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USAID Research Grants

Department of Food and Nutrition: What you need to understand

Health and Fitness ? Published: September 5, 2012

It makes a person?s day to day life, the issue of food and nutrition is considered to be one of the most critical part of a successful society. It is supported entirely by the referee, and various government agencies to integrate food and nutrition-related concerns in the United States did not understand it.
U.S. Department of Education: A Comprehensive Review

Reference and Education: Financial Aid ? Published: September 5, 2012

In the United States, the most efficient and functional education system prides itself as one of the top countries. In the United States has continued to improve the country?s educational efforts.
Within the United States Department of Science and Technology, Government Grants

Published Systems and Technology ?: August 28, 2012

The United States prides itself as one of the world?s most technically advanced countries. The generation of very large state-in the art laboratories and strengthen, the U.S. government continues to support the country?s science and technology sector and are looking for ways to improve.
Government subsidies in the United States in the field of natural resources

Reference and Education ? Published: August 27, 2012

From the United States rainforest, a country full of natural beauties, rivers, lakes, sea, sweet, and whatnot. , Continued support, and to work together properly, the natural resources that people can work and financial environment it should be l economic and industry.
Government subsidies in the transport sector within the United States

Legal: Published Transport Act ?: August 17, 2012

Point B is a potential human being ever to grace the simplest and most complex problems can be retrieved from the point. The government, particularly the security and welfare of the people continue to take pride in the government of the United States, the traffic problem is completely different.
Government subsidies in the U.S. Department of Health

Health and Fitness ? Published: July 31, 2012

Health or health problem in the United States seriously considered. 300 million people in the U.S. state of physical and psychological integrity and security to maintain a population of people continue to run a tight ship.
Government subsidies in the U.S. housing sector

Home Improvement ? Published: July 24, 2012

The great importance of the safety and welfare of the people of the United States government provides. All residents have access to the U.S., the price of safe, quality housing opportunities for recognition of need, it?s rich, low-or moderate-income individuals can be.
Minority Community Clinical Oncology Program Committees

Health and Fitness ? Published: June 14, 2012

Commonly referred to as the National Institutes of Health NIH, biomedical and health-related primarily responsible for supporting the Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of the United States is a federal government entity operating in the country studies. NIH grant projects, and magnanimously all the ?basic life processes to improve health, knowledge, and knowledge about the nature and behavior for application engineering assistance benefit is the primary purpose of the company, prolong life and reduce the burden of disease ??
Business Development Award for Cancer Peer Review Programme

Reference and Education ? Published: June 12, 2012

Commonly referred to as the DA military department, authority, in accordance with the direction of all affairs of the Department, is conducting a defense based on the U.S. Department of Defense Secretary of the Central Government control of the company is operating. The grants and projects as well DA ?on the line, by providing a sustained land dominance fight and win our nation?s wars are designed to contribute to the success of its basic structure to support the full spectrum of conflict and range of military operations ?
National Integrated Water Quality Program

News and Society: Environmental ? Published: May 30, 2012

Institute of Food and Agriculture, or NIFA, federal ? are responsible for consolidating the country?s leading provider of agricultural education in the United States Department of Agriculture in the Central Government referred to the research firm.
Physicochemical properties of the effect of ocular bioavailability plan Ophthalmic Formulations

Health and Fitness ? Published: May 23, 2012

Otherwise, the FDA referred to as, the Food and Drug Administration, the Health Department and the Public Health Security and development are primarily responsible for the human services under a federal government entity is food safety, tobacco products, food additives, pharmaceuticals, and over the-counter drug Drug Control and Supervision . FDA, grants and programs, ?FDA compliance of controlled substances to increase consumer protection and improve public health and reduce the risks associated with the primary production company geared toward mission accomplishment.? ?
World food security competition in the common bean production Research Grants Program

Business ? Published: April 26, 2012

NIFA commonly referred to as the Institute of Food and Agriculture, 2008 Food, Conservation, and Energy Act is a federal government entity is created under. All confirm the same time, a long ?to stimulate research and technological innovation in the financing of U.S. agricultural enhance its high production capacity and stable environment to the overall objective benefit to help with grants and NIFA projects, agricultural production and economic stability.? This project, Food and Agricultural Institute and the. ..
Special Research Grants Program ? Pest Management Change

Home and Family ? Published: April 25, 2012

Institute of Food and Agriculture, as often NIFA, food, security, and created under the 2008 Energy Act is a federal government agency.Special Research Grants Program was established by the Institute of Food and Agriculture ? Pest ?
To fight Autism Act: National Resource Centre for interdisciplinary training

Health and Fitness: Published mental health ?: April 17, 2012

HRSA Health Resources and Services Administration and the public, to improve health care services, the Department of Health and Human Services in the United States that is significant to a federal government organization is operating, insurance, isolated or medically vulnerable people. Subsidies and ?to improve the health and quality of services, access to a skilled health work force and innovative programs in the health system?s main purpose is to bring all HRSA programs toward success.?
Environmental Exposure and Health: Non-Traditional Systems of Innovation

Health and Fitness ? Published: April 11, 2012

Also known as the National Institutes of Health NIH, on the need for financial support to biomedical and health-related states in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been operating under a federal government research organization. ?A simple way of life and health to improve knowledge about the nature and behavior of applications based on knowledge of the NIH program directed at all aware, long life, and to measure the burden of disease and disability.? This project, according to the National Education ?
Intellectual Disabilities program to improve the health of people

Health and Fitness: Healthcare Systems ? Published: April 5, 2012

Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC public health and safety by providing information that is overwhelmingly responsible for the defense of the United States Department of Health and Human Services in the running for a federal government entity by the state health department and with other organizations to raise health and the health. Subsidies and CDC efforts expertise, information, and tools to create that ?any company to join forces with other agencies to achieve the overall aim should be to protect the load and the communities themselves ?
Lifespan respite care program ? Technical Assistance Resource Center

Health and Fitness ? Published: April 3, 2012

Aging, commonly known in this contract, the administration, mainly responsible for conducting statistical learning that support the operation of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been operating in the Central Government?s learning, and assessment programs to meet the needs of an aging population. Help older individuals, ?home and community-based service with a serious, integrated and cost-effective system of subsidies designed to help develop the skills of the entire project and the efforts of all the homes and communities to maintain their health and independence.? ?
Development of strategic alliances with drug treatment Drug Use Disorders Program

