Overweight women have worse breast cancer :Study

WASHINGTON, Mar 15: Breast cancer patients who are overweight have more aggressive disease and are likely to die sooner, US researchers reported.

A dangerous type of breast cancer, known as inflammatory breast cancer, was seen in 45 per cent of obese patients, compared with 30 per cent of overweight patients and 15 per cent of patients of healthy weight.

''The more obese a patient is, the more aggressive the disease,'' said Dr Massimo Cristofanilli of the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center yesterday, who led the study.

''We are learning that the fat tissue may increase inflammation that leads to more aggressive disease.''

Writing in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, Cristofanilli and colleagues said they studied 606 women with breast cancer that had spread within the breast.

They classified them according to body mass index or BMI, a globally accepted measure of obesity. People with BMIs of below 25 are considered normal, while 25-29 marks overweight and 30 or above is clinically obese.

After five years, 56.8 per cent of obese women and 56.3 percent of overweight women were still alive. But 67.4 per cent of the normal weight women had survived.

More than 56 per cent of women of normal weight survived 10 years, compared to 42.7 per cent of obese women and 41.8 percent of overweight women.

''Obesity goes far beyond just how a person looks or any physical strain from carrying around extra weight. Particular attention should be paid to our overweight patients,'' Cristofanilli said.

Many studies have shown that the obese have a greater risk of several types of cancer. Last month British researchers reported in the Lancet medical journal that obesity can double the risk of leukemia, multiple myeloma, thyroid cancer, colon and kidney cancers.

Fat cells produce a range of hormones that could fuel cancer, researchers say.

(AGENCIES)

Why does the Kremlin want 3,200 female white mice?

MOSCOW, Mar 15: Wanted: 3,200 white mice. Must be female. No more than 18 grams.

Purchaser: the Kremlin security service.

So why does the Kremlin guard, which is made up of former spies and elite troops who protect President Vladimir Putin, want to buy so many female white mice?

''Everyone is wondering what they are for. But if they were ordered then that means they are needed,'' an official from the service said with a gruff chuckle.

He refused to speculate about whether the mice could be used to feed to the falcons which are kept in the Kremlin, the seat of Russia's rulers, to scare off crows.

''There are more important things to think about,'' he said.

Some Russian media have also speculated the mice could play a role in testing toxic substances or indicating the presence of dangerous gases.

Documents posted on the official government tender Web Site on Friday showed the Kremlin guard has found a supplier and will pay 475,776 roubles (20,080 dollars) for the mice. (AGENCIES)

Scientists cure brain wasting disease using gene therapy

SYDNEY, Mar 15: Scientists are a step closer to curing brain-wasting disease using gene therapy.

The treatment involves injecting a modified form of the HIV virus into the affected region of the brain. The virus infects cells and delivers a gene that can fix the genetic fault causing the symptoms.

So far, the feat has only been achieved in mice, but Japanese researchers said the animals’ symptoms of uncoordinated movement "markedly improved". It raises the possibility of, a gene therapy for humans.

The scientists are targeting a rare inherited neurodegenerative condition, spinocerebellar ataxia. It can manifest in various forms leading to uncoordinated movement and speech as well as problems with vision and swallowing. Symptoms typically begin in late childhood or early adult life and they become progressively worse, leading to death. There is no cure.

"It’s like being drunk without having the pleasant effects and it’s extremely disabling and slowly gets worse," said professor Patrick Chinnery, an expert in neurogenetics at Newcastle University as saying in The Guardian. "These people eventually aren’t able to feed themselves, wash themselves and they end up in a wheelchair. All we can offer them in the clinic is a diagnosis, advice about the chances of it happening again in the family and supportive care."

The disease is one of a family of inherited neurodegenerative conditions including Huntington’s which could all be susceptible to the same approach. These diseases affect around one in 5,000 of the UK population. Each disease is caused by mutations to different genes, but the type of genetic stutter that causes them is the same. (UNI)

China MPs approve plan to streamline cabinet

BEIJING, Mar 15: China's parliament today approved a plan to streamline the cabinet and foster greener and more efficient government which experts have said is unlikely to end turf wars over industry, energy and pollution.

