to this report.
Cassandra Vinograd can be reached at http://twitter.com/CassVinograd
On Tuesday, the United States marks the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the historic US Supreme Court decision that granted women the right to an abortion. Still, in many parts of the country it is far harder for a woman to obtain an abortion today than it was in 1973. Here is a look at the state of abortion rights in America.
1. How easy is it for a woman in 2013 to get an abortion?
This varies drastically, depending upon where she lives, what kind of insurance she has, and how much money she has.
A woman in, say, a metropolitan part of California ? where providers are fairly numerous and a fair amount of local public funding will help to pay for the procedure ? may have pretty easy access. A poor woman in Washington, D.C., where public funding of abortion is prohibited, may have a hard time paying for it. And for a poor or middle-class woman in South Dakota, where just one clinic operates (on a part-time basis) and anyone seeking an abortion must navigate a labyrinth of counseling and delay restrictions, it may prove virtually impossible.
When it comes to reproductive rights, ?there?s very much a class divide,? says Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager for the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion-rights research organization. ?Women who have money and resources and are used to the health-care system will be able to access abortion.... Women who are poor ? these restrictions make it more difficult for them.?
2. Where have abortion's foes had their biggest successes?
Americans United for Life (AUL), an antiabortion group, just released its annual ?life list,? which ranks states on the basis of ongoing legal efforts to ?create and sustain a culture of life.? Its Top 10 antiabortion states: Louisiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Arizona, Nebraska, Indiana, Missouri, Georgia, and Virginia. The group gave a special mention to five states ? Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Virginia ? for legislation enacted in 2012.
Some of those measures, says Charmaine Yoest, president and chief executive officer of AUL, were fairly groundbreaking ones ? such as Arizona?s ban on abortions past 20 weeks, which is being challenged in court. Other big areas of focus, Ms. Yoest says, have been on defunding abortion providers, regulating access to chemical abortions (in which drugs are used to induce an abortion), and passing ?opt out? legislation, in which states restrict insurance coverage for abortion in the new exchanges mandated by the Affordable Care Act.
?Over the last two years, we have seen this tremendous upsurge in pro-life legislation at the state level,? Yoest says. ?And we actually improved our position [in the 2012 elections] in terms of pro-life representation at the state level.?
3. If Roe v. Wade were reversed tomorrow, what would happen?
Four states have laws that automatically ban abortion outright if Roe is overturned, 13 retain pre-Roe bans on the books (which are currently unenforced), and seven states have laws that express their intent to restrict abortion to the maximum extent permitted in the absence of Roe.
Meanwhile, seven states ? California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, and Washington ? have laws on the books protecting women?s right to an abortion.
4. What do abortion-rights groups see as the most worrisome trends?
These groups point to the gradual erosion of women?s access to abortion, reduction in the number of clinics, and reduction of funding and insurance coverage for abortion.
1973 ?was a high point for women?s reproductive freedom,? says Donna Crane, policy director of NARAL Pro-Choice America in Washington. ?In the 40 years that followed, the Supreme Court has gotten increasingly conservative and has allowed more and more antiabortion state laws to creep on the books.?
Since 1995, Ms. Crane notes, 754 ?antichoice? state laws have been enacted. In 2011 alone, some 92 restrictions were enacted, a record.
The regulations targeting providers are having an effect. According to the Guttmacher Institute, the number of abortion providers has been generally decreasing since 1982, when there were 2,908. In 2008, the most recent year for which Guttmacher provides figures, there were 1,793 ? fewer than in 1974.
5. What trends concern anti?abortion groups?
While most legislation has centered on abortion restrictions, abortion-rights activists have seen some successes, too ? particularly around some sweeping bans on abortion that were defeated by referendums in antiabortion states like South Dakota and Mississippi.
And while Virginia?s controversial ultrasound bill was ultimately passed, several other states ? including Alabama, Idaho, and Pennsylvania ? decided not to seek similar legislation after watching the battle play out.
