The pathophysiology of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is complex and uncertain. A potential comorbidity in diabetes mellitus (DM) that may contribute to greater severity of DPN is a lipid disorder, such as with elevated cholesterol, low density lipoproteins or triglycerides. Oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxLDL) is a form of cholesterol that exerts direct toxic effects and contributes to pathogenicity through ligating a receptor called lectin-like receptor (LOX-1).
We examined plasma oxLDL levels in cohorts of patients with DPN with neuropathic pain (NeP), DPN patients without NeP, DM patients without DPN, patients with idiopathic peripheral neuropathy, and control subjects without DM or neuropathy. Our outcome measure was extent of oxLDL elevation, measured as fasting with Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbant Assay (ELISA) studies. Severity of diabetes was assessed using hemoglobin A1C measurements. Neuropathic severity was measured with the Utah Early Neuropathy Score (UENS). We hypothesized that DPN presence would be associated with oxLDL elevations.
A total of 115 subjects (47 with DPN and NeP, 23 with DPN without NeP, 12 with diabetes only, 13 with idiopathic peripheral neuropathy, and 20 control subjects without diabetes or neuropathy) were studied. Duration of diabetes and diabetic glycemic measures were similar between populations with DM. Severity of DPN was similar between cohorts with DPN and NeP and DPN without NeP. Plasma oxLDL levels were similar between all cohorts, without any elevation in the presence of DM noted in any cohort with DM.
oxLDL levels are not different in patients with DPN, and their lack of greater presence suggests that any pathogenic role in human DPN is likely limited.
Diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN) is a common and disabling complication of human diabetes mellitus (DM) seen in up to 50% of patients, leading to sensory, motor and/or autonomic dysfunction . There are several potential mechanisms postulated to contribute to development of DPN, including: 1) excessive sorbitol-aldose reductase pathway flux; 2) protein kinase C (PKC) isoform(s) overactivity; 3) increased oxidative and nitrative stress; 4) microangiopathy; 5) accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and interaction with their receptor (RAGE); and 6) failure of neurotrophic support. However, studies to date have failed to show therapeutic benefit when many of these pathways have been targeted clinically.
A common association with DM is the presence of a lipid disorder, or hyperlipidemia. This may include hypertriglyceridemia, elevated cholesterol, or may occur as part of a metabolic syndrome. Although this is clearly a risk factor for cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease, hyperlipidemia may also influence the peripheral nervous system, possibly correlating with progression of DPN  or human immunodeficiency virus-related peripheral neuropathy . Complicating matters further is the possibility that statin medications used for treatment of hyperlipidemia may also contribute to peripheral neuropathy [4–6]. However, it remains unclear if either hyperlipidemia or its treatment has a true relationship with initiation or progression of peripheral neuropathic conditions.
An important form of cholesterol is called oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxLDL), which is known to have a critical function in the development of atherosclerosis. Along with its receptor, the lectin-like oxLDL receptor (LOX)-1 [7, 8], both oxLDL and LOX-1 contribute to intracellular oxidative stress and inflammation injury within vascular tissues as well as in the immune system [9, 10]. This may exist in an additive state with DM, as both oxLDLs and hyperglycemia increase LOX-1 expression [11, 12]. In murine models, high fat ingestion leads to significantly increased plasma oxLDL levels in combination with morphological and functional evidence of peripheral neuropathy before hyperglycemia develops . Also, oxLDLs contribute to oxidative stress and injury in dorsal root ganglia sensory neurons in vitro via a LOX-1 mechanism related to activation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase . These data not only suggest that oxLDL and LOX-1 may contribute to DPN, but that they may also lead to development of peripheral neuropathy even in the absence of DM. This preclinical finding has not yet been confirmed in human studies.
We hypothesized that patients with DM and DPN would have higher levels of plasma oxLDL than patients with DM without DPN and as compared to control subjects. Furthermore, we postulated that patients with DPN subjected to neuropathic pain (NeP) would have greater oxLDL levels than those without NeP, based upon preclinical studies suggesting that curcumin, a molecule whose activity includes LOX-1 antagonism [14–16], relieves neuropathic pain including that associated with DPN [17–19]. As such, we performed a multi-cohort study to measure plasma oxLDL levels in adult patients with type 2 DM and control subjects for oxLDL levels to determine association with presence and severity of DPN. In addition, we recruited subjects with idiopathic peripheral neuropathy for comparison to the subjects with DPN. Should oxLDL be determined to be a risk factor for presence and greater severity of DPN, potential therapeutic pathways could be examined in the future.
A total of 128 potential subjects were screened for study involvement. Of these, 13 were excluded due to inability to perform phlebotomy (3 subjects), unclear presence of peripheral neuropathy (5 subjects), presence of possible peripheral neuropathy in control subjects (2 subjects), uncertain presence of NeP (1 subject with DPN), and inability to perform arranged blood work testing (2 subjects). Thus, a total of 115 subjects participated, including 20 healthy control subjects (16 women), 13 subjects with idiopathic peripheral neuropathy (7 women), 12 subjects with non-complicated DM (DM only) (6 women), 23 sub diagnosed with DM with DPN without pain (DPN-NoP) (7 women), and 47 subjects diagnosed with DM with DPN with persistent pain (DPN-P) (17 women) (Table 1). Of the assessed subjects with DPN, no other causation for peripheral neuropathy was present. Subjects with idiopathic peripheral neuropathy had no identifiable cause after detailed testing.
Values shown are means ± standard deviations. *indicates p < 0.05 (one way ANOVA testing) for comparison of cohorts as compared to the control cohort. ψindicates p < 0.01 between cohorts DPN-NoP and DPN-P (one way ANOVA testing).
There was a significant difference in gender representation between control subjects and DM subjects (χ2 = 12.24, p < 0.001), but other comparisons had similar gender representations for analysis (χ2 = 0.22-1.09, p = 0.30-63). There were no significant differences in age representation between groups for comparison (ANOVA, p = 0.45). For DM subgroups, there were no significant differences in durations of DM (ANOVA, F = 0.45-0.87, p = 0.35-57) or with the presence of other diabetic complications (χ2 = 0.12-0.76, p = 0.44-0.72). There were no differences in statin use between DPN subjects and DM only subjects (χ2 = 0.12, p = 0.72), or for DPN-P subjects as compared to DPN-NoP subjects (χ2 = 0.88, p = 0.35). However, statin use was much more prevalent in DPN subjects as compared to idiopathic neuropathy subjects (χ2 = 6.18, p = 0.01), and in DM subjects versus control subjects (χ2 = 7.31, p = 0.01).
No significant difference in oxLDL levels could be detected between all subjects with DPN versus subjects with DM only (ANOVA, 1633 ± 121 pg/ml vs. 1829 ± 721 pg/ml, F = 0.22, p = 0.64) (Figure 1). DPN-P subjects had similar levels of plasma oxLDL as DPN-NoP subjects (ANOVA, 1703 ± 160 pg/ml vs. 1541 ± 195 pg/ml, F = 0.45, p = 0.51). With comparison of all subjects with DPN and subjects with idiopathic peripheral neuropathy, levels of oxLDL were again similar between groups (ANOVA, 1633 ± 121 pg/ml vs. 2149 ± 525 pg/ml, F = 2.73, p = 0.11). In fact, those subjects with idiopathic peripheral neuropathy had a non-significant higher level of oxLDL despite the absence of DM. Finally, there was no significant difference in oxLDL levels between all subjects with DM as compared with control subjects (ANOVA, 1675 ± 170 pg/ml vs. 1913 ± 232 pg/ml, F = 0.64, p = 0.42).
Mean plasma oxLDL levels are demonstrated for each group. There were no significant differences detected between any groups for any of the relevant comparisons. Error bars denote standard error of the mean (SEM).
For DM subgroups, there were no significant differences in HbA1C levels between all DPN and DM only groups, as well as for DPN-NoP and DPN-P comparisons (ANOVA, F = 0.75-0.96, p = 0.33-68). HbA1C levels were significantly different between the entire DM group and control subjects (ANOVA, F = 38.8, p < 0.0001), as well as for DPN subjects when compared to idiopathic peripheral neuropathy subgroup (ANOVA, F = 21.9, p < 0.0001).
For all relevant comparisons, there were no statistically significant differences in total cholesterol (multiple ANOVAs, F = 0.04-3.74, p = 0.06-0.85) or HDL (multiple ANOVAs, F = 0.01-2.01, p = 0.16-0.91) between subgroups. Triglycerides were higher in all subjects with DM as compared to control subjects (ANOVA, F = 4.9, p < 0.05), but other relevant comparisons showed similar levels of triglycerides between groups (multiple ANOVAs, F = 1.49-3.38, p = 0.06-0.23). Also, and interestingly, low density lipoprotein (LDL) levels were lower in DM subjects as compared to control subjects (ANOVA, F = 4.4, p = 0.04) and were also lower in all DPN subjects as compared to idiopathic neuropathy subjects (ANOVA, F = 4.2, p = 0.04); there were no differences in LDL levels between DPN subjects as compared to DM only subjects (ANOVA, F = 0.1, p = 0.74) or for DPN-NoP subjects as compared to DPN-P subjects (ANOVA, F = 0.0, p = 0.98).
Potential relationships were sought for oxLDL levels (independent variable) and TCSS, UENS, total cholesterol, and low density lipoprotein levels (dependent variables) (Figure 2). For all subjects with DPN, there was no relationship between oxLDL levels and either of TCSS (R2 < 0.03, p = NS) or UENS (R2 < 0.01, p = NS). For all DM subjects, there was no relationship between oxLDL with either total cholesterol (R2 < 0.02, p = NS) or low density lipoprotein (R2 < 0.002, p = NS). Finally, two post-hoc tests were performed. First, to examine the impact of statin medication use, the oxLDL levels of DM subjects taking statin medications were compared to those of DM subjects not taking statin medications; there was no significant difference between these subgroups (ANOVA, F = 1.20, p = 0.28). Second, linear regression was performed to compare total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein levels–there was a significant relationship for measures obtained in all subjects (R2 = 0.37, F = 42.7, p < 0.01).
