Arctic Monkeys get record seven NME nominations

LONDON, Jan 29: Sheffield band the Arctic Monkeys was nominated in a record seven categories for the NME music awards today, while Amy Winehouse, critically acclaimed but in rehab for drug problems, was largely frozen out.

The Arctic Monkeys are contesting the best British band, best live band, best album, best track, best video and best video album artwork categories, while lead singer Alex Turner is nominated for the ''best dressed'' award.

NME music magazine said the nominations, decided by public vote, made the indie group the most voted-for band of the decade and their generation's answer to Oasis.

''It's sound the readers keep voting for us,'' said guitarist Jamie Cook. ''Live would be good -- it's good to have been picked up in that because we put a lot of effort into our live work last year, I thought we got a lot better.''

Klaxons notched up four nominations ahead of the awards ceremony on February 28 for best British band, best album, best video and best dance floor filler.

Winehouse, nominated for six Grammys and enjoying commercial and critical acclaim for her album ''Back to Black'', is up for four awards, including ''villain of the year'' and ''worst dressed''.

The 24-year-old soul and jazz star entered a rehab clinic last week for treatment.

She is up against former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, his successor Gordon Brown and US President George W Bush in the villain category.

Winehouse was also nominated for best music DVD and best solo artist.

Best international band will be contested between Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters, the Killers, Kings of Leon and My Chemical Romance. (AGENCIES)

Stigma of leprosy is worse than disease itself

LONDON, Jan 29: Leprosy is on the retreat but the stigma, fear and isolation associated with the disfiguring condition is now proving more damaging than the disease itself, health and human rights groups said.

Discrimination pushes sufferers further into poverty, and governments and aid groups need to do a better job of stopping it, according to a coalition of nine groups including Amnesty International and Save the Children.

''We have been able to cure them but many people are still isolated,'' WHO global leprosy ambassador Yohei Sasaskawa said at the launch of a global appeal to end the discrimination against people with leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease.

''Even people who have been cured of leprosy are scared to speak out because they fear there will be even more discrimination.''

For thousands of years, people with leprosy, which causes skin lesions and thickening and can cause people to lose extremities -- were forced to live in isolated colonies and treated as pariahs.

Since the 1980s, a cocktail of antibiotics has helped cure an estimated 16 million people and whittled the number of cases down to about 250,000 worldwide each year, experts said.

The disease is caused by a slow-growing bacillus called Mycobacterium leprae and is not highly contagious.

But many leprosy patients are disowned by their families, denied jobs and left isolated in institutions even after they are cured.

FEAR

In India, which accounts for 70 per cent of cases, more than 700 leprosy colonies remain.

Jose Ramirez, an American diagnosed with leprosy in 1968 and later cured, said most people still step back from him when they discover he once had the disease -- even though his only scars are on the legs and out of view.

He counts himself lucky to have had a successful career as a social worker but says employers were reluctant to take him on when they saw that he had spent time in a leprosy hospital.

''Leprosy, because of all its history, has a nuance to it and stigma that is quite unique,'' he said. ''But people need to be educated about it and told we should not be in institutions.''

Tackling fear is key to fighting the disease and ensuring people receive treatment before it is too late to save fingers, toes and other extremities, the groups said.

In Tanzania, for example, traditional healers are also trained to both identify the disease and help deliver the Western drugs necessary to cure it.

''More people are coming forward because they know it can be cured,'' said head of the Tanzania Leprosy Association Sira Ubwa Mamboya. ''But some come when it is too late because they have been scared and hidden away. We can still cure them but we cannot restore their extremities.''

(AGENCIES)

Don't stop Brazil Carnival but be careful -Lula

SAO PAULO, Jan 29: As Brazilians get ready for their annual Carnival celebrations, the government is urging them to practice safe sex and avoid drinking too much.

''Everybody has the right to have fun and enjoy themselves but it is important to remember that the next week we have to work and look after our families,'' President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said yesterday.

The government also started handing out millions of free condoms at the weekend as part of its campaign to combat AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases during Carnival.

Five days of frenzied festivities kick off on Friday, with the biggest parties in Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Recife.

Latin America's largest country stops work and indulges in a riot of drinking, dancing and parades accompanied by often licentious behaviour.

Lula appealed in his weekly radio address for people to be careful during the partying.