Health and Fitness ? Published: March 26, 2012

The so-called NIH National Institutes of Health, the most of all biomedical and health-related education and research in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is a company operating in a federal state. ?Basic life processes, and to improve knowledge about the nature and behavior for data usage NIH grant programs are designed to help primary benefit of the company and all the special health, prolong life, and to measure the burden of disease and disability.? By ?
Hearing Health Outcomes program identifies measures of success

Health and Fitness: Healthcare Systems ? Published: February 24, 2012

Also known as the NIH National Institutes of Health, is responsible for biomedical and health-related financial support to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been operating in the country, a federal government research organization. H program and subsidies ?to extend, and improve the health of life, knowledge and data about the nature and behavior of applications geared towards the overall goal of success in life, in accordance with the work?. Reduce the burden of disease and disability, ?
Program to improve the quality of higher education in Vietnam

Reference and Education ? Published: February 15, 2012

Otherwise, USAID, the foreign aid in many countries around the world begin to civilian oversight of the U.S. federal government as an agent for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Source: http://grantfoundation.net/usaid-research-grants

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Experts propose overhaul of ethics oversight of research

Public release date: 23-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Susan Gilbert
gilberts@thehastingscenter.org
845-424-4040 x244
The Hastings Center

Hastings Center Special Report aims to 'provoke a national conversation'

The longstanding ethical framework for protecting human volunteers in medical research needs to be replaced because it is outdated and can impede efforts to improve health care quality, assert leaders in bioethics, medicine, and health policy in two companion articles in a Hastings Center Report special report, "Ethical Oversight of Learning Health Care Systems." One of the authors calling for a new approach is the main architect of the current ethical framework.

Seven commentaries in the publication, written by leaders with national responsibility for ethical oversight of medical research and efforts to improve health care quality, find areas of agreement and offer critiques.

In an accompanying editorial, co-guest editors Mildred Z. Solomon, President of The Hastings Center and Ann C. Bonham, Chief Scientific Officer at the American Association of Medical Colleges, wrote that by inviting these commentaries, they aimed to "provoke a national conversation." According to Solomon, "The challenge is to design oversight that adequately protects patients without impeding the kinds of data collection activities we need to improve health care quality, reduce disparities, and bring down our rate of medical errors." (See video of Dr. Solomon on the importance of this debate.)

For nearly four decades, protection of human participants in medical research has been based on the premise that there is a clear line between medical research and medical treatment. But, the two feature articles argue, that distinction has become blurred now that health care systems across the country are beginning to collect data from patients when they come in for treatment or follow-up. The Institute of Medicine has recommended that health care organizations do this kind of research, calling on them to become "learning health care systems."

In particular, the articles challenge the prevailing view that participating in medical research is inherently riskier and provides less benefit than receiving medical care. They point out that more than half of medical treatments lack evidence of effectiveness, putting patients at risk of harm. On the other hand, some kinds of clinical research are no riskier than clinical care and are potentially more beneficial; an example is comparative effectiveness research to find out which of two or more widely used interventions for a particular condition works best for which patients.

"Relying on this faulty research-practice distinction as the criterion that triggers ethical oversight has resulted in two major problems," the authors write. First, it has led to "delays, confusion, and frustrations in the regulatory environment" when institutional review boards, which are responsible for the ethical oversight of research with human subjects, have difficulty distinguishing between research and clinical practice. Second, it has "resulted in a morally questionable public policy in which many patients are either underprotected from clinical practice risks (when exposed to interventions of unproven effectiveness or to risks of medical error) or overprotected from learning activities that are of low risk . . . and that stand to contribute to improving health care safety, effectiveness, and value."

The authors call for a new ethical framework that "is commensurate with the risk and burden in both realms." Their second article outlines such a framework for determining the type and level of oversight needed for a learning health care system. The basic structure consists of seven obligations: 1) to respect the rights and dignity of patients; 2) to respect the clinical judgment of clinicians; 3) to provide optimal care to each patient; 4) to avoid imposing nonclinical risks and burdens on patients; 5) to reduce health inequalities among populations; 6) to conduct responsible activities that foster learning from clinical care and clinical information; and 7) to contribute to the common purpose of improving the quality and value of clinical care and the health system. The first six obligations would be the responsibility of researchers, clinicians, health care systems administrators, payers, and purchasers. The seventh obligation would be borne by patients.

Authors of the feature articles are Nancy E. Kass, deputy director for public health in the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics; Ruth R. Faden, director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics; Steven N. Goodman, associate dean for clinical and translational research at the Stanford University School of Medicine; Peter Pronovost, director of the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality at Johns Hopkins; Sean Tunis, founder, president, and chief executive officer of the Center for Medical Technology Policy in Baltimore; and Tom L. Beauchamp, a professor of philosophy at Georgetown University and a senior research scholar at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics. Beauchamp was a chief architect of the Belmont Report, which established the existing research ethics framework in the United States.

The commentaries on the articles find common cause with the need to update clinical oversight for learning health care systems, but offer important critiques of the proposed framework. In particular, some hold that the research-treatment distinction is still useful and are concerned that the obligation for patients to participate in quality improvement efforts would exempt too many studies from voluntary informed consent and IRB protections.

###

The commentaries are written by Emily Largent, a PhD candidate in Harvard University's health policy program; Franklin Miller, who works in the department of bioethics at the National Institutes of Health; Steven Joffe, a pediatric hematologist/oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School; Jerry Menikoff, director of the Office for Human Research Protections; Christine Grady, chief of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center; David Wendler, head of the Unit on Vulnerable Populations in the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center; Joe Selby, executive director of the Patient- Centered Outcomes Research Institute; Harlan Krumholz, director of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at Yale University School of Medicine; Tom Puglisi, chief officer and director of the Office of Research Oversight in the Department of Veterans Affairs; and Joel Kupersmith, chief research and development officer of the Veterans' Health Administration.

Reporters wishing to interview Mildred Solomon, President, The Hastings Center, please contact:
Susan Gilbert, Public Affairs and Communications Manager
The Hastings Center
845-424-4040 x244
gilberts@thehastingscenter.org

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 23-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Susan Gilbert
gilberts@thehastingscenter.org
845-424-4040 x244
The Hastings Center

Hastings Center Special Report aims to 'provoke a national conversation'

The longstanding ethical framework for protecting human volunteers in medical research needs to be replaced because it is outdated and can impede efforts to improve health care quality, assert leaders in bioethics, medicine, and health policy in two companion articles in a Hastings Center Report special report, "Ethical Oversight of Learning Health Care Systems." One of the authors calling for a new approach is the main architect of the current ethical framework.

