Low dopamine levels during withdrawal promote relapse to smoking

Public release date: 8-Feb-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Rhiannon Bugno
Biol.Psych@utsouthwestern.edu
214-648-0880
Elsevier

Suggests a new study in Biological Psychiatry

Philadelphia, PA, February 8, 2012 Mark Twain said, "Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times." Many smokers would agree that it's difficult to stay away from cigarettes. A new study in Biological Psychiatry this month now suggests that low dopamine levels that occur as a result of withdrawal from smoking actually promote the relapse to smoking.

Dopamine is a brain chemical messenger that is critically important in reward and motivation. Some research suggests that one of its central roles is to send a signal to the brain to 'seek something enjoyable'. Indeed, dopamine is released during many rewarding experiences, including taking drugs, smoking, having sex, and eating food.

This signal seems to depend on the dopamine which is released in response to environmental cues, called phasic release, as opposed to the tonic seepage of small amounts of dopamine from nerve cells. The tonic release of dopamine is implicated in helping the dopamine system set the level of its reactivity to inputs.

Since dopamine is released by smoking, it makes sense that dopamine levels become abnormal when a smoker chooses to stop smoking. Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Texas undertook their study to characterize these changes.

They studied mice that were administered nicotine, the active constituent of cigarettes, for several weeks. The researchers then withheld the nicotine and measured the subsequent alterations in dopamine signaling during the withdrawal period.

They reported that withdrawal from nicotine produced a deficit in dopamine in which the basal dopamine concentration and tonic dopamine signals were disproportionately lower than the phasic dopamine signals. Re-exposure to nicotine reversed the hypodopaminergic state.

"This study is an elegant example of yet another way that addiction 'hijacks' the reward system. The phasic release of dopamine triggers us to seek things that, in theory, help us to adapt to our environment," commented Dr. John Krystal, editor of Biological Psychiatry. "However, in addiction the phasic release of dopamine is heightened and it triggers the pursuit of abused substances. This disturbance of dopamine function would, conceivably, make it that much harder to avoid seeking drugs of abuse."

According to the authors, these findings indicate that medications which could help elevate tonic dopamine levels during withdrawal may be successful treatment strategies for nicotine-dependent individuals attempting to quit smoking. Theoretically, such a treatment could help normalize any fluctuating dopamine levels from the sudden lack of nicotine, and also lessen the dopamine-influenced urges to seek out the nicotine, leading to relapse.

###

The article is "Withdrawal from Chronic Nicotine Exposure Alters Dopamine Signaling Dynamics in the Nucleus Accumbens" by Lifen Zhang, Yu Dong, William M. Doyon, and John A. Dani (doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.07.024). The article appears in Biological Psychiatry, Volume 71, Issue 3 (February 1, 2012), published by Elsevier.

Notes for editors

Full text of the article is available to credentialed journalists upon request; contact Rhiannon Bugno at +1 214 648 0880 or Biol.Psych@utsouthwestern.edu. Journalists wishing to interview the authors may contact John Dani, Ph.D., at +713 798 3710 or jdani@bcm.edu.

The authors' affiliations and disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available in the article.

John H. Krystal, M.D., is Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine and a research psychiatrist at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. His disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available here.

About Biological Psychiatry

Biological Psychiatry is the official journal of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, whose purpose is to promote excellence in scientific research and education in fields that investigate the nature, causes, mechanisms and treatments of disorders of thought, emotion, or behavior. In accord with this mission, this peer-reviewed, rapid-publication, international journal publishes both basic and clinical contributions from all disciplines and research areas relevant to the pathophysiology and treatment of major psychiatric disorders.

The journal publishes novel results of original research which represent an important new lead or significant impact on the field, particularly those addressing genetic and environmental risk factors, neural circuitry and neurochemistry, and important new therapeutic approaches. Reviews and commentaries that focus on topics of current research and interest are also encouraged.

Biological Psychiatry is one of the most selective and highly cited journals in the field of psychiatric neuroscience. It is ranked 4th out of 126 Psychiatry titles and 15th out of 237 Neurosciences titles in the Journal Citations Reports published by Thomson Reuters. The 2010 Impact Factor for Biological Psychiatry is 8.674.

