With Regards To Living Green You Will Find That Recycling Is Really A Good Place To Start

Living Green Can Begin Inside Your House Simply By Recycling
When many people think about going green, they immediately envision people dwelling in a camper and making their own clothes and growing their own food. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, you need not go to such measures to begin living a green lifestyle. Empty bottles and cans are still being routinely discarded with our daily scraps. The environment will be helped if you can just take the time to keep these items separate so they can be reprocessed.
Empty bottles and cans are possibly the best place to get started. If you actually went through your scraps, I can guarantee that you will see other items that you can recycle. In terms of what can be recycled, we will now take a look at what else might be appropriate even if most folks are not fully aware of this.
Old newspapers are the first example of items that could be recycled. On a daily basis, newspapers are discarded by people once they are satisfied they have read everything they wanted to. Recycling newsprint’s does not usually enter the heads of most folks. But newspapers are made out of paper, which can be recycled so newspapers must also be recycled. If more folks would only recycle their newspapers, we could help save millions of trees each year. Newspapers are simply a starting point here. Recycling paper of any sort must be considered rather than just discarding it. There are other paper products that are recyclable such as cardboard boxes.
One other thing many people forget ti recycle is their food containers. Plastic containers such as ketchup bottles, mayonnaise containers and even pickle jars are all recyclable. In some instances, these types of things are just going out with the normal trash. It is economic for these type of things to be recycled because they will be used in future goods and it is likewise good for the planet to do this. And when the production of containers is decreased because people are recycling, the smoke stacks from those factories also don’t create as much pollution.
Clothes are something else that are frequently overlooked in terms of recycling. There are different ways that clothes can be made use of. Unwanted clothes for recycling are being utilized by businesses to produce insulation for houses. As cotton is chiefly used, insulating a home in this manner is safe and there is the added benefit that unwanted clothes are not being taken to a landfill site. So next time, don’t just toss a shirt because it has a hole in it. There are numerous ways a torn shirt can be utilized.
Papers, glass and plastics are all recyclable and it is important that you try to remember this. Put differently, you can recycle most of what you currently put in your normal rubbish. The impact on our planet would be considerable if everyone began recycling all of those things that can be reused. So if you desire to start living a greener life, get started on recycling.

Little fighter: The baby that was born at 23 weeks and survived

She arrived four months early, so small that she could fit in the palm of her father's hand.

Six months on, Jessica Hawkins is still on the tiny side - but has beaten the odds by growing into a healthy baby girl.

Yesterday her mother Sam, 35, a child-care assessor, said: 'She has amazed us and all the hospital staff who have seen her.
She has just done brilliantly and didn't even need oxygen when she came home which we were very surprised about.

'We couldn't take our eyes off her and are still in disbelief every day that she's actually ours.'

Jessica was initially thought to have been miscarried, but a scan showed her heart was beating.
She then arrived very ahead of schedule on December 29 last year weighing just 1lb 7oz.

It was a particularly difficult time for Mrs Hawkins and her husband Pete, 44, as the couple had already lost five children to miscarriage, including one at 19 weeks and one at 20 weeks.

Mrs Hawkins had two cycles of IVF but was told it was 'highly unlikely' she would have children.

When Jessica was born at 23 weeks she was held in intensive care but only needed a ventilator for four weeks.
Mr Hawkins, an administrator with Bedfordshire Police, said: 'When I first saw her in the incubator I broke down because there were so many tubes and everything.'

Jessica was eventually allowed to return home to Bedford with her parents on May 5, just weeks after her original due date.

Today she weighs a healthy 9lb 11oz, has passed all her sight and hearing tests and is beginning to show interest in objects and toys like any normal child.

The only difference is she is the size of a six-week-old, not a six-month-old.

Last May MPs voted against cutting the upper limit for abortion from 24 weeks to 20 weeks.

Jessica's remarkable tale of survival may reignite the debate. Both her parents said they believed the limit should be lowered.

Tory MP Nadine Dorries, who was behind the campaign to change the law, said: 'I wish Jessica and her family well. She is a testament to how far medical science has advanced in neonatal care and she will be a valuable source of reference for the future.'

Half of Americans Use Vibrators, Study Claims

About half of American adults indicate using a vibrator, according to a new survey that sheds light on acts that take place beneath the covers and behind closed doors.

The survey was funded, however, by Church and Dwight Co. Inc., maker of Trojan brand sexual health products. It finds it's not just women taking advantage of the battery-operated tickle toy. Forty-five percent of men said they'd employed a vibrator, with most heterosexual men doing so during foreplay or intercourse with a female partner. About 17 percent of men said they used a vibrator for solo masturbation.

And while vibrators are often hidden in sock drawers or beneath the bed, the study results suggest their use is a sign of a positive and healthy sex life. In fact, female vibrator users were significantly more likely to have had a gynecological exam during the past year and to have performed genital self-examination during the previous month.

Women who used vibrators also reported better sex, including higher sexual desire and arousal, as well as orgasm. However, there was no significant difference in general sexual satisfaction between female vibrator users and non-users.

"The study about women's vibrator use affirms what many doctors and therapists have known for decades — that vibrator use is common, it's linked to positive sexual function such as desire and ease of orgasm, and it's rarely associated with any side effects," said study researcher Debby Herbenick, associate director of Indiana University's Center for Sexual Health Promotion.

The new results are based on two studies, one surveying more than 2,000 women and the other more than 1,000 men (ages 18 to 60), both of which are published this week in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

Some other findings included:

* More than 50 percent of women participants had used a vibrator, with nearly one in four having done so in the past month.
* More than 70 percent of women reported having never experienced any side effects associated with vibrator use. (Those side effects that were reported were typically rare and of a short duration, including mild genital numbness, irritation, or inflammation.)
* About 45 percent of men, both gay and heterosexual, reported incorporating a vibrator into sexual activities.
* Of men who have used vibrators, 10 percent had done so in the past month, about 14 percent in the past year and about 21 percent more than one year ago.
* Men who reported having used vibrators, particularly those with more recent use, were more likely to report participation in sexual health promoting behaviors, such as testicular self-exam.
* Men who had used vibrators recently also scored themselves higher on four of the five factors used to measure sexual function (erectile function, intercourse satisfaction, orgasmic function and sexual desire).

You're not bronzed. That tan is fake!

Tiffany Finnegan loves what she refers to as her "healthy glow." The 30-year-old South Boston resident is smitten with self-tanning products and regularly applies the lotions and sprays to keep her skin looking beach-resort dark year-round.
Her mother, however, has a different take on her daughter's tan from a can.

"She makes me crazy whenever she comes home for a visit," says Joyce Finnegan, who lives outside Syracuse. "Between the sprays, lotions, and creams, my bathroom has an orange haze when she's done. The fake tan has become an obsession. She is a 'tanorexic,' but we love her, no matter what shade of orange she is."

That orange hue has become increasingly common as the number of sunless tanning products on the market has risen and as influential Hollywood stars go under the spray gun. Sales of self-tanners in the United States have skyrocketed in the past five years. In 2003, sales totaled $53 million. By 2008, sales surpassed $200 million, according to market research group Mintel International Group, Ltd. They anticipate those numbers will continue to rise in 2009.