Linear relationships were sought between oxLDL and clinical scores of peripheral neuropathy as well as for laboratory measurements for lipids. For all subjects with DPN, there was no significant relationship between plasma oxLDL levels and the UENS (A) or TCSS (B). For all subjects with DM, there was no significant association between plasma oxLDL levels and total cholesterol (C) or low density lipoprotein levels (D). Linear regression was performed, with R2 values presented for each association sought.
With clinical severity of peripheral neuropathy as the dependent variable, there was no relationship between UENS severity and oxLDL levels (R2 < 0.01, p = NS), HbA1C (R2 = 0.05, p = 0.20), total cholesterol (R2 = 0.01, p = NS), triglyceride levels (R2 < 0.01, p = NS), and LDL levels (R2 = 0.02, p = NS). Likewise, there were no significant relationships between TCSS severity and oxLDL levels (R2 < 0.01, p = NS), HbA1C (R2 = 0.03, p = NS), total cholesterol (R2 = 0.03, p = NS), triglycerides (R2 < 0.01, p = NS), and LDL levels (R2 = 0.03, p = NS). Finally, there was no association between the number of recorded diabetic complications and oxLDL levels (R2 = 0.01, p = NS).
We sought to determine if oxLDL levels were heightened in patients with DM-mediated DPN and related to the presence of neuropathic pain in DPN-P patients. Our results indicate that we were unable to determine any relationship between plasma oxLDL levels and the presence of DPN or the severity of DPN. There was also no significant increase in plasma oxLDL levels in the presence of DM as compared to a non-diabetic control state. Furthermore, there was no detected worsening in clinical severity of neuropathy with higher levels of oxLDL, HbA1C, total cholesterol, triglycerides, or LDL levels. Recently reported studies have also demonstrated a lack of elevated oxLDL levels in patients with DPN or DM without DPN when compared to control subjects . Although prior studies indicate a positive relationship between any diabetic microvascular complication and abnormalities in LDL, triglycerides, and non-HDL cholesterol  with similar overall cholesterol results, it remains unclear regarding any association between lipid status and presence of peripheral neuropathy. Thus, although preclinical studies have identified potential mechanisms by which oxLDL may contribute to neurodegeneration, particularly in the presence of hyperglycemia related to DM, our clinical study did not identify any particular relationships.
The present findings should not be seen to discourage against further investigations of other methods by which hyperlipidemia could contribute to neurodegeneration in DM patient populations. There is clinical evidence that triglyceridemia contributes to progression of already existing DPN , while each of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein and triglyceride levels have been positively associated with increasing cumulative incidences  or greater severity  of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Furthermore, a low high density lipoprotein level may also relate to presence of DPN . The mechanisms by which these forms of cholesterol may impact upon peripheral nerve function and structure are unclear. It is also difficult to simulate these human relationships in animal models; for example, mice have quite low levels of low density lipoproteins, while most cholesterol is transported by high density lipoproteins , distinct from the human situation. Despite this issue, wildtype mice fed high fat diets develop elevated plasma oxLDL levels . Peripheral nerve studies in transgenic mice featuring highly increased plasma cholesterol are untenable due to excessive short term mortality . In wildtype mice, a high fat diet plays an important role in the severity of experimental DM [26, 27], and it is even possible that a high fat diet may lead to peripheral neuropathy in the absence of DM . Thus, there is sufficient preclinical and clinical data to suggest that an association exists between lipid disorders and peripheral neuropathy, but the potential mechanism has remained elusive.
Further complicating our ability to understand relationships between lipid disorders and peripheral neuropathy is the controversial relationship of frequently prescribed statin medications used for lipid disorder management. Statins lower cholesterol through inhibition of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase. Statin use is extremely common [29, 30], particularly in diabetic subjects; in our study, over 50% of DM subjects were taking statins. There are a number of case series and case-control studies [6, 31–33] along with a recent cross-sectional study  suggesting a relationship between statin use and peripheral neuropathy presence. However, there are also some contrasting reports, suggesting that statins may have a beneficial effect upon peripheral neuropathy in humans (limited to hypotheses) [34, 35] and rodents [36–38]. Nevertheless, given the absence of a plausible mechanism by which statins could induce peripheral neuropathy, the effect of statins upon peripheral nerves remains unclear. In our study, the use of statins was significantly more common in the diabetic cohorts, which likely contributed to relatively depressed LDL levels relative to Control Subjects and Idiopathic Neuropathy Subjects. This is a confounder that certainly impacts upon our results as statins certainly will decrease oxLDL levels [39, 40] in our diabetic cohorts. This obstacle is difficult to overcome in clinical studies, as the great majority of diabetic patients now receive statin therapies. The washout of statin medications would likely be required in future studies of experienced DM patients to determine natural oxLDL levels; alternatively, investigation of newly diagnosed DM patients prior to interventions may assist in future determinations.
We chose to examine oxLDL due to its potential for neurotoxicity. Known to have a critical function in the development of atherosclerosis [7, 41, 42] along with its receptor, the lectin-like oxLDL receptor (LOX)-1 , its impact upon non-neural tissues has great substantiation. The receptor LOX-1 has non-constitutive but dynamically inducible expression  driven by both oxLDLs and hyperglycemia [11, 44]. Along with oxLDL, LOX-1 contributes to intracellular oxidative stress and inflammation injury [9, 10]. In vitro, oxLDLs contribute to oxidative stress and injury in DRG neurons via a LOX-1-mediated mechanism related to activation of NAD(P)H oxidase . These data not only suggest that oxLDL/LOX-1 may contribute to DPN, but that they may also lead to development of peripheral neuropathy even in the absence of DM. Dietary alterations may also play roles: high-fat feeding in murine models significantly increases plasma oxLDL as well as contributing to morphological and functional evidence of peripheral neuropathy prior to development of hyperglycemia . Therefore, although our study failed to identify higher levels of oxLDL in human subjects with DPN (or even only with DM), there is evidence to suggest that elevated oxLDL levels can be neurotoxic.
Our findings are presented with limitations to be considered. Although we used a standard ELISA method to measure oxLDL levels, there are different methods that may be favored in some circumstancses . Also, other methods of analyses including in vivo measurement  and ex vivo oxidation assays  exist. In some cases, serum oxLDL levels [48, 49] are measured instead of plasma oxLDL levels [42, 50]–it remains unclear which technique may be most accurate. Studied subjects were volunteers and were not randomly selected from a population with type 2 DM with or without DPN and with or without accompanying NeP. Our sample size was not based upon a pre-determined power analysis. Patients with type 1 DM were excluded due to potential differences in the pathophysiology of neurodegeneration and to maintain a more homogeneic patient population. As stated, gender matching between groups was not complete as female subjects were overrepresented in the control group. Also, statin use was much more common in DM patients, although its use was not associated with significant changes in measured oxLDL levels. The use of pharmacotherapies for management of DM and chronic pain related to DPN may have impacted upon oxLDL measurements in uncertain ways. Although total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein levels were positively associated, there was no association found between lipid measurements and plasma oxLDL levels. Clinical severity of neuropathy failed to correlate with types of lipids measured or with HbA1C levels. Although higher HbA1C levels are associated with risk of subclinical neuropathy  and electrophysiological parameters , HbA1C is not necessarily an independent predictor of diabetic neuropathy although it is clearly associated with other microvascular complications [53, 54]. However, in prior studies examining DPN populations, the clinical severity of DPN based upon the UENS was positively associated with age, duration of diabetes, height, weight and HbA1C . Our study population was small, but the lipid status and HbA1C values are similar to similar populations of DPN patients studied . We did not perform measurement of other markers for oxidative stress such as glutathione, malondialdehyde, or homocysteine, which may be elevated in DPN patients  and could have provided comparison to measured oxLDL and HbA1C levels. Finally, the individual group sizes were small after categorization, and we cannot rule out the possibility of type II errors contributing to the lack of statistical associations determined–future larger studies may be more forthright. However, there was a distinct lack of relationship between oxLDL levels and DPN manifestations found amongst studies performed to date.
