SEAWORLD SAN DIEGO’S
NEXT GENERATION SEA-LIFE EXPERIENCE
TO FEATURE ORCA ENCOUNTER
Evolutionary New Presentation Focused on
Natural Orca Behaviors in Natural Setting
(SAN DIEGO, Calif. – May 8, 2017) — SeaWorld San Diego’s long-awaited, all-new, inspiring Orca Encounter will debut this summer highlighting SeaWorld’s majestic killer whales in a documentary-style format featuring a three-story, first-of-its-kind infinity screen and a natural rugged coastline setting complete with towering pines and picturesque waterfalls.
Orca Encounter moves far ahead of using conventional animal videos and static displays through the unique combination of a live presentation layered with a digital environment. This new presentation will allow SeaWorld to share its 50-year knowledge of killer whale behavior and care in a way that has never been done before.
“By combining a live orca presentation with an extraordinarily enhanced and augmented digital environment, we will immerse our guests in the mysterious world of the killer whale, which most people would never get to experience,” said Brian Morrow, SeaWorld’s vice president of theme park experience and design.
A highly specialized team made up of orca behaviorists, engineers and researchers and writers spent nearly a year creating Orca Encounter. The result is an astonishing learning experience that will engage guests on an unprecedented educational and inspirational level.
“Guests may see a natural breaching behavior by the whales, and then on our new massive infinity screen they’ll see the same behavior by a killer whale in the wild enabling them to draw an even deeper connection to the orcas,” said SeaWorld San Diego orca behaviorist Kristi Burtis. “Our visitors will also hear how scientific research on killer whales at SeaWorld is benefiting wild populations.”
The unparalleled state-of-the-art technology of the nearly 140-foot-wide screen will also give guests the feeling they have actually stepped into an X-ray of the majestic orca. They’ll see every characteristic of the whale, from its pectoral flipper to tail flukes and more, in an up-close and personal way as opposed to the fleeting glance that only a lucky few will ever get in their lifetimes.
“The latest technology and educational techniques now allow us to also witness the amazing bond between humans and our orcas,” said Burtis. “It’s so important for as many people as possible to understand and appreciate orcas, which is key to the conservation of these extraordinary creatures in the wild.”
“They are at the top of the food chain; and literally they are in every ocean in the world, yet they are unseen by the vast majority of humans,” added Burtis. “Orca Encounter is the best chance most will ever have to see, study and appreciate them. We hope our guests will be inspired to take action to protect wild animals and wild places.”
The debut of Orca Encounter at SeaWorld San Diego reinforces the company’s commitment to educational and natural orca presentation. SeaWorld parks in Orlando and San Antonio will move to this new presentation by 2019.
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Telling you what you already know, that among myriad awesomeness, your great state is famous for five of the most magnificent national parks and seven mind-blowing national monuments, Sundance, the first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise, the TV and of course Napoleon Dynamite.
Well Utah, add this to your list: The Beehive State is home to three of the Top 10 colleges in the U.S. Yup. Three out of the Top 10. But wait, there’s more: Utah State University is the best in the nation.
Schools.com’s Best Schools for 2017 ranked 1,649 4-year colleges and universities in the U.S. After the full and exhaustive analysis, these were the top 10 universities across the country and as you can see, Utah commands:
This isn’t a popularity contest. The rankings involved a rigorous data-driven methodology that evaluated the higher education options against 13 factors related to affordability, flexibility, and other quantitative factors - allowing students and their families to get an unbiased perspective.
See the analysis, full methodology and sources, and more at: http://www.schools.com/research/best-schools-of-2017
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The Arbor Day Foundation is offering a handy tree-care booklet designed to help people plant and care for trees.
Anyone can receive Conservation Trees, a user-friendly booklet featuring illustrations, colorful photos, and easily understood descriptions, by making a $3 donation to the Foundation this month.
“Conservation Trees is an ideal resource for tree planters,” said Matt Harris, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. “Taking care of existing trees is just as critical as planting new ones, and proper care ensures communities are able to fully enjoy the diverse benefits of urban forestry.”