But you don't need market research and sales figures to prove that the world is becoming a little more orange all the time. Stroll the South Shore Plaza on a Saturday night or walk down Commonwealth Avenue near the Boston University campus and you'll see ocherous faces peering out from behind flat-ironed hair.

Yes, sunless tanners, which darken the skin by staining the outer layer with dihydroxyacetone, a natural sugar derivative, are safer than lying in the sun or logging time in a tanning bed, says New York dermatologist Jeannette Graf. But there's an unwanted side effect for those who use too much self-tanner: They wind up as tangerine-colored as Donald Trump.

They may think they resemble a deeply bronzed Cindy Crawford on a Palm Springs golf getaway, but the truth is, these chronic tanaholics look artificial. President Obama ribbed House minority leader and preternaturally tanned John Boehner at the White House Press Correspondents' Dinner recently, joking that Boehner "is a person of color, just not a color that is found in nature."

Over-tanning, like obsessive teeth whitening and overzealous eyebrow plucking, is a year-round problem. But in late spring, as women - and plenty of men - prepare for bathing suit season, the number of imitation tans begins to climb as rapidly as the pollen count.

"There is a bit of overdoing it out there, and they end up looking orange," says Ulana Nosal, store manager at Fresh on Newbury Street. "The funny thing is, I don't think they realize they look orange. They think that they look good and that their color looks natural."

Jimmy Coco, a former Chippendales dancer who now runs a Los Angeles-based tanning business charging $350 per spray-tan session at a client's home, says he's been told by clients who have experienced bad spray tans that they'd rather look artificial than pasty white. In Hollywood, a good spray tan has become as important as the right purse, and tanners such as Coco can charge top dollar because they keep their clients looking sun-kissed rather than dyed.

"I guess orange is acceptable to people, and for the longest time that was the only option," he said. "In some light that color may look OK, but most of the time it looks really bad."

Coco, whose client list includes Eva Longoria, Heidi Klum, Victoria Beckham, and Katy Perry, says that the current obsession with the artificial tan emerged when Jennifer Lopez began sporting an unabashedly sprayed "bronze goddess" tan five years ago. Not happy to be left looking pale on the sidelines, other celebrities jumped on the bandwagon - with mixed results. Soon, Paris Hilton, Tara Reid, and Lindsay Lohan starting showing up in tabloids with varying degrees of spray-tan success, and every "Real Housewife" and passenger on the "Rock of Love" bus was going under the tanning gun. (Coco even spray tans the contestants on "The Biggest Loser.")

There are a few actresses who maintain alabaster tones - such as Anne Hathaway and Kate Winslet - but they are the exception. For years, milky skin was prized, until Coco Chanel made tanning vogue in the 1920s. Before she came back bronzed from the French Rivera, tans were seen as the mark of the working class. Only the wealthy could afford to wile away the days under parasols.

Later, concerns over skin cancer resulted in Coppertone developing the first sunless tanning product in 1960. It was a stink bomb in a bottle that sold poorly and did little to keep people from the beach. The romance of beach movies in the 1960s and a perpetual Beach Boys soundtrack kept baby boomers tanning in the 1970s and 1980s, Coco said.

Celebrity makeup artist Brett Freedman, whose clients include Reba McEntire, Kelly Clarkson, and Vanessa Hudgens, said sunless tanaholics just don't know when to stop spraying, smearing, and bronzing.

"There are people who think that they can never be too thin or too blond," said Freedman. "And then there are people who think that they can never be too tan. The problems you see with these tans now is that there are people who want as much color as possible, so they'll pick a product that has way too much pigment in it, and apply it as often as possible."

North Shore psychiatrist Lenore Cantor says she has not treated any individuals who use too much self-tanner, but said she has seen patients who spent too much time in the sun. The patients, who experience body dysmorphic disorder, are convinced that there is something physically wrong with their appearance. Cantor says some of these patients work on getting a deep tan because they think it will make them look better.

"There's a general perception that a tan means you're healthy," she says. "And for people who don't like their appearance, getting a tan is sometimes seen as a quick fix. Of course the irony is that spending too much time in the sun is anything but healthy."

While sunless tanning is safer for skin than lounging in the sun or baking in a tanning bed, dermatologist Jeanine Downie says that she does not recommend spray tans for people with asthma or respiratory infections, because they can trigger asthma attacks. For home tanning, she said she has seen some people put self-tanner too close to their eyes and wind up with conjunctivitis. She's also seen patients ruin some very nice towels.

"Publicly, people are being made fun of who have that unnaturally orange glow," Downie says. "That shade of orange is a pet peeve of mine."

Although she's heard from friends that she's too dark, too caramel, and, at times, too artificial, Cambridge nurse Janet Perkins says she is not planning to stop her self-tanning regiment any time soon.

"Listen," she said, "I've had plenty of people tell me that my tan is gorgeous. In the winter, they ask if I've been on a cruise or on vacation. My friends who make fun of me are just jealous they can't look this good."

Free boob jobs offered to nurses at Prague clinic

AN understaffed Prague clinic has signed up nurses by offering boob jobs, liposuction and tummy tucks as a bonus.
Nurses, doctors and secretaries who sign up with the small private clinic for three years can choose their free plastic surgery.

"It has been a success," Jiri Schweitzer, a manager at the Iscare clinic, said, adding the establishment was now fully staffed and had to reject dozens of beauty-hunting job applicants.

Petra Kalivodova, a 31-year-old nurse who has been working at the clinic for four years, has had a breast implants - the most popular choice among nurses - so she underwent liposuction for her signing on perk.

"I have mentioned this to colleagues and friends, and the interest in working here is huge," she said.

The clinic charges up to 75,000 koruna ($5060) for a breast implant, almost three times the average nurse's monthly wage, and up to €1880 ($3380) for liposuction.

Many Czech nurses have been tempted out of the country by higher wages offered in western European nations and the Czech health system now needs about 6000 nurses in addition to the 90,000 it already employs, according to official data.

Smarter Men Have More Sperm

Women tend to like smart men because they're usually more successful and better providers. But here's another reason: Their sperm is better, a new study says.

Researchers at King's College London, the University of Delaware and the University of New Mexico recently compared results from five intelligence tests given to 425 Vietnam War vets in 1985 as part of the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention's Vietnam Experience Study. These vets, aged 31 to 44, also provided sperm samples, so the researchers analyzed the sperm per milliliter of semen, plus how many of the sperm swam normally, and other measures of sperm health.

The smarter the men were, the more sperm they produced and the better their wee ones swam — and it didn't matter how old the men were or whether they smoked, drank or were obese.

But why might these two seemingly unrelated traits be linked? Why would calculus aces or business consultants make better sperm?

Turns out that intelligent people are generally healthier than their less-clever peers — studies have shown that brainiacs are, for instance, less likely to suffer from heart disease and Alzheimer's. Scientists have suggested that smart people may score less stressful jobs in safer places and that they may make better lifestyle choices, for instance by exercising more and eating better. In other words, maybe bright people actually listen to the Surgeon General.

But these newest findings, to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Intelligence, found that negative habits had little effect on sperm quality, so they don't support that theory.