Our results demonstrated no visible associations between oxLDL levels in DM subjects and the presence or severity of DPN. The results of our study do not exclude the possibility of elevated levels of oxLDL at the level of the peripheral nerve itself contributing to DPN [13, 57]; we did also not study the role of the LOX-1 receptor in our population. As a result, further more invasive studies may determine other potential findings related to oxLDL. Future studies may examine other aspects of lipid disorders for relationship with complications of DM, including DPN. Although our hypothesis of plasma oxLDL mediating greater presence and severity of DPN in subjects with DM was not verified, it is possible that our results may be confounded by some of the factors discussed above. Factors other than plasma oxLDL levels should be sought to determine causative or contributory factors in the development of DPN.
Ethical approval for this study was received from the University of Calgary Centre for Advancement of Health. Recruitment of subjects occurred from March 2010 until January 2013 using poster recruitment within the Neuromuscular, Neuropathic Pain and Endocrinology Clinics at the University of Calgary. All subjects provided informed written consent prior to their involvement.
Subjects with a diagnosis of pre-existing type 2 DM were included following confirmation of diagnosis based on Canadian Diabetes Association guidelines . Briefly, this required verification of two prior separate positive laboratory results from any of the following: fasting glucose results of ≥ 7.1 mmol/L (126 mg/dL) or two oral glucose tolerance tests leading to a 2 hour serum glucose of ≥ 11.1 mmol/L (200 mg/dL), or a random glucose of ≥ 11.1 mmol/L (200 mg/dL) at any time. The age of diagnosis of DM and the duration of symptoms of DPN (if present) were recorded. During patient history, subjects found to have DPN were also assessed for the presence of other systemic illnesses, prior or current alcohol dependence (based upon Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-IV criteria), toxin and medication exposures, and family history of neuropathy was documented to assess and exclude other potential causes of peripheral neuropathy. The intake of anti-DM pharmacotherapies, statins used for management of hyperlipidemia, and other medications (including those used for chronic pain management) were recorded. The presence of diabetic complications other than that of DPN and other vascular risk factors were also noted.
Subjects with a diagnosis of idiopathic peripheral neuropathy were included based upon negative laboratory testing for other potential causes of peripheral neuropathy, including but not limited to laboratory testing as previously described . Control subjects were age-matched and culled from non-diabetic friends and relatives of patient subjects, as well as from staff working at each of the clinics participating in this study.
All subjects, fasting for a minimum of 12 hours, underwent phlebotomy. This whole blood sample, stored in a plasma tube with lithium heparin and gel (plastic tube, light green top, Vacutainer, Becton Dickenson), was inverted gently over the following 30 minutes. Then, the whole blood sample was placed on ice for another 30 minutes until it was submitted to refrigerated centrifugation within a 1 hour time period after phlebotomy, performed at 1500 g for 10 minutes. The supernatant was collected as plasma–this liquid component was transferred to a 1.5 ml Eppendorf tube while at 4°C. Following this, plasma was stored at −80°C for 1-3 months until further testing was performed. Plasma oxLDL was measured by Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbant Assay (ELISA) (Uscn Life Science Inc., Wuhan, China) following their provided specifications.
Plasma samples were diluted 1000X using phosphate buffered saline and standards were prepared according to manufacturer's instructions. 100 μL of standard and diluted samples were added to wells pre-coated with a monoclonal antibody specific for oxLDL, with incubation occurring for 2 hours at 37°C. Following this, a biotin-conjugated polyclonal antibody specific for the oxLDL antibody was added. After successive washings, an avidin conjugated to horseradish peroxidase was added to each well and incubation followed again. Then, a 3,3′,5,5′-Tetramethylbenzidine substrate solution was added, providing a colorimetric change after interaction with oxLDL. The enzymatic substrate reaction was terminated with the addition of sulphuric acid. Colorimetric change was measured immediately using a spectrophotometer with detection at 450 nm. The concentration of human OxLDL in plasma was determined by comparing the optical density of the samples to the standard curve obtained by similar measurement of the standards.
Within one month of assessment, additional fasting blood was evaluated for HbA1C, total cholesterol, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein (HDL), and low density lipoprotein (LDL) (Calgary Laboratory Services, Calgary, AB, Canada) for all subjects.
Patients were excluded if potential causes for peripheral neuropathy other than DM were identified, if they had impaired glucose tolerance only, or if they had a juvenile onset of DM or frank requirement for insulin at diagnosis (i.e. possible type 1 DM). Lastly, subjects were excluded if they refused concurrent laboratory testing.
Each subject underwent a neurological examination that permitted scoring for presence and severity of peripheral neuropathy using the Toronto Clinical Scoring System (TCSS)  and the Utah Early Neuropathy Scale (UENS) . This was performed by an unblinded Neurologist subspecializing in Neuromuscular Diseases. After clinical scales were completed, subjects were categorized to have either no peripheral neuropathy (control subject or DM only subject, both TCSS ≤ 3 and UENS ≤ 3) or to have peripheral neuropathy (Idiopathic Neuropathy Subject or DPN subject both TCSS > 5 UENS > 6). Those subjects with a TCSS score of 4-5 and/or a UENS score of 4-6 were excluded due to uncertainty regarding the presence or absence of peripheral neuropathy. As well, control subjects were excluded from participation if TCSS > 4 and/or UENS > 3. We further categorized subjects with DPN as having NeP using the question "Do you have pain on a daily or near daily basis?". If subjects answered "yes", then they were asked to complete the Douleur Neuropathique 4 questionnaire (DN4Q), which categorizes pain as neuropathic or non-neuropathic in nature with good sensitivity (82.9%) and specificity (89.9%) . Subjects scoring ≥4 on the DN4Q were categorized to have DPN with NeP (DPN-P), while subjects denying any pain or discomfort (answering "no") were categorized as DPN without NeP (DPN-NoP). If subjects admitted to having pain, but had a score of <4 on the DN4Q, they were excluded from further participation due to uncertainty regarding the nature of experienced pain. In order for subjects to be categorized as DPN-P, their pain must be chronic, having persisted for ≥3 months with pain severity estimated to be ≥40 mm on the 100 mm visual analog scale (VAS) of the Short-Form-McGill Pain Questionnaire; otherwise, these subjects were excluded due to uncertainty of classification as DPN-P or DPN-NoP.
Group equivalence for participant age, duration of type 2 DM, duration of DM and DPN symptoms, statin use, presence of other diabetic complications, and hemoglobin A1C were compared by one-way ANOVA testing; gender was compared by chi-square testing using Fisher's exact test to calculate two tailed p values. Chi-square testing was also used to compare the presence of other diabetic complications. The primary outcome measure was a mean difference in plasma oxLDL levels. To test for statistical differences in plasma oxLDL levels between groups, we performed individual ANOVA testing between the following cohorts of interest: 1) subjects with DPN (DPN-P and DPN-NoP subjects) compared with DM only subjects; 2) subjects with DPN-P compared with DPN-NoP subjects; 3) subjects with DPN (DPN-P and DPN-NoP subjects) compared with idiopathic peripheral neuropathy subjects; and 4) all subjects with DM (DM only, DPN-P, and DPN-NoP subjects) as compared with control subjects. We then assessed for statistical differences in secondary outcome measures including HbA1C, total cholesterol, triglyceride, high density lipoprotein, and low density lipoprotein levels between the aforementioned groups. We also performed linear regression analyses to determine relationships between oxLDL levels (independent variables) and TCSS, UENS, total cholesterol, and low density lipoprotein levels using pair-wise Bonferroni corrections for multiple comparisons. A post-hoc analysis was performed with linear regression analysis of the number of diabetic complications present (each of neuropathy, retinopathy, nephropathy, cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease) as the independent variable and oxLDL levels as the dependent variable. Finally, in DPN subjects, post-hoc linear regression analyses were performed using severity of DPN (TCSS and UENS) as a dependent variable and independent variables of oxLDL levels, Hemoglobin A1C, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL levels. Values were expressed as mean ± standard deviation or mean ± standard error as specified.
CT is a Neuromuscular Neurologist studying diabetic peripheral neuropathy.
Dr. Cory Toth receives salary support from the Alberta Heritage Medical Research Foundation.
This study was funded by the Clinical Research Unit within the Hotchkiss Brain Institute of the University of Calgary and associated with the Department of Clinical Neurosciences.
This work was supported by the Alberta Heritage Medical Research Foundation.
This study was supported by funding from the Clinical Research Unit of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary. This agency had no role in design, conduct of the study, collection, management, analysis or interpretation of the data, review, or manuscript approval.
This work has been previously presented at the Peripheral Nerve Society Meeting, St. Malo, France, July 2013.
AR-H performed all ELISA testing. AC and PP contributed to data obtainment. CC assisted with organization of scheduling, data obtainment, and phlebotomy and preparation of human blood samples for testing. CT oversaw the study, approved and edited the protocol, assisted with analysis of data, performed data obtainment, performed history and examination for all subjects and composed the manuscript. All authors reviewed and contributed to the editing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.


