Browns WR Josh Gordon Suspension Upheld

The decision from the NFL has finally come; Josh Gordon will be suspended for the entirety of the 2014-15 NFL season for his third recorded failure under the NFL’s substance abuse program. The sentence was handed down yesterday, on the eve of Cleveland’s final preseason game before the first week of the NFL season.

The Pro Bowl wide-receiver is technically suspended indefinitely, which puts the Browns in a somewhat precarious position going into the regular season without their best playmaker. It would actually be more apt to say that the development is devastating to Cleveland’s offense going into the season. They’re 0-3 in the preseason, and go into Thursday night’s game against the Chicago Bears needing some confidence before the start of the regular season.

Quarterback Brian Hoyer has been declared this year’s starter, and is expected to play most of the first quarter before handing the reins on over to rookie backup Johnny Manziel as Cleveland’s first team offense tries to get it’s act together before it’s September 7th season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Hoyer has expressed enthusiasm about the upcoming season, despite his team’s slow start in the preseason. He’s convinced that things will get better, and that many of Cleveland’s issues are self-inflicted, as opposed to stemming from being outplayed in their last three match ups.

“I don’t feel we’re down on ourselves,” he said. “The most frustrating part to us is that we do some things really well and then we shoot ourselves in the foot.

“It’s not like we’re going out there and just going three and out, three and out, three and out. That’s the frustrating part. If we just (stunk) then I think we would kind of just be down on ourselves, but we realize what we can be.

“That’s the most frustrating part and that’s why we’ve been coming out of these games feeling mad at ourselves. Obviously we want to go out and play and execute Thursday night really well, but I don’t think there’s going to be any type of hangover whether it’s positive or negative going into regular season. I think it’s a whole new ball game when that comes around.”

Hoyer, as long as he hangs on to the starting job, won’t have Gordon as a target for the entire season. Nate Burleson could be of some help going forward, however he has yet to prove that he can remain healthy to be productive to the entire season. He’s been sidelined with a hamstring issue, and will be making his preseason debut this evening. Because of his injury, Burleson isn’t a lock to make the final roster – however, Hoyer has stated that Burleson’s veteran knowledge can help Cleveland’s rookie quarterbacks and young receivers acclimate more quickly.

“It’s great to have Nate back out here,” Hoyer said. “Obviously, we got to see him out here earlier in the spring and to have him back out here another veteran guy who knows what he’s supposed to do. Nate has had a great career, to have a guy like that around us is only going to benefit us.”

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How Long Will Andrew Luck’s Luck Last?

Andrew Luck is one of football’s most compelling players. Not only is he a great quarterback, but he is much more than just that. He is the most pro-ready quarterback to come out of college in years, but he also knows how to make the most out of every possession and scramble and run for first downs. Despite those instincts and qualities, he has been the most inconsistent quarterback in his two-year career.

What makes his play even more interesting is that he knows how to win. Surrounded by one of the worst rosters in the NFL and a coaching staff and front office who do nothing but put obstacles in his way, Luck has compiled back-to-back 11-5 seasons at the helm of a team that was 2-14 the year before he arrived. Many of those wins have been by one touchdown or less.

Luck and the Colts were 9-1 in one- touchdown games during his rookie season and followed up his next year with 5-1. But does Luck deserve credit for these close wins? The running game is not what is fueling these wins and although the defense is impressive, Luck has contributed to the offense producing at least 17 points. On five different occasions, Indy’s defense has allowed 27 points or more in one-touchdown games. They’re 5-0 in those games. And of course, all close games have a story of their own. Some are close contests that are decided during the final snap, while others amp up the volume only late in the fourth quarter, after a mostly meaningless game. Out of these 16 close colt games, how much credit can be given to Luck?

He actually deserves a lot of credit. The Colts seemed to be dependent on Luck to get them through most of the fourth quarter, make a big stop on defense and finish up the game with a first down shortly after. Of Luck’s 16 close contests as a pro, only five are packed in, like the Broncos game in which Matt Prater kicked a field goal with 17 seconds left to turn a 39-30 scoreline into a 39-33 contest.

If the Colts continue to be dependent on close games for half of their wins this season, they will be in trouble. Although Luck proved the numbers wrong in 2013, they won’t be on his side for the rest of his career. Whether his initial run was random or a stroke of luck, he can not expect wo win over 85 percent of his close games as his career continues.