A total of 2,774 members of the National People's Congress voted for the bureaucratic revamp, 117 against and 99 abstained.

The reforms herd together about a dozen agencies, creating ''super-ministries'' for industry, transport, housing and construction and the environment, and bring food and drug safety back under the Health Ministry after a series of damaging scares.

The package upgrades the environment watchdog to ministry status, giving more prominence to the battle against pollution that has stoked public discontent. But it was not clear what significant extra powers, if any, the new ministry would have.

It shied away from an energy ministry that at one point was on the drawing board for the world's number two oil consumer. Instead it split planning and management, with an Energy Commission to develop national strategy and a new Energy Bureau to administer.

The National Development and Reform Commission, a sprawling industrial policy bureaucracy, would continue dominating big decisions about oil, gas and power.

New super ministries include ''industry and information industries'' but the powerful Ministry of Railways was not brought into the transport ''super ministry.''

The real battle could come once central and local Governments and state conglomerates contend for control of key levers of power. (AGENCIES)

Violent storm rips through downtown Atlanta

ATLANTA, Mar 15: A heavy storm and possible tornado damaged buildings in downtown Atlanta last night, including the roof of the Georgia Dome where thousands were watching a college basketball game, witnesses and local media said.

Police reported minor injuries from the storm. They evacuated the Omni hotel, which is in the same building as the CNN Center, after high winds smashed windows.

Officials temporarily halted the game between Mississippi State and the University of Alabama at the nearby Georgia Dome as high winds damaged the roof, sparking alarm and causing a large monitor hanging high above the court to sway ominously.

A later game in the same stadium was postponed.

The heavy rain and lightning storm appeared to start north of the city and sweep through downtown at about 9:45 p m (0815 hrs IST today), witnesses said.

Thousands of spectators were also attending a National Basketball Association game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Atlanta Hawks at the Phillips Arena, adjacent to the CNN Center complex. The game ended at about 10 p m (0730 hrs IST today). There were no immediate reports of damage at that arena.

(AGENCIES)

UCLA fires employees for snooping into Britney's medical files

LOS ANGELES, Mar 15: UCLA Medical Center will fire some employees and discipline others for snooping at the confidential medical records of Britney Spears, who was hospitalized in its psychiatric ward, hospital officials said.

Jeri Simpson, the hospital's director of human resources who was involved in the investigations of the confidentiality breach, confirmed the action but could not say how many employees were affected. The hospital did not say when the snooping took place or which of Spears records were looked at.

The Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site yesterday that the breaches stemmed from incidents before Spears' most recent hospitalization, but did not elaborate.

The newspaper said more than 13 employees, none of whom are doctors, would be fired. Twelve others, including several doctors, will be disciplined otherwise for looking at her computerized records, it reported.

This is not the first time the hospital has had to reprimand employees for looking at Spears' records. Several workers were fired after they were caught snooping after Spears gave birth to her first son, Sean Preston, in September 2005.

"It's not only surprising, it's very frustrating and it's very disappointing," Simpson told the newspaper, adding that she felt "horrible" that it happened again.

Spears was admitted to the hospital twice in January under a state law allowing patients to be held against their will for up to 72 hours for evaluation if they are deemed a danger to themselves or others. On her second trip to the medical center, Spears stayed for nearly a week. (AGENCIES)

Blair says global climate talks need new initiative

MAKUHARI, JAPAN, Mar 15: Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair today urged the world's top greenhouse gas emitters to launch a revolution to fight climate change and said he'll work to sell a new global framework to slash carbon emissions.

Blair told a gathering of G20 nations, ranging from top carbon emitter the United States to Indonesia and South Africa, that the call to action was clear and urgent and believed part of the solution was a renaissance for nuclear power.

''We have reached the critical moment of decision on climate change. There are few, if any, genuine doubters left, Blair told G20 energy and environment ministers in Chiba, near Toyko.

''If the average person in the United States is say, to emit per capita, one tenth of what they do today and those in Britain or Japan one fifth, we're not talking of adjustment, we're talking about a revolution,'' he told delegates.