''No one needs to drink or do anything more than normal to enjoy themselves,'' he said.

Lula is known as a gregarious character who himself enjoys a drink. His dour warning appeared to be partly prompted by a rise in deaths and accidents from drunken driving during the Christmas holidays.

The Health Ministry launched its annual safe sex campaign on Sunday under the slogan ''Good in bed means wearing a condom.''

''We have to let people know the importance of prevention,'' Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao said at an event in Rio.

States and municipalities in the world's largest Roman Catholic country will distribute 19.5 million free condoms for Carnival.

An education program will focus on alerting young women to the dangers of unprotected sex and encourage them to demand that their partners wear condoms.

Thousands of bandanas and temporary tattoos with safe sex slogans will also be handed out to revelers in the big cities.

Recife city also plans to distribute morning-after contraceptive pills -- a move that has angered the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy.

The church opposes Brazil's much lauded anti-AIDS campaign on the grounds that it promotes contraception.

Bishop Antonio Augusto Dias Duarte of the National Bishops Conference of Brazil said last week that while the church was not against people having fun in Carnival, the morning-after pill and condom campaign ''will only serve to diminish inhibitions and encourage orgiastic behavior.''

(AGENCIES)_

Under-the-tongue vaccine may be best to lick flu-study

HONG KONG, Jan 29: Administering flu vaccines under the tongue may be more effective and offer more protection than injecting or inhaling the drug, a study with mice in South Korea has found.

''It (the base of the mouth) is a very good absorbent and competent tissue ... In taking vaccine and presenting it to the immune system ... To initiate an immune response,'' Cecil Czerkinsky, biological sciences professor at the Seoul National University, said in a telephone interview.

There is currently no vaccine that is administered under the tongue, or what is known as the sublingual area.

But there have been recent studies testing its effectiveness in inducing immune responses in mucosal tissues in the respiratory system, gut and inside of the cheek, and blood.

In an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers described how they administered both live and killed flu vaccines under the tongues of mice and then exposed the rodents a few weeks later to lethal doses of influenza viruses.

''All the mice were protected ... They (vaccines) also gave cross-protection to other flu viruses,'' Czerkinsky said.

Unlike injected vaccines, which induce antibody production mainly in the blood, the sublingual method ''induced antibodies in both lungs (mucosal lining) and the blood,'' he said.

''Influenza is a mucosal disease. That (sublingual method) is better because then you tackle the infection at the very early stage before the infection (goes to the blood).''

Such a method is different from the oral route, often seen as subjecting drugs to the erosive effects of digestive fluids.

The correct way to do it would be for the person to hold the vaccine in the base of the mouth for about 30 seconds.

''In 30 seconds, the sublingual area absorbs the vaccine and immediately the vaccine is taken up and processed by the immune system and it initiates very rapid stimulation of antibodies, within days,'' Czerkinsky said.

The study also suggested that this method may be safer than administering vaccines intranasally, or through inhaling.

There are nerve fibres in the nose, which opens up the possibility, however rare, that viruses in vaccines could enter the central nervous system, the researchers said.

Control groups of mice were given vaccines intranasally. The scientists later detected virus in the olfactory nerves of mice that were given vaccines containing killed viruses, which raised safety questions.

Mice that were given vaccines containing live, attenuated virus intranasally all died very quickly.

The scientists plan to conduct a clinical study later this year. (AGENCIES)

Man arrested outside White House for threatening Bush

WASHINGTON, Jan 29: The Secret Service said that a man who made verbal threats against President George W Bush and had a suspicious package was arrested yesterday outside the north fence of the White House.

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said 28-year-old Aleksandar Aleksov, of New Jersey, was taken into custody just before 2 pm (1900 GMT) on Pennsylvania Avenue and was charged with making threats against the president. Donovan said Secret Service officers overheard the threats.

Donovan says the package was later found not to be dangerous. He did not release any further details. (AGENCIES)

Rates of diabetes among US elderly rose - study

CHICAGO, Jan 29: More elderly Americans are contracting diabetes and the majority develop complications such as heart disease that might be prevented if they properly monitored their health, a researcher said.

The study of Medicare beneficiaries found 2.7 per cent of a group of 1.5 million enrollees in the government-funded insurance program for the elderly were diagnosed with diabetes in 2003, compared to 2.2 per cent diagnosed in 1994.

