Monday, April 27, 2009

Key Facts about Swine Influenza (Swine Flu)

Swine Flu
What is Swine Influenza?
Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza virus that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza in pigs. Swine flu viruses cause high levels of illness and low death rates in pigs. Swine influenza viruses may circulate among swine throughout the year, but most outbreaks occur during the late fall and winter months similar to outbreaks in humans. The classical swine flu virus (an influenza type A H1N1 virus) was first isolated from a pig in 1930.

How many swine flu viruses are there?
Like all influenza viruses, swine flu viruses change constantly. Pigs can be infected by avian influenza and human influenza viruses as well as swine influenza viruses. When influenza viruses from different species infect pigs, the viruses can reassort (i.e. swap genes) and new viruses that are a mix of swine, human and/or avian influenza viruses can emerge. Over the years, different variations of swine flu viruses have emerged. At this time, there are four main influenza type A virus subtypes that have been isolated in pigs: H1N1, H1N2, H3N2, and H3N1. However, most of the recently isolated influenza viruses from pigs have been H1N1 viruses.

Swine Flu in Humans
Can humans catch swine flu?
Swine flu viruses do not normally infect humans. However, sporadic human infections with swine flu have occurred. Most commonly, these cases occur in persons with direct exposure to pigs (e.g. children near pigs at a fair or workers in the swine industry). In addition, there have been documented cases of one person spreading swine flu to others. For example, an outbreak of apparent swine flu infection in pigs in Wisconsin in 1988 resulted in multiple human infections, and, although no community outbreak resulted, there was antibody evidence of virus transmission from the patient to health care workers who had close contact with the patient.

How common is swine flu infection in humans?
In the past, CDC received reports of approximately one human swine influenza virus infection every one to two years in the U.S., but from December 2005 through February 2009, 12 cases of human infection with swine influenza have been reported.
What are the symptoms of swine flu in humans?
The symptoms of swine flu in people are expected to be similar to the symptoms of regular human seasonal influenza and include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some people with swine flu also have reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Can people catch swine flu from eating pork?
No. Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. You can not get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork and pork products is safe. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160°F kills the swine flu virus as it does other bacteria and viruses.

How does swine flu spread?
Influenza viruses can be directly transmitted from pigs to people and from people to pigs. Human infection with flu viruses from pigs are most likely to occur when people are in close proximity to infected pigs, such as in pig barns and livestock exhibits housing pigs at fairs. Human-to-human transmission of swine flu can also occur. This is thought to occur in the same way as seasonal flu occurs in people, which is mainly person-to-person transmission through coughing or sneezing of people infected with the influenza virus. People may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.

What do we know about human-to-human spread of swine flu?
In September 1988, a previously healthy 32-year-old pregnant woman was hospitalized for pneumonia and died 8 days later. A swine H1N1 flu virus was detected. Four days before getting sick, the patient visited a county fair swine exhibition where there was widespread influenza-like illness among the swine.

In follow-up studies, 76% of swine exhibitors tested had antibody evidence of swine flu infection but no serious illnesses were detected among this group. Additional studies suggest that one to three health care personnel who had contact with the patient developed mild influenza-like illnesses with antibody evidence of swine flu infection.

How can human infections with swine influenza be diagnosed?
To diagnose swine influenza A infection, a respiratory specimen would generally need to be collected within the first 4 to 5 days of illness (when an infected person is most likely to be shedding virus). However, some persons, especially children, may shed virus for 10 days or longer. Identification as a swine flu influenza A virus requires sending the specimen to CDC for laboratory testing.
What medications are available to treat swine flu infections in humans?
There are four different antiviral drugs that are licensed for use in the US for the treatment of influenza: amantadine, rimantadine, oseltamivir and zanamivir. While most swine influenza viruses have been susceptible to all four drugs, the most recent swine influenza viruses isolated from humans are resistant to amantadine and rimantadine. At this time, CDC recommends the use of oseltamivir or zanamivir for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with swine influenza viruses.

What other examples of swine flu outbreaks are there?
Probably the most well known is an outbreak of swine flu among soldiers in Fort Dix, New Jersey in 1976. The virus caused disease with x-ray evidence of pneumonia in at least 4 soldiers and 1 death; all of these patients had previously been healthy. The virus was transmitted to close contacts in a basic training environment, with limited transmission outside the basic training group. The virus is thought to have circulated for a month and disappeared. The source of the virus, the exact time of its introduction into Fort Dix, and factors limiting its spread and duration are unknown. The Fort Dix outbreak may have been caused by introduction of an animal virus into a stressed human population in close contact in crowded facilities during the winter. The swine influenza A virus collected from a Fort Dix soldier was named A/New Jersey/76 (Hsw1N1).