Thomas Kline is a retired educator of forty years. The most current twenty years, he was an administrator, and the first twenty years he served as a mathematics teacher. In the Warsaw Community School district, Tom served four different administrative positions. This included time as an elementary principal, as a middle school principal, as the director of secondary schools and as the chief accountability officer. Previous to those assignments, Tom served in the Lawrenceburg Community School district as an assistant high school principal, the math/science department chairman and college prep mathematics teacher. In addition, Tom has taught mathematics as an adjunct professor at Northern Kentucky University and Ivy Tech.
Tom's leadership included the specialty skills in Professional Learning Communities, teacher evaluation, school improvement and data analysis. His leadership accomplishments include raising a school district from a C to an A corporation, and, at the building level, raising an elementary school's grade from a D to a B (4 of 5 years).
Education has always been a passion with Tom. He loves working, in any capacity, with administrators, teachers, and students toward the goal of improving education.


text:
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: c++, Check user input againest 2D array data I am making a program for our final project, the program contains login / sign up.
I have made a struct data contains a 2D array which contains 100 rows (maximum number of students that can the array contains) and 2 columns (one for matric number and one for password).
struct StudentsData {

    string AccessData[100][2] = {
        {"1912765", "1234567"},
    };

};
StudentsData sData;

in login function I have done the following, but it always goes to else condition even tho my login data is correct.
void login() {
    string  CheckMatric, CheckPassword;
    system("CLS");
    cout << endl;
    cout << "Enter Matric number: " << endl;
    cin >> CheckMatric;
    cout << "Enter Password: " << endl;
    cin >> CheckPassword;

    for (int i = 0; i < sizeof(sData.AccessData); i++) {
        for (int j = 0; j < sizeof(sData.AccessData[i]); j++) {
            if (CheckMatric == sData.AccessData[i][j])
                if(CheckPassword == sData.AccessData[i][j]) {
                cout << "Successfully logged in" << endl;
                exit(0);
            }
            else {
                int choice;
                cout << "oops, wrong username or password, try again or call +60...... for support" << endl;
                cout << endl;
                cout << "Enter 1 to try again OR Enter 2 to sign up " << endl;
                cout << endl;
                cin >> choice;
                if (choice == 1)
                    login();
                else if (choice == 2)
                    signup();
                else if (choice == 0)
                    exit(0);
                else {
                    cout << "Opps, you will start from the begining :( " << endl;
                    first_interface();

                }
            }
        }
    }
}

lastly, the sign up function, also I am not sure if this is a correct way to assign the input to the array.
void signup() {
    system("CLS");
    string NewMatricNo, NewPassword;
    cout << "Enter Your Matric Number: " << endl;
    cin >> NewMatricNo;
    cout << "Enter Password : " << endl;
    cin >> NewPassword;

    for (int i = 0; i < sizeof(sData.AccessData); i++) {
        for (int j = 0; j < sizeof(sData.AccessData); j++) {
            NewMatricNo = sData.AccessData[i][j];
            NewPassword = sData.AccessData[i][j];
        }
    }
     cout << "Successfully signed up! " << endl;

}

A: You are assuming both CheckMatric and CheckPassword have to be equal to sData.AccessData[i][j], which means the password would have to be the same as the username, which is probably not what you want. You should get rid of the j for-loop altogether. And have the username compare to the first element of the row and the password compare to the second element of the row.
size_t n = sizeof(sData.AccessData)/sizeof(sData.AccessData[0]);
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        if (CheckMatric == sData.AccessData[i][0] &&
            CheckPassword == sData.AccessData[i][1]) {
            cout << "Successfully logged in" << endl;
            exit(0);
        }
// login failed... prompt user here

The else statement inside the for loop means if the login fails on the first account in the Accessdata the login will fail completely, so it needs to be moved out. Since your function exits on successful login anyway, the for-loop completing is a good indicator that the login failed and you can prompt the user for options then. Also, shown is the proper way to get the number of rows in the array into an integer n.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The Troop has two new Eagle Scouts as of last Friday, Johan Vandegriff and Oliver W. Both passed their boards of review with Flying Colors. Congratulations guys, great Job.!! This makes 4 this year so far, more coming!
The Boonsboro Campout was a great success. The weather was fine, cool, warm in the sun, lots of good food and fun. On Saturday four Webelos Scouts and their parents from Pack 499 spent the day with us working as part of the patrols and learning scout skills. Had a roaring campfire Saturday night, needed to ward off the chill creeping into the valley, frost everywhere in the morning including inside the tents, Polar bear credits to the campers. There was no Blue Fog.
The first SEABASE Planning Meeting on Tuesday 11/15th was very well attended. Assistant Scoutmaster Bill Kassman has volunteered to manage the effort and has arranged for three crews to go from August 3rd through August 11th on the Coral Reef Sailing Adventure The three crews, each consisting of 6 scouts and 2 Leaders will each have their own boat.. We currently have space for 2 more scouts and 1 adult to fill out the three crews. A $100 non refundable deposit is need NOW, tomorrow at the troop meeting. One half of the Fee ( full fee is $856) is due December 1st.
Transportation and other travel fees are separate and are in the process of being developed. Much more to come.
The Troop is in the process of its annual Re-chartering and dues are due now, $25 for each registered Adult and $85 for the first scout in the family, $73 for the second and downward.
We were unable to get scout or leader volunteers from the troop to assist the GCCA and that was not a good thing. We will have to make it up to them next time.
No meeting next Week THANKSGIVING!!!


Please Watch This Video - Updated!
If I get more donations on this post, I'll pass along as they come, but thank you Jose for doing what you do, and to Remy for making that video. I truly hope BCH can make a difference in Venezuela and show the rest of the world what's possible with Bitcoin Cash. It still blows my mind that we can even do this, send money to a stranger all the way around the world for a fraction of a penny.
I will also match the tips received here up to $50.
I know what they are doing can't be easy, so if you can't donate, I'm sure they would appreciate any words of encouragement in the comments. Thanks for reading and here's to hoping for a better future in a Bitcoin Cash world.
Wow that is awesome Ryan =) I'll wait until tonight to see what the total earned is, and tip it all plus my matching donation to the last post by @eatBCH. If anything comes in after today, I'll send it along as well.
This is why I support Bitcoin Cash. Instead of focusing on lambos and moons, it's about doing commerce and helping people.
How can I be sure that this money it's really been used for this project, how do I know if its true? do they has a photo gallery, another videos or something? It would be nice if @eatBCH upload videos and photos of the people eating, so we can make sure that this project really exists.
@alberto: i understand your concerns. i wish i could say the thought has never crossed my mind, but it has. however, at the same time, i'm choosing to trust that this is going to a good cause, and i'm putting my faith in another person who i believe to be a good person. i would love to see more pictures and videos in the future, but they have been doing a good job so far, trying to be open and accountable, so i believe they will continue to do so. and if things don't work out, for whatever reason, maybe some other good can come out of it. for me, it was great to see the generosity of the people in this community, and it tells me that the future of this project is in good hands.
They have a Twitter account, and are posting pictures with date and food distributed.
I do not know which part of Venezuela they are covering, but for sure there is more hungry people then current @eatBCH can cover. Would you be interested in taking part where you are, and do the same? It all started with 5 dollars. If you would say yes, I will provide the initiative spark and sent it to you. (from small things big things grow). In a different context, I would not consider myself as financially wealthy person, but actually compare the other 2/3 of the world I am.
Maybe you could make a new Yours account for that and showing the results to the world from here. Which will bring more awareness to Yours and to Venezuela situation as well.
Somehow I can not get out of my mind, that adoption of BCH will increase not only through merchants adoption, but by act of love and kindness of the members of BCH community.
The elite often uses the scenario problem reaction solution to get us where they want us to be, through creating false attacks, making people be mad about it through centralized manipulative media and bringing up more control and oppression into our lives, serving it us the good, protective solutions.
But we are waking up, we have the technology, we have to power and we are uniting.
We can turn and actually are turning this tactic into positive outcome.
To the existing problem (however created it was), we are reacting, with compassion, love and empathy, as a solution people getting aid from individuals all over the word in form of BCH donations. You could become another node in this cause. @Moises maybe something you could think of too? I know you are dreaming about Japan, and this could eventually provide you with a ticket and connections to get there. @Diego Hernandez same for you, nothing to lose, and maybe gain a ticket to Peru.
There are wealthy people in the cryptocurrency space, and they are people with big hurts too.
I would also suggest, that you could keep certain percentage of the donations as a reward for your contributions, which someone who will replace you after you get away, would get motivated to take the responsibility after you.
In addition to this, I will produce more content in YoursDignity, and give 20% of earned donations to each of you, until it reaches half of the price for your tickets. When that happen I will ask is someone wants to match it to the full. There are people with healthy minds and big hearts in the cryptospace too. (might take long time, but might also not) and when doing something meaningful and enjoyable, the time passes quickly. And the price of BCH might grow in value soon and you could purchase the ticket when it is high.
@Joaquim G. thanks for the tips! I'll pass these along to eatBCH =) forgot about this post and how together the community was back then.


