Daily Archives: February 6, 2017

Herbal supplements’ illegal ingredients pose health risk, experts warn – The Guardian

Posted: February 6, 2017 at 3:17 pm

The undeclared substances are being used in products classified as food supplements. Photograph: Alamy

Many herbal supplements, including for obesity and erectile dysfunction, contain hidden unlicensed pharmaceutical ingredients that could endanger peoples health, experts have warned.

The research team, from Queens University Belfast, Kingston University in London and the life sciences testing company LGC, concluded that not only do such supplements often make unverified claims as to their benefits but some have illegal ingredients which could pose a threat potentially causing low blood pressure or an increased risk of heart attacks.

The substances are unlicensed medicines as they are appearing in products classified as food supplements. Among the most common substances identified was sibutramine, according to the study, published in the Journal of the Association of Public Analysts.

Sibutramine was licensed as the medicine Reductil until 2010, when it was withdrawn across Europe and the US due to an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes associated with the use of the drug.

Tadalafil and sulfoaildenafil were among the most frequently undeclared ingredients in products for erectile dysfunction. When taken with other medicines containing nitrates, they can lower blood pressure drastically and cause serious health problems.

Emeritus professor Duncan Burns, from Queens Universitys Institute for Global Food Security, said: We have found that these supplements are often not what customers think they are they are being deceived into thinking they are getting health benefits from a natural product when actually they are taking a hidden drug.

These products are unlicensed medicines and many people are consuming large quantities without knowing the interactions with other supplements or medicines they may be taking. This is very dangerous and there can be severe side effects.

The research team analysed adverse findings recorded by the European Unions rapid alert system for food and feed (RASFF) between 2009 and 2016 inclusive. The database is designed to inform member states who can then take appropriate action locally. Consumers can access the database but, unlike authorities in member states, they often cannot see the product names.

The experts believe the pharmaceutical ingredients are sometimes added accidentally but on other occasions deliberately in an attempt to enhance products.

They identified 63 instances of food supplements containing sibutramine between 2009 and 2016, including 47 after 2010, when Reductil was withdrawn. There were 29 instances of tadalafil being found in food supplements in the eight-year period examined and 68 of sulfoaildenafil and chemical substances similar to it.

People suffering from conditions such as diabetes and hypertension are frequently prescribed nitrate-containing medicines. Erectile dysfunction is often associated with these conditions, raising the prospect that patients may be tempted to try herbal supplements, which they do not know contain tadalafil or sulfoaildenafil, which can interact negatively with the nitrates.

Burns said: People who take these products will not be aware they have taken these substances and so when they visit the doctor they may not declare this and it can be difficult to determine what is causing the side effects. It is a very dangerous situation.

Another common substance was yohimbine, found in 30 supplements, which has been said to have aphrodisiac-like effects but has been known to increase blood pressure and induce anxiety.

Burns said the RASFF list was unlikely to be comprehensive unless they went to every health food shop and every herbalist in the country.

He advised consumers: Be cautious about supplements you buy and use reputable websites. Discuss any concerns with your GP and always tell them what youre taking.

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Herbal supplements' illegal ingredients pose health risk, experts warn - The Guardian

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Getting your calcium dairy vs. dietary supplements – WRVO Public Media

Posted: at 3:17 pm

Calcium is essential for healthy bones, but could getting it from supplements be doing more harm than good?

This week on Take Care, Dr. Taylor Wallace, affiliate professor in the department of Nutrition and Food Studies at George Mason University and former senior director of science, policy and government relations at the National Osteoporosis Foundation, discusses the effects that taking calcium supplements could have on cardiovascular health.

Calcium and cardiovascular health arent commonly associated with one another, but recent studies highlighting a potential link between heart health and calcium intake has cast the safety of calcium supplements into doubt.

The link stems from the hypothesis that an increased intake in calcium might cause arteries to calcify faster, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. But according to Wallace, the association of calcified arteries with calcium supplements is misguided; partially because it fails to address the impact of supplemental calcium from fortified sources like orange juice or soy milk, and partially because there is no correlation between arterial calcification and calcium intake.

When you have inflammation in your arteries, they calcify regardless of whether youre taking a supplement or whether you have a high intake of dairy products or other calcium rich foods, Wallace said. Thats a normal physiological process in response to inflammation, regardless of whether you take any type of supplemental calcium.

