Black eye is often stays up late, emotional instability, eye fatigue, aging, venous blood flow velocity is too slow, the oxygen deficiency of red blood cells of the skin, eye, vein carbon dioxide and metabolic waste accumulation of excessive formation of chronic hypoxia The blood is dark and forms a stagnation caused by eye pigmentation.
Methods / steps
1, Eggs Eggs rich in high quality protein, but the protein can promote cell regeneration, so regular consumption of eggs to increase protein intake have a certain effect to ease the formation of dark circles. Daily but the human body can only absorb a maximum of the nutrition contained two eggs, the consumption of eggs should not be more than two. Some people are used to eating raw eggs, fact, extremely digestible raw eggs also contain bacteria, and therefore suggest that you as the best food boiled eggs. In addition, lean meat, poultry, eggs, aquatic products are also rich in high quality protein, regular consumption of such foods can also help to reduce the formation of dark circles, but due to the eggs protein composition and the closest to the human body, so the best absorption effect.
2, Sesame Sesame UFA well known, but its efficacy may eliminate dark circles fresh people aware. Sesame is rich in vitamin E, which can ease the formation of dark circles with nourishing the eye and ocular. Both make beautiful black hair, but also to eliminate dark circles, kill two birds with one stone, no wonder some people regarded as the sesame magic ?magic food?. In addition to sesame seeds, rich in vitamin E foods are peanuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds, etc.
3, Carrot In addition to vitamin E to nourish the eye and ocular vitamin A also has this effect. Carrot choice is to increase the intake of vitamin A, can maintain the normal function of the epithelial tissue, improve dark circles. In addition, carrots contain vitamin A also helps to improve vision, especially in the dark vision. Other foods contain vitamin A, as well as animal liver, butter, eggs, alfalfa, apricots.
4, Kelp As the iron core ingredients of a hemoglobin. Therefore, the added amount of iron can promote an increase in hemoglobin, thereby enhancing its ability to transport Oxygen and nutrients seaweed is rich in iron, so often take kelp can also ease the distress of the black eye. Containing iron-rich foods as well as animal liver, lean meat.
5, Green tea Often use computers to drink green tea, add a specific plant nutrients, eliminate dark circles caused due to computer radiation. Green tea contains concentrated polyphenols, can inhibit free radical damage, skin support fibers and today is widely recognized as the most effective anti-free radical factor. Drink plenty of decaffeinated green tea can not only eliminate dark circles, which contains catechins, both to help the body fat metabolism, and sleep, sleep quality not only stability, but also people are less likely to have a feeling of fatigue.
The five foods can not eat before going to bed 1, Caffeine
Many people know that caffeine-containing foods will stimulate the nervous system, also has a diuretic effect, leading to a common cause of insomnia.
2, Spicy food
Dinner to eat spicy...
Using edible salt exfoliating your facial Facial exfoliating:
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The nutritional value of soy sauce Amino acids in soy sauce is the main nutrients needed by the body, especially the soy sauce contains some of the body can not synthesize amino acids, total up to 17, also contains B vitamins, and safe...
What time go to sleep at night can help children grow taller? Before 10 pm to go to sleep, is conducive to long high. Growth hormone is an important hormone for long high, and its secretion regularity, the secretion of sleep is about 3 times of waking up . Secr...
Nutritional value and efficacy of Pomegranate juice Pomegranate juice contains many amino acids and trace elements, helps digestion, anti-ulcer, soften blood vessels, lowering blood pressure and blood sugar, reduce cholesterol and many other functions....
2 tips to remove bags under the eyes Remove bags under the eyes as long as the effective way, we should try it, the following specific techniques:
1. Into a small cup of tea in the refrigerator freezer for about 15 minutes, and then ...
What food to eat help to sleep ? What to eat is conducive to sleep at night ?
1.Milk: Milk contains two hypnotic substances: one is tryptophan, brain cells can promote the secretion of neurotransmitters that make people sleepy - s...
What to eat vegetables for maternal? 1, The lotus root: lotus root contains large amounts of starch, vitamins and minerals, nutrient-rich, light and refreshing, to spleen and stomach. Maternal eating lotus root, early removal of intra-ab...
Tags: remove dark circles, remove dark circles food, remove the black eye, remove the black eye food This entry was posted on Saturday, November 24th, 2012 and is filed under Beauty, Health Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
VIENNA (AP) ? An early seasonal delivery went badly wrong in Austria when a truck was involved in a crash and dumped 14 tons of Christmas trees in a resident's garden.
Police in Vorarlberg state, at Austria's western tip, say the accident happened Friday night as a truck with a trailer loaded with trees drove through the town of Hohenems.
The trailer hit a wall, tipped over and landed in the garden of a house. A police statement Saturday said that the fire service dispatched 30 people to recover the hundreds of fir trees.
A passenger in the truck was injured and taken to a local hospital.
Actor Larry Hagman poses in front of the Southfork Ranch mansion made famous in the television show, "Dallas," in Parker, Texas, Oct. 9, 2008.
By NBC News staff and wire
Updated at 7:30 a.m. ET: Actor Larry Hagman ? who became a global icon playing the cunning J.R. Ewing in the television series "Dallas" ? died on Friday at the age of 81, NBC Dallas-Fort?Worth reported.
Hagman?was at Medical City Dallas Hospital when he died Friday afternoon from complications of his recent battle with cancer, the Dallas Morning News reported, citing members of his family.
Linda Gray, who played J.R.'s long-suffering wife, Sue Ellen, was with Hagman in Dallas when he died, the actress' spokesman, Jeffrey Lane, said in an email.?
Hulton Archive / Getty Images
"Larry Hagman was my best friend for 35 years," Gray said in a statement. "He was the Pied Piper of life and brought joy to everyone he knew. He was creative, funny, loving and talented, and I will miss him enormously."
'Who shot J.R.?' Despite his fragile health, the actor had returned to Texas from his home in California to film season one of TNT?s "Dallas" reboot and part of season two.
The original show, in which Hagman played a conniving businessman who people loved to hate, ran from 1978 to 1991 on CBS.?
The "Who shot J.R.?" cliffhanger series ending in 1980 -- which left it unclear if he was alive or dead -- broke viewing records and led to weeks of speculation about what had happened. Ewing survived.
"Larry was back in his beloved Dallas, re-enacting the iconic role he loved most," the family said in a statement, the Morning News reported. "Larry?s family and close friends had joined him in Dallas for the Thanksgiving holiday. When he passed, he was surrounded by loved ones. It was a peaceful passing, just as he had wished for. The family requests privacy at this time."
