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National levels of personal health-care access and quality can be approximated by measuring mortality rates from causes that should not be fatal in the presence of effective medical care (ie, amenable mortality). Previous analyses of mortality amenable to health care only focused on high-income countries and faced several methodological challenges. In the present analysis, we use the highly standardised cause of death and risk factor estimates generated through the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) to improve and expand the quantification of personal health-care access and quality for 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2015. We mapped the most widely used list of causes amenable to personal health care developed by Nolte and McKee to 32 GBD causes. We accounted for variations in cause of death certification and misclassifications through the extensive data standardisation processes and redistribution algorithms developed for GBD. To isolate the effects of personal health-care access and quality, we risk-standardised cause-specific mortality rates for each geography-year by removing the joint effects of local environmental and behavioural risks, and adding back the global levels of risk exposure as estimated for GBD 2015. We employed principal component analysis to create a single, interpretable summary measure–the Healthcare Quality and Access (HAQ) Index–on a scale of 0 to 100. The HAQ Index showed strong convergence validity as compared with other health-system indicators, including health expenditure per capita (r=0·88), an index of 11 universal health coverage interventions (r=0·83), and human resources for health per 1000 (r=0·77). We used free disposal hull analysis with bootstrapping to produce a frontier based on the relationship between the HAQ Index and the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a measure of overall development consisting of income per capita, average years of education, and total fertility rates. This frontier allowed us to better quantify the maximum levels of personal health-care access and quality achieved across the development spectrum, and pinpoint geographies where gaps between observed and potential levels have narrowed or widened over time. Between 1990 and 2015, nearly all countries and territories saw their HAQ Index values improve; nonetheless, the difference between the highest and lowest observed HAQ Index was larger in 2015 than in 1990, ranging from 28·6 to 94·6. Of 195 geographies, 167 had statistically significant increases in HAQ Index levels since 1990, with South Korea, Turkey, Peru, China, and the Maldives recording among the largest gains by 2015. Performance on the HAQ Index and individual causes showed distinct patterns by region and level of development, yet substantial heterogeneities emerged for several causes, including cancers in highest-SDI countries; chronic kidney disease, diabetes, diarrhoeal diseases, and lower respiratory infections among middle-SDI countries; and measles and tetanus among lowest-SDI countries. While the global HAQ Index average rose from 40·7 (95% uncertainty interval, 39·0–42·8) in 1990 to 53·7 (52·2–55·4) in 2015, far less progress occurred in narrowing the gap between observed HAQ Index values and maximum levels achieved; at the global level, the difference between the observed and frontier HAQ Index only decreased from 21·2 in 1990 to 20·1 in 2015. If every country and territory had achieved the highest observed HAQ Index by their corresponding level of SDI, the global average would have been 73·8 in 2015. Several countries, particularly in eastern and western sub-Saharan Africa, reached HAQ Index values similar to or beyond their development levels, whereas others, namely in southern sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and south Asia, lagged behind what geographies of similar development attained between 1990 and 2015. This novel extension of the GBD Study shows the untapped potential for personal health-care access and quality improvement across the development spectrum. Amid substantive advances in personal health care at the national level, heterogeneous patterns for individual causes in given countries or territories suggest that few places have consistently achieved optimal health-care access and quality across health-system functions and therapeutic areas. This is especially evident in middle-SDI countries, many of which have recently undergone or are currently experiencing epidemiological transitions. The HAQ Index, if paired with other measures of health-system characteristics such as intervention coverage, could provide a robust avenue for tracking progress on universal health coverage and identifying local priorities for strengthening personal health-care quality and access throughout the world. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The University of Evansville, affiliated with the United Methodist Church, offers more than 80 academic areas of study for undergraduate and graduate students. The university consists of three colleges (College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education and Health Sciences, College of Engineering and Computer Science) and one school (Schroeder School of Business). It has an annual enrollment of more than 2,600 students. Recognized for its study-abroad program, the university also has a campus in the UK (Harlaxton College) in addition to its main campus in Indiana's third-largest city. The University of Evansville was founded in 1854 as Moores Hill Male and Female Collegiate Institute.

[Zhi Xing Yang] was wanted by authorities in New York on charges of attempted murder and he was arrested in Canada after failing to attend a court hearing in the U.S. in October 1995. Two of the most celebrated and drawn-out extradition battles in Canada have included Atif Rafay, Sebastian Burns and Charles Ng. Burns and Rafay, both Canadians, fought a seven-year battle against extradition to Washington state to face triple murder charges. The case made it as far as the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled five years ago that it cannot extradite people without assurances that they won't be sentenced to death. Burns and Rafay were extradited in 2001 and sentenced in 2004 to life imprisonment. Ng's battle also made it to Canada's highest court, which allowed Canada to surrender the fugitive, a former U.S. marine, back to the United States in 1991. He was convicted of the gruesome murders of 11 victims and sentenced to death.

