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Research ArticleBrain
Using Quantitative CT Perfusion for Evaluation of Delayed Cerebral Ischemia Following Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
P.C. Sanelli, I. Ugorec, C.E. Johnson, J. Tan, A.Z. Segal, M. Fink, L.A. Heier, A.J. Tsiouris, J.P. Comunale, M. John, P.E. Stieg, R.D. Zimmerman and A.I. Mushlin
American Journal of Neuroradiology December 2011, 32 (11) 2047-2053; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3174/ajnr.A2693
P.C. Sanelli
aFrom the Departments of Radiology (P.C.S., C.E.J., L.A.H., A.J.T., J.P.C., M.J., R.D.Z.)
bPublic Health (P.C.S., A.I.M.)
I. Ugorec
fDepartment of Neurology (I.U.), Atlantic Neurosurgical Specialists, Morristown, New Jersey
C.E. Johnson
J. Tan
gDepartment of Internal Medicine (J.T.), Kettering Medical Center, New York, New York.
A.Z. Segal
cNeurology (A.Z.S., M.F.)
M. Fink
L.A. Heier
A.J. Tsiouris
J.P. Comunale
M. John
dDivision of Biostatistics (M.J.), Department of Public Health;
P.E. Stieg
eDepartment of Neurological Surgery (P.E.S.), New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York
R.D. Zimmerman
A.I. Mushlin
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: DCI is a serious complication following aneurysmal SAH leading to permanent neurologic deficits, infarction, and death. Our aim was to prospectively evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of CTP and to determine a quantitative threshold for DCI in aneurysmal SAH.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with SAH were prospectively enrolled in a protocol approved by the institutional review board. CTP was performed during the typical time period for DCI, between days 6 and 8 following SAH. Quantitative CBF, CBV, and MTT values were obtained by using standard region-of-interest placement sampling of gray matter. The reference standard for DCI is controversial and consisted of clinical and imaging criteria in this study. In a subanalysis of vasospasm, DSA was used as the reference standard. ROC curves determined the diagnostic accuracy by using AUC. Optimal threshold values were calculated by using the patient population utility method.
RESULTS: Ninety-seven patients were included; 41% (40/97) had DCI. Overall diagnostic accuracy was 93% for CBF, 88% for MTT, and 72% for CBV. Optimal threshold values were 35 mL/100 g/min (90% sensitivity, 68% specificity) for CBF and 5.5 seconds (73% sensitivity, 79% specificity) for MTT. In the subanalysis (n = 57), 63% (36/57) had vasospasm. Overall diagnostic accuracy was 94% for CBF, 85% for MTT, and 72% for CBV. Optimal threshold values were 36.5 mL/100 g/min (95% sensitivity, 70% specificity) for CBF and 5.4 seconds (78% sensitivity, 70% specificity) for MTT.
CONCLUSIONS: CBF and MTT have the highest overall diagnostic accuracy. Threshold values of 35 mL/100 g/min for CBF and 5.5-second MTT are suggested for DCI on the basis of the patient population utility method. Absolute threshold values may not be generalizable due to differences in scanner equipment and postprocessing methods.
arterial input function
area under the curve
CT perfusion
delayed cerebral ischemia
hyperdynamic-hypervolemic-hemodilution
NBNCR
net benefit/net cost ratio
N-ICU
neuro-intensive care unit
Aneurysmal SAH is a devastating disease, with patients who survive the initial hemorrhage still at risk for severe complications, such as cerebral ischemia and infarction. Infarction has been detected in up to 81% of patients.1 As many as 46% of survivors may have long-term cognitive impairment, with an effect on functional status and quality of life.2,3 Early diagnosis and prompt medical treatment can prevent these sequelae and improve patient outcomes.4,5
The etiology of cerebral ischemia after SAH is complex, and its pathophysiology is poorly understood, often leading to indeterminate diagnoses and delayed treatments. Several terms have emerged to describe its various features, such as "symptomatic vasospasm," "angiographic vasospasm," and "DCI." DCI has been defined as new focal neurologic impairment or worsening on the Glasgow Coma Scale, after other possible causes of clinical deterioration have been eliminated, and/or new infarction on imaging attributed to vasospasm.6 For simplicity, the term vasospasm is reserved for the presence of arterial narrowing on imaging studies.7 However, vasospasm and DCI may be related, with arterial narrowing resulting in reduced CBF leading to clinical deterioration and ischemia. Thus, these terms have been considered interchangeable in clinical practice. The caveat is that not all patients with arterial narrowing on angiography develop DCI. Furthermore, not all patients who experience DCI have angiographic vasospasm, which may partly be attributed to circulatory impairment at the microvascular level.8,9 Therefore, incorporating both clinical and imaging criteria in the diagnosis of DCI has been reported as most clinically relevant because it has the strongest association with overall poor outcome, cognitive impairment, and reduced quality of life.6
Currently, several methods are used to determine DCI, including clinical examination, transcranial Doppler sonography, CTA, and DSA. Some institutions also include CTP to assess the hemodynamic status of the brain to improve the detection of early ischemia. There are several studies in the literature suggesting promising results by using CTP for detection of DCI by identifying perfusion deficits with prolonged MTT and/or decreased CBF.10⇓⇓–13 Qualitative perfusion deficits on CTP have shown improved sensitivity and specificity for DCI compared with noncontrast CT and CTA.14 Furthermore, Dankbaar et al12 evaluated quantitative CTP and demonstrated significantly lower CBF and higher MTT in patients who developed DCI. However, the most accurate CTP parameter and the optimal threshold for DCI remain controversial. The purpose of this study was to prospectively evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of CTP and to determine a quantitative threshold for DCI in patients with aneurysmal SAH.
A total of 104 patients with aneurysmal SAH were prospectively enrolled in this study from December 2004 to December 2008. Inclusion criteria were adult patients (18 years and older) with documented SAH at admission. SAH was diagnosed by initial noncontrast head CT, CSF analysis, CTA, and/or DSA. Exclusion criteria were a history of iodinated contrast allergy, renal impairment, or pregnancy. The patients and families of all consecutive admissions to the N-ICU with an SAH diagnosis were approached for enrollment. All enrolled subjects underwent surgical clipping and/or endovascular coiling for aneurysm repair, as per the usual standard of care. Institutional review board approval, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliance, and written informed consent were obtained.
A prospective cohort study was undertaken, including all patients with aneurysmal SAH, to perform CTP on both asymptomatic and symptomatic patients with clinical deterioration. Documentation occurred according to the day following SAH and was performed by the neurologists (I.U., A.Z.S., and M.F., with 8, 12, and 28 years' experience, respectively) in the N-ICU. Day 0 was defined as the day of the SAH event. Clinical and demographic data collection included age, sex, location of the ruptured aneurysm, type of treatment for aneurysm repair, and the Hunt and Hess grade at presentation. Close observation was maintained to assess deterioration that was not explained by other causes such as aneurysm rebleeding, intracranial hemorrhage, hydrocephalus, infection, metabolic disturbance, seizure, and so forth as determined by clinical assessment, CT, or MR imaging and laboratory studies. Clinical deterioration may manifest with alterations in consciousness, worsening of the Glasgow Coma Scale score, or new neurologic deficits. For patients with limited clinical examinations, particularly patients who were comatose or mechanically ventilated, continuous monitoring of laboratory data and neurologic and systemic parameters was used. DSA with the potential for endovascular treatment was performed in patients with suspected clinical deterioration. We determined the clinical outcome at discharge from the N-ICU, assessing a permanent neurologic deficit on physical examination and/or cerebral infarction on follow-up CT or MR imaging.
CTP Scanning Protocol and Data Processing
CTP was performed during the typical time period for DCI, between days 6 and 8 in asymptomatic patients and on the day of clinical deterioration in symptomatic patients. Data collection included the day CTP was performed following SAH and CTP's timeframe from the onset of clinical deterioration and its timeframe from when DSA was performed. There is a standard scanning protocol for CTP at our institution by using a LightSpeed or Pro 16 scanner (GE Healthcare, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) with a cine 4i scanning mode and 45-second acquisition at 1 rotation per second by using 80 kV(peak) and 190 mA. We used a scanning volume of 2.0 cm consisting of 4 sections at 5.0-mm thickness with inferior extent of the scanning volume selected at the level of the basal ganglia, above the orbits, to minimize radiation exposure to the lenses. Approximately 45 mL of nonionic iodinated contrast was administered intravenously at 5 mL/s by using a power injector with a 5-second delay.
Postprocessing of the acquired images into CBF, MTT, and CBV maps was performed on an Advantage workstation by using CTP software, Version 3.0 (GE Healthcare). This software uses a deconvolution method, which is considered most accurate for low contrast injection rates.15 The postprocessing technique was standardized for all patients according to recommended guidelines16 with the AIF as the A2 segment of the ACA17 and the venous function as the superior sagittal sinus (Fig 1).
The CTP postprocessing technique was standardized for all patients by using a deconvolution method. A, Standardized selection of the AIF (1) as the A2 segment of the anterior cerebral artery and venous function (2) as the superior sagittal sinus. B, The arterial (1) and venous (2) time-attenuation curves are used to select the pre-enhancement and postenhancement cutoff values according to recommended guidelines. C–E, Quantitative analysis was conducted by using a standardized method of contiguous region-of-interest placement, measuring 157 mm2, sampling the cortex and basal ganglia for the MTT, CBF, and CBV maps, respectively.
The perfusion maps were qualitatively evaluated by 2 neuroradiologists (P.C.S. and A.J.T. with 10 and 7 years' experience, respectively) blinded to clinical and imaging data, to determine the presence of perfusion deficits, defined as areas of decreased CBF and prolonged MTT based on their radiologic evaluation as performed in clinical practice. Focal perfusion abnormalities due to the primary hemorrhagic event and surgical intervention, as identified on the acquired images from the CTP dataset, were not included as perfusion deficits from DCI. Consensus judgment was determined after reviewing the images independently.
Quantitative analysis was conducted by using a standardized method with contiguous region-of-interest placement, measuring 157 mm2, sampling the cortex and basal ganglia. Each CTP section had up to 28 regions of interest distributed in the following territories: approximately 6 regions of interest in the ACA, 12 regions of interest in the middle cerebral artery, 6 regions of interest in the posterior cerebral artery, and 4 regions of interest in the basal ganglia (Fig 1). CTP studies were analyzed with the reader blinded to all clinical and imaging data to limit test-review bias.
Reference Standard Criteria
The reference standard for DCI is controversial and continues to undergo review. In this study, a multistage reference standard design was implemented, incorporating the most relevant clinical and imaging outcome measures of DCI, as defined by Reichman et al.18,19 On-line Figure 1 demonstrates the flow diagram for assignment of patients in this study.
At the primary level, DSA performed after day 3 was used to determine vasospasm. Angiographic criteria for vasospasm were based on the arterial luminal narrowing compared with the normal parent vessel and comparison with DSA performed on admission. Mild angiographic vasospasm was <50% arterial narrowing; moderate vasospasm was 50%–75% narrowing; and severe vasospasm was >75% narrowing. Interpretation of DSA was performed by 2 observers, an interventional neuroradiologist who performed the examination (with either 10 or 25 years' experience) and a neuroradiologist blinded to all patient information (C.E.J. with 22 years' experience). For disagreements, a third neuroradiologist (P.C.S. with 10 years' experience) independently reviewed the examination in a blinded fashion.
In those patients who did not undergo DSA, clinical or imaging criteria or both for the outcome events of DCI were used as the reference standard at the secondary level. On discharge from the N-ICU, the presence of either of the following criteria supported the diagnosis of DCI:
1) Clinical criteria: permanent neurologic deficit on clinical examination, distinct from the deficit at baseline produced by the SAH event or surgical intervention, which was not attributable to other causes.
2) Imaging criteria: cerebral infarction on follow-up CT and/or MR imaging that occurred after day 4. This criterion has been used to effectively exclude primary brain damage from SAH and/or surgical intervention.6,20
For patients who did not meet the above criteria and did not receive HHH therapy, a "no DCI" diagnosis was assigned. However, patients without the above criteria who received HHH therapy proceeded to the tertiary level for assessment of a response to treatment. Patients who demonstrated an improvement in clinical deterioration following HHH therapy were considered responders to appropriate treatment, and the response supported the diagnosis of DCI. Patients who did not improve following treatment and were found to have another cause for their symptoms were assigned as having no evidence of DCI. However, patients who did not have another cause for their symptoms underwent further testing with DSA and were then diagnosed at the primary level.
