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The ADHD gifted – Tortured Geniuses?

May 16th, 2010
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The ADHD gifted – Tortured Geniuses?

There was the episode of Sex and the City where Carrie dates this gifted jazz musician Ray King, because she’s so taken with his nonstop creativity; as she gets to know him better though, she finds how he can’t talk to her about anything, for longer than 10 seconds without getting bored and going to play an instrument before getting bored again and impulsively painting a few strokes. He was, if you haven’t guessed, ADHD gifted. There has to be something about supreme powers of creativity and attention deficit disorder. The ADHD gifted have actually created the whole world if you would look at the All in-Star list of who has it. Among the supremely creative, there are Beethoven, Mozart, Leonardo da Vinci, and Walt Disney. Among scientists and engineers who created the civilized world, there are Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Newton, Einstein, the Wright brothers, Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. That’s not too shabby a list at all – it is enough to make you want to find a way to get ADHD yourself.

They say that about two in one hundred children are diagnosed with ADHD symptoms like having a fidgeting problem, trouble waiting one’s turn, having trouble concentrating and remembering things, and having trouble organizing. The trouble is, ADHD and giftedness may more or less have the same kinds of visible qualities in a child. What they tend to call an attention deficit problem, may actually be the effects of being an over-intelligent and creative child, impatient with his current situation. Did you know that when they say that ADHD gifted children have trouble concentrating, they actually mean that they are unable to find the interest to concentrate? Children like this can actually concentrate better than normal children; they just have trouble directing their concentration at will.

An ADHD gifted child, usually doesn’t struggle apparently with his or her problem as much as a regular ADHD child. The child may effortlessly do everything expected in school; the forgetfulness or fidgeting may just be overlooked as a result. The ADHD in a gifted child does not necessarily have to be cured; as you can probably see, the ADHD can actually push the child to work harder at his or her strengths. However, a proper enlightened teacher can often help the child develop neglected areas that the child was too impatient to think about himself. Patience is such a virtue, and having the child slowly try to develop that area, could help the child in the future.

Before you try to get your child any kind of treatment, you do need to be aware that in an ADHD gifted child the giftedness and impairment go together; you probably do not want to do anything that could suppress the gift. Contact psychologists and psychiatrists, as many different specialties as you can, before you arrive at a decision. The psychiatric and medical community is as prone to fads and trends as the rest of us. Ritalin, the drug for ADHD is being pushed like some commodity these days; you don’t want your child to get caught up in all of this. If you could get a variety of healthcare professionals agreeing that your child would benefit from medication, then alone would it be a good idea. Until then, who would want to mess a good thing, a future Mozart?

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Buy Birth Control Pills Online

May 15th, 2010
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Buy Birth Control Pills Online

Like just about everything else out there, the price of contraception has been rising steadily over the years. If you’re currently on the pill, then you know it can cost quite a bit to keep up with your monthly prescriptions even with health insurance footing most of the bill. If you don’t have health insurance, then this expense becomes even more of a burden. That’s why many women now choose to buy birth control pills online.

Buying birth control pills online is often much cheaper than getting your prescription filled down at the corner pharmacy. There are plenty of legitimate web-based pharmacies that offer the exact same high-quality medication you’re used to in the precise dosage that you need for a lot less than you’re paying right now. Many of these virtual retailers are headquartered outside the United States, which exempts them from many of the taxes and fees that American entities are required to pay. This lowers the effective cost of the medications, which allows them to pass the savings on to their customers. The net result is that getting birth control pills online is a budget-friendly way to manage your contraception.

Some of these Internet pharmacies require prescriptions, but many don’t. Many women like the fact that these stores don’t ask for a prescription because it means they don’t have to pay for a doctor’s visit in addition to the medication itself. But I recommend going to the gynecologist at least one time to see what kind of oral contraception she wants to put you on. The pill comes in different formulations, so you want to be sure you’re getting the one that’s right for your body. Once you have that initial prescription and confirm that the particular formulation works without any adverse side effects, then you can go ahead and reorder your birth control pills online in the future.

