Carey, Peppers, Peas lead American Music nominees

LOS ANGELES, Sept 20: A year after she was snubbed at the American Music Awards, pop singer Mariah Carey will get another shot at glory when the next event takes place in Los Angeles on November 21, organizers has said.

Carey and the bands the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Black Eyed Peas and Nickelback will each compete in three categories at the ceremony, which aims to be a more populist version of the music industry’s top honors, the Grammy Awards.

With the exception of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, all were nominated for albums released in 2005. Nominees are culled from radio airplay and retail sales data, and winners are chosen from a poll of 20,000 people.

Carey led the field last year with four nominations, on the strength of her hit comeback album "The Emancipation of Mimi," which came out in April 2005. She ended up with just one prize. Back in 1997, she went zero for six. At the Grammys in February, she was one of the frontrunners with eight nominations, and came away with three awards.

This year, she will compete for American Music Award honors as favorite female artist in both the pop/rock and soul/R&B categories, as well as for favorite soul/R&B album ("Mimi"). She was also nominated in these categories last year, winning for favorite female soul/R&B artist.

Funk-rock veterans the Red Hot Chili Peppers, currently on tour to promote their new smash double album "Stadium Arcadium," will compete for favorite band and album in the pop/rock category, and favorite alternative music artist.

The Black Eyed Peas were nominated for favorite rap/hip-hop band, and favorite album ("Monkey Business") in both the rap/hip-hop and soul/R&B categories. The band won two awards last year in different categories, and was one of many not to show up at the event.

Canadian rock band Nickelback was nominated for favorite pop/rock album ("All the Right Reasons") and band, and favorite alternative music artist.

Receiving two nominations each were rappers Eminem, Kanye West and T I, actor/R&B singer Jamie Foxx, soul diva Mary J Blige, manufactured pop group Pussycat Dolls, country combo Rascal Flatts, and former "American Idol" champs Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson.

(AGENCIES)

Five nations start fund to help poor overcome AIDS

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 20: Five nations launched an initiative to raise at least 300 million dollars next year to buy generic drugs at steep volume discounts to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in developing countries.

Leaders from France, Brazil, Britain, Norway and Chile, joined by former US President Bill Clinton, unveiled UNITAID, a global purchasing body that will try to negotiate low prices with drug makers.

"None of this would be possible if it weren’t the ability UNITAID gives us ... To go out to the people who provide medicine and other life saving equipment and material and say ‘You have a guaranteed stream of payment, you will be promptly paid, now give us a higher volume and a lower profit margin,"" Clinton told a news conference at UN headquarters.

France will contribute the most-about 250 million dollars next year-from the proceeds of an airline ticket tax that went into effect on July 1. Geneva-based UNITAID will provide drugs of "assured quality" to "the poorest at the lowest prices," French President Jacques Chirac said.

Britain will give about 25 million dollars in 2007, a figure that will nearly triple by 2010, said Gareth Thomas, Britain’s international development minister.

Norway will put in 20 million dollars to 25 million dollars next year, said Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

Organizers said UNITAID next year hoped to be able to buy AIDS drugs for 200,000 children infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. It also plans to treat 150,000 children afflicted by tuberculosis and more than 28 million suffering from malaria. (AGENCIES)

New ring spotted on Saturn: NASA

WASHINGTON, Sept 20: Saturn has a newly discovered ring, a faint trail of particles just visible in between some of its better-known rings, NASA said.

The orbiting Cassini spacecraft yesterday caught sight of the ring and other rare features when the sun passed directly behind Saturn in what is known as an occultation, providing bright backlight to the rings.

Cameras aboard Cassini also caught images of wispy fingers of icy material stretching out tens of thousands of kilometers (miles) from Enceladus, another confirmation that the moon is spraying material that may be making up Saturn’s outer E-ring.

Saturn has at least 47 known moons and at least seven rings. The joint US-European Space Agency Cassini mission, launched in 1997, is spending four years examining Saturn.