Is the H1N1 swine flu virus the same as human H1N1 viruses?
No. The H1N1 swine flu viruses are antigenically very different from human H1N1 viruses and, therefore, vaccines for human seasonal flu would not provide protection from H1N1 swine flu viruses.
Swine Flu in Pigs
How does swine flu spread among pigs?
Swine flu viruses are thought to be spread mostly through close contact among pigs and possibly from contaminated objects moving between infected and uninfected pigs. Herds with continuous swine flu infections and herds that are vaccinated against swine flu may have sporadic disease, or may show only mild or no symptoms of infection.

What are signs of swine flu in pigs?
Signs of swine flu in pigs can include sudden onset of fever, depression, coughing (barking), discharge from the nose or eyes, sneezing, breathing difficulties, eye redness or inflammation, and going off feed.


How common is swine flu among pigs?
H1N1 and H3N2 swine flu viruses are endemic among pig populations in the United States and something that the industry deals with routinely. Outbreaks among pigs normally occur in colder weather months (late fall and winter) and sometimes with the introduction of new pigs into susceptible herds. Studies have shown that the swine flu H1N1 is common throughout pig populations worldwide, with 25 percent of animals showing antibody evidence of infection. In the U.S. studies have shown that 30 percent of the pig population has antibody evidence of having had H1N1 infection. More specifically, 51 percent of pigs in the north-central U.S. have been shown to have antibody evidence of infection with swine H1N1. Human infections with swine flu H1N1 viruses are rare. There is currently no way to differentiate antibody produced in response to flu vaccination in pigs from antibody made in response to pig infections with swine H1N1 influenza.

While H1N1 swine viruses have been known to circulate among pig populations since at least 1930, H3N2 influenza viruses did not begin circulating among US pigs until 1998. The H3N2 viruses initially were introduced into the pig population from humans. The current swine flu H3N2 viruses are closely related to human H3N2 viruses.

Is there a vaccine for swine flu?
Vaccines are available to be given to pigs to prevent swine influenza. There is no vaccine to protect humans from swine flu. The seasonal influenza vaccine will likely help provide partial protection against swine H3N2, but not swine H1N1 viruses.

Friday, April 17, 2009

What is SEO?

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization is the activity of improving the volume and quality of real time traffic to web pages or whole sites from search engines through natural search results for targeted keywords. Most often a website that gets a higher position or ranking in the search results is the one which the searchers will visit more frequently. Therefore, it is important that a site is optimized to get real time traffic the right way to make it more search-engine friendly and get a higher rank in the search results. Sven Mathura

Though SEO helps in boosting real time traffic to a website, it should not be considered as the marketing of the site. It may be easy for one to pay and appear in the paid search results for a set of keywords, however, the concept behind the SEO technique is to get the topmost ranking without paying since your site is relevant to the search query entered by the user. suen mathura

The amount of time that can be spent on optimizing a website to get real time traffic can range from a few minutes to a long term activity. If your product or service is such that the keywords used are uncommon, then some general SEO would be sufficient to get a top rating. However, if your product or service industry is competitive or is in a saturated market, then it is important to dedicate considerable amount of time and effort for SEO. Even if one decides on simple SEO solutions, it is necessary to understand how search engine algorithms work and which items are crucial in SEO to get real time traffic.


The marketing approach that SEO adopts for increasing a site’s relevance is consideration of how search engines work and what searches are performed by users. The SEO process attempts to concentrate its efforts on a site’s coding, presentation, structuring, and also resolving issues that prevent search engine indexing program from spidering a website entirely.

Additionally, SEO efforts also include inserting unique content to web pages to make it more attractive to users and also to ensure that the search engine robots can easily index the content. Optimizing a site to get real time traffic can either be done by in house personnel or outsourced to professional optimizers who carry out SEO projects as a stand-alone service, like us - SEO Traffic Spider.



SEO tactics can be varied to achieve top ranking in search results. These fall into three categories (White-Hat SEO, Grey-Hat SEO, and Black-Hat SEO) depending on legitimacy and ethics.