Only CTP examinations performed at the diagnostic stage, before treatment for DCI and before cerebral infarction, were included in the analysis to minimize confounding bias because both treatment and infarction affect cerebral perfusion and the diagnosis. The mean CBF, CBV, and MTT values were calculated for the DCI and no DCI groups. For patients with focal perfusion deficits, regions of interest within the affected region were isolated and arithmetic means were calculated. In patients without focal deficits, all regions of interest for all 4 section locations were included in the arithmetic means. To minimize the contribution of vascular pixels from large vessels, we excluded the CBF values of >100 mL/100 g/min from the statistical analysis and did not use these in calculating the mean CBF, CBV, and MTT values since this method for the evaluation of ischemia has been published.21 The regions of interest in the perfusion abnormalities due to the primary hemorrhagic event and/or surgical intervention, as identified on the acquired images from the CTP dataset, were not included in the statistical analysis. Normality of the distribution of continuous variables was assessed by plotting histograms and the Shapiro-Wilk test. Comparison between the groups was performed by using a 2-tailed t test for normal variables and the Wilcoxon rank sum test for non-normal variables. Statistical significance was accepted at P < .05. The 95% CI was used as the measure of variance. ROC curves were generated for each CTP parameter, and the AUC was calculated to quantify overall diagnostic accuracy. We fitted maximum-likelihood ROC models and 95% CIs, assuming a binormal distribution for the underlying latent variable. The threshold value was assessed by using the patient population utility method, which incorporates the NBNCR for the SAH population. (Please refer to the On-line Appendix for detailed description of this method.) The statistical analysis was performed by a biostatistician (M.J. with 5 years' experience) by using STATA, Version 10 (StataCorp, College Station, Texas) and R, Version 2.7.2 (http://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/base/old/2.7.2/) software.
Analysis was also conducted with the same methods mentioned above in a subgroup by using DSA as the reference standard to specifically evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of CTP for vasospasm.
Patient recruitment occurred from December 2004 to December 2008. Online Figure 2 is the flow diagram for patient enrollment. Ninety-seven patients were included in the statistical analysis. Forty-one percent (40/97) of patients had DCI and 59% (57/97) did not, as determined by the reference standard. On-line Figure 1 demonstrates the assignment of patients by the reference standard for each level. In the subgroup (n = 57), 63% (36/57) of patients had vasospasm and 37% (21/57) did not, as determined by DSA.
Clinical and demographic characteristics of the study population and subgroup are presented in the Table. The imaging characteristics of the study population and subgroup are shown in On-line Table 1. CTP was performed during the typical time period expected for DCI and on the same day that symptoms occurred in all groups.
Clinical and demographic characteristics of the study population and subgroup
Clinical Outcomes
No adverse events from CTP were reported in the study population. In the DCI group, 48% (19/40) of patients had no permanent neurologic deficit, 40% (16/40) had permanent neurologic deficits, and 13% (5/40) died during hospitalization. In the no DCI group, 88% (50/57) of patients had no permanent neurologic deficit, 12% (7/57) had permanent neurologic deficits referable to causes other than DCI (eg, postsurgical contusion and/or ischemia), and none died during hospitalization.
Quantitative CTP Analysis
In the study population, no CTP results were excluded from the analysis, including potential outliers. The mean quantitative values of the CTP parameters and 95% CIs for the study population and subgroup are presented in On-line Table 2. There are statistically significant differences in the CBF, CBV, and MTT values for the 2 groups. Figure 2 demonstrates the ROC curves and AUC for each CTP parameter with its 95% CI for the study population and subgroup, respectively. CBF has the highest overall diagnostic accuracy followed by MTT and CBV. The optimal operating point on these ROC curves was determined by using the patient population utility method, which incorporates the pretest probability of disease, the expected net benefit of correct diagnoses (true-positives), and the expected net harms associated with false-positive results (On-line Appendix). According to this method, the CBF threshold was 35 mL/100 g/min (90% sensitivity, 68% specificity) and the MTT threshold was 5.5 seconds (73% sensitivity, 79% specificity) for the diagnosis of DCI. In the subgroup of patients with DSA as the reference standard for vasospasm, the CBF threshold was 36.5 mL/100 g/min (95% sensitivity, 70% specificity) and MTT threshold was 5.4 seconds (78% sensitivity, 70% specificity).
ROC curves for the study population (n = 97) and subgroup (n = 57).
Cerebral ischemia following SAH is a complex entity involving delayed narrowing of the intracranial arteries that may lead to clinical deterioration, infarction, and death. A review of the literature reveals that inconsistent terminology has been used to describe this entity in clinical trials and observational studies. The relationship between vasospasm seen on angiography and clinical deterioration and ischemia from DCI has led to imaging studies often being used as surrogate diagnostic tools.7 Given the variable association among these terms, our study focused on evaluating CTP as it would be used in clinical practice to prospectively identify patients with DCI, as defined by both clinical and imaging criteria.
Several publications suggest that CTP is a promising tool in detecting DCI. Patients with regional hypoperfusion deficits more often experience DCI and are at risk for infarction.14,22,23 Our study supports these findings, with qualitative CTP deficits seen in 95% of patients with DCI compared with 18% without DCI. More recently, investigations have focused on the diagnostic accuracy of quantitative CTP for DCI and determining a diagnostic threshold. Dankbaar et al12 reported that MTT can detect patients with DCI by using an absolute MTT threshold of 5.9 seconds. On the other hand, several studies support the finding that CBF has the highest sensitivity and specificity,24 concluding that patients with CBF reduction on CTP,10 xenon-enhanced CT,25 or position-emission tomography26 imaging were more vulnerable to developing DCI. Our study confirms CBF and MTT as the most useful CTP parameters for diagnosing DCI. Our large prospective cohort should be highly generalizable to clinical practice because it consists of both asymptomatic and symptomatic patients, as well as patients who did or did not undergo DSA (On-line Appendix). Furthermore, our results indicate that CBF has the best discrimination ability for DCI (Fig 2), with the highest overall diagnostic accuracy (0.93) compared with MTT (0.88) and CBV (0.72). However, the 95% CIs of CBF and MTT are overlapping, and thereby a statistically significant difference is not achieved between these 2 parameters. The best operating point on these ROC curves was determined as 35 mL/100 g/min (90% sensitivity, 68% specificity) for CBF and 5.5 seconds (73% sensitivity, 79% specificity) for MTT calculated by the patient population utility method, which incorporates key factors, such as the net benefit/harm ratio and the prevalence of DCI. Therefore, this statistical method minimizes both false-negative and false-positive errors to maximize the average state of health of the SAH population.
Other studies in the literature have evaluated CTP for the diagnosis of vasospasm by using DSA as the reference standard. High sensitivity and specificity have been reported for qualitative CTP deficits in the detection of vasospasm and the prediction of secondary infarction.10,13,23,27,28 Our subgroup analysis supports these findings with qualitative CTP deficits seen in 97% of patients with vasospasm compared with 24% without vasospasm. More specifically, several studies focused on assessing the degree of arterial narrowing and the presence of a perfusion abnormality in its corresponding territory. Aralasmak et al13 reported that a perfusion abnormality was noted in 83% of patients with severe vasospasm compared with 26% with mild-moderate vasospasm and 15% without vasospasm. Dankbaar et al22 demonstrated that the flow territory of the vessel with the most severe vasospasm corresponded with the least perfused region on CTP.
Furthermore, Wintermark et al11 evaluated quantitative CTP for detection of vasospasm in a retrospective study and reported that MTT had the highest diagnostic accuracy (91.6%) by using a threshold of 6.4 seconds, closely followed by CBF (91.4%) with a threshold of 44.3 mL/100 g/min. Our subgroup analysis also revealed that CBF and MTT had the highest diagnostic accuracy for vasospasm on DSA. With the patient population utility method, a CBF threshold of 36.5 mL/100 g/min (95% sensitivity, 70% specificity) and an MTT threshold of 5.4 seconds (78% sensitivity, 70% specificity) were calculated. Overall, the CTP findings in the study population to determine DCI and in the subgroup to determine vasospasm demonstrate similar results. These results support the association of arterial narrowing and ischemia in SAH and promote the added value of using DSA in the diagnosis of DCI to guide patient management.
Currently, the definitions of DCI and vasospasm are undergoing review by expert panels and investigators to improve uniformity in research studies evaluating outcomes in patients with SAH. Vergouwen et al7 recently provided an expert opinion as to the use of the following outcome measures for DCI: 1) cerebral infarction identified on CT or MR imaging after exclusion of procedure-related infarctions, and 2) functional-based outcome measures. The term "vasospasm" is recommended for patients with arterial narrowing on imaging studies.7 DSA is considered the reference standard for vasospasm, given its superior spatial resolution. However, as CT scanner technology continues to improve, other noninvasive methods such as CTA may also be used to detect vasospasm, as supported by a recent meta-analysis.
In clinical practice, angiographic evidence of vasospasm remains as a surrogate diagnostic tool to prospectively determine diagnosis and treatment of cerebral ischemia after SAH, particularly given its association with perfusion deficits. Therefore, a previously published and validated reference standard that includes these relevant outcome measures was used in this study. Reichman et al18,19 thoroughly describe the implementation of this reference standard along with its strengths and limitations. Several strengths of this reference standard include its widespread applicability to the entire SAH population, incorporation of the most relevant outcome measures of cerebral ischemia after SAH, thorough use of criteria to exclude other causes of clinical deterioration and cerebral infarction, and its consideration of treatment effects in determining diagnosis. Incorporating a reference standard based on a clinical practice approach, by using intensive clinical monitoring combined with serial imaging examinations to prospectively identify patients with DCI may assist in bridging the gap between clinical research and clinical practice.
We acknowledge several limitations in this study, including limited brain coverage for evaluation of perfusion deficits provided by CTP. However, emerging CT scanner technology will provide broader coverage in the future, and these data may be applicable to this improvement. Another limitation is that the region of CTP imaging was not coordinated with the location of the arterial narrowing on DSA or the region referable to symptoms. Therefore, it is conceivable that this region may not have been imaged on CTP or may possibly have been averaged with a larger region of normal perfusion, resulting in increased false-negatives and lower diagnostic accuracy in our study. This method was not used to reduce work-up and observer bias because we did not have knowledge of the clinical examination and DSA results before CTP scanning and interpretation.
Overall, there is an inherent limitation in applying quantitative CTP findings in clinical practice. Caution is urged when using absolute quantitative CTP values for the diagnosis and management of patients. Often, these threshold values are only valid for the constellation of the type of hardware equipment and software program used in a specific study. Careful interpretation of absolute values is suggested because the quantitation of the perfusion parameters relies on the assumption that the selected arterial input and venous outflow functions represent the true inflow and outflow measures for the tissue bed being analyzed. Selection of the AIF in patients with acute cerebral ischemia remains controversial, and there is no consensus to date. However, several studies support the finding that there is no significant variation in the quantitative CTP parameters of patients with acute cerebral ischemia when using different AIF locations.16,17,30⇓–32
Current expert opinion favors the use of relative rather than absolute CTP values, given the potential for variability in absolute quantitation of CTP parameters and the dependence of these values on an appropriate but often arbitrary venous output scaling factor.33 Dankbaar et al12 have demonstrated that overall relative threshold values had better diagnostic properties than absolute measurements, possibly because relative measurements reduce the variability caused by the postprocessing steps.34 However, absolute threshold values were used in our study because cerebral ischemia after SAH may occur bilaterally and diffusely in the brain; therefore, standardized methods are difficult to implement in this patient population. Most important, standardization and validation of CTP methodology and postprocessing techniques are necessary for its widespread implementation in patients with SAH.
CTP adds important physiologic data to the clinical information and anatomic imaging of patients with SAH. CBF and MTT emerged as the CTP parameters with the greatest discrimination ability for DCI. A CBF threshold of 35 mL/100 g/min and an MTT threshold of 5.5 seconds were calculated by using the patient population utility method, which statistically infers the maximum average state of health for this population. However, caution is recommended in using specific absolute threshold values for CTP because the differences in scanner equipment and postprocessing methods may affect its generalizability. Therefore, future steps are needed to assess the performance of these threshold values in improving clinical outcomes by using a large prospective clinical trial study design.
This work was supported by grant 5K23NS058387-02 from the NINDS, a component of the NIH.
The views herein are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of NINDS or NIH.
Disclosures: Matthew Fink, Consultant: Novartis, Details: consultant regarding new pharmaceutical uses, Other Financial Interests: Editor of Neurology ALERT, Details: AHC Media LLC. Apostolos John Tsiouris, Consultant: BioClinica, Details: BioClinica is an imaging core lab for which I consult on the design of phase II research studies that use imaging to assess drug efficacy. Compensation from consultation is <$5000/year. I occasionally also act as a blinded expert reader or adjudicator for phase II studies. Alvin I. Mushlin, Consultant: GE Healthcare, Details: Member of the advisory board for the GE Radiology Research Academic Fellowship program.
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. User-defined vascular input function curves: influence on mean perfusion parameter values and signal-to-noise ratio. Radiology 2004;231:587–93
Received November 17, 2010.
Accepted after revision March 22, 2010.


