Utica Comets Launch Summer Hockey School

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May 14, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL) Utica Comets Do you want to know what it's like to play and live like a pro for a week?

The Utica Comets Hockey Club is excited to be holding it's Inaugural Utica Comets Summer Hockey School August 11th through the 15th, for players 7-14 years of age.

You will have the opportunity to skate and train in the same facilities as your hometown Utica Comets. Featuring 12.5 hours of on-ice instruction, 6 hours of off-ice training, and 5 hours of classroom chalk talk, the Utica Comets Summer Hockey School presents a positive and fun environment in which to refine and improve upon your skill set prior to the upcoming season.

Utica Comets will be your coaches throughout the camp as well as local current and former NHL hockey players.

So the question is...do you want to train like a pro?

Full Price: $479.99

Early Bird Price: $450.00

More than one camper: $450.00

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Utica Comets Launch Summer Hockey School

World Cup dream trip: $30,000

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The Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro is scheduled to host seven games during the upcoming World Cup, including the final game on July 13.

LONDON (CNNMoney)

The upcoming FIFA World Cup runs for a month from June 12 in a dozen cities across Brazil. Fans from around the world will flock to the country to cheer on their national teams, party into the night and take in the sights.

Those hoping for last minute, budget deals will be disappointed since a wave of World Cup demand has already caused a big spike in air fares and hotel rates. People who booked in advance have already snapped up the bargains.

Total costs can vary widely, but a quick trip to see a match or two would set you back about $3,000, including flights, budget hotels, soccer tickets and spending money. If you hope to follow your team all the way to the final on July 13 in Rio de Janiero -- and upgrade to smarter hotels -- costs could balloon to over $30,000.

Related: CNN World Cup coverage

Economy flights from major U.S. cities to Rio are now priced between $1,200 and $4,200. But many of those cheaper flights include multiple stopovers and travel time of over 24 hours. Fares are rising all the time.

Travel website Hopper.com estimates that average prices for flights to Brazil have increased by nearly 40% compared to the same time last year.

Once you're there, finding a room is the next challenge. Travel agents are warning that most of Rio is booked solid, though availability in other cities is better.

Michael Fine, a travel consultant based in Sao Paulo, estimates typical hotels rooms in Rio will cost between $200 to $500 per night during the World Cup. That compares with an average rate of about $130 per night that Brazilian hotels usually charge in major cities.

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World Cup dream trip: $30,000

AirAsia to pilot INTERPOL I-Checkit system

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Kuala Lumpur, May 13 : As part of ongoing efforts to enhance international travel security, AirAsia is to pilot INTERPOL's I-Checkit system to screen the passports of all its prospective passengers against the world police body's Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database.

Once implemented later this month the pilot project will see AirAsia become the first airline to integrate I-Checkit with their own check in systems during the passenger check-in phase across its entire international network, allowing passenger passport numbers to be compared against INTERPOL's SLTD database which contains more than 40 million records from 167 countries.

I-Checkit will allow the airline to query the SLTD database but not gain direct access to it. With the pilot project respecting national legislation linked to data protection, no personal data will be transmitted to INTERPOL, with only the travel document number, form of document and country code screened against SLTD.

Should a passenger's passport register a positive match against the database, AirAsia has procedures in place that will refer the passenger to local authorities.

INTERPOL's procedures would simultaneously be engaged to notify all relevant INTERPOL National Central Bureaus worldwide.

AirAsia Group CEO, Tony Fernandes, said: "AirAsia is extremely pleased to be the first airline globally to collaborate with INTERPOL to implement I-Checkit. The partnership we have created will result in improved passenger security and will support our desire to offer low fares, but with the added assurance that this system and partnership provides."

The I-Checkit system will be deployed across all of AirAsia's international operations, covering a network of 100 airports across Asia and 600 international flights per day to more than 20 countries worldwide.

In the event of a positive match registered via I-Checkit, alerts for further verification will also be sent to INTERPOL's National Central Bureau (NCB) of the country that owns the travel document data, and to INTERPOL's General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon, France.

"INTERPOL is very proud to be piloting I-Checkit with AirAsia. This will raise the bar across the industry for passenger safety and security by preventing individuals using stolen or lost passports from boarding international flights," said INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble during his visit AirAsia operations at Kuala Lumpur's klia2 terminal.

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AirAsia to pilot INTERPOL I-Checkit system

Transhuman by Ben Bova | 9780765332936 | Hardcover …

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University Hospital, Boston

IT OUGHT TO be raining, thought Luke Abramson. It ought to be gray and miserable, with a lousy cold rain pelting down.

Instead, the hospital room was bright, with mid-December sunshine slanting through the windows. In the bed lay eight-year-old Angela, Lukes granddaughter, frail and wasting, her eyes closed, her thinned blond hair spread across the pillow. Angelas parents, Lukes only daughter and his son-in-law, stood on the other side of the bed, together with Angelas attending physician. Luke stood alone.