A statement from Warner Bros. described Hagman as "a giant, a larger-than-life personality whose iconic performance as J.R. Ewing will endure as one of the most indelible in entertainment history."
"He truly loved portraying this globally recognized character, and he leaves a legacy of entertainment, generosity and grace. Everyone at Warner Bros. and in the 'Dallas' family is deeply saddened by Larry's passing, and our thoughts are with his family and dear friends during this difficult time," the statement added.
Earlier in his career, Hagman was known for his role as Maj. Anthony Nelson, the master-turned-husband of a beautiful genie played by Barbara Eden in the sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie."
In July 1995, he was diagnosed with liver cancer, which led him to quit smoking, and a month later he underwent a liver transplant.?
After giving up his vices, Hagman said he did not lose his zest for life.?
"It's the same old Larry Hagman," he told a reporter. "He's just a littler sober-er."?
Hagman was born on Sept. 21, 1931, in Texas, to?Benjamin Jack Hagman and Mary Martin.?His father was a lawyer who dealt with the Texas oil barons Hagman would later come to portray.
He was still a boy when his parents divorced and he went to Los Angeles with Martin, who would become a big name in Hollywood and a Tony winner on Broadway, where she starred in "Peter Pan" and "The Sound of Music."?
Hagman eventually landed in New York to pursue acting, making his stage debut there in "The Taming of the Shrew." In New York, he married Maj Axelsson in 1954 while they were in a production of "South Pacific. The marriage produced two children, Heidi and Preston.?
Getty, Reuters, Getty
'Big laughs, big smiles' Hagman served in the Air Force, spending five years in Europe as the director of USO shows, and on his return to New York he took a starring role in the daytime soap "The Edge of Night." His breakthrough came in 1965 when he landed the "I Dream of Jeannie" role opposite Barbara Eden.?
After hearing of Hagman?s death, Eden paid tribute to him on Twitter and Facebook.
?Amidst a whirlwind of big laughs, big smiles and unrestrained personality Larry was always, simply Larry,? she wrote on Twitter.??Larry Hagman not just a great actor, not just a television icon, but an element of pure Americana. I'll miss him.?
In his later years, Hagman became an advocate for organ transplants and an anti-smoking campaigner.
He also was devoted to solar energy, telling the New York Times he had a $750,000 solar panel system at his Ojai estate, and made a commercial in which he portrayed a J.R. Ewing who had forsaken oil for solar power. He was a longtime member of the Peace and Freedom Party, a minor leftist organization in California.?
Hagman told the Times that after death he wanted his remains to be "spread over a field and have marijuana and wheat planted and harvest it in a couple of years and then have a big marijuana cake, enough for 200 to 300 people. People would eat a little of Larry."?
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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AAA??Nov. 23, 2012?10:46 AM ET Somber vigil for 'Macho' Camacho in Puerto Rico AP
FILE - This June 22, 1996, file photo shows Hector "Macho" Camacho being lifted into the air after his unanimous decision over Roberto Duran in an IBC middleweight title fight at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J. Police in the Puerto Rican city of Bayamon say they found drugs inside the car in which former champion boxer Camacho was shot and critically wounded. Camacho was in critical condition Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012, at the Centro Medico trauma center in San Juan. (AP Photo/Donna Connor, File)
FILE - This June 22, 1996, file photo shows Hector "Macho" Camacho being lifted into the air after his unanimous decision over Roberto Duran in an IBC middleweight title fight at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J. Police in the Puerto Rican city of Bayamon say they found drugs inside the car in which former champion boxer Camacho was shot and critically wounded. Camacho was in critical condition Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012, at the Centro Medico trauma center in San Juan. (AP Photo/Donna Connor, File)
FILE - This Sept. 13, 1997 file photo shows Hector Camacho, left, of Puerto Rico, and Oscar De La Hoya of Los Angeles exchanging blows in the first round of their WBC welterweight championship in Las Vegas. Police in the Puerto Rican city of Bayamon say they found drugs inside the car in which former champion boxer Camacho was shot and critically wounded. Camacho was in critical condition Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012, at the Centro Medico trauma center in San Juan. (AP Photo/Mike Salsbury, File)
En esta fotograf?a de archivo del 14 de diciembre de 2006, el boxeador puertorrique?o H?ctor "Macho" Camacho llega a un acontecimiento en Miami Beach, Florida. (Foto AP/Luis M. Alvarez, archivo)
Former world boxing champion Hector "Macho" Camacho, of Puerto Rico, is taken by paramedics inside a medical center in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012. Camacho, 50, was shot in the face as he sat in a car at his hometown of Bayamon, one of the cities that make up the San Juan metropolitan area and doctors said he was in critical but stable condition, expected to survive. (AP Photo/GFR Media, Primera Hora/El Nuevo Dia, Sebastian Perez)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) ? Family and friends of Hector 'Macho' Camacho are keeping a somber vigil at the hospital in Puerto Rico where he remains on life support.
Doctors in San Juan say Camacho is clinically brain dead from a shooting earlier this week in his hometown of Bayamon. But family members and friends tell The Associated Press they are still wrestling with whether to remove him from life support.
Aida Camacho is one of the boxer's aunts and she says a decision could come later Friday.
The former champion was shot Tuesday night as he sat in a car with a friend. The friend was killed. Police have made no arrests.
Meanwhile, condolences are coming in for the boxer's family and preparations have begun for memorials and a funeral Mass.
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A shopper holds boxes of boots above her head as she makes her way through a crowd during Black Friday shopping at a Belk store in Oglethorpe Mall in Savannah, Ga. on Friday, Nov. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/The Morning News, Richard Burkhart) THE EXAMINER.COM OUT; SFEXAMINER.COM OUT; WASHINGTONEXAMINER.COM OUT
A shopper holds boxes of boots above her head as she makes her way through a crowd during Black Friday shopping at a Belk store in Oglethorpe Mall in Savannah, Ga. on Friday, Nov. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/The Morning News, Richard Burkhart) THE EXAMINER.COM OUT; SFEXAMINER.COM OUT; WASHINGTONEXAMINER.COM OUT
Laura Whitty of Harrisville, Miss., left, and Janice Barnett of Jayess, Miss. push a shopping cart through Northpark Mall in Ridgeland, Miss., Friday, Nov. 23, 2012. Black Friday, the day when retailers traditionally turn a profit for the year, got a jump start this year as many stores opened just as families were finishing up Thanksgiving dinner. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
A large crowd of shoppers waits outside an Old Navy store just after midnight during Black Friday shopping at Oglethorpe Mall in Savannah, Ga. on Friday, Nov. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/The Morning News, Richard Burkhart) THE EXAMINER.COM OUT; SFEXAMINER.COM OUT; WASHINGTONEXAMINER.COM OUT
Sarah Swaggert, Ellen Danos, and Erica Stewart head to the next store with their first purchases in hand during Black Friday shopping at Oglethorpe Mall in Savannah, Ga. on Friday, Nov. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/The Morning News, Richard Burkhart) THE EXAMINER.COM OUT; SFEXAMINER.COM OUT; WASHINGTONEXAMINER.COM OUT
Shoppers on New York's Fifth Ave. carry bags with their purchases, Friday, Nov. 23, 2012. Black Friday, the day when retailers traditionally turn a profit for the year, got a jump start this year as many stores opened just as families were finishing up Thanksgiving dinner. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
This season could mark the end of Black Friday as we know it.