The new ring can be barely seen outside the brighter main rings of Saturn and inside the G and E rings. It coincides with the orbits of Saturn’s moons Janus and Epimetheus, and NASA researchers said that meteoroid impacts on those moons may have kicked off particles that coalesced into the ring.

"Both the new ring and the unexpected structures in the E ring should provide us with important insights into how moons can both release small particles and sculpt their local environments," said Matt Hedman, a research associate at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Cassini also caught a color picture of Earth, which appears to be a pale blue orb, nearly 1.5 billion kilometers or 930 million miles away.

"Nothing has greater power to alter our perspective of ourselves and our place in the cosmos than these images of Earth we collect from faraway places like Saturn," said Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

The images can be seen on the Internet at <http://www.Nasa.Gov/cassini> or <http://saturn.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> and <http://ciclops.Org>.

(AGENCIES)

Disabling fatigue may have genetic roots

NEW YORK, Sept 20: Disabling fatigue in children is not simply a symptom of depression, but appears to be an illness in its own right -- one that may be inherited, a UK study of twins hints.

Unexplained disabling fatigue ''can't be thought of as just depression in another form,'' Dr Tom A Fowler of Cardiff University in Wales, the study's lead author, told Reuters Health.

Given that depression often accompanies fatigue and vice versa, Fowler and his team performed a twin study to investigate environmental and genetic influences on both conditions.

Twin studies allow researchers to distinguish between the effects of environment and genes. While identical twins have the same environment and genes, fraternal twins share an environment but only half of one another's genetic material. So identical twins would be more likely to share conditions with a heavy genetic influence.

The researchers looked at 2,398 pairs of twins between the ages of eight and 17. Fatigue was considered disabling if it interfered with at least one aspect of school, leisure activities or relationships with family or peers, and if it required the child to rest for at least an hour daily. Fatigue was classified as short term if it lasted longer than one week, and long-term if it lasted more than a month.

Both short- and long-term fatigue appeared to have genetic roots, the researchers found, while the environmental influence for short-term fatigue was stronger than the familial influence.

Importantly, they say, the analysis found that while fatigue frequently accompanied depression, it showed a different pattern of genetic and environmental influences.

''This suggests that fatigued states in children should be considered as valid entities in their own right and not as variants of depression,'' the researchers write. Individuals with fatigue may become depressed in response to this ''disabling disorder,'' they add.

The cause of chronic fatigue in children, which may be related to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in adults, remains unclear, Fowler notes.

In a previous study, he and his colleagues found a prevalence of long-lasting fatigue among children similar to that of CFS in adults. Among their sample of children aged eight to 17, 2.34 per cent had experienced fatigue lasting longer than three months, while 1.29 per cent had symptoms that met the definition of adult CFS. (AGENCIES)

Study urges US return to the moon

WASHINGTON, Sept 20: NASA needs to get ready as soon as possible to return to the moon, if for no other reason than to understand how life evolved here on Earth, the National Research Council urged.

Human explorers should use robots and orbiters to help them scour the moon's surface, atmosphere and craters for clues about how our solar system formed and how life came about, the Council's Space Studies Board said.

And the US space agency should plan on working with other countries to do so.

Thirty years after people last visited the moon, research has been limited. But several countries are now planning missions, including Japan, China, India and the European Space Agency.

''The participation of other nations in lunar exploration is a fact. Coordinated and cooperative international activities would benefit all participants,'' the report reads.

''NASA is encouraged to explicitly plan and carry out activities with the international community for scientific exploration of the moon in a coordinated and cooperative manner.''

In the 1960s and 1970s the missions were aimed mostly at staying ahead of the former Soviet Union as part of the Cold War. Now, they should be about science and discovery, the report said.

''The moon is, above all, a witness to 4.5 billion years of solar system history, and it has recorded that history more completely and more clearly than any other planetary body. Nowhere else can we see back with such clarity to the time when Earth and the other terrestrial planets were formed,'' the report reads.