If you’ve never bought medication over the web before, then you might be concerned about the legitimacy of the product you’re purchasing. Will you be getting the real pill and not some placebo? This is a valid question that is definitely worth asking. The answer is most places that sell birth control pills online are indeed legitimate. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t last long because irate customers would flood the internet with warnings to stay away from that website. Just make sure you find out as much about the site you’re planning to buy from before you submit your order so you can see if other folks have had issues with them. Otherwise, you should be fine.

A one-month supply of oral contraception can cost up to $50 in some cities, but fortunately cheaper alternatives exist. If you’re interested in spending less money on your prescriptions, then maybe you should consider buying birth control pills online.

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Index of /articles/articles

May 14th, 2010
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Index of /articles/articles

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Emotional stress is bad for your health! Effective ways of coping

March 19th, 2010
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Emotional stress is bad for your health! Effective ways of coping

All of us experience some degree of emotional stress on a fairly frequent basis. Our fast-paced lives and stringent schedules seem to invite stress. Never enough time, financial worries, job stress and family problems all contribute. The fact is that emotional stress wears away at your good health. It can affect your immune system response negatively, making you more vulnerable to illness. If you have certain existing medical conditions, such as high blood pressure, emotional stress isn’t going to help. Given that we’re all subject to this type of stress, at least occasionally, the name of the game is to keep the stress to a minimum. Here are a few tried and true ways to reduce stress of an emotional nature.

Your first step should be to assess your personality type. If you’re the laid-back type, you have an advantage, in that it’s easier for you to shrug off minor stresses. However, if you’re the hyper type, tending towards anxiety and nervousness, stressful situations tend to build on one another, leaving you a nervous wreck in very short order, while also significantly affecting your health. In either case, once you’ve made this self assessment, you can better judge how many of these stress reducing ideas you’ll need to pursue to get on a better footing with life.

It’s a good idea to keep a log where you record situations that bring on emotional stress. This helps you identify your personal ‘triggers’. A small notebook is all you need. Just a brief description is all you need to later recall the entire event. For example, ‘forgot to pay the phone bill’ or ‘conflict with Mary at work’ should suffice. You’ll find that when you make a note, over time you’ll start to see patterns which reveal characteristics of your own behavior which may consistently lead to stressing out. You may find that, due to procrastinating, you’re frequently late accomplishing tasks that exacerbate your stress.

Certainly, there are occasions when emotional stress is warranted, such as worrying over a child’s illness. The problem with this type of stress is that it has a ’snowball’ effect when you allow every little thing to pile up in one indistinguishable mass of worry and you soon find yourself overwhelmed. Your log can help to sort out the issues over which you have control. Procrastination, for example, can lead to many unnecessary hassles. In this case, by making a calendar of events you need to attend to before a problem arises can go a long way to reducing emotional stress.

On the other hand, your log may simply reveal that, due to an anxious and nervous disposition, minor stresses form the majority of your entries. In this case, it’s most often helpful to focus on getting rid of some of that nervous energy. Some people just have ‘energy to burn’, quite literally. Implement a program of regular exercise. A brisk walk in the fresh air twice daily works wonders for staving off bouts of emotional stress. Some people find that rigorous cleaning around the house (think cleaning the oven, vacuuming, washing walls) serves to alleviate stress in two ways: you burn off excess energy and gain the satisfaction of a visibly cleaner home.

Hobbies of a less physical nature, such as reading, drawing or knitting are good techniques for reducing stress, especially if your health doesn’t permit excessively vigorous physical activities. Your object here is to allow your mind to be occupied with something you enjoy, rather than letting yourself stew over emotional issues which really aren’t significant in the long run. This method helps you take a step back, relax and put things in perspective.

