TripAdvisor Names World’s Best Accommodations With 2014 Travelers’ Choice Awards For Hotels

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12th Annual Global Awards Honor Top Hotels Overall and in Categories Including Bargain, B&Bs and Inns, Family, Luxury, Romance, and Small Hotels

TripAdvisor, the world's largest travel site*, today announced the winners of its 2014 Travelers' Choice awards for hotels. In the 12th year of the awards, the world's most outstanding properties were identified in the categories of Top Hotels, Bargain, B&Bs and Inns, Family, Luxury, Romance, and Small Hotels.

"We're excited to recognize the world's best properties, based on the opinions of those who know them best the millions of travelers around the globe who come to TripAdvisor to share their experiences," said Barbara Messing, chief marketing officer for TripAdvisor. "For those seeking inspiration for their 2014 travel planning, this list of spectacular accommodations that received 2014 Travelers' Choice awards is a perfect place to start."

Travelers' Choice award winners were determined based on the reviews and opinions of millions of TripAdvisor travelers around the globe. In total, 7,123 unique properties worldwide won awards in 2014. Italy featured the most unique hotel winners with 152, the U.K. had 145 properties recognized and the U.S. and France each featured 144 award winners.

Top 10 Hotels in the World:

Top 10 Hotels in the U.S.:

Additional Select 2014 Winners:

The average nightly rate of Travelers' Choice award-winning Top Hotels is $366; Bargain is $91; B&Bs and Inns is $138; Family is $237; Luxury is $467; Romance is $356; and Small Hotels is $301.

All 7,123 unique winners of the 2014 TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice awards for hotels can be found at http://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice. Travelers can also follow the conversation on Twitter at #travelerschoice.

TripAdvisor is the world's largest travel site*, enabling travelers to plan and have the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers trusted advice from real travelers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools. TripAdvisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, with more than 260 million unique monthly visitors**, and more than 100 million reviews and opinions covering more than 2.7 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions. The sites operate in 30 countries worldwide, including China under daodao.com. TripAdvisor also includes TripAdvisor for Business, a dedicated division that provides the tourism industry access to millions of monthly TripAdvisor visitors.

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TripAdvisor Names World’s Best Accommodations With 2014 Travelers’ Choice Awards For Hotels

ITB Berlin Business Travel Days: Knowing what is important tomorrow

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Meeting place for business travel and event managers at the world's leading travel trade show outstanding papers and workshops latest: Peter Schaar, former Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, will speak about "leaving a data trail on one's travels how accessible should traveller information be?"

Berlin, 22 January 2014 From 5 to 7 March 2014 the Business Travel Days at ITB Berlin will be where business travel and event managers can meet to find out about new ideas and obtain first-hand knowledge. The two slogans of the three-day event are "Creating added value for today" and "Knowing what is important tomorrow."

The paper due to be held by Peter Schaar, until late in 2013 the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, is certain to spark debate. On Thursday, 8 March he will be speaking about "leaving a data trail on one's travels how accessible should traveller information be?" One of the items he will discuss is the topical and controversial issue of IATA's new distribution capability, which is a main element of its sales concept. He will also address the issue of the excessive amounts of data being collected by security agencies. Another highlight will be the keynote speech by Prof. Dr. Ulrich Walter, who in 1993 was an astronaut on board the Space Shuttle and who is currently the chair of the Aerospace Systems Department at the Technical University of Munich. His report entitled 'Travelling with NASA', which is sponsored by AirPlus International, includes a fascinating 'Photographic journey around the Earth', his view on the prospects for space tourism and his personal experiences of settling travel expenses with NASA.

This year, a Business Travel Theme Day will be taking place for the first time. On Friday, 7 March the focus will be on "efficiently managing employees abroad." Michael H. Wurche's report, which is sponsored by the Result Group, is equally fascinating. Formerly a national Lufthansa representative in Bolivia, in 1983 he was held captive by kidnappers for eleven days. He has exploited this brutal experience in a positive way and is now able to give advice on how to avoid dangerous situations. Full details of the programme are available at http://www.itb-convention.com/program.

The Home of Business Travel by ITB & VDR, a lounge in Hall 7.1a, will provide visitors with an opportunity to exchange knowledge and network in a relaxed atmosphere. Following its successful launch last year, the Home of Business Travel, which was set up by Messe Berlin and the German Travel Management Association (VDR), offers a unique meeting area for travel and event managers, young professionals, buyers and office workers from around the world, and is a place where they can find out more about services and options that enable them to optimise their business trips. Co-exhibitors including AirPlus International, Business Visum GmbH, Concur (Germany) GmbH, Derpart Travel Service, Egencia GmbH, FCm Travel Solutions, Holiday Inn Berlin Airport Conference Centre, SAP and TS24 Travel Solutions will be showcasing solutions for professional management before, during and after business trips. The Home of Business Travel will also focus on furthering participants' knowledge, with the display area being devoted to holding lectures and discussion rounds at the ITB Business Travel Days.

A trade visitor pass to ITB Berlin grants admission to all the lectures and seminars at the Business Travel Days.

ITB Berlin 2014 will take place from Wednesday to Sunday, 5 to 9 March. From the Wednesday to the Friday ITB Berlin is open to trade visitors only. The ITB Berlin Convention is held parallel with the trade fair, from Wednesday to Friday, 5 to 7 March 2014. It is the world's largest specialist convention for the industry. More details are available at http://www.itb-convention.com. ITB Berlin is the leading trade fair for the worldwide travel industry. In 2013 a total of 10,086 companies and organisations from 188 countries exhibited their products and services to 170,000 visitors, who included 110,000 trade visitors.

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ITB Berlin Business Travel Days: Knowing what is important tomorrow

stem cell therapy treatment for Right Hemiparesis Cerebral Palsy by dr alok sharma, mumbai, india – Video

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stem cell therapy treatment for Right Hemiparesis Cerebral Palsy by dr alok sharma, mumbai, india
improvement seen in just 5 days after stem cell therapy treatment for Right Hemiparesis Cerebral Palsy by dr alok sharma, mumbai, india. Stem Cell Therapy do...

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stem cell therapy treatment for global developmental delay by dr alok sharma, mumbai, india – Video

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stem cell therapy treatment for global developmental delay by dr alok sharma, mumbai, india
improvement seen in just 5 days after stem cell therapy treatment for ______ by dr alok sharma, mumbai, india. Stem Cell Therapy done date 17/12/2013 After S...

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Number of cancer stem cells might not predict outcome in HPV-related oral cancers

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Jan. 22, 2014 New research from The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center -- Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC -- James) suggests that it may be the quality of cancer stem cells rather than their quantity that leads to better survival in certain patients with oral cancer.

The researchers investigated cancer stem cell numbers in oral cancers associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) and in oral cancers not associated with the virus. Typically, patients with HPV-positive oral cancer respond better to therapy and have a more promising prognosis than patients with HPV-negative tumors. The latter are usually associated with tobacco and alcohol use.

The OSUCCC -- James team's findings, published in the journal Cancer, suggest that relying on the number of cancer stem cells in a tumor might inaccurately estimate the potential for the tumor's recurrence or progression.

"We show that high levels of cancer stem cells are not necessarily associated with a worse prognosis in head and neck cancer, a finding that could have far-reaching implications for patient care," says principal investigator Quintin Pan, PhD, associate professor of otolaryngology and scientist with the OSUCCC -- James Experimental Therapeutics Program.

Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide, with an estimated 600,000 cases diagnosed annually. Although the disease is often linked to alcohol and tobacco use, cancer-causing types of HPV are a major risk factor for the malignancy, and cases of HPV-associated oral cancers have tripled in the past 30 years.

Cancer stem cells make up only a small percent of the malignant cells within a tumor. When these cells divide, they can produce either more cancer stem cells or the nondividing malignant cells that constitute the bulk of a tumor.

Research has shown that cancer stem cells are highly resistant to chemotherapy and radiation and those cancer stem cells that survive treatment cause tumor recurrence. For these reasons, it is thought that tumors with high numbers of cancer stem cells are more likely to recur.

In this study, Pan and his OSUCCC -- James collaborators hypothesized that patients with HPV-positive tumors had better outcomes because their tumors had fewer cancer stem cells than tumors with HPV-negative tumors. They discovered just the opposite, however.

Comparing numbers of cancer stem cells in human tumor samples and in oral-cancer cell lines, they found that the HPV-positive samples had 2.4 to 62.6 times more cancer stem cells than did the HPV-negative samples.

"Most cancer biologists would have expected tumors with high cancer stem cell numbers to be very difficult to cure because cancer stem cells are thought to convey resistance to conventional therapy," adds Ted Teknos, MD, study collaborator and director of head and neck cancer surgery at the OSUCCC -- James.

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Number of cancer stem cells might not predict outcome in HPV-related oral cancers

Mayo Clinic Discovery Leads to FDA Approval for Stem Cell Trial for Heart Failure Patients

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Dennis Douda (@ddouda) published a blog post January 17th, 2014

Mayo Clinic Discovery Leads to FDA Approval for Stem Cell Trial for Heart Failure Patients

U.S. FDA Approves Phase III Cardiopoietic Stem Cell Trial for Heart Failure Patients Based on a Mayo Discovery

Cardio3 BioSciences, an international Mayo Clinic collaborator, has received FDA approval for a phase III pivotal clinical trial of its stem cell therapy.The trial will test the Mayo Clinic discovery of cardiopoietic (cardiogenically-instructed) stem cells designed to improve heart health in people suffering from heart failure.The multisite U.S. trial, called CHART-2, will aim to recruit 240 patients with chronic advanced symptomatic heart failure. Cardio3 BioSciences is a bioscience company in Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium.

"Regenerative medicine is poised to transformthe way we treat patients," says Andre Terzic, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Regenerative Medicine. Watch the video below to see how stem cells are being used to treat people with heart failure.

Journalists: Video b-roll of today's news conference, plussound bites with Dr. Terzic and Christian Homsy, M.D., CEO of Cardio3 BioSciences, areavailable in the downloads. The video pkg. is also available in the downloads in MOV format.

Cardio3 Biosciencescardiopoetic Dr. Andre Terzic Dr Terzic Heart heart diseaseregenerative medicine stem cells

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Mayo Clinic Discovery Leads to FDA Approval for Stem Cell Trial for Heart Failure Patients

Take a playful romp through the muddy fields of spirituality with Betsy Chasse – Video

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Take a playful romp through the muddy fields of spirituality with Betsy Chasse
Wife, mother and award-winning producer Betsy Chasse thought she had it all figured out...until she realized she didn #39;t. The truth was she didn #39;t know anythi...

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Terence McKenna – LD50, Salvia Divinorum, Psilocybin, Ayahuasca, Spirituality – Video

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Terence McKenna - LD50, Salvia Divinorum, Psilocybin, Ayahuasca, Spirituality
Excerpt from the lecture #39;Plants Consciousness Transformation #39;. Rszlet a #39;Plants Consciousness Transformation #39; cm eladsbl. Orichalcum Workshop - Ps...

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Ethics and spirituality should be taught in schools: Malaysian DPM

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LONDON - Values, ethics and spirituality should be included in a country's education system to counterbalance its more "secular" impact, says Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Speaking at the Education World Forum 2014, Muhyiddin said there was a need to embed ethics and spirituality to counter the oft-mentioned "education without a soul" dilemma.

"Ignoring values, ethics and spirituality is no longer acceptable since about five billion of the world's population are involved in the major religions," he said yesterday.

Although Malaysia's education philosophy was already built upon these objectives, Muhyiddin, who is Education Minister, said he would propose that the country take this forward to counterbalance the more secularising elements of education.