Seven commentaries in the publication, written by leaders with national responsibility for ethical oversight of medical research and efforts to improve health care quality, find areas of agreement and offer critiques.

In an accompanying editorial, co-guest editors Mildred Z. Solomon, President of The Hastings Center and Ann C. Bonham, Chief Scientific Officer at the American Association of Medical Colleges, wrote that by inviting these commentaries, they aimed to "provoke a national conversation." According to Solomon, "The challenge is to design oversight that adequately protects patients without impeding the kinds of data collection activities we need to improve health care quality, reduce disparities, and bring down our rate of medical errors." (See video of Dr. Solomon on the importance of this debate.)

For nearly four decades, protection of human participants in medical research has been based on the premise that there is a clear line between medical research and medical treatment. But, the two feature articles argue, that distinction has become blurred now that health care systems across the country are beginning to collect data from patients when they come in for treatment or follow-up. The Institute of Medicine has recommended that health care organizations do this kind of research, calling on them to become "learning health care systems."

In particular, the articles challenge the prevailing view that participating in medical research is inherently riskier and provides less benefit than receiving medical care. They point out that more than half of medical treatments lack evidence of effectiveness, putting patients at risk of harm. On the other hand, some kinds of clinical research are no riskier than clinical care and are potentially more beneficial; an example is comparative effectiveness research to find out which of two or more widely used interventions for a particular condition works best for which patients.

"Relying on this faulty research-practice distinction as the criterion that triggers ethical oversight has resulted in two major problems," the authors write. First, it has led to "delays, confusion, and frustrations in the regulatory environment" when institutional review boards, which are responsible for the ethical oversight of research with human subjects, have difficulty distinguishing between research and clinical practice. Second, it has "resulted in a morally questionable public policy in which many patients are either underprotected from clinical practice risks (when exposed to interventions of unproven effectiveness or to risks of medical error) or overprotected from learning activities that are of low risk . . . and that stand to contribute to improving health care safety, effectiveness, and value."

The authors call for a new ethical framework that "is commensurate with the risk and burden in both realms." Their second article outlines such a framework for determining the type and level of oversight needed for a learning health care system. The basic structure consists of seven obligations: 1) to respect the rights and dignity of patients; 2) to respect the clinical judgment of clinicians; 3) to provide optimal care to each patient; 4) to avoid imposing nonclinical risks and burdens on patients; 5) to reduce health inequalities among populations; 6) to conduct responsible activities that foster learning from clinical care and clinical information; and 7) to contribute to the common purpose of improving the quality and value of clinical care and the health system. The first six obligations would be the responsibility of researchers, clinicians, health care systems administrators, payers, and purchasers. The seventh obligation would be borne by patients.

Authors of the feature articles are Nancy E. Kass, deputy director for public health in the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics; Ruth R. Faden, director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics; Steven N. Goodman, associate dean for clinical and translational research at the Stanford University School of Medicine; Peter Pronovost, director of the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality at Johns Hopkins; Sean Tunis, founder, president, and chief executive officer of the Center for Medical Technology Policy in Baltimore; and Tom L. Beauchamp, a professor of philosophy at Georgetown University and a senior research scholar at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics. Beauchamp was a chief architect of the Belmont Report, which established the existing research ethics framework in the United States.

The commentaries on the articles find common cause with the need to update clinical oversight for learning health care systems, but offer important critiques of the proposed framework. In particular, some hold that the research-treatment distinction is still useful and are concerned that the obligation for patients to participate in quality improvement efforts would exempt too many studies from voluntary informed consent and IRB protections.

###

The commentaries are written by Emily Largent, a PhD candidate in Harvard University's health policy program; Franklin Miller, who works in the department of bioethics at the National Institutes of Health; Steven Joffe, a pediatric hematologist/oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School; Jerry Menikoff, director of the Office for Human Research Protections; Christine Grady, chief of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center; David Wendler, head of the Unit on Vulnerable Populations in the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center; Joe Selby, executive director of the Patient- Centered Outcomes Research Institute; Harlan Krumholz, director of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at Yale University School of Medicine; Tom Puglisi, chief officer and director of the Office of Research Oversight in the Department of Veterans Affairs; and Joel Kupersmith, chief research and development officer of the Veterans' Health Administration.

Reporters wishing to interview Mildred Solomon, President, The Hastings Center, please contact:
Susan Gilbert, Public Affairs and Communications Manager
The Hastings Center
845-424-4040 x244
gilberts@thehastingscenter.org

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/thc-epo012313.php

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Video: Matthews: We, the people, not ?them? or ?those?

'Getting worse': Egypt's gays fear crackdown

??CAIRO, Egypt -- The 2011 revolution which ousted Hosni Mubarak left many of Egypt's gays and lesbians hoping sexual freedom was on the horizon. But today, many fear a government crackdown is only a matter of time.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/hardball/50554151/

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Research into Contagious Bird Flu Starts After Moratorium

After public outcry against research into avian flu strains that can be transmitted among mammals, 40 of the top scientists working on the influenza strains signed a voluntary moratorium on research last January. The goal of the pause was to properly--and publically--weigh the potential risks and benefits of such investigations.

Critics of the research noted that the viruses under study--versions of the form known as H5N1--could be used as a bioweapon or might accidentally escape from a lab. Research supporters argued that without this research we could be caught unprepared if a pandemic were to emerge naturally and we did not know how to detect or fight it.