Other primarily mental ‘exercises’ that prove helpful to many people include meditation and prayer, which also gets your mind out of the immediate. Giving yourself a spiritual lift has an added bonus, in that your body and mind relax. Practicing yoga is another good way to reduce emotional stress and which doesn’t put undue stress on your body, while clearing your mind, leaving you feeling refreshed and ultimately, more limber and fit.

Last, if you’re not the laid-back type, you may want to consider reducing your consumption of caffeine. While you may love coffee, the caffeine can contribute mightily to an undesirable rush of adrenalin, which only worsens your susceptibility to physical and emotional stress. Try swapping an herbal tea or a glass of juice for that third cup of coffee.

Although emotional stress is unfortunately a fact of life for most of us, you can certainly minimize it, using all of the methods outlined here. You’ll find that your emotional balance improves, as well as feeling more energetic, sleeping better and experiencing fewer illnesses. To your good health!

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Body Modification

March 17th, 2010
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Body Modification

Body modification is a very broad term that encompasses many different kinds of procedures that alter the body in some way. If you think about it, almost everything changes our bodies somehow. When we take medicine or any other kind of drug, or receive surgical operations we?re altering our bodily functions. When we lift weights or exercising, we?re altering our muscles so that they become bigger and stronger, or losing weight so that our bodies become slimmer and we become healthier.

However, body modification is a reference to procedures that change the body for purely aesthetic or cultural purposes. Common forms of body modification are body piercing and tattoos. As extreme as body modification sounds, most body modification is relatively minor. Many people get their ears pierced, and it?s not too uncommon to see piercings on other parts of the body such as the nose or belly button. Tattoos are definitely a common sight, and these types of body modification usually draw attention but they?re not considered shockingly abnormal. But body modification does get extreme in some cases, and that?s when heads start to turn, and remain turned. Tongue rings and extensive tattoo art get a little more attention than usual, but that?s just the tip of the iceberg. Surgical operations that are cosmetic fall under the category of body modification, and while even plastic surgery is becoming more common it?s still a big deal when it?s performed. Breast implants, rhinoplasty, liposuction, botox and facelifts might be nonchalantly discussed nowadays, but people are rarely nonchalant when witnessing cosmetic surgery in the flesh.

Body modification isn?t only a form of artistic expression?in some cultures certain procedures like circumcision are mandated, and female genital mutilation is a particular form of body modification that has gained much attention in recent times due to the horrifying nature of the operation. As grotesque as some aesthetic modifications might be, they are usually consensual whereas female genital mutilation is performed without the consent of the victim.

Our bodies are ours and no one else?s, and everyone has the right to do what they please with their own bodies. However, this freedom becomes complicated when people modify their bodies in seemingly destructive ways. Sometimes body modification can be dangerous, and some feel that extreme forms of body modification such as repetitive plastic surgery are signs of unstable mental faculties. In any case, what?s certain is that body modification should never be performed without the consent of the individual, but what?s uncertain is what to do when people are consenting to disfigure themselves.

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Dealing With Food Intolerances

March 14th, 2010
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Dealing With Food Intolerances

Those with food allergies have had bad reactions to certain foods that may have been life threatening. Those folks know what foods they can not eat and how to avoid them. They also know what to do if they were to eat something that contains an off-limits food. Food intolerances are a bit different, as they do not trigger an allergic reaction but they may trigger something else. When a food is not dangerous, but does not always go down well, you may have an intolerance. You may have to make some adjustments to your diet if this happens to you.

Lactose intolerance is probably the best known of the food intolerances out there. This is when someone is definitely not allergic to milk, but their body does not tolerate it very well. They may get an upset stomach after they drink milk or eat a milk product, or they may spend hours in the bathroom a few hours later during and after digestion. This is certainly not a life or death problem, but it can really impact your life. Avoiding diary is the best way to deal with this most common of all food intolerances. There are some substitutions so you can have ice cream if you like.

