Well the first round of Champions League group results were fairly predictable, except for Trabzonspor winning at 2010 champions Inter Milan of course.
Hereâs my attempt at predicting the scores in this weekâs action. If you agree or disagree then please leave a comment below. Donât worry, registering takes about five seconds.
Playing on Tuesday
Group A
Bayern Munich v Manchester City
City obviously pose a big threat but Bayern have been in such good form I canât see an away win. 1-1
Napoli v Villarreal
A good Champions League debut against City for the Naples side last time out but Villarrealâs Giuseppe Rossi will want to make an impact on home soil. Boring I know but another 1-1
Group B
CSKA Moscow v Inter Milan
Not the ideal game for Inter to bounce back from their shock opening defeat but at least it is not in the middle of the bleak Russian winter. New boss Claudio Ranieri is looking for a second win in two games and might just get it even with Wesley Sneijder out and an artificial pitch to deal with. 0-1
Trabzonspor v Lille
Can the Turks continue their great start? Iâm not sure they can given the French champions will be seething at dropping two late points against CSKA two weeks ago. 0-2
Group C
Manchester United v Basel
Injuries galore for United but not even the biggest Basel fan will be expecting victory. 2-0
Otelul Galati v Benfica
The Portuguese looked decent against United and should be too strong in Romania despite the unfamiliar surroundings. 1-3
Group D
Olympique Lyon v Dinamo Zagreb
A home win you would think. 2-0
Real Madrid v Ajax Amsterdam
Not everything is going perfectly at the Bernabeu but Ajax were great, they are not now. 3-1
- -
Playing on Wednesday
Group E
Valencia v Chelsea
Juan Mata to score on his return to the Mestalla? I actually think it will be 0-0.
Bayer Leverkusen v Racing Genk
Genk look lively but the Germans will be too strong. 2-0
Group F
Arsenal v Olympiakos Piraeus
Weâve got to have one shock this week donât we? It wonât be here. 2-0
Olympique Marseille v Borussia Dortmund
Difficult one. Dortmund are nothing like last seasonâs worldbeaters but neither are the hosts. 1-1
Group G
Zenit St Petersburg v Porto
1-1
Shakhtar Donetsk v APOEL Nicosia
Goals galore in eastern Ukraine. 3-2
Group H
BATE Borisov v Barcelona
Here is your shock. BATE are unbeaten in nine European matches, including six in this seasons qualifiers. The holders might not fancy it in the chilly Belarus air. 1-1.
AC Milan v Viktoria Plzen
Milan have still to convince this term and injuries donât help. But they should scrape a win. 2-1
@7 months ago with 27 notes
#Champions #League #predictions
Researchers already know that obesity, diabetes and having a generally unhealthy diet put people at risk for both types of stones. But even when those common risks were taken into account, the link remained.The report “raises our antenna to this shared relationship between these two disorders,” said Dr. Brian Matlaga, a urologist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.”From an anecdotal standpoint, certainly it’s not an uncommon scenario that a patient would have had both,” Matlaga, who wasn’t involved in the new research, told Reuters Health. But, he continued, “I’m a little bit at a loss trying to define what that relationship would be.”That’s because stones in the kidney and gallbladder form differently, he said, and are made of two different things — kidney stones of calcium and gallstones of cholesterol, most of the time.Data for the current analysis came from three different long-term studies of nurses and doctors who completed a health and lifestyle questionnaire, then reported any new medical conditions every two years afterward. In total, more than 240,000 people were followed for between 14 and 24 years.Over that time, there were about 5,100 new kidney stones diagnosed and close to 18,500 new cases of gallstones.Depending on the population — male or female, older or younger — people with a history of gallstones were between 26 and 32 percent more likely to get a kidney stone than people who hadn’t ever had gallstones.And the link also went in the opposite direction. A past history of kidney stones meant study participants were between 17 and 51 percent more likely to report a new gallstone.That was after factoring in the impact of age, diabetes, high blood pressure, weight and certain aspects of diet on the risk of both kinds of stones.Researchers led by Eric Taylor from the Maine Medical Center in Portland said it’s possible that a shift in the type of bacteria in the intestines might somehow predispose people to both kidney stones and gallstones. But, Taylor said, “the fairest thing is that we just don’t know” why the two would be linked.In their report in the Journal of Urology the researchers echoed Matlaga’s call for more detailed research into any explanations for a common cause — which might help doctors prevent or treat both kidney stones and gallstones, they added.”They are really two different kinds of stones, so the relationship is not going to be simple between the two conditions,” Taylor told Reuters Health.Matlaga said that for now, there are steps people can take to reduce their risk of both gallstones and kidney stones, even if they’ve already had one condition.”You’d like to try to minimize those common risk factors and work on things like weight loss and cholesterol control,” he said.Taylor agreed that the findings “emphasize the importance of healthy diet and healthy weight.”