The level of calcium in a persons blood remains static regardless of diet or supplement intake. Without an appropriate amount of calcium from external sources (1,300 milligrams daily, according to the FDA), the body compensates by pulling calcium from the bonessomething that Wallace says is a major health concern.

Its extremely important that everyone get enough calcium, Wallace said. Osteoporosis is a huge public health epidemic; over 50 percent of individuals either have osteoporosis or a condition called low bone mass, otherwise known as osteopenia.

The risks of not getting enough calcium outweigh the risks of getting of calcium from supplementswhich, according to Wallace, is essentially nonexistent.

This is one of those instances where weve made a lot of public awareness around an issue where the scientific data is just not there, Wallace said. Its very poor data, and its a very small pool of data from the same lab groups.

Cardiovascular risks aside, dietary supplements are often cited as being less effective than calcium from dietary sources, like dairy products or dark leafy greens such as kale. So should you be worried about how you get your calcium? According to Wallace, the answer is still nohe himself takes calcium supplements.

Youre going to get [calcium] from two different ways, youre either going to get it from the diet, or youre going to get it from your bones, Wallace said. I recommend that if youre not getting three 8-ounce glasses of milk each day, you should supplement with 300 milligrams of elemental calcium per absent serving of dairy.

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Extension Spotlight: The importance of a good education | Life … – NRToday.com

Posted: at 3:17 pm

The past few years seem to be setting a challenging trend for gardeners in our region and across the country. Each year from 2013 to the present seems to be getting warmer and drier, and our state has been the unfortunate recipient of a few new invasive insects that challenge gardeners.

To understand how to successfully garden in a hotter climate with longer dry spells, often less snow pack melt recharging our rivers during summer, and troublesome pests, it is important to find educational classes from a trusted source like Oregon State University Extension. Our Extension agents and Master Gardeners are trained to keep you ahead of serious new challenges.

If you dont have time to take our in-depth 11-week Master Gardener program, it would be helpful for you to attend our Spring Into Gardening Seminar held at Umpqua Community College, Wayne Crooch Hall, Saturday, Feb. 25.

The seminar is a series of gardening classes for a total fee of $30. This seminar is broken into four sections: 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., 10:30 to noon, 1 to 2:30 p.m. and 2:30 to 4 p.m. During each section, you can select one of three classes offered.

Our classes will help you understand how to modify your landscape to adapt to longer, drier summers. I have helped people go from landscapes requiring a $400 two-month water bill to a more sustainable $100 two-month bill.

Xeric landscaping will teach you what plants can tolerate a minimum of water for 4 to 5 months. The traditional lawn can be modified to an attractive landscape that includes a great variety of plants that provide color and food sources for native beneficial insects and birds.

If you are set on producing more of your own fruits and vegetables and want to do it in a low input sustainable way, we have the classes to coach you. Producing healthy food starts with great soil. Creating great garden soil is something anyone can do with the right information.

Our classes will talk about the steps needed to produce and maintain productive soil. You will hear about cover crops, biochar, soil tests, nutrient management, soil additives and if or when you should till your soil. Worm and regular composting will also be discussed as part of great soil fertility program.

If you struggle to control insect pests in your vegetable or fruit crops, we will help you understand what low-input programs work for controlling the new invasive pests, and what doesnt. You may be thinking that you dont have a large yard and really dont need to understand these issues of high water use, building great soil and invasive insect pests. We want to help educate container gardeners, too.

We will have a class that will teach you how to make hypertufa troughs (lightweight cement). These containers hold up for years, look great and are light and easy to move around your deck or porch. Well also talk about small space gardening in all kinds of containers. How to create beautiful flower containers or fresh food in a limited space.

This is our second year for including a series of classes on food preservation brought to you by the OSU Master Food Preservers. They will be teaching introduction to canning, dehydrating, fermenting foods and food storage for emergencies.

There will be one food preservation class in each of the four class sections. Bring your food preservation questions to understand the safest way to preserve your fresh produce and learn the best way to preserve food quality, flavor and nutrition.

For complete details, check the web page at http://extension.oregonstate.edu/douglas/. (Scroll down page to Upcoming Events and find the date.) Or, visit the OSU Extension office to register for this program and make your class selections. Registrations are due by Feb. 23.

