- Latest Popular Stories, Instablogs Community by Kalpana_rak

Miss America agrees to testify in sex sting cases

Kalpana — Wed, 09 May 2007 09:11:07 +0000

Miss America 2007 Lauren Nelson says she’ll testify against men she helped arrest as part of an undercover sex sting with police in Suffolk County, N.Y.

Beauty queen Lauren Nelson from Lawton, Oklahoma, worked with Suffolk County computer crimes unit police officers to create an online profile of a 14-year-old girl. She chatted with predators online and is expected to testify in the case.

Twenty-year-old Lauren lured men into meeting her at a Bay Shore, Long Island home, where police and crews from the t-v show — America’s Most Wanted waited. 11 men were arrested in this sex sting operation.

One of the accused, Ronald Stahl, a Holbrook luxury car salesman, pleaded not guilty today to attempted dissemination of indecent material to minors and attempted criminal sex act. He was freed on 75-thousand dollars bond and is due back in court May 23.

Michael Brown attorney of Stahl said:

His client was fantasy role playing online and didn’t think he was actually meeting a minor.

Brown criticized authorities for their Hollywood approach to a criminal investigation.

Other accused, Michael Wasserman, pleaded not guilty to attempted dissemination of indecent material to minors and is due in court again on June 11th.

Image

Source

Prince Harry to be deployed to Iraq

Kalpana — Wed, 02 May 2007 04:42:40 +0000

Prince Harry will go to Iraq with his regiment, the head of the British Army said.

But General Sir Richard Dannatt also said he could yet change his mind, if circumstances changed.

Gen. Dannatt said:

I have taken the decision as chief of general staff. It’s my decision as chief of general staff. I have full command of everyone in the army, including Prince Harry. The decision has been taken by myself that he (Harry) will deploy with his regiment in due course.

He said:

The decision had been taken after the widest possible consultation.

In febuary the defense ministry and Clarence House both confirmed the prince would be sent to Iraq with his regiment, the Blues and Royals, and that he would have a “normal troop commander’s role,” not a desk job.

Concern for his safety and that of his soldiers grew more intense as 12 British soldiers were killed in April, one of the deadliest months since the conflict began.

Prince Harry, a 22-year-old second lieutenant, is a tank commander trained to lead a 12-man team in four armored reconnaissance vehicles.

Newspaper reports say — Iraqi insurgents have threatened to kidnap the prince and his photograph had been widely circulated among militants. His presence could put comrades in danger.

Britain’s Prince Harry has admitted that — he is a nervous wreck ahead of his deployment in Iraq but still he wants to get out there and serve my country.

Prince Harry would be the first British royal family member to serve in combat since his uncle Prince Andrew flew helicopters in the 1982 Falklands War with Argentina.

Image

Source

Siberian tigers making a comeback

Kalpana — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 06:58:33 +0000

This is the largest of all the tiger subspecies, and in fact, the Siberian tiger (panthera tigris altaica) is the largest cat on Earth.

Recent reports indicate that the Siberian tiger, is making a comeback. Recent survey discovered that the number of Siberian tigers in the wild has remained steady - between 334 and 417 adult tigers and 97 and 112 cubs. A similar count in 1996 had turned up 330-371 adult tigers and 85-105 cubs, according to a new Russian census heralded by the international conservation organization WWF.

Probably the most extensive Siberian tiger survey, the count involved almost 1,000 fieldworkers who used vehicles, skis, snowmobiles and other means of transport to scour the Siberian ranges.

Siberian tiger roam across much of the Russian territory known as “Siberia,” members of this subspecies can now be found only in a thin strip of land in the farthest eastern reaches of Russia, right along the coast of the Sea of Japan. Perhaps as many as 400 siberian tigers still make a home there, with another few dozen or so possibly still inhabiting the very northern portions of Korea and China. This limited territory is the largest contiguous tiger habitat in the world, unfortunately due to its frigid climate and low prey densities it can only support a limited number of tigers.

Conservationists feared that the species, threatened by poaching and logging for timber, was on the downslide.

Image
Source

Seventeen decomposing bodies found in Ramadi

Kalpana — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 05:08:03 +0000

Iraqi police said it has uncovered 17 decomposing corpses buried beneath two schoolyards in Ramadi. At least 85 people killed or found dead across the country Tuesday.

The adult bodies were discovered in the Anbar provincial capital after students and teachers returned to the schools a week ago and noticed foul odor and stray dogs digging the site, according to Police Maj Laith Al-Dulaimi.

He said one body had not yet been recovered from a separate burial site behind one of the schools because authorities feared it was booby-trapped with a bomb.

At least 85 people were killed or found dead across the country Tuesday. 25 bodies were found dumped in Baghdad. The three-day total, after several weeks of much smaller numbers, was 67.

Ramadi had been a stronghold of Sunni insurgents and al-Qaida fighters until U.S. forces and the Iraqi government successfully negotiated with many local tribal leaders to split them off from the more militant insurgent groups.

A group of senior Sunni Muslim clerics visited Iraq’s top Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, in the holy city of Najaf. After the meeting they said, ‘Followers of the two sects were brothers.’

Sheikh Mohammed Talabani, head of the Clerics Association in Kurdistan said,

Everybody’s aim is to extinguish the fire of strife in our country. This is our call to everyone.

Via : MSNBC.com

Vitamin C for optimum health

Kalpana — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:45:59 +0000

Why Does we Need Vitamin C?

Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin that is necessary for normal growth and development. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is required for the growth and repair of tissues in all parts of your body. It is necessary to form collagen, an important protein used to make skin, scar tissue, tendons, ligaments, and blood vessels. Vitamin C is essential for the healing of wounds, and for the repair and maintenance of cartilage, bones, and teeth.

This vitamin also helps your body resist infection. This means that even though you can’t always avoid getting sick, vitamin C makes it a little harder for your body to become infected with an illness. It prevents oxidation (antioxidant). Antioxidants are nutrients that block some of the damage caused by free radicals, which are by-products that result when our bodies transform food into energy.

Vitamin C helps to protect fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin A and vitamin E. Vitamin C also helps to protect essential fatty acids from oxidation.

It is also useful in the treating iron deficiency anemia. Vitamin C is perhaps most famous for preventing scurvy. Its deficiency causes loss of appetite, irritability depression, bleeding gums and loss of teeth wounds fail to heal, blotchy skin, and pin-point bleeding.

Food Sources
All fruits and vegetables contain some amount of vitamin C. Foods that tend to be the highest sources of vitamin C include green peppers, citrus fruits and juices, strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli, turnip greens and other leafy greens, sweet and white potatoes, and cantaloupe. Other sources include papaya, mango, watermelon, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, winter squash, red peppers, raspberries, blueberries, cranberries, and pineapples.

Vitamin C is sensitive to heat and oxygen and can easily be destroyed. Like other water soluble vitamins, Vitamin C leaches into cooking water and can be lost during the cooking or canning process.

Recommendation

Vitamin C should be consumed every day. According to the new Institute of Medicine recommendations, men need 90 milligrams of vitamin C a day, while women need 75 milligrams.Teens need 5 micrograms (200 IU) of vitamin D from food every day. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding and those who smoke need higher amounts.

Via : families.com

Medical use of marijuana

Kalpana — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 06:00:49 +0000

New Mexico doctors are allowed to prescribe marijuana to help some seriously ill patients including pain and nausea. Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democratic candidate for U.S. president in 2008, poised to sign a bill making New Mexico the 12th state to legalize medical marijuana, said at the signing ceremony, “It is the right thing to do.”

This bill will provide much-needed relief for New Mexicans suffering from debilitating diseases while including the proper safeguards to prevent abuse.

The law will allow patients to use marijuana to alleviate the symptoms of debilitating medical conditions, including cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, certain spinal-cord injuries, epilepsy, HIV, AIDS,...and other uses approved by the state Department of Health.

Richardson has been a supporter of the issue for at least five years — as was the previous governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson, a Republican.

In 1978, New Mexico began allowing very limited use of marijuana, or its active ingredient, THC, to help control cancer patients’ nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, but only when other nausea-control drugs failed.

Erin Armstrong a cancer patient, said “We’re just thrilled; it’s been a long, hard battle. “I always knew it would happen; it just took a huge amount of work and patience. We’re thrilled to have the support of the governor and the majority of the legislature and for New Mexico to become the 12th medical marijuana state. This is a huge victory.”

The law creates a panel of eight expert physicians and other health care workers to supervise the program. Qualified patients must be under a doctor’s care and supervision, the news release said.

Via :Reuters.com

Lastest discovery-Greener buildings are key to global warming

Kalpana — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 07:28:32 +0000

Because traditional buildings consume large amounts of energy and other natural resources and can harm the environment around them, there’s a swelling interest in designing, building, and occupying more environmentally sensitive structures. By integrating natural resource, human health, and community concerns into building design and construction, architects and designers can create buildings that are cleaner, healthier for occupants and the environment, and which deplete fewer resources. Moreover, a well-designed ‘green’ building can be cheaper to build and operate over the building’s lifetime.

Better architecture and energy savings in buildings could do more to fight global warming than all curbs on greenhouse gases agreed under the U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol, UN study showed on Thursday.

Better use of concrete, metals and timber in construction and less use of energy for everything from air conditioners to lighting in homes and offices could save billions of dollars in a sector accounting for 30-40 percent of world energy use.

“Green Buildings can play a key role in combating climate change.

Simple measures include more blinds to keep out the sun in hot climates, switching to energy efficient lightbulbs, better insulation and ventilation. “Avoid building a bigger house than you need,” was among the tips.

“By some conservative estimates, the building sector worldwide could deliver emission reductions of 1.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide”. Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas.

“A more aggressive energy efficiency policy might deliver over two billion tons or close to three times the amount scheduled to be reduced under the Kyoto Protocol”.

The U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol binds 35 industrial nations to cut missions of greenhouse gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels, by about 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12 to slow a warming that may cause more heatwaves, droughts and rising seas. But Kyoto has few incentives for more efficient buildings even though they are a big part of a problem also stoked by sectors such as transport and farming. The report urged global action to promote greener buildings.

The Benefits of Greener Buildings

An increasing number of studies support the idea that green building is good for business. Initial investments in environmentally preferable building technologies and materials often pay for themselves within a few years. In fact, investments in green buildings pay for themselves ten times over, according to a landmark study drawing on national data for 100 green buildings in the U.S. The report found that the financial benefits of green design are between $50 and $70 per square foot in a LEED building, over ten times the additional cost associated with building green. The benefits include cost savings from reduced energy, water, and waste; lower operations and maintenance costs; and enhanced occupant productivity and health.

Via: Development center

High-Beef Diets in Pregnant Women Could Lower their Son's Sperm Count

Kalpana — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 13:58:24 +0000

A recent study has found out that pregnant women who consume beef in high quantities are at a risk of lowering sperm in sons. The study, led by researchers at the University of Rochester, was aimed at inspecting the relationship between semen quality and long-term risks from growth hormones and other chemicals in beef. The study results exposed an important connection between the lowest sperm counts and the highest beef consuming mothers (seven or more beef meals per week).

However, the researchers could not identify hormones, pesticides or other environmental chemicals in the animal fat as a direct cause.
The average sperm concentration of the men went down as their mothers’ beef intake went up according to study. But this needs to be followed carefully before making any conclusion, said Shanna H. Swan, Ph.D., director of the Center for Reproductive Epidemiology at the University of Rochester Medical Center and lead author of the study.
The study examined 387 men, who able to conceive a child without medical assistance. This means that sperm counts were low in some cases none of the men were actually infertile.
Yet among the 51 men whose mothers were the highest beef eaters, almost 18 percent had sperm counts classified by the World Health Organization as “sub-fertile” (20 mill/ml or lower). By comparison, sperm concentrations were 24 percent higher for men whose mothers ate less beef, and only about 5 percent had sperm counts that could be classified as sub-fertile.
The main concern is that high beef consumption by pregnant women may change sperm production of the male fetus in utero, particularly at the end of the first trimester during the critical period for testicular development. Although sperm production occurs in stages — prenatal, during puberty, and into adulthood - the most important stage for developing semen quality occurs in the womb.
When a woman is pregnant, she should be aware of what she is eating. The mother’s intake of other meats, such as pork and chicken, as well as the men’s beef consumption during their own lives had no effect on sperm quantity. She could eat organic beef or replace beef with other foods high in proteins.

3'rd type of Twins discovered-Semi identical twins

Kalpana — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 13:46:12 +0000

Doctors said that they had discovered a third type of twins-it’s between identical and faternal twins after performing several genetic tests on the two young children. They are referring to the pair as “semi identical”-two sperm cells fused with a single egg, which then divided to form two embryos - and each sperm contributes genes to each child. These twins were born in the US, but neither their identity or their exact location is being revealed.

In case of faternal twins the mother contributes two eggs, each of which is fertilized in the womb by two different sperm cells from the father. They are genetically similar as any other ordinary siblings. In case of identical twins, one egg from the mother is fertilized by one sperm of father, after that they split and two foetuses grow. These twins are genetically very similar.
The semi-identical twins case which came in light because one of the twins had an abnormality in sexual development -ambiguous genitalia- and was considered a hermaphrodite with both ovarian and testicular tissue. The other twin is a male whose sexual organs have developed normally.
The first possibility is that an egg cell began to divide, without separating, and each budding part was then fertilized with a single sperm. The genes could then have gotten mixed up before the egg fully separated into two.

The two sperm cells fused with a single egg, creating an embryo with three sets of chromosomes rather than two. In this scenario, there was a mixing of genes within the double-fertilized egg. It then split into two cells, and each cell would have shed an unwanted set of chromosomes. The twins are identical on their mother’s side, but share only half their genes on their father’s side.

Writing in the journal of Genetics, researchers said the “semi-identical twins are more genetically similar than faternal twins, but less similar than identical twins.

Annual Breast MRIs Urged For Women at Cancer Risk

Kalpana — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 11:22:50 +0000

Women with cancer of one breast should get an Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the other breast to make sure the cancer is not there. Healthy women at high risk of getting breast cancer also should get magnetic resonance imaging scans, the cancer society said. The recommendations follow a study that shows MRI scans can detect cancer in the opposite breast 90 percent of the time. MRI found breast tumours missed by mammograms, a specialised type of X-ray.

The study, published in the new england journal of medicine, involved 1,000 women with cancer of one breast. The MRI scans found 30 out of 33 tumours in the other breast among the women. ‘One in ten women diagnosed with cancer of one breast will develop the disease in other breast. A better technique to find cancer at early stage increases the possibility of its successful treatment. If an MRI of the opposite breast is negative, than women diagnosed with cancer of only one breast can opt against having a double or bilateral, mastectomy.

Women with a high risk of breast cancer, either as BRCA gene carriers or as members of families with high incidence of the disease, should be screened annually by breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), according to a leading Canadian researcher. Research published this year shows MRI to be at least two to three times as sensitive as mammography in high-risk women.
MRI is better than mammography at finding the invasive breast cancers that are more common in high-risk women. The study calculated sensitivity for invasive breast cancer to be 80% for MRI and 33% for mammography. With more high-risk women in the population, the sensitivity of MRI increased to 84% while the sensitivity of mammography decreased to 30%. Ultrasound’s sensitivity was 33% and CBE was the least sensitive at 8%.

When all the modalities except CBE were combined, the researchers calculated sensitivity to be 97%. With just mammography and CBE it decreased to 38%. If mammography, ultrasound, and CBE were used but not MRI, sensitivity was 57% - better, but not as good as MRI.
Dr. Warner predicted that the greater number of cancers caught and cured would make annual MRI screening cost-effective if confined to high-risk patients. She estimated the cost of screening 620,000 women annually in the U.S. to be $744 million per year based on $1,200 per MRI. If 1% of these women have cancer and mortality is cut from 30% to 10%, 1,240 more could be cured, she said, and 31,000 life-years saved.
MRI could eventually become the preferred screening tool for high-risk women.
MRI alone can be hard to read and can have a high rate of false-positive results, which lead to unnecessary biopsies. Breast cancer will be diagnosed in more than 200,000 American women this year and will kill 40,000, according to the American Cancer society.