For decades, stores have opened their doors in the wee hours on the day after Thanksgiving. But this year, major chains such as Target and Sears ushered customers in on Thanksgiving itself, even before the turkey leftovers had gotten cold, turning the traditional busiest shopping day of the year into a two-day affair.
Despite an outcry from some employees, both stores and shoppers seemed to like it. Some people went shopping with a full belly, going straight from the dinner table to the stores. Others slept off their big meal and went to the mall before daybreak on Black Friday.
"I ate my turkey dinner and came right here," said Rasheed Ali, a college student in New York City who bought a 50-inch TV for $349 and a sewing machine for $50 when Target opened at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving. "Then I'm going home and eating more."
This new approach could become a holiday shopping season tradition.
"It's Black Thursday and Friday combined," said Jackie Fernandez, a retail expert at the consulting firm Deloitte. "This is going to be a new normal of how we shop."
It won't be clear for a few days how many shoppers took advantage of the Thanksgiving hours. But about 17 percent of people said earlier this month that they planned to shop at stores that opened on Thanksgiving, according to an International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs survey of 1,000 consumers.
Meanwhile, 33 percent intended to shop on Black Friday, down 1 percentage point from last year. Overall, it is estimated that sales on Black Friday will be up 3.8 percent to $11.4 billion this year, according to technology company ShopperTrak, which did not forecast sales from Thanksgiving Day.
The Black Friday creep began in earnest a few years ago when stores realized that sales alone weren't enough to lure shoppers anymore, especially with Americans becoming more comfortable buying things online. Opening on Thanksgiving was risky, with some employees and shoppers complaining it was almost sacrilegious.
But many stores evidently felt they needed an edge, especially this season, when many Americans are worried about high unemployment and wondering whether Congress will be able to head off tax increases and spending cuts before the U.S. reaches the "fiscal cliff" in January.
Overall, the National Retail Federation estimates that sales in November and December will rise 4.1 percent this year to $586.1 billion, below last year's 5.6 percent.
"Every retailer wants to beat everyone else," said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group, a firm based in Charleston, S.C. "Shoppers love it."
At Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, most of its 4,000 U.S. namesake stores are already open 24 hours year-round. But the chain added special sales at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving, two hours earlier than a year ago.
The company said that its start to the holiday season was "the best ever," with nearly 10 million transactions and 5,000 items sold per second from 8 p.m. to midnight on Thanksgiving.
Toys R Us opened at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving, an hour earlier than last year.
Macy's, which opened at midnight on Thanksgiving, had 12,000 customers wrapped around its store in New York's Herald Square.
Julie Hansen, a spokeswoman at Minneapolis' Mall of America, the nation's largest shopping center, reported that 30,000 shoppers showed up for the mall's midnight opening, up from 20,000 last year. "This was additional dollars," Hansen said. This year, 200 of the 520 mall tenants opened at midnight following Thanksgiving. That's double from a year ago.
To be sure, it's not clear whether the longer hours will turn into extra dollars for retailers, or whether sales will simply be spread out over two days.
The Thanksgiving openings appeared to create two waves of shoppers ? the late-nights and the early birds.
Sam Chandler and his wife, Lori, were among the night owls. They started shopping at midnight on Thanksgiving. By the time they reached the Wal-Mart in Greenville, S.C., early Friday, they had already hit several stores, including Target and Best Buy.
"We've learned over the years, you have to stand in line early and pray," Sam said.
Stu and April Schatz of Rockland County, N.Y., went to the Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus, N.J., which didn't open until 7 a.m. on Black Friday, because they didn't want to deal with the crowds that show up late on Thanksgiving night.
"It's so much more civilized going in the morning," said April Schatz, a teacher. "We wanted to enjoy our evening."
___
Anne D'Innocenzio reported from New York. Mae Anderson contributed to this report from New York. Candice Choi contributed from Paramus, N.J. Mitch Weiss contributed from Greenville, S.C.
After two years of deliberation, the South Carolina Supreme Court has reinstated the convictions of five men who were found playing poker in a private home near Charleston way back in 2006. The five were arrested along with 20 other individuals who?d gathered at the house to indulge their poker perversion, during which their hosts charged a nominal rake they claimed was meant solely to keep the players supplied with food and drink (the small amount of marijuana found at the scene was presumably not on the menu). But the organizers? fees and promotion of the game via social networking sites allowed the police to charge those present for violating a ?gambling house? statute dating back to 1802 that criminalizes ?play ? in any house used as a place of gaming ? any game with cards.?
The five men in question challenged their tickets in court and lost. That decision was subsequently overturned by Circuit Court Judge Markley Dennis, who ruled that the law in question only applied to games of chance, whereas he determined poker to be a game of skill. The town of Mount Pleasant, in which the den of poker iniquity was located, objected to Dennis? ruling, taking the matter to the state Supreme Court in 2010. On Wednesday, the justices ruled against the players by a 3-2 margin.
In announcing their decision, the Supreme Court justices who voted to reinstate the convictions acknowledged the ?poker is a game of skill? argument, then dismissed it as immaterial because their reading of the statute meant gambling on skill games is illegal if done in a prohibited location. The concurring justices determined that a private home did indeed qualify under the statute?s definition of a ?house used as a place of gaming,? especially since its owner was hosting games twice a week and advertising them online.
While poker advocates will likely seize upon the justices? acknowledgement of poker?s skill component, the fact remains that a really vague law remains on South Carolina?s books, which ? depending on the whims of a police officer or prosecutor ? could still be applied to cash games involving friends gathering at somebody?s home. There have been efforts by the state Senate to introduce some clarity into the law, but these amendments have died on the order paper without ever coming up for a final vote. May we suggest a New Year?s resolution, gentlemen?
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ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2012) ? Dogs learning to associate words with objects form these associations in different ways than humans do, according to research published November 21 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Emile van der Zee and colleagues from the University of Lincoln, UK.
