Archive for » February, 2010 «
A decrease in the time people spend sleeping could
partly account for soaring obesity rates according
to a study by Researchers at the University of Bristol.
The study found that hormonal changes caused by the
lack of sleep could lead to increased appetite.
The population-based study observed more than 1,000
volunteers. Report author, Dr Shahrad Taheri, said,
“Individuals who spent less than eight hours sleeping
were shown to have a greater likelihood of being
heavier.”
The research, carried out in conjunction with US
scientists, is one of three published that produced
similar results.
It found that people who routinely slept for five
hours had 15% more ghrelin, a hormone which increases
feelings of hunger, than those who slept for eight
hours. Those who slept for less than five hours also
were found to have 15% less leptin, a hormone which
suppresses appetite.
Dr Taheri said, “We have to realize that sleeping is
not a waste of time, we have to recognize that it
impacts on our health.”
The results of the study were reproduced in a second
research, led by the University of Chicago. This study
found that people who slept for only four hours a night
for two nights had an 18% reduction in leptin, and a
28% increase in ghrelin.
Getting shuteye is indeed not a waste of time. Eating
less is not the only factor in losing weight. Getting
enough sleep is also important. Add this to your list of
healthy choices you are making in your weight loss
journey.
Health Won’t Allow Mandela to Recreate Freedom Walk; Drama with Winnie. According to the Times of London, Nelson Mandela has abruptly called off a historic return to the prison from which he walked to freedom 20 years ago today. The decision to abandon his role in events celebrating the anniversary of his release from Victor Verster prison follows a dispute within his extended and fractious family on managing the movements of the increasingly frail former President, now aged 91. Instead, his former wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and other stalwarts of the African National Congress (ANC), including the President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, will lead a “symbolic” 500-yard march from the gates of the prison, now called the Drakenstein Correctional Centre, to the spot where a beaming Mandela, his clenched fist raised in triumph, ended his 27-year-long incarceration. Last week, Fikile Mbalula, the Deputy Police Minister, said that Mandela would attend the commemoration outside the prison in an attempt to put an end to speculation that he was in such poor health that he would be unable to travel. “Madiba” – the clan name by which he is affectionately known – has not been seen in public for months. Meanwhile, sources tell the news outlet that there’s a power struggle among Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, other family members, and Mandela’s current wife. “Something very strange has been going on. Wild horses would not keep Winnie away from an event like that. Everyone knows that if Mandela himself went, front-page news was guaranteed,” said one. “Others would be jealous, but he is very frail and it is difficult to stage-manage an event like that.”
CBS Defends Muting Lil Wayne, Em and Drake at Grammys. CBS has defended its decision to mute the mess out of Lil Wayne, Drake and Eminem’s rap performance at the end of Sunday’s Grammy Awards telecast, even though witnesses say the artists were doing a good job of censoring themselves “We have great respect for artists’ creative freedom, but there are certain things you can’t say, or sing, on television,” CBS spokesman Chris Ender told the Associated Press. The Los Angeles Times counted “at least 10 times” that the mute button was pushed during their performances of “Drop the World” and “Forever”* with Travis Barker and rock guitarists. Grammy executive producer Ken Ehrlich told the newspaper that he himself played no part in hitting the button. The network, he said, has “a responsibility to standards and we have a responsibility to represent music of the moment … and we can’t do a show that represents everything that is out there without this being part of it.” On its “Vulture” blog, New York magazine commented “It’s all kind of bizarre Why were whole lines being cut to avoid one profanity? Why was the music cut out along with the [singers]?
Cancer Killing Virus Discovered. The medical world could realize a major breakthrough in defeating Cancer. AOL’s Daily Finance interviewed CEO, Dr. Brad Thompson, of Calgary-based biotechnology company, Oncolytics Biotech regarding the founding his company. The company was founded on the trail to making the remarkable cancer treatment that involves infecting patients with a harmless virus called a reovirus (Respiratory Enteric Orphan virus). The virus, for some reason, likes to grow in and kill cancer cells rather than living in normal tissue. Thomas explained that the virus is a noxious entity in the body, bypassing normal tissues to find its way to the cancer cells and wipe them out. He told Daily Finance, “the body mounts a normal immune response to the infection. Normally, the latest we ever find the virus in the body is a couple of weeks after the first injection, and then it’s completely gone.” Thompson says his company is beginning Phase 3 trials “for a marketable cancer treatment based on this technology in two years.” This treatment could result in the biggest medical discovery of the 21st century.