Your food intolerances may not be as simple to pinpoint as a problem with lactose. At times, you may come down with the same symptoms as stated above, but you are not sure why you are having them. This is when you have to pay more attention to your diet and you have to take some time to weed a few things out. You may have reactions long enough to have a few suspects in mind. What you should do is to eliminate all of the possible problems from your diet and then add them back in one at a time. This helps you pinpoint the problem food.

Hopefully, you are going to find that your food intolerances are simple and that the foods in question are easy enough to avoid. However, some things are going to be a bit harder, especially if they are favorites of yours. Fats can often trigger food intolerances, and you know fat is hard to avoid. It may mean that you have to eat leaner meats and learn to make substitutions so that you have less fat, but you may not entirely rid your diet of it. You shouldn’t either, as some fats are essential for a healthy mind and body.

Don’t mistake food intolerances for a simple illness. Just because you got sick once from something does not mean that food is bad for your body. You could have just caught a bug that reared up when you ate that particular food. However, if you find that you are uncomfortable, nauseous, and in the bathroom for hours each time you eat something in particular, you may have to face a life without that food. At the very least, you can have it when you know you don’t have anywhere special to go if it means that much to you.

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What are the basic allergy symptoms? What to do for relief?

March 12th, 2010
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What are the basic allergy symptoms? What to do for relief?

There are millions of people in the U.S. that suffer from allergy symptoms, due to a variety of causes. Some people are allergic to animal fur, others have food allergies, many have plant allergies. No matter what the cause of the allergy, symptoms are much the same. Rashes and hives are common symptoms. Swelling in the face, watering eyes, coughing and sneezing are typical symptoms. Headaches can be in this picture too, sometimes very severe. Allergy symptoms can be so severe that the person has trouble breathing. So allergy symptoms are not any fun at all.

If you suffer these symptoms, the first thing you need to do is get an appointment to have a panel scratch test to determine to what you’re allergic. It’s not even a good idea to take OTCs for allergic symptoms. Some people have a terrible reaction to decongestants, while an antihistamine is fine. There was a case where a woman took an OTC for seasonal plant allergies, which sent her into outer space. The reason turned out to be that the OTC remedy contained a particular plant to which she was violently allergic. So, it’s important to find out the source of your allergy symptoms before taking any remedy.

Another thing to help you nail down the cause is to simply be observant. If you allergy symptoms only appear in spring, odds are that spring plants have something to do with your symptoms. If every time you pet and play with your dog, you start sneezing, you’ve got a clue. Pay attention to what you’re eating, too. Maybe you’re allergic to the wheat in your favorite cereal. If you periodically break out in rashes or hives, try to notice what you ate just prior. Make notes of any correlations you can make in this way and describe the allergy symptoms that showed up following exposure to a possible allergen. Take your notes with you to the doctor’s and let them do the analysis. Such information can speed the process of getting some relief from those miserable symptoms.

The scratch panel of allergy tests can be expensive. Doctors sometimes limit the test to the most likely culprits. If these are discovered right away, you can save some expense on further testing. If you need to have the full spectrum analyzed and can’t afford it, check with your County Health Department to see if they can do the tests.

Here’s how the scratch test work. The doctor applies a tiny amount of various substances to which you might be allergic. Using, a fine comb-like tool the area is scratched, so that the skin reacts to the allergen on the edges of the scratched skin. These tests don’t hurt and won’t make you sick.

There’s no reason to suffer allergy symptoms for at least a few months out of the year. Get some help, but from a professional! Don’t experiment with OTCs. You could end up sicker than you were!

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Separation Anxiety Disorders

March 12th, 2010
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Separation Anxiety Disorders

A psychoanalyst named John Bowlby researched extensively in child development and came up with the idea of attachment theory, which is still very influential today and has been built upon since. The idea has to do with how infants bond with their caregivers and how that affects their development. In its very basic form, attachment theory classifies individuals into 3 different attachment styles: secure, anxious/ambivalent, and avoidant. If the infant?s caregiver (primarily the mother or parents) is responsive to their needs, the infant develops a secure attachment style. If the caregiver is inconsistently responsive, sometimes there and sometimes not, the infant develops an anxious/ambivalent style. If the caregiver is not responsive, the infant develops an avoidant attachment style. Generally, secure individuals easily form normal relationships, anxious/ambivalent individuals are worried about their relationships and might get involved in them excessively, and avoidant individuals are more withdrawn in relationships.