Hed been playing tennis in the universitys indoor court when the phone call from the hospital came. Or, rather, doggedly going through the motions of playing tennis. Nearly seventy-five, even doubles was getting beyond him. Although the younger men tried to take it easy on him, more than once Luke had gloomily suggested they start playing triples.

And then came the phone call. Angie was terminal. He had rushed to the hospital, bundling his bulky parka over his tennis shorts and T-shirt.

Then theres nothing? Lukes daughter, Lenore, couldnt finish the sentence. Her voice choked in sobs.

Norrie, Luke called to her silently, dont cry. Ill help you. I can cure Angie, I know I can. But he couldnt speak the words aloud. He watched Lenore sobbing quietly, her heart breaking.

And Luke remembered all the other times when his daughter had come to him in tears, her deep brown eyes brimming, her dear little form racked with sobs. Ill fix it, Norrie, he had always told her. Ill make it all better for you. Even when his wife died after all those painful years of battling cancer, Lenore came to her father for comfort, for protection against the terrible wrongs that life had thrown at them.

Now Lenore stood with her husband, who wrapped an arm protectively around her slim, trembling shoulders. Del towered over little Lenore, a tall, athletic figure standing firmly beside his diminutive, grief-stricken wife. Hes being strong for her, Luke knew. But he could see the agony, the bitterness in his clenched jaw and bleak eyes.

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Transhuman by Ben Bova | 9780765332936 | Hardcover ...

Enzyme helps stem cells improve recovery from limb injuries

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While it seems like restoring blood flow to an injured leg would be a good thing, it can actually cause additional damage that hinders recovery, researchers say.

Ischemia reperfusion injury affects nearly two million Americans annually with a wide variety of scenarios that temporarily impede blood flow -- from traumatic limb injuries, to heart attacks, to donor organs, said Dr. Babak Baban, immunologist at the Medical College of Georgia and College of Dental Medicine at Georgia Regents University.

Restoring blood flow actually heightens inflammation and cell death rather than recovery for many of these patients.

"Think about trying to hold onto a nuclear power plant after you unplug the electricity and cannot pump water to cool it down," said Dr. Jack Yu, Chief of MCG's Section of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. "All kinds of bad things start happening."

Baban and Yu are collaborators on a study published in the journal PLOS ONE that shows one way stem cell therapy appears to intervene is with the help of an enzyme also used by a fetus to escape rejection by the mother's immune system.

Earlier studies indicate stem cells may improve recovery both by enabling new blood vessel growth and by turning down the now-severe inflammation, Baban said. The new study shows that indoleomine 2,3 dioxygenase, or IDO, widely known to dampen the immune response and create tolerance, plays an important role in regulating inflammation in that scenario. Stems cells and numerous other cell types are known to express IDO.

In fact, IDO boosted stem cell efficacy by about a third in their studies in animal models comparing the therapy in normal mice versus mice missing IDO. The researchers documented decreased expression of inflammatory markers, swelling and cell death, which correlate with a shorter, improved recovery.

That could be just what the doctor ordered for these patients, said Baban, the study's corresponding author. "We don't want to turn off the immune system, we want to turn it back to normal," he said.

Problems start with even a short period of inadequate blood and nutrients resulting in the rapid accumulation of destructive acidic metabolites, free radicals, and damage to cell structures, Yu said. Cell power plants, called mitochondria, which should be producing the energy source ATP, are among the early casualties, quickly becoming fat, leaky, and dysfunctional.

"The mitochondria are sick; they are very, very sick," Yu said. When blood flow is restored, it can put huge additional stress on sick powerhouses.

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Enzyme helps stem cells improve recovery from limb injuries

President opens Bauddhaloka Mawatha dansela, Manning Market pandal

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As the country celebrates Vesak, the Birth, Enlightenment and the Parinibbana of The Buddha with people making material offerings and engaging in spiritual rituals, President Mahinda Rajapaksa shared the joys of the people by opening the Vesak Pandal at Manning Market in Pettah yesterday. The President shared pleasantries with the large crowds that thronged the area.

The President also opened the Danselas at Bauddhaloka Mawatha and at the Diyawanna Oya. Record numbers of people flooded the streets of Colombo for Vesak sightseeing. The Vesak Kalapaya on Bauddhaloka Mawatha, and other places in the city were a sea of heads as the large number of Danselas offered food, soft drinks and ice cream for every visitor who came to the city. According to sources, there are about 4,800 Dansals around the country.

Buddhists gathered at temples across the country to commemorate Vesak Full Moon Poya Day, marking the religious, social and cultural importance of this day. The streets are replete with Vesak decorations adding more colour to the festivities.

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President opens Bauddhaloka Mawatha dansela, Manning Market pandal