Now the same 40 signatories have pronounced that the work on H5N1 transmissibility should recommence in nations where it is permitted. The announcement was made public online January 23 jointly in the journals Science and Nature (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group). The U.S. has still not ruled on the fate of the research by labs in this country or by those receiving U.S. funding. But investigators in the Netherlands, Canada, China and elsewhere can now return to their studies of how H5N1 could mutate to create a human pandemic. "We fully acknowledge that this research--as with any work on infectious agents--is not without risk," the signatories noted in their open letter. "However, because the risk exists in nature that an H5N1 virus capable of transmission in mammals may emerge, the benefits of this research outweigh the risks." H5N1 is currently a threat for birds around the world. Should it become transmissible among humans, it has the potential to become a deadly global pandemic. Flu researcher Ron Fouchier, of the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, announced in September 2011 at an influenza meeting in Malta that he and his colleagues had created a strain of H5N1 that was transmissible among ferrets, the best animal model we have to study flu. By that winter, news of the development had spread, and concerned researchers, policy makers and public called for such research to end. Fouchier and others have argued that this sort of research--when conducted under proper security conditions, such as in labs designated biosecurity level three-enhanced--is necessary to learn how to detect an emerging pandemic and to create the drugs and vaccines to diminish its ferocity. And the risk of details from the research being used for malicious purposes are quite small, he noted in a press conference about the decision to lift the voluntary research moratorium. Details of the ferret studies were published--after much debate--in June 2012. The strain of H5N1 from the ferret studies needed only nine genetic mutations to transform from the standard avian flu into an infection that could be transmitted easily--say, via a sneeze--among ferrets. "Nine mutations for the influenza virus is almost none," Yoshihiro Kawaoka, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, noted during the press conference. Two mutations have already been circulating in wild strains, "so that risk already exists in nature," he noted. Knowing what mutations the virus needs to become transmissible among mammals should help improve surveillance, Fouchier noted during the press conference, fighting back a cough. "We can already use it to define the mutations that cause it to become airborne," he said. Further research could also improve drug development. "With these viruses in hand, we can better identify vaccines and drugs," he noted. Without being able to study H5N1 pandemic strains specifically, researchers are confined to using seasonal strains and avian influenza to test potential vaccines and antivirals. And different strains respond differently to various treatment and prevention measures. "You want to choose the right strain for better protection," Kawaoka added. While many researchers across the globe prepare to resume research on H5N1 transmission, others, such as Kawaoka, wait with baited breath for the U.S. government to make a decision on whether and/or how it will allow--and fund--such research. "It's in their hands," Kawaoka said. Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
? 2013 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/research-contagious-bird-flu-starts-moratorium-180000946.html

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Redesigned Umbrella Handle For Those Who Refuse To Stop Texting When It Rains

If you've ever tried to frustratingly juggle your phone and umbrella like some hapless idiot in an infomercial, you can rest assured there's at least one other person who's been in the same situation. But instead of grumbling about it, they went and created the Brolly: an umbrella with a redesigned handle that makes it easier to text in a downpour. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/6qFGgKURmS4/redesigned-umbrella-handle-for-those-who-refuse-to-stop-texting-when-it-rains

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Spotify Aims To Get In Tune With The Youth Market With Orange Young In Switzerland

Spotify today took another small step to tighten up competition in the European market today: it signed a deal with Orange to offer unlimited music services as part of "Orange Young," a special subscription that Orange has devised specifically for the under-27 market in Switzerland. The tariff also includes unlimited calls and texts as well as mobile data allowances, with deals starting at $20 per month without a handset included (or $30 with selected handsets).

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/VBOewBEIwok/

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5 Questions to Ask about Marriage Readiness | Marriage Gems

If you ask 10 people about what issues are most important in being ready for marriage, you will get 10 answers. That being said, some issues/questions will come up more frequently. Analyzing your motivations and timing for marriage is definitely worth your time and attention. Author Grace Pamer was nice enough to offer her take on 5 questions you should ask yourself if you are considering marriage (below). I would suggest there are other issues which you already know are key to marriage?things like similar values, discussing whether you want to have children, determining if you have a similar vision for life, and things of this sort.

While some couples want to be more settled before marriage (in career, education, financially, etc.), others are more willing to figure out the journey together. My husband was hoping to have his ideal job before we got engaged, but after five years of dating I was ready for commitment. He decided to take a ?leap of faith? as he called it, which paid off when he received an offer for his perfect job while we were on our honeymoon.

While some of these issues depend on your situation, many of Grace?s questions I would say are mandatory?things like monogamy and readiness for commitment. But I don?t want to give away all the secrets, so without further ado, here is Grace?s guest post:

5 Questions to Ask Yourself if You are Considering Marriage

by Grace Pamer

It?s a sad fact, but today too many people are no longer strangers to the concept of divorce. For some, it could have been their own parents who divorced when they were young. Others may have stood up at a best friend?s wedding, only to see the relationship dissolve a few years later. The point is that dissolution of marriage is not a rare occurrence today ? it can leave many individuals questioning if they are truly ready for this commitment, even when deeply in love with their partners.

The first step to warming those cold feet is to recognize that getting married has nothing to do with statistics or the relationship health of your friends and family. Being ready for marriage comes down to only one thing ? you. It is an inward journey you must take, having nothing to do with the external world or experiences of others.

The following points are five ways I believe you will know if you are ready for marriage:

1. Are You Ready For A Monogamous Relationship?

One thing that is expected from marriage is monogamy. Many people don?t commit, at least not until later in life, because they feel they aren?t ready to make such a commitment for the rest of their lives.

People who are ready for marriage want a special someone to share their lives with. They don?t view monogamy as a sacrifice ? they are happy and secure with the idea of having a perfect lover and a friend, all in one person, until death do they part.

2. Are Large Ambitions And Goals Met?

Loving couples can happily endure anything, so this doesn?t imply that life stops once you are married. But if you have a large list of desires you wish to accomplish before saying ?I do? it is important to acknowledge that.

Examples would be going through medical school, spending a year abroad or any other large time commitment that could start a marriage off on the wrong foot. Again, couples can accomplish any of these things together. But if you have a large list of independent goals you wish to accomplish solo, then take time to be certain now is the right time to be married.

3. Are You Ready For Commitment?

Healthy couples aren?t threatened when one partner spends time with other friends and family, as long as time is also devoted to the relationship as well. But being married does involve more time with one person. Never being home, coming home late after your spouse is in bed each night ? these things will take a toll.

Commitment isn?t a bad word. It is about love and respect for your lover and friend. Building a life together, sharing a home ? these are good things with the right person. However, if you find it hard to imagine not being out every evening, spending weekends with friends or being accountable to another person, then this might not be the right time to consider marriage.

4. Do You Feel External Pressure?

When you think of marriage, if there is any hint of pressure to say, ?I do,? you need to take time and acknowledge that feeling. When considering marriage, pressure can come in many forms. One in particular could be media?s influence, as we are constantly bombarded with?marriage proposal stories?and news of the latest Hollywood engagement.

Your own age might make you feel like a clock is ticking and time is running out. Family or friends might be pressuring you to walk down the aisle. You may have been with your lover a very long time, feeling obligated to move on to the next step. None of the above should be considered reasons to get married. There shouldn?t be any feeling of pressure involved in your decision, only enthusiasm and excitement about marrying your best friend.