Previous studies have shown that humans between the ages of two to three typically learn to associate words with the shapes of objects, rather than their size or texture. For example, toddlers who learn what a 'ball' is and are then presented other objects with similar shapes, sizes or textures will identify a similarly-shaped object as 'ball', rather than one of the same size or texture.
Earlier research with dogs has shown that they can learn to associate words with categories of objects (such as 'toy'), but whether their learning process was the same as that of humans was unknown.
In this new study, the scientists presented Gable, a five year old Border Collie, with similar choices to see if this 'shape bias' exists in dogs. They found that after a brief training period, Gable learned to associate the name of an object with its size, identifying other objects of similar size by the same name. After a longer period of exposure to both a name and an object, the dog learned to associate a word to other objects of similar textures, but not to objects of similar shape.
According to the authors, these results suggest that dogs (or at least Gable) process and associate words with objects in qualitatively different ways than humans do. They add that this may be due to differences in how evolutionary history has shaped human and dog senses of perceiving shape, texture or size.
The bottom line: Though your dog understands the command "Fetch the ball," but he may think of the object in a very different way than you do when he hears it. As the authors explain, "Where shape matters for us, size or texture matters more for your dog. This study shows for the first time that there is a qualitative difference in word comprehension in the dog compared to word comprehension in humans."
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Journal Reference:
van der Zee E, Zulch H, Mills D. Word Generalization by a Dog (Canis familiaris): Is Shape Important?PLoS ONE, 7(11): e49382 DOI: 10.1371/ journal.pone.0049382
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When it comes to monetising my website, the first and most obvious choice to go for is Google Adsense. When you say PPC, you say Adsense. However, after using Adsense for around a year now, I feel I could possibly make more money else where with competitors to Adsense. For this reason, I looked at Media.net. Here is my experience with them.
What is Media.net?
Media.net is a contextual advertising company that uses the Yahoo and Bing network to display relevant adverts on websites. Therefore, it can be seen that it is Google vs Yahoo +?Bing. I think this makes clear that it is not a small size advertising company that are rapidly expanding like Ad Dynamo are. Media.net, at only two years old, has already become a huge influence in advertising online.
What Does Media.net Offer?
Before you step into the deep end to try out Media.net, you may want to know what Media.net has up to offer. From my experience, it does seem that Media.net does offer more than most PPC companies:
A mentor to help you - When you do sign up for Media.net (which you have to request for and then get accepted), you are allocated a mentor who works for Media.net and helps you with optimising your adverts to increase earnings: something Google has never done.
Content related adverts - Media.net scans the content of the page to load up the most relevant adverts. This is the typical contextual advert where the advert is only related to the content.
Search related adverts - A new idea to PPC, instead of looking to relate the adverts to the content of your page, the adverts are related to what the web user searched using a search engine to get to your website. Therefore, if your website doesn't satisfy the needs of the web user from their search result, your Media.net advert might instead.
New Ad sizes - As well as Media.net having the most common advert sizes for publishers to use, they also have a 600x250 advert that looks extremely good for above content adverts. The 728x90 advert has always been too big to place above content. 600x250 might be the right size for alot of?bloggers.
As you can see, Media.net has basically matched Adsense but also gone above and beyond in what they offer to publishers. Exclusivity, freedom and diversification.
Pros To Media.net
High Earnings
Although the information Media.net give to users is not much, they do give you the RPM of your website which after one week, I have been averaging around $3. Compare that to Google that was $1.50, Media.net has doubled that.
Nice Looking Adverts
When I saw the ad layouts for Media.net adverts, I was really impressed. The adverts don't look like adverts which is exactly what publishers want. This in turn will help to increase clicks and revenue.
Great Support
With each and every publisher having a dedicated mentor to help them, whenever you get in trouble no matter what the problem is, your mentor will be able to help you. For one thing, it is?definitely?better than attempting to search the net and hope for the best to stumble onto a good article!
Simple User Interface
I think it is important to mention the UI of Media.net since you may find yourself spending alot of time on it. The UI is similar to Google Adsense in the way that before you have used the program, you know how to use it. It is extremely easy to use which is great for people starting up with Media.net.
Cons to Media.net
Not Enough Statistics?
The only statistics Media.net supplies are:
Impressions
RPM
Estimated earnings
That is it. There are no CPC, CTR or anything else of the sort you can look at. This is a problem because you won't know how to improve your advert to gain more clicks.
Payments in Dollars
Another problem Media.net faces is with going global. It is great for Americans. However, for people like me from England or any other country with a?different?currency, we don't want our earnings in dollars. The result of this means that when it comes to converting my earnings back to British sterling, I will lose a few dollars due to the cost of exchanging money.
Why You Should Use Media.net
After this review and experience, I really think bloggers, that have used Adsense, should give Media.net a go. My main reason for this is the impressions. When my website was gaining roughly 1,000 views a day, my Adsense account would only get around 500-700 ad views because of ad blockers etc. When I switched to Media.net adverts, I was gaining near exactly the same amount of actual?impressions?being 1,000. This was a real shock because that means Media.net adverts are already at a 30-50% advantage to Adsense. I don't know why, but, Media.net adverts are displayed more times than Adsense on the same website.
After reading this, what do you think about Media.net? Will you be trying them? I would be interested to hear people's experiences with them and how it compares to Adsense.
Palestinian gunmen ride motorcycles as they drag the body of a man, who was suspected of working for Israel, in Gaza City, Tuesday.
By NBC News staff and wire reports
GAZA - Six Palestinians suspected of giving information to Israel during its airstrike campaign have been killed in the Gaza Strip.
One of them was dragged after his death through the streets behind a convoy of motorcycles, as some people appeared to celebrate in scenes that a leading Hamas figure described as "completely unacceptable."
Citing an unidentified security source, Hamas' al-Aqsa radio station said the six men were shot dead on Tuesday after being "caught red-handed" working for Israel.
"They possessed hi-tech equipment and filming equipment to take footage of positions," al-Aqsa radio station said.
However, on Wednesday Hamas' deputy leader Moussa Abu Marzouk?condemned what he called the "unlawful" killings, Reuters reported.
Explosion hits bus in Tel Aviv as deadly Gaza crisis rages
In comments posted on his Facebook page on Wednesday, Abu Marzouk urged the Islamist Hamas administration ruling Gaza to ensure that no one takes the law into their own hands.
"Punishing collaborators and especially those involved in the killing of our leaders must only be carried out in accordance with the law and through the legal procedures," he said.
"The way those collaborators were killed and the images after their death were completely unacceptable," he added.