text:
Q: Change the seed of RAND() function in PHP? I accessed my table of database by a PHP script and I get continuous repeat results sometimes.
I ran this query:
$query ="SELECT Question,Answer1,Answer2 FROM MyTable ORDER BY RAND(UNIX_TIMESTAMP(NOW())) LIMIT 1";

Before of this query, I tried just with  ORDER BY RAND(), but it gave me a lot of continuous repeat results, that's why I decided to use ORDER BY RAND(UNIX_TIMESTAMP(NOW())).
But this last one still give me continuous repeat results( but less).
Im going to write a example to explain what I mean when I said "continuous repeat results" :
Image that I have 100 rows in my table: ROW1,ROW2,ROW3,ROw4,ROW5...
well, when I call my script PHP 5 times continuosly I get 5 results:
           -ROW2,ROW20,ROW20,ROW50,ROW66
I don't want same row continuously two times.
I would like it for example:  -ROW2,ROW20,ROW50,ROW66,ROW20
I just want to fix it some easy way.

A: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/mathematical-functions.html#function_rand

RAND() is not meant to be a perfect random generator. It is a fast way
  to generate random numbers on demand that is portable between
  platforms for the same MySQL version.

If you want 5 results, why not change the limit to 5 ? This will ensure that there are no duplicates
The other option is read all of the data out, and then use shuffle in php ?
http://php.net/manual/en/function.shuffle.php
Or select the max and use a random number generated from PHP
http://php.net/manual/en/function.mt-rand.php

A: This is not doable by just redefining the query. You need to change the logic of your PHP script.
If you want that the PHP script (and the query) returns exactly ONE row per execution, and you need a guarantee that repeated executions of the PHP scrips yield different rows, then you need to store the previous result somewhere, and use the previous result in the WHERE condition of the query.
So your PHP script becomes something like (pseudocode):
$previousId = ...; // Load the ID of the row fetched by the previous execution

$query = "SELECT Question,Answer1,Answer2
      FROM MyTable
      WHERE id <> ?
      ORDER BY RAND(UNIX_TIMESTAMP(NOW()))
      LIMIT 1";

// Execute $query, using the $previousId bound parameter value

$newId = ...; // get the ID of the fetched row.

// Save $newId for the next execution.

You may use all kinds of storages for saving/loading the ID of the fetched rows. The easiest is probably to use a special table with a single row in the same database for this purpose.

Note that you may still get repeated sequential rows if you call your PHP script many times in parallel. Not sure if it matters in your case.
If it does, you may use locks or database transactions to fix this as well.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
<!DOCTYPE html>

	<meta charset="UTF-8">
	<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
	<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
	<title>Document</title>

		You can make small dropdown menus with basic HTML
		Wow, and it's super easy to make

And it moves the content of your page down

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Billy the Cat is an animated series based on the comic strip of the same name, created by cartoonists Stéphane Colman and Stephen Desberg. It was aired from 1996 to 2001 for two seasons, accompanied by two compilation films. The series was produced by EVA Entertainment, in co-production with Les Films du Triangle, Dupuis, NOA Network of Animation, Sofidoc S.A., and Cologne Cartoon for France 3, with the participation of Canal+, ZDF, WIC Entertainment, and RTL-TVI.

Plot
A boy named Billy is transformed into a cat due to an angry magician who decides to teach the boy a lesson after seeing him bullying a cat. In order to keep his family from worrying, the magician also uses his magic to make his cat, Dandelion, assume Billy's own form and live with his family. No matter how much he begged during the series, Billy was never turned back into the boy he used to be.