5. Is It Based On Love Or Need?

The final step in analyzing if you are ready for marriage is the most difficult one ? being brutally honest with yourself. Many people get married for the wrong reasons, those reasons being buried deep inside their own personalities and underlying fears.

If your self-esteem is low, you fear being alone later in life, seek validation and self-worth from others or cannot stand spending time with just yourself, these issues must be addressed before you can be ready for marriage. A healthy relationship requires two healthy individuals, ones who both contribute to the marriage. Depending on another to validate your worth cannot sustain a relationship over time.

Being ready for marriage entails wanting to share your life with someone you love ? it isn?t about needing someone to give your life merit.

About the author:

Grace Pamer is a work from home mom and author of Romance Never Dies, which provides a resource for all those seeking romantic ideas and inspiration whether for a date, a marriage proposal or in a long term relationship. As featured in Cosmopolitan.com, CanadianLiving.com, FoxNews.com, YourTango.com and many more.

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Thanks, Grace, for the guest post. Readers, what question do you feel are most important to ask yourself before getting married?

Lori Lowe is the author of?First Kiss to Lasting Bliss: Hope & Inspiration for Your Marriage. It tells the inspiring, true stories of couples who used adversity to improve their marriages?from overcoming drug addiction to cancer, infidelity, religious differences, family interference and infertility, among many others. It?s available at?Amazon.com?and in all e-book formats at?www.LoriDLowe.com.

Photo by Surachai courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net.

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Source: http://marriagegems.com/2013/01/21/5-questions-to-ask-about-marriage-readiness/

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Web Marketing In 2013 (Podcast)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

On this episode I am basically re-introducing myself since I?ve been ?underground? since last summer.? I also talk about the main thing that you should focus on when it comes to web marketing this year.

If you are a self-employed entrepreneur, you don?t want to waste time and money on strategies that do not work or do not last. One of the biggest problems with hiring an online marketing service provider is that there are so many of them that claim they can do so much for you, but at the end of the day many of them are just doing what they recently read in an ebook or internet marketing course.? Many of them have not applied the strategies they learned to see if it even works.? I want to prevent you from being another marketer?s ?test subject?.

Believe it or not, there are marketers out there that get clients and then go to an internet marketing forum asking everyone how to do the work for the client?SMH!? Yes, it?s true!? I see them in the forums saying stuff like ?I just got my first client ? a contract for $2,500.? Now how exactly do I do the SEO for them??? I just think to myself how messed up it is that these self proclaimed ?experts? are out there getting money from business owners when they don?t even know how to implement the things that they said they could do.

The fact is, you will never know if you are dealing with an amateur that has no clue, unless you yourself know about the various types of web marketing strategies that work.? I?m not saying that you should do the work yourself (unless you want to), but what I?m saying is that you should educate yourself about how things should be done so that you will make the best decision when you hire a web marketing service provider.

If you prefer to do your own online marketing (and no it?s not hard) and would like to have someone to call whenever you need assistance with something, check out my mentoring program so that you can call me whenever you need help.

Tagged as: business marketing, internet marketing, online marketing, web marketing tips

Source: http://www.virtualmarketingmedia.com/podcast/web-marketing-in-2013-podcast

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Report: $700 Billion a Year Needed for Climate Change

According to a new report from the World Economic Forum, an additional $700 billion a year is needed to address climate change through clean-energy infrastructure, low-carbon transport, energy efficiency in building and industry and for forestry. Here are the details.

* Total investment in climate-change mitigration and adaptation in 2011 was estimated at $268 billion from the private sector, with an additional $96 billion from the public sector, the report stated.

* 2011's investment in combating climate change is 93 percent higher than in 2007, the World Economic Forum reported, but "this business-as-usual investment will not lead to a stable future unless it achieves environmental and sustainability goals."

* According to a World Economic Forum blog post from Bruno Berthon, the Global Managing Director of Strategy and Sustainability Services at Accenture, failing to shift from conventional investments to green alternatives will lock the world into high-emission, low efficiency technologies for the next 30 to 50 years.

* "Progress in green investment continues to be outpaced by investment in fossil-fuel intensive, inefficient infrastructure," stated the executive summary of the report, adding that -- as a result -- greenhouse gas levels are on track to create a global average temperature of at least 4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

* The higher global average temperatures, the summary stated, the more frequent the natural disasters such as extreme heatwaves, hurricanes and rising sea levels.

* According to the report, the ongoing global economic crisis is constraining the availability of financing for green energy infrastructure, as is market uncertainty and the "unintended consequences of financial market reform."

* The World Economic Forum report stated that closing the green investment gap is affordable, but only with the support of public policy, including grants, increased lending, carbon credit revenues, grant money that is combined with technical assistance and phasing out fossil-fuel subsidies.

* "The transition is financially viable," the report stated. "The incremental costs of greening growth are insignificant compared with the costs of inaction."

* According to Reuters , the World Economic Forum's report, which was compiled by Green Growth Action Alliance, comes in advance of a forum to be held in Switzerland this week in which government and business leaders will talk about who should pay the cost of lowering emissions of greenhouse gas.

* As Berthon explained, the Green Growth Action Alliance was founded at the 2012 G20 meeting in Mexico and is a collaboration of business, governments, civil society and organizations whose mission is securing investment for green growth.

* The World Economic Forum's Green Investment Report 2013 is the first formal output from the Alliance, Berthon stated, and is one of the ways the Alliance is attempting to advance the green growth agenda.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-700-billion-needed-climate-change-212700708.html

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Developing microbial cell factories by employing synthetic small regulatory RNAs

Jan. 20, 2013 ? Biotechnologists have been working hard to address the climate change and limited fossil resource issues through the development of sustainable processes for the production of chemicals, fuels and materials from renewable non-food biomass. One promising sustainable technology is the use of microbial cell factories for the efficient production of desired chemicals and materials.

When microorganisms are isolated from nature, the performance in producing our desired product is rather poor. Metabolic engineering is performed to improve the metabolic and cellular characteristics to achieve enhanced production of desired product at high yield and productivity. Since the performance of microbial cell factory is very important in lowering the overall production cost of the bioprocess, many different strategies and tools have been developed for the metabolic engineering of microorganisms.