The booklet provides details about the right way to plant and prune trees. It also includes tips on using shade trees and windbreaks to save on energy costs, attract songbirds, and create a living snow fence.
To receive the Conservation Trees booklet, send a $3 check along with your name and address to Conservation Trees, Arbor Day Foundation, 100 Arbor Ave., Nebraska City, NE 68410, or order online at arborday.org/conservationtrees.
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About the Arbor Day Foundation
Founded in 1972, the Arbor Day Foundation has grown to become the largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees, with more than 1 million members, supporters, and valued partners. During the past 44 years, more than 250 million Arbor Day Foundation trees have been planted in neighborhoods, communities, cities, and forests throughout the world. Our goal is to help others understand that trees are a solution to many of the global issues we face today, including air quality, water quality, climate change, deforestation, poverty, and hunger.
As one of the world’s largest operating conservation foundations, the Arbor Day Foundation, through its members, partners, and programs, educates and engages stakeholders and communities across the globe to involve themselves in its mission of planting, nurturing, and celebrating trees.
As the Foundation embarks on the next decade, its vision remains the same — to continue to share, advance, and educate the world on emerging solutions to environmental, health, and human services concerns through its networks and programs.
More information is available at arborday.org.
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Findings from a large, community-based study show that antithrombotic therapy doesn’t decrease low-risk atrial fibrillation patients’ risk of suffering a stroke within five years.
There is still no consensus regarding the initiation of these therapies in low-stroke risk patients, but findings from our study add important insight into this issue.”
— Victoria Jacobs, PhD, NP, Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute
SALT LAKE CITY, , UT, USA , May 8, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Findings from a large, community-based study show that antithrombotic therapy doesn’t decrease low-risk atrial fibrillation patients’ risk of suffering a stroke within five years. In fact, researchers found that low-risk patients fared better without any antithrombotic therapy.
The new findings from researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City were presented recently at the American College of Cardiology's 66th Annual Scientific Session in Washington, D.C.
Antithrombotic agents are drugs that reduce the formation of blood clots. Antithrombotics can be used therapeutically for prevention or treatment of a dangerous blood clots.
The news findings contradict some current standards. For instance, the European Cardiology Society advocates oral anticoagulation therapy for patients with stroke risk factors as defined by a CHA2DS2 VASc score of 1 or more for men and 2 or more for women.
However, the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute study found that low-risk patients — with a CHADS2 score of 0-1 or CHA2DS2 VASc score of 0-2 — who received antithrombotic therapy experienced higher rates of stroke and significant bleeding.
CHADS2 is an acronym that helps clinicians recall major stroke risk factors, assigning one point for each letter: “C” for congestive heart failure, “H” for high blood pressure, “A” for age 75 or older and “D” for diabetes. “S” stands for stroke and the “2” denotes an extra point is assigned for a previous stroke. CHA2DS2-VASc builds on CHADS2, adding points for being female, being between the ages 65-75 and having vascular disease.
Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute researcher Victoria Jacobs, PhD, NP, says the use of oral anticoagulation or antiplatelet therapies is controversial in the medical community.
“There is still no consensus regarding the initiation of these therapies in low-stroke risk patients, but findings from our study add important insight into this issue,” she said.
The study involved 56,723 patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and a CHADS2 scores of 0-1 and CHADS2 VASc scores of 0-2. Patients were divided into groups receiving aspirin, Clopidogrel and Warfarin.
Follow-up after five years showed that 4.6 percent of aspirin-prescribed patients suffered a stroke versus 2.3 percent of those who weren’t on it; 17.6 percent of those using aspirin experienced significant bleeding versus 11.5 percent not on it.
Of warfarin-prescribed patients, 5.7 percent suffered a stroke after five years versus 2.6 percent of those not on it; 22.3 percent of warfarin patients experienced significant bleeding versus 12.3 percent not on it.
The study concludes that anticoagulation or antiplatelet therapies don’t lower stroke rates in low-risk patients, but rather increase their risk of significant bleeding and death.
“We need more studies enrolling low-risk stroke patients, particularly in randomized, controlled trials to guide providers to optimal therapies for these patients,” Jacobs said.
