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Women more likely to LONDON, May 14: Women are up to ten times more likely to have a poor body image than men, a study published........more Researchers
say cancer SAN FRANCISCO, May 14: Early results from clinical trials of experimental cancer vaccines show .......more Teeth
grinding SOLINGEN (GERMANY), May 14: People who wake up in the morning with aching.....more Israel
rejects settlement JERUSALEM, May 14: Israel will formally reject a US-led inquiry’s call for a freeze.......more |
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Looking at the world DARMSTADT, GERMANY, May 14: Augmented reality goggles, allowing the visual field to be blended with computer graphics, promise significant advantages for technical staff in building and maintaining complex equipment......more
Bhutto’s return to Pak ISLAMABAD, May 14: Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will return from self-imposed exile between the completion of local elections this August......more |
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Women more likely to have poor body image LONDON, May 14: Women are up to ten times more likely to have a poor body image than men, a study published by researchers from Glasgow University has found. Despite the fact that more men are overweight, more women believe they are too fat - even when they are a perfectly healthy weight for their height. The huge gender gap in body image is even seen among people from professional backgrounds, the study found. Researchers from Glasgow University published their findings in the journal of epidemiology and community health. They interviewed 1,500 male and female supervisors and managers in a bank and 2,000 people in clerical, technical and academic posts at an unnamed British University the study was unusual in that it focused entirely on people from the top social classes, holding down full-time, non manual jobs. The men and women were asked to give details of their Body Mass Index (BMI) - weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared - which experts use to assess whether someone is overweight or clinically obese. A BMI between 18.5 to 24.9 was considered "normal", more than 25 was classed as overweight and over 30 was deemed obese. They were also asked to rate themselves in terms of whether they thought they were "about the right weight", too heavy or too light for their height. Almost four out of ten (39.4 per cent) of the male bank workers and a third of the men at the university were overweight, compared to a fifth of the female bankers and 29.1 per cent of the women university employees. The male bank workers were significantly more likely in statistical terms to be overweight than their female counterparts, although there was no significant gender difference at the University. But even after taking into account their BMIs, women who worked in the bank were ten times more likely than the men to say they were too heavy. The female university workers were three times more likely than their male peers to say they were too big. (DPA) |
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Researchers say cancer vaccines hold promise SAN FRANCISCO, May 14: Early results from clinical trials of experimental cancer vaccines show they can halt, or even reverse, tumor growth in very sick patients who have failed other treatment, researchers said. "We may be entering a new era in vaccination therapy," Dr. John Nemunaitis, lead investigator on a lung cancer vaccine study selected for presentation at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology yesterday. Cancer vaccines seek to trigger the body’s own immune system to kill cancer cells. Nemunaitis presented data from 30 patients — 22 with advanced lung cancer and 8 in early stages of the disease —in a trial of a "Gvax" vaccine against a type of lung cancer in which 18 percent of the patients with advanced cancer saw their tumors disappear or shrink by more than half. In a second trial, researchers at Stanford University used modified immune cells to attack colorectal cancer. In a small initial study of 12 patients with end-stage cancer, their vaccine produced clinical benefits in four patients. Both researchers suggested cancer vaccines may also be effective when patients are first diagnosed with cancer or in combination with anti-cancer treatments like surgery and chemotherapy. "We might even be able to use them like any vaccine to prevent disease rather than treat it," said Dr. Lawrence Fong, lead author of the Stanford Study. Nemunaitis said the Gvax preliminary findings are particularly noteworthy since lung cancer patients who failed chemotherapy have little chance of responding to further chemo or other treatment. (REUTERS) |
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Teeth grinding can cause headaches SOLINGEN (GERMANY), May 14: People who wake up in the morning with aching necks and headaches could be grinding their teeth in their sleep, according to the Oral and Nutritional Information Organisation IME in Germany. They say people often only discover they grind their teeth at night when their dentist finds discovers damaged tooth enamel or when a partner is disturbed. But new studies show teeth-grinding is the cause of many tooth disorders. The behaviour could be a sign of psychological tension and conflict, the IME says. (DPA) |
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Israel rejects settlement freeze in violence report JERUSALEM, May 14: Israel will formally reject a US-led inquiry’s call for a freeze on the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a senior Israeli official said today. "Israel has decided to adopt all of the Mitchell committee’s report except for two reservations," the official said after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met senior Cabinet Ministers to draft his Government’s response. The Palestinians have said they back the 32-page report by the committee led by former US Senator George Mitchell. The Israeli official said Israel would tomorrow reject the committee’s call for a blanket freeze on construction of the Jewish settlements, built on land Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and illegal according international law. In addition, the Israeli Government rejected criticism in the committee’s report of the Army’s use of lethal force against unarmed Palestinian demonstrators, the official said. Israel opposes any criticism of the Army which is fighting "under difficult conditions", the official said. Israel backs the report’s recommendations for ending violence and renewing peace talks, the official said. They include a ceasefire, a period of calm and confidence-building steps before negotiations on a peace treaty are re-started. Israel and the Palestinians have until Tuesday to respond to the findings of the five-member committee established under the terms of a never-implemented ceasefire agreed at an emergency Middle East summit last October. Palestinians have conditioned any renewal of peace talks on Israel freezing activity in the Jewish settlements. Sharon’s Government has said it will not build any new settlements. But his coalition, which includes the left-centre labour party, has said it will allow the settlements to expand to account for "natural" population growth. Israel plans to tell the committee that the issue of Jewish settlements is to be resolved under a final peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians, the official said. It opposes the committee making a connection between "Palestinian violence" and settlements and will tell the United States that if it backed this section of the report it would be akin to rewarding "terrorism", the official added. "A cessation of Palestinian-Israeli violence will be particularly hard to sustain unless the Government of Israel freezes all settlement construction activity," the report said. A Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip erupted in September after peace talks stalemated. At least 418 Palestinians, 79 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed in the violence. Some 200,000 Jews live in 145 settlements scattered in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, home to more than three million Palestinians. Palestinians want the land for an independent state and say the settlements have fuelled the latest uprising. A recent gallup poll found that 55 percent of Israelis supported a freeze on Jewish settlement construction in exchange for a ceasefire. Thirty-nine percent were opposed. (REUTERS) |
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Looking at the world through high-tech goggles DARMSTADT, GERMANY, May 14: Augmented reality goggles, allowing the visual field to be blended with computer graphics, promise significant advantages for technical staff in building and maintaining complex equipment. The Fraunhofer Institute for Fraphic data-processing has come up with goggles linked to a laptop computer. A small camera, with the thickness of a pencil is mounted on one side and a small screen on the lenses provides a moving handbook for the technician, while at the same time recording all the steps he takes. The goggles, much like those used in some computer games, allow the technician to see what he is working on, while also showing by means of yellow arrows what the next step in the process should be. The procedure is simple enough for the layman to use. "The technical challenge was to make the virtual arrows and movements fit the real objects exactly, and in particular from every viewing angle," researcher Didier Stricker says. Several computer programmes had to be developed, not only by the four members of the team but also through the backing of 20 companies, among them some of Germany’s best known, and four universities. The idea originates with boeing. "They discovered that their technicians spent 40 per cent of their time looking for the correct manual and documents necessary to perform their tasks. Augmented reality was invoked to help," Didier says. Manufacturers are hoping for considerable time and thus cost savings. In addition technicians all over the world could be linked to an expert at head office by means of the internet. Recorded film of maintenance procedures could show that they were followed correctly in case of an accident. There are conceivable uses in medicine, construction and in leisure pursuits. The researchers acknowledge, however, that the technology needs to become easier to use. "The goggles are still too thick, although they are lighter than the first design," Stricker says, but he is still calling for more powerful computeres and smaller goggles. He talks of goggles with a tiny inbuilt prism, where one sideways glance would be enough to call up a screen out of nothing visible only to the wearer, or even goggles that would allow images to be beamed onto the retina with a weak laser. There are already objections to some aspects of the new technology. Trade unionists are concerned about the big brother effect - the tiny cameras allow every move of a technician to be observed. There are also health and safety concerns. Would goggles like these be safe over the long term? is shutting out the rest of the normal field of vision advisable? "We are taking these concerns seriously and working on the issues with medical experts and technical personnel," Stricker says, but he clearly believes the new technology has a future. (DPA) |
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Bhutto’s return to Pak after August: PPP ISLAMABAD, May 14: Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will return from self-imposed exile between the completion of local elections this August and a national election promised by October 2002, her party said today. Bhutto, who faces re-trial on corruption charges if she returns to Pakistan, has repeatedly promised to return to challenge military rule but without setting a specific timeframe. A statement from her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) quoted a spokesman condemning the Government’s intention to hold a second corruption trial for Bhutto and her jailed husband Asif Ali Zardari, following a court ruling that the original trial had been biased. "He said Mohtrama (Bhutto) would return after the local bodies elections and before the general elections as part of a political programme," the statement said. "If the regime wishes Mohtrama to have defence rights it can wait for her to return." The military Government of General Pervez Musharraf, which seized power from Bhutto’s successor Nawaz Sharif in October 1999, is holding a series of local elections that conclude in August. The avowed purpose is to create a new civilian political leadership after the chaotic years of Bhutto and Sharif in advance of national elections for a restoration of civilian Government that is promised by October 2002. With Musharraf vowing that reforms introduced during military rule will continue, there is widespread speculation he will become President and assume powers allowing him to dismiss Prime Ministers. Bhutto has been out of the country, alternating between London and Dubai, since before the now-quashed 1999 conviction on corruption. Her husband has been in prison all this time on other charges. Sharif, head of the Pakistan Muslim League, was taken from prison by the army and exiled to Saudi Arabia last December. He had been jailed on charges relating to his attempt to prevent Musharraf from returning from a trip abroad on the day of the coup but also faced corruption charges. The court decision in Bhutto’s favour this year had unleashed speculation she would quickly return and pose a challenge to the military Government. However, the Government said it intended to retry Bhutto and Zardari on the corruption charges, which were originally brought by the Sharif administration. The court had set aside the conviction on grounds of political interference with judges in the case. This month another court issued a warrant for the immediate arrest of Bhutto if she returns to Pakistan after she failed to appear in a case investigating her accumulation of assets that allegedly could not be explained. The re-trial would be conducted by an accountability court, set up to try corruption cases. The PPP accused the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which investigates corruption, of dictating the outcome. "The previous manipulated judgment was set aside due to a fraudulent trial and it appears that the regime wants another fraudulent trial for propaganda purposes," the PPP statement said. "It is an open secret that the decision will be written in NAB on the junta’s command so the threats of a new trial are little more than political revenge," it said. (REUTERS) |
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