The condition involves a kind of tangle in the brain called an arteriovenous malformation, or AVM.

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In the heyday of conglomerates, AVM had 15 divisions, making everything from auto parts and furniture to air-conditioning components.

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Then Venezuela abruptly canceled a huge voting machine contract, but only after AVM had borrowed up to the hilt to tool up for the order.

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The biggest holding in the Midas Fund is London Stock Exchange-based Avocet Mining (AVM), which Winmill said is transitioning to become a bigger mining company.

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Sherley is at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute (BBRI), a small research institute in Boston, and Deisher is at a small startup company in Seattle called AVM Biotechnology.

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