What a beautiful place to spend our last night in Namibia. Recommended.
Our last port of call, a lovely place to get over the frantic, all hours of day & night, animal watching of Etosha and just relax.
The scenery changing with the light through the day was quite enough to stay and watch from around the lodge. We enjoyed the trip to Paula's Cave it was a beautiful setting for our last sundowner in Namibia.
This was an excellent final night's stay in Namibia. The location within the rocks and the walk up the kopje for sundowners, accompanied in the distance by the baboons more than compensated for our feelings of regret at our imminent departure.
The dining was first class and the most restaurant-like of all the places we stayed in. There was a superb ambience and, even though the big game was now behind us, there were unexpected treats in the wildlife (porcupine, rock hyrax, amazingly coloured birds etc) which were enhanced by the manager's personal enthusiasm and attention to all of his guests.
Indeed, special mention should be made of the manager and his wife who were very attentive to everybody's needs and we spent a brilliant time relaxing after dinner, listening to his experiences.
Noises of animals were heard at night, which could be unnerving for some!
This beautifully located lodge is a little paradise. Very friendly and enthousiastic staff (hosts, guides, drivers as well as the staff in the restaurant !) and a wonderful area to stay.
Very beautiful nature! We saw for example porcupines here, and very big lizzards, many different species of antilopes and lots of 'dassies'.
The little pool near the 'breakfastroom' is also very nice: many species of birds can be found here, like the grey hornbill and many lovebirds. Very special too are the rockpaintings in a cave in the area.
We only stayed one night and I wish we had stayed longer, about 2.5 - 3 hours from Windhoek it is a good place to start or finish, the views from the accomodation are superb, the trip to see the nearby rock paintings and the sun set over the mountains was excellent.
This is a very beautiful place with excellent rooms. Friendly staff, particularly the guides who we always cheerful and thoroughly enjoyed their job. They were also very knowledgable. A good place to stop if you enjoy wildlife, particlarly birds and walking. The floodllight water holes provided alot of entertainment, as did the rock dassies. It was nice to see porcipines. Food was excellent with a choice of main.
scenery spectacular but would be a better place if more game was to be seen.
To finish our stay in Namibia we had 2 nights at Erongo. This was an excellent idea, the location was very good, in a montainous area of Namibia and we used the 4-wheel drive for the first time to get to the lodge.
Our room was very secluded, if a little cold with its outside washroom and shower, especially on the first windy evening. We went on one guided early morning walk, which was a little bit slow for us, and one excellent walk on our own to the top of the adjacent hill as the sun faded.
The welcome from Brian and Adele was excellent, and they, and all their staff, were very helpful. Birdlife was very good. A beautiful and peaceful end to our holiday.
A pleasant wind-down to the holiday in a simple lodge with good walking in the area. The small mammals in the area included rock hyrax, dassie rats and porcupine, while there was a profusion of birds and (interesting) insects. Cute animals by day, but noisy at night and some visitors resorted to ear plugs to avoid nocturnal disturbance from the nearby hyrax.
Rooms simple and tents older than elsewhere on trip. For no apparent reason, a lavatory cistern cracked in one room during one evening and this was efficiently replaced the next day. Good walking with fascinating geology in area; eagle walk to top of nearby hill particularly worthwhile. Early morning guided tour pleasurable with guide offering a fascinating insight into local trees and plants.
Lovely location and great facilities. Food first class.
Felt more like camping than any of our other stops - not a problem at all, except a strong wind and rather aging velcro meant a rather cold night with a lot of flapping canvas.
Strongly recommend the afternoon nature drive and cave visit, followed by a sundowner in a beautiful spot - stunning scenery and another excellent guide. We would have liked more time her to enjoy one of the longer morning walks.


Does anyone still have this piece? I'd like to see some pictures. @Battlecorals can you share an updated colony pic?
LoL I just got a frag from him today. He's still got it.
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Fully encrusted huh? Looks like @bubbaque has had some good growth then! I've been told BellaT is a slow grower.
I wish! It grows slow for me. I ended up buying two frags from Adam and I traded my first frag to fish finder. I will take a pic of my second frag tomorrow.
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The frag I gave Fishfinder is colored better than the one I kept, lol.
What temperature are you running this tank system Sir ?
I got one a few months ago when the Sniper Blue Growout contest started. Compared to the Sniper Blue, it's barely growing. Maybe faster than Hellboy, and same or slower than oregon tort. Over the last four months.
I have this piece. I got mine the same week Bubba got his original. It encrusted the plug rather quickly for me, and started coloring well. Growth has slowed tremendously since fully encrusting. Barely any vertical growth.
Edit: I lied. I got this in a different pack in July, not Feb. No matter. It still isn't doing much.
My one did barely grow compared to many others.
Hence it may have to do with the temperatures I run.
Do you have a pic of it now?
76-79 normally, hits 80-81 sometimes in summer.
I've had mine for roughly four months. I've had little to no vertical growth, but decent encrusting. Mine has colored up very well looks quite similar to Adams pictures. My piece is in the 275-325 PAR range.
Tim, yours look to be doing very well. Are they getting blasted with light?
Here's an updated shot of the one I moved to higher PAR. It is a looker! I did take a frag off of this one, otherwise it would be bigger.
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text:
> Pittsburgh Rebbe passes away
Pittsburgh Rebbe passes away
Weeks after becoming infected with the coronavirus, Rabbi Mordechai Yissachar Ber Leifer passes away at the age of 64.
Ben Shaul
י"ז בתשרי תשפ"א 03:08 05.10.20
Rabbis Rebbe Coronavirus
Rabbi Mordechai Yissachar Ber Leifer, the Rebbe of the Pittsburg Hasidic dynasty, passed away on Sunday night at Laniado Hospital in Netanya after contracting the coronavirus. He was only 64 years old.
For the past six months, the Pittsburgh Rebbe had followed all the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and hardly left his home. A few weeks ago, he left his home for the first time, became infected with the virus from an unknown source, and his medical condition began to deteriorate.
Shortly after his hospitalization he was anesthetized. On the eve of Yom Kippur, his doctors tried to wake him up after a slight improvement in his condition and was he even able to communicate easily with those around him. However, at the conclusion of the holiday, his condition worsened again and he was anesthetized yet again.
In the past day there was another deterioration and his condition and doctors were fighting for his life. On Sunday night, however, he passed away.
The Rebbe of Pittsburgh was a teacher of Judaism in Ashdod for many years. Many Jews from all circles and denominations, and even a large traditional public, would consult with him.
The Rebbe would secretly help hundreds and thousands of needy families, both Hasidic and non-Hasidic.
He was a composer of music and some of his compositions have become well known in the Hassidic world.
The funeral procession will take place on Monday in Ashdod.


