Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/anderson-cooper-on-alec-baldwin-wheres-the-outrage/
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Sunday, June 30, 2013
Bombings, shooting kill 11 in Iraq
BAGHDAD (AP) ? Bombs and a shooting targeted a marketplace and off-duty policemen in Iraq on Saturday, killing at last eleven people in the latest attacks by militants seeking to destabilize the country.
Iraq has been experiencing one of its deadliest waves of violence, raising fears that the country is heading toward a new round of sectarian conflict like that which pushed it to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007.
Police officials said the first bombing took place near an outdoor market in the morning in the capital's western suburb of Abu Ghraib, killing four people and wounding 12 others.
Also, police said attackers using guns fitted with silencers killed three off-duty policemen in a drive-by shooting near Fallujah, 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Baghdad.
At night, a bomb went off at a cafe in the Fadhil area of downtown Baghdad as soccer fans were watching a match, killing four people and wounding 17 others, Baghdad police said.
Dozens of soccer fans in Iraq have been killed during the past few days in attacks on cafes and a soccer field.
Health officials confirmed the casualties. All spoke anonymously because they were not allowed to brief reporters.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bombings-shooting-kill-11-iraq-201951343.html
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Late film critic Ebert honored for columns
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) ? Late movie critic Roger Ebert has been honored by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.
Ebert, who worked at the Chicago Sun-Times for more than 40 years, took first place for online columns or blogs on large websites in the NSNC's annual column contest. The group held its annual conference Saturday in Hartford, Conn.
Ebert died earlier this year at age 70, after a long battle with cancer. The day before his April 4 death, he wrote in a post on his blog that he was taking a break from his schedule of almost-daily movie reviewing because cancer had recurred.
He won national fame teaming with fellow film critic Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune in 1975 for a television show that had them each give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down rating to the latest releases.
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Saturday, June 29, 2013
You Can Use Digg Reader Now
Just in time! On the weekend before Google Reader is set to mercilessly kill itself off, Digg Reader has opened its arms to everyone. After being in beta
     |
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Q6JBKKr2_UQ/you-can-use-digg-reader-now-615778369
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NATO convoy attacked by suicide bomber
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Authorities say two civilians were killed when a suicide bomber attacked a convoy of NATO-led coalition troops in western Afghanistan.
Farah provincial governor spokesman Abdul Rahman Zhawandi said Saturday a man and woman on a motorcycle riding near the convoy were killed when the suicide attacker struck Thursday evening. Five civilians were wounded.
Coalition forces spokesman Capt. Luca Carniel says no NATO forces were hurt in the attack, but did provide medical assistance to the wounded civilians.
Elsewhere, in the central Oruzgan province, police spokesman Fareed Ayal said 20 Taliban fighters and one police officer were killed in an operation late Thursday.
Though the Taliban have indicated they are willing to start peace talks at a new office in Qatar, they have not renounced violence and attacks remain regular.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nato-convoy-attacked-suicide-bomber-084353465.html
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Friday, June 28, 2013
Obama yet to have African legacy like predecessors
U.S. President Barack Obama, left, makes a toast during an official dinner with Senegalese President Macky Sall at the Presidential Palace on Thursday, June 27, 2013, in Dakar, Senegal. Obama is visiting Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania on a week long trip. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
U.S. President Barack Obama, left, makes a toast during an official dinner with Senegalese President Macky Sall at the Presidential Palace on Thursday, June 27, 2013, in Dakar, Senegal. Obama is visiting Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania on a week long trip. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
U.S. President Barack Obama looks out to sea through the 'Door of No Return,' at the slave house on Goree Island, in Dakar, Senegal, Thursday, June 27, 2013. Obama is calling his visit to a Senegalese island from which Africans were said to have been shipped across the Atlantic Ocean into slavery, a 'very powerful moment.' President Obama was in Dakar Thursday as part of a weeklong trip to Africa, a three-country visit aimed at overcoming disappointment on the continent over the first black U.S. president's lack of personal engagement during his first term. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
President Barack Obama meets with a group of drummers that were playing music on his departure after taking a tour of Goree Island, Thursday, June 27, 2013, in Goree Island, Senegal. Goree Island is the site of the former slave house and embarkation point built by the Dutch in 1776, from which slaves were brought to the Americas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Barack Obama meets with a group of drummers that were playing music on his departure after taking a tour of Goree Island, Thursday, June 27, 2013, in Goree Island, Senegal. Goree Island is the site of the former slave house and embarkation point built by the Dutch in 1776, from which slaves were brought to the Americas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a joint press conference with his Senegalese counterpart Macky Sall, at the presidential palace in Dakar, Senegal, Thursday, June 27, 2013. Obama was in Dakar Thursday as part of a weeklong trip to Africa, a three-country visit aimed at overcoming disappointment on the continent over the first black U.S. president's lack of personal engagement during his first term.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) ? President Barack Obama is receiving the embrace you might expect for a long-lost son on his return to his father's home continent, even as he has yet to leave a lasting policy legacy for Africa on the scale of his two predecessors.
Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush passed innovative Africa initiatives while in the White House and passionately continue their development work in the region in their presidential afterlife. Obama's efforts here have not been so ambitious, despite his personal ties to the continent.
His first major tour of Africa as president is coming just now, in his fifth year, while Bush and Clinton are frequent fliers to Africa. Bush even will be in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, next week at the same time as Obama, although they have no plans to meet. Instead, their wives plan to appear together at a summit on empowering African women organized by the George W. Bush Institute, with the former president in attendance.
Spirited crowds greeted Obama on his visit to French-speaking Senegal, Africa's westernmost country, with revelers frequently breaking into song and dance at the sight of the first African-American president. However thrilled they were to see him, many said they wish his visits weren't so rare.
"Two visits in five years, it's not enough," said Faye Mbissine, a 30-year-old nanny who took an early morning bus to come see Obama on Thursday outside the presidential palace. "We hope that he can come more."
Manougou Nbodj, a 21-year-old student, said he hopes Obama will bring American resources like jobs and health care. "If Obama can work with Macky Sall the way that George Bush worked with Africa before him, then we will be happy," he said, referring to the Senegalese president.
One of Bush's chief foreign policy successes was his aid to Africa, including AIDS relief credited with saving millions of lives and grants to reward developing countries for good governance. Bush followed on momentum on African policy that began under Clinton, who allowed several dozen sub-Saharan countries to export to the U.S. duty-free.
Obama has continued the Bush and Clinton programs during tough economic times. But his signature Africa policy thus far has been food security, through less prominent programs designed to address hunger through policy reform and private investment in agriculture.
