The biggest surprise of the day has been made by Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z as they shared the first pictures of their baby, Blue Ivy Carter.
Beyoncé, 30, and Jay-Z, 42, posted a series of intimate portraits of their beloved daughter, who was born just over a month ago.
Instead of selling their first baby pictures to a glossy magazine for millions the music megastar couple decided to take control posting snaps of Blue Ivy to a tumblr.com blog.
In one snap, Beyoncé is seen beaming into the camera while she cradles her daughter in her arms.
Beyoncé is seen beaming into the camera while she cradles her daughter Blue Ivy in her arms
While the camera is out of focus on Beyoncé, with clarity on baby Blue, the singer’s blue nails can be clearly seen, no doubt a tribute to her little bundle.
The proud parents set up a blog that shows the intimate family snaps along with a message.
It read: “We welcome you to share in our joy. Thank you for respecting our privacy during this beautiful time in our lives. The Carter Family.”
There are several close ups of the adorable little girl, who not only has a healthy head of hair but also displays a rose-bud mouth and almond shaped brown eyes.
The biggest surprise of the day has been made by Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z as they shared the first pictures of their baby, Blue Ivy Carter
In one shot the Blue Ivy is seen staring past the camera, and in another the photographer has captured the tiny bundle sleeping.
The emotional and captivating shots are the first of their kind of Blue Ivy to be released to the public.
Jay-Z posed with his daughter Blue Ivy
And it was only last week that Beyoncé made her first public appearance since the birth on January 7, showing off her incredible post-labour curves.
The singer stepped out twice in as many nights last week and it was almost unbelievable to think she gave birth a month earlier.
It wasn’t just her figure she was showing off Beyoncé was also seen sporting a chunky piece of bling which she was given as a “push present”.
Jay-Z is believed to have bought the blue ring, in honor of their daughter’s name, in a tradition that sees new fathers reward the mother after she gives birth to their child.
Ever the fashionista, the large jewel was coordinated with Beyoncé ‘s blue nail polish as she made her second public appearance since becoming a mother on January 7.
Beyoncé’s first “stepping out” was the previous evening last Monday night as she showcased her post-baby curves in a red Alice Temperley cocktail dress, which was undeniably striking.
It was a wise move as Beyoncé looked picture perfect for the first night of Jay-Z’s two-legged occupation of NYC’s Carnegie Hall.
Marjorie and James Landis from Pennsylvania, who were married for 65 years, were so inseparable in life that not even death could keep them apart, as they died within 88 minutes of each other on Monday.
Marjorie Landis, 87, died at the Laurelwood Care Center near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, following a long illness. James Landis, 89, died of a heart attack just 88 minutes later.
The couple’s granddaughter, Erin Miller, told the Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown that the last thing her grandfather said to her grandmother was: “It’s OK. I love you. We had many good years together. I will see you real soon.”
Marjorie and James Landis met at a dance in Johnstown when they were both with other people.
But they eventually paired off and got married in 1946 becoming almost instantly inseparable.
Marjorie and James Landis from Pennsylvania, who were married for 65 years, were so inseparable in life that not even death could keep them apart, as they died within 88 minutes of each other
Marjorie and James Landis celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in September 2011.
Erin Miller said of her grandfather, a former Air Force pilot: “I just think he died of a broken heart. I don’t think they could have lived apart from each other.”
When Erin Miller was looking for photographs of the pair for their funeral, she said it was hard to find any of them apart as they were always together.
According to the Tribune Democrat, the couple started their married life in Pittsburgh, where James Landis attended Pitt following his military service.
James Landis earned a degree in engineering and eventually went to work for Bethlehem Steel while she stayed at home and looked after their two children Gary and Gail.
The couple’s case is not uncommon.
In January, Richard and Nancy Trimmer, also from Pennsylvania, died within 12 hours of each other.
Both are reminiscent of the 2004 film, The Notebook, which tells the story of an epic romance which ends when the couple dies at the same time after decades of a happy marriage.
A study published in 2007 by researchers at the University of Glasgow found that bereaved widows or widowers were at least 30% more likely to die within the first six months of their partner’s death than those of the same age who hadn’t lost a spouse.
Some experts say that after being with someone for such a long period of time, especially after sleeping next to each other, one person’s heartbeat can affect and regulate another person’s heartbeat.
This is usually why the number one cause of death for bereaved spouses is heart disease and sudden death.
Macaulay Culkin was once the mischievous, cherubic star of the hugely successful Home Alone movies, but now he appeared disheveled and emaciated as he greeted fans in New York on Wednesday.
Macaulay Culkin, 31, with his straggly goatee beard and messy hair, looked gaunt as he sipped from an energy drink.
On Thursday night Macaulay Culkin pulled out of his monthly deejay gig Le Poisson Rouge in New York City’s West Village.
“He’s here all the time. He comes pretty often,” a club employee told People magazine.
“Tonight, something just came up and he couldn’t make it.”
But his spokesperson insists there is no need for concern, saying in a statement: “Macaulay Culkin is in perfectly good health.”
Macaulay Culkin was once the mischievous, cherubic star of the hugely successful Home Alone movies, but now he appeared disheveled and emaciated as he greeted fans in New York on Wednesday
Macaulay Culkin’s appearance was a far cry from the cute youngster who shot to international fame playing cheeky Kevin McCallister in the 1990 family favorite.
He was once Hollywood’s biggest child star, commanding $6 million a film by the time he starred in 1994’s Richie Rich.
But the young actor soon hit troubled times and has weathered a number of personal tragedies, including the death of his sister Dakota in a car crash and of his half-sister Jennifer Adamson from a drug overdose.
Macaulay Culkin’s career then came to a halt after he was embroiled in a messy financial dispute between his parents Christopher Culkin and Patricia Brentup.
In 1998 a judge fired his father – who was his manager – and handed control of his vast personal fortune to an accountant until he turned 18.
After a hiatus, Macaulay Culkin returned to films in 2000.
However, none of his subsequent movies have come near to matching the success of the Home Alone series.
“I’m the most out-of-work actor I know,” Macaulay Culkin once said.
In 2004, Macaulay Culkin was arrested after police stopped a car in which he was a passenger and found more than a half-ounce of marijuana and several tablets of Xanax, a prescription medication used to treat depression and panic disorders.
He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of possession of medication without a prescription and marijuana.
Macaulay Culkin was given one year deferred sentences on each of the charges and ordered to pay $540 in fees.
The actor married actress Rachel Miner in 1998 but they divorced in 2002.
Macaulay Culkin went on to date Black Swan star Mila Kunis for 8 years before the pair separated in 2010.
The Home alone star had a famously close relationship with Michael Jackson during his youth, and even testified for the late singer’s defense in his child-molestation trial in 2005.
Macaulay Culkin took the stand and vehemently denied any inappropriate behavior or touching during the times he slept at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch.
He was among the mourners at the King of Pop’s funeral at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, in September 2009.
Macaulay Culkin is rumored to be starring in the upcoming British military film Service Man, which is set for release next year.
Politicians across Europe are starting to withdraw their support from the dangerous ACTA treaty. This weekend’s mass protest is our moment to bury ACTA for good. Click to join the day of action, in person or virtually — let’s win this!
In 24 hours, people across the planet are joining a global street protest to bury ACTA for good.
This week our massive 2 million ACTA petition caused shockwaves in Brussels, and we’ve just learned that Germany has put ACTA on ice and other governments are close to following suit. If Europe says no to ACTA, it dies! We’re at a tipping point — If enough of us join the protest tomorrow, we can secure our online freedom and end the threat of ACTA’s censorship nightmare.
Let’s turn out in thousands to protest or, if we can’t be there in person (most of the protests are in Europe), send messages of solidarity to our fellow citizens who are marching. Click here to use our map tool to find an event near you, or leave a solidarity message for marchers:
Our massive ACTA petition was personally delivered to leading EU politicians in Brussels this week as it grew to 2.2 million signers and beyond. The European Parliament is choosing their new point person on the treaty right now. Let’s make sure that person realises that ACTA is too hot to handle.