The researchers instead speculate that intelligence might be passed down as part of a larger package of good attributes. One gene can influence multiple traits, so the genes involved in smarts may somehow improve sperm quality — and perhaps other characteristics as well.

This could help explain, then, why intelligence can be so sexy: It could simply be an indicator that a person has a lot of good genes and traits, says study co-author Geoffrey Miller, a psychologist at the University of New Mexico.

Health Hazard Alert: Head-Banging May Hurt Your Brain

It’s bad enough that loud music can potentially harm your hearing. But now it turns out that head-banging, a violent and rapid form of dancing, can put you at risk for brain injury, whiplash, and even stroke.

There have been isolated reports of head-banging injuries in the past: When guitarist Terry Balsamo of Evanescence had a stroke, his doctors attributed it to his on-stage thrashing. But until now, scientists really haven’t studied the effects of head-banging since it first started back in 1968 with Led Zeppelin.

According to Australian risk and safety researchers Declan Patton and Andrew McIntosh from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, head-banging is pretty much guaranteed to give you brain damage if you’re not careful. To test their theory, the researchers went to a variety of metal and hard rock concerts (the best way to test any scientific theory) and observed the head-thrashing techniques used by artists.


Then they created a “theoretical head-banging model” and plugged in various possible head angles and intensities. Using the top 11 “head-banging songs” chosen by a focus group, they measured an average tempo of 146 beats per minute, which they combined with head-banging arcs of more than 75 degrees from a person’s upright stance. They concluded that the typical death-metal tempo combined with a head-banging arc of at least 45 degrees will likely “cause mild head and neck injury.”

So is there hope for death-metal lovers? Yes, according to Patton and McIntosh, who offer the following advice:

“To minimize the risk of head and neck injury, head bangers should decrease their range of head and neck motion, head bang to slower tempo songs by replacing heavy metal with adult oriented rock, only head bang to every second beat, or use personal protective equipment.”

Fat parents could be paid to walk their children to school

Under the scheme people who exercise would receive supermarket-style vouchers to spend on sports gear and healthy food.

Those attending keep-fit classes or weight loss clubs could be eligible for rewards, as well as those walking to bus or train stations.

Critics claim the rewards will be a form of bribery. It is thought machines would be placed in schools or stations so parents or commuters could swipe their cards to tot up points.

The proposal will be assessed during a pilot project in Manchester, one of nine areas designated as "healthy towns".

It will be announced today by Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, who will encourage every business to take action agains obesity.

But the plans have caused controversy, with small business leaders warning that they were already too stretched and that the current economic climate was "not the right time" to ask them to do more.

Mr Johnson is expected to say that a massive effort is required to alert the nation, and especially parents, to the risks of obesity, as he outlines plans for a nationwide £325 million "revolution" on the problem.

Research for the Department of Health shows that almost nine out of ten parents fail to recognise that their children are overweight or obese.

Experts predict that half of adults could have weight problems by 2050, creating a health crisis expected to cost the NHS £50 billions.

More than 12,000 businesses, charities and local groups have signed up to help promote the Government's campaign.

But Mr Johnson has called for more to join their number.

He said: "I am today challenging every CEO of every company who can influence what we eat and how we exercise to come forward and tell us how they are going to help beat this national epidemic.

"Obesity affects us all so everyone must get involved."

But Stephen Alambritis, from the Federation of Small Businesses, said that it was "not the right time" to ask more of small employers.

He said: "If this message is targeted to the CEOs of the top FTSE companies that is understandable but at the moment many small employers are struggling to keep their staff on the payroll and it is not the right time to ask more of them."

Businesses which have signed up to the initiative include ITV, which is to run a series of programmes tracking viewers' attempts to live healthier lives, and Kellogg's, the cereal giant, which will support breakfast clubs in deprived areas.

The Department of Health said that it had also come to "unprecedented" arrangements with Tesco and Asda, the supermarkets, to offer discounts on healthy food.

"Ten million people visit their corner shops every day and 36 million shop at Asda and Tesco each week - the fact that grocers and supermarkets are on board means we can really influence what goes into our shopping trolleys," Mr Johnson said.

"It's unprecedented for supermarkets to join the Government and pledge to cut prices on healthy food. But this isn't an exclusive club. Anyone who promises to help families to be healthier can join."

Mr Johnson said that research had shown that the challenge of convincing parents to change their habits would be difficult.

He said: "The message that we received from parents was clear: we recognise that obesity is a big problem, but it's not our problem."

"The aim of Change4Life is to help parents understand that obesity is a problem for all of us and that it causes severe illnesses and premature death.

"Finger wagging and lecturing won't work, that's why Change4Life is designed to be supportive and helpful."

Research commissioned for the Department of Health shows that just 11.5 per cent of parents whose children were overweight or obese children recognised that they had a problem.

Women Carry More Bacteria Than Men

Wash your hands, folks, especially you ladies. A new study found that women have a greater variety of bacteria on their hands than men do. And everybody has more types of bacteria than the researchers expected to find.

"One thing that really is astonishing is the variability between individuals, and also between hands on the same individual," said University of Colorado biochemistry assistant professor Rob Knight, a co-author of the paper.

"The sheer number of bacteria species detected on the hands of the study participants was a big surprise, and so was the greater diversity of bacteria we found on the hands of women," added lead researcher Noah Fierer, an assistant professor in Colorado's department of ecology and evolutionary biology.

The researchers aren't sure why women harbored a greater variety of bacteria than men, but Fierer suggested it may have to so with the acidity of the skin. Knight said men generally have more acidic skin than women.

Other possibilities are differences in sweat and oil gland production between men and women, the frequency of moisturizer or cosmetics applications, skin thickness or hormone production, he said.

Women also may have more bacteria living under the surface of the skin where they are not accessible to washing, Knight added.

Asked if guys should worry about holding hands with girls, Knight said: "I guess it depends on which girl."

He stressed that "the vast majority of the bacteria we have on our body are either harmless or beneficial ... the pathogens are a small minority."

The researchers took samples from the palms of 51 college students -- that's 102 hands -- and tested the samples using a new, highly detailed system for detecting bacteria DNA.

They identified 4,742 species of bacteria overall, only 5 of which were on every hand, they report on Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The average hand harbored 150 species of bacteria.

Not only did individuals have few types of bacteria in common, the left and right hands of the same individual shared only about 17 percent of the same bacteria types, the researchers found.

The differences between dominant and non-dominant hands were probably due to environmental conditions like oil production, salinity, moisture or variable environmental surfaces touched by either hand of an individual, Fierer said.

Knight said the researchers hope to repeat the experiment in other countries where different hands are assigned specific tasks.

While the researchers stressed the importance of regular hand-washing, they also noted that washing did not eliminate bacteria.

"Either the bacterial colonies rapidly re-establish after hand washing, or washing (as practiced by the students included in this study) does not remove the majority of bacteria taxa found on the skin surface," the researchers said in their report.

While the tests could determine how many different types of bacteria were present, they could not count the total amount of bacteria on each hand.

The research was funded primarily by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

I need water, I'm dying... - Tragic patient's agonised cry for help as doctors ignored her

A woman bled to death following a routine NHS operation after doctors said they were too busy to assess her.