''Only by returning to the moon to carry out new scientific explorations can we hope to close the gaps in our understanding and learn the secrets that the moon alone has kept for eons.''

The moon has little atmosphere and little or no geologic activity, and thus every asteroid, meteor or piece of space debris to hit it has remained, virtually undisturbed.

Most of the record of Earth's first few billion years has been destroyed by tectonic and geological process and even weather, so scientists have no direct evidence of how or when the atmosphere formed or precisely what factors went into the development and evolution of life.

START AT THE SOUTH POLE

''To document the lunar atmosphere in its pristine state, early observational studies of the lunar atmosphere should be made, along with studies of the sources of the atmosphere and the processes responsible for its loss,'' the report reads.

As for the surface, the moon's south pole is a very good place to start, the report recommends.

''As the oldest and largest basin in the solar system, the south pole-Aitken Basin on the moon is a unique location,'' the report reads. But many diverse sites need to be sampled.

Scientists should agree on which instruments to use, it added.

''Because a globally distributed network of many geophysical stations is critical for these investigations, an international effort should be pursued to coordinate the development of a standard, small set of key instruments (e.G., seismometer, thermal profiler, retro-reflector, etc.) and to cooperate in providing for its wide deployment across the moon,'' the report advised.

''An integrated human/robotic program should be developed using robotic assistants and independent autonomous/teleoperated robotic systems,'' the report adds. Robot rovers have been successful in studying Mars.

And, the moon provides a perfect perch for astronomers and other scientists studying the sun, Earth and other planets. (AGENCIES)

UK food agency rejects organic milk health claims

LONDON, Sept 20: Britain's Food Standards Agency said that a study has concluded that organic milk does not provide significant health benefits over conventional milk despite higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids.

Organic milk sales have been rising strongly in recent months after studies conducted by several universities concluded yesterday that organic milk was higher in omega-3 fatty acids which are believed to protect against cardiovascular disease.

A group of scientists wrote to the FSA recently asking it to ''recognise that there are differences that exist between organic and non-organic milk.''

''The new evidence you have provided...Does not justify the assertion that organic milk provides health benefits other than those associated with conventionally produced milk,'' FSA chairwoman Deidre Hutton said in a letter to one of the scientists, Kathryn Ellis of the University of Glasgow.

The FSA said organic milk can contain higher levels of ''short-chain'' omega-3 fatty acids but not the ''long-chain'' omega-3 fatty acids which reduce the risk of heart disease and are found in oily fish.

The agency said there was ''very limited'' conversion of short-chain to long-chain omega-3 and organic milk consumed in volumes consistent with a healthy diet would not provide significant health benefits.

''The agency continues to advise that people should eat at least two portions of fish per week, including one of oily fish, which is rich in long-chain omega-3,'' the FSA said. (AGENCIES)

Common houseplants may trigger allergies

NEW YORK, Sept 20: Houseplants could be the source of many an allergy sufferer's misery, a study from Belgium suggests.

Symptoms of up to 20 percent of people with allergic rhinitis, meaning runny nose and sneezing, may be due to exposure to these plants, Dr. Olivier Michel of the Free University of Brussels told Reuters.

It's estimated that up to 40 per cent of people in the Western world suffer from allergic rhinitis, he and his colleagues point out in a report in the journal Allergy. A 1985 study suggested that the weeping fig tree, a type of ficus tree that exudes latex, could be a source of inhaled allergens. Decorative plants are becoming increasingly common in public spaces, workplaces and homes.

Michel and his team tested 59 allergic rhinitis sufferers and a control group of 15 healthy individuals for sensitization to ficus, yucca, ivy, palm tree and other common ornamental plants using a skin prick test.

Seventy-eight per cent of the allergic rhinitis patients were sensitized to at least one of the plants. No one in the control group was sensitized to the test plants.

Sensitization doesn't necessarily mean a person's allergic symptoms are due to a particular substance, Michel noted in an interview, adding that a person must then see if symptoms disappear if exposure to the substance stops.