Four Eastern European governments and now Germany have just said they’ll stall their decision on the treaty. Now, if hundreds of thousands of people attend thousands of rallies all across Europe tomorrow, we can ensure that all politicians across the 27 EU countries are put on notice that people don’t want ACTA and will continue to take action until the treaty is buried.
Those of us in Europe can join the protests. And we all can send messages of solidarity to encourage the people there and use social media to pile the pressure on key parliamentarian. Click here to check out the action centre, and tell everyone.
Again and again, we’ve shown how people power can work. When our fundamental freedoms are at stake, and we act together, we can forge an unstoppable force that makes politicians turn away from the corporate lobbies, and work in the interests of all of us. Let’s do it again.
With hope and determination,
Alex, Alice, Pascal, Emma, Ricken, Maria Paz, Luis and the rest of the Avaaz team
Kim Kardashian was spotted at the Bal Harbour luxury shopping mall in Miami, Florida, cutting a sad figure, a sign her ugly split from Kris Humphries is weighing heavily on her.
Kim Kardashian, 31, is said to have offered Kris Humphries a financial settlement in order to get their divorce completed as soon as possible.
But Kris Humphries is said to be adamant he doesn’t want any money and is determined to pursue his claim to have the divorce granted on the grounds of fraud, arguing that he and Kim Kardashian married under false pretences.
A source told RadarOnline.com: “There have been informal settlement talks going on between Kim and Kris’s respective lawyers.
“Team Humphries has made it crystal clear though that Kris isn’t seeking any money from Kim. Kris doesn’t want one penny from her.
“His lawyers have said the only terms acceptable for a settlement would be if Kim agrees to Kris’ contention that the marriage was a fraud.”
The insider added: “There is a stand-off at this point because Kim will never agree to that, she says the marriage wasn’t a fraud. It just didn’t work out.”
It was revealed earlier this week that Kris Humphries’ lawyers want to study video footage from reality show Kourtney and Kim Take New York as an emotional discussion between Kim Kardashian and her mother Kris Jenner about the marriage is alleged to have taken place on a soundstage in December, two months later than claimed in the show.
Kris Humphries’ legal team are said to feel this strengthens their claim for the marriage being a fraud.
In the reality show scene, Kim Kardashian emotionally tells her mother how things are just not turning out how she expected with Kris Humphries, while asking for her advice on what to do.
Kim Kardashian was spotted at the Bal Harbour luxury shopping mall in Miami, Florida, cutting a sad figure, a sign her ugly split from Kris Humphries is weighing heavily on her
Kim Kardashian and her mother Kris Jenner were spotted leaving a Hollywood TV studio on December 6 with the 31-year-old socialite wearing the same outfit and hairstyle as she does in the scene.
Kris Jenner was photographed following her daughter out of the studio, with an assistant carrying the purple kaftan-style dress she wears in the scene, shot in the back of a limo.
Kris Humphries cited fraud as his official response to Kim Kardashian ‘s divorce petition – in his bid to seek an annulment instead – and wants his lawyer to question his estranged wife, her mother and staff from the show over the scenes, RadarOnline reported yesterday.
A source told RadarOnline: “Kris feels that if this is true and the whole conversation was faked, this would help prove that he got married under fraudulent circumstances.
“Yes, this did occur after the marriage, but this is one clear example that could help sway the judge to grant the divorce on the grounds of fraud.”
During the scene, Kim Kardashian tells her momanger Kris Jenner: “Married life just isn’t what I thought it would be with him.”
“I keep thinking something is off,” Kim Kardashian went on, asking her mother if this was a normal feeling to experience in the early days of marriage.
Kris Jenner responds, saying it is not normal, recalling how she and Kim’s father Rob Kardashian were “obsessed with each other” for at least the first 10 years.
“I didn’t even want him to go to work,” Kris Jenner recalled.
The mother explained: “This is not normal… that you don’t want to go home to your new husband.”
Meanwhile, Kim Kardashian wants her divorce petition heard by a mediator.
Kim Kardashian is reportedly keen to have her marriage to 26-year-old NBA star Kris Humphries legally ended as soon as possible and plans to request that the proceedings are held in private.
A source said: “A public trial is the last thing that Kim wants, and she has instructed her lawyer to formally petition the court so that the divorce can be heard by a mediator, which is routinely done in California, since it’s a no-fault state.
“Kim doesn’t want a long drawn out trial. She wants the mediation to be private, confidential, and legally binding.
“She and Kris have no assets together and kept separate bank accounts, so this is a fairly routine divorce proceeding. Kim just wants this over and done with.”
After FBI released yesterday its investigative file on Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, more files of the famous and the rich have become public.
In the 1950’s, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, best known for their comedy sketch Who’s on First?, caught the FBI’s attention for other reasons.
“A police informant furnished information to the effect that Bud Abbott, the well-known motion picture and television star, is a collector of pornography, and alleged he has 1,500 reels of obscene motion pictures,” an agent wrote in an FBI file.
Of Lou Costello, agents reported: “Information was secured reflecting that two prostitutes put on a lewd performance for Lou Costello,” for which they were paid $50 each.
On Thursday, the FBI released a far less salacious file on Steve Jobs, which was compiled in 1991 after President George Bush Sr. weighed appointing him to an international trade council.
The FBI has also compiled, and subsequently released to the public, hundreds of files on movie stars, US and foreign political figures, athletes, writers, musicians and others.
Some, like late model Anna Nicole Smith, turn up in FBI files because they had been threatened with extortion or violence.
Others, like writer Norman Mailer or actor Charlie Chaplin, were suspected communist sympathizers, and those like John Lennon were watched for their involvement in anti-war politics.
During the era of legendary FBI director J Edgar Hoover, “you could find a reason to open a file on anyone”, says Steve Rosswurm, a historian at Lake Forest College in Illinois and author of a book about the FBI’s dealings with the Catholic Church.
“The reasons for the surveillance are as varied as the people being watched,” said British writer Nicholas Redfern, author of Celebrity Secrets: Official Government Files on the Rich and Famous.
“It was very much dependent upon the character or the situation the subject of the file was in.”
Today, the bureau’s Cold War-era fears of communist infiltration, obscenity and homosexuality sound almost quaint.
The early rock and roll song Louie Louie by the Kingsmen, for instance, was the subject of a 119-page file. The lyrics, written in a quasi-Caribbean metre, are famously difficult to discern.
Some, including an official at a Florida high school and Indiana Governor Matthew Welsh, suspected the words were secretly obscene, and the FBI launched an investigation.
“The laboratory is requested to determine if enclosed record Louie Louie can be considered obscene for purposes of prosecution,” an agent wrote in the file.
“You had this very bizarre situation: the nation’s leading crime-fighting service tapping their toes, listening to Louie Louie,” says Nicholas Redfern.
The bureau’s agents famously kept tabs on entertainment and political figures suspected of communist ties.
“In the Hoover period, people were investigated under suspicion of disloyalty,” said Jon Wiener, a historian at the University of California-Irvine and author of a book on the FBI’s investigation of John Lennon.
“Now, we consider this an abuse of power.”
John Lennon, for instance, was feared for his influence in the anti-Vietnam war movement, and was watched for years.
The bureau eventually released files that contained little more than bizarre details, like a description of another anti-war activist trying to teach a parrot to repeat swear words.
In 1962, J. Edgar Hoover requested a memo on Pulitzer prize-winning author Norman Mailer.
The subsequent file notes that Norman Mailer had admitted on a radio programme to being a “leftist”.
Norman Mailer denounced the FBI as a secret police organization and called for its dismantlement.
Agents also had Norman Mailer down as sympathetic to Fidel Castro’s communist Cuba.
Marilyn Monroe’s file notes she had been linked to the Kennedys and was married for a time to the playwright Arthur Miller, who was suspected of being a communist sympathizer.
Marilyn Monroe's FBI file notes she had been linked to the Kennedys and was married for a time to the playwright Arthur Miller, who was suspected of being a communist sympathizer
Other pop cultural figures were more obviously legitimate subjects of criminal investigation or security planning.
Frank Sinatra, for example, was rumored to have mob ties, and his son was kidnapped at one point.
The bureau compiled a relatively brief 34-page file on guitarist Jimi Hendrix following his arrest in 1969 by Toronto police on a drug charge.
“If he is found innocent of the charge, Canadian Immigration would like to deport him anyway to the US if it can be shown he has prior criminal convictions,” an agent wrote.
The FBI’s file includes information about the guitarist’s criminal history, including an arrest in 1961 for driving a car without the owner’s permission.
Princess Diana’s file lists the schedule for a 1989 visit to New York and notes Northern Irish political groups had planned protests.
After J. Edgar Hoover’s death in 1972 the bureau underwent significant post-Watergate reform, with the government reining in its authority to launch political investigations.
“Prior to Watergate, in general the FBI was considered, certainly by the bureau and by the Department of Justice, to have a very broad definition of how to go about a domestic security investigation,” says John Fox, the FBI’s official historian.
However, civil liberties groups say the FBI’s power to pursue investigations in the name of counter-terrorism remains overly broad.
It is, of course, unclear which if any living celebrities and entertainers have been investigated by the FBI. US privacy laws forbid the release of FBI files on living people without their consent.
“Do I think there’s a Britney Spears file?” asks Nicholas Redfern.
“No, I probably don’t. She’s not hanging out with the president and she’s not linked with the mob, and she’s not hanging out with German spies.”
Steve Jobs was a man who commanded respect as an innovator but was questioned on his honesty and morality, according to his FBI file, which has been released recently.
Steve Jobs’ file was prepared on the Apple founder as he was considered for a presidential appointment in 1991 during George H. W. Bush’s time in office.
His file also revealed that Steve Jobs had been the victim of an extortive bomb threat in 1985.
Documents note, too, his conversion to Buddhism and admissions of drug use.
Steve Jobs’ file has been made public on Thursday through freedom of information laws, and posted to the FBI’s website.
“Several individuals questioned Mr. Jobs’ honesty stating that Mr. Jobs will twist the truth and distort reality in order to achieve his goals,” said a summary of the FBI background check.
A former business associate who blamed Steve Jobs because he had not received lucrative stock he thought was due to him characterized the Apple founder as an “honest and trustworthy individual; however, his moral character is questionable”.
Steve Jobs was a man who commanded respect as an innovator but was questioned on his honesty and morality, according to his FBI file, which has been released recently
Others told the interviewer that Steve Jobs was difficult to work with, no surprise given details of his volatile temperament that emerged in his biography last year.
The unfavorable comments gleaned during the background check did not prevent Steve Jobs being appointed to an unpaid post advising the president on export policy.
Steve Jobs died in October last year after a years-long struggle with cancer.
The interviewees’ names have been redacted by the FBI, with the exception of Steve Jobs himself.
Steve Jobs admitted to experimenting with drugs, including LSD, in the ‘70’s.
Another interviewee spoke of Steve Jobs’ high-profile reputation within Silicon Valley.
Steve Jobs was “not an engineer in the real sense”, the source says, but “an innovative force within the technical community”.
Google’s brain-box researchers have managed to come up with a formula for working out which YouTube video clips are the funniest.
Google researchers’ algorithm has declared that a video of a cat appearing to say “no” over and over again – called No No No Cat – is currently the funniest.
This video only has just over 60,000 hits – which is small compared to the millions some clips clock up – but Google turned its attention to the comments users leave to gauge comedy value.
Google Researcher Sanketh Shetty says the key to the formula is how people express their mirth.
Sanketh Shetty wrote in a blog post: “We noticed that viewers emphasize their reaction to funny videos in several ways: e.g. capitalization (LOL), elongation (loooooool), repetition (lolololol), exclamation (lolllll!!!!!), and combinations thereof.
“If a user uses an <<loooooool>> vs an <<loool>>, does it mean they were more amused? We designed features to quantify the degree of emphasis on words associated with amusement in viewer comments.”
Comments posted for No No No Cat certainly reflected this, with kayleighzoe1 writing “lololololollololololol” and muretto89 saying “XD LOL XD”.
“No No No Cat” video clip only has just over 60,000 hits - which is small compared to the millions some clips clock up - but Google turned its attention to the comments users leave to gauge comedy value
Google also took other factors into account such as how videos were described by the uploader and tagged and whether audible laughter can be heard in the background.
Google also used its research to populate a list of candidates for YouTube’s Comedy Slam feature, where users can vote for the videos they laughed at the most. No No No Cat received the most votes.
The number two slot is currently occupied by “Guy gets Killed By Bear”, featuring a comedy kung-fu duel.
At number three is Marshmallow Murder, where “talking” marshmallows are skewered and burned.
Number four is a clip of an elderly gentleman showing off his dance moves, called Old Man Shuffling and number five is a cartoon of a misunderstood Italian holidaying in Malta, called Angry Italian man!
A Canadian study found that drivers who use cannabis within three hours of driving are twice as likely to cause a collision as those not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Scientists suggest this is because cannabis impairs brain and motor functions needed for safe driving.
The study in bmj.com reviewed nine studies of 50,000 people worldwide who had been in serious or fatal crashes.
Experts support the close monitoring of serious accidents involving drugs.
The study analysis was carried out by researchers at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada.
They looked at observational studies of collisions between one or more moving vehicles on a public road which involved the consumption of cannabis.
Drivers of cars, sports utility vehicles, vans, lorries, buses and motorcycles featured in the studies.
The study found a near doubling of risk of a driver being involved in a motor vehicle collision resulting in serious injury or death if cannabis had been consumed less than three hours before.
However, it added that the impact of acute cannabis consumption on the risk of minor crashes was still unclear.
Mark Asbridge, study author and associate professor at the department of community health and epidemiology at Dalhousie University, said the research was important.
“Our findings provide clarity to the large body of research on cannabis and collision risk.
“They also offer support to existing policies, in many jurisdictions, that restrict driving under the influence of cannabis, and direct public health officials to devote greater attention to this issue.”
All studies tested for tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active chemical in cannabis, by analyzing blood samples or using direct reports of cannabis use from those involved.
Most studies used one nanogram per millilitre of cannabis or any amount greater than zero as the cut-off for a positive test result, with one study using a 2 ng/ml cut-off.
The Canadian study cites a roadside survey of 537 drivers in Scotland in 2000 which found that 15% of respondents aged 17-39 years admitted to having consumed cannabis within 12 hours of driving a vehicle.
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction found in 2008 that between 0.3% and 7.4% of drivers tested positive for cannabis from roadside surveys in the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, the United States, and Australia.
The researchers conclude that despite the increased risk posed by cannabis to car drivers, alcohol remains the substance most often present in crashes.
The observed association between alcohol and crash risk is more significant than that for cannabis, the study says.
People for the Ethical Treatment of the Animals (PETA) has called for TV and film safety rules to be tightened after two horses were put down during filming for HBO drama Luck.
The animals were injured in the making of the show starring Dustin Hoffman.
PETA said it “repeatedly reached out” to HBO before filming to offer safety advice but was “rebuffed”.
HBO, which worked with the American Humane Association, said both were “committed to ensuring all necessary safety procedures” were in place.
Luck, conceived by NYPD Blue creator David Milch, is billed as “a provocative look at the world of horse racing – the owners, gamblers, jockeys and diverse gaming industry players”.
The AHA said in a statement that the fatal accidents had taken place several months apart – one during the filming of a pilot episode and another during the filming of the seventh show.
AHA’s standard “no animals were harmed” statement was removed from the credits of both episodes.
PETA has called for TV and film safety rules to be tightened after two horses were put down during filming for HBO drama Luck
The AHA said both racehorses “stumbled and fell during short racing sequences”.
“The horses were checked immediately afterwards by the onsite veterinarians and in each case a severe fracture deemed the condition inoperable,” it added.
“The decision was that the most humane course of action was euthanasia.”
It listed a series of precautions taken including that each horse was “limited to three runs per day and was rested in between those runs”.
In a statement released to the New York Observer, HBO said filming was suspended after the second accident “while the production worked with AHA and racing industry experts to adopt additional protocols specifically for horse racing sequences”.
They included “the hiring of an additional veterinarian and radiography of the legs of all horses being used by the production”.
“HBO fully adopted all of AHA’s rigorous safety guidelines before production resumed.”
But, in a blog on its website, PETA said: “Perhaps if producers had considered the proved safety protocols that we would have suggested, these horses would still be alive.”
It added that “two dead horses in a handful of episodes exemplify the dark side of using animals in television, movies, and ads”.
It said it was now in discussions with HBO “about how to prevent even more deaths on the show”.
US scientists have discovered how to rapidly clear the destructive plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients while they were testing a cancer drug on mice.
The study, published in the journal Science, reported the plaques were broken down at “unprecedented” speed.
Tests also showed an improvement in some brain function.
Researchers said the results were promising, but warned that successful drugs in mice often failed to work in people.
The exact cause of Alzheimer’s remains unknown, but one of the leading theories involves the formation of clumps of a protein called beta-amyloid. These damage and kill brain cells, eventually resulting in memory problems and the inability to think clearly.
Clearing protein plaques is a major focus of Alzheimer’s research and drugs are already being tested in human clinical trials.
In the body, the role of removing beta-amyloid falls to apolipoprotein E – or ApoE. However, people have different versions of the protein. Having the ApoE4 genetic variant is one of the biggest risk factors for developing the disease.
Alzheimer’s plaques (in brown) form around brain cells (in blue) and shrink parts of the brain
Scientists at the Case Western Reserve University in Ohio were investigating ways of boosting levels of ApoE, which in theory should reduce levels of beta-amyloid.
They tested bexarotene, which has been approved for use to treat cancers in the skin, on mice with an illness similar to Alzheimer’s.
After one dose in young mice, the levels of beta-amyloid in the brain were “rapidly lowered” within six hours and a 25% reduction was sustained for 70 hours.
In older mice with established amyloid plaques, seven days of treatment halved the number of plaques in the brain.
The study said there were improvements in brain function after treatment, in nest building, maze performance and remembering electrical shocks.
Researcher Paige Cramer said: “This is an unprecedented finding. Previously, the best existing treatment for Alzheimer’s disease in mice required several months to reduce plaque in the brain.”
The research is at a very early stage, and drugs often do not make the leap from animal experiment to human treatment.
Fellow researcher Prof. Gary Landreth said the study was “particularly exciting and rewarding” and held the “potential promise of a therapy for Alzheimer’s disease”.
However, he stressed that the drug had been tested in only three “mouse models” which simulate the early stages of the disease and are not Alzheimer’s.
Prof. Gary Landreth warned people not to “try this at home”, as the drug had not been proven to work in Alzheimer’s patients and there was no indication of what any dose should be.
“We need to be clear, the drug works quite well in mouse models of the disease. Our next objective is to ascertain if it acts similarly in humans,” he said.
Prof. Gary Landreth’s group is preparing to start trials in a small group of people to see if there is a similar effect in humans.
Alzheimer’s disease is likely to become more common as people live longer.
At least 25 people have been killed in two bomb attacks targeting security forces compounds in Syria’s second city of Aleppo, state media report.
According to state television, the death toll included both civilians and members of the security forces and blamed “armed terrorist gangs” for the blasts.
There are conflicting reports about whether the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) was behind the attacks.
A spokesman appeared to confirm that it was, but another blamed the government.
Col Malik al-Kurdi, the FSA’s deputy leader, said it had been monitoring the activity of security forces personnel and members of the pro-government Shabiha militia inside a Military Intelligence compound and a riot police base in Aleppo on Friday morning.
“When they were gathering in a square to go to the mosques and repress demonstrations, two groups from the FSA targeted the two buildings with small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire,” he said.
“After violent clashes, there was an explosion inside the Military Intelligence building. At first we didn’t know what it was, but we think it was the regime trying to stop the operation of the FSA,” he added.
Another FSA spokesman, Col Mahir Nouaimi, told AFP: “This criminal regime is killing our children in Homs and carrying out bomb attacks in Aleppo to steer attention away from what it is doing in Homs.”
At least 25 people have been killed in two bomb attacks targeting security forces compounds in Syria's second city of Aleppo
Opposition activists also said the government was responsible, accusing it of trying to discredit the uprising. Suspicious activity by security personnel had been noticed shortly before the blasts, they added.
Syrian state TV broadcast images showing at least five corpses and mangled body parts.
A weeping TV reporter said the bomb targeting an intelligence building went off near a park, where people had gathered for breakfast and children had been playing.
Some children were killed in the blast, he said, holding up an inline-skate.
Robert Dewey Hoskins, a man who was convicted of stalking and threatening pop star Madonna, has escaped from a psychiatric hospital, police in Los Angeles say.
Robert Dewey Hoskins, 54, was sentenced to 10 years in jail in 1996.
After leaving prison the stalker spent time in another hospital, before being arrested last July and sent to the facility in Norwalk that he escaped from on Friday.
Police describe Robert Dewey Hoskins as having “very violent tendencies” and say he is not to be approached.
“Hoskins is highly psychotic when not taking his medication,” the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement.
Madonna testified during Robert Dewey Hoskins’ trial in 1996 that she had nightmares about him after seeing him near her home the previous year.
Robert Dewey Hoskins, who was convicted of stalking and threatening pop star Madonna, has escaped from a psychiatric hospital
The singer said her bodyguard told her Robert Dewey Hoskins claimed she was supposed to be his wife, and that “if he couldn’t have me, he was going to slice my throat from ear to ear.”
Later that year, while Madonna was in Florida, Robert Dewey Hoskins scaled the perimeter wall of her home in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles, jumped into her pool and was eventually shot twice by a security guard.
Court records show Robert Dewey Hoskins was convicted of vandalism in July 2011, the Associated Press reports.
Baby Blue Ivy appeared on her father’s single at just a few hours old and now Beyoncé and Jay-Z daughter’s name is a brand in the making.
According to reports in the US, Beyoncé and Jay-Z have moved to trademark their one-month-old baby’s name.
Beyoncé, 30, and Jay-Z, 42, have filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to protect Blue Ivy’s name against others using it.
The application was filed under Beyoncé’s company BGK Trademark Holdings and is still pending, according to MTV.
If approved Beyoncé and Jay-Z could use their daughter’s name for any brand or endorsements, but it is more likely they took action in order to prevent others cashing in on their already famous offspring.
Family law attorney Vikki Ziegler told MTV: “Seeking the trademark forestalls competitors from using the child’s name and or third parties from attempting to sell the baby’s name back to the couple. They are likely trying to protect what they rightfully own or created, shall we say, by trademarking Blue Ivy’s name.”
Beyoncé and Jay-Z have filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to protect Blue Ivy's name against others using it
The Patent Office has already denied two attempts by other parties to trademark the name since Blue Ivy was born on January 7, noting that the name belonged to a “very famous infant” as the reason for the rejection.
While Blue Ivy Carter awaits the decision on her trademarked name, the pampered baby is being wheeled about in a very posh pram.
According to Us Weekly, Beyoncé’s BFF Gwyneth Paltrow splashed out $1,400 on a black Bugaboo Chameleon stroller for the baby – but that’s something of a downgrade compared to the other extravagant transport at Blue Ivy’s disposal.
The new parents reportedly paid $625,000 on a solid gold rocking horse, and a mini Bugatti car for when her motor skills are more developed. And in the mean time, a $15,000 Swarovski-studded high chair and $45,000 “coach carriage” crib will keep Blue Ivy comfortable while stationary.
Beyoncé’s mother Tina Knowles recently spoke out about her granddaughter, telling People magazine: “She’s doing great. She’s beautiful.”
“[Being a grandma is] amazing. It’s the second best job I’ve ever had.”
In a new book by Spanish author Pilar Eyre is claimed that Princess Diana was just one of the many young ladies King Juan Carlos of Spain pursued in a romantic career in which he is said to have bedded more than 1,500 women.
The explosive claims are made in one of the six volumes about the Spanish royal family written by Pilar Eyre.
Imperious and suave, Juan Carlos looks every inch the old-style monarch with the autocratic manners to go with it. He loves hunting bears, skiing and boating and bedding the opposite sex.
In one picture, King Juan Carlos of Spain sits with the small Prince William, while a radiant Princess Diana, a protective arm round toddler Prince Harry, leans in to share a pleasantry with the good-looking monarch. At the other end of the couch, Prince Charles seems scarcely part of the same holiday party in 1986. He is staring glumly straight ahead like the proverbial gooseberry.
Apparently, it is an open secret in his circles that he is such a keen womanizer that the only woman he does not spend much time with is his wife, Greek-born Queen Sofia.
According to Pilar Eyre, King Juan Carlos, now 74, and Queen Sofia have not shared a bed for 35 years.
In fact, the new book, “The Solitude of the Queen”, says, following an operation on a benign lung tumor at a Barcelona hospital in 2010, the woman who spent most of the time consoling King Juan Carlos during his convalescence was a 25-year-old German interpreter called Corinne.
But can it really be true that our very own Princess Diana was one of Juan Carlos’s most significant conquests? And that it was the relationship between her and the then 48-year-old king, in the prime of his romantic life, that finally put paid to any chance of reviving his marriage?
It is certainly the case that Princess Diana, together with Prince Charles and their young children, holidayed in Majorca with the Spanish royal family several times during the 80’s.
Prince Charles never felt at ease on the sunshine island and much preferred visiting the Duke of Wellington’s estate near Granada on the mainland where the shooting was good.
In one picture, King Juan Carlos of Spain sits with the small Prince William, while a radiant Princess Diana, a protective arm round toddler Prince Harry, leans in to share a pleasantry with the good-looking monarch
But Diana, who loved lounging about on yachts in stylish bathing suits, was right at home on the shores of the Mediterranean where she could show off her figure. And King Juan Carlos, who appreciated displays of female beauty, seems to have acted on an impulse to get closer to her.
After her first trip to Majorca in 1986, Pilar Eyre alleges Diana told her bodyguard Ken Wharfe that Juan Carlos fancied her. Apparently, the king made all sorts of excuses to get tactile with her and used to love bending down with her and inviting her to stroke his old German shepherd dog, Archie.
Another royal biographer, Lady Colin Campbell, has long insisted that Princess Diana and King Juan Carlos embarked on an affair while on a cruise with their spouses in August 1986, and that they took up with each other again the following summer.
“Diana did it to make Charles jealous, but it didn’t work,” says Lady Colin. “Charles couldn’t have cared less.”
According to Pilar Eyre, rumors of the affair intensified later over the curious case of some photos of Diana in a state of undress. These were touted around the world’s publications, only to be taken off the market when someone in Spain paid $45,000 for them. That someone is rumored to have been Juan Carlos, who wanted to protect the Princess’s reputation.
But why rake all this up now? Diana is long since dead, while Juan Carlos, though he retains an eye for a pretty woman, has made it quite plain that he would never divorce his wife, with whom he has three children and eight grandchildren.
Pilar Eyre says she has revealed it for Queen Sofia’s sake.
“In a macho country like Spain, the king’s womanizing image makes him very popular,” Pilar Eyre says.
“Even the women don’t reproach him. On the contrary, they love him because he has such a seductive manner with them. But they don’t feel the same about poor Queen Sofia.
“She is seen as a cold, aloof foreigner. I wanted to show what she has had to put up with.”
Pilar Eyre says she tried hard to find out whether the Queen might also have had lovers in her time, but could come up with nothing.
Though as a young woman she had caught the eye of the Duke of Kent – first cousin to Queen Elizabeth – the Duke then fell in love with the Englishwoman he married, Kathleen Worsley.
Sofia dutifully entered into an arranged marriage in 1962, having met the highly eligible Juan Carlos on a cruise specially convened to introduce Europe’s young royals to each other.
By 1968, they had two daughters and Crown Prince Felipe. But though Sofia had fallen deeply in love with her husband, Pilar Eyre says Juan Carlos was still playing the field.
And by 1975, when he finally came to the Spanish throne after the death of the dictator General Franco, the new Queen was nursing a great sadness. For by then the royal couple was more or less estranged as a result of the king’s persistent womanizing.
According to the book, one of Sofia’s greatest humiliations happened a couple of months after Juan Carlos became king. All of a sudden he sent for a new barber and underwent such a transformation Sofia was convinced he was sprucing himself up for a lover.
A few days later the king packed his suitcase and said he was going hunting near Toledo.
“It’s an all-male outing; you’d be bored,” the king told his wife. Unwisely, Queen Sofia decided to surprise him by arriving at the estate in the middle of the night with their children, the eldest of whom was 12.
Queen Sofia burst through the door, brushed past the servants and, taking the stairs two at a time, discovered her husband in flagrante with an unknown woman. But even being caught by his entire family did not encourage the king to mend his ways.
Pilar Eyre says that throughout her reign, Queen Sofia has consequently been forced to content herself with a life of duty in Madrid, leavened by shopping trips with her daughters and occasional visits to England to visit her brother Constantine, the ex-King of Greece, who has lived in London since he was booted off the throne in 1973.
Lately Queen Sofia has taken solace in religion. She goes to Roman Catholic Mass every Sunday in the palace and attends Madrid’s Greek Orthodox church as well. Her devotions seem to annoy Juan Carlos even more.
King Juan Carlos raised his voice to his mother-in-law, Queen Federica of Greece, when he heard her telling her daughter how the Virgin Mary had appeared before her in a vision in a church near Madrid.
“There was an intense light and peace!” said Federica, at which point the king shouted: “Shut up, you! Don’t fill her head with this nonsense, she will believe it all.”
The tragedy is that despite his behavior, Queen Sofia appears to be as captivated by her husband as she was when they married 40 years ago.
At a recent family funeral Queen Sofia was seen holding tight to him and sobbing on his shoulder as if they were still the closest of companions.
Whether the book will rehabilitate Sofia in the eyes of the Spaniards or merely add to the prestige of Juan Carlos remains to be seen.
Scientists have identified helicobacter pylori bacterium as being the real cause of stomach bleeding linked to aspirin, which makes thousands of patients to be unable to take the daily pill to prevent heart attack and stroke.
This new theory could transform the way many people with cardiovascular disease are treated.
It also opens up the possibility that otherwise healthy people, who are currently advised not to take a daily aspirin, because of the risk of bleeding, might be able to take it safely for its cancer-preventing benefits.
Low-dose daily aspirin is a lifesaver, helping to prevent blood clots in the arteries supplying the heart and brain.
Aspirin is also prescribed for problems such as atrial fibrillation, a common condition that causes an irregular heartbeat, as this can also lead to the formation of blood clots.
More recently, aspirin has also been linked to a lower risk of cancers.
However, it does carry the risk of abdominal pain and stomach bleeds, and for this reason many patients are advised not to take it.
This risk was thought to be due to aspirin directly irritating the stomach lining and causing an ulcer.
Scientists have identified helicobacter pylori bacterium as being the real cause of stomach bleeding linked to aspirin
Now researchers from Nottingham University believe that helicobacter pylori bacterium (H. pylori), a common stomach bug, may in fact be responsible for the ulcers – and that aspirin merely exacerbates them.
The scientists think treating this problem at the source by eliminating the bacteria would leave more people able to tolerate aspirin, and so reduce their risk of heart attack and stroke.
One in four people is infected with H.pylori at some point, and though many people show no symptoms, it is thought to be the principal cause of stomach ulcers: about three in 20 people infected with it develop a stomach ulcer.
Now research has also linked the bacterium to bleeding from aspirin.
In a study by Nottingham University, 60% of patients who suffered internal bleeding while taking low-dose aspirin tested positive for the bacterium (H.pylori is detected using a breath test).
The researchers explained: “Our hypothesis is that H.pylori causes the ulcer, and aspirin, by thinning the blood, makes it bleed.
“If the bacterium is eradicated, the patient will not get an ulcer and therefore there is no increased bleeding risk with aspirin.”
Now a new trial of 40,000 patients in UK will investigate this. Doctors at five universities across the UK – Oxford, Durham, Southampton, Birmingham and Nottingham – will carry out the trial, the Helicobacter Eradication Aspirin Trial, starting next month and ending in March 2016.
In the study, patients aged 60 and over who are taking low-dose aspirin will first be given the breath test for the H.pylori bacterium.
Those found to be infected will receive a one-week course of eradication drug treatment of strong antibiotics, or a placebo treatment.
Commenting on the study, Dr. Jonathan Lyne, a consultant cardiologist who practices in London and at the Mater Private Hospital in Dublin, said: “Aspirin is a cornerstone of treatment in almost all patients with vascular disease.
“Concern in using this drug in those with a history of stomach ulceration and bleeding has always led to consideration of not using it in these patients, or using alternative drugs that may be more expensive and potentially not as effective.
“Furthermore, the potential cost savings in preventing hospital admissions, investigations and treatments related to ulcers and bleeding caused by aspirin and H.pylori would be welcome not just to patients but to the NHS as a whole.”
Scientists from the University of Southern California say fasting for short periods may help to combat cancer and boost the effectiveness of treatments.
Their study found fasting slowed the growth and spread of tumors and cured some cancers when it was combined with chemotherapy.
It is hoped that the discovery will prompt the development of more effective treatment plans and further research is now under way.
The study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, found that tumor cells responded differently to the stress of fasting compared to normal cells.
Instead of entering a dormant state similar to hibernation, the cells kept growing and dividing, in the end destroying themselves.
Lead researcher Professor Valter Longo, from the University of Southern California said: “The cell is, in fact, committing cellular suicide.
“What we’re seeing is that the cancer cell tries to compensate for the lack of all these things missing in the blood after fasting. It may be trying to replace them, but it can’t.”
Prof. Valter Longo and his team looked at the impact fasting had on breast, urinary tract and ovarian cancers in mice.
Fasting without chemotherapy was shown to slow the growth of breast cancer, melanoma skin cancer, glioma brain cancer and neuroblastoma – a cancer that forms in the nerve tissue.
In every case, combining fasting with chemotherapy made the cancer treatment more effective.
Multiple cycles of fasting combined with chemotherapy cured 20% of those with a highly aggressive form of cancer while 40% with a limited spread of the same cancer were cured.
None of the mice survived if they were treated with chemotherapy alone.
Researchers are already investigating the effects of fasting on human patients, but only a clinical trial lasting several years will confirm if human cancer patients really can benefit from calorie restriction.
However, they highlight that fasting could be dangerous for patients who have already lost a lot of weight or are affected by other risk factors, such as diabetes.
Results of a preliminary clinical trial will be presented at an annual meeting of the American Society of Cancer Oncologists (ASCO) in Chicago this June.
Prof. Valter Longo points out that the study only tests if patients could tolerate short fasts of two days before and one day after chemotherapy.
“We don’t know whether in humans it’s effective,” he said.
“It should be off-limits to patients, but a patient should be able to go to their oncologist and say, <<what about fasting with chemotherapy?>> or without if chemotherapy was not recommended or considered.”
Previous research led by Prof. Valter Longo showed that fasting protected normal cells from the effects of chemotherapy but it did not look at cancer cells.
It is now though fasting may be one way to make tumor cells weaker and more vulnerable.
Prof. Valter Longo added: “A way to beat cancer cells may not be to try to find drugs that kill them specifically but to confuse them by generating extreme environments, such as fasting, that only normal cells can quickly respond to.”
A new study has found that zinc supplements can triple the survival chances of young children with pneumonia who are deficient in the mineral.
Taking zinc had a dramatic effect on death rates – even though it did not shorten the time severely ill children took to recover.
The metal is found in shellfish, meat, egg yolks and seeds and supports a wide range of functions in the body and is vital to the immune system.
However, many people are deficient in the mineral, both in rich and poor countries.
The new research, involving young children aged six months to five years, was conducted in Uganda where zinc deficiency is rife.
Scientists studied 352 children with severe pneumonia who were all being treated with antibiotics.
Half the children were given additional therapy in the form of 10 milligram or 20 milligram zinc supplements, depending on age.
The researchers found no difference between the two groups in the time it took to recover from infection.
But the risk of dying was very different. Just 4% of children taking zinc died compared with 12% of those not taking zinc.
For children infected with the AIDS virus, HIV, the supplements had a really dramatic impact. In this group, an extra 26 out of every 100 children had their lives saved by zinc.
A new study has found that zinc supplements can triple the survival chances of young children with pneumonia who are deficient in the mineral
Study leader Professor James Tumwine, from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, said: “Zinc is known to bolster the immune system and zinc deficiency is rife all over the developed, and developing, world.
“In Uganda, where this study was performed, zinc deficiency in some areas can be as high as 70%.
“We would only need to give 13 of these children with pneumonia zinc on top of their antibiotics to save one life. This equates to about $4 – a small price to pay.”
The findings are published in the online journal BMC Medicine.
The researchers pointed out that the HIV-infected children suffered a double disadvantage. Their immune systems were compromised both by HIV infection and zinc deficiency.
Taking zinc supplements was thought to give a big boost to the immune systems. Yet the scientists were unable to explain why the mineral failed to speed up recovery time.
The researchers wrote: “What is clear is that we have unearthed a very interesting, yet contradictory phenomenon, that seems to be related to HIV infection and severe zinc deficiency. It calls for further studies on the interaction among HIV, zinc and severe pneumonia.”
A short guide to pick-up the right bottle of fragrance for this Valentine’s Day.
FRAGRANCES FOR HER
FASHIONISTAS
Jimmy Choo eau de toilette
A newly launched lighter version of the gorgeous Jimmy Choo scent, which, in keeping with all things romantic, is pale pink. There are top notes of ginger and heart notes of tea rose. It comes in an exquisite faceted bottle.
FLIRTY GIRLS
Guerlain Shalimar Parfum Initial L’Eau
In a beautiful bottle with a sapphire blue stopper, this new version of the iconic scent has top notes of damask rose and iris on a base of vanilla and tonka bean. It’s fresher than the original, with an almond overtone.
TRUE BRITS
Burberry Body Mist
A new, lighter version of the best-selling Burberry Body fragrance, this is lovely for spraying all over as it’s delicate enough to scent hair and the whole body. Use after bathing to allow skin to absorb sandalwood, freesia and peach notes.
SULTRY SIRENS
Gucci Guilty Intense
A warm, oriental version of the eau de toilette, this is a feminine fragrance, with notes of pink pepper, mandarin and powdery violet. Perfect for romantic nights out.
Gucci Guilty Intense is perfect for romantic nights out
FUN LOVERS
Coach Poppy
Brand new from Coach, this is a fruity, floral scent with fresh cucumber, juicy mandarin and baby freesia buds. In a pretty pink and red bottle, its woody undertones blend with the floral aspects. Lovely for every day.
LUXURY LOVERS
Dolce & Gabanna The One
This scent feels exclusive and luxurious. It’s a warm oriental with a citrus blend of bergamot and mandarin. The heavy glass bottle feels substantial and expensive.
REAL LADIES
Carita eau de parfum
With top notes of bergamot and rose, heart notes of violet, heliotrope and iris and base notes of vanilla, amber and musk, this is one of the sexiest new scents around. A must-have for true romantics.
FLORAL FANS
Fan de Fendi eau de toilette
This limited edition of the Sicilian scent is like a little bottle of sunshine. A fresh floral perfume with notes of Damascena rose, it comes with the famed Fendi logo in bright yellow. It’s available for only one season, so is sure to become a collector’s item.
FRAGRANCES FOR HIM
FOR ADVENTURERS
Molton Brown Re-Charge Black Pepper eau de toilette
With fiery Madagascan black pepper- corn oil, this sultry, warming scent is very masculine. Another great choice is one of Molton Brown’s fabulous gift sets, Fresh Black Pepper.
TRUE GENTS
Boucheron Pour Homme
A refreshing citrus scent with a woody base and notes of bergamot, verbena, basil and coriander. One for men who like to look and smell classic and dapper.
KEEN TRAVELLERS
Jean Paul Gaultier Kokorico
This sweet, yet fresh, fragrance contrasts cocoa bean with fig leaf for an unusual, yet distinctly Gaultier scent. It comes beautifully presented in a red tin, so it would make a great Valentine’s gift. Ideal for men who like a powerful, exotic fragrance.
OUTDOOR TYPES
Guerlain Homme L’Eau Boisee
A woody version of Guerlain Homme L’Eau, with notes of Indian vetiver. There’s a lovely crispness, too, perfect for spring days.
Guerlain Homme L’Eau Boisee is a woody version of Guerlain Homme L’Eau, with notes of Indian vetiver, perfect for spring days
DISCERNING CHAPS
Tom Ford Extreme eau de toilette
A real treat for the man who knows exactly what he wants. Rum, caramel, vanilla and black truffle make this a unique spicy scent. In an elegant bottle, it will quickly become a favorite.
GOLDEN OLDIES
M7 by Yves Saint Laurent
This is part of The Collection from YSL, another brand to re-launch cult and classic fragrances. Dating from 2002, it has notes of mandarin and myrrh to give a woody, distinctive fragrance. The retro bottle will look good in the bathroom.
FLAMBOYANT TYPES
Paco Rabanne 1 Million aftershave
A huge seller, this scent is leathery and freshly crisp, with notes of frosted grapefruit, mandarin and peppermint, contrasting with tonka bean and amber. The bottle is impressive and will look smart in a wash bag.
Experts found that men can inherit heart disease from their father after they have tracked the condition to the Y chromosome that dads pass to sons.
By studying the DNA of over 3,000 men, scientists found a particular version of the sex chromosome increases the risk of coronary artery disease by 50%.
The risk it confers is in addition to other heart risk factors like cholesterol, The Lancet reports.
Experts already know that men develop heart disease a decade earlier than women, on average. By the age of 40, the lifetime risk of heart disease is one in two for men and one in three for women.
Lifestyle factors like smoking and blood pressure are important contributors. This latest work suggests the male Y chromosome can also play a role in coronary artery disease.
Dr. Maciej Tomaszewski, from the University of Leicester in UK, and colleagues studied 3,233 biologically unrelated British men who were already enrolled in other medical studies investigating heart disease risk.
When they carried out genetic tests on the men they found that 90% possessed one of two common versions of Y chromosome – named haplogroup I and haplogroup R1b1b2.
And the risk of coronary artery disease among the men carrying the haplogroup I version was 50% higher than in other men.
The scientists say they now need to pinpoint precisely which genes on the Y chromosome are responsible.
But they believe they already know how they exert their effect – by upsetting a man’s immune system.
Dr. Maciej Tomaszewski, a clinical senior lecturer at the University’s Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, said: “We are very excited about these findings as they put the Y chromosome on the map of genetic susceptibility to coronary artery disease.
“Doctors usually associated the Y chromosome with maleness and fertility but this shows it is also implicated in heart disease.”
Experts found that men can inherit heart disease from their father after they have tracked the condition to the Y chromosome that dads pass to sons
He said, ultimately, the discovery could lead to new ways to treat and prevent heart disease in men, as well as a genetic test to spot those at greatest risk.
In the meantime, Dr. Maciej Tomaszewski said men should focus on risk factors that they already have the power to modify themselves, such as getting enough exercise and eating a healthy diet to keep their blood pressure and cholesterol down.
Dr. Hélène Wilson of the British Heart Foundation, which part-funded the work, said: “Coronary heart disease is the cause of heart attacks, which claim the lives of around 50,000 UK men every year.
“Lifestyle choices such as poor diet and smoking are major causes, but inherited factors carried in DNA are also part of the picture. The next step is to identify specifically which genes are responsible and how they might increase heart attack risk.”
A research team from Tel Aviv University claim that a full breakfast that includes a sweet treat really can contribute to weight loss success.
Researchers found that eating pudding as part of a balanced 600-calorie breakfast that also includes proteins and carbohydrates, can help dieters to lose more weight – and keep it off in the long run.
The key is to indulge in the morning, when the body’s metabolism is at its most active and we are better able to work off the extra calories throughout the day, according to Professor Daniela Jakubowicz and her team.
Attempting to avoid sweets entirely can create a psychological addiction to these same foods in the long-term, Prof. Daniela Jakubowicz said. So adding dessert items to breakfast can control cravings throughout the rest of the day.
A research team from Tel Aviv University claim that a full breakfast that includes a sweet treat really can contribute to weight loss success
Over the course of a 32 week-long study, detailed in the journal Steroids, participants who added dessert to their breakfast – cookies, cake, or chocolate – lost an average of 40 lbs more than a group that avoided such foods. What’s more, they kept off the pounds longer.
A meal in the morning provides energy for the day’s tasks, aids in brain functioning, and kick-starts the body’s metabolism, making it crucial for weight loss and maintenance.
And breakfast is the meal that most successfully regulates ghrelin, the hormone that increases hunger, explains Prof. Daniela Jakubowicz.
While the level of ghrelin rises before every meal, it is suppressed most effectively at breakfast time.
Basing their study on this fact, the researchers hoped to determine whether meal time and composition had an impact on weight loss in the short and long term, or if it was a simple matter of calorie count.
193 clinically obese, non-diabetic adults were randomly assigned to one of two diet groups with identical caloric intake – the men consumed 1600 calories per day and the women 1400.
However, the first group was given a low carbohydrate diet including a small 300 calorie breakfast, and the second was given a 600 calorie breakfast high in protein and carbohydrates, always including a dessert item (i.e. chocolate).
Halfway through the study, participants in both groups had lost an average of 33 lbs per person. But in the second half of the study, results differed drastically. The participants in the low-carbohydrate group regained an average of 22 lbs per person, but participants in the group with a larger breakfast lost another 15 lbs each.
At the end of the 32 weeks, those who had consumed a 600-calorie breakfast had lost an average of 40 lbs more per person than their peers.
One of the biggest challenges that people face is keeping weight off in the long-term, says Prof. Daniela Jakubowicz. Ingesting a higher proportion of our daily calories at breakfast makes sense. It’s not only good for body function, but it also alleviates cravings.
Highly restrictive diets that forbid desserts and carbohydrates are initially effective, but often cause dieters to stray from their food plans as a result of withdrawal-like symptoms. They end up regaining much of the weight they lost during the diet proper.
Prof. Daniela Jakubowicz said that although they consumed the same daily amount of calories, “the participants in the low carbohydrate diet group had less satisfaction, and felt that they were not full”. She said that their cravings for sugars and carbohydrates were more intense and eventually caused them to cheat on the diet plan.
“But the group that consumed a bigger breakfast, including dessert, experienced few if any cravings for these foods later in the day.”
Ultimately, this shows that a diet must be realistic to be adopted as part of a new lifestyle. Curbing cravings is better than deprivation for weight loss success, the team concluded.
According to a study by Yale University scientists, the Earth will look very different in 200 million years, with the latest prediction that a supercontinent called Amasia will form right over the North Pole, and not over the centre of Africa, as previously thought.
North and South America will crunch together, with the Caribbean Sea and Arctic Ocean disappearing, while Asia will join the Americas, the scientists say.
“After those water bodies close, we’re on our way to the next supercontinent,” said lead researcher Ross Mitchell.
“You’d have the Americas meeting Eurasia practically at the North Pole.”
The results of the study were published this week in Nature, with the paper explaining that the formation of Amasia is between 50 and 200 million years away.
The Yale researchers used a process called orthoversion to arrive at their conclusions.
North and South America will crunch together, with the Caribbean Sea and Arctic Ocean disappearing, while Asia will join the Americas
According to this, each succeeding supercontinent forms 90 degrees from the geographic centre of its ancient predecessor.
The new theory contrasts with the standard theories about supercontinent formation, introversion and extroversion, which hold that supercontinents form either 0 or 180 degrees away from the geographic centre of the previous supercontinent.
Under these earlier theories, the Atlantic Ocean will disappear and the next supercontinent will form with a centre more or less in the same spot as the last supercontinent’s centre, present-day Africa.
Alternately, the Pacific Ocean will disappear and the next supercontinent will form with a centre on the opposite side of the globe.
Ross Mitchell and colleagues arrived at the new theory after an extensive analysis of the magnetism of ancient rocks.
After each historical supercontinent assembled, it underwent a series of back-and-forth rotations around a stable axis along the equator.
From one supercontinent to the next, the axes were offset from each other by about 90 degrees, the Yale team showed – consistent with orthoversion, but not with either introversion or extroversion.
“This kind of analysis gives us a way to arrange continents in both latitude and longitude, providing a better understanding in patterns of biological dispersal and the dynamics of Earth’s deep interior,” said Yale doctoral student Taylor M. Kilian, the study’s second author.
The most recent supercontinent, Pangea (which is Greek for “All Lands”), formed about 300 million years ago with Africa at its centre.
Pangea began breaking apart into the seven continents of today with the birth of the Atlantic Ocean about 100 million years later.
Researchers believe Pangea is the third or fourth supercontinent in Earth’s history. Its immediate predecessors were Rodinia – which formed about 1 billion years ago – and Nuna, which formed about 1.8 billion years ago.
The idea of continental drift was introduced by German scientist Alfred Wegener in 1912, to explain how the shape of Earth’s countries looked suspiciously like jigsaw pieces that would fit together.
The Earth’s surface is formed from seven major and several minor tectonic plates that wander around at speeds varying from a few millimetres to two centimetres a year, the same pace that a human nail grows.
It’s the friction caused by plates grinding against each other that causes earthquakes.
Baltasar Garzon, Spain’s best-known judge has been found guilty of authorizing illegal recordings of lawyers’ conversations by Supreme Court in Madrid.
The judge has been banned from the legal profession for 11 years.
Baltasar Garzon, 56, is best known for his efforts to extradite the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet from London to face trial in Madrid.
He is also accused of exceeding his authority by wanting to investigate Franco-era disappearances.
That would violate a 1977 amnesty on crimes committed during General Franco’s rule.
Baltasar Garzon, Spain’s best-known judge has been found guilty of authorizing illegal recordings of lawyers' conversations by Supreme Court in Madrid
Baltasar Garzon believes that no amnesty can cover crimes against humanity.
The judge also faces a third charge, of allegedly dropping an investigation into the head of Spain’s biggest bank, Santander, after receiving payments for a course sponsored by the bank. No date has been set for that trial.
The prosecutions have been brought by private parties.
Seven judges at the Supreme Court in Madrid have been hearing the evidence.
How zebras evolved their characteristic black-and-white stripes has been a long time subject of debate among scientists.
Now researchers from Hungary and Sweden claim to have solved the mystery.
The stripes, the scientist say, came about to keep away blood-sucking flies.
They report in the Journal of Experimental Biology that this pattern of narrow stripes makes zebras “unattractive” to the flies.
They key to this effect is in how the striped patterns reflect light.
“We started off studying horses with black, brown or white coats,” explained Susanne Akesson from Lund University, a member of the international research team that carried out the study.
“We found that in the black and brown horses, we get horizontally polarized light.” This effect made the dark-coloured horses very attractive to flies.
How zebras evolved their characteristic black-and-white stripes has been a long time subject of debate among scientists
It means that the light that bounces off the horse’s dark coat – and travels in waves to the eyes of a hungry fly – moves along a horizontal plane, like a snake slithering along with its body flat to the floor.
Dr. Susanne Akesson and her colleagues found that horseflies, or tabanids, were very attracted by these “flat” waves of light.
“From a white coat, you get unpolarized light [reflected],” she explained. Unpolarized light waves travel along any and every plane, and are much less attractive to flies. As a result, white-coated horses are much less troubled by horseflies than their dark-coloured relatives.
Having discovered the flies’ preference for dark coats, the team then became interested in zebras. They wanted to know what kind of light would bounce off the striped body of a zebra, and how this would affect the biting flies that are a horse’s most irritating enemy.
“We created an experimental set-up where we painted the different patterns onto boards,” said Dr. Susanne Akesson.
She and her colleagues placed a blackboard, a whiteboard, and several boards with stripes of varying widths into one of the fields of a horse farm in rural Hungary.
“We put insect glue on the boards and counted the number of flies that each one attracted,” she explained.
The striped board that was the closest match to the actual pattern of a zebra’s coat attracted by far the fewest flies, “even less than the white boards that were reflecting unpolarized light,” Dr. Susanne Akesson said.
“That was a surprise because, in a striped pattern, you still have these dark areas that are reflecting horizontally polarized light.
“But the narrower (and more zebra-like) the stripes, the less attractive they were to the flies.”
To test horseflies’ reaction to a more realistic 3-D target, the team put four life-size “sticky horse models ” into the field – one brown, one black, one white and one black-and-white striped, like a zebra.
The researchers collected the trapped flies every two days, and found that the zebra-striped horse model attracted the fewest.
Veteran TV anchor Kyle Dyer in Denver, Colorado, was rushed to the hospital after a dog that recently survived a harrowing rescue bit her in the face during a live TV segment.
86-pound Argentine Mastiff named Max sunk his teeth into Kyle Dyer’s face when she bent down to pet him Wednesday during the morning show segment on KUSA-TV.
KUSA-TV’s news chopper captured video footage of a firefighter rescuing Max from a freezing pond Monday after he fell through the ice and couldn’t make it out.
Now, Max has been caged by animal control officers and his owner, Michael Robinson, has been fined.
TV anchor Kyle Dyer was rushed to the hospital after a dog that recently survived a harrowing rescue bit her in the face during a live TV segment
KUSA-TV says Kyle Dyer is in fair condition, recovering from the bite at Denver hospital.
A trauma team is evaluating the injuries to her face.
Michael Robinson says he was walking Max Monday when he saw a coyote and ran off after it.
Authorities say Max spend 20 minutes swimming in the pond before a firefighter in a dry suit dove into the frigid waters and pulled him to safety.
KUSA- TV station aired the harrowing rescue and invited the firefighter, Michael Robinson and Max into their studios Wednesday morning for a reunion.
That’s when Max attacked Kyle Dyer.
The station says the attack was not broadcast, but it later released a short clip of the bite.
Denver Animal Control Director Doug Kelley told CBS4 Denver Kyle Dyer’s injury was “a pretty major bite”.
Max, who did not have proper rabies vaccinations, will be quarantined 10 days to ensure he is healthy.
Michael Robinson was cited for a dog bite violation, having the dog off his leash and not having proper vaccinations.