Steve Renquist is the Horticulture Extension Agent for OSU Extension Service of Douglas County. Steve can be reached by e-mail at

steve.renquist@oregonstate.edu

or phone at 541-672-4461.

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From Confines Of Russia, Radical Stem-Cell Surgeon Tries To Weather Scandal – RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

Posted: at 3:17 pm

A globe-trotting Paolo Macchiarini once epitomized the excitement around pioneering uses for stem cells in medicine. The Italian regenerative scientist and surgeon's goal was to use stem cells to create replacement organs for the terminally ill. And only a few years ago, there were indications that he'd found a way.

Except that his patients kept dying.

So after nine headline-grabbing operations in Sweden, Russia, Britain, and the United States in which most of his patients died after receiving artificial tracheas made from plastic and coated with stem cells, Macchiarini became the focus of media and peer criticism so strong that he was dismissed by his most prestigious employer.

The Karolinska Institute in Stockholm fired him in March for breaching its "fundamental values" and damaging its reputation. Three months later, in June, Swedish police opened an investigation -- which is continuing -- into whether he might have committed involuntary manslaughter.

Meanwhile, despite the ongoing criticism of his record in Europe, Macchiarini continues to lead a research team in bioengineering and regenerative medicine at the University of Kazan, on the banks of the Volga River in Tatarstan, about 800 kilometers east of Moscow.

But there are signs his welcome in Russia may be running out. Today, Macchiarini is restricted purely to research activities in a country that previously allowed him to perform four artificial trachea transplants.

"The grant that Paolo Macchiarini has for work at Kazan Federal University is exclusively for preclinical studies and applies to creating tissue-esophageal structures to replace damaged organs in test nonhuman primates," university spokeswoman Natalia Darashkevich told RFE/RL's Russian Service recently.

Working With Baboons

The restriction to preclinical studies means Macchiarini conducts research that might later be applicable in organ transplants for humans but that he is not operating on human patients. Instead, he is working with baboons.

He also no longer works with tracheas, commonly known as windpipes, but with a different organ, the esophagus, and he no longer pursues the difficult goal of using synthetic materials for the "scaffold," or base structure, of the replacement organ. Instead, he is restricted to using biological tissues, which have been studied by researchers far longer than synthetics such as plastic, and are widely seen as a less challenging substrate on which to grow stem cells.

Roman Deev, the director of science at the Human Stem Cells Institute in Moscow, a leading Russian biotech company, has followed Macchiarini's work in Russia for many years. He told RFE/RL that the surgeon's existing grant from the Russian Science Foundation, which funds his work at Kazan Federal University, automatically expires in 2018.

Deev expressed skepticism that Macchiarini would get another research grant in Russia. "I don't consider [his work now] as something on the front line of real science," he said.

Paolo Macchiarini carrying out the world's first transplant of a synthetic trachea or windpipe on Andemariam Teklesenbet Beyene in Stockholm in 2011. The patient later died in 2014.

That is a long way from Macchiarini's early work in Russia in the late 2000s, when he was a rapidly rising star in his field. Macchiarini was initially brought to the country by Russian businessman Mikhail Batin, an enthusiastic promoter of life-extension technologies and the founder of the Science for Life Extension foundation.

Batin invited Macchiarini to perform a trachea transplant in Russia using not a synthetic trachea but one from a human cadaver. The recipient was a 26-year-old woman from neighboring Kazakhstan named Zhadrya Iglikova, whose own trachea had been seriously injured in a car accident four years earlier.

Failed Experiments

The operation took place in Russia in December 2010 and was initially celebrated by Russian media as a success. Russia's Channel One quoted Iglikova as saying afterward that she was looking forward to going back to work after rehabilitation. But then she dropped out of sight until a TV crew from Swedish national broadcaster SVT interviewed her parents in mid-2016 for a three-part documentary aired by the BBC on Macchiarini titled Fatal Experiments: The Downfall Of A Supersurgeon. The parents told the broadcaster that their daughter was unable to speak or stand and only left their home to visit health facilities.

Just six months after his first operation in Russia, Macchiarini performed his first synthetic trachea transplant in Sweden. That operation, in June 2011, propelled the surgeon to the height of fame and then to the depths of notoriety as he initially claimed full success but, 2 1/2 years later, the patient Andemariam Beyene died when the plastic trachea came loose because the stem cells had failed to fix it to his throat.