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include SciVerse ScienceDirect, SciVerse Scopus, Reaxys, MD Consult and Nursing Consult, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.

A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

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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: 8-Feb-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Rhiannon Bugno
Biol.Psych@utsouthwestern.edu
214-648-0880
Elsevier

Suggests a new study in Biological Psychiatry

Philadelphia, PA, February 8, 2012 Mark Twain said, "Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times." Many smokers would agree that it's difficult to stay away from cigarettes. A new study in Biological Psychiatry this month now suggests that low dopamine levels that occur as a result of withdrawal from smoking actually promote the relapse to smoking.

Dopamine is a brain chemical messenger that is critically important in reward and motivation. Some research suggests that one of its central roles is to send a signal to the brain to 'seek something enjoyable'. Indeed, dopamine is released during many rewarding experiences, including taking drugs, smoking, having sex, and eating food.

This signal seems to depend on the dopamine which is released in response to environmental cues, called phasic release, as opposed to the tonic seepage of small amounts of dopamine from nerve cells. The tonic release of dopamine is implicated in helping the dopamine system set the level of its reactivity to inputs.

Since dopamine is released by smoking, it makes sense that dopamine levels become abnormal when a smoker chooses to stop smoking. Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Texas undertook their study to characterize these changes.

They studied mice that were administered nicotine, the active constituent of cigarettes, for several weeks. The researchers then withheld the nicotine and measured the subsequent alterations in dopamine signaling during the withdrawal period.

They reported that withdrawal from nicotine produced a deficit in dopamine in which the basal dopamine concentration and tonic dopamine signals were disproportionately lower than the phasic dopamine signals. Re-exposure to nicotine reversed the hypodopaminergic state.

"This study is an elegant example of yet another way that addiction 'hijacks' the reward system. The phasic release of dopamine triggers us to seek things that, in theory, help us to adapt to our environment," commented Dr. John Krystal, editor of Biological Psychiatry. "However, in addiction the phasic release of dopamine is heightened and it triggers the pursuit of abused substances. This disturbance of dopamine function would, conceivably, make it that much harder to avoid seeking drugs of abuse."

According to the authors, these findings indicate that medications which could help elevate tonic dopamine levels during withdrawal may be successful treatment strategies for nicotine-dependent individuals attempting to quit smoking. Theoretically, such a treatment could help normalize any fluctuating dopamine levels from the sudden lack of nicotine, and also lessen the dopamine-influenced urges to seek out the nicotine, leading to relapse.

###

The article is "Withdrawal from Chronic Nicotine Exposure Alters Dopamine Signaling Dynamics in the Nucleus Accumbens" by Lifen Zhang, Yu Dong, William M. Doyon, and John A. Dani (doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.07.024). The article appears in Biological Psychiatry, Volume 71, Issue 3 (February 1, 2012), published by Elsevier.

Notes for editors

Full text of the article is available to credentialed journalists upon request; contact Rhiannon Bugno at +1 214 648 0880 or Biol.Psych@utsouthwestern.edu. Journalists wishing to interview the authors may contact John Dani, Ph.D., at +713 798 3710 or jdani@bcm.edu.

The authors' affiliations and disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available in the article.

John H. Krystal, M.D., is Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine and a research psychiatrist at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. His disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available here.

About Biological Psychiatry

Biological Psychiatry is the official journal of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, whose purpose is to promote excellence in scientific research and education in fields that investigate the nature, causes, mechanisms and treatments of disorders of thought, emotion, or behavior. In accord with this mission, this peer-reviewed, rapid-publication, international journal publishes both basic and clinical contributions from all disciplines and research areas relevant to the pathophysiology and treatment of major psychiatric disorders.

The journal publishes novel results of original research which represent an important new lead or significant impact on the field, particularly those addressing genetic and environmental risk factors, neural circuitry and neurochemistry, and important new therapeutic approaches. Reviews and commentaries that focus on topics of current research and interest are also encouraged.

Biological Psychiatry is one of the most selective and highly cited journals in the field of psychiatric neuroscience. It is ranked 4th out of 126 Psychiatry titles and 15th out of 237 Neurosciences titles in the Journal Citations Reports published by Thomson Reuters. The 2010 Impact Factor for Biological Psychiatry is 8.674.