text:
Social inclusion, Community organizing
Organizing for power winner
Project Journey
Oana Preda
Resource Center for Public Participation - CeRe
http://www.cere.ong
If activism rose lately, this only happens for the middle-class citizens in the big cities, whose basic needs are already met, while people experiencing poverty or lack of access to basic services, are left behind, with their voices unheard nor their needs met.
To respond to this context, we intend to put community organizing and advocacy in the service of people living in deprived rural communities, aiming to increase activism and engagement, but also to challenge inequity and injustice.
3 villages in Arges, Giurgiu and Braila County, to be selected based on deprivation related criteria
People in deprived rural communities face a wide range of challenges: scarcity of basic resources, poor infrastructure, reduced access to public services. Romania registers the highest levels of divide in the EU between urban and rural, reflecting in poverty risk (37,3% rural - 6,1% urban) or in no. of people neither in employment nor in education or training (23% Rural, 10,3% Urban).
Their needs are being largely ignored by authorities, and most of the society blames them for being poor. Lack of voice and lack of representation of interests are deepening the problems above, if not even being on their root. People are lacking the skills and are not aware about the democratic mechanisms of representation, they feel abandoned by society and lack the power to advocate for their communities.
We are targeting citizens experiencing poverty in 3 villages. In each village we aim to identify people with activist potential but who are currently disengaged. Using participatory instruments, the community organizers shall facilitate in-depth discussions among community members to provide space for them to debate about their issues, to understand what they have in common and what issues should be at the core of their collective action. For each community, we expect to reach out to 75 - 100 people in the first stage, identify a core group of 5-10 potential activists and later get the engagement of 25–75 in advocacy efforts.
The local and county authorities would be the target of advocacy work aimed at opening the space for participation for the citizens that are traditionally excluded.
The long-term mission of this program is to help people experiencing poverty to unite at the level of their communities and demand better access to public services and resources, by using democratic means of participation.
The methodology we will use is community organizing. We follow a classic 4 steps community organizing model – listening the community, documenting the problems, building local power and advocate for change. Yet, for the advocacy level, the community organizers and CeRe team will leverage their own resources to support the local communities when needed. Even if on short and medium term, the community organizers will have a more prominent role when needed, the long-term vision is to gradually transfer the leadership to the local community.
Such a community organizing process shall be longer than a year to produce lasting results. Yet, after one year of work, we expect to see:
- increased trust and skills for the local citizens and a better understanding of their rights as well as of their potential to change the status-qvo and effectively advocate for their communities' interests;
- groups of citizens (in their early stage of development) to act as community-based organizations;
- advocacy initiatives engaging the communities' members and challenging the balance of power in the 3 villages in the advantage of the most deprived.
In the long run, we seek to contribute to the development of the citizens groups into local structures willing, able and ready to defend the rights and interests of their communities.
Community organizing is proven to form new grassroot leaders, and to unlock the power of the powerless. It has active citizenship on its core, being focused on getting people organized to get engaged with the decision-makers.
Step by step, the project will build up self-esteem, create awareness about people's rights and democratic mechanisms and will support the communities to get engaged in and to lead advocacy efforts. Working with trained community organizers, the citizens will gain their place at the decision-making table and get engaged with how the resources are distributed and how the problems of their communities are addressed. Meanwhile, public officials will be exposed to advocacy efforts, to enlarge the space for participation and include various voices in the public affairs.
In the last years, public participation became more vibrant, with people being more demanding towards the state institutions and more willing to get engaged. Yet, much more needs to be done to serve those whose voices are the weakest. As elsewhere, our public authorities prioritize the measures benefiting the haves and leaves have-nots behind, which contributes even more to the already existing disparities. We say about CeRe that "together with citizens, organizations and communities, we build day by day a just and equitable world, where people stand together and their voices are central to the decision-making processes". If we are to stay true to our mission, we need do more to unlock the power of the marginalized so that they are able to get involved in how their needs are addressed.
Management: 10995 - part time coordinator and admin staff
Community organizers & mentor: 24177 - community organizers salaries and the input of a senior mentor
Travel expenses&meetings: 14505 - a residential gathering of citizens and organizers to share progress and experience, transportation to the local communities, refreshments for citizens' meetings
Local advocacy: 1500
Office supplies&related: 2700
To balance the total budget, we will reach out to our current individual donors.
Inspirational examples of community organizing in impoverished areas.
Feedback on our approach to empower the powerless.
Building campaigns lead by people in-need.
How to overcome fear of oppression.
Road to impact
Ciobotea -summer civic activities
Following the submission of a petition regarding the problem with the water pressure, the problem was resolved. The younger population together with the community organizer implemented a campaign in order to raise awareness amongst the 35 County Counselors about the problem of public transportation in Ciobotea
They submitted messages and postcards from the local school and high-school students at the County Council – part of the campaign that seeks to raise awareness amongst the 35 County Counselor about the problem of public transportation in Ciobotea.
This collective process had multiple steps:
Researching and documenting the local transportation problem
All students wrote messages for the elected officials
The youth made relevant photos in the village
Consultation about the form and contented of the postcards
labeling and archiving the 35 packages with the postcards
the postcards will also be sent to the transport company and the Hall of Budeasa in order to increase the visibility of the campaign
in the letter that accompanies the postcard, the group asks for an audience at the County Council in order to discuss possible solutions for the problem
Oana Preda on Sept. 15, 2021
Are you sure you want to delete Ciobotea -summer civic activities?
Izvoru -summer civic activities
In July, the group that was formed in the village of Izvoru, part of the Gogosari commune, had multiple meetings in which they discussed the main issues that they want to bring forward in their talks with the authorities.
At the begging of July, the group put forward a petition in which they demand the creation of a pharmacy in the commune because the nearest one is in Giurgiu which is 30 km away. The village of Izvoru has many elderly citizens, mothers with small children. They have low mobility and are depended on their medical prescriptions.
The group managed to gather 39 signatures from the citizens of the village which want the creation of a new pharmacy or the reopening of the one that existed.
Likewise, the group put forward a request to the Hall of Gogosari in which they demanded the redevelopment of the park in Izvoru. This entails: swings for children under 10, a fence that would delimitate the park, adding safety elements under the slide, the construction of a pavilion so people can have a place safe from the sun; the recondition of the benches, trimming down the excess vegetation and the cleaning of the area. They also want trash bins to be installed in areas that are often frequented by people. These locations are: the park in the middle of the village, the cemetery and spring area in Strada Fantanilor (Spring Street).
The request and petition were submitted to the Hall of Gogosari and they are still waiting for an official answer but they meet the mayor when they went to submit the two documents and he was open to take part in a meeting with the citizens of Izvoru in order to talk about the problems that they identified in their community.
Usually at the group meetings, the number of participants varies, the lowest number was 3 participants, the highest was 10 but most times we have between 6-7 people who participated from which 3 are more eager to get actively involved while the other stay and listen, give examples or say what changes they would like to see in the community.
Plans for the future:
A meeting between the mayor and the group of citizens
Organizing an event for adults and children in the park in Izvoru, in September, where they will discuss about how they want the park to look and we will also have creative activities for the children. We will invite the teachers and students from the school in Gogosari to participate
Following the responses that the local authorities give to the petition and the solicitation regarding the trash bins.
Are you sure you want to delete Izvoru -summer civic activities?
Latinu -summer activities
In Latinu there were 2 workshops in which participated 13 parents and 29 children. During this workshops the parents discussed about the problems that affect the community and they selected 5 on which they would like to work on.
The first 3 are related to infrastructure (asphalting, sewerage, water quality), the others were the lack of a pharmacy/dispensary and the need for the students to travel to Maxineni.
The children made architectural structures from corn snacks, they drawn and listen to a story told by a volunteer.
Are you sure you want to delete Latinu -summer activities?
In Latinu, the citizens are more sceptical and reluctant when it comes to civic involvement
The community organizer managed to interview 45 citizens from the commune and thus managed to identify the problems which they face. After the questionnaires were answered, the most pressing problems are the lack of infrastructure (roads, water and gas pipes) and the lack of a school in the village, a problem which forces the children from the village to commute to the school in the neighboring commune.
The community organizer had a number of meetings with one of the locals. After many unsuccessful attempts to bring together the people of the community, she managed to organize a workshop for the parents and their children with the main theme being "My village". Twelve mothers with their children participated to the event. Even if the workshop was a creative one, that focused on the children, it was a good opportunity for the team to get into contact with the community.
After this workshop, Gabriela, the community organizer, will contact all the persons who answered the interviews in order to present to them the conclusions that were reached and the problems that were identified. With the mothers from the workshop, she will continue to have a discussion about the steps that they need to follow in order to find a solution that will allow their children to go to school in their village.
Oana Preda on June 9, 2021
Are you sure you want to delete Latinu?
Izvoru
The community organizer established a connection with the citizens of Izvoru village through interviews based on a questionnaire, which highlights the problems which the inhabitants face, if they want to get civically involved in order to solve these problems and what locals have leadership potential.
After the interviews, two meetings took place in which the problems identified by the 45 respondents were discussed and a small civic nucleus (3 people) decided to take steps in order to find solutions for the following:
The establishment of a pharmacy
The arrangement of the park and the creation of a playground in its interior
The cleaning of the cemetery
The mounting of a bar near a shaft on which carpets can be hung to dry
At the next meeting they will come up with a plan that will try to find the best way in which the local population can communicate with the local authorities. When it comes to the issue of the pharmacy, signatures will be gathered and a petition will be submitted to the mayor's office.
An obstacle that prevents the local community from meeting is the lack of a space in which they can do so. At the moment, the meetings take place in the centre of the village or in the houses of the citizens involved.
Are you sure you want to delete Izvoru?
Ciobotea
The process of community organizing has begun in Ciobotea through a research (interviews based on a questionnaire) regarding the problems that the villagers face. We conducted interviews with 49 citizens of Ciobotea. These interviews helped us build a relationship with the members of the community and identify the persons who have the potential to become activists.
The community organizer made a report that was presented to the local community.
Later, together with three ladies from Ciobotea, Sorina, the community organizer, went to an audience at Budeasa City Hall, in order to present to the mayor the agenda of the community, the priorities and the needs of the inhabitants.
After the audience with the mayor, the group disseminated the information received to the rest of the citizens. By doing this, some of these citizens started to become interested in getting actively involved in the process of solving these problems and stared to constantly attend the meetings. A civic group was formed (3-6 persons). In the first meetings they discussed about the problems that plague the community and they prioritized them. They decided to tackle the two that they found most pressing: the lack of a bus that could transport them to the village and the lack of pressure in the water network.
This led to the submission of 2 petitions:
The citizens' petition regarding the problem of pressure of the water network in Ciobotea at the two institutions responsible for remedying the situation, namely the Mioveni Urban Services and Budeasa City Hall. This petition was signed by 33 citizens.
The petition related to one of the most pressing problems: the fact that the bus that serves the route Valea Marului - Pitesti does not reach Ciobotea (it does not have a station in the village). In order to solve this problem, a petition was sent to the Arges County Council requesting the expansion of the route.
The answer of the County Council was encouraging, in the sense that, in their response, they stated that "the demand will be analysed and it will be took into consideration when the elaboration and approval of the future County Transport Program will happen."
In Ciobotea we have regular meetings with the villagers. The citizens have learned useful information about the free access to information of public interest and they worked on the matrix of stakeholders for the transport problem. Now, the group plans its next steps in order to convince the institutions to resolve the two problems.
The community organizer has involved in the process of community organizing not only the adult population but also the youth and children. On the 1st of June the children had the possibility to draw how they envision their ideal version of the village and they listen to a story about civic involvement.
Are you sure you want to delete Ciobotea?
Idea created on May 25, 2020
Last edit on Aug. 3, 2020