These styles were exhibited in Ainsworth?s Strange Situation study in which infants were separated from their mothers. Secure babies cried when their mothers left, and were happy when she came back. Anxious/ambivalent babies cried when their mothers left, then were happy that the mother came back, but also upset that she left. Avoidant babies had little reaction when the mother left, and little reaction when she returned. When the baby cries in distress at the mother?s absence, this is referred to as separation anxiety. Separation anxiety is a healthy sign of an attachment to a caregiver.

However, sometimes this separation anxiety becomes excessive and it becomes a case of a separation anxiety disorder. Separation anxiety disorders can occur in adults as well as children, and it?s actually more common in adults. Symptoms of separation anxiety disorders include extreme degrees of distress when a significant other is absent, fear that the significant other won?t return, fear of being alone, fear of events that will result in being separated from the significant other, the need to sleep with the significant other close by and recurring nightmares about being separated. Separation anxiety disorders are correlated with lower education and unstable home life, and individuals suffering from them often suffer from other psychiatric disorders like panic disorder later in life.

It?s important for clinical psychologists to be aware of the prevalence of separation anxiety disorders, but they?re also difficult to study because it?s hard to draw the line between when separation anxiety is normal and when it becomes excessive. There are factors like culture and traumatic events that might contribute to anxiety. This is why there?s still a lot more to be understood about how separation anxiety disorders work and how they develop.

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Five formulas for a recipe for salad to keep you deliciously in the pink of health!

March 11th, 2010
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Five formulas for a recipe for salad to keep you deliciously in the pink of health!

When you tell the family, ?We’re having a salad with dinner tonight?, everyone envisions the simple tossed salad. While most people enjoy a tossed salad, it becomes old if you serve it every day. You might even think that it’s ridiculous to have a recipe for salad. You toss the greens, add tomatoes, onions and croutons, right? However, if you want to get everyone closer to consuming those 5-9 servings of fruits and veggies a day, it helps to have several formulas for different types of salad from which to create a variety of recipes for salad. Here we provide five different formulas, each with many and diverse tastes and virtues. Variety is the spice of life!

A recipe for salad made with fruit makes a great dessert. Ambrosia is easy to make, inexpensive and a crowd pleaser. Fresh fruits in season may be combined with frozen fruits for a nice mix. For example, a sliced banana, fresh strawberries, an apple and some frozen blueberries go well together. Mix with a container of pina colada flavored yogurt, a few tablespoons of shredded coconut and some non-dairy whipped topping. These are all healthy ingredients with just enough sweetness to satisfy the criteria for dessert. Mix and match your fruits and flavor of yogurt to your personal tastes.

Another great dessert recipe for salad is the old fashioned Jell-O(TM) salad. You can buy the unsweetened type and use a sugar substitute, such as Splenda(R), which tastes just like sugar, for a healthier result. Even vegetables will make the grade here. Using orange Jell-O(TM) as your base, let it gel until half firm and shred a couple of carrots into the gelatin. Yes, it’s a sneaky, but tasty way to get some antioxidants into your dessert. A can of unsweetened fruit cocktail mixed into the gelatin is another good dessert, snack or lunch side dish.

If you’re looking for a recipe for salad that works as an entree, try a shrimp, crab, or Krab Louie. This classic recipe for salad is a nutritional powerhouse. Use a mix of greens as the bed for this masterpiece. To each serving, add one hard boiled egg, tomato wedges, thinly sliced Spanish onions, arranged around the edges of the bowl. In the center, add 2-3 ounces of your seafood and serve with the traditional 1000 Island dressing.