White Hat SEO uses strategies which are considered ethically correct and legitimate by SEO’s as well as search engines while spidering a site. It would be best to use this tactic as a means of achieving top ranking in the search results for real time traffic. These tactics will not lead to penalties which are generally imposed when Black Hat SEO is used and even though it may take some amount of time to reap the rewards of this process, it will surely bring in promising results in terms of high rakings.

Grey Hat SEO uses tactics which may be considered legitimate if they are used correctly. However, these have been subjected to misuse by unethical SEO’s and webmasters. It is possible that your website will not get penalized or banned for using this strategy and it may be necessary to use this process at times, however, webmasters are careful in the use of these tactics. This is because search engines may penalize tactics that are subjected to abuse even though they are used in legitimate forms.

Black Hat SEO employs techniques that are considered illegitimate and ethically incorrect and which have been or will surely be penalized and cause your website to be banned by search engines. Since Black Hat SEO is subject to abuse widely because it tends to harm search engine user experience, it is highly recommended to avoid using it as a means of attaining high ranking.

Organic SEO Vs. PPC War

Today online advertising has become one of the most basic mediums to promote a business and make your presence felt in the market. The need of the hour is to draw customers to your website by creating successful campaigns coupled with unique ideas and quality products and services.

Since the concept of online business has taken a front foot in the competitive market, it is important for businesses to realize that they need to dedicate their time and efforts more towards website advertising and marketing.





You may be in a quandary as to which technique to employ for advertising your website. First, before you employ any technique to promote your site, the golden rule is to clearly define goals that you wish to achieve. This will guide you in selecting techniques more appropriately and help you maximize your results within your budget.

Regarding the techniques, there are two options that have gained a lot of popularity in the recent times. These are:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization is the activity of improving the volume and quality of real time traffic to your site by optimizing your web pages. The SEO technique involves getting the topmost ranking without paying since your site is relevant to the search query entered by the user.




Pay Per Click (PPC)

This is an advertising model which requires an advertiser to pay when a user clicks on the ad. Advertisers select keywords that they want to run on and which are relevant to their business and then bid on these keywords. Bids may vary from keyword to keyword depending on how important and relevant the keyword is for the business. The advertiser’s ad shows under the sponsored links when a user types in a search query which matches the advertiser’s keyword.






Many times some commercial websites make use of both these options simultaneously to advertise their website. This is also a smart option as it not only leads to better website exposure and visibility but also ensures a better ranking and real time traffic to your site. However, gaining a better understanding of both these methods by analyzing their pros and cons can help you gauge which technique would be more suitable for you and is in align with your business objectives.

Search Engine Optimization Pros

More Credibility – By showing on top of search results you can enjoy more credibility because real time traffic and popularity is achieved by putting in lot of time and effort. The ranking is achieved purely on the basis of quality content and relevance.




Free Placement – Unlike PPC, you do not have to pay for the clicks you receive from organic search results. Getting on the top position is a matter of how well you optimize your site in relation to your competitors. It also saves you money in the long run once the process takes off well.




Improved Website Ranking –SEO also helps you attain a better site ranking with little effort. You can also hire SEO professionals like SEO Traffic Spider who can carry out the optimization task on your behalf which will reap you the benefits in the long run.




Qualified Traffic – You can expect a good amount of qualified real time traffic to your site as a result of increased recognition of search engines.



Long Lasting Results – The results you achieve from this method are more lasting and stable. Also, it gives you a much higher return on your investment. This is because usually users tend to click on organic search results when compared to PPC ads and this brings more traffic for less.




Search Engine Optimization Cons

Time Consuming – SEO is a complicated task and requires enormous amount of time and effort to implement it the right way. Sometimes it may also require you to completely modify the structure, layout, presentation, or content of your website to make it search engine friendly and also enhance user experience.





Results May Take Time – The true impact of SEO efforts cannot be known immediately. It will not give you instant results in terms of traffic and may take some time for your site to get the desired traffic. This time gap may affect your profitability till the time you start seeing true results.




Pay Per Click Pros

Instant results – This method brings you immediate results in terms of traffic, leads, or sales. In a matter of few hours or days you can begin to show on top of the sponsored links and enjoy the benefits of increased traffic flow.




Appropriate for Temporary Offers – This would be an ideal option for those who want to gain an entry into the online market for a short term or for those with temporary product/service offerings. This is because they can hope to gain better visibility and exposure by bidding higher on keywords rather than waiting for SEO to be implemented and return results.