For two patients in the study who were allergic to ficus, removing the plant from their environment stopped their symptoms completely.

Additional studies are needed to confirm the findings, the researchers say. Nevertheless, says Michel, makers of allergy testing products should begin producing tests for identifying sensitization to common houseplants such as ficus. (AGENCIES)

Eating fatty fish warded off kidney cancer:Study

CHICAGO, Sept 20: Swedish women who ate fatty fish like salmon, mackerel and herring at least once a week had a significantly lower risk of kidney cancer compared to consumers of lean fish, researchers said.

The 15-year study found those who regularly ate fish containing lots of fish oil that is rich in omega-three acids and Vitamin D had a 74 per cent lower risk of getting kidney cancer compared to those who ate no fish at all reuterss said yesterday.

Lean varieties such tuna, cod and fresh-water fish did not confer the same benefit.

Compared to lean fish, fatty fish have up to 30 times the amount of certain acids and up to five times the level of Vitamin D. The fatty acids have been reported to slow development of cancer and people with kidney cancer often have low levels of Vitamin D.

''The name fatty fish may frighten some people but this kind of fat is healthy so I would recommend to eat fatty fish, not lean, because you can get much more benefits,'' said Alicja Wolk of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

''Fatty fish per definition has also more calories but benefits are so overwhelming,'' she said.

The researchers, writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, did not indicate whether fatty fish might prevent other types of cancer.

Of more than 61,000 women in the study, ranging in age from 40 to 76, 150 developed kidney cancer.

In the United States, there is a one in 77 lifetime risk of kidney cancer, and 39,000 Americans expected to be diagnosed this year, according to the American Cancer Society. The disease is twice as common among men than women. (AGENCIES)

Prostate cancer drug raises heart, diabetes risk

WASHINGTON, Sept 20: Hormone therapy used to treat prostate cancer that has already spread may save patients from cancer but raise the risk of diabetes and heart disease, US researchers reported.

They said yesterday doctors need to monitor such men closely to makesure they do not trade one cause of death for another.

''Men with prostate cancer have high five-year survival rates, but they also have higher rates of noncancer mortality than healthy men,'' Dr Nancy Keating, an assistant professor of health care policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School, who led the study, said in a statement.

''This study shows that a common hormonal treatment for prostate cancer may put men at significant risk for other serious diseases. Patients and physicians need to be aware of the elevated risk as they make treatment decisions.''

Writing in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Keating and colleagues said they examined the records of 73,000 men age 66 or older who were diagnosed with local or regional prostate cancer.

Men with early prostate cancer can be treated surgically, with radiation or with radioactive seeds implanted carefully around the prostate.

If the cancer has spread, they are often treated to block production of the hormone testosterone, which can fuel prostate cancer.

This is done either by removal of the testes, or more commonly, by regular injections of a gonadotropin-releasing hormone or GnRH agonist drug.

''Our study found that men with local or regional prostate cancer receiving a GnRH agonist had a 44 percent higher risk of developing diabetes and a 16 percent higher risk of developing coronary heart disease than men who were not receiving hormone therapy,'' Keating said.

''For men who do require this treatment, physicians may want to talk with their patients about strategies, such as exercise and weight loss, which may help to lower risk of diabetes and heart disease,'' Dr. Matthew Smith of Massachusetts General Hospital said in a statement.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men, with more than 234,000 new cases diagnosed in the United States every year. It will kill 27,350 this year, according to the American Cancer Society.

The Prostate Cancer Coalition released a report showing that deaths from prostate cancer have fallen by 32.5 percent in ten years in the United States.

It said the mortality rate for black men is the lowest since 1977, but it is still 2.36 times the rate for white men.

The mortality rate was 39.34 per 100,000 in 1993 and dropped to 26.55 per 100,000 in 2003, mostly due to better screening but also because of better treatments, according to the coalition and the American Cancer Society.

(AGENCIES)