By this useful Article I guide you that how to install latest Nvidia Graphic Card Driver on Linux basis systems such as Linux Mint, Ubuntu latest Editions. You have purchased very latest Nvidia Graphics Card, now you are getting problem to install driver and the closed source non free Nvidia driver in the repositories of Ubuntu or Linux Mint. You have already read lot of tutorials but this is very different, one thing note that recent Nvidia Graphics Card Support is not available or you have any problem in this regard. When you are going to check on Driver Manager that Linux Mint and Additional Drivers of Ubuntu does not present on proprietary driver for the latest brand of Nvida Video Graphic Card. When you will check that as a safety with the default open source driver Nouveau running, and your current driver is not installed properly. You are game lover or Movies so you are not still satisfied from this default driver, because games and latest movies absolutely required the best available Graphic Card Driver. Often you have checked that rather risky system hack, and you get disturbance. By this article I will discuss on main two points that how to install latest Nvidia Graphic Card Driver on Linux Mint and Ubuntu latest versions. How to install Printers and Scanners on Linux Distros read this useful article.
You should be visit first on Home page of Graphics Drivers PPA, and check that which versions of the Nvidia driver it include, recently I found the nvidia-370. Now the time is that you should be own search that what is the right version of the Nvidia driver for your Graphics Card. The target is to check whether your Graphic Card can run one of the driver versions that are available in the Graphics Drivers PPA Website. You can search following two types, but one thing note that you should not be download the driver from that website, because you are using PAA.
Now you are going to install latest Nvidia Graphic Card Driver, first you should be move old default Nvidia Card Driver which already automatically installed on your Linux based system to use the following command in terminal.
You have moved old default driver with successfully and now time it that install latest Nvidia Graphic Card driver though trustworthy PPA to use the following commands in terminal.
Now you have used above command in terminal your latest Nvidia Graphic Card Driver installed properly, and now Reboot your system, and your Graphic Card should run on the latest driver. If you want to check that your latest card is working properly use the following command in terminal.
In any case the above operation has failed, so your video card probably still runs on the open source driver Nouveau, you can check it with following command in terminal.
If you want to remove Graphic Card Driver and you do not like your new installed Nvidia driver, it is very simple to remove it, you can remove it from software source, if not or any problem use the following command in terminal.
Press Enter and type your password all your Nvidia Graphic Card Driver will be removed easily, after that Reboot your system. When you will see that your Graphic Card Driver now run again on the open source driver Nouveau, which you can check it to use the following command in terminal.
In view of the above, this is very profitable article which you have already read lot of tutorials this very knowledgeable that how to install latest Nvidia Graphics Card Drivers on Linux Based Systems.


ADDENDUM: The film's juxtaposition of depictions of the gold plates, followed by the story of Jesus' visit to the Nephites in 3 Nephi 11, followed by Joseph telling his family stories of ancient American civilization conveys a false understanding through an inaccurate sequence of events. The depiction may easily be understood by viewers that Joseph translated the plates, learned the story of Jesus coming to America during translation, and then related it to his family, a sequence of events that did not occur.
As FAIR openly admits and even argues, Joseph told stories about ancient America to his family prior to his receiving the plates, as documented by his mother. These stories were "information that he was receiving from the angel Moroni" (FAIR) and not from the text of the Book of Mormon, which had not yet been unearthed, let alone translated through the peep stone and urim and thummim. While the film doesn't assert that Joseph's stories were actually from the Book of Mormon, the sequencing suggests it. This could be remedied by simply adding the words, "Before obtaining the plates, Joseph was given knowledge by Moroni or another angel of an appearance Christ himself made… (etc.)" Addition of this qualifying detail will prevent viewers from incorrectly understanding that Joseph told the Book of Mormon story found in 3 Nephi 11 to his family at age 17.
Since there is no documentation that Joseph related the story of 3 Nephi 11 to anyone at age 17, the film could more correctly state that Joseph related certain cultural aspects of ancient America to his family in story and not extrapolate further, unknowingly. More concerning, though, the film actually mislead viewers in this regard, for it specifically extols the details of 3 Nephi 11 (relating the account of Jesus' visit to the Americas with such details as the calling of apostles, invitation to the crowd to touch the marks of the nails, and the miracles Jesus' performed among them — JOINTLY told with visual material from film "The Testaments," which depicts the event exclusively as it is told in 3 Nephi) and immediately thereafter using the pronoun "this" to allude precisely to what Joseph allegedly told his eagerly-listening family: "Joseph could describe this as if he had spent his whole life with them." The pronoun in the sentence directly modifies the story of Jesus' visit to America.
This exaggeration and misrepresentation of the documented record takes literary license and tells a history that is not documented, This can be easily corrected by full disclosure of what is actually documented: Joseph told stories about ancient American war, religion, animal travel, etc. to his family during the years prior to his obtaining the plates presumably from angel Moroni (the historical accuracy of certain aspects of these stories lack substantive evidence by modern investigation [FAIR]). Further information than this, stated or implied, is admittedly unsubstantiated and should be addended for historical accuracy.
Joseph's story need not be embellished for millions to cultivate faith in it, but such embellishment will certainly prevent many members from sustaining their faith.
The current depiction incorrectly leads viewers to the understanding that the Book of Mormon story found in 3 Nephi 11 was told to Joseph's family directly 3 years before Joseph ever received the plates. Furthermore, the telling of these stories confirms that many of the descriptions of ancient America later found in the text of the Book of Mormon were known to Joseph years prior to the book's translation and publication, which is said to have occurred in a short span of a "three-month period between April and June of ," (LDS.ORG) demonstrating that the cumulative understanding communicated in the book evolved or was acquired over a much longer period of time.
This entry was posted in Book of Mormon Historicity, Book of Mormon Translation, Joseph Smith the Man and tagged Film and Video, Joseph Smith The Prophet of the Restoration, Media on September 3, 2014 by claytonbhess.
ADDENDUM: Although the film dramatizes the visit of the angel Moroni as an unprovoked and surprising event to Joseph, historical context adds substantially to one's understanding of the event and must no longer be omitted in correlated church materials and film depictions. FAIR acknolwedges that Joseph was not at all unfamiliar with messages of valuable relics buried in the ground and the pursuit to unearth them. In fact, he was intimately familiar with seeking for buried treasures and had not only been minimally involved with J. Stowell in treasure seeking, but had been seeking for buried treasure with a seer stone for years, often as his principle employment. A subset of the general population at the time believed firmly in the reality of divination, seer stones, and magical thinking, etc., so it is appropriately argued that the mindset was a not-unheard-of component of early New England history. Often stories of such fabled treasures included treasure guardians, in the form of ghosts, devilish minions, animals, etc. FAIR acknowledges this as foundational history and affirms that, given Joseph's involvement with treasure seeking, that there is no way to know whether Joseph first considered Moroni (whom he initially described as being the spirit of the Almighty) as one of these treasure guardians, as a divine messenger, or both. Regardless, as modern members of the church consider the story of Moroni's visitation and the discovery of the golden plates, each has a right to be presented the full contextual history, without having to wade through an occult historical record alone, and to be given such context by the same trusted church organization that first introduced the story to them and sanctified it in their hearts. Members and investigators can still choose to believe that God used Joseph as an instrument to obtain and translate the plates, but such belief should be coupled by understanding of the historical truth. This will likely modify the current pervasive characterization of Joseph and may require mental rationalizations of history, including, for example, that his treasure digging was divine preparation for unearthing the plates, that prior encounters with fictitious treasure guardians was a heralding of the actual divine encounter with Moroni, or that those he led to believe in his magical-world capabilities of divination and seer stone use were correct to believe him and that he alone among 19th century treasure seekers actually held divine seer powers which were later necessary for translation , etc. Omission of such detail has created generations of believers whose faith is mal-contextualized. Modern church members have a right to inform their individual, collective, and generational decisions of faith and orthodoxy with history that is fully disclosed.
This entry was posted in Book of Mormon Historicity, Joseph Smith the Man and tagged Film and Video, Joseph Smith The Prophet of the Restoration, Media on August 20, 2014 by claytonbhess.
This entry was posted in Book of Mormon Historicity and tagged Book of Mormon Stories, Book of Mormon Stories Chapter 9, Manuals, Primary on July 16, 2014 by claytonbhess.