The average American emits the equivalent of about 24 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. In China the figure is about four tonnes.

The talks in Chiba are billed as a dialogue, not a negotiation, and ministers are meeting to discuss ways to curb carbon emissions, technology transfer, funding schemes for developing nations to pay for clean energy as well as adaptation.

Ministers at the talks were being ferried around in fuel-cell powered cars, and supporting staff were served traditional ''bento'' lunches with reusable boxes and chopsticks, instead of the more common throw-away versions.

Blair, as prime minister, had pushed for climate change to become a central issue at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, in 2005. But he met resistance from President George W Bush as well as China and India on any moves to try to agree emissions reductions targets.

At last year's G8 summit in Germany, leaders issued a statement calling for strong and early action and said a global reduction goal must be agreed. But the statement stopped short of supporting a 50 per cent reduction in emissions by 2050 that Japan and the EU backed.

INITIATIVE

Blair said a global deal that brought rich and poor nations together in the fight against climate change was vital. He also said UN-led talks launched in Bali last December were the right forum to work on a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol by the end of 2009 that binds all nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

But he said a new initiative was needed to inform and advise the UN-led talks and that he would lead the work politically.

He said the Climate Group, a non-profit body backed by industry and government, would assemble a group of experts to try to sketch out what a global deal would look like.

''We will publish a report in June before Japan's G8 summit and then carry on the work so that we can feed a final report into the G8 and UN negotiations next year,'' he said.

''There are, of course, plenty of solutions out there. But if they don't fly politically, they are of no earthly use,'' he added.

He said the report would focus on the effectiveness of carbon cap-and-trade systems, global sectoral deals in polluting industries, generation of funds for research and development, technology transfer and deforestation, among other issues.

''Personally, I see no way of tackling climate change without a renaissance of nuclear power. There will have to be a completely different attitude to the sharing of technology and to the patent framework that allows it,'' he added.

(AGENCIES)

Peace hopes stir Ugandan debate over justice

GULU, UGANDA, Mar 15: Lillian Akwero and her friends lived through some of Uganda's worst violence, fleeing rebel attacks in which their relatives were kidnapped or killed and villages torched.

Now that their lives are about making ends meet rather than basic survival, their hope is that a deal to ensure lasting peace will not be wrecked by the International Criminal Court's arrest warrants against rebel leaders for savage atrocities.

''The ICC is scaring the rebels. We are worried as they might just change their mind and attack us again,'' cries Akwero above the whirr of sewing machines in the tailor's shop she and her friends set up in Gulu, home to many refugees from the two-decade war with Lord's Resistance Army rebels.

''They should get rid of this ICC,'' Grace, another friend, pitched in. ''They (the rebels) are our brothers and they should come home so we can forgive each other.''

The arrest warrants against elusive rebel leader Joseph Kony and two deputies are the last sticking point before the rebels will sign a final agreement. They are accused over war crimes in a conflict marked by the killing of civilians, mutilation and the kidnapping of children.

Although it was Uganda's government that initially asked the international court to investigate Kony, it has agreed with the rebels to seek justice through a combination of the High Court and traditional systems, known as ''Mato Oput''.

President Yoweri Museveni has said they could avoid prison.

For the International Criminal Court, based at The Hague, the situation poses a real dilemma -- whether it might scupper peace by upholding its arrest warrants, or set a dangerous precedent by dropping the charges.

MATO OPUT

The prosecutor has said charges will not be dropped unless ICC judges decide that is the best solution. That depends on Uganda putting in a request. The court would also want to look at the kind of trial the rebels might face at home.

''A lot depends on the rigour and the oversight of the national justice system,'' said an international human rights expert, who asked to remain anonymous.

''We are not sure yet how they will even choose who will be tried and who will go through Mato Oput,'' the expert added.

Putting the rebels through the traditional justice system would suit Akwero and her friends. Like many in the north, they are by no means supporters of the rebels after their suffering. But they are desperate for lasting peace.

