When the teaser-rate period ends, the payments soar, often causing "severe payment shock, " the OCC says.

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Now there is a controversial new option for severe cases: shock waves.

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For example, the doctor could create an asthmatic patient with chronic heart disease who is taking a handful of certain drugs and is currently experiencing anaphylactic shock, a severe allergic reaction.

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If it detects a severe arrhythmia, the device is designed to shock the heart, causing it to revert to normal rhythm.

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With most of Asia, including Japan, already mired in its worst funk in decades and Russia's economy leveled, the fresh shock seemed to heighten the prospects for a severe worldwide economic drought.

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All three died after suffering severe respiratory symptoms, including acute respiratory distress syndrome and eventually septic shock and multiple organ failure.

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By the way, given the scale of this housing market intervention, it is quite difficult to see how it can be withdrawn in three years, as per the current plan, even if the final decision on whether to pull it becomes the responsibility of the Bank of England - in that the shock to the market of ceasing this state-underwriting could be pretty severe.

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For history to repeat itself in Kazakhstan, however, the shock to the global economy from the 2008 crisis would have to be less severe than many expect.

ECONOMIST: Central Asia and the financial crisis: After the boom | The

He said he felt "shock, anger, dismay and deep regret" about the treatment of vulnerable people with severe learning disabilities at Winterbourne View.

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