Easy to Implement – PPC can be easily implemented without devoting much time and effort to it when compared to SEO. It also enables the advertiser to experiment with different keywords and landing pages to see what works best. You can also bid on a variety of keywords that you want to run on and which cannot be practically placed in your web pages when implementing SEO.





Pay Per Click Cons

Expensive – It is an expensive option as it eats up on your profit margins. Also, you end up paying even for clicks that may not convert into sales. Additionally, in case of click fraud, you may end up wasting a considerable amount of your budget on fraudulent clicks.




A thorough analysis of the pros and cons of both these approaches will help you decide which option would be more suitable for your advertising needs. However, the main highlight here is that PPC serves well as a short term strategy over SEO. It is a good option for those looking for quick results and a good ROI while waiting for their SEO initiative to ramp up. However, using the PPC model will leave you with thinner profit margins. From the long term perspective, search engine optimization will bring in higher profitability and make the most of your advertising dollars as it will extensively increase your margins in the long run.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Co-Branding During the Economic Downturn: Building Partnerships That Work

As the economic climate remains grim, have you noticed that more people are jumping onto the ‘relationship’ bandwagon? This recently came to my attention while meeting with a new company to discuss how our businesses could help each other. All they talked about was their business, and after about an hour they finally asked; “Well what do you do?” That was the wakeup call for me.
It’s great to know that many people are reaching out to work with you, and connecting and networking with other businesses are essential for building a successful business. However, I wonder that if the economy was in a better state, would people still be willing to work together? Once we are out of the recession, will those same businesses still see the value in forming relationships and networking with other companies?
It seems that everyone is using the word relationship, (the “R” word) these days, but I don’t think many businesses really get it. Building a relationship with other businesses isn’t simply about saying it, but that there is real, genuine effort behind it. Relationships that are built on mutual agreements, understanding and an honest connection that benefits both parties involved are the ones that survive through both bad and good economic times. Nurturing a relationship takes time, and it doesn’t happen with just one phone call or one meeting.
Another situation where I witnessed the “R” word phenomena was during an event to showcase businesses in the event industry. One of the vendors there was clearly upset and after about 15 minutes of ranting and complaining, she says, “We need to work together and build a strong relationship.” It left me wondering if she really meant it, or was just saying it for the sake of ‘relationship building.’
The reason my business has been so successful so far is because of the sold business relationships and connections I’ve made with other vendors and business owners. While I do agree that we should be working together, pooling our resources and collaborating on projects and ideas, I also think it’s important to team up with companies that aren’t just looking for a quick fix. Companies that are looking for a partnership through the long haul will be the ones that truly are the best fit for your business. If you are the type of business owner who keeps hearing the word ‘relationship’, you need to step back and take a real look into the other company’s approach and genuineness behind it. You must also share some of the responsibility of this relationship. Ask yourself if you feel a solid connection and are truly engaged with the other business owner, and interested in what they do. If you are not, this won’t be a relationship that will be worth pursuing for the long-term.
Business relationships must be seen as long-term investments. Both parties must be willing to invest the time and effort into promoting and helping the other business as needed, and sometimes, the other company may simply not be the right fit. If the company’s objectives and goals are similar to your own, there’s a good chance that the relationship will benefit both parties.
A few important questions to ask, include:
• Do you have similar target markets?
• Will the relationship be short or long-term?
• How can both businesses benefit from working together?
• What are your short and long-term goals?
• Are expectations for the relationship clear?

Most Popular Professions Annual Salary Degree Needed

Most Popular Professions Annual Salary Degree Needed

Medical Billing/Coder $31,236 per year* Healthcare Degrees - Learn More

Computer Software Engineer $84,310 per year Technology Degrees - Learn More

Accountant $58,020 per year Business Degrees - Learn More

Paralegal $43,510 per year Legal/Paralegal Degrees - Learn More

Police & Sherriff's Officer $47,270 per year Criminal Justice Degrees - Learn More

Secondary School Teacher $49,400 per year Education/Teaching Degrees - Learn More

Family Therapist $45,550 per year Human Services Degrees - Learn More

Graphic Designer $42,530 per year Art & Design Degrees - Learn More


sven mathura

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Google Analytics Not Tracking AdWords Data Properly?

