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Member Since 11 Oct 2010
Offline Last Active May 08 2013 01:39 PM

#3849758 Which Is Best

Posted Kollektiv on 16 February 2013 - 06:32 AM

Team Abni. Bailamos turned down Abni's challenge to a RBG World Series.

#3847535 Arena Egos

Posted andysc on 11 February 2013 - 04:13 PM

View PostThugjitsu, on 11 February 2013 - 03:51 PM, said:

People who treat others like that are insecure social retards who wouldn't even dare being that way out of game.  For one reason or another they feel that acting like an elitist gives them some self worth, when in reality it turns them into an even bigger and bigger idiot each time.

Ive trained and fought with some of the top fight teams/gyms in this country and very rarely do I see top fighters acting like they are better than anyone else or unwilling to engage with some of the lower level guys, so when I see it in a video game I cant help but laugh.

If people took a step back for a second and put themselves in the other persons shoes, they might think twice about acting like egotistic faggots and be a little nicer, which in turn might gain them some respect for being a good person instead of being respected because of an in game achievement...
Hey, moron:

Your name is, "Thugjitsu." Your posts all have very mildly veiled elitism in them. (Fought in the best gyms; with the best teams; know the best guys; can't help but laugh) You took the time to upload a picture of someone, supposedly you, kicking a heavy bag? Are you serious? You're worthless. Stop trying.

Lots of, "top fighters" are completely arrogant douchebags, like you're trying to be. The only problem is you can't. You're too shitty at WoW to have any bearing in the conversation here, and you're what.. going to fight professionally? Please. Lots of people who have been the best at things since history has been recorded have been hugely insecure, paranoid and even downright tyrannical.

Could you beat Mike Tyson at anything? Didn't think so, the dude is a crazy elitist prick. That is what it takes to be the best for some people. This game isn't even a PvP game, and it's so easy to get highly rated over and over again and your only achievement is one Gladiator title as a Warrior in season 9.

Drop your act, pal. You're nobody. You don't know anybody famous. You don't fight them. You're not in good shape. You're some scumbag who took one kickboxing class running around here now like the movie First Blood was inspired by your real life. You want people to take a step back and realize that your fake real life achievements are better than their fake in-game achievements? I'm sorry, but they're not.

There are two types of people who compete:

1) Generally gifted people with real, inalienable talent - champions. Tiger Woods, Mike Tyson, Michael Jordan, Lance Armstrong, etc

2) Insecure people whose paranoia makes them so self-aware that they fix all of their deficits enough to be considered good or decent, never rising to champion status - Eli Manning, etc

Which category do most people who play this game fall into? The second, obviously. Now, why is that do you think? Well for starters, World of Warcraft simply isn't competitive at all, so the second category really thrives in a setting where the boundaries of victory and success are so easily muddied. And second, why would a champion play this game? You can't even be the best at it. You could literally log on right now and be the absolute best that there has ever been at one class only to find that a patch coming tomorrow, next week, next month makes you obsolete. Why would any truly talented person subject themselves to that?

They wouldn't, so you fall into that category. Gladiator one time as a Warrior in S9 - need I say more? No one cares about your mixed martial arts background. You're a fucking joke. You'd think you'd have a Medal of Honor with how much of your post was dedicated to something you do as a hobby. You're a nerd, dude.

So why don't you spare us your tips from the bottom, throw on a Tapout shirt and fuck off.

edit: A GREAT example of this is Khuna and Reckful. Khuna is a tryhard who barely speaks any language, cheats to get ahead, is in threads like this groveling with 12 time Duelists and acting like he's the best. Ever see Reckful do any shit like that? Nah, because Reckful is an American champion and Khuna is a 9 time Duelist, two time win-trader, one-time Gladiator who has to commit real life crimes for in-game achievements.

Reckful is from the only country to ever be back to back World War champs, Khuna is from the only country that has lost more wars than Germany. Look at what a pathetic moron he is, lol.

Hard to act like a badass when you have to try and steal someone's identity to get the achievements they have in a game because you know you could never, ever beat them. No such thing as halfway crooks, bro. You're shook.

#3848332 are they taking the "7200 points first" req off weapons in 5.2? so w...

Posted sneakysnipe on 13 February 2013 - 08:17 AM

i wouldnt say thats hot....

#3839886 Nerfed AGAIN !!

Posted Jontex on 23 January 2013 - 09:42 PM

#3742340 Nice game blizzard

Posted Lewisxo on 11 August 2012 - 01:29 PM

View PostLibyanator, on 11 August 2012 - 01:27 PM, said:

The stark reality that you need to achieve something else in life outside of Wintrading/DDOS attacks should hopefully hit you hard in the near future, Lewis.

the only thing i need to achieve in real life is the stamina to walk to the government office so i can get my money to pay my internet connection bill to my ISP provider so i can play some more world of warcraft and browse the www.arenajunkies.com forums, that my friend is the number one thing in this life mates

#3741459 RBG Ladder Cheating, Exploiting, Bugs

Posted bens1 on 10 August 2012 - 05:01 AM

Posted Image

#3741418 RBG Ladder Cheating, Exploiting, Bugs

Posted Vexo on 10 August 2012 - 03:26 AM

View PostBailamosx, on 10 August 2012 - 01:19 AM, said:

Not sure why idiots like you even bother posting.

Not sure why you even bother posting, everyone knows that you bought glad.

#3741350 RBG Ladder Cheating, Exploiting, Bugs

Posted xvee on 10 August 2012 - 01:16 AM

no offense, if you still care about rbgs other than doing carries this late in the season, you are a sad person.

i understand you are the ambassador of rbgs, but please, who fkin cares. just get your 2.3 so you can say you got hero or w/e and stop crying rofl

#3736271 Dakkroth getin boomed by bbox!

Posted Niklas1830 on 29 July 2012 - 08:42 PM

#3733289 Neilyo goes police

Posted Neilyo on 22 July 2012 - 10:06 PM

Such a sad and pathetic way to "troll" (cant even call it that) because when someone says their life/safety is in danger, you have to assume it is true because it would be a grave error to bet someones life/safety on it being a prank and have it turn out to not be a prank (therefore it requires no skill at all to sell the "troll").

Great job to this bathwater scum for proving he is just a sad pathetic attention seeking nerd.  Even more sad that he has deluded himself into believing this prank is something to be proud of.

#3732923 A Message to Blizzard and the Community

Posted Minpojke on 21 July 2012 - 08:22 PM

Lol pointless thread since World of Warcraft or Blizzard doesnt have anything to do with Ddos

#3511598 4.3 PvP Necessary Changes

Posted Guest on 09 October 2011 - 04:46 AM

I posted this in another thread, but others wanted more discussion on the topic. With 4.3 changes coming out, I created the list of changes that I thought would be best for all the PvPers of the game, with little to no effect on PvE as well. I participate in both aspects of the game so I know a lot about how each work with each other and attempted to address problems in both fields. As said in the Topic Description, constructive discussion only. There will be no tl;dr, sorry.