In the meantime, Macchiarini went on to perform four more synthetic-trachea transplants in Russia. His other patients were Yulia Tuulik and Aleksandr Zozulya, who died within two years of their 2012 operations; Jordanian citizen Sadiq Kanaan, who died after his operation in 2013; and Dmitry Onogda, who survived the implant in 2014 and its subsequent removal.

Paolo Macchiarini with Chris Lyle, another patient on whom he performed a trachea transplant in Stockholm in 2011. Lyles died a few months later.

Throughout his controversial career, Macchiarini has rejected any suggestions of misconduct.

"I always believed that my operation is able to help the patient," he told RFE/RL in a written response to questions about his activities.

Macchiarini also said that data he received on his patients' postoperative condition justified optimism about their progress.

"None of the reports that I had from the patients' clinicians contained information that was unexpected and concerning, and none of the clinicians raised any urgent or unresolvable issues until the very last days of the first patient's life," he wrote.

Macchiarini added that he had responded in detail to peer criticism and that "my responses to all the accusations made so far are publicly available."

As Macchiarini carries out research in Russia, he continues to come under pressure from scientists in Sweden, including former colleagues, who criticize his work.

Courageous Or Irresponsible?

In October, the editors of the respected online scientific journal, Nature Communications, appended an "Expression Of Concern" to a research report by Macchiarini and co-authors published in April 2014. The editors' note said that an investigation conducted on behalf of the Karolinska Institute had raised concerns regarding the accuracy of some of the data in the report.

In December, a group of Swedish doctors published a petition asking Russian authorities to conduct an investigation into Macchiarini's activities in Russia in light of allegations about his work in Sweden. The petition was handed to Moscow's ambassador to Stockholm but has yet to receive a response.

Still, it remains to be seen whether the criticism will realize its goal of ending Macchiarini's research career. That appears to depend on whether he is offered any new grants in Russia or elsewhere in the future.

As to whether Maccharini's once-revolutionary goal of using synthetic organs combined with stem cells as made-to-order replacement parts for humans will one day be reached, some experts say they are confident it will.

But some of them also argue that it will not be through the former superstar scientist's working methods.

"Further progress is possible, but in science you cannot move forward with giant leaps -- you need to go by small steps," Bengdt Gerdin, a retired professor of surgery at the University of Uppsala who suggested Maccharini had "relied on chance" in his research, told RFE/RL. "Can I call it courage? Perhaps this is a form of courage that borders on irresponsibility."

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Key piece of equipment being replaced at the Savannah River Site – Aiken Standard

Posted: at 3:17 pm

A key piece of equipment at the Savannah River Site is being replaced after nearly 14 years of record-breaking operations performance.

Savannah River Sites Melter 2, a key component in the Defense Waste Processing Facility, is being replaced, according to a press release from contractor Savannah River Remediation.

A heater inside Melter 2 failed on Feb. 1 and is deemed not repairable. Melter 2 is only the second melter in the 20-year history of Defense Waste Processing Facility.

It has been operating nearly 14 years, approximately 12 years beyond its design life expectancy. Melter 1 ran for about six years of radioactive service and another two years of non-radioactive simulant processing.

The operational concept for Defense Waste Processing Facilityis to use a melter until it is no longer operational and then replace it with a new melter. There are no risks to the public, workers, or the environment during melter replacement.

The replacement melter, the third melter to be installed in Defense Waste Processing Facility, known as Melter 3, has been ready for years. Work to install it will begin shortly, and will required approximately six months.

Melter 2 has poured 2,819 canisters during its life, more than double what Melter 1 produced in its life span, which was 1,339 canisters. Melter 1 was placed into radioactive operation in March 1996, following approximately two years of non-radioactive simulant operations. Melter 2 began operating in 2003.

Together, Melters 1 and 2 have poured 4,158 canisters through Jan. 31, 2017. The predicted number of canisters needed to dispose of SRS high-level tank waste is 8,170, according to the SRS Liquid Waste System Plan Rev. 20.

Since beginning operations, Defense Waste Processing Facilityhas poured more than 16 million pounds of glass and has immobilized about 61 million curies of radioactivity.