VANCOUVER - Convicted killers Sebastian Burns and Atif Rafay are expected to appear in a Seattle court today to plead for a new trial on the grounds their defence team was ineffective. [Burns]' Washington state lawyer, Theresa Ann Olson, 45, was caught having sex with Burns in jail in August, 2002. She was suspended from practising law for two years and ordered to undergo psychological tests. Burns and Rafay were extradited from B.C. to the U.S. to stand trial.

\"He has really taken an interest in my brother's case. He thinks there was a big injustice here. He supports the boys and thinks they shouldn't be in jail, \" [Tiffany Burns] said. \"My family is ecstatic to have his support. I'm really excited to hear what he has to say.\" Burns said she piqued [Carter]'s interest by showing him her film. \"He wouldn't stand up for this case if he didn't believe in it,\" she said. \"They didn't have one single thing from their investigation to prove the boys did it,\" she said, claiming all the clues pointed to other suspects but they weren't followed up. \"The average Canadian doesn't know about the Mr. Big sting because there was a publicity ban for so many years.\"

Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns were convicted 17 years ago of Rafay's parents and his autistic sister to death with baseball bats in the family's home in Bellevue, Wash. The Rafay family had just moved from West Vancouver to Bellevue. \"Prior to this appeal, no one in this courtroom had ever heard of a 'Mr. Big' case,\" said [David Bruce Koch], noting that the deceptive tactic is not allowed in the U.S. justice system. While the appeal of Rafay and Burns could lead to a new trial, [Kouri Keenan] said it's unlikely that it will change how often RCMP use the technique or the U.S. justice system's rejection of it.

Ontario, Canada - In January 2004, after much hard work, [Tahir Rafay] and his daughter [Reema Rafay] were proud to announce the launch of SupplyChainTalent.com. Sadly, just a short time later in April of 2004, Tahir Rafay learned that he had lung cancer. Tahir Rafay passed away on December 5th, 2004 nine months after his cancer was discovered. With the absence of her father and partner, Reema closed the business. Tahir Rafay was a father, husband, friend and leader in his community. Tahir believed in the power of education and worked hard to support Canadian businesses. His daughter Reema was honoured to have had the opportunity to work closely with him in their pursuit to bring forth a niche oriented job board for the supply chain sector. Tahir Rafay is dearly missed by everyone. ((M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http:// www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to info@m2.com)).

Our armed forces are not \"occupying\" land, as she puts it. The display is not a \"glorification of war.\" Be thankful that as a Canadian you live in a free country that allows you freedom of speech, a price dearly paid for by members of our armed forces whom we honour on Canada Day.

Atif Rafay and his West Vancouver Secondary school buddy Sebastian Burns, both 18 at the time, are on trial in front of a jury in King County Superior Court here for the murders of Rafay's parents [Tariq Rafay] and Sultana, both 56, and their autistic 20-year-old daughter Basma. Bellevue police Capt. Jim Kowalczyk told a jury that he initially reported to his superiors that he thought it was a case of murder-suicide because when he approached the bed where Rafay lay dead, he noticed his face was obliterated and there was blood splattered everywhere, including a massive patch on the wall behind the victim's bed. Kowalczyk's testimony that the rooms were in darkness is believed important to the prosecution. Prosecutors have said Rafay and [Burns] went to several locations that night including a keg restaurant, a movie, an all-night diner and an alternative music club to built up an alibi.

\"There is a lot of mistrust in the community,\" says [Afshan Rafay], who moved to the Greater Toronto Area from Pakistan in 1996. \"I did not want to give money to any government organizations ... because their credibility is doubtful.\" \"It's popping up more and more, someone saying my cousin's there, my mom is there, my friend's there, someone I know is there,\" says Dania Javed, 22, who works for an investment company in Toronto. Javed has been collecting donations through Facebook to send to a friend of a friend, who will be distributing medical help alongside the Pakistani military. She's never met the acquaintance, but even such a distant link is enough to give her peace of mind. \"People are looking at what the long-term impact of the aid . . . should have been,\" said Naheed Mustafa, a freelance journalist from Mississauga who was in the earthquake area in 2005. \"And none of that happened. Towns weren't rebuilt, neither was much of the infrastructure. So many people seem certain that it will be the same thing this time around, too.\"