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Steelheads Online Bait Shop
SOTI Weekend Preview – Weekend Starts Early
The Steelheads hit the road on Wednesday against the Sarnia Sting before returning home again to take on the S00 Greyhounds and the Kingston Frontenacs.
With the holiday season just around the corner, the Mississauga Steelheads will be hosting their annual Toys For Tots game on Sunday, November 27 at 2 PM when they take on the Kingston Frontenacs. The hockey club is once again proud to work alongside the Peel Regional Police and the Salvation Army to help make a difference for families in need over the holidays. Last season, The Toys for Tots game raised a record 582 toys and $735 in donations to support the Mississauga community. You can pick up your tickets for our Toys for Tots game by clicking here.
Trip to the Imperial City
Following a three game homestand, the Steelheads look forward to another busy week where they travel to Sarnia to face the Sarnia Sting at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena. This is the second match-up between the two teams this season after a positive outcome from the Trout just over a month ago.
In their last meeting on October 16, the Steelheads were able to pick up two points to defeat the Sting 3-2 in a close game. The game was also a physical one, with both teams spending some time in the box short-handed. With the Steelheads and Sting both starting the season off with similar records in a one-point differential, the matchup looks to be an exciting one.
Earning his first-career OHL win in the teams' last meeting, Steelheads' rookie and goaltender Ryerson Leenders was able to stop 33 out of the 35 shots he faced. Steelheads' forward James Hardie also made a mark against the Sting scoring the Trouts third goal, which also happened to be the game winning goal. The Innisfil native will look to stand out once again on Wednesday with his powerful start to the season, currently leading his team in shots with 74. Hardie also has 21 points (10G, 11A) in 19 games played.
To ensure the Trout secure the victory they need to keep an eye on Sasha Patujov who is newly acquired to the Sting after being traded from the Guelph Storm. The winger has already tallied 5 points (1G, 4A) in his three games played with the Sting. Additionally the Trout need to be wary of Sting centreman, Marcus Limpar-Lantz who has picked up 18 points (6G, 12A) in his 21 games played. Limpar-Lantz may not be the one who scores the goals but he is the one who sets up the goals for his team especially on the power play, tallying six power play assists.
Welcome Back SOO
The Steelheads second game of the week will take place at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre when they take on the Soo Greyhounds this Friday night. This will be the first time both teams have met since January 10, 2020 and the first of two meetings between the teams this year.
With the Steelheads off to a dominant start sitting in second place in their division with 25 points (11-5-3-0) and the Greyhounds at the bottom of their division searching for points with 18 (5-8-4-4), the Blue and White will need to come out strong to defeat their Western Conference competitors.
The Steelheads will need to solve goaltender Charlie Schenkel early on to help secure the win. Playing in his second OHL season, Schenkel has recorded a 0.905 save percentage in 13 games played this season and is currently in fifth leading the league in this category. The Steelheads also need to shut down Greyhounds' centreman Bryce McConnell-Barker. The New York Rangers prospect has 23 points (12G, 11A) in 21 games played, enough to lead the team in both goals and points.
The opposing team will need to beware of Steelheads' centreman, Del Bel Belluz. The Columbus Blue Jackets prospect has recorded 24 points (12G, 12A) in 18 games played, and is currently second on the Steelheads for points, with 10 of them coming off the power play. The Greyhounds need to also look out for Mississauga's Zakary Lavoie who is in his second season with the team earning himself 17 points (10G, 7A) to start off the season.
Another Battle with the Fronts
The last game of the weekend will be on Sunday when the Steelheads host the Kingston Frontenacs for the second time this season. This game was also a close match-up after the Steelheads earned a dominating 4-3 win in overtime.
This will be an interesting game for Chicago Blackhawks fans, as two Blackhawks prospects will meet once again. Steelheads' captain Ethan Del Mastro was drafted in the 2021 NHL Draft in the fourth round (105th overall) by the Blackhawks and Frontenacs' Paul Ludwinski was drafted in the 2022 NHL Draft in the second round (39th overall) by the same team. In their last meeting, Del Mastro showed off both his offensive and defensive skills, earning himself a three point night, recording three assists to help his team get the win.
Montreal Canadiens prospect Owen Beck also showed up against the Frontenacs, recording his second-career OHL hat trick, including the overtime winner. Beck has had a great start to the season, leading his team in points with 25 (14G, 11A) in 17 games played and currently sits fourth leading the league in goals.
With the Steelheads besting the Frontenacs in their first meeting, Kingston will be looking for revenge. In order for Mississauga to take the second game, they will need to find a way to get the puck past Mason Vaccari who is currently third in the league for best save percentage with 0.908%. The Trout also need to watch out for Matthew Soto, who has recorded 19 points (7G, 14A) in 22 games played with one of those goals coming against the Blue and White in their last meeting.
SmartStop Post-Game Recap - The Win Streak Continues
SOTI Weekend Preview - Continuing the Home Stand
STEELHEADS TO HOST FIRST CULTURAL CELEBRATION NIGHT
Steelheads' James Hardie named Cogeco OHL Player of the Week
Jan. 22/23 - NIAG(4) - MISS(5)
SmartStop Post-Game Recap - 3 Wins in a Row


You can see the 2016-17 roadmap here on ProductPlan, or download it as a PDF.
As always, items on the left are more certain than those on the right, and the roadmap as a whole will be thoroughly reviewed each quarter.
The major focus of our improvement effort this year is to make it possible for organisations across government to join their content together as coherent services for users.
These are big, transformational changes. The roadmap shows in more detail all the things we need to do to achieve them.
Our hope is that, by the end of March 2017, we'll have everything in place on GOV.UK and agreement and commitment across government to begin a co-ordinated programme of transforming and recategorising all government content. It's a task comparable in scale to the original programme of transitioning content onto GOV.UK.
While working on those big changes, we'll continue to iterate toward the vision in other ways.
We'll also continue to operate GOV.UK as a reliable, secure, accurate service to end-users and government colleagues alike, and there's work on the roadmap to improve how we do that.
We'll keep ProductPlan updated with the progress of each item on the roadmap, and continue to publish "what we're working on" posts with the lower-level details every 2 weeks or so.
We've been working to this plan since April (before we were quite ready to publish it) and are currently on track to deliver everything we'd planned for this quarter.
We'll review the whole plan in July and make any adjustments needed - and blog again if those changes are significant.
You guys so out of touch with what has already take years of research and working with uk based very adopters. No code rapid build of any digital service at last a 6GL supporting Adaptive capability...do you even know what that is...?


AT CALIFORNIA COASTAL HORSE RESCUE!
You are cordially invited to help celebrate our annual ASPCA "Help A Horse Day"!
you can lend a much-needed hand in helping horses in need.
* Meet New York Times best-selling author of "Sgt. Reckless: America's War Horse", Robin Hutton.
For more information, please email connect@calcoastalhorserescue.com or call (805) 649-1090.


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14 Nights | 14-DAY DENALI/VALDEZ EXPLORER - SOUTHBOUND CRUISETOUR
About North Vancouver, British Columbia
The City and Borough of Juneau is a unified municipality located on the Gastineau Channel in the panhandle of the U.S. state of Alaska. It has been the capital of Alaska since 1906, when the government of the then-District of Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900. Juneau is home to Perseverance Theatre, Alaska's only professional theater. The city hosts the annual Alaska Folk Festival and Juneau Jazz & Classics music festivals, and the biennial Celebration. The Juneau Symphony performs regularly. Downtown Juneau boasts dozens of art galleries, which participate in the monthly First Friday Gallery Walk and the enormously popular December Gallery Walk held in the first week of December. The Juneau Arts & Humanities Council coordinates events while fund-raising, distributing some grant money, and operating a gallery at its office in the Juneau Arts & Culture Center, 350 Whittier Street. On summer Friday evenings open-air music and dance performances are held at Marine Park.
Ketchikan is an Alaskan city facing the Inside Passage, a popular cruise route along the state's southeastern coast. The city is named after Ketchikan Creek, which flows through the town, emptying into the Tongass Narrows a short distance southeast of its downtown. Civic boosters have dubbed the community the "Salmon Capital of the World". The Misty Fiords National Monument is one of the area's major attractions, and the Tongass National Forest has long been headquartered in Ketchikan, mostly in the city's historic Federal Building.
21-DAY EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN & THE GULF FROM ROME (CIVITAVECCHIA)
From Katákolo
Katákolo, Messina, Italy, Dubai, Haifa International Airport, Suez, Naples, Port Said, Mascat, Piraeus, Civitavecchia, Salalah, Bur Safajah, Al Aqaba
5-DAY WESTERN CARIBBEAN FROM ORLANDO (PORT CANAVERAL) - VARIATION
From San Miguel de Cozumel
San Miguel de Cozumel, Port Canaveral Trailer Park, Great Stirrup Cay
7-DAY BERMUDA FROM BOSTON
From Boston
Boston, Kings Wharf
11-DAY GREEK ISLES FROM ATHENS TO ROME: CRETE, CORFU & FLORENCE
From Messina, Italy
Messina, Italy, Civitavecchia
17-DAY JOURNEY TO THE EAST FROM DUBAI
From Fujairah
Fujairah, Phuket, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Colombo, Port Klang, Penang Island, Mormugao, Khasab, Singapore
14-DAY TRANSATLANTIC FROM BARCELONA
From Málaga
Málaga, Funchal, Barcelona, Miami, Majorca, Ponta Delgada, Cadiz
9-DAY BALTIC FROM COPENHAGEN TO STOCKHOLM: GERMANY, RUSSIA & POLAND
From Copenhagen
Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki