Author: Admin

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

A Finnish study has indicated that having higher body levels of lycopene — a red chemical occurring in tomatoes, watermelons, grapefruit, peppers, and papaya — may reduce the risk of stroke. The research for the study, which is in the issue of medical journal Neurology released today, examined 1,031 men aged between 42 and 61 over a period of twelve years on average.

The study, which was financed by the Lapland Central Hospital, found that the men with higher amounts of lycopene in their blood system experienced fewer strokes than men with lower levels. Eleven strokes occurred amongst the 259 men in the highest of the four lycopene level categories while 25 of the 258 men in the categories with the lowest lycopene level categories experienced strokes. This suggests a stroke was 55% less likely if one had a high amount of the chemical in one’s diet than if one had a low amount.

“The results support the recommendation that people get more than five servings of fruits and vegetables a day,” said Dr Jouni Karppi of the Department of Medicine at the University of Eastern Finland. Eating these types of foods in such quantities “would likely lead to a major reduction in the number of strokes worldwide, according to previous research”, the primary author of the study continued. He added that inflammation and blood clotting — the cause of ischemic strokes, the most common type of stroke — occurred less frequently.

In the US state of New York, Lenox Hill Hospital Center for Stroke and Neuro-Endovascular Surgery director Dr. Rafael Ortiz said that, alongside exercise and non-smoking, “diet is very important” for reducing the likelihood of stroke. However, these results “should not deter people from eating other types of fruit and vegetables as they all have health benefits and remain an important part of a staple diet”, according to Dr Clare Walton of The Stroke Association in the UK.

The results came as part of a wider study on cardiovascular disease development risks. The United States Department of Agriculture also registers high concentrations of lycopene in tomato purées, pastes and sauces. All those surveyed lived in, or in close proximity to, the Finnish town of Kuopio, where the University of Eastern Finland is located.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Somali pirates have carried out their longest-range attack to date today, firing on an oil tanker 1,850 kilometers off the coast of Somalia. NATO and European Union anti-piracy forces say pirates attacked the ship in the Indian Ocean, 740 kilometers northeast of the Seychelles islands.

The reports say pirates in at least two skiffs approached the tanker and attacked it with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. The vessel took evasive maneuvers and escaped. No casualties were reported. The EU says a spotter plane has been sent to monitor the pirates.

Meanwhile, maritime officials say Somali pirates have seized a cargo ship full of weapons. Details are sketchy on the incident. It is not clear when or where pirates seized the ship, which the officials say is using a fake name, Al Mizan.

The Atalanta naval mission of the EU, which operates off the coast of Somalia, released a statement regarding the incident. “This was the longest range of a pirate attack off the Somali coast ever. Automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades were fired. With increasing speed and evasive maneuvers the master managed to evade the attack. No casualties were reported,” it read.

Somali pirates have gradually extended their reach using so-called mother ships that can journey far out to sea. From these, the pirates launch small skiffs to attack and board commercial vessels.

Last year, and for much of this year, most of the pirates’ attacks took place in the Gulf of Aden, north of Somalia. But in recent weeks, the pirates have concentrated their efforts in the western Indian Ocean, north of the Seychelles. The vast area is much harder for foreign naval patrols stationed off Somalia to cover, although the patrols have stopped some pirate attacks in progress.

Somali pirates are holding at least nine ships and well over 100 crew members in all. The pirates are also holding a British couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler, who they seized from a yacht last month.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

The Italian Cultural Institute in Barcelona was damaged today by an explosion. One Spanish policeman was injured and his bomb-sniffing dog killed. Staff at the Institute discovered a suspicious object and called police. Police then arrived with a bomb squad and bomb-sniffing dogs.

The explosion, described as small by Italian Embassy spokesman Filip La Rosa, occurred while police were investigating the object. Franco Giordano, Italian consul in Barcelona, described the home-made bomb as a coffee maker (a macchinetta di caffè) with cables.

The Italian Cultural Institute is located at the passatge Méndez Vigo, in the Eixample district of the Catalan capital. Italian language courses were suspended for the day.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Japan’s government has declared its first ever “nuclear emergency” after pressure rises in the No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, combined with a minor radiation leak, caused a 10 km radius around the plant to be evacuated. An attempt to relieve the pressure inside the containment vessels of the plant has been delayed.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company’s 40-year old nuclear facility, 270 km NE of Tokyo, reported mechanical difficulties with its cooling system, although the automated shutdown systems worked correctly. With the core reaction shut down the plant is no longer actively generating heat, but the fuel rods continue to generate excess heat and radiation and need constant cooling.

The cooling system runs a constant flow of water to take the heat away from the submerged fuel rods, but the pumping system requires electricity to operate even after the plant is no longer producing electricity itself—generally from back-up diesel or natural gas generators.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

An American inventor has patented a pair of new time formats with a footprint less than 50% of that of conventional four-digit time. The more unusual of the two new formats, called “TWELV”, dispenses with numerals altogether. In place of clock hands or digits, the new clock uses color to convey the hour and a moon image to convey the minute, which moon slowly grows throughout the course of an hour from a narrow crescent to a full-fledged circle.

The second and more approachable of the new formats retains numerical digits to indicate the minute but uses colors to convey the hour.

Early critics question whether the aesthetic benefits of the moon-clock will be sufficient to encourage users to learn the color-based time-telling system. However, the size advantages of the new system may make it particularly suitable for mobile applications, particularly cell phones, wearable computers, and head-mounted displays.

Monday, January 11, 2010

United Airlines Flight 634 made an emergency landing yesterday morning when only two of the three landing wheels on the Airbus A319 deployed as the plane was making its final approach into Newark, New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport. After multiple attempts to fix the problem failed, the pilot decided that an emergency landing was the only remaining choice.

Only the plane’s nose gear and left landing gear had descended. The right landing gear would not release. The airliner made a go-around as the crew attempted to fix the problem. Passenger Jim Falk knew something was wrong saying, “Normally a big plane like that doesn’t do a bypass, so we knew something was wrong.”

However, the pilot decided that nothing could be done to bring the gear down, and an emergency landing was declared. “We are going to have an unusual landing,” the pilot calmly announced to the 53 passengers seated on the plane, according to passenger Moritz Loew. Another passenger, Paul Lasiuk said he was more shocked than scared, telling himself, “You have no choice. You’re going to go through this.”

“Brace! Brace! Brace!”, the pilot announced over the plane’s public address system, calling for passengers to enter the brace position as the plane made a touchdown on the runway at Newark. The plane touched down on the nose wheel and left rear wheel before lurching to the right causing sparks to fly as the right engine skidded along the runway. Eventually, the plane came to stop at 9:27 A.M. EDT.

Afterward, passengers and crew evacuated the plane by sliding down the evacuation slides and moving quickly away from the plane. They were then taken by bus to the airline’s lounge where they told their stories to investigators and waited for their luggage. Three passengers reported minor injuries but refused treatment.

The emergency landing caused the airport to shut down for 20 minutes, but service quickly resumed on two of the airports three runways. The plane remained on the runway throughout the afternoon as investigators determined the cause of the landing gear failure.

This is in contrast to last week, when the airport was shutdown for six hours after a young man named Haisong Jiang breached security by passing through an exit to kiss his girlfriend goodbye.

According to passengers, the crew remained calm during the ordeal. Jim Falk said, “They did a great job. There was no yelling, screaming, panicking or anything.” Falk said he wanted to buy a bottle of champagne for the currently unnamed pilot. Falk added, “The pilot did a beautiful job. He didn’t put it in the water like the other pilot did, but he should be commended.”

Martin Trebino, a spokesperson for United Airlines said they would not release the pilot’s name on Sunday, but did not indicate when his name would be made available either.

Paul Lasiuk said, “I’ve had a lot of worse landings at Newark before. It was unbelievably smooth.”

Moritz Loew joked with himself afterward saying, “What’s a great landing? One that you walk away from.”

The flight, which left Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport early Sunday morning around 6 A.M. reported no other problems during the flight up until the incident. According to United Airlines spokesperson Robin Urbanski, it remains unclear why the landing gear failed to deploy. Urbanski added that passengers’ tickets would be refunded and that they would receive vouchers and credit towards any future flight.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The International Monetary Fund and the European Union approved aid packages to help Georgia recover from its conflict with Russia, which occurred in early August. The IMF approved a US$750 million loan which will allow Georgia to rebuild its currency reserves. The European Union also approved an aid package of €500 million in aid by 2010, which is expected to help internally displaced people (IDPs) and economic recovery in the form of new infrastructure. Only €100 million of the EU aid will be given to Georgia this year.

These loans are aimed to restore confidence in Georgia’s economy and send a signal to international investors that Georgia’s economy is sound. According to the IMF, international investors have been “critical to Georgia’s economic growth in recent years.”

Takatoshi Kato, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chairman of the IMF executive committee, said the loan will “make significant resources available to replenish international reserves and bolster investor confidence, with the aim of sustaining private capital inflows that have been critical to Georgia’s economic growth in recent years.”

Georgia has requested $2 billion in international aid to help it recover from the conflict. So far, the United States has pledged $1 billion in aid. Further assistance and loans to Georgia are expected from other organizations. Kato noted that “…Georgia is expected to receive financial assistance from multilateral and bilateral donors and creditors in support of the reconstruction effort.” It is expected that an international donors’ conference will take place next month to solicit more aid for the country.

Georgia’s government expects that economic growth will be more than cut in half as a result of the conflict. Last year, Georgia’s GDP increased 12.4% and it is predicted by the IMF that growth will be less than 4 percent in the coming year.