One of the big challenges in metabolic engineering is to find the best platform organism and to find those genes to be engineered so as to maximize the production efficiency of the desired chemical. Even Escherichia coli, the most widely utilized simple microorganism, has thousands of genes, the expression of which is highly regulated and interconnected to finely control cellular and metabolic activities. Thus, the complexity of cellular genetic interactions is beyond our intuition and thus it is very difficult to find effective target genes to engineer. Together with gene amplification strategy, gene knockout strategy has been an essential tool in metabolic engineering to redirect the pathway fluxes toward our desired product formation.

However, experiment to engineer many genes can be rather difficult due to the time and effort required; for example, gene deletion experiment can take a few weeks depending on the microorganisms. Furthermore, as certain genes are essential or play important roles for the survival of a microorganism, gene knockout experiments cannot be performed. Even worse, there are many different microbial strains one can employ. There are more than 50 different E. coli strains that metabolic engineer can consider to use. Since gene knockout experiment is hard-coded (that is, one should repeat the gene knockout experiments for each strain), the result cannot be easily transferred from one strain to another.

A paper published in Nature Biotechnology online January 20 addresses this issue and suggests a new strategy for identifying gene targets to be knocked out or knocked down through the use of synthetic small RNA. A Korean research team led by Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), reported that synthetic small RNA can be employed for finely controlling the expression levels of multiple genes at the translation level. Already well-known for their systems metabolic engineering strategies, Professor Lee's team added one more strategy to efficiently develop microbial cell factories for the production of chemicals and materials.

Gene expression works like this: the hard-coded blueprint (DNA) is transcribed into messenger RNA (mRNA), and the coding information in mRNA is read to produce protein by ribosomes. Conventional genetic engineering approaches have often targeted modification of the blueprint itself (DNA) to alter organism's physiological characteristics. Again, engineering the blueprint itself takes much time and effort, and in addition, the results obtained cannot be transferred to another organism without repeating the whole set of experiments. This is why Professor Lee and his colleagues aimed at controlling the gene expression level at the translation stage through the use of synthetic small RNA. They created novel RNAs that can regulate the translation of multiple messenger RNAs (mRNA), and consequently varying the expression levels of multiple genes at the same time. Briefly, synthetic regulatory RNAs interrupt gene expression process from DNA to protein by destroying the messenger RNAs to different yet controllable extents. The advantages of taking this strategy of employing synthetic small regulatory RNAs include simple, easy and high-throughput identification of gene knockout or knockdown targets, fine control of gene expression levels, transferability to many different host strains, and possibility of identifying those gene targets that are essential.

As proof-of-concept demonstration of the usefulness of this strategy, Professor Lee and his colleagues applied it to develop engineered E. coli strains capable of producing an aromatic amino acid tyrosine, which is used for stress symptom relief, food supplements, and precursor for many drugs. They examined a large number of genes in multiple E. coli strains, and developed a highly efficient tyrosine producer. Also, they were able to show that this strategy can be employed to an already metabolically engineered E. coli strain for further improvement by demonstrating the development of highly efficient producer of cadaverine, an important platform chemical for nylon in the chemical industry.

This new strategy, being simple yet very powerful for systems metabolic engineering, is thus expected to facilitate the efficient development of microbial cell factories capable of producing chemicals, fuels and materials from renewable biomass.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Dokyun Na, Seung Min Yoo, Hannah Chung, Hyegwon Park, Jin Hwan Park, Sang Yup Lee. Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli using synthetic small regulatory RNAs. Nature Biotechnology, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nbt.2461

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/IMsZ6yw0e9U/130120150035.htm

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TEXT-S&P summary: BOC Aviation Pte. Ltd.

(The following statement was released by the rating agency)

Jan 21 -

===============================================================================

Summary analysis -- BOC Aviation Pte. Ltd. ------------------------ 21-Jan-2013

===============================================================================

CREDIT RATING: BBB/Stable/-- Country: Singapore

===============================================================================

Credit Rating History:

Local currency Foreign currency

26-Jun-2012 BBB/-- BBB/--

===============================================================================

Rationale

The rating on BOC Aviation Pte. Ltd. reflects the company's good cash flow

stability from long lease lives, sound competitive position, and support from

its 100%-owner Bank of China Ltd. (BOC: A/Stable/A-1; cnAA+/cnA-1). A

moderately higher leverage than that of other rated peers and the industry's

exposure to cyclical demand and aircraft lease rates partly offset these

strengths. We assess BOC Aviation's business risk profile to be "satisfactory"

and its financial risk profile to be "significant."

We assess BOC Aviation's stand-alone credit profile at 'bbb-'. Our rating

incorporates a one-notch uplift because we consider BOC Aviation to be a

subsidiary with "moderately strategic importance" to BOC.

BOC Aviation's financial performance and cash flows for the nine months ended

Sept. 30, 2012, were in line with our expectations. Revenues grew as the

company leased new aircraft to customers and EBITDA margins remained 90%-95%.

The company's EBITDA interest coverage of 5.5x-6.5x over the period was

stronger than the 3x-4x we had anticipated for 2012. This is because the

company's capital spending for the period and associated borrowing needs were

substantially lower than the US$2.9 billion we had assumed for 2012. BOC

Aviation does not publish quarterly financial statements.

The company's interest coverage ratios could decline moderately in 2013 as it

raises more debt to finance capital spending. Our capital spending assumptions

accommodate BOC Aviation's recent order of 50 new aircraft. The financial

difficulties that BOC Aviation's India-based customer Kingfisher Airlines Ltd.

is experiencing will not materially affect BOC Aviation's financial

performance in 2013, in our view. Currently, BOC Aviation still has aircraft

placed with Kingfisher, representing about 1% of the company's net book value.

Liquidity

BOC Aviation's liquidity is "adequate," as defined in our criteria. We expect

the company's liquidity sources to exceed its needs by about 1.2x or more over

the next 12 months.

Our liquidity assessment incorporates the following factors and assumptions:

-- Liquidity sources include our expectation of funds from operations

(FFO) of US$475 million-US$525 million for 2013. The company also has about

US$361 million in cash and cash equivalent as of June 30, 2012, although these

should now be significantly higher following a US$500 million senior secured

notes issuance in September 2012.

-- BOC Aviation has a committed credit line of US$2 billion from BOC and

committed credit lines of US$225 million from various other international

banks. Such credit lines provide the company with significant funding

flexibility, in our view.

-- We don't consider any prospective aircraft sales in our liquidity

assessment.

-- Liquidity needs over the next 12 months include short-term debt and

capital spending.

-- We exclude from liquidity needs bank loans that BOC Aviation would

repay with proceeds from aircraft sales over the next 12 months.

-- The company's liquidity sources will exceed its needs even if EBITDA

declines by 15%.

Outlook

The stable outlook reflects our expectation that BOC Aviation's financial risk

profile will remain broadly stable through 2014 despite a substantial

debt-funded capital spending plan. We anticipate that the company will

maintain a ratio of FFO to debt of 6%-8% and a ratio of debt to capital of

less than 82%.

We believe an upgrade is unlikely until demand and lease rates for aircraft

lessors improve sustainably. BOC Aviation's ratio of FFO to debt staying above

12% on a sustainable basis would indicate such improvement.

We could lower the ratings if: (1) BOC Aviation increases its debt-funded

capital spending beyond our expectations, such that its ratio of debt to debt

plus equity increases beyond 85%; or (2) we believe support from BOC is likely

to wane. We could also lower the rating if BOC Aviation's ratio of FFO to debt

falls below 5% on a sustainable basis. This could happen if the company's base

monthly lease rate declines below 0.65% while its average funding cost is 250

basis points over LIBOR.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/text-p-summary-boc-aviation-pte-ltd-090513406--sector.html

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[WTS] Wordpress eBook Store With 20 Ebooks Ready To Sell Only ...

Wordpress eBook Store With 20 Ebooks Ready To Sell Only $7.50 - Instant Download

Would you like to make money by selling ebooks on a very hot and niche topic called Internet Marketing? Better still, have a ready-to-sell ebook store using a very popular blogging platform called Wordpress.

Blogging and social networking is the in-thing nowadays for people to connect and share information and news. Bloggers and online sellers like to use Wordpress because it is easy to set up and there is a huge community of people out there who loves Wordpress and supports it by creating new themes and plugins everyday to make websites or blog sites nicer, more user-friendly and with more functions.

Search engines love blogs because they tend to get updated regularly and since your Wordpress eStore is already SEO optimized for the search engines, your Wordpress website or eStore can get indexed faster and ranked better.

Introducing...
The Wordpress Internet Marketing Ebook Store

Features of this Wordpress Ebook Store:

1) This eStore is stocked with 20 of the latest ebooks focusing on the Internet Marketing niche market, complete with shopping cart functions which lets you change the ebooks, add more ebooks, change prices and currencies, upload ebook ecovers, sales tracking, etc.

2) 7 Affiliate banners of 3 different sizes - 468x60 px, 260x125 px, 125x125 px - can be put up to earn you commissions from selling other people's books.

You can also sell this advertising space to interested advertisers.

3) 40+ Web 2.0 Social Networking Sites icons to let you connect with your friends and customers thus bringing your website more traffic, sales and commissions.

4) An Amazon aStore on Internet Marketing books is included in your website to earn you even more commissions and giving your customers a wider selection of books.

5) We have already added a popular Clickbank Internet Marketing product but of course you can change it to any other product from Clickbank or from any other affiliate programmes.

6) A YouTube video on Internet Marketing has also been included and you are free to change it to any video that you prefer. This can be used to show a series of Internet Marketing lessons, thereby inviting your viewers to come back to your website week after week.

7) You can replace the 250 x 250 square Google Adsense Text Ad Unit in the eStore Side Bar with your own Adsense codes, earning you another passive income.

This Wordpress eStore has been installed with a very professional theme and this theme comes with an Admin Panel for easy control of the display items on your eStore. You can change the logo, switch on or off those banner items, decide what items to display in your eStore Side Bar and Footer sections.

9) It also has a rotating SLIDER DISPLAY that can showcase 4 of your popular ebooks.

10) Another feature is the PORTFOLIO which lets you display up to 10 ebooks of your choice.

11) The FEATURED section in the Side Bar highlights up to 10 of your favorite ebooks.

12) Another CONTENT FEATURED section displays 3 ebooks from your selected ebook category. Unlike normal ebookstore formats, this Wordpress theme breaks up the monotony of a rigid display of ebooks and makes your eStore more browser friendly and more interesting.

13) There is also a prominent Contact Us form in the Footer section for your website viewers to get in touch with you if they have any enquiries. An About Us section lets you describe yourself or your ebook business and you can even include your Avatar or Logo.

14) You can organize and categorize your ebooks in your eStore as follows:

Bonus! A 21-page Installation Guide is included in this package.

So what you get is a Wordpress Ebook Store that runs on auto-pilot once it is installed. All ebook sales are taken care of by the shopping cart and customers get their ebook downloads straight after payment.

BUY NOW! Only $7.50
The download link will be emailed to your Paypal email address right after payment, even if you buy at 3am.

Source: http://www.v7n.com/forums/content/330940-wordpress-ebook-store-20-ebooks-ready-sell-only-7-50-instant-download.html

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Red Moon Cafe: A Slow Embrace of Technology

Having reached middle age without having a computer or a cell phone, I don?t think of myself as a Luddite but simply someone slow to embrace new technology. One of my professors gave me a lesson in using WordStar in 1986 when I first entered graduate school to work on my MA. At that time, the computers in use by the English department had two 5.25 inch slots, one for the program disk and one for the disk containing one?s documents. All through graduate school, I continued to draft my essays in longhand first and then type up the final copy on my typewriter. Fortunately, my wife in 1989 helped me put my Master?s thesis on the computer so that it would be easier to make corrections. It took a few frustrating incidents before I mastered the use of the Insert key; something so simple could prevent me from losing text when making an addition or a correction.
By 1993, at the age of forty-two, I had my own computer, a 386, although it essentially was only good for WordStar, which by that time required the downloading of information from three or four 5.25 diskettes. Not having the Internet in my home office made it easier to devote attention to my writing. Taking my comprehensive exams for the PhD required that I learn to use Microsoft Word. Even so, I didn?t finally stop using WordStar until 1999 when my new computer at that time wouldn?t take the 5.25 diskettes containing the software for WordStar. Out of necessity, I had to become comfortable with Microsoft Word.
Despite this slow embrace of technology, I have learned much more about computers and word processing software. After getting tired of giving my money to computer repair people for minor upgrades and virus removal, I resolved about eight years to learn much more about computers and computer repair.
Accepting technology into my life hasn?t included a cell phone until more recently, however. I didn?t get my first cell phone until about 2001 when my wife insisted that I get one in case of an emergency during the lengthy commute to where I was teaching at the time.
About twenty-two years ago, when we briefly sold water treatment systems during a semester we didn?t get a teaching assignment, my wife and I used to admire the guy who had a phone in his car because it allowed him to get his assignments much quicker and to get directions when he couldn?t find the house where he was scheduled to make his sales pitch. We were forced to return to an area convenience store and to use the pay phone as we arranged our next appointment. Our time selling water treatment systems didn?t last. We sold two units but only got paid for one because the other buyer refused to disclose his regular income when the company wanted the buyer to sign a contract and to set up monthly payments. That $800 earned in commission, while not enough compensation for the time that we had invested in our training, helped to ease our poverty for a little while. The remainder of that semester was spent working temporary employment. We ended up moving to the Kansas City area during the following summer.
That Motorola 120C, my first cell phone, remained in use even after four or five years. I had no reason to update since I seldom used it and actually prefer not to use a phone because of my phone phobia, aka telephobia. I don?t know when I would have updated if Tracfone had not informed me that they would no longer service that phone in my area and sent me a replacement Nokia 1100 free of charge. Once again, that phone lasted several years until I replaced it with a Samsung T105G, which made it easier to send text messages even though it, too, didn?t have all of the features of a regular keyboard and made long messages difficult because of its inflexibility.
When we stopped paying for a landline last year, my wife bought a LG 500G as the house phone. After growing familiar with that phone from texting during those occasions when my wife drove, I discovered that it was possible to get my own LG 500G for $10. I can now say that I am much happier with my phone and use it frequently for texting when away from the house. I don?t think I have made an actual phone call in the month that I have been using this phone, however. This phone can be used as a mp3 player if one doesn?t mind using earbuds. It also offers a digital camera of something like 1.3 megapixels. These additional features may seem like bonuses although one has to consider the quality of the camera and the sonic capability of its single speaker. Nonetheless, I now more often make an effort to grab my phone when leaving the house instead of misplacing it and letting it go missing for days on end.
Having become more comfortable with a cell phone, I still don?t foresee a day when I will start acting like my relatives. While visiting them on Thanksgiving, and while trying to ignore the football game that was blaring from the television, I often glanced around the room and saw three or four of my relatives looking down at the screens of their iphones?either to play a game, to organize their pictures, or to send someone else one of their pictures. No one was talking. I hope I never will become that obsessed with technology.

Source: http://redmooncafe.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-slow-embrace-of-technology.html

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A bitter defeat for Merkel months before German election

BERLIN (Reuters) - In an extremely tight German state election that seemed to produce few clearcut winners, there was no argument over who the biggest loser was -- Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Her Christian Democrats (CDU), led by rising star David McAllister, had convinced themselves over the past week that they were on the verge of a stunning come-from-behind victory in Lower Saxony, a major agricultural and industrial region that is Germany's closest approximation to a swing state.

But on Sunday, they came up agonizingly short, losing power to the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens, who together garnered just one more seat in the state assembly than the centre-right.

The defeat is a bitter one for Merkel, even if she remains a strong favorite to win a third term in a federal election eight months from now.

In one fell swoop, it gives the centre-left a majority in the Bundesrat upper house of parliament, meaning the opposition can block major legislation from Merkel's government and initiate laws themselves.

"I assume it won't be possible to push anything through the Bundesrat that the SPD doesn't want," Volker Kauder, a Merkel ally and leader of her CDU in parliament, told German public television on Monday morning.

That will not change after the national election in September, even if Merkel's centre-right coalition with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) manages to hold onto power.

In the run-up to the federal vote, Merkel's room for manoeuvre will be limited and the notoriously risk-averse German leader may take a more cautious stance on a range of policy issues, including her management of the euro zone debt crisis.

The vote is also a blow to McAllister, the 42-year-old half-Scot who had ruled Lower Saxony since 2010 and become a protege of the chancellor, declaring on the eve of the vote that he was happy to be "Merkel's Mac".

There will be much hand-wringing in the CDU about McAllister's not-so-subtle hints to supporters in the weeks before the election that they use their votes to boost the score of the FDP.

His message resonated with CDU voters, but perhaps stronger than he would have liked.

The FDP, which had been expected to struggle to make the 5 percent threshold needed to enter the state assembly, ended up with a surprisingly strong score of 9.9 percent, largely thanks to CDU backers who split their two votes (in German elections voters cast ballots for both a party and a local candidate).

Yet the FDP's strong showing appears to have come at the expense of McAllister's CDU, which scored 36 percent, down 6.5 points from their last result in Lower Saxony in 2008 and well below the 40 percent-plus that opinion polls had forecast.

WARNING

With the loss, Merkel's CDU has now lost to the SPD and Greens in five states over the past two years, including in their longtime southern stronghold of Baden-Wuerttemberg and in Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia.

The string of losses is likely to fuel anxiety about Merkel's ability to leverage her own popularity into votes for her party.

"The state election in Lower Saxony should be a warning for Angela Merkel for the federal election in the autumn," conservative daily Die Welt wrote on Monday.

The FDP were hailed as the big winners of Sunday's vote, but the result failed to silence internal critics who want to jettison national party leader Philipp Roesler before the federal vote.

Leading Roesler critic Dirk Niebel, who serves as development minister in Merkel's government, said the Lower Saxony surprise could not mask the FDP's problems at the national level and demanded a special party congress in May to debate its leadership.

The SPD will take some satisfaction from having ousted loyal Merkel ally McAllister, but the narrow victory does not give them the major boost in momentum they had been hoping for heading into the national vote.

Instead it highlighted the problems of their own chancellor candidate Peer Steinbrueck, who on Sunday accepted responsibility for weakening the party's score in Lower Saxony with a series of verbal blunders.

Just as with Roesler in the FDP, the result is unlikely to quiet voices within the SPD who have begun questioning Steinbrueck's suitability as a challenger to Merkel.

The only party that came out an undisputed winner from Lower Saxony was the Greens, who with 13.7 percent of the vote scored their best ever result in the state. But without a stronger performance from the SPD, their natural allies, the environmentalist party has little hope of dislodging Merkel as they did McAllister.

"We are doing our part," said Greens leader Cem Oezdemir. "But the SPD needs to look closely at how they can improve their own score."

(Additional reporting by Stephen Brown; Writing by Noah Barkin)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bitter-defeat-merkel-months-german-election-074946235--business.html

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