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include SciVerse ScienceDirect, SciVerse Scopus, Reaxys, MD Consult and Nursing Consult, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.

A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

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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/2012-02/e-ldl020812.php

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The world Travel and leisure | MinareTravel

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Source: http://minaretblog.com/the-world-travel-and-leisure

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The Seriousness Business of Succession Planning | Nonprofit ...

Home
? Management, News ? The Seriousness Business of Succession Planning

Is your nonprofit ready if your Executive Director gave their notice tomorrow?? Has the executive team and board engaged in serious conversations about succession planning and the long and shorter term issues related to a change of leadership???How?would?your nonprofit?manage?an unplanned, unforseen change at the highest level?

Nonprofit boards and executives should not shy away from creating a succession plan for fear of personal affronts or hurt feelings ? the importance of this kind of planning to the organization?s strategic plan?cannot?be understated. ?In turn, succession planning should never be used as a veiled threat or first mentioned during a power struggle between the board and executive director. It is not personal or petty; rather it is simply part of good system maintenance to insure the uninterrupted performance of your service or advocacy organization.

A recent study out of Wichita State University Center for Community Support and Research?indicates that the majority of nonprofits (72 percent) in their region had executive leadership at or close to retirement age. Many also required assistance in the areas of emergency back-up planning, succession policy and planned departures, as well as general leadership development and talent management.?? Approximately 33 percent had used an interim director at some point, with half of those agencies reporting that said director was selected from within the organization.

A note to consultants ? the Wichita study found that just under half (56 percent) of the responding agencies would be likely to pay for outside help in the areas of succession planning and transition assistance.? Are you offering these services to your clients?

Source: http://nonprofitresourcememo.org/2012/02/the-seriousness-business-of-succession-planning/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-seriousness-business-of-succession-planning

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appliances houston - 4 Useful Tips to find Best Kitchen Appliances ...

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Are you remodeling your kitchen this winter but finding it difficult where to start from? If such is the case, start with buying kitchen appliances. Houston in Texas has a predominantly warm climate. If you live in Houston, it is high time to look for best kitchen appliances now, so that you won't need to worry about buying new ones this coming summer. With Christmas and New Years celebration over and with people having settled down in their normal lives after the annual shopping spree, companies selling kitchen appliances and offering designer cabinets to Houston residents are now offering attractive discounts on products to clear out their stock. Homeowners who have earlier thought of remodeling their kitchen or buying new kitchen appliances and cabinets before Christmas but couldn't afford to invest then, now have a golden chance before them! But before you go on to buy appliances for your home this season, it is wise to select the best place for making your purchase. Here are some useful tips to help you select best kitchen appliances in Houston.

Opt for local companies: For residents of Houston, appliance and cabinet seller showrooms abound in prominent shopping malls like The Galleria. But not everyone can afford the luxurious items for sale in such posh shops. For the average household, investing in kitchen remodeling, designer cabinets or home appliance is a big thing. Hence, it is advisable to opt for a local company selling appliances and cabinets of good quality to homeowners which wont require them to invest a considerable sum. Word of mouth: While looking to buy appliances, Houston homeowners can ask their friends and neighbors for recommendations. Often a good referral turns out to be more effective than a popular review published in a magazine. Once you have zeroed on a local company offering 'state-of-the-art' kitchen cabinets and home appliances at a competitive price, get in touch with them at the earliest. Inquire: Make an inquiry about the different products they sell before buying new appliances or kitchen cabinets for your home. Compare the product pricing with other companies before taking the final purchase decision. Check warranty on products: It is highly recommended that you check whether the designer cabinets and home appliances sold by the companies are of the best quality and whether any any product warranty is offered. After all, remodeling your kitchen with new cabinets or replacing your old appliances with new ones involves a considerable expenditure. Hence, it is best to conform with your appliance dealer prior to purchase.

If you're looking to buy appliances or cabinets, Houston in Texas is the ideal place to be. There are reputed sellers in Houston offering the very best products from top appliance and cabinetry brands including -- Asko, Best, Bosch, Amana, just to name a few. The pricing for these Houston appliances is quite reasonable and hence affordable for most house owners.

Kevin Roberts is an acclaimed writer and entrepreneur. He has worked in some of the most reputed companies in the home furnishing industry. He writes articles, features, and columns on home improvement in several renowned industry publications. Here he offers some useful tips to help homeowners in Houston select the best appliances and cabinets.