6. How have the public?s views evolved over the past 40 years?
Polling has been controversial, since results vary based on how questions are framed and who asks them.
Based on Gallup polling, the percentages of Americans who believe abortion should be legal under all circumstances, illegal under all circumstances, and legal only under certain circumstances have stayed remarkably stable. The biggest chunk of Americans falls into the last group: 52 percent in 2012, compared with 54 percent in 1975. A quarter of Americans told Gallup last year they believed abortion should be legal in all circumstances, compared with 21 percent in 1975.
Over the past 17 years, however, Gallup polling has shown that fewer Americans identify as favoring abortion rights ? declining from 56 percent in 1995 to 41 percent in 2012 (for both years, these responses came after survey-takers had been asked about the legality of abortion).
There are two main types of mortgage loans: there is a traditional second mortgage on your current home loan, or the reverse mortgage. Understanding how a reverse mortgage works will help you determine which loan type is best for you. By doing some online research on sites such as www.reversemortgagelendersdirect.com, one can get a good grasp as to what a reverse mortgage can do.
Digging deeper in the definition
If you are 62 years of age or older, you are within the age allowance to get a reverse mortgage?a home equity loan aimed to put money back into the borrower?s bank account. This type of loan allows the borrower to tap into the equity of their home without making monthly mortgage payments. All the homeowner has to do is pay the taxes and insurance on their house. When (and if) the time comes when the borrower wants to sell the home, the bank takes its share from the proceeds of the home?s sale, and the rest is given to the homeowner in the form of a cash payout. If the homeowner dies, the same practice applies but the remaining funds will be dispensed to the borrower?s heir. ?When you get down to the nuts and bolts of it all, a reverse mortgage is an equity loan secured by your home?s value that is designed to defer the mortgage interest. But is it the right loan type for you?
Use a mortgage calculator
The reverse mortgage calculator estimates how much the homeowner can qualify for in a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) loan. The calculator reveals every possible outcome based on each program the borrower qualifies for. The accuracy of the calculator is next to perfection. It displays interest rates based on the current market. In fact, by using the reverse mortgage calculator, you will be using the same tool and you will receive the same data as the banks.
Investigate
For many people a reverse mortgage is the best option for their situation. However, make sure you investigate all your other options, and talk to loved ones about those options. In an article published by Elder Care, the author states that adult children should always consult with their parents before making financial decisions for them, unless their parents are physically and/or mentally capable. The article continues to read that if you are the authorized legal representative for your aging parents, you can request a reverse mortgage counseling session. Counseling allows you to take a look at your parents? overall finances to decide whether a reverse mortgage is a smart option. Be sure to examine the expenses and how your finances will look over time. Also, do the calculations to see what equity you have left in your home over pin pointed time periods.
Consult
As previously stated, it is advised that any adult children of the borrower be present in consultations with a mortgage broker if a reverse mortgage is being considered (if the homeowner is not completely competent to make his or her own decisions with finances). Don?t make hasty decisions; this is a big commitment and all parties need to be clear as to how the loan works.
Fast food linked to higher asthma and allergy risk
New study links fast-food consumption to a greater risk for developing asthma, eczema and allergies.
Tue, Jan 15 2013 at 8:56 AM
Teens and kids who eat a lot of fast food may be at greater risk for developingasthma, eczema?and allergies, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal's respiratory magazine,?Thorax.
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For the study, researchers from?the University of Auckland in New Zealand and the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom looked at surveys from more than 500,000 kids in 51 countries to determine how diet affected their allergy-related risks. They found that?eating fast food three times a week may lead to asthma, eczema?and itchy, watery eyes in children. ?
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Researchers surveyed kids and their parents to determine whether or not they experienced symptoms of allergies, asthma and eczema. Participants also shared what types of foods they consumed each week. In the study, children in their early teens who ate fast food three or more times each week had a 39 percent greater risk of severe asthma. For 6- and 7-year-olds, there was a 27 percent increased risk. Overall, kids who ate fast food three or more times a week had about a 30 percent increased risk of severe allergies. The results were consistent across all age groups regardless of gender or socioeconomic status. ?