Savannah River Remediation operates the Defense Waste Processing Facility, as well as other liquid waste facilities at SRS, as part of its contract with DOE. Operations are expected to continue at theDefense Waste Processing Facilityfor approximately 20 more years.

SRR keeps one melter in storage in case the working melter needs to be replaced.

Melter life extension is the product of work by engineers and scientists. The increased Melter 2 operational life resulted from the following:

Incorporating an improved insert in the melter, used from the beginning of this melters operation, ensures glass waste doesnt cause the melters pour spout to erode;

Heating the internal area where the glass flows into a canister to ensure it does not stick;

Adjusting electrical current to the electrode heaters inside the melter to increase its heating capacity; and

Installing agitation bubblers that are used to improve the heat distribution in the waste glass pool in the melter to achieve a better pour rate.

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Piaget Altiplano turns 60, and it’s still the choice of today’s jetset sophisticate – City A.M.

Posted: at 3:16 pm

Last week the great and the good of the luxury world descended upon Geneva Airports Palexpo convention centre for the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie which basically translates as glamorous showcase of mindbogglingly complicated timepieces.

So glamorous, in fact, that even the iron-clad bleakness of Palexpo was not enough to dissuade a healthy crop of A-list visitors, among them Patrick Stewart, Lewis Hamilton and that loveable puppy of hunk, Ryan Reynolds Piagets latest signing alongside equally fabulous Jessica Chastain.

When hes not extolling the virtues of BT Smart Hubs wi-fi reach, Reynolds is persuading newly wealthy millenials that Piaget is no longer the preserve of retired bankers or Steve Martin in Planes, Trains and Automobiles and quite right too; the 60th-anniversary Altiplano pieces he was at SIHH to promote are as crisp and contemporary as youd want from a dress watch (the fact it was his love of that Eighties roadtrip movie that convinced him to sign with Piaget simply makes Ryan even more loveable).

What all this overlooks, however, is the technical mastery involved in realising such a slimline mechanical watch, while maintaining an accuracy that barely wobbles beyond 3 seconds a day. This trademark expertise began in 1957, when Valentin Piaget presented his ultra-thin 9P manual-winding movement to the Basel watch fair.

Being just 2mm thick, the 9P was universally hailed for the elegance of its profile, as well as for its performance and its reliability. Above all, it enabled a broader 20.5 mm dial opening, heralding a new, clean, expansive aesthetic hence the Altiplano name, after the Atacama Deserts pancake-flat Bolivian Plateau.

Ticking inside Ryans new 38mm-diameter is a worthy modern-day heir to the 9P, the manual-winding calibre 430P at just 2.1 mm thick, its combination of winding barrel, geartrain and ticking balance no more voluminous than a two-franc coin.

As confirmed by our two other examples below, and befitting Mr Reynolds zeitgeist appeal, the thinner watch is clearly having something of a moment no bad thing after so many years of flashy, outsized cuff-busters but Piagets is the one to get, and probably will be for another 60 years.

The starting price for the Piaget Altiplano 60th Anniversary pieces is 16,100 (for blue dial model in white gold); Ryan Reynolds green-dial version in yellow gold, pictured, is 22,400. For more information, visit piaget.com

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‘Der Spiegel’ magazine sparks furor as cover depicts Trump beheading Lady Liberty – Deutsche Welle

Posted: at 3:16 pm

Newspapers and magazines around the world have turned to US President Donald Trump for fodder for their front pages.

However, capping off a week that saw the US president sign an executive order banning immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries from traveling to the United States, journals appear to have taken a more somber tone in their depictions of Trump; perhaps none more so than German weekly "Der Spiegel."

Its latest cover has caused afurorand stirred heated debate. Even some of those who don't generally sympathize with Trump's politics see the cover as going too far, even potentially damaging the integrity of the magazine's journalism.

It depicts a recognizable figure of Trump holding up the bleeding head of the Statue of Liberty in one hand, and a bloodstained knife in the other. Inthis week's editorial, "Der Spiegel" editor-in-chief Klaus Brinkbumerdubbed the president "Nero Trump," after the notoriously brutal ancient Roman emperor.

Trump's action and pose depicted on the cover clearly invokes that of Islamist terrorist - and that was always its intention.

The cover's illustrator, Edel Rodriguez, a Cuban political refugee in the US,told the"Washington Post" newspaper that he was prompted to channel his anger into the piece of art following Trump's visa ban.

"It's a beheading of democracy, a beheading of a sacred symbol,"Rodriguez said. "And clearly, lately, what's associated with beheadings is ISIS, so there's a comparison.Both sides are extremists, so I'm just making a comparison between them."

Many Americans havewelcomed the cover as a reflection of how the rest of the world views the new US president.

US filmmaker Morgan Spurlock tweeted: "In case anyone was confused, this is how the world sees the new presidency."

Chris Cillizza of the "Washington Post" described the cover as "stunning."

However, German news organization N24 decried the cover and said it did an injustice to journalism. Journalist Clemens Wergin wrote that the cover"confirms the prejudices many people hold, namelythat the 'mainstream media'does not report without prejudice and that many journalists prefer to promote their own worldview, rather than objectively reporton what is going on in the world."

"Those who allow their own standards to shift will find themselves part of the very zeitgeist that Trump embodies," Wergin added.

Detractors sawconflating Trump with extremism as not just lazy journalismbut also as downplaying the very real threat posed by Islamic jihadism.

Writing in the Daily Wire, right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro described the illustration as "idiotic," especially with Germany facing its own terror threats.

However, while "Der Spiegel's" cover is controversial, those whoassociate themselves with the self-described alt-right movement - a loose collection of right-leaning nationalistic and white-supremacist pundits - are no strangers to posting provocative content.

"Der Spiegel" wasn't the only magazine to depict Trump on its cover this week. US magazine "The New Yorker" adopted a non-violent tone, showing the Statue of Liberty's extinguished torch, while British magazine "The Economist" featured Trump sporting a red "Make America Great Again" cap and getting ready to throw a Molotov cocktail.

Perhaps the most controversial cover this week depicted the president with a sniper's crosshairs superimposed on his head, with a caption reading "Why not." The publication, Ireland's "Village Magazine," ran the cover as part of a feature exploring tyrannicide and democratic lawand came to the conclusion that violence was not the answer to differences of opinion with the US president.

He may just be two weeks into his presidency, but Trump has seen that when he attacks the media, the media attacks back.

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Tambor Felt Great ‘Responsibility’ to Transgender Community in ‘Transparent’ – ABC News

Posted: at 3:16 pm

Actor Jeffrey Tambor said that that when he first read the script for "Transparent," he was so excited about the possibilities he told creator Jill Soloway "I'm in 50,000 times," he told ABC News.

But he also said he realized that playing the part of Maura Pfefferman, a transgender parent, carried with it a "responsibility" that "makes me tremble."

"I met Jill at this Le Pain Quotidien [to read the script years ago] ... I think I said, 'I'm in 50,000 times,' she couldn't get a word in edgewise. I knew it was such a great script, but I had no idea I would be standing at the GLAAD Awards [being honored]," he said. "I'm as equally if not more joyous about the responsibility, though it makes me tremble."

He continued, "lives are at stake."

Tambor, who spoke to ABC News while he was in Houston for Super Bowl LI, promoting a commercial he shot with Tide, said he believes the show, which debuted in 2014, is part of a bigger movement.

"What Jill Soloway [the show's creator] did was shoot this arrow into the zeitgeist, the revolution was already there," he told ABC News. "I just think the timing was amazing and momentous."

Tambor has been lauded for his portrayal of a father coming to terms with who he really is later in life, becoming Maura. For his efforts, he's earned Golden Globe, Emmy and SAG awards, among others. He's called "Transparent" the role of a lifetime, but never imagined he'd be this on-screen symbol of hope for the transgender community.

Tambor said he's seen a change in how people perceive the transgender community and even approach him as the show is enters its fourth season.

He told a story of a man "from the other side of the spectrum," approaching him in public. He believed something nefarious might happen, buy instead, "he just put his hand in mine and said 'Thank you for teaching me about something I didn't know.' That's the whole thing."

The man wasn't the only person who's treated the acclaimed actor differently.

"When I started this I would get the odd comment or odd tweet that was less than salutary," he said. "That doesn't happen anymore. I'm so grateful ... I'm more aware as a citizen, as a husband, as a guest, as a parent if you will. It woke me up and I think everyone is waking up."

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Here Is Everything You Ever Need to Know About Magical Tutting – Inverse

Posted: at 3:16 pm

Itd be easy to pitch Syfys The Magicians by calling it Harry Potter for adults, but thats just the kind of simplification the series avoids. Not only does a Brakebills magical education involve a kind of intellectual rigor that was never present at Hogwarts (Harry never went to class), but actually casting magic in The Magicians requires complicated finger work without the easy crutch of a wand. Children wave sticks and speak some Latin; Brakebills students must learn movements that are not only complex, but they have meaning and purpose that tie into the greater narrative of the stories.

Wands and staves have long been the default tools of unimaginative witches and wizards, but these days, its all about complex hand gestures, or finger tutting. According to Paul Becker, the series choreographer on Syfys The Magicians, the zeitgeist around magic is transforming: I think finger tutting could replace the magic wand. Its way cooler and takes more skill, he told Inverse. I think people are tired of seeing Abracadabra.

Indeed, outside of Harry Potter, magic has taken a turn for the tut. Becker credits Step Up 3D for first introducing tutting to the mainstream, and now its really come into focus with not only The Magicians, but also Marvels hit film Doctor Strange, which was filled with weird conjuring motions. Becker gave Inverse the inside word on all things tutting as the show finds its groove in its second season.

In the books theres relatively little specificity about spellcasting beyond the vague description of intricate finger gestures. How has the development of magic with finger tutting on The Magicians unfolded?

Weve actually developed our own vocabulary a language, if you will and if you compare Seasons 1 and 2, its actually evolved so you can recognize some of the tuts, because some of them have the same meaning. For example, opening a lock or door have some of the same meanings, as does turning heat up and down.

Some of the spells are new; some are a bit of old combined with the new in a sequence, depending on the meaning. Weve really created a vocabulary of spells, and it keeps growing as the causes and effects change. Its been a lot of fun creating it. Choreography isnt just dance steps. Its telling a story, and I think thats why I was brought on: to help tell that story.

Whats the creative process behind developing that vocabulary? How do you decide what motions take on certain meanings?

The whole show is a collaborative process. The producers, the director, and the writers are all giving notes on the tuts, so theres a lot of revisions and even going back to the drawing board at times. Its not as straightforward as a simple finger movement. Its quite intricate.

First, the writers send over the scripts, and a lot of the times it has a brief description probably the type of tut and it generally says what the cause and effect of the tut is. For example, it might cause all of the candles to ignite. So I thought, What might cause candles to ignite? Well, increasingly temperature would do that. So we created a tut that is a general turn the temperature up or down. Things like that, we think deeper than what it says on paper, so thats sort of the process. We try to think, What would cause this? What kind of a gesture would make sense?

I put the tuts on tape, and the actors practice on their own. Then, on the shoot day, I go to set, and then from set we just refine it. Well do set visits and practice with them. Theyre practicing their tuts for a good week or so before they have to shoot it.

And were in different worlds this season, too. Were in Fillory, which is a very earthy, natural, organic world where the spells are very spiritual, if you will. And in Brakebills, its very classical, where the tuts are very geometric and rigid in style. And when we are in New York, its very rough. So weve got three kinds of styles, and three different worlds, and three vocabularies.

Do all characters perform the same spells the same way, or are there subtle variations from character to character?

They should be performing it in the same way because its the same language, but each actor has his or her own limitations. Some have different flexibilities and cant do the same thing. So on the fly, sometimes we have to revise spells because an actor cant move their hand one way or the other. Tutting is quite difficult, so those kinds of limitations have really shaped the language.

What about for special characters like the Beast, who has 12 fingers?

Well, the cool thing about the Beast is that hes so advanced in his tutting and his magic that he doesnt have to do much. He can make the smallest gesture, and itll cause destruction. For the Beast, its small gestures, but that takes years and years of training as a magician.

How did the show as a whole settle on really focusing on tutting as the medium for developing spellcasting?

Obviously, with The OA and Doctor Strange, people are seeing what tutters have done, and theres this developing desire to take tutting to different places and explore it in new ways. For The Magicians, using tutting was something that was developed in the pilot that was shot in Atlanta, that I wasnt involved in. By the time the second episode was ready to shoot, they called me in.

They brought me on board because of my experience with tutting, but almost more so because of my experience with storytelling through choreography; because were not just tutting here its storytelling. And in Season 1, I also got to do the dance number in Quentins mind. We had a lot of fun with that.