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3 mushroom pickers found alive after 6 days

PORTLAND, Ore.?? A family of three huddled on the edge of an old-growth Oregon forest for six days, lost and cold, unable to signal search helicopters flying low and slow overhead.

Without food, water or even warm clothing, Belinda and Daniel Conne, along with their 25-year-old son, Michael, survived by drinking water from streams and taking shelter in a hollowed-out tree.

On Saturday, they managed to crawl to a clearing, where a search helicopter spotted them several miles outside the community of Gold Beach, roughly 330 miles south-southwest of Portland.

"It's a miracle, really," Curry County Sheriff John Bishop said.

The three were airlifted to a Gold Beach hospital, where Bishop spoke with them at an emergency room. He said the Connes told him they could see search helicopters just a few hundred feet above them while they were lost but had nothing to signal them with through the thick, coastal forest vegetation.

Bishop said Daniel Conne suffered a back injury, Belinda Conne had hypothermia, and their son had a sprained foot and minor frostbite. All three also were dehydrated and hungry.

"They just got turned around," Bishop said. "They sought some shelter in a hollowed-out tree and basically they stayed in the same place. But it was heavy vegetation where they were."

'Pretty good shape'
Bishop said the three were "remarkably in pretty good shape," given the amount of time they spent outside. He said they likely could have survived for two or three more days in the area, where fresh water is plentiful but food is scarce. The weather was mostly clear, with temperatures in the 40s and 50s.

The family eventually was spotted by a search helicopter piloted by Jackson County Commissioner John Raschor. His passenger was Curry County Sheriff's Lt. John Ward.

The family was then transported by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter to Curry General Hospital in Gold Beach. A nursing supervisor said Saturday afternoon the three were in a doctor's care and were unavailable for comment.

At the hospital emergency room, Bishop said the Connes were "very thankful for the rescue" and were able to eat solid food.

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The ordeal began last Sunday when the three went out looking for hedgehog mushrooms, an orange-topped fungus prized by mushroom hunters for its sweet and nutty flavor. The three had been living in a trailer at a campsite after leaving Oklahoma for Oregon last summer.

Dusk fell during the family's hunt. They started to return to their Jeep but couldn't agree on directions.

"Pretty quickly, they found they were lost," Bishop said.

The family found a forest road next to a river bank and huddled together with their dog, a pit bull-terrier mix.

Search parties were dispatched Tuesday, when their campsite manager realized the Connes hadn't returned. The Jeep was found on a logging road Wednesday, along with two small dogs and the family's jackets.

Searchers found a trail and a few hopeful clues along the way: a can of Pepsi, mushroom-picking buckets, a few pieces of clothing.

Sinking feeling
Bishop said Daniel Conne told him he had a sinking feeling every day the family wasn't found. Daniel Conne would watch the search helicopter pass but was unable to get their attention.

"They said, 'You were right above us,'" Bishop said.

When the family was finally found Saturday, they were only 200 yards from the nearest group of searchers.

The search had focused on a 4-square-mile area. Bishop said the family was in the search area but likely kept moving, making the search for them more difficult.

"We were actually right near them all three days" of the search, Bishop said. In the area's canyons, "you think people can hear you, but they can't."

The search involved three Southern Oregon counties and one California county.

When dawn broke Saturday, Bishop said searchers entered the woods without much hope.

"We were sort of getting ready to go into body-recovery mode," he said.

A momentous move
Joe Dykes, who works at the Huntley Park campsite where the family was staying, said Belinda and Daniel Conne arrived at the campsite in July after moving there from Oklahoma. Their son arrived later.

Belinda Conne works as a housekeeper at the Jot's Resort, where motel owner Virginia McKinney said the Connes were preparing to rent a home in Gold Beach before the disappearance.

McKinney said Belinda told her she always wanted to live on the Oregon coast, and finally left Oklahoma last year with the intention of settling down.

People frequently get lost or stranded in the area where the Connes went missing, rugged country in the Klamath Mountains riddled with a maze of logging roads.