Kathleen Doherty, 29, screamed for help after a procedure to remove gallstones, crying: 'I need water, I'm dying.'

But doctors ignored her pleas and she died in agony hours later after medics failed to examine her in a catalogue of blunders, an inquest heard yesterday.

Coroner Dr James Adeley criticised hospital doctors yesterday for 'serious and repeated failures'.

He said the death of the social worker could have been prevented if doctors at Royal Preston Hospital had checked her condition.

Her mother Frances, 64, a former psychiatric nurse, begged nurses and doctors for help as Miss Doherty complained of increasing pains in her stomach, sickness, feeling clammy and headaches after the operation.

But they were told by one doctor standing at their daughter's bedside that he was too busy to check on her because he was responsible for 100 patients that evening.

Shortly afterwards, Miss Doherty started thrashing around on the bed, screaming: 'I can't cope. I can't cope.'

But the newly qualified physician on the ward, Simon Hughes, decided she did not need a review.

Miss Doherty died five hours later after massive internal bleeding.

Her parents now plan to sue for negligence after Preston Coroner's Court heard how a series of failures in her care caused her death.

Delivering a narrative verdict, Dr Adeley said: 'Her preventable death was caused by a slow postoperative bleed which was not diagnosed by the clinical staff caring for her due to continually poor post-operative monitoring and record keeping, serious and repeated failures in communication and delegation between clinical staff, poor judgment in the diagnosis of possible post operative haemorrhage and the gross failure to undertake any effective examination of Miss Doherty despite repeated requests to do so.
'In this case it is quite clear there has been no senior supervision of the nursing or the medical staff which has resulted in a set of very substandard records. This is a sad death which could have been prevented.'

Speaking after the inquest, her brother Michael, 41, said: 'Nothing will ever compensate mum and dad's loss of a daughter or mine of a sister and we are taking legal action to ensure that no other family has to endure the pain we have gone through.

'If they had followed the correct procedure and given the level of care anyone would have expected, Kathleen would still be alive today.' Miss Doherty had just got a job as a social worker and moved in to her first house near her parents' home in Preston when she fell ill.

Complaining of abdominal pains, she was admitted to hospital with suspected gallstones.

After tests she was allowed home but was readmitted days later as her pain worsened.

She was admitted on March 16, 2006, to remove the stones, but afterwards her family noticed that she looked pale and was clammy.

The inquest heard how staff failed to keep a note of Miss Doherty's blood pressure and observations were not carried out.
Dr Hughes asked the patient what was wrong, but he dismissed her as a 'low priority'.

When Mrs Doherty asked Dr Hughes to take a look at her daughter's vital signs chart at the bottom of the bed he refused saying he 'was too busy'.

Dr Hughes saw Miss Doherty again, but he did not examine her because he was 'partly too busy and partly that she didn't require a review', the inquest heard.

At 9.30pm nursing staff found Miss Doherty had no pulse and she could not be resuscitated. A postmortem examination discovered that she had slowly bled to death over five hours.

Dr Adeley said throughout postoperative care there were 'failings in communication' and 'poor recordkeeping' with 'no one accepting responsibility for her care'.

Yesterday the family's solicitor, Laura Morgan of Manchester law firm Pannone, said: 'Kathleen's parents, family and friends have been devastated by her death.

'What should have been a routine operation turned into a catalogue of errors resulting in the death of someone who was obviously loved and respected both personally and professionally.

'The conclusions of the inquest are damning and we will be pursuing our actions against the hospital on the family's behalf.'

Alastair Campbell, medical director of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: 'The Trust would like to express its sincere condolences to the family of Kathleen Doherty and its regret at the circumstances leading to her sad death.'

Dutch towns 'swamped by drug tourists'

TWO Dutch towns are planning to close their cannabis smoking coffee shops after admitting that an influx of up to 25,000 French and Belgian "drug tourists" each week had become too much.
Local authorities in southwestern Roosendaal and Bergen-op-Doom announced they could no longer cope with the "drug tourists" whose presence they blamed for traffic congestion, crime and unlicenced dealing.

"Soft drug tourism is the motor of criminality linked to (harder) drugs," they said in a joint statement. "It has an overwhelming negative effect on public order."

All eight coffee shops in the two towns will shut, with closures beginning in February 2009.

"The mayor of Roosendaal thinks we could close them all within two years," town hall spokeswoman Marjolein Koppens said.

Until then, all local coffee shops will be forced to limit the sale of cannabis to two grams per customer per day instead of the current five grams.


Another border town, Terneuzen, announced yesterday it would toughen its local by-laws on the sale of cannabis from May next year. Opening hours would be restricted and the amount each customer could buy would also be reduced.

CUPPA COFFEE GIVES GIRLS A SMALLER CUP

Coffee can shrink the size of women’s boobs, shock research revealed yesterday.




The caffeine-fuelled drink is well-known for keeping people alert and sobering up drunks.


But Swedish scientists have caused a stir by suggesting women who drink more than three cups a day could see their bra size drop.



Tests by cancer researchers found half of all women have a gene linking breast size to coffee intake.



Nearly 300 women were quizzed but Helena Jernstroem, of Lund University, said women should not worry too much.



She explained: “Coffee-drinking women do not have to worry their breasts will shrink to nothing overnight. They will get smaller, but the breasts aren’t just going to disappear.



“Anyone who thinks they can tell which women are coffee drinkers just from their bra measurements will be disappointed. There are two measurements for a bra – the cup size and the girth, so you wouldn’t be able to tell.”



While caffeine may shrink women’s breasts, the reaction is the reverse for coffee-slurping blokes – it can make their “moobs” swell.



On the plus side, the study showed regular hits of caffeine reduce the risk of women

developing breast cancer.

The Sum of Your Facial Parts

IS the woman pictured on the right more attractive than the woman on the left? Do her wider-set eyes, the longer distance between her hairline and the bridge of the nose, and the rounder shape of her face make her more beautiful?


The software program, developed by computer scientists in Israel, is based on the responses of 68 men and women, age 25 to 40, from Israel and Germany, who viewed photographs of white male and female faces and picked the most attractive ones.

Scientists took the data and applied an algorithm involving 234 measurements between facial features, including the distances between lips and chin, the forehead and the eyes, or between the eyes.

Essentially, they trained a computer to determine, for each individual face, the most attractive set of distances and then choose the ideal closest to the original face. Unlike other research with formulas for facial attractiveness, this program does not produce one ideal for a feature, say a certain eye width or chin length.

They ran the photographs of 92 women and 33 men through the engine, creating before and after shots — essentially, a computer-generated version of hot or not. Changes were made only to the geometry of the faces; unlike the digital retouching done for fashion magazines, wrinkles were not smoothed and hair color was not changed.

The research, published in the August proceedings of Siggraph, an annual conference on computer graphics, is one of the latest studies in a growing field that merges beauty and science, a subject that has drawn mounting interest in academia in the last decade.

Studies have shown that there is surprising agreement about what makes a face attractive. Symmetry is at the core, along with youthfulness; clarity or smoothness of skin; and vivid color, say, in the eyes and hair. There is little dissent among people of different cultures, ethnicities, races, ages and gender.