Rapper-actress Eve is caught up in a huge U.S. Senate investigation into a multi-million dollar money laundering scheme involving her on-and-off again boyfriend Teodorin Nguema Obiang. According to ABC News, Senate investigators have spent the past three years tracking millions of foreign dollars flowing into the U.S. from the accounts of Obiang, the playboy son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea. President Mbasogo is described by ABC as a “corrupt dictator whose three-decade reign has been marked by rumors — believed to be falsely spread to incite fear — of cannibalism.” Investigators believe most, if not all, of the millions in cash came from corruption related to the extensive oil and gas reserves off the coast of Equatorial Guinea. According to the new government report released last week, Obiang used middle men – lawyers, escrow and real estate agents, and in one case, his then-girl friend Eve Jeffers – to allegedly set up shell companies in the U.S. Through those, investigators say, Obiang wired in funds that made him able to purchase expensive cars, a $30 million Malibu estate and place a down payment on a Gulfstream jet. According to senate investigators, Eve served as president of one of the alleged shell companies, referred to by Obiang as “Sweet Pink, Inc.,” which was evidently set up in late 2005 “to employ individuals at the home [Obiang] maintained before he purchased the Malibu Property and to handle payroll and other matters related to the employment of those individuals,” according to the report. According to ABC News, it is unclear if the money may have also helped Obiang finance his elaborate efforts to woo Eve, which included setting up a record label and reportedly paying $700,000 to rent Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen’s 300-foot yacht Tatoosh for a romantic Christmas cruise around St. Barts. Eve has responded to the government report on her Twitter account. “None of that is true,” she wrote. “Please don’t believe everything you read on the Internet. It’s negative and I don’t f*** with negativity. People tryna test me.”
New Orleans Elects First Non-Black Mayor Since 1979. Frustrated by term-limited Mayor Ray Nagin’s leadership of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, voters elected Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu to succeed him Saturday, turning to a political scion to speed up the city’s recovery. Landrieu, 49, became the majority-black city’s first white mayor since 1979, the year his father Moon left the office. The mayor-elect, a moderate Democrat, won in a landslide over a field of 10 opponents in a campaign that concluded as Carnival celebrations and preparations for the New Orleans Saints’ appearance in the Super Bowl took place. With all of the precincts reporting, Landrieu had 66 percent of the vote.
I can see how Mr. Landrieu won, Ray-Ray was working a lot of folks nerves.
Palin Dogs Obama At Tea Party Confab. Sarah Palin, in a speech that was short on ideas but big on enthusiasm, took aim at President Barack Obama and the Democrats, telling a gathering of “tea party” activists that America is ripe for another revolution. Noting his party’s dismal showing in elections since Obama moved into the White House a year ago with talk of hope and promises of change, Palin asked the gathering: “How’s that hope-y, change-y stuff workin’ out for you?”
1. Sarah you will never be President of America
2. Quit writing notes on the palm of your hands, would you get a piece of paper please.
3. There’s a Moose with your name on it.
Dominican Official Warned U.S. Church Group About Taking Haitian Kids. The Dominican consul general Wednesday rejected the claim from an American church leader that she thought her paperwork was in order when she attempted to take 33 Haitian children out of the country, saying he had told her it was not. “I warned her, I said as soon as you get there without the proper documents, you are going to get into trouble, because they are going to accuse you, because you have the intent to pass the border without the proper papers and they are going to accuse you with kids trafficking,” Carlos Castillo said he told the group’s leader, Laura Silsby, during a meeting Friday. Four hours later, Silsby and nine other Americans were turned back from the border. They were arrested and taken to a jail in Port-au-Prince. “This woman knew what she was trying to do was not legal,” Castillo said. A CNN reporter attempted to get reaction to Castillo’s comment from the jailed Americans, but they would not discuss the matter, responding to questions by singing “Amazing Grace” and praying.
I still say something is not right about this group. I for one am glad they didn’t get the children.
Warren Sapp Issues Apology; But is allegation false? Regardless of whether former NFL defensive tackle Warren Sapp is guilty or innocent of charges that he battered a female acquaintance on Friday night, Sapp has apologized, through his lawyer, for the distraction that the incident created. “He sincerely apologizes to the NFL family and fans for taking away any distraction from today’s big game,” Christopher Lyons said, per the Associated Press. “We ask that everyone reserve judgment on the matter until all the facts come out in a court of law.” There is at least one report that the allegations against Sapp, who played for the Buccaneers and Raiders and currently works for NFL Network, are false. Sapp was released on $1,500 bond earlier today.
Earlier we reported …
Warren Sapp Gets Arrested; Dropped by NFL Network *Former NFL star (Tampa Bay, Oakland) Warren Sapp was arrested after an alleged domestic violence incident at a Miami Beach hotel, police said. Sapp was charged with one count of misdemeanor domestic battery and is expected to appear before a Miami-Dade County judge Sunday. Shortly after police confirmed the charge, NFL Network spokesman Dennis Johnson said in an e-mail to the Associated Press that Sapp wouldn’t be part of the Super Bowl XLIV coverage for Sunday’s game
Hackers, hackers, hackers, what else is new. Today on the news big discovery, I think not, that
hackers have infiltrated said network. Folks are surprise, humour me. It started with Yahoo, then
MySpace, now we have Facebook, and let’s not forget Twitter. Granted it has been discussed many
times over that the Internet as we know it will change this year – waiting……………………
You can’t stop the human mind from experimenting, or pushing the boundaries of what could be or
happen. Stop submitting your personal information on any website, unless you are purchasing some
item and even then, be cautious of safe, secure site. (McAfee/Norton). It is not necessary to join every
new up and coming website just to say you are a member, try to remain an individual, and your private
information personal as it should be. Like it has been stated once on the Internet, all bets are off!