Percutaneous coronary intervention is a way of opening blocked coronary arteries. Percutaneous means that the procedure is not done by cutting a person open in surgery. Coronary intervention means "way to help the heart". Percutaneous coronary intervention is also called "coronary angioplasty".
In a percutaneous coronary intervention, a doctor threads a flexible tube into one of the patient's blood vessels, usually one in the upper thigh. The doctor threads the tube up to the blocked blood vessels in the heart. On the end of the tube is a balloon. The doctor blows up the balloon, which pushes the plaque and blood clot against the side of the blocked blood vessel. This allows blood to flow through that blood vessel again. Sometimes, a doctor might also place a small mesh tube called a stent into the blood vessel. The stent will make sure the blood vessel stays open and does not get blocked again in the future.
As soon as a person thinks they may be having signs of a heart attack, they should call emergency service right away. (Emergency services can be reached dialling 911 in the US, and 112 in most of continental Europe) However, the average person waits about three hours before asking for help. When a person waits to get help, they are more likely to have more serious damage to their heart. The American Heart Association says "time is muscle": the more time a person waits to get treatment, the more heart muscle dies.
If a person is having trouble breathing, sitting straight up can help. The person should follow any instructions they get from the emergency operator or their doctor.
Keith Richards
Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English guitarist best known as a founder member of the Rolling Stones. He is mostly famous for his rhythm guitar playing, but he can also play lead guitar quite well. He often likes to use a guitar with only 5 strings — the lowest-tuned string is removed. On a small number of Rolling Stones recordings, he plays bass guitar, as well as other instruments. He sings background vocals on most Rolling Stones songs. Occasionally, he also sings lead vocals, on songs like "Happy", "Little T & A", and "The Worst".
During the late 1960s and most of the 1970s, he had a serious addiction to heroin. However, he recovered and quit using it. Sometimes, in interviews, he talks about taking drugs in a way that seems humorous.
In 2003 he was ranked 10th on Rolling Stone Magazine's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Richards has co-written and recorded hundreds of songs with his song writing partner Mick Jagger. Fourteen of their songs are listed by Rolling Stone Magazine in their "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" issue.
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet (2 June 1857 - 23 February 1934) was the most famous English composer of his time. He composed in the late romantic era.
Elgar was born in Broadheath, Worcestershire. His father owned a music shop. Apart from having violin lessons Elgar taught himself about music. He studied the printed music in his father’s shop and often travelled with him when he went on his rounds to tune pianos. He heard a lot of cathedral music and often practised the organ. He took over his father’s job as church organist and soon became conductor of local orchestras and bands.
Worcester was a small town but the music there was good. The Three Choirs Festival took place there every third year. In 1884 he was playing the violin in the orchestra when the great Czech composer Dvořák was conducting.
In 1889 Elgar married. His wife Caroline Alice Roberts came from a family who had more money than the Elgars, and she was 8 years older than he was. Many people did not approve of the marriage, but she was a good wife to him and encouraged him in his efforts to be a successful composer.
In 1899 Elgar wrote an orchestral piece called the "Enigma Variations". There is a main tune, and then a series of variations on the tune. Each variation describes one of his friends, but he did not say which friends they were: he only put their initials or nickname at the top of each variation. This is why the piece is an enigma (a “puzzle” or “secret”). People have managed to work out who each friend was, but the meaning of the main tune is still a puzzle. This music made Elgar very famous.
The next work that he wrote is probably his greatest work: "The Dream of Gerontius" (1900). It is an oratorio. Gerontius is an old man who is dying and thinking about whether God will punish him for his sins or save him and take him to heaven. Elgar wrote two other oratorios: "The Apostles" and "The Kingdom". He wrote two symphonies, a violin concerto, a cello concerto, Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Sea Pictures (five songs for mezzo soprano and orchestra) and chamber music including a violin sonata, a string quartet and a piano quintet.
Throughout his life his wife helped him by ruling neat manuscript lines on plain paper so that he could write his music. After she died in 1920 Elgar was so sad that he stopped composing. He died of colorectal cancer in Worcester.
Elgar’s most popular piece is the first of his "Pomp and Circumstance Marches". It has the tune which is sung to the words “Land of Hope and Glory” and the audience always join in singing it at the Last Night of the Proms.
Printing press
The printing press is a machine for printing. It makes many copies of identical pages. The printing press today is used to print books and newspapers. It had a great influence on society, especially western society. It was "one of the most potent agents... of western civilisation in bringing together the scattered ideas of thinkers".
Woodcut printing has been done for several centuries. That was whole pages cut into wood, words and pictures. In the 15th century Johannes Gutenberg improved the process. He used separate alloy letters screwed into a frame. This way a large set of letters could make almost any page for printing. This process was called typesetting. Each letter was in a block of metal, fixed in a frame. He could then move paper and ink over it, much like a stamp. This method was called letterpress. The letters would leave ink on the paper in the shape of the letters, creating text or illustrations.
Bigger and much faster presses were invented in the industrial revolution. The main improvements were made in the 19th century. Two ideas altered the design of the printing press entirely. First was the use of steam power to run the machinery. Second was the replacement of the printing flatbed with the rotary motion of cylinders. Both were done by the German printer Friedrich Koenig between 1802 and 1818. Having moved to London in 1804, Koenig got financial support for his project in 1807. In 1810, Koenig patented a steam press "much like a hand press connected to a steam engine".
Soon other inventions were added, such as the making of cheaper paper by using wood pulp instead of rags. Later in the 19th century came machines which speeded up typesetting, which was previously done by hand, letter by letter. A machine for hot metal typesetting was designed by Linotype Inc. It turned molten lead into type ready for printing.
Many further developments in printing happened in the 20th century. Today printing presses are controlled by special-purpose computers, and the material to be printed is prepared on computers. As a consequence of these inventions, the cost of printing has fallen significantly compared to other commodities. Now the price of a book or magazine is less determined by its production, and more by other factors, such as marketing.
Mezzo-soprano