Obama's mantra on Africa is it doesn't need handouts, but investment to spur self-sufficient economic growth. He plans to announce Friday that Senegal is joining his New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition and will receive $134 million in investments from private companies and $47 million from the United States.
Witney Schneidman, former deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said Obama's efforts are not like Bush's AIDS initiative "where you put people on a medicine to save their lives ? very, extremely important. This is more of a structural change, and I think that's going to take time."
Under Clinton and Bush "you had this major funding, major attention, major initiatives going to Africa, and then President Obama came in, and there was a sense of stall, in a way," said Jennifer Cooke, director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She said that's understandable as he grappled with wars and an economic crisis, and she gave Obama credit for working diplomatically with African governments in his first term.
But, she said, "they weren't big, splashy initiatives that got peoples' attention either in Africa or here at home, and no big money and no big ideas that really helped define what Obama was about in Africa."
That's a disappointed those who were expecting more from the first African-American president, especially after his speech during a brief stopover in Ghana his first summer in office, in which he spoke personally of his father's life in Kenya and declared "a new moment of great promise" in Africa. "I have the blood of Africa within me," Obama said.
Schneidman argued that Obama's personal connection may also have been an impediment to deeper engagement in his first term. "The whole birther movement here in the U.S. that was sort of questioning his place of birth to begin with ... I think it was a real constraint on dealing with Africa," Schneidman said.
Mwangi Kimenyi, a Kenyan who directs the Brookings Institutions' Africa Growth Initiative, said Obama may be a victim of misplaced sky-high expectations on the continent when he was first elected.
"Africans still consider Clinton their president," Kimenyi said. "If you go to Africa and mention Clinton ? I mean, he is a hero, even today. I don't think President Obama is going to approach the level of President Clinton at all, in terms of respect, in terms of what they feel, and it's partly because, as one whose family is from Africa, the expectations were rather high. I mean, they expected him to do more, to do more visits, to actually relate better with Africans, to understand the continent better."
"There is not that feeling that, you know, we have our son there," Kimenyi said. "There's probably more reference of a prodigal son than a, you know, son."
Clinton first drew extensive attention to Africa in 1998 when he made the longest trip ever by a U.S. president, with stops in six countries that had never before been visited by any occupant of the Oval Office. He's scheduled to come back this summer for what has become an annual visit, with his Clinton Foundation investing in myriad wide-ranging projects in Africa on health, agriculture and climate change.
Bush's trip this week is his third in 19 months to promote his Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon partnership to combat breast and cervical cancer in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. On this visit, he and his wife, Laura, plan to help renovate a cervical cancer screening and treatment clinic in Zambia before heading to Tanzania for the African First Ladies Summit advocating investment in programs for women and girls.
Obama foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes said the president is signaling increased engagement with the current trip and hopes it will prove to be a "pivotal moment" of Africa's growth taking off.
"Frankly, Africa is a place that we had not yet been able to devote significant presidential time and attention to," Rhodes said. "And there's nothing that can make an impact more in terms of our foreign policy and our economic and security interests than the president of the United States coming and demonstrating the importance of our commitment to this region."
___
Associated Press writer Robbie Corey-Boulet contributed to this report.
___
Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler
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U.S. boss held hostage now free
BEIJING (AP) ? An American boss detained nearly a week by his company's Chinese workers left the Beijing factory Thursday after he and a labor representative said the two sides had reached agreement in a pay dispute.
Chip Starnes, who said he was "saddened" by the experience, told The Associated Press a deal was reached overnight to pay the scores of workers who had demanded severance packages similar to ones given to laid-off co-workers in a phased-out division, even though the company said the remaining workers weren't being laid off.
The workers at the medical supply plant in Huairou district, on the outskirts of Beijing, said that the company owed them unpaid salary, that they believed the entire factory was shutting down and that they saw equipment being packed and itemized for shipping to India.
Starnes said the workers' demands were unjustified. Neither he nor district labor official Chu Lixiang gave details of the agreed compensation. Chu said all the workers would be terminated, although Starnes said some would be rehired later.
"It has been resolved to each side's satisfaction," Chu told reporters at the plant. She said they had been sorting out paperwork until 5 a.m. and that 97 workers had signed settlement agreements.
Starnes, a co-owner of Florida-based Specialty Medical Supplies, had quietly departed the factory grounds by the time Chu spoke, returning to his hotel in Beijing.
"Yes!! Out and back at hotel," Starnes wrote in a text message. "Showered.. 9 pounds lost during the ordeal!!!!!!"
Police in Huairou district had made no moves to halt the labor action but guarded the plant and said they were guaranteeing Starnes' safety while local labor officials brokered negotiations.
It is not rare in China for managers to be held by workers demanding back pay or other benefits, often from their Chinese owners. Police are reluctant to intervene, as they consider it a business dispute, and local officials typically are eager to see the matter resolved in a way least likely to fuel unrest.
The labor action reflected growing uneasiness among workers about their jobs amid China's slowing economic growth and the sense that growing labor costs make the country less attractive for some foreign-owned factories.
About 80 workers started blocking all exits starting last Friday, and Starnes had spoken to reporters in recent days through the barred window of his factory office.
Earlier Thursday, he said in a telephone interview that he had been forced to give in to what he considered unjustified demands. He summed up the past several days as "humiliating, embarrassing." At the beginning of his captivity, workers had deprived him of sleep by shining bright lights and banging on windows of his office, he said.
"We have transferred our funds from the U.S.," he said. "I am basically free to go when the funds hit the account here of the company."
Starnes told the AP he planned to get back to business, and even rehire some of the workers who had been holding him.
He previously said the company had been winding down its plastics division, with plans to move it to Mumbai. When he arrived in Beijing last week to lay off the last 30 people, workers in other divisions started demanding similar severance packages.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-boss-held-china-leaves-plant-payout-044656354.html
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Source: http://www.ibuyhomedmv.com/blog/smarter-in-minutes-real-estate-investors-college-2/
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Thursday, June 27, 2013
Issue III registry defines best syncope candidates for cardiac pacing
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 26-Jun-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Jacqueline Partarrieu
press@escardio.org
33-622-418-492
European Society of Cardiology
PREFER AF shows European clinicians adhere well to AF guidelines
Athens, Greece 26 June 2013. Two important studies were released at the Late Breaking Clinical Trials session II at EHRA EUROPACE 2013. The PREFER AF study2 found that Oral anticoagulation is now used in over 85% of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) eligible for therapy. And ISSUE (the International Study on Syncope of Uncertain Aetiology) determined that cardiac pacing is more effective in patients with presumed neurally mediated syncope (NMS) and asystolic episodes in which tilt table testing proves negative (TT-), than in patients in which the tilt table testing proves positive (TT+).
PREFER AF
The PREFER AF registry study, which provides a 'snapshot' of clinical practice across five European countries taken in 2012, revealed that novel oral anticoagulants are now used by 6.1% of AF patients, and that use of rhythm control mediations and catheter ablations have also increased.
"PREFER AF illustrates changes in management of patients with AF since the last ESC guidelines. The registry shows that oral anticoagulant therapy is now much more widely used than in the German Competence Network on Atrial Fibrillation (AFNET) and the Euro Heart Survey registries on AF and suggests that European clinicians are using guidelines well. The rapid uptake of new oral anticoagulants suggests that these drugs are filling a therapeutic gap," said Professor Paulus Kirchhof, presenter of the study from the University of Birmingham, UK. The investigators believe the study represents the largest European registry on AF to date.
The ESC Guidelines for the Management of atrial fibrillation3, published in 2010, incorporated several 'evolutionary' changes in the management of AF including the concept of active AF screening to initiate therapy before complications had occurred and furthermore emphasized that continuous oral anticoagulation was indicated for the majority of AF patients since almost all are at increased risk of stroke.
Between January 2012 and January 2013 the PREvention oF thromboembolic events European Registry in Atrial Fibrillation (PREFER) registry enrolled consecutive patients with AF from 461 centres in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK. Altogether 42% of patients were office based, 53% hospital based and 89% were treated by cardiologists. "Since practice patterns can be influenced by the type of physicians, we felt it was important to recruit patients from a number of different settings," explained Prof. Kirchhof.
Results showed that of the 7,243 evaluable patients enrolled, 30% had paroxysmal AF, 24% persistent AF, 7.2% long standing persistent, and 38.8% had permanent AF.
When medications were examined it was found that 66.3% of patients (4799) received a vitamin K antagonist (VKA) as monotherapy; 9.9% of patients (720) received VKA and an antiplatelet agents in combination; and 6.1% received novel oral anticoagulants (dabigatran, rivaroxaban or apixaban). Furthermore, antiplatelet agents alone were given to 11.2% of patients (808) and 6.5% of patients (474) received no antithrombotic therapy at all.
Altogether 78.6% of patients were adequately rate controlled, using a mean heart rate of 60 to 100 bpm as the definition.
Rhythm control therapy was given to 66.7 % of patients, with rhythm control consisting of electrical cardioversion in 18.1 % of patients; pharmacological conversion in 19.5%; amiodarone in 24.1%; flecainide in 10.5%; sotalol in 5.5%; dronedarone in 4% and other antiarrhythmic drugs in 3.1% and catheter ablation in 5%. However, over 80% of patients still suffered from AF symptoms despite good rate control.
"We were surprised and puzzled by the high number of patients who suffer from AF despite good rate control," said Prof. Kirchhof. "This indicates that we have more work to do to develop tools to better prevent AF and possibly to better maintain sinus rhythm in the future."
The ongoing EAST (Early treatment of atrial fibrillation for stroke prevention trial) study 4 is currently testing whether early use of rhythm control therapy can prevent adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with AF compared to usual care.
ISSUE (international study on syncope of uncertain aetiology)
The second important study at the session, the ISSUE 3 registry, showed that diagnosis of NMS, using ESC guidelines on Diagnosis and Management of Syncope,5 could be confirmed with an implantable loop recorders (ILR) in 87% of patients.
"By showing that NMS tilt-negative asystolic patients benefit most from cardiac pacing, the study inverts previous knowledge on indications for pacing. Prior to this registry, cardiac pacing for NMS had only been evaluated in patients with positive tilt test responses and no indications had existed for patients with negative tilt test results," said Professor Michele Brignole, presenter of the study.
ISSUE was a prospective registry set up to analyse the diagnostic yield of ILRs in specific subgroups of patients with syncope of uncertain aetiology. The registry took place in Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Canada, The Netherlands and UK. For the ISSUE 3 registry, between July 2006 and November 2010, 504 patients with suspected NMS, according to criteria laid down in guidelines, had an implantable loop recorder (IRL) fitted. Entry criteria included being older than 40 years and having experienced more than three episodes of syncope in the previous two years thought to be neurally mediated. Guidelines6 state that a likely diagnosis of NMS can be made when patients have a consistent history and competing diagnoses have been excluded.
Results show that a confirmed diagnosis could be achieved in 187 patients, with ILR findings in 162 of these patients (87%) being consistent with a likely diagnosis of NMS, and IRL findings in 25 patients (13%) allowing NMS to be ruled out. Of the 162 patients with IRL findings suggesting NMS 99 were found to be asystolic (where the heart stops beating for a short period of time) and 63 hypotensive (where blood pressure falls).
Altogether 52 patients received a pacemaker, of which 26 had a positive table tilt test result(TT+) and 26 patients a negative table tilt test (TT-)result. After 21 months the syncope recurrence rates were 55% (95% CI 29-85) in TT+ patients fitted with the pacemaker versus 5% ( 95%CI 1-32)in TT- patients fitted with the pace maker (p=0.004). When the recurrence rate of 55% in the TT+ patients was compared to 44 untreated patients (who acted as controls) who had recurrence rates of 64% the difference was not found to be statistically significant (p=0.75).
For patients with negative table tilt tests, the observed 5% recurrence rate was similar to that observed for patients paced for cardiac intrinsic bradycardia. "Thus, pacemaker therapy can be offered to these patients with the same confidence as it can in patients with sick sinus syndrome or AV block," said Prof. Brignole. "Such patients can be reassured that, after pacemaker implantation, they'll likely be free from reoccurrences of syncope."
But before pace maker therapy is offered to patients with TT+ even if they have experienced an asystolic response during the tilt test patience should be cautioned they may have reoccurances. "Although some benefits may still be possible in terms of reduced syncope burden, patients should be informed that they'll likely have some recurrences despite pacing," said Prof. Brignole.
Most of the misdiagnoses in the study were due to intrinsic cardiac arrhythmias which were largely unpredictable from baseline characteristics. "This aspect, which has not yet been clarified in the literature, may be relevant in clinical practice," he said, adding that it further justifies the usage of the ILR diagnostic tool.
###
Notes
Neurally mediated syncope (NMS) is a disorder of the autonomic regulation of postural tone, which results in hypotension, bradycardia and loss of consciousness. Typically a patient with neurally mediated syncope experiences nausea, light headedness, a feeling of warmth, and pallor before abruptly losing consciousness.
Neurally mediated syncope (reflex syncope) refers to a heterogeneous group of conditions in which cardiovascular reflexes that are normally useful in controlling the circulation become intermittently inappropriate in response to a trigger, resulting in vasodilatation and/or bradycardia and thereby a fall in arterial blood pressure and global cerebral perfusion.
Treatment options include behavioural modifications and several pharmacologic therapies, with pacemakers implanted for severe recurrent syncope unresponsive to conventional treatment.
Tilt table tests are used to evaluate the cause of unexplained syncope. During the tilt table test, the table is moved from a horizontal to vertical position, allowing doctors to evaluate the body's cardiovascular response (ECG and blood pressure) to changes in position. Symptoms, blood pressure, pulse, electrocardiogram and sometimes blood oxygen saturation are recorded. The test is considered positive if the patient experiences symptoms associated with a drop in blood pressure or cardiac arrhythmia. A normal person's blood pressure will not drop dramatically while standing because the body will compensate for this posture with increases in heart rate and constriction of the blood vessels in the legs.
Implantable loop recorders (ILRs) are small devices which are implanted just under the skin of the chest that allow the heart's electrical activity to be recorded for prolonged periods.
Results of both late breaking trials presented at EHRA EUROPACE 2013
Wednesday's late breaking trial session included the following abstracts1:
- CITADEL/ CENTURION STUDY Interim Analysis: Use of an Antibacterial Envelope is Associated with Very Low 90 day CIED Infection Rates. C Henrikson.
- Optimal Antitachycardia Therapy in ICD Patients without pacing Indications. C Kolb.
- Trends in management of patients with atrial fibrillation in 5 European countries. P Kirchhof.
- Validation of the clinical diagnosis of neurally- mediated syncope. M Brignole.
- Radio-frequency ablation for sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia in patients with structural heart disease without implantation of a defibrillator. P Maury.
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Public release date: 26-Jun-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Jacqueline Partarrieu
press@escardio.org
33-622-418-492
European Society of Cardiology
PREFER AF shows European clinicians adhere well to AF guidelines
Athens, Greece 26 June 2013. Two important studies were released at the Late Breaking Clinical Trials session II at EHRA EUROPACE 2013. The PREFER AF study2 found that Oral anticoagulation is now used in over 85% of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) eligible for therapy. And ISSUE (the International Study on Syncope of Uncertain Aetiology) determined that cardiac pacing is more effective in patients with presumed neurally mediated syncope (NMS) and asystolic episodes in which tilt table testing proves negative (TT-), than in patients in which the tilt table testing proves positive (TT+).
PREFER AF
The PREFER AF registry study, which provides a 'snapshot' of clinical practice across five European countries taken in 2012, revealed that novel oral anticoagulants are now used by 6.1% of AF patients, and that use of rhythm control mediations and catheter ablations have also increased.
"PREFER AF illustrates changes in management of patients with AF since the last ESC guidelines. The registry shows that oral anticoagulant therapy is now much more widely used than in the German Competence Network on Atrial Fibrillation (AFNET) and the Euro Heart Survey registries on AF and suggests that European clinicians are using guidelines well. The rapid uptake of new oral anticoagulants suggests that these drugs are filling a therapeutic gap," said Professor Paulus Kirchhof, presenter of the study from the University of Birmingham, UK. The investigators believe the study represents the largest European registry on AF to date.
The ESC Guidelines for the Management of atrial fibrillation3, published in 2010, incorporated several 'evolutionary' changes in the management of AF including the concept of active AF screening to initiate therapy before complications had occurred and furthermore emphasized that continuous oral anticoagulation was indicated for the majority of AF patients since almost all are at increased risk of stroke.
Between January 2012 and January 2013 the PREvention oF thromboembolic events European Registry in Atrial Fibrillation (PREFER) registry enrolled consecutive patients with AF from 461 centres in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK. Altogether 42% of patients were office based, 53% hospital based and 89% were treated by cardiologists. "Since practice patterns can be influenced by the type of physicians, we felt it was important to recruit patients from a number of different settings," explained Prof. Kirchhof.
Results showed that of the 7,243 evaluable patients enrolled, 30% had paroxysmal AF, 24% persistent AF, 7.2% long standing persistent, and 38.8% had permanent AF.
When medications were examined it was found that 66.3% of patients (4799) received a vitamin K antagonist (VKA) as monotherapy; 9.9% of patients (720) received VKA and an antiplatelet agents in combination; and 6.1% received novel oral anticoagulants (dabigatran, rivaroxaban or apixaban). Furthermore, antiplatelet agents alone were given to 11.2% of patients (808) and 6.5% of patients (474) received no antithrombotic therapy at all.
Altogether 78.6% of patients were adequately rate controlled, using a mean heart rate of 60 to 100 bpm as the definition.
Rhythm control therapy was given to 66.7 % of patients, with rhythm control consisting of electrical cardioversion in 18.1 % of patients; pharmacological conversion in 19.5%; amiodarone in 24.1%; flecainide in 10.5%; sotalol in 5.5%; dronedarone in 4% and other antiarrhythmic drugs in 3.1% and catheter ablation in 5%. However, over 80% of patients still suffered from AF symptoms despite good rate control.
"We were surprised and puzzled by the high number of patients who suffer from AF despite good rate control," said Prof. Kirchhof. "This indicates that we have more work to do to develop tools to better prevent AF and possibly to better maintain sinus rhythm in the future."
The ongoing EAST (Early treatment of atrial fibrillation for stroke prevention trial) study 4 is currently testing whether early use of rhythm control therapy can prevent adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with AF compared to usual care.
ISSUE (international study on syncope of uncertain aetiology)
The second important study at the session, the ISSUE 3 registry, showed that diagnosis of NMS, using ESC guidelines on Diagnosis and Management of Syncope,5 could be confirmed with an implantable loop recorders (ILR) in 87% of patients.
"By showing that NMS tilt-negative asystolic patients benefit most from cardiac pacing, the study inverts previous knowledge on indications for pacing. Prior to this registry, cardiac pacing for NMS had only been evaluated in patients with positive tilt test responses and no indications had existed for patients with negative tilt test results," said Professor Michele Brignole, presenter of the study.
ISSUE was a prospective registry set up to analyse the diagnostic yield of ILRs in specific subgroups of patients with syncope of uncertain aetiology. The registry took place in Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Canada, The Netherlands and UK. For the ISSUE 3 registry, between July 2006 and November 2010, 504 patients with suspected NMS, according to criteria laid down in guidelines, had an implantable loop recorder (IRL) fitted. Entry criteria included being older than 40 years and having experienced more than three episodes of syncope in the previous two years thought to be neurally mediated. Guidelines6 state that a likely diagnosis of NMS can be made when patients have a consistent history and competing diagnoses have been excluded.
Results show that a confirmed diagnosis could be achieved in 187 patients, with ILR findings in 162 of these patients (87%) being consistent with a likely diagnosis of NMS, and IRL findings in 25 patients (13%) allowing NMS to be ruled out. Of the 162 patients with IRL findings suggesting NMS 99 were found to be asystolic (where the heart stops beating for a short period of time) and 63 hypotensive (where blood pressure falls).
Altogether 52 patients received a pacemaker, of which 26 had a positive table tilt test result(TT+) and 26 patients a negative table tilt test (TT-)result. After 21 months the syncope recurrence rates were 55% (95% CI 29-85) in TT+ patients fitted with the pacemaker versus 5% ( 95%CI 1-32)in TT- patients fitted with the pace maker (p=0.004). When the recurrence rate of 55% in the TT+ patients was compared to 44 untreated patients (who acted as controls) who had recurrence rates of 64% the difference was not found to be statistically significant (p=0.75).
For patients with negative table tilt tests, the observed 5% recurrence rate was similar to that observed for patients paced for cardiac intrinsic bradycardia. "Thus, pacemaker therapy can be offered to these patients with the same confidence as it can in patients with sick sinus syndrome or AV block," said Prof. Brignole. "Such patients can be reassured that, after pacemaker implantation, they'll likely be free from reoccurrences of syncope."
But before pace maker therapy is offered to patients with TT+ even if they have experienced an asystolic response during the tilt test patience should be cautioned they may have reoccurances. "Although some benefits may still be possible in terms of reduced syncope burden, patients should be informed that they'll likely have some recurrences despite pacing," said Prof. Brignole.
Most of the misdiagnoses in the study were due to intrinsic cardiac arrhythmias which were largely unpredictable from baseline characteristics. "This aspect, which has not yet been clarified in the literature, may be relevant in clinical practice," he said, adding that it further justifies the usage of the ILR diagnostic tool.
###
Notes
Neurally mediated syncope (NMS) is a disorder of the autonomic regulation of postural tone, which results in hypotension, bradycardia and loss of consciousness. Typically a patient with neurally mediated syncope experiences nausea, light headedness, a feeling of warmth, and pallor before abruptly losing consciousness.
Neurally mediated syncope (reflex syncope) refers to a heterogeneous group of conditions in which cardiovascular reflexes that are normally useful in controlling the circulation become intermittently inappropriate in response to a trigger, resulting in vasodilatation and/or bradycardia and thereby a fall in arterial blood pressure and global cerebral perfusion.
Treatment options include behavioural modifications and several pharmacologic therapies, with pacemakers implanted for severe recurrent syncope unresponsive to conventional treatment.
Tilt table tests are used to evaluate the cause of unexplained syncope. During the tilt table test, the table is moved from a horizontal to vertical position, allowing doctors to evaluate the body's cardiovascular response (ECG and blood pressure) to changes in position. Symptoms, blood pressure, pulse, electrocardiogram and sometimes blood oxygen saturation are recorded. The test is considered positive if the patient experiences symptoms associated with a drop in blood pressure or cardiac arrhythmia. A normal person's blood pressure will not drop dramatically while standing because the body will compensate for this posture with increases in heart rate and constriction of the blood vessels in the legs.
Implantable loop recorders (ILRs) are small devices which are implanted just under the skin of the chest that allow the heart's electrical activity to be recorded for prolonged periods.
Results of both late breaking trials presented at EHRA EUROPACE 2013
Wednesday's late breaking trial session included the following abstracts1:
- CITADEL/ CENTURION STUDY Interim Analysis: Use of an Antibacterial Envelope is Associated with Very Low 90 day CIED Infection Rates. C Henrikson.
- Optimal Antitachycardia Therapy in ICD Patients without pacing Indications. C Kolb.
- Trends in management of patients with atrial fibrillation in 5 European countries. P Kirchhof.
- Validation of the clinical diagnosis of neurally- mediated syncope. M Brignole.
- Radio-frequency ablation for sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia in patients with structural heart disease without implantation of a defibrillator. P Maury.
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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.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/esoc-iir062613.php
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Babies know when a cuddle is coming
June 25, 2013 ? Babies as young as two months know when they are about to be picked up and change their body posture in preparation, according to new research.
Professor Vasu Reddy, of the University of Portsmouth, has found most babies aged two to four months understand they are about to be picked up the moment their mothers come towards them with their arms outstretched and that they make their bodies go still and stiff in anticipation, making it easier to be picked up.
This is the first study to examine how babies adjust their posture in anticipation to offset the potentially destabilising effect of being picked up.
Professor Reddy said: "We didn't expect such clear results. From these findings we predict this awareness is likely to be found even earlier, possibly not long after birth.
"The results suggest we need to re-think the way we study infant development because infants seem to be able to understand other people's actions directed towards them earlier than previously thought. Experiments where infants are observers of others' actions may not give us a full picture of their anticipatory abilities."
The findings could also be used as an early indicator of some developmental problems, including autism. It was reported by researchers in 1943 that children with autism don't appear to make preparatory adjustments to being picked up.
The researchers, who included Dr Gabriela Markova of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, and Dr Sebastian Wallot of the University of Aarhus, did two studies, one on 18 babies aged three months, and a second on ten babies aged two to four months old.
In both, babies were placed on a pressure mat which measured their postural adjustments during three phases: As their mothers chatted with their babies; as the mothers opened their arms to pick them up; and as the babies were picked up.
The results revealed infants as young as two months made specific adjustments when their mother stretched her arms out to pick them up. These included extending and stiffening the legs which increases body rigidity and stability, and widening or raising their arms, which helps to create a space for the mother to hold the infant's chest.
Between two and three months of age the babies' gaze moved from mostly looking at their mother's face to often looking at her hands as she stretched her arms out towards them.
The results reveal two important findings -- first, that from as early as two months babies make specific postural adjustments to make it easier to pick them up even before their mother touches them. And second, it appears that babies learn to increase the smoothness and coordination of their movements between two and four months, rather than develop new types of adjustment.
"In other words, they rapidly become more adept at making it easier for parents to pick them up," Professor Reddy said.
The mothers in the study were asked about their babies' physical responses before the tests and some reported their babies stiffened their legs or raised their arms in preparation for being picked up, but video footage watched frame by frame revealed physical adjustments happened to a greater degree and more subtly than mothers had noticed.
The researchers suggest more research now needs to be done to examine the extent to which infants discriminate between different kinds of actions directed at them, between familiar and unfamiliar actions, and how infant anticipation of these actions is influenced by the different maternal styles they each experience.
The research is published in the latest issue of the journal Plos One.
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YouView releases Android app for remote recording and weekly listings
As promised by the free-to-view UK TV service, YouView's finally launched its dedicated Android app. Offering the ability to browse a full week of program listings for its collection of over 70 TV and radio channels, the app can also remotely record TV shows. With the iOS version, you can connect up to five devices, with YouView promising it'll run on "most Android 2.3 devices" with special optimization done for the Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy S II, LG Nexus 4, HTC One S and, er, Galaxy Ace. Visit the source to download the app to your own Android device.
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Software, Mobile
Via: Pocket-lint
Source: YouView (Google Play)
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Wednesday, June 26, 2013
$839M inmate medical complex dedicated in Calif.
STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) ? California prison officials dedicated an $839 million inmate medical complex Tuesday even as they face a new round of court-imposed mandates that are complicating efforts to run one of the nation's largest penal systems.
On Monday, a health threat posed by a potentially lethal airborne fungus prompted a federal judge to order as many as 3,250 inmates transferred immediately from two Central Valley prisons. That ruling followed another last week that ordered the state to release an additional 10,000 inmates statewide by the end of the year.
The developments revolve around a long-running court battle over the level of health care delivered to California inmates, which federal judges maintain still does not meet constitutional standards, despite billions of taxpayer dollars spent to improve conditions.
Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard scoffed at that assessment as he dedicated the California Correctional Health Care Facility in Stockton, saying it probably is the nation's most state-of-the-art prison medical facility: "Is that deliberate indifference?" he asked the crowd, referring to the language of the federal judges.
Beard told the assembled employees and dignitaries that the judges are not taking into account all the improvements the state has made since a special judicial panel first ordered it to trim prison crowding in 2009 as the best way to improve conditions for sick and mentally ill inmates. The state plans to make the same argument to the U.S. Supreme Court later this year as it appeals the three-judge panel's ruling, with the new Stockton facility a prime example of strides it has made.
"It makes our case that we think we are providing a constitutional level of care today," Beard said in an interview before the dedication. "I realize there is a difference of opinion on that."
Indeed, the three judges accuse Gov. Jerry Brown's administration of trying to circumvent their repeated orders that the state reduce prison crowding. They are threatening to cite the Democratic governor for contempt if he does not immediately begin complying, but the administration plans to seek a stay that would postpone their early release order.
The prison system's years of delays in protecting inmates from the fungal infection known as valley fever is further evidence that the state cannot be trusted to properly care for inmates without federal supervision, U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson wrote in his order Monday.
Henderson, of San Francisco, is one of the three judges. He separately ordered the state to begin transferring inmates out of Avenal and Pleasant Valley state prisons within seven days if they are particularly vulnerable to valley fever, and gave the state 90 days to complete the transfers. He left it to corrections officials to determine where the inmates should go.
The two prisons are about 10 miles apart and 175 miles southeast of San Francisco, in the San Joaquin Valley.
The fungal infection originates in the valley's soil. About half of the infections produce no symptoms, while most of the rest can produce mild to severe flu-like symptoms. In a few cases, the infection can spread from the lungs to the brain, bones, skin or eyes, causing blindness, skin abscesses, lung failure and occasionally death.
Evacuees will include most of the two prisons' black, Filipino and medically at-risk inmates because they are considered the most vulnerable to health problems from the fungus.
Beard told The Associated Press that the order could exacerbate violence between race-based prison gangs elsewhere in California. He said the state had been awaiting the results of a U.S. Centers for Disease Control study on the outbreak before deciding how to respond. He said no decision has been made on whether to appeal Henderson's order.
The early release and valley fever orders come while the state is still struggling to adjust to a 2011 law that is sentencing thousands of lower-level offenders to county jails instead of state prisons, among other changes.
"So you know it really is making things very complex and difficult, and of course my concern is it could eventually cause some adverse effect in some other institution, some unintended effect, and we certainly don't want to see that happen," Beard said.
He then accompanied dignitaries and the media on a tour of the Stockton complex that forms the core of a multibillion-dollar plan to bring inmate medical and mental health treatment to constitutional standards.
The institution is an odd hybrid between a traditional prison and modern hospital.
A lethal electric fence topped with concertina wire and gun towers surrounds a central medical and mental health facility that includes a library and education center.
Inmate patients can watch television while they receive hours of kidney dialysis treatment or while sitting in plastic chairs that are bolted to the floor. Skylights provide natural light at nurses' stations and a neighboring desk reserved for prison guards.
Cells are built with room for hospital beds, and have oxygen and vacuum hookups along with nurses' call buttons. But the toilets and sinks are standard stainless-steel prison units, and the fixtures are designed to deter suicides.
The facility stands in sharp contrast to conditions that corrections experts described nearly a decade ago at other prisons. They found examining rooms with no sinks, employees who had to walk through sewage puddles or shower rooms to examine inmates, and doctors seeing patients in open areas with no privacy.
But it is far less than what then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed five years ago in cooperation with J. Clark Kelso, the federal court-appointed official who controls prison medical care. The Republican governor had asked state lawmakers to approve $6 billion to build six or seven prison medical and mental health centers to care for 10,000 inmates.
Kelso and prison officials have since agreed to transfer the sickest inmates to the centrally located Stockton facility, with moderately ill inmates going to medical facilities in 11 of the state's 33 adult prisons. The remaining 22 prisons have basic medical facilities for short-term care.
By year's end, the 54 buildings clustered at the site of an old juvenile prison will treat 1,720 patients who need long-term care. By next spring, the state plans to complete the neighboring $173 million DeWitt Correctional Annex, which will provide treatment for 1,133 seriously mentally ill inmates.
___
Associated Press writer Paul Elias in San Francisco contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/839m-inmate-medical-complex-dedicated-calif-232954707.html
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Texas declared one of the 10 worst states for kids - KTRE.com ...
LUFKIN, TX (KTRE) -
A new report from a group called Kids Count says Texas is one of the 10 worst states for children to live in.
The report says, among other things, millions of children in Texas live in poverty and in single-parent families.
It also shows that the state ranks low in early childhood education but one East Texas school district is trying to change that.
Texas is ranked 42 out of 50 states for overall children's health and well-being.
The report breaks down the state into 4 categories: family and community, economic well-being, education and health.
One of the most notable statistics is the 1.8 million Texas children living in poverty.
While the state saw some improvements in over-all education and health, there are still many children who don't have access to healthcare.
The annual Kids Count assessment says that the state of Texas has the second highest number of children who are uninsured in the United States.
According to the report, 59 percent of young Texans don't have access to pre-school but that's not the case in Lufkin ISD.
LISD actually goes above and beyond to ensure Lufkin tots have access to early childhood education.
Early childhood specialist for Lufkin ISD, Cindy Akeroyd says there are more than 700 students currently enrolled in the pre-k program.
"We offer a full day pre-kindergarten program," said Akeroyd. "It's a mandate that you offer a ? day, LISD offers a full day. We do pre-k 3 and pre-k 4. They're having skills being brought to them at an early age so that when they are in kindergarten, 1st and second grate they're much more successful."
Akeroyd says there are six criteria to qualify for the pre-k program but the student only has to have one to be eligible: be at an educational disadvantage, homeless, parent serving in the military, have a deceased or disabled parent, a child in foster care or have English as their second language. ?
Lufkin ISD says they ensure all children eligible for the pre-school program are able to attend class by providing free or reduced lunches and bus service.
Copyright 2013 KTRE. All rights reserved.
Source: http://www.ktre.com/story/22686150/texas
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Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Online Marketing: Master Of Business Marketing Techniques At ...
The existing generation has a conversion when it comes to promotion application in look at. Since on the internet has been widely used, most entrepreneurs have practiced the so-called 'online promotion.' The question now is: how does this on the internet promotion strategy realizes the promise of look at benefit which is to amass benefit for the company owner? The answer is highlighted one by one in the following elucidations:
1. The use of on the internet indicates higher market to hit. Based on the recent survey of the United Nations, there are already more than 2 billion individuals globally who are hooked to use this Globe Extensive Web. The reasons of usage are numerous, from interaction to finding friends and new associates. With this determine at hand, it might be legitimate to consider that on the internet could be an effective medium to hit the more individuals for a particular business.
2. The presence of public networking sites performs an important part not just for socializing purpose but also for economic drive. These days, individuals are addicted in Facebook, Twitter and Search engines +. Try to imagine a determine that constitutes hundreds of many individuals who are using FB alone in the whole wide world. Hence, applying public networking techniques in relation to on the internet promotion might bring a substantial effect to business.
3. The popularity of seo (SEO) contributes beneficial benefits for most entrepreneurs globally. Here's the thing. When on the internet had appeared several in the past, different business sites have been created to showcase items and solutions on the internet. Then, SEO has co-existed to aid the entrepreneurs to rank their sites in the google like Search engines and Yahoo.
4. Online writing performs an important part in promoting the company items and solutions in online. Both off-page and on-page content have become popular to push on the internet business. In addition, individuals have learned to create blogs favorable to specific business sites. And when there's a need to produce newsworthy content, some writers are tasked to create press announcements with focus on business launching and promotion via on the internet.
5. The usefulness of interaction on the internet tools like e-mail has a higher value operating. These days, all entrepreneurs use email as a way to communicate communications to other partners and clients. This brings beneficial effect as the interaction is done instantaneously.
6. Most individuals have reckoned online as a source of usable remedies. The consumers and customers of items and solutions would tend to use for instance the google when they're in need for something.
The trajectory is going towards an upward direction. As the variety of on the internet surfers improves, the feasibility of look at that employs on the internet promotion also improves.Simply put, on the internet promotion is the king of all business promotion techniques at the moment.
Company entails a lot of promotion techniques. Company promotion indicates any plan and activity that is associated to the acquisition of sales over and above the spent money or capital. And this is what we call as benefit, which serves as the core of look at endeavor.
The existing generation has a conversion when it comes to promotion application in look at. Since on the internet has been widely used, most entrepreneurs have practiced the so-called 'online promotion.' The question now is: how does this on the internet promotion strategy realizes the promise of look at benefit which is to amass benefit for the company owner? The answer is highlighted one by one in the following elucidations:
1. The use of on the internet indicates higher market to hit. Based on the recent survey of the United Nations, there are already more than 2 billion individuals globally who are hooked to use this Globe Extensive Web. The reasons of usage are numerous, from interaction to finding friends and new associates. With this determine at hand, it might be legitimate to consider that on the internet could be an effective medium to hit the more individuals for a particular business.
2. The presence of public networking sites performs an important part not just for socializing purpose but also for economic drive. These days, individuals are addicted in Facebook, Twitter and Search engines +. Try to imagine a determine that constitutes hundreds of many individuals who are using FB alone in the whole wide world. Hence, applying public networking techniques in relation to on the internet promotion might bring a substantial effect to business.
3. The popularity of seo (SEO) contributes beneficial benefits for most entrepreneurs globally. Here's the thing. When on the internet had appeared several in the past, different business sites have been created to showcase items and solutions on the internet. Then, SEO has co-existed to aid the entrepreneurs to rank their sites in the google like Search engines and Yahoo.
4. Online writing performs an important part in promoting the company items and solutions in online. Both off-page and on-page content have become popular to push on the internet business. In addition, individuals have learned to create blogs favorable to specific business sites. And when there's a need to produce newsworthy content, some writers are tasked to create press announcements with focus on business launching and promotion via on the internet.
5. The usefulness of interaction on the internet tools like e-mail has a higher value operating. These days, all entrepreneurs use email as a way to communicate communications to other partners and clients. This brings beneficial effect as the interaction is done instantaneously.
6. Most individuals have reckoned online as a source of usable remedies. The consumers and customers of items and solutions would tend to use for instance the google when they're in need for something.
The trajectory is going towards an upward direction. As the variety of on the internet surfers improves, the feasibility of look at that employs on the internet promotion also improves.Simply put, on the internet promotion is the king of all business promotion techniques at the moment.
Source: http://loopynet.blogspot.com/2013/06/online-marketing-master-of-business.html
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Monday, June 24, 2013
Nikkei: Microsoft porting first-party game franchises to Android and iOS
Microsoft is selective about where its first-party game franchises appear -- outside of lightweight releases like Kinectimals and Wordament, it prefers to use games as technology showcases and system sellers. It may not be picky for much longer, though, as Nikkei claims that Microsoft has reached a deal with Japan's KLab to develop Android and iOS versions of its first-party titles. The deal reportedly includes adaptations of both PC and Xbox games, and would start with a free-to-play variant of Age of Empires that could launch before the end of the 2013 fiscal year. We've reached out to Microsoft to verify the rumor, but it's clear that the arrangement could be a breakthrough for gamers who aren't wedded to Microsoft's existing mobile strategy.
Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Tablets, Microsoft
Via: Reuters
Source: Nikkei (subscription required)
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Manage Your Twitter Relationships Using Commun.it | Social Media ...
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figure1: How are you managing your relationships?
Twitter is a wonderful platform to build communities, relationships and continue conversations but how do you manage your Twitter relationships and generate those so important leads? When you reach a sizeable number of followers and tweets, one of the biggest challenges when using Twitter is ?How do you keep on top of your community and communications??
One of my favorite tools that help you do just that, is Commun.it?You too can manage your Twitter relationships using Commun.it
Commun.it is a relationship management platform that helps you manage those important relationships in your Twitter community and helps you generate potential leads for your business.?Commun.it helps you keep track of your key interactions in the Twitter community so that you can continue to build those valuable relationships that are key to your brand.
Commun.it has a free membership option and it is easy to get started in 3 easy steps. They are as follows:
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figure 2: Manage your twitter relationships using Commun.it. There are three easy steps to open a Commun.it account. 1. Add you contact information and twitter account; 2 Add you website and associated links and hashtags and 3. Provide key words that you want to track.
1. Complete the sign-up form
? You can get a free account by completing the form and connecting your twitter account, as shown above in figure 1.
2. Complete the monitor engagement form
? Fill out the engagement form by adding your website and any key words associated with you and/or your business. This will be important to track who is talking about you and your business [see monitor engagement below].
3. Complete Discover New Leads form
? After completing the engagement form, Commun.it will request completing the Discover New Leads form as a search criteria. Commun.it will suggest a few depending on the hashtags you currently tweet. By adding these key words, it provides valuable search criteria for Commun.it, that will in turn will provide you with a report on key potential leads.
That?s it! Now you are set up to manage your Twitter relationships using Commun.it! ?When you enter your Commun.it account, you are presented with your own customized, priortized dashboard of your tweets and community. It is like your own Twitter consultant to help you manage your relationships.
The dashboard is based on a prioritized feed that is an outcome of Commun.it analyzing your tweets and sharing that output into the following sections on the dashboard: 1. Relationships, 2. Followers, 3. Groups. 4. Engagements, and 5. Discover New Leads. It highlights members that you should note accordingly.
1. Relationships
The suggested relationship section is quite powerful. The list is a dynamic, real-time list. ?It is a ?suggested? list of members you should pay close attention to in your community. The list is based on how you have interacted and engaged with members on Twitter. It analyzes your feed and depending on your interactions, it prioritizes your members and their tweets into the following categories:
- Influencers: These are your high-valued members as recommended by Commun.it. It is based on their followers/following ratio and your engagement history with the listed members.
- Supporters: These are followers that share and retweet your content.
- Engaged members: These are followers you have regular conversations with.
As shown in the dashboard below [figure 3], this section of your dashboard gives you visibility to your key interactions at a glance. You can click on a category to see the members listed. In figure 3, highlighted by the red arrow, ?I have clicked on ?influencers? to show my listing. ?To drill down further, you can click on a members name and it will show the whole engagement history [this is shown in figure 4]. Commun.it is like your own personalized engagement advisor. With regular review, it provides an opportunity for you to ensure that you engage and reply to important tweets you may have missed!
figure 3. The prioritized Commun.it dashboard segments your community and potential leads into 1. Relationships 2. Followers 3. Groups. 4. Monitor Engagement and 5. Discover New Leads. The above screenshot shows members in the influencer category
figure 4. By clicking on a member in the Commun.it dashboard, a third column is revealed with a ?drill down? on the engagement history with that member. This is shown in this screenshot as indicated by the red arrows and red outline.
Commun.it also prepares pre-formulated tweets or ??tweets-to-go? that thanks your most valued members for each category. This makes it really easy to recognize those valuable members that have connected and engaged with you.
2. Followers
Commun.it analyzes your followers based on your tweet history, interactions and keywords. The Commun.it analysis makes recommendations regarding your twitter connections as follows:
- Consider to reply: These recommendations highlights missed, unreplied tweets from your valuable members.You can tweet directly from the Commun.it platform making the engagement seamless to your community.
- Consider to re-engage: These recommendation highlights high-valued members who you have not engaged with recently. This is a way to encourage you to reach out to key members in your community that you want to keep front of mind.
- Consider to follow: This is a list high-valued members you are not currently following. ?Again, you can follow members on twitter from the Commun.it platform.
- Consider to un-follow: This is a list people that don?t follow you and has ?little influence based ?by your criteria and interactions.
- New followers:?This is a list of new connections to note.
- New unfollowers:?This is a list of those who have decided disengage by unfollowing.
The above suggestions makes it really easy to keep on top of your community and manage those relationships in Twitter. The prioritized lists increases the visibility of ?what is going on? in your Twitter community. For each member suggestion made by Commun.it, Commun.it provides that member?s twitter interaction, so that you can drill down and see their most recent tweets, the number of engagements you have had with them and the number of followers. ?You have the option of following through with the Commun.it recommendations or manually over-riding the recommendations and prioritizing your members using your own business intelligence.
3. Groups
Commun.it lists your Twitter lists in this section. However, you can add additional private Commun.it lists or groups in this section. Lists and groups is a powerful tool to both segment your community and to facilitate easy communication with the different connections in your community. It is a great way to keep the conversations going with your different groups.
In this section, Communit also highlights the top tweets for each group. Another method of ensuring you are on top of those important conversations and encouraging you to engage where it makes sense.
4. Monitor Engagement
This section lists members who mentions your websites and your hashtags making it easier for you to engage with members who are supporting and sharing your content and targeted tweets.?
5. Discover New Leads
This section lists members who used the key words that you want to track in your community. In my example below [figure 5], I added the key words ? poor service?. As you can see in figure 5, Commun.it lists all members who recently mentioned ?poor service? in their tweets. Now that is value, right? With this list, you can drill down for additional context and make a decision on whether to engage or not. This is a good first step in generating leads for your brand or community.
figure 5. The Discover New Leads sections lists members in the twitter community who mentions the key words listed as a criteria to track. In this example the key words are ?poor service?.
In summary, Communit is a really good tool to help you slice and dice your twitter community to make it more manageable and staying on top of your relationships. The only thing Commun.it does not provide is the discipline to execute. That has to come from you! The best way to take advantage of the tool, is to schedule time in the day to review and try to make it a daily habit. I hope this gives an overview on how to manage your Twitter relationships using Commun.it.?Now it is your turn. Do you use a relationship management tool? What are your tips?
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Cheers!
Shirley
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