In 2006, a San Francisco family was stranded in a snowstorm on a logging road about 35 miles northeast of the search area for the Connes. James Kim died of hypothermia trying to hike out, but his wife and children were rescued by a helicopter pilot.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46265572/ns/us_news-life/

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Greek parties handed Monday EU bailout deadline (Reuters)

ATHENS (Reuters) ? Greece's coalition parties must tell the European Union by Monday whether they accept the painful terms of a new bailout deal as EU patience wears thin with political dithering in Athens over implementing reforms.

Technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos put on a brave face on Sunday as he tried to get leaders of the three parties in his government to sign off on terms of a 130 billion euro rescue, which Greece needs soon to avoid a chaotic debt default.

Papademos said in a statement the party chiefs - who may face angry voters in parliamentary polls as soon as April - had agreed measures including wage cuts and other reforms as part of spending cuts worth 1.5 percent of gross domestic product.

But a spokesman for the PASOK socialist party said a number of major issues demanded by the "Troika", representing Greece's EU, European Central Bank and IMF lenders, remained unresolved late on Sunday.

Talks on the new bailout, which would be Greece's second since 2010, and an accompanying deal to ease the country's huge debt burden via its private creditors accepting deep losses on the bonds they hold, have dragged on for weeks, stretching the EU's patience to breaking point.

Now the parties - PASOK, the conservative New Democracy and far-right LAOS - must respond to a working group of senior euro zone finance ministry officials who are preparing for a meeting of their ministers later in the week.

"The political leaders must give their response in principle by noon tomorrow, so that it can be taken to the Euro Working Group in Brussels," said PASOK spokesman Panos Beglitis.

BIG ISSUES

Beglitis made clear the leaders of the three parties still had much to negotiate as the noon (1000 GMT) deadline for a response nears, most notably on labor reforms demanded by Greece's lenders and on how to shore up domestic banks, which are up to their necks in Greek government bonds now worth a fraction of their face value.

"There are two big issues left - labor and banks ... those have been left for tomorrow," he said.

No meeting of the Euro Working Group has been formally scheduled for Monday but it could confer either by conference call or schedule a face-to-face meeting at short notice, depending on the outcome of talks in Athens.

PASOK and LAOS officials were meeting among themselves late on Sunday night and Papademos was also due to meet troika representatives again during the evening.

With Greece facing 14.5 billion euros of debt repayments in March, a bill it cannot meet without further bailout funds, the stakes could not be higher. Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said earlier in the weekend that Athens had only until Sunday night to clinch a second financing package from the lenders.

"We are on a knife edge," he said on Saturday after what he called a "very difficult" conference call with his euro zone counterparts. "The moment is very crucial."

Greek officials have emerged increasingly despondent after each round of talks, complaining that the European Central Bank, European Commission and International Monetary Fund troika was stubbornly refusing to yield on demands to cut the minimum wage level, axe holiday bonuses and fire public sector workers.

New Democracy and the far-right LAOS party in particular have staunchly opposed further wage and spending cuts, arguing they risk pushing Greece into an even deeper recession and imposing more pain on struggling Greeks.

Papademos, a former central banker, said progress had been made during Sunday's five hours of negotiations with New Democracy chief Antonis Samaras, PASOK head George Papandreou and LAOS leader George Karatzaferis.

The budget cuts worth 1.5 percent of GDP this year appeared to be more than the troika wanted initially although with the Greek economy on a downward trajectory that is a moving target.

Greece's lenders, initially demanded spending cuts worth about 1 percent of GDP -- or just above 2 billion euros -- this year, and insist all political leaders endorse the cuts irrespective of the outcome of the elections.

Papademos said the measures to cut wages and non-labor costs aimed to make the Greek economy more competitive, but he gave few details.

LIMITED PROGRESS

Athens has wrangled without luck for weeks on the bailout package and a debt restructuring plan, putting itself dangerously close to bankruptcy.

The lack of agreement has kept financial markets on tenterhooks as investors fret a chaotic default could cause shockwaves across the financial system in Europe and beyond.

The slow progress has angered Greece's European partners. Euro zone officials say finance ministers told Greece on Saturday it could not go ahead with an agreed deal to restructure privately held debt until it guaranteed it would implement reforms.

"There is a great sense of frustration that they are dragging their feet," one euro zone official said.