Anjani Golive, MD, was the principal investigator on the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute study. Other researchers included Heidi May, PhD; Tami Bair, RN; Brian Crandall, MD; Michael J. Cutler, DO; John Day, MD, Charles Mallender, MD; Jeffrey S. Osborn, MD; Jonathan Weiss, MD; and T. Jared Bunch, MD.
The Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute is part of the Intermountain Healthcare system, which is based in Salt Lake City.
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Prof. David Denning GAFFI President
In 2017, no person with HIV should develop fungal meningitis, yet in a failed cascade of HIV care, too often Cryptococcus is a final death sentence.”
— Dr David Boulware
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, May 7, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- International HIV experts on fungal meningitis in AIDS report finding nearly 250,000 cases annually, 73% in sub-Saharan Africa. Fungal meningitis due to the Cryptococcus fungus typically affects those in the prime of life, 35 years old, and affects the tissues covering the brain and spinal cord. Of those affected an estimated 181,000 people die, despite the existence of a simple blood test and long developed life saving medicines.
Deaths from Cryptococcal Meningitis in AIDS are 15% of all 1,100,000 AIDS-related deaths. Yet, the vast majority of those who survive do so without complications and with treatment of their HIV infection, go on to make a full recovery.
Published in the prestigious journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, Radha Rajasingham and colleagues from the University of Minnesota, which also runs a major research program on fungal meningitis in Kampala in Uganda, used 46 studies from around world to estimate current case numbers. The resurgence of interest in fungal meningitis arises from excellent diagnostic tests that take 10 minutes to perform and cost only about £5/$7. Patients can be picked up early with a blood test and treated. Without diagnosis and treatment fungal meningitis in AIDS is always fatal.
Dr David Boulware, Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Minnesota, and senior author of the study, said: “Still too many HIV-infected people enter care late and Cryptococcal Meningitis is an unfortunate excellent metric of HIV treatment programme failure. In 2017, no person with HIV should develop fungal meningitis, yet in a failed cascade of HIV care, too often Cryptococcus is a final death sentence.”
The Global Action Fund for fungal Infections (GAFFI) with numerous other organisations persuaded the World Health Organization to place the key antifungal drugs for Cryptococci meningitis – amphotericin B and flucytosine – on the Essential Medicines List in 2013. However no African country has flucytosine routinely available in 2017. Several countries don’t have amphotericin B and the Global Fund has yet to provide any funding for these medicines.
Dr David Denning, President of GAFFI and Professor at the University of Manchester declared: “While Cryptococcal Meningitis numbers have fallen slightly with better HIV care, over 20 million people are not receiving anti-HIV therapy and in the meantime, too many are dying of completely treatable infections, when they first attend hospital with AIDS. Even when anti-HIV therapy is routinely available, cases still occur regularly, as demonstrated in Botswana.”
Link to Lancet ID article:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(17)30243-8
Notes to Editors:
For more information please contact Susan Osborne, Director of Communications, The Goodwork Organisation on 07836 229208.
GAFFI is a charitable foundation (NGO) focused on reducing deaths and illness caused by fungal disease.
Fungal diseases are neglected worldwide by public health authorities. GAFFI efforts are directed at:
1. Identifying and publicising gaps in diagnostics and treatments for fungal diseases
2. Consulting on how healthcare could be improved through facilitating training, encouraging companies to expand their markets and recommending improvements in infrastructure
3. Estimating the burden of serious fungal diseases, country by country. Over 68 country estimates are complete, and many of these are published
4. Developing, implementing and evaluating countrywide diagnostic programs - Guatemala (fungal infections in AIDS) the first
5. Influencing national and international agencies to ‘adopt’ fungal diseases alongside existing programs including TB, microbiology, AMR, NTDs and incorporation of key generic antifungals onto the WHO Essential Medicines List.
6. Focusing diagnostic improvements for GAFFI’s priority diseases.
GAFFI issued a 10-year Roadmap in 2015 calling for ‘95-95 by 2025’, summarized as 95 per cent of patients with serious fungal infections are diagnosed and treated. http://www.gaffi.org/roadmap/