Characters
 Billy Colas (voiced by Jesse Moss in season 1, and by Brian Drummond in season 2) − A young rogue turned into a cat by a magician.
 Mr. Hubert (voiced by Michael Donovan, who also voice directs for the show) − A white cat with a bowtie and Billy's guardian who teaches Billy how to survive on the streets. He lives in a Cadillac car in a junk yard and speaks with a British accent.
 Queenie (voiced by Kelly Sheridan) − A female cat who befriends and helps Billy.
 Jumbo (voiced by Ian James Corlett who also writes for the show) − A pigeon who thinks and speaks like an airplane pilot.
 Sanctifur (voiced by Robert O. Smith) − A fierce dark gray cat with a scar on his face. He is one of both Billy, Queenie and Mr. Hubert's worst enemies.
 Moonie (voiced by Terry Klassen who also writes and voice directs for the show) − A Wire Fox Terrier and the leader of the villainous group called the Dead End Dogs, who enjoys bullying cats. He is also another one of both Billy, Queenie and Mr. Hubert's worst enemy.
 Ali Kazam The Magician (also voiced by Michael Donovan) − The man responsible for turning Billy into a cat after he saw the troublesome kid bullying a cat. After teaching Billy a lesson, he decided to turn his cat Dandelion into human Billy himself.
 Nick (voiced by Lee Tockar in season 1, and by Bill Switzer in season 2) − One of Billy's former human friends, who doesn't like cats.
 Billy's Mother (voiced by Kathleen Barr) − Billy's worried mother who is allergic to cats.

Episodes

Season 1

Season 2

TV movies

External links

1990s Canadian animated television series
2000s Canadian animated television series
1996 Canadian television series debuts
2001 Canadian television series endings
1990s French animated television series
2000s French animated television series
1996 French television series debuts
2001 French television series endings
Canadian children's animated television series
French children's animated television series
Canal+ original programming
Animated television series about cats
Television series based on Belgian comics

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
class AddLunchTimeToScheduleTemplates < ActiveRecord::Migration[5.0]
  def change
    add_column :schedule_templates, :lunch_starts_at, :string
    add_column :schedule_templates, :lunch_ends_at, :string
  end
end


text:
Whatever The Problems Of The UK, At Least We Know What A Profitable War Looks Like!
Suppose you are an arms manufacturer (you may actually be an arms manufacturer as this is a public post!). There are three ways of making money from your products: planned or unplanned obsolescence; high maintenance costs; get your clients to buy more product, perhaps by actually using them.
Although wars have traditionally been the quickest driver of new weapons (think radar, tank, jet engine and atomic bomb as twentieth century examples) the current pace of technology makes obsolescence a realistic short-term possibility. Suppose, however, you are Lockheed Martin who make the Trident system. It is clear that a ballistic missile maker won't get a great many sales! Its like buying a car which is too reliable and lasts too long. So, as with the car, tying the customer to a maintenance schedule is important. Along with the Royal Navy submarine upkeep, the annual maintenance cost of Trident is estimated to be about £2.3bn.
What about the most destructive way of making money, getting your customers to use their weapons? Considering the wars that have taken place over the past twenty five years it is possible to work out the desirable parameters. The war must be large enough to necessitate the use of expensive, probably missile, technology (and the occasional destruction of an asset such as a fighter plane) Trump firing 59 Cruise missiles at Syria at around $1mil per shot is perfect! And that was just a simple retaliatory action. Small 'boots on the ground'/police actions with mostly rifles and bullets aren't going t make that much profit (as in, for example, saving innocents from a central African genocide). Besides, open spaces like deserts really allow you to use the expensive stuff!
But the war must not be too big that it destabilises the world. Fellow large multi-national Corporations like stability, so the war should not really disrupt world trade to any extent; profit forecasts must be met. Besides, ending the world is very bad for repeat sales (even for Lockheed Martin!). So the West is very cautious in North Korea!
Next the war must not be seen to have too many civilian casualties or the casualties must be easily presented as evil and thus disposable. Ideally there should be few or none of your own casualties. This means, either way, the public will not get on the politicians backs to stop the conflict.
Finally the war, either during its execution but most certainly afterwards must present your investors with opportunities for profits from reconstruction. A few months ago I wrote a post about the situation in Syria and included a report from the Washington Post about major Gulf States (including Saudi Arabia) financial backing for Assad. If we had really wanted to sort out Syria then this is where we should have started, with the Middle East banks. But there is no profit in this, unlike arms to be used in Yemen!
So to sum up, Small proxy wars are best just as long as the controlling powers understand the situation and it does not get out of control.
Maybe this post is simply cynical. But allowing for the fact that oil is an important driving factor in when and where we decide to go to war we are always ready to defend liberty where this a private profit to be made for organisations such as BAE systems. Otherwise, you are on your own. However cynical this post, it is nowhere near the level shown by arms manufacturers!
By ..in Syria, Uncategorized July 25, 2017 August 27, 2017 581 WordsLeave a comment
BBC Salaries – The 'Market Rate' Argument Is Again Deployed To Defend Greed and Discrimination.
The grotesque salaries paid to BBC presenters including more than £2.2m to Chris Evans who flopped as a Top Gear presenter (in an echo of banker-like huge rewards for failure) and Gary Lineker at over £1.75m has focussed attention on what is fair reward in an age of austerity. The eye-catching issue is the gender pay gap which has, rightly, prompted a public outcry and a legal case. But I want to consider a broader aspect of this issue which necessarily impacts the gender inequality and illustrates a number of problems with our broken socio-economic model.
I want to focus on a tired old excuse that has been trotted out once again. This time the culprit was Today presenter John Humphrys. Now, to be fair to Mr Humphrys, he was prepared to be interviewed about the salary scandal, unlike some other presenters who mumbled incoherently as they pushed past journalists. Nevertheless the answer was depressingly familiar. 'Its the market rate'! He said:
I cant explain it but I've been with the BBC a long time and its gone up and up and up. I've no idea whether I am worth it. However we operate in a market place and I think its difficult for the BBC, Society sets these rules.
But we must ask what is the market in this case? White male radio presenters able to get up early and ask ill-informed and sometimes ill-judged questions (I heard the Konta interview)? The BBC must remember that it is entering the 'market' on our behalf while at the same time itself distorting the market by doing so. Moreover, who defines what 'the market' is and what constitutes good value in this market. Would it be white middle-class men?
The real problem is that Humphrys then goes on to contadict this 'market rate' defence by saying that, aside from two occasions when they actually cut his salary (so goodness knows what is was before!), the BBC have been simply pushing up his salary since he joined 50 years ago. Start with £2k and after a while no one notices the gigantic payment. So less 'market rates' and more 'mates rates'!. As with banking and other senior jobs the market place argument is an attempt to deceive, to imply a commercial rigour which simply does not exist! But Humphrys does have one point. It is the senior managers of the BBC who must be held accountable for these salaries.
Once again market rates are justified in grossly inflating the salaries of the already wealthy and powerful while justifying oppressing those less well-off with little influence. The 'market rate' argument is curiously rejected for teachers and nurses who are leaving their profession in droves. I am in favour of the BBC. I consider that there is a place for a medium which is not dependant upon commercial interests. But the needs to be a radical reform of the BBC, just as there needs to be a radical reform of private sector corporate governance. What has been revealed at the BBC must also be revealed in the commercial world.
By ..in Inequality, Market Economy, Uncategorized July 21, 2017 July 22, 2017 516 WordsLeave a comment
The Priestley Riots: Fake news, Trolling, Vicious Media Attacks and Establishment Collusion.
Between 14th and 17th July 1791 a period of sustained rioting convulsed Birmingham. The name given to the unrest, The Priestley Riots, derives from the most notable target of the violence, the chemist, religious dissenter and political radical Joseph Priestley (credited with discovering Oxygen). The trigger for the rioting was a dinner held at the Dadley Hotel in Temple Row organised by radicals and religious Dissenters to mark the success of the assault on the Bastille at the start of the French Revolution. Mobs opposed to the Birmingham Dissenters attacked and burned not only their homes and chapels, but also the homes of people they associated with Dissenters, such as members of the scientific Lunar Society. The details, however, reveals the dark nature of establishment collusion.
According to eye witness accounts local Justices of the Peace Joseph Carles and Dr Benjamin Spencer (an Anglican vicar and, along with Carles, a member of the establishment supporting Bean Club) actively encouraged the mob. Moreover the Under Sheriff of Warwickshire, John Brooke, was heard to issue a 'guarantee' of judicial protection to those taking part. Prior to the 14th July banquet, various incendiary posts and leaflets were published about the event, the sources of which are still unclear but highly unlikely to be the Dissenters themselves. Likewise a cartoon was published despicting Priestley holding up a platter and saying 'The Kings head here'. Except that Priestley was not at the dinner. Today we would call it 'fake news'!
Events following the riots were also shocking. The magistrates (remember Brooke's 'guarantee') refused to arrest any of the rioters post facto and actually released those that had been arrested at the time. When the Government forced the magisrates to try the riot ringleaders, they intimidated witnesses and subverted the trials. Only seventeen of the fifty rioters who had been charged were brought to trial with four convicted.
The riots revealed that the Anglican gentry in collusion with the judiciary were prepared to use violence against Dissenters whom they viewed as potential revolutionaries . Bear in mind that at that time religious and political revolution were almost synonymous and the Monarch was head of the Church of England (as remains the case). Those campaigning for the religious freedom and political reforms we enjoy today had to be prepared to face uncontrollable mobs.
Following the riots Joseph Priestley was forced to flee Birmingham and set up home in London. But things were justs as bad. Vicious political cartoons continued to be published about him, In a direct parallel to today's 'trolling'm letters were sent to him from across the country, comparing him to the devil and Guy Fawkes. Effigies of Priestley and Tom Paine were publicly burned.
Fake news, trolling, vicious media attacks, inciting religious hatred and establishment collusion. Sound familiar?
By ..in Human Rights, Radical History, Uncategorized July 15, 2017 August 10, 2017 465 WordsLeave a comment
Trump, May, and Autocratic Libertarianism – on Bright Green
Click here for my Bright Green article on the origins of the ideology persued by Donald Trump and Theresa May. The roots go back a long way, right back to the 17th Century and present a real danger to our present day freedoms.
By ..in Authoritarianism, Autocracy, Autocratic Libertarianism, Libertarianism, Monarchy, Neo-Conservatism, Republicanism, Uncategorized July 12, 2017 43 WordsLeave a comment
What Does the Grenfell Tragedy Tell Us About the Health of Representative Democracy?
That the Grenfell Tower disaster was a profound human tragedy is beyond dispute. Likewise, by general consent, the response of the non-emergency authorities was far from acceptable. A remote and out-of-touch local council which suppressed opposition by disregarding it or actively mocking the attempt of representatives to challenge decisions. An inability to fully grasp the enormity of the problem and slapping away offers of help was mirrored by a central Government slow to react and seemingly incapable of displaying any understanding for the plight of homeless and bereaved citizens.
Now that a period of reflection is setting in, many officials are still in denial, repeating the mantra that we need to wait for a full inquiry before we know the cause of the blaze. Within a narrow remit of the local conditions in Kensington and wider building regulations there is some sense in this, but you cannot escape the feeling that the aim is to delay and hope that by the time an inquiry reports back someone else will be in charge.
Representative democracy alone is failing us.
In an earlier post I pointed out that we need a complete rethink of rights and resources which can be wielded by citizens and civil organisations. But the possibility of such a review was immediately cast into doubt by the actions of Theresa May. A few days after the disaster and clearly feeling the weight of public anger and resentment she agreed to meet with representatives of the victims. But where was the meeting held? In the privacy of Downing Street, which presumably left May in her comfort zone but must have been at least a little daunting to the representatives. So why not at a neutral venue? There is no doubt that neighbouring local authorities would have been willing to have hosted such a meeting at short notice given the enormity of the disaster. But I think there is something deeper at work here than just another example of the lack of insensitivity to citizens by the Prime Minister. It displays a fundamental fear by politicians of losing power or control; an inability to share authority where it really matters most.
Continue reading "What Does the Grenfell Tragedy Tell Us About the Health of Representative Democracy?" →
By ..in Democracy, Inequality, Uncategorized July 3, 2017 July 29, 2017 1,100 Words2 Comments