"Those who did it should be punished and it must not be repeated," said the Hamas official, who is currently in Cairo.
Americans caught in chaos of Gaza conflict
Photographs showed one of the bodies, partially clothed, being dragged through the streets of Gaza behind a motorcycle as others rode in convoy alongside.
At least one body was beaten, kicked and trampled, Reuters reported.
Israeli security officials acknowledge they rely on a network of Palestinian informants to identify targets, The Associated Press said.?
'We are very scared': Egyptians fear being mired in Gaza-Israel crisis
The New York Times reported that another man, named as Ashraf Ouaida, was killed by masked gunmen Friday because he was suspected of collaborating with Israel.
He was shot several times and his body was left with a sign round his neck accusing him of helping Israel kill 15 Palestinian leaders and beneath a billboard featuring a Hamas fighter holding a rocket, the newspaper said.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More world stories from NBC News:
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FILE - In this Feb. 12, 2011, file photo, R. Kelly performs in Beverly Hills, Calif. Kelly announced on Monday, Nov. 19, 2012, that he's had an offer to bring ?Trapped in the Closet? to the stage, and he may even be in some performances. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 12, 2011, file photo, R. Kelly performs in Beverly Hills, Calif. Kelly announced on Monday, Nov. 19, 2012, that he's had an offer to bring ?Trapped in the Closet? to the stage, and he may even be in some performances. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Is Broadway ready for Twan, Sylvester, Pimp Lucius and "the package"? R. Kelly thinks so ? and says he's working to bring the wacky characters and plotlines in his even wackier "Trapped in the Closet" series to the Great White Way.
The superstar announced on Monday night that he's had an offer to bring the cult classic to the stage, and he may even be in some performances.
"To transform it into a Broadway version, that's what I'm working on," he told a packed house at the Sunshine Theater, where he unveiled the latest chapters in "Trapped in the Closet," which will debut on the IFC on Friday.
Kelly gave no other details about a possible Broadway adaptation of the wildly popular video opera. It got its start from a stirring series of songs Kelly debuted in 2005, which ended with a cliff-hanger. The songs captured so much attention, Kelly made an over-the-top video series about it that just got crazier and crazier as he added more chapters.
Kelly has often referred to "Trapped" as an alien, and on Monday, he said: "I'm glad to be one of the astronauts to take this thing to the unknown."
He thanked the enthusiastic crowd for accepting the series, and admitted that he always wanted to act: "Somehow, I landed 'Trapped in the Closet' from being silly."
He also joked about the ridiculous nature of the series.
"I'm just having a lot of fun. I don't have a job so I sit in the studio all day and think of stuff to do and this is just something stupid I've done that's been successful for me," he said. "I'm having a lot of fun with it."
The latest chapters introduce a few new faces, and like the others series, ends with a cliffhanger. While it's taken Kelly five years to add these latest chapters to the series, Kelly says he won't take as long to produce more.
"I want everybody to know I've got 85 chapters of 'Trapped in the Closet' waiting in the studio for y'all," he said. "The chapters that are coming ? the show, we call it ? is going to exceed every chapter that you have ever seen."
Kelly capped of the evening with a rendition of one of his biggest hits, "I Believe I Can Fly," for the audience.
___
http://www.r-kelly.com
http://www.ifc.com
___
Nekesa Mumbi Moody is the AP's Global Entertainment & Lifestyles Editor. Follow her at http://www.twitter.com/nekesamumbi
For part 1 in this series, see my review of AVG Cloud Care here.
Continuing our review of cloud-based anti-virus software, the next solution we?ll look at is Symantec?s Endpoint Protection .cloud product.
Click to Enlarge
Based on Symantec?s popular enterprise-class Endpoint Protection anti-virus application, the .cloud offering is geared to the small business owner that may not have the full IT staff to implement, manage and monitor anti-virus and security solutions.? The business owner has the option of managing their anti-virus internally or granting access to one of Symantec?s .cloud partners in order to manage their security.
The online management tool shares an interface with Symantec?s Backup Exec.cloud service.? You can install both products with one installer if you opt-in to their cloud backup solution.
Installation can be completed in three ways:
Install directly from the online portal by logging in with the computer you wish to deploy the software.
Download a redistributable package to install locally or through Active Directory.
Send emails to users with links to download and install the software.
Policies
Click to Enlarge
Endpoint Protection.cloud comes pre-configured with a default recommended security policy that you can copy and configure to fit your needs.? The custom policies can be assigned to groups of devices in order to easily manage classes of computers such as servers, desktops and traveling laptops.
The default policy comes enabled with anti-virus, anti-spyware and Syamantec?s proprietary SONAR technology enabled.? SONAR monitors running applications for suspicious behaviors to block zero-day and highly targeted threats in real time.? SONAR and anti-spyware can be disabled if they interfere with legitimate programs running on your PC.
USB Device Control can restrict user access to USB storage devices.? Policies can be modified to deny all access to USB drives or set them in read-only mode.? This offers additional protection not only against viruses and malware, but also adds another layer of protection for safeguarding sensitive data.
Alerts
Click to Enlarge
Alerts can be configured to immediately notify IT or management when a virus is encountered or another security event takes place.? Alerts can be sent via email or SMS and are also logged in the online portal for review.
The alerts are very detailed and contain useful information about what device encountered the security threat, what the threat was and information about how the attack was attempted.? All useful information to help prevent future attacks and to educate users on what not to do while online.
Remote Management
Windows PCs can be monitored through the online web portal.? Information about each device includes which services are enabled, the policy it belongs to and a history of incidents that were detected on the computer.? You can also view the update and scan history for the last 90 days.
Initiating scans or updates are not available through the web portal, only an option to remove the service.
Reporting
Endpoint Protection.cloud comes with a report wizard that allows IT or the business owner to customize security reports.? Once saved as a template, the reports can be scheduled to run daily or weekly and emailed to a list of recipients.? This allows for an effective review of security events and can identify trends with threat levels.
Subscription Model
Symantec chose to remain with a traditional annual licensing model for .cloud services.? Prices begins at $34/year per device for up to 24 computers, with volume price breaks for up to 250 endpoints.
Pros
Web-based Management ? Administrators can access an easy-to-use web-based management console and manage the security settings for multiple devices.
Enterprise-class Protection ? Endpoint.cloud shares the same code base as Symantec?s enterprise solutions.? As the world leader in security solutions, Symantec has a solid reputation for offering the best protection for your network.
USB Device Control ? Gives you the ability to detect and protect against harmful files from USB storage devices and helps prevent sensitive data from being compromised via portable storage.