They believe justice can be served by encouraging rebels to ask for forgiveness, pay compensation and then take part in a reconciliation ceremony in which all parties share a bitter cocktail of herbs and sheep's blood.

In the opposition-leaning north, many believe the government has also neglected them and should be held accountable for failing to protect them during the war years.

''To me, if we are talking about court, both parties should be taken to court,'' said Obita Leodjellic, a local government official in a camp for displaced people in Amuru, 60 km (40 miles) west of Gulu.

Now that relative peace has returned, he believes it less important to try the rebels than to fight HIV/AIDS, help people recover from the trauma of the conflict, resolve land conflicts and improve health and education.

''These are the wars that we should fight,'' he said. (AGENCIES)

Want to be a better manager? Talk to a horse

YARRABIN, NEW SOUTH WALES, Mar 15: Deep in the Australian bush, leadership trainers Jerry, Fly, Hope, KC and Sultan put a group of managers through their paces.

While lacking formal qualifications, the trainers use good old fashioned horse sense to teach their students management, leadership and communication skills.

Ranging from a chestnut Arab mare to hardy stock horses, the 'trainers' are the star attractions at what is believed to be Australia's first equine leadership course.

Horses have been used for years in various types of therapy, including psychotherapy and helping handicapped children. The use of horses for management training is a relatively new field but it already has a track record of success.

''Horses are very sensitive to body language therefore they will reflect back to us the body language they see coming towards them,'' said Beth Duff, a doctorial student who observed the course for her research on learning with horses.

''If someone is authentic and clear about what they want to do, then the horses will follow them and be very responsive to them,'' she said.

''If they are only saying the words and not actually meaning it or saying it in a way that's not clear, then quite often the horses will simply wander off, or ignore them or simply stand still and do nothing.''

Students spend up to seven hours a day with their horses, taking part in both individual and group activities, but they never actually ride the horses.

Instead, they work in groups of three carrying out seemingly mundane tasks such as persuading the horses to move from one end of a paddock to another without touching the animals.

It's easier said than done and requires keen communication skills and team work.

Peter Harrison, one of 20 managers who signed up for the course, hopes it will help him improve his communication skills and be a more effective manager in his coffee roasting business.

''The horses don't care who you are, they are giving you their raw feeling. Humans have baggage, horses don't,'' he said.

''I think this course has more potential to change what you do because the horses provide the mirror you don't get elsewhere.''

Graeme Phillips, who runs the course with his wife Annie at their property ''Yarrabin'' about 200 kms west of Sydney, believes horses are great teachers as they react honestly to people's body language and behaviour.

''We don't script the course. We don't train our horses for this. This magical thing happens,'' he said ''Getting people out of their comfort zone ... And being around horses can do that.''

Rolling hills, a gum tree forest, sheep and kangaroos grazing in surrounding meadows and poor mobile phone coverage provide a perfect setting for the classes.

''It's an environment where people can relax and get in touch with themselves, get back in touch with their team, without mobile phones and computers. I think it's about removing those distractions coming back to what I think is the soul of people,'' said Phillips.

''A hundred years ago you couldn't walk down the street without having an interaction with a horse or being in touch with nature. That's all been separated from us with technology and urban canyons in the city,'' he added. (AGENCIES)

Old ways still gold for artisan jeweller

MILAN, Mar 15: In the heart of bustling fashion capital Milan, time stands still in Italian jeweller Buccellati's workshop where father and son work side by side carving, engraving and polishing gems.

There are no state-of-the-art machines around, just the workers using traditional handcrafting techniques, some dating from the Renaissance period.

An artisan cuts out gold leaf shapes using a simple handsaw, while another pierces patterns into fine gold sheets by hand. One slip of the saw, and the work must be started again.

''At a time when men are going to the moon, you can still make jewellery with techniques that date back from the Renaissance,'' 79-year-old designer and company head Gianmaria Buccellati said. ''A jewel is not just metal and stone, it is also about all the work that has been put in it.''

Many Italian jewellers bet on innovative technologies to beat fierce competition from India, China and Turkey. But Buccellati, which traces its roots back to 1758 when an ancestor set up his atelier, prides itself on traditional techniques to make jewels with gold lace, embellished with detail.

Brooches of fruit or flowers boast precious stones while a cascade of diamonds adorns other pieces. With such detail, a signature 'Tulle' ring can take four to six months to make, while a bracelet or a necklace up to two or three years.

Buccellati jewellery and silverware are considered a must-have in Milanese high society and have been snapped up by models, royal families and the Vatican.

The company tied in second place for most prestigious jewellery brand after Harry Winston in a recent survey by the Luxury Institute in the United States.

''There is culture, research behind each jewel ... People who in a certain way have everything want to get somewhere not everybody is ... In terms of state of mind,'' said Maria Christina Buccellati, in charge of public relations, declining to name famous clients.

''We don't follow the trends or the markets. This is our production, this is our style.''

A sector analyst, who did not want to be named, said at a recent Milan jewellery fair the family-controlled company, which has its own internal school, should refresh its designs and offer something more modern to wow young and sophisticated consumers.

ETERNELLE APPEAL

Still a world leader in design, Italian jewellers have lost ground to India, China and Turkey which have lower labour costs and have worked to improve quality.

The sector, which has 5.4 per cent of the global market, has also seen sales fall on recession fears and soaring gold prices. In 2007, Italy saw volumes of jewellery sold abroad fall 2.5 per cent, but sales value rose because of the gold price.

Sector analysts say manufacturers of mass-market jewellery get hit hardest as their clients are price-conscious.

But high-end jewellers at the recent upmarket fair in Milan said making unique, expensive jewellery that customers would not be able to resist was a key to robust sales in turbulent times.

A Buccellati Eternelle ring costs 9,000-15,000 euros (13,830 - 23,040 dollars), but silverware is cheaper. The firm's most expensive item -- a gold and diamond necklace at its London store -- costs 1.6 million pounds (3.22 million dollars).

The company, which makes about 4,000-6,000 jewellery items a year of which 90 per cent are unique, saw sales rise last year, Maria Christina said, declining to give specific figures. Sales in the United States rose 20 per cent.

That doesn't mean it expects to remain immune. Fears of a slowdown in high-end spending have already hit European luxury goods shares.

''Next year with all the problems on the stock exchange, we will surely have some problems,'' Maria Christina said. ''But I'm quite confident we are not going to feel it as much.''

CRAFT NOT CARATS

Buccellati says it is different from another jeweller of the same name, run by other family members. Gianmaria split from his brothers' activities after the death of their father Mario, who opened his first shop in Milan in 1919.

Maria Christina said export-orientated Buccellati, which has 14 stores worldwide and is looking at further openings, had not felt a pinch in Italy despite rising gold prices.

''We don't base the value of the jewels on the raw material. For us, it's the workmanship,'' she said, adding Buccellati did not raise prices last year.

''There is not much gold in the pieces, it's more the value of the workmanship, the culture, the research ... Of course, if we have some stones that cost more, it will increase a little bit but not substantially.''

Rising gold prices have led some jewellers to make lighter pieces to soften the blow to clients' pockets, but Maria Christina said this was not an option for Buccellati.

''We would never give up our quality in spite of price. This is something that is a philosophy of our company -- quality first. We might produce less objects but we do not change our quality.''

Industry executives and analysts say Italian jewellery makers -- mostly small, family-run companies -- need to restructure and maybe even merge if they are to maintain their top positions in the luxury goods market.

But Buccellati prefers to remain a family business, with Gianmaria's sons also involved and no outside designers. Gianmaria, who drew his first design at the age of 12, remains hands-on. ''I can do everything that my workers do,'' he said.

Family-controlled companies are the backbone of the Italian economy, from Agnelli's Fiat and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset media empire, to jewellers Bulgari.

And the Buccellati family believes the model suits them.

''Being a family business, it helps keep the philosophy, the structure as it is, that's what we want,'' Maria Christina said.

''For the time being, we don't need anything else.'' (AGENCIES)

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Children of sociable parents 'better at exams'

LONDON, Mar 15: Here's another reason to party -- a new study has showed that children born to sociable parents are better at exams.

Researchers in Britain have found that parents who are involved in clubs such as political parties, voluntary groups or religious organisations are likely to have kids who succeed at school, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported today.

According to the University of Sheffield study, children score better in reading, maths and vocabulary tests the more socially active their parents are.

"Children's scores in reading, mathematics and vocabulary tests are positively associated with the extent of their parents' formal social interaction. The results suggest lack of social interaction may have adverse intergenerational effects in terms of educational attainment.

"Children of parents who engage in relatively low levels of social interaction attain relatively low scores in reading, maths and vocabulary," according to the study's lead author Professor Sarah Brown.

The researchers came to the conclusion after they analysed the level of social activity undertaken by parents at the age of 23 and then compared their children's test scores a decade later.

"The relationship between education and social interaction is not surprising since education plays an important role in developing the social skills of children.

"Reading and writing are crucial for the ability to communicate and hence engage in social interaction later on in life," the study said.

The researchers have suggested that socially active parents may benefit from an extended support network.

"Social interaction outside the family may lead to parents being able to access the support and assistance of other individuals and, hence, may benefit parents bringing up children," it said. (PTI)

U.S. Mayors band together against guns

NEW YORK, Mar 15: Interstate 95, which runs up the US East Coast, is known to cops as the ''Iron Pipeline'' -- the conduit of choice for gun smugglers to move their hardware from the southern United States to New York city.

With formidable opponents in the gun manufacturers and gun owners, national politicians do little to stop this traffic, leaving gun control largely in the hands of local leaders.

''Where is the outrage in this country? Well, mayors see it,'' said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. ''We're the ones who have to go to the funerals. We're the ones that have to look somebody in the eye and say your spouse or your parent or your child is not going to come home.''

Since Bloomberg became mayor in 2002, every gun homicide in the city -- including the killing of eight police officers -- has been committed with an illegal gun, police say.

Nationally, the black market is the source for guns used in more than 90 percent of gun crimes.

Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino founded Mayors Against Illegal Guns two years ago, a group that has grown to some 250 mayors representing cities with a population of 50 million in 40 states.

Their goal is to help police stop the flow of illegal guns used in crimes, and they want data on guns used in crimes to be made available to the public.

In the process, they clash with the National Rifle Association, which vigorously defends Americans' constitutional right to bear arms. The NRA wants gun trace data available only to the police.

The Supreme Court hears arguments on the meaning of that constitutional right on March 18.

Meanwhile the issue of gun control has been muted in the campaign for presidential elections in November. The mayors are attempting to force it onto the political agenda.

''I don't know what they are campaigning on. But if you kill 34 people a day in America, it's kind of hard to find an issue that's more important,'' Bloomberg said. ''I think it would be a vote getter rather than a vote loser if they would stand up and tell the public what they would do if they were elected.

There were 12,682 gun homicides in the United States in 2005, the last year data are available from the Centers for Disease Control. All gun deaths totaled 30,694, including categories such as accidents and suicides, an average of 84 per day.

The numbers may astonish foreigners who cannot understand the U.S. Passion for defending gun ownership rights. In the month of February alone, there were four episodes of gunmen killing people in public places: a shopping center, a town hall meeting, a pair of college campuses.

''I don't think that the Founding Fathers envisioned people carrying automatic weapons under their coats in a central city,'' Bloomberg said. ''I have no objections to the Second Amendment or to hunters or anything else. I just think common sense says there's certain kinds of behavior that you can't permit because they would endanger society.''

The NRA depicted Bloomberg as gun-grabbing octopus on the cover of its April 2007 magazine with the headline ''Tentacles!'' Bloomberg, 66, who has not fired a gun since he was Boy Scout, laughed at the cover, and he likes to brag about the the NRA membership he was given as an anonymous and ironic gift.

''America has this freedom and it's very difficult for non-Americans to understand why we feel so passionately about it. It is the most unique freedom ever given to a people,'' said Andrew Arulanandam, director of public affairs for the NRA. (AGENCIES)