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University of Buffalo Receives NIH Grand for Women’s Health

The University of Buffalo recently received a $4 million National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to look at the oral health of women that are postmenopausal. The study will begin an ongoing project to research oral microbiome and the chronic diseases of aging. They are particularly interested in studying postmenopausal women and whether or not there is evidence of oral microbiome and periodontitis in women of this age. This research received such a large grant because it is really operating on the cutting edge of technology in science. There is no knowledge of the link between composition and the role of oral microbiome in our mouths. More specifically, they are studying the microbiome of the subgingival (under the gums) area of the mouth and most specifically between the gums and the basal part of the crowns of your teeth. The hypothesis of the researchers is that particular compositions of the microbiome will be connected to periodontal disease prevalence and how severe and progressive the disease is over time. The University of Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, the University of Buffalo School of Dental Medicine, the University of Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions, and the University of Buffalo’s New York State Center for Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, as well as the new Genomic Medicine Network will conduct the study. With all of these departments working together, the project is interdisciplinary and should tackle the questions from as many angles as possible to make great strides in dental health for post-menopausal women. The chief investigator is Dr. Jean Wactawski-Wende who states, “to our knowledge, there is no prospective epidemiologic study as large and rich with available data resources that can address the cutting-edge questions we propose here on the oral microbiome and its relationship to periodontitis in postmenopausal women. We expect our results to lay the foundation for the study of the association of the oral microbiome to the development of other chronic diseases of aging.”

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Education Series Hopes to Improve Oral Health

The Oral Health Collaborative recently posted a study that had some shocking news about oral health care in Oregon. They determined that 77 people visit an emergency room in Oregon every day for easily preventable dental related issues. To combat this shocking fact in Oregon, reporters have launched a series of discussions about the issue called Oregon’s Oral Exam. There is also an even bigger effort that has been organized by the Oral Health Funder Collaborative and the Oregon Health Authority. This pair of organizations is hoping to tackle the shortage of oral health care professionals in thestate as well as providing oral health education to the younger generation so that they will establish healthy habits early. The role of the Oral Health Funders Collaborative is to develop the plan while the Oregon Health Authority oversees what they are doing. The role of Oregon’s Oral Exam is to talk to the public and note their concerns and communicate those with the other organization.

Among the problems that these organizations will face is that Oregon is a very low-income state. That is why not many dentists and dental hygienists want to work in the state because they can make more money working somewhere else. Also, those who are poorest in the state are uninsured so they are most likely to go to the ER for oral health treatments, where they are most likely to get painkillers and antibiotics and then be turned away. Also, dental benefits have not been required in the state that is why many are not insured. It wasn’t until 2014 that dental health benefits actually covered more than just emergency room care. Now that there is more coverage, the state of Oregon needs to work on getting enough dental professionals to keep up with demand so that their inhabitants are healthy.

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Red Wine Helps Dental Health?

Although some people avoid red wine because of surface stains on their teeth, it may be true that the fermented grape drink helps to prevent oral health issues. According to some media reports, different types of red wine actually inhibit dental caries. However, since the media frenzy over this fact, some dental professionals have moved in to disprove the media’s claims. Red wine has been proven, when consumed in moderation, to lower cholesterol, which then has a positive effect on the heart, controls blood sugar, and boosts brain activity. The new information stating that red wine can potentially help avert cases of dental caries was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Although the research suggested that there was potentially a link, media outlets like the Huffington Post and Medical News Today brought the hype to a new level touting Red Wine as a cavity fighter. The research shows that Red Wines and some Red Wines without alcohol slow the development of some kinds of bacteria in oral biofilm. However, the study showed that the Red Wine failed to have an effect on the growth of a bacteria known as S. mutans, which are actually related to dental caries. The study used five different oral pathogens made of biofilm: Streptococcus mutans, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Stoptococcus oralis, Actinomyces oris, and Veillonella dispar. The real research shows, “that chlorhexidine gluconate (0.2%) was more effective than the other substances studied in reducing microbial levels. However, in clinical studies 0.5% to 1.0% clorhexidine gel or rinse is not very effective in caries prevention according to ADA Evidence-Based Dentistry Guidelines.”