Thanks to Search Engine Roundtable for:

There is a thread at WebmasterWorld and several in the Google Analytics Help forum with complaints that Google Analytics is no longer tracking Google AdWords data properly.

The WebmasterWorld thread has this complaint:

In two of my analytics accounts for sites which I use adwords to drive traffic all of the data is being recorded as direct and not google(cpc)…and it not reporting any traffic from adwords (which my wallet tells my otherwise!)It is only for the past two days including today. Is anyone else seeing this? Is it a glitch?

The simple answer is that in February, Google notified us that we need to link our analytics account to our AdWords accounts to pass this information. So if you have not done so, and your Analytics data is looking a bit empty, go ahead and link up those accounts. Brad has a good post explaining how to link up your accounts.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google Analytics Help.

Speacialized SEO hosting. How to win the SEO game.

caribbeaninternationaltrading is a hosting firm that specializes in SEO hosting.

Our specialized hosting is extremely effective for back linking and micro sites.
It is especially beneficial because from one server our clients can enjoy geographical diversity with IP ranges from various providers in multiple cities and countries.

Pricing depends on server and IP configuration:
Shared IP's on a shared server
Dedicated IP's on a shared server
Dedicated IP's on a dedicated server

Below is a brief overview of the caribbeaninternationaltrading Hosting Network:

Get 1 IP from 750 different Class C's with minimal logins
Geographical diversity
Located in 87 data centers around the world
Collocation server rooms are all Tier 1 solutions
Lines available in US, Canada and Europe
Data centers are all backed up by multiple generators with 10,000 gallons of diesel, diverse power grids and Fiber routes

Please let me know what your needs are and we can build it. The best thing to do is to set up a time for us to speak in more detail.

www.caribbeaninternationaltrading

Thank you and I look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

www.caribbeaninternationaltrading.com

Sven Mathura
CEO
Elis Mathura
President
sales@caribbeaninternationaltrading.com

Are Twitter & Facebook Overexposed?

Are you tired of hearing about social networking? Or are you still actively involved? Do you feel pressure to join social networks but don't want to? Do you feel that Twitter and Facebook are overexposed to the point that they are no longer "cool", and have lost their "geek-cred"? Please feel free to supply me with your own stories for an article I am putting together, and let me know if I can use your name and contact info? and perhaps contact you at a later date for interview?
sven mathura

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Brand Experience Vs Customer Retention

Brand Experience Vs Customer Retention
"Real world dynamics, competition and me-too products and services however act as spoilers in the marketing space. Consumers too have become more brand-savvy and with increased brand expectations, it’s becoming tougher for marketers to deliver on their brand promise to potential and existing customers. So, what’s the way out for marketers?"

To read more visit http://www.caribbeaninternationaltrading.com/


CMO sven mathura

sales@caribbeaninternationaltrading.com Free Consultation

SPAM Ebay partnership offer‏

careful this spam

From: Maksim Orlov (admin@coretechsupport.com)
You may not know this sender.Mark as safe|Mark as junk
Sent: Wed 4/01/09 5:27 PM
To: smathura@hotmail.com

Good morning, We've found your e-mail at www.ebay.com web site and we have business proposal for you. As I seeyou have high positive feedback rating and have good experience in online business, so I think we cando business together.Our company "Nbstock",resell computers,digital cameras,elecronics and other goods in Russian Federation,You can check our web site to familiraze with our company - www.nbstock.ruWe offer for our customers to buy goods directly from US stores it more cheaper then buy in Russian Local dealers.Also we prepare goods from USA after we receive them in our warehouse. Custom clearance and localithation( install Russian Software put Russin symbols on keyboard), so our customers recieve ready for use products and price cheaper then buy from local dealers. Quantity of orders from USA stores grows every day. So we need more partners in USA for order processing.You are selling goods on ebay and you have good experience with shipping procedure Requirements:- Home Computer with e-mail account and ability to check your e-mailbox at least twice a day;- Adults only accepted (we cannot hire underage people);- Contact phone;- Ability to handle packages weight up to 20 pounds(get them to the post office). Duty:- Receive packages- Check content for damages and missing parts (to avoid international returns)- Ship packages Salary: 30$ for each shipped package;10$ for cheking content of package;10$ for each repacking procedure; This work will take about 1-2 h day, you not need invest any your money, all postage fees pays our company. If you interested in this partnership please email me : maksim_orlov@live.com Best wishes Maksim Orlov