eBook describing likely causes & cures of diabetic symptoms. Diabetes,the Vitamin&Mineral Connection. -

Two king-pins in the technology industry announced Tuesday a merger agreement valued at $13.9 billion, with Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) set to acquire computer consulting firm Electronic Data Systems Corp. (NYSE: EDS) in an effort to compete more aggressively with rival IBM in the technology services business. The deal, which is set to close later this year, will more than double HP’s revenue derived from I.T. services, which the company says amounted to $16.6 billion in fiscal ‘07. The acquistion will produce a new services group under the EDS moniker with an HP tagline. Known as “EDS — An HP Company,” the services group will be based in EDS’s current headquarters in Plano, Texas, with Ronald A. Rittenmeyer, the current CEO of EDS, continuing at the helm. Enough To Beat IBM? Combining forces with EDS makes HP “a lot more competitive by having a whole lot more services personnel,” according to Roger Kay, principal analyst with Endpoint Technologies. “IBM is the gold standard. This gives them a better shot at it.” HP’s roots in services go back to its 2002 acquisition of Compaq, which itself bought Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) back in 1998. “They have a pretty good services group, but they wanted to compete with IBM,” Kay said. “This puts them closer to that goal.” One question is how well the companies will integrate, but Kay doesn’t expect many problems on that front. HP CEO Mark Hurd is “known as good at integrating,” Kay said. ‘Significant Premium’ for Shareholders The new EDS will provide a broad array of enterprise-oriented consulting services, such as IT outsourcing of services for the data center, networking services, managed security services, etc. The companies will offer application development, modernization and management, integration, as well as related technology services. In addition, the ‘new’ EDS will handle business process outsourcing, including health claims, financial processing,…

Percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy for the treatment of acute massive pulmonary embolism: case report
Background: To our knowledge we report the first case of percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy used for the treatment of massive pulmonary embolism in the United Kingdom. Pulmonary embolism is a common disease process but can be difficult to diagnose. Massive pulmonary embolism presenting with profound hypotension, however, is rare. Both phenomena carry with them significant mortality. Traditionally those patients suffering haemodynamic compromise from pulmonary embolism are treated with intravenous or catheter-directed thrombolysis. When this is contraindicated surgical embolectomy or mechanical techniques via a right heart catheter are alternative options. The former is well established but the latter is less commonly utilised in clinical practice. Our aim is to highlight the effectiveness and relative safety of percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy as a therapeutic tool in massive pulmonary embolism.Case presentationA 70 year-old gentleman presented with a 4-month history of dry cough and general malaise. Clinical examination along with routine chest radiograph confirmed a left pleural effusion which was drained. Computed tomography of the chest, abdomen and pelvis revealed a left renal mass consistent with renal cell carcinoma plus multiple metastatic subpleural nodules. Following planned thoracoscopy and pleural biopsy the patient became acutely dyspnoeic and hypotensive. Relevant investigations including computed tomography pulmonary angiogram confirmed a large saddle embolus extending in to the lobar branches of both left and right pulmonary arteries. There were several relative contraindications to thrombolysis and so the patient proceeded to have percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy with excellent results. The patient made a full recovery from the acute episode and was discharged home on warfarin with a view to planned cyto-reductive nephrectomy. Conclusion: We illustrate here that percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy can be a safe and effective method of treating massive pulmonary embolism when thrombolysis is relatively contraindicated. It may also be of use as an adjuvant therapy in those patients able to receive thrombolysis. In the future further evaluation involving a larger cohort of subjects is necessary to determine whether this treatment is superior to surgical embolectomy when thrombolysis cannot be performed.

An unusual case of peripartum cardiomyopathy manifesting with multiple thrombo-embolic phenomena
Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare form of heart failure with a reported incidence of 1 per 3000 to 1 per 4000 live births and a fatality rate of 20% 50%. Onset is usually between the last month of pregnancy and up to 5 months postpartum in previously healthy women. Although viral, autoimmune and idiopathic factors may be contributory, its etiology remains unknown. PPCM initially presents with signs and symptoms of congestive heart failure and rarely with thrombo-embolic complications. We report an unusual case of PPCM in a previously healthy postpartum woman who presented with an acute abdomen due to unrecognized thromboemboli of the abdominal organs. This case illustrates that abdominal pain in PPCM may not always result from hepatic congestion as previously reported, but may occur as a result of thromboemboli to abdominal organs. Further research is needed to determine the true incidence of thromboemboli in PPCM.

Can Social-Networking Sites Turn Tons of Fans into Cash?
It is the burning question in tech circles, and Mike Murphy answers it before it is completed. “I hear it every time I’m on a (tech) panel,” Murphy, Facebook’s vice president of media sales, says with a wry smile. He’s referring to the inevitable question on when Facebook and other social-networking sites will turn their steep market valuations into mounds of currency. (Invariably, Murphy answers that Facebook has a long list of major advertisers.) Facebook, MySpace and other social-networking sites have been the rage of the tech industry for more than a year. Following investments by Microsoft and News Corp., the companies are valued in the billions of dollars and are considered blueprints for how to build a Web site. Yet a deeper question lingers: How are they going to consistently produce profits to match their soaring valuations? It is a parlor game that has Silicon Valley buzzing. With online ad spending booming into a nearly $50 billion market this year, there is plenty of money to be had. Big-name advertisers are drooling over millions of young, affluent consumers who are spending more time on their online profiles than in front of TV and movie screens. They are particularly smitten with the prospect of tailoring ads to people’s specific interests. But Google commands a sizable chunk of the market — especially in the USA — leaving dozens of social-networking sites to scramble for a piece of the advertising pie. Plus, there is the ticklish task of sites and advertisers pitching products without trampling the privacy of consumers. Short of striking it rich with online ads or creating a new revenue stream, how can so many sites leverage their vast audiences? In many respects, it is the same query that dogged portal companies in the mid-1990s and search engines in the early ’90s. Some were sold. Some…

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