"We are committed to work together towards this aim in developing individuals based on good ethics and sound spiritual values as responsible leaders and learned members of the global community," he added.

Muhyiddin also said education for education's sake was not sufficient if it did not take into account its impact on the environment, human relations and how current policies and strategies would affect the world that children would inherit in the near future.

"Malaysia's conviction in these areas will form key priorities in how we reform and map our own education system post-2015," he added.

On the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025, he said he believed that teacher and school leadership abilities were the most important levers of change.

"In producing a dynamic teaching force, we will put in place stringent entry requirements, individualised continuous professional development opportunities, career progression by competencies and performance, and peer-led culture of excellence.

"Ultimately, our educators should be universally marketable," he added.

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Spirituality sculpted

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A centuries-old Jain shrine with a stunning jade idol. A history-rich temple with a thousand Sivalingams in one! Scores of antique artefacts housed in an unassuming museum.

Kolanupaka, 70 km from Hyderabad, has as many lures for the spiritually-inclined as for art-lovers and history buffs. It is yet another illustration of the fact that, contrary to popular perception, there are indeed many day/weekend trip options from Hyderabad.

Close to these are the famous Surendrapuri museum, Bhongir Fort and Yadagirigutta Lakshmi Narasimha temple too. But that is another story.

This area was patronised by the Kalyana Chalukyas. Jainism and later Veerasaivism flourished here. The original Kolanupaka Jain MandirKulpakji to Jains was built by the Rashtrakutas in 11th century A.D. It houses three main idols. Lord Rishabh aka Adinath Bhagwan (the central one) flanked by Lord Mahaveer in jade (single piece of jade) and Lord Neminath. A dharamshala is built around the temple.

There are other Tirthankara idols. We saw Shantinath Bhagavan, Chandraprabhu Swami, Abhinandan Swami and others worshipped here. The Padmavati Mata and Bhomyaji Dada idols are Dharmarakshak gods, explained Hanskumar Raichand Shah, of Kutchi Samaj.

A few years ago, the temple was renovated in Nagara style by artisans brought in from Gujarat and Rajasthan. There is a bhojanashala and a few accommodation options. Next-door is a Goshala.

A ten-minute walk from Jain mandir and we reached the famed 11th-century Someswara temple built by Kalyana Chalukyas associated with Veerasaivism. The temple is fronted by a large courtyard with ambulatory which houses centuries-old sculptures of the open-air museum, Kolanupaka. At the entrance is a polished basalt image of Mahaveera in meditation.

Occupying centre-stage in the courtyard is a Hanuman in granite flanked by images of Ganesha and his brother Subramanya. Behind him is the Kirthi Sthambham and after that the Nandi mandapam; facing Shiva housed in the far end of the temple. These are also among the most well preserved figures you find in the museum.

In the ambulatory around the courtyard are many images---Sapta Matrukas, Veeragal, Chamunda, Naga, a Shiva-Brahma-Vishnu panel, etc., all excavated in and around this area, dated between the ninth century AD to the 16th century AD.

The sanctum-sanctorum has Someswara (Sivalingam) with an idol of the great Veerasaiva saint-prophet Renukacharya behind it. The priest revealed that as per Veerasaiva belief, He sprang from the Sivalingam. Beside this is Goddess Chandis shrine with the roof of the facing room covered entirely with colourful mudupulu. Next-door is an awe-inspiring sight---Sahasra Sivalinga shrine! One sivalingam covered with 1,000 tiny lingams sculpted on them!

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Spirituality sculpted

Call of Duty: Ghosts Gameplay – Team Deathmatch on Prison Break – Ground War – W/Commentar – Video

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Call of Duty: Ghosts Gameplay - Team Deathmatch on Prison Break - Ground War - W/Commentar
See The Full Call of Duty Ghosts Series Here: http://goo.gl/hJVF5k Next Call of Duty Ghosts Episode: Today [23rd January] Call of Duty Ghosts: Hunted on Stri...

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