@7 months ago
#Report #links #kidney #stones #and #gallstones
* Saab still awaiting vital 70 mln euro bridge loan
(Adds background, no comment from Pangda chairman on possible
ongoing interest in Saab, Swedish Automobile comment about
misunderstanding)By Fang Yan and Ken WillsCHENGDU, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Pangda Automobile Trade Co Ltd
, China’s largest listed auto dealer, said on
Wednesday that its investment agreement with Saab has become
void after the Swedish car maker sought bankruptcy protection.But the Dutch owner of the troubled company later offered
conflicting details, saying the 245 million euro ($352
million)deal with Pangda and Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile
Co was still valid.Questions about a possible lifeline for Saab, a unit of
Swedish Automobile NV , came as the administrator in
charge of Saab’s restructuring under court protection was
reviewing the plan. Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported
that it could pull the plug on the process at any time, paving
the way for declaring the automaker bankrupt.Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an industry forum
in Chengdu, Pangda chairman Pang Qinghua said, “Now that it’s in
bankruptcy protection, all previous pacts are invalid. It’s up
to the court to decide. It can also find a new partner”.Pang added that he did not know whether the Chinese side had
submitted a proposal to the Chinese government regarding the
Saab deal.But in a text message sent to Reuters, Swedish Automobile
Chief Executive Victor Muller said simply: “On track with both
Pangda and Youngman”.Swedish Automobile later issued a statement, saying that it
and Pangda “underline” that questions about the validity of the
partnership agreements “are based on a misunderstanding”.The statement did not include further details.On Sept. 30, Swedish Automobile said the Chinese partners
were still on track to invest 245 million euros and take stakes
in the company. But the company said the terms were still under
negotiation because Saab shares had fallen in value since the
announcement of the deal.Pang declined to comment when asked if Pangda
would be interested in a takeover of Saab assets once bankruptcy
protection ended.A spokesperson for Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co
declined to comment.GOVERNMENT APPROVAL UNCERTAINSaab has struggled for months to stave off collapse, seeking
new investors and selling off assets to pay suppliers and
employees and resume production at its plant in Sweden.In June, Saab’s owner signed a non-binding memorandum of
understanding for Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co to take
a 29.9 percent stake in the company and Pangda to take a 24
percent stake for a combined 245 million euros.Saab has still not received a vital bridge loan of 70
million euros ($96 million) that was secured by Youngman, money
considered key to its short-term survival.The investment hinges on approval from the Chinese and
Swedish governments and a green light from the European
Investment Bank and Saab shareholder General Motors Co .Asked on Wednesday whether the deal had been submitted to
China’s National Development and Reform Commission for approval,
Pangda’s chairman said: “Youngman’s Pang Qingnian is the one
that is supposed to send the application to the NDRC. As far as
I know, he is soliciting opinions among industry experts
regarding the deal, they are not done with it yet.”Pangda had already paid 45 million euros to Saab for a
separate deal to purchase 2,000 cars but had not received any
cars because of a production halt since April.”As for the cash injection (into Saab), I can do that only
after the government approves the deal,” Pang said on Wednesday.Asked about the prospects for winning approval, he said: “I
think the NDRC supports companies heading overseas, they come in
and we go out. I think the government would be quite supportive
on that front. When it comes to Saab, I think if it’s in China,
the government certainly wouldn’t let it collapse.”Gaining Chinese government clearance could be difficult as
Beijing follows a strict and price-sensitive policy when it
comes to overseas acquisitions.Failure to gain Beijing’s approval on time torpedoed a deal
Saab entered into with Chinese company Hawtai Motor Group in
May, while Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery’s bid to
buy GM’s Hummer in 2010 also fell through.Geely, which bought Volvo in 2010, denied reports last week
that it was interested in Saab.BAIC Group, another Chinese automaker, which owns some
rights to Saab’s old platforms, had no intention of becoming
involved in the restructuring of the 60 year-old Swedish brand,
Chairman Xu Heyi said earlier this week.
@7 months ago with 25 notes
#UPDATE #2Pangda #chairman #says #accord #with #Saab #now #void
“BigBand’s valuable patent portfolio, coupled with their expertise in digital video networking, will enhance ARRIS’ technological leadership as service providers move to an all-IP (Internet Protocol) Converged Network Architecture,” ARRIS said in a statement.ARRIS said it expects the deal, seen completing late this year, to be neutral or to add to profit by mid-2012.Shares of Redwood City, California-based BigBand Networks soared 74 percent to $2.21 in pre-market trade on Tuesday. They closed at $1.27 on Monday on Nasdaq. Shares of Suwanee, Georgia-based ARRIS closed at $11.52, a 10-week high, on Monday on Nasdaq.
@7 months ago with 63 notes
#ARRIS #to #pay #76 #percent #premium #for #BigBand #Networks