The press releases that are encouraging using red wine for dental caries, dentists are evaluating the use. The studies that involve red wine, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic have conflicting results. This simply shows that in vitro lab testing is not perfect for forecasting studies or for predicting what will happen in clinical trials.

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Even with Judge Being Overruled, S.E.C. Agenda Changed

This week, Judge Jed S. Rakoff’s stand against Wall Street and the S.E.C.’s leniency was overruled. Judge Rakoff took squared up against the Securities and Exchange Commission when he rejected their settlement deal with Citigroup in 2011, believing that the agency was not being tough enough. This week a federal panel as part of the United State Court of Appeals overturned Judge Rakoff’s 2011 decision. However, even though the judge may have lost the battle, he is winning the war against Wall Street.

Since his 2011 ruling many have rallied behind Judge Rakoff. He has influenced other judges in their rulings and many have questioned various securities cases. Also, others who are critics of Wall Street have come to see Judge Rakoff as a leader trying to crack down on their wrongdoings. Rolling Stone magazine even called him “a sort of legal hero of our time.” The S.E.C. has also taken notice of Judge Rakoff’s critique of their policies via his ruling and the chairwoman, Mary Jo White has been working on changing some policies to come down harder on companies. Last year they ditched their policy that allows companies to neither “admit nor deny wrongdoing.” Now they have to own up to their actions.

There were others that agreed with Judge Rakoff on the Citigroup case. After his ruling, in 2012 a federal jury rejected an S.E.C. case against a midlevel Citigroup employee. The jury’s main concern echoed that of Judge Rakoff, prompting them to ask the questions, “Why didn’t they go after the higher-ups rather than a fall guy?” This was not Judge Rakoff’s first attempt at trying to get the S.E.C. to stand up against Wall Street. He also rejected another S.E.C. deal with Bank of America. After several attempts to get the deal passed, he finally allowed it, but publically pronounced it was “half-baked justice at best.”

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What is Evidence-Based Dentistry?

The American Dental Association (ADA) recently sponsored a conference titled Evidence Based Dentistry (EBD) Champions 2.0: Implementing Science in Practice. The overall goal of the conference was to help the participants learn about advanced concepts and how to implement Evidence Based Dentistry. They divided EBD into some key areas of focus like clinical practice, policy and education and how to broadly deliver EBD to patients. The main spokesperson for the ADA and EBD is Jane Gillette, DDS.

Dr. Gillette stresses that EBD is important to understand to “keep practitioners current with changes in treatments and products. It is similar to Continuing Education (CE) but more structured. It involves asking a focused question, doing a literature search to find manuscripts to answer questions posed by the clinician and evaluating the evidence for scientific rigor and bias, consistency of results, and volume of evidence.” There is also the belief throughout the ADA that dental hygiene programs should also be teaching EBD as well as Dental schools. If more dental professionals have a formalized course in EBD they will know how to more efficiently find resources and how to teach EBD. The ADA Center for Evidence Based Dentistry is filled with resources for dental professionals to access. To more efficiently disseminate information about EBD, Dr. Gillette recommends creating an EBD learning environment by creating a team of EBD experts to get the information out to public health, private practice, education, and corporate sectors. She stresses that the key to creating a team like this is to find like-minded dentists and dental hygienists to get together and formulate questions and do research together with excellent resources to answer the questions you may have. It may be helpful for your group to first focus on questions that you usually get from patients. If you prefer to work by yourself rather than in a group there are plenty of resources available. Note, the workbook available on Amazon, Evidence-Based Decision Making and on online course at dentalcare.com titled, Evidence-Based Decision Making; Introduction and Formulating Good Clinical Questions.

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Welcome to iOS8

Last year marked the biggest change for mobile devices with the introduction of a new iOS system. Many had been using the operating system that they were used to for many year and the introduction of a new system took some adjusting and getting used to. Nowit seems that the evolution of iOS is on a fast track. So, what is better about iOS8 that we didn’t have with iOS7? Apple has yet to introduce all of the new features of the operating system, but here is what they have revealed so far.