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Yemonese, Curry-like mixture used as a meat rub but can also be added to soups, stews and vegetables. Ingredients: Black pepper, Cumin, Coriander, Cardamom, Turmeric and Cloves. Great in cous cous, lentils and beef dishes.


text:
Q: If $\|u\| \leq \|u+av\|$ for all $a \in F$, How can I show that $\langle u,v\rangle=0$? If $\|u\| \leq \|u+av\|$ for all $a \in F$,
How can I show that $\langle u,v\rangle=0$?
I know a standard solution uses $\operatorname{Re}$ and $t =$ something but was wondering if there was perhaps an easier solution? Thanks!

A: For any $a > 0$,
\begin{align*}
2a \langle u, v \rangle
&= \langle u , u  \rangle - \langle u - av, u - av \rangle
+ a^2\langle v, v \rangle \\
&= \left\|{u}\right\|^2 - \left\|{u - av}\right\|^2 + a^2 \left\|v\right\|^2 \\
&\le a^2 \left\|v\right\|^2 \\
-2a \langle u, v \rangle
&= \langle u , u  \rangle - \langle u + av, u + av \rangle
+ a^2\langle v, v \rangle \\
&= \left\|{u}\right\|^2 - \left\|{u + av}\right\|^2 + a^2 \left\|v\right\|^2 \\
&\le a^2 \left\|v\right\|^2 \\
\end{align*}
Therefore,
\begin{align*}
\left| \langle u, v \rangle \right|
=  \frac{\left|2a \langle u, v \rangle\right| }{\left|2a\right|}
\le \frac{a^2 \| v\|^2}{\left|2a\right|}
= \frac{|a| \|v\|^2}{2}
\end{align*}
Since $a$ can be arbitrarily small, we conclude $\langle u, v \rangle = 0$.
See also robjohn's answer.
I suspect this is as simple as it gets.


text:
Strings Make Up Lesson (Katie)
MMWS Grand Ave. 4211 Grand Avenue Western Springs, IL, 60558 United States (map)
Katie Cousins (Violin, Viola)
Teaches private lessons on Mondays
"Everyone, no matter how young or young-at-heart, has a unique viewpoint to reveal, and music is an ideal universal language in which to do just that. Learning a new art should be both enjoyable and challenging; through music, students of all ages not only learn how to work with an instrument, but also how to diagnose and approach difficult problems, exercise critical thinking, and learn to work with others to reach a common goal. In lessons, I aim to create an environment in which students feel comfortable exploring both technical processes and an awareness of sound - music reading, ear training, listening, and an appreciation of musical history are all important facets of my teaching."
Violinist Katie Cousins is a versatile performer and teacher with a passion for an enormous range of musical styles. She has been featured on stages across the U.S. and Europe, and is dedicated to making both classic and new music accessible to a diverse population. Currently based in Chicago, Katie is a member of the Peoria Symphony, and throughout her career has also enjoyed performing with the Chicago Arts Orchestra, the Waterbury Symphony, the Hartford Opera Theater Orchestra, and the Spirit of Broadway Theater outside of New York, among others. With a special passion for chamber music, Katie has spent time in both Austria and Italy sharing masterpieces of the chamber repertoire with European audiences. She has worked with members of the Emerson, Pacifica, and St. Lawrence String Quartets, and in the fall of 2011, co-founded Isosceles, a violin-saxophone-piano trio with which she toured across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S.
Katie holds a Master of Music and a Graduate Professional Diploma in Violin Performance from the Hartt School in Hartford, CT. While there, she developed a special interest in contemporary music, leading to her performances with the 016 New Music Ensemble, and several recent world premier performances of new chamber works on stages across the country. Before completing her graduate studies at Hartt, Katie received a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. She is a strong advocate for the development and strengthening of music programs in schools across the U.S., and has been teaching in private, small group, and classroom settings for over ten years.
West Side Story Rehearsal
Piano Make Up Lesson (Jeff) - Reserved


Visit GCADV and GCFV websites often from January through April to monitor the legislative session and respond to policy alerts to call your legislator.
Write, call, or visit your elected officials and tell them that family violence is an important issue for you as a voter.
Attend Stop Violence Against Women Day at the Capitol to show legislators how important this issue is to voters (usually January of each year).


text:
Police chase ends in crash on I-24 New Salem ramp
The Daily News Journal
MURFREESBORO -- No one was injured after a police chase Wednesday afternoon that ended in a crash, said Murfreesboro Police Department spokesman Kyle Evans.
"Around 4:45 this afternoon officers were on the scene of a shoplifting call at the Wal-Mart on Old Fort Parkway when the suspects attempted to run over the responding officers, who were on foot in the parking lot," Evans said in an email to The Daily News Journal.
The officers returned to their vehicle and a pursuit was initiated.
"After traveling several miles, the suspects entered Interstate 24 at the South Church Street ramp," Evans said in the release. "The vehicle left I-24 and traveled into the grassy area between the interstate and the on-ramp. The suspect vehicle drove into the path of perusing officers and a minor crash occurred (at the New Salem exit ramp).
"The suspect vehicle could not travel any farther due to the steep terrain. All three occupants of the vehicle were taken into custody without incident. No one was injured during the incident."
Charges are pending against all three occupants in the suspect's vehicle, Evans said. No one involved in the incident was identified.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol is investigating the crash. The Rutherford County Sheriffs Office assisted in the chase and apprehension of the suspects, officials said.


Most companies only provide you with a pair of instructions to run the machines. You would also have to purchase the materials separately and tear down / clean up the machines afterward. Our carnival machine services are like no other. We provide unlimited materials with all of our carnival machines & we also provide a team member to run it for the low price of only $125! Contact us for further details!
1You will receive a call before the event starts. Our team member(s) will come prepared w/ tables and all materials needed to get the job done. Please make sure the provided space, has a electric outlet near by.
2 Enjoy YOUR event! Thats right, our team member(s) will take care of everything for you.
3 Sadly there comes a time where the event has to end.But do not worry! Our team member(s) will take care of their area. A receipt and a personal thank you/follow up email will be sent after.