-East Coast battlegroups must have their ladders merged. The same respectively for West Coast battlegroups. The same goes for all other regions for Europe.
**The cross-battlegroup queue system was a great addition to the game. It came with many flaws, however. It waits 4-8 minutes before you can even get a team from a different battlegroup. This will also make the ladders much more interesting and many more people would queue. I doubt many would care how rank 1 would work, as long as the queues are fast.
-Bring back 5 wins a week for arena to cap points and 3 wins of RBGs to cap points.
**I have PvP'd in this game since the beginning. The idea of PvP from the start has always been of a casual nature. However, when you changed the amount of points gained from a single arena/RBG win to a static number it left me totally confused. Not only did it make it more difficult to cap when your cap was only 1350/1650; it made top arena players have to queue for multiple hours a week just for points. Why so long? The queue times are 4-8 minutes and you have to win 15 arena games on that character to cap and 7-8 RBGs. Top players will have 75% win or so, so 20 arena games with 6 minute average queues, 1 minute in the starting zone, and a 3 minute game on average is playing for over 3 hours per week just getting points. Bring back the casualness of PvPing. I have 3 alts that are all high rated, so it's impossible for me to play the 12 hours just to get points on each character.
-Bring Curse of Tongues, Necrotic Strike, Mind Numbing, etc down to a 15% or 20% reduction in cast time.
**This is a problem I have experienced since the beginning of arena in BC. Back when it was 60% cast time it was difficult to do anything as most classes. It was reduced to 30% in WotLK, but it was still really powerful then as well. Top players were able to shut down DoT classes while sacrificing huge amounts of damage (Wound/Deadly Poison for Mutilate and Curse of Agony for Warlocks). It is more of a problem now than ever, though. I will go through each one separately. Rogues generally use Wound Poison on their main hand and Crippling Poison on their off-hand. Wound poison does a high amount of damage (7-10% of your damage) and applies a 10% healing debuff. All rogues now against any caster will gladly drop that no matter what to be able to easily lockdown casters. The next class I would like to go over is Warlocks. Warlocks in the past have had to lose 15-20% of their damage to use Curse of Tongues. Now they only lose the ability to apply Curse of Elements, an 8% increase in damage. Every top Warlock now just constantly keeps tongues up on any caster in arena, healer or DPS. Death Knights are less of a problem overall than the other two, but it's still a big issue. Especially versus healers, Death Knights are able to frontload 2-3 major cooldowns and dump 10-12 Necrotic Strikes within the first 15 seconds of a match. The only healer able to survive that without using every single cooldown and massive peels from partners is a Holy Paladin. The problem with the situation is that once their cooldowns fall you are left with a 30% cast time reduction so it's almost impossible to recover (I like the idea of Necrotic Strike in general, just not the severity of the cast time reduction). The last thing I want to mention is that every class now has a damage over time effect. Introduced in WotLK, your haste affects your DoTs. Shadow Priests have the most haste of out anyone with 20-25% depending on gear. Most other classes have 13-18%. Cast time reductions also affect DoT ticks NEGATIVELY. So when I have a cast time reduction I actually have -5% haste which you can also look at as cast time slows giving you approximately -4000 haste rating. My final point on the topic is this: the game is made to have fun. PvP is supposed to be fun. Having to press Curse of Tongues and lose damage for a cast time poison is really not fun. Even worse, it's less fun when your DoTs tick less often and less times while your spells take longer to cast.
-Reset all player MMR to 1500 to start the next season.
**The game balance this season has felt solid, but the reason the arena playerbase has been slowly diminishing was because of the MMR changes made at the beginning of this season. First, some players lost 200 MMR out of the blue where others did not. Then, how MMR worked was changed completely which made exploiting near impossible. The huge downside to that change was players who never left their teams in the first place and played during the first couple weeks had a monstrous advantage. Achieving a rating above 2700 is only possible with a team of elite players, and getting up to 2800-3100 is impossible now. For me, I have 2 teams above 3030, and queuing on them is impossible with 3100 MMR. I could sit in the queue for 20 minutes and never see the queue pop. But this change isn't for the top percentage anyway. The ladder is messed up, players aren't able to queue into other teams of similar skill because some players have inflated MMRs from last season and others have a deflated MMR from playing with many different players. Please listen to the community on this one!
-Stimulate the PvP Scene by adding the ability to spectate ladder games or war games while logged into the game as a normal player.
**Many of the games I play nowadays (even very simple ones) have the amazing feature of being able to watch other players fight against each other. The game would be better than ever with the ability to just watch your friends or great players play the game. I cannot see it being a hassle transferring the Spectator UI over into the player's hands.
-Dalaran Arena
This map should have 4 sets of stairs leading up to the higher plateform. The location of the stairs would not be at the corners of the platform, though. There would be stairs in the middle of each side leading up to the platform. This way, there will be more LoS in different locations so the fights could move around the map. Hunters would have less trouble being left on the bottom for too long as well. Also, the waterfall should not be active in an arena match at any time. It was a cool idea at the start, but it's too game-breaking with how it functions in PvP (slowly appearing over time then becoming LoS). There has also been a bug for the past few months where if you get Feared on the bottom you can walk straight through the gates and have to be teleported to the middle of the map.
-Nagrand Arena
Everything about the map is great. Just smooth the terrain out. Gnomes have a disadvantage at various spots on the map because of the uneven terrain.
-Blade's Edge Arena
Same with Nagrand with the terrain. The center under the bridge should be flat. The walls at the top of the bridge should not provide LoS (let alone be different on both sides). The holes in the bridge need to be repaired. The small pillars need to be repaired as well.
-Ring of Valor
Pets get stuck far too often on top of the pillars. I think Ring of Valor is an interesting map now that the sides have been changed, and I think the dynamic of the pillars is actually a good thing. The reason Ring of Valor was disliked at the start was the starting locations (and fire). It changes the game for a lot of comp vs comp match-ups, but it's still a keeper. Warriors also cannot use Charge on a player who is on the pillar (even when down) and cannot Charge while on the pillar when it's down.
-Ruins of Lordaeron
Please fix the tomb in the center. The random large cracks in it cause players to get stuck. The hills in the arena to the side also should be flattened as it causes unnecessary LoS. There should be small tombstones on the sides of the arena that provide LoS as well.

Death Knight:
-Remove the glyph of Anti-Magic Shell and increase the cooldown of AMS by 15 seconds.
**Death Knights have lots of survivability versus casters with the ability to IBF, Ghoul Sac, AMS every 45 seconds, Lichborne out of Fear/Charm and be immune, Strangulate, Death Strike, and pet abilities. These changes will prevent Death Knights from pretty much using AMS freely in PvP just to prevent spells from being cast on them. With a 7 second duration, there is only a 38 second window to kill a Death Knight as a caster. If you factor in their other cooldowns you have to go through their cooldowns multiple times to kill them, even solo. This will also prevent Death Knights from abusing the ability in PvE, especially as DPS. If tanks really need AMS for mitigation then there could be a Blood talent to increase the duration and/or reduce the cooldown.
-Death Knights could use a little help in survivability versus melee (only a SMALL buff would do here).
**I'm at a loss for a good change here, but without the small passive self heals and passive damage reduction (outside of armor) that other melee have with low mobility versus another melee class it's simply hard for a Death Knight to live.
-Desecration should be a 30% snare, have it's duration decreased, have an internal cooldown, or only proc off Death  Strike.
**This has been in the game for far too long. The spell lasts 20 seconds on the ground. Thinking in the big picture here, this affects all parts of the game. It lagged people for a long time in Raids. In Rated Battlegrounds, you'll be running around on your mount and all of a sudden you're in Desecration (usually not just one!) after a fight is over. The duration is unbelievable and so is the delay on the duration of the snare when you are outside of it. This also affects arena a lot just because it's difficult to move around without being in desecration for a long time.
Please change the energy cost on Gnaw (Monstrous Blow, too, during Dark Transformation) to be lower than that of Claw (Sweeping Claws during Dark Transformation).
**Currently, Claw costs 40 energy and Gnaw costs 30 energy. If you try to use Gnaw at any point it most likely will not work because it will already have Claw queued up and you only have a one second window to press it. You need Auto-Claw on to keep up the high pet damage. Players have been having to turn off Auto-Claw while playing to cast Gnaw and then turn it back on to do damage once again. A small change like making Gnaw cost 20 energy or 0 energy would be enough here.
You should be able to cast Hungering Cold while moving.
**Instant cast Hungering Cold on a 1-minute cooldown was too good. However, when it was changed to a cast time players found it to be clunky and out of place as Frost's final talent. It would make much more sense for a melee class to be able to cast such a spell while moving.

-Change Predatory Swiftness ONLY to fix cyclone. I have a lot of suggestions for this, but here's my top two. Predatory Swiftness now reduces the cast time of all spells by 20% per combo point, and 10% per combo point for Cyclone. Another one is: Predatory swiftness now has a 20% chance per combo point to allow you to cast spells while in a feral form for the duration of the buff (maybe technical limitations, though).
**These changes will stop ferals from being able to abuse cyclone spam in PvP with virtually no way of stopping them. They continue to put out massive damage while being able to control a player every 10 seconds for free. On top of partners assisting that control or damage (Priest/Mage/Feral or Feral/Melee/Healer comes to mind) just makes it truly difficult to deal with. Ferals can also be really clever with those changes and still do most of what they do now, but without the ease (which is the problem).
-Nerf Wild Growth by another 5%, but in return buff the HoT on Lifebloom by 20%.
**Wild Growth has been nerfed by 20% already. I dont have all the exact numbers, but I can tell you this. Generally in 25 man raiding Wild Growth is 25-35% of your healing where Lifebloom is 8-10% of your healing. In 10 man raiding Wild Growth is usually 15-20% of your healing with Lifebloom at 13-15% of your healing. (If you don't trust the numbers there's plenty of data of World of Logs!) Another nerf to Wild Growth might be overkill, but I have reasoning for these changes. PvP druids need help. I played with the best 2 PvP druids in the world, and they both have since stopped PvPing. Simply said, Druid HoTs cannot keep up with the damage output of players in arena. Most of the reason Druids are so good in PvE is their spread healing. Their single target outside of Healing Touch and Nourish spam (unusable in PvP) is lackluster. This change would put the funnest healer to play with and against in arena back on the map.
-You should be able to shapeshift in and out of Tree of Life form while the buff is active.
**This happens nearly every game so this would be much more than a quality of life change. One of the reasons Druids were so powerful in the past is their ability to shapeshift out of snares and into Travel Form to escape danger. In Tree of Life form sure you heal for more, but if are swapped to or Mana Burned in that form you might as well not be in Tree of Life anymore. If you are swapped to you just have to stand there and tank the damage; using up a large amount of mana as well as being unable to get away.
-Please fix Typhoon.
**Typhoon currently has a major bug that affects both PvE and PvP. While aiming correctly, it will sometimes fail to do anything. I've heard A LOT of complaints about this.
-Add pushback protection baseline to the Restoration spec or any talent in the tree.
**Very often in PvP, a Restoration Druid is able to cast a spell and it will receive major pushback from a pet or a player and cause the spell to be pushed back long enough for it to not be worth casting in the first place. Please give them the 70% pushback protection that most classes had in WotLK.
The mid-tier Balance talent Owlkin Frenzy (or a new talent) should also cause you to gain a buff called Entangling Frenzy after Barkskin expires for 3/6/8 seconds. Entangling Frenzy causes melee attacks to root the target. This shares diminishing returns with other roots.
**Moonkins are a fun class in PvP when you are able to freely cast spells. However, Moonkins are the worst caster while being trained. They only have Barkskin to reduce damage taken and they can only put their normal 2 DoTs up or choose to use their weak heals, go into Bear Form for other abilities, or shift in and out of form to attempt to get away. This will give Moonkins a nice way to survive better against melee.

-There needs to be a Minor or Major Glyph of Scatter Shot reading: Your Scatter Shot ability now removes all DoT effects from the target.
**Hunters really need PvP love right now. They have high burst and frontload cooldown damage, but for years their control has always been really difficult to deal with. Traps being affected by spell penetration was a good start, but this is definitely a necessity for Hunters.
-Entrapment should also also cause Wing Clip to root the target for 4 seconds, but still be subject to diminishing returns on the other Entrapment effects.
**Hunters have deadzone issues in PvP. When faced with a melee in their face they are unable to do much when they are low on cooldowns. Hunters have low survability in general so having a melee stick to you for more than a few seconds is deadly.
-Freezing Trap and Scatter Shot should only break on damage, but similar to how Fear works with about half the cap.
**Freezing Trap is unreliable in PvP. It can be taken by other players, it can miss completely, and it can break to any DoT (including Snake Trap!). This will help Hunters land their CC much easier.
-The 4-piece Hunter PvP bonus should reduce the cast time of Steady Shot and Cobra Shot by 0.2 seconds.
**Again, Hunters have trouble with focus regeneration and deadzone in PvP. They can't get much out of these two abilities without lowering the cast time a bit.
-Redesign Raptor Strike. I'm sure there will be better suggestions, but for now include this statement in the description: Successfully landing a Raptor Strike increases your dodge chance by 20% for 6 seconds.
**This ability has little to no use anymore. It's attack power scaling is way off and there is little a Hunter can do in close melee range. This will give them some help while being trained by melee.