Overall, one-quarter of those 65 or older had type-2 diabetes in 2003, up from 15 per cent in 1994, the report said. The 1.5 million people studied represented a group of 5 per cent of Medicare enrollees whose health is being tracked by the programme.

''The prevalence of diabetes mellitus is increasing, in part because of population aging, but also in younger persons,'' Frank Sloan of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Making matters worse, nine out of 10 of those diagnosed with diabetes in 1994 and 1999 developed some other ailment within six years of diagnosis, against seven out of 10 of elderly without diabetes who were studied for comparison purposes.

Diabetes damages blood circulation and is known to increase the risks of heart disease, blindness and skin ulcers, among other ailments.

''What we're concerned about is the rate of complications,'' Sloan said in a telephone interview.

''Our overall conclusion is they're not getting any better'' over time, he said, citing increasing cases of kidney function deterioration and lower extremity problems, which can result in foot amputations.

''It shouldn't be happening if you're monitoring your blood pressure, your cholesterol, keeping your blood glucose in line, getting your eyes checked, getting your feet checked, so the complications can be caught and monitored,'' he said.

Rates of congestive heart failure, heart attack and stroke remained fairly stable at about three out of 10 people diagnosed with diabetes in 1994, 1999, and 2003.

Roughly one-third of diabetics diagnosed in 1994 and 1999 died within six years, compared to one-fourth of non-diabetics. For those surviving with the disease, the accumulation of other ailments places heavy burdens on the health care system, the report said.

''The message is how can we encourage people to adhere to recommended care and reduce these complications,'' Sloan said. ''It's not an issue of uninsured people. (The elderly) frequently go to the doctor but we're not making inroads in terms of postponing these complications the way we should be.'' (AGENCIES)

Exercise keeps you younger, study finds

LONDON, Jan 29: Exercise may hold the key to youth, according to a study published which showed people who keep fit are up to nine years biologically younger than those who do not.

The findings are the first to show in humans how keeping fit affects the ageing process.

The study of 2,401 twins found that a sedentary lifestyle raises the risk of a range of problems from heart disease to cancer and appears to play a key role in the ageing process.

It all appears to boil down to the length of structures called telomeres -- which protect the DNA on the chromosomes, the researchers from King's College London wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Many studies have shown telomeres get shorter over time, suggesting the cells are ageing or dying. The study, which extracted a DNA sample from their volunteers, found people who exercised more each week had longer telomeres.

Exercise lowers the risk of a range of problems such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer, the researchers said.

''It is not just walking around the block. It is really working up a sweat,'' said Tim Spector, a genetic epidemiologist who led the study, in a telephone interview.

The study found people who exercised vigorously 3 hours each week had longer telomeres and were biologically 9 years younger than people who did under 15 minutes.

Spector's team, who also adjusted for body weight, smoking, economic status and physical activity at work, also said moderate exercise for 1-1/2 hours each week provided a four-year advantage.

''We are making a logical next step to say people who have shorter telomeres are more prone to age-related diseases,'' he said. ''We think it is because these cells are auto-destructing and the ageing process is speeded up.''

Studying twins also provided a unique opportunity to gauge the effects of exercise on people with the same or similar genetic make-up and backgrounds, the researchers said.

The reason why exercise has this effect is not clear but the researchers said they believe physical activity somehow defends against the natural process called oxidative stress, which damages and kills cells.

(AGENCIES)

Cranberries can fight some urinary tract infections

NEW YORK Jan 29: A well-known home remedy for urinary tract infections may in fact work for some women, a review of the published research suggests.

Cranberry juice has long been espoused as a treatment for repeat urinary tract infections (UTIs), and research suggests that certain substances in the fruit can hinder bacteria from sticking to the lining of the bladder.

For the current review, Dr. Ruth Jepson at the University of Stirling in Scotland and a colleague looked at whether cranberry products can in fact prevent repeat bouts of the infection.

Analyzing 10 previous studies, they found some evidence that cranberry juice or cranberry supplements may be effective for women who have recurrent UTIs.

However, the benefits for other people -- including the elderly, who are at elevated risk of UTIs -- were uncertain.

The findings are reported in the Cochrane Library, which is published by the Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research.

The 10 studies in the review involved a total of 1,049 adults. In some, cranberry juice was pitted against plain water or another type of juice; others tested cranberry tablets against placebo pills.

Overall, the researchers found, the cranberry products reduced recurrent UTIs by one third over a year -- though the benefit was not seen in all studies or for all groups of people.

And although women with recurrent UTIs generally seemed to benefit, it was not clear from the studies how much cranberry juice they would need to drink, or for how long, to prevent the infection.

Still, the findings suggest that cranberry juice might be worth a try for these women, according to lead researcher, Jepson said.

However, she told Reuters Health, that the patients may also want to consider the cost of regularly drinking cranberry juice, as well as the extra calories -- though, she pointed out, low-sugar varieties are available.

As for cranberry supplements, two studies suggested they may work, but there are obstacles to recommending them.

For one, cranberry supplements come in a range of different strengths, Jepson explained, and the optimal dose and duration of use is unclear.

In addition, she pointed out, it's not known whether supplements are equivalent to cranberry juice in the fruit's biologically active substances. Such ingredients might be diminished or destroyed in the manufacturing process.

(AGENCIES)

Iran sanctions vote at UN seen weeks away ....

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 29: It will take weeks before the UN Security Council is ready to vote on a new round of sanctions against Iran proposed last week by six world powers, council diplomats said.

Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia and China circulated a draft proposal on Friday for new UN sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. The text calls for asset freezes and mandatory travel bans for specific Iranian officials and vigilance on all banks in Iran.

Western countries say Iran's refusal to comply with UN Security Council demands that it stop enriching uranium supports their suspicion that Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and enrichment a sovereign right.

Yesterday, the five permanent council members met with the 10 nonpermanent members to discuss the sanctions proposal and prepare for the drafting of a formal sanctions resolution. China's envoy said this process could take weeks.

''It will take maybe a few weeks,'' deputy Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Liu Zhenmin, told reporters ahead of the meeting at the British mission yesterday. He gave no further details.

A US official said Washington had been pushing for a new resolution for many months and wanted to move more quickly. But European diplomats said they wanted to move at a slow enough pace to ensure a unanimous vote for a new round of sanctions.

A US intelligence report released last month said Iran had a nuclear weapons program but abandoned it in 2003. Several Western diplomats said the proposed penalties, which they described as a mild step up from previous sanctions, were the best they could do given the surprising new U.S. Intelligence.

Colin Keating, head of the Security Council Report, an independent organization that monitors the council, said there was no doubt the resolution would be approved. He said the new sanctions were moderate and would not split the council, though South Africa and Indonesia might want to amend some language.

IAEA REPORT

South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo said his country would like to wait for the upcoming progress report by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the United Nations' Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, on inspections in Iran.

''I think the IAEA report is very important because they are ... The experts,'' he said. ''Let's see what they have to say.''

South Africa is a key member of the Non-Aligned Movement, a bloc of developing countries that has resisted the idea of forcing Tehran to halt uranium enrichment. They worry that wealthier countries want a monopoly on enriching uranium fuel.

ElBaradei is expected to submit his next report to the Security Council in the third week of February. Several diplomats have said the IAEA chief plans to report that he has made significant progress in clarifying outstanding questions about Iran's past nuclear program.

The spokesman for the US mission to the United Nations, Richard Grenell, said the second sanctions resolution, approved by the council in March 2007, called for the consideration of further measures within 60 days if Tehran kept enriching.

''Resolution 1747 called for suspension and the facts are that there has been no suspension,'' Grenell said. ''We think the situation calls for Security Council action.''

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the IAEA report was significant, but added that council demands were also crucial.

''The track of Iran's cooperation with the IAEA is very important and I hope it will continue,'' he said. ''But ... There is another side of the story, which has to do with certain requirements of the Security Council, and we need to be mindful of that as well.''

He appeared to be referring to the council's demand for Tehran to freeze enrichment as a confidence-building measure. (AGENCIES)

LA attorney, wife sentenced for abusing Filipino maid.........

LOS ANGELES, Jan 29: A former Hollywood studio attorney and his wife were sentenced for abusive treatment of their Filipino maid in a case federal prosecutors said "amounts to modern-day slavery."

James Jackson, the former vice-president of legal affairs at Sony Pictures, was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service and pay a $5,000 fine. His wife, Elizabeth, was sentenced to three years in prison after her attorneys unsuccessfully pleaded for her to receive home detention.

"It seems she treated her dog much better than she treated her victim," US District Judge Dale Fisher said.

The couple's former maid, Nena Ruiz, watched the sentencing on closed-circuit television but did not address the court.

"These defendants subjected their victim to what amounts to modern-day slavery," Assistant US Attorney Wan Kim said.

Ruiz was awarded $825,000 in damages by a jury in 2004 after she sued the Jacksons. Ruiz alleged the couple forced her to work 18-hour days at their Culver City condominium for several months from 2001 to 2002.

Ruiz claimed in her civil lawsuit that Elizabeth Jackson regularly slapped her and pulled her hair. She also said she was forced to sleep on a dog bed and was given three-day-old food to eat even as she was expected to clean and provide fresh fruit to the Jacksons' pets.

The Jacksons only paid her $300 for her work, and threatened to turn her over to immigration authorities if she left them, Ruiz claimed. She said she finally fled after she was hit in the mouth with a water bottle.

Elizabeth Jackson, who pleaded guilty last August to a charge of forced labor, told the judge she took full responsibility for her actions. (AGENCIES)

Regular exercise 'makes one look ten years younger'....

LONDON, Jan 29: Sorry, couch potatoes -- the verdict is in: People who exercise regularly do look at least a decade younger than those who don't.

A team of international researchers has carried out a study and found that half-an-hour of exercise daily can not only slow the ageing process but also makes a person appear ten years younger than an obese of the same age.

According to lead researcher Prof Tim Spector of the King's College, London, "The US guidelines recommend that 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity at least five days a week can have significant health benefits.

"Our results underscore the vital importance of these guidelines. They show that adults who partake in regular physical activity are biologically younger than sedentary individuals."

In fact, the researchers came to the conclusion after monitoring a group of over 2,000 twins -- they measured the length of the telomeres of the participants, which cap the chromosomes in cells and protect the same from damage.

The telemores shorten with age, meaning more damage occurs. The team found that people who were active had longer telomeres than those of the same age who were sedentary.

The researchers also noticed that the effect was such that those who did 199 minutes or more a week of moderate to vigorous exercise, such as running, tennis or aerobics, were found to be ten years younger than those who did less than 15 minutes of moderate exercise, even after considering factors like weight and smoking.

"Our study, performed on a large cohort, indicates that differences in telomere length between active and inactive individuals cannot be explained by variations in genes, smoking, BMI and SES.

"A sedentary lifestyle appears to have an effect on telomere dynamics -- thus providing a powerful message that could be used by clinicians to promote the potentially anti-ageing effect of regular exercise," the British media quoted Prof Spector as saying.

The results of the study have been published in the 'Archives of Internal Medicine' journal. (PTI)

Online matchmaking comes in handy for finding life partners

WASHINGTON, Jan 29: Parents don't you spend sleepless nights, your wards will find their spouses of their own volition, courtesy the booming matchmaking industry.

The industry is here to provide parents respite from the gruelling task of finding a perfect match for their children.

Hitherto finding a mate was considered too important for the parents assisted by astrologers and matchmakers until customs changed in the West.

But now some social scientists have rediscovered psychometric data to test their algorithms for finding love.

Another company, Perfectmatch.Com, is using an algorithm designed by Pepper Schwartz, a sociologist at the University of Washington at Seattle. Match.Com, which has become the largest online dating service by letting people find their own partners, set up a new matchmaking service, Chemistry.Com, using an algorithm created by Helen E Fisher, an anthropologist at Rutgers who has studied the neural chemistry of people in love.

As the matchmakers compete for customers and denigrate each other_s methodology the battle has intrigued academic researchers who study the mating game. On the one hand, they are sceptical, because the algorithms and the results have not been published for peer review.

But they also realise that these online companies give scientists a remarkable opportunity to gather enormous amounts of data and test their theories in the field.

Its algorithm was developed a decade ago by Galen Buckwalter, a psychologist who had previously been a research professor at the University of Southern California. Drawing on previous evidence that personality similarities predict happiness in a relationship, he administered hundreds of personality questions to 5,000 married couples and correlated the answers with the couples_ marital happiness, as measured by an existing instrument called the dyadic adjustment scale, the New York Times reported.

The result was an algorithm that is supposed to match people on 29 core traits, like social style or emotional temperament, and vital attributes like relationship skills.

(UNI)