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Interestingly, kids who ate fruit were able to cut their risk of developing these conditions. Researchers found that kids who ate three or more portions of fruit each week reduced their risk of severe asthma, eczema and allergies by between 11 and 14 percent.
Presidential Inaugural Committee Co-Chair Eva Longoria gestures as she participates in the opening ceremony for the National Day of Service as part of the 57th Presidential Inaugural festivities, Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Presidential Inaugural Committee Co-Chair Eva Longoria gestures as she participates in the opening ceremony for the National Day of Service as part of the 57th Presidential Inaugural festivities, Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Vice President Joe Biden, with his wife Jill Biden, center, holding the Biden Family Bible, shakes hands with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor after taking the oath of office during an official ceremony at the Naval Observatory, Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Latinos are taking a more prominent role in President Barack Obama's second inauguration, from the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice swearing in the vice president to a star-studded celebration of Latino culture.
Eva Longoria, a co-chairwoman for Obama's campaign, is hosting a salute to the president Sunday evening. Antonio Banderas, Rosario Dawson, Marc Anthony and other entertainers are scheduled to appear at the event, called the "Latino Inaugural 2013: In Performance at the Kennedy Center." San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro will address the audience.
Meanwhile, Justice Sonia Sotomayor administered the oath of office Sunday morning to Vice President Joe Biden.
Longoria says this is her first time attending an inauguration. She told ABC's "This Week" she will advocate on public policy and that everyone should be civically engaged.
When it comes to internet marketing, you should know that it?s not quite so different than offline marketing. The only thing that is different is the medium. In fact, you shouldn?t really look at your business as an ?online business?? instead, you should look at internet marketing as just another marketing tool that you can use to grow your profits.
But I understand if you want to consider ?online marketing? as a business. There?s another platform that people are making money with and that is called ?mobile marketing?. It?s not as gigantic as the internet, but you can earn a sizable income simply with mobile marketing alone.
No matter how you look at it, promoting your website everywhere is essential. And when you do promote your website everywhere, you don?t want to do traditional marketing strategies such as brand advertising.
Instead, you should be focusing on something called ?direct response marketing?.
What is direct response marketing? It?s simply a way of promoting your products and services, and expecting to see results immediately. There?s no waiting for exposure, no wasted advertising, and no delay of results. Either the ad or campaign works now, or it simply won?t in the future.
Large companies love to spend millions of dollars all over the internet promoting their name in attempts to build brand recognition. But I guarantee you that there is a far better marketing strategy than doing this. If these big businesses could use direct response marketing, their income would skyrocket. And I know this because large companies are hiring marketing consultants all the time for their business!
So, if you want to turn your internet business around, you need to focus on direct response marketing techniques. It doesn?t matter what your internet business is? it doesn?t matter if you sell cupcakes, floor tiles, web hosting services, ebooks and information products, or even real estate. Direct response can work for you.
Never in your life should you be focusing on ?getting your name out there?. This can cause the rapid rate of business failure you?ve ever seen? almost faster than the speed of light. You will waste alot of money this way, and it?s just not a solid way to grow a business and build profits.
If you don?t know much about internet marketing, don?t hire a marketing agency. You can do the easy work yourself, and there?s all kinds of software and services that you can use to track your progress. I suggest you use these tools to track your productivity, and make sure that you?re getting the targeted traffic and income that you are looking for.
Direct response marketing takes the cake in my book. Traditional brand marketing and techniques such as cold calling are simply ineffective and wastes alot of time, energy, and money. So if you want to super-charge your profits ? stick with direct response marketing alone.
You will hear alot of people saying that brand advertising is the way to go, and that you should consider billboard advertising. Billboard advertising is fine when it?s done right, but most of the time it?s a mess. Stick to what works, and that is easier to do.
