Tito Bong’s Birthday & Tito Lorman’s Despedida Party

Happy Birthday Tito Bong! Goodbye Tito Lorman! Ingat po ulit sa biyahe to Kuwait!

Legion of Extraordinary Dancers

The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers, commonly known as the The LXD, is a web series about two groups of rival dancers: heroes (The League of Extraordinary Dancers) and villains (The Alliance of the Dark) who discover they have superpowers, referred to as “the ra”, through their dance abilities. The entire story takes place over hundreds of years, beginning in the 1920s up to the year 3000.

The series is written, directed, and produced by Jon Chu who says he was inspired to create the series by Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and “Smooth Criminal” music videos and by the dancers he met while filming the movie Step Up 2: The Streets. He describes the show as “balletic”, “operatic”, “high quality” and a “Justice League of dance.” The series is choreographed by Christopher Scott and Harry Shum, Jr. with assistant choreography by Galen Hooks. Members have a wide variety of specialties including hip-hop, krumping, contemporary, tricking, popping, b-boying, jazz, tap, and ballet. All of the choreography and stunts are real; there are no special effects or wire work and the entire series is shot on location without the use of green screens.

50% of the sales of the official LXD t-shirt will go to support the work of the non-profit organization Invisible Children. PUMA is the lead sponsor for The LXD.

Beta Thalassemia

Beta-thalassemia (β-thalassemia) is a form of thalassemia due to mutations in the HBB gene on chromosome 11, inherited in an autosomal recessive fashion.

The severity of the disease depends on the nature of the mutation.

• Alleles without a mutation that reduces function are characterized as (β).
• Mutations are characterized as (β^o) if they prevent any formation of β chains.
• Mutations are characterized as (β⁺) if they allow some β chain formation to occur. (Note that the “+” in β⁺ is relative to β^o, not β.)

In either case there is a relative excess of α chains, but these do not form tetramers: rather, they bind to the red blood cellmembranes, producing membrane damage, and at high concentrations they form toxic aggregates.