Crisis and Management

For the musician, a guitar is more than an instrument – it’s a lifestyle. And when a budding “rock star” is getting to know the instrument, one thing he or she can’t last without is a guitar amplifier. However, given the range of guitar amps on the market, the selection may be a little intimidating.

If you’re a beginner, most likely you won’t need an amp that will be just right for practice – perhaps just enough for the garage. While you may want to check out the big names in guitar amplifiers, such as Fender and Roland, you could find out if they include a starter pack as well.

On the other hand, you may also look for used amps offered on some established websites. They may be offered in different conditions – from mint and lightly used to plain ‘good’.

Cancer death rates in the US are continuing to drop, falling by 1.8% per year in men and 1.6% per in women between 2004 and 2008, said a report.

More than a million deaths in total may have been prevented owing to advancements in cancer treatment, according to the American Cancer Society’s annual report on cancer statistics.

This year, the cancer group projects 1.6 million people will be newly diagnosed with cancer and a little more than half a million will die from it, the report said.

“The big news this year is that cancer deaths are still going down,” said Dr Raymond DuBois, provost and executive vice president at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

DuBois said that while the rate of decline is small, it is significant because it has continued to fall each year for the past 10 years of available data.

Death rates fell in all four of the most common cancers, lung, colon, breast and prostate, with lung cancer accounting for nearly 40% of the total drop in men and breast cancer accounting for 34%t of the total decline in women.

Renovating a home or building new, who wouldn’t appreciate a chunk off the listed price on furnishing? And if you think online shopping can save you a big deal, there’s even a better deal when shop at Pottery Barn – with Pottery Barn coupons.

Finding the Pottery Barn promos or discounts is simply a matter of looking at the right places – and at the right time. The website is updated every day, and who knows, the one item that you’ve been wanting for a long time could just pop up the next day offering a good amount in savings.

The benefits of taking vitamin B and folic acid supplements are modest, but encouraging, as confirmed in a test where older adults who took them for two years showed slightly greater improvements in memory tests that those who did not consume the same.

“Vitamins may have an important role in promoting healthy ageing and mental wellbeing, as well as sustaining good cognitive functioning for longer on a community-wide scale,” said author Janine Walker, a researcher at Australian National University, of the study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The researchers asked more than 700 people aged 60 to 74 years to take a daily dose of folic acid and vitamin B12, or placebo pills that resembled the vitamins. The vitamin dose included 400 micrograms of folic acid and 100 micrograms of vitamin B12, and participants didn’t know which they were assigned to take.

After 12 months, there seemed to be no difference between the groups in how well people scored on mental tests, including memory, attention and speed.

But after two years, those who took the vitamins showed more, if modest, improvement in their scores on the memory tasks.

Finally some good news for folks worrying about having through weight loss surgery – according to a major study, it could just mean that they’re less likely to suffer from heart problems compared to people who didn’t have the surgery.

The findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, studied more than 4,000 obese people treated at 500 surgery departments and health care centers in Sweden.

Between 1987 and 2001, half of those people opted for bariatric or weight-loss surgeries, most often stomach stapling, and the other half were treated with routine care, including advice on lifestyle changes.

“Compared with usual care, bariatric surgery was associated with reduced number of cardiovascular deaths and lower incidence of cardiovascular events in obese adults,” said Lars Sjostrom, lead researcher.

The surgery has other health benefits independent of the amount of weight loss, including a reduction in diabetes, which could ease heart risks, said a top doctor involved in the study.

Kids who get more exercise in any form – during recess or some activity on the way to school – are more likely to do better at studies, said a recent global study.

US schools have an inclination to reduce physical activity time in favor of more preparation for the academic agenda, according to some findings.

“Maybe it’s an activity break, stand up every half an hour in class and do something,” said Amika Singh, from VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, who worked on the study published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine

“It might mean going to school by bike… Any kind of physical activity you can think of. It doesn’t mean only the physical education standard class,” she added.

Researchers asked students how much time they spent exercising, and they found that those with higher rates of physical activity did better in the classroom.