Yet, like the many other attempts to use objective principles or even mathematical formulas to define beauty, this software program raises what psychologists, philosophers and feminists say are complex, even disturbing, questions about the perception of beauty and a beauty ideal.

To what extent is beauty quantifiable? Does a supposedly scientific definition merely reflect the ideal of the moment, built from the images of pop culture and the news media?

“How can they prove it?” said Lois W. Banner, a historian who has studied changing beauty standards, referring to scientific efforts to define attractiveness. “They are never going to locate it on a gene. They are never going to get away from the cultural influence.”

Tommer Leyvand, who developed the “beautification” software with three others at Tel Aviv University and who works in development for Microsoft in Redmond, Wash., said the goal was not to argue that the altered faces are more beautiful than the originals. Instead, he said, it was to tackle the challenge of altering a face according to agreed-upon standards of attractiveness, while producing a result that left the face completely recognizable, rather than the product of cosmetic surgery or digital retouching.

“This tool shows in the most simple fashion how easy it is to manipulate photographs and make people more attractive,” Mr. Leyvand said. “But the difference is so subtle that it just shows how insignificant it is. We’re talking about a few inches maybe and a slightly changed perception.”

For most faces, the software made subtle changes, with the person’s essence and character largely intact. In the case of the woman pictured on the front page of this section, the changes were more striking, probably because her features, Mr. Leyvand said, do appear more ethnic than many of the other women and men he photographed. (The researchers have not yet created a program that would be designed with what they call a beauty estimator for nonwhite racial and ethnic groups.)

The woman, Martina Eckstut, 25, an account executive for Kay Unger New York/Phoebe Couture, volunteered to be photographed for this article and have her image beautified by Mr. Leyvand’s computer program. She said she was struck by how different she looked in the second shot.

Before and After “I think the after picture looks great, but it doesn’t really look like me at all,” she said in an e-mail message. “My entire bone structure, face shape and eye size is different, and my lip color looks changed as well.”

She added, “I would like to keep my original face.”

While several psychological studies over the last few decades also suggest that perceptions of beauty and attractiveness tend to be universal, critics of that work say it is debatable whether a person’s beauty is actually enhanced by such changes. Character can be lost. A blandness can set in. The quirky may become plain.

When Mr. Leyvand put a photograph of Brigitte Bardot through his program, her full and puckered lips were deflated, and the world-famous beauty seemed less striking — less like herself.

(By contrast, the before and after shots of the actor James Franco were almost indistinguishable, suggesting his classically handsome face is already pretty perfect.)

After viewing the before and after photographs of anonymous subjects in Mr. Leyvand’s research paper, Dr. Banner, who is a professor of history at the University of Southern California, said the original faces were more attractive.

“Irregular beauty is the real beauty,” said Dr. Banner, adding that such attempts to measure beauty are driven culturally by sameness, making everyone look alike.

For centuries, philosophers and scientists have tried to define a universal ideal of beauty. St. Augustine said beauty was synonymous with geometric form and balance, according to Nancy Etcoff, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School and the author of “Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty.” Aristotle defined beauty, in part, as “order and symmetry and definiteness.”

Artists and architects since the Renaissance — and more recently, plastic surgeons — have tried to quantify beauty using the theory of the golden ratio, which holds that there is an ideal relationship between two measurements that can be expressed as a mathematical constant. Da Vinci, Dalí and Mondrian all are said to have used the golden ratio in their art.

“The first reaction we have to faces will be based on face symmetry, health, averageness,” said Alexander Nehamas, a philosopher and professor of the humanities and comparative literature at Princeton, who has written about beauty. “But we never see a face like that in real life. We see faces in connection with people expressing emotions and ideas, all those aspects of the face are essential to our deciding whether a face or a person is beautiful.”

He added: “Lauren Hutton’s face is asymmetrical. One eye is below the other, her teeth have a gap. But it’s not just her face, it’s everything about her.”

Mr. Leyvand suggested there were practical applications for his software, including advertisements, films and animation. He also said he had heard from plastic surgeons interested in the software. That did not surprise those who have studied the history of beauty.

“We have always had a huge industry to make people look better,” Dr. Etcoff said. “Everyone wants to look better. And we keep taking it further and further to all these images that have been doctored. There is a whole generation of girls growing up who think it’s normal not to look the way they really look.”

10 Reasons You’re Not Having Sex

Not getting any? You’re not alone: Women today have less time for sex than their 1950s counterparts. And it’s estimated that 40 million Americans have what experts call a sexless marriage (having sex less than 10 times a year).

A regular sex life is good for your health. It can satisfy all sorts of emotional- and physical-intimacy needs and help partners stay close, says Anita H. Clayton, MD, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia and author of Satisfaction: Women, Sex, and the Quest for Intimacy. So why the dry spell? You can chalk it up to a sheer lack of time, but there are a slew of other reasons, too—from weight gain and perimenopause to technology overload (stop texting now) in the bedroom. Here’s how to beat the top 10 sex busters.

Reason 1: Your bed isn’t sexy anymore.
We hear it over and over again: The bed should be used for sex and sleep only. So why do so many of us insist on bringing third parties—laptops, PDAs, Law & Order—into the boudoir? All that technology and distraction can cause insomnia and put a damper on your sex life. After all, it’s harder to initiate sex if your spouse is hiding behind a newspaper or glued to the TV or if your hands are busy exploring the Web rather than his body.

Sex Rx: At a minimum, make the bedroom a no-technology zone, Clayton suggests. Then take a hard look at your life (from romance and work to entertainment and family), and give sex the priority it deserves. If you have to schedule sex like you do a meeting, do it!

Reason 2: Your meds are stealing your sex drive.
Oh, the irony. You start taking oral contraceptives (OCs) so you can have worry-free sex. Then the magic little pills start sapping your sex drive. Why? OCs contain estrogen, which increases the production of a protein called sex-hormone binding globulin (SHBG), says Michael Krychman, MD, medical director of sexual medicine at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, California, and executive director of the Southern California Center for Sexual Health and Survivorship Medicine. SHBG can trap testosterone, affecting your sex drive. There’s even new data suggesting that this negative impact might be long-term. Other potential sex-drive-stalling meds to be on the lookout for: those that reduce blood pressure, anxiety, and acid reflux, and antidepressants, too.

Sex Rx: Ask your doc about the sexual side effects of all of your drugs. You may also want to try a contraceptive method that doesn’t use hormones, such as condoms, a diaphragm, or an IUD.

Reason 3: Your crazy-busy life.
You spend your days working, cooking, working out, taking care of the family. And, still, at 11:30 p.m., “you’re expected to wave this magic goddess wand,” Krychman says. It’s enough to make even Pamela Anderson curl up in bed and cry, “headache.” Besides totally tuckering you out, the chronic stresses of modern life can also trigger a cascade of hormonal changes that mess with your body’s sexual-response cycle. And here’s another modern sex buster that adds to all the craziness: today’s always-connected technology.