Extensive Data and Reporting Capabilities ? Alerts and reports can be customized and contain detailed information for the IT administrator.
Anti-Spyware ? Anti-spyware features are included in the Endpoint.cloud service.
Cons
Traditional Pricing Structure ? Based on an annual subscription model, companies that have a variable number of computers may find the licensing options restricting and not cost-effective.
Lack of Content Filtering ? Content filtering for user devices is not available as of this writing.
No Built-in Remote Deployment ? Endpoint.cloud can be deployed through Active Directory, however many smaller businesses may not have the resources or knowledge to deploy using this method.
Enterprise Focus ? Symantec promotes the .cloud offerings as built for small businesses, yet they define small business as less than 250 endpoints.? Many small businesses under 20 devices may not find the enterprise features as useful or necessary.
Cloud-based anti-virus applications offer many significant advantages over the traditional local software model.? For small businesses that don?t have sophisticated monitoring tools to manage multiple devices, a cloud management portal can be a valuable addition to their security policy.? Whether you choose AVG?s CloudCare service or Symantec?s Endpoint .cloud protection model, keeping your network secure from online threats has never been easier or more affordable.
NASA's Curiosity rover is on Mars to look for signs that Gale Crater was once suitable for microbial life. But Curiosity's weather instruments are providing insight into the environment astronauts might face on Mars.
By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / November 15, 2012
This image from the Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity rover shows the upper portion of a wind-blown deposit dubbed 'Rocknest.' The rover team recently commanded Curiosity to take a scoop of soil from a region located out of frame, below this view.
The Herald-Times/MSSS/JPL-Caltech/NASA/AP/File
Enlarge
Hey, Curiosity! Are you sure you're not in Kansas?
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NASA simulation of a twister on Mars
Earlier this month, two tiny twisters buffeted NASA's Mars rover Curiosity in the space of 11 minutes. They were two of 21 whirlwinds the rover has detected from its home in Gale Crater so far ? with more expected as Mars' southern hemisphere enters its spring and summer.
In one sense, this seems like a ho-hum observation. Whirlwinds and dust devils are common on Mars, although no evidence of them had been found in images of Gale Crater taken from orbit.
But they represent a very important element of the planet's dust cycle, which is a key driver of Mars' climate, says Manuel de la Torre Juarez, a physicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Their presence inside the crater, combined with the most sophisticated atmospheric monitoring station humans have landed on the planet, give scientists an unprecedented opportunity to unravel the role these mini-twisters play in Mars' current climate.
The opportunity highlights a little-heralded role for Curiosity, whose primary mission is to analyze rocks and soil to determine if the crater might have once been a suitable habitat for microbial life. The rover and its weather station and radiation monitor are monitoring today's environment, both with an eye toward understanding the evolution of the planet's atmosphere over billions of years, but also as a gauge of the hazards astronauts might face during a potential mission.
One story that is unfolding involves the changing thickness of the atmosphere with each Martian day, called a sol, and even with seasonal changes. Those changes impact the amount of radiation ? cosmic rays and charged particles from the sun ? reaching the surface.
For instance, sensors on the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) have detected an unexpected and large day-night shift in atmospheric pressure, corresponding to changes the sun brings to the atmosphere. During the day, the atmosphere heats, expands, and grows less dense as it does so. This reduces the amount of pressure the atmosphere exerts on pressure sensors. At night, when temperatures drop to about minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit, the pressure increases as the atmosphere contracts and grows more dense.
At the same time, the rover's Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) has found that cosmic and other forms of radiation peak during the day and drop at night as changes to the atmosphere thicken or thin this tenuous shield.
KINSHASA (Reuters) - The Democratic Republic of Congo government on Monday dismissed a demand from rebels in the country's east for truce talks, saying that the insurgent force pushing towards the city of Goma was merely a tool of neighboring Rwanda.
The rejection meant that the worst fighting in the area in four years was only likely to intensify, bringing with it a new humanitarian crisis as refugees fled the city.
The M23 rebels had halted their advance about 5 km from Goma on Monday and gave the government 24 hours to start talks or face a new onslaught. They say that Kinshasa broke the terms of a 2009 peace agreement that integrated them into the army as a solution to an earlier rebellion.
A government spokesman said it was not interested in rebel proposals or ultimatums.
"M23 is defined by the government as a fiction created by Rwanda to hide their criminal activities against the DRC," spokesman Lambert Mende said. "It is an ultimatum from a fictitious group that has no real value to us."
United Nations experts back the government contention that Rwanda, which has intervened in Congo repeatedly over the past 18 years, is behind the M23 revolt. Rwanda denies involvement.
Congo is rich in minerals including diamonds, gold, copper and coltan - used in mobile phones. But little money has been spent on developing a country the size of Western Europe.
The government accuses Rwanda of wanting to control the mineral resources by backing the insurgents.
The country was wracked by wars between 1994 and 2003 which killed about five million people. Many eastern areas are still plagued by violence from a variety of rebel groups.
REFUGEES FLEE AGAIN
M23 is led by mutinying soldiers who rose up eight months ago. They have now fought four days of battles to come close to Goma, home to a million people including hundreds of thousands of refugees who have fled rebel advances elsewhere.
The city, which sits at the Rwandan border on the north shore of Lake Kivu, is also the capital of North Kivu province and headquarters of a U.N. peacekeeping force.
The rebels have said they do not plan to capture Goma.
But that prospect provoked a new humanitarian crisis as thousands of refugees abandoned camps in the north of Goma to escape them, said Tariq Riebl of the British aid agency Oxfam.
Thomas D'Aquin Muiti, head of a local aid organization, said the rebel reassurances were not to be trusted.
"I think everyone in the town is skeptical of M23. The town is emptying. If the international community allows M23 to take Goma it'll be a humanitarian catastrophe," Muiti said.
The United Nations has about 6,700 peacekeeping troops in North Kivu, including some 1,400 troops in and around Goma.
U.N. spokesman Kieran Dwyer said the mission had carried out helicopter strikes in support of the Congolese army at the weekend.
"The situation in Goma is extremely tense," Dwyer said. "There is a real threat that the city could fall into the M23's hands and/or be seriously destabilize as a result of the fighting," Dwyer said in a statement from New York.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the rebel offensive and urged M23 to cease its attacks immediately. The U.N. Security Council made a similar call after an emergency meeting on Saturday.
(Additional reporting by Feliz Bate and Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Four California residents are suspected of plotting to wage "violent jihad," by joining forces with al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Federal authorities allege the men -- two U.S. citizens and two legal permanent residents -- planned to attack American military staff and bases overseas.
News of the arrest became public on Monday, when three of the suspects appeared in U.S. District Court in Riverside, Calif. The trio were charged with plotting to provide material support to terrorists, KTLA reported.
The defendents named in the criminal complaint are:
Sohiel Omar Kabir, 34, who was born in Afghanistan. He is a naturalized U.S. citizen and previously lived in Pomona, Calif.
Ralph Deleon, 23, who was born in the Philippines. He is a legal permanent resident and lives in Ontario, Calif.
?Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales (referred to in the complaint as Santana), 21, who was born in Mexico. He is a legal permanent resident and lives in Upland, Calif. His application for U.S. citizenship is pending.
Arifeen David Gojali, 21, who lives in Riverside, Calif., and is a U.S. citizen.
Federal authorities allege that in 2010, Kabir introduced Deleon and Santana to the violent teachings of American cleric Anwar Al-Awlaqi, a now-deceased radical Islamic imam and leader in the al Qaeda chapter in Yemen.
The complaint then states that Kabir left the U.S. in December 2011 and ended up in Afghanistan in July 2012. Throughout that period, Kabir allegedly guided Deleon and Santana on how to meet him in Afghanistan to join up with the Taliban and al Qaeda. Court documents state that Kabir allegedly told Deleon and Santana that they would train with "the students" (Taliban) and "the professors" (al Qaeda).
Deleon and Santana then revealed their plans to someone who turned out to be a confidential informant for the FBI.
From the FBI's statement:
In one discussion with the FBI confidential source, Santana and Deleon discussed their preferred roles in carrying out attacks. For example, Santana stated that he had experience with firearms and that he wanted to become a sniper. Deleon stated he wanted to be on the front lines with a second choice of explosives. Both men also indicated they were willing to kill an enemy.
In September 2012, Santana and Deleon recruited Gojali to join them in Afghanistan. The trio allegedly raised funds for their trip and thought up elaborate cover stories and code words to use while abroad.
Santana, Deleon and Gojali reportedly got as far as booking flights and securing required travel documentation, according to the criminal complaint. While they waited to join Kabir in Afghanistan, they also allegedly practiced shooting at firearm and paintball facilities in Southern California.
Members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force apprehended Santana, Deleon and Gojali last Friday without incident. Kabir was arrested in Afghanistan and is currently in custody. If convicted, all four could face a maximum of 15 years in federal prison.
MOOCs are massive open online courses. As opposed to traditional courses that have tuition and limited enrollment, MOOCs are free and open to the masses.
How are MOOC?s structured?
The large numbers associated with MOOCs mean that instructors can not possibly respond to students on an individual basis. Classmates therefore rely on each other, organizing online study groups and working in online forums for help. Lectures are given via video and in-lecture quizzes make sure you understand the material. Teaching assistants oversee discussion boards and feedback for homework and exams is electronic.
Where did the idea for MOOCs come from?
The roots of massive online open courses can be traced back to the American inventor Douglas Engelbart who advocated for the utilization of the computer as a cooperative tool for intellectual growth. Since then, many educational reformers have advocated for the use of computing technology integrated into the learning process and openness in the educational process.
In 2004, an early version of the MOOC was developed by Sun Microsystems. Concepts and lessons learned from these approaches influenced a nonprofit organization, Curriki, which has created an online repository/community for curricula and has more than 300,000 educator, parent, and student members. Curriki?s online community connects educators from around world and enables the sharing of curriculum and best practices.
In the fall of 2011, the idea of a global community of learning gained massive attention when more than 160,000?people signed up for an artificial intelligence course offered by Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig (through the company now known as Udacity). Following the popularity of Thrun and Norvig?s course, Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng launched two MOOC?s from Stanford University through the company Coursera. MIT later that fall launched MITx as an effort to develop a free, open platform for online education. The first course launched in March 2012 was 6.002x with more than 155,000 participants. Harvard and the Berkeley joined MIT?s initiative later that year and MITx was renamed edX.
In reference to MOOCs, Anant Agarwal president of edX said that he would ?like to call this year the year of disruption and the year is not over yet.? This fall, edX has more than 370,000 students in its inaugural classes. Coursera, now offering courses from 33 of the most elite universities, has reached more 1.7 million students.
The rise of MOOCs means that we should begin thinking about how free, top-quality education can change our world. The education that can be spread through MOOCs is not limited by geography or political boundaries. 60% of students in MOOCs are ambitious young people from countries like India, Brazil and China. Will supersized education be the propellant needed to spur innovation globally? Will MOOCs knock down the barriers to a good education? We can only hope.
Embattled childhoods may be the real trauma for soldiers with PTSDPublic release date: 19-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Anna Mikulak amikulak@psychologicalscience.org 202-293-9300 Association for Psychological Science
New research on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in soldiers challenges popular assumptions about the origins and trajectory of PTSD, providing evidence that traumatic experiences in childhood - not combat - may predict which soldiers develop the disorder.
Psychological scientist Dorthe Berntsen of Aarhus University in Denmark and a team of Danish and American researchers wanted to understand why some soldiers develop PTSD but others don't. They also wanted to develop a clearer understanding of how the symptoms of the disorder progress.
"Most studies on PTSD in soldiers following service in war zones do not include measures of PTSD symptoms prior to deployment and thus suffer from a baseline problem. Only a few studies have examined pre- to post-deployment changes in PTSD symptoms, and most only use a single before-and-after measure," says Berntsen.
The team aimed to address these methodological issues by studying a group of 746 Danish soldiers and evaluating their symptoms of PTSD at five different timepoints. Their study is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Five weeks before the soldiers were scheduled to leave for Afghanistan, they completed a battery of tests including a PTSD inventory and a test for depression. They also completed a questionnaire about traumatic life events, including childhood experiences of family violence, physical punishment, and spousal abuse.
During their deployment, the soldiers completed measures related to the direct experience of war: perceptions of war zone stress, actual life-threatening war experiences, battlefield wounds, and the experience of actually killing an enemy.
The researchers continued to follow the soldiers after their return home to Denmark, assessing them a couple weeks after their return, two to four months after their return, and seven to eight months after their return.
What Berntsen and her colleagues found challenges several widely held assumptions about the nature of PTSD.
Rather than following some sort of "typical" pattern in which symptoms emerge soon after a particularly traumatic event and persist over time, Berntsen and colleagues found wide variation in the development of PTSD among the soldiers.
The vast majority of the soldiers (84%) were resilient, showing no PTSD symptoms at all or recovering quickly from mild symptoms.