Perhaps you can name me other soccer players who have been as generous as Sterling?
Not sure what's happening at junior level in Toronto, but long term they will need to develop their own juniors. Perhaps they could set up a 4 or 5 team junior competition in the area.
If the bombings were carried out by a radical Muslim group there will be ramifications for Muslims in Sri Lanka and elsewhere and so it goes on. The sympathy that the Muslim community got after the Christchurch bombings could well be lost.
I would suggest if the offer was that high and no strings attached Hull FC would have sold. I would suggest there were strings attached that Hull FC couldn't accept.
Where did i say i supported him?
When he was doing the sports reports on Radio 5 live he did always appear to get in a positive Rugby League story to his credit.
This is a positive for Rugby League in my book. OK he's got his faults, but haven't we all. He's not a druggie. He's not a drunk. He doesn't abuse women.


text:
Billionaire Kwek Leng Beng's CDL In Talks To Buy Historic London Marina Complex From Blackstone
Billionaire Gautam Adani Gets $400 Million Investment From Abu Dhabi Firm, Share Sale Fully Subscribed
Russia Is Now Providing North Korea With Internet: What That Could Mean For Cyber Warfare
Asia Insights
Stories for expanding horizons.
POST WRITTEN BY
Matthew Newton and Donghui Park
Dec 1, 2017, 03:56am EST |
The Russian-provided infrastructure gives Pyongyang 60% more bandwidth and a second connection to the outside world
Both Russia and North Korea have proved they will use any means feasible to disrupt international affairs.
(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Amid diplomatic fallout between North Korea and China, its only major trade partner, Russia is positioning itself to be a stronger North Korean ally, reaching out to provide North Korea with an internet connection. As a result, Russia may embolden North Korea to launch more destructive cyberattacks. Stronger cooperation between the two raises the possibility that they will even collaborate on cyberattacks themselves, which would be devastating for the international community.
On October 1st, 38North and Dyn Research reported that Russia began providing an internet connection to North Korea. The Russian-provided infrastructure gives Pyongyang 60% more bandwidth and a second connection to the outside world ; China's Unicom company had been North Korea's sole internet provider since 2010. The construction of the new internet connection follows a September 27th meeting between DPRK and Russian foreign ministry officials in Moscow. Russia's extension of an internet connection to North Korea, as well as its reopening of a ferry route between the two, may indicate that Russia will seek sanction loopholes to strengthen their partnership.
More on Forbes: The Likely Reason North Korea Has Stopped Its Ballistic Missile Tests -- For Now
North Korea's turn towards Russia follows Pyongyang's aggressive nuclear testing and vociferous behavior pushing China and its investments out of the country. After North Korea's sixth nuclear test, the UN Security Council passed the strictest sanctions yet on the isolated country. As a result of these sanctions, China is due to close North Korean businesses operating within China and end joint ventures between the two within 120 days.
(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
China's compliance with new sanctions is not the only sign of tension with the DPRK. This year, Pyongyang timed its missile and nuclear tests to correspond with international meetings hosted in China. North Korea's actions seemingly were meant to embarrass China, who it believes is siding with Washington. Tensions between North Korea and China have been accelerating since Kim Jong-un took power in 2011. The following year, North Korean authorities lashed out against one of Beijing's largest mining and steel-producing companies, Xiyang Group, with whom it had signed a $40 billion deal to build an iron ore mine. North Korean officials "used violent methods" against Xiyang staff, such as depriving them of food and water, and smashing windows. North Korea eventually annulled the contract with Xiyang, after deporting employees in the dead of night.
Related: China's Biggest Problem: How Do You Solve A Problem Like North Korea?
The warming of North Korean-Russian relations does not just coincide with the souring of North Korean relations with China. It also follows a distributed denial of service (DDoS) campaign by U.S. Cyber Command on North Korea's intelligence agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau. A distributed denial-of-service attack is an attempt to make an online service unavailable by flooding it with traffic from multiple sources. According to a U.S. official, North Korean hackers complained that the resulting spotty internet access was interfering with their work, which as of late involves stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from international banks and companies. As increasingly strict sanctions limit legal economic opportunities for North Korea, cyber heists provide for nearly a third of the value of the isolated nation's exports.
Russia, also increasingly isolated due to sanctions and its aggressive activity, sees an opportunity in North Korea. With little investment required on its part, Russia can incorporate North Korea into its geopolitically disruptive agenda. Russia's agenda involves forcing the U.S. and its allies to exhaust more resources on cybersecurity and tend to international conflicts. Given Russia's own economic distress from sanctions, which have caused GDP to decline since 2013, there is a strong incentive for international partnership with North Korea. Supplying North Korean hackers with added bandwidth and capability to attack national banks and companies allows Russia to finance cyber-disruption. Worse, with Russian support, North Korea will feel emboldened to launch more destructive cyberattacks.
(Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russia and North Korea make natural allies in that they are aligned against the United States and its U.S. allies, and it is highly possible that they have collaborated in cyber-attacks in some capacity. The U.S. government and private security companies have identified the two as principal threats to national security based on their previous cyberattacks.
Russia has continuously used cyber methods to maintain its influence on the former Soviet area as part of hybrid warfare campaigns by combining conventional power with cyber capabilities. During Putin's tenure, Estonia, Georgia, and Ukraine have been victims of Russian cyberattacks. Similarly, North Korea has been accused of numerous cybersecurity incidents, such as the Sony Pictures hack in 2014, stealing $101 million from the Bangladeshi central bank, and the worldwide WannaCry ransomware attack this year.
Also on Forbes: Who's Behind The Ransomware Pandemic? One Small Clue Points To North Korea
Thus, Russia is quietly laying the groundwork to establish itself as a stronger North Korean partner while China-North Korea relations are cooling. This development coincides with the restoration of a Russian-North Korean railroad project, connecting Khasan (near Vladivostok) with Rajin (a port in North Korea). In addition, on October 10th, Russia reopened a ferry route to North Korea, despite the sanctions' calls to curtail economic cooperation between UN Security Council member states and North Korea.
While China no longer wants to be accused by the international community of supporting a rogue state, Russia is not swayed by such accusations. Both Russia and North Korea have proved they will use any means feasible to disrupt international affairs. Whether it is by sending unmarked soldiers across borders, occupying a neighboring country, hacking power grids, or launching ransomware attacks against hospital computers - a strong Russian-North Korea partnership presents a much graver cyber threat than ever before. If Russia and the North Korea collaborate to unleash more aggressive cyberattacks—and it is looking like that will be the case—the international community needs to better prepare itself.
Matthew Newton is a fellow with the International Policy Institute's Cybersecurity Initiative and a graduate student at the Jackson School of International Studies.
Donghui Park is a Ph.D. candidate in the University of Washington's Jackson School of International Studies focusing on cyberwar and non-state actors.