Sex Rx: With spontaneous sex almost out of the question, you need some serious “life management” to work it in, experts say. Put a lock on the master bedroom door and set a technology time limit. Shift gears from the harried pace of everyday life with a soothing bath, suggests Health contributor and Los Angeles–based sex therapist Linda De Villers, PhD. Plunging into warm water takes you away from the laptops and cell phones that clog up your day. Add a few drops of ylang-ylang essential oil; the aroma is thought to heighten sexual feelings.

Reason 4: You don’t like your body.
Many women find themselves withdrawing or not willing to experiment sexually if they’re overweight or have a change in shape due to pregnancy, Clayton says. “Emotionally, we’ve bought into the media’s idealization of what is really sexy. The message is, you have to look a certain way in order to have really good sex.”

Sex Rx: “Women have a talent for disliking the very things about themselves that other people find very attractive,” De Villers says. Feel free to ask him what he likes about your body; his compliments can help you feel more positive. But don’t underestimate the mental boost of shedding some pounds. In a recent Health.com survey, 37 percent of respondents said losing weight makes them feel sexy. In fact, even a five-pound weight loss has been shown to jump-start sex drive.

Reason 5: You’ve hit perimenopause.
Prior to menopause, hormonal shifts—specifically decreasing estrogen—lead to physiological changes that can make sex seem about as appealing as running a marathon with a pebble in your sock. Sensitive vaginal tissues become less lubricated, the ensuing dryness leads to pain, and painful sex quickly turns into no sex, Krychman says. Hot flashes don’t help matters, either. A landmark study published last year in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology shows women whose sexual desire drops during menopause are more apt to report night sweats, disturbed sleep, and depression.

Sex Rx: Talk to your physician about the pros and cons of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which may lessen menopausal symptoms. New research shows an estrogen cream or suppository may ease dryness without the risks of HRT. Lubricants like Replens or his-and-hers lubes from K-Y can also help, especially if pain during intercourse is a problem. Pine bark extract is also getting a lot of buzz: A study in the Scandinavian Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that it may alleviate hot flashes, depression, panic attacks, elevated cholesterol, and other symptoms linked with perimenopause. Talk to your doctor before trying anything new.

Reason 6: Your man’s just not that into it.
You may actually be raring to go, but your partner’s engine seems stalled. Perhaps he’s emotionally withdrawing, says Bob Berkowitz, PhD, co-author of He’s Just Not Up for It Anymore: Why Men Stop Having Sex, and What You Can Do About It. “The usual problems between husbands and wives can play out in the bedroom,” he says, especially if your partner has a hard time expressing his feelings properly. Or, he may want you to be more sexually adventurous. You needn’t hang from chandeliers; it could be as simple as being a more enthusiastic lover.

Sex Rx: Talk it out in a blame-free way. “It’s understandable that a woman would feel rejected,” Berkowitz says. But don’t confront him with ‘What the hell is going on? Are you cheating on me?’ or he’ll shut down. If a man’s sex life is not working out, he may feel he’s failed as a man, because men invest so much of themselves in their sexuality,” Berkowitz adds. So try to broach the subject in a loving way.

Reason 7: You’re depressed.
When you’re feeling down in the dumps, desire can take a big hit, particularly if you’re female. Women tend to isolate themselves, Clayton says, and that can strain even the strongest of romantic relationships. Antidepressants may lift the dark cloud, but some affect your ability to have an orgasm.

Sex Rx: If you notice your sex drive takes a nosedive after you start a new medication, tell your doctor; she may be able to prescribe an alternative, like Wellbutrin (bupropion), which doesn’t affect orgasm. Consider different avenues of treatment, too. “Psychotherapy doesn’t cause sexual dysfunction and is effective, especially in mild-to-moderate depression,” Clayton says. Exercise also helps; it enhances mood and energy, and it boosts blood flow to the genitals.

Reason 8: Your man is Viagra-ized.
The “Viagra-ization” of men, as Krychman calls it, isn’t just happening to seniors. Younger men are taking the erectile-dysfunction drug, too, sometimes just to enhance sexual performance. The result can be a physical and emotional disconnect in bed. “The man takes the medication and is ready to go, but the woman needs more time to get aroused, to get connected.” The sexes tend to deal with anxiety in opposite ways, too, Clayton says. Men head to the bedroom to relieve stress, while women often need to be relaxed to even have sex.

Sex Rx: Clayton suggests finding time for some nonthreatening and nonjudgmental sex talk (not in bed), during which a woman can discuss what she needs in bed to even the playing field.

Reason 9: You like your vibrator better.
Reaching for your Rabbit more often than your honey bunny? This is more common than some might think, De Villers says. A vibrator is simpler and more accessible than a cooperating penis. While there’s nothing wrong with incorporating sex toys into your love life, becoming reliant on a vibrator—or even preferring it over your partner—can be a serious problem. Sometimes it’s a way of dealing with anger or frustration in your relationship, De Villers explains.

Sex Rx: If you really are addicted to your vibrator at the expense of your relationship with your partner, talk to a therapist to gain some insight about your relationship, De Villers recommends. Perhaps learning how to communicate your needs to your partner will help. If the vibrator gives you more satisfaction than sex with your partner, talk about trying some new moves or even using the vibrator together.

Reason 10: You’re sick and tired.
About 10 to 15 percent of the women Krychman treats for low libido end up having an endocrine problem, such as undiagnosed thyroid disease, which can affect menstrual functioning and lead to exhaustion, depression, low sexual desire, and fertility problems. Women who have chronic illnesses—such as fibromyalgia, anemia, diabetes, or rheumatoid arthritis—may not be in the mood, either, thanks to fatigue or body pain. And women who have diabetes may also experience poor lubrication, low arousal, and a propensity for yeast infections.

Sex Rx: Once a thyroid condition or anemia is detected and corrected, any associated symptoms should dissipate. If you’re battling a chronic disease, you should take the focus off of the intercourse and explore other ways to achieve sexual and sensual pleasure, Clayton says.

Psychologist Says Intelligent Men Have the Best Sperm

University of New Mexico evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller has said that the quality of sperm is indicative of the brain power in men.




According to the tests conducted by the expert, it was found that men who scored high on a battery of intelligence tests boasted high counts of healthy sperm.

Whereas, low scorers tended to have fewer and more sickly sperm.

The finding suggests that intelligence might tip off a man's overall health to women looking for a mate with healthy genes, the researcher explained at a recent Harvard University talk.

"It's not necessarily that the same genes are influencing sperm quality and intelligence," New Scientist quoted him, as saying.

Rather, the two traits could be linked through a tangled web of biological and environmental interactions that has evolved to help women pick a mate.

To reach the conclusion, the researcher and his team uncovered the apparent sperm-intelligence connection after reanalyzing data gathered in 1985 to assess the after-effects of the Vietnam War, particularly exposures to Agent Orange.

Of the 4,402 veterans who participated in three days of physical and mental testing, 425 provided sperm samples.

After accounting for factors that could skew the results, such as age, drug use, and abstinence before providing a sample, Miller's team looked for a statistical link between men's sperm counts and motility and their scores on several tests of verbal and arithmetic intelligence.

Though the connections between brains and sperm were "not awesome, they're there and highly significant," Miller said. All things held equal, good sperm and good brains go together.