First, the notifications center has changed. There is an interactive notifications feature. This allows you to do new things like swiping down to quickly reply to a message, even from the lock screen. These types of interactive notifications are very similar to those found in OS X Mavericks. Other features in the interactive notifications section include quickly favorite-ing contacts simply by double-tapping to multitask. In Safari, with this new OS you can look at multiple tabs by simply clicking “tab view,” which is on the top right corner of the iPad. This feature is also available on the brand new Yosemite OS X. Other features include a Mail change where you can use a swiping gesture to go straight from a message you’re writing to your inbox and then easily pop back to the drafted message.

These changes are exciting and usually make things easier, if you are able to adapt and know how to use them. Other new features in iOS8 include a new version of the keyboard. This change is known as Quick Type. It is advanced enough to suggest keywords and it is context and person sensitive. It recognizes other words you type and suggests words appropriate to that conversation. It also looks at who you are talking to or messaging and suggests words that are most appropriate to that conversation.

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Grass Eating Bacteria Produce Biofuel

Researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Georgia have successfully engineered bacteria that eat switchgrass and convert it into ethanol by digesting it. This process is much faster and cheaper than any other method of producing biofuel. It is a wonderful re-producible resource, but has been much more expensive than other fuels, making biofuel largely economically impractical. The creation of the bacteria changes the game because it is cheaper than crude oil. The only issue is that it is not known if biofuel is any better for the environment that traditional fossil fuels. Although we are able to reproduce it and the source is plant matter, burning it may be just as harmful on the environment, so it doesn’t solve too many problems in that respect. However, the researchers ability to create the bacteria is a triumph and a stepping stone for other projects.

The next phase of this idea is taking place at Arizona State University. Here synthetic biologists are working on generating bacteria that can turn carbon dioxide into crude oil. If this process is successful it could change the world. One of the researchers on the project, Joel Garreau states that the chemical process to turn Co2 into crude oil takes 27 steps. They have a biotechnology lab where they are growing algae “and taking these 27 chemical steps and stitching them together in one organism.” It seems that our energy future lies in creating bacteria to make fuel for us. Using the power of bacteria’s biological process can quickly and cheaply create fuels like ethanol and crude oil. While the Co2 eating bacteria is still in the works, the grass eating and biofuel producing bacteria is a reality. The researchers are now mass producing the bacteria to get them up to an economically viable scale to work on larger scale production.

Tooth Decay High in Children

Tooth decay is the top oral health issues for many children in Qatar. A recent study was conducted by the Al Wakra Hospital’s Prosthodontics consultant, Dr. Mohamed Sultan al-Darwish and found that of 2,113 students 85 percent of them had tooth decay. These students come from 12 different government schools and 4 different private schools and were 50 percent boys and 50 percent girls. Dr. al-Darwish received his PhD in the UK from the University of Gloucestershire based on this research. He used four other dentists and six data-entry dental assistants with him on the project to evaluate the students.

Dr. al-Darwish explained that tooth decay is usually caused by many factors, but has to do with plaque bacteria which diffuses into hard dental tissues that dissolves the mineral content of teeth. He adds, “the three essential factors for dental caries are dental plaque, which can contain harmful bacteria, carbohydrates in the diet and susceptible teeth. The prevalence of dental caries among the school children in Qatar is 85%. The mean value of DMFT is 4.6, 4.8, and 5.5 for 12, 13, and 14-year-old children, respectively. These values are well above the recommended levels of the World Health Organization (WHO), which suggests no more than a DMFT of 3 at the age of 12 years.” He concludes that there needs to be more of an awareness of the oral health needs of schoolchildren in Qatar. Dr. al-Darwish’s study also looked at the associations of the children’s oral health with their knowledge of oral health, their teeth irregularity, and their lifestyle (TV habits, Internet use, passive smoking, and diet).

Dr. al-Darwish’s research will probably be added to the world database of oral heath and diseases to supplement the records of the WHO. The WHO may compare this study in Qatar with similar results that they have found in the Eastern Mediterranean in order to find some sort of solution. Dr. al-Darwish’s study recommends the best way to improve the student’s oral health is to educate parents and school teachers with accurate information in order to raise the general health awareness of those in the area.

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Welcome to the Godzilla Revival

Since the first Japanese film debuted 60 years ago, Godzilla has been a popular film subject. The first movie was mostly to help the Japanese work through the terror that had occurred nine years earlier when two atomic bombs were dropped on their country. Godzilla was a warning story, as well as a way to acknowledge horrors and make them a little less frightening by working through them on screen with a large lizard. Since the first movie was released in 1954 many other Godzilla themed movies followed. The first was an American adaptation of the original Japanese film. This version was released in 1956 and named, Godzilla: King of the Monsters. A few movies had situations where Godzilla met other famous characters like King Kong and Venusian princesses, Megalon, the robot Jet Janguar, and Ultraman. In 1998 Roland Emmerich released a film titled, Godzilla, that tried to find realism and made Godzilla into a T. Rex. Godzilla appeared again in the 2004 film, Godzilla: Final Wars. In this most recent adaptation Godzilla comes from outer-space with 13 other monsters.

The new Godzilla film, directed by Gareth Edwards’s is epic and utilizes excellent CGI effects. It doesn’t focus solely on the monster, but instead tries to imagine how the modern world would react to encountering Godzilla for the first time. Creatively, the movie is very interesting. Edwards starts it with a sequence of images from Darwin’s On the Origin of Species along with footage of historic events like famous presidents and experimental nuclear bombs and some fictional sequences. The characters in the movie that make up most of the action and are largely at the center of the plot are Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) who is a nuclear engineer and his son Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who is a military explosives-disposal expert. The arrival of the monster mends their relationship after Joe Brody was convinced of foul play when the plant where he worked in Japan was destroyed. Ford and Joe discover that the government is using the plant to grow a Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism (MUTO) that hatches when the two are there and is a giant, prey-mantis figure. The giant bugs destruction allows Edwards to keep the suspense of Godzilla’s arrival at bay for a while. He can also show off the special effects that make this movie so enjoyable. Head to the theatres with popcorn in hand to see how the rest of the movie plays out and pay homage to the old while embracing the new.

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The News of Acquisitions

Tech and start up acquisitions have been occurring at a faster rate this year than they have in the past ten years. The deals cost more and they seem to be happening all over. The most recent big news flash came from the stir around the possibility of Apple acquiring Beats Electronics. This transaction would be huge because it is the largest acquisition for the computer company since 1996 when they bought Steve Jobs’ NeXT for $429 million. The Beats Electronics acquisition makes the NeXT transaction look like peanuts because the price tag is $3.2 billion. The Apple deal goes along with many other, so called “unicorn” acquisitions in the tech industry. Over the past year Facebook bought WhatsApp and Oculus, Google bought Waze and Nest Labs, Microsoft bought Nokia, and Yahoo acquired Tumblr. This rush in acquisitions will surely change the industry and how companies operate and how investors choose to apply their money. These companies that are consuming other now have an ability to quickly grow the companies they have acquired through sales. This fact is why Google has been pushing the advertising business for much of the revenue from their acquired companies. This is simply the fastest way to make money from a recently acquired company. Because so many companies have been so successful recently with acquiring and building revenue from acquisitions, any hesitance of bringing in new product lines has essentially disappeared. Now Apple, Facebook, and Google are eagerly buying up companies that make any sense to own. This is why Apple felt comfortable buying up Beat Electronics to put the headphones in along with their existing product lines. Google buying Nest also made sense for them because of the data the company could provide and the fact that it is central in the home. It is clear these tech companies are flourishing because of their acquisitions, which means that the flood of transactions won’t stop anytime soon.

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Manziel Needs Gordon

The Cleveland Browns almost had a great team this year. They recruited Johnny Menziel in the draft and they hold one of the top five wide receivers in the country, Josh Gordon. Together, they are great. Separately, Manziel will have a hard time getting the team together to stand up to the very physical division of the NFL they are in. The problem is that Manziel was able to throw deep in college, but he depended on his teammates to be there to catch whatever he presented them with. Gordon is still currently on the team, but he may be suspended for a year. This leaves Manziel alone, without someone to lean on like Gordon. The rest of the team is not strong enough to help him the way that Gordon could have so this leaves Manziel with a pretty bleak looking rookie year.

It comes down to the Browns not being smart about Gordon’s possible suspension and taking some risks during the draft. During the 2014 National Football League Draft the Browns traded down to No. 9, hoping that they could get a receiver from Texas A&M named Mike Evans. However, Evans didn’t slip and went to Tampa Bay as many predicted. When that didn’t work out in their favor they went for a corner instead after trading up to 8 and then they stopped looking for a receiver. The draft game is tricky, but it doesn’t seem like the Browns did a good job of anticipating what they needed to do to make this draft work in their favor. This is a shame because Manziel is a good player, but without a team to back him up, the Cleveland Browns are in for a pretty tricky season. Manziel has been described as a quarterback that plays like a running back, but his skills may not be enough. The matchups for this season may see that he is the only valuable player and have even more incentive to sack the Browns quarterback.

Nets Win in First Round of Playoffs

The NFL playoffs are in full swing and the Nets have proven they are worthy opponents. They had a great win on Sunday in Toronto against the Raptors in front of 20,547 fans. At the end of the game, after they won by a thread in the last minute, Paul Pierce let out a scream and started pumping his fist in the air. He said after the game that he was in the right place at the right time to make the block on Kyle Lowry that won game 7 for the Nets at the end of this series. It came down to Pierce’s block in the end because Deron Williams missed 3 of the 6 free throws in the last few minutes of the game. This meant that the Nets only had a 104-103 lead in the last 8.8 seconds so Pierce needed to block to bring his team to victory. Garnett also contributed to the game 7 win by saving his best performance of the series for Sunday’s game. He had 12 points, 11 rebounds and one big block during this game. Regardless of who made mistakes and who brought their best game, the overall team came to a victory, which means they get to move on to their real opponents, the Miami Heat.

Joe Johnson says of taking on the Heat, “we know we can beat them.” The Nets did have success against the Miami Heat and LeBron James during the regular season this year. The Nets swept the four-game season series with Miami. This is remarkable because Miami hasn’t lost four games in a row to one team during the regular season since a former era with the Big Three. They probably won’t have the same calls they did when they played Miami during the season, but after coming off this victory in Toronto, the Nets are confident that they will win against Miami in the upcoming games.

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Recent Hire Indicates iWatch is Coming

Apple has been making a few hires recently that should make people sit up and take note. These new team members include medical technology executives that may be aiding Apple in developing biotechnology for devices like the iWatch and other wearable devices from the maker of the iPhone. In the past year, Apple has hired at least six of the most prominent experts in the field of biomedicine. Additionally, Apple has been bringing hardware experts and other medical professionals on board.

These new hires all have skills in sensor technology. This kind of focus in hiring and researching may have to do with the Chief Executive of Apple, Tim Cook making a statement last year that the sensor technology aspect of his company was ready “to explode.” It seems that Apple has it in mind to find ways for technology to sensor and work with your body to do various tasks like monitor blood sugar levels and assess nutrition in new ways that go beyond what current fitness technology is able to accomplish. Malay Gandhi is the chief strategy officer at Rock Health, a venture capital firm in San Francisco that has backed other prominent wearable tech start ups. Gandhi has been watching Apple’s hiring choices closely and notes, “this is a very specific play in the biosensing space.” Apple is really pushing to hire and make moves on a bio-sensing product because of Cook’s promise to deliver a device. Apple hasn’t made a new device since 2010, when they introduced the iPad. Investors still believe in Apple, but time is passing by and the technology needs to show that they are still issuing new products to keep investors around. By the end of this year we should see some evidence that Apple is working on a new line of devices. The watch is most likely the next product to appear. Apple has already registered the “iWatch” trademark in Japan and it will probably make its way here soon.

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The Digital Age of Dentistry

There is now an old way of dentistry and a new way. The old way means when you have an injury like a cracked tooth, you have to have a model made of the injured tooth, send the impression to a laboratory to make a crown, wait for the crown to be made, come back a week later and have the crown put in place. The old way takes time, multiple visits, and more discomfort as you wait for the injury to be mended. The new way is quicker and uses computers to help you back to health faster. Using computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technologies dentists can now make crowns in one office visit so that you don’t need to return to the office. This process works by using an intra-oral camera to take a digital scan of the mouth. This scan then appears on a screen as a 3-D image of your teeth and gums. Using that image the computer determines the ideal dimensions for the crown, which the dentist then refines. When the image of the crown is ready the digital information is transferred to a milling machine that carves out the crown from a ceramic block so it can be cemented to the tooth of the patient. This whole process takes less than two hours, a far cry from the older method that can take over a week.

Making crowns while you wait is not the only new development in the digital age of dentistry. There is now digital radiography (X-rays), which is faster than traditional X-rays and they expose patients to less radiation. There is also now a cone-beam computed tomography that is being utilized in dentist offices. This is like a CT scan for dentists that give a picture of the teeth, gums, tissues, and nerves around the mouth. Another innovation includes digital dentures that are made with computer design and digital manufacturing, similar to the process of making a digital crown. The advantage of having a digital record of the denture is that it can easily be replaced if broken or misplaced. The digital future of the dental industry is exciting and helping to innovate how we are cared for.

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Effect of Donald Sterling’s Remarks On LA Clippers’ Playoff Performance

Now it is crystal clear exactly where the Clippers owner stands. Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers has had people wondering for years. His character was always in question the way he would hire models to flank him for parties and parade around the locker room before games pointing to players getting dressed as if they were his show ponies. Then came the remarks this week. However, a long time Clippers employee asked, “have you ever typed his name into Google? The first word that pops up next to his name is ‘racist.’ That didn’t happen this week. It’s been the first word that pops up after his name for years.” The fact that Sterling is a known racist has been public knowledge for sometime because he had to pay a record high $2.725 million in November of 2009 in order to settle a dispute that he discriminated against Black and Hispanic families, including children, in apartment buildings that he owns in the Los Angeles area.

Despite this disappointing past Donald Sterling was able to stay out of trouble for a few years by excusing himself from the limelight. He went without the parties and stopped parading through the locker room from about 2010 until last Friday. The release of his remarks on Friday was a shock because many had forgotten the ugly underbelly of the owner because he had laid low for so many years. On Friday, TMZ released audio of Sterling making some very racist remarks to his girlfriend, Stiviano. This is even more complicated because Sterling is married. His wife, Rochelle is always at the games by his side, however many knew about Stiviano, who also frequented the Clippers games. The TMZ audio confirms what many had heard about Sterling through anecdotes and first-hand experience over many years. In addition to putting up with his behavior, now players have to respond to the many fans who are livid about Sterling’s behavior. Many of the players have stated that they are just as outraged and have to defend staying with the team by saying they are not playing for Sterling.

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Pfizer Attempting to Buy AstraZeneca

The United States drug maker, Pfizer Inc. is working on a bid to buy the UK Company AstraZeneca Plc. So far two of their bids have been rejected and Pfizer is hoping that AstraZeneca will come around to the tune of $100 billion.

AstraZeneca stands as Pfizer’s rival in the UK so it would be a great help to the US Company to absorb their business. Additionally, it would increase their output of cancer drugs and cut costs for the company and give them tax savings. It makes sense why Pfizer is pushing so hard for the deal, despite AstraZeneca’s wriggling and evasions.

The potential of such a deal going through has boosted the stock of both companies. Shares in AstraZeneca have jumped 17 percent after news broke that Pfizer was pursuing them again. Pfizer’s stock also rose slightly, about 1.5 percent, in US premarket trading. If this deal were to go through it would be the largest foreign acquisition of any British firm. Additionally, it would mark the largest ever, pharmaceutical deal. The Chief Executive for Pfizer, Ian Read said that “society wants products faster, they want more products and they want value…Industry is responding to society’s request for increased efficiencies and productivity.” If the merger goes through Pfizer would be able to get more cancer medication through the pipeline, as well as other drugs to keep up with the reference ‘need of society’ to have lots of medication available quickly. Additionally, they may be able to drive down some of their cost so that they can keep up with the generic drug alternatives.

So far, AstraZeneca has been unwilling to talk to Pfizer about the deal, despite more money and repeated attempts from the US Company. However, Pfizer is not giving up hope because they really believe that this merger makes the most sense for both their company and AstraZeneca investors.

Google Joins Forces with SunPower to Fund Solar Homes

Today, Google and SunPower announced a partnership in the form of a $250 million fund designated for financing solar leases, in which homeowners pay for solar electricity rather than for the solar panels that are put on their rooftops. Google announced it would contribute roughly $100 million, while SunPower is on the hook for the remaining $150 million.

The deal is a boost for SunPower's residential leasing program, which it launched in 2011, and has seen some nice growth through its network of dealers that market those leases and installation services, though this business line has yet to significantly contribute to SunPower's revenues. Roughly 20,000 customers across the country have signed on with SunPower for home leases, which can run up to 20 years.

Google is hardly new to the solar power/housing markets. Google has set up other funds in the past of at least $355 million for residential leases through companies like SolarCity and Clean Power Finance.

Google is highly public in its support for renewable and sustainable energy projects. Google has inked deals in the form of wind power projects in the U.S. as well as abroad. Yesterday, Google had announced that it had signed a contract with MidAmerican Energy to buy up to 407 megawatts of wind energy in Iowa.

There has been considerable activity in the residential solar market, having outpaced the commercial and utility segments in 2013, and is starting to attract more conventional electric power companies that produce power with fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. Amongst these companies are Edison International and NextEra, and some of them are not just taking stakes in companies that sell solar services to customers. Some of these companies are actually buying solar companies so as to enter the market themselves.

Due to increased competition and activity in the residential market as well, there have been a series of acquisitions made by solar companies, such as SolarCity and Real Goods Solar, to improve their sales and marketing, as well as to increase market share and speed up installation speeds. However, analysts suspect that the industry growth is ready to hit a wall in the near future.

More Evidence of Link Between Periodontal Disease and Cardiovascular Risk

There has long been evidence that periodontal issues and gingivitis have had links to issues with cardiovascular health, even cardiovascular disease. A new, large multicentre study drives this point home. The report was released on April 9, 2014 and used over 15,000 patients with chronic coronary heart disease and information about their dental health.

The results showed that many of the 15,000 showed indicators of periodontal disease like very few remaining teeth or gum bleeding. These symptoms went along with cardiovascular disease and were also accompanied by socioeconomic risk factors. One the other hand those patients who had fewer risk factors of CVD like lower glucose levels, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, systolic blood pressure, and waist circumference had more teeth and few dental issues. In these, more cardiovascular healthy, patients they were also less likely to smoke and have Diabetes and had more teeth. These patients usually had achieved a higher level of education, used more alcohol and had more stress at work.

This report was published in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology. They asked those in the study to report how many teeth they had (non, 1-14, 15-20, 21-25, or 26-32 ALL). They also asked them to report on whether their gums bled when they brushed their teeth. 16% of those in the study reported that they had no teeth, a very high number. 41% said they had less than 15 teeth remaining, and just over a quarter of those surveyed said they had experienced gum bleeding when brushing their teeth. There were some differences when it came to different ethnic groups. The highest rate of both tooth loss and gum bleeding came from Eastern Europe. Of everyone questioned, nearly 70% claimed to be smokers.

The facts cannot be ignored. Cardiovascular disease is greatly affected by gum and mouth health. The only way to stop this is to increase education, try to fight poverty, and convince people that for their own self interest they need to stop smoking and to brush and floss. Cardiovascular disease is one of the biggest killers on the planet and anything we can do to prevent more people from dying is worthwhile.

The Interworking of the Facebook New Feed

Have you ever wondered how facebook decides what goes on your news feed? Is everything that someone posts on your account? Turns out the answer is no. Not all of your friends activities pop up on your newsfeed because there is a limited amount that they can post on your news feed per day because there isn’t enough room to post everything, plain and simple. The problem is that the competition for news feed space is getting more and competitive, as there is more traffic on facebook. Last year, the number of pages that people “liked” went up by over 50%.

So as traffic increases, facebook makes decisions about how to filter what they are going to put on your news feed, but they don’t usually communicate this to their customers, which as resulted in some criticism of the social media giant. This is especially upsetting to small businesses that have encouraged fans/consumers to “like” their page and who pay for facebook ads only to have their reach and advertising power filtered, seemingly randomly, by facebook. Facebook claims that with the amount of likes and friends that people have, the posts flooding into their news feed could be up to 15,000 per day. To help readers handle this, they do not treat each post equally and therefore filter some out. Facebook aims to show the most engaging posts to the viewer. It is in their best interest to keep the viewer entertained, so they don’t want to fill your news feed with things you do not want to see.

To filter your news feed, facebook uses an algorithm, known as EdgeRank. This analyzes relevance to the users using over 100,000 different indicators of importance. Some of the most powerful factors are how popular a post is (how many likes), how popular past posts have been by the same creator, what kind of post it is (photo, status update, video, etc.), and how recently it was posted. It comes down to the more successful and popular you are on facebook the more you earn space on friend’s news feeds. In some ways it feels like going back to high school.







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