Good luck with making your internet business successful today.
For more internet marketing secrets, simply visit the website below: http://www.internetmarketing-rules.com/internetmarketing.html
Blogging has become a common way to market your business online. Starting a blog is one of the most effective ways to promote your business and increase your reach. In spite of this, many small businesses are still hesitant to invest in blogging and as a result have failed to take advantage of this to benefits their business.
Before we take a look at how to start a blog for your small business, it is important to understand the benefits and challenges of blogging for business.
Why Your Small Business Needs a Blog?
There are many reasons why you should start a blog for your small business. The main benefits are as follows.
Blog Will Increase Traffic to Your Website
Blog Will Improve Your Search Engine Ranking
Blog Will Help Generate Leads for Your Business
Blog Will Make Your Business More Trustworthy and Reputable
Blog Will Improve Your Online Authority and Reputation
Blog Will Help Build a Loyal User-Base
It is however important to note that benefits of blogging accrue over time. As such perseverence is key.
Main Reasons Why Small Businesses Do Not Start a Blog
In spite of the benefits of blogging, many small businesses have failed to take advantage and stayed away from starting a blog. Here are some of the main reasons why small business owners don?t blog:
It takes time and effort to maintain a blog.
Lack of commitment and doubts about how blog will benefit the business.
Lack of writing skills.
Many small businesses don?t know where to start.
How to Start a Blog For Your Small Business?
If you don?t already have a blog, starting a blog can be one of the best decisions your business makes this year. Whether your business provides Web Design services nationally or delivers flowers in your local area, you can benefit from starting a blog.
As discussed above, not knowing where to start is one of the main challenges faced by many small businesses. This article provides an insight into the main steps involved in starting an running a successful blog for your small business.
Here are the main steps for starting a small business blog:
Identify Your Niche:
Before you start a blog, you will need to identify a niche. This will be the market your blog will target and the topics it will address.
Needless to say, your niche should be related to your business. If you are a web design business, you may wish to start a blog on Web design tips. If you deliver flowers, your niche can be flower arrangements or flower decoration or a similar niche that is relevant to your business.
Here are some tips:
Use Google Keyword Tool to research popularity of niche
Try to focus on a narrow niche as opposed to broad
Research other existing blogs in the niche
Why Target a Narrow Niche?
Choosing a narrow or micro niche e.g. ?Web design tips for Estate Agents? rather than a broad niche such as ?Web Design? offers several advantages. It will make it easier to establish your blog and you have greater chances of success.
If you target a broad niche, you may have a wider reach but it will be far more difficult to establish your expertise and you will be competing with many other established blogs that have been running successfully for years.
Choose a Blogging Platform:
Once you have identified a niche for your blog, one of the first steps is to choose a blogging platform or software to power your blog. There are many options that small businesses can choose from.
The two main options are as follows:
Free Hosted Blog Platform
Self-Hosted WordPress Blog
Free Hosted Blog Platform:
This involves creating an account and setting up your blog on one of the many free hosted blogging platforms such as WordPress.com or Blogger.com. Your blog will be hosted on a sub-domain of the provider e.g. wordpress.com/your-blog-name.
It is the easier option and can be done in a few simple steps.
Self-Hosted WordPress Blog:
A self hosted WordPress blog is different to setting-up a blog on wordpress.com. It involves downloading WordPress blog software and installing and configuring it on your own server usually in a sub-folder of your company?s existing website e.g. yourcompanywebsite.com/blog.
There are many reasons why you should host your own blog. It offers several advantages and is by far the more professional option. It gives you more control over your blog and you retain full ownership of your blog and your content. You also benefit from maximum SEO benefits.
Take a look at the study below. Nearly half the top blogs in the world use self-hosted WordPress blogs and there is a good reason for it.