text:
Santana Revisits Woodstock and Supernatural at The Woodlands
Twenty One Pilots Demonstrate Their Staying Power at a Sold-Out Pavilion
Matthew Keever
Photos by Francisco Montes
Matthew Keever | July 6, 2016 | 9:59am
Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
A little more than a year since the release of their chart-topping fourth album, Blurryface, Twenty One Pilots returned to Houston Tuesday night to headline a sold-out Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion.
Serving as both the album's namesake and the moniker for vocalist Tyler Joseph's despondent alter ego, Blurryface has birthed two well-received singles for the band: "Stressed Out" and "Ride." Between the two, newcomers can hear a fairly accurate representation of the Ohio duo's unique brand of music, which combines pop choruses with rap and spoken-word verses above an amalgam of instrumentation.
But despite its overall bubbly and catchy sound, Twenty One Pilots' catalog surpasses the rest of the songs making their rounds on the radio through candid, introspective lyricism. That's their niche, and it's why fans are flocking toward them.
Joseph lays himself bare emotionally, sharing his innermost demons with listeners in hopes that they join him in fighting against their own emotional hangups while Josh Dun keeps the beat going with energetic percussion and the occasional trumpet solo.
Tuesday's sold-out performance served as a testament to the band's staying power as they forged a strong connection with the sold-out crowd for nearly 90 minutes through a set list spanning almost 30 songs.
Beginning their set with a refrain from "Fairly Local," the band segued into "Heavydirtysoul," which saw Joseph rapping breathlessly as Dun worked up a sweat on the drums. Shortly thereafter, Joseph took a seat at his piano and serenaded the crowd from behind the keys before retrieving his ukulele for "House of Gold."
Less than 30 minutes into the show, a blanket was drawn over Joseph's head and he disappeared beneath the stage before re-emerging atop the concessions stand at the back of the venue.
Under the cover of darkness, he and Dun later retreated backstage before resurfacing atop the soundboard, smack-dab in the middle of the Pavilion, where they rapidly tore through six choruses from their lesser-known self-titled record.
Openers MUTEMATH and Chef'Special joined the band onstage for covers of the Top Notes' "Twist & Shout," Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On," Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself" — which Joseph admitted he loved — and House of Pain's "Jump Around."
By the end of the night, both the band and the crowd were a sweaty mess, having braved a typical Houston summer night. But between the music, the atmosphere and the theatrics, Twenty One Pilots gave fans their money's worth and then some.
For a band whose lyrics are so entrenched in the concepts of depression and death, Twenty One Pilots sure do put on quite an entertaining and upbeat show. As many of their songs opine, finding an answer isn't usually easy, but coming together as a group can help all of us subdue our demons.
It also serves as a reminder that we're all on this ride together, so we might as well take our time.
Fairly Local
Heavydirtysoul
Polarize
Heathens
House of Gold
We Don't Believe What's On TV
Lane Boy
Ode To Sleep
The Pantaloon/Fall Away/Johnny Boy/Forest/Addict With A Pen/March To Sea
Holding On To You
Twist & Shout (The Top Notes cover)
My Heart Will Go On (Celine Dion cover)
Love Yourself (Justin Bieber cover)
Jump Around (House of Pain cover)
Guns For Hands
Tear In My Heart
Matt is a regular contributor to the Houston Press' music section. He graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in print journalism and global business. Matt first began writing for the Press as an intern, having accidentally sent his resume to the publication's music editor instead of the news chief. After half a decade of attending concerts and interviewing musicians, he has credited this fortuitous mistake to divine intervention.
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Book Review: Bitten by the Blues
Review by Robert Pruter — Bitten by the Blues: The Alligator Records Story, by Bruce Iglauer and Patrick A. Roberts
Bitten by the Blues: The Alligator Records Story by Bruce Iglauer, the founder and president of Alligator Records, is a memoir written with the assistance of Patrick A. Roberts, a professor at Northern Illinois University.
Iglauer, who I had the pleasure of working with as a fellow member of the Chicago Blues Festival Advisory Committee, has always struck me not only as a passionate fan of blues but also as a thoughtful and knowledgeable observer of blues. This comes through in every line of his memoirs. He explains throughout places in this admirable book on what primarily works with him in blues, that is, the kind recorded by Elmore James, with the searing steel on steel slide guitar and passionate full-throated powerful singing.
Iglauer in his opening chapters discusses his upbringing and his family and how early on begun his interest in first folk music, which led to country blues performers, which by the time he attended college in Wisconsin led him to Chicago electric bar band blues. This was developed in his first forays into Chicago while still a student at Lawrence University and his promotion of blues shows at the school.
Iglauer had intentions of becoming an academic in theater and literature. But after college he settled in Chicago and got a job at Bob Koester's Delmark Records. His discovery of the raw slide guitarist and singer, Hound Dog Taylor, changed his career path. He tried to persuade Koester to record Hound Dog, but Koester having seen him perform drunk and poorly was not interested. Iglauer decided to record Hound Dog himself, and having attended a few blues recording sessions previously, he knew what to do and what not to do (well not all at once — it was a learning process), and ably produce a fine LP that no one had expected from Hound Dog.
Iglauer gives the whole trajectory of Alligator Records to the present day, discussing each of the artists he recorded, with insight and what he learned and how he had to overcome challenges. Early on he focused or recording mostly on the powerful electric guitarists, and gave it an appealing marketing term, "Genuine House Rockin' Music," taken from the name Hound Dog Taylor gave his band, The Houserockers.
Probably the artists he worked with that most encapsulate this music—Hound Dog Taylor (obviously), Son Seals, Fenton Robinson, Lonnie Brooks, Phillip Walker, Magic Slim, Albert Collins, Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials, and Buddy Guy (leased from a French label).
As Alligator grew and expanded its artist stable it also expanded its breath of music beyond Genuine House Rockin' Music, reflecting that while Iglauer was most enthralled with the electric slide guitar blues he was expansive in his tastes and would record almost any blues style as long as it was good. This variety is evident from the following blues artists that he recorded and put out records on, from Big Walter Horton (blues harpist), Professor Longhair (a New Orleans pianist), Katie Webster (a gospel boogie pianist), and Koko Taylor (a Chicago blues belter), to Cephas and Wiggins (country blues), Saffire—the Uppity Blues Women (an acoustic trio), and Shemekia Copeland (a powerful female singer).
While Iglauer was wholly focused on recording what he felt was "authentic blues" by African American musicians in the first years of his label, he eventually recorded a number of white blues artists, even those who would more properly be characterized as "rock-blues.' It appears that he was not that big a fan of "rock-blues," making comments about such artists "playing too fast" or "playing too many notes." He mentions that many fans of Alligator felt that the label recording "rock-blues" was a "betrayal." Alligator's stable of white artists has included Johnny Winter, Roy Buchanan, Lonnie Mack, Dr. John, Delbert McClinton, Siegel-Schwall, Elvin Bishop, Dave Hole, Marcia Ball, and Tinsley Ellis.
I mentioned a lot of recording artist names in the preceding paragraphs, and that is intentional, because Iglauer in Bitten by the Blues has carefully given each of his artists several pages at least, his full accounting of everything that Alligator put out making the book incredibly strong. He gives each artist a little history, how he discovered each one, what it was in their music that he found compelling, how he worked with them to create an album that would represent the quality he demanded for Alligator, how he recorded and produced them in the studio, and how he marketed and sold the artist. Commercial considerations were not always paramount.
Each profile of his work with the artist is amplified with reports of early qualms about an artist, of funny situations, angry disputes, and anguished problems. A repeated problem with many of his artists was that they would come to the recording session with a lack of songs, despite repeated requests from Iglauer to come to the session with a body of music to record. Iglauer was always clear with his artists that he did not want over-recorded songs (like "Sweet Home Chicago"). This sometimes resulted in Iglauer and his often producer partner, Dick Shurman, hunting through their record collections for songs for a recording session scheduled in a day or so.
Iglauer confesses he developed a reputation as a "control freak" because after more than one poor session experience, he insisted on contracts with the artists that required mutual agreement on choice of songs, producer, mixes, sequence, and packaging. So most all recording sessions with Iglauer involved "guidance" for the artist. And this benefited the label commercially and in terms of reputation — producing album after album that were solid and superbly produced.
Alligator thus became the largest record label for blues in the world, and this was no mere accident. His business model involved promotion, publicity, and artist development — making them "campaign fit," so that they could tour off a record with a working band and with a full booking of dates. He sent out more free records to stores and radio stations than any other blues label. While difficult in the label's early years, he spent money to make money. Along the way there were stumbles, from self-inflected mistakes (mainly bad guesses) and forces not under his control (the collapse of indie distribution).
Alligator was built on a growing market by mainstream record buyers (meaning white people) for blues, and particularly blues that sounded close to their the rock music that they were first familiar with. In short he recorded blues for white folks. It was not that in his recordings that he had departed in any great degree from what his artists had been recording earlier for their black audiences. Several issues were involved, the black working class from the 1970s on was moving away from the blues, and particularly the kind of blues that turned on fans of Alligator's "Genuine House Rockin' Music" body of recordings. Iglauer makes this point in his book,
Also, African American record buyers of blues were traditionally buyers of singles, not LPs; I have been in many working class African American houses during the 1970s and 1980s, and one rarely ever saw an LP, except perhaps a jazz album or a particularly hip LP like Lou Rawls Live.
Because of the centrality of Alligator Records in the blues world from the 1970s on, Bitten with the Blues is essential reading if one wants to understand the blues business in the last half century. With regard to the next half century Iglauer sees a future that is dire, explained in Chapter 18. Alligator has seen a steady decline in sales for the last twenty years, because of the advent of downloading. But in recent years downloading has declined, being replaced by streaming services, While it was difficult for Alligator to survive on the royalty income from downloading services, like iTunes, it is impossible for the company to survive with the microscopic royalties from streaming services, like Spotify. The implication of this situation for the future of Alligator Iglauer leaves unsaid. He doesn't need to.
Our thanks to Robert Pruter for his kind permission to re-post this article!
TagsAlligator Records, Bruce Iglauer, Chicago Blues, Hound Dog Taylor, Robert Pruter
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We're delighted to announce that Twinkle Khanna's book The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad has crossed more than one lakh copies in sales in less than a year of release.
Published in November 2016, the book is a collection of four short stories and marked Twinkle Khanna's debut as a fiction author. Following from the tremendous success of her first book Mrs Funnybones, she's achieved the rare milestone of back-to-back 100k sellers.
She is currently working on her third book which will be published by Juggernaut Books.
'It's incredibly rare for short story collections to be a commercial success in India. With this achievement she has completely bucked this trend in publishing ' said Anish Chandy, Head of Business Development, Juggernaut Books.