-Ice Lance should deal 20% less damage to frozen targets or while Fingers of Frost is up.
**Out of all the DPS classes, or any class in general right now, Mages are the number one class to be complained about; not only from other classes, but the Mages themselves. Their damage in PvP is completely centered around Ice Lance with the occasional Frostbolt now. I've had hundreds of arena games versus mages where they cast 5 Frostbolts, but 80+ Ice Lances where Cone of Cold and Frost Nova did more damage than Frostbolt. This nerf is just the beginning of multiple changes that I would like to better the game, life for other classes, and life for Frost Mages.
-Frostbolt should deal 20% more damage to targets that are not frozen, but the same damage still to targets that are frozen.
**Players have the most fun when they successfully cast a spell, and it means something. Right now, casting Frostbolt generally doesn't mean much in terms of the damage done aside from procs and snares. This would increase Mage consistancy while freecasting, as well as make the game a lot more enjoyable for all players. I'm not entirely sure if the numbers for Ice Lance and Frostbolt would be correct, but I can check the numbers out in current gear to give you an idea of what it's like.
-Frost Nova should last 4 seconds as well as the pet nova "Freeze". However, Frost Nova should no longer be dispellable. The Cone of Cold root should also last 2 seconds and be undispellable. Each root would only share diminishing returns with itself.
**This may be a good change for a future expansion, but there has been a lot of talk about this change between the top arena players. Not only did Mages enjoy the change, but healers, casters, and even melee alike wanted this. This would allow Mages to have guarenteed control with their novas and bring less annoyance to healers and melee dealing with the novas. The melee know that it's only 4 seconds and the healer knows they don't have to spend 3-4 dispels trying to get the annoyed melee out of the nova. The Mage can also stop complaining about people chain dispelling their novas with no dispel protection.
-The cast time on Polymorph should be reduced back down to 1.3 seconds, down from 1.7 seconds.
**One goal of PvP in Cataclysm was to reduce the control that Mages and Warlocks had over other players with quick casted spammable control abilities. Fear got hit with the same nerf, but with the ability to easily cover your Fears with DoTs the cast time did virtually nothing to them outside of losing a large amount of haste from WotLK to cata (Fear is in a good spot basically). However, Polymorph got hit too hard. With every healer now having dispel it's very difficult to Polymorph anyone besides the healer. Even then it's very easy to interrupt, line of sight, or Shadow Word: Death. One big oversight of the change is that Mages had 30-40% haste in WotLK. With haste now being the worst DPS stat for mages, they barely ever even get to cast the spell unless it's with Improved Counterspell or Deep Freeze.
-The cooldown on Cold Snap should be reduced to 6 minutes, down from 8 minutes.
**Rogues got this same treatment for a reason. The class is too reliant on major cooldowns, and with such a strong cooldown being on such a long cooldown it's difficult to consistently have any cooldowns up.
-The cooldown on Summon Water Elemental should be reduced to 2 minutes, down from 3 minutes.
**Frost Mages have issues with some players targetting their Water Elemental in PvP. It dies pretty fast, and causes them to lose damage, control, and survivability. With such a long cooldown it's hard to get back up and running.
-Add a talent past tier 2 in the fire tree, Fiery Reversal. Fiery Reversal would read: Whenever you take damage equal to or greater than 10% of your total health, you have a 100% chance for your next Pyroblast cast within 15 seconds to be instant cast and cost no mana.
**Fire Mages could use some help in PvP. They have some decent burst and Combustion is really powerful. They could use something to help while being trained. They have plenty of tools in other areas of PvP such as Rated Battlegrounds, but there isn't much you can do outside of tank a lot of damage when trained.

-Please lower Retribution Paladin's ABILITY to frontload cooldowns in bursty melee cleaves or triple DPS setups.
**Now, I realize Paladins are a class that is changed heavily with every patch, but a common theme throughout the expansion has been Retribution Paladins rushing in using every cooldown and trying to essentially win instantly or lose after a couple minutes. Nobody really wants the spec to be like that. Outside of that I don't see any changes necessary to the two other specs.

-Mind Blast damage should be reduced 15% in exchange for a 6% damage buff to Vampiric Touch, Shadow Word: Pain, and Devouring Plague.
**I did some thorough calculation on this change and it would barely even tough Shadow in PvE in terms of damage spread on various fights. There aren't too many fights where you benefit from this change except for fights with only 2-3 mobs or a bunch of mobs that aren't grouped. Regardless, this change will also bring back Shadow Priests using Mind Blast only with an orb instead of on cooldown in PvE, which is a quality of life kind of change. Quite often you have to make the choice between Mind Blasting and letting your Empowered Orbs buff fall off before your next Mind Blast for a small damage increase. Anyway onto the reasoning behind a change like this. Shadow Priests hit much too hard currently in PvP with Mind Blast. For some numbers, I can crit people for upwards of 40-50k with 3 Orbs and an on use trinket. Players have 130k health so hitting them for 40% of their health in Cataclysm is pretty unacceptable. The DoT damage change is to bring back multi-dotting being good in PvP. It takes a lot of effort to get full Empowered Orbs'd DoTs on two players, but currently the damage it does for that effort feels lackluster. The main point of this change is the Mind Blast damage, however.
-Shadow should do approximately 20% less healing with all spells (shields too), however that can be arranged.
**Holy and Discipline in PvE and PvP will be in great spots in 4.3. However, Shadow in arena has benefitted too much from the healing trees. It is possible to heal your teammates for 15k Flash Heals where Discipline with 3 stacks of Grace only heals for 22k.

-The armor reduction modifier on Find Weakness should be changed to 50%, down from 70%
**In PvP right now, Rogues just simply do too much damage with Find Weakness active. Outside of that their damage is balanced.
-The duration of the vanish stealth immunity should be reduced to 1.0 seconds, down from 3.0 seconds.
**This change will prevent Rogues from using Vanish as an easy getaway tool. They can vanish and sprint to be literally 100 yards away from you in 3 seconds with multiple DoT effects on them. As short as one second is, it's more than enough time to get behind your target in time without it being too easy or too difficult to do. Using Vanish to run is fine, but using it to get out of a fight completely is not fine.

-Thunderstorm should return 10% of maximum mana, up from 8%.
**Elemental Shamans have no mana issues in PvE, so this is a helpful buff to Elemental Shamans in PvP. For most classes in the expansion, mana is infinite with correct cooldown and ability management over the course of a long game. For Elemental Shamans, though, it's very difficult to play a game longer than 5-10 minutes as your mana is deleted to 0 over and over between Thunderstorms.
-Spirit Link Totem should reduce damage taken by 20%. The totem should only exchange health up to a maximum of 15% of the Shaman's healthpool every second for the 6 seconds and also have 13,000 health instead of 5.
**Sorry if the wording is hard to understand, but the point is this. Spirit Link Totem is too good in PvP, and slightly too weak in PvE. Even if you were to kill Spirit Link Totem as soon as it was dropped on a teammate, they are already at 50-60% and out of kill range once again. Even though the totem just exchanges health, it is really hard to deal with a healer that has all of that utility with 2 major life-saving cooldowns. This change will give the totem a more dynamic role. It will no longer exchange all of the health instantly, but slowly as the 6 seconds occur. The totem will have additional health so players MUST kill the totem to prevent the exchange of health from coming. Good players will be able to kill the totem quickly, while good shamans can drop Stoneclaw and give the totem basically 21,000 health to prevent it's death. Even if the totem is killed quickly, the opponents will have to waste 21k damage killing the totem instead of the player, all the while taking 20% reduced damage. The 20% reduced damage is also a PvE change. Shamans need more utility in PvE.
-Reduce the buff to Riptide down to 20%, and in exchange increase the healing done by Chain Heal by 20%.
**A buff to Riptide of a 40% magnitude would really break PvP. Shamans already rarely have to cast and this is more reason not to cast. Riptide will tick for 3500 which means it will crit for 7k. On targets with large healing modifiers such as their buddies Warlocks this expansion, it will tick for nearly 5k. Fun fact: Lifebloom ticks for 2200 with 3 stacks.
The cooldown of Tremor Totem should be increased to 90 seconds, up from 60. You should also no longer be able to drop Tremor Totem while feared.
**Tremor Totem is currently too powerful versus Warlocks, way too powerful versus Priests, and just a counter to the only AoE CC Warriors have. Shamans will still have their incredibly powerful tool, just on a longer cooldown. The final part of the change would add more skill to the class. You could drop the totem preemptively when a Priest or Warlock is chasing you trying to get a Fear.

-Demon Armor should increase healing taken by 10%, down from 20%.
**Demon Armor in conjunction with Demonic Aegis make the combo too strong in PvP while being trained as a Warlock. Taking 30% more healing as a caster class is unfair for everyone. Even with the choice between the two armors and swapping it requiring skill and vision, it's still too good.
-Demonic Rebirth should have a 3 minute cooldown, up from 2 minutes.
**Killing pets used to be too good, and too viable. Nowadays, in Cataclysm, you could kill 5 pets within a few minutes and Warlocks are still able to chain summon them instant cast. Their pet class buddies, Hunters and Frost Mages, would like to know why it's THAT simple to get another pet out when you already have a casted one to boot.
-The cooldown on Demonic Portal: Teleport should be increased to 40 seconds, up from 30 seconds.
**With the PvP gloves and the glyph it is 23 seconds right now. Not many use the glyph, so this change will bring the spell from 25 seconds to 35 seconds. As said in a previous change, Warlock survivability is too high. On multiple maps, players can abuse the teleport and run laps around the map while they are dying and make them near impossible to kill. This was help to prevent them from prolonging their death while their healer is unable to heal them.
-Jinx should no longer stand you up while drinking.
**When you receive the Jinx debuff after previously not having it you still stand up from drinking. Please fix this!

Add a talent deep in the Arms tree, Die by the Shield. Die by the Shield reduces the cooldown of Spell Reflect by 5/10 seconds, the cooldown of Revenge by 2/4 seconds, increases the block chance on Shield Block by 38%/75%, and increases the amount of damage blocked while Shield Block is active by an additional 15%/30%.
**Yes, this talent looks like it would do a lot. However, Arms Warriors lost their main defensive utilites versus casters and melee alike moving into this expansion. Spell Reflect should be 15 seconds for Arms. They are left helpless too often when at ranged against casters. The Shield Block and Revenge changes are to make Shield Block useful for Arms. Previously, you could go into Defensive Stance and block all normal attacks from melee classes and about half of most special abilities. Right now, it's barely worth using because it only blocks 30% of the time and when it does block it blocks nothing. Warriors are supposed to be the best toe-to-toe melee class and right now they just are not.
Enraged Regeneration should no longer require an Enraged effect to use. Instead, Enraged Regeneration should cost 30 Rage to use.
**The requirement for the ability is an archaic mechanic. You should not be punished for using Berserker Rage to break a Fear or an Incapacitate then not be able to use your defensive cooldown.

#3726510 Snake Dots

Posted cochonhalal on 07 July 2012 - 11:24 AM

View Postrob-hype, on 07 July 2012 - 09:51 AM, said:

Posted Image

wrong meme for this one =(

but still gd

Posted Image

i try

#3726484 Snake Dots

Posted rob-hype on 07 July 2012 - 09:51 AM

Posted Image

#3731351 Idea to make the ladder more active

Posted jaredd on 18 July 2012 - 02:24 AM

View PostCtuhlu, on 18 July 2012 - 02:17 AM, said:

I don't think rating decay would help at all. People would just wait till the last two weeks of the season to play games, since their "work" would be "a waste of time" if they grind rating early on. Essentially it would create the exact same stagnation that currently plagues the ladder.

The problem with the arena system is that you don't have to play consistently. Right now you can grind games at the start of the season and sit, or you can play all the time, or you just play in the last two weeks. Of course this is in regards to attaining the gladiator title.

It's basically like the New York Rangers playing six games at the start of the season and winning them all, and then going "yeah guys we're just gonna stay undefeated and stop playing for the rest of the season, gl guys". And then after 82 games for the other teams the NHL looks at the Rangers's record and goes "well they're undefeated and nobody else is so we'll give them 1st place". That's basically what the ladder system encourages (or the opposite, where the Los Angeles Kings win the last 5 games of the season and they somehow get first). Of course there are going to be shenanigans.

I don't know what the solution is. Maybe it's to require a certain amount of games played over the course of a season. Say, 200 games. But of course that creates the problem of being unable to teamhop at all. But it also combats wintrading and other faggery since it would take a hell of a lot more time to accomplish. Personally I think there should be a minimum requirement of games played, along with the ability to have multiple 3v3 teams.

ctrl+f gw2, guild wars... no results. what the fuck man, youre slacking off


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by Martin M. Rhodes  on Monday, Jul. 2, 2012 12:00 am

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Leadership Greater Little Rock is governed by a 19-member Board of Trustees and has graduated over 1,300 alumni. Then as now, members of my class forged lasting friendships that continue today. We soaked up everything we could learn from a stellar list of community leaders who inspired us with a simple truth – no one needs permission to be a leader. Not only were we encouraged, but we were challenged to dive into service, to learn everything we could about our community, and to get busy making it better.

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Rebekah Brooks, the former editor of two News Corp. tabloids, blamed the media for her failure to get a fair trial on charges she conspired to hack phones and bribe public officials.

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Matabele ant (Pachycondyla analis)

Matabele ant with prey clasped in mandibles
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Matabele ant fact file

Matabele ant description

GenusPachycondyla (1)

The Matabele ant (Pachycondyla analis) colony consists of two different sizes of worker, ‘majors’ and ‘minors’. The minor worker is particularly black and shiny in comparison to the major worker (3). The major worker Matabele ant has large, toothed mandibles to disable termites (4). The breeding female is morphologically similar to the worker ant (3).

The male Matabele ant looks different to worker ants, as it does not forage or carry out other tasks for the colonies’ survival (4).

Megaponera foetens.
Male length: 11 - 12 mm (2)
Major worker length: up to 15 mm (2)
Minor worker length: 9 - 11 mm (2)

Matabele ant biology

A Matabele ant colony has an average of 400 to 1,400 members, depending on location (3). A single queen is responsible for reproduction of the colony, as the worker ant does not breed. The queen typically occupies the colony nest, along with eggs and larvae (6).

The Matabele ant preys exclusively on termites (4). This species will attack termites with ‘raiding columns’, which may be up to 1,000 individuals strong and up to several metres long (4) (7). A single ‘major’ worker scouts out foraging termite parties. The worker moves slowly, searching for termite pheromones with its antennae, sometimes travelling up to 95 metres from the nest (3) (5). Once a termite party is found, the ‘scout ant’ returns to the colony, laying a chemical trail. This trail is then followed by the raiding column in order to find the termites (8).

When searching for termites, the Matabele ant raiding column is lead by a single individual, the ‘scout ant’, who originally found the foraging termites (4). Ants in the raiding column will spread out and attack the termite foraging party by breaking open the soil sheeting constructed by the termites to cover their food, and digging into the termite tunnels (8). Termites are captured, stung, and dragged to the surface, where the ants pile them up while they continue hunting (3).

Once the raid is complete the ‘major’ workers will carry up to 12 termites each back to the nest (7). Raids occur in mornings and evenings, and at night in dry periods (3) (7). The Matabele ant colony can make repeated raids on termite colonies without completely destroying the termites, effectively harvesting them (5).

The Matabele ant is unusual among insects in that even when outside the nest, it will act in co-operative self defence. This species will help nest mates under attack from the smaller, but incredibly aggressive, driver ant (Dorylus sp.), by scanning for and removing the ants that are clinging to nest mates’ extremities. The Matabele ant has even been observed to turn back, after initially running away, in order to rescue beleaguered nest mates (9).

Matabele ant range

The Matabele ant occurs throughout Africa south of the Sahara, from West Africa, including the Ivory Coast and Ghana, to East Africa in countries such as Ethiopia and Nigeria (2) (4).

Matabele ant habitat

The Matabele ant is found in savanna areas and tropical dry forests, where it co-occurs with the termite species on which it preys (2) (5). The Matabele ant nests underground, beneath rocks, on trees, in open fields and in deserted termite mounds (3). Nests can descend up to 70 centimetres below the surface (6).

Matabele ant status

This species has not yet been assessed by the IUCN.

Matabele ant threats

The Matablele ant habitat is considered threatened, with dry forests being more threatened than moist and wet forests, but being less well protected (10).

Although African tropical dry forests are widely distributed, none of these forest regions exist as large, concentrated blocks, and 88 percent of African tropical dry forests are highly fragmented. Dry forests are also greatly at risk from forest fires (11).

Matabele ant conservation

As the Matabele ant is not considered at risk, no formal attempts are being made to conserve it. However, its termite prey are economically important as pests of wooden structures and as recyclers of plant material, so attempts to conserve the Matabele ant may in future be a cost-effective way of controlling termites (3).

Subtropical dry forests in Africa should be considered conservation priorities due to the multiple threats they face from the human population, deforestation and climate change and their conservation would benefit a number of species such as the Matabele ant (11).

Find out more

More information on the Matabele ant:

Find out about invertebrates and their conservation:

This information is awaiting authentication by a species expert, and will be updated as soon as possible. If you are able to help please contact:

A pair of sensory structures on the head of invertebrates.
Stage in an animal’s lifecycle after it hatches from the egg. Larvae are typically very different in appearance to adults; they are able to feed and move around but usually are unable to reproduce.
The pair of mouthparts most commonly used for seizing and cutting food, common to the centipedes, millipedes and insects.
Referring to the visible or measurable characteristics of an organism.
A chemical produced by an animal, which stimulates a behavioural or physiological response by another member of the same species.

  1. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (March, 2011)
  2. Antbase - Pachycondyla analis (March, 2011)
  3. Yusuf, A.A. (2010) Termite Raiding by the Ponerine Ant Pachycondyla analis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): Behavioural and Chemical Ecology. PhD thesis, University of Pretoria. Available at:
  4. Wheeler, W.M. (1936) Ecological relations of Ponerine and other ants to termites. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 71: 159-243.
  5. Bayliss, J. and Fielding, A. (2002) Termitophagous foraging by Pachycondyla analis (Formicidae, Ponerinae) in Tanzanian coastal dry forest. Sociobiology, 39: 103-122.
  6. Villet, M.H. (1990)Division of labour in the Matabele ant, Megaponera foetens (Fabr.)(Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Ethology, Ecology & Evolution, 2: 397-417.
  7. Sheppe, W. (1970) Invertebrate predation on termites of the African savannah. Insects Sociaux, 17: 205-218.
  8. Longhurst, C., Johnson, R.A. and Wood, T.G. (1978) Predation by Megaponera foetens (Fabr.)  (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) on termites in the Nigerian Southern Guinea savannah. Oecologia, 32: 101-107.
  9. Beck, J. and Kunz, B.K. (2007) Co-operative self defence: Matabele ants (Pachycondyla analis) against African driver ants (Dorylus sp.; Hymenoptera: Formicidae. Myrmecological News, 10: 27-28.
  10. Khurana, E. and Singh, J.S. (2001)Ecology of seed and seedling growth for conservation and restoration of tropical dry forest: a review. Current Biology,80: 748-757.
  11. Miles, L., Newton, A.C., DeFries, R.S., Ravilious, C., May, I., Blyth, S., Kapos, V. and Gordon, J.E. (2006) A global overview of the conservation status of tropical dry forests. Journal of Biogeography, 33: 491-505.

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Matabele ant with prey clasped in mandibles
Matabele ant with prey clasped in mandibles

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Teens & Eating Habits

Published 07/17 2013 12:00AM

Updated 09/25 2013 08:39AM

During our summer vacation, which happened to be overseas, I began to notice a recurring theme. Teenagers from around the world often behave in a similar way.  That is, maybe it really is something in a teen's nature that affects behavior and attitudes .

I saw many parents on family vacations sightseeing with tweens and teens in tow. While it certainly is hard to travel with little ones in strollers, or those a bit older who don't really understand where they are, there are some things that are easier about little ones than teens.  (If you don't have teens yet you are saying, NO WAY.)

But what I often noticed about teens on vacation is that universal facial expression of why am I here, when I would rather be with my friends?  In some cases it wasn't just the facial expressions either. While standing in lines to get into a museum or sitting at closely spaced tables over a meal I often heard teenagers complaining to their parents. I don't want to go to another museum, church or monument, or how many more days until we go home?.   I didn't only hear English either, there were teens from other countries who were also complaining in their own language or dialect.  The parent's also had that look of why did we spend all of this hard earned vacation time and money to have our children act like this?

I also saw many a teen spending a lot of line standing or restaurant sitting with their faces glued to their smartphones. Again, they all seemed to have them.  They were often so busy not paying attention to the line moving or the guide talking that their parents literally had to take the phones away - again more universal facial expressions!

Food choices were another area of teen angst.  While sitting in one restaurant quite close to a a father and his two teen daughters we noticed they seemed to be having a heated discussion in Dutch.  They were all looking at the menu and the father looked exasperated.  When the waiter arrived, the father spoke in English and told the waiter that his daughters wanted plain meat, no sauces, and only the french fries, and not the salads or vegetables that came with the meal.  The waiter replied in both French and English (I guess making sure he covered all bases) that there were several options for salad dressing, sauces and vegetables.  The father replied again, NO they will not eat it. I had to laugh, it made me remember those days of ordering a hamburger for my boys (no matter where we were) when I would say, just meat and bread!.

Teens....has to be hormones in the blood, right? Just saying...

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A major shift in genealogy content…

There appears to be a major shift in genealogy content in periodicals–quarterlies and journals published by genealogical societies.  If you start on page one of volume one, as I often do, you will discover family Bibles, marriages from the county courthouse, will abstracts, cemetery readings, and genealogies compiled by members.

Many of these societies have been publishing genealogy content for 20-25 years.  Family Bibles are still standard fare–drawing on families that are less prominent or may have resided just over the border in another county.   Editors and writers have completed the marriages.  Finished the will abstracts.  And even transcribed the deeds.

Now they are combing the newspapers for genealogy content–and not just for vital records.  Obituaries are reproduced in full.  Death notices and marriage announcements from local papers are printed in full–sometimes in facsimile.  Parties for young people and family and business reunions are transcribed.  Local papers and newspapers that circulated statewide are included.  And they are indexed, with every name retrievable, in annual indexes–sometimes issue indexes.

Through such websites as http://www.GenealogyBank.com and Illya Daddezio’s http://www.GenealogyToday.com you can access the actual newspapers online.  The Family History Library has microfilmed US newspapers in libraries and archives across the country and you can borrow the microfilms on loan through your nearest family history center.   It will take a while before we truly have a newspaper archive because this source  is vast.

And reading papers takes a great deal of time.  Determining what newspapers circulated near the places your ancestors lived is also time-consuming.  What the editors and article writers for genealogy periodicals are now providing  will save you countless hours.  And, at the same time, allow less known ancestors to share their lives and stories with you–often for the first time.

Break your losing streak!  Read the periodicals!  Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle    http://arleneeakle.com

PS  I am a Blogger of Honor for Holly Hansen’s Family History Expos–including the up-coming event at the KCI Expo Center, Kansas City MO, 30-31 July 2010.  A special computer corner is set up so we can blog from the EXPO.  http://www.fhexpos.com/expos/   If you haven’t registered for this event, hurry, hurry!  You won’t want to miss out on the fun.  And you get to hear your favorite genealogist speak in 4 sessions.  I have prepared some special information that I have not presented before.  See you there.

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Armstrong Residential Flooring The Floor Board Blog The Floor Board Blog

Fresh New Stone Looks for Alterna

August 12, 2011 4:55 pm    Posted by Jeanette McCuaig    Comments (4)

We’re excited to announce we’ve just introduced a new collection to our Alterna luxury vinyl tile products!

Our original Alterna collection was designed to capture the timeless look of natural stone and ceramic tile, while providing a warm, soft feel underfoot. These floors also offer strong textures that vary subtly from tile to tile.

With our brand new line called Alterna Reserve, we’ve maintained all the features of Alterna, but added more dramatic, high-end stone visuals. We’ve also added even more texture variations from tile to tile. If you’re looking for a unique floor that makes a high impact, then you’ll want to explore the Alterna Reserve collection.

This collection includes three patterns.

Moselle Valley is a slate with a gorgeous blend of organic colors and clefts. It’s offered in four colors. My favorite is Forest Green/Copper. It’s a deep rich color with a blend of green, rust, brown and beige. It could match many color schemes in today’s homes.

• The Spanish name for quartz is Cuarzo. Inspired by beautiful quartz stone, Cuarzo adds a glimmer of crystallized veining. This pattern is also offered in four colors.

Classico Travertine inspired the original idea for this new collection. The design team wanted to offer more variation in a travertine stone, so a new innovative process evolved for all three new designs. Classico Travertine replicates the color and texture variation of stone quarried directly from the earth.

The best way to understand the impact an Alterna Reserve floor will offer your home is in a photo. You can see room scenes with Alterna Reserve on our website or at our display at your local retailer. Trust me, seeing really is believing! Watch my video to learn more!

DESIGN TIP: If you want to give your room a more unique look, install any of the Alterna designs in a staggered or diagonal design.

DESIGN TIP: For the look of ceramic tile or stone, the best way to install this product is grouted. The product catalog offers suggested grout colors for each color.


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Small arms support center on Kandahar here to support warfighters
Photo Credit: J. Elise Van Pool
The small arms support center at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, can fix all types of weapons from a 9 mm pistol to a howitzer cannon. This howitzer was in for servicing. The armorers can usually fix weapons in two to five days at the longest and will exchange weapons they are not able to fix.
Page last updated Thu August 25th, 2011 at 00:00


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Youth provide donation to local orphanage
Photo Credit: Camaryn Mantanona
CAMP HUMPHREYS " As a holiday project, members of the Humphreys Youth Center's Keystone Club and Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps spent many hours helping to collect donations for the Sung-yuk Orphanage, located in Songtan. They gathered 100 toothbrushes, more than 150 tubes of toothpaste and almost 600 bars and bottles of soap. On top of that, they brought more than 100 toys. On Dec. 23, the youth and a few adult volunteers delivered the goods to the orphanage. Upon arrival, the youth sang a Christmas carol for the children and staff at the orphanage; then they distributed the toys and spent an hour playing and interacting with the children. The participants would like to extend a big "thank you" to everyone from Camp Humphreys who helped brighten up the holiday season for the children at the orphanage.
Page last updated Thu January 9th, 2014 at 00:00


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Alaska soldier pleads not guilty in newborn's death

Oct. 29, 2013 - 08:59PM   |
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ANCHORAGE, ALASKA — A 24-year-old soldier has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of her newborn baby.

The Anchorage Daily News says Spc. Ashley Ard appeared in an Anchorage courtroom Tuesday to enter her plea.

Ard is accused of leaving her newborn baby to die in an Eagle River Park.

Authorities allege Ard gave birth in her Eagle River home and left with the newborn early in the morning of Oct. 15. A man walking his dog found the baby dead several hours later.

Ard was arrested Friday evening after a grand jury indicted her that day.

The Portsmouth, Va., woman is being held on $250,000 bond.

Her attorney, Rex Butler, said after the Tuesday hearing that the public should withhold judgment until they see all of the facts.

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United States Department of Agriculture

Agricultural Research Service

2011 Annual Report

1a.Objectives (from AD-416)
The over-arching goal of this project is to develop new knowledge to increase the value of underutilized seafood processing byproducts as food and feed ingredients in a sustainable manner. This will be achieved by accomplishing the three listed objectives. 1. Develop new and improved feed ingredients and high value human food products using fish processing co-products. 2. Develop economical processes and methods for the collection, stabilization and storage of raw seafood byproducts to optimize their chemical, nutritional, and physical qualities for uses including food and feed ingredients, fertilizers and bio-chemicals. 3. Develop ingredients from fish processing co-products that meet larval and stage specific physiological requirements of marine fish when used in modern dietary formulations.

1b.Approach (from AD-416)
Fractions prepared from pollock and salmon byproducts such as fish meals, hydrolysates and stick water will be identified that promote growth in targeted aquaculture species fed plant protein based diets. Also, aquaculture ingredients from fish byproducts such as enriched fatty acid and phospholipid fractions will be identified that increase performance in targeted species. A continuous system for purifying and stabilizing salmon and pollock oils extracted from byproducts will be developed that can be used in smaller rural processing plants. Machine vision systems will be developed that can identify individual byproduct components such as liver and then efficiently separate the parts for further processing or packaging. Processes will be developed that improve the functional properties of fish skin gelatin films and other gelatin products in collaboration with scientists at WRRC in Albany, CA. Constituents of testes and other meals that positively affect shrimp and fish growth will be identified for use as aquaculture ingredients. The minimum levels of dietary omega 3 fatty acids required to sustain good growth and health of trout at different life stages will be determined. Economic analyses of the cost effectiveness of different methods of handling seafood processing byproducts will be provided to stakeholders. Collaborative studies between ARS and University of Alaska scientists will be conducted in the pilot plant and laboratories in Kodiak and Fairbanks, AK, and feeding trials will be conducted at the University of Idaho and the Oceanic Institute in Hawaii. Replacing 5341-31410-003-00D (10/09).

3.Progress Report
Significant progress has been achieved by USDA-ARS scientists in Kodiak, AK and their cooperators in four primary areas of study that include.
1)fish byproduct chemistry and characterization,.
2)byproduct processing,.
3)stabilizing byproducts and evaluating quality during storage, and.
4)aquaculture and other animal trials. In the areas of byproduct chemistry, salmon oils were extracted and evaluated over the entire harvest season. These studies showed that oil quality remained high and were free from critical pollutants such as organo-chlorine pesticides and Polychlorinated Biphenyls(PCBs). Additionally, a new adsorption column process was developed that used activated earth and alumina to purify salmon oil, and a new liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC/MS) method was developed to quantify low molecular weight nitrogen compounds in fish processing stickwater. A new method using a color shift in the biuret reagent has also been developed following hydrolytic reactions. New and on-going work is underway to help stabilize and evaluate new fish byproducts including studies to extend the storage life of acidified pollock fish processing mince, and extend the storage life of salmon oils and meal for periods of up to a year, are being conducted. A further fish byproduct utilization study is being completed to assess the affect of fish compost on crop yields for barley, potato and kale. The first year of a two-year study on the impact of fish byproducts has now been completed and the second year planned. In the area of fish byproduct processing, new methods are being studied to develop processing parameters for optimizing the quality of dried salmon, pollock and cod heads for the export market. Other on-going studies include the fractionation of stickwater and hydrolysates using pressurized membrane filtration units, and the application of image analysis methods to predict weight of pollock roe and salmon. Clean bone matter was obtained from both salmon and whitefish, and detailed chemical composition was determined, including characterization of the mineral contents from these species. Additionally, a study on UV cross-linking of gelatins from warm and cold water fish was completed, as was an economic analysis of low cost methods of making high quality fish oil from salmon heads. In the area of aquaculture and other animal feeding trials, the nutritional quality of salmon testes-meal for Pacific threadfins and shrimp was conducted, and a study on the satiety of dogs fed diets containing salmon and pollock muscle protein was completed. Omega 3 fatty acid dietary requirements were also assessed for fingerling stages of rainbow trout and it was determined that fish oils could replace fish meal in many situations with no signs of fatty acid deficiencies. Also, a study was completed on the effects of holding Alaskan commercial salmon meals and oils at different temperatures for periods of up to one year. These studies along with a nutritional study on the use of pollock viscera meat in the diets of striped, sunshine and largemouth bass was completed with cooperators, and other studies as outlined in the Project Statement are being developed.

1. High value, low molecular weight nitrogen compounds in stickwater and other fish processing byproducts. Increasing evidence suggests that the water soluble - low molecular weight fractions of marine protein sources are important for the performance of aquacultured fish. A study was conducted by USDA/ARS scientists in Kodiak and Fairbanks, AK, to evaluate some of these soluble low molecular weight compounds in stickwater (SW) made from pollock processing byproducts. Samples were prepared for direct analysis by mass spectrometry without derivatization. A new method was developed for screening low molecular weight compounds that revealed inosine, creatin, creatinine, trimethyl amine, and trimethyl amine in pollock stickwater samples. This is important to industry as it provides a new and rapid method to assess chemical composition of fish byproducts.

2. Assessment of salmon head parts for nutrient and oil levels. Alaska processes the largest volume of wild caught salmon in the US and a common method of processing salmon is to head and gut the fish. Many rural Alaskan processors merely grind and dump their processing waste, a process allowed by state and federal regulators with certain restrictions; however, there is the potential to create value-added products from portions of these salmon heads. A study was conducted by USDA/ARS scientists in Kodiak, AK, to examine red salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) head parts to better understand their lipid composition and the distribution of nutrients in braincases, soft tissue, gills and face halves. Braincases had the highest lipid and lowest protein content, gills had the lowest lipid, and soft tissue had the highest protein content, while amino acid analysis showed small concentration differences in methionine, phenylalanine, and arginine. The fatty acid profiles of all four parts were not markedly different from each other and were similar to oils extracted from other salmon or salmon byproducts suggesting that red salmon heads could be used as a low-cost raw material for both food and feed ingredients.

3. Low cost enzymatic hydrolysis of salmon heads: an economic feasibility analysis. A study was conducted by University of Alaska scientists in collaboration with a USDA/ARS scientist in Kodiak, AK, to provide an economic feasibility analysis on a low cost method of making protein and oils from salmon heads using equipment present in many small salmon processing facilities. Numerous industry members were interviewed to obtain required operational information regarding the methods used to recover crude salmon head oil. Cost information covering equipment, labor, facility costs, energy use, etc., were obtained and a break-even analysis conducted. Results were compared to the commercial alternative of Number Two diesel in Southeast Alaska. Preliminary results show that a five year break-even price for a salmon head oil extraction facility with the capacity of processing 450MT of heads per year came to USD $14.93 as opposed to $1.64 per liter for Number 2 diesel. This analysis will be used as the basis for discussions with seafood processors in Southeast Alaska and eliciting their guidance regarding subsequent economic analyses.

4. Substitution of Alaskan pink salmon testes meal for fish meal in feed for Pacific threadfin. This study evaluated the growth parameters of different level of testes meal, when added to plant protein based diets. Scientists from The Oceanic Institute in collaboration with University of Alaska and USDA/ARS scientists in Kodiak, AK, conducted an eight week growth trial using Pacific threadfin (Polydactylus sexfilis). Five semi-purified formulations were developed to contain the same lipid and protein levels using soybean meal, pollock meal and/or pink salmon testes meal, while a commercial diet containing 14% lipid and 50% protein was used as reference. The results of this study suggest that optimal replacement of pollock protein meal with salmon testes meal is dose dependent and supplementation at a level of 6% salmon testes meal was optimal for juvenile Pacific threadfin based on feed utilization, growth performance and the nutritional quality of fish.

5. Omega-3 fatty acid requirement of rainbow trout fingerlings. Dietary fatty acid requirements of salmon and trout are being conducted by scientists at the University of Idaho in collaboration with University of Alaska and USDA/ARS scientists on stage-specific differences in rainbow trout omega-3 fatty acid dietary requirements. A 16-week feeding trial was completed with juvenile rainbow trout fed experimental diets totally lacking fish meal and containing varying amounts of Alaskan fish oil and canola oil. No clinical signs of omega-3 fatty acid deficiency were observed and trout fed diets containing 0.34-0.92% omega-3 fatty acids did not differ in final fish weight, but fish fed the highest level of dietary omega-3 fatty acids had significantly different weights compared with trout fed the lowest dietary level. These results conflict with previously reported dietary requirements using nutritionally-incomplete diets and should be important in developing new diet alternatives.

6. Purification of salmon fish oil using a pilot scale adsorption column. An economically viable purification method is needed to remove impurities from unpurified salmon oil (USO) without changing the desirable fatty acid composition. A study by scientists at Louisiana State University in collaboration with USDA/ARS and University of Alaska scientists in Kodiak, AK, was initiated to develop an adsorption column process for purifying salmon oil. USO and purified salmon oil samples were analyzed for fatty acid profiles, peroxide values, free fatty acids, moisture content and rheological properties. This study demonstrated that the column adsorption process effectively reduced peroxide values, free fatty acids, and moisture content of salmon oil, which will improve the purification process for industry.

7. Characterization of bone from red salmon, Pacific cod and Alaskan polock frames. In Alaskan commercial fisheries, large volumes of skeletal frames are produced from pollock, cod and salmon, and can be used to make fish meal or further processed into food by removing remaining muscle tissue attached to the ribs and spinal column. A study was conducted by USDA/ARS and University of Alaska scientists in Kodiak, AK, to evaluate the composition, amino acid profile and mineral content of the major sources of bone from wild marine species harvested in Alaska to develop new uses for fish byproducts. Fresh Pacific cod, red salmon and Alaska pollock frames were collected from commercial processors and batches of bone were processed from the frames of each species. There were large differences in the composition of bone from different north Pacific fish species with cod and pollock bone both composed of approximately 65% ash, 30% protein and little lipid, while red salmon bone was 35% protein, 8.5% lipid and 55% ash. These results suggest that there is potential for increasing the utilization of marine fish bone as a nutritional supplement, feed ingredient or in the sequestration of toxic heavy metals in soils.

8. Satiety in dogs fed salmon and pollock protein. Satiety is an important factor in controlling obesity and fish proteins have been reported to be more satiating than meat proteins. A study was conducted by scientists at the University of Illinois in collaboration with USDA/ARS and University of Alaska scientists in Kodiak, AK, to evaluate muscle proteins from fish with other muscle proteins on satiety in dogs. The study evaluated the effect of beef, chicken, pork, or fish protein pre-meals on postprandial satiety hormone and 24 h food intake responses. Results showed that blood glucose decreased over time but was lowest when dogs were fed pollock or chicken substrates, and that food intake tended to be greater when dogs consumed the beef pre-meal compared to when dogs consumed the pork or pollock pre-meals. Thus, protein source appears to influence blood markers of satiety in dogs, but has little effect on decreasing overall food intake. This study is important as it may lead to new food products in the fisheries industry.

9. Chrondroitin sulfate from fish. Chondroitin sulfate is taken orally by many individuals to help alleviate pain from arthritic joints, thus there is potential to increase the value of fish processing byproducts by extracting chondroitin sulfate from fish connective tissues. Therefore, a study was conducted by USDA/ARS scientists in Kodiak, AK, to determine chondroitin sulfate content in the different tissues of different salmon heads. Analytical techniques were adapted to determine chondroitin sulfate content in the heads of different salmon species and in fractions from red salmon heads. The fraction of the red salmon head that contain the highest concentration of chondroitin sulfate was the connective tissue rich snout and braincase, or if from male salmon the exaggerated kype, with 34 mg/g total chondroitin sulfate (dry weight basis). The levels of chondroitin sulfate in salmon heads appear to be sufficient to be used for the cost-effective extraction of chondroitin sulfate suggesting that extraction of chondroitin sulfate from fisheries byproducts is possible and may result in new value-added products.

10. Ultraviolet B light-induced crosslinkage to improve physical properties of cold and warm water fish gelatins. Gelatin is widely applied in food industry to produce thermo reversible gels that melt in the mouth. Fish skin gelatin is a feasible alternative to mammalian gelatins but has a lower gel strength, that limits its commercial application. Collaborating scientists at the USDA/ARS laboratories in Albany, CA, and Kodiak, AK, embarked on studies to alter the physical properties of both cold and warm water fish skin gelatins using UV-B light, and then evaluated the effect of multiple doses of light on gel strength, rheological, tensile, and water vapor barrier properties of both cold-water and warm-water fish gelatins. Treated samples displayed higher gel strength than control and UV-B treatment improved the gel strength with cold water gelatin showing the greatest gel strength increase (52%). These results demonstrate a potential use of UV-B light treated fish gelatin for food applications, eliminating concerns regarding food safety while maintaining functional properties and quality.

Review Publications
Wu, T.H., Nigg, J.D., Stine, J.J., Bechtel, P.J. 2011. Nutritional and chemical composition of by-product fractions produced from wet reduction of individual red salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) heads and viscera. Journal of Aquatic Food Product Technology. 20(2):183-195.

Bower, C.K., Malemute, C., Bechtel, P.J. 2011. Endogenous protease activity in byproducts of pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha). Journal of Food Biochemistry. DOI:10.1111/j.1745-4514.2010.00406.

Wu, T.H., Stine, J.J., Bechtel, P.J. 2011. Preliminary chemical and nutritional characterization of liver from longnose skates (Raja rhina). Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. 24(3):356-361.

De Santos, F.A., Ramamoorthi, L., Bechtel, P.J., Smiley, S., Brewer, S. 2010. Effect of salmon type, and presence/absence of bone on color, sensory characteristics, and consumer acceptability of pureed and chunked infant food products. Journal of Sensory Studies. 75(6):S279-S285.

Oliveira, A., Bechtel, P.J., Lapis, T., Brenner, K., Ellingson, R. 2011. Chemical composition of black rockfish (Sebastes melanops) fillets and byproducts. Journal of Food Processing and Preservation. 35(4):466-473.

Stone, D.A., Oliveira, A.C., Ross, C.F., Plante, S., Smiley, S., Bechtel, P.J., Hardy, R.H. 2011. The effects of phase-feeding rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) with canola oil and Alaskan pollock fish oil on fillet fatty acid composition and sensory attributes. Aquaculture Nutrition. 17(2):e521-e529.

Stone, D.A., Oliveira, A.C., Plante, S., Smiley, S., Bechtel, P.J., Hardy, R.W. 2011. Enhancing highly unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids in phase-fed rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) using Alaskan fish oils. Aquaculture Nutrition. 17(2):e501-e510.

Vester Boler, B.M., Faber, T.A., Bauer, L.L., Swanson, K.S., Smiley, S., Bechtel, P.J., Fahey, G.C. 2012. Accute satiety response of mammalian, avian and fish proteins in dogs. British Journal of Nutrition. 107:146-154.

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Research Project: Introgression of novel genes conferring resistance to SCN in soybean germplasm of early maturity groups

Location: Crop Genetics Research Unit

Project Number: 6066-21220-011-04
Project Type: Reimbursable

Start Date: Oct 01, 2008
End Date: Mar 31, 2013

To intrgress novel SCN-restantance genes into high-yielding soybean germplasm of early maturity groups (I, II and III) possessing resistance to other economically important disease with adequate agronimic performance.

Populations and lines will be developed using different sources of SCN resistance identified by ARS. The cross will be made between new sources or lines of SCN resistance and experimental elite ISU lines developed by Cooperator. Selections include greenhouses bioassays and marker assited breeding for SCN resistance and field evaluations for superior performance.

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United States Department of Agriculture

Agricultural Research Service

Location: Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory

Title: Research update: Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory avian tumor viruses

item Fadly, Aly
item Cheng, Hans
item Dunn, John
item Heidari, Mohammad
item Hunt, Henry
item Lee, Lucy
item Silva, Robert
item Zhang, Huanmin

Submitted to: United States Animal Health Association Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: October 18, 2012
Publication Date: October 18, 2012
Citation: Fadly, A.M., Cheng, H.H., Dunn, J.R., Heidari, M., Hunt, H.D., Lee, L.F., Silva, R.F., Zhang, H. 2012. Research update: Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory avian tumor viruses. United States Animal Health Association Proceedings. 513-516.

Technical Abstract: Genomics and Immunogenetics Use of genomics to identify QTL, genes, and proteins associated with resistance to Marek’s disease. Marek’s disease (MD), a lymphoproliferative disease caused by the highly oncogenic herpesvirus Marek's disease virus (MDV), continues to be a major disease concern to the poultry industry. The fear of MD is further enhanced by unpredictable vaccine breaks that result in devastating losses. The field of genomics offers one of the more exciting avenues for enhancing control of MD. By identifying genes that confer genetic resistance, it should become possible to select for birds with superior disease resistance. Genetic resistance to MD is a complex trait controlled by many genes. Identification of these genes is a major challenge despite the existence of the chicken genome sequence and ever increasing number of tools, especially next generation sequencing. Thus, we have been implementing and integrating genomic approaches that identify QTL, genes, and proteins that are associated with resistance to MD. The rationale for using more than one approach is that the strengths of each system can be combined to yield results of higher confidence. Another justification is that given the large volume of data produced by genomics, each method provides an additional screen to limit the number of targets to verify and characterize in future experiments. Some highlights of this year’s findings include: (1) analysis of RNA seq datasets indicates both the Toll-like receptor and JAK/STAT pathways are conserved responses to MDV infection in commercial broilers and experimental layers, and genes at the start of each pathway can be selected to modulate the response, (2) Meq binds AP-1 sites to regulate expression of genes that influence immunological responses including MAPK signaling, which is also needed to maintain growth in low serum, and (3) a complete list of polymorphisms and genes in the MDV genome associated with in vitro attenuation has been compiled, and testing of recombinant MDVs indicates that a SNP in UL5 (helicase/primase) has significant impact on viral virulence. Host Genetics and Vaccinal Protective Efficacy against MD. Vaccinal protective efficacy against vv+MDV challenge was studied in MD resistant and susceptible chickens. Chickens from a MD resistant line (63) and a susceptible line (72) were either vaccinated or vaccinated followed by vv+MDV challenge. Chickens from both lines that were only vaccinated with either HVT or CVI988/Rispens did not develop any tumor and survived throughout the experiment. Chickens that vaccinated followed by vv+MDV challenge resulted in differential MD incidence and protective index (PI). Both HVT and Rispens conveyed comparable protection against the vv+MDV challenge with PI 91.2 and 86.7 percent in line 63, respectively. In comparison, CVI988/Rispens conveyed 80 percent protection while HVT achieved significantly lower protection (25%) in line 72. This result confirms our previous report that host genetics plays a vital role in modulating vaccinal protective efficacy. Furthermore, next generation RNA sequencing data suggest vaccine, MDV, and vaccine plus MDV differentially up- or down-regulated global gene expression in both MD resistant and susceptible chickens. RNA samples were collected from both MD resistant and susceptible lines either vaccinated, MDV challenged, and both. RNA libraries were constructed following standard procedures for next generation RNA sequencing with Illumina’s HiSeq platform. The RNA reads data suggested that the global gene expression differed between the MD resistant and susceptible chickens and differentially up- or down-regulated by each vaccine, MDV, or the combination of both vaccine and MDV. This finding suggests host genetics effect on vaccinal protective efficacy may be partially explained by differential globe gene expression upon vaccination and MDV challenge of chickens with different genetic backgrounds. Marek’s Disease Virus Evolves to Higher Virulence in Birds with Limited Genetic Variation. MD is still a major concern as MDV continues to evolve to higher virulence. Most studies addressing the evolution of MDV virulence have concentrated on the virus while largely ignoring the hosts’ influence. The host system called the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) represents a highly polymorphic system designed to defend the species from extinction by the fast paced evolution of a parasite. In natural chicken populations, there are hundreds of different MHC haplotypes that oscillate in response to pathogen evolution, but commercial poultry breeding has limited the number of MHC haplotypes to six or less. Our current work has shown that MDV can evolve to higher virulence in birds with a single MHC haplotype. We are evaluating the effects of resistant and susceptible MHC haplotypes on MDV evolution. Our results suggest that MDV evolves to higher virulence in the susceptible MHC haploytpe. The virus passed in the resistant MHC haplotype does not overcome the resistance but is more virulent in the susceptible haplotype than the parental virus. Thus, the virus can evolve to more virulence in resistant MHC haplotypes but this increased virulence is only observed in the more susceptible MHC haplotypes. This may help explain sporadic outbreaks of MDV in flocks segregating for resistant and susceptible MHC haplotypes. Immunopathogenesis, Diagnosis and Control of Marek’s Disease Pathotyping of new field strains of MDV. Pathotyping of new field strains of MDV requires both a long period of time and a large number of birds. Confirming a positive correlation of virus replication and pathotype may lead to faster and cheaper alternative pathotyping methods or as a screening assay for choosing isolates to be pathotyped. Past studies have found differences in replication rates between selected vMDV and vv+MDV, but this correlation has not been evaluated using a broad selection of virus strains. Our first trial evaluated replication rates of five virus strains from each virulent pathotype (v, vv & vv+) using maternal antibody positive chickens which found very little difference in lymphoid atrophy between groups and mild differences between replication rates by pathotype. The current trial evaluated differences using maternal antibody negative chickens. We found a significant increase in viral load in brain, bursa and lung tissue at days 9 and 11 post challenge for vvMDV and vv+MDV strains compared to vMDV strains. No significant difference was seen between vvMDV and vv+MDV strains. Similar results were seen comparing lymphoid atrophy between pathotype groups. Using these results, it may be possible to determine a replication rate threshold as a preliminary screen to separate vMDV from vv/vv+MDV strains. Role of macrophages in MDV infection. We investigated the specific role of macrophages (MQ) in the control or exacerbation of MD by depletion of these phagocytic cells using a chemical called clodronate (Cl2MBP) 48 hours prior to exposure to shedder birds. Our preliminary studies indicate that combination of intra-tracheal and intra-venous treatment of chickens with clodronate reduces the number of macrophages in the spleen and lungs significantly and this reduction in phagocytic cell population will likely influence the number of virus particles being transmitted from the lungs to the lymphoid organs. Macrophages in addition to the speculated role of virus dissemination play an essential role in viral replication and infection by production of nitric oxide and interferon gamma. This information is important in understanding the immunological responses to MD and development of immunomodulatory measures to prevent MDV infection and spread. Diagnosis. PCR was used in diagnosis of MD and reticuloendotheliosis (RE) in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumorous tissues that have been stored for periods varied from 5-244 months. In another experiment, PCR was also u

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item Mccracken, Gary - UNIV. OF TENNESSEE
item Westbrook, John
item Schleider, Paul
item Gillam, Erin - UNIV. OF TENNESSEE

Submitted to: North American Symposium on Bat Research
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: November 1, 2001
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: As with numerous other characteristics of their ecology, behavior, and physiology, Brazilian free-tailed bats, Tadarida brasiliensis, show remarkable variability and plasticity in their echolocation calls. Earlier field and laboratory studies documented that Tadarida exhibit the whole range of echolocation signals excluding very long constant-frequency (CF) signals, found among all other Microchiropteran bats. Recordings fro radio microphone bat detectors at altitudes of up to 1000 meters over Texas document thousands of quasi-CF (QCF) calls at 19 to 23 kHz that can exceed 20 ms duration. These calls, which from all evidence are those of T. brasiliensis, appear to document the exception to the species' call repertoire. Typical search calls of T. brasiliensis recorded at ground level are CF and QCF at approximately 50 kHz and 10 ms in duration. Our observations and those of numerous other field researchers document that the search calls emitted by these bats near ground level are typically at 32 to 25 kHz. However, many calls recorded at ground level over corn and cotton fields where T. brasiliensis forage in great abundance, as well as calls recorded as high as 500 meters above the ground, exceed 10 ms duration, satisfy the definition of search calls, and approach 50 kHz. We are investigating whether these are also calls of T. brasiliensis, and, if so, what is their ecological context. Calls recorded from 32 light-tagged, hand-released T. brasiliensis document a diverse suite of calls, including frequency-modulated (FM) with several harmonics, FM tailing with CF, and short CF/FM.

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United States Department of Agriculture

Agricultural Research Service

item Medina, Marjorie

Submitted to: Journal of Rapid Methods and Automation in Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: February 7, 2005
Publication Date: May 20, 2005
Citation: Medina, M.B. 2005. Development of a competitive immunoassay for detection of staphylococcal enterotoxin b ((seb) in milk. Journal of Rapid Methods and Automation in Microbiology. 13. pp. 37-55.

Interpretive Summary: Foodborne pathogenic bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, produce toxins that can cause serious gastroenteritis and many other discomforts even with trace quantities. Common heat processing of foods and normal cooking temperatures can kill the bacteria but the produced toxins, staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB), are not destroyed. Therefore, ingestion of contaminated foods can still cause illness. The heat resistance of the SEB makes it a potential bioterrorism agent. Thus, there is a need of good methods to detect trace levels of SEB in foods. In this work, we developed a rapid and semi-automated method to detect SEB in milk using a biosensor. The method successfully detected the presence of 0.3 to 20 parts per billion of SEB in fresh whole milk. This technique has advantages over previously reported methods because the sample preparation is simple and the analysis is rapid (15 min per sample). This information will be useful for food industry and regulatory agencies to enhance the safety and the security of our foods.

Technical Abstract: A sensitive and more rapid biosensor method for detection of staphylococcal enterotoxins is needed by the food industry. Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin B (SEB) is highly heat resistant and is a potential bioterrorism agent. Our research objective is to develop a competitive immunoassay using a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor for the detection of SEB below 1 ng/mL (ppb) in fresh fluid milk. The assay consisted of SEB immobilization on the sensor surface. Anti-SEB was allowed to bind with SEB in samples off-line prior to the biosensor analysis. The excess and unbound anti-SEB was then captured by SEB sensor. The assay conditions were optimized to detect SEB in Hepes buffer and in whole milk. Analysis of milk samples spiked with 0.312 ' 50 ppb SEB consisted of heating the samples at 95 degrees C followed by rapid cooling and centrifugation at 2961g to separate the skim fraction. Aliquots of the skim fraction containing SEB were allowed to bind with anti-SEB for 30 or 60 min. The SEB and anti-SEB complex was separated from the free anti-SEB by centrifugation and the supernatants were injected over the sensor. SEB was detectable in buffer at 0.78 ' 50 ppb and in spiked milk from 0. 312 - 25 ppb. The biosensor analysis including the sensor regeneration was 15 min per sample in a fully automated system. The competitive assay format resulted in higher detection sensitivity and greater sample throughput than the SPR biosensor sandwich assay. The competitive assay will be utilized for detection of SEB in various foods and will be optimized for detection of other staphylococcal toxins in foods.

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United States Department of Agriculture

Agricultural Research Service

Research Project: Diet, Inflammation and Prevention of Chronic Disease

Location: Immunity and Disease Prevention Research Unit

Title: Similarities and differences between the effects of EPA and DHA on markers of atherosclerosis in human subjects

item Kelley, Darshan
item Adkins, Yuriko

Submitted to: Proceedings of the Nutrition Society
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: August 21, 2011
Publication Date: February 28, 2012
Citation: Kelley, D.S., Adkins, Y.C. 2012. Similarities and differences between the effects of EPA and DHA on markers of atherosclerosis in human subjects. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 10.1017/S0029665112000080.

Technical Abstract: Initial results from epidemiological studies suggested that long chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC n-3 PUFA) from fish oils (FO) reduced the incidence of CVD; those results have been confirmed in interventional studies. Dietary intervention with long chain n-3 PUFA decreased fasting and postprandial triglycerides, number of remnant like chylomicron cholesterol (RLP-C), large VLDL, and total and small dense LDL particles. It increased the mean size of LDL particles by increasing the number of large LDL particles, and decreasing those of the small dense LDL particles. With some exceptions, n-3 PUFA decreased blood pressure and heart rate, flow mediated dilation (FMD), and plasma concentrations of inflammatory markers (CRP, inflammatory eciosanoids and cytokines). N-3 PUFA also decreased circulating adhesion molecules, and intima media thickness (IMT) in some but not other studies. IMT results varied with the sex and the artery being examined. EPA effects on FMD are believed to be endothelial cell dependent while those of DHA are considered to be endothelial cell independent. Individually, both EPA and DHA decreased triglycerides and inflammatory markers, but only DHA decreased heart rate, blood pressure, and the number of small dense LDL particles. Dose and duration of the n-3 PUFA used, ratio between EPA and DHA, and the health status of the subjects contributed to the inconsistencies between published reports. Future studies are needed to determine the optimal doses of EPA and DHA individually, their synergistic, additive or antagonistic effects, and to understand the underlying mechanisms. Regardless of some of the inconsistencies, n-3 PUFA decreased several risk factors for atherosclerosis without any serious AE.

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The Rock Circus Statues

Part 1: Eros

In 1893, Alfred Gilbert unveiled his memorial to the philanthropist Lord Shaftesbury. Titled ‘The Angel of Christian Charity’ and modelled on the iconic image of Agape, the Greek God of selflessness, it has been mistaken for ‘Eros’ by tourists and Evening Standard journalists ever since. The tale that lies behind it is a sad one. Public scandal over the sculpture’s explicit use of the naked male form dominated its reception, and Gilbert never received credit for its innovative design and revolutionary use of aluminium as a casting material for public sculpture. The sculptor’s subsequent bankruptcy and self-imposed exile in Belgium curiously foreshadowed later events relating to a statue in this location.

Almost 100 years later Piccadilly Circus found itself at the forefront of sculptural experimentation of a different kind. At the opening of Madame Tussaud’s Rock Circus in the old London Pavillion ten life-sized statues were unveiled on the balcony the building. Representing the pantheon of rock greats, these statues sparked a remarkably similar public debate. The argument split along two lines: ‘Is it right that we should elevate mere entertainers to the status of national heroes?’ and, more importantly, ‘Did they pick the right ones?’ Cast in fibreglass and treated with a paint specially created for the commission by Courtauld Chemicals, the statues were the work of James Butler, RA (b.1931) and took just over a year to complete.

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