Create and Maintain a List of Topics:
The topics you write about will play a significant part in the overall success of your blog. Most businesses start out well but fail to maintain momentum after a while. Running out of new topics to write about is one of the factors that contribute to this. Many small businesses run out of topics to write about after a while. It is not easy to find interesting topics on a regular basis. Fortunately, there are tools that can help you with this process. Services like Google Reader are a great way to research new information and identify topics to write about.
Here are some tips:
Choose compelling Titles
Use tools like Google Reader to follow blogs from your niche and get inspiration about new things to write about
Use Google Keyword Tool to identify popular topics with high search volumes
Take advantage of list posts and ?How to? articles
Connect Your Blog to Your Social Media Profiles:
Social media and blogging go hand in hand. Social media is one of the best places to promote your blog and get more coverage for your blog posts. Your blog posts are an excellent source of regular information for your social media profiles. Connecting your blog helps to ensure your blogs posts get more coverage whilst ensuring your social media profiles are always fresh and up to date.
Here are some tips:
Share links to new posts on your social profiles
Use several social networks
Use tools to automatically post blog content on social media
Connect and build relationships with other bloggers
Include a link to your blog in social network profile description
Create a Publishing Schedule:
Publishing frequently is one of the most important factors for running a successful blog. This is where most small businesses fail.? Most businesses start out well but fail to maintain momentum after a while. This is where a publishing schedule can help.
Having a publishing schedule ensures your blog is updated frequently and in a consistent manner. For best results, posts should be published at the times and days that produce the best results.
Maintain and Promote Your Blog Actively:
Although the benefits of blogging are priceless, it can take time for your blog to become popular. No matter how great the quality of your posts, unless people know about your blog and are able to find it, you are not likely to get much benefit.
It is thus important to take necessary steps to promote your blog and increase the chances of it being found. There are many ways to do this.
Here are some tips:
Use free plugins like All in One SEO plugin for WordPress to optimise your blog
Include keywords in blog post titles
Use Google keyword tool to identify topics with high search volumes
Build back-links to your blog
Include your blog link in your email signature and in other digital and printed materials
Promote your blog through articles
Guest post on other blogs
Include a link to your blog in Author byline of your articles
Customise Your Blog for Lead Generation:
One of the main benefits of business blogging is to generate leads and sales for the business. Many small business blogs fail to do this. The more frequently you post content on your blog, the more leads you will acquire for your business. Take a look at the results of a study by HubSpot below that shows a direct relation between blogging frequency and customer acquisition.
In addition to posting frequently, there are a number of other steps you can take to improve the lead generation capability of your small business blog. Some of these are listed below.
?Here are some tips to generate leads on your blog:
Use good call to action on all pages
Take advantage of lead generation forms
Use your blog to build your email list
Write about your products and services and how it can benefit customers
Measure and Refine:
Blogging can be very time consuming. To get the most out of your blog, it is important to monitor your blog?s performance and keep a close watch on your stats. Good monitoring will help you to identify what works and what doesn?t. It will also help you to measure and track your growth. But this is only half the battle. Realising the full potential of your blog will depend on your ability to act and refine your blog in response to your stats. This should be a continuous process. Look at your Google Analytics stats daily to see what works and what areas can be tweaked further.
Additionally, small businesses can also benefit by split testing using tools such as Google Website Optimizer. Split testing allows you to try variations and identify what methods produce the best results. You can use it to test different types of calls to action, form design, overall layout or any other element on your blog.
What About You?
A Blog is a great way to market your business. Do you use blog to promote your small business? We would like to hear from you. Please share your experience by leaving a comment below.
As is the norm, Israel?s Bnei Brak Coca Cola plant is up and running in Pesach mode far ahead of the yomtov. Coca Cola in Eretz Yisrael is under the hashgacha of HaGaon HaRav Moshe Yehuda Leib Landau Shlita.
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Public release date: 29-Jan-2013
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Henry Kissinger recently gave an ominous forecast on the future of Iran's nuclear program: that it will be taken care of one way or another very soon.