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The Public Information Office of the St. Lucie County Fire District (SLCFD) has the official responsibility of disseminating information to the public on departmental programs and services, facilitating media relations, and conducting community outreach.
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"Marketplace" radio spot on comics
And the audio and transcript have been posted from today's "Marketplace" show -- Jim Lee, Joe Field, Dave Pifer, and I are interviewed. My line about first issues is accurate, to be sure — though I did try to make some wider points about legacy title numbering throughout comics history, and how mileage has tended to vary on reboots. In any event, it's fun to be on one of my favorite shows.
The $700 million figure comes from the overall industry totals, newsstand and bookstores included, found here.
I have not remarked yet on the reported numbers that have circulated for some of the first issues of DC's relaunch — 200,000-plus copies for the flagship title, with others over 100,000 — but they seem to be in the range I was expecting. The number of comics shops today tends to impose a certain ceiling on titles — the Obama Amazing Spider-Man, for example, had a half-million copies in sales, which averages out to something near to 200 copies per store, which is astronomical these days. Much higher than that leads into Legends of the Dark Knight territory, which in 1989 posted a number so dizzyingly high that DC added multiple covers to the title after the fact for fear that retailers wouldn't be able to move all that they ordered. By contrast, there's a lot more chance that these books are already spoken for.
Posted by John Jackson Miller at 5:24 PM 0 comments
Labels: DC relaunch, Interviews
Market share and performance graphics up to date
One of the sections of the site that I haven't been able to get to as often as I would like is the Vital Statistics section, with its graphics of comics sales across time in the comics shop market. In fact, as my writing schedule has grown busier, some of the graphics hadn't been updated in more than a year. With a lot of media inquiries lately — including American Public Media's Marketplace, where I'm told my interview will be airing tomorrow — I have now brought all the graphics on the site up to the current month.
OVERALL sales of comics and graphic novels to comics shops
in dollars, from 2003-2011
There are tracks for all years for which I have data for the comics shop market; for just the last three years, coinciding with the recession in the general economy, and for market shares for the major publishers.
There is a lot of interest from casual observers into the comics market these days, with the DC relaunch; it's worth looking at all of these graphics to really get a sense for the nuances of the market. There's no one big narrative, as the story is somewhat different depending on which statistic you're looking at. The trade paperback and graphic novel track on the all-time page has tended to go up and up. New comics orders slid drastically in the 1990s as shops established during the bubble market (when there were lots of distributors, and credit to open shops was easy to get) but began improving in the 2000s, peaking in 2007 as a kind of "big storyline event exhaustion" set in among customers.
SALES of the top-selling graphic novels and trade paperbacks
to comics shops in dollars, from 1999-2011
And the major new phenomenon, the changing shape of how comics sales break down across titles, isn't really depicted graphically in these images at all. The sales charts used to be dominated by a smaller number blockbusters coming from the major publishers; a lot of that volume has been redistributed across a larger number of middle and lower-tier books by large and middle-tier publishers. And so we see a very strange measure, sales for the 300th place title, going to record highs.
So it really does help to take a look around at some of the other measures here on the site, as no single one tells the whole story. Look for these other tables here; a couple could still use updating, but most are up to date:
MARKET SHARES for publishers in comics shops,
Top Sellers by Month: #1 comics each month as reported by Diamond Comic Distributors and Heroes World Distribution
Top 300 Comics of the 2000s: A list of the top-selling comics at Diamond from 2000 to 2009, based on merging reports for individual issues
Number of Comics Placed in Top 300 by Publisher: Month-by-month and average yearly counts of comics ranking in Diamond's Top 300 for several large publishers
Comics Sales Records: Sales records for comics in the Diamond Exclusive Era, 1997-present
NEW! Average cover prices of comics sold each month by Diamond Comic Distributors
NEW! Median Cover Prices by Year: Median cover prices of comics each year by all publishers, and by Marvel, DC, and Archie, 1961-2005
Labels: 2000s sales, Market Shares
Comics cover prices from 1961 to present
Von Allan has posted an interesting article on comic book pricing in comparison with minimum wage over the years, which prompted me to get online some materials that I've been meaning to post for some time.
First, readers of Comics Buyer's Guide may remember the "What Price, Comics?" column I ran in #1619, the August 2006 issue. As supporting material, I ran an analysis of what the median prices were for comics across four groups from 1960 to 2005: all comics published in the year, all Marvel comics, all DC comics, and all Archie comics. I presented them visually, with my commentary and the actual cover price stamps, as seen in these three images below:
I have not run the same analysis yet for 2005-2011, but it's pretty straightforward to do.
Meanwhile, I also have the average prices of all comics in Diamond's Top 300 from January 1995 to present here, as well as the average weighted prices — which means, the price of the average comic book ordered within the Top 300. (Basically, you take all the money the top 300 sold for and divide by total number of units.) The chart is at right, click to enlarge.
Below, are the raw figures that created it — and you will see therein reasons for some of the fluctuations.
The blue figures from July 1995 to August 1996 reflect Diamond's sales when Marvel was exclusive with Heroes World, so its mix of comics is different (and more expensive than when Marvel was included). As of September 1996 to March 1997, I have integrated the Heroes World and Diamond charts, so we're back to the whole market again, and prices drop, because Marvels were cheaper than most other comics. And then it's all Diamond after that. Note the drop in prices at the beginning of 2011, as well:
Avg Price Avg Wtd Price
Jan-95 $2.26 $2.20
Feb-95 $2.27 $2.24
Mar-95 $2.45 $2.40
Apr-95 $2.44 $2.39
May-95 $2.37 $2.37
Jun-95 $2.48 $2.43
Jul-95 $2.62 $2.57
Aug-95 $2.50 $2.54
Sep-95 $2.59 $2.60
Oct-95 $2.57 $2.58
Nov-95 $2.68 $2.68
Dec-95 $2.58 $2.57
I have earlier figures, but they're based on the Capital City data and I want to run more Diamond to keep things apples-to-apples. Some day...
Permanent pages have been posted for these tables in the Vital Statistics section: Cover Prices by Month and Median Cover Prices by Year. There are other pricing-related posts here, including a history of comics price decreases, and a look at graphic novel pricing.
Labels: Comics prices
Full July 2011 comics sales estimates now online
Following the initial report here on July 2011 comics orders, the full data is now out from Diamond Comic Distributors. Click to see the Comics Chronicles estimates.
As expected, Amazing Spider-Man #666 landed in the 130s, and there were two more titles in the 90,000-copy range, which is an improvement on some of the more anemic months this year. The market didn't have as much depth, though, with the 300th-place title landing around 3,500 copies. That is much higher than in past years, just not as high as some recent months.
The aggregate totals:
TOP 300 COMICS UNIT SALES
July 2011: 5.89 million copies
Versus 1 year ago this month: -1%
Versus 5 years ago this month: -20%
Versus 10 years ago this month: -6%
YEAR TO DATE: 37.9 million copies, -7% vs. 2010, -19% vs. 2006, +4% vs. 2001
ALL COMICS UNIT SALES
July 2011 versus one year ago this month: -0.52%
YEAR TO DATE: -6.46%
TOP 300 COMICS DOLLAR SALES
July 2011: $20.29 million
Versus 10 years ago this month: +16%
YEAR TO DATE: $131.53 million, -8% vs. 2010, -8% vs. 2006, +31% vs. 2001
ALL COMICS DOLLAR SALES
TOP 300 TRADE PAPERBACK DOLLAR SALES
July 2011: $5.94 million
Versus 1 year ago this month: -22%
Versus 5 years ago this month, just the Top 100 vs. the Top 100: -8%
Versus 10 years ago this month, just the Top 25 vs. the Top 25: +49%
YEAR TO DATE: $38.33 million, -11% vs. 2010
ALL TRADE PAPERBACK SALES
July 2011 versus one year ago this month: -10.1%
TOP 300 COMICS + TOP 300 TRADE PAPERBACK DOLLAR SALES
Versus 5 years ago this month, counting just the Top 100 TPBs: -10%
Versus 10 years ago this month, counting just the Top 25 TPBs: +16%
YEAR TO DATE: $169.86 million, -9% vs. 2010
ALL COMICS AND TRADE PAPERBACK SALES
OVERALL DIAMOND SALES (including all comics, trades, and magazines)
July 2011: approximately $33 million (subject to revision)
Versus 5 years ago this month: -6%
It's worth noting that while the unit sales performances versus with five years ago are starting to look pretty bad, there's an excellent reason for that: we're beginning to climb the real sales peak for comics in the 2000s. July 2006 saw the release of Civil War #3 — at 290,000 copies in its first month, it was the #3 best-selling comic book of the entire decade — and the previous issue was #2! Diamond moved 7.4 million copies in the month, on its way up to a 21st-century record of 7.96 million copies in November 2006. So as we make our comparisons heading into DC's relaunch, it is worth remembering that, while the one-year comparatives for the market aren't particularly high hurdles, the five-year numbers are way up there. (The ten-year unit sales comparatives, which had been very close to current performance, are starting to climb, too, as the market recovery of 2001 was underway by this time of year.)
The drop in trade paperbacks is attributable in some large part to tough comparatives from the previous year: July 2011 saw a new Scott Pilgrim edition and high Pilgrim sales in advance of the film, a Walking Dead volume, and the Blackest Night hardcover . But the "long tail" makes up for quite a bit: just comparing the Top 300 trades, this July was off $2.4 million, or 22%. The gap shrinks to 10% when the rest of Diamond's trades are added in.
Labels: Diamond monthly reports
July initial, June final comics orders online; IDW sets record
Diamond Comic Distributors released its initial sales report for July 2011 today, and I finally have the much-delayed June 2011 estimates online here at the site as well. (Writing three comics series and a novel, plus San Diego, was bound to have an impact over here.) Click to view the estimated comics sales figures for June 2011, and the initial comics sales report for July 2011.
Of June 2011, the detailed report doesn't vary much from what I observed early on, from the road; Ultimate Spider-Man #160 vaulted to become the most-ordered comic book of 2011 thus far, and the new Walking Dead Vol. 14 lent an additional boost. A five-week month up against a four-week month from last year, the percentage drops were whittled down to the low single digits. Units continue to do better year-over-year than dollars, again due to the reductions in cover prices this year.
The periodical market continued to have considerable sales depth in June, with the 300th place item again topping 4,000 copies. But only 15 publishers had titles in the Top 300, which ties last June for the lowest number ever.
For July 2011, we again find a metric slew of Flashpoint titles at DC, and while graphic novels and trade paperbacks were off 10% year-to-year, the unit orders for comic books for the month are within a few thousand copies of what they were last July. Amazing Spider-Man #666 turned an unfortunate issue number into the #1 book of the month; I expect the estimate to come in somewhere near 140,000 copies. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen III Century #2 was the top bound edition,
The comparatives from Diamond are below, but as usual, I strongly urge against paying much mind to the first set of numbers, the month-to-month ones; there are problems comparing any two individual months, but the year-on-year numbers may be a little more enlightening. The year-to-date numbers, of course, are the best measure:
DOLLARS UNITS
JULY 2011 VS. JUNE 2011
COMICS -5.26% -4.59%
GRAPHIC NOVELS -16.12% -13.27%
TOTAL COMICS/GN -8.94% -5.33%
JULY 2011 VS. JULY 2010
YEAR-TO-DATE 2011 VS. YEAR-TO-DATE 2010
GRAPHIC NOVELS -6.58% -11.01%
Notable, too, is IDW's dollar market share in July, which at 5.32% is the highest that publisher has ever tracked at Diamond. (Click to see other Diamond era sales records.)
The full Top 300s for Diamond for July should be along soon. July, of course, is of interest in part because of the retail order cycle: cash flow in July has something (but not everything) to say about how DC's relaunch will perform in September.
And September will be interesting for a further reason, as it will mark 15 years of my publishing integrated sales estimates; we'll be able to do 15-year sales comparisons with September 1996, which, coincidentally, was the month of the Jim Lee/Rob Liefeld "Heroes Reborn" relaunch at Marvel. We know that sales on those four titles were several times what their predecessors had been, but unfortunately, since we don't have full Marvel data from August 1996, we can't say whether those titles pulled sales from the rest of the line or not. The 2011 phenomenon is different in many ways, of course, larger scope being the most obvious. So September 1996 will be of limited utility as a comparison point — but beginning with that month, we'll at least have 15-year tracks for those interested.
Labels: Diamond monthly reports, IDW
July initial, June final comics orders online; IDW...