The rest of the soldiers showed distinct and unexpected patterns of symptoms. About 4% showed evidence of "new-onset" trajectory, with symptoms starting low and showing a marked increase across the five timepoints. Their symptoms did not appear to follow any specific traumatic event.
Most notably, about 13% of the soldiers in the study actually showed temporary improvement in symptoms during deployment. These soldiers reported significant symptoms of stress prior to leaving for Afghanistan that seemed to ease in the first months of deployment only to increase again upon their return home.
What could account for this unexpected pattern of symptoms?
Compared to the resilient soldiers, the soldiers who developed PTSD were much more likely to have suffered emotional problems and traumatic events prior to deployment. Childhood experiences of violence, especially punishment severe enough to cause bruises, cuts, burns, and broken bones actually predicted the onset of PTSD in these soldiers. Those who showed symptoms of PTSD were more likely to have witnessed family violence, and to have experienced physical attacks, stalking or death threats by a spouse. They were also more likely to have past experiences that they could not, or would not, talk about. And they were less educated than the resilient soldiers.
According to Berntsen and colleages, all of these factors together suggest that army life - despite the fact that it involved combat offered more in the way of social support and life satisfaction than these particular soldiers had at home. The mental health benefits of being valued and experiencing camaraderie thus diminished when the soldiers had to return to civilian life.
The findings challenge the notion that exposure to combat and other war atrocities is the main cause of PTSD.
"We were surprised that stressful experiences during childhood seemed to play such a central role in discriminating the resilient versus non-resilient groups," says Berntsen. "These results should make psychologists question prevailing assumptions about PTSD and its development."
###
This research was funded by the Danish National Research Foundation, the Danish Council for Independent Research: Humanities, the Royal Danish Defense College, and National Institutes of Health Grant No. R01MH066079.
For more information about this study, please contact: Dorthe Berntsen at dorthe@psy.au.dk.
The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "Peace and War: Trajectories of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Before, During, and After Military Deployment in Afghanistan" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Anna Mikulak at 202-293-9300 or amikulak@psychologicalscience.org.
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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.
Embattled childhoods may be the real trauma for soldiers with PTSDPublic release date: 19-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Anna Mikulak amikulak@psychologicalscience.org 202-293-9300 Association for Psychological Science
New research on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in soldiers challenges popular assumptions about the origins and trajectory of PTSD, providing evidence that traumatic experiences in childhood - not combat - may predict which soldiers develop the disorder.
Psychological scientist Dorthe Berntsen of Aarhus University in Denmark and a team of Danish and American researchers wanted to understand why some soldiers develop PTSD but others don't. They also wanted to develop a clearer understanding of how the symptoms of the disorder progress.
"Most studies on PTSD in soldiers following service in war zones do not include measures of PTSD symptoms prior to deployment and thus suffer from a baseline problem. Only a few studies have examined pre- to post-deployment changes in PTSD symptoms, and most only use a single before-and-after measure," says Berntsen.
The team aimed to address these methodological issues by studying a group of 746 Danish soldiers and evaluating their symptoms of PTSD at five different timepoints. Their study is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Five weeks before the soldiers were scheduled to leave for Afghanistan, they completed a battery of tests including a PTSD inventory and a test for depression. They also completed a questionnaire about traumatic life events, including childhood experiences of family violence, physical punishment, and spousal abuse.
During their deployment, the soldiers completed measures related to the direct experience of war: perceptions of war zone stress, actual life-threatening war experiences, battlefield wounds, and the experience of actually killing an enemy.
The researchers continued to follow the soldiers after their return home to Denmark, assessing them a couple weeks after their return, two to four months after their return, and seven to eight months after their return.
What Berntsen and her colleagues found challenges several widely held assumptions about the nature of PTSD.
Rather than following some sort of "typical" pattern in which symptoms emerge soon after a particularly traumatic event and persist over time, Berntsen and colleagues found wide variation in the development of PTSD among the soldiers.
The vast majority of the soldiers (84%) were resilient, showing no PTSD symptoms at all or recovering quickly from mild symptoms.
The rest of the soldiers showed distinct and unexpected patterns of symptoms. About 4% showed evidence of "new-onset" trajectory, with symptoms starting low and showing a marked increase across the five timepoints. Their symptoms did not appear to follow any specific traumatic event.
Most notably, about 13% of the soldiers in the study actually showed temporary improvement in symptoms during deployment. These soldiers reported significant symptoms of stress prior to leaving for Afghanistan that seemed to ease in the first months of deployment only to increase again upon their return home.
What could account for this unexpected pattern of symptoms?
Compared to the resilient soldiers, the soldiers who developed PTSD were much more likely to have suffered emotional problems and traumatic events prior to deployment. Childhood experiences of violence, especially punishment severe enough to cause bruises, cuts, burns, and broken bones actually predicted the onset of PTSD in these soldiers. Those who showed symptoms of PTSD were more likely to have witnessed family violence, and to have experienced physical attacks, stalking or death threats by a spouse. They were also more likely to have past experiences that they could not, or would not, talk about. And they were less educated than the resilient soldiers.
According to Berntsen and colleages, all of these factors together suggest that army life - despite the fact that it involved combat offered more in the way of social support and life satisfaction than these particular soldiers had at home. The mental health benefits of being valued and experiencing camaraderie thus diminished when the soldiers had to return to civilian life.
The findings challenge the notion that exposure to combat and other war atrocities is the main cause of PTSD.
"We were surprised that stressful experiences during childhood seemed to play such a central role in discriminating the resilient versus non-resilient groups," says Berntsen. "These results should make psychologists question prevailing assumptions about PTSD and its development."
###
This research was funded by the Danish National Research Foundation, the Danish Council for Independent Research: Humanities, the Royal Danish Defense College, and National Institutes of Health Grant No. R01MH066079.
For more information about this study, please contact: Dorthe Berntsen at dorthe@psy.au.dk.
The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "Peace and War: Trajectories of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Before, During, and After Military Deployment in Afghanistan" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Anna Mikulak at 202-293-9300 or amikulak@psychologicalscience.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
After two years of deliberation, the South Carolina Supreme Court has reinstated the convictions of five men who were found playing poker in a private home near Charleston way back in 2006. The five were arrested along with 20 other individuals who?d gathered at the house to indulge their poker perversion, during which their hosts charged a nominal rake they claimed was meant solely to keep the players supplied with food and drink (the small amount of marijuana found at the scene was presumably not on the menu). But the organizers? fees and promotion of the game via social networking sites allowed the police to charge those present for violating a ?gambling house? statute dating back to 1802 that criminalizes ?play ? in any house used as a place of gaming ? any game with cards.?
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Public release date: 19-Nov-2012
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