Three of the four studies involving an exercise intervention found that students given more exercise time scored higher on measures of academic performance.

That could be because children are better behaved and can concentrate better when they get enough exercise, or because physical activity improves blood flow to the brain and boosts mood, the researchers said in the study.

Find that cute little kitten in the pet shop irresistible? Not so fast, said researchers recently – especially if you never had a before and even more so if you’re susceptible to allergies.

At any rate, remember to keep your cat out of your bedroom, they added.

Having a cat when you’re a kid may protect against future allergies, but getting one in adulthood nearly doubles the chances of developing an immune reaction to it — the first step towards wheezing, sneezing and itchy eyes, the report said.

The same study, which covered thousands of adults and was published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, found that people with other allergies were at extra high risk of reacting to a new feline in the house.

“Our data support that acquiring a cat in adulthood nearly doubles the risk of developing cat sensitisation,” wrote Mario Olivieri, from the University Hospital of Verona in Italy.

“Hence, cat avoidance should be considered in adults, especially in those sensitised to other allergens and reporting a history of allergic diseases,” she added.

For the study, researchers surveyed more than 6,000 adult Europeans twice over nine years, taking blood samples.

About three percent of people who did not have a cat at either time of the survey became sensitised over the course of the study, compared to five percent of those who acquired a cat during those nine years.

Four in 10 of the newly sensitised also said they experienced allergy symptoms around animals, four times the rate seen among people without antibodies against cats. It also turned out that only people who let their pet into the bedroom became sensitised.

For people who have a cat and have become allergic, experts recommend finding a new home for the pet, followed by keeping the cat outdoors at all times.

An unmanageable debt can enter into one’s life so softly and silently that it’s horrifying to realize its sudden presence. While a natural reaction would be to panic, it doesn’t help to deny the presence of the big, white elephant in the living room.

Thankfully, help is available in many forms when it comes to resolving debt. First off, one could start by listing the debt amounts and drawing them up against a feasible repayment plan, prioritizing the most important debts. Next, remember that creditors have a need to be advised about the borrower’s financial health – especially when payments are delayed or missing. Talk to the creditors about possible alternatives regarding restructuring your loans.

If all fails, filing for bankruptcy could be the only option. Then again, bankruptcy is not the end of the world, and you can find competent lawyers and/or agencies who can guide you in form of bankruptcy suits your case. They can also offer advice on the best course of action, so that your future credit issues are affected to the minimum.

While conceived as a fashionable sports activity for the rich, horse riding also makes great demands on physical fitness and mental agility. And in order to meet the goals of this performance sport, participants seek the perfect gear and accessories to deliver the results in style.

Of course, the first item that flashes to the mind once you visualize a horse rider is the equestrian boots. These riding boots are available in a number of styles and sizes from tall and short to paddock (ankle-high riding boots). You will find them with or without laces, in designs for men, women and youngsters.

A good way to check out the market and pick the best equestrian boots for you is, of course, the Web. There are a few established sites that tell you the ins and outs of riding boots as well as the accessories including gloves, helmet, apparel, etc.

Around 2.2 million patients globally are using a home monitoring service based on equipment connected to the Internet, said a report from Berg Insight.

The figure does not include patients that use monitoring devices connected to a PC or mobile phone.

It only includes systems that rely on monitors with integrated connectivity or systems that use monitoring hubs with integrated cellular or fixed-line modems.

Berg Insight forecasts that the number of home monitoring systems with integrated communication capabilities will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18 per cent between 2010 and 2016 reaching 4.9 million connections globally by the end of the forecast period.

Some of the most common conditions being monitored today are chronic diseases including cardiac arrhythmia, sleep apnea, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

These conditions cause substantial costs and reduce both life expectancy and quality of life. Berg Insight estimates that more than 200 million people in the EU and the US suffer from one or several chronic diseases where home monitoring can become a treatment option.

“Home monitoring solutions that can communicate over a cellular network, landline connection or the Internet have already reached significant volumes within cardiac rhythm management, integrated telehealth solutions, sleep therapy and cardiac event monitoring,” said Lars Kurkinen, telecom analyst, Berg Insight.