The troika wants agreement on all parts of the complex Greek rescue deal, including any contribution by public creditors like the ECB, before approving the bailout, a source close to the talks said.

The rescue package, drawn up in October, also includes a bond swap under which banks and insurers will take real losses of about 70 percent on the Greek debt they hold in a bid to ease Greece's debt burden by 100 billion euros.

Representatives for the private creditors held talks with Papademos on Sunday on the bond swap, which Venizelos has said is now the easier part of the overall package to resolve.

The debt swap and bailout was designed to bring Greece's debt down to 120 percent of GDP by 2020, but EU sources say euro zone governments may now have to cough up an extra 15 billion euros on top of the agreed 130 billion for that to happen.

In a sign of how politically difficult any further aid to Greece will be, a poll in German newspaper Bild am Sonntag showed a majority of Germans feel the single currency bloc would be better off if Greece left.

Within Greece, pressure is building to oppose further cuts which many economists say will drive the country into a downward spiral of recession and rising debt.

Greece's two major labor unions plan a 24-hour strike on Tuesday in protest at the demands made of it.

"Despite our sacrifices and despite admitting that the policy mix is wrong, they still ask for more austerity," Ilias Iliopoulos, secretary general of public sector union ADEDY, told Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Angeliki Koutantou and Luke Baker in Brussels; Writing by Deepa Babington and David Stamp. Editing by Mike Peacock)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120205/bs_nm/us_greece

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Tree Life Design Offers Excellent Opportunity For Small Business ...

A leading Atlanta-based small business web design and development company launches an affordable package to help business owners establish an online presence and generate more leads.

Atlanta, Georgia (PRWEB) February 04, 2012

Tree Life Designs, an Atlanta, GA-based company that specializes in web design and development, recently introduced a special service package for small business owners. In addition to dynamic and visually appealing web design, small business owners can look forward to bringing their web sites to the top of search engine rankings at an affordable price. The new package includes WordPress/Magento Development and Search Engine Optimization that combines functional web design, hosting, coding, content management, and search engine optimization as well. According to the spokesperson of Tree Life Design, Nathan Marcarelli, the main objective behind the new package is to help small businesses stand out from the competition without having to spend a fortune.

Tree Life Designs? multi-talented staff is well experienced in all aspects of web design development, internet marketing, SEO, and content management. Small business owners can tap into their expertise in order to gain better exposure to the market. Project Manager Nathan Marcarelli says, ?Launching a web site is not enough, even if it is the most creative and dazzling piece of work. What is more important is the implementation of effective internet marketing strategies like SEO to drive traffic to the website, which is what our team excels in.?

The new package is ideal for growing a small business website from the ground up while Tree Life Designs continues to cater to the price-sensitive market segment. Nathan Marcarelli continues, ?Older technologies which involved the deployment of static websites cannot help a business grow. High quality and functionality are the highlights of our new package that are designed to help small businesses project a professional and competitive image online. In addition, it is much easier to update, an important element since market conditions constantly change over time.?

Several small businesses have already taken advantage of this unique opportunity from Tree Life Designs, the first step towards building a solid online presence and promoting their products. When asked to explain what?s unique about the package Marcarelli said, ?We have added just about everything a small business needs to gain an online presence. From design to content management, hosting, and SEO, our clients need not worry and continue to focus on the key areas of their business. We offer enhanced search engine optimization solutions that focus on additional lead generation, which is just what small businesses need. We have the experience and the staff that are well versed with the latest trends in the market. So, from eye popping design to functionality and optimization, you can expect a complete package that can have a real impact on your business. It is the combination of premium WordPress/Magento development and SEO that makes the difference.?

The first couple of years are what can make a difference between success and failure of a small business. For small business startups, an early entry on the web has the potential to enhance business growth, which is what Tree Life Designs new package can help them achieve. More information is available on the company?s website at http://www.treelifedesigns.com.

About Tree Life Design: The Atlanta, GA based company specializes in web design, web development, internet marketing, and SEO consulting services for small businesses. The company?s dedicated and experienced team continues to develop and support professional websites in a variety of industries.

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nathan marcarelli
nate@treelifedesigns.com
6785708200
Email Information

Source: http://pimpmysite.co.nz/2012/02/05/tree-life-design-offers-excellent-opportunity-for-small-business-growth-2/

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