One of Grove's frustrations is the standard test neurologists use to measure a patient's level of severity of Parkinson's.

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In the airline industry, mechanical problems are immediately reported and planes are quickly taken out of service depending on the level of severity.

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The biggest tornado that struck Granbury was a Category 4, with estimated winds of 160 to 175 miles per hour, Mr. Wiley said, adding that only about 10 to 12 storms reach that level of severity in the U.S. each year.

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Hansen split his dumptruck of Web-browsing bugs into three categories of severity: About half are low-level threats, 10 or so are medium, and two are critical.

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The EU sovereign debt crisis is slowly creeping back into the front row of the market place, but it not at the severity level seen in previous months.

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And at the most fundamental level, this is what Prof Bowman is aiming for - to raise the severity of the ecological decline, and get people to think outside the accepted boxes.

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