But choreography is the art of movement, and a choreographer shouldnt just be able to do dance steps. They should be able to tell a story in a pedestrian way. So I dont think if you just brought on a regular tutter to do this job, you would have the kind of vocabulary weve developed along the way.

Are there any spells that were your favorites?

Yeah, a lot of the ones in Season 2, because were tutting like crazy but I cant talk about many of them yet. But I will say that in the second season theres triple the tuts in every episode. There are way more spells being cast, and with some of the Fillorian spells, theyre very organic and spiritual.

Youve also done some choreography for shows like Once Upon a Time and Legends of Tomorrow. Whats that been like?

With shows like that, a lot of times with choreography, its not a musical number, right? Its movement thats meant to draw the story forward, to advance the plot. So all the scenes I do in shows like that, there are scenes within the scene that move things along. I always say that choreography in general, in a music number, or in any narrative if its not progressing the story, it doesnt belong in the script.

A musical number has to have a beginning, a middle, and an end just like any story, and it has to move the story forward. Thats also what I love about choreography.

Season 2 of The Magicians airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. Eastern on Syfy.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Corey Plante is a multimedia journalist and copy editor living in Brooklyn, NY with his fiancee and two cats. He loves bears, beets, and Battlestar Galactica.

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Younger generation inheritors of knowledge-based economy: President – Lanka Business Online

Posted: at 3:16 pm

Feb 06, 2017 (LBO) President Maithripala Sirisena has called upon all sections of the society to work with determination and commitment to win economic freedom through achieving the goal of sustainable development and poverty alleviation.

This goal will be achieved through the commitment of intellectuals, the strength of the labour force of workers and peasants, active participation of the youth of the nation as well as efficient utilization of innovative human resource force, the President said.

Addressing the nation on the 69th Independence Anniversary at the Galle Face, Saturday, he said economic freedom could be achieved through a knowledge based economy with innovative technical skill development.

The nation has the capacity and strength of skilled human resources and intellectuals as well as resourceful young generation to carry out such development endeavours, he said.

In the 21st century, the nations need knowledge based education, knowledge economy, innovative economy, digital economy and in this process the youths should play a pivotal role.

The President said the youth of Sri Lanka have the determination and desire for absorbing new technology and innovative skills, he said that the government would provide all the requirements essential for the youths to obtain that knowledge.

The young generation is the inheritors and custodians of the building process of the knowledge based economy.

I am trust that the youths, intellectuals, politicians, all other sections of the society would fulfill their responsibilities and duties with absolute commitment and determination to build the Motherland, President Sirisena added.

He said that there is a new meaning in todays freedom as we are talking about a freedom that blows freely across the skies.

This is an era in which the human freedom, media freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of thought and freedom to gather freely blow across the skies.

The President, pointing out that there are strengths and weaknesses in social democracy and market economy, said that we should understand those strengths and weaknesses in order to adopt a mixed system by obtaining positive segments of both the systems.

He emphasized the imperative need for eliminating corruption, bribery, malpractices, waste and fraud and said it is essential for the politicians and public servants to work honestly and with commitment.

When we attempt to achieve economic prosperity, it is essential for the politician to be a character of honesty and commitment. Furthermore I trust the politicians and public servants fulfill the responsibilities and duties honestly and with commitment to build the Motherland.

The President recalled the sacrifices made by all the communities to gain independence during various struggles from 1505 to 1948.

We have to remember that sweet fragrance of their great sacrifices with gratitude today.

During the 30-year old conflict to liberate the country from the LTTE, the heroic soldiers made many sacrifices. Hundreds of thousands people sacrifices, lives and limbs and their families also suffered immense difficulties. Economy was ruined. Today we have to ask the question whether all those who died were the losers and all those who are living are the victors? I believe that all of us should learn a lesson from that.

The President pointed out that the governments endeavour for reconciliation and communal harmony has been praised locally as well as internationally.

He said that he considers the opportunistic forces that are against reconciliation process as the forces against the country.

President Sirisena called upon everybody to fulfill the responsibilities and duties to build a nation which is economically prosperous, fortified in knowledge and maintains international goodwill.

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Younger generation inheritors of knowledge-based economy: President - Lanka Business Online

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