A chef’s salad bears some similarity to the Louie, works well as an entree and covers the nutritional bases. The main difference between the two is that a Chef’s salad is more of a free-for-all recipe for salad. What goes in to this salad is up to the chef! Here’s an opportunity to use up all those leftover bits of veggies you’ve saved from previous meals. Practically anything goes. Corn, beans, beets, a diced chicken breast or some diced ham comes from your leftovers. Diced onions, sliced radishes, a couple of sliced raw mushrooms or celery sticks and you’ve got a hearty, satisfying meal. Add some garlic bread and everyone’s happy. Plus, you’ve used up some leftovers that might have gone to waste.

The Caesar salad is a classically elegant recipe for salad, which can be used as a first course or as a main dish. Tear up pieces of hearts of Romaine, add a few tablespoons of minced anchovies per serving, grate or shave fresh Parmesan over the dish. Sprinkle with croutons and serve with Caesar dressing.

So there you have five generic salad styles, all healthy and all delectable. This is not to say there’s no room on the menu for the simple tossed salad. Bon Appetit!

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Free, healthy recipes for family night or party time!

March 9th, 2010
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Free, healthy recipes for family night or party time!

Almost all of us are beginning to focus on eating healthier. Our doctors are always telling us about the virtues and results of a healthy diet. Eating right now can save us from developing a lot of health conditions as we age, keep us looking younger longer and stay trim and fit. How can you argue with that? Naturally, you also want the food to taste as good as it looks. Can you have all this in each meal you serve? Sure! So where do you get the recipes for these marvelous meals? Here are two excellent venues in which you’ll find an abundance of free, healthy recipes your family and guests will applaud.

Our first source is your neighborhood supermarket. Surely you’ve seen those racks of recipe cards, conveniently placed by the meat counter or produce aisle. There are usually dozens and dozens of individual free, healthy recipes for you to browse as you ponder ?What’s for dinner tonight?? How do you know they’re healthy? So long as the ingredients don’t contain major amounts of fat or rich, buttery sauces, it’s a safe bet that these recipes are generally good for you. These postcard-size, free, healthy recipes have a photo of the finished dish on the front and the recipe printed on the back. The supermarket managers are up to date on the current trend towards healthy eating. After all, they want you to buy their products and make that recipe, so you’ll rarely find recipes that would have your doctor wagging her finger at you.

With such a huge choice of dishes, it’s not a bad idea to go through the whole rack, if you have the time, taking a copy of all those which appeal to you. At home, you can sort them into your recipe box for future meal ideas. The photo on the front helps you when planning meals and makes short work of your shopping list. The supermarket racks of free, healthy recipes essentially provide you with an ongoing free cookbook. As the seasons change, you’ll find new recipes with seasonal produce items.

The second source of free, healthy recipes is ? you guessed it ? online. There are tens of thousands of recipe sites online. The only difference between the supermarket selection and the online choices are that online, there are many more temptations for slightly less than healthy, but nonetheless fabulous treats. From triple fudge to Hollandaise sauce, there’s no shortage of calories! However, there are countless other free, healthy recipes from which to choose. Most recipe sites are organized by categories, so you can steer clear of recipes with too much sugar, fat and other things we know we shouldn’t eat ? but occasionally! Some organize by type of dish, such as entree, side, dessert or appetizers. Others get very specific, with categories for diabetics, heart patients and other conditions requiring a special diet. At any rate, you can find a recipe for almost any dish you can think of, or might have enjoyed at a restaurant and want to replicate at home. It’s likely you’ll find several versions of Szechuan Chicken, for example. Read through each version, noting differing ingredients or amounts and decide which sounds best to your taste. Print out your favorite free, healthy recipes and store them in a binder on your desk.

Using both of these strategies to gather free, healthy recipes helps you create a customized cookbook, suited precisely to the needs and tastes of your family, along with some party foods for special occasions and holidays. Look at how much money you’ve saved! Your free, healthy recipes pay you back with happy campers at the table, every time. Your doctor will be pleased, too.

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