Exactly why smart men would have healthy sperm is unclear, but Miller has one idea: "I'm thinking of intelligence as being quite closely related to individual fitness."

Mom gets pregnant with triplets while on pill, ... for those of you that didn't believe it could happen

A 22-year-old woman gave birth to identical triplets – even though she was taking the birth control pill when she became pregnant.

Kirsty Hale said it felt “unreal” when she discovered she was having not one, but three babies.

She gave birth to Gabriella, Lily and Alicia 13 weeks early after an emergency Caesarean section.

“I was shocked when I found out I was pregnant,” Hale said. “When I found out it was triplets, I was hysterical. I don’t know if I was laughing or crying. It didn’t sink in until we bought three car seats and lined them up in the hallway.”

Since the babies are premature, they will have to stay in the hospital until December.

The odds of having identical triplets are 200 million to one.

“I think maybe in the future, we’ll try for a boy, so I have a bit of back up in the house,” said Hale’s fiancé, Toby Wilson.

Cell phones, cancer: Interview with an expert doctor

Stephen King: There are only two hospitals in the world people can reach out to for help with concerns about radiation from cell phones affecting their health. One is in Hemel Hempstead, England and the other one is The Environmental Health Center of Dallas (EHCD) in Dallas, TX USA. We at EMFScience.com gained an interview with Dr. Rea and Carolyn Gorman a representative at the EHDC in Dallas, TX. Following are the questions we asked and the responses they had concerning EMF.

Interview With: Dr. Rea
Environmental Health Center of Dallas

EMF SCIENCE: “What concerns should people have, if any, about health issues that could be caused by cell phones and electrical devices that give off electromagnetic frequencies?”

Dr. Rea: “The concerns are excessive exposures to excessive EMF. Illness can be related to length of time of exposure and magnitude of exposure. Distance negates fields. Each person may have a different tolerance level due to current health status and past environmental exposures. Any fat stored chemicals or heavy metal toxicity or metal in the body may affect exposure tolerances.”

EMF SCIENCE: “Your health center provides diagnostic testing called electromagnetic challenge testing (ECT) for patients. What is that?”

Dr. Rea: “The patient is tested in a room with porcelain on steel walls and an electrically desensitized floor. They are exposed to different HZ or frequencies by an oscillating generator. This is a blind study. Symptoms and other health parameters are recorded.” The American Environmental Health Foundation (1-800-428-2343) has an article dealing with this.

EMF SCIENCE: “At what point, and how, did the medical community determine that a problem was occurring within people biologically that lead them to decide that diagnosis and treatment was needed for problems related to electromagnetic sensitivity?”

Dr. Rea: “I didn't know the medical community has recognized this. We look at symptoms, past history, and use several other diagnostics tests to help us determine if EMF sensitivity is a factor in their illness and presenting symptoms. However, there has been much literature dealing with animal studies and the effect of EMF on their health. I believe the EPA recognizes the impact that extreme exposure to high voltage lines can create.” Louis Slesin, of Microwave News, also has many articles dealing with the health effects of cell phones and electromagnetic fields. One overt clue to a person’s sensitivity is symptoms created in the patient by exposure to operating appliances, computers, etc.

EMF SCIENCE: “What are some of the major and common problems seen in patients that come to the EHCD for (ECT) treatments?”

DR. Rea: “We see fatigue, chemical sensitivity, headache, food and inhalant intolerances, immune problems, just a myriad of symptoms. In many instances the organ or system affected depends on medical history and environmental history of chemical or metal exposure.”

EMF SCIENCE: “Are electromagnetic sensitivity issues accepted fully by the medical community today and, are there problems that are affecting the awareness of these issues?”

Dr. Rea: “We need knowledge of what are acceptable limits of EMF exposure. What are acceptable limits of chemical exposure? There is controversy on this knowledge. Thus, each individual needs to keep all exposure at a minimum, and when possible avoid exposures. Wise choices need to be made in every aspect of life.”

EMF SCIENCE: “Do you meet patients who first went to their normal doctor for electromagnetic issues and find they could not determine or treat them for it?”

Dr. Rea: “Yes, many of our patients have sought other medical treatment before coming to the Center. Many have been misdiagnosed, and many feel that the treatments they have received have not been helpful to them.”

EMF SCIENCE: “What can people do, if anything, to help prevent issues concerning electromagnetic sensitivity?”

Dr. Rea: “People need to reduce exposure to chemicals in air, food and water. They need to assess nutritional, immune, and toxicity status. Allergies need to be evaluated as well as the ability of the chemical enzyme detoxification to handle environmental exposures.

They need to monitor where they live in relation to high voltage lines, power stations, and cell towers. They need to be aware of excessive cell phone usage and associated listening devices. They also need to be aware of location of chemical generating industries. Living in chemically contaminated areas challenges the body and can make one susceptible to the effects of viruses, bacteria, chemicals, metals, allergens and magnetic fields.”

EMF SCIENCE: “Would you like to mention anything else about your health center or treatments concerning electromagnetics?”

Dr. Rea: “We do many diagnostic tests and procedures to assess your health status. This provides a basis for determining which treatment programs are appropriate to improve and maintain a healthy body and healthy lifestyle. The body is bombarded by many factors. Treatments and avoidance of illness are complex. Health must be a lifestyle choice.”

No sex is secret to long life, says 105-year-old Clara, Britain's oldest virgin

Over the years many a centenarian has delivered their secret for a long life.

Not smoking, daily exercise, moderate drinking, being married (and sometimes not being married) have all had their champions.
But, at the ripe old age of 105, Clara Meadmore could trump the lot: a life of celibacy.

Miss Meadmore says she has always been too busy for relationships and thought of physical intimacy as a 'hassle'.

The former secretary, who will celebrate her birthday tomorrow, said she had no regrets about remaining a virgin and had turned down several marriage proposals.
Miss Meadmore said: 'People have asked whether I am a homosexual and the answer is no. I have just never been interested in or fancied having sex.
'I imagine there is a lot of hassle involved and I have always been busy doing other things. I've never had a boyfriend - I've never been bothered about relationships.'
She added: 'When I was a girl you only had sex with your husband - and I never married.
'I've always had lots of platonic friendships with men but never felt the need to go further than that or marry.
'Everything seems so fast these days. I don't know a lot about young people or the way they do things. I'm sure it's very different. I made my mind up at the age of 12 never to marry and I've not gone back on that.'
Miss Meadmore was born in Glasgow in 1903, two years after the death of Queen Victoria. She remembers hearing about the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 and the outbreak of the First World War. Her family emigrated when she was seven, first to Egypt, then Canada and later New Zealand. But Miss Meadmore returned to Britain alone in her twenties and worked as a secretary and housekeeper.

She said: 'I grew up in an era where little girls were to be seen and not heard so I had to learn to stand up for myself and earn my own living.
'Some men don't like that in a woman and before long I was too old to marry anyway.'
Instead of boyfriends, Miss Meadmore filled her time with reading, gardening, cooking and listening to the radio.
Yesterday her friend and former neighbour Josie Harvey, 72, said: 'When she was a little girl she told her mother that she would never marry and for Clara no marriage meant no sex. She is fiercely independent.
'Maybe never having a man to get under her feet has kept her young all these years. She has her hobbies and her friends and that is all she needs.
'She has always believed in doing things her own way and that has allowed her to live a long life. Clara listens to Radio 4 all day long and knows what is going on in the world better than most people in their 30s.'
Miss Meadmore trained as a secretary and served in the Army, undertaking administrative duties in Egypt during the Second World War. She was one of the first members of the Youth Hostel Association and a keen member of the Women's Institute.
Her only surviving family are two nieces in New Zealand who keep in touch by post.
Miss Meadmore will celebrate reaching 105 with a card from the Queen and a glass of wine with her friends at the Perran Bay nursing home in Perranporth, Cornwall.
But she is determined not to let things get out of hand. 'I'm hardly likely to get drunk and do something silly at my age,' she said.

America’s Five Fattest (and Getting Fatter) States

The obesity epidemic in America has gotten worse in the last year, despite the many public service campaigns promoting physical activity and warning about the health risks posed by being overweight, according to a new study.

According to an annual report released this week by nonprofit Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, over the past year adult obesity rates increased in thirty-seven states, while there were no decreases in any states.

The survey, “F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America, 2008,” showed that there’s a growing obesity epidemic in the U.S. They found that today more than 20 percent of adults are obese in every state except Colorado, where the number is 18.4 percent. More than 25 percent of adults are obese in twenty-eight states, up from nineteen states last year. In 1991, no state had an obesity rate above 20 percent.

The five fattest states and their obesity rates are:

Mississippi (31.7 percent)
West Virginia (30.6 percent)
Alabama (30.1 percent)
Louisiana (29.5 percent)
South Carolina (29.2 percent)
The five slimmest states and their obesity rates are:

Colorado (18.4 percent)
Hawaii (20.7 percent)
Connecticut (20.8 percent)
Massachusetts (20.9 percent)
Vermont (21.1 percent)
Perhaps as a consequence of America’s widening waistlines, another disturbing trend emerged: an increase was found in the percentage of adults with Type-2 diabetes, a weight-related disease. The survey found higher incidence of diabetes in twenty-six states. Diabetes has been linked to a variety of health problems including coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, and pregnancy complications, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

The two foundations also reviewed state and federal policies aimed at reducing obesity in children and adults. They found that while all fifty states have some sort of law addressing the issue of obesity on the books, only thirteen states back up these regulations with enforcement policies.

For example, Georgia and Vermont were the only two states with specific guidelines for treating obese adults in their Medicaid programs. The report also notes that twenty states do not cover nutritional assessments for obese adults under Medicaid. In Nebraska and South Carolina, the Medicaid programs specifically state that obesity is not a disease and treatment cannot be covered.

Among the report’s key findings:

Number of states in which adult obesity rates went up: 37
Number of states in which adult obesity rates went down: 0
Number of states in which at least 1 in 4 adults is obese: 28
Number of states in which there was no specific coverage for nutrition assessment and counseling for obese or overweight children in their Medicaid programs: 10
Number of states which explicitly do not cover nutritional assessment and consultation for obese adults under Medicaid: 20
Number of states in which laws require school meals to exceed USDA nutrition standards: 18
The full report also offers solutions to fight the obesity epidemic, including ways for state and national laws to enforce stricter programs.

“America’s future depends on the health of our country. The obesity epidemic is lowering our productivity and dramatically increasing our health-care costs. Our analysis shows that we are not treating the obesity epidemic with the urgency it deserves,” Jeffrey Levi, executive director of Trust for America’s Health, said in a news release. “Even though communities have started taking action, considering the scope of the problem, the country’s response has been severely limited. For significant change to happen, combating obesity must become a national priority.”

Can Reading Help Kids Lose Weight?

When doctors urge overweight kids to pick up more activities, reading probably isn't what they have in mind. Yet a new study by obesity researchers at Duke University finds that the simple act of reading — depending on the choice of material — can spur weight loss in tween-age girls.


The study's experimental group included 31 obese girls aged 9 to 13, who were enrolled in the Healthy Lifestyles Program at Duke Children's Hospital, a comprehensive family-centered weight loss plan that addresses patients' medical, dietary and behavioral needs. The girls read a novel called Lake Rescue, whose protagonist is an overweight preteen who struggles with low self-esteem, feelings of isolation and teasing because of her size. A group of 33 girls read a different book called Charlotte in Paris, which did not have an overweight heroine, and another group of 17 girls read neither book.

At the end of the six-month intervention, all the girls who read books had lost weight, but the girls who read Lake Rescue lost more. They lowered their body mass index (BMI), a ratio of weight and height used to measure obesity, by .71, compared with .33 in the Charlotte group an average .05 increase among the nonreaders.

The idea behind the study, says Dr. Sarah Armstrong, a pediatrician and director of Healthy Lifestyles, was to find a way to motivate the girls without adopting the restrictive and often authoritative voice of so many other nutrition and diet programs. Lake Rescue was the perfect instrument, says Armstrong; it presents a likable character to whom the girls could relate and whom they could emulate. As the book progresses, its heroine learns to make healthier lifestyle choices and finds a mentor to help keep her on track, Amstrong says: "She learns that she can become healthier, and the self-efficacy part, the 'I can do it' feeling resonates with the preteen girls."

"There was some effect of the book in augmenting what we were doing in the clinic," she says. "And not only did it have a small but significant effect on BMI, but it also had a positive effect on the girls' self-esteem."

Although the amount of weight lost was small, researchers say its effect is important and cumulative. Healthy nine-to-13-year-old girls typically have a BMI between 16 and 19; the BMI of the girls in the study group was on average between 27 and 28. "If you start with a preteen with a BMI of 27, and if she continues to increase her BMI at her current rate, in six months she would probably be at 28," says Armstrong. "But instead of going from 27 to 28, she now goes from 27 to 26.3, which would put her in the normal BMI range by time she is 13. [Otherwise], she would have a BMI of over 30 by the time she is 13, which would be obese even by adult standards."

The weight-loss options for obese pre-adolescents are slim. The two most effective obesity medications on the market, (Orlistat and Meridia) are not approved for children under age 15, and surgical treatments such as gastric bypass are often too risky for kids. That leaves lifestyle- and behavior-modification programs, combined with counseling, which can be effective but unpredictable. But Armstrong's study suggests that there may be unconventional and useful ways, like reading, to teach weight-loss techniques that researchers may not have considered.

And that may be the study's most significant finding, says Dr. Sandra Hassink, director of the Weight Management Clinic at A.I. Dupont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del., and leader of the Obesity Leadership Group at the American Academy of Pediatrics. What's more, instituting a technique such as reading to promote weight loss would be fairly easy. Already, the Reach Out and Read Program, a nationwide non-profit literacy effort begun by pediatricians at the Boston Medical Center in 1989, encourages reading by providing books to preschool children each time they visit the doctor's office. Why not piggyback messages about healthy lifestyle habits on this existing reading framework? "This study makes me wonder if we could do that with older kids as well," says Hassink. "We are already thinking at our hospital about mixing in positive lifestyle books with what the kids read." It's a win-win situation, note Armstrong and Hassink